by Jay Morris
Day 40, Continued, West Virginia Welcome Center
My mom used to say that she was ‘trying to herd cats’ when she was feeling overwhelmed, that morning I finally understood what she meant. Amy was a wreck but not as bad as Tucker was. He refused to move, he just sat on the floor by Diane’s body, feeling sorry for himself. Amy was pacing back and forth wanting to hear what Lucy and Gina had to say but also wanting to go out to the truck to see how the Doc was doing with Darnell. When Amy sent the Doc out to him I quietly asked Karen to go with her and make sure we were not going to have to deal with a pissed off and armed Darnell.
The girls told us that when they were asleep it was just like they were awake, except they were part of the shared consciousness of the little aliens we now knew to be called the underling. The underling were a slave race to the Da-Nah. The underling feared the Da-Nah but why was still unclear, neither Lucy nor Gina understood it. They said that they lost their “conversation” as soon as they woke up. They also said that Silent Bob was in the dream too, he seemed to like it there and talked almost incessantly to the delight of the underling. Oh, one other thing, his name was Chase not Silent Bob.
Day 40, Continued, West Virginia Welcome Center
“Permissive-Statement-Factual-Transitive-Broadcast (I-this, we-us)
Composite :{
Dream-Conjunctive (we-us-underling, Indigenous-Life-Aggressive) ,
Communication-Directors-Indigenous-Life-Aggressive-Emotive
Composite :{
Affection,
Trust,
Sympathy};
Communication-Tautological-Bond-(Indigenous-Life-Aggressive-Directors, we-us)
Composite :{
Security,
Biological Necessities,
Affection,
Freedom,
Ta-Ang};
Permissive-Statement-Implication (Support-we-us -> Indigenous-Life-Aggressive)
= Conjunctive (Termination-Da-Nah, Tautological-Bond)
};”
The underling were excited, their dream, shared with the small directors of the Indigenous Life Aggressive (whom they now knew called themselves Keh-D’z) had come as a complete surprise. In all the remembered dreams of all the underling, this had never occurred before. Never.
Loo-C and G-Na seemed just as surprised as the underling to suddenly find themselves walking the cool dark forests of home with the underling. There was so much to share, so much to learn, the underling were not alone, and the Keh-D’z had made promises, far more generous than the underling had ever hoped for. The Keh-Dz had offered to share their world with the underling on a basis called an ‘E-ven Ste-ven’ that the underling took to mean that they would get territory equal to Ste-vens. That is of course, if the Da-Nah could be either defeated or if the Keh-Dz could strike them on their bottoms with a foot.
The underling were not sure about that one, but they trusted Loo-C and G-Nah, and they loved to be around them, their laughter was pleasing to the underling, to many it reminded them of the clear, blue waters that cascaded lovingly over the Singing Rocks on their home world. Of course their wonderful dream had been interrupted by the violence of their warrior class but the Directors of the Keh-Dz were able to assert control once more, but many of the underling had been nearly frightened to death by the loud projectile weapons of the Keh-Dz. But the underling had to be careful, the Da-Nah were still powerful and immensely dangerous. The underling had to wait to escape until the time was right, besides tonight in the dream-time, from far distant underling news had come, news to tell to Loo-C and G-Nah.
Day 40, Continued, West Virginia Welcome Center, 8:45 P.M.
Amy had been in and out to the truck all day, the Doc too but not as much. Karen and I were taking turns watching over Darnell, first to make sure he didn’t take a turn for the worse and second to make sure Amy or the Doc didn’t cut him loose or give him a gun or anything. We did cut the ties off that Tucker had used, those had been so tight the Doc was afraid he might lose his hands. Instead we found a length of chain and a padlock in the silver toolbox that ran the width of the trucks bed. His waist was now firmly attached to the tool box, which was attached to the truck.
Of course, while the Doc said he was stable, Darnell had not regained consciousness since Tucker had put him out in the wee hours of the morning with what I found out was not a vehicle escape tool at all but was actually a set of “brass knuckles”. Whatever they were they sure did a number on Darnell, his was missing more teeth than a hockey player and while the Doc had tried to set his broken nose, it now laid prominently to the right side of his face. If I knew the name of a heavyweight boxing champ I would have said that it looked like he had lost to him.
Then there was Tucker. He had sat all day staring at poor Diane, her blood was on his hands, arms, chest and face. He didn’t speak and Amy wouldn’t talk to him. The Doc and I tried too, but the only person that got through a little was Karen who got him to drink a little water. My head was hurting, we had lost Diane and Carl in less than 24 hours, not to mention those idiot soldiers. I surprised myself when I realized I didn’t give a damn about them, I wasn’t even sad or sorry. They were just nothing to me. I asked myself if I had lost it, did I still care about anyone? Lucy, Gina, Amy and Karen, yep, I breathed a sigh of relief as I realized I wasn’t a psychotic yet.
As I thought about my list I felt suddenly alone, very alone. I needed Tucker, I needed him. I really did and he was no use to me like this. Damn it. That was when Karen ran in from the truck with the news that Darnell was waking up, the Doc and Amy followed Karen back out the door. I was supposed to watch the girls who were having fun dressing two underling in various outfits, the other underling seemed hypnotized by the whole thing. I grabbed a sheet off a shelf and propping the storage room door open I covered Diane with it. I moved to the far side of Tucker so I could keep one eye on the girls, one eye on the door and one eye on Tucker. Wait. Oh you know what I mean. I squatted down by him and said
“Tucker. She’s dead.” No response.
“You can’t help her.” Nothing.
“Listen, you need to get your shit together you son of a bitch, you can’t just check out or go on vacation, whatever the Hell it is you are doing.” Zilch.
Then I had an idea, “Tucker listen, Darnell is awake, what if he comes in here to get revenge? Huh? Think about that.” Nada.
“Crap” I said as I stood up to lean against the ruined counter.
Then there was a voice, a small commanding voice. Lucy’s voice,
“Great-Great-Grandpa Tucker? We need you!”
The word ‘need’ was long, drawn out and slightly rising in pitch until it ended on a C#. (What can I say? I was in band.) Tucker sighed deeply then rolled to one side and slowly got to his feet, groaning as he did so. He brushed himself off and laying his rifle on the counter he started to walk towards the store room.
“What do you need Miss Lucy?” he asked patiently.
I had something to say too,
“You have got to be kidding me!”
Then a little louder
“YOU have GOT to be freaking kidding me!”
That’s when Gina said
“Ick, you are all Dirty Grandpa! You should get cleaned up!” backed up by Lucy’s “Icky poo Grampa!”
“Alright, alright, I’ll get cleaned up in a minute now what do you need?”
He said using both hands on the door jamb to hold himself up.
“The underling drawed a new picture and we are out of Tang.”
I swear to God at that very moment I was sighting the middle of Tuckers back just about to put three .308 rounds through him, but knowing who was on the other side helped me lower my rifle. Sometimes I really hated that guy.
Day 41, Command Area, Vehicle 1-3, 1:15 AM.
Supreme Director 1 was looking over data that showed a continued decrease in the attrition rate of the Da-Nah, in fact if not for a rather devastating pitched battle in the large island-continent on t
he opposite side of the planet, the losses would have slowed to a trickle. The battle began as three vehicles from colony ship 83-Pod 5 were in transit to their assigned pod gathering location. They were passing near the remains of a large city that the De-Nah had 87% leveled. They had saved a large, open area structure that was situated on the harbor. It looked like nested shells and it appealed to the Da-Nah. Other than that the city had been powdered.
A group of Aggressives, estimated at over a hundred, lay in ambush and as the family vehicle crested a rise, explosives buried in the powdered remains of Sydney, flipped the great vehicle onto its side. The Aggressives swarmed the vehicle and others used ropes tipped with bent metal hooks to scamper quickly atop the other two. Smaller explosions forced open the walkway hatch of the family unit. There was no option, the other two vehicles set down and the Defender and technicians came forth to the family’s defense. The Defender initially made the battle one sided and it slew a third of them in short order. Then two Aggressives ran forth wearing satchels strapped to their chests, they wrapped their arms around the Defenders legs. The twin explosions rocked everyone in the area and blew the legs from beneath the Defender. The biotech’s systems were ruined and it ceased moving although it truly did not die for several chronal units.
In the open the technicians held their own against the Aggressives. While inside the family unit losses were severe, but not complete, thanks to an adolescent who sacrificed herself by destroying the main power distribution panel and sealing all internal door panels. Both sides would probably have exterminated each other but a patrol of three type four vehicles answered the convoys call for help. Every Aggressive fought to the death even when an underling was sent among then with a steel ring of servitude, offering the honor of slavery to the Da-Nah. The Aggressives tore the dumb beast to pieces as if the universal offering meant nothing to them.
The director flashed swirls of gray showing his exhaustion, then pressed the communication screen.
“Insistive-Statement Broadcast (Supreme Director 1, Directors-All)
Conjunctive (Steel Ring, Indigenous-Life-Aggressive) Quantity-Exact (0).”
He terminated communication then rubbed the skin between his eyes. In all his life he never truly hated anything or anyone. It was a rare emotive among the Da-Nah but these Aggressives they were demanding to be hated. Demanding immediate extinction in lieu of a slow natural one over the next 100 solar rotations or so. They were truly bestial, obscenely violent, and one could not negotiate with them. There was no reasoning, no kindness or mercy to be found in them. They had no redeeming value. Yes, he now hated them and he would not stop until every single example of their cursed species was dead.
Day 41, Continued, West Virginia Welcome Center, 1:45 A.M.
It had taken Tucker a long time to understand everything that the Kids were telling him and the meaning of the new image. Sitting in that room with the underling and those kids was like sitting in a room full of kittens while wearing tuna fish pants. Psychic connection and shared dreams between children and aliens, sure, why not. He looked over his shoulder at the pile of sleepers and shook his head. The Doc was sleeping fully dressed on top of a sleeping bag, he didn’t know her but Amy and the kids trusted her that was all he was going to get for now. He studied her, she was perhaps 35, attractive, First American, a doctor, and Navy. Four for five, could be worse.
Tucker walked over to me
“Johnny, you should have gotten the bodies out of here and not just cover them up.”
“I would have but I could only carry one at a time.” I answered him sarcastically.
“Funny, come on” he said.
We carried the bodies outside and lay the soldiers side by side and we put Diane West a short distance away. Tucker knelt by her and put his hand on her shroud and lowered his head. I couldn’t believe it, he was praying, I had assumed he would only do that wearing black robes and a goat skull on his head. Live and learn.
Day 41, Continued, West Virginia Welcome Center, 1:51 A.M.
”Amy?” Darnell called for her, his words mumbled, garbled like his mouth was full of glue. His missing teeth, severely lacerated lips, broken nose and fresh stitches on the side of his head made him barely recognizable.
“I’m here” she whispered and she held his hand.
“Wha, what happened?”
He tightly closed his eyes as if he were trying to focus on something, remember something from long ago and far away.
“Darnell, you were going to take our vehicles, our supplies.”
She was not being accusatory, only helping him recall, and setting the premise for what they had done. Darnell swallowed hard but his mouth remained as dry as a spoon full of sand. She held a cup of water to him and he drank, the water cool on his parched lips but once down it refused to stay there.
“Mary gave you an injection for the pain and something to keep you asleep. She said this might happen.”
“Where is she?” he asked.
Karen was about ten feet away sitting with her rifle in her lap, answered him
“She’s asleep inside.”
“Where is the Major?” Darnell asked, he was still so out of it he had not realized he was chained to the bed of the truck. Amy sighed,
“The Major is dead, Airman Vanu too.”
Darnell’s face was twisted in grief, “How?” he choked out. Amy looked down. That was enough for Darnell, he spat the word as if it were bile rising,
“Tucker.”
“They killed Diane West”
Karen said softly as if she could somehow balance lives like weights on a scale. Darnell was on the verge of tears,
“Why?” he asked.
It was so quiet it was almost the image of a question. Amy squeezed his hand,
“I told you, remember? The Major wanted our vehicles, our food and water. Our weapons.”
Darnell shook his head in disbelief,
“Amy, we needed them, to fight the invasion.”
“We need them too.”
She said tears forming in her eyes, giving depth to the crystal blue.
“We were, I, was going to take you with me” he said in despair.
“I know, but I can’t leave the kids, I just can’t.”
Her own motivations were turning her words into a plea for understanding.
That was when he moved, attempted to sit up and he discovered the chains.
“What? Amy, what is this?”
She closed her eyes and said
“Tucker insisted.”
Darnells’ face twisted, now painted with the growing rage within him.
“Chains? Amy, chains? He’s doing this because I’m black and he doesn’t want me with a white woman.”
Karen, still listening, defended Tucker,
“Did you forget how you had him chained up on the roof of the lodge?”
Darnell stared at the 13 year old,
“After he strangled my little sister! What is she doing here, anyway?” he demanded.
“She’s, um, on guard duty” Amy answered.
That wasn’t enough for Karen,
“I’m making sure Amy doesn’t let you go.”
Her own temper making it impossible to keep her mouth shut.
Darnell looked at her,
“I should have known, you are on his side. How long as he been doing you, little girl? Does he make you call him daddy?”
Karen hopped off the stump and in one fluid motion pulled the charging handle and pointed the M-4 at Darnells’ head.
“A little too close to home? What are you going to do? Shoot me?” Darnell taunted.
Karen’s’ gaze did not falter and she spoke slowly, saying each word carefully so that there would be no misunderstanding,
“First, Tucker has never said or done anything inappropriate to any of us and that includes knocking your teeth out. Second, yeah Tucker shot Vanu when he fired at us first but you know what? I killed the Major, I just wish I had done it sooner, maybe
Diane would still be alive.”
Amy slowly stood up and held her hands up in mock surrender,
“Karen, please. Don’t” she pleaded.
Karen sneered at Darnell and slowly lowered the tip of her rifle.
“Fine” then added “I need some fresh air, there must be a sewer around here.”
She shouldered her rifle and said to Amy,
“I’ll send Johnny out, I’ve heard enough from this jerk.”
As Karen walked away Darnell reached for Amy’s’ hand and pulled her close,
“Amy listen, Tucker has those kids brain washed, he’s unstable!”
Amy shook her head
“I don’t know Dar.”
He cut her off “I do! Look at me! He’s a racist and he’s probably going to lynch me!”
Amy was dumb founded
“Lynch you? No...”
“Amy, you got to listen to me, we don’t have much time. Let me go, and we will leave this place, together. Just you and me. Okay baby? Okay?”
Amy was trying to figure another way out, some way to keep the two men apart. There wasn’t any.
“Okay” she said, “but I got to get the key, it’s in the desk in the office.”
Darnell smiled and in spite of the pain he was in, he kissed her. She and I passed each other, me on the way to the truck, her to get the key.
When I got there Darnell was sitting up, drinking from a bottled water. I sat on the same stump that Karen had.
“How ya doin there Big J?” he asked me.
I stared at him for almost a full minute then said
“If you ever talk to my wife like that again? I’ll shoot you. Are we clear?”
I had shocked him. Darnell and I had been allies more or less, friends even, back at the lodge, before he ran away.
“I said, are we clear?”
“Married” he murmured then half way laughed “No problem little man, no problem.”
“Good.” I said then settled in for a two hour shift.