by Jay Morris
This was Ka-na Ahs final colonization, and she held the premonition that this one was special, She surprised herself when she realized that this was the world she intended to spend her nonworking years on and it made her smile. In five years she would return here in her personal space vessel that even now was in its final stages of construction, of course almost 800 years will have passed locally because of the Space-Time Dilation effect. Plenty of time for the colonization conversion to be in effect, she was positive that upon her return she would find a truly special world. She sighed as she prepared to perform her last two required actions.
“Command-Insistive, Query, Status-Colonization Ship, Status-Docking”
“Statement-Respectful-Factual, Status-Colonization-Ship-Docking,
{Docking-Complete-Quantity (98),
Docking-Incomplete-Quantity (2),
External-Doors-Docking, Status-Open-Quantity (0)};”
“Command-Insistive,
:{ Protocols-Colonization-Ship-Archival-Initiate
Protocols-Departure, Course-(this, Da-nah Nexus), Initiate
Command-Insistive-Broadcast: (Director-Suprema, Technicians-All),
{Planetary-Designation: “Sa-ta Ne Den-ah”
Statement-Emotive-Multiple, (Urgency-Positive-Congenial)
Probabilities-Uniform-Positive
}; };”
“Statement-Respectful, Command-Composite, Acknowledged, Compliance-Imminent”
She left the command deck, her immediate responsibilities complete, a warm feeling of pride and genuine desire that her planet side technicians would do the extraordinary colonization effort she knew them to be capable of, of course they and their children and many generations after them would have all performed the final transformation by the time she returned but she genuinely whished them well on their new world she had named “Sa-ta Ne Den-Ah”; an auspicious name for a planet, “The Precious Gem of The Da-Nah.”
Day 32- continued – West Virginia Welcome Center
With only a couple of hours before dawn, by group acclamation, it was decided to quickly drive down the highway to the large welcome center and rest stop we had used when we first approached the lodge. It was only five miles from their current position and if necessary they could just turn right around but it looked unchanged from the last time we were there. The lights came on when we turned the breakers back on, but we quickly eliminated every source of light, what we did want was the recycling mineral oil toilets and the filtered well water.
We didn’t try to keep anything from Lucy and Gina, it was too late and too pointless to do that. We considered several options and finally it was Mrs. West’s plan that won out. We would not have any one base, instead we will search out and pre-supply a number of safe-houses. Everyone was to always know where the two nearest safe houses were and two ways to get to them. If something happened, everyone was to scatter to the nearest safe house and wait. Each house would be numbered and we would begin to reassemble beginning with the eldest seeking out the younger ones first counting down the houses and then back up if necessary. The plan might be complicated but we thought we needed to be able to scatter if we had too. Then we discussed the aliens, we wanted to avoid them but we also wanted to keep an eye on them. We decided that the group that was nearest to us was as good as any. Personally it was mostly Tucker who continued to push for this and it was mostly Amy who wanted to keep him from doing anything to draw attention to us.
Around ten, Diane West came to me and asked me to go with her on a scout. “What the heck” I thought and grabbed my rifle and we headed out. We started down the highway and went past the pulverized alien track. About 2 hours later, we turned North on a county road and kept moving along the tree line that ran alongside the road.
At the next county road that crossed ours we turn right but we had only gone a 100 yards when we saw something and we dove to the ground, both of us bringing our weapons to bear. It took me a second to figure out what we were looking at, it was two kids. They were holding hands and were slowly walking down the road towards us. “Shit” Diane said and I added “got that right.” We stood and started towards them, if they saw us or not I don’t know. They just kept walking towards us.
The elder of the two was about 15, African American, very thin, her long, curly hair was a tangled mess, her brown eyes were large and wide and not responding. She was trembling and her mouth was slightly ajar, she was wearing an oversized tee shirt and those weird tight pants that stop about mid-calf. She was barefoot and her feet were stained with the powder from an alien path. “Look” I said pointing to her feet. “I see it.” Mrs. West said. The other child was a boy about four, white with blond, almost white hair that hadn’t been cut in a long time. He was wearing those shorts that had suspenders built in, they had ‘Bob the Builder’ on the front. He too was barefoot and his pale skin was burnt by the sun, and his legs were also covered in the same powder.
I stepped in front of the girl, she stopped, but didn’t recognize that I was actually there, she was only a little taller than me, so we were basically eye to eye,
“Hello there” I said, “I’m Johnny.”
There was no response.
“Um, where are you going?” No response.
“Where did you come from? Are there any others?”
No response. I looked over at Mrs. West and shrugged. “What do you think?” I asked. “She sighed and shook her head, '
“Shock, they are in shock” she said quietly.
“I think we need to get them to the camp” I suggested.
“Of course” Mrs. West agreed.
Mrs. West reached out and took the young girls hand and started to lead her down the road. Both children followed her.
“Mrs. West, I think if we go cross country we can get back in an hour.”
She looked down the road then realizing we had made a big U-shape she smiled and agreed.
I said “you lead them, I’ll go first and I will be in charge of security.”
She chuckled, “of course Rambo.”
I shook my head and rolled my eyes not really getting the reference.
Day 32 continued – Colonization Encampment 17
The four vehicles were arranged so the longest formed the base, the next two the sides and the shortest an incomplete fourth and the gap an entrance. The underlings were assembling the biological analysis and genetic re-sequencers under the supervision of two technicians. Four tall, thin, graceful and athletic youth were excitedly leaving the camp, two gray underlings followed them as best they could in spite of their short bodies and stumpy legs, the heavy black rods they carried not helping their effort at all.
The four moved roughly abreast, each was carrying one of two devices, one looked a bit like a rifle scope with two handles, one at each end; the other looked like a ‘kindle-fire’ except the screen was so translucent you could see through it. Once in the tree line the one with the scope kept pointing it at all sorts of things; plants, birds, a squirrel, and a rabbit. Once he/she pointed it at something they would make several strange sounds; clicks, hums, buzzes and the one with the kindle would sometimes hold it up to frame the chosen item in the screen and the device would flash the screen with all sorts of symbols, it the alien was happy with the result they would move onto the next life form, if not then they would repeat the process until they were happy. They seemed most interested in the birds, they seemed truly happy with the idea of wings and flight. The two shorter underlings made a valiant effort at keeping up and they were for the most part. Suddenly, they froze, a large animal, one they had not seen before started to approach them.
“Broadcast-(Sibling, Siblings/underlings) Statement-Factual-Alert.Life form-Quadruped-Aggressive, Probability-Minimal (0.08)”
“Insistive-Query-Locative-Life form-Aggressive.”
“Emotive-Impatience, Query-Status-Health-Impairment-Visual. Emotive-Urgent-Request-Visual-Redirect.”
“Emotive-Urgent, Statement-Factual-Update-Aggressive, P
robability (0.999)”
“Command-Insistive, Broadcast-(Da-Nah-representative-sibling, underlings),
:{ Protocols-Intervention-Physical
Permissive-Intervention-Light Stick
Chronus (0.0)};”
The two underlings immediately circled around their charges and placed themselves between the four siblings and the slowly advancing pit bull terrier. The dog was starving, its ribs were showing but it was its very large teeth that had every ones attention. The dog’s head was lowered and its ears were laid back, it would move forward 2 or 3 feet ahead then back a bit and a bit to the right. In response the underlings would try to keep themselves in between the dog and the siblings. Finally one of the underlings smacked the light stick on the ground in front of the dog, a super bright ball of light emitted from the tip of the light stick. The dog backed up a little so the second underling rushed forward and did the same thing with the same result. By the third time the dog had been unnerved enough that it turned and ran away, unfortunately the dog was temporary blinded and it ran into a tree, the dog yelped in pain before it continued its retreat. The siblings chatted among themselves coming to the conclusion that they should return to their encampment to report to their parent. The underlings, un-thanked but un-harmed, scrambled along behind their Masters.
Day 32 continued, Johnny and Diane West
It was slow going, the two children would not go faster than their steady walking pace, but that was something I suppose. We started up a long gentle slope, I was pretty sure the highway was on the other side so I jogged ahead and was pleased to find I was right. I looked both directions but to my chagrin I really didn’t know which direction the rest stop was. I turned to face the other three and they were just catching up. I looked at Diane and shrugged, she must have understood because she nodded to my right, I smiled back at her and started down the road, without the sound of crunching dry grass, leaves and such I could hear Mrs. West. She was talking to the two kids, gently and about just about anything: color of the trees, birds in the sky, her favorite songs, and anything else she could think of. I decided I liked the sound of her voice as well, it was comforting.
We only stopped for a pee break, we got the girl to drink a little bit of water, but the boy, all we could do was put a little in his mouth and hope he would swallow some. Most just dribbled down his chin. Mrs. West said this was different from anything she had seen before. All we could do was keep moving. As the time ticked by all I could think of was how we had helped bring ourselves to this place. All those lives lost because someone had what someone else wanted. Now we paltry few, frightened and lost, broken in body and soul, held only death as our fate. But I had forgotten what the aliens did not yet know, we had our own monster that went bump in the night, its name was Tucker and we were just about to release him.
When we saw the welcome center in the distance it looked abandoned, but as we got closer a figure seem to pop out of the shadows next to a roof top AC unit, Tucker. Even from fifty yards away I noticed he had installed a long, black scope on his lever gun, I had no idea when or where he had gotten it but he had a tendency to find things; in fact he said once ‘scrounging’ was a time-honored tradition in the Marines. He turned and disappeared from view, by the time we got to the front entrance they were all waiting for us.
Amy was dismayed and Tucker was grim faced when they got a close up look at our new friends. Amy picked up the little boy who was as stiff as a board in her arms. Even though there was no response from the boy, the girl emitted an ear-shattering shriek and scrambled to take him back. Tucker grabbed her from behind and lifted her easily in the air which caused her legs to flail around as wildly as her arms. Suddenly she stopped, she grew calm in Tuckers arms. I had to blink twice, there was my younger sister Lucy holding her hand.
Karen asked “How did you know?”
Lucy looked shocked that we didn’t understand, so Lucy explained that
“She needed a hand.”
Gina took the girls other hand and Tucker gently lowered her to the ground. Karen followed along behind as Amy and the girls took them into the womens restroom; to clean them up I was sure. Mrs. West and I told Tucker the story of our patrol. He didn’t say a word, he just nodded and listened. I suppose he was happy with our report. Something was changed in him, he had lost a lot of weight in the last month, his belly significantly smaller than when we first met. But that wasn’t it, it was in his eyes. With a shock I realized it was hatred, all the terrible things I had seen him do; killing with gun, knife, vehicle and his bare hands, even dissecting one ‘Before’ and torturing another. At no time had I seen that look in his eyes and now I understood what my poor mom said, “He just does what is needed.” Maybe, I just wish he didn’t like doing it so much.
When the others rejoined us both of the new ones had been washed and were wearing some clean clothes from our spares. The little boy was more responsive but still didn’t speak. An early dinner was prepared, I don’t remember what. The little boy ate when Amy put little bites to his lips and he would drink from a water bottle. Gina and Lucy had to take turns holding her hand so wouldn’t explode again. We were sitting in a circle on the floor what mom called “Indian style” and were just finishing when a tiny voice broke our silence.
“We saw them coming” the young, pretty black girl said.
“What?” Mrs. West said not really a question
. “We saw them, the big white things” she continued.
She was not looking at anyone, only at the plate of food before her,
“They were loud and we saw them.”
There was silence from us, we were afraid to interrupt.
“The machines got closer, Daddy put me and the other kids in the cellar” by then her voice was only a whisper.
“We thought they wouldn’t...we didn’t know they would…” there was a hitch in her voice.
There were no sobs but my own eyes burned as I watched the tears of grief fall from eyes as big as dinner plates,
“They didn’t stop they...” and she swallowed hard “they crushed the church, they crushed Daddy, they crushed everyone.”
We watched in horror as she relieved the attack.
“We were off to one side, the other kids, they, were knocked down, they got thin on the floor, they screamed ...” her voice grew louder and shrill.
“They exploded” she said behind gritted teeth, her hands were balled into fists in her lap and she was trembling, all of her.
“We saw them coming...” was the last thing she said.
Tucker rose and nodded to me, motioning for me to join him outside. Outside I could see that he too had been moved by the young girls’ grief.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“John, can you give me a few more details about where you found those kids?” he asked.
“Sure, but why?” I asked already knowing the answer.
I was right of course but he surprised me by augmenting his bloody intent with a desire to check for additional survivors, although he didn’t hold out much hope. So I told him every detail I could remember then I asked my own question;
“What exactly are you going to do, and why do you want to do it?”
Tucker looked me in the eyes in such a way that made me feel he was addressing an equal
“John, those things killed nearly all of humanity, they don’t seem to recognize us as living things, they just flatten everything in their way, us included. I want to find the aliens that hurt those kids, scout them for sure but if I get a chance I want them to realize they are not alone.”
He had already told me that, if not in so many words, but I suspected scouting was not at the top of his priorities, but whatever.
“I’m going.” I said.
He looked like he was going to say something but changed his mind,
“Okay John, you and me” he said.
As we went back inside to gear up we talked about who would be on guard rotation while we were gone.
<
br /> Once we told the others we had to deny both Weir and West who both wanted to go with us. I didn’t say it but we really only had four fighters; Tucker, West, Weir, and me. Weir was still recovering from injuries sustained in our attack on the Before. That left only West to guard the others. To be fair both Amy and Karen could fight too, but with Amy taking charge of the two new kids, then only Karen to watch Gina and Lucy, well we really couldn’t take any one else.
Tucker talked to Lucy one on one getting permission for several days without contact, Lucy always wanted to make sure her attack dog didn’t too far away for too long. We used to have radios, but one was on the roof of the now powdered lodge, another might still be at the Post Office (another survivor camp that had been destroyed by human raiders), the last two were on vehicles that were destroyed by the Before. I pulled Amy aside, the little boy fastened securely on her hip his face buried in her shoulder,
“Amy, any change with the kid?” I asked.
She shook her head no, then half whispered that it will take time. The pleasantries out of the way I told her what I had on my mind.
“I think this might be more than a scouting mission for Tucker.”
I could tell that she was going to ask me what I meant but I saw the understanding in her eyes, she tried to give me the boy, then she tried to give him to Diane and Karen in turn and finally giving up she stormed over to Tucker who was putting ammo into one of those plastic cases.
“Can we talk John?” she asked him.
“Sure, what’s up?” he answered.
The poor schmuck had no idea what he was in for.