Chapter 27

Friday

THE GROUP SAT in stunned silence for a long moment,then Josh said,“Contact with the outside world?How?From whom?And for that matter,what about?”

“As for the how,”Claire said,“we began picking up broadcasts on the base station,so we started listening to them,and eventually we responded.The people making the broadcasts claim to be a group of big business tycoons who are trying to get some sort of trade going between different regions of the country.”

“Do they want something specific?”Tom said.

“Yes.It seems they’ve managed to get some old F Series diesel engines running,and they plan to take a small train from somewhere south of Washington,DC,down to Louisiana and back.They’re willing to stop at the old depot in Sampson to meet with some of us.”

“What in the world are F Series diesel engines?”someone said.