3012: The Artifact
Page 18
The Town
As they walked, Jack took careful note of their surroundings. At the first chance he thought he could speak without being overheard by their two ‘escorts,’ he whispered, “Suzie, at your earliest opportunity, disappear and when the moment is right, assume one of these guys’ appearance and try to get us out of whatever mess they have us in, okay?”
“Sure thing, Jack” she said as she winked out of existence.
Suzie’s suitcase was in the HumVee, parked near the center of town. Fortunately, this entire town was well within her range of projection. However, she couldn’t be in all places at one time. She was limited to wherever she was currently projecting herself. So, she had to wink back into existence to see what was going on.
She waited a minute and then popped back into existence at the same location. Fortunately, no one was there. Disguised as Shultz, she walked behind the group, shadowing them to their final destination. As they walked, she noticed more and more women in uniform than men so she decided to morph back to her own body, but in this uniform.
After a short walk, the group arrived at a door, guarded by a fierce looking woman in uniform. The men were obviously lower ranking than the woman, based on their actions in her presence. The woman took charge of the visitors and led them into the room. Suzie was lost as to her course of action at this point and decided to try to blend into the background. She would just have to wait them out.
As she listened to the nearby conversations, it dawned on her that this may very well be a matriarchal society. If she could learn enough about it, maybe she could get the guys out. But it would take a bit of cunning and a lot of luck.
By eavesdropping on every conversation she could get close to, she learned that this was a society that occupied more than just this cavern. Apparently, there were towns all over the east coast of North America, and all of them connected by these tunnels. Somewhere, she would have to get hold of a map.