I peeked past Sheila's shoulder as she looked over the semicircle of women from the Science Team gathered around Jennifer as the dark lady of data studied the computer screen in front of her workstation. Her fingers flew across the keyboard while she scanned hundreds of files, crunching numbers and extracting the data she needed. The thirty-four-year-old Boston descendant of Zulu warriors became a legend within the Societ...

"We need to talk" is usually the two slices of sweet bread covering a shit sandwich. I have yet to hear those innocent sounding words when they weren't followed by news to which I didn't want to listen. The last time a boss called me into the office using that invitation, I left with a security escort to the front door with a severance check in my back pocket. "Have a seat," Sheila patted the empty cushion and motioned fo...

Kara. Her dark long tresses called me to her, even when I knew she was not long to be part of my life. Kara. No matter my resolve to stop seeing her, one look from her and I was once again smitten and under her spell.  I had been looking forward to spending time with her but she called and cancelled due to a friend that wanted to go out and chat about a breakup. My roommate sensed the opportunity to drag me out and didn’t...

My sleep was shattered by three sharp raps which crashed through my slumber like gunshots in a nightmare on the morning of the third day. "What the hell!" I hurled myself from my bed, stomped across the floor and jerked open the door. "Do you have any idea of the time?" My growl faded to a reluctant sigh as Sheila pushed past me into the quarters Darlene and I had shared since our arrival at the compound last fall. "Good...

Sheila had the soul of a cavalry commander and lived the warrior's code of old. Feed your horses, your troops, and yourself. In that order. Her declaration of a banquet of gratitude was a brazen departure from the typical bullshit command response to a crisis which was: when in doubt, run in circles, scream, and shout.  With the generous help of brandy and buds, Martha's magnificent meal of thanksgiving had brought everyo...

Like sailors clinging to a raft on tempest-tossed seas, Sheila and I held tight to each other as an ocean of rainbows flooded the sky. "Oh, my God! What is it?" she cried as glowing waves of light thundered silently across the firmament. The heavens blazed with a kaleidoscope of color. "I don't know," I said as I watched the glowing pastel streamers of brilliance slither along invisible magnetic lines of force like undula...

"Shit!" Sheila swore as she angrily flipped the turn signal and slowed our Ford Super Duty truck to a crawl and searched for a safe place to pull off the road. "Sky, I need my license and registration, they're in the glove compartment," she instructed as she rolled down her window with her left arm pointed over the roof of our vehicle. She waved toward the side of the road, a visual indication to the following patrol car...

  "Okay, listen up!" Sheila knocked her knuckles on the conference table and brought the final briefing to order. "We've got an outstanding weather report, vehicles and crews are ready. We are good to go at daybreak..." she smiled as she waved at the huge flat screen display we had installed several days ago and checked her watch for the time, "which means we're in luck. We have thirty-minutes for one last run-through." "...

The days melted into weeks and the weeks flowed into months as winter searched for spring. For the first couple dozen wake-ups, I started each morning with the unreal feeling that I was at the bottom of a rabbit hole. By the end of the second month, the sense of strangeness decreased, and I was able to open my eyes without breaking into a cold sweat. I was still on the wrong side of the looking glass, but Wonderland had b...

The Society of Sisters and their compound at Liberty Mountain were the pride and joy of Sheila's existence. She devoted almost every waking hour toward her mission of building an organization that could withstand anything the apocalyptic whims of fate might send our way. The Colony's boss was an innovator who served both as a leader and also as a follower. Like the Caesars of old, she had the authority to issue any order...

Everything I knew about Sheila told me she was a master gamer with the skills of a chess genius. She did not offer me a job to alleviate unemployment, instead, she appeared to be working a gambit of some sort. The uncertainty of purpose generated within me a wave of anxious observation while I awaited developments. The chess pieces on the board were changing their position of their own accord.  =^.^=  "She wants you to be...

Consciousness came slowly, on the installment plan, one sensation at a time. I groaned and opened my eyes to a room full of sunshine. Dancing clusters of sparkles and glowing dust motes drifted in the sunbeams filling my field of vision as I attempted to focus and give the optical center of my brain a chance to sort out the dazzling array of visual information. For several seconds I stared at the ceiling and tried to reme...

Alice and I took our seats on each side of Sheila as the last stragglers filed into the amphitheater and returned to their places. "Before we resume, I want to thank our kitchen crew for a fantastic, as usual, flash-banquet. Well done, thank you," Sheila said as she held her gavel in the ready position. With plumbing and dietary needs satisfied, a soothing and comfortable afterglow had fallen over the proceedings. It woul...

The moderator leaned back in her chair and studied StarShine for a moment before turning to me and sitting upright. "Do you want to become a member of our Society?" "Yes," I replied after a short pause. The question had caught me by surprise. "Why?" Sheila asked. "Survival," I responded. Sheila tilted her head to one side as her eyes widened in an expression of puzzlement. "Survival?" "Yes, survival. This is the high moun...

The stern rap of Sheila's opening gavel muted but did not extinguish the murmuring voices of dozens of private conversations. The posture of the Colony's leader appeared poised and relaxed as she held the gavel in the ready position with her elbow bent at a forty-five degree angle for several long seconds as she waited for silence. Beneath Sheila's placid surface I spotted a ripple of anxiety as she unconsciously polished...