Choices

"Dispatch, this is Unit 56, 10-84. Have your supervisor contact me at 555-2486," Joe told the
dispatcher. There was no way he wanted to air this over the police radio where every reporter and
amateur ambulance chaser could hear him. He pulled his cell phone out from the glove box and
waited.

"Affirmative Unit 56, Supervisor on duty responding."

A few seconds later his cell phone rang. He flipped it open. "Yeah, this is Joe Reynolds, badge
number 12199. We have a situation ma'am. We ran into Cierra White on a routine 10-38. Yes ma'am,
that Cierra White. She's on a horse and riding scared. She thinks something is going to happen. No,
ma'am, she didn't specify but if you want my opinion, anything that has her scared spitless ought to
have us terrified. I'd issue an alert to all units ma'am, just in case. Yes, ma'am."

Joe closed the phone.

"Well?" his partner asked.

"She said 'oh fuck' and said get back to the station."

_______

"Julie, drag out the Emergency Call Number book and start dialing. Roberta and John, one of you
contact the mayor and the other call the person in charge of the National Guard. Hurry! June, get on
the horn and tell all units to stand by, no exceptions. No one is to go off duty at end of shift and as
soon as you do that start waking up every off duty officer and have them come in. I need to call the
chief."

"Um, ma'am, don't you think we should wait before contacting everyone until you speak with the
chief?" John didn't want to remind the dispatch supervisor that she had no authority to do what she
just ordered done.

"John, Cierra White, THE Cierra White was seen riding a horse up Main Street and was scared
shitless. She told the officers on duty that something was going to happen. Do I wait for everyone to
wipe the sleepy seeds from their eyes and have their morning coffee or do I act?" she snarled.

The Chief of Police listened to the dispatch supervisor and felt his guts tighten. Normally he'd be
pissed that she'd jump over his head and order officers onto duty but this time he agreed with her. He
got out his rolodex and began dialing the Governor's private line.

Across town, Officer Will Horowitz grumbled as he pulled on his uniform. His girlfriend whined,
complaining that it was his day off.

"Sorry, baby, but something is going on. I gotta get to the station." Will was just buckling his gun belt
on when he felt the floor vibrate under his feet. Carly screamed as the vibration became stronger.
This wasn't a little tremor as usual. Will fell onto the bed and grabbed Carly.

"Get up!" he shouted, pulling her roughly from the Queen sized bed. He dragged her to the doorway
of a weight-bearing wall and told her to hold on. The ground shook and heaved sickenly for probably
forty seconds although it seemed to last forever. When the earthquake began easing off, he kissed
the doorway where they stood. He would never again tell his mother that she was paranoid. She had
insisted that when he built his house that it would be constructed strong enough to withstand a major
earthquake.

The house was a mess, with anything loose now on the floor, but the house was still standing. He went
over to the nightstand and pulled out his spare gun, checked the clip, and handed it to Carly. "Stay
here and don't go anywhere," he told her firmly. He gave her a quick kiss and headed outside. He
had a job to do.

________

Michael Davies pointed his remote towards the television and inched up the volume.

...the epicenter was located in Petaluma, approximately half-way between Santa Rosa and San
Francisco. The earthquake was measured at a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter Scale. Emergency
services are asking that there be no unauthorized travel into the disaster area. Utilities in some areas
were affected, leaving residents without electricity or water.

Although many of California's freeways were reinforced to withstand earthquakes, there were some
damages reported to smaller highways and local streets.

He listened to the reporter go over all the damages, his mind already going over steps that needed to
be taken over the next few days. It wasn't until he heard Cierra's name mentioned that his attention
snapped back to the screen.

...was reportedly seen riding a horse approximately twenty-one minutes prior to the first tremor. The
officers were said to have spoken briefly with Queen Cierra before reporting the incident to their
dispatcher. Chief of Police, Thomas Lu, issued a statement that the quick thinking of officers and the
dispatch system contributed to the fast response time to the emergency.

Michael groaned. "Cierra, what in hell were you doing on a horse at four in the morning and alone?"
he asked the screen. He already knew the answer. Cierra was impulsive and wouldn't sit back and
allow friends to be in danger if she had any way to prevent it. He only hoped that JP didn't have a
stroke when she found out.

_______

Jim and Katie watched the news on their tiny portable television. Since Jim owned a hardware store
so he naturally equipped his home with an emergency backup generator.

We'd all be dead if she hadn't been there to save her friends. She was pounding on their door like a
mad woman and woke us all up. I have to admit I was about to give her a piece of my mind when she
screamed that they had to get out of there. We all crammed into the elevators and followed her down
to the lobby.

One of the other hotel guests said that the roof crumbled and collapsed.

Oh God, yes. If we had been in our rooms we would have been crushed.

The couple watched the three stations that they could pick up, hoping for news about friends. Jim
wanted to go out and help people but he was afraid to leave his family alone. Their neighborhood
wasn't the very best in good times and he feared leaving them unprotected. There were already
reports of random looting and crime. The police and National Guard were too busy rescuing people to
worry about possessions.

Scenes of the damage were aired nationally and around the world. Although it wasn't 'The Big One'
everyone had feared, it was bad enough. Older buildings fell and homes built on loose landfill also
were badly damaged. Glass and rubble were everywhere, making travel by vehicle difficult. Many
highways were too damaged for anything smaller than large SUVs and more than one bridge toppled
Until the remaining bridges were inspected they couldn't be used. FEMA and the Red Cross were
already responding to the crisis while people from all over the United States were gathering donations
for the homeless.

Only they didn't know Mother Nature wasn't finished with them.

________

It was a quiet and depressed clan that rode into the Trading Event. Agatha saw the despair on
everyone's faces and rushed forward to Cierra's horse.

"Cierra, what happened?"

"Not here, Agatha. Get the leaders for each clan and meet me over there," Cierra told her, pointing
to a spot away from all the activities.

A short time later, everyone who was even nominally in charge sat around Cierra, JP, and the other
two bonded couples. Cierra explained about the earthquake as well as the warning from Dream
Walker. Without more information from him she couldn't say what would happen.

"Have you spoken to him since last night?" Agatha asked.

"I couldn't find him."

"But I thought he was always there?" Johnny asked.

Cierra shrugged. She didn't have the answers they wanted.

The new leader of the Bay Otter Clan spoke up. "Shouldn't we warn Earth?"

JP threw up her hands. "Warn them about what? We have no idea. It can be anything or anywhere."

"Well, any warning is better than nothing," Johnny shot back.

"It's too dangerous," JP said. She didn't want Cierra walking into a dangerous situation. She couldn't
count on the US to protect her, they were too busy cleaning up the mess the earthquake caused.

"We can escort Cierra. There's at least 75 people here with weapons. We can jump to Earth, talk to
someone in authority, and jump back."

JP looked at her wife. "It's up to you."

"Let's warn them. If nothing else they can have everyone at ready just in case."

_______

Cierra peeked through the corridor and saw that they were very close to the town of Suisun City. She
returned and pointed to an area that she knew would be clear for them to jump. They had all practiced
their positions since Robbie and JP insisted on every manned person that could manage to touch
Cierra. With the Shaman wearing a sleeveless top and shorts, ten people could touch her skin and
jump with her to Earth.

Cierra had fed Kiona and Pam was now babysitting while they made the trip. Cierra stood with her
arms outstretched and waited until everyone was ready. A second later they appeared on Earth not
forty yards from the sign welcoming people to Suisun City, population 28,000.

They walked to the road side and headed for the town. A sedan drove slowly past them then sped off.

JP laughed. "I guess seeing almost a dozen armed people is a bit scary."

"They probably think some fanatical survivor group is headed into town to start a shooting spree,"
Johnny said seriously. Although they did want to speak to the police they didn't want to be gunned
down by gung-ho police officers. Their suspicions were correct when in the distance they could hear
sirens approaching.

"Don't give them any reason to shoot," Cierra reminded people.

JP met the eyes of the armed escorts and nodded. Without a word, the ten people formed a circle
around Cierra and stood steady, guns held firmly in one hand but pointing at the ground. Police cars
approached the group from two directions, skidding to a halt while officers opened their car doors and
crouched, guns drawn.

"Drop your weapons, now!" one of the police officers demanded.

Robbie raised her empty hand slowly to get their attention and spoke. "We're from Mother Earth
and we're armed because we are the protectors for Queen Cierra. May I speak with someone in
charge?"

The ranking officer glanced at the two closest men and they nodded. "Place your weapons on the
ground and come forward slowly," he shouted.

Robbie did as she was told, bending down and placing her rifle then her pistol holster on the ground.
She strolled to the waiting officer, hands clearly visable. Once she stepped away, Cierra's worried
face could be seen from behind the line of the honor guard. The officers relaxed a touch, recognizing
the shaman from photographs.

The security expert spoke with the officer for several minutes, explaining why there were there. He
nodded and walked toward the armed group. "Queen Cierra," he nodded politely.

Cierra stepped forward now the danger of a shoot out was over. "Officer. I'm sure Robbie has
explained why we came to Earth. If you could pass on the message to your town's officials we'd
appreciate it."

"Well, I can certainly do that, ma'am, but wouldn't you rather speak to City Hall yourself?"

JP spoke up, still feeling extremely protective. "The longer we're here the more danger she is in. You
can pass on the warning just as well as anyone else."

The officer let out a heavy breath and nodded. "I'll speak to the mayor personally. Is there anything
else you can tell me? Any clue at all what the danger may be?"

"I'm sorry, no. Only that it isn't over. We didn't want to cause a panic but the authorities need to be
ready for anything."

"Yes, ma'am, I'll tell them."

With that, Robbie retrieved her weapons and everyone got into position once more, placing their
hands on Cierra. The officer watched them disappear into thin air. So much for small town peace and
quiet, he thought to himself.

_________

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