Next up is Commander Sandoo. He was designed to be the leader of all the androids. When we up and vanish at some point, who will take our spot? Sandoo, that’s who. You know it, I know it, the intergalactic space council knows it. Harr blinked and frowned at this, wondering where the hell that thought had come from. Sorry, got carried away. Anyway, Sandoo can’t be discounted as it relates to your original question.
Grog and Vlak? His subconscious merely laughed at the notion. Let’s just go with “No!” on that and move to the one person aboard who could literally take over in the blink of an eye.
Frexle. He’s an Overseer… ‘nuf said?
So, there, that’s the breakdown and the conclusion.
“Why do I ask myself these questions?” Harr whispered.
Oh, well, that all stems from the fact that you—
“Right,” Harr said, forcing himself to stay focused on the moment.
He was exhausted, and that meant he needed to work twice as hard to stay on topic.
He pointed at Grog and Vlak, saying, “You two, listen up and listen good. I brought you on the ship in order to avoid having to destroy your planet, and also so you could live out your days in something more befitting of your intellectual capabilities.”
“Yeah, thanks for that,” Grog said.
“Been quite the brain-bender so far, no doubt,” snickered Vlak.
“And all I’ve asked in return is that you do your jobs and show a little respect.”
“We have shown a little respect,” argued Grog.
“We certainly have,” Vlak stated. “Very little.”
Harr chose to ignore that. “But no matter how much I try with you two, you’re just as incorrigible as Jezden.”
“Hey,” said Jezden, turning himself around, “why am I being brought into this?”
“I agree with Jezden,” said Grog. “That’s being a tad bit unfair.”
“You do?” said Jezden.
“Of course I do,” Grog replied to the ensign. “Harr comparing us to you is downright cruel… to us.”
“Hey!”
“Sorry, Jezden,” Vlak said gently, “but you’re a total knob.”
“A complete doo smudge on the shoe of life,” agreed Grog.
“Screw you guys!”
“Told you we’re not that type,” Grog said seriously.
“Not that there’s anything wrong with that,” Vlak stated swiftly.
“Enough of this,” Commander Sandoo said while stepping forward. “Didn’t we just have a discussion about protocol in engineering, Grog and Vlak?”
“Well, yeah, but…”
“But nothing, Grog,” Vlak said, pushing away from his console. “He’s right. We promised to put forth an effort. Sorry, Captain.”
“Yeah, yeah. Okay. Sorry, Captain.”
“Uh, hello?” Jezden said with his hands up. “You just insulted me and you’re apologizing to him?”
“We don’t report to you,” Grog said.
“Exactly, Grog.” Vlak tapped a couple of times on his keyboard, spun around and looked at Harr. “All wisecracks aside, you can’t go down there, dude… er, Captain.”
“Yeah, can’t let it happen,” Grog said.
“Fortunately, I do not take orders from you, Mr. Vlak. Nor you, Mr. Grog.”
Grog looked over at Vlak who looked back. They were both frowning.
“Why is he calling us ‘mister’?”
“It’s weird, Grog. And with our first names, too.”
“Well, it’s not like we have last names.”
“Makes it even stranger.”
“Commander Sandoo,” Harr said, deciding to just ignore the cavemen, “you’ll be joining me on this mission, along with Jezden and Ridly.”
“I don’t think he’s seeing the bigger picture, Grog.”
“Nope.”
“One more word and I’ll have you thrown in the brig,” Harr said more hotly than he’d intended.
“There’s a brig?”
“A proper one?” Vlak appeared almost hopeful. “I thought there was only a closet that was made for—”
“Don’t say it,” warned Sandoo, “or I’ll have to fine you.”
The “it” they weren’t supposed to say was “Boom Boom Closet,” which was a closet that was set aside for after-hours adult activities. Harr needed to avoid thinking about that at the moment, especially when it came to the female form that Hank inhabited.
“I’m going,” said Harr with resolve, “and that’s final.”
“Fine, go,” Grog said, crossing his arms and giving Harr a be-dumb-if-you-want look, “but before you do, who should take over your duties as captain of this ship?”
Was that a threat?
“What?”
“You smell, dude! The dinos will pick you up just as quick as they pick us up.”
“I smell?” Harr went to check his pits, but stopped himself. “Oh, right, I see what you mean.”
“You go down there and you’ll die,” Vlak said.
“Well, that’s different, then,” Harr said more quietly, feeling somewhat deflated.
Grog sniffed derisively and grunted at Vlak. “Try to watch the man’s back and what do we get for it?”
“Being unappreciated is our lot in life, Grog. You know this.”
“True, Vlak. Doesn’t seem to matter what we do either. Hell, we could cure plagues, cease a famine, or make crops grow and would anyone appreciate us?”
“For a time, Grog, but it’d soon be forgotten.”
“Why do we even bother?”
“All right, all right. I’m sorry.” Harr slammed back into his chair. If it hadn’t been bad enough that he had to deal with the likes of Jezden and those infernal Overseers, what the hell made him go and bring on a couple of cavemen who were now getting smarter by the day due to that damn Feeder that Geezer created?
Well, it all comes down to…
“Nope,” he said, shaking his head. Then he forced himself to look back at the cavemen. “Under a lot of pressure here, you know?”
“Try being one of us for a day. Eh, Vlak?”
“Yeah.”
“No, thank you.” The bridge went back to its natural hum for a few moments. “Okay, then, how do we get around this?”
You asking me?
“No.”
Everyone looked at him.
“Sorry,” he said. “Just had a question and answered it myself.”
They all blinked.
“Sir,” Sandoo said, breaking the ice, “I would suggest we send down a contingent of androids. We can shut off our scent glands.”
“You have scent glands?”
“Of course, sir.”
“You can’t wear clothes,” Grog instructed.
“And you’ll have to shower,” said Vlak.
“No issue there.” Sandoo pointed at the helm and the porn station. “Moon and Jezden, you’re with me.”
“No way, dude,” said Jezden. “I’m not walking around with you while your dong’s hanging out.”
“What’s the ithue, Jezden?” Moon said wryly, “afraid he may have more than you?”
“That’s a laugh.”
“Excuse me, Captain Harr,” came the voice of Liverbing.
Harr had nearly forgotten the little fellow was there. He was easy to overlook, after all. He groaned, knowing Liverbing had just witnessed the entire dialogue the Reluctant’s crew had just had.
“Yes, Liverbing?”
“It seems to me that it would make the most sense to send my ship down there for a look.”
“Guy’s got a point there,” said Grog.
“Thank you,” Liverbing said sarcastically.
“It’s a risk, Liverbing, but it would be nice to have a recon mission on this before risking an away team.”
“Consider it done, Captain Harr. We’ll keep our communications channels open.”
SHOWING THE SHIP
Veli knew the younger version of himself was going to be impr
essed with the vessel. And why not? It was a fabulous piece of machinery. Young Veli would have no choice but to see that it had been fashioned by his own two hands.
“Dummy,” Veli commanded, “unstealth yourself.”
A moment later, the ship shimmered into view. Veli waited for it to fully appear before turning to his counterpart. He was rather excited by his younger self’s reaction.
“Whoa,” Young Veli said, taking in the sight. “It’s got panels and legs and everything.” He ran to the back. “Look at these glow orbs!”
“They’re called engines,” Veli corrected.
“Well, they’re amazing.”
The little dinosaur padded back to the front, scanning every inch of Veli’s creation.
No doubt the ship could have done with some polishing here and there, but if he knew Young Veli at all, and he imagined he knew him quite well, a shiny ship would have been less impressive than a well-traveled one.
“Not bad, yes?”
“It’s incredible. Reminds me a little bit of the ship that took me up a few months ago.”
“This one is better, I assure you.”
“It is?”
“Of course,” Veli assured him. “Remember, I created it.”
“Which means I did,” Young Veli said as he puffed out his chest.
“In a manner of speaking, I suppose.” Veli ran a claw along the side of the ship. “But you’ve got a lot to learn before creating the likes of this, I’m afraid.”
They both stood there, admiring the craft for a few more moments. It wasn’t Veli’s most advanced creation, but his younger self would see all the other items in due time. Developing a new world that dwarfed the Overseers would blow Young Veli’s mind, in fact.
“When did I…” Young Veli started, but stopped himself. “I mean, when did you leave the planet?”
“Two years from your current age.”
“I built this only two years from now?”
“No. The one you would have built is not nearly this advanced, but it was still a nice piece of engineering.”
“What do you mean would have built?”
“No need for you to build it now, obviously,” Veli said as he grinned. “You’ll be coming with me, yes?”
“Oh.” Young Veli backed away, looking at the ground. “Well, I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” Veli felt his temperature shoot up. “How do you not know?”
“I still have a lot to do here, is all,” Young Veli said halfheartedly.
“Like what? Get teased and ridiculed? Made fun of? Beat up? Sit around in boring classes while dreaming of being in space and running a massive system where you are the lord of all?”
“You mean you actually created Overseer Land?”
“Obviously, I did,” Veli answered. “Dummy, lower the ramp.”
The seal broke and the ramp came down, creaking the entire way.
“Amazing,” Young Veli said in awe. “Sounds like it could use a little WD-27, though?”
“Wet Dinosaur 27 is no good, actually,” Veli stated. “I did a bunch of iterations of that stuff until it was finally decent.”
“You mean you created newer versions of it?”
Veli grabbed a silver can from one of the compartments and handed it over to his younger self. “WD-41. Almost stopped at forty, but it wasn’t quite there yet and I was afraid I’d get sued.”
“Sued?” Young Veli said, staring reverently at the can.
“You know how corporate wonks are these days.”
“Corporate wonks?”
“Oh, right,” Veli said. “I keep forgetting you still have a lot to learn about the future.”
“Wow,” Young Veli said as he spun the can around a few times while shaking his head. “Wet Dinosaur 41. Amazing.”
“Anyway, I still have the notebook I… I mean we worked on.” He reached behind the cockpit chair and pulled forth a beat-up binder. “Here, have a look.”
Young Veli clearly recognized it immediately, because he snapped it out of Veli’s hands and said, “Holy shit. You truly are me.”
“Of course I am, though I’m shocked at how dimwitted I once was,” Veli said with a sigh. “And watch the language. You’re not old enough for that yet.”
“You’re not my father.”
They stared each other down for a couple of seconds before Young Veli wisely tore his eyes away and studied the notebook instead. Whether it was him or not, Veli would have no problem tanning his younger self’s hide, if it needed tanning!
“Who is Dummy?” Young Veli asked casually as he turned the pages.
“What?”
“Before the ship became visible, you called out to someone named ‘Dummy.’ Was that supposed to be me?”
“Oh, no,” Veli said, pointing at the ship. “That’s my computer.”
“Your what?”
“Remember when you were brought up on that alien ship and they showed you all of the screens and lights?”
“Like it was yesterday,” Young Veli replied as his eyes glassed over serenely.
“That’s a computer.”
“What’s it do?”
“Frustrates the hell out of me most of the time,” Veli answered honestly. “But it’s purpose is to handle mundane tasks with incredible speeds. For example, it can calculate the square root of forty-nine without blinking an eye.”
Without pause, Young Veli said, “Seven.”
“Yes, I know you can do it, too, but why waste your time on trivial things when the computer can do millions of those calculations per second?”
“Interesting.”
“Yeah, sure.” Veli pulled the notebook away from his younger self and threw it back into the ship. “Now, we have work to do, so if you’ll just squeeze into the back there, we’ll get moving.”
“I’m not ready to leave just yet,” said Young Veli. “I need to at least leave a note for my parents and say goodbye to my friends.”
Veli grabbed his younger self by the shoulders. “You really don’t.”
“I really do,” Young Veli disagreed while wriggling away.
Veli sighed. He, of all people, thought that, well, he would be sensible enough to listen to himself! What was it with kids having to make their own mistakes, anyway? Veli had done so, too, of course, but he hadn’t had the experience of his own history to lean on. Young Veli did.
“Listen,” he said, “I’ve been through this before, remember? What happens is our parents catch us and then they make us stand in timeout, and then they ground us for two weeks. In a year, they go on vacation and they don’t bring us along. We get left with Mr. and Mrs. Larber.”
“They’re creepy,” Young Veli said, swallowing.
“Especially during our stay.” He quickly held up a hand. “Don’t ask. You don’t want to know.”
“Uh…”
“While on vacation, our parents are eaten by a T-Rex.”
“What?” It was a shriek that could have been heard for a mile.
“Hush, idiot!”
“Sorry.”
“I haven’t even told you the worst of it, yet.”
“It gets worse?”
“We end up being adopted by the Larbers,” Veli nearly spat.
“Horrible!”
“You have no idea.” Veli was shaking his head and wringing his hands together. “Well, we finally start working on our ship in secret, but our ‘friends’ find out and they tell on us.”
“Why’d you put ‘friends’ in air quotes?”
“Because they’re all a bunch of assholes, that’s why,” Veli said without refrain.
“Oh.”
“Anyway, that brings the community around and they see what we’ve done. They all chastise us, shame us, and threaten to exile us. They claim we have certainly offended The Great Sky Face.”
Young Veli scoffed at that. “Stupid.”
“The Larbers don’t even try to protect us. In fact, they disown us right then and there.”
This was not a topic Veli found pleasurable to discuss. In fact, this was the first time he’d said anything to anyone about it since he’d left Earth all those years ago. He’d sworn he’d never breathe a word of it. Seeing it was himself he was speaking to, though, he felt justified in breaking that promise.
Neither of them said anything for a while. Instead, they stood near the ship, listening to the whirring of fans and the chittering of insects. Veli hoped there were no roaches about.
“Then what happens?” Young Veli finally ventured.
“We’re ignored.”
“No.”
“Completely,” Veli said solemnly. “And we have to figure out a way to fend for ourselves, too. That’s after getting our asses kicked for about a month straight.”
“Who would do such a thing?”
“The entire town did it,” Veli replied, staring straight into Young Veli’s eyes. “Not all at once, obviously. That would have been ridiculous. Still, they punished us because of the risk we put them in with The Great Sky Face.”
“But that’s so dumb!”
“More dumb than you can even imagine,” Veli agreed. “Well, that’s when we finally gave up and struck out on our own. We left the community, found a safe enough place to hide, and built our ship.”
“I see.”
“Can you?” challenged Veli. There was no answer. “If so, hopefully you can also understand that going back there will amount to nothing but hardship.”
“Yes, but now that I know the situation,” Young Veli replied with a glance back towards town, “I know how to avoid it.”
“You avoid it by not going back there.”
“No, I avoid it by waiting until everyone is asleep and then leaving a note and sneaking out.”
“This is a waste of time,” Veli said, slamming his fist against the side of the ship.
“I have to do it.”
“You do not.”
“If I don’t, I won’t be able to live with myself.”
“If you do and you get caught,” Veli argued, “you really won’t be able to live with yourself.”
He hoped that would set off enough alarms to persuade Young Veli, but he doubted it. It was him, after all.
“Sorry, but I must do this.”
“Ridiculous.”
“That may be, but if you want me to go with you, that’s what I will have to do.”
Platoon F: Quadology: Missions 6, 7, 8, and 9 (Platoon F eBook Bundle 2) Page 62