Maragana Girl Ch. 16

The military rationale for the forests faded in the 20th Century. However, Upper Danubia still took pride in its forest preserves at a time when other European countries were trying to restore their own forests. The only problem, one that no one could have anticipated, was the vulnerability of the entire system during a drought as severe as the one currently afflicting the country.

That night Vladim and Vladik Dukov went downtown to the Defense Ministry. The Spokesman had to translate a series of phone calls, as the country's fire chiefs called overseas for advice to work out a strategy for combating the fires. Finally the fire chiefs settled on a creating a system of firebreaks to save most of the forests and more importantly, Upper Danubia's towns and farms.

The following morning Kim and Anyia watched as military convoys rolled passed Dukov's house and into the valley towards the line of smoke. A couple of military helicopters flew overhead. Kim rode her bicycle to her music store job, not realizing the fires were about to impact her life and the lives of her friends in a big way.

When Kim got downtown she saw a couple of police officers standing outside the music store talking to her boss. She noticed the "closed" sign still on the door. When she went inside, no one was working. Instead Kim's co-workers were calling their families to tell them they had been drafted into the fire-fighting effort.

Eloisa came up to her with a very worried expression.

"Kim, call home. Let them know we're heading east, out to Rika Chorna Province, and it looks like we're going to be there for a while. They're pulling every criminal in Danube City to work on the fire-break they're setting up out there."

Kim parked her bicycle inside and called Anyia to let her know that she too, would be gone for an indefinite period of time.

Criminal # 98945 and her co-workers, only two days after being released from a month of heavy farm labor, walked with the police officers to the Central Police Station. The Central Plaza was full of criminals going through a huge assembly line to get them ready to become fire-fighters. The first priority was turning off their transmitters. Kim and Eloisa tilted their heads back as the collar technician touched their transmitters with an electronic device that somehow turned them off. The next line the two women stood in was to have their feet measured for army boots. The police took down their criminal number, Spokesman's name, and foot size; entering the information into a laptop.

The next line was for clothing. Yes, clothing. This was a national emergency, so Kim and Eloisa found themselves putting on yellow fire-fighting clothing. The clothing felt extraordinarily hot and uncomfortable to Kim, who had spent the last 14 months of her life living nude, but obviously no one expected her to fight a forest fire without proper protection.

The police shouted at the criminals to find their Spokespersons. Each Spokesperson had to organize his or her clients to get on the military trucks for transport across Upper Danubia. Kim knew that Vladim Dukov still was on the phone translating for the fire chiefs, so she went with Eloisa to find Spokesman Havlakt. Sure enough, he had Kim's criminal number and her boots. He handed each of the two women a bag containing socks, a canteen and belt, a fire blanket, gloves, dust masks, and several plastic bags of US army meals, or MRE's. He then ordered the two women to turn around and slapped their criminal numbers onto the Velcro patches onto their backs. He then pointed at the long rows of Danubian Army trucks at the other side of Danube City's Central Plaza.

"Your boyfriends are in the third truck in that second row. If you hurry up you can catch it before it leaves."

Kim and Eloisa didn't bother to put on their boots. They simply dumped them in their bags and ran across the plaza in a frantic dash to catch the truck before it departed. The truck already was moving slowly, but when the driver saw the two young women desperately running behind it, he stopped to let them get on. Kim sighed with relief as she saw Sergekt and sat down next to him.

For the second time that summer Kim's normal life as a criminal was suspended as she was drafted into the service of Upper Danubia. The trucks rode out to the edge of the capitol and beyond the border of the Danube City collar-zone. The criminals whistled and hissed as they passed one of the dreaded yellow signs. It was a gesture of derision against the system that normally restricted their lives so severely.

The criminals were in a relatively upbeat mood, in spite of the danger and toil that lay ahead. It was a part of their place in society they be available for emergencies. They felt good about being able to contribute. They also looked forward to getting out of Danube City, even if it was for just a short time in a very restricted area. Most importantly, they could look forward to the possibility of having a switching canceled if they performed their duties well. If the police felt it was necessary to put a criminal in harm's way, the reward usually was to cancel a switching. That promise was sufficient to make criminals plenty willing to put themselves at risk for the good of the community.

A fairly pleasant ride lay ahead for Kim and the others, then would come days of hellish work in a smoke filled environment. The criminals filled their canteens, put on their socks and boots, and looked at their MRE's with bewildered expressions. They sang a few traditional songs, but finally settled down to sleep or watch the countryside go by. Kim relaxed in Sergekt's arms as she observed the towns and forest parks of central Danubia.

"If this doesn't get burned up, we'll come out here next summer once we get our collars off. I'm desperate for a good hike."

Kim smiled and nodded. A hike would be nice.

The criminals' convoy climbed a series of foothills, passed the Rika Chorna Reservoir, and continued through a range of low-lying mountains. As the vehicles turned out of the pass to descend into the next valley, their passengers observed with horror what was going on. A massive fire was sweeping towards the foothills and blanketing the entire valley with thick smoke. Behind the fire was an enormous blackened area containing several villages, which already were burned to the ground. A long column of evacuees and herds of farm animals streamed past the military convoy, heading in the opposite direction away from the fire zone. Helicopters circled overhead, trying to douse sections of the fire with retardant.

As bad as the situation in the valley was, what concerned the government was the need to prevent the fire from making it past the first line of hills standing between the valley and the main mountain range. If the fire made it to the mountains, it would be completely uncontrollable and char the entire central portion of Upper Danubia. Not only would the forest be lost, the water shed for the nation's main reservoir would be destroyed and Danube City would lose both its electricity and water supply. The government's solution was to create a firebreak at the top of the first ridge, and in several spots a secondary series of firebreaks in case the fire jumped the main one. Professional fire crews and soldiers had sections of the firebreak nearly completed near the main road, but beyond the main road hill after hill was waiting for firebreak crews.

The trucks stopped along the main road as firefighters divided the criminals into work crews working under the direction of a police officer or a firefighter. Several trucks ahead, Kim noticed Malka Chorno, in her collar and yellow firefighter's suit, talking to couple of army officers. The officers placed her in charge of one of the firebreak crews, her status as a criminal suspended due to the emergency. For at least a couple of days Malka could go back to being her old self as a cop and shout orders at a group of subordinates.

Malka's crew separated out first. She was placed in charge of three Danubian soldiers, who in turn led three groups of 10 criminals each. Malka and her crew climbed onto a bus and disappeared down an unpaved country road towards one of the untouched hills.

Sergekt looked around sadly at the doomed countryside, and made a comment to Kim that later would become very significant.

"I've been all over this area. It has a lot of memories for me, because my father took me hunting and camping here before he died. I'm going to be real sorry to see it burn up."

The Danubian firefighters ordered the occupants of the first 15 Army trucks to get off with their gear. The firemen divided the criminals into groups of 10. Each group had a soldier leading it, and a firefighter or police officer was placed in charge of the three soldiers. The criminals received additional equipment such as shovels and pickaxes. The soldiers carried explosives to clear sections of firebreak and canisters to set backfires. Thus equipped, each crew loaded onto an old city bus and departed for one of the hills.

Fortunately the Danubian Army had managed to move several bulldozers and earthmovers out to the fire zone. The bulldozers already were en route to the line laid out for the firebreak and some already were toppling trees and brush.

Kim and her companions boarded a bus that trailed behind two army trucks towing bulldozers. They traveled about 25 kilometers away from the main road and then turned on a narrow dirt road that passed between two low-lying hills. There were five buses altogether, one for each heavily forested hill, and the other three crews to cut backup firebreak along a large meadow. The meadow was by far the more logical spot to cut a firebreak, but there was an evacuated village located at the back of the two hills the government was hoping to save.

As the smoke from the approaching fire increasingly poisoned the air, Kim's crew trailed behind the bulldozer, clearing debris as the soldiers set backfires. It was slow-going because of the large trees that needed to be cut down to clear the path. Three criminals who knew how to use chain saws switched off with the soldiers cutting branches, while the others exhausted themselves clearing flammable debris from the path. A local villager brought water and gasoline to the fire crew on a mule.

The villager also brought some bad news. The bus driver who had driven the bus Kim rode in on had a heart attack and had to be evacuated by the other bus driver. The other driver had to take the second bus back to the Rika Chorna Medical Center, but promised to return shortly with a replacement. That afternoon there was just one bus left near the road. There was no one to drive it, but the crew's supplies were there.

Kim's crew felt they had made good progress as night fell. The soldiers expressed confidence the village probably could be saved after all. The lead firefighter called his supervisor, who estimated the fire would reach the firebreak mid-afternoon the following day. The firefighter ordered the three soldiers to have their crews pick up their tools and follow him back to the road, where everyone would have dinner, reorganize their equipment, and camp. There was plenty of time remaining to widen the firebreak, set more backfires, and prepare to fight embers...or so everyone thought.

As dawn broke the following day, the fire crew noticed it was very windy. There was more smoke in the air, lots more, blowing up from the valley.

The firefighter was on his radio, talking with a very worried expression. What the Danubians overheard terrified them.

"What do you mean you can't get a driver over here? Can't you see we're trapped? What about a helicopter?...too windy? Look, there's 68 of us out here...You've got to get a helicopter...No! I don't know how to drive that thing!"

The Danubians seemed immobilized with fear. Suddenly most of them got on their knees and started reciting a prayer normally spoken at funerals. It was obvious the group's members expected to be dead in a few minutes.

What the hell is the problem, thought Kim, we just get on the bus and go. She spoke up:

"Let's just get on the bus! We can get out of here on that!"

"There's no bus driver, that's why!"

"No one knows how to drive?!"

"Of course not! This is not America! We don't drive in this country!"

Kim glanced at the orange glare at the bottom of the hill. Unlike her companions, Criminal # 98945 was not yet ready to face the Creator in the Afterlife. There was only one solution. She would have to try to operate the bus and get everyone out.

"I do know how to drive! I haven't driven a bus, but I've driven a couple of vans! Everyone get on! I'll drive!"

The orange glare brightened. Kim frantically scrambled into the driver's seat of the bus. She fumbled for the ignition. The key was there, thank God. She turned it hard. The engine groaned in protest, but Kim got it running.

"GET ON!"

As Kim's 67 companions quickly filed on, she noticed the orange glowing brighter and brighter. Embers were blowing past the bus. The seats quickly filled and the final people boarding had to squeeze into the aisle or into the laps of those already seated. It was a tight fit, but everyone made it on. The firefighter took a quick look out the door to make sure no one was still outside, and climbed in.

Kim shifted into drive just as the flames became clearly visible along the road. The area was filled with smoke, making the frightened driver realize that she had a new problem, visibility. She gunned the engine and moved the bus forward, although not any quicker than the approaching flames.

Panic swept through Kim. She had to move faster, but she could only see a few meters ahead of her. The awkward and unfamiliar feel of driving such a large vehicle made things considerably worse. One wrong turn onto the wrong road, and the flames would catch them. If she lost control and went off the road, she and everyone else would die for sure. Suddenly Kim remembered Sergekt's comment about knowing the area.

"SERGEKT! SERGEKT!"

Sergekt struggled to get up to the front of the bus.

"You know this area?"

"Yes!"

"Tell me where to go! Get us out of here!"

For several harrowing minutes Sergekt directed Kim down the hill towards the village. The flames chased the bus, as though the fire was infuriated at the escape of Criminal # 98945 and her 67 passengers. The village now was doomed; the efforts of the two crews canceled by the sudden shift of wind. However, as the bus descended into flatter and more open terrain, its driver breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed the smoke was not as bad. The vehicle dashed across open fields towards the main firebreak as the fire roared behind and engulfed the village. The flames swept across the parched fields, but fortunately there was not enough fuel near the road to put the bus in any further danger. Kim sped towards her goal and rushed past the first line of firefighters. She braked, assuming, quite rightly, that the two crews in the bus were desperately needed to supplement the main firebreak. She directed her next question to the head firefighter.

"Where are we going?"

"Let's go left, towards that next hill! They'll need us up there!"

Kim turned onto a dirt road, not yet realizing the others were flabbergasted with her feat. With Sergekt guiding her, she drove along the hill and unloaded her passengers, one team at a time. The flames were approaching Upper Danubia's second, and final, line of defense. The exhausted criminals working the main firebreak cheered the arrival of re-enforcements. Because of Criminal # 98945, 68 potential fire deaths instead became 68 extra sets of hands for the drama about to unfold on the main firebreak.

The smoke thickened again as the fire approached the back-burned slope of the hill. It had run out of fuel to keep going, but in a final desperate effort to make it to the mountains, the fire shot burning embers across the firebreak. The fire-crews pounded small flare-ups with their shovels. There were plenty of scares, and one spot where it looked like the fire had indeed jumped the firebreak that had to be attacked by a tanker plane dropping flame retardant.

Finally, after two arduous days of shoveling spot fires and breathing smoke, the firefighters, soldiers, and criminals fighting the fire realized the worst was over. The central portion of firebreak had held so far. The fire still was burning towards the edges in either direction, but there were enough professional firefighters to handle the reduced crisis. The work was not over, because there was plenty of mopping up to do and the need to monitor the area, but the desperate physical danger largely had passed.

That night, as Kim and Eloisa tried to clean the soot off their faces, Eloisa mentioned Kim's hero status among her peers. Kim dismissed the entire incident.

"Look, I just drove a bus for a few minutes. That's all I did, and I wouldn't have made it down the hill if I hadn't had Sergekt telling me where to go."

"Well, you can say it's nothing, but we're all very grateful for what you did. You did save us."

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Three days later the criminals boarded the buses to go back to the main road. They would spend the night at the Rika Chorna Gymnasium getting cleaned up and resting. Then the plan was to transport them back to Upper Danubia's Central Valley to fight several smaller fires. However, that night, as they stood in the parking lot, Kim and her companions noticed it was increasingly humid. A light rain started as they went inside to eat and shower. Once clean and fed, the criminals relaxed on mattresses on the gym's main floor. They all were asleep within minutes. The following day the firefighters came in to announce the planned operation in the Central Valley was canceled because it had rained overnight and still was raining quite heavily. Not surprisingly, most of the criminals dashed outside to see for themselves. Sure enough, sheets of heavy rain were falling in the parking lot. The police decided to collect the fire-fighting suits and other equipment in Rika Chorna, since the items no longer were needed. As the rain continued to fall some of the criminals dashed outside and splashed water on each other. Many others, including Sergekt, were kneeling on the wet pavement, giving thanks for safely making it though the fire fighting operation. Kim knelt beside Sergekt and joined him in prayer to the Spirits who had protected her.

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A week of rain put an end to the fire crisis. Upper Danubia still faced huge problems, including the rebuilding of thousands of homes burnt in Rika Chorna Province and the restocking of the area's farms. The government had to plan massive replanting operations and set up a general economic recovery program for the entire eastern half of the country. However, life in Danube City could return to normal, now that the Rika Chorna Reservoir had some extra water in it.

The government kept its promise to cancel the next switching for the criminals who had participated in the fire-fighting operation. That meant Kim's final switching on January 2 was canceled. The dreaded beatings now were behind her. Sergekt, Eloisa, and Kim's other friends now could look forward to the cancellation of two switchings, the one at the end of August, and the one at the end of December. That left them with only one switching, the one scheduled for next April, which would be the final corporal punishment for the group.

The sentencing judge decided to give commendations to several criminals whose participation in the fire-fighting operation was outstanding, including Kim and Malka Chorno. Kim found out that Malka's crew had cleared and guarded their firebreak under particularly severe conditions, and that Malka had administered first aid to three injured villagers that saved their lives.