by Marcus Sloss
“No rush on that, we need to build up our defenses, improve our housing, and secure everything we can outside Stronghold Mansion. Enough sitting around comfy. Get to work,” I said with an authoritarian tone. Perci fled my lap to catch up to Torrez.
I stared at my Gpad. Xgate 232 was drifting further away without much activity. The flying scorpion creatures rushed out, grabbed the dead puroons, and then fled back home. If that was all they were going to do on our planet, then I could be happy. I did notice their displeasure from the sunlight.
I realized Harvard had been missing from our briefing. Probably settling his family into our suite. When the room emptied, it was only Jevon and I remaining. A few heads peeked in while passing by, curious why the room was open.
“Who do you want to promote?” I asked my friend. “We are missing all three of our platoon leaders.”
“How about we stick the sergeants ready to go into leadership roles?” Jevon said as he stared over his knuckles with his elbow on the table. “I agree with most of what was said. I will not enjoy shitting in the woods though.”
I chuckled at his comment. “Add civilians to the foraging teams.”
Jevon rolled his eyes while shifting to lean back in his chair. “Cap, I love you, but that will lead to problems.”
“Greater problems than not testing recruits?” I said with a sigh. “You are right; taking untrained troops into the field has dangers. However, we need to be inclusive. Else I fear there will be other issues later.”
“Such as?”
“Saudi Arabia went without rebellion because we had a central goal, strong leadership, and everyone was focused. Last thing we need is factions inside this place. If we do not integrate and incorporate, I will be challenged for-”
Jevon scoffed, laughed, and then burst into cackling. “Oh… That was rich. You would just ace the rebellion. Hell, even I would for you. Okay, I will tell the sergeants to integrate those civilians willing to go. If we are not doing a pirate theme this time then what were you thinking?”
“How about we pull up what vikings used. Since we…” my Gpad populated a triangle of four tiers of leadership. “Well, kings are at the top. That would please some, upset others, and -”
“And establish your iron fist. Especially if a treasonous party wanting to become the king requires a full wipeout of your nobles,” Jevon said with an ‘ah-ha’ finger wag. “Assuming your nobles are loyal.”
“I have never thought of myself as such. Even after returning home in victory I would doubt my decisive decision.”
“That is the key phrase, decisive. You are a natural leader, quick to react, and my friend. Now tell me the rest of this structure,” Jevon said with his own version pulled up.
“Earls would replace officers. I would want more titles though. Dukes for military and earls for stronghold officers. Freemen comes next. Probably replace that with the gender-neutral term ‘citizens’. Hmm… one of the things the army taught me is people need promotions. Esteemed Citizen and Apprentice Citizen ranks would help. Private, Specialist, and Sergeant respectively would become Apprentice Soldier, Citizen Soldier, and Esteemed Soldier. Thoughts on the bottom bracket of this chart? I am not wanting to get into slavery. Vikings used slaves, and it seems, so do aliens.”
“Are you asking me because I am black or because of the ramifications? Right off the bat, no to slavery of humans. I would rather Bonnet execute the -”
“You guys seeing this?” Harvard asked, sticking his head in the door to interrupt us.
We shifted our Gpads to view the scene at the gate. Buxen were marching with the puroon aliens enslaved. The small sticks the luxen carried were extending a leash around captive necks. A single human was being towed as well. You could see the panicking young woman realizing she was on earth. The collar whipped tightly around her neck. The woman stumbled until she crashed to her knees. That tiny little luxen that couldn’t have weighed more than forty pounds had no problem dragging that larger naked woman. The army rotated to their portal to head home. The gravity sleds were piled high with metal, odd trinkets, and I picked out three dead human bodies. I frowned at the sight.
“I guess we will not be trading with the buxen. Harvard. These aliens seem to value slavery. Thoughts?”
“Thoughts on human slavery are strongly in opposition. Oh, your frown means you were thinking of other species.” I sent my S2 officer my intended new ranking structure. He pondered over the triangle for a minute. “Look, Cap. I can stomach calling you a king. I can even adjust from military to citizen ranks. Slavery opens a whole dynamic I do not think humanity is ready for. You could always put it up for a vote.”
“Not very kingly of me if I vote in our new rules,” I said with a scoff.
“A deermen… Sorry, bux, tilling our fields might be what saves us from starvation. I am not ruling the idea out. How about giving the term its proper verbiage?” Harvard said, leaning on the door frame. He sniffed the air and scrunched his nose.
“To what?” Jevon said with folded arms. The man was getting agitated.
“Prisoner workforce. Everyone is used to seeing road cleanup by prisoners. The concept is akin to slavery, merely with a release date,” Harvard said and Jevon visibly relaxed. I think the term was bothering him more than the concept. “Incorporate that and you solve your problem to an extent.”
Jevon stared at me for a long minute. Eventually, he nodded with approval. “If we give captured soldiers a ten-year sentence for the crime of raiding, I can get behind the idea. Hell, it would be better than what our previous government instituted. Geneva conventions allow POWs to work as long as the labor is not unhealthy or dangerous. Right here on the stored files on the Gtower. Yes, I can get behind the concept of prisoners working to their freedom. I think almost everyone can.”
“Are we separating from the US government?” Perci asked as she returned. I sent her the modified triangle. “King at the top. Earls and dukes next. Three classes of citizens with three classes of soldiers. Prisoner serfs at the bottom. Easy peasy. Assuming we can feed prisoners down the line? I have no qualms with this. Then again, I am the heiress of darkness. Send it to your mom, Jevon, and to Dedric. Both are very religious, correct?”
Jevon sent the messages out while we waited. “I gave them thumbs up, down, or hand flat options for the triangle. Both gave thumbs up. I think Harvard was onto something. Humanity is used to a prison workforce.”
“Yes Perci, we are shifting to a modified Viking system of governance. This will help us establish our own laws. Alright sending it to everyone designated an officer. While we wait on replies, what brought you back, Perci?” I asked. She ducked out the door and waved a new dirty teenager forward.
“Hello sir, I am Damarcus Dedric,” the lad with patchwork facial hair due to his age of fifteen or so said confidently. “I was told to explore the valley for caves and I found four openings. Three were small, you could hide stuff in em. The other one is big, and well sir, spooky. I was -”
“Jevon, take a team. You want to be an apprentice citizen or an apprentice soldier?” I asked Damarcus.
“I do not understand?”
“You want to learn to shoot bad guys or work inside the stronghold?”
“Inside, sir. Guns frighten me.”
“Perfect. Honesty always works best. Thank you for finding this cave and please lead Duke Jevon to all the locations you found.”
“Ugh,” Jevon grumbled but said nothing further. He left the room with Damarcus trailing behind him talking a mile a minute.
I looked down on my Gpad. Xgate 232 was quiet now. Four requests to leave the gate from four team leaders hit my alerts. I approved all four. My officers replied with agreeing to our new stronghold ranking system. I then sent out our new rank structure with a caveat. If the US government regained power, we would swiftly convert back. If the changes were too much for some to handle, you were free to leave with what you brought into the stronghold on your backs.
This
was a tipping point for about fifty or so people. They were allowed to leave and I did not fret over it. The old ways were gone. I doubted they would get a fair voting community that could defend them as we could. That was their prerogative to seek one out though. If our Xgate was quiet for now, at least they could move freely. This also helped me get rid of a potential separate faction we would have to deal with later. I was about to get up to get in regular clothes when Perci put a hand on my shoulder. An older man in overalls was waved in.
“A king, eh? Name’s Clive. I am a local plumber. There is a reservoir pump outside of Marble Heights,” Clive said while pointing at the wall to the southwest. His arms folded as he continued. “I can extract it and enough soft piping to fix our septic problem. Assuming you want the sludge pumped into the river downstream.”
“Okay, what is stopping you?” I asked with a confused palms up gesture.
“Oh, I need a backhoe -”
“Hold on,” I said and dialed up Mclain directly. His face generated on the screen. “Return to base. Clive will be at the gate. We are going to send you out with a backhoe. Priority is a water pump to shift our sewage downstream. Mclain, do this and you will be heroes of the community when we can shit on toilets and use showers again.”
“Hell yes! Permission to create a turnaround, Cap?” Mclain said. Bonnet nudged him as she butted into the screen.
“He means your highness. Sorry, King Yang. Hmm. I like King Eric more.”
“And so the name deviations begin,” I rolled my eyes. “Granted.”
After closing the Gpad connection Clive exited the room to head for the gate. Dedric hit me with a call. “I am going to empty the charge on the backhoe to charge up the other backhoe for the trip. It has a longer battery. The drained backhoe is going to the charging station after. I am recruiting drivers for all these vehicles. If you can avoid more than four expeditions at a time, I would appreciate it. Eventually, we need to establish day and night shifts.”
“I agree. I am watching the Xgate which is quiet. If we miss some sleep, then so be it. Keep up the great work Dedric,” I said, closing the connection while turning to Perci. “Anyone else outside there waiting to brief me?”
“No, but I am sure the next emergency will not take long to pop up. I was going to start hanging brackets off walls and ceilings for hammocks. Plus give you a tour of the mansion changes. Even though you were only gone for a few hours things shifted drastically,” Perci said, giving me a sweet tender kiss. “A man I love invited the entire area into our home.”
“Well, some space just opened up with those unhappy we are leaving the old ways. Hard to please everyone. I would love a tour my Queen,” I said. I nibbled on Perci’s neck when she turned away. She went to close the door to jump me, but I stopped her. “No, I want a sex-free meeting room. That goes for us too.”
“I guess…” She let out a groan of disapproval. “It will be hard to find intimate time with you, Eric. Our king-sized bed is now king-sized filled. Man, I have awful luck landing my jokes. You will see what I mean.”
I mashed a quick text to Harvard, telling him to alert me of Xgate 232 changes. A few people we passed curtsied with silly grins. I waved in return with a goofy smile. Another dozen people were leaving the front gate when a few stragglers joined them. Again I did not complain. They were in for a rude reality when the outside world greeted them with harsher restrictions. We had food for a month. I had to wonder how many places could boast that fact alone. Still, our previous society was very liberal, and my planned structure was anything but. We had hundreds of rules, and now a dictatorship hierarchy was officially established. The best I could do was wish them luck while improving Stronghold Mansion.
The field teams were still hard at work clearing weeds, bushes, and wild growth. I saw Mclain loading a backhoe onto the trailer Jevon brought. A lot of the vehicles and trailers were missing as teams were already out and scavenging. The mansion was a literal hive of activity. Kids chased each other, made their new dino toys roar at parents, and climbed on just about every bench. The elderly watched over them with serene smiles. Almost everyone wore thick jackets to fight the evening chill. The sun still hung in the skyline with the orange glow of a coming night.
A stream of people heading back and forth to the latrine in the woods caused me to grimace. Hopefully, we could flush toilets here soon. I looked up to see balconies were being converted into housing areas with tarps to keep out the potential rain and add some privacy. That was a great idea. We did have a lot of balconies with roof cover already. Create some side walls, and open the balcony doors to let heat out and cool air in. We passed through the main threshold for the foyer. There were mattresses here with personal items stacked high. If we had clogged the entryway…
The interior of the house was chaos. Even with windows open on a cool spring day, it was uncomfortably warm. The kitchen was packed with people bustling about, trying to get food. I smelt steak without the sound of the sizzling meat being audible. Kid movies played on the view screens in pillow-blanket mass. The living rooms were converted into odd sleeping arrangements as the families coped with the change. It reminded me of movie night with pillow forts from my childhood. My cheeks hurt from grinning in satisfaction at seeing families snuggled up, making the best of a bad situation. Perci found my cybernetic hand, gave a slight pull, and we were off for the stairwell.
Navigating the madness became more difficult using the stairs. Bulky furniture was being hauled down. We had to backpedal off the stairwell and all the way outside to make room. There was probably a hundred thousand dollars’ worth of fine furniture under the balconies out here. A few pieces were even out in the open, causing me to sigh. Masking name tapes were over drawers that people were claiming. A group of women chatting happily shifted so we could get by. I led us out to the field. Perci didn’t notice me getting away at first, when she did she quickly reached me. Free of the claustrophobic interior, I pulled her into a hug.
“Sorry, they were ordered to take out all furniture, minus beds. Even bed frames are being removed,” Perci said with a meek apology. “I want to show you our room, though.”
“I came out this far for that,” I said pointing to the rope hanging off the third floor back balcony.
“I am not a recon elite soldier, Eric,” Perci said. “I was shite at climbing ropes in basic.”
I let out a boisterous laugh. “Babe, grab on. My cyber arm will show you how a man saves his dangling princess.”
“Oh my!” Perci said, batting her eyes. She gave me an adorable face with pouty lips that I couldn't resist. A sweet kiss was devoured by my little sexy woman.
We chuckled while walking for the rope. I knew someone from my old unit would have set this up. We used ropes all the time in the old shipyard. Saved many lives when your enemy had to try to scale a rope to get you. Easy pew-pew and dead bad guy struggling on the rope. Apparently bad guy school did not include how to climb a rope. Also, I was planning to scale the exterior myself with my cybernetic arm if there was no rope, because screw those stairs right now.
I peered at my exposed arm, realizing my arm cover was in my room somewhere, hopefully not removed and placed in a random drawer. I used my legs to lock the rope, my human hand to stabilize me, and let my cybernetic arm walk me higher. The servos whirled from the strain. I was in armor with weapons and a full ammo kit, which all added weight. By the time I reached the third floor, I had drained two percent of my power reserves. Perci latched on when I turned to haul her up. Her yelp from her rapid ascent was adorable. The whites of her eyes were offset by her huge grin.
“Save me, my king!” She cried out dramatically. I whipped her up the last bit before letting the rope slither down. Perci clung to me tightly, rewarding my heroic efforts with a tender kiss.
“Hey, we are trying to sleep in here!?” Becca called out from inside my room, breaking our moment.
Perci cursed herself and whispered, “Sorry.”
I paused to loo
k over the backside of the mansion. Thick trees went from here to the upward curve of the steep mountains. Besides the latrine not far from the river, there was minimal activity. We would have to clear trees for planting. To the northwest, a patch of no trees resulted in hints of a lake. To the north, I could see a trail of four ATVs snaking between the trees. That must be Jevon heading to check out the caves. To the south, the wall was stagnated on its building. I saw where the river opening was, the hesco barriers curved inwardly. Extra barriers were placed here turning the river into a long kill zone. A few hundred feet inside the perimeter I could see the hydro generators now that some trees had been cleared. Perci remained holding me as we absorbed the view.
“How happy are you right now?” I asked.
“Have your babies happy. I feel my eggs stirring eagerly!” Perci said in a hushed tone, while clinging to me tighter. “Ugh. I could only imagine the despair if mom had forced me underground.”
I kissed the top of her head. “You are amazing, Perci Yang. I know this is the quieter side, but none of this would have been close to these results without you.”
“Awe, shucks. You crazy tall man. You wonder why I swoon when you are near.”
I chuckled at her comment.
“I want to get changed.” My head was tilted in a jerking motion to show I wanted to go in.
We passed a sheet blocking out the sun on the balcony. I almost stepped on a sleeping body with a face mask. The sound of a few snoring bodies told me to tippy-toe carefully. The sliding glass door was open. A dim night light illuminated the once-massive space. Now it was a cluttered mess of sheets creating rooms with their gravity-induced divides. My bed was occupied by Becca, who was sprawled across the whole surface. Thank goodness she was pulling the night shift because she would make for a shitty bed partner.
