A sec man came running. “What’s wrong with her?”
Mildred eased the woman over to a tree and sat her in a squatting position to allow for the free flow of the fluid. “Her water’s broke. She’ll be having the baby in the next few hours.”
“Why is she so dirty?”
“It’s muconium staining,” Mildred stated. “Her amniotic fluid is stained with a substance that’s coming from the baby’s digestive tract. It could be a sign that the baby is in some kind of distress.”
“How do you know that?” the sec man asked, looking at Mildred strangely.
Mildred hesitated. She tried never to reveal to anyone that she was a medical doctor, since such people were worth more than blasters to barons and villes. If the baron here found out, she’d never be allowed to leave, or even be given the chance to escape. But if she denied her medical knowledge right now, this woman and her baby might both die a slow and painful death. “I know a little bit about healing,” she admitted.
The sec man turned to the others. “This one’s birthing. Bring another wag.”
A couple of sec men took off in one of the white electric miniwags.
“They’ll be back in a few minutes, to take you to the nursery.” He turned to Mildred. “You’re going with her.”
Mildred nodded.
The woman let out another cry of pain.
Mildred placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry,” she said, wondering what the woman’s name was. “What’s your name, sugar?”
“Jasmine.”
“Don’t worry, Jasmine,” Mildred said. “It’ll be all right.”
J.B. AND JAK ARRIVED at the farm just before sundown. No crews were working the orchards at that time of day.
“Quiet,” Jak said.
J.B. nodded.
The courtyard between the main building and the front gate was illuminated by several lights, turning the area from night into day. A couple of sec men on foot out by the gate and another few up in the lookout towers, which provided them with a view of the entire farm. Intermittently, lights would come on inside the orchards.
“Looking someone?” Jak asked.
“I think it’s just a test,” J.B. answered. “Make sure the lights work if they need them, but they probably don’t need them all that much because of the fence.”
The two friends moved in closer, and after just a few paces they could hear the faint hum of electricity. “Like I thought,” J.B. said, nodding. “They keep the electricity on through the night to keep out the animals and muties. A couple of squirrelies inside the fence could ruin a whole crop.”
“Worse for us?”
“No. The electricity shouldn’t be a problem.” J.B. said nothing more, but moved quickly and silently around the perimeter of the farm to the west side where he’d seen the power lines.
As he suspected, the high-tension wires that brought electricity to the farm were strung up at the top of several forty-foot poles. The wires were almost impossible to get at and would be difficult to cut. Regardless, the wires were a definite weak point in the farm’s defenses and something they could take advantage of somehow.
“Problem?”
“Mebbe, mebbe not. At least now we know what we’re up against.”
“Have plan?”
J.B. shook his head. “Not yet, but I’ll think of something once we know what kind of weapons we’ll be using.”
Jak nodded. “Think she tells true about weapons?”
“I sure hope so, because if she isn’t, Ryan, Mildred and Krysty are going to be in there for a long time.”
Chapter Eighteen
Ryan watched Mildred tend to the woman named Jasmine and knew he’d be on his own the rest of the night. He climbed onto the wag and took a seat near the back where he could keep Purvis and everyone else in front of him.
A full-figured blond woman with ample hips and even more ample breasts took the seat across the aisle from Ryan. “You rutting with anyone tonight, honey?” she asked.
“Yes, I am. Sorry.”
“Aw, we could have a lot of fun together, honey.” As she spoke she pressed her breasts together with her arms to create a long line of cleavage between them.