wavedancer

The half dozen women from the Napa clan looked down the hill towards the distant shoreline of
what would have been San Francisco Bay on Earth. Carey looked at the map in front of her and
glanced at her compass.

"Which way?" Petra asked.

"Hmmm, I say try that way," she pointed. Carey thought perhaps the area towards Sears Point.
They needed to find a location on the bay with deep enough water for the ship but was easy to
travel to from their community. So far they had crossed several small rivers and wondered what
would happen to them during heavy rains. They would need to build bridges of some sort over
them. At least something that would allow horses to walk across. They had already decided against
the far eastern side of the bay. They also wanted to be able to travel to the Bay Otter Clan, which
was located to the southwest near Mill Valley. The council didn't want to crowd out the BOC, after
all, they settled the area first. They had spoken with the BOC elder and he drew out a rough map,
explaining the areas they had wished to keep within their own territory and the rest was fine for
another settlement.

Although the water levels of Mother Earth were slightly lower, there were enough differences in
the terrain that they needed to see the possible areas for themselves.

"Hey, look over there," Ellen told everyone. The other women lifted their binoculars to their eyes
and looked in the direction Ellen indicated.

Below them was a large open area with few trees. By the color of the water beyond the shore it
was possible that it was deep enough to handle the Wave Dancer. "Not bad. Let's get a better
look," Carey told the group.

It was mid-morning when they dismounted and walked forward, their rifles ready in case of
predators, and cautiously stepped on the ground, making sure the soil was solid and not marshy.
They stepped slowly, until to their relief, they reached the shore. Joyce dropped her pack onto the
sand. "How about me and Ellen start some lunch while the rest of you check out the water?"

Carey hummed. "How about just two of us go out there? Maybe Ellen and Maggie can scare up
some fresh meat while me and Petra row out with the raft." They had brought along an inflatable
raft and some basic equipment to measure water depth. They were hoping to find that the area they
chose had at least thirty feet of water. That guaranteed that they could bring the ship in even at low
tide.

"Fine with me," Petra said, pulling the inflatable boat from its protective canvas bag. Carey set up
the air pump and hooked it to the nozzle of the raft. Once Petra was ready she began filling it with
air. Then it was a matter of putting on life vests and assembling the oars.

Petra looked out at the bay. "Not too choppy but I'd hate to see it on a windy day."

"We can always follow the channel tomorrow. The waterway is supposed to be deep all along
Mare Island," Joyce suggested.

"But will the area along there be accessible on horseback? That's what has me worried. If we can't
reach it on horseback then we'd have to take boats along it," Carey told them.

Joyce tossed driftwood in a pile. "We've never gone down the river. I have no idea if it's calm all
the way or if there's rapids."

A gunshot was heard in the distance. "I hope that means Ellen found lunch," Petra grinned.

"When was the last time she missed what she aimed at?" Carey laughed.

"Silly me. Forget I said that. Let's get going. I want to be dry and warm when lunch is served."

________

Petra's fear of wind proved true when in the late afternoon the winds picked up. The bay turned
into whitecaps and impossible to navigate on a raft. The women huddled inside their tents,
shivering. Even having a fire on the protected side with a reflector built to keep the heat towards
the tent opening did little to keep them warm.

"I think we should head for the channel tomorrow. Maybe we can have half of us paddle upriver
and the other half follow with the horses," Joyce said with a tremor.

The others agreed. The next morning the wind had eased off and the group packed their horses to
travel east. They crossed a large area that was wet with tall grasses but nothing that prevented the
horses from continuing. By mid morning they reached the east side of the channel and looked
around. They wanted to find an area of dry land that also had farming acreage as well. Living along
the river was fine but people had to eat more than seafood.

They worked their way north until they found a stretch of land that wasn't soggy and had hills to
the west, protecting the area from the ocean winds. The women stopped to look around better and
allowing the horses to graze.

"Still deep here, too," Petra noted, seeing how far away the opposite bank was. The river looked
about a quarter mile across at this point since it was still part of the channel. It would get narrower
further upstream.

A quick tour told them that they'd have plenty of room to build and a decent area for farming.
They couldn't allow the new village to get too large but it would support a fair sized community.

"I think we found a winner. Let's make something to eat then start paddling upstream," Carey
told everyone.

___________

The channel proved difficult in places but not impossible to travel. Sometimes the stream was hard
to paddle against and other places the horses had to go around wetlands and meet up with the raft
later. Eventually they reached the area where the river and channel merged. Although narrower,
the river proved harder to paddle against. The women took turns until the river began flowing
mildly and from there it was easier. Carey figured that a canoe, perhaps a double hulled one, would
have an easier time of it than an oblong raft. Perhaps one with a sail. She thought it over. She
wasn't an expert and needed to talk it over with someone who was familiar with sailing.

Two days it took before they recognized the terrain. The familiar site of the US Embassy let them
know they made it in one piece. "Oh boy, I get to sleep in my own bed tonight," Petra grinned.

Joyce looked up at the sun and commented that they were in time for dinner, too. They pulled the
raft up to the shore and began deflating it. They tossed it haphazardly over a saddle and would
store it properly later. They were too eager to get home for now. People greeted them as they rode
into the village and several children volunteered to take their belongings to their homes and stable
the horses.

They thanked the kids and headed for the communal kitchen for a hot meal before they would
bathe and go to bed. Janice was there along with Jeren and a man who they found out was her
intended first officer. The man dipped his head politely at the newcomers and introduced himself.

His name was Nicholas Kalakos, from Greece. His accent was strong but understandable. He was
experienced on the type of ship they were purchasing since he was an officer aboard one of the
same style luxury crafts that sailed the Caribbean waters. He had gotten the word out to people he
knew might be interested and skilled. He had brought nine master sailors to Janice. As long as
they passed Cierra's scan they would be added to the crew's manifest.

Petra and Ellen said hello then excused themselves, heading for their home in quad 2. The others
grabbed a meal from the cooking crew and sat down, listening to the conversation at the council's
table.

Once the explorers had finished their meal they were asked questions about their trip. Carey
spoke for all of them since she was on the council. She explained the difficulties and apologized for
not getting a better idea of the depths of the bay.

Janice leaned forward. "You took depth measurements on the channel?"

Carey nodded. "Yes, best we can tell it was about 80 plus feet deep."

"More than enough for the Wave Dancer," Janice commented. "I'm familiar with the currents of
Earth's San Francisco Bay. I doubt it changed a great deal in spite of the oceans being a bit lower. I
suspect that as long as the ship follows the known bay stream we won't have any troubles
navigating it."

JP looked worried. "Maybe we can check it out first. I don't like the idea of building a village on
the assumption that the ship can reach it."

The former Coast Guard Captain saw her point. "Well, as long as Cierra doesn't mind, we could
take along a powered craft with a depth finder and take a quick trip into the bay on Mother Earth
and make sure."

"Hire a charter boat in San Francisco and pop into mother Earth? I guess that can't hurt," JP said.
It shouldn't take over a day from start to finish.

Robbie's head thumped onto the table top. "Why me?"

The women laughed but knew that the security expert was more than concerned. Every trip into
the Old World could prove dangerous.

"We'll let you take big guns," JP said, enticing the blonde.

Robbie lifted her head. "And Cierra wears a body vest and lets me bring along a lot of guards?"

"Yup. I'll even let you wrap her in cotton batting if I have to."

"Deal!"

"I wish all negotiations were that easy," Cierra said with a sigh.

--------------

Captain Rodriguez was tinkering with the faulty light switch when his first mate cleared his throat.

"Yeah?"

"Someone wants to hire the boat for the day."

"Sure, we can do that," the captain said, missing the odd note to his mate's voice.

"Um, maybe you ought to talk to them first before you say yes," the officer suggested.

The captain tossed his tools to one side and began turning around. "Why? Do they look like drug
runners or..."

Captain Rodriguez looked up at the dock where a group of women, all dressed in matching blue
uniforms and carrying rifles, stood silently. They looked serious and waited for him to say yes or no
to the charter.

"Uh, can I ask where you want to go?" he asked with a stutter.

A tall blonde spoke, her sea-blue eyes locked on his face. "We want to travel from the entrance of
the Golden Gate to Mare Island. We understand you have a depth finder aboard and sonar to map
underwater obstructions."

"Uhm yes, I do." Jesus Rodriguez looked at his first mate, his eyes wide. He was at a loss.

"We have the money to pay you for your time. Will you take the job or not?" the blonde asked.

"C-can I ask why you need to chart the bay?" He had visions of he and his crew being murdered
and their bodies tossed into the ocean.

The women parted. "Because I need to," Cierra told him. He recognized her right away.

"Okay," he replied, a bit stunned.

Chapter 2

The charter boat traveled smoothly along the route, following the faster moving current that
traveled from the Golden gate and well into the Mare Island Channel. It was uneventful since all
Janice and Nicholas did was stare at the equipment. Robbie did spot a few military helicopters pass
overhead a few times but didn't find that surprising. She knew they had eyes everywhere in the
region in case Cierra came to Earth without warning. As long as they didn't interfere the women
from Mother Earth they would say nothing.

Captain Rodriguez headed back towards the area of the dock then scratched his head. "How do
we return without running into another boat?" he asked. He hadn't thought about it before now.

Cierra looked bored. "Don't worry about it, I have it covered."

He still looked concerned but said nothing until they reached the spot a few minutes from the
location they wanted to return to. He brought the charter boat to a stop and turned to ask her once
more. To his shock, he watched the shaman disappear into thin air. "W-where did she g-go?" he
asked.

"She's peeking into the corridor to make sure we won't run into anything. Don't worry about it,"
JP said with a bored tone. A moment later Cierra reappeared and told him it was safe. Jesus
gripped the railing and held on as Cierra transported the boat back to Earth. The charter boat
bobbed in the water for a bit before settling. The captain said a little prayer of thanks under his
breath then eased the throttle forward to return to the dock.

Robbie looked over the dock area before allowing anyone from leaving the boat. No one seemed
to be hanging around so she left the boat first as the 1st mate tied off the charter boat. She waved
everyone to the dock and they made their way back to the waiting limousine. Two women and the
driver had remained to guard it.

"Any problems?" Robbie asked.

Jonesy shook her head. "Not exactly but we're gonna have to go around the long way. There's a
bank robbery in progress and I doubt they're letting anyone through."

Robbie stiffened. "Where at?"

"First Bank, two blocks away."

JP asked her friend if she thought it was a set up.

"For us? I doubt it. If would take too much planning and we didn't give anyone enough time to
organize something like that. It's probably real." Robbie turned up the police scanner while Cierra
was urged into the limo.

She was familiar with the police codes and knew there were hostages inside the bank.

Cierra saw the grim look. "What is it?"

Robbie turned her bright blue eyes towards the shaman. "The bank robbers have about seventeen
hostages and at least one of them has been shot. The SWAT teams can't get a bead on them and
the four robbers are demanding transport or they'll start sending out bodies."

"Oh God," Cierra said. After living within their own safe community for so long the horrors of
Earth seemed worse. Her first instinct was to hide from the ugliness then her next impulse was to
try and do something about it.

JP saw the look on her wife's face. "No! Cierra, stay out of it," she ordered.

"But I can help. You know I can."

"And risk getting killed? Let the SWAT team keep care of this, it's what they are trained for."

"And if people start dying because I didn't step forward? How do I sleep at night?" she said
quietly, her eyes brimming with tears.

JP felt herself weakening. She couldn't stand the thought of Cierra putting herself in harm's way
but those pleading eyes ripped out her heart. JP dragged her eyes away and looked at Robbie.
"Protect her any way you can," she hissed and turned her back to them.

_______

The head of the SWAT team looked down at the small shaman, reeling from what she proposed.
The hostage negotiator wanted to say no but he was running out of options. They either contained
this now or more people would die. He just hated the idea of allowing a civilian to get involved.

"Okay, tell us again how we do this."

Ten minutes later Cierra was geared in padding, helmet and a bullet-proof vest. She had cut off the
sleeves to her shirt so the men could transport with her. They knew what they had to do.

They made their way to the outside wall of the bank, out of the line of fire from the armed men
inside. "Ready?" The men placed their ungloved hands on her arms and held on. Cierra jumped to
the corridor then remained still, allowing the men to recover. Cierra focused and saw no one in
front of them on Earth and it would be safe, at least for a moment, to head there.

Once they gave the all clear, she and the men worked their way forward slowly. With so many of
them in tow the shaman had a hard time moving far. They only moved enough to take them to the
other side of the outside wall and into what must be the employee's lounge. One of the men broke
away from the group and jogged silently to the door and listened. He waved the others to him and
whispered.

"I don't hear anything. I'm going to open the door. If I shut it fast get out, understood?"

Cierra nodded and watched as he pulled open the door slowly then looked around. He then turned
to the other members of the SWAT team and made several signals Cierra didn't understand. He
told them that the suspects were not in sight but were nearby.

He shut the door carefully and leaned towards Cierra. "Can you find out where they are and the
location of the hostages?"

"I'll try," she whispered. She jumped to the corridor once more. Now the men were not holding her
back she was able to go further. She managed to slog ahead almost twelve feet and saw no one as
yet. Cierra shifted to Earth and carefully crept forward about seven steps before her nerve gave
out and returned to the corridor. She looked around again and this time she spotted the four men in
stereotype ski masks. They were arguing amongst themselves while the hostages watched
nervously. She studied them for a while and a plan came to her. All she needed was just the right
moment.

The shaman kept careful watch, literally standing within arms reach of all four men. Then the
perfect moment occurred. Two of the men turned their backs on the other two. Cierra shifted to
Earth quickly, grabbed the two having a spat between themselves and popped back into the
corridor. The men didn't have time to utter a sound since they were dealing with the momentary
dizziness of the jump. She quickly went back and snagged the other two and brought them to the
corridor as well.

Now she had four armed, pissed off, and desperate men on her hands.

Two of the men lifted their shotguns towards her but she vanished. They heard a woman shout
'yoohoo' from a distance and saw the shaman far away, waving at them. They didn't realize yet that
here they were helpless against her.

Cierra shook her head as she watched the men from a safe distance. Then she sensed a presence.

"Can I play with them for a while?" Dream Walker asked.

"By all means. I'm going back and make sure everyone is okay. I'll be back later and take out the
trash."

The man chuckled and faded from her sight. Cierra had to make a small leap back near the men
but they never had the chance to stop her before she returned to Earth.

She could hear the excited voices of the hostages and the sound of the SWAT team approaching.
"It's okay everyone. The bad guys are on ice and can't hurt anyone." It took several minutes for
everyone to take in what she had done and calm down.

The man in charge of the rescue shook his head in bewilderment. "Are you sure you can get them
back here without any trouble? We can go with you and contain them for you," he offered.

"You can come along if you want but I doubt they'll give me much trouble. Right now, I want to
reassure my wife and friends that I'm okay."

"No problem. I'll radio this in and have the word passed on."

Once the hostages were escorted from the bank and statements were taken, the SWAT
commander and the chief of police for the district approached Cierra and her companions. They
were sitting in their limo snacking on pizza that someone had given them as a thank you.

"Ladies," the commander said politely before speaking to Cierra. "We're ready to take the
criminals into custody whenever you're ready."

Cierra popped the last bite of pizza into her mouth and worked her way out of the limo. She quickly
chewed her food then told them she was ready. Robbie and her girls remained seated, amused by
the eager expressions on the men's faces. They'd stay behind and let them have the fun this time.
They were just happy their queen had come out of this without a scratch.

A few minutes later the law enforcement team returned, standing in a circle around four naked and
terrified men. The women as a group looked away and made disgusted faces. "Eww, Cierra! Did
you have to bring them back like that?" Jonesy whined.

Cierra assumed an innocent expression and pointed at herself. "Me? I didn't do it. Blame Dream
Walker."

The men were quickly dragged to their feet after being cuffed and taken away. One of the men
was sobbing and thanking the SWAT team for rescuing them from that 'horrible' place.

The women valiantly did their best not to laugh until the men were placed into police cars and
driven away.

JP gave Cierra a kiss and they all returned to the limo. It had been a long day.

____________

Janice looked at the printouts the next day with a happy smile. "This is great! There's a clear
passage all the way to the area you want to build the village. When do you think you can begin
construction?"

Jenny looked over her notes. "We have a crew who offered to build us a cement pier at cost if
we'd allow them to take photos and use the images for advertising. Our construction crew is almost
done with the quad units and said they could bring us an old fashioned barge for transporting
materials. We don't have a lot of time to build cob houses this season so we're going to build a
barracks like the first one, except we're going to put up dividers for families and couples. We'll
have to build a simple oven and fireplace for cooking inside. We don't have enough prepared piping
for toilets but hated the idea of outhouses again. So we pooled all our money from old checking
accounts and such and bought some pipes. Eva is going to finish building that windmill and set it up
to pump water through it. She said she could build a small platform for it on the shoreline."

"And the timeframe for all this?" Janice asked.

The blonde sighed. "Even if half the community helped build we would still take at least three
months to set it up the way we want. The land there is hilly and the houses need to be built on stilts.
We don't dare build too close to the water because we have no idea if that channel ever floods."

Cyd leaned forward. "We could use small boat builders and instructors, too. Carey said it was hard
going in places since it's all against the current when traveling north. We thought maybe double
hulled canoes with a sail might work well."

"As long as you have at least four people paddling," Janice told them. "You'll need steady
transport between communities. At least the trip to the new community will be easier as long as the
weather is decent."

"Yeah, no more bumpy wagons," Carey grinned. "And once the barge is here we won't have to
haul stuff on wagons over those hills."

"I doubt the barge will transport the cement pylons for the pier," Janice said.

JP sighed, "No, we'll have to allow a work boat to jump to the site and put them into place. At least
the parts are prefab won't take long to drop off."

The captain made an odd face, making Jenny ask what was wrong.

"Um, well, I don't want you to take this wrong, but I noticed something. The Napa Clan is making
great strides to make their community as modern as can be without using gas or electricity...but
what about the other clans? Are they stuck living primitively?"

"You think we're denying them the chance to improve their own standard of living?"

"Not exactly, but they are stuck with whatever they brought along and if they want more they
have to trade for it or ask Cierra for it. It's not like they have the people with them who know how
to do all this stuff."

"What do you suggest?" Judy asked the captain.

Janice shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe have your skilled people take apprentices from the other
clans?"

"That might work. Once the village splits and the quad units are done we'll have lots more room.
We can bring in kids who want to learn a trade," Jenny agreed.

"We'll keep this in mind for later," Cyd told everyone. "In the meantime, let's worry about getting
this all organized before fall weather hits us."

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