It's Hell to Choose

by Michael Anderle

  The compressed air rounds painted those coming over the hill with darts and ink. The darts had enough nanocyte-infused sleeping product to overcome the Werewolves’ ability to fight it.

  Jennifer had seen the group going over the top and was forcing herself to get up and started running. She wasn’t going to be left behind when her teammates were up there getting into God knew what.

  She found out a minute later as she came up to the top, gaining momentum, and crashed into a person in a ghillie suit. She was shot three times with a pistol before she understood her error. Once in her neck, and twice he peppered her torso. She reached up and grabbed the feathered dart, yanking it out and then the two others. She started towards him, “Mother fucker! That shit stings…” and then collapsed into the dirt.

  What felt like moments later, but was at least a little while from what she could tell of the sun moving, she felt a shake on her shoulder, “Wake up!” She looked up into … Timmons? Shit, she couldn’t remember.

  “What the hell?” She slurred out.

  “We got ambushed, again.” Timmons' face look resigned. “We reacted just the way we were warned against. We aren’t thinking, at all.”

  Jennifer turned over to look up into the sky, “Hey, we got a bunch of us over the ridge!”

  Timmons smiled, “Yeah, and we fucking ran right into an ambush. Poor Williams-Jones over there got hit with twelve darts. He can’t remember if he is a boy or a girl, yet.” Timmons looked up to the ridge, “Get your ass up and help someone else wake up. We all walk into the base, or we carry who those that cannot make it on their own.” With that said, Timmons stood up and moved away.

  The team learned later that the ink was there to annoy the ever-loving shit out of them as those who were dirty scrubbed like hell to get it off. No one was allowed to find an ‘easier’ method.

  The learning, they were told, would happen with each moment they scrubbed.

  Each time they went out, they learned. First, they put out scouts to trip any ambushes. Unfortunately, it took another ambush to realize that they needed line-of-sight on their scouts or quiet takedowns reduced their effectiveness.

  They had requested better armor and received it. Their team learned from another group that they could ask for anything they could think of that might help. ‘This isn’t the military where everything is handed to you, improvise, adapt!’ was the phrase that came back to them.

  Now, they all had been told to go hit the showers, eat and to reconvene at 14:00 in the number one hanger that had been set up with chairs.

  She had heard the murmurs before she hit the doors to get in the room. When she got inside, she was just as surprised as everyone else who was waiting for them.

  Vampires.

  Dressed in camouflage and in the same dress they were in. These were the same group that had originally been in the first meeting. Jennifer went to her spot and sat down.

  Dan Bosse was talking with Kevin McCoullagh up on the stage when Dan reached up to his shoulder to push something, and she could read his lips - ‘say again?’ He nodded and then cut off his conversation with Kevin, who stepped to the back of the stage.

  Dan moved forward, and everyone settled down. “Good afternoon.” He eyed everyone there, “I appreciate how hard you guys are working to get your physical skills up and hone your ability to take control of the animal in you.” He grimaced, “Poor choice of words but the sentiment is right. For you to become a fighting unit you have to stay in your best mind for the job. Usually, that will be your human form for the Wechselbalg.”

  He started walking back and forth on the podium. “I admire the advances you have made, the fact that you all realized it isn’t four teams against each other, but rather four teams accomplishing the same goal. For now, your goal has been to repel invaders.”

  He looked around the room, “Actually, you have done pretty poorly on that front.” He smiled, “But, now we are going to do something besides send you out to run and defend. The running was the important part. The defending was to make you forget about all of the concentrated exercise you were doing. You all won or lost together, and learned that the four teams can share data, and learned how to trust each of the other teams. Now we are going to start making one team out of the four groups.”

  At that point, the massive doors for the hanger started jerking, preparing to open, letting in the mid-afternoon sun as it speared the first 2-inch crack as the doors separated. For a second, no one stirred, then Jennifer yelled out, “Dammit! The Vampires!” She broke ranks and started running to the doors, soon most of her group and many others starting running to join her. A few of the guys realized they could try to protect the Vampires with their clothes, they stripped off their tops and started towards the Vampires, who stood mystified.

  “HOLD!”

  The massive doors stopped moving, the Wechselbalg who had made it to the doors stopped trying to pull them shut again, and those that were coming to the Vampire rescue with their shirts realized the Vampires were looking at them curiously.

  “This is a genuine test…” The contralto voice floated down on the people in the hanger from above. Everyone looked up to see her above them. Like last time, she stood up on the catwalk above the doors. “The test of whether you care for any and all under my banner.”

  The Wechselbalg realized that they had responded as a team. They heard the cry, they saw the response, they followed each other.

  “My Elite,” She called out in a commanding tone. “Honor!”

  Fifteen Vampires bowed deeply to the Wechselbalg. At first, the Wechselbalg didn’t know what to do. Then those around Jennifer saw her response and the reaction flowed out from her area like ripples on a pond.

  One hundred Wechselbalg bowed back.

  “Up!” Dan called. He spoke out because Wechselbalg wouldn’t know when to quit, otherwise. A few of those who had come over to the Vampires held out their hands and soon it was a massive group of men and women all shaking hands and talking when the first Wechselbalg asked the Vampires why they weren’t afraid of the sun.

  They admitted the Queen had modified them.

  “Oh, HELL yeah!” A shorter, stocky guy named Barson yelled out, “They can go out in the sun,” He pointed to the Vampire who answered, “I want him on my team!” Then the laughing got louder and the pleading for the Vampires to join the separate teams began.

  Dan heard a voice in his head, “You called it.” He grinned as he looked up to where Bethany Anne was standing.

  But she was gone.

  Dan smiled and allowed himself a few moments to enjoy the results.

  —

  Cheryl Lynn walked into the second ‘room’ of her four container suite. Todd, Tina and she were testing the configuration to see if it had everything a small family such as theirs would need to live in outer space.

  The kids each had a room in one container. They were not happy to find out that all of the water usage rooms, including the bathrooms and shower, were in one container. Tina had to deal with Todd occasionally, and Cheryl Lynn did not tell her daughter there was a configuration with two bathrooms that her mother had decided against.

  It would push Tina to learn to cope a little better with the constraints in space.

  The water containers were one third bathroom and wash facilities, two-thirds kitchen. The induction stove was effective, efficient, easy to buy, and easy to install. There was a discussion on how many burners to place on the stove top, and the final number ended up being three based on space and need. You could walk right through the middle of the kitchen area to the eating area and then beyond into the next ‘room’.

  A decision was made that every family unit had a responsibility to help grow their own food. Or they could produce one type of food and trade for others. Either way, unless the company was footing the total expense for a professional in space, it was agreed that little things would be added to underscore the need for people to be self-sufficient and self-reliant.

&n
bsp; The hydroponics area wasn’t very big, but it was capable of growing different types of fruits and vegetables. Cheryl Lynn was aware that Michelle, the scientist responsible for all food growth efforts, was building unique containers that would be designed to support specific foods. One of the first designs was for potatoes. Instead of all dirt, she was working on a method that used a fake straw. The water was automatically added, but the mulching of the fake straw (or ‘earthing up’ as she called it) was done by hand as the plants grew. The lighting inside the container was some of the best technology now available, and there was a lot.

  Cheryl Lynn had been interviewed no less than twelve times on the food efforts they were doing. She would usually explain that the efforts were not ‘super advanced’, but instead just used the methods available to anyone who had the money to go buy already pre-built shipping containers.

  If the reporter were particularly annoying, Cheryl Lynn would point out that some of the most exceptional efforts in understanding how to grow plants in a closed container environment were presently being undertaken by those growing marijuana plants.

  She sat down on the couch and spoke, “House, turn on the TV and play the news clips curated. First, show me Bethany Anne clips.”

  She grabbed her writing notebook and then took a sip of her tea as the first clip came up.

  “This is Michael Eaves, CNN News, Africa. The elusive CEO of TQB Enterprises was seen entering the Government Building in South Africa. For those who might have been living under a rock, TQB Enterprises is the International Conglomerate, which put a base on the moon about six weeks ago.”

  The man looked behind him to point at a white, stone faced building. “Speculation is that she is discussing opportunities to work with the local governments in Africa to combat AIDS. Part of the reason, we suspect, is that Africa has 91% percent of the HIV-positive children.

  Usually, most government projects have inadequate security protocols, and there would be many leaks by now. However, these talks are different. One person, who wished to remain anonymous, admitted that the state had fourteen individuals in a previous meeting but three, including a high-ranking cabinet member, was tossed out.”

  The news reporter looked back into the camera, “I’ve since learned that the cabinet member was arrested. This is now the third example of someone being asked to leave one of these meetings and then being arrested afterward. It makes you wonder if TQB Enterprises has their own spy agency or mind-reading technology to ensure those in the room can be trusted. This is Michael Eaves, CNN News, Africa.”

  Another sip of tea, another clip came online, “Hello, This is Kerry Shea from France 24 News. TQB Enterprises CEO Bethany Anne was caught leaving a care facility late last night after visiting victims still recovering from the most recent terrorist attacks. No one had known she was visiting this small facility until it was mentioned on the social network Viadeo, a professional networking social media website, no less. The comment, placed there by the nighttime manager, wasn’t picked up by news reviewers for almost twenty-two minutes allowing the reclusive CEO to spend more time before reporters were able to get close.”

  Cheryl Lynn murmured to the TV, “I bet you strike off ‘all’ social media websites instead of just the big names next time you tell someone not to rat you out, Bethany Anne.”

  The clip ended, another came up, “European Financial News Today has uncovered TQB Enterprises had purchased over forty-thousand shipping containers in the last few months leading up to the successful moon base launch. This had caused the containers, which typically sold used for between one-thousand eight hundred to two thousand five hundred dollars a piece, to go up in price twenty percent. Now, the price of used shipping containers has skyrocketed after news of the moon-base project. The rumors are that the company is going to use them to build a shipping container based city on the moon. There is a small business still selling containers to those wishing to use them for personal purposes for less than three-thousand dollars, and the deal is absolutely one container per person at this time.”

  “That’s because we are making a killing on all of you speculative buyers and Bethany Anne doesn’t want to hurt the little guys and gals financially.” Cheryl Lynn spoke aloud to the TV.

  Cheryl Lynn wrote down to remind herself about leaking that information when they sold down to about ten thousand containers. With the money coming from the rise due to speculative shipping container purchasing, the Team BMW group had new containers built based on their unique designs.

  Cheryl Lynn set her writing pad aside, “HOUSE, pause the clip.” She walked into the kitchen and opened the smaller fridge. She reached in and grabbed a couple of carrots and closed the door. She opened the pantry to grab the peanut butter and then went back and got comfortable on the couch again, “HOUSE, continue the clips.”

  “This is Kieron Colan with all the news that matters in England. In the group of news labeled, ‘Hot Babes That Are CEO’s’ we are talking about Bethany Anne and her hunky, hunky boyfriend, Michael. One of the most interesting aspects of this guy is that he has no last name. None, zilch, zip, nada. This scrumptalicious boy-toy seems to have eyes only for his main squeeze but Lord Almighty if he is willing to bat both ways I would sign up! Hell, I already have a life-sized poster of this guy greeting me each morning as I wake up.” The young and good-looking reporter started waving at his face, “Sorry, I got off track there for a second, but I figure the other half of our viewers know why we like stories about Bethany Anne, don’t we?”

  “HOUSE, pause this clip and contact ADAM.” Cheryl Lynn waited for the second it took to get ADAM’s voice to come from the TV speakers.

  “Yes, Cheryl Lynn?”

  “ADAM, tag this video from England and try to move it to where Bethany Anne doesn’t see it if she is too busy. This is just more ‘I want Michael’ stuff, and frankly she doesn’t need to see this right now.”

  “Done. However, may I ask what the logic is behind this?” ADAM inquired.

  Cheryl Lynn pursed her lips, “It’s an emotional answer, ADAM. Right now, Bethany Anne isn’t thinking straight with some of the chemicals rushing through her body regarding Michael. She is already aware that there are a lot of women who want him for various reasons. Some just because Bethany Anne has him.”

  “Woman would want a man for no other reason than another woman does?”

  “Yes. Add that she is a beautiful, powerful, wealthy woman and he ‘must’ be a catch. So, bitches are bitches and if they can’t have Michael, they will try to separate the two if the option becomes available.”

  “This does not bother you?” ADAM asked Cheryl Lynn.

  “You know, it’s a good thing you have a synthetic brain.” She began.

  “My brain is not synthetic, is is actually an organic alien brain mostly housed in another dimension,” He clarified.

  “Whatever, you are not a human male otherwise, I might be annoyed with your question.” She pursed her lips, “The answer to your question, and this answer better stay with you, is that I feel a little jealous. I’m happy for the both of them, but you need to see that logic and feelings aren’t always going to match in humans due to these stupid-ass emotions. They are our strongest component and our biggest frailty. They drive us beyond all expectations and cause us to fail miserably for the dumbest reasons. Either way, I’m going to help protect Bethany Anne by not making her face all of this shit that will just rattle her already edgy emotions. The guys protect her physically, us women are trying to bolster her emotionally.”

  “I understand. What is the basis for her emotional distraught?”

  “You are SO a man, ADAM…” Cheryl Lynn huffed, “She’s in love, stupid.”

  Costa Rica - South America

  In Phillip Simmons line of work, he had collaborated with the seedy underbelly of society for decades. Occasionally, that meant that relationships stretched from South America all the way back to the United States.