Story What the Hell Happened? Story Slice- Monica and Tanya's tale
- Thread starter ComCamGuy
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feralferret
Veteran Member
Thank you.
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
A Couple Days Later
Tanya was working through the stuff from the motorcycle, putting some things away, resetting others when she came across the note her father left for her in the storage unit.
She read it again when something stood out to her. It wasn’t important to her then, but now they were at the house…
‘The rest of the answers are in your favorite book’
Back in the house she went, straight for the shelves below her bedroom. Her favorite book growing up was ‘The Three Musketeers’. Monica’s was ‘The Counte of Monte Christo’, but Tanya thought Musketeers had a better villain set.
She went to the bookshelf and found her old, battered paperback copy. Pulling it from the shelf, she looked in it, around it, behind it, but found nothing. No notations, no letters no anything. That didn’t make any sense. With all the meticulous preparations and elements, there should have been something.
She thought and she thought. Then she went to the master bedroom, to the bookcases in there. By now Monica had joined her. She handed Monica the note. While she read, Tanya searched. There were hundreds of books on each of the two bookcases, but she was able to find a large hardbound copy of ‘The Three Musketeers’.
Monica was next to her now as Tanya opened the book. Inside was a slip of paper. In their father’s slanted scrawl was a single sentence.
‘It’s good, but it’s no ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’.’
She showed it to Monica.
“Really? What the ****, dad?” Monica said after she read it.
“Got to be another book thing.” Tanya said.
“Back to the books.” Monica said.
For the next however long they scanned the two bookshelves in the master bedroom, but no fifty shades of grey to be found. Then they went back to the other bookcases below their own bedrooms. Nothing. Then Monica had a thought. They went to the DVD collection. That’s where they found it.
It was a simple DVD package for ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’. When they pulled it out and opened it, they weren’t exactly sure what they found. OK, they were sure what it was, just not what it meant. Inside the DVD case, was a different DVD than what the case said. In it’s place was a copy of the television show ‘Hogan’s Hero’s’.
Monica and Tanya just stood there and stared at each other. Then they looked at the rest of the DVDs. Nowhere could they find a case for the Hogan’s Hero’s DVD, dashing their hopes they could just go get whatever answers their father was trying to tell them from a note in the other case.
They thought and they thought until Monica had an epiphany.
“Come on!” She took off to the master bedroom.
By the time Tnya caught up, Monica was over by the bed, digging in the bedding.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Get on the other side and grab the manacle.” Monica said without looking up.
“What?”
“Just ****ing do it, OK?” Monica said as she was tugging and pulling.
Tanya walked around and dug the manacle from where it was clipped to the end of the bed. She looked over at Monica. “No what? We turn Randal and Greta loose in here for some ‘kinky fun time’ or what?”
Monica scowled back at her.
“No, and not a good idea to bring up around her. Just shut up and lift.”
Tanya tugged at the manacle, expecting it to be as solid as you would want something to be for this purpose, but it had some give.
“Come on, damn it. Lift!” Monica barked at her.
To Tanya’s surprise, the end of the bed lifted up, wooden inner platform and all. As it came higher, she could see gas struts helping the process. It reminded her of the bed platforms in RVs that had the hidden storage underneath.
As the end of the bed got higher. Monica started doing something else.
“Clip your side to the upper rings.”
Tanya looked and, low and behold! They lined up perfectly! She clipped the end of the platform to the roof of the bed box. When she looked inside, she couldn’t say she was completely surprised, but she was still amazed.
Monica leaned down and flipped a small switch on the inside below the platform. Soft lights came on down below, revealing a set of stairs.
Tanya was working through the stuff from the motorcycle, putting some things away, resetting others when she came across the note her father left for her in the storage unit.
She read it again when something stood out to her. It wasn’t important to her then, but now they were at the house…
‘The rest of the answers are in your favorite book’
Back in the house she went, straight for the shelves below her bedroom. Her favorite book growing up was ‘The Three Musketeers’. Monica’s was ‘The Counte of Monte Christo’, but Tanya thought Musketeers had a better villain set.
She went to the bookshelf and found her old, battered paperback copy. Pulling it from the shelf, she looked in it, around it, behind it, but found nothing. No notations, no letters no anything. That didn’t make any sense. With all the meticulous preparations and elements, there should have been something.
She thought and she thought. Then she went to the master bedroom, to the bookcases in there. By now Monica had joined her. She handed Monica the note. While she read, Tanya searched. There were hundreds of books on each of the two bookcases, but she was able to find a large hardbound copy of ‘The Three Musketeers’.
Monica was next to her now as Tanya opened the book. Inside was a slip of paper. In their father’s slanted scrawl was a single sentence.
‘It’s good, but it’s no ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’.’
She showed it to Monica.
“Really? What the ****, dad?” Monica said after she read it.
“Got to be another book thing.” Tanya said.
“Back to the books.” Monica said.
For the next however long they scanned the two bookshelves in the master bedroom, but no fifty shades of grey to be found. Then they went back to the other bookcases below their own bedrooms. Nothing. Then Monica had a thought. They went to the DVD collection. That’s where they found it.
It was a simple DVD package for ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’. When they pulled it out and opened it, they weren’t exactly sure what they found. OK, they were sure what it was, just not what it meant. Inside the DVD case, was a different DVD than what the case said. In it’s place was a copy of the television show ‘Hogan’s Hero’s’.
Monica and Tanya just stood there and stared at each other. Then they looked at the rest of the DVDs. Nowhere could they find a case for the Hogan’s Hero’s DVD, dashing their hopes they could just go get whatever answers their father was trying to tell them from a note in the other case.
They thought and they thought until Monica had an epiphany.
“Come on!” She took off to the master bedroom.
By the time Tnya caught up, Monica was over by the bed, digging in the bedding.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Get on the other side and grab the manacle.” Monica said without looking up.
“What?”
“Just ****ing do it, OK?” Monica said as she was tugging and pulling.
Tanya walked around and dug the manacle from where it was clipped to the end of the bed. She looked over at Monica. “No what? We turn Randal and Greta loose in here for some ‘kinky fun time’ or what?”
Monica scowled back at her.
“No, and not a good idea to bring up around her. Just shut up and lift.”
Tanya tugged at the manacle, expecting it to be as solid as you would want something to be for this purpose, but it had some give.
“Come on, damn it. Lift!” Monica barked at her.
To Tanya’s surprise, the end of the bed lifted up, wooden inner platform and all. As it came higher, she could see gas struts helping the process. It reminded her of the bed platforms in RVs that had the hidden storage underneath.
As the end of the bed got higher. Monica started doing something else.
“Clip your side to the upper rings.”
Tanya looked and, low and behold! They lined up perfectly! She clipped the end of the platform to the roof of the bed box. When she looked inside, she couldn’t say she was completely surprised, but she was still amazed.
Monica leaned down and flipped a small switch on the inside below the platform. Soft lights came on down below, revealing a set of stairs.
223shootersc
Veteran Member
Thanks, CCG!
feralferret
Veteran Member
Does it come out under a fake tree stump?
Thanks!
Thanks!
larry_minn
Senior Member
They were so quick to think parents were into kinky stuff. Question. ÎF raiders found place. Woukd not handy restraints be used? Finding them loose, the secret could be found? But then again at that point loved ones likely dead. Loving the story.
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Into the Unknown
Monica was the first one down the stairs, with plenty of glances over her shoulder at Tanya. Even what they both knew of their parents, the biggest thing was they kept finding surprises.
The bottom of the stairs ended at a T intersection. Monica just stood and waited for Tanya. Tanya got to the bottom and looked around.
“Oh, come on!” Tanya blurted. Monica just smiled.
To either side of the T, the way as blocked by what appeared to be a pair of huge bank vault doors.
“You got to be shitting me!” Tanya said. Monica just smiled. “What the **** are you smiling at? With what it took to even find the stairs, God knows where he hid the combos!”
Monica just smiled and shook her head. She reached out and rapped her knuckles on the vault door. A hollow thump, not the sound of a vault door. Tanya reached over and touched the door.
“That son of a bitch!”
Monica just smiled. “It had to be Mom’s joke.” She pushed the pocket door back into it’s frame.
Now it was Tanya just shaking her head as she watched the vinal-wrapped wood pocket door slide open. She followed Monica in.
The room wasn’t that big, all of eight or ten feet square. A small desk and chair, a couple old barrister style bookshelves, a cabinet and a rifle cabinet all lined the walls, along with another door. Monica started looking through the stuff on the desk while Tanya started looking at the shelves and cabinet.
Monica was surprised at all of the stuff she found. The biggest thing she found was a large set of small leather-bound notebooks. As she thumbed through them, she saw they were filled with handwritten notes.
She scanned them and it dawned on her these were her father’s journals of his trips and missions. She quickly got lost, deep in what her father did. She was pulled back to the here and now by Tanya.
“Did you know about any of this?”
“Any of what?” Monica turned and looked at Tanya, who was holding a couple small gym bag-shaped leather duffels. Tanya set one on the desk for Monica to look at.
Monica was the first one down the stairs, with plenty of glances over her shoulder at Tanya. Even what they both knew of their parents, the biggest thing was they kept finding surprises.
The bottom of the stairs ended at a T intersection. Monica just stood and waited for Tanya. Tanya got to the bottom and looked around.
“Oh, come on!” Tanya blurted. Monica just smiled.
To either side of the T, the way as blocked by what appeared to be a pair of huge bank vault doors.
“You got to be shitting me!” Tanya said. Monica just smiled. “What the **** are you smiling at? With what it took to even find the stairs, God knows where he hid the combos!”
Monica just smiled and shook her head. She reached out and rapped her knuckles on the vault door. A hollow thump, not the sound of a vault door. Tanya reached over and touched the door.
“That son of a bitch!”
Monica just smiled. “It had to be Mom’s joke.” She pushed the pocket door back into it’s frame.
Now it was Tanya just shaking her head as she watched the vinal-wrapped wood pocket door slide open. She followed Monica in.
The room wasn’t that big, all of eight or ten feet square. A small desk and chair, a couple old barrister style bookshelves, a cabinet and a rifle cabinet all lined the walls, along with another door. Monica started looking through the stuff on the desk while Tanya started looking at the shelves and cabinet.
Monica was surprised at all of the stuff she found. The biggest thing she found was a large set of small leather-bound notebooks. As she thumbed through them, she saw they were filled with handwritten notes.
She scanned them and it dawned on her these were her father’s journals of his trips and missions. She quickly got lost, deep in what her father did. She was pulled back to the here and now by Tanya.
“Did you know about any of this?”
“Any of what?” Monica turned and looked at Tanya, who was holding a couple small gym bag-shaped leather duffels. Tanya set one on the desk for Monica to look at.
223shootersc
Veteran Member
Thanks, CCG!
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Digging for Answers, Finding More Questions
Tanya was going through the stuff in the room while Monica was reading something on the desk. There were several rifles and pistols, night vision stuff and some other gear. She moved to the cabinet and that’s where she found something that knocked her sideways.
Four small leather bags on a shelf. Each one was all of a foot and a half long and a foot across. They were the size of nineteen-seventies gym bags, but they were made out of thick high-quality leather, more suitable for baseball gloves or saddles. Small metal tags hung off the end of each. She looked closer at the tags. Each had an initial. One for all of them.
She picked up the one with a ‘T’. It was heavier than expected given it’s size. She pulled back the heavy zipper. The first thing she saw inside was something out of a spy movie. She pulled out a small stack of colored leather folios with gold or silver embossing on them. She slid one out and looked at it.
Black cover, embossed ‘US Diplomatic Passport’. She flipped open the cover. Inside was her picture, but the last name was different. What the ****?
Maroon cover, Canadian Diplomatic Passport.
Midnight Blue, French Diplomatic Passport.
Burgundy, Polish Diplomatic Passport.
Turquoise, Norwegian Diplomatic Passport.
All of them had her most current driver’s license picture, and a different last name on each. There was a pair of credit cards and a slip of paper with a POC and address, along with several typed sheets of some other info in each of the passports.
She dug lower. Bundles of cash! Ten thousand in Canadian, Ten thousand in American, twenty thousand in Euros! Holy Shit! Dogtag chains with tags and small flags along with several keys and unused lead baggage seals.
This shit was surreal!
She looked from her bag over at the other three on the shelf. She had to see if they were outfitted the same, even though she knew already they would be. She saw a sheet of paper taped up on the inside of the door of the cabinet, covered in her father’s scrawl.
‘Girls- These we made in case things from my job or your mother’s past caught up to us here and we had to bolt. I’ve kept them up to date as best I could over the years. These are a Hail Mary parachute.
Contact info for the various countries are in the passports. If you have to use the bolt bags, use the seal on the bag and call it a diplomatic pouch. Trust no one not on the contact list, use only one of the passport names, never your own. The backstory in each one is old but still backstopped.’
Tanya wasn’t sure what to make of all of this. Who the **** were her parents? Even with everything she and Monica had known, this was still ****ing out there. She looked around the small room, trying to understand. Maybe Monica had the info in what she was reading. She took a pair of the bags over to the desk.
Tanya was going through the stuff in the room while Monica was reading something on the desk. There were several rifles and pistols, night vision stuff and some other gear. She moved to the cabinet and that’s where she found something that knocked her sideways.
Four small leather bags on a shelf. Each one was all of a foot and a half long and a foot across. They were the size of nineteen-seventies gym bags, but they were made out of thick high-quality leather, more suitable for baseball gloves or saddles. Small metal tags hung off the end of each. She looked closer at the tags. Each had an initial. One for all of them.
She picked up the one with a ‘T’. It was heavier than expected given it’s size. She pulled back the heavy zipper. The first thing she saw inside was something out of a spy movie. She pulled out a small stack of colored leather folios with gold or silver embossing on them. She slid one out and looked at it.
Black cover, embossed ‘US Diplomatic Passport’. She flipped open the cover. Inside was her picture, but the last name was different. What the ****?
Maroon cover, Canadian Diplomatic Passport.
Midnight Blue, French Diplomatic Passport.
Burgundy, Polish Diplomatic Passport.
Turquoise, Norwegian Diplomatic Passport.
All of them had her most current driver’s license picture, and a different last name on each. There was a pair of credit cards and a slip of paper with a POC and address, along with several typed sheets of some other info in each of the passports.
She dug lower. Bundles of cash! Ten thousand in Canadian, Ten thousand in American, twenty thousand in Euros! Holy Shit! Dogtag chains with tags and small flags along with several keys and unused lead baggage seals.
This shit was surreal!
She looked from her bag over at the other three on the shelf. She had to see if they were outfitted the same, even though she knew already they would be. She saw a sheet of paper taped up on the inside of the door of the cabinet, covered in her father’s scrawl.
‘Girls- These we made in case things from my job or your mother’s past caught up to us here and we had to bolt. I’ve kept them up to date as best I could over the years. These are a Hail Mary parachute.
Contact info for the various countries are in the passports. If you have to use the bolt bags, use the seal on the bag and call it a diplomatic pouch. Trust no one not on the contact list, use only one of the passport names, never your own. The backstory in each one is old but still backstopped.’
Tanya wasn’t sure what to make of all of this. Who the **** were her parents? Even with everything she and Monica had known, this was still ****ing out there. She looked around the small room, trying to understand. Maybe Monica had the info in what she was reading. She took a pair of the bags over to the desk.
Last edited:
223shootersc
Veteran Member
Curiouser and Curiouser! Thanks CCG!
Last edited:
feralferret
Veteran Member
Thank you.
Kiwibutterfly
Contributing Member
Thank you
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Later
Tanya’s find had them perplexed. They confirmed the other bags were matched for all four people. They dug around some more and found no real answers. They found little bits of this and that which only added to their questions. There were several different sets of ‘wedding photos’, all with different backgrounds at different places with different people. Some of the people they thought they recognized from the funerals. Others were strangers.
Documents for all kinds of things were neatly organized in accordion folios, each with corresponding locations; Canada, Poland, France, Norway, Czec Republic. The largest one and one of the only ones they could make any sense of language-wise was the largest one marked ‘US’.
Inside that one, things were broken out into sub-locations and within that, down to deeds, rollover rentals, management companies, points of contact, and so on and so on. One weird thing was at the front of each location subfolder was a list of aliases, or as her Dad put it, ‘Who we are here’.
More than once, they just looked at each other with a profoundingly emphatic ‘What the ****?’
When they had looked at everything, they turned to the next puzzle. There was the other door in this room, and the other door at the bottom of the stairwell. With what they found so far, they were hesitant to dig much farther.
Tanya’s find had them perplexed. They confirmed the other bags were matched for all four people. They dug around some more and found no real answers. They found little bits of this and that which only added to their questions. There were several different sets of ‘wedding photos’, all with different backgrounds at different places with different people. Some of the people they thought they recognized from the funerals. Others were strangers.
Documents for all kinds of things were neatly organized in accordion folios, each with corresponding locations; Canada, Poland, France, Norway, Czec Republic. The largest one and one of the only ones they could make any sense of language-wise was the largest one marked ‘US’.
Inside that one, things were broken out into sub-locations and within that, down to deeds, rollover rentals, management companies, points of contact, and so on and so on. One weird thing was at the front of each location subfolder was a list of aliases, or as her Dad put it, ‘Who we are here’.
More than once, they just looked at each other with a profoundingly emphatic ‘What the ****?’
When they had looked at everything, they turned to the next puzzle. There was the other door in this room, and the other door at the bottom of the stairwell. With what they found so far, they were hesitant to dig much farther.
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
They chose the door within the room they were in.
It wasn’t much more than a large closet. Another door was directly across from the one they opened. A simple light fixture with switches illuminated the space. There wasn’t much room for them inside, the space taken up by two massive antique armoires.
When they began exploring the armoires, it was rapidly apparent that one was their father’s and one was their mother’s. One section of their mothers had shelves holding a jewelry box, some photo albums and other boxes full of keepsakes. The hanging portion held several hanging garment bags. As they looked inside, they were wedding dresses and other formal attire.
Their father’s held a male’s version of the same. One thing they both had pinned to the inside wall of the cabinets was a picture of the four of them. It was taken during one of their rare vacation trips.
They were at a mountain cabin. The air was clear, the water in the tiny lake was cold and they were having fun just relaxing. This picture was of them sitting beside the fire ring. Everyone was happy and had a huge smile.
It was time to check out the other door.
It wasn’t much more than a large closet. Another door was directly across from the one they opened. A simple light fixture with switches illuminated the space. There wasn’t much room for them inside, the space taken up by two massive antique armoires.
When they began exploring the armoires, it was rapidly apparent that one was their father’s and one was their mother’s. One section of their mothers had shelves holding a jewelry box, some photo albums and other boxes full of keepsakes. The hanging portion held several hanging garment bags. As they looked inside, they were wedding dresses and other formal attire.
Their father’s held a male’s version of the same. One thing they both had pinned to the inside wall of the cabinets was a picture of the four of them. It was taken during one of their rare vacation trips.
They were at a mountain cabin. The air was clear, the water in the tiny lake was cold and they were having fun just relaxing. This picture was of them sitting beside the fire ring. Everyone was happy and had a huge smile.
It was time to check out the other door.
223shootersc
Veteran Member
Thanks, CCG!
sssarawolf
We're just plugging along.
I got to catch up again before my pc crashed again, thank you.
feralferret
Veteran Member
Thank you.
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
On this side, things were a little more jumbled. There were shelves at one end with boxes and bins, each with labels. Monica moved over and opened one of the boxes with her name on it. Inside was stuff of hers growing up. Pictures, report cards, baby book and so on. She peeked into one of the ones with Tanya’s name and it was more of the same.
While Monica did this, Tanya looked at other things. There was an old sewing machine table. The kind where the machine drops into the surface and the extension closes over it making a smooth surface. There was a treadle and a foot switch underneath.
On the wall behind the sewing machine were a bunch of pull out drawers full of thread and needles and who knew what other stuff. A row of lids were screwed to the low ceiling and glass jars full of buttons and other things hung from their lids. All of this stuff was their mother’s and obviously their father never got rid of it. Instead, he just shoved more boxes in here with the bolts of cloth and stacks of patterns.
Near the other door into the room was several stacks of boxes. These were full of stuff their father put in here for safekeeping. Photo albums, cake topper from their parent’s wedding, keepsakes from various trips, and on and on. Some of them had all the family in them or were trips Tanya remembered, some weren’t. Mostly they were things their father couldn’t bring himself to part with, but didn’t know what to do with them.
With everything they found down here, even with all the answers they got, they just got even more questions. Monica was hopeful the journals would fill in the gaps, but Tanya wasn’t sure how that would help their current situation.
Sure, they had people they could run to in far off lands, but they would have to get there, and there was no telling if things would be any better there. No, right now here was where they would stay. Which brought the next set of issues. They needed to look at how to improve their situation if they could. There were more resources they could get, if they hurried.
One thing Tanya was considering was finding a way to get the rest of the stuff her father left for her in the storage unit. If she went there with something bigger than a motorcycle, and without Randal, she might be able to do it. It was Randal and her name that would still be a trigger for the assholes, but shoot! Now she had alternate identities to work with if she was actually stopped.
She had to be realistic. If she did this, she couldn’t let herself be stopped. A running vehicle would be a flashing neon sign drawing everyone and everything to her if she let it. She would do better with someone to help. Monica would be best, but she didn’t want to leave the kids out here alone. She didn’t want to take Randal back into the danger. No one would connect Greta to Randal, and if they were on the lookout for her hoping she would lead to Randal, they wouldn’t be looking for a pair of women, mother daughter aged. That might help sell the lie and let her not be recognized.
She will have to think more on this, and toss the idea around with the others. Then she would also have to measure what they would get from there with which vehicle to take.
While Monica did this, Tanya looked at other things. There was an old sewing machine table. The kind where the machine drops into the surface and the extension closes over it making a smooth surface. There was a treadle and a foot switch underneath.
On the wall behind the sewing machine were a bunch of pull out drawers full of thread and needles and who knew what other stuff. A row of lids were screwed to the low ceiling and glass jars full of buttons and other things hung from their lids. All of this stuff was their mother’s and obviously their father never got rid of it. Instead, he just shoved more boxes in here with the bolts of cloth and stacks of patterns.
Near the other door into the room was several stacks of boxes. These were full of stuff their father put in here for safekeeping. Photo albums, cake topper from their parent’s wedding, keepsakes from various trips, and on and on. Some of them had all the family in them or were trips Tanya remembered, some weren’t. Mostly they were things their father couldn’t bring himself to part with, but didn’t know what to do with them.
With everything they found down here, even with all the answers they got, they just got even more questions. Monica was hopeful the journals would fill in the gaps, but Tanya wasn’t sure how that would help their current situation.
Sure, they had people they could run to in far off lands, but they would have to get there, and there was no telling if things would be any better there. No, right now here was where they would stay. Which brought the next set of issues. They needed to look at how to improve their situation if they could. There were more resources they could get, if they hurried.
One thing Tanya was considering was finding a way to get the rest of the stuff her father left for her in the storage unit. If she went there with something bigger than a motorcycle, and without Randal, she might be able to do it. It was Randal and her name that would still be a trigger for the assholes, but shoot! Now she had alternate identities to work with if she was actually stopped.
She had to be realistic. If she did this, she couldn’t let herself be stopped. A running vehicle would be a flashing neon sign drawing everyone and everything to her if she let it. She would do better with someone to help. Monica would be best, but she didn’t want to leave the kids out here alone. She didn’t want to take Randal back into the danger. No one would connect Greta to Randal, and if they were on the lookout for her hoping she would lead to Randal, they wouldn’t be looking for a pair of women, mother daughter aged. That might help sell the lie and let her not be recognized.
She will have to think more on this, and toss the idea around with the others. Then she would also have to measure what they would get from there with which vehicle to take.
223shootersc
Veteran Member
Thanks, CCG!
sssarawolf
We're just plugging along.
Thank you. That other stuff might just be to risky to go get.
feralferret
Veteran Member
Thank you.
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
The Next Day
“So, that’s what I was thinking and trying to figure out.” Tanya said to the others around the breakfast table.
“Are you sure there’s enough to make the risk worth going back to town?” Monica asked.
“I don’t know. The other thought is to leave it there, all locked up and treat it like a possible cache if we end up needing it if we went to town for another reason.” Tanya said.
“If we do go back to town, there’s some other stuff in the underground I would want to pick up, like the rest of the medical supplies.”
“I’m not sure how we would get to them. It’s not like we want to try and get in via the bank door you used.”
“No, we’d have to either go in the way I came out, or try to find one of the other doors, and that would mean a lot of prowling around in the basements of old buildings. I don’t know if there’s enough benefit to trying to go back for either location compared to the risks involved.” Monica said.
“OK. So, what do we do next?” Tanya asked.
“SigInt? I can see if the old radio rig in the cabinet in the garage is still hooked up.”
“You know Dad. He wouldn’t have undone it. It’s probably just like it was twenty years ago. Do you still know how to operate it?” Tanya asked.
“Top shelf has all the binders and manuals. Good thing is no computers to catch the virus. Vacuum tubes to the rescue!” Monica said.
Later
They all went to the garage after cleaning up after breakfast. Monica led the group over to one of the wooden cabinets along the wall. Turns out it was designed more like the old computer station armoires. The two doors opened and inside was a more modern looking (i.e mid-50’s) rack of grey metal radio gear full of knobs and meters and speakers and dials.
Monica looked at a clipboard hung on the inside of the door. Pulling it down, she began looking and flipping dials and checking knobs. Finally, she reached for a thin metal band going across one section of the row of grey boxes. She looked back at the others and grinned.
“Power on.”
She flipped the switch. All across the system, lights and needles and buttons lit and moved and clicks and hiss came from a speaker somewhere in the array. Monica reached for a section right above the one she just flipped the switch in and pulled out a section of worksurface like a thin dresser drawer.
“Now we let it warm up, then we see what we can hear.”
“So, that’s what I was thinking and trying to figure out.” Tanya said to the others around the breakfast table.
“Are you sure there’s enough to make the risk worth going back to town?” Monica asked.
“I don’t know. The other thought is to leave it there, all locked up and treat it like a possible cache if we end up needing it if we went to town for another reason.” Tanya said.
“If we do go back to town, there’s some other stuff in the underground I would want to pick up, like the rest of the medical supplies.”
“I’m not sure how we would get to them. It’s not like we want to try and get in via the bank door you used.”
“No, we’d have to either go in the way I came out, or try to find one of the other doors, and that would mean a lot of prowling around in the basements of old buildings. I don’t know if there’s enough benefit to trying to go back for either location compared to the risks involved.” Monica said.
“OK. So, what do we do next?” Tanya asked.
“SigInt? I can see if the old radio rig in the cabinet in the garage is still hooked up.”
“You know Dad. He wouldn’t have undone it. It’s probably just like it was twenty years ago. Do you still know how to operate it?” Tanya asked.
“Top shelf has all the binders and manuals. Good thing is no computers to catch the virus. Vacuum tubes to the rescue!” Monica said.
Later
They all went to the garage after cleaning up after breakfast. Monica led the group over to one of the wooden cabinets along the wall. Turns out it was designed more like the old computer station armoires. The two doors opened and inside was a more modern looking (i.e mid-50’s) rack of grey metal radio gear full of knobs and meters and speakers and dials.
Monica looked at a clipboard hung on the inside of the door. Pulling it down, she began looking and flipping dials and checking knobs. Finally, she reached for a thin metal band going across one section of the row of grey boxes. She looked back at the others and grinned.
“Power on.”
She flipped the switch. All across the system, lights and needles and buttons lit and moved and clicks and hiss came from a speaker somewhere in the array. Monica reached for a section right above the one she just flipped the switch in and pulled out a section of worksurface like a thin dresser drawer.
“Now we let it warm up, then we see what we can hear.”
feralferret
Veteran Member
I had a Hallicrafter SX-111 (top photo of above post) until I moved. My idiot family failed to bring them when they finished the moving while I was in a nursing home recovering from surgery. I also had two HT-37 transmitters they failed to bring. Real radios glow in the dark!
Not as handy as a transceiver, but much better performance than all but the most expensive transceivers. I still have an S-38 Hallicrafter receiver (general coverage) that was my father's. I need to bring it back into working condition. It hasn't been powered up in about 25 years. You have to do it right or you risk blowing capacitors and tubes. They left my spare tubes also.
Not as handy as a transceiver, but much better performance than all but the most expensive transceivers. I still have an S-38 Hallicrafter receiver (general coverage) that was my father's. I need to bring it back into working condition. It hasn't been powered up in about 25 years. You have to do it right or you risk blowing capacitors and tubes. They left my spare tubes also.
223shootersc
Veteran Member
Thanks, CCG!
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Days Later
There was a steep learning curve. That, coupled with the low volume of signals to be heard, made for long bouts of frustration. The information they did get didn’t make things any better.
Evidently sacrificing Greta’s brother didn’t appease the microchip gods, because they didn’t restore everything.
The snippets they were getting told a tale of everything around the globe going dark. If it held a computer program and was able to receive a signal, it died. Older computer-based systems unable to receive a signal were still functioning, but so many things were ‘connected’ anymore, it was few and far between finding things.
Any cars with features like ‘OnStar’ were dead. Satellite radio? Dead. App controlled anything? Dead. The ‘network of things’ ended up a pact of destruction. This spelled disaster for most of the country, hell the world. The third world was better poised to handle things.
“Hell,” Tanya mused, “The Amish might just take over the world!”
This brought a couple chuckles to an otherwise bleak realization.
With this ‘bigger picture’ sort of outlook, the next question was ‘what now’?
There was a steep learning curve. That, coupled with the low volume of signals to be heard, made for long bouts of frustration. The information they did get didn’t make things any better.
Evidently sacrificing Greta’s brother didn’t appease the microchip gods, because they didn’t restore everything.
The snippets they were getting told a tale of everything around the globe going dark. If it held a computer program and was able to receive a signal, it died. Older computer-based systems unable to receive a signal were still functioning, but so many things were ‘connected’ anymore, it was few and far between finding things.
Any cars with features like ‘OnStar’ were dead. Satellite radio? Dead. App controlled anything? Dead. The ‘network of things’ ended up a pact of destruction. This spelled disaster for most of the country, hell the world. The third world was better poised to handle things.
“Hell,” Tanya mused, “The Amish might just take over the world!”
This brought a couple chuckles to an otherwise bleak realization.
With this ‘bigger picture’ sort of outlook, the next question was ‘what now’?
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Totaling and Planning
“We have shelter, we have food for a long time, but not unlimited. We have water, shelter, and a decently defendable position if someone makes their way here, for now. But we should plan for ‘next’, not ‘now’.” Tanya said.
“Sooner or later, the food will run out, and we will be down to tree bark and lizards. I’d like to not get to that point.” Monica said.
“We could grow some food and augment what we have here to stretch it farther.” Greta said.
“Good idea. One problem is I don’t know if our soil here is any good, and I don’t know if we have the seeds to work with. Then there’s the little thing of not knowing how to grow shit part.” Tanya said.
Greta’s face took on a pained expression now. The soft, almost whisper of what came next was almost as hard to hear as it was for Greta to say it.
“If the dumbasses didn’t take it all or burn the place down, I know where we can get seeds and books.”
“We have shelter, we have food for a long time, but not unlimited. We have water, shelter, and a decently defendable position if someone makes their way here, for now. But we should plan for ‘next’, not ‘now’.” Tanya said.
“Sooner or later, the food will run out, and we will be down to tree bark and lizards. I’d like to not get to that point.” Monica said.
“We could grow some food and augment what we have here to stretch it farther.” Greta said.
“Good idea. One problem is I don’t know if our soil here is any good, and I don’t know if we have the seeds to work with. Then there’s the little thing of not knowing how to grow shit part.” Tanya said.
Greta’s face took on a pained expression now. The soft, almost whisper of what came next was almost as hard to hear as it was for Greta to say it.
“If the dumbasses didn’t take it all or burn the place down, I know where we can get seeds and books.”
ComCamGuy
Remote Paramedical pain in the ass
Later
Greta made a diagram of her farm. Where the rooms were, where the barns were, what should be in each, where the extras of this and that were. She knew where their grandmother’s planting books were, and why they might go unnoticed. Where the extra seeds for the vegetable garden were kept when they didn’t plant them all. Their grandmother always said if they got ten packets of seeds, only plant eight and keep the other two, just in case.
When that didn’t compute to Tanya and Monica, Greta said her Grandmother used to keep the other packets and would wait a couple weeks, then plant them in one of the greenhouses they used to have. Once their Grandmother died, they went down to only one greenhouse, and didn’t plant in there that often, but they still did the seed thing out of habit.
Greta burst into tears when she talked about the greenhouse. Turns out that was her brother’s favorite place to play and the two of them spent many long hours in there.
Greta made a diagram of her farm. Where the rooms were, where the barns were, what should be in each, where the extras of this and that were. She knew where their grandmother’s planting books were, and why they might go unnoticed. Where the extra seeds for the vegetable garden were kept when they didn’t plant them all. Their grandmother always said if they got ten packets of seeds, only plant eight and keep the other two, just in case.
When that didn’t compute to Tanya and Monica, Greta said her Grandmother used to keep the other packets and would wait a couple weeks, then plant them in one of the greenhouses they used to have. Once their Grandmother died, they went down to only one greenhouse, and didn’t plant in there that often, but they still did the seed thing out of habit.
Greta burst into tears when she talked about the greenhouse. Turns out that was her brother’s favorite place to play and the two of them spent many long hours in there.
223shootersc
Veteran Member
Thanks, CCG!
sssarawolf
We're just plugging along.
Thank you.
