Gray Panthers: Battle for Earth

by David Guenther

  "Aww Maria, you know I couldn't stay away," regaining his breath he continued. "You feel like everything I need, care to be my dessert? I am so hungry." Dan asked as his heart leapt into his throat.

  Maria pulled back a little, looked the old man in the eyes and saw eyes she had never seen before. Blue, sharp and clear, they seemed to look through her in their intensity. A shiver went up her spine as she actually felt a slight arousal for the old man.

  "Why don't you go into Brent's office and wait for me," Dan nearly panted into her ear. She reached down between his legs to show that the joke was over when she felt his hardness. Looking up one more time into Dan's eyes, she walked to the swinging doors towards the bathrooms and the bars office.

  Dan could not help but notice the way her hips swayed as she walked away. Heart beating into over-drive, Dan turned toward Brent and breathlessly said, "Hey Brent, I'm going to use your office, OK?" Brent simply said no problem as he had missed the interaction, as he was busy keeping two drunks from becoming belligerent.

  Opening the door to the office, the normal smell of cheap cigars and leather, was instead replaced with Marias heady perfume that nearly made him dizzy as he saw her sitting in the large leather chair, naked with her legs twisted before her, her arms crossed, pushing her breasts up as an offering. Her soft brown skin flawless, her smile the last invitation needed. He picked her up as his lips found hers, his tongue invading hers as he tried to unbuckle his belt as she too started to respond more passionately, helping him get his pants down. Taking charge, she pushed him into the chair as she climbed onto his lap guiding him.

  Two hours later Dan found himself sheepishly returning to the bar. Brent looked up at him, as did a small crowd of regulars, as a loud spontaneous clapping thundered out from the bar. Dan’s face burned red at the unwanted attention as all he wanted to do was slink away and get a shower. The clapping increased as Maria walked up behind him, reached up tippy toe in front of him and gave him a last hard kiss that promised more to come, as her hand pushed something down into his pocket. She also gave an exaggerated tug at the front of his pants and returned to her usual spot at the bar to a barrage of catcalls that she took as a badge of honor.

  "Umm I have to go see Abdul, Brent, I'll be by again later, Dan muttered as a new round of clapping followed him out the door. After closing the door, he reached into his pocket for his keys and discovered his wadded up cash he had left for Maria, and a slip of paper that simply said, Juanita, and a phone number. Toes no longer making contact with the ground Dan continued towards his cart slowly, appreciating the sun on his face and a slight breeze that carried the scent of oranges from a nearby orchard.

  Abdul was sitting up in his bed, surrounded by what appeared to be half the staff. Dan pushed by them, as they appeared to be arguing among themselves trying to not only determine the miraculous healing. But the fact that from the neck down Abdul was extremely toned and his muscle mass had returned. No sign of the previous bed sores or loose skin that had covered the bare skeletal frame. There was only a slight discoloration of his skin tone on his neck, where the breathing device had been connected, now a puckered scar. Dan could hear Abdul arguing that he was going to be released if he had to break heads to do it. Seeing his benefactor, he cleared his throat and said in a voice that would not accept defiance for everyone to get out of his room...NOW!

  After they were all gone he looked at Dan and could not hold back his tears as he simply said, "I thought when I went to sleep I was not going to wake up and I was so thankful to you for that my old comrade. Instead I wake up and have a new life ahead of me."

  "There's a price attached to it my friend. Tell these Rubes we prayed and that the room was bathed in light and God himself cleansed you. God is returning to the world soon and is pissed off. Let them know they need to ask for salvation while there is still time. I'll be waiting for you out front in five minutes. Don't make me wait."

  Dan pushed himself through an even bigger crowd gathering outside Abdul’s room as he made his way to his cart. Word had already spread about “The Miracle” Dan had described to the nurse earlier.

  Five minutes later, he could hear a loud commotion as he saw his old comrade streaking, nearly naked with only an open paper robe. One of the guards managed to grab his arm as Abdul reversed himself holding the guard in front of him with the guards arm now firmly behind him. He flipped the luckless guard into the second guard as he turned around again heading for the cart. His face plastered into one huge smile!

  When he got to the cart, he found the passenger door locked as Dan laughingly began to beret him for his lack of decorum, and to be streaking at his age. Abdul pounded on the glass demanding to be let in as the crowd got closer.

  "Get in the back Abdul, I don't want your bare ass on my seats" Dan shouted over the pounding.

  Jumping into the back Abdul saw an old set of fatigues, with his nametag. As he began to dress, Dan gunned the engine knocking him over. Both of them broke out laughing even louder as the crowd disappeared behind them. Dan slammed on the brakes throwing Abdul forward. "OK Abby you can sit up front with me now," Dan laughingly informed his old friend. "I think we could use a beer, unless you have other plans."

  "Lead on McDuff." Abdul gestured for him to get the move on as he tightened the laces on his boots.

  The tavern erupted in applause as the pair strode through the door. Brent came out from behind the bar and hugged his old friend. The three found themselves in the corner booth, reliving their time together as the beer flowed freely. Dan and Abdul got up and unsteadily made their way to the door. Before they could make it to the door, another of Dan's old friends grabbed Dan’s shoulder and handed him a large paper bag. "Nice haul my friend, $400,000, my friend the antique dealer is willing to buy any more mining antiques you can get for top dollar." Dan simply thanked the man and asked him if he had already taken his commission. The man smiled and said he had been taken care of, Dan just smiled and thanked him again and continue to the door. Before he could open the door, Maria, unseen, had come up behind him and covered his eyes saying, "Guess who my love."

  "I'm guessing it's the pretty senorita that's going to make me breakfast in the morning," was his chipper reply. Abdul looked on in shock as the pretty little woman wrapped her arms around Dan’s neck and melted into him as she checked out his tonsils with her tongue. "Any chance you can find a friend for my friend here?" Dan inquired. Maria looked at Abdul, gave him a smile that reminded him he was a man, then turned and walked away, taking both men's breath away. Two minutes later she was back with a tall blonde who looked like she had just competed in a Marilyn Monroe look alike competition. She walked up to Abdul without missing a beat putting her arm around the octogenarian and said, "Come on soldier boy. I hear there's a party to go to."

  Opening the door to his home Dan turned around to offer drinks as Maria immediately started to passionately kiss him. Abdul’s date took him by the hand and suggested they find someplace more comfortable. "Maria, you're spoiling me," Dan gasped out as he took Maria by her hand and headed to his bedroom. Abdul was trying to explain to his date that he had not been with a woman in twenty years as she pushed him down on the bed and began to perform a strip tease for him. Figuring she could get him excited, and then finish him off quick and still have time to find a real date for the night. Abdul watched the blonde strip, noticed she was not a real blonde, and chuckled as he realized he had been sporting an erection since he was in the cart. Hormones finally taking control, he jumped up and embraced the blonde. Kissing her passionately, he felt her firm breasts and warm soft skin against his chest. His hands began to explore on their own and Marilyn began to respond to the octogenarian to her own surprise. She unbuttoned his fatigues to see his body was pure muscle and belonged on a 20 year old. She reached for his member and began to feel a desire she could not remember before, other than for her girlfriend.

  Surprise, Arizona

  4 April 2126

  Ten o'clock
in the morning the girls simply left after exchanging phone numbers, making the guys promise to call them. Dan looked at Abdul, wearing only a towel as he strode into the kitchen, his neck and chest covered in hickeys, even his thighs sporting the red marks. Dan offered a soda, as Abdul dropped exhaustedly into a kitchen chair. "I did not get any sleep at all," was all Abdul said as he took the soda. Dan could only laugh as he admitted his own lack of sleep. Moreover, there was equal amazement when neither had been charged for the night’s visit.

  "It took a long time in our lives, but I guess, we're studs finally!" Dan quipped, "Seriously though, enjoy it while you can, we have a lot of work ahead of us. The two of us have to figure a way to protect our world from aliens. Before you try to get me locked up as a nut, remember where you were forty-eight hours ago. How do you think we got like we are now? There's not even a scar on your neck and even your love bites are fading away. I wanted us to have a little R&R before we got started, and after last night we need a break from R&R or we'd probably drop dead from exertion"

  "Amen to that, I never had a night like last night in my life." Abdul replied with a wide grin.

  "We'll take a little ride into the desert after we eat. You can see for yourself and let me know what you think."

  The two ate in silence, until Dan grabbed a cooler, filled it with ice and drinks, and pulled the old M1 and a green bag lettered with US on it out of the closet. Abdul grabbed the old rifle and quietly remarked he was surprised it was actually clean, and did not mention he could easily smell that it had been fired recently. Together they walked into the garage as Abdul stored the ancient weapon in its regular hiding spot in the cart as he had many times before.

  The drive to the mine was quiet as both men reflected on the last couple of days. Once again, it felt outstanding to be alive as they absorbed the day, the sun in their faces, the wind in their hair, and all was well in the world. At the foot of the mountain, Dan slowed as Abdul hopped out as they had done thousands of times before. Grabbing the fat old whiskbroom from the back, he followed behind the cart wiping their trail clear. Dan was waiting at the open mine entrance with a liter bottle of water already perspiring in the desert heat. Abdul graciously took the bottle and helped to cover the cart. The coolness of the mine was invigorating as they headed to their small desert home inside. Dan became alert immediately when he saw the old rusted machinery was gone and where the elevator shaft to the lower level had been was now just rock floor. Abdul noticed as well immediately and began to ask what had happened, when the ground opened where the hole had been and then was replaced by a shiny metal square ten foot by ten foot.

  "Grub you've been busy I see" Dan hollered as he nervously got onto the platform and quickly dropped to the lower lever. Abdul looked down from above speechless at first. "I see you've made some improvements while I was gone," as the platform returned to the top and he gingerly stepped onto it.

  The lower level was brilliantly lit as Dan saw the old shaft was wider and smoother. There were also new well lit shafts going off into many directions. The wall was blocked to the ceiling with assorted small crates made of some metal he could not identify. Dan began to head to the crates as a pair of droids appeared from one of the side shafts with more of the crates to add to the pile. Abdul started backing up until he noticed Dan was not bothered at all by their visitors. "What's in the boxes there, Stretch?" Dan asked of the first droid.

  "Per your orders, we have been mining gold and precious metals. This is all we have mined and processed" the droid replied in a metallic voice as it stacked the new crates with the rest.

  Before the droids could leave, Dan inspected a crate and could not see how it opened. "Please open this crate for me, Stretch," Dan asked. The droid returned to the crate and brought out what looked like a pen, then drew a line around the top lip of the crate and then pulled the top off. Inside perfectly stacked coins filled the entire inside. He grabbed one and noticed the coin was a Liberty Head $20 dated 1861. Shaking his head, he tossed it to Abdul as he instructed the droid to close the box. The droid put the lid back on the box then used the pencil to draw a line where the two parts met connecting them and not even leaving any evidence of a seam.

  "What's the weight of those crates, Stretch?" Dan absently asked as he tried to count the total number of boxes, and gave up.

  "The boxes were constructed to easily carry one hundred pounds metal." I do not know how many there are, do you wish me to ask Grub?" the droid replied.

  "No that's fine, I'm going to see Grub now" was Dan’s reply as he grabbed back the gold coin from Abdul and signed him to follow.

  "These big silver guys are controlled by the space ship. Grub is the name of the ship and has an intelligent computer that can communicate to me through the silver guys or the ships public address system," Dan informed Abdul as he followed quietly intent on not missing anything. Stepping into the cavern with the ship, everything was now well lit, as Dan was amazed at the sheer size of the ship as he headed for the hatch. As he stepped in, Grubs voice immediately welcomed him and Abdul by name. "Hello Grub, nice trick. How did you know Abdul’s name? Reading my mind?" Dan asked.

  "I have been monitoring your communications. I launched a small satellite that allows me to interact with all the satellites in orbit even with their crude security systems. After downloading your planet’s history from the internet, I felt it important to ensure you were safe, so I have been tracking you." Grubs reply struck Dan silent for a minute, then quipped, "Grub you continue to amaze me. How have you been tracking me?"

  "I started by using the devices in your house; phone, TV, the security devices in the city, but mainly I used a set of intelligence drones. They have not been more than 5 feet from you since you left the mine." A small spot materialized directly in front of Dan, then disappeared again. "The drones are able to bend light so it is very difficult to see, especially if you are not looking for them."

  Dan smiled and turned to Abdul, "Abdul meet Grub our new partner, and Grub do you have video of the entire time you were monitoring me? If so I'd like a copy of last night from eleven o’clock local time until eight this morning." Before he could continue, in front of him in full life size he saw his room and himself on top of Maria, "END DISPLAY NOW!" Dan shouted as Abdul hit him in the side and broke out laughing. "Is there also security footage of Abdul? Dan asked going from shocked to accepting the invasion of his privacy.

  "When the importance of Abdul to you was apparent to me I, began dedicated monitoring of him also. Do you need any replay of his actions?" Grub asked.

  "Hell no! You damn pervert!" Abdul roared, then looked at Dan fighting back his tears and restarted laughing again.

  "Grub, if you were monitoring me when I left here and you saw my interaction with the Outsiders, why didn't you help me? Dan asked, once again serious.

  "I was going to stall their engine when you turned around to engage them, so I did not want to interfere as I was not sure what was going on. Your actions left me confused, especially when it appeared that you enjoyed the engagement. Had one of them tried to use their firearms, the drone did have the ability to redirect the bullet in flight by hitting it with their body. But as it turned out you did not need any assistance against the nine men that attacked you."

  Abdul just looked at Dan as he listened to the conversation, respect growing for his old comrade. "Boy you are nuts! Good thing I'm back to give you adult supervision, and don't give me no crap about the best defense is a strong offense. Sounds like you could have just kept running and avoided that stupidity! Enough said. Now Grub I'm tired of talking to thin air, I want to see what you look like, now!" As Dan was getting ready to explain Grub was the ships voice they were in, an apparition appeared before them. Standing in front of them was a six-foot tall prairie dog, comical looking as it seemed to have a mouth full of something making the cheeks look fat, as it absently scratched its chest with both paws.

  "This is how I am represented to my builders when they wanted
to talk with me. This is also how the average Flem looks," Grub answered as his nose started to twitch slightly.

  "Damn Grub, you got a fat ass," Dan quipped.

  "How about we go sit down and start getting me up to date here," Abdul groaned as he rubbed his forehead as he felt a throbbing pain that was slowly getting stronger.

  Grub nodded and they followed him down a wide hallway and into a conference room with a long table down the center and fat squat chairs all around it. Dropping into the seat, Dan noticed how plush and wide it was on the bottom but yet perfectly comfortable.

  "OK Grub, Dan tells me your species is being hunted, by now probably extinct." You luckily escaped the destruction and will not do anything to save them. So, you will stay hidden in this hole as they do the same thing to our people in 20 years. Are you going to volunteer your services to them when they come, maybe in exchange they will repair you and use you to hunt humans." Abdul softly asked so coldly Dan shuddered, remembering when he had heard that tone used before during field interrogations in the war. "Will your new masters appreciate the gold? So it's a safe bet start mining now to please them since they will just take it away from us. Have you been able to contact them to let them know the place is ready for easy pickings? Maybe spread your nanites in the water supply so they will have nice healthy slaves waiting for them? Save them the trouble, be a nice little traitor."

  Grub, slowly for emphasis, walked up to where Abdul was sitting, looked down on the human and simply said, "I am not a warrior or a death merchant, my laws and society demand this of me. I will..."