Every Last Mother's Child

by William J. Carty, Jr

  Chapter 10: Children

  Franklinton, what had been a small town of several thousand in the northern province of North Coast, was deserted. Not the first town to be completely evacuated or abandoned. As more and more people were evacuated from the planet, populations in the towns became smaller and smaller. When the populations became so small that the towns couldn’t function they were abandoned. Even with automated city services, expert systems controlling the water, sewage disposal, managing the infrastructure of the town, it became untenable for a town to remain a town. So when the town got down to a couple of families they were moved into another town to await their turn to be loaded onto a transport for Home. Abandoned the towns might have been; but they still had to be patrolled. Looting was becoming in a problem.

  “I have never been in a ghost town before,” Quentin Faroze commented said to his partner. They had just come into the town from the clear cut area. It had been several weeks since the clear cutting had started and a lot of the forest land in the north coast province had been cut down. It was just as eerie driving from the surreal scene of the clear cut forest into the town that looked like someone had just turned out the light and rolled up the sidewalks.

  “It is eerie isn’t it,” L’engrithi his thonian military police partner replied as her lifemate who was working with another rookie not too far away sent her the image of bombed out towns they had patrol for the thonian military. “At least these towns are not blown to magth and back.”

  Quentin was a rookie. He had graduated out of the last class of the Royal Trenaport Law Enforcement Academy. It was literally the last class; there would be no others. This was his rookie tour. He had been offered to become a member of the Home’s planetary police force; but he had said he would rather stay to the end of the evacuation. He was a bachelor and his family had taken the opportunity to immigrate to a more developed world so he made a decision to let some father with his children and wife, go in his place. He did want to go to Home; but he could wait. He also thought that his tour of duty with the legendary Thonian Companions MP battalion would be good for his career. He looked around the small town, and saw that all the windows were still intact, that the road was not pot holed or cratered.

  L’engrithi was a twenty year veteran of the thonian military police. She had been on worlds where wars had been fought. Where part of her job had been to prevent soldiers and others from looting towns and villages after the combatants had left the town to continue the war in some other burg. She had been on the sharp end trying to prevent civilians from being mauled by soldiers on leave, and civilians from taking advantage of those same soldiers. So far this assignment had been more like a base assignment with normal hours. In the crimen and a half she had been part of the companions it had been the easiest assignment she and he lifemate had ever done.

  “I hear they’ve been shutting the down the AIs,” Quentin said.

  “What’s that?” he said pointing to a shadow a few moments later.

  “I don’t know,” The older woman replied. They were in a parking lot to a deserted store. She had seen what he was talking about. It looked like a face. Her lifemate had seen it also through the aqaut letting her feel that he thought it could be a child.

  “Channel ten this is patrol 90,” Quentin called on his communicator.

  “Go ahead patrol 90,” the AI said.

  “Mark us out of the vehicle at place called Jackie’s Supermarket in Franklinton.” Quentin responded.

  “What do you have patrol 90?” the human back up called, it had been a boring shift and he was craving some conversation with someone new.

  “We don’t know dispatch.” Quentin replied, “We’ll let you know.”

  “Channel 10 standing by.” The dispatcher returned.

  The pair got out of the car and approached the supermarket. As they approached the front of the store, the doors opened and the lights came on.

  “I guess this AI is not turned off.” The Thonian said.

  Start1“No. Some of this could be part of an automated security system.” Quentin said as he heard a rustling and turned towards it with his gun out. His partner went the other way as he approached the rustling. She wanted to come up on the other side of the noise. When he came upon the noise he saw two rats mating in a pile of papers. Nothing disgusted the young officer more than rats. He instinctively fired. He killed both animals.

  “This is patrol 90 we have shots fired!” L’engrithi yelled into her communicator hoping and praying that her young partner hadn’t been shot. Her lifemate’s concern for her safety was blasting through their bond. She finally sent to him “Cool out! I am okay now let me deal with this.”

  She rounded the corner back to where she had left her young partner and saw him putting his gun away and the remains of two rats.

  “Dispatch this is Patrol 90.” She breathed a sigh of relief, “We’re okay. My partner just executed two rodents.” The Thonian looked at the young man and with the microphone still hot, “He’s got a lot of paper work to do and we’ll be having that conversation 90 out.”

  “Roger Patrol 90,” the dispatcher said, “The LT says you both owe him a coffee for the heart attack you just gave him!”

  “My partner’s buying!” The Thonian said. “What the magth is that?” The woman said shining her light toward a shadow she had half seen.

  “Don’t shoot!” a very young voice said, “We’re coming out.”

  To the Thonian’s amazement she saw ten children walk out of the shadows. They ranged in age from nearly one to five crimens of age.

  “Quentin get EMS here now.” The woman said as she walked to the children, and panned her light on them. They were dirty, with tattered clothing; but she didn’t see any obvious injuries.

  “Where are your parents?” she asked.

  “They left,” the oldest one said. “We woke up one day, and mom and dad were gone.”

  “Are you all brothers and sisters?” L’engrithi asked.

  “No,” one of the younger one said. “Denise and I were left behind before Arnold and Deanna found us.”

  “Are there only decade of you?” L’engrithi asked

  “Huh?” the oldest asked, “Oh us ten. No, there might be a couple of more hiding in town.”

  “Patrol 90 to dispatch.” The Thonian said into her microphone

  “Go ahead patrol 90” the dispatcher called.

  “I need a supervisor, and a couple of additional units. We have a town that may have to be searched house to house. We have a report of unaccompanied children in Franklinton.” L’engrithi replied. “Command will be at Jackie’s Supermarket.”

  “L’engrithi,” her young partner came over, “The alert bird at the Evac hospital is twenty minutes out. The clear cut team we passed a while back has a medic and they’ll be here before the IRS. Oh your husband will be here in about five six minutes, I think I heard the siren going on the radio.”

  “That’ll be a help,” The thonian woman shook her head knowing she would have to find some way to cool her life mate out before he got to them. She could tell he was cooling out a bit; but not much. Knowing she had other things she had to deal with she turned back to the kids, “Let’s see who we have here.”

  “Okay kids come over here I want to know who you are. My name is L’engrithi; we’re not going to hurt you.”