A Hidden World

Issues

I head for our executive office but stop inside our door, "Good afternoon, ladies. Is anything urgent happening?"

Kathy replies, "Something's up. We're not sure what, why, or where yet. They pulled Judge MacLean out of hearings and security went to his chambers."

"Clair and Jess why are you here? What happened to your advertisements for adoptions?"

Jess hugs me, "We made three and were told there is no longer any need for them. Tell her, Clair."

"You struck a nerve, Tammy. They had twice the number of families wanting to adopt children than orphans. People responded to news coverage from our new orphan directory." Clair wraps her arms around me and gives me a huge hug.

When I finally make it to my desk, I notice we are missing some assistants. "Where are our other girls?"

Kathy replies, "Most trainees were called in to assist and explain procedures to new rescuer recruits. They usually start a new course when they have twelve rescuer recruits. When they called them in, they wanted them to meet one on one and explain to new applicants about training then help place them in courses. They had close to a thousand wanting to join the rescuers this morning."

Sharon is staring at me from across our room. She reports, "Foundations and service groups imploded. All of them turned to our Rescuer Angels. Foundations and service groups declare they're poorly managed and ineffective. They demanded control of several foundations and services be turned over to our Rescuer Angels. Legally, many foundations and services dissolved. Our Rescuer Angels staff rushed to convert or maintain some control in them. We've a revolution on our hands."

Carol reports, "Personnel got hammered this morning. By six am they had over two thousand people lined up wanting to be placed by or available for service by our Rescuer Angels."

Lights start flashing different colors along our ceiling. Our large monitor comes to life. 'This is a city wide alert. We will have an announcement in five minutes.' It cycles across our screens.

"What is happening? What is with the lights?"

Kathy replies, "The lights are our warning system to alert rescuers. Usually three yellow flashing lights mean three rescue groups are on standby. Red lights mean they're committed. They usually have numbers in them to indicate which rescue groups. The blue ones represent civilian sections, but I've never seen them used before. We've heard no calls to indicate which rescue groups are on standby. I've never seen all these flashing lights go off like that before."

Judge MacLean, Security Captains Gord and Jean, with others I do not know burst into our office. Judge MacLean comes to me, "Please, we need everyone together. Bring all other executives in to join us quickly. Tammy, you're by my side. Security officers stand behind her on both sides. Angels, please sit beside Tammy, the rest you beside me. Good."

We are on our big monitor screen, just as he placed us. He looks at our screen and starts, "Good afternoon, citizens. Don't be alarmed. There's no huge disaster in the outside world. Our issue is a meltdown of our private sector here. For the last few hours, we've been going over charters and contracts of our private sector. In our charters and contracts, when a foundation breaks down and is no longer able to function properly, it becomes open to the best organization that can fulfill those needs. That organization can be an impromptu mixing of rescuers and civilians. That organization then falls under control of a governor. That governor must be a civilian.

"Over our last few days, a number of arrests in connection with some criminals have been made. More arrests through last evening and night happened at a number of offices and residences. Charges include rape, kidnapping, slavery, coercion, and ineptitude.