Impulse (Jumper) by Steven Gould

Author:Steven Gould [Gould, Steven]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Published: 2013-01-08T05:00:00+00:00

SEVENTEEN

Millie: Hilltop

Millie got to the site by hiring a boat taxi in Bhangura and traveling down the Baral River fifteen kilometers, using her own GPS to verify her location. When she’d gotten as close as she could, she paid and dismissed the boatman and walked west on a raised path between rice paddies and jute fields.

Her destination was in sight almost immediately. The ridge rose only a bit around the surrounding farms, but it looked taller because of a stand of trees.

The Bangladeshi army had set up a mobile clinic at the north end of the trees.

Akash, an aid official with Pabna District who was coordinating with the local Bhangura Upazila, told Millie, “There are higher sites north of here, but the ground is steeper and prone to mud slides.”

He was greatly relieved when Millie told him she was bringing in two tons of rations.

“Bloody marvelous! I was counting on Hunger Free World, but most of their supplies went south. This just isn’t the season. Four more months and we’d be ready for it.”

Davy brought in a U.S. Army surplus tent, fourteen by fifteen feet, double-walled, which broke down into two luggable bags. They could’ve set it up themselves, but enlisted men from the army medical unit next door, already set up and waiting, came over and with much confusion and laughter got the thing set up and thoroughly anchored. The forecast called for winds up to ninety kilometers per hour, and Davy had brought extra stakes and straps to reinforce the structure.

“When do your rations arrive? We will be glad to unload the trucks,” the medical unit’s lieutenant said.

“Tomorrow,” Millie said.

“Before the rain, I hope!”

“Early,” Millie said. Very early.

The next morning, as the winds picked up and the rain began, Akash came to Millie, worried. “Where are your trucks coming from? The road to Bhangura is going to be a swamp, soon.”

Millie led him into the tent.

Though the tent had an integrated floor, they’d stacked the rations on doubled pallets, in the event there were any local drainage issues. The cases were piled nearly to the roof of the tent. Davy had also brought all the water filters from the warehouse, but this was only a few cases.

Akash blinked. “Oh. Didn’t see them come and go. I guess that was while we were setting up tarps.” The aid workers had been stringing tarps through the stand of mixed trees, both overhead and horizontally, attempting to turn the woods into a giant rain shelter.

Millie made a noncommittal “um” sound. “Hope to have more water filters, later.”

Akash nodded. “Well, I’m glad they got through. Roads are mostly mud.”

“Good timing, then. Is there anything else you need?”

He sighed. “We’re short on rope. Someone sent half as much as we were supposed to get.” He looked around, then said quietly, “Someone took a bribe, I think, to sign the manifest as ‘received in full.’” He gestured at the cases of rations. “Your shipment was intact, right?”

Millie nodded. “Oh, yes. Our people supervised it the whole way.

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