by Mitch
Screams shattered the foul air, challenging any who dared cross their path. The shrillness shattered all hope. Their mesmerized world quivered as evil grew bolder. Hungry glutton buzzards circled above the killing fields, waiting for the murderous rogues to do them favors. After every bloody battle, there was an uncanny vacuum. Death gripped in deadly silence. The death angel known as the grim reaper hesitated before going near the smell of death.
On the return trip, Kedar asked, “How did they get in here, devastating this place without you knowing?”
La`no informed him, “They are equipped with a combination sense of smell and radar-like sense of feel. Their hearing is one of the best in the animal kingdom. We should have known, eventually our bodies give off heat waves and odors, then, of course, their antennas pick up our movement here. They tunneled down, hiding in caves, caverns, and blinds that we never used. There’re a million places they could have hid without being detected until they were ready to attack in full force. Our ancestors believe trillion upon trillion of ants wiped the dinosaurs off the face of the outside world. Even though the dinosaur ruled the Earth in the incredible ancient dinosaurian period, big as they were, what defense did they have against the conquest of the incredible beastly ants? Eons ago, the ant was about to take over the world…God created the Aardvark and Anteaters.”
Back at the town meeting hall, all entered looking as if they had attended a funeral of a loved one. La`no announced, “There is no hope, we have to face our destiny.” The bleakness of the reply echoed in every ear, the shock rippled around the room! One group of shepherds felt they should leave for the outside to save lives, particularly the children. Commander Glenz informed all ships were available for evacuation if need be.
Won went to her husband, tears flowing down her cheeks pleading for him to do something. “Are you sure there’s nothing you can do to stop them?”
“No, there’s nothing anyone can do. We’ll have to leave, shut everything down, and seal all entrances and exits.”
Careah saw the expression of terror on Won’s face that cut into her own heart. One of the other shepherd ladies interjected calmly, “You mean we all shall die if we stay?”
La`no shuddered, “I will not hazard a guess on what will happen if we stay or leave.” There was stunned silence for a moment, then bedlam. La`no was besieged with a blanket of questions on survival while others scolded violently.
Kedar shot a quick glance around the room! His eyes darting back and forth, taking in every detail, watching the clamoring flood of terrified people. He raised an admonishing finger, as if scolding a defiant child, almost demanding an answer. “What’s wrong with everyone? Get hold of yourself, I’ll gladly surrender my life defending your home.”
He was doing his best to convince them all to stay and fight. “It may be more of a heroic resistance if we stay and resist. If not, our problem will be solved by the invading brutal forces of evil. Doing nothing will be worse than defending yourselves. Sure, it looks horrifying, the enemy wants total elimination. Even though they act in brute force, we can help. Don’t give up. The ant has no fear of pain until they get it. As for dying, they’re blinded of death. Born ghastly killers, they are programed permanently to kill. Once they attack, they’re darn near impossible to stop. At one time, yes, but now it’s different. I have to say; they are as treacherous as they have always been. We can do what you say is impossible! Desiring the impossible is what makes hare-brained failures. It’s not shameful to desire something better or more useful. War or we go, it’s that simple.”
Joy Green, a black lady shepherd, responded, “War is awful and evil!”
Tara jumped up and stomped her foot on the platform floor, anguish written all over her face, “Yes, war is evil, but there is no time to debate the morality here. For those who are barbaric and ruthless, moral means nothing. We must deal with them on our terms, an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, and their heads to boot. There is no time to think about it, we must act now. Enter this war now against these demonized brutes. It’s time to face the reality of a war, it’s everyone’s duty to fight to survive. Those intruders are not welcome here. I, for one, am ready to fight with what I don’t know! But we must figure a way to stop them. Maybe we should start trusting the Lord?”
The shepherd in front of her complained. “It’s easy to give advice! Don’t you know we are being attacked by an army of beastly ants coming for our destruction?”
Tara’s face contorted with anger, “I will not insult your intelligence; however, have you arrived at another alternative? …No? I thought so! We must do something. I’m not giving up without a fight.”
La`no’s face flushed, exclaiming, “I’m not trying to evade my leadership, but there’s nothing to stop them with! We have no weapons to defend ourselves, never dreaming they would be needed. We shepherds always relied on our natural underground country for safety than on any works of man. No one hates violence more than we. There’s no one more abashed than I, not being prepared. It was very stupid of me for not being a better leader.”
Kedar interjected. “It’s no use crying over spilt grape juice. You pick figs one at a time. Let’s handle each situation one at a time; first we get organized. Then we do something about the ant problem. Their greatest weapon at this moment is fear. They are counting on our fear to do nothing. Fear will rip a person’s heart to shreds.”
Tara remarked, “Yes, my honorable friend, fear opens a world full of crises. If unchecked, it’s ready for destruction.”
Kedar winked at Tara, “Friendship and honor are the greatest gifts, but that doesn’t bring peace. What does this enemy’s army know about honor and friendship? They soil the very words. An army is not to start wars, it fights to bring peace and keep the peace. As Tara said, let’s show them who the Lord is.”
La`no’s expression was as blank as it could get when he replied, “You are going to stop an army, trillions strong, with two bows and a few arrows? No way!”
Kedar snapped back, “You don’t know what the Lord can do with two bows and a few arrows. Samson, with a jawbone of an ass, defeated one thousand enemy soldiers. Yesuah conquered 10 nations, each king and kingdom, one at a time. Now listen to what I have to say, Careah and I were in a similar situation, only much smaller but just as deadly.”
Careah exuberantly added, “Glory be, and with the help of two friends we got out of a hopeless circumstance with a little oil and two small pieces of flint. We thought it was doomsday for us!”
Kedar replied, “I thank the Lord for that experience. Now I know it can work here as well as it did for us when we were on our way to Bethlehem.”
La`no inquired with a false smile. “OK! What do you have in mind?” Kedar went to the city map on the wall. All names of streets and avenues were printed in their language. “Since I’m not a linguistic, I have to ask, what is the name of this wide avenue?”
“WELKIN,” they all shouted!
Kedar remarked, “That is a strange name for an avenue.”
Tara replied, “It’s not strange to us. Welkin means, ‘Avenue of Heaven.’”
Kedar sternly replied, “You have to sacrifice part of this city, from WELKIN back to where the end of their army is, here,” pointing to the country map. “That will include any cities in between. You will have to abandon this part of the city, these premises, and every city from here to there,” again pointing to the country map.
La`no stated, “Okay, that’s fine. We can sacrifice that much to save the rest of our beloved country.”
Kedar had their interest now. “Remove all of your records to a safe place. You will have to find a new meeting hall. It may or may not turn out to be a suicidal fight. We need to light a flame of hope that leads to ultimate victory. Death will be constantly imminent if we let our guard down. Is it possible to go on radio and TV?”
“Yes,” answered La`no.
"Ask your people to gather straw, wood, and anything that will burn, and try to encircle the ants w
ith it. If you cannot at least get in front of them.
Start from this building on the north side. Heap the stuff at least a foot high and out as far as possible. Since there are not any bows and arrows for your men to use, they will have to hide behind anything with fire in clay pots. On a given signal, they will pitch the pot out as far as they can. The clay pots will shatter when hitting the ground and fire will fly everywhere. If you remember, Gideon had success doing something like this to stop his enemy. It will work for us too."
One of the shepherd ladies volunteered, “The only thing like that are flowerpots with a hole in the bottom. The holes can be plugged.”
La`no slapped the side of his forehead with his palms, “I just remembered, we have many rockets. We use them to celebrate the Bright Light of Creation. How many? I will have to find out.”
The secretary checked the records, “There are one thousand in stock.”
Kedar asked, “What are rockets?”
La`no explained what they were, then added, “They are very dangerous, having a small amount of TNT in each one with other chemicals.”
“The rockets will help, but we need more,” replied Kedar.
The Rocket Engineer, a cabinet member of the shepherds cut in, “We have a small number of explosives in stock. There’s no time to make more. Besides, it’s too dangerous rushing this kind of thing. One mishap…No more Hi-Why-O! We do have empty barrels. Fill each half full of water and the rest with petrol. Place them on high ground. On a given signal, they too can be lit and tipped over. We can make incendiary bombs by using bottles filled with petrol. A piece of rag serves as a wick which is ignited and thrown out as far as you can; I guarantee, all will work. We can call them Bo-Bo’s short for bottle bombs.”
Kedar bellowed, “Now we are getting a hold on this. We still need more firepower. Take as many ladies as it takes to get the flowerpots ready.”
“How is that going to stop ants?” exploded a doubting shepherd.
“Yeah!” spouted another shepherd.
“Quiet!” demanded Tara. “If you were listening, Kedar already explained how.”
Kedar inquired, “Do you have a map of your water system?”
“Sure, we do. On that desk there. If you remember, we were working on them when we met.”
“Can you shut the water off and drain the pipes dry, say from this street, WELKIN, and about 150 miles out to where the ants came in. Is it possible to pump oil into the pipes without draining the whole system?”
“Y-e-s,” La`no replied slowly, not sure what Kedar had in mind.
“The oil will push up through the ground just as the water did watering lawns, gardens, and fields. Then, when the fiendish Ants are in the oiled area, have the pump pressure increased. The increased pressure will force the oil up, spraying the devils.” Pointing to the area on the map, “This is where the fires are set; not one ant will escape. If we cannot stop them, nothing will stop them from destroying Hi-Why-O. It’s a race against time. This mission has to be done without delay.”
The shepherds nodded with satisfaction over what they had heard, asked him to go on with the rest of the plan. He continued, “Of course, there may be unpredictable elements to contend with. If there are, those can be handled appropriately.”
Careah remarked, “That is known as the unknown factor.”
Kedar smiled, “This is the time we really test our faith in our Lord. Oh…La`no, do you have something potent or toxic to add to the oil to enhance its power?”
“Yes, its gasohol. Remember, we call it Petrol, it is highly inflammable and does have a strong reeking odor. The fumes will blind temporarily.”
The Water Engineer, a cabinet member of the Shepherds, broke in saying, "This may help also as the ceiling pipes are dry. We can pump fine sulfur powder into the pipes. It will come out the orifices in a fine haze, drifting down on the ants.
It will reduce visibility and confuse the mind. It may even kill them, and I’ll put my life on the line, as soon as the fire touches sulfur, nothing can put it out."
“Good, do that now, while your men are getting the water lines underground ready. Do you have any kind of reed we can make arrows out of?”
Won replied, “Yes, we have marsh reeds we call cat-tails. Will they do?”
“Yes! Careah, take all the ladies, you need to make the arrows. They don’t have to be crested, just made good.”
La`no remarked, “Our craftsmen can make light-weight metal arrows with nock and a sharp point and glue the feather in one step. Feathers can be picked up at Tee Oak’s turkey farm and glue at Fu-do’s glue plant. My secretary will call them and have everything ready.”
Won spoke into her video watch, asking women to meet at the Reed Marsh. Tara smiled at Careah and echoed, “Glory, Glory, Glory.” Thousands of black and white ladies arrived at the Marsh with sharp knives ready to gather reeds.
Careah was amazed, nearly every reed was the perfect thickness with a dry, brown, fuzzy cylindrical spike at the top. She knew what her husband had in mind and excitingly explained, “These will do perfectly, but leave the spikes on. All we have to do is cut them to the right size and glue the feathers on, then dip the nock in glue, making it hard preventing it from splitting when released.” She explained the motive for the cut reeds, how she and Kedar were going to use them. “While the air cars move forward, we’ll dip the cat-tails in flammable liquid, touch each with fire, and shoot them out into the area of the filthy ants. We should make several hundred thousand, or more, so we will not run out.” Several ladies remarked they would go along and dip the cat-tails into flammable liquid, touch an electric spark, and hand the lit spikes to her and Kedar.
Won, holding a damaged cat-tail and one too large for an arrow shaft, suggested, “We can toss or pitch these when there is a need.”
Careah, smiling, nodded her approval, “Get as many as you can. I know the sailors can use several thousand or more.”
Won suggested she and several ladies would go with Careah; Tara and other ladies would go with Kedar. Won chose Delco, Su`lay, Elce, and their brown friends, Co`le and Bo`nay would go with Careah. Tara picked Shy`re, Lize, Nan`C, also two black ladies, Fawn and Mona would go with Kedar.
Won mused, “I think the Dinghy would be better than an air car. The Dinghy is an air truck which operates like the air car, only, it’s much larger. One of the two forward lookouts can drive, while two would be lookouts, one on each side, and keeping their eyes on the rear. The other two would dip and light the cat-tails, handing them to you and Kedar.”
“Well, I’ll be tied and dipped in olive oil, I never dreamed of fighting a war,” marveled Lize.
“Yeah,” giggled Mona, “we’ll show the world, ladies can fight and win too.”
Won’s voice rose above the happy clamor, “God had Solomon and Isaiah make a flag to show who they were. Why don’t we make one for each of the Dinghies?”
Careah agreed, “That’s great, why not for the ships also?”
Tara phoned the ladies who worked for her, asking them to go to the fabric shop, giving them the design and size of the flag they were to make.
The ladies began singing all the way back to the command center; fear was beginning to disappear. Kedar looked at the cat-tails and expressed his approval, “Nothing could be better!” The pipes were full of oil and petrol, pumps ready to apply pressure. La`no’s two-way video watch buzzed. “Flash here, we are having ant problems also. Will help you if needed when we take care of them here. End of message.”
“Thank you and your people, Flash. I feel now we will win with everyone’s help. Thank you again from the bottom of my heart.” They went over their prearranged battle plans.
Dinghies
Long and short cat-tails and Bo-Bo’s were loaded in the convertible freight trucks called Dinghies and on the Amphibian ships: The Aqua, Aquarius, Aquila and the Ekistics, their most modern ship. The flags arrived and each ship and Dinghy got one. Each flag had twelve red and white stripes, o
ne for each farm district. Each district was 1,000 or more square miles. Forty white stars, one for each governing city, appeared on a medium blue background at the upper left corner—the stars showing through both sides. Kedar and Careah made sure quivers were full of metal arrows and plenty in reserve. He reminded everyone, “Once we start, there’s no stopping, not even stop to eat, maybe eat something on the run. Drinking water is a must, nothing else for at least a couple of days.”
The Ladies Fire Auxiliary responded, “Do not worry about food! We’ll try to get food to you when we can!”
Kedar replied, “Wonderful, but I’m sure we would rather go without food than have you lose your life trying to get food to us. Be mighty careful, if it looks threatening or hostile, do not, I repeat, do not try it.” He turned to Careah and her warrior ladies, “You start here in that Dinghy AP54.” She tried to force a smile. Her lips turned up at the corners, which was as near to a smile as she could get. Her crew could only nod with partial modified grins. He continued, “To get behind the ants, my Lady Squad and I will go in the Aqua to Boot Peninsula where Dinghy AP55 is waiting. From there, we will start and meet halfway. The Commander will signal when we get to the peninsula and wait for La`no to say go. The sailors on the way back can hit the beach and start fires with their torches.”
Won asked, “Why call the Dinghy by numbers?”
Kedar remarked, “It would be confusing to call and not know who you were calling, anyway, another Dinghy may answer.”
Ke`no, Te`ro, and some of their friends spoke up, “We cannot stand around and do nothing.”
Ke`no, who was at the age showing leadership, explained, “We can go with the sailors and help set fires. If we take several of our Beach Jeeps and use them along the beach. It will be safer and faster. The sailors can follow in the amphibian ships. In case we need help, they can give us a hand. Okay, Dad? We will be gong in the ships service after school is out anyway, Dad.”