UN inspector Cabot was getting seriously concerned. This was the third refugee camp he had inspected that had missing refugees. It was his job to keep track of the numbers and report it to the UN review board. With the size of the camps increasing he had been expecting to move up from a G-4 to a G-5 level. Now with the camps shrinking the importance of his job were dropping making his promotion look less and less likely. He had to do something or that corner office and new car wasn’t going to happen this year. Maybe he could just fudge the numbers a bit. It was only a few hundred missing and with some creative reporting he could cover that. He could claim they were out of camp on day jobs working for food. That could work and with some sob stories/comments padding his reports he might even get a bigger commitment of support. The alternative was to blame it on guerilla attacks killing them off. Unfortunately there was no sign of attacks from the local paramilitary group doing it. Their attacks were notorious for burning out the camps after shooting most of the refugees. Without evidence the guerrilla attack would be too easily to disprove. Most of the UN workers didn’t stray from the medical compound and so didn’t check on the refugees. The one or two who did go out to treat them had mentioned hearing talk about someone offering them a job. Probably one of the cartels looking for more workers annoying but not something he could do anything about.

  * * * * *

  The Captain was having problems sleeping at night now and even his first mate had commented on his increased drinking. After the first trip to that island he swore never to go back but the money was too good. They offered three times his usual rate to take a load of refugees from a refugee camp in El Salvador to the island. As he looked at them board his ship all he could think of was why anyone would want them. There were 500 half starved men, women and children carrying all they own on their backs to that spooky island. He wondered how many would be returning on this trip with that scared, angry look the previous group had. Looking at one family consisting of a mother with a desperate look on her face and three small children he could only wondered how bad it had to have been wherever they were from to risk her children like this.

  He lifted his glass of whisky and whispered “Good luck and Heaven Help You” to them!

  As the first group of workers arrived on the island Daniel and Sammy both decided to meet them together. There were a lot of families with children this time so seeing Sammy there might help calm them down. Daniel looked over at the ship to see if they were about to disembark yet. Seeing the Captain on the ship’s bow with a glass in his hands Daniel thought he had better remind him to wait a bit longer this time before taking the ones who refuse to step through back to El Salvador. With such a large group this time the holdouts will probably be more.

  Alejandra was so tired, it was a constant struggle to scrounging for food while trying to protect her kids from the predators at the camp. She didn’t even have time to properly grieve for her husband. It had been 6 weeks since her husband had died leaving her to flee their bakery in the middle of the night. He had made the mistake of not paying the local gang their protection money after one of their members attacked his sister. In his anger he refused to pay the protection money so they broke in and trashed the store. Carlos tried to stop them which just got him killed and the store torched. It had taken all her cash to convince a fisherman to get her and the kids out of Venezuela. She hadn’t been able to find work in El Salvador and couldn’t provide for the kids. The refugee camp was their last resort but even here there was nothing she could do. She couldn’t protect her kids while working and her only skill was bread making. Not a skill she could use in camp where there wasn’t even an oven. After praying all night she decided to trust the gringo about a safe place with a job and a school for the children.

  The bus ride from the camp was scary, everyone was wondering if the man lied or if they were going to be taken to a drug farm. They had all heard stories about the cartels and what they did to get workers. Instead the bus arrived at the port with a big ship all ready for them to board. The ship was big with lots of rooms but no place for the kids to sleep. Alejandra heard a crew member mention they had cabins but the trip was only for the day so the Captain had ordered all rooms kept closed. She finally found a quiet place in a corner away from everyone and had the children settle there. Using their bag of clothes as a pillow she managed to get the kids to fall asleep but hunger woke them up a few hours later. She dug through their one bag hoping to find some overlooked bit of food that the kids could eat. Not finding anything she started asking people around her if there was any food available. A few told her the main cabin had sandwiches earlier but they were gone now. Worried she had missed her chance to feed the kids she nervously asked a passing crewman if there was any food left. He didn’t say anything just looked at her and the kids for a few seconds before leaving. A few minutes later he returned with four sandwiches and boxes of juice in his hands. With a quiet “gracias” she handed one to each of the kids. Watching the kids happy eating their sandwiches she decided to save hers for them just in case there was no more coming later.

  Now that the kids had food in their stomachs she was able to get them to go back to sleep. Exhausted she drank a little water to try and stop her hunger pains before curling up beside them and tried to get some sleep herself. A few hours later the ship horn woke her from a beautiful dream she was having of her and Carlos baking bread together surrounded by their children. She looked at her kids still sleeping and gave the Memorare Prayer to the Virgin Mary to please help keep them safe. Getting up she looked out a porthole and saw the small island they were approaching. It was strange, she thought the island didn’t look big enough for a cocoa plantation (her big fear) which was good but it also wasn’t big enough for all the people on the ship to live and work together. There were only a couple of buildings on it. Where was the home the gringo had promised for her family?

  Sammy and Daniel watched the people exit the ship. There was a lot more of them this time but with the staff already setup on Ceres they should be able to handle them even if everyone decided to stay. Sammy did noticed one woman with three kids take a crumpled up wrapped sandwich out of her pocket, after carefully tear it into three pieces she gave each one to her kids. From the look of it they hadn’t had a decent meal in a long time but the kids quietly took the small piece of sandwich without complaint. Pointing them out to Daniel she wondered about their situation but unlike the first group they had no information on these people only that they were refugees with no place to go. Daniel gave a brief glance at them before turning his attention back to a couple of men off to the side by themselves. What stood out about them was the people around the two men made sure to give them extra room and occasionally a scared look as the passed by. He decided he would need to do a historical back trace on those men to see why everyone was treating them that way. If they were trouble it would be better to deal with sooner rather than later.

  The refugees started to walk down the gangplank so Daniel and Sammy moved over to where they could direct them to proceed down the dock to the transit building. The translation software was working in the background translating what they said to everyone in Spanish. Listening to the constant translation Daniel whispered in Sammy’s ear that maybe they should take the time to learn Spanish. Sammy nodded her head in agreement but giggled when Daniel took the opportunity to softly blow into her ear.

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  The Captain had promised to provide food for the passengers as part of the ship chartering but Grandma thought it wouldn’t be enough. She had the girls from the cafeteria setup tables of food inside the transit hall along the back wall. As the refugees walked in they immediately headed to the food. As they stood around eating Daniel took the opportunity to open a portal in the archway to Ceres. There was some commotion from the people eating as they saw it happen but most seem to consider it nothing more than a fancy video display and went back to their eating.

  As the feeding frenzy slowed down I started in on my speech about portals and terraforming another planet. Since all the refugees where from Spanish speaking countries my speech was being transmitted in Spanish. From the lack of response the refugees seem to have an issue understanding my explanation of a portal and another world. Either that or our Spanish translation was doing a lousy job of it. I eventually decided to just skip ahead to the demo and with everyone watching I walk through the portal to Ceres. As I stepped out onto the beach I heard some of the refugees clapping. It looked like they thought it was a magic trick. As I stepped back through to the transit room again there was even more clapping and a couple of cheers. Looking over at Sammy I shrugged my shoulders while she grinned at me.

  It looked like they had all finished eating so I decided to just go ahead and try getting them to go through. Asking the people closes to the portal to follow Sammy I waved to her as she walked through to Ceres. To help encourage them I told them Sammy would take them to get their work locations and have housing assigned. Surprisingly enough that did get a few people to follow her to Ceres. The very first group through was that single mom and three kids I saw out on the pier. I was pretty sure she had stuffed her pockets and bag with food from the tables before taking her kids though. There was a delay after the first few people went through. It looked like a lot of them were having second thoughts after realizing what the portal was. I decided to try offering some more verbal encouragement to them.

  “People, if you decide you don’t want the job then please head back to the ship. The Captain will make sure you get back to the refugee camp. Everyone else hurry on through we have a lot to do to get you settled into your homes and jobs assigned before dinner time.”

  With that statement I nodded to the cafeteria girls and they started pushing serving carts with all the leftover food past the people and through the portal. It was a bit subtle and probably not a nice thing to do to half starved refugees but it worked. Seeing the food disappear on them most of the people followed the food through the portal. There were still a hundred or so remaining behind but I was happy with the ones who did go. I waved goodbye to the ones left behind telling them to hurry to the boat and wishing them good luck and then I went through the portal right before it closed.

  Now that we had staff available there was several tables setup for the refugees to line up in front of. The staff members manning the tables spoke Spanish so translations were not needed as they processed each person. The refugees were understandably nervous and scared so the questions were kept simple. Basically just asking for names, who they were with, if they needed medical attention and what type of jobs they had done in the past. Anyone who had done agriculture related jobs were directed to staff waiting to take them to stay in trailers at the mobile camp. All others were directed by staff at the apartment complex. I was sure we would have a lot of moving back and forth as people settled in but for now this would do. I did make sure that the mother with the three kids went to the apartment complex. We could use a baker and having one would be a start to weaning the food prep staff off of having Hawk duplicate all the food from outside sources. For the two suspicious men I made sure they ended up at the mobile camp for now. Later I would check them out but for now I wanted them away from our main facility.

  Dr. Wagner had taken the ones that indicated they needed medical attention to the clinic. I was a bit surprised and also disappointed seeing all the children who needed it. The one thing the refugee camp seems to have in abundance was UN medical staff. So why did a dozen people, mostly children need medical attention? I decided to talk to the doctor after everyone got settles about it. We couldn’t fix all the problems of the world but if someone at the UN side was screwing up I could do something about that.

  We now had a booklet with basic information for the employees. Sammy had written it and it contained maps, facilities, hours they were open, the rules and most importantly what we were trying to accomplish here. As each group was checked in they received a copy along with their first week’s schedule. We actually weren’t planning on having them work the first week but it was important to get them settled and doing something. Because of that I had videos by a British broadcaster showing the evolution of life on earth scheduled to be shown as well as some training classes.

  The first shipment of plants and seeds were also due in next week by cargo ship from our Panama Company. We could have just had Hawk portal the shipment directly to the island but we still planned on misdirecting as much attention as possible. If the different government organizations hadn’t gotten wind of us by now it was only a matter of time before they did. Interfering with those shipments would be their second and most obvious target. I was counting on the fact that initially they should all be more interested in investigating what we were doing and how the portal worked. Keeping supplies coming through by boat would initially help with their investigation so they likely wouldn’t mess with it.

  Juan Pablo was quietly talking to his partner Miguel about their future plans now that they were out of the refugee camp. Miguel wasn’t the smartest gang member but he followed orders and Juan needed that if he was to become a Jefa (boss). At his request they had been assigned a mobile home at the camp for themselves. Looking around at the clean two bedroom home Juan thought it was the best place he had every lived in and a good start for his empire. Both had been members of the Los Rastrojos gang in Bogotá until they backed the wrong person in a takeover attempt. They barely managed to get to a port where they hijacked a fishing trawler to San Salvador. Unfortunately their skills in drug dealing and protection didn’t mean much without a gang to back them up. After a run in with a local gang they decided to hide out in a refugee camp. They tried to setup a protection racket at the refugee camp but no one had any money and almost no food. The best they could do was robbing what little the refugees still along with a couple of assaults on the better looking women. The job offer from that rich gringo seemed a perfect chance to get somewhere with more opportunity. Now he just had to figure out how to take advantage of this situation. As far as he could tell everyone here was she just waiting for plucking.

  Daniel using a temporal portal had seen enough of the two men’s history. The question now was what to do with them. If he sent them back to San Salvador they would just go back to robbery, rape and drug dealing. Not something he wanted on his conscious but killing them was also out for him. Normally he would arrange proof of a crime and go to prison but that wouldn’t work even if I provided video evidence. The legal system in Columbia was notoriously corrupt and it was doubtful if any of their victims would trust it. After fiving it some though he decided to just send them back to their old gang.

  Juan fell asleep in his new bed dreaming about becoming a big crime boss. In the dream he was surrounded by drugs and putas giving orders to his old gang members. The dream was interrupted as he woke up with a sharp pain in his side as someone kicked him. Looking around still foggy from sleep he didn’t understand how he had gotten back at the Los Rastrojos gang house. What was worst was the gang leader he had sided against was now looking down at him.

  I had Hawk shut down the portal when the gang leader pulled out his gun. I did feel a little guilty about it but I did let the Columbian police know about the gang and that two ex-members about to be executed would be happy to confess everything if they could get to them in time. I did mention where the drugs and money were if they got there in time so that “might” encourage the police to do their job. Either way I didn’t want to see the results. I figured I would sleep better is I just assume the police got there in time.