The Little Prince in the Ossuary

00079 — #Hardened Earth –16:50

#Hardened Land, Fort Roberts (2)

A hurricane came at the end of January. According to a warning from the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) in California, Category Four Hurricane Carissa was scheduled to sail off the coast of San Diego to Baja California, Mexico.

Carissa was the third hurricane of the year in the eastern Pacific Ocean and the first to cancel all Fort Roberts’ operations. The previous two hurricanes, Angelique and Beryl, had made little impact on California because they had passed far from the coastline. On the other hand, Carissa was so powerful that Fort Roberts, 460 kilometers northwest of San Diego, experienced strong winds and rain.

The NHC also warned of the possibility of a new hurricane before Carissa disappeared. Gyeo-ul recalled part of this story.

「Formation chance through forty-eight hours… high… ninety percent.」

The expected location of the hurricane was thirty-eight degrees north latitude and 127 degrees west longitude. It was about five hundred kilometers west of San Francisco. If hurricanes started there, California would suffer from heavy rainfall and crazy winds.

Because of this, flood prevention had become a priority task. They had added new rings and ropes to prevent the tents from flying away and put at least ten additional poles into each tent. They were also building sandbags on the outskirts of the base and using heavy equipment to dig drainage channels leading to low-lying areas.

They had to work on both sides of Salinas at the same time. This was to protect a portable airport and a spare car storage facility east of the river.

The last flooding of Salinas had been in early 2006. Since then, the record drought had continued in California, so it was unlikely that the river would overflow. However, Colonel Gerald M. Laughlin, commander of the fortress, wanted to prepare for any contingency.

“We can’t be too prepared for a disaster.”

Gyeo-ul sympathized with his position.

‘And it’s good for me, too.’

Standing by the stormy river, the boy officer looked at the people fighting against nature. During the day, under the dim sky, numerous workers had mobilized regardless of nationality, working with one mind. It had nothing to do with gender or anything like that. It was the beautiful scenery. Even though it was just a forged reality, beauty was meaningful in itself.

From that point on, accidental skirmishes might take place in the refugee zone. In order not to increase the number of meaningless victims, as many people as possible would have to leave the field of engagement. Therefore, an opportunity like today would not come again.

Gyeo-ul pressed the send button on the work radio. “Manager Jang Yeon-chul. This is Han Gyeo-ul. Can you hear me?”

[Yes, sir! I can hear you well! Go ahead!]

The sound of the wind on the radio was loud, but there was no problem with communication.

“I think I’ll have to be away for a while. Can you supervise the allies by yourself?”

[Uh… yes, it’s not that difficult without the other manager. I don’t know what’s going on with me, but you should go safely.]

Originally, there had been two managers at the scene. However, Gyeo-ul sent Min Wan-ki in early. The old scholar was weak, perhaps because of his age. Taking medicine wasn’t enough to protect a person from the weather after they’d taken a long time to recover from a cold. He was an important executive who needed to be kept safe. After all, there needed to be someone to control any agitation in the residential area when incidents broke out. While seeing Min Wan-ki off, Gyeo-ul had also emphasized that.

“No matter what happens, you don’t let people get upset.”

The scholar had grinned through the rain. “You always ask for the obvious.”

Gyeo-ul believed that he would do well on his own.

After hearing Jang’s reply, Gyeo-ul headed for the police command center in the civilian area. The soldiers guarding the civic checkpoint under the moon-like sun seemed to be soaked to the core, even though they wore waterproofs. As they twisted their bodies with sour looks, they belatedly saw the boy officer and saluted to him.

After passing the checkpoint, the police command post came into view.

Police officers from various regions and cities, mainly from Sacramento, had been made responsible for the security of Fort Roberts via the restoration of the command system.

The large temporary building near the entrance was flooded, but the office and detention center were still relatively intact. The number of police officers in there was small. This was why police personnel had also been mobilized to supervise the work.

The policeman at the entrance guard, however, was currently standing upright.

“What brings you here, lieutenant?”

“I’m here to see Sheriff O’Connor. Is he here?”

Willis O’Connor was the Chief Police Officer at Fort Roberts. He was also one of the highest-ranking Californian police survivors. This was because the state police headquarters had been in Sacramento. The police commissioner and deputy commissioner had gone missing when Sacramento had fallen.

The policeman’s posture straightened even more.

“Yes, he’s in the office. Did you make an appointment in advance?”

“No, I’m here on the spur of the moment because I have something important to do.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll put in an e-mail; please wait a moment.”

The posture was quickly dropped. He grabbed the phone and said a few words, and then the officer nodded to Gyeo-ul.

“I’ll show you to his office.”

As Gyeo-ul followed behind the officer, the other policemen he encountered showed their respect to him by standing. The occasional smiling people were the ones who had established a personal acquaintance with the boy officer. Gyeo-ul responded to their favor with a light salute.

The announcement ended at the door. However, O’Connor’s office was well designed. When he opened the door, the sheriff welcomed the boy officer with another salute.

“Welcome, lieutenant. What a surprise, a visit from a hero.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t contact you in advance.”

“No, you’re always welcome for whatever reason. Except when I have a cozy meal with my daughter.”

“You care a lot about your daughter.”

“I’m proud of her. It’s not easy to reach the level of federal marshal at twenty-five. Glynko’s at the top. She’s said she wanted to be like her father since childhood, but she’s still firm even now she’s older.”

It’d be unfair to call O’Connor an idiot. He was right that she was really good at that much.

A large map of Fort Roberts hung in the police office. Future development plans, police patrol routes, and areas in charge were included with the schedule. This was high-level information that was generally unknown. Looking at it, Gyeo-ul wondered why a large, open space had been placed in the middle of the Winter Alliance zone.

At this, Willis O’Connor fixed his posture.

“So, what’s the point of visiting an old man like me on a day like this?”

“I want to help find illegal weapons in Chinese refugee zones.”

Gyeo-ul did not mention the drug trade. If he were officially looking for weapons, he would be able to deal with drugs or other problems at the same time.

“Illegal weapons? Do the refugees have guns? How?”

It was natural for the middle-aged sheriff to be on edge, as the boy officer would not make a fuss for fun.

The possession of weapons by refugees was an important issue directly related to the survival of the fortress. Refugee zones were inferior to civil zones in many ways and were subject to strong controls and discrimination. Many refugees were unhappy with U.S. citizens who lived beyond the barbed wire without any shortages. Currently, their conditions were improving, but this had never been reassuring, given the poor conditions of the refugees and the chaos caused by a lack of security.

Gyeo-ul shook his head. “No, I don’t think it’s guns. We estimate that most of the phones, crossbows, and slings are of the same kind.”

“How many?”

“Hundreds, at least.”

This was not an exaggeration. It would even be more than that if Gyeo-ul included refugees of other nationalities.

“Even crude weapons are threatening to appear in large numbers. If they attack the armory… or they could take the citizens hostage.”

In fact, the concerns raised by the security police were unlikely to be realized. These were crazy things that would never be tried if reasonably thought about. However, at the same time, the security police knew that the current refugee groups were about half made up of criminals. They should not expect them to stick to reasonable actions.

“How did you find out about this?”

“I’ve been speculating for a while. There was an anonymous informant this time. Please understand that I can’t tell you the name. It’s the snitch’s wish.”

Gyeo-ul had falsely created a snitch. After reading the augmented reality warning by Skill correction, he knew he couldn’t explain it to O’Connor as it was. The Control AI would judge a situation operation error and try to roll back, and if the rollback is repeated, he would be penalized.

“So what do you want? Do you support the police force?”

“Yes, the higher the number of police, the better.”

“Why don’t you ask the Fortress Command for military forces?”

“Because I think that in the future, policing should be entirely the job of the police. I want you to report to the command before you start searching for weapons, but I don’t want to use military forces.”

Having stakeholders inside the military was no reason not to use military forces. They were perfectly favorable to Gyeo-ul. Nevertheless, he would try to mobilize police forces only, in consideration of the atmosphere in the refugee zone.

And the U.S. police’s fighting power was not low. They had a wide range of firearms, from shotguns to automatic rifles.

“I see. I see what you mean. Do you want daily life to get back to normal for the refugees?”

“Yes. It’s not normal for the military to intervene in policing. It’s a martial law situation. I want people to feel like they’re going back to their pre-disaster lives little by little. The problem is that there has been too little police presence, and there have been too many violent people.”

“Do you mean to show off your skills so that we don’t take it easy?”

“I think this is a good opportunity.”

The sheriff, who was stroking his chin, said cautiously, “You said the place you were going to was a Chinese residence. I don’t doubt you, but I still have to check. Are you trying to solve the battle in the refugee zone with the police? There’s a rumor that you’re helping some of the Chinese.”

It was not a rumor; it was a fact. The police were not active in the rest of the residential area outside the civilian area, so this was information that the security superintendent should not know.

During Operation Bradley’s occupation, Gyeo-ul had suggested that they only went there as a Triad force. For the police, those who openly used the name of the Triad could not be good. So far, they had not paid much attention to how the refugee zone worked, but the appearance of a young hero had begun to improve the treatment of refugees. Therefore, there was no reason for the police to sit on the sidelines as before for refugees who had created criminal groups such as the Triad and the Black Society.

Gyeo-ul nodded gently. “That’s true. We promised to help each other. But I don’t intend to treat them in any special way. It was a condition. They fought with each other, so I helped them once they promised not to make unfair gains in the future. What else were their weapons being used for? There is no reason for me to hide it.”

“Is that so? I’m sorry I asked rude questions. I shouldn’t have doubted anyone who risked their life.”

His expression reflected his regret. This was the effect of Gyeo-ul’s Medal of Honor, as well as his reputation. Instead of smiling, the boy simply nodded.

Willis O’Connor then gave his final approval. “All right, do it. I’ll call the colonel. If you wait outside, someone will come to you.”

“Thank you, sheriff.”

Gyeo-ul saluted him before leaving the office.