“How are you recovering Mr. Senator?” the creature asked.
“Fine I guess.” Henry responded. “No one’s called me senator in over five years.”
“Well that’s who you are.” The creature said.
“Yeah, who I was.” Henry said. He had once been a senator, but that was before the coup, before those thugs had uprooted the democratic government, and tried to assassinate him, and everyone who’d been loyal to the old government.
He shook his head, and looked back up at the reptilian creature that stood by his bed.
“Who are you?” he asked quickly, as though the question would be ineffective if spoken at normal speed. “Where did you come from?”
“My name is Aric.” He said. “And I’ve come here to help you.”
“From where?” Henry asked. “Where did you come from?”
“About three-hundred million light-years away. You call it the Alpha Draconis system. We call it home.”
“Three-hundred million?” Henry turned to Emily, who stayed silent.
“We have been keeping an eye on the developments of this little corner of the galaxy for some time, and are deeply concerned.” Aric began to explain. “The government on Earth is oppressive, unjust, and corrupt. They imprison all those that disagree with them, and care nothing for the poor and needy. They must be stopped.”
“Why do you want to help us?” Henry asked. Maybe it was just the way this creature looked, but he felt he couldn’t trust him. “Why do you care about our affairs?”
“You dare question the leader?” one of the sentries by the door asked. He took two steps toward them, when Aric turned back, and barked a command in his native tongue. The sentry stopped, and retreated to the doorway.
“You’ll have to forgive them.” Aric said. “Saurian commandos value loyalty above all else. And they can get a bit carried away at times.”
Henry just nodded, keeping his eye on the solider who’d spoken.
“It’s only natural to be skeptical of new alliances after the betrayal you suffered.”
“You didn’t answer my question.” Henry said.
“Alright. I would be dishonest if I didn’t confess to some selfish interests in the affairs of your race.” The Saurian said. “Your people are growing more technologically advanced at an alarming rate. Now we do not object to this; it is your birthright as sentient beings to realize your full potential. But over the last few decades, the primary areas in which advancement has taken place have been in the space travel, and military technology. It’s my understanding that your race finally broke the light barrier about seven years ago. Correct?”
Henry nodded.
“It is not inconceivable to me, that your race could reach the Saurian homeworld within a generation, maybe less.” Aric continued. “If they reach us under the current administration, or one similar, it could mean devastating things for my people. I think we can agree that it would be in the best interest for both our peoples, if the human solar system had a saner, more rational government. And your rebellion represents just that.
“That is why we want to help you.” Before Henry could say anything, Aric turned to the two sentries by the door, and motioned for them to come over. When they’d come to the bedside, Aric gave another command in his native tongue, and the sentries removed their helmets. The shorter of the two had a face that looked more-or-less just like that of Aric’s. The taller one had a deep scar that ran vertically down the left side of his face, over his left eye. He stared at Henry with cold piercing eyes.
“Senator, I’d like you to meet the men who saved your life.” The two soldiers nodded. Aric gestured to the shorter one and said, “This is Finc, he was the pilot who drove the ship that brought you back here.” He turned to the scared one and said, “And this is my second-in-command, Rand. He was the one who infiltrated the villa, and dispatched the government troops.”
Henry looked at Rand’s icy stare and soft lizard grin, and felt a pinch of discomfort.
“Ah, thank you.” Henry said finally. “I really appreciate it.”
“Yes sir.” Finc said curtly while gently bowing his head.
“It was no problem.” Rand said. “Human flesh is soft under a Saurian claw.” His soft lizard grin became a thin smirk.
Henry didn’t know what to say. Aric snapped his head, and gave Rand a hard, angry look, before turning back to Henry.
“You’ll have to excuse Rand.” Aric said. “Saurian commandoes are often fond of gallows humor.”
“I wasn’t joking.” Rand said. Aric quickly said something in his lizard language, and the two soldiers turned and left.
“Listen,” Aric said after his men had left. He spoke quickly, hoping to get a word in before Henry could speak. “I understand that this must be very strange, and maybe even frightening. But I’m telling you the truth when I say that we are here to help.” He pointed at the ceiling and said, “Up there, I have a ship with over four-hundred of the best Saurian commandoes ever trained. As I said before, loyalty is important to them. They will listen to me, and do everything I tell them to do.
“And what I will tell them is that you are our comrade. And that our mission is to do no less, than to get you into power on Earth.” He stepped away from the bed, and again gestured to the ceiling.
“I’ve ordered my men back to the ship, and I’m leaving to join them. Your Major Anderson knows how to contact us. We will not return until you allow us to. Rest well, Senator.” With that, the red-robed figure left, leaving Henry and Emily alone.
Henry didn’t want to say anything until he’d gotten confirmation that Aric was on the ship that’d been docked on the surface. He didn’t like the idea of talking while they were within earshot.
So many thoughts ran through his head; not only had he just made first contact, but they wanted to help him. He thought about Rand, about the things he’d said, both in the villa, and just then.
“Henry?” Emily asked. She sat at the edge of his hospital bed.
“What do you think?” He asked her.
“I don’t know. But I think if they meant to kill us, then they’d have done it already.”
Henry nodded. They had after all gone through the trouble of saving him.
“Do you think there’s something they’re not telling us?” He asked.
“Maybe, but…I don’t know…”
They were both silent for a long time, before Emily spoke.
“I think we should let them help.” She said.
“You think we can actually say no?” he asked. They both smiled soft, half-smiles.
“It’s not like we have much to lose anyway.” Emily added. “We lost most of our best people on Mars.” Henry nodded. He’d almost forgotten about the screams as his friends were shot, almost forgot the sight of their limp bodies hitting the ground, before uncaring government troops. They’d put everything they had into that Martian raid, and paid dearly for it.
They’d also been running low on the supplies. The federals were closing in, and they needed to end this soon.
“Okay.” He said. “Tomorrow, contact the ship; tell Aric I want to talk with him.”
“I will.” Emily nodded. She scanned the immediate area around Henry’s bed. “Do you need anything?”
“No, I’m okay.” He said.
“You sure?” She asked, and the concern in her voice made his chest feel warm.
“No, I’m just fine.” He said.
“Alright,” She got up from the bed, and walked over to the entrance. Before she left, she turned back to him and said, “There’s a radio next to your bed. Call me if you need anything.”
“I will.” He said. She left. Henry spent the rest of the night trying not to think about all that had happened, and get some sleep.
CHAPTER II
Within only a few days, Aric, Emily, Rand, and Henry had already begun to work together on a plan to take down the government once and for all. They sat in the meeting room in the undergro
und rebel base. It was a small room, with a large round aluminum table in the middle. On one wall was a blank white board.
As they’d already figured out long ago, it would be suicide to attack the capital head-on. With only a little over four-hundred troops, they’d be greatly outnumbered. And according to Aric, the other saurian troops, though highly-trained, were nowhere near as skilled as Rand.
“The best tactic I can think of is to somehow draw the president out into the open.” Henry explained.
“Away from Earth you mean?” Aric asked.
“Yes.”
“But why would he risk leaving the safety of the capital?” Rand asked. His black military uniform was gone, and he now wore a formal red robe like his superior. His demeanor had also changed, taking on a more subdued quality. Henry and Emily suspected that maybe Aric had had a talk with him. “After what happened on Mars, he knows that you will take any opportunity to get him when he’s off-world.”
“For the moment, yes.” Emily said. “But he will have to leave eventually. It’s very unusual for a president to spend all of his time in the capital, even during times of war. If he spends too much time hiding on Earth, his opponents will accuse him of being weak, and cowardly.”
“Alright. So we wait until he leaves Earth. Then what?” Aric asked.
“We kidnap him.” Henry said. “We’ll interrogate him; as commander-in-chief, he’ll know every single important security and military secret there is. We gather as much intel from him as we can, and use it to plan further attacks.”
“Pretty straightforward.” Rand said. “So, when do we start?”
“As soon as he leaves Earth.” Emily said. “At some point he’ll go to some rally on Mars, visit a disaster area, or something like that, and we’ll get him. I just hope we’ll move fast enough when the time comes.”
“We need to stay alert, be ready to go out at a moment’s notice.” Henry said.
“We could be waiting awhile,” Aric said. “Me and Rand will be in our ship training our men. We don’t want them getting complacent.”
With that, Rand and Aric left the briefing room.
Henry and Emily then spent the next few weeks in the communications room sifting through countless radios signals traveling though the solar system, careful to search for anything that might reveal the president’s next move. It took them almost a month, but they eventually got something.
“He’s going to Venus.” Emily said.
“Are you sure?” Henry said.
“Yes. Apparently there was another breach on one of the dome cities.”
Henry scowled. The planet Venus has a volatile, poisonous atmosphere, where noxious fumes are as abundant as oxygen is on Earth. For decades, no one could come up with a feasible way to make a habitable city there. The closest anyone had come was the dome cities; entire cities under enormous metal domes, keeping out all the poisonous gasses, while creating an artificial human habitat within. But this idea was still unfeasible; the materials and resources necessary for building a metal shield big enough to house an entire city would be too expensive for anyone taking on the project, government or otherwise.
But President Sallis, in his infinite wisdom, approved the construction of no less than five Venusian dome cities within his first month in office. Initial projections stated that construction of the cities could take decades, but Sallis wouldn’t listen. He wanted them up within his first year in office. He wanted to get his administration started off with a bang. But the cities quickly became notorious for their breeches, taking many innocent lives with them.
This last one that Emily spoke of sounded like the worst one yet; half of the city, about 5,000 people, had been killed. The rest were either confined to hospital beds, or forced to walk around in cumbersome quarantine suits.
“It’s been a PR disaster for him.” Emily said. “He’s going to make an appearance there in a few days.”
The next day, they summoned Aric and Rand down to discuss their next move.
“What is he planning to do once on Venus?” Rand asked.
“Give a speech or two,” Henry said. “Maybe visit some victims in the hospitals.”
“No, no, what’s he doing for the recovery?” Rand was sounding impatient. “What’s he planning on doing that will actually help fix the domes?”
“Nothing.” Henry said. Rand frowned.
“It’s just to look good.” Emily said. “It’s like a publicity stunt.”
“It’s a bit of theatrics.” Aric explained. “Human leaders sometimes make appearances at locations where tragedies have taken place, so as to show their support for recovery efforts.”
“But they don’t actually do anything?” Rand asked.
“No.”
“They just talk, and people associate this with action?”
“That’s politics.” Henry chuckled.
“It’s a disgrace.” Rand said. “How does your race expect to function if it can be manipulated like this?”
The rest were silent for a few moments, before Aric spoke.
“Ah, Senator, what is your plan?” The saurian leader asked. Henry locked eyes with Rand. He tried to think of a response to the commando’s question.
“Senator Patrick?” Aric asked.
“Right sorry.” Henry turned from Rand to Aric, keeping the saurian commando in the corner of his vision as he spoke. “The president will be touching down on Venus in three days.” He went to the wall where a large map had been placed. It was a satellite view of a stretch of land on Venus.
The ground was a sickly shade of yellow, partially obscured by thick poisonous clouds. At the center of the map was the damaged dome. It appeared as a metal bowl that had been flipped upside down. Little black dots surrounded the dome. They were the workers fixing the breaches. To the right of the dome was the beginning of a long gray trail that stretched all the way to a dark square that sat at the very edge of the map.
“The president is going to land at this spaceport on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. Venus central time.” Henry said, pointing to the dark square at the edge. He then began to run his finger along the long gray trail. “It’s about a hundred miles from the spaceport to the city. Emily.”
“Based on the messages we’ve intercepted, we’ve found he’ll be traveling with three armored cars like these.” Emily said, as she taped a photo of a black armored car on the wall next to the map. A machine gun was mounted on the roof of the vehicle. “He’ll be riding in the middle of the three cars. Each car will have at least a few armed guards.”
“What we need to do is somehow intercept the convoy, get the president, and bring him back here alive.” Henry said.
“We already know how to get on the planet without raising suspicion.” Emily said. “The night before he arrives, we land in the spaceport posing as workers transporting supplies for the repair of the dome.
“We have a stolen supply vessel here at the base. We land with that. It has a small supply truck in it. We can stow some of your soldiers aboard, drive out to about halfway down this long road, and ambush them.”
“These troops that will be with the president,” Rand began to ask. “Are they going to be the same types of troops we saw on Mars?”
“Even worse.” Henry said. “Honor guards; taken from the best the military has to offer.”
“Good.” Rand said. “The villa was too easy. I want an actual fight.”
“There is still the question of how we’ll deal with the poisonous atmosphere.” Emily said, trying to ignore Rand.
“It’s no trouble.” Aric said. “Our suits are very resilient, and saurian lungs are very strong.” He gestured to his second-in-command. “Rand himself can hold his breath for forty-five minutes. The others can hold theirs for thirty at least.”
“We won’t even need that.” Rand said. “We’ll have your president out of there in fifteen minutes.”
Henry sweated as he sat in the front seat of the supply truck. The temperature outside of the air
tight vehicle was almost five-hundred degrees Fahrenheit. In addition to the poisonous gases, Venus was also notorious for the extremely high temperatures.
Through the thick transparent aluminum windshield, Henry looked out at the Venusian landscape before me. The barren yellow landscape stretched out to the horizon. Thick grayish-yellow clouds hung above, blocking out the sunlight. Off in the distance, Henry could see a mountain, whose peak soared all the way up above those clouds, as though it were trying to escape this barren hellhole. The rebel leader reflected that the peak of that mountain may be the only remotely hospitable place on this planet, and shook his head in disgust.
This place could never be colonized, not without decades of terraforming. The dome cities were more like prisons, their citizens forced to remain inside their metal walls, lest they be killed by the harsh forces from without. He promised himself that the moment he took office that he would make relocation of these poor people one of his top priorities.
He again reached into the glove compartment, and took out the canteen. It was noticeably lighter than when he’d first landed on the planet. He unscrewed the cap, and downed the final two ounces of warm water inside. He held it over his open mouth for another few moments, as he tried to shake out the last few drops.
“Hey.” Aric said sitting next to him. Henry turned, and saw the saurian holding out his canteen.
“No, no.” Henry shook his head. “I’m…I’m okay.”
“No you’re not, take it.” Aric said. He was no longer wearing the formal red robe, and instead wore a black fighting suit like the others. He didn’t intend to join in the fight, but this was going to be a battlefield in a little while; might as well be prepared. “I’m not thirsty anyway. Take it.”
Monsters Win Wars: A Novella Page 2