The March South by Mike Adams

Author:Mike Adams [Adams, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mike Adams
Published: 2019-04-05T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

Staying in the Valley

May 1, 2127

Day 214

CTL Cairo, 700 miles south of Winter Haven

Twelve of the thirteen members of Jacks Company who had stayed behind when the others departed six weeks earlier gathered around the conference table to discuss their situation. As usual, 15-year-old Athena Milonos was recording the meeting with her vidcam.

Avril MacPherson was outside on lookout duty and was listening in. She had been severely injured during the Battle in the Valley. Like 16-year-old Luda Bukharin who had died there, Avril had been fighting in the fort built from cargo containers outside the ship. The 17-year-old red-headed Scot had taken a Raagaa spear to the abdomen and had almost died. The others had gotten her to the ship and to Doctor Scott just in time. Avril was now fully recovered, minus her left kidney.

Master Sergeant Guy Gilbert, Cairo’s senior engineering tech, looked across the table at Ravi Chandrabustra who would be the main topic of discussion. The Indian botany teacher from the New Hope Academy looked calmly back at the Canadian engineer who had taken charge when Commander Cassidy had led the rest of the group out of the valley and a somber Gilbert sighed heavily and gave Ravi a sad little smile in return then said to the whole group, “Thanks for coming on time everyone. I do appreciate that. Let’s get to it, shall we? It’s almost time for us to leave if we are to make our rendezvous but we still have some unresolved issues that can no longer be put off. Ravi, you asked to speak to the group first. Why don’t you go ahead?”

The short, thin Indian looked around the table, halting for a moment as he took in the two Ranade sisters, 19-year-old Sonali and 17-year-old Priya. Chandrabustra had broken his back when the ship had turned on its side after the starboard side grav cells had been damaged by the fire from the aliens’ energy weapons during the opening shots of the invasion. He had tumbled thirty feet in an uncontrolled fall that had thrown him against several obstructions before coming to a halt against the now lower starboard side armored bulkhead. Someone had picked him up and put him into one of the crash couches seconds before the impact with the valley floor. Whoever he or she had been, either one of the other teachers or one of the Rangers from the ship’s security team, they had not survived the crash. That knowledge was something that had left the botanist depressed at times with feelings of survivor guilt. Priya and Sonali had volunteered to remain to help with Ravi’s recovery and physical rehabilitation. The botanist was a distant cousin of their father and both felt that it was the right thing to do. They had become almost like daughters to Ravi over the past several months as they helped him through his physical therapy.

Sure now he had everyone’s attention Ravi began, “I know that everyone has been concerned about

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