F R E E    on    the    S E A

ARKON   CH-09    SanFran Weather Watch

Thursday, 0800, SanFran Vostok Office

The sound of doors opening and closing woke everyone to the smell of fresh coffee. They gathered in the conference room and were enjoying the coffee when a staff member brought in a tray of scrambled egg bacon sandwiches on toast.

"Here is our plan for this morning," said Natasha, "We will pass out weapons after breakfast, then two by two we will leave five minutes apart and walk a few blocks to one of the pickup points for a rent-a-van ride over the bridge and get out close to the weather watch office on the other side."

"Here are your 9 mm compact pistols and shoulder holsters," said Sergei. "And here are your 8-inch boot knives with clip on scabbard and 10 in belt knives with belt scabbard," said Natasha, "Please do not leave these stuck in a body somewhere; they are very expensive Hand Forged Dragonslayer Steel and harder than a samurai sword. So they will cut through Kevlar. They will hold an edge for a very long time. We got them from the University Metallurgy lab."

"Do we need permits for the pistol," asked Nobi. "No, Boss Chaco believes everyone should be armed because it cuts down on crime," said Sergei, "You can even buy a handmade single shot pistol for a few creds. So you assume at least 75% of the population has some kind of weapon hidden on them."

"If you know someone who can grow the seeds we gave you, tell them they are special genetic hybrids," said Renka, They should take care to avoid cross-pollination."

Just after 0900, Stakka's team, paired with the locals, filtered out two by two. By 0930 they had assembled on the North Bridge Street curb where there were three old vans parked waiting. The first one had six passengers and was waiting for 10 before it left. Sergei negotiated with the second van driver to go early if he bought 10 tickets. The driver agreed and they piled in and left.

While crossing the bridge Natasha instructed the driver take us all the way to the 3rd overpass please. She explained to the rest of them that the first overpass was a 3-cred ticket, the 2nd overpass a 4-cred ticket, the third overpass a 5-cred ticket. Under each overpass was a collection of hire vans and motorcycle taxis that you could engage to take you to different parts of Richmond or Oakland.

When they got out under the 3rd overpass they zigzagged a few streets North to the one where the weather watch office was. Once inside they met Jake's partner Karen. She said, "I have some lunch snacks in the conference room in back and some hot tea to warm you up."

After lunch their escort went back to the van pickup point and returned to the San Fran Vostok Cargo Office.

Jake was explaining the office layout saying, "Karen and I will man the front office, Stakka and Renka will take this office on the right, and Loki and Nobi will have the office just across the hall. The next room down is bigger and empty right now and is where we will put the weather watch equipment. It was delivered late yesterday and is in the room across the hall. In the back, of course, we have the large conference room with the emergency exit and a stair to the roof. We have made arrangements with the landlord to use the roof above the 5th floor for mounting any equipment we need plus we have room for some garden and enclosed grow space."

Stakka said,"Why don't Loki and Nobi inventory the equipment, and Renka and I will bring a folding table from the conference room to the equipment room."

A couple hours later Jay came in and said, "It's getting dark outside early, why don't we close up and head for the apartment."

They went out and down the street one block before making a left for a block and then a right at the next intersection. Along the way they saw a couple of push carts serving barbecued bushmeat and a couple of Walking Vendors with trays, cigarettes for sale one by one and little bottles of clean water, doobies, fruit, and jerky strips. The streets were relatively clean compared to San Fran, which were a little trashy in places.

"That's our apartment up ahead," said Jake, "It's called The Oasis." "The first floor is a collection of individual businesses, and the residences are on the 2nd through the 5th floor. The 6th floor is sealed off as a buffer from the 7th through the 10th floors which are open to homeless squatters. The inside stairs go only to the 5th floor while the outside stairs only go to the 7th through 10th floors. So there is some security there. The mini mall on the first floor is mostly recycled goods like clothes, tools, cell phones, and valuable junk. There are three or four shops with fresh bagels, barbecue, and fresh daily sandwiches."

Once inside Jake's room, 207, Karen said, "Leave your capes on the hooks by the door here and Jake will make some coffee while I check to see if your rooms are ready." The rooms were laid out like a large all-in-one efficiency apartment. In the back was a kitchen counter, a small table with 4 chairs, and a small bathroom. The front area was a fold-up bed, a sofa, and a coffee table.

As Jake made the coffee he explained, "We have low pressure running water and 220 volt 50 cycle current. Both are metered in the hallway. Occasionally they will both go out for a half a day while some repair gets made. So we have a two and a half gallon plastic container of clean water for emergency." Jake put the water on to boil in a little electric hot pot and showed them the cups and instant coffee, cream, and sugar so they could fix it how they like. He made a cup for himself and one for Karen.

They had only taken a few sips when Karen showed up and said, "Your rooms are ready. I told our friends yesterday to clean them up by lunch today and they've done a good job. So Stakka and Renka get 205 and Loki and nobe get 209." "Hey, that calls for a celebration," said Loki, "Who wants to share a Blu Zinger?" They all laughed and said, "Do it."

Jake showed them to their rooms to put their gear away and said, "At 8 we'll take you downstairs for a light dinner in our favorite soup and sandwich shop."

After they ordered their vegetable pork soup and curry chicken sandwiches with lettuce and tomato, Stakka asked, "Do you hear any news from Chicago?" "Not for six or seven years said Jake. We used to get a train once a week, then once a month, then once a quarter, and then nothing." "Three years ago a team went on a little powered hand cart," said Karen, "And reported back that all the little villages and towns along the way, and even Chicago, seemed deserted. Then two years ago a little convoy of 3 small carts went to conduct Salvage, but only one came back a month later, and said they had been ambushed by a large band of armed robbers in the desert."

"The food is quite delicious," said Nobi, how do they get it so fresh?" "The pork and chicken products come from Farmer Brown's Building, about 3 km away, sometimes called Downtown Brown," said Jake, "The 6th floor is the isolation from the paying residents, then the 7th floor is for chilling and butchering hogs and chickens, and the methane digester to convert scraps and shit into gas for a small generator. The 8th floor is slaughtering and Tanning. The 9th and 10th and 11th floors are for fattening up the Hogs. The 12th floor is the sow's for breeding piglets. The thirteenth and Fourteenth and Fifteenth floors are for growing the chickens to fryer size. The 16th floor and 17th is for the layer hens, the 18th floor is for breeding and raising the chicks. There's another Downtown Brown about 15 kilometers away. What happens is they collect all the food scraps in a 7 km radius and use that to feed their stock."  Karen added, "The lettuce and tomato come from rooftop gardens and some hydroponic operations."

A little after 0930 Stakka's team thanked them for the food and they all went up to their rooms.

   (expect posts Sat 8 am EST)

~    ~    ~  ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~    ~   ~    ~    ~  ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   

  X