Platoon F: Pentalogy

by John P. Logsdon

  “Well, not all of those—”

  “Yeah, chief, all of them. Remember, if it weren’t for my creating that little model in the first place, those little folks wouldn’t have learned and shared all that stuff with us.”

  “So you’re telling me that your gut says that there is a 50/50 chance that they’ll all make it?”

  “My gut says it’s more like 80/20, Cap’n.”

  “Hmmm.”

  “Captain Harr,” said Sandoo, “if Geezer’s gut says we’ll make it, then I say we do it. I know I’m a by-the-book kind of soldier, sir, but I’ve learned a lot from you in my time serving on Platoon F. You’re an inspiration to a soldier like me. One of things I learned is to trust my direct reports. So if our Chief Engineer says we’ve got a good chance, then by golly we’ve got a good chance.”

  “Gay.”

  Harr ignored Jezden. “You all know that this isn’t a democracy. Ships don’t run well like that. Sometimes decisions need to be made to put people in harm’s way. The fact is that we all signed up for this in our day and age, and that means that we have a duty to protect Segnal from what will obviously be a genocide at the hands of these Synthetic Lifeforms. So we can’t base our decision on today; we have to base our decision on the era in which we belong, and that means we have to go back and stop all of this before it occurs. I’m sorry that I have to make that decision, and believe me when I say that if there were any other way to undo all that’s happened, I’d do it. As it stands, this is our only option.”

  He let that sink in for a moment.

  “Now, everyone to your stations. Keep your mind on your duties and let’s hope for the best.”

  BACK IN TIME

  They arrived the morning of Orion Murphy’s execution.

  The plan was simple.

  Commander Sandoo was going to lead the team to find Special Agent Yek, cell swap him, but leave him in a comatose state so that he couldn’t argue or fight back, and then bring him in to replace Murphy; Rear Admiral Parfait was going to go and meet with himself, explain all that was happening, and then return to the ship; and Harr was going to meet with Murphy, the earlier version of himself, and bring him back to The Reluctant after the swap was completed.

  * * *

  Since Yek lived on a remote patch of land just outside of the main city, the Special Operations crew of Platoon F, led by Commander Sandoo, were able to swiftly enter the premises and prepare their attack.

  Unfortunately, Yek was in the middle of his morning martial arts training. This meant that the man was ready for action.

  Suggestions? Sandoo asked through digital comm.

  Kick his ass? Jezden said.

  He looks like he knows what he’s doing with those weapons, pointed out Middleton.

  Yeah, but we’re androids. He’s just a man.

  Fine, said Hank, you go firtht!

  Jezden looked at them all as if they were chickens. He then crouched low and carefully made his way across the back yard until he was directly behind Yek.

  In a flash, Yek spun and kicked Jezden in the head. Jezden didn’t budge, so Yek punched at his throat, his temple, and gave him three sharp raps to the jaw. Nothing. Jezden then did something that Sandoo hadn’t expected. He smiled.

  And that’s when Yek full-on kicked the android in the balls.

  Jezden keeled over with a scream, prompting the rest of the androids to run out and confront Yek.

  The crazy special agent manage to subdue Middleton and Hank before being knocked out from a punch by Sandoo. That punch alone would probably suffice to keep the man in a coma for a few days, which would be more than long enough for their purposes.

  They picked him and Jezden up and headed off to one of the medic stations. When they got there, they found both Parfaits waiting for them near the main entrance.

  “You were serious,” said Rear Admiral Parfait.

  “Told you,” said Senior Diplomat Parfait.

  They rushed inside the building and Parfait ordered the doctors to make immediate adjustments, taking all the data from Lieutenant Orion Murphy’s medical records to make it look spotless.

  The procedure would take roughly an hour after everything was set up, and they would be sure to drug Yek up so heavily that he wouldn’t feel a thing…ever again.

  * * *

  Getting into a high-security military prison was nearly impossible; unless, of course, you were a captain in the SSMC who just had a message dropped off on his behalf from a rear admiral.

  “Yes, sir,” said the commander at the main station, “the orders just arrived a few minutes ago. You’re cleared to see…uh…Lieutenant Orion Murphy.”

  The guard escorted Harr into the same office that he’d had his original meeting with Parfait on the day he was supposed to be executed, which, strangely, was today. A few minutes later, Orion Murphy walked in the door. The guard looked at them both as if something was odd, but eventually just shook his head and left.

  “Who are you?” said Murphy.

  “I’m you,” said Harr.

  Murphy took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

  “Seriously,” said Harr. “Look at me. Yes, I’m the superhero version of you, but I’m still you. I grew up in Bejnee, have a cut on my inner thigh from a stupid bike accident, and I used to collect bottle caps.”

  Murphy’s eyes opened at that. “Nobody knew I collected bottle caps.”

  “I also play the guitar and sing a bit.”

  “Nobody knows about that either.”

  Murphy leaned in and started looking over Harr’s face and body.

  “What in the blazes is going on here?”

  Harr told him everything.

  * * *

  Just under two hours later, Sandoo and his crew were heading to the prison with a very passable Lieutenant Orion Murphy on a gurney. It was really Special Agent Yek, but only to someone with a strong medical capability to unravel the changes that were just made to him.

  The two Parfaits were also there, after having retired for a while to a private place to “talk” about things. Commander Sandoo wasn’t sure what they had to talk about, seeing as they already knew each other intimately, but the Rear Admiral explained that they now really knew each other intimately. Sandoo shrugged the conversation off, incapable of understanding it.

  When they entered the office, Lieutenant Murphy stood at attention and saluted. Then he looked down at the gurney and said, “How many of me are there, exactly?”

  “Just the three,” said Harr. “But this one is a clone. It’s Yek.”

  “The crazy guy you told me about?”

  “Correct,” answered Harr. “Rear Admiral Parfait, have you put in the order to have the robots built, sir?”

  “The orders were going out this morning. Yummy here…erm, I mean, uh—”

  “It’s okay, sir,” said Harr, “we all know about your interests.”

  “Oh?” he seemed to relax a bit. “Well, I put a stop to the orders.”

  “Good,” Harr said and then looked up at the androids. “You’re all still here,” he said. “I guess that means you made it.”

  They were all smiles except Jezden, who seemed to be favoring his groin for some reason.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” said Harr, “we’ll have to leave everything now in the capable hands of Rear Admiral Parfait. Everyone else, including you, Lieutenant Orion Murphy, are coming with us.”

  The Parfaits gave each other one of those long embraces that made everyone else feel uncomfortable, and then they all left for the ship.

  * * *

  While it was somewhat of a disturbing scene, the entire crew watched the live video of Lieutenant Orion Murphy as he was executed. Since it was really that madman Yek who was being put down helped a little, but it was still kind of creepy.

  NEW PLANS

  Senior Diplomat Parfait, Lieutenant Orion Murphy, and Captain Harr stood on the bridge of The SSMC Reluctant. The crew was busily moving the stealthed ship back into spa
ce as the three talked.

  “We would be honored to keep you both aboard,” said Harr. “We’ll make adjustments as necessary, of course, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say we could use the extra manpower.”

  “I understand about the need for manpower,” said Parfait with a grin and a quick wiggle of his eyebrows, “but I think I’m done with the military, Captain.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yes, I am. I think it’s time to take up my good friend, Mr. Doarke, on his offer to replace him as the head of Fantasy Planet.”

  “Really?”

  “Oh, he’s been after me for years to take that position, and, frankly, I think that Yummy Parfait would make the perfect host.”

  Harr held back his intended reply and gave Jezden a sharp look before he could say anything.

  At Harr’s command, Lieutenant Moon put in the coordinates for Fantasy Planet and, due to a new connection that Geezer had set up at the helm, activated the GONE Drive.

  A blink later they were floating over the planet and sending a hail to the surface. A ship was already in the area, ready to ferry down passengers, so they hooked onto The Reluctant and awaited passenger transfer.

  “Captain Harr,” said Parfait, “you’re a good man. There aren’t many like you. I remember back in my day, when we were off on a mission and things got dark, quiet, and scary, men like you would watch out for everyone. I remember the smell of musk and the manliness of—”

  “Sir?”

  “Hmmm? Oh, yes, right. Sorry,” Parfait smiled.

  “It’s okay,” Harr said, hoping this would be the last time he’d hear these stories from the man. Still, he had to leave the old man with something, so he forced himself to say, “It was nice serving with you, sir.”

  “Really? You mean that?”

  Harr sighed and nodded, thinking that it really wasn’t that bad. Odd, but not bad. “Yes, sir, I do mean it.”

  “Thank you, Captain,” said Parfait, pulling Harr in for an embrace, and squeezing Harr’s buttocks in the process. “You take care of yourself and this crew. They’re an excellent bunch.”

  “Aye, aye, sir,” said Harr and then, unable to help himself, saluted.

  Parfait saluted back.

  Jezden, over the comm, said, “Gay.”

  * * *

  After Parfait departed, Harr asked Murphy what his plans were while again suggesting that he just stick with the crew.

  “I have to say that I’m kind of with Parfait on this.”

  “What?” Harr said in shock.

  “I don’t mean that,” said Murphy with a grunt. “I mean that I’m done with the military. This military anyway. Besides, it’d be weird taking orders from…well…me, you know?”

  “I suppose that would be odd, yes.”

  “You were talking about a place called Earth.”

  “Yes?”

  “Well, I was thinking about it,” said Murphy, fidgeting. “I’d like to get a quick cell swap, maybe, have my hair darkened some and get a bit of tan like you’ve got. Maybe not that dark, but a little more than what I’ve got. Then I’d head to that Earth place and try my hand at playing the guitar and singing.”

  Harr was impressed. He’d always wanted to do that, too. There had been a new crazy musical fad called Rock-n-Roll that he liked a lot, but most Segnalians couldn’t get into the sound.

  Two hours later, cell swapping done, The SSMC Reluctant had gone to Earth, moving back in time to Earth’s 1950 since that was the last stable time that Harr had been to the planet.

  They were out in a field in a place called Memphis, Tennessee—at least that was according to what Lieutenant Moon could pick up on the local radio.

  “You’ll have to dream up a full life and back-story for yourself,” said Harr as they stood out in the night air.

  “Yeah, I know. I’ll work on it as it goes.”

  “Planning to stick with the name Orion Murphy?”

  “No, I was thinking about going with something different. Change my full identity. Start talking funny, like the rockers back home. That whole deal.”

  “Hmmm. Any ideas on a name, then?”

  “Well,” said Murphy, “I heard one of the guys in a pub say that he’d gotten his rocker name by taking the street name that he grew up on and mixing that with his mother’s maiden name.”

  “Interesting,” said Harr. “So that would make you, what…Elvis Presley?”

  “Yeah, what do you think?”

  Harr put on his best Segnalian rocker voice and said, “Sounds cool, daddy-o.”

  That both laughed at that and then two men shook hands before parting company, one walking toward the city in the distance and the other stepping aboard The SSMC Reluctant.

  * * *

  The ship floated in stealth mode above Segnal Prime. It was a beautiful planet from up here. Like a huge marble that was floating in the middle of nothing.

  Harr found himself feeling content for the first time in as long as he could remember.

  His crew had survived somehow, even though it was probably paradoxical that they’d done so; his former CO was finally being true to himself; his pre-superhero self was seeking a life of music on the planet known as Earth; and the future of Segnal looked secure.

  “Sir?” said Commander Sandoo.

  “Hmmm?” Harr replied, coming back to the moment.

  “You brought us all to the bridge.”

  “Yes, I did, didn’t I?” Harr stood up from his command chair and looked them over. “The departure of Parfait and Murphy brought up a good point. We are no longer part of the Segnal Space Marine Corps, ladies and gentlemen. That leaves us in an interesting predicament. While we can still follow a chain of command, I won’t force that upon anyone. There are no more missions forthcoming, no more commanding officers at home to tell us what to do or where to go. We, for all intents and purposes, no longer exist. In fact, as far as the SSMC is concerned, Platoon F never did exist.”

  They were all looking at each other questioningly.

  “My point is that there are only rules if we want them; otherwise, I’d suggest that each of us just pick a location and slowly split off, going our separate ways.”

  “Sir,” Sandoo said, “I’ve been speaking with everyone digitally and we’re all of the mindset that we’d like to stick with the status quo. It’s what we know and how we were made. Anything beyond that is, well, uncomfortable for us.”

  “Not for me,” said Jezden, “but I have to admit that even I need a chain of command. I saw what happens to models like me when they don’t have someone to reel them in. It’s not that I mind being an asshole, but just not that big of one. So, I guess I’m in.”

  Harr nodded and looked over at Geezer. “What about you, old friend?”

  “What else would I do? I’m tied to this damned ship anyway.”

  “I’m sure that if you really put your mind to it, you could find a way out of that, Geezer. You did build the GONE Drive after all.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Geezer said with a metallic sigh. “Fact is that I don’t want to leave the ship, so I guess you’re stuck with me, big cat.”

  Harr smiled, feeling another sense of pride.

  “So what do we do now, thir?”

  “Well, Hank, we’ve got the ability to go anywhere in the universe that we want in the blink of eye, we can travel through time, and we can cloak ourselves. I’d say we can pretty much do any blasted thing that we want!”

  Everyone clapped at that, except Jezden. He just stood there shaking his head.

  “You’re going to say ‘gay’ again, aren’t you, Ensign?”

  “No need. You just did it for me.”

  EPILOGUE

  500 years in the future, the four previous members of Platoon F, Ooster, Prass, Yaen, and Harkam were traveling up from Segnal Prime to Station Command so that they could see the reopening of The SSMC Reluctant exhibit.

  It no longer had the humans, but there were some lifelike models supposedly in the sh
ip and the Gift Shoppe that was the talk of the town.

  As they neared the landing docks, Station Command suddenly disappeared, as did their shuttle, leaving the four androids floating helplessly in space.

  What just happened? Harkam asked, digitally.

  Beats me, but is that a rail under us? asked Prass.

  Shit, said Ooster, the real crew must have gone back in time and changed history!

  Looking over his shoulder, Harkam found that reintegration had not changed one of his particular nuances.

  He screamed.

  * * *

  It was the 550th anniversary of The SSMC Reluctant and Captain Udenhaur was tasked with taking the beast of a ship around the track systems in the Segnal Sector, as was tradition. It was a filthy ship, but the historical society refused to let anyone clean it up.

  Udenhaur should have felt pride in being selected to captain the ship during the celebratory flight, but he’d had a feeling that his wife had been cheating on him and his being up in space for a guaranteed 30 days just gave her more time to play a game of hide-the-sausage.

  Suddenly Captain Udenhaur was pulled from his thoughts when he heard the sound of four distinct bumps.

  “What the hell was that, Lieutenant?”

  “Not exactly sure, but from the readouts it seems that we just ran over four humanoid shapes, Captain.”

  “Humans? What the hell would humans be doing floating around in space?”

  “Can’t say, sir, but I’m not registering any life signs.”

  “Crap,” the Captain exclaimed.

  “Should I notify home base, sir?”

  “No,” said Udenhaur, quickly, putting his hand out to stay the lieutenant. “Don’t do that. You didn’t see anything.” He then looked around at all the questioning faces. “Nobody on this bridge saw anything. Got that? Nothing.”

  He then slowly slid back into his chair, connecting his seatbelt for the first time ever, and said, “I’ve already got four points on my license. Any more and my insurance will go through the roof!”