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Message-ID: <47692asstr$1083582606@assm.asstr-mirror.org>
From: Lazlo Zalezac <lzalezac@yahoo.com>
Subject: {ASSM} JC:Ed Biggers II-14 (mf mmf ffm ff mm sci-fi)
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Date: Mon,  3 May 2004 07:10:06 -0400
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=====
Lazlo Zalezac
http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/Lazlo_Zalezac
http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/Lazlo_Zalezac


	
		
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<1st attachment, "biggers2-14.txt" begin>

JC: Ed Biggers
Part 2: Equilibrant
Chapter 14
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004

Sunset, that special time when day turns to night, was the time 
when John and Ed spent talking on the parapet of the house. John 
said, "I was going to take my walk when you came back, but I 
have a feeling that something really big is going to happen soon."

"How big?"

John answered, "Big enough to activate the Fusion Foundation 
Emergency Relief organization."

The men sat quietly for several minutes, each lost in their own 
thoughts. Quietly, Ed said, "I can handle it. You go on your walk."

Shaking his head, John said, "This will be our first activation. I 
think one of us should be here and one on site."

"I can handle it."

"No, I'll go. It is my service and I must see it through," replied 
John. 

It made sense and Ed knew John well enough to know that he 
would want to be as close to the action as possible. It was spring 
and there were so many things that happen. Avalanches, floods, 
earthquakes, and volcanoes could happen at any time. Ed asked, 
"When will we activate?"

John answered, "Tomorrow. We'll put the East Coast on alert 
tomorrow and prepare to move out."

Ed said, "How many groups?"

John answered, "All of them."

The idea of putting the entire East Coast on alert was 
overwhelming. That would activate a fleet of thirty transport 
planes. Eight of the planes carried medium sized earth moving 
equipment and transportation. Eight contained portable shelters, 
medical facilities, and toilets. Those sixteen planes were always 
loaded and ready to move out at a moments notice. Ten planes 
would be loaded food and water, sufficient to feed over ten 
thousand people for a week. Four planes would be loaded with 
medical supplies. 

It would also activate four planes capable of carrying one thousand 
trained Fusion Foundation personnel. These were specialists, 
trained in various aspects of rescue and on staff full time. This 
included doctors, nurses, earth movers, cooks, and others that were 
multiply trained. Everyone was crossed trained to fulfill any task 
that might arise.

If John considered putting the entire East Coast on alert, then this 
meant that it was a big emergency. Ed asked, "Will you be moving 
out before anything happens?"

Shaking his head in the negative, John replied, "As much as I 
would like to do that, it would not be a fair assessment of our 
capabilities."

Surprised at the answer, Ed said, "That could cost lives."

Nodding his agreement at the assessment, John said, "I know, but 
we have to respond in a real fashion. To do otherwise, could cause 
significant loss of life in the long run."

"John, I know you better than that. That isn't a sufficient reason for 
you to delay. You would find another way to solve that particular 
problem."

Cross at being questioned, John replied, "I have no idea what or 
where the emergency will be. I can't act earlier than when the 
problem is identified."

This revelation caused Ed to examine John carefully. He asked, 
"Do you think you are losing your abilities?"

"Yes," replied John. Ever since the raid on the organized crime, it 
was as though his abilities had been muted. Previously, he would 
have sufficient knowledge to respond in the most appropriate 
fashion. Now, it seemed like it was always a general feeling.

Ed asked, "Did you ever think that it is because of your 
preparations that your role has changed from active participant to 
supervisor?"

John had considered that interpretation many times and believed it 
was a correct interpretation of the change. In a way, it bothered 
him as much as the alternative. He said, "Yes. I realize that is a 
likely reason."

The next morning, Ed and John headed to the headquarters of the 
Fusion Foundation in John's jeep. Tiger and Rover were in the 
back, with Tiger on the floor and Rover filling the seat. The trip 
flew by quickly and it wasn't long before they were in the parking 
lot. 

As they headed into the building, Ed recalled the time when he had 
difficulties getting in because none of the staff recognized him. He 
said, "We might have problems getting in."

Surprised, John asked, "Why?"

"When I came here, no one recognized me and wanted proof that I 
belonged here," answered Ed. 

This was a surprise to John who had never thought about problems 
entering the foundation. The receptionist that had once tried to 
delay Ed was on duty. As they approached the front door, she 
paled when she saw Ed and the two cats. Since his last visit, she 
had learned that Ed and John Carter always traveled with a cat. She 
realized that the man with him must be John Carter. She picked up 
the telephone and called Ellen before they had even finished 
entering the building. When the two men went to the counter, she 
said, "Ellen is on her way down here to greet you."

John smiled at that woman and said, "Thank you. I'm John Carter. 
May I ask your name?"

His introduction confirmed her suspicion. Blushing brightly, she 
said, "I am Karen Carson."

Mentally, Ed kicked himself at not having asked her name the last 
time he was here. He said, "It is nice to see you again, Karen."

She smiled at him and said, "It is good to see you, Mr. Biggers."

"Please call me, Ed," he replied. As he replied, Ellen came rushing 
into the room. 

John turned to Ellen and said, "It's nice to see you again, Ellen."

Remembering her lesson from Ed and Sid, Ellen replied, "It's nice 
to see you, John. If I may ask, is there a special reason that you are 
here?"

Pleased that she went straight to the matter at hand, John replied, 
"Put the East Coast on alert. Start up the command center on the 
fourth floor."

All of the blood drained from the faces of Ellen and Karen, as the 
full implications of what John had said. Ellen shook her head and 
said, "Nothing has happened."

After glancing at John, Ed said, "It will."

A shiver ran through Ellen before she turned and led the way into 
the office area. Word had already spread through the entire office 
complex that John Carter was in the building. People were lined 
up, standing quietly, in the hallways to see the great man. The cats, 
unused to such a situation, moved closer to the men as though 
uneasy although not frightened.

Seeing the people lined up, Ellen said, "Everyone, we need to go to 
the command center. Once there, put the entire East Coast on 
alert."

As everyone turned to head to their business, Ed spotted Kim 
Green, the woman that he had found at the University being raped. 
He called out, "Hey, Kim! I didn't know that you had come to work 
here."

Kim turned and looked at Ed, surprised that he had addressed her 
since she now knew just how important of a person that he was. 
Seeing that both Ed and John were looking at her, she said, "Hello, 
Ed. Hello, John. I'm surprised you remember me."

"Of course we remember you. Is your mother still a volunteer 
here?" asked Ed.

Kim nodded and answered, "Yes, she'll be in later."

John asked, "What is your job here?"

"I'm a translator for Spanish and French," replied Kim. She wasn't 
sure how important of a position it was, but she enjoyed the work. 
Most of the translation was spent working with Spanish due to the 
large Hispanic population on the West Coast. She was also going 
to get trained in Chinese in several months. 

John said, "Could you take me to the airport? I was going to get a 
cab, but I'd rather travel with a friendly face."

Surprised to be asked to take him, she readily agreed, "Sure. Let 
me get my purse."

John left with Tiger, the smaller cat seemed to take to air travel 
much better than Rover. It would also create less of a distraction 
than the Cougar. He would fly to Atlanta and land at the Fusion 
Foundation facility located at the airport there. 

Ed did not watch them go. Instead, he went up to the floor where 
the Command Center was located. The room was laid out with 
desks along two sides of the room. There were computer consoles 
on each desk. At the front of the room was a number large screens 
that would allow them to project various pieces of information 
about the current situation.  Each desk had a person seated at it. As 
the computers booted, the people put on telephone headsets. The 
headsets were wireless so that they could leave their desk without 
putting people on hold.

Ed took his seat at the desk reserved for the incident commander at 
the back of the room and surveyed the action. Rover walked 
around the room checking it out. Satisfied, he went into the break 
room and curled up on the floor in a corner where he wouldn't be 
bothered.

At the front of the room, the displays came alive as Ed turned on 
the Incident Commander console. The center display on the wall 
showed a map of the world. There were four spots lit in yellow that 
corresponded to existing problems that were already under control. 
One was a volcano in Hawaii, another was a flood in Peru, another 
was a very minor earthquake in Romania, and the fourth was an 
epidemic of a flu variety in Southeast Asia.  

Another screen showed the various Fusion Foundation Centers and 
their status. All of the status indicators were initially green, but as 
time went by, centers on the East Coast had their status indicators 
changed to yellow, one at a time. The yellow indicated that they 
were on alert. The phones started lighting up as centers called in to 
identify what actions they should be taking.

At that point, Ed pressed the speaker and said, "Everyone, I need 
your attention. We need to get all planes fully stocked and ready 
for take off on the East Coast. We are not yet aware of the 
destination, but we do know that it will be a long flight. I want a 
full complement of personnel ready for boarding. Please act as 
though the emergency was occurring, we want to see the time 
required for our people to get ready."

He flicked off the speaker and turned to Ellen seated at the desk 
next to his. He said, "Ellen, I would like to get complete 
information on how long it takes each center to get ready to leave."

"Yes, sir," replied Ellen. After entering the request into the 
console, she turned to face Ed. She added, "Are you sure that we 
will need all of these resources?"

Nodding, Ed answered, "John is positive that something big is 
going to occur within the next five hours."

"Has he ever been wrong?"

Ed thought back to the earthquake in California and answered, 
"No."

Ellen asked, "By the way, where is John?"

Laughing at the question, Ed said, "He's on his way to the center in 
Atlanta."

"Why would he be going to Atlanta?" asked Ellen.

"He's going to the emergency with them," answered Ed. He added, 
"Since we are only on alert, I would like everyone to review the 
emergency procedures for natural disasters. That should take about 
three hours."

Following his own advice, Ed reviewed the activities that he would 
be performing in the event of various natural disasters. As they 
waited, volunteers came through the room delivering coffee and 
snacks. Three people waited in the relief room waiting to be called 
in to take the place of anyone that needed a break. Everything 
looked good. 

It was in the middle of the afternoon when an area of the map on 
the wall indicated that an earthquake had occurred in Turkey. 
Everyone in the room leaned forward and looked at the display 
waiting for the magnitude to be displayed. When 7.2 flashed on the 
display, everyone went to work. 

For the next two hours, planes and people were dispatched to 
Turkey to provide emergency relief. The staff at each center was 
busy filing flight plans and making arrangements with 
governments to fly over their airspace. Passports of personnel were 
double checked. The planes were in the air within ninety minutes 
of the earthquake.

The news started broadcasting pictures from ground zero, showing 
total devastation in many of the poor sections of the country. 
Casualty estimates ranged up to a thousand with tens of thousands 
of injuries. The fact that the earthquake had struck at night meant 
that the majority of people were inside their homes asleep when it 
hit. 

Typical office hours ended and the second shift came in to take 
over. The handoff from one person to the next was seamless. 
Glancing at the clock, Ed realized that six hours had passed since 
the earthquake. It would be another ten hours before the planes 
would be landing. He turned to Ellen and said, "Go to the relief 
room and get a good eight hours of sleep. There isn't going to be 
much action between now and then. I'll go there in a couple of 
hours and get some sleep myself."

Ellen, surprisingly tired, nodded as she said, "Good idea."

Watching her leave the room, Ed noticed how in the recent events 
she had demonstrated total professionalism. A man came and took 
her place at the deputy commander position. He turned to Ed and 
said, "I'm Paul Nagel."

Ed replied, "Hello Paul, I'm Ed."

Turning to the console, Paul went through the process of catching 
up on the status of all the activities for which the deputy 
commander was responsible. Watching him work, Ed considered 
how well the systems were supporting them. He turned to watch 
the center display on the wall. There was one very large red spot 
on it that showed the current emergency occurring in central 
Turkey. One display was still blank and would remain that way 
until communications started arriving from the site. 

As he sat there, Grace Green stopped by his desk looking fresh and 
alert. He greeted her, "Hello, Grace. I thought you were off."

Smiling broadly, she said, "I'm supposed to go off duty, but I'm 
afraid that I'm feeling a little hyped up."

Thinking quickly, Ed said, "Maybe you could run an errand for 
me."

"I'd love to help."

Smiling at the attractive woman, Ed said, "This isn't a very 
glamorous job, but I need someone to get one of those children's 
wading pools, fifty pounds of kitty litter, and twenty pounds of raw 
hamburger."

Confused by the request, she asked, "What would you need that 
for?"

Turning to Paul, Ed said, "I'll be back in three minutes."

He moved around the desk and led Grace to the break room. He 
pointed to Rover sleeping in the corner and said, "Rover is going to 
be here throughout the emergency, so I need to make sure that he 
has a liter box and food."

The instant Grace saw Rover, she remembered that the cat had 
been at the graduation celebration. She also remembered that 
Rover had been one of the two cats that had been at her daughter's 
rescue from the rapist. Smiling, she said, "I had forgotten that he 
was here. Where's Shadow and Tiger?"

Smiling at the fact that she remembered the names of all the cats, 
Ed replied, "Tiger is going with John to Turkey and Shadow is 
watching over our wives."

Grace said, "I'll be back with everything you need in about an 
hour."

"Thanks, Grace," replied Ed as he handed her a hundred dollar bill. 
Rover stood up and joined Grace as she walked to the elevator. Ed 
watched the cat suspecting that there was more to his action than 
met the eye. He said, "If Rover wants to go with you, let him. He's 
a very good bodyguard."

Looking down at the cat walking beside her, she said, "Okay, if 
you're sure."

Ed answered, "I'm sure."

When she went down the elevator with the cat, Ed returned to his 
console. He sat back and looked at the picture of the globe. The 
locations of the planes along their planned flight paths were shown 
on the map of the world on the view screen. He settled in for a long 
night.

It was a little more than an hour before Grace returned from 
running the errands for Ed. A little shaken, she stopped by his desk 
and said, "I took care of Rover. I think he saved my life by scaring 
off a bunch of kids."

"Really? I'm glad that he was able to help," said Ed. At least he had 
been correct in telling her to take Rover along. He asked, "Where 
is he?"

"He's in the break room eating," replied Grace. She had bought 
steak instead of hamburger after the kids had jumped her. Even 
though she knew better, she had ended up in a poor neighborhood 
store to get the hamburger and kitty litter. On the way into the 
store, a number of kids about eighteen to twenty years old started 
to harass her. When one of them pulled out a knife, Rover 
appeared out of nowhere and took the kid to the ground by leaping 
on his back. The gang ran away, pulling the one who had been 
knocked to the ground away. She had gone in, made her purchases, 
and left as quick as she could.

Ed asked, "So you want to tell me about your experience?"

"Some kids tried to mug me. Rover took one of them to the ground 
and chased off the rest. He was magnificent. While I was scared, it 
would appear that I wasn't in any real danger," said Grace. 

Ed asked, "Did anyone get hurt?"

"There wasn't any blood," answered Grace.

Glad that he wouldn't have to call the Phoenix police and explain 
how Rover had injured someone that attacked Grace, Ed said, 
"Okay. It seems to me like you've had a very exciting day. Why 
don't you head home and get some rest?"

More than happy to comply, Grace said, "That's exactly what I had 
in mind. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Thanks for everything, Grace," said Ed.

In the morning, Ed stared at the display showing the devastation 
caused by the earthquake. Fusion Foundation personnel had set up 
the medical tents within thirty minutes of their arrival. The light 
equipment was in action clearing away debris within an hour. By 
four hours, everything was in place to provide the highest quality 
emergency response possible. They were feeding almost a 
thousand people an hour and handing out bottles of water 
throughout the region. 

News reporters had shown up and were covering the story of the 
arrival of the Fusion Foundation on the scene. The robin egg blue 
coveralls with the bright yellow backpacks gave the people a clear 
identity that was clearly different from a military group. The 
backpacks contained first aid kits, food, water, and tools useful for 
clearing away debris. 

The central display had been changed from a map of the world to a 
map of the region in which the people were working. Another 
display showed the supplies remaining and the rate of 
consumption. Ed turned to Ellen and said, "Have logistics locate 
sources of bottled water in Europe. Get several suppliers 
distributed across Europe, we don't want to overwhelm any single 
producer. Order the water for immediate delivery to the closest 
large airport. Use a simple money transfer to pay for it. Task 
planes to pick up the purchases."

Ellen turned to her console and entered the orders. He watched the 
news channel and saw that John was going to address the press 
corps within ten minutes. It was not a surprise when the phone 
rang. Answering it, Ed said, "Hello John."

John asked, "How did you know it was me?"

"It's the first call I've gotten since this whole thing started and I just 
saw that you're about to give a press conference in ten minutes," 
answered Ed. 

The sound of John's laughter filled his ear piece. John said, "Well, 
I wanted to let you know about the water situation."

As he punched the keyboard, the status of the water order showed 
up on his screen. Ed said, "Okay, we've ordered about fifteen 
thousand bottles of water. Flight plans have been filed for your 
planes and they'll be receiving their tasking orders in about ten 
minutes."

Surprised by the news, John asked, "You knew that we were going 
to need more water?"

Ed laughed and answered, "Of course. We can tell you to the vial 
exactly how much medicine you have and the rate of 
consumption."

John said, "Okay, be that way. I guess I can report that water 
supplies will be assured for the next few days."

"Have you run into any problems?" asked Ed.

"One major problem. We don't speak the language, but one of the 
locals found a bunch of kids taking English in high school and we 
are using them as translators."

Writing himself a note, Ed replied, "I'll include a recommendation 
that we find several schools or colleges in each country and 
support an English program so that we have a cadre of volunteers 
that can translate for us."

"Good thinking. Anyway, I better go satisfy the news hounds," 
said John. 

"I'll talk to you later," said Ed. The conversation was disconnected 
and Ed turned his attention to the television. After a few minutes, 
John appeared dressed in the blue coveralls carrying his walking 
stick and wearing his cloak. Tiger was only visible for a few 
seconds as he followed John to the news podium.

It was four days later that John returned to Phoenix, satisfied that 
the situation in Turkey was under control. Ed had stayed in the 
command console eighteen hours a day for the entire time. When 
John came into the command center, he took one look at Ed and 
said, "Time to get home."

Nodding his head, Ed said, "Okay, let me turn this over to Ellen."

Even before he had finished speaking, Ellen was standing beside 
him. She said, "I'll take over now. Get out of here."

Ed rose and went to the front of the room. Turning to all of the 
desks, he said, "Everyone, I would like to thank you for the 
excellent jobs all of you have done. This was an outstanding 
success. There remains some work to be done, but the immediate 
crisis is over. Everyone will be returning home within a few days 
now that the infrastructure of the country has been restored to a 
point where they can rebuild."

Standing next to Ed, John smiled at how his husband had taken the 
time to thank everyone. John said, "When I started the Fusion 
Foundation, I hoped that it would make a difference. I never in my 
wildest imagination, thought that it would attract so many talented 
and dedicated people. This has been an overwhelming success and 
the fact is that I had very little to do with it. You are the ones that 
made it work. Thank you."

The two men, followed by the cats, left the building to return 
home.  On the way, John said, "I don't know if I like you with a 
beard."

The act of going home helped rejuvenate Ed. With cheer in his 
voice, Ed said, "I came up with a whole list of changes that need to 
be incorporated in operational scenarios. One of them was a 
personal hygiene kit for every person in the command center. We 
had showers and towels, but no toothbrushes, toothpaste, razors, or 
shaving cream."

Laughing at the major gap in capability, John said, "I never said 
we were perfect."

They finally arrived home and parked in the garage. Entering the 
house, the two cats immediately disappeared, happy to able to 
move around freely. The men were met by Bill, who looked at 
them and asked, "Do you want your messages?"

Ed answered, "Might as well get them out of the way."

John just shrugged. Taking that as permission, Bill said, "I'll start 
with John. You've had another message from the President. He 
wants to know if you'll visit the White House. I told him it would 
be unlikely anytime in the near future as per your standing orders. 
Several universities have called and wanted to know if you would 
address the graduates in the graduation ceremonies. One of them is 
the University of Texas and they were the only one that I gave any 
hope of that happening. Ann from the FBI called to find out when 
you expected to return to her office. Let's see, tax forms for the 
quarter are in your inbox."

Puzzled, John asked, "Isn't it kind of late to be inviting me to be a 
speaker for graduation?"

Bill answered, "It is for a year from now."

"Oh, I didn't realize," said John as the answer provided him with a 
better context. He thought about the requests and said, "Let Ann 
know that I'll call her in a couple of days. Remind her that I just 
returned from an earthquake in Turkey. Let UT know that I will do 
my best to give the graduation speech."

"Okay," said Bill. There was one last bit of business to take care of 
before he was done with John. Taking a deep breath, he said, 
"There is an envelope from a member of the staff waiting for you."

Glancing at Ed and the grin on his face, he felt uncomfortable. This 
would he his first invitation to sleep with a member of the staff. 
Blushing a bright red, John said, "I'll look at it after I've rested."

Turning to Ed, Bill shook his head at the reaction of John to the 
news. He said, "Your professor called to let you know that your 
samples have arrived. I let him know that you were dealing with 
the earthquake in Turkey, so he isn't expecting to hear from you 
any time soon. A representative from a mining company wants to 
hire you as a consultant for three days. I have the information for 
you to call him back."

Surprised at the news that someone wanted to hire him as a 
consultant, Ed asked, "Are you sure about that?"

Bill answered, "That is what the gentleman stated. I told him that 
you would call him within a week."

"Neat, I wonder what I can do for him."

Bill continued on covering the list by saying, "The IRS called and 
wanted to know when you would be by the office."

Ed shook his head and replied, "I don't know yet."

Shrugging, Bill said, "You also had a call from Kim Nolan. She 
just wanted you to know that she had seen you on television."

Hearing that his rock hunting buddy had called brought a smile to 
his face. Once again he was too tired to give her his immediate 
attention. He said, "I'll return her call when I wake up."

Raising an eyebrow, Bill said, "You also have an envelope from a 
member of the staff awaiting your response."

This was the third invitation that he had received. The first two 
were from Ling and he had found her a giving lover. She had 
displayed a reservation that suggested she had really been 
interested in having someone else as a lover. He said, "I'll take care 
of that when I'm rested."

Bill looked at his list and said, "You have another invitation from 
Rosa, Maria, and Carlos to visit for dinner. They said that they 
understood that you were a busy man, but they hoped that you 
could come over one evening this month."

Frowning, Ed asked, "What does my calendar look like over the 
next two weeks?"

Bill answered, "I rescheduled all of your appointments for this 
week once I found that you were working at the Fusion 
Foundation. As a result, you have the next three evenings free."

Thinking about it, he realized that he wouldn't be in shape to do 
anything this evening. In fact, he would probably be too tired to 
accommodate the staff member tomorrow. He worked out the 
schedule in his mind and said, "Okay. Ask Maria if tomorrow night 
would be okay. Set aside the night after that for my time with the 
staff member. I'll spend tomorrow around the house, but go into 
Phoenix the next day to visit the IRS and work at the university."

Taking a deep breath, Bill said, "You have tax forms in your inbox. 
And that's the last item for you."

Shaking his head, Ed wondered how six days away from the house 
had led to so many messages. If he didn't know better, one could 
decide that he was important. He sighed, "I'll look at it later. Right 
now, I'm going to shave and take a nap."

The two men had barely entered the family area of the house when 
their wives screamed and came running to them excited to see their 
husbands again. After a round of hugs and kisses, the women let 
the men head to their bedrooms. 
<1st attachment end>


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