Colossus

by John Ricks

  Susan stopped and turned to me. “Julia is showing signs of becoming a bad reporter—the kind that changes the facts to make things look her way. I won’t have that kind of person around my son!”

  Everyone was shocked. Susan turned and walked toward the pond. It was several minutes before the silence was broken.

  Julia said, “You wouldn’t happen to have one of those military-issue pads and pens with you right now. Would you?”

  Susan smiled, reached into her pack, and said, “As a matter of fact.” She handed Julia a pad and pen.

  All I said was, “Darn. I wasn’t going to tell her she forgot hers.”

  Susan smiled. “That’s okay. I wasn’t going to tell her that the reason she was allowed to come along on this fishing trip is that we need bait, and that dress will attract all kinds of bugs we can use.”

  For the first time, Julia turned red. I thought, This is great. Problem was, Julia saw my smile. The look she gave me said, “Just you wait!” But what she said was, “Freddy, could you please adjust my belt so I can go invisible?”

  I seriously answered, “To do that I would have to give you the TBG and laser also. I don’t have it on mine, and you don’t get it on yours. Besides, I doubt your mother would allow me to give you those abilities.”

  Aggie said sternly, “No, she would not!”

  We reached the pond, and unbeknownst to Julia, Susan had already picked several large bugs off her back and hair and one from my hair. I asked Susan, “You wouldn’t have packed some camping stuff for me also, would you? Especially nonperfumed shampoo?”

  Susan said, “Yours is all being changed out also. I am sorry. I should have schooled you on camping a long time ago. There is much you need to learn about roughing it. When you go out to other worlds, you will need to know things that others have taken decades to learn. We can teach you, but it will take a few months.”

  “I need to learn, Mother.”

  “I know.”

  The pond wasn’t very big—about eighty feet across and situated at the bottom of a twenty-foot waterfall that seemed to float over the edge in a three-foot area and crash into the pond. It looked like a good place to swim. We set up on a rock outcropping, and Susan went through how to prepare the fishing pole and put the bait on the hook. I cringed when she stabbed the insect, and I put my shields up. I don’t care what some people think. Insects do have feelings! But nothing prepared me for catching a fish. The fish bit, and I pulled to set the hook, like Susan told me. The pain, the agony, and the fear shot through my mind, and I screamed. I wanted to cut the line, but Susan said that the fish would die with all that line hanging from its mouth. I couldn’t stand it. The fish was fighting and hurting itself more. I used telekinesis to pick it out of the water and hold it still. I used the same to open its mouth, and, as gently as I could, I removed the hook. Then I healed the fish and let it go. I threw the fishing pole in the pond and reeled in Susan’s pole. I took off the hook and tossed in her pole also.

  Julia and Aggie were shocked. Susan said, “Well, I guess we won’t be doing any fishing.”

  Patricia floated up out of the water. “Hey, you guys drop something?” She saw the look on my face and dropped the two poles back into the water. “Never mind.” She went back under the water.

  I looked at Susan, “What is she doing in the pond?”

  “Colleen decided that the belts and helmets should be tested in saltwater and fresh water.”

  “Oh. Let’s go back to camp now. I think I’ve had enough of fishing.”

  Julia was continually writing. Her mother had to take her by the arm and start her going.

  After a while, Julia said, “Freddy, how did you feel catching that fish? You looked like you were in pain.” Julia saw that I was about to tear up, and she put a hand on my arm.

  I said, “I’m sorry for the way I acted back there. To answer your question, I felt everything that fish felt, including all the pain and fear. It felt like my gut was being pulled out. I put my shields up, but it was too late. I already knew. I had to stop the agony.”

  Susan stopped and put a hand on my hair. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I should have thought. You can’t stand to see or even think of something or someone getting hurt. It never dawned on me that fishing would be the same or worse.”

  Julia pulled back a little, as if something sad just crossed her mind. “You’re empathic so much that you can feel when an insect dies. That is why you kept cringing every time I smacked away an insect. I was hurting them. That must be hard on you. Very hard. That’s why your mother is so insistent that we stop attracting bugs. She knows. When you saved our world from the bugs, you felt the death of every bug that you killed, didn’t you?”

  Looking at the ground, I sadly said, “Yes.”

  Julia gave me a hug and said, “I’m so sorry. I’m so very sorry.” She was crying, and that started me crying, and that started Aggie crying. Susan just waited for us to stop so we could continue on, but even she hadn’t realized the impact that killing the bugs meant until now. Susan kept a sympathetic hand on my shoulder until we reached camp.

  It took me the rest of the day to cheer up, but I did and the remainder of the two weeks went by without a hitch. The bugs stayed off Julia and Aggie and out of my hair. No one else had problems with the equipment, and it worked well in the water. It even worked great to stop damage from a shark attack.

  Some of the team members made a bet with Betsy. The bet was one hundred dollars that they could find her anywhere on the island within one hour. Susan agreed. Betsy smiled and took off the belt and helmet, saying, “Let’s see how good this equipment truly is. Find me if you can.” She took off. The team gave her a two-hour head start. It took over six hours to find her. The sneak was in her tent, sleeping. No one thought to check the camp. As she told me later, “Freddy, there is no substitute for skill and brains. And I’m not a klutz!” She thumped me on the head.

  “Ouch!”

  After that, we went to Mars, though not the domes. We went to the sandy craters, and the team flew all over the place. They used every aspect of the equipment, and it all worked great. I had made ships that fly faster than the speed of light; weapons that destroy fleets; robots; great computer systems; energy sources that are cheap and renewable; and the AutoDoc, and these girls were more impressed with this equipment than all the rest. Go figure. We packed up and started heading home, but something was whistling through the air like a bomb dropping.

  Gray asked Red, “Can you duplicate that equipment? It is far better than anything we have.”

  Red said, “Some of it. I suppose we could make it vampire style, if you want, but his energy source eludes us. I must say it is far superior to anything we have.”

  Gray said, “And you say this openly in front of him.”

  Little Yellows said, “Why not? They will know soon. They downloaded all our information.”

  Gray said, “True. That was a disastrous tactical error and may give a powerful species more power. They are not fools, you know. Green, please continue. We have little time before his reinforcements arrive.”

  Chapter 31

  Attacked

  Before we could pack up everything, warnings and alarms sounded, and shields went up. I instantly searched and realized a missile was headed our way. I tried to use telekinesis, but it was shielded. I yelled, “Shields up, everyone! Put your shields on max now!” One of my destroyer escorts shot down through the atmosphere and blocked the missile. The impact, as the missile exploded against the ship, caused a devastating blast wave that flattened most of the vegetation and destroyed hundreds of thousands of creatures instantly. Luckily, everyone was wearing the belts, and all had their shields up in time, so none of us was hurt. The small landing ship and all our gear was not so lucky. I teleported everyone to the deck of the destroyer escort, and we quickly left. A full destroyer-class ship came down t
o clean up the site and remove all my equipment, so no one else could get their hands on it.

  On the deck of the destroyer escort, called Harm’s Shield, I called out to K1 through my helmet. She answered, and everyone else listened in.

  “Hello, Freddy. How may I help?”

  “I was just attacked, and I need to know where the missile came from.”

  “Freddy, there is a small cloaked ship following behind the Harm’s Shield. It is powering up another missile. Do you wish me to dispatch this small ship?”

  “No, can you power down the ship and missiles and send it to the base near my home?”

  “In progress. May I suggest I knock out the three people aboard?”

  “Please do.”

  “It is done, Freddy. I teleported the ship directly to the base. I have also contacted the base commander, and there are three of your ships already there, ensuring the ship does not go anywhere.”

  Susan put a hand on my arm, indicating she had it from that point. She said, “K1, can you look at the scanning files and determine where the ship came from?”

  “Working. It was launched from an old army base in Oregon called the Umatilla Chemical Depot. The depot was shut down back in 2015. The base was bought by a private company. The company name is not on any records I have access to. I have information from the FBI files that General Johnson, the one you disgraced when building home base, was seen there on several occasions.”

  I turned to Susan and said, “That ship was shielded with the same technology as the kidnappers. General Johnson may be a big part of this.”

  Susan said, “K1, can you search the world and find General Johnson?”

  “Working … completed. General Johnson is not found. That means he is not on the planet or is shielded in some way that I cannot detect.”

  Susan shook her head in frustration. “I knew we should have killed that maniac.”

  I touched her arm in a comforting way. “You’re not to blame. There is no way you could have known.” Thinking out loud, I added, “So the general is a part of this kidnapping issue and probably a big part of the attacks against me. Seems I have an enemy.”

  Patricia added, “The general comes from old money. He is extremely well funded.”

  Susan looked like she just had a thought. “K1, can you determine what funding the general has and where it is being spent?”

  “According to records, the general was a billionaire several times over, and all cash has been removed from banks, all holdings sold, and the assets hidden. Except for the FBI records of him being seen at several abandoned army facilities, there are no records showing anything about the general for the last three years or any of his assets. He even sold his house and yacht.”

  I ordered, “K1, please scan each of those army bases, and check for recent use and shielding that could block your scanners.”

  “Working, Freddy. There is nothing blocking my scanning. All bases show no signs of activity for years, except Umatilla Chemical Depot. There has been a lot of activity there, but there is no activity at this time. Freddy, the ship I teleported to the naval base near home base just disintegrated with all three people on board. It was some type of self-destruct. There is nothing left except green dust.”

  The girls were murmuring, and Susan said, “Quiet! K1, can you do a search on the cloaking device? I need to know if it is the same as Freddy’s belt.”

  “Working … it is the exact same.”

  Susan’s look hardened. All expression was gone. I backed up a bit, and so did most of the girls. She ordered, “Freddy, take us home immediately.”

  I instantly teleported us all home.

  Susan started giving out orders for doing a search to find the breach in security, for moving to Mars, and for sending all nonessential personnel away from the base after intense screening of everyone.

  Red asked, “This General Johnson—what do we know about him?”

  Green checked with the Body Proper. “Master, General Johnson has never been picked up. Several others humans have been captured who knew of him but none was close to him or knew anything about him.”

  I said, “We are still looking for him. He is out there, planning.”

  Black said, “A rogue intelligent general with funding and support and is highly capable. We would hunt him down and destroy him.”

  I said, “If you ever find him, please do not kill him. Bring him to me.”

  The way I said it made all of them uneasy, and even Black backed up a little before saying, “Green, please continue.”

  Chapter 32

  Understanding

  Packing and shipping everything to Mars went well. The problem was, we were not ready for more than just the home contingent. Having nearly three hundred specials and their families became a major disaster. The new base commander arrived and took over very efficiently. Supplies were brought in, housing was developed, and new domes went up overnight. I worked on safety issues, built my new shop, and learned how to rough it.

  Becky and I seldom saw each other, and each time we did, she played hard to get. She can’t fool me. Silly game. All it did was make me sad and mad and make me want to forget Becky altogether—as hard as that was going to be. I had never purposefully done anything to hurt Becky, yet she was treating me this way, and it hurt. I even saw her on the arm of another boy. I was very sad after that for several months. Colleen came into my home one day to talk with me. I was in the computer room, working on a new and highly updated computer for Home.

  “Freddy, can we talk?”

  I peeked out from the computer room and then walked out. “Hello, Colleen. What can I do for you?”

  “Let’s sit in the living room.” She took my arm and led me there. One look from her, and the two team members and Cooky left, making excuses of chores and plans they needed to work on. I sat down on the couch, and she sat next to me. “Freddy, you’re making a big mistake with Becky.”

  I was a little shocked and somewhat upset that she would bring up Becky. I asked, “Colleen, exactly why are you saying this now? I am trying my best to keep her out of my mind, and this is not making things any easier.”

  Colleen looked at me with one of those “God give me the strength” looks of exasperation. “Why do you think Becky is doing what she is doing?”

  “She is playing a game called ‘hard to get.’ The game is designed to cause men to go mad, I think.”

  “The game, Freddy, is to make you jealous and to make you fight for her.”

  “Fight for her! Is she in any trouble that she did not get herself into in the first place?”

  “No, boy, she is not. What she is trying to do is make you want her so much that you would do anything to have her.”

  I looked at Colleen as if she were insane. “And waking an entire base and commandeering a destroyer, half the team, and a bunch of specials in the dead of night to save her is not proof enough?”

  “Calm down, Freddy—and don’t you ever yell at me again! Becky is being silly, and I don’t think the two girls who are teaching her are working for her best interest. Perhaps if she were a little stronger of an empath, she could see through their manipulations.”

  “So what am I supposed to do? Send her flowers or candy? I did that several times. Storm out when I see her with another man? I did that also.”

  “I heard. That is exactly what she wants you to do, and that is exactly why you should not do it.”

  “What?”

  “Freddy, I am going to tell you a secret that is best kept away from all men. Please don’t tell it to anyone else, and especially don’t tell anyone I told you this. All womankind would disown me.”

  “I won’t say a word, and I can lock it behind shields so tight that no one will see.”

  She put her hands on my cheeks and looked me right in the eyes. “Freddy, the best way to f
orce a woman to stop playing games is to mimic her.” She noticed the blank expression on my face and gave a big show of annoyance. “Play the same game back, you fool! If she plays hard to get, you do the same. If she plays the ‘I’m upset’ routine, do the same to her. She will be upset at first, but she will see what is going on and realize that playing games is not a good idea.”

  “You’re telling me that I should waste my time hurting the feelings of some girl by pretending to be in love with her, just to pay Becky back? Anything less, and she would see right through it.”

  “You want her to see right through it, you dumb ox. Tell the girl you choose that the only reason you want to be seen with her is to show Becky that you don’t care anymore. She will love helping. Pick the right girl, and she will take every opportunity to flaunt it. You won’t have to do much of anything.”

  “How do I pick the right girl for something like this?”

  She looked kindly at me and stroked my face. “You are so naive. I would have thought that you would have had many girls by now. It’s a downright shame. You work far too hard. Pick a girl that Becky doesn’t like, and slowly start showing interest. It’s that simple.”

  “It sounds simple, and that’s what makes me think it is not so simple.”

  “Well, you will have to work at it. If she steps up the game, you have to also. And for goodness’ sake, don’t ever give in. Act happy. This is an issue of willpower. You are fighting three girls, not just Becky. Show some of that super-genius. Prove your inventiveness, and stay for the long run.”

  “You’re asking me to go to war with Becky. How will I know if I am winning?”

  “You will know. Believe me. Half the specials report to Becky. You should be able to get the other half reporting to you. They would love a game, as they are getting bored. This would give them something to do besides schoolwork and farming.”

  “I could do that.”

  “Yes, you could. Don’t slow down on the improvements to this base. Goodness’ sake, the new captain would be mad as a stepped-on snake if he found out I set you on this course. He would be very upset that I delayed his improvements.”