Needless to say we were all at attention but Loka and I had been standing anyway. Our little needlers concealed but ready the whole time.
Someone started to protest but El continued, “Much better and no one talks at attention.
“You civilians who pretend you are able bodied security personnel have a choice. You will make it now, you swear an oath and join my army or go home and miss what sounds like is shaping into the greatest war ever fought, one where peace is not an option. Any who refuse to fight will leave on the next chopper. All those not wanting to fight step forward now.”
Two, the one named Susan and a guy both did. The General moved forward and looked the girl in the eyes and said, “You pregnant young lady?”
The girl nodded.
“Father back in the city?”
Again she nodded.
“Understood, gather your things and come back here—you will depart in a few hours.” She sidestepped to be in front of the guy. I tagged him as a wimp when I first saw him, but the General tagged him differently.
“Your name?” she asked.
“Arsirdon, Arsirdon Galonlithe. Why?” He tried to stare her down.
“Because I have the records of all of you, is why. You claim you were born in Delviles, correct?”
“It is where I was born and still live, yes. Just down from Lord Pitviper’s estate.”
“Yes, well, there is a minor problem with that. All the Galonlithe on record in our military intelligence files show they are from Mobirend which happens to be in Lord Seacodent’s state.”
He’d been tagged, you could see him get upset, but he didn’t balk like Mike. “Yeah, got me. Seacodent said he modified the records of the town to cover me, guess he goofed. I was just to report any information I heard to him. Honest, I was not to do anything harmful.”
“I know, it is why Tici hasn’t killed you yet. How were you supposed to report this information to him?” I saw him really squirm. “Tici, kill him in ten seconds please?”
“Yes ma’am, my pleasure.” You could hear the slide as he jacked a round in his pistol. It did not fall on deaf ears.
“I, I, umm, I was to record it all on special pills then just toss them into any chopper returning. One of his teams would collect them.”
“Okay, Tici, assign two guards. He collects his stuff and is also leaving,” El said.
Two of the General’s troops held rifles at the ready as we watched them march out the door. She turned to the rest. “All you so called security people raise your left hands and be assured Tici will shoot any that are not loud and clear. Repeat my words!
“I—say your name—swear to follow the orders of anyone appointed over me so long as they do not violate our Constitution, or standing rules of Council.”
Tici was in their midst and assured all took it.
“Breaking that oath for any reason is death, people. I really do not care what you think or want, unless it pertains to the mission at hand. Everyone in this room is your superior just so there is no doubt. Loka and Eldon are the supreme commanders, I am next, the computer called Lucy is now in the chain of command just below me until one of us three removes her. Any questions from anyone will be addressed to Tici—he loves answering them.” She sort of snickered as Tici waved his pistol around and asked if anyone was stupid. There weren’t any questions.
Lucy said thank you to everyone. “First class is still in the morning.” She left, her treads making soft swishing sounds on the smooth floor.
The General told everyone to go to their rooms or explore, whatever, just leave. She called Tici over, her aid Tally never left her side. “Tici, get them to show how to open the ice door and get a chopper here. Tell them, until further notice we want a full complement of troops on each one and get a gear kit for each of those security people. They are in our army now.” He saluted and left.
She turned to us. “I know the original idea was to train only a few for security reasons, but if what you all say is true we shouldn’t be wasting time. Tici can ensure there are no more spies among them. Or if there are, they can’t report anything. No one will keep anything he hasn’t examined, and since his specialty is counter intelligence…well, I assure you he is very good at it.” She grinned, so did her aid.
“You do understand that a lot of the equipment that is here is still unknown to us. I know for certain that some things can kill. Lucy wasn’t kidding there,” I told her.
“Yes, actually Lord Pitviper filled in a lot of what was going on once I was selected for this mission. Better to not lay all the cards on the table though. I feel Lucy needs to be warned as well. Only information needed to complete the mission should be given. Seacodent may try anything. A most despicable person.”
“I am so advised,” Lucy said over the earpiece.
“I wanted to keep Mike alive, he was ordered by Seacodent to sabotage this mission,” I told her.
“I know all about it. Shame. He always seems to have his butt covered, barely sometimes, but still.”
Loka and I both nodded.
“Well, I am tired and need a shower. I will see you at breakfast. Tici will ensure those two leave when the next group arrive,” she said, and left.
We found Susan and she was waiting as ordered, kit in hand. “Tici will see you get where you need to go. Did you know you were pregnant when you first came?” Loka asked her.
“I suspected maybe, but not until I was here and saw Lucy—she told me.”
“Okay, Tici will see you get home safe,” Loka told her as we left.
Next morning I found we had received two choppers full of troops during the night, another thirty. The General was there as was a new Colonel. They called him Nebulis for short. He had a single arm and limped. As I ate Tici introduced him and two new Captains.
The General finally joined us. “I sent one of the security home on the second chopper. Lazy butt was upset because he had to get his lard ass outta bed at 4AM for calisthenics. The rest will work out fine. Tici, you’re still second. The Col is for the Air Wing and supply.
“Oh, Lord Pitviper said the council has placed Seacodent under house arrest pending investigation of charges of sabotage and murder. His seat on Council is temporarily suspended. They may have enough to make something stick, we’ll see.
“A second chopper goes into service so expect at least sixty more troops today and another sixty tonight. I talked to Lucy and Tici, we have enough accommodation here to comfortably fit four-hundred so that is where we will start.” El sort of smiled.
I talked to Lucy later that day; she was in her new, almost human body again, door repaired and reactor secured and restarted. She assured me all was going well. The General was very capable and Tici was respected and feared by all in the command.
Loka and I were almost put aside as troops came in literally by the hundreds. We both managed to get Tici to accept the idea we wanted to exercise as well and were soon up and running, and straining at 4AM with the rest. Once we had the entire compliment of four hundred, El said a full meeting of everyone would be held by Lucy after breakfast in the big storage room in corridor D, area 7. They mapped out and organized all the rooms and signs posted for the whole gate center. Even I could find my way around now. Loka laughed when I told her that.
We were up at 4AM, exercised until 5AM, showered, fresh clothes, and stood in line at 6AM for one of the four food processors serving breakfast. We now had our own officers table and the rest were constantly being told to eat and make room for more as the mess hall seated only one-hundred fifty at a time. As I sat I realized how effectively and smoothly all was running in such a short period. I just worried the military structure may be a detriment in the long run.
Loka saw I wasn’t eating, off in limbo, and asked. I told her and El what I was feeling.
El said, “No, it will be fine. These troops aren’t zombies. Each is trained to think for themselves, but also the need for teamwork. Each member will try to do their duty. Failure of a
member to do as trained can get someone killed, and all know it. If every officer in our command dies, a Sergeant, or Corporal, or Private, will step forward and continue the mission until it is completed or hopeless.” She sipped her coffee before continuing, “Col. Nebulis fought in two of the southern trader wars, wounded five times, and got his rank from being the ranking Sergeant left of a platoon. He fixed bayonets and charged the thieves--they were totally unprepared for such a bold move and the Colonel saved a bad situation. Though severely disabled, he loves the force and Council keeps him on. Yes he knows it and doesn’t care, he is a dedicated worker, and that is what we need.
“Tici is the youngest Captain ever. As a Cadet Lt. he was trapped in a small training camp with eighteen others during a western raid. Remember when Seacodent refused to waste money-building defenses? No one would ever attack us from the western desert? He was so positive.”
“Tici formed the cadets into a unit and charged the raiders, much like the Col. did. He personally killed four. Anyway, he is my Intel Officer as well as my muscle. A crack shot, and excellent in knife and hand to hand tactics.” She finished her coffee.
Lucy came in and some guy whistled at her. She actually got the tin face to smile with its plastic skin stretched over it. Of course everyone knew she was a robot, still, made her day I think.
She sat down and asked if she could speak. “Of course!” Loka said.
“All a bit of a mess, I am learning as fast as I can about armies and command and control, but a lot of the information is scarce. I talked to Lord Pitviper. Council has approved funding to acquire us some fast attack choppers with full missile armament. Four for now. First will be ready in less than a week and all four should be here and operational in a few additional weeks. They are designed to slip through the gate doors and seat four counting the pilot and weapons officer. I sent those plans with you guys when you went back. I sent updates with the various choppers and he said he thinks he can get a working defense station built to my specs in another week or two. It will require assembly on site as needed. Just four rapid-fire 20MM guns mounted on a swivel.
“General El, he sent a private data stick for you. New orders as approved through Council.” Lucy handed her a red one. Small storage.
“All the readers work now and I even managed to get an information channel running. I will be playing some of the Honor team’s recordings from when they built this place and why and how they brought Olgreender to life as a viable planet. Sorry, no grand plan. They had some trouble with a virus then with the reactor early on and this place was too small to fit the whole 5000 support team—it was why they moved down among you. Best I can find out was they never left, some may have ventured through the other gates but most were absorbed into your culture and as they died off became myths and legends. Like I said, that was two thousand years ago.”
“Good, I will make it mandatory for the troops to watch. Does Lord Pitviper have access to this history as well?” Tici asked.
“Yes, he has been fed information as I have found it. Not everything, but the skimmed history. There is over six-hundred years of it here before it just stops. Seems they left three robots to work on the reactor, but it was never restarted until your first team entered the doorway. I found the remains of three teams in the core room and outer control room,” Lucy said. “I analyzed the data, and my old robot body, under a simple computer, now holds the core door closed. I thought Mike did it at first. I now think it was why they shut down the reactor initially; the door was sprung. Still is, but a little welding on the floor plates and my old me is pushed against the bottom, securing it. Without the reactor the other gates close and stay closed until it powers up. Your door worked only because this is physically where the Honor Central is located.”
“So the gates were never used?” I asked.
“No, they were. They shut the reactor down and built the robots to fix it. I will again guess that the original maintenance robot that comes with the reactor became jammed in the doorway when it tried to close, only thing could spring something that heavy. That was when it shut down. For whatever reason, earth lost track of the door, maybe since it wasn’t functional they wrote the team off. The three different robots were not able to secure the door so the reactor wasn’t restarted until one of your teams moved the robot and closed the core door before they died. The humans would have known it was death to do so.
“All of you are descendants of biologically adjusted life forms from here and Earth and whatever they did between. Honest, no one is half anything other than normal planet breeding variations among different areas, accounting for food or other environmental issues in your past.”
“So we were all monkeys or something that they fixed like they tell us?” Loka asked.
“Well, not monkeys. Haven’t found out what yet, but you were sentient, or they wouldn’t have bothered. Sorry, really all I know. On Earth they had Neanderthal man, Cro-Magnon man, a few others that were sentient, all became absorbed. I suspect similar happenings here. I’ll guess and say you were similar to what you are now, maybe just needed the mental aptitudes and abilities adjusted. There is record of the earliest groups mating with the humans, so I’d bet on it,” she said.
“Fine, our history is all screwed up. So what about these damn bugs?” Tally asked.
“If possible we need to gather a couple for study. I want to scout Earth first and see if the MKs in fact left, or exterminated themselves. Also what Earth attempted to do. I don’t feel we have time to repeat all their efforts. We need to find a magic bullet. Something that can stop them in their tracks, hopefully destroy them.”
“How many planets have tried to find the same thing? Hundreds, maybe thousands? And, according to you, many were 2000 years ahead of us?” Tici asked.
“I know, it sounds daunting. Hell, it is daunting, but what choice do you have? Sit and wait for them to come to lunch on you?” Lucy asked.
“Oh, I wasn’t complaining, just wanted to ensure I understood the chance of success is quite nil, is all.” Tici snickered.
A few dozen more questions, many with no answers, and we broke for the evening.
Next morning training started in earnest. Lucy and Tici were placed in charge by El and she dared anyone to argue.
Two more chopper loads of people had arrived during the night and even the big storage room was getting full.
Tici told all to listen up as Lucy brought out the vid screen from the lab and she started playing the few battle scenes from engagements with the MKs. A few got sick, but these were trained troops, not scientists.
Tici said, “Watch this next sequence closely.”
I’d seen it before, but wasn’t sure of his point. A guy with a sword and pistol shot an MK several times and it kept coming, wounded, but not down. The guy, in desperation, jammed his sword from the underside, up through the head, almost right between the eyes. Tici had Lucy replay it several times then said, “Body shots don’t do much. It is pretty clear that the head is the sweet spot. Watch the rest and see what I mean.”
Tici came back by us as Lucy continued other battles, all confirming the same observation. Though body shots eventually would kill them, only the head shots stopped them quickly.
“Nasty critters. Always was taught to aim center mass of a body. You see it in all the videos, they were trained the same way, and against MKs it is the wrong tactic. Well, we can teach them.”
He went along the wall and nailed a couple troops starting to nod off. Lucy sent a message over the earpieces to our command group. I felt empowered! It was Loka, myself, El, Tally, and Tici. “That desert was empty, right?”
Took me a few seconds to realize she was talking about the door we went through. Loka was on the ball.
“Yes, dune after dune, but we didn’t go far.”
“We need a bigger training area and the sand slows people down and toughens them up faster than any normal ground. Have El set up a food train from the dehydrated supplies. We move to
it starting tomorrow. Only you two, myself, El, and Tici will have the pens. Sorry Tally, you’re part of the command group, but not in the command link. Even now I don’t think that the MKs have figured out what they are for—might be wrong.”
Tally said she fully understood and took no offense.
Later that day Lucy and El went out the door to the desert and Lucy took more sophisticated gear along to ensure our first quick check was still valid. No tech traces were found.
Next morning the troops were lined up in rows of four wide by the Mess Hall and El and Tici were in front. As they marched them down the halls, the whole site reverberated to the unison of boots stomping on the rock floors. We marched to the door-frame and Tici had them charge out the doorway to the sand hell and establish what he called a defensive skirmish line.
A base-camp and perimeter was established and soon they had a blue and gold flag flying on a pole above it. The Council had long ago voted a simple flag for our nation. A plain blue field with a double gold band from top right to bottom left corners. The blue was our purity of spirit and the gold bands were the personal and collective hills we need to climb to seek ultimate enlightenment. The flag was probably the only thing visibly recognizable for fifty miles.
Plans were made, guards posted, travel distance limits set, and soon we had the makings of a proper forward area base-camp.
My years of climbing made me feel fit: well let me tell you the torture of running, fighting, and surviving in the heat and sand made me feel like a rookie that never did anything but lay in the grass and get fat. Dang I hurt, every muscle, every joint, every fiber of my body hurt. Loka admitted the same.
Tici ran around day after day like he was just getting his second wind.
El told us in private that they all hurt just as bad, but Tici would commit suicide rather than admit it. I had to admit, he put up a fantastic front then.
Col. Nebulis stayed behind with a few troops to keep the place secure, sent food packets as needed, and monitored communications with Lord Pitviper. It was felt the heat and sand would probably kill him.
A Planet's Search For History Page 9
