From the formation, Karl Malton, aka Peaceful, stepped forward, as well as Keniko Sun, Lara Bitnick, E.T Washington and Miura Weng. Henry handed a knife to Karl Malton.
“Peaceful, you’ll throw first.”
He took the knife and, after some brief feel of things, threw it towards the target. After a quick flight, the knife stabbed into the shoulder of the dummy. Lara and Keniko were significantly more precise, and their knives ended up in the chest of the dummy, a little to the right. Miura hit the dummy exactly in the heart and the troop went into applause mode. In all this, E.T. just laughed and asked Henry in a manner loud enough for everybody to hear, “Where do you want me to hit the dummy, Brigadier?”
Henry looked at him and could see the overconfidence yet liked it. Competitiveness, even in over-confidence form was good to raise the bar for the group. “Right between its eyes, if you can.”
He just looked at it without a word, weighed the knife, and took aim. “Do you want me to hit it horizontally or vertically?”
Henry nonchalantly waved his hand and said, “That I leave it to you.”
Everybody fell quiet as he flung the knife and it, hit the dummy exactly where he had said. “I think that’s what you were looking for, Brigadier.”
Henry put his hand under his chin appearing to be evaluating the strike. He looked at the Sergeant. E.T. looked at him confused.
“What do you reckon, Sergeant? Is that a good shot?” Henry asked.
Colburn narrowed his eyes and, after a short look at the target concluded, “His shot went a little to the right.”
E. T. looked at him with incredulity.
The Sergeant did not care much for E.T.’s feeling and said, “I think that you could do much better, Brigadier.”
Henry commented, “Maybe the wind took it a bit out of the way.”
Colburn nodded. “I thought the same.”
All this discussion on his hit made E.T. raging and reddening, “What wind? You must be joking, Brigadier!”
Henry took a knife in his hand and began to spin it and asked E.T., “Not a bit. Where do you want me to hit?”
E.T. could not take it anymore and look at the dummy he sad, “All right, I want you to hit it in the eye.”
Henry instead of asking which one got two knives and handed the others to the Sergeant, who was smiling as he knew what would follow. “So, you want me to hit the dummy in both eyes with these knives?”
E.T. laughed and threw up his hand. “It’s your choice, but it’ll be doubly difficult.”
“Alright then.”
Henry stretched out his hands and loosened his shoulders. Everybody present was eagerly watching Henry almost having a verbal bet on whether Henry will hit or not. He set both knives between the middle fingers of his hand, checked their centers of gravity and flung them with a strong swing. While the knives were flying through the air, Henry had a feeling that time had stopped, but when both knives stabbed into the silicone dummy’s eyes everybody cried out.
E.T. looked at the dummy and smiled. He then gave Henry his hand. “I’ve never seen anybody doing that before.”
Henry shook his hand. “I think I know of someone who’s even better than me.” He waved a hand at Colburn, who was holding the rest of the knives. “Show them what you know, Sergeant!”
Five knives flew through the air in barely five seconds and in no time all of them were seen sticking out of the dummy. Everyone was amazed while Colburn enjoyed the limelight.
“As I already said, there are people even better than me. Sergeant, I’ll be happy only when you have finished practicing with the men, and they are as good as you.”
“No problem, Sir. Colburn smiled with satisfaction. “I think E.T., Lara, and Keniko will form a good second line for me. I think they should accept their new role.”
Henry looked at them askance. “Do you agree to drill the rest of the crew with the Sergeant? I think you are already graded above if the Sergeant has selected you.”
E.T. put up an act before accepting, “If the Sergeant says I have potential, why not? I agree to join him in training.”
Henry looked at Lara. She nodded, “I will. Besides, I could do with some fun.”
Keniko looked first at Maria. “Maria has to be in my group.”
Henry nodded, “That’s settled.”
“Great. Then I am in.”
“Sergeant, see to it that each of them gets a group of men for training from tomorrow. The Major and I will personally train the young soldiers who are here with us.”
“Yes, Brigadier.” The Sergeant looked at the rest of the equipment on the desks. “Shall we continue with the presentation?”
“That’s why we’re here. You may start with the Ansker armaments, for most of the prisoners don’t have any knowledge of them.”
He rubbed his hands happily this was the dearest part of his job.
“Follow me,” he commanded.
On the last desk, some Ansker infantry armaments were arranged, from the double-edged laser sword to the big Khak cannon. The latter attracted the most attention because it took up almost the entire desk. Colburn gently stroked the cannon, and its strange greenish metal parts gleamed in the morning sun. He closed his eyes, felt its strength and force under his fingers, and spoke with obvious enthusiasm his voice. “What you can see here is my favorite weapon utilized by the Anskers.”
Major Vallery leaned towards Henry and asked, “Is he always like this when he sees a weapon?”
“When he’s instructing, he’s in his element! A different animal altogether. ”
The Sergeant opened his eyes, smiled at the troop and presented the weapon with considerable respect. “This baby is called a Khak.” He surveyed the prisoners to find some potential candidates to handle it. “Do any of you want to try?”
“I’d like to try it.” Mark Bontovic was the first to volunteer.
“You think you could carry this monster on your back?” the Sergeant laughed loudly.
“I don’t know but I am willing to try.”
“I’m sorry, Mark, but I think we should give you something simpler and lighter. The Khak is too heavy for you.”
“How much does it weigh?” asked Vandor Bult, who was an audience to the entire conversation.
“Weights 58 pounds. You should be a good candidate. Why don’t you try this baby? I think you might like it.”
Vandor closely examined the heap of parts arranged on the desk and, after thinking for a short while, moved towards the desk, “It looks very powerful; I am interested.”
He stepped up to the desk and took hold of one of the smoothest parts of the gun to study it in his hands. “How do you wear this on your back anyway?”
“It isn’t as complicated as it looks, but here let me help as it is your first time.”
“What do I have to put on first?”
Colburn heaved up the biggest part of the cannon. It had a wide shoulder strap, a breast-protecting device and a jointed mechanism for the arms. Everything was protected by thin, elastic metal plates, like a snakeskin, connected together by two wide interwoven belts. “This goes first. Turn around and put it on your back.”
When Colburn put the armor on him, Vandor asked, embarrassed, “How does it tie?”
“Tie this part first and plug in the belts. On the breast protector, press the green button and the belts will fasten themselves.”
Vandor did as Colburn instructed and soon his breast was armored, and the belts were fastened.
“It presses against my chest too much.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. The mechanism is designed in such a way that it will adjust itself to your muscle movements after a short time. Stretch out your right arm for the next part of the armor.”
Vandor readily stretched out his arm and the Sergeant connected the armor. A moment later Vandor cried out as the armor began to fit around his muscles. “What the hell is this?!”
“Come on big guy. Don’t be afraid; it’s normal. Try to move with it!”
Bending his elbow gradually, Vandor tried to move his arm. Now he had the feeling that the armor was a component, an extension of him. “This is a miracle!”
“I told you. Now allow me to put it on the other arm.”
After the Sergeant had repeated the process, he picked up a helmet and offered it to Vandor. “Put this on your head and secure it under your chin with the buckles, then you’ll be able to run the rest of the gun.”
When he had done that, the Sergeant explained the weapon’s features. “Through the visor, you can aim directly, so wherever you look the barrels turn as well. On the visor, you can read the distance to the target, see the quantity of ammunition in the container on your back, and read data about vital parts of the armor and the gun.”
“Interesting little thing,” Vandor concluded.
“Yes, very interesting.”
Colburn went over to the desk and picked up the gun’s plasma container. He came up behind Vandor and plugged it into the bed on the shoulder straps, at the back. The container was connected with the rest of the equipment by means of tiny, flexible tubes, which ran under the armor and through which plasma flowed to containers in bracelets on the arms.
“This thing works,” said Vandor, looking through the visor. “Right now it’s showing me the state of the container.”
“It should be. Now I only have to fasten these two barrels and the cannon will be ready to use.”
“Is there any rebound when shooting?”
“No, wait a minute, and you’ll see.”
Everybody watched curiously as the Sergeant put together the two final parts of the cannon and explained how to use it. The armor had wide bracelets at the elbow joints, which were connected to two small handheld rollers. Each roller was flat at the end, with four circular openings at the bottom and a mechanism on top for activating the main plasma trigger. The operator would put his four fingers into each of the openings on the bottom, and trigger with the thumb.
When he had installed it all, Sergeant Colburn turned to Henry. “Shall we start with the presentation, Commander?”
Henry nodded, and he asked Vandor, “Have all the lights in the helmet turned on?”
He reported that it was all ready for shooting, and the Sergeant looked at the targets. “Can you see the target of an Ansker hidden behind the wall right in front of you? Only its upper part can be seen, and I think it’s at a distance of three hundred odd yards.”
“You’re awfully good at distance estimates. It’s 312 yards.”
“Good, so the distance measure is working. Now, destroy the target!” Colburn said without paying heed to the compliment.
Vandor’s face lit up. He could not wait to open fire. “I’ll smash it to pieces!”
But even though he pressed the trigger several times, nothing happened. Vandor is looking at the Sergeant with a puzzled expression on his face, “Why isn’t it working?”
Colburn retreated to one side and hit him on the shoulder. “Don’t turn your head towards me!” he shouted. “If you want to talk, lift the visor!”
Vandor lifted the visor. Colburn stood in front of him and shouted, “Are you crazy? I told you to aim through the visor. The turret will follow your line of sight.”
Vandor replied with apparent guilt, “I only looked at you for instructions. Sorry.”
Colburn patted his breastplate and said, “It’s all right so long as no one is hurt, but be careful when you have that stuff on your head. Now, pull down the visor and find the target.”
“I’m aiming at it. What now?”
“With both hands at the same time, press the triggers.”
Vandor pressed the trigger and could feel the surge, “It’ll probably work now…”
Before he could complete, Plasma shot from the six Khak barrels roared like the wild symphony of a thunderstorm. It blew out the wall and the target which was behind, a dense cloud of dust from the point of explosion. Everybody was cupping their ears; the Sergeant lowered himself to one knee and held his mouth open, enjoying the deafening sound as it reverberated through his head. Vandor, on the other hand, was ecstatic. “This is madness!”
The Sergeant hit him on the shoulder. “Well done! Stop shooting and see what that baby has done.”
Vandor moved his thumb off the trigger, lifted the visor and said, “This is a real monster. I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Colburn smiled on the concurrence he got for something he already knew. As the dust settled they could see the terrific damage done by the Khak. “Look what you have done to the wall!” he said.
Squinting, Vandor looked at the target. The wide concrete wall at the distance appeared to have been eaten by some giant creature, and the silicone dummy was nowhere to be seen. He walked towards it and took his fingers off the trigger to touch its rough surface. “This thing has torn away half a yard of the wall just like that, and it’s not even warmed up.”
“That’s nothing. Can you see that troop carrier over there? It must be a hundred odd yards farther out?”
Vandor looked at the troop carrier. It must be appeared worn out, rusted and full of holes. “I see it. It looks pretty destructed.”
“Not destructed. That’s your next target. First tell me how much of the plasma is left.”
Vandor lowered the visor to read the data. “There are 50,504 charges.”
“Spend three hundred charges on it.”
“Your wish is my command when it comes to this baby.”
When Vandor pressed the trigger, Sergeant pressed his stopwatch. The hull of the troop carrier squeaked, bent and tore away. The torn parts flew in every direction, making a terrible noise. In a moment, a large hole appeared in the middle of the troop carrier, which Vandor made larger and larger with his precise hits. Then he released the trigger.
“Three hundred charges have been spent.”
“Lift the visor and let me unclasp the barrels!”
Sergeant Colburn took off the barrels and laid them down on the desk. Then he pressed the button on the breast protector and like he had been told earlier, Vandor was able to take off the armor like a common jacket. He laid the armor down on the desk and looked again towards the troop carrier.
“That cannon is a monster.”
“Yes, it is. Now go back to your formation. I’m going to give you more details about it.” The Sergeant raised his stopwatch and showed it to all the attendees. “It needs just one minute to shoot three hundred charges. On the back there is a container with 90,000 charges, so you can understand the damage it can do in a battle. Are there any questions?”
Endy van de Mort wasn’t amused, “Why should Vandor only enjoy it? I’d like to try the… what did you say it was called?”
“The name of that beast is Khak. But that’s enough fun for today.”
“Why? I really liked it! Only one attempt sound unfair!”
The Sergeant was finding it hilarious to have Endy complain like a school kid. “I’ve got another toy I think you might like, but don’t test my patience. I really will not take all this histrionics. You repeat that and you will be running all the way back to the base.”
Endy gestured as understood.
Sergeant was content with his response. “I think you’ll like this weapon more.”
Endy went closer to the desk, and Colburn turned to the others and pointed to the opposite side of the desk.
“All of you come nearer.” He picked up a light Ansker helmet. “Put that on your head!”
While Endy was putting it on, the Sergeant picked up the rest of the equipment, which consisted of a breast protector with wide shoulder straps and armor for the right arm. On the right side of the arm plate, there were pneumatic clasps which connected to a massive joint mechanism with a built-in rebound reliever.
“Put this on!”
Endy took
the armor and looked at him. “Could you help me, Sergeant?”
Vandor laughed. “It’s a complicated thing for him.”
“Shut up, Vandor. You weren’t able to put on your armor either,” Endy snapped.
“Enough, both of you. Vandor twenty push-ups, right now.”
Vandor tried to revolt, “But…”
The Sergeant interrupted Forty. Protest and the count goes up. Counts need to be loud so that I can hear them.”
Vandor was furious but did not want to increase his count. He started doing his push-ups while counting. Sergeant Colburn looked at Endy, “Don’t you snicker or you know what you would doing in the evening. Knowing the distance of the base, I will be surprised if you would make it by morning. Now put on the armor.”
Endy was helplessly looking through the objects. He didn’t know what went where. “I don’t know how?”
Colburn caught hold of his helmet, “Weren’t you watching Vandor just a moment ago?”
“Well, yes, but only when he started firing.”
“Then what the hell were you doing when a demonstration was going on?”
“I was looking at the desk where the other weapons were kept.”
“Marvelous! You dumb ass you are supposed to look at what is being shown and not at what you want to look at.” Sergeant Colburn gave an angry glance at Endy and the troops. “I’ll show you just once more. Watch carefully as all the gears would be worn in a similar way. I won’t repeat. Is that clear?”
“Yes, Sir!” they all responded unanimously.
“This is especially important for you, Endy!”
“I got it!”
Colburn shook his head as was least impressed with the fact that he had to show it again. Just then Vandor finished his last push-up and gave a sign with his hand. “Alright Vandor, stand up.”
“Yes, Sir.” he responded and stood, wiping sweat from his forehead.
“I hope that you have learned something from this,” Colburn told Endy.
“Yes, Sergeant.”
Colburn looked angrily at Endy. “I see that there is some amount of dissent and cynicism in your posture. Don’t make me correct you. I promise you, you will be sorry.”
Godeena: SF Novel Page 11