“Worse.” Angier frowned. “They don’t tell us everything, not even in school. The curriculum is designed to discourage prying minds, but you can’t help but be curious. I came across some banned books once in a house in South Dakota. We’re under standing orders to destroy all unapproved material, but I couldn’t resist the temptation to read a few of these books. From what I was able to piece together, I learned a lot about why things are the way they are. Very enlightening,” he said bitterly.
“Enlighten me,” Blade prompted him.
“The Third World War was a total mess,” Angier stated. “Neither side came out of it as well as they thought they would, despite their anti-missile systems, both land based and the ones in space. None of the leaders on either side survived. The United States Government withdrew to Denver and reorganized under the direction of the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. He was in Denver at the time the war broke out and was spared. His name was Samuel. Samuel Hyde. He implemented something called Executive Order 11490, an order signed into law long ago by a President named Nixon. Under this law, Samuel was able to exercise complete control. The Government evacuated as many citizens as possible into what is now known as the Civilized Zone. Samuel confiscated all firearms, seized control of all communications channels, nationalized all industry, took control of all forms of travel, began censoring all mail, and impressed whole segments of the population into enforced national service.” Angier dolefully shook his head. “So much for the once-relatively-free country known as the United States of America,” he said acidly.
“How could he get away with it?” Blade queried.
“It was all in the name of national security,” Angier informed him.
“That Executive Order gave him the power and the legal right. I don’t think most Americans even knew it existed.”
“Why didn’t the people stop him?”
Angier snickered. “How were they supposed to do that? They’d just been through the worst war in the history of mankind. They weren’t in much shape for resisting anything. Besides, Samuel had control of the Armed Forces and confiscated all privately owned firearms. How were they going to rebel? Stones and sticks aren’t much good against tanks.”
Blade was attempting to absorb the implications of Angier’s revelations. “How much territory does this Civilized Zone include?”
“Oh,” Angier said, “the boundaries aren’t clearly defined, but generally the Civilized Zone is made up of the former states of Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, southern Wyoming, eastern Arizona, New Mexico, and the northern half of a state once called Texas.”
Blade envisioned one of the maps from an atlas in the Family library.
“What about the rest of the United States?”
“I’ve heard that the state of California refused to submit to Samuel’s new federal organization. They’re now calling themselves the Free State of California. Another state, one called Utah, was taken over by a religious group known as the Mormons. They told Samuel to get stuffed. I don’t know much about the remainder of the states. East of the Mississippi is a complete mystery. We sent a few patrols there years ago, but none ever came back. All we have are rumors, and if they’re true you wouldn’t want to go east of that river.”
“Why do you have outposts all over the place?” Blade asked. “Like the one in Thief River Falls, and the others ringing the Twin Cities?”
“We’re keeping an eye on everybody.” Angier grinned. “Biding our time. Waiting and watching. That’s why the people in the Twin Cities call us the Watchers. Catchy name, isn’t it?”
“What are you waiting for?”
“Until we’re strong enough to reconquer the country.”
“What?”
Angier laughed at Blade’s surprised expression. “What else did you expect, dummy? Samuel has a grand plan to retake control of the entire country within fifteen years. If he had enough troops and hardware he’d do it tomorrow. As it is, we send out patrols. When they discover inhabited communities, like yours, we set up monitoring posts to learn as much as we possibly can about their numbers and strength. We keep a file on every populated spot we find.”
Blade leaned forward. “But how do you learn so much? You seem to know all about the Family, even to knowing some of our names and whether we’re Warriors or not. How could you learn all that?”
“It’s easy,” Angier replied, “with the technology we have at our disposal.”
Blade recalled a comment made by Gremlin. “Spy in the sky and parabolic ears,” he stated.
Angier nodded. “Then you know what I’m talking about?”
“Not quite,” Blade admitted. “What are they?”
“A spy in the sky is a satellite. Do you know what a satellite is?”
“I’ve read about them.”
“We have several still in operation. They’re used for taking high-altitude photographs, and you wouldn’t believe the resolution on these babies! They can pick up something the size of your hand from way, way up there.”
Blade remembered an incident on the run to the Twin Cities. “What would one of these satellites look like if you saw it?”
“Saw it? They’re hard to spot with the naked eye, but if you did see one it would look like a dot of light moving across the sky. Why?”
“I saw one once,” Blade told him. All the time, so many of the answers were right in front of his face and he failed to realize it. “What’s a parabolic ear?”
“A parabolic microphone.”
“A microphone?” Blade repeated.
“Yeah. They can hear sounds at great distances. I’ve used one that would detect a whisper at five hundred yards.”
“So that’s how you did it,” Blade said. “You set up one of your listening posts in the forest surrounding the Home. And we never knew!”
“How were you to know?” Angier remarked. “Like I said, I’ve seen the file on your Family. We’ve been monitoring you for years. That wall of yours presented a problem…”
“Your microphones can’t listen through brick?” Blade said, interrupting.
“Not very well, no. But I remember you people have a…” Angier paused, striving to recollect the word he wanted.
“A drawbridge,” Blade finished for him. “And whenever we had the drawbridge down, like for working outside the Home clearing the perimeter or whatever, you simply aimed this parabolic thing at the opening in the wall.”
“Exactly.” Angier nodded. “We’ve recorded hours and hours of monitored conversations. You wouldn’t believe how much we learned.”
“Yes, I would,” Blade commented.
“Hey! Don’t take it so hard. Your group isn’t the only one, you know. We have files on inhabited towns and communities in your state of Minnesota, in North and South Dakota, and Montana. Samuel intends to take them over first because they’re the least populated. Well do it one community at a time, until eventually well reconquer the entire United States,” Angier said proudly.
“I take it you’ve already started?”
“You mean the Flatheads? Yes. They were the largest group in the target states. Samuel apparently plans to take the big fish first, then work our way down to the little minnows like your Family.”
“You sound happy about it,” Blade mentioned. “I thought you didn’t like the guy.”
“Don’t get me wrong,” Angler said. “I don’t much like living under a dictator, but at least our society is orderly. It’s progressive, unlike this mess you’ve got out here. I know my family is safe when I’m sent on field duty, and I also know the Government will take care of them if something should happen to me.”
“Sounds to me like you’ve traded freedom for security,” Blade observed.
Angier straightened, his jaw muscles clenching.