Greener Green II: The Balls Brigade

by Peter Sowatskey

  50/50, IT'S YOUR CALL

  "Nerre, detach the Weapons Ball and twenty five Door Guns, full speed to 15,000 BC. The Courier is holding at 200,000 feet. Have him start another feed to the Ball, as well as ours."

  I watched on the plot screen as the Ball sped away, followed by the specs, which were the Guns. Nothing for me to do but wait. No wonder Admirals were usually round tubs. They ate too much to cure their nerves.

  Nerre relayed, "Lillian's group on plan."

  Shortly before the Ball arrived at 15,000 BC the hovering Courier reported. "Cessation of abnormal readings. Evidently they changed their mind. Holding position."

  I juggled my balls. When I had ten going (mentally) I realized what I'd probably done. If I wouldn't let them lift unopposed at 15,000 BC, they would rush to 2012 and lift before I got there, cursed, and cursed.

  Nerre, "Get me Captain Berger, now, on my personal speaker."

  A voice I used to own came over the speaker, "This must be an emergency, Admiral Secallo. What kind of such?"

  "Short story. You can expect your Australian ANNU KI ship to lift any moment. Long story later. Get to it man. Out."

  Nerre, "Tell the Ball and the Guns to hold position and fall in when we get there."

  That was all I could think to do. It would be over before we could get there. Maybe Thelma had a Rail Gun Dock real handy, or an ARK.

  OPERATIONAL AREA AYERS ROCK AUSTRALIA 2012 AD

  CAPTAIN RAFE BERGER

  CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

  Calling Jim, "Don't interrupt. I know you're on standby with the bubble generators. Set them on a five minute timer to go full force automatically. Get the operators out of the vans, into the tractors, disconnect, and move away from the bubble top speed, and keep on going away from zero. Now. Berger out."

  We, the Hq. crew, were in Long Toms tractor on a knoll five miles away where we could see down onto the desert below. In a magnified video screen setting on the dash we observed the mad scramble around the tractors and vans. They all sped away before the five minutes were up.

  Then a bubble started to form over the ANNU KI ship anchored by our vans. It took a few minutes but when complete looked like an upside down tea cup. We could look through it but objects were blurred.

  Tom asked, "Going to happen soon?"

  I opened my mouth to answer but the sight in front of us answered for me. It rose slowly out of the earth, shedding same, as it gained altitude, foot by foot. It looked like a wagon wheel with a short part of an axel sticking up from the hub. It took up about 70% of our circle. As it started to rotate the residue of countless years fell, or was thrown away from the craft. I tried to count the spokes, but lost track after twenty since I could no longer focus on them. We were supposed to contain this mad deverish.

  The craft began to shimmer. It rose until it met our ceiling, and fell back. Then it spun faster, and it rose again, same result. It then fell back to a bit above the surface and spun so fast there was nothing to see but a shimmer. Then it rose again and began to rub against our ceiling. One van after another exploded. After ten, or twelve our bubble ceased to exist and the craft rose straight up to the skies.

  I began absently thinking about a deep gold mine to hide in when an oblong greenish craft about the same size appeared above our escapee. Egg like objects, were ejected by this craft and they encircled the rising wagon wheel.

  These eggs shot lines to each other resulting in a round cob-web. The round web shrunk until it touched the shimmering craft. The shimmering stopped. The web's shrinking didn't, until the eggs touched. Then they withdrew into the green ship, which blinked out of existence while a fine dust settled to the earth. It rained sand.

  No one wanted to be the first to speak. Long Tom arose and got beer for every body from the fridge. You would have thought he passed out life saving rings to those long adrift.

  While we watched a needle nosed craft screeched down from the sky to stop in the middle of our circle which didn't exist any more. It spun round and round, then nosed up and was gone before one could blink. Folks bestirred themselves and went to Tom's fridge for seconds.

  I asked, "Beverly, what is the news from down time?"

  "Their arrival is twenty five minutes. Orders are to increase no fly zone around the site and ground all military aircraft. They're going to explode the Erasure mechanism and try to contain the blast with Carrier presser beams."

  "Too late to move, and make much difference." I observed.

  I saw Lin was already on her laptop and phone. I scribbled on a notepad, 'he means it' and laid the note in her vicinity. She saw it.

  I looked at Jim inquiringly and he said, "Forget it, three weeks maybe to replicate what we had."

  Tom said, "I could go back down the hill for some protection."

  "Usually that would help. But if they don't contain the effect this hill, the next one behind us, and some more real estate will cease to exist."

  Tom tried to get his mind around what I said. Maybe he did. Lin interrupted, "Combined Earth Command insists on a high flying drone observer platform."

  "He'll shoot it down."

  Beverly said, Here they come. Grab something!"

  Suddenly they appeared. Four immense craft. Three the same, and one more oblong than the others. They were at 1,000 feet, or so, at quarter hour placements around the crater left by the ANNU KI ship. Immediately beams shot down to the ground.

  Lin said, "Drone gone."

  The beams increased in intensity and over lay each other, each a different color. The top layer appeared gray in color. Three minutes later they lost their distinction and were pushed away from the crater. It seemed that the devil, himself tried to escape from beneath the earth. The (his) struggle shrugged aside the colored beams, and the gray layer bent upward and seemed to almost rupture. Then the gray resumed form, and the colored beams appeared again. Those held for ten minutes. Then all of the beams winked out.

  Beverly said, "All clear."

  The Carriers turned end for end and held their positions. We went outside. Lin pointed to something far above and everyone looked up. It appeared to be a new moon. I realized we were looking at a Weapons Ball. From reports it wouldn't come closer to the surface than 300,000 feet.

  I said, to everybody, and nobody, "That's a military craft. It's ours, long story, later."

  Beverly reported, "Admiral Secallo wants us, you, Captain Berger, me, Jim, Lin, and Tom to come on board. He assures you, Tom that nothing will happen to your tractor while you're gone."

  I noticed Tom putting an unopened bottle of beer back into the fridge as I said, "We're ready. Have him send a shuttle."

  I didn't want to meet me, damn I didn't. I'm sure he shared my feelings. Oh, what we do for the greater good.

  OPERATIONAL AREA AYERS ROCK AUSTRALIA 2012 AD

  LIEUTENANT LIN TI

  CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

  The shuttle hovered about a foot off the ground as we walked up the out stretched gangplank. It appeared my goal of becoming more in control of events had suffered a serious setback. Tom, behind me, went as the stream carried him, being satisfied to keep marginally afloat. I'd become fond of him because he asked for nothing and didn't expect me to perform for him. I'd noticed the reluctance Captain Berger had on his face about this meeting. What prompted that? I'd know in time. Evidently these people moved through time as well as between realities. That prospect numbed me, for now. I'd encompass the concept with my mind, eventually. That's what I did, overcome.

  The shuttle consisted of one open room with bench seats around the walls, facing inward. The pilot, mid front, facing outward toward the only curved window, said, "Grab a seat. Don't bother about straps. A force field will hold you in your seats. ETA, five minutes. We have guest cabins with all the amenities, all first class."

  Nobody actually heard what he said. We were too busy looking at him, big, tanned, black uniform, short hair, square bland face.

  He noticed the stares and laughed. "I didn't think
. You've never seen my kind before. We're the new humans, evolutionary jump."

  He turned his face to us for a moment. Then I saw the bulb which protruded slightly from his forehead. He smiled at me, brushed his hand over his forehead, and said, "The better to see you with."

  Facing forward he continued, "We were all from this time generally speaking. You may run across some old friends."

  He seemed so large. It dawned on me that he and his spirit weren't the same size, the spirit being ever so much larger. I looked at Tom, beside me and he made a blossoming motion with his hands, exactly.

  The shuttle neared the Carrier, did a 180, and berthed its self, takes out the guess work.

  At the end of the gangplank the Admiral (from the braids) and a Captain, Nerre, (so she said) greeted each of us. I could see the shine around them. I had an inkling our poor Earth would never be the same. We were herded to the side of a huge room which should have had plants in it, there being only windows for the sides and roof. A table with food sat next to a round conference table. A gentleman with no rank showing joined us and engaged Beverly. So they had Essences too. The inconsequentiality of myself pushed me back to six years old helping my younger brother to eat.

  A voice in my head said, HE MATURED. SO WILL YOU. ONE FOOT BEFORE THE OTHER.

  My mother always said that about twenty times a day, bless her memory.

  Tom said, "Come back here. Eat. Drink. What will transpire will churn your empty guts, I'm sure."

  I patted him on the arm and said, "I say you speak truth. What would Confucius have done?"

  "Had seconds, probably."

  I laughed inside. He probably would have.

  We walked and ate, some sat, especially the Admiral and Captain Rafe. I watched the hand gestures and their faces. They seemed to agree more, than disagree. Tom and I sat on the side of the room for a while, and looked down at an angle. There didn't appear to be any activity inside the Military Police barricades aside from the occasional patrol. I knew many long range news camera lenses were focused on us. What would the headlines say? The saints had came to rid us of the devil? Some sure would.

  Captain Rafe and the Admiral took seats across from each other at the conference table. Everybody noticed and gradually took the remaining seats, leaving a half dozen vacant.

  The Admiral began, "We will be joined by others shortly. Captain Berger and I have decided to make this time and place an example of what can be expected from us. For your information the Canadian operation had a successful conclusion. In spite of Victoria Island being five miles down in the middle of a lake, a hundred miles across. You, Lin, can send to your people some messages while we're waiting. We've taken the liberty of removing the list of criminals from your computer. They are now being rounded up. They won't be coming back. You'll get questions about that not being due process. Just say the process has been long overdue."

  Tom chuckled to himself beside me. I kicked his foot and said, "I'm ready," and opened my lap top in front of me.

  "Message to the United Nations, and each government, we're taking over. We want a list of every felony prisoner, on the planet. They'll be going away. Land all military planes. Surface every submarine. Nuclear weapons will be collected within one week. Armies will configure themselves to Engineer Construction duties, or disband. Other orders will be forthcoming. We will be gone in two weeks. Send that out Lin. We'll see how many non-believers we have."

  I started typing observing a Lieutenant arrive and seat herself to his left. Her nameplate said she answered to Beth. I'd sort them out eventually.

  OPERATIONAL AREA SPECIAL EVENTS COMMAND

  SOUTH POLE EARTH 2012 AD

  PLATOON LEADERS, JEFF CROSS AND IRENE SCERNE

  CHAPTER THIRTY THREE

  Standing on the top of an anti-grav ice boring machine fifty feet above the mother ships main gun they checked once again that a team stood before each cleared door. They were in place.

  "Initiate Phase One."

  Each team flipped up the cover hatch and entered the codes they'd been given. No death rays, no nothing, but opening doors.

  Irene and Jeff saw through forty eight pairs of eyes the progress along different spokes toward the hub. The team member's weights had been calculated to approximate an individual ANNU KI, seven hundred and fifty pounds. Seats protruded from the walls on an arm which allowed one to sit and go, but no, they weren't going to be used, yet.

  Long observation had shown that the ship replicated its self once a day. That had been two hours ago. Was the crew going to swarm into the new ship? Or were they stuck somewhere back along the track, because of the altered gold? Every Instrument showed nobody home.

  Jeff and Irene focused with their bulbs on Hector, linked to the other Essences. NO TRACE. They now had about four miles to be covered by the teams until the Main Control Room, sixteen minutes.

  The minutes ticked away, one by one. Then all teams stood before a control room door. Codes were entered; doors opened, teams entered, doors closed, still not a sign of any crew aboard.

  Barnes and Miller raced to the Dampener changed its setting and directional focus, back down the time track, and ran it up to maximum for two minutes. Then they shut it down and brought it to its pre-set amplification, still focused back down the time track. Their Ensign, Netheta Druess, oversaw their actions and gave a 'thumbs up.'

  Nothing measurable, nor anything on any sense level was evident.

  Irene and Jeff said, "Field Command decision. Altering to isolation protocol, activate lifting sequence. Close separation switches, now."

  There existed no intent to actually lift. The separation switches cut the Ship off from the time line. Any incursion from now on would have to take place from the outside of the ship. That meant also that the ship wouldn't again replicate its self unless the separation switches were reversed

  The ship responded as expected. Four more reactors started. Teams went to the appropriate consoles to monitor them.

  Jeff and Irene said to Hector, "Appraise Paula."

  She says, "Stand by for boarding team from local time. Also she says very well done."

  That team arrived two hours later in the form of Lillian and Ted Markus along with the crew members who had fought to lift the Canadian ship from the interrupted time line. Fifty Security Force personnel with anti-ANNU KI rifles would make certain any late home-comers got the proper welcome.

  Ted Markus spoke with Jeff and Irene while Lillian and Hector observed. "I've been ordered to not hold you longer than absolutely necessary from your prime mission. Lillian and I have melded our minds, as I see you two have. We're also capable of concentrated data stream reception. Hector, if you can down load into us, what the three of you have relating to this mission, so far, you can be on your way."

  BETTY HERE. DO IT. I'LL PICK UP THE PIECES.

  "You, Ted, might want to sit." Hector said. "You don't lock together like Lillian."

  "After all this excitement I'll be happy to sit."

  The data transfer complete, Jeff and Irene ordered extraction. There had been, on the part of both parties, the desire to interact. They hadn't.

  Once outside, Irene and Jeff ordered, "Link up, visors shut. We're dropping back twenty four hours, to do it again. Our ship will move with us. Maybe the luck will hold."

  Everyone, back on the island, ordered another Margarita. There's luck, and there's luck.

  Twenty four hours back the scene repeated itself. Fifty more properly armed Security people arrived shortly. Eleven more ships; back eleven more days, were found empty, and then secured.

  Number twelve broke the chain. The doors appeared welded shut. Jeff and Irene bored holes through the ice to different doors, welded shut. Emergency escape hatches proved to be no different. They ordered the troopers to clamp the Dampeners in their packs to the hull. Then all of the Dampeners from their support ship were brought down and clamped to the ANNU KI ship.

  Returning the platoon to the support craft, they had it
hover at ten thousand feet. Calling Ted Marcus, still aboard the first ship, they said, "All doors and hatches are sealed, welded. Can't decide whether the welding occurred from outside or it came about as a part of some internal automatic isolation sequence. We have placed all the Dampeners we have at this moment on the ship. Recommend you place two Erasures, one up time, and one down time, three hour separation. Our conclusion is that they will neutralize each other upon contact. Standing by."

  OPERATIONAL AREA ADMIRAL SECALLO'S CARRIER FLAGSHIP ABOVE AYERS ROCK AUSTRALIA 2012 AD

  LIEUTENANT LIN TI

  CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR

  Predictably, I thought, Earth's leaders weren't having any of our demands. Fifty of the top individuals from every country, and all of the United Nations Ambassadors, supposedly secure in the Austrian Alps, were removed. The phrase going around went like, 'they bought T's bridge.'

  An 'in' joke I'm sure, but the second tier leaders were more malleable. Except for the submarines beneath the Artic ice pack, all demands were met. Then some crisis developed, which wasn't spelled out resulted in Lillian being diverted elsewhere. However three officers from the Ranger Carriers arrived.

  Behind them were Jesse and Jane, followed by Burt and Lin, the Leaders from the A-I Carriers. I was appointed Official Secretary, because all outgoing messages went through my laptop. Tom just sat beside me, and grinned and grinned, mumbling something about his style of diplomacy.

  A message, from Lillian, said they were in command of the South Pole ship. Then in rapid sequence, ten more ANNU KI Mother Ships were under our control. A further message only for The Admiral and Captain Rafe resulted in me being shooed off to a private room with them, leaving Tom in control of my laptop. My nerves almost didn't allow me to do that. Who knows who would be banished to where before I got back.