by Geoff Wolak
‘What some of you will also have witnessed during the night was the arrival of an army in this country, an army of American soldiers, Marines and police officers, totalling almost two million men. Those men are from the future. They’ve been genetically modified, they’re super-human, hard to kill, but … most of all, they are all well-disciplined, and they are here to help you.
‘They will restore order, and they will maintain that order. Property and personal possessions will be protected, looters will be dealt with harshly. People taking crops or livestock from farms will be dealt with harshly: you will respect other peoples’ property. You will return to work, you will pay your taxes, or we will catch up with you eventually – wherever you are on this world.
‘If you’re a rich individual, then you should return to your home and business here … or we may never let you back in. If you’ve ransacked your business and run away, we will take a dim view of that, and you will face charges. Anyone who has committed a crime these past few days will be caught, and will be dealt with. Anyone committing a crime from this moment onwards will receive due process, but will be dealt with harshly.
‘If you have taken your families away from the cities … you can return, and you will be safe. Together, and with a little help from outside, we shall rebuild America, and we shall rebuild its political system. President Clayton – who was killed by the Zim - acted foolishly, and became a tyrant, and some of his staff may face charges, as may some members of the military.
‘What most of you will not have known … was that President Clayton persuaded the Zim aliens to attack other humans on other worlds, not something that the Zim wished to do at first. You should not blame the Zim as much as former President Clayton, because he was instrumental in those attacks. If he was still alive he would face charges on my world.
‘People of America … this is a new age, and will be a great age. Where I come from there are no wars, crime is low, educational standards are good, employment is high, and the various nations of the world cooperate with each other. We … are a consortium of many worlds, and we have visited many other worlds. Our technology is far more advanced than yours, and we shall share that technology with you. Where I come from we can convert coal to oil for twenty dollars, and have electric cars that will go five hundred miles on a ten dollar charge.
‘We have brought with us advanced medicines, drugs that will cure every disease known to man. Where I come from … no one dies of cancer. If you have cancer, or a relative has cancer, take hope, because within a day we will cure every cancer patient in American hospitals, thereafter in the world. This is a fantastic opportunity for you, a great hope, and a new beginning, the dawn of a new age.
‘To the press of America I say this: return to your desks, and get back to work. Our ships in orbit will act like satellites, and you can transmit your shows as normal, and print your papers as normal; there will be no restrictions. Further more, we will be allowing you to visit other worlds in the next few days, and you can judge for yourself how we live.
‘To those Zim still on this world and in human form, I offer you an amnesty: you have forty-eight hours to hand yourself in to the police or army, preferably to the soldiers from the future. You will not be harmed, and you will be transported to the other world to join your colleagues. We have advanced scanners, and we can detect you easily enough. Beyond a week, any Zim found here will be considered a spy, and dealt with as a spy.
‘People of America, there will be elections in the year ahead, and you will be able to vote for your candidates as normal. In fact, you’ll be firmly encouraged to do so. But I will not be going anywhere, and neither will my team. We shall remain here until the vast majority of voters in this country have faith in the federal government, have faith in their elected officials, and have faith in our system. We shall remain here until America is not only fixed, but again leading this world - setting the pace and setting the standards, and trusted by all nations of this world.
‘People of America, we are not here to paper over the cracks, we are here to re-wire the house, paint the walls, dig the garden and fix the leaky roof. We are here … to make sure that this never happens again. Now, to honour a request made by a friend of mine – who will visit in the days and weeks ahead – please make this a day of celebration. Be relieved, be happy that it’s over, go and see those relatives you don’t like, have a drink or a meal, and put some money back into the economy – those that have a little money. Hold your heads up high, put the past behind you, and try and move on. Thank you, I will speak to you again soon. God bless America.’
The Rifles
Those long lines of Zim citizens now stood around in Nevada, and stood patiently waiting for transport up to Wyoming, were growing concerned, the USAF staff all now gone, a few local humans driving trucks and buses, a few of those Zim who had landed originally also pressed into driving buses and trucks.
Some thirty thousand Zim either stood around, or sat waiting in the Nevada Desert – the portal now inexplicably closed. Many Zim citizens were already on their way to Wyoming, and some eighty thousand were presently in residence in the green and pleasant land, a dozen medium ships sat on the ground. Those medium ships were now being pressed into service to collect the Zim from Nevada, using up precious fuel.
At the second portal site, the USAF site in Wyoming, the Zim had observed the USAF staff withdraw hastily the day before and had not interfered, a few USAF personnel stranded as the portal powered down. Those left behind legged it into the hills.
West of that portal, the main Zim base lay in a long wooded valley, the crests of the surrounding hills bare except for a few trees and rocks. As the Zim went about their daily business, secure in the knowledge that all of their mother ships had arrived in orbit here, a strange sound permeated the valley. Many of the Zim stopped to consider what it was, the sound never having been heard before. The echo of rhythmical chanting, and metal on metal blows, seemed to be coming from the trees themselves, getting louder and louder. It sounded like a very large marching band was approaching, and approaching from several directions at the same time.
Zim eyes squinted as the crests of the hills changed form and colour, telescopic lenses soon confirming that thousands upon thousands of human soldiers were walking over the rise, all armed, all in uniform, all black. Zim citizens stopped and peered up as the hills themselves seemed to change shape, an army of ants crawling down the valley sides, the strange sound growing in intensity and echoing down the valley. A small Zim craft appeared overhead and scanned the soldiers below. A good old-fashioned shoulder-launched missile was fired up at it, the craft damaged and soon withdrawing. The alarm was given.
But as the panicked Zim hurried towards the medium ships at the end of the valley, and towards the weapons it could offer them, the ground erupted, bushes came to life, and black soldiers appeared from all sides. Zim citizens were soon being kicked to the ground, an AK47 up their noses, a few words of encouragement not to resist as the crackle of gunfire permeated the beautiful wooded valley. The puzzled and horrified Zim citizens soon found themselves being herded into groups.
A dozen Zim craft appeared overhead, but found no EM signatures to lock onto, and optical readings or thermal readings suggested that the Rifles were too close to their own citizens to risk firing at.
Responding to the alert, Zim citizens armed with advanced weapons rushed off the medium ships, and towards the valley centre, to the echoes of gunfire. They made the first two hundred yards, but were cut down by withering fire from the trees, a Rifles battalion charging forwards with a loud scream as they fired from the hip, RPGs flying overhead, the once tranquil scene now a smoke-filled hell reverberating with blasts, and the crackle of rifle fire.
Many of the Rifles were hit by accurate laser fire, but sheer numbers and sheer determination beat back the Zim, who were soon fighting hand to hand in the corridors of their own ships – against humans that were much stronger than they had been led to believ
e, old-fashioned bayonets fitted to AK47s doing a great deal of damaged to startled Zim fighters. RPGs hit the sides of the medium ships, small holes made into the tough skin. Grenades were tossed at close quarters, smoke canisters thrown, the inside of the Zim medium ships soon chaos.
By time the Zim lowered pressure doors and locked themselves inside - they had lost many sections of their ships, as had been hoped for by Lobster. The Rifles pulled out panels, tore up internal circuits, or simply shot at the innards of sensitive equipment. The ships would be going nowhere fast.
A Zim medium ship, sat a few miles away from the valley, was suddenly engulfed in smoke and debris, having had mining explosives placed underneath it by the trustees. The resulting blast blew a large hole into the ship, a ship which then suffered a hailstorm of RPG fire, Rifles storming the open doors and rushing inside to find stunned and perplexed Zim citizens – and unarmed Zim citizens – many of whom were bayoneted or shot.
Lobster issued a signal, and the main Zim habitat - that which had been constructed around existing buildings - blew apart. The area became shrouded in smoke as Zim craft loitered above, not quite knowing what to do - or how to respond to this low-tech attack.
In nearby valleys, hidden covers were moved aside, Rifles emerging from tunnels, surprised Zim citizens soon raising hands. Those that didn’t surrender were shot in the leg, the Rifles knowing full well that such a wound would not be fatal to their enemy. The Zim soon found that there were almost as many soldiers as their own number, the Rifles making sure that they were in close to groups of Zim, those craft circling above unable to open fire on them. Those craft were also subject to RPG fire, many damaged, shoulder-launched missiles keeping the craft occupied.
Southwest of Yellowstone, long lines of buses transporting the Zim were taken by surprise and raked with automatic fire from the side of the road, both the buses and the Zim put out of action. Most of the wounds accrued would not be fatal, but the Zim passengers would not be going anywhere fast. Human drivers did not fare so well.
High above, the Zim leadership received the incredible news, finding that there was little they could do about it. Units of Zim citizens with laser weapons approached the area of fighting, and managed to snipe at the Rifles, killing dozens, but the Rifles knew to keep low, and to stay near their Zim captives.
Those Zim sniping at the Rifles then came in for return fire from hidden snipers that were just as good, but with AKM rifles and a few fifty cal rifles. Where the Zim snipers could not be seen, RPGs were fired, including air-burst RPGs, smoke canisters deployed.
Eight hours after the action had started, and all primary objectives had been met, most of the Zim citizens now prisoners, the medium ships on the ground either damaged or held, local habitats destroyed. Smoke wafted down the valley, the smell of burning hung in the air, and the odd burst of fire echoed. This was one valley where the Zim would not want to try and buy some prime real estate.
To top it all off, three medium transports coming into land in the nearby valley suddenly exploded for no apparent reason, the debris – as well as Zim citizens - raining down over a wide area, their demise witnessed by many horrified Zim on the ground. High above the Earth, a mother ship suffered critical damage from an invisible enemy, life pods launched.
As that was happening, portals burst into life in a dozen places, some right next to Zim prisoners, African Rifles armed with laser weapons pouring out to join their colleagues, advanced missiles being launched at stealth craft - whether the craft were visible or not.
At dawn the next day, the Zim were being held by sixty thousand members of the Rifles, sixty small Zim craft having been shot down, the Zim leaders perplexed, horrified, and now struggling to come up with a strategy. A bombardment from space wouldn’t help, since this was a post apocalyptic world, and there were few functioning governments to threaten.
At 9am a new portal opened, a handful of Zim leaders stepping through with an escort, communications equipment carried. They broadcast messages to the Zim on the ground, and to the mother ships in orbit. It was over.
News of what had happened on Clayton’s world was relayed in detail, as well as the terms of the negotiated settlement. As that news was being digested, the Seethan High Guard revealed their ships, now circling the Zim mother ships like hungry sharks. Having dropped their knickers, the High Guard moved through time and appeared on the opposite side of the Zim, before disappearing again. The message was received.
The Rifles, tired and bloodied from many hours of hand to hand fighting, saw red flares fired into the sky, and informed their captives that a negotiated settlement had been reached, that it had been fun, and … goodbye. They marched, cautiously, towards a central point, six portals in a line opening and soon swallowing the lines of men, wounded and dead carried through as names and numbers were taken by officers, the details fed straight into data-pads. Lobster and his senior officers reached the portal an hour later, and stood checking men through, first aid being administered.
Lobster and his senior staff were the last to leave, around 7pm, and did so in the presence of the Zim leadership. I met Lobster as he appeared in Wyoming on 1938-world.
We shook. ‘All done?’ I asked.
‘Just the start,’ he replied, appearing tired. My look begged a question. ‘I will go back to that world, to the Congo, and we will take all of Africa.’
‘Ah,’ I said as I led him away. ‘Casualties?’
‘Almost six hundred dead in total,’ he reported. I was shocked; it was a large number of men to lose. He added, ‘Some in Africa, some accidents, some shot on the road in America, and the rest killed by the Zim soldiers yesterday.’
‘A high price to pay,’ I noted as we walked, the area crammed with soldiers, medics and the press, tents set-up, a few prefab buildings.
‘And your fight, Mister Paul?’
‘I went into space with Jimmy, which was scary. But Jimmy, he gambled on other worlds sending us more craft. We had forty, the Zim had a thousand.’
‘Not good odds for craft in space, I fear,’ Lobster noted, sounding tired.
‘Hell no,’ I said. ‘But my son Toby appeared with two hundred craft from Sandra’s world.’
Lobster nodded. ‘If he appears, then that world is safe. Good.’
‘Yes, they must have done a good job over there - to make that many ships and to operate them. And then my daughter, Queen Selemba, appeared.’
Lobster turned his head towards me, and waited.
I added, ‘She had her own fleet of craft to assist us. And finally, Seethan from way into the future appeared and tipped the balance. They came back to complete a paradox, and to help out. Jimmy stacked the deck, and the Zim basically surrendered.’
Lobster smiled. ‘Mister Jimmy fights with his mind, and with his heart. His was the clever strategy.’
‘And what of your plan? Did it work?’
‘Yes, and twenty years or more to take the step one to a hundred. We played the soldier, then the builder, then we train the boys to fight. We mine the gold, we wait the war, and we take the ship across the sea. A difficult road to the mountains, many armed gangs, then we play the spy. Finally we do what we must do, and we take the Zim.’
We ignored reporters as we walked into a tented reception centre, and I found a temporary bar, two cold beers ordered. Lobster needed a change of clothes, but who cared.
With grass under our feet, we toasted each other. ‘The Rifles,’ I said.
‘May the fight never end,’ Lobster replied before savouring the beer. ‘And what of Mister Ngomo?’
‘He mined the Congo gold on Clayton’s world, killed the corrupt leaders around Africa, and now he’ll help rebuild Africa over there, the British and Europeans creating CAR – no Americans. We’ll use CAR to counter-balance the Americans in the future, just in case. Britain took receipt of some gold, also France and Germany.’
‘And the Zim, what of them?’
‘Jimmy knows a suitable world, no peopl
e there. We’ll give them what they need to make a start, and maintain relations; that way we can keep an eye on them. And we’ll take their mother ships and medium ships; they’ll take the smaller craft with them for scanning that world.’
‘It all worked out,’ Lobster said with a nod.
‘But at a great cost,’ I added. ‘You lost a great many men.’
‘The Rifles are no good sat in barracks,’ Lobster adamantly stated. ‘The sharp edge needs sharpening all the time, or it is of no use.’
Now I nodded. ‘I suppose.’
‘Your daughter and your son, they were the players in the battle and in time.’
‘Yes,’ I said, heaving a sigh. ‘And I’m very proud of both. I don’t know if we’ll see Selemba again – the older version, but Toby is back here – with his wife and three daughters.’
Lobster smiled. ‘He was on that world a long time.’
‘And … you?’
‘A lady in Africa, yes,’ he said, being coy. ‘Maybe two … if I recall correctly.’
I lifted my glass. ‘To family … on many worlds.’
Lobster lifted his glass. ‘May they never meet!’ Lowering his drink, Lobster asked, ‘What would have happened if you meet the Zim alone?’
I made a face as I considered my answer. ‘We think that the Dark Star craft and baby Dark Stars would have damaged their mother ships, but their craft would have worn us down and won. When Toby appeared it evened things up a bit – and his craft are way better than the Zim.
‘With Toby and his forces there I think we could have defeated them, but at a great cost to us. With Selemba, we would have won with fewer casualties, and with the Seethan arriving we managed to avoid casualties on our side. Truth is, Jimmy knew that Sandra would definitely send ships, he hoped that Selemba might, and the future Seethans were a complete surprise to me.’
‘Many possible outcomes.’
I agreed with my look. ‘And Jimmy made sure that we were right in the middle of it. Said his being there added to the negotiations, since they would see the risk he took – and respect that.’
