by Jay Morris
“Damn stupid way to fight a war.”
He moved quickly up the hill and down the other side to take cover behind one of the smaller vehicles. He caught his breath, in the distance he could see the other pair of grays disappear behind the big whale sized one. He started to run to the next vehicle, to his next hiding spot but when he turned the corner he was faced with a smallish White. It was only about six foot four, Tucker instantly slashed with his knife, the knife he had honed to a razors edge, and decapitated the shocked alien. Oh well nothing for it then, he thought, picked up the corpse by its hand and pressed the palm to the entry plate. This vehicle was apparently a mobile lab, its interior was one huge room, large and complex machines were placed periodically around the interior and two white aliens were engrossed in operating them. He walked up behind the first one and tapped on his shoulder, the White turned around and fear filled his face. Tucker brought the gun butt down onto the top of his head as hard as he could, crushing the skull, esophagus, spinal vertebra, and puncturing at least one artery because blue blood sprayed all over him. “Shit” he said, the other alien had turned and was trying to dash past Tucker to escape and nearly made it but Tucker caught its wrist and spinning it around him the same way a hammer thrower does in the Olympics he threw it into the wall. Bones cracked and it lay bleeding on the floor. He stomped down hard on its wrist shattering the wrist bones, he drew his knife and cut its hand off.
Just then a loud, tooth grinding alarm was sounded, a few moments later the alarm was punctuated by clicks, buzzes and humming sounds. He drew the Colt with his right hand and exited the vehicle, he saw several Whites sprinting towards the largest vehicle, in the center six grays were mulling about. One of the Whites yelled something at the grays and all six charged Tucker, they stopped about ten feet away and heroically started banging their sticks on the ground.
“You have got to be kidding me” he yelled at them.
He raised his revolver, shot four before the other two dropped their light sticks and ran, he let them go. He checked the other two smaller vehicles, both were empty, each was clearly designed for a specific purpose but he didn’t have the inclination or time to figure that out right now.
He moved around to the entrance of the largest vehicle, he couldn’t figure it out, as technologically advanced as they clearly were, despite creating the before, it was like they had no idea how to fight a war. They were woefully unprepared for this. Well, good, he thought. He was not surprised when the door would not open, he figured they had a locking mechanism. He went over to some nearby dead trees and snapped off some fairly large branches, too large for him to normally break like they did. He theorized the trees had been damaged by whatever energy field the aliens used to clear the area. He piled the branches against the entry way. He looked around and seeing what he wanted he drug three large plastic-ish crates over to the side of the vehicle, stacking them in a pyramid, he stood on the top of them and was able to reach the rail of the catwalk that went all the way around the vehicle.
He moaned in agony as the cartilage in his injured left shoulder ground and popped, but in spite of that he was able to scramble onto the catwalk. Breathing heavily he walked to the end of the vehicle where the first floor entrance was. He took out three of his Molotov cocktails and smashed them on the door and on the firewood he had arranged so that if anyone opened the door they would fall in and onto them. . The fourth one he lit and dropped onto the fuel soaked door. Flames leapt high in the air, the dish detergent made the burning concoction stick but Tucker was already gone; he was using a severed hand to open the second floor entrance.
Stepping inside he found six young Whites huddled together, they started to whine and jabber at him, he was irritated at them, and he used his knife, his boots, and his fists to slaughter them. They hardly were able to fight back at all. The sound proofing must be remarkable because when he opened the door to the second floor lounge no one was even waiting for him. He pulled his revolver and slowly crept down the ramp. There were four Whites, one large male, two slightly smaller males, and a female who was only slightly smaller than the others, he was beginning to be able to tell the females by the wider hips and slightly narrower shoulders, and additionally he thought their head was narrower and slightly more elongated.
He took another Molotov out and lit it, the female must have thought one of the children had come down but when she saw him she emitted what must have been a scream. The large male moved in front of the others, he had a light stick in his hands, tucker threw the Molotov cocktail, it erupted into flame and the Whites screamed in agony, their legs covered in the burning fuel. One opened the door to escape only to find the path blocked by the fuel enhanced flaming branches Tucker had placed for them. Tucker started shooting.
Moments later Tucker was back upstairs, he figured he was running out of time and bullets, He had planned to desecrate the bodies like their opposition did in Viet Nam but he was going to have to put that off for now. As he climbed down from the outside entrance he could hear the engine start to whine just like the other one had, “time to go” he muttered and ran as far as he could to get away. Sure enough there was a great explosion that tore the tail of the thing to pieces. The same blast front, same towering column of flames. One of the other vehicles was flipped end over end several times to finally end up on its back. He could hear the telltale whine start to build up from another vehicle, the upside down one, but he wasn’t sure.
He looked around, only the smallest was undamaged. He ran to it and got in, using the hand he now kept in his bag along with the last Molotov cocktail. There really wasn’t much that he recognized but when walked to the far end a long black rod with what looked like a cue ball on the end emerged from the wall.
When he put his hand on the sphere several displays lit up around him, front left right and two smaller ones that must have been left and right rear displays. “Now what” he muttered But when he stared to play with it, the vehicle responded. He lifted, it rose into the air to a height of perhaps four or five feet. Forward, left. Right, it was easy. He drove it over the hill, the default crusher destroying alien plants and fancy growth acceleration devices alike. When he was done he left it running and opened the engine compartment. His last improvised bomb being used to start the chain reaction that led to the whining and the ball of flame. Finished with his gruesome work he vanished into the shadows once more.
Tucker considered staying and observing the aliens response but decided that he had something more urgent to do, he followed the flattened path back towards the initial landing site. Moving so carefully was slow but better safe than sorry. After an hour he finally found it, it was huge, like an enormous dish, the center was blasted black by the colonization ship, albeit Tucker considered it an invasion ship. Like spokes on a wheel the paths spayed out, he took out a compass and as accurately as possible he began to mark out the trajectories on a map.
Day 33, Continued, Command Area, Vehicle 1-3
This was a disaster, unprecedented, and horrific. As Director 1 for all 20 pods deployed from the colonization ship he was one of the six most powerful Da-Nah on the entire continent and he had lost an entire pod, and except for one single survivor, the entire family assigned to it. Then there was the housing and supply vehicle 6-3 and one of only two repair vehicles on the entire continent. The seventeen surviving sub-directors were arguing about protocols and authorized counter measures. The door opened behind him, he turned to see a heavily bandaged youth accompanied by two underlings, she had just barely survived the attack and then with 47 fractures and over a dozen major cuts, It was amazing she could walk but her desire for justice was great, a female who had not yet assumed adult responsibilities or was even close to the time of mating authorization. He cringed when he saw the body seal that she wore to assist the many broken bones in her chest, furthermore she had an optic cell over her right eye in attempt to save it, and then worst of all her right hand was missing.
Director 1, called
for silence and the others obediently complied. The Director helped the poor youth to sit in the chair next to him, a rare and great honor, but it was he who felt honored by her bravery.
“Statement-Familial-Respectful Query-Factual-Identification-Designation.”
“Statement-Factual, Tha-Na-Mir, Sibling 4/1-17/2-2”
Director 1 gently nodded, the second child of the director of pod 4(m) and a senior technician of pod 17, a fine pedigree he thought,
“Statement-factual Report-Tha-Na-Mir-Complete Transportation-Protocol-(1, 17)-Imminent.”
She nodded gratefully, the sadness expressed by her flashes and the scent of grief nearly overwhelmed the director, he had a child almost the same age as this one and his heart ached for her. She swallowed hard and then addressed the Da-Nah leadership;
“Permissive-Respectful-Statement-Factual-Composite
:{ Task-Biological-Survey, Status-Incomplete.
Indigenous-Species-Aggressive Contact-Unexpected-Physical
Status-Self :{ Injuries-Enumerated
Nonresponsive-Chronal-Delta-Approximation (17.25)};
Status-Vehicles :{ Destroyed-Quantity (3)
Engaged-Quantity (1)
Operator-Unauthorized-Specific (Indigenous-Life-Aggressive};
Status-Indigenous-Botanicals-Destroyed
Status-Botanical-Tech-Accelerators-Destroyed
Status-Vehicle-Chronal-Delta-Approximation (8.3)
Status-Vehicle-Destroyed-Quantity (4) Status-Pod-4-Familial-Unit-Surviving-Quantity (1)
};”
The youth was clearly drained after her ordeal, the grief was displayed in flashes of pink and gray in her skin and for Director 1 there was no evading her scent. The other Directors remained silent, their sympathy for the youth was genuine. After a few moments Director 1 asked,
“Emotive-Kindness Permissive-Query-Estimation-Quantity-Indigenous-Life-Aggressive”
“Emotive-Composite :{ Shame-Fear}; Statement-Factual-Precise-Quantity (1)”
The Directors flashed confusion and fear, Senior Director helped the youth to rise and he turned her over to the care of the underlings for her transport to her mother’s pod. One, she said one, just the idea of that made his head ache. His people did not engage in physical confrontation, their penultimate skills in the area of biogenetic remanufacturing and biological programming made such things unnecessary.
Why was this world different? One. ONE! There were eight underlings assigned to that pod, what happened to them? They had found the remains of them, well most of them, had they not defended the Da-Nah? Perhaps their light sticks were not effective against the monster? What were their optional protocols for an undefined event? He searched his memory for a solution to no avail. He turned back and listened to the Directors argue and babble a bit, then he noticed Director 20, she wasn’t flashing or speaking she just looked deep in thought so Director 1 silenced the others and breaking protocol called on his most junior Director for her thoughts. The young Director suddenly flashed a nervous swirl of multi greens but then spoke with conviction.
“Permissive-Statement-Theoretical-Composite :{ Events-Unprecedented
Protocols-Ineffective
Conclusion-Required: General-Protocols-Original};”
“Query-Statement-Protocols-Prototype Existence-Provable”
“Permissive-Respectful-Statement-Composite :{
Equipment-Standard-Designation-Alternative
Specific-Technology-Biological-Enhancement (underling)-Organism-Hazardous-Labor
Alternative-Designation-Biological-Enhancement (underling)-Organism-Defender};
Director 1 considered the idea, each Pod had a bio-organic device that in an emergency an underling would be permanently installed within, the enhanced underling would be lost as far as any future utility was concerned but they could be imprinted with a few basic tasks; retrieve, excavate, et cetera but this new protocol would entail totally new ideas for the enhanced underling, guard, protect, and destroy. Director 1 made his decision and he flashed confidence which got every ones attention.
“Command-Insistive-Broadcast (Director 1, All Directors) Protocol-Original-Implementation-Immediate
Biological-Enhancement (underling)-Organism-Defender
Task-Designations-Enumerated-Priority-List :{ guard, protect, destroy};”
Director 1 shut off the communications, the next time this monster attacked one of his pods it was in for a big, big surprise.
Within an hour the Directors had made the Biotech enhancement brought out from storage, they laid them out in their respective bio-vehicles. The suit/device/creature was the pale pink of silly putty and totally hairless. There was no indication of gender since there was none. The face was round and expressionless, the mouth was used only for inhalation, and the throat came equipped with numerous filters that would allow it to function in diverse and dangerous environs including total fluid immersion and near vacuum. There were two quick-connect valves on its left side just above the waist, one for liquid food input the other for waste removal, but once fed, the device could function for the equivalent of 9 Earth Days without food or water. The suit was huge by Da-Nah standards, in Human terms they were gigantic, 9 feet 5 inches tall. The weight including the sacrificial underling would be in excess of 850 ponds the hands were barely more than paws with only three digits, same as the toes on the feet. The digits were arranged so that they would be symmetrically placed around a sphere. Tremendous power was in that body, shoulders, arms, legs, everything was optimized for strength and durability, and the triplicate bones were made of a high strength titanium alloy. In human terms the new creature would be the equivalent of a super charged, fuel injected, Goliath on steroids.
An underling was chosen, stripped and forced into the gaping slit that ran from the forehead to the crotch and down both arms and both legs of the unit. The underling struggled as fiercely as possible but to no avail, when the unit became aware of the underling the slits began to close so seamlessly no one would realize they had ever been there. Once closed the unit would begin to interface with the underling, skin was washed away by something akin to stomach acid, nerves and arteries were connected to the unit and at long last the primitive units brain was integrated with that of the underling. Agony, untold, until the biological lobotomy was complete.
Day 33, continued, West Virginia Welcome Center
We had finished lunch and Karen and I were playing with Gina and Lucy while ‘silent Bob’ just sat between them and watched. I really wasn’t sure of the rules but I do know that three ‘Seneca Caverns’ brochures beat two ‘Pearl S. Buck’ birthplaces. Ah, the joys of living in a welcome center. Sometime around three there was a distant rumbling like thunder from the other side of a mountain, Karen asked
“Did you hear that? What was that?”
Before I could speak Lucy laid down a winning brochure for the Pocahontas County Opera House and without looking up said
“Oh, that’s just Mr. Tucker, he’s fighting the war, Gina! You can’t play the Great Sandy Shopping Center I already won’d!”
And silent Bob nodded and agreed with someone, just not sure who. You know, I never did figure out the rules to any of her games.
We went outside and could see a column of smoke coming from our former home or there about. We heard several more explosions, with the larger ones we could feel the Earth tremble, flashes of bright flames preceded each of them. I turned to Karen and said in my best pre-teen snarky voice
“Looks like Tucker’s having fun.”
But when we turned to go back in there was Amy, she looked pale and frail and there were tears on her cheeks, her arms folded across her chest; she turned and silently went inside. Karen hit me on the shoulder and said
“Good job Einstein.”
“What did I say?”
I asked but she just growled and followed Amy back inside.
Later I was back on over watch when I saw a small airship speed over head towards the burning lodge site. The
flames had died down to an orange glow, but it continued to make me wonder about what those vehicles had in them that made them burn like that. I hated to admit it but we were missing Tucker, well, I was and not just because we missed the extra guard and pair of eyes. He was always a larger than life presence, a living security blanket. Crap.
Day 34, Noon, State Road 72,
Tucker was driving South in a US Army Humvee he had requisitioned from Camp Dawson, the back was full of jugs of water and MREs and two cases of canned chili from the same place, but his new weapons were for the most part from a pawn shop outside Grafton and from a stand some WV Guardsmen and women had put up at least two weeks before. It must have been a Hell of a fight, there were nearly as many Beforeas there were soldiers. But no matter how heroic their effort, the weapons strewn about testified to the end result. He had trouble finding usable weapons, the weather had played Hell with them. He finally found 1000 rounds of belted 50 cal. and a ‘Ma Deuce’ to put them through. He found a large number of full magazines for his M-9s, but not much .308 or .223 but he was happy to find five M67 fragmentation grenades and two AN-M14 thermite grenades. Best of all, a single crate labeledShoulder-Launched-Multipurpose Assault Weapon (SMAW)that contained a launcher that looked like one of those old 3.5” bazookas (which were before his time) and two mean looking rockets labeled HEDP. There was even a funky looking backpack thingy for the rockets. He wondered if they still used LAW rockets, which he could use but this beast was going to take some time to figure out.