The engineer had walked methodically around, over, and inside the strip mall that constituted one side of the Children of the Tribulation site; the buildings had long since been looted, and Lionel's initial assessment is that they weren't much good other than as a wall of sorts, having survived two earthquake. The engineer complimented Lionel's call, dryly noting that there had been casualties among those who'd moved back into buildings that looked in good shape but had been structurally compromised.

"However, you no longer need to err on the side of caution on this issue. The building is largely usable. I've marked the possible weak spots, but everywhere else is safe."

No more living in tents; maybe, with some work, no more having to get in line for a shower, although water was still rationed. Everybody would feel better, Lionel figured... Tanya could watch the kids who really didn't want to move into a proper building. "Thank you."

"I understand that Naima lives here. Would you folks be interested in hosting an ethernet repeater?"

"Oh? Oh, yes, Naomi, Naomi Tiberias. And I don't know, it's mostly Judd calling the shots." Technical personnel referring to each other by screen name wasn't unusual, but it could get confusing.

"She tells me that sometimes you guys skip a meal, so the kids don't go without. We're still rebuilding a supply chain, and you being able to set up a veggie garden on the roof should help, but it's what I can offer, to help. You'd have to compete with three other collectives in the area to get the repeater, but I can put you in the running. Ordinarily, I'd say you're understaffed and couldn't take care of it, but..."

"I thought you CATS types hated Christians."

"We respect competence, Mr. Washington. Your collective has done well. Naima is known to us as an IT expert, so you being understaffed isn't a problem."

"Well... you'd have to ask Judd and Vicki, but... it would help. By the way, this is not a collective, it's a ministry."

The engineer nodded, neatly crossed off a word on his clipboard and replaced it with another, and went to look for Judd.

Above, the Sun was peeking out past the ion storm clouds. Lionel wiped his brow and smiled in satisfaction for a job well done. Planting a veggie garden on the roof would go a long way towards food independence.

Some of the kids were more receptive than others; a few had flat out asked Vicki for a story about Jesus, and now they sat in a semicircle, in the middle of what used to be the strip mall's parking lot. Around it, a low fence had been erected, with the sides of the parking lot occupied by caravans and containers and sheds that had been joined together; the place had finally gotten a coat of paint of roughly the same color (less the case in areas that the kids could reach safely, but they had had a good time with it), and looked more like a postwar village than a post-apocalyptic movie set.

"I had heard about God and Jesus all my life," Vicki began, and she was struck by the lack of fidgeting and distraction. These kids hung on his every word. "But I never really gave faith a serious thought until seven years ago, when I came back to nothing after I'd snuck out of home to go party. It was in the middle of the night..."

The engineer considered holding off on the offer. No, ze figured. These children are healthy. He showed the network node offer to Judd while Vicki kept going.

"Hold on, notification." the engineer said, preempting a question from Judd. "Oh. The Treaty has been signed. I suppose you're all Americans again, if it's your thing."

Judd smiled, held up two fingers and made a victory sign. "Whoo hoo! Uhm, how about you?"

"CATS personnel maintains extraterritoriality."

For most people, the Glorious Appearing had made the Carpathian "ten kingdoms" system moot; for Christians in particular, it had been abolished by Jesus very clearly and loudly declaring His new Kingdom during the Battle of Armageddon. However, legal and diplomatic types have to move slowly on this sort of thing; the result had been the Treaty of Saint Michael, which formally reorganized the ten kingdoms into five commonwealths and set up provisions for democratic elections in each of them. Naturally, they'd argued over the minutiae for days.

Judd was able to borrow the engineer's portable terminal for a moment to read the news. Of the first legal edicts of the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. commonwealth, comprising North America and Japan, had been to adopt all the flags of the old-world states as its official flags, so that they could be flown again with an official meaning. A.N.V.I.L. followed suit, with S.A.B.R.E. and S.M.A.S.H sticking to the European and Mercosur flags and H.A.M.M.E.R. presenting a new one.

"I assume you will be teaching the children about the Stars and Stripes?"

Judd pointed at Vicki telling a story; a couple of the kids who had been helping Lionel by handing him tools joined the semicircle and sat down to listen. "Definitely! But that's more important right now."

"I see. Should I ask Naima directly about the network node bid?"

"Yeah. We'll talk about it between us tonight, and you can ask her tomorrow. Thanks."

The engineer left after making another mark on hir clipboard. That night, an American flag joined the Christian flag on the antenna that doubled as a flagpole. It was crude, and almost had the wrong number of stripes, but the kids had enjoyed making it - not least because it had provided a bedtime curfew extension - and Judd figured that he could fix the details in the morning. There'd be some for sale in at the marketplace within a day or two, anyway. Thanks to the bigger windtrap, they could even afford to illuminate it, at least for one night. He listened in on Chang explaining to a couple of kids why the illumination was important, as a symbol.

Later on, Vicki had finished her story, skipping around a little for the ending of it; even so, she felt that it was important that the kids know why they were there. Nobody had objected to them receiving a Christian education, and she'd made it abundantly clear that it's what was in the cards.

"Who's Saint Michael?"

"He's an Angel. His job is to help Jesus take care of us."

"Is he the one with the bridge?"

That had to come up sooner or later. "Yes, Cindy, that's the one."

Vicki was actually rather happy to find that Cindy had found a tank toy and removed the gun turret, but the sentiment had turned into worry when she'd used some Lego bricks to build a bridgelayer attachment instead. The worry turned into annoyance after she'd hit another kid in the head with it.

"We don't drop bridges on people."

"But you said-"

"We don't drop bridges on Angels, either. It's rude, it really is not a thing that would ordinarily work, and it doesn't really help much even if it does. If we want to make a bridge to another person, we talk to them, okay?"

Vicki had found enough time to review the Treaty; some of the provisions were fairly obscure - why was the copyright to Peter Pan a big deal for the S.A.B.R.E. commonwealth anyway - but the one about the Eden fertilizer's patent remaining extant had taken a big worry off her mind. She'd have to email Dr. Roszenweig about her work with COT; he was sure to share a portion of the windfall. No more skipping meals so that the kids could eat three a day!

She took a bit of time to put down the keyboard and pencil and thank the Lord properly. Things were looking up.