Free Redwood: Servant of the State by Jaxon Reed Page B

periphery, a red square appeared next to it. Both squares flashed brightly. Mrs. Cruz froze the simulation.
    “The squares represent projected activity paths, based on prior times and locations. This is our most likely prediction, based on the patterns we’ve seen, for Fred to meet up with a hunter-gathering party at those coordinates.”
    “How likely?”
    “The model indicates a seventy-nine percent probability.”
    Jenkins nodded. “That’s pretty high.”
    “That’s very high.”
    “When’s the time window?”
    “Six days from today.”
    “Okay. We’ll have a team in place in five.”
    -+-
    I paused to stretch. When I volunteered for garden duty, I discovered Mrs. Ng was in charge of produce for the Ranger station. A short, brown woman, with both brown skin and hair, she had a naturally dour disposition. But she seemed at least a little happy to have a fresh volunteer, and quickly put me to work.
    All morning I’d been shucking corn in a storage hut filled with a fresh shipment, and I had six large barrels full to mark my progress. It was mindless work, but I felt like I was doing something to contribute. I stretched again, and considered starting my seventh barrel when the door to the hut opened.
    “Hey lazy bones. Get back to work.” Dee Dee grinned.
    “Lazy? Look at those barrels marking my progress this morning. What have you been doing? Punching buttons in a computer for a statistical model? Men like me have to do real work.”
    She snorted, sat down beside me and started peeling the skin off a cob.
    “We all do our part here to help. Both manual and mental labor. Even Daddy chips in on chores.”
    I went back to shucking with her, and we worked in silence for a while. She smelled nice.
    “Are you ready for the expedition?”
    “Sure, I guess. I mean, I have my food pack ready. And my omnicam. You?”
    She nodded. “Mom’s not happy I’m going. Connie is convinced you’re going to attack me and the rest of crew as soon as we leave.”
    I rolled my eyes. “Of course she is.”
    She giggled. We worked quietly a few more minutes.
    “So, lots of controversy over the Professor’s picks, huh?”
    She nodded. “Some. But he makes a convincing argument. There is a risk of attack from Fred, but he thinks taking young people on the team will be an advantage. Most of the researchers here are over forty. Some are middle-aged, even. They’ve been here a long time. And it’s not like they’re not physically fit, but they’re not as spry as they used to be.”
    I could see Professor Cruz’s line of reasoning. I wondered how many objected to him going, seeing as he was rather old himself.
    I wasn’t allowed in on that meeting. But I knew the vote passed the way the Professor wanted it, and the team was set. It included the triplets, Dee Dee, Ranger Jenkins and his wife Ella, the Professor, the Physician, and me.
    A dirty blonde head popped through the doorway.
    “There you are, Dee Dee. The Professor says he needs your help calibrating the replacement sensors we’re bringing.”
    “Okay, Jeremy. I’ll be there in a minute.”
    When he was gone I said, “How’d you know that was Jeremy?”
    “You can’t tell them apart yet? Jeremy has a small scar above his right eyebrow from a fight when they were little. Jason has a scar to the side of his left eye, and Jacob has a couple of light freckles on his cheek.”
    “I see.”
    And I did. She was highly intelligent, had extraordinary situational awareness, a sharp mind and good memory.
    “Are you well fed?”
    “You mean on blood? Yeah, they’ve been overfeeding me to see what happens. Physician Patel said somebody’s been donating so the blood bank doesn’t get depleted.”
    “That was me.”
    I whipped my head toward her. “That was you?”
    She shrugged. “They asked for a volunteer to donate some blood for you. So I did.”
    It dawned on me why I was asked to sit out that last meeting. Then I started thinking about all her blood I’d