by Paul Dayton
Half an hour later he was all done. The Medi-Bot reminded Elan that antibiotics had to be made and administered as soon as possible, and then powered down. Elan detached the anesthesia mask and got a whiff of the metallic and stale smelling gas before he remembered to shut off the valves. He started to make a mental note of what he would need to make the antibiotics, but suddenly remembered the group outside. As he walked out he was instantly surrounded. They hugged him and patted him in the back, and Ruth gave him a kiss on the cheek, leaving him red-faced as he looked at a smiling Timothy.
“How did you know…?” Elan stammered.
“Meagan kept us informed the whole time!” Ruth replied. “I’m just happy you were there, Elan.”
“Me too,” Timothy chimed in, followed by all the others.
Elan looked at Timothy and realized that something else must have happened during the operation. “What’s wrong?” Elan asked.
Timothy looked at him while the others stood quietly and said, “We’ve gotten a report from Sam’s team, Elan. While they were inspecting the other part of the base, one of Meagan’s cameras came on line during the repairs and it alerted them and HAL as to what it was seeing. Once the team arrived, they found…” Timothy struggled for words. “They found an encampment, or prison of sorts, with some of the base soldiers in there, and, and, …” Again he struggled, as Elan’s face turned to one of worry.
“Elan, there were women and children in there, but they were being abused. They were like animals! When Sam’s group tried to put a stop to what was happening, they were attacked by the women and children themselves! They’re fine, HAL’s Gravplane was in the air by that time and it defended them. But Elan, the women being raped were worse than the soldiers. They were groveling in the dirt, scratching and kicking at each other, posing for the soldiers standing on the sidelines who would then pick one and drag her away, but once they saw Sam’s group, they charged at the opened gate and looked ready to tear them apart instead! I won’t even talk about the children…”
Elan had a disgusted look on his face as they described the events. He finally replied “I really think you have to meet this General Harvard, and the sooner the better.”
Timothy agreed. “Can you stay here with Elkana?” It tore Timothy apart to have to leave Elkana here, but he knew Elan would be very careful.
“Sure, Timothy. I have to make antibiotics anyway. I’d like to request HAL to send someone from the Gravplane to search for some plants I need to use if that’s ok.”
“What about security for the others walking around?” Ruth asked.
“It should be fine, Ruth,” Meagan said, overhearing the conversation. “The group has stayed within my controlled sections, and any attempt made by the base soldiers to interfere has resulted in a stern warning or temporary incapacitation.”
“Good,” Timothy said. “Perhaps we should go meet this General Harvard then.”
The rest of the group left the area outside the operating room, and Meagan lead them to where the General was staying, one floor down in the Positron Emissions Study floor. They were quickly led to his room but the door was firmly closed. Outside the door stood the Guard-Bot that Timothy had sent earlier. Timothy tried the handle, but it was locked. “Meagan, can you open this door?” Timothy asked.
“No, the lock has been tampered with, but Junior can.” Timothy was about to ask who Junior was but he was gently moved out of the way by the Guard-Bot who quickly twisted the handle. Junior gave the door a gentle nudge and the door started groaning until it finally twisted and buckled and the remains let go. It went in first, and they heard swearing and the sound of wood breaking before it came back out dragging an extremely beautiful and very naked young woman by the wrist. She was definitely not happy with the arrangement as she struggled to let herself loose, while everyone else watched, unsure of what to say. Timothy finally spoke up. “My name is…” but he was interrupted before he could say anything else.
“Does it look like I care who you are? You should be worried of who I am instead!” the woman said.
Timothy looked down at her arm securely held in the Guard-bot’s hand and asked, “Why?”
Ruth laughed, which only succeeded in infuriating the woman further.
“I could have you all killed now!” she shrieked, while Timothy calmly looked at her. “Why don’t you then?” he replied in challenge.
Her anger blazed as she lashed out with a leg straight to Timothy’s groin, but her kick was cut short by the Guard-Bot who blocked it with its crystanium leg. The group heard her toes crunch as she hit the leg hard, and she cried out in pain.
“Enough of this nonsense! Time is too valuable to waste it on your empty threats!” Timothy yelled, sick of the games the soldiers had played, the life they took and the danger they had put Elkana in. He had had enough of her, her posture, and everyone else in this base. He guessed by her native American Indian appearance that she had something to do with Stormdancer. That guess was confirmed when she blurted out half-sobbing, “Wait until Captain Stormdancer comes! You’ll all be dead!”
Ruth turned to her and said, “Stormdancer’s dead. Would you like to join him?”
She stared at them with questioning eyes, not quite believing what they were saying, hoping that it wouldn’t be true. Timothy didn’t give her a chance to reply but instead walked straight into the medical study, coming face to face with a disheveled and confused old man.
“General… Harvard?” he stammered. The old man was barely able to stand, holding onto two chairs to keep himself up and groaning. His beard was unkempt, dirty and long and his clothes were soiled. He smelled terrible, and it was obvious to Timothy that not only had the General not had a shower in a long time, but that he couldn’t control his bowels either. The stench was stomach turning, but Timothy kept any indications of it off his face.
It seemed to Timothy that he had interrupted him going on the way to somewhere, although it didn’t seem like he could do it on his own. The man stayed quiet while Timothy waited, and it appeared he didn’t realize that Timothy was there.
“General Harvard? Are you alright?”
The General looked around at the sound of Timothy’s voice, but his eyes didn’t register his presence and his head quickly sank down again. Ruth, who had followed Timothy in tried calling next, and a glimmer of light seemed to come into his unfocused eyes as he slowly raised his head again. He looked at Timothy, or rather through him, trying to decipher in his muddled up brain what the source of the female voice was.
“He’s old Timothy, older than anyone I know, but I don’t think its brain rot, or rather Alzheimer’s that is. Let’s get the woman in here and ask her.”
Timothy had the Guard-Bot drag the woman in again, and as soon as the man saw her, his eyes focused and he smiled a bashful smile. Ruth looked at Timothy again and said, “Did you see that? She has some kind of control over him!”
“What’s wrong with General Harvard!” Timothy asked the woman.
“He’s old and needs my help! Without me he’ll die!” she retorted.
“You haven’t answered my question. What does he have that will kill him?”
She remained silent but the smirk on her face made it obvious she wasn’t going to cooperate. Timothy went over to the corner of the room and grabbed a wheelchair for the General. He dropped more then sat, letting his weight fall heavily into the repeatedly patched seat of the creaking wheelchair.
“Let’s take him to the Medi-bot.”
“What do you want me to do with her?” Junior asked.
“Bring her along. She might have something useful to say, and even if she doesn’t, I don’t want her out of my sight.” The group laughed at that, and he quickly realized the double meaning to what he had said. He looked embarrassingly at Ruth but she blew him a kiss.
After going back up the elevator, they eventually entered the emergency room where the Medi-Bot was still plugged into the power socket.
“Are you
operational?” Ruth asked as Timothy helped the General onto the diagnostic table.
“I must remain attached to the wall charger, but I can receive the patient’s biometric information easily from where I am. Tell me about the patient.”
Vital signs started appearing on the invisible display in three-hundred and sixty degrees while Timothy and Ruth filled the Medi-Bot in on what they saw. The naked woman had been shocked at seeing the active Medi-Bot but quickly regained her composure. She started sneering and yelling again, but the Guard-Bot kept her quiet by squeezing her wrist harder until she stopped.
Timothy looked at her and then told the guard-Bot, “Keep squeezing her wrist harder every time she interrupts or refuses to answer one of our questions. Relax your grip when she behaves.” Timothy gave her a threatening glare and she started cursing again but stopped almost immediately as her wrist was squeezed tighter.
“There are elevated levels of activity in his brain, particularly but not exclusively to the hippocampus region. A number of different compounds are present in his blood stream. One of them is interesting. My preliminary results almost conclusively indicate a neuro-toxin…”
“Medi-Bot,” Timothy interrupted, “I haven’t had medical instruction yet so I have no idea what you are talking about. Can you give us a simple explanation of what is wrong?”
“I’m sorry Timothy, of course I can. You can refer to me as Doc if you wish, I am the chief medical officer on this Base and at the moment, the only operational one too. I was referred to as ‘Doc’ rather casually by the original base members. As to the patient, it’s obvious that he has been given something that has severely impaired his mental functions. It is a narcotic. He has become addicted to it and must be weaned off the substance. I do not presently know what it is, but once my analysis is complete I’m sure I’ll have the answer. To wean him, I will need to analyze and modify the substance. I’m sure HAL can scan the surrounding forest for the chemical signature of this substance and have one of your men bring whatever I need in. Or then perhaps you can convince this woman beside you to let you know what it is, seeing as I can sense the same molecules on her skin that are present in his brain. Either way, it will only be a matter of hours before we get the answer.”
“How long will it take before he becomes lucid again?” Ruth asked.
“That I don’t know, Ruth. I have no information on this drug other than what my scanners tell me. You should consider the possibility that he may never become fully coherent again.”
“How do you know?” Timothy asked.
“My scans indicate only one major unusual compound. It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s obvious the compound has been regularly administered. Notice the needle marks on his arms and legs. The lesions on the walls of his veins are clearly visible on the display. His liver and kidneys have significantly reduced function. It’s easy to see that this same damage exists in the brain, though I will need to move him to the FMRI to make sure. You may have some success in reaching him the same way this woman has. Judging by the chemical composition, I’m guessing these molecules have the effect of what you would call a ‘love potion’ on the user and it appears that she has quite some influence on him.”
“Well then, it appears we have other duties we can accomplish while we wait,” Timothy said. “Guar… I mean, Junior, how many other Guard-Bots are operational?”
“Three at present. They have been assigned by Meagan to protect those of your party. Four more will become operational within the next six hours, the soonest in one hour Sir.”
“Can you spare one to accompany us?”
“One will be spared now sir. Meagan has informed me that your protection is of the utmost importance. I am at your service.”
“But what about General Harvard?”
“I can take care of him,” the Medi-Bot said. And Meagan has control of this part of the base so no one can come here without her permission.”
“Doc is right, Timothy,” HAL added. “You go ahead and I’m sure Doc will do all it can to help General Harvard.”
As they walked down the corridor on their way to visit Elan and Elkana, Ruth lowered her voice and said, “Timothy, what are we doing here? A number of people have tried to hurt us, Elkana was almost killed, nobody wants us here and they’re like animals anyway! You’ve just become my husband and you almost died, twice! I’m starting to wonder if all this is really that important?”
Timothy looked at her, as he wondered about the same thing himself. He had doubts as to the validity of this mission considering the severe damage evident here, but HAL made it clear it was extremely important. Still, he couldn’t give up.
“Ruth, I don’t believe for a second that I can make a difference. But you think I can and have argued that I could. HAL seems to think I can too. These people with me are hoping we can. Our tribe has already changed drastically, and people that were more interested in their own advancement at the cost of everything and everyone else are no longer there to hurt anybody. I can’t gamble my doubt on my adequacy on the future of mankind. We need this base operational! There is too much at stake to let this go…”
“I know, I know, I just feel terrible that some people can get this bad, that people are dying and that I might lose you before anything gets done and it was all for nothing! I’ve waited for so long and I love you so much,” tears were streaming down Ruth’s cheeks now as she looked at him.
“I know we have to do this, and I’m sorry Timothy. I didn’t mean to put more on your shoulders.” They had stopped just outside of where Elkana now was, and Timothy smiled as he saw the others in the group who had been listening in turn away from their conversation and suddenly become interested in the floors, walls and ceiling of the hallway they were in.
Ruth wiped away the tears, and Timothy stood there not knowing what else to say. He gave her a long hug, turned around and thanked everyone for having stood by their side.
“I know the events of the last few days have been hard on everyone,” he said. “But things can’t continue as they have until now. The aliens will return, and with no resistance on Earth other than these bases, this return would be the end of us. We have to unite, and we have to get these bases fully operational, and for that I need everyone behind me!”
“We’ve been behind you from the moment you stood up for justice, Timothy,” Peter said. All the others echoed his sentiment.
“Mr. Timothy?” The naked woman, still in Junior’s grasp, was looking at him with a coquettish look.
“I don’t have time for games!” Timothy told her.
“No really, I have a question. And my name is Darlee.” Timothy waited for her question. “What are these aliens you are talking about?”
Timothy looked at Ruth and asked, “What do you think, should we answer her question?” Ruth looked at Darlee and said, “I think this first one can be answered for free. Any other questions come with a price.”
Timothy laughed and then he looked at her seriously. “Darlee, you wouldn’t understand if I were to tell you what aliens are. But I can say that very powerful beings – our enemies want this planet, and they will destroy anything on it to get it, including all of us here.”
Darlee thought about what Timothy said and stayed quiet for a moment. Timothy turned to enter the room that Elan and Elkana were in, but before he could Darlee spoke up again. “Is there anything we can do to stop them?”
“Yes. You can start by telling me how to help General Harvard.”
Darlee bit her lip and tried to look innocent but utterly failed. “Very well. I’ll tell you where to find the source of the drug I gave him and where the cure is. Answer my question. I mean, please answer my question sir. And, just for your own information, I was ordered to give him the drugs by Stormdancer.”
“Yes, we can stop them. But we need this base back up to full power, and we need all the other Earth bases working too.”
“Then maybe I can help,” Darlee said, and this raised everyone�
�s eyebrows.
CHAPTER 17
‘Who is the Enemy?’
“Captain, the scout ship reports entering Sol system, and everything appears to match up to our database so far. Cartography estimates this solar system to be the one, Sir.”
“Good.” Captain Bishop stood there, watching the view from the scout ship displayed on his screen. The scout had just passed another large gaseous planet, this one with a variety of moons and an unusual red dot that seemed to hold itself in place. There was no time to linger, but Bishop would have liked to have sent a few probes in.
He continued to watch as the ship passed a much smaller planet, reddish in appearance and bone-dry but with a slight atmosphere. According to records, this planet would be called Mars and there was supposed to have been an Earth defense base there too. Scout scanners however revealed nothing.
Next came Earth and its single moon, and Bishop watched as the scout ship came in, using the moon’s gravity to slow it down. His heart beat faster as he glimpsed the beautiful blue planet the moon was orbiting, and he watched it intently for the few seconds it remained in view through the scout ship’s onboard forward facing camera.
‘Could this really be it?’ Bishop thought as he stared at the small orb hanging suspended in space. He and his crew searched for this all their lives, and their parents before them, and their grandparents and great-grand parents before that, hoping against hope that the planet still existed and was somehow still habitable after the Great War.
The chances of that seemed slim indeed, but they had all agreed decades ago that if it was there and habitable, it was worth fighting over. His reverie was broken by the disappearance of the planet as the scout ship pilot readjusted his approach angle. Just as the ship broke free of the moon’s pull the pilot reported being scanned, and communications and visual instantly stopped.