She shook her head. 'Not much. Honestly, we always did well living off the resources we produced. But ever since things started going bad we’ve had less land to mine or drill. I mean, we send out scavenger parties who do strip mining, dig wells, that sort of thing, you know? But those are hit and miss operations. Seems we are always low on supplies.'
Trevor said, 'On my world, we’ve adapted alien technology to serve our purposes. There’s a sort of irony using their stuff against them.'
'He means he gets a kick out of it, praise the Lord.'
'I’ll bet,' Nina turned in her seat to face them and smiled.
'What about laws and regulations and an economy and all that?' Trevor asked cautiously.
The Major chuckled. 'Laws? Regulations? An economy? We don’t really have time for that shit. We’re trying to stay alive, Trevor. Maybe you guys have the extra time to start playing politics but we don’t.'
Johnny suggested smartly, 'He’ll get a kick out of that, too.'
'The Committee does handle a lot of administrative stuff,' she conceded. 'I mean, there are rules and all that. They’re always passing rules. They love to shuffle paper and crap like that. The rest of us are busy fighting and dying.'
The car passed a series of small buildings. A couple of those looked to be vacant stores. One big red sign suggested an active night club.
'What about money?'
'Money? Yeah, sure, and I own stocks, too,' she laughed then grew more serious. 'Sorry. It’s just that, well, it sounds like you guys are living the high life back there. Guess the war’s over, huh?'
After a moment of silence, Trevor mumbled, 'I have much more to do.'
'We get credits to use on luxuries. Sometimes you can trade credits to get out of a tour of duty on the front lines. Whatever. Most people use the credits to party or trade up a food card or something like that.'
'But not you, Miss?'
She shook her head, 'I’ve got things pretty good, I guess. Being a Major and all.'
'Hmmm…and being so close to your former Emperor, no doubt?' Johnny suggested.
Trevor moved to another subject, 'What about kids? Families? Civilians? How do they live around here?'
'There are no civilians, not like you think. A civilian for us is someone who doesn’t fight in the front lines; techs, support people. You see, everyone fights or supports the fight. If you’re not a front line soldier, you’re working a couple of different shit jobs. If you don’t contribute, you don’t eat. Get it?'
Johnny jumped in, 'But there are men and women here. Surely there are children.'
'Yes, but not many. No one wants children.'
Stone’s fatherly instincts shuddered at the thought. 'If you’re going to survive you have to have kids. They are the future.'
'Trevor, we don’t have a future. No one wants to give birth to a kid today when tomorrow we could all be slaughtered. Would you bring a child into the world when you know that at any moment your people could be wiped out?'
He thought for a moment and then asked, 'Did I…do I have a son here?'
Nina’s head tilted as if hearing a strange sound. 'No. Why, do you have one back home?'
'Yes.'
His answer seemed to surprise her. She said nothing the rest of the trip.
The car came to a stop in front of a wide, long building. Several tall transmission towers sprouted from the roof. A number of armored vehicles parked in a lot next to the complex. Sandbags and a gun turret complimented the sentries at the front door.
'This is the Ops-Operations-Center. We’ll find The Committee here.'
They exited the vehicle and approached a big iron door. Nina spoke with the guards who then allowed entry.
Dull gray halls lined the interior with heavy metal beams crisscrossing the ceiling and soffit lights providing patches of illumination although half of them appeared burnt out.
Unlike the rest of Thebes, he saw plenty of people in the Ops Center including guards, couriers, and technicians while a public address system called out messages such as, 'Tactical analysis team report to discussion chamber four,' 'Major Davis contact communications center,' and 'Northern perimeter Sector G-4 reports scanner malfunction.'
Despite the number of people, Trevor noticed a relaxed atmosphere. He saw guards wearing poorly kempt uniforms, couriers stopping to chat, and technicians wandering about with no purpose. The announcements from the P.A. system droned on, but no one appeared to care.
Nina directed them up a short flight of metal stairs and through a set of double doors leading to a large control room with a high ceiling.
Desks and consoles swept across the room on descending half-circle tiers, all facing toward one massive wall with two huge monitors and several smaller ones. Those monitors presented pictures of the perimeter and gates of the city. Doors-probably offices-surrounded the chamber.
'Stay here,' Major Forest said and she moved around the room.
As they waited, Trevor overhead conversations as well as radio communications.
'Ah, yeah, Gino you guys are on watch until twenty-two hundred hours so you are going to miss all the fun.'
'Shit man, that sucks. I got an extra hundred credits I was going to blow on the table.'
'This is G-4 we’ve got a problem with our monitoring equipment here. I’ve been waiting on a tech team for four hours. What is their status?'
'I dunno, G-4. I just got off my break. What’s the problem again?'
Nina returned and summoned, 'This way, boys.'
She led them across the control room to a set of big double doors guarded by a pair of heavily armed, serious-looking sentries. Trevor appreciated seeing at least a couple of grim faces in the place. From what he observed so far, the attitude of the humans on this world more resembled students in a campus dormitory than a people on the verge of extinction.
The doors opened to a large, oppressive room. On one end stood a raised platform where three men sat at a long table overlooking the chamber like a judge’s bench. Trevor felt the presence of at least three more persons in the room standing in dark corners.
The doors closed behind the newcomers, shutting out the noise from the Ops Center.
Trevor and Johnny followed Nina as she circumvented an oval table to approach the platform and the overlords sitting there.
To his surprise, Trevor did not see an Evan Godfrey doppelganger on The Committee. Instead, he found three middle aged men who in dress and Anglo appearance resembled stereotype Republicans from a bad Hollywood movie.
Major Forest spoke to them. Trevor thought he sensed contempt in her voice.
'If it so honors The Committee, may I introduce Trevor Stone and his associate, the Reverend Johnny.'
The first Committeeman stared down and said: 'This is Trevor Stone of the alternate world?'
The second: 'He looks identical.'
The third: 'The theories on parallel development have been proven. I suggest we invest additional resources in further studying the applications of this discovery.'
'No one has yet proposed any tactical advantages to be gained by this knowledge,' spoke the first.
'True. We no longer have access to the assets necessary for traveling to another alternate reality. This operation has been self-terminating,' spoke the second.
'Your analysis is correct. We should halt outward bound cross-dimensional research until such time as additional assets are made available,' spoke the third.
Major Forest addressed them again. 'The operation achieved its objective. Standing before you is Trevor Stone. On his Earth, humanity thrives. He has forged a vast Empire and defeated numerous enemies.'
The first Committeeman sounded contrite. 'Yes. Your operation was successful and a Trevor Stone stands before us. Despite our position on the matter, Major Forest has succeeded.'
The second Committeeman sounded skeptical. 'However, Major Forest acted without direct authorization
