TIme Corps 11
I return to find I had a lot better day than Betty Lou. I end up sitting up all night listening. The gist of it, as of the point she got tired of giving him 4 daily blowjobs on weekends, he got tired of her. So odds for romance are not good here. But then they were little better in Canada.
After breakfast I spend all Sunday in bed, what a place!
By the time I roll into class Monday morning, it's all ancient history. I am a professional, this is what I do. I'm very well paid for it thank you and any profession has its downside, its bete noire.
By now I've pretty much decided I'll have to live on base permanently. See only difference is the Time Corps shoulder flash on our uniforms; other than that, we could be any unit. Mils know it, treat you as an adult, size small. Civvies assume you're a cadet, treat you according.
It's not til Monday evening I get a chance to read Le Monde. I'm favorable impressed, it's as good as it ever was. Yeah, I will return to that silly newstand.
This time, it's another clerk. She looks with genuine surprise at my sole item, Le Monde. "Dear," she says cheerfully, "you must really be doing well in school if you can read at that level by now. It's so important for a child to learn to be bilingual."
What can you say? Wordless, I hand over the money.
I cheerfully fold the paper, slide it into my tunic pocket. As I saunter back to my home-away-from-home I decide if no one is there I'll read; if someone is, I'll chat.
Nilofar waves as I come in. I buy coffee at the counter, join her at a table full of MP's.
The MP Sgt, Georgette, grins, "Time Corps girl huh? Only unit doesn't give us business."
"From what I hear, dangers of you going out of business are remote."
Everyone laughs heartily.
With that, I settle in for the chat.
As we start to break up, I ask, "Georgette, your opinion please. Why are things that bad?"
She laughs gently, "Indira, in all of this very careful indoctrination they're giving you, did anyone get around to mentioning the fact that the 100,000 ready force is over 90% draftee?"
I groan aloud, "so lemme guess, 2 kinds, passive resistance, and blatant, where you people get involved."
"Bingo Indira, you catch on quick."
"So why even bother?" I ask, "why a ready force of peacekeepers? If the world wants to go nuts in some of these places, why not let it?"
Georgette grins, "you're a history grad, surely you've read of the concept of 'the white man's burden'. Well that's shifted now, it's the white woman's burden. And since you are as close as it gets to being an honorary white, well you get to join us."
"So Georgette, why not draft men too?"
"Indira honey, it's been tried. Lousy peacekeepers in extremis, get bored, stoke the fires, cause even more trouble than already existed. At least women behave, mostly, when they're out on site. It's on base they go crazy."
"And yet," I persist, "salaries are excellent. So, just the outcast factor? Fact it's socially ah less than desirable?"
"You got it."
As I leave the coffee house, I fall into step with Heidi as she returns from shopping. "Funny one you are. Laughed at you at first, thought you were hopeless for this. Proved me wrong. See, we deal with a huge mountain of contradiction, far more than back home. Us, the whites, not really doing it well. You, breezing on through, absolutely unruffled. I suppose it goes with Hinduism?"
"I'm not, anymore I mean. See before I left Canada, I was doing a lot of reading on Buddhism. Shifted most of my thinking to that."
She laughs, "ah, now I see it, you remind me of a college friend who studied on Buddhism. Maybe I should start. Mind if I ask you for help a bit as I go?"
"I'm certainly no expert. I'll do what I can."
"Thanks, now tell me, do you think shopping here bites? Or is it just me?"
My hand shakes as I read the letter from the Reserve authority. Until further notice my entire platoon is now part of the ready force. Carry on with studies, but be packed just in case.
So what am I afraid of? Illness? No, got the Time Corps injection. Death? No, the Col's assertion to the contrary, I have plenty of evidence that reincarnation exists. It's being left behind my graduating class, having to wait around until another class is convened and up to the same level.
I take my concern to - where else - Col Khan.
"Oh but Indira, odds are really pretty small. Say a minor thing happens, they go with 10,000 or 50,000 troops. Always take regulars, leave the Reservists in their jobs. It's only about once every 2 decades they go with everything including the kitchen sink. Besides, you won't miss class, because I got a similar letter. Any of your cohorts who didn't, they'd just find busywork for them til I get back."
I heave a sigh of relief.
"Now if I were a betting person, I'd put money on New Guinea, near Cape Gloucester. The Ancient Americans were there, World War 2. Might want to read up a bit. Health hazards, you're immune, but your platoon isn't. Any of those jungle campaigns, it was often 4 times as many medical casualties as combat ones."
"You ah think so?"
"Indira, odds are it'll be small, not take the whole ready force. Best be ready, just in case, they are your troops."
After breakfast I spend all Sunday in bed, what a place!
By the time I roll into class Monday morning, it's all ancient history. I am a professional, this is what I do. I'm very well paid for it thank you and any profession has its downside, its bete noire.
By now I've pretty much decided I'll have to live on base permanently. See only difference is the Time Corps shoulder flash on our uniforms; other than that, we could be any unit. Mils know it, treat you as an adult, size small. Civvies assume you're a cadet, treat you according.
It's not til Monday evening I get a chance to read Le Monde. I'm favorable impressed, it's as good as it ever was. Yeah, I will return to that silly newstand.
This time, it's another clerk. She looks with genuine surprise at my sole item, Le Monde. "Dear," she says cheerfully, "you must really be doing well in school if you can read at that level by now. It's so important for a child to learn to be bilingual."
What can you say? Wordless, I hand over the money.
I cheerfully fold the paper, slide it into my tunic pocket. As I saunter back to my home-away-from-home I decide if no one is there I'll read; if someone is, I'll chat.
Nilofar waves as I come in. I buy coffee at the counter, join her at a table full of MP's.
The MP Sgt, Georgette, grins, "Time Corps girl huh? Only unit doesn't give us business."
"From what I hear, dangers of you going out of business are remote."
Everyone laughs heartily.
With that, I settle in for the chat.
As we start to break up, I ask, "Georgette, your opinion please. Why are things that bad?"
She laughs gently, "Indira, in all of this very careful indoctrination they're giving you, did anyone get around to mentioning the fact that the 100,000 ready force is over 90% draftee?"
I groan aloud, "so lemme guess, 2 kinds, passive resistance, and blatant, where you people get involved."
"Bingo Indira, you catch on quick."
"So why even bother?" I ask, "why a ready force of peacekeepers? If the world wants to go nuts in some of these places, why not let it?"
Georgette grins, "you're a history grad, surely you've read of the concept of 'the white man's burden'. Well that's shifted now, it's the white woman's burden. And since you are as close as it gets to being an honorary white, well you get to join us."
"So Georgette, why not draft men too?"
"Indira honey, it's been tried. Lousy peacekeepers in extremis, get bored, stoke the fires, cause even more trouble than already existed. At least women behave, mostly, when they're out on site. It's on base they go crazy."
"And yet," I persist, "salaries are excellent. So, just the outcast factor? Fact it's socially ah less than desirable?"
"You got it."
As I leave the coffee house, I fall into step with Heidi as she returns from shopping. "Funny one you are. Laughed at you at first, thought you were hopeless for this. Proved me wrong. See, we deal with a huge mountain of contradiction, far more than back home. Us, the whites, not really doing it well. You, breezing on through, absolutely unruffled. I suppose it goes with Hinduism?"
"I'm not, anymore I mean. See before I left Canada, I was doing a lot of reading on Buddhism. Shifted most of my thinking to that."
She laughs, "ah, now I see it, you remind me of a college friend who studied on Buddhism. Maybe I should start. Mind if I ask you for help a bit as I go?"
"I'm certainly no expert. I'll do what I can."
"Thanks, now tell me, do you think shopping here bites? Or is it just me?"
My hand shakes as I read the letter from the Reserve authority. Until further notice my entire platoon is now part of the ready force. Carry on with studies, but be packed just in case.
So what am I afraid of? Illness? No, got the Time Corps injection. Death? No, the Col's assertion to the contrary, I have plenty of evidence that reincarnation exists. It's being left behind my graduating class, having to wait around until another class is convened and up to the same level.
I take my concern to - where else - Col Khan.
"Oh but Indira, odds are really pretty small. Say a minor thing happens, they go with 10,000 or 50,000 troops. Always take regulars, leave the Reservists in their jobs. It's only about once every 2 decades they go with everything including the kitchen sink. Besides, you won't miss class, because I got a similar letter. Any of your cohorts who didn't, they'd just find busywork for them til I get back."
I heave a sigh of relief.
"Now if I were a betting person, I'd put money on New Guinea, near Cape Gloucester. The Ancient Americans were there, World War 2. Might want to read up a bit. Health hazards, you're immune, but your platoon isn't. Any of those jungle campaigns, it was often 4 times as many medical casualties as combat ones."
"You ah think so?"
"Indira, odds are it'll be small, not take the whole ready force. Best be ready, just in case, they are your troops."
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