“Uh…” started Young Veli. “But how?”
“Use your head, boy. You know very well that we studied the depths of time-travel and such.”
“When those weird creatures brought me to their ship,” Young Veli said, nodding slowly.
“Oh, no,” said Hook while looking up at the sky. “Not that story again.”
“Such a load of Brontosaurus crap,” agreed Heeps.
“Was not,” both Veli and Young Veli cried in unison.
Crebbo backed away again. “Whoa. You really are him.”
“Well done, Crebbo,” Veli said, rolling his eyes.
“You know my name?”
“As you literally just pointed out, you dimwit, I’m him.”
“Oh, yeah. Right.”
Young Veli began inspecting Veli. He walked around, looking at him from all angles. Under normal circumstances, this would have been disturbing, but since it was his younger self, Veli allowed the study without complaint. He was fighting to keep from growling, though.
“Why are you here?”
“I brought a ship,” Veli answered. “I want you all to come with me, to help me build a new empire.”
Heeps tilted her head to the side. “Uh... you want us to get in your ship?”
“Sounds dicey,” said Hook. “It’s not a white ship with plush carpeting, no windows, and doors that lock from the outside, is it?”
At this point, Crebbo scampered back to the edge, yelling, “Stranger danger!”
“What are you talking about?” Veli said, shushing Crebbo before he called the attention of the town elders.
“Shut up, Crebbo,” Young Veli agreed. “You’re being an idiot.”
“Hey, wait,” Hook said as he pointed at Veli, “you’re not one of those weird guys who just wants to touch us in funny places, are you?”
“What?” Veli said with a twinge of disgust.
Heeps looked at Hook. “You mean like a priestasaur?”
“Exactly.”
“Oh, come on, guys,” hissed Young Veli, “quit being stupid. He’s obviously me.”
“Well, maybe we don’t know you as well as we thought we did, Veli,” Heeps pointed out.
“What are you talking about?” Young Veli said, grimacing at her. “You were my first kiss!”
“See?” said Heeps.
“I thought I was your first kiss,” Crebbo said, sounding glum.
“What?” Young Veli said, looking up in horror. “We weren’t supposed to talk about that.”
Crebbo choked as his eyes grew huge. “I was talking about Heeps, you idiot!”
“Oh, right... Uhhh…”
“I’m not getting into any stupid ship,” Hook stated flatly.
“Me neither,” agreed Crebbo.
“I agree,” Heeps said. “And just so you know, Veli, you weren’t that great of a kisser. Your breath smells like vegetables.”
Young Veli frowned. “I can’t help that my parents are vegans.”
They looked to be getting back into a pick-on-Young-Veli quest, so Veli stood up and pushed his feathers out warningly, baring his teeth in the process. He hated using these types of tactics unless it was followed by a kill, but dinosaurs had a tendency of responding in ways that the soft humans in his future would faint seeing.
“Enough of this!” He turned to Young Veli. “Note that I eat meat now. Good stuff, meat. Yum.” Then he scanned the rest of their worried faces. “I’m offering you all the opportunity of a lifetime here.” Knowing their future, he added, “In fact, if you don’t get in the ship, you’ll all be dead before you reach the age of maturity.”
“Threatening us now?” Hook ventured while backing away.
“Sounds like it,” said Heeps.
“Back off, mister,” Crebbo warned, “or I’ll scream.”
“Bad enough you were talking about touching us inappropriately,” Hook added when he bumped into a tree and jumped.
Veli lifted his arms. “I never said that!”
“The old you is sick, Veli,” Heeps said.
“No, he’s not…” Young Veli defended. “Erm, I mean I’m not. Listen to what he’s… I’m saying. We can go up in a ship.” Young Veli spun back to Veli. “I’m assuming you mean to the stars and all of that, right?”
“Of course. There are planets and moons and a vast array of wonders for you to see in space.”
“I think I’ll take my chances on Dirt,” announced Crebbo.
“Earth,” Veli said tiredly.
“What’s the difference?” asked Hook.
“Dirt just sounds lame.”
“Exactly,” agreed Young Veli.
“You’re lame,” Heeps said without much conviction.
“Shut up, Heeps.”
“Listen to me carefully, young ones,” Veli said, recognizing the others were about to make a break for it. “If you’re not interested in joining me on the ship, fine. But if you breathe a word of my ship to anyone, I swear I’ll blow up your town.”
“I like the way you think,” said Young Veli.
“Of course you do, bonehead,” Crebbo spat.
“And he says we’re the idiots,” Heeps agreed.
“Yeah,” said Hook, “let’s get out of here before these two start telling us how smart they are.”
“Bye, smelly,” Heeps yelled as she darted out of the area, tearing her way back towards town.
Again, Veli and his younger self chorused, “Don’t call me that!”
The sound of laughter could be heard in the distance as the two Velis stood downcast in the clearing. Even though many years had passed since his youth, Veli still felt the sting of being called names. Worse, he knew how his younger self felt. It only served to make it more painful.
“We never did have any solid friends, did we?” he said, putting a hand on Young Veli’s shoulder.
“They’re just jealous.”
“Yes, that’s exactly right.”
Young Veli kicked a rock across the dirt and looked up at Veli.
“So where’s this ship?”
“Follow me,” Veli said with the first excited smile he’d had in days.
COMING TOGETHER (NOT LIKE THAT)
Now that someone else was actually pulling the strings behind the scenes, Lord Overseer Pillbox was feeling less apprehensive in her new role. Plus, she had to admit the power she now wielded was intoxicating.
The senators were all filling their seats. Each gave her a nod as they walked past. They were respectful nods, too. Nods that contained an equal measure of desire and fear.
Oh, yes, she could get used to this.
Pillbox had never seen the chambers from the Lord Overseer’s position. Nobody had, except Veli, of course, which explained the stink emanating from the oddly shaped chair she sat upon. She would need to have seating more fitting to her person installed and also get the area fumigated.
While she had come in through the main doors of the stateroom, she noted there was a door behind her. This made sense seeing that nobody had ever seen Veli before. Well, at least no one who was still living. He kept the position shrouded in darkness, something she refused to do, and slip in and out without ever being spotted. Pillbox now understood the reason for his secrecy, and many other senators she knew kept themselves from public view as well for security reasons. She assumed they, too, had secret entrances to their respective chairs, though she doubted they were dinosaurs.
From her perch she was able to look down on everyone else. Even high-ranking senators whom she used to gaze up at were now at her feet, relatively speaking.
Just as she was about to call the chambers to order, she noticed a little green button on the armrest of the chair.
She pressed it.
A series of displays lit up in front of her, just under the lip of the wall that blocked her torso from showing. They were flipping back and forth between the various senators who were all engaged in discourse. As each person came into focus, their names were displayed along with
a number of buttons that contained actions such as “Put on kill list,” “Summon to my office,” “Summon to my office after putting on kill list,” and so on. Also, she found that she was able to clearly see all senate members who were shrouded in darkness.
Her heart raced at this, but she couldn’t let it rattle her. Again, she was allowing herself to be seen, so she had to wear a mask of calm.
Besides, it was time to step up and get things rolling.
“The meeting will come to order,” she said in a powerful voice and at a volume that even surprised her.
The current chair’s acoustics clearly allowed for amazing projection, unless it was simply a microphone somewhere that she couldn’t see.
“As you all know,” she said, fighting to keep the shakiness she felt from showing in her voice, “we are rounding up Veli’s supporters and exacting justice upon them.” She pointed to a mass of citizens who were seated in a well, of sorts. “This group of people represent quite a number of their flock.”
“Excuse me, ma’am,” one of the men said, standing and raising his hand, “but I’m not a Veli supporter.”
“Silence,” she commanded, and then blinked at him. “Wait, what?”
The fellow took off his hat and held it with both hands in a respectful manner. “I’m a long-standing supporter of the HadItWithTheKillings group, ma’am. In fact, if you look at my membership card, it shows that I was the third person to join.”
“Bring me that card,” she commanded a guard, who took the card and stuck it into a tube that zipped it up to her position. She studied it for a moment. “This doesn’t look like one of our cards.”
“No, ma’am. I signed up online and never rose to a position of power. If you look at the bottom of the card you’ll see it marks me as a standard member.”
“Oh, right.” She placed the card back into the tube and then cleared her throat. “Obviously we made a mistake with you, sir. I’m sure we’ll make it up to you somehow.”
“I’m also a HadItWithTheKillings group member, ma’am,” an older lady said while waving. “But I have to say that this is exciting. I’ve never been in the senate house before. Well, there was that one time when I was younger. Senator Okap brought me to his private office for a little afternoon delight.” She giggled. “But we never came into this room.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes, ma’am,” the lady replied. “He said it was one thing for us to do the naughty in his office, but quite another to—”
“No, I mean you’re seriously not a Veli supporter?”
“Oh, no, ma’am. I find his ethics severely lacking.”
Pillbox took a deep breath, feeling as though Mr. Corlair had set her up. She would be having a word with him about this. It was one thing to keep her as a figurehead, but quite another to embarrass her in front of the senate.
“How many of you are Veli followers?” she asked. Every hand in the group stayed down. “And how many of you are supporters of the HadItWithTheKillings group?” Every hand went up. “I see. And how many of you can prove it?” All hands stayed up, but one. “You there. Why can’t you prove it?”
The fellow stood up with a look of apprehension. “I’d rather not say, ma’am.”
“You’d prefer to be executed for being a Veli supporter?”
“No, it’s just…” he said, swallowing hard. The sweat on his balding head was glistening. “Well, my apologies, then, but if you insist, I was in the facilities at my house, reading the paper, when some folks burst in and dragged me out.”
“That’s a disturbing image.”
“You’re telling me,” he agreed with a serious nod. “Been having a bit of trouble with constipation as of late, though, so when the door buckled and a bunch of guns were leveled at me, it helped release some... uh... tension.”
There was a collective “ew” in the chambers.
“Anyway, ma’am, they let me finish my business, but then they grabbed me by my arms and led me out of the house before I could grab any identification.”
“I see,” she said with a look of disgust. “All too clearly, actually.”
“Apologies, ma’am.”
“I’m assuming if we took you back to your home you would be able to prove your status?”
“Absolutely, ma’am. It’s sitting right in my wallet.”
Pillbox wanted to pinch the bridge of her nose and shake her head. Obviously she would have to find someone to blame for this.
“Guards, take them out of here, give them a nice dinner and comfortable travel back to their homes. Also, take down their names so we can put a note in each person’s file to help them during tax season.”
Senators chattered as the citizens were escorted out of the room.
Pillbox scanned the screens in search of a patsy, and that’s when she landed on Senator Iwen. He was a pompous turd who had spent the majority of his tenure finding ways to manipulate the system and make his peers look bad. This was the way of things in the Overseer government, sure, but Iwen was particularly douchey about it.
“How in the world did that just happen, Senator Iwen?”
Iwen turned instantly pale. “Sorry, madam?”
“The task was relatively simple, was it not?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, madam.”
“It’s Lord Overseer, Senator Iwen, and I shan’t have you making a mockery of this house. Now, you will think about what you’ve done and find ways to make recompense or you will be removed from your chair. Are we clear?”
“Uh…” He blinked at her a few times and glanced around at the other senators. They were all grinning evilly at him. “Of course, madam. My humblest apologies.”
Oh, yes, Pillbox could really get used to this. It was amazing how quickly people bowed to you when you were suddenly in a position of power. They’d talk about her behind her back, of course, as she had about Veli when he was in charge, but they’d quake with fear if she laid her gaze upon them.
“I shall have to find someone more fitting for the job, I suppose,” she said before the chatter could resume. “Right, well, now that we’ve wasted our first few minutes, what say we discuss the items on the table for today?”
As everyone readied their daily issues, Pillbox gave another look at Iwen.
She’d never seen him so pale and fragile before.
A flame of sinister glee tickled her subconscious as a thin smile formed on her lips.
“Intoxicating,” she whispered.
HOVERING
The image on the main screen of the Reluctant was one he’d seen before, but of course the last time he saw it they were millions of years in the future and a slew of Earth’s ships were firing a barrage of weapons at him.
“And you’re sure he’s down there right now?” Harr asked, unable to take his eyes off the beauty of the planet rotating before him.
“Yes, sir,” said Ridly. “We picked up the same signature from his ship that we had when he left Fantasy Planet.”
“Geezer, do you have that Lotus I. Commode thing running?”
“It’s Louis A. Nagode, Big Cat,” Geezer replied, “and I have the entire ship on high-alert right now. We’re good.”
“So you’re telling me that Veli’s ship can’t see us, track us, sense us, hear us, and so on?”
“Why do you always doubt my mad skills, Top Dog?”
“Sorry. It’s a human fault.”
“Oh, how I know it.”
“Right. Okay, we’ll need to build an away team. It’ll be me, Grog, Vlak…”
“Whoa, pal,” said Grog, turning around in his chair. “We can’t go down there.”
“Nope,” agreed Vlak, though he kept his eyes on his work.
“Why not?”
“Because they’ll smell us the moment we land,” Vlak said.
Grog nodded and pointed at Vlak. “Or at least some type of predator will.”
“Yeah, that.”
“Hmmmm.” Harr rolled his eyes. T
he fact was that every time he’d ever started to select an away team, it was challenged or ridiculed. Sometimes he wondered why he even bothered. “Fine, you two can stay here.”
“You can’t go either, dude,” Grog said as if Harr were stupid.
“Nope.” Vlak was shaking his head.
Enough was enough. Who was in charge of this ship, anyway? He didn’t actually want that question answered, but once you asked yourself a question, good or bad, your subconscious felt it was its duty to reply.
Excellent question, Harr’s mind answered. The first answer would be Geezer, of course. He has developed the technology that allows us to zip through the universe, after all. While he allows us to give the orders around here, without him we’d have died long ago by flying off the rails and smashing into a Kortnor space station.
Then again, we could just as easily point at Lieutenant Ridly. Her deftness with software engineering has saved this ship countless times. Even now she’s working on protecting us in the event that Veli tries to hack in and take over our systems.
It could also be argued that Lieutenant Moon is a good candidate for running the show. He keeps quiet most of the time, but without him at the helm, we wouldn’t be able to navigate even the simplest of courses. When he speaks, everyone listens. That could be due to the fact that he lisps a lot, so it’s hard to understand him. Then again, maybe it has to do with how his beautiful blue hair floats lightly in the wind and how his breasts bounce…
Harr shook himself.
Right! Staying on topic. His subconscious cleared its throat, so to speak. Now, Ensign Jezden is bound to be the least likely candidate. Harr relaxed a little at that. But we’d be derelict in our duty if we didn’t admit that he’s been the key to our getting out of quite a few jams. That required him to jam his junk into quite a few persons or inanimate objects, so maybe we should say his dong—to use his term—has been the real hero, but I don’t think we want to imagine Jezden’s dong is in charge of everything. Thus, we’ll banish that thought. Still, we must admit we’d be history many times over were it not for his horndog ways.
Platoon F: Quadology: Missions 6, 7, 8, and 9 (Platoon F eBook Bundle 2) Page 61