Over by Christmas by Frank Tayell

Author:Frank Tayell [Tayell, Frank]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Publisher: Frank Tayell
Published: 2021-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Two boxes later, she retreated to the kettle, and made another small cup of coffee.

“What do you think, Flora? Were the navy being helpful, or just trying to free up space in their records department? No, I don’t know, either.”

The coffee beans, and Flora, weren’t the only gift from the ambassador. With them had come a pre-completed voter registration form that only required her signature. As Mister Mitchell had been born in America, and she was his daughter, she had U.S. citizenship. She’d not asked for it. She wasn’t sure she wanted it. But America wanted her. They wanted everyone, just like Britain and the handful of other new-era proto-states whose populations had fallen to around eight percent of pre-Blackout levels. Beyond the borders, in the bandit-badlands where a census was as impossible as an education, no one knew how few had survived.

With the voter form had come the reason why she was having difficulty writing her reply. She had been invited to join the ambassador’s administration after he’d won the election. After, not before. He didn’t want her as a prop to be wheeled on stage during the campaign. After, with the arrogant assumption he would win. She had no idea what the job would entail, but it had been offered in full knowledge of her wheelchair. The election wasn’t until November so she had time to decide, but less time with each passing day.

“I know, Flora, back to work.”

Leaning forward, she flipped the lid off the next cardboard storage box, and picked up a handful of forms. A name caught her eye. Not of a person, but of a tank. Not really a name, but a designation number: BV214. She’d seen that number yesterday. Where?

She edged the chair backwards, scanning the boxes, and saw the one she wanted, but now at the bottom of a stack of six. Twenty minutes and one paper avalanche later, she had it free.

“Found it. BV214. Recovered from Hull. That’s on the Humber, isn’t it, Flora? Which means these records also link to… to…” She edged the chair back, looking for the box. “There.”

Five minutes later, she had three sets of records for the same tank, and an understanding of how the records had been stored. An hour later, she had the story of the entire mobile unit.

“During the Blackout, thirteen Challenger tanks and a Jackal reconnaissance vehicle were sent to the Humber to protect food distribution. What do you think that means, Flora? Shoot hungry looters? Probably. But the vehicles were abandoned when the fuel ran out. A year later, the survey team arrived by sea to assess the damage. Here, it notes what was worth salvaging: nine 120mm cannons, nine 7.62mm machine guns, nine chain guns, and one .50-cal machine gun. Next form is from the reclamation team when they took a group of new recruits to collect the vehicles. They recorded nine cannons, nine chain guns, nine heavy machine guns, and one .50-cal. It says the vehicles were dragged to the train line.

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