Days of Future Past - Part 1: Past Tense

by John Van Stry

  "Why not fifty?" Heather asked.

  "Because I'm taking one, and I suspect you are too," I smiled.

  "Oh, of course! Let's grab some of these bolt action rifles too, I bet those scopes on them will fetch a lot of money."

  I nodded to Geoff and I went down to the next door, and opened it.

  "What the hell are those?" Sarah asked.

  "Anti-tank rockets," I said looking around the room; there were a lot of them in here, mostly in crates. I picked one up and looked at it. It wasn't much different than the LAW rockets I'd see here before, though the head looked a little different.

  "I better get Jack," Sarah said heading back, "we're going to want some of these, and we should load them first."

  I nodded and went to the next door, as Sarah left.

  "So what's next?" Heather asked.

  "MANPADs, I think."

  "What's that?"

  "Man portable air defense system."

  "Does that mean..."

  I opened the door, and there were at least a hundred crates.

  "It means we can shoot down dragons."

  "I'll be right back!" Heather said and ran off.

  I went up to the next door, it was the final door, and it had a computer screen on it. I'd never been through this door, but I knew what was on the other side of it. There were two sentry guns, like the ones upstairs, on the walls to either side of it.

  "Requesting access," I said to the screen.

  "Access to the vault requires Major rank, or higher. Access denied."

  I swore to myself, I didn't want to have to ask the Major for what was behind the door, because I knew that asshole would say no, and I was sure that what Coyote wanted me to get was on the other side.

  "Computer, what is my regular commission line number?"

  "Lieutenant Paul Young's line number is now five thousand, six hundred and eighty-three."

  "What is the status of all lower line numbers?"

  "All are currently listed as either missing, or missing presumed dead."

  I nodded; I had a regular commission, and not a reserve commission. I had earned it due to my service prior to training and some politicking on the part of my congressman. I was surprised I hadn't been declared dead so my line number could be given to someone else. But as your number got lower, your rank increased. There were only so many regular commissions allowed by law, after all.

  "What should my rank now be, based on my line number?"

  "Lieutenant Paul Young's rank should now be Lieutenant Colonel based on his line number."

  I smiled. "Computer, please update my rank in the records database to reflect my current line number."

  "Updated."

  "Request access to the vault."

  "Please place your hand on the panel, Lieutenant Colonel Young."

  I did and a moment later the door slid open. I stepped inside and looked around, there were eight boxes here. Each one had a warning label and a radiation trefoil on it, and I could feel now that this was what Coyote wanted me to get. And that I was only allowed to take one.

  I went up to the first one and opened it, inside there was a manual, a smaller box labeled 'trigger group', a folded up bag, and a black cylinder that was about the size of two medium soup cans stacked on top of each other. So about five inches wide by maybe twelve long.

  I pulled out the bag, put the cylinder in it, then the box, and threw the manual on top of it. The cylinder had a slot in the bottom for one of the battery packs; I figured I should make sure I grabbed a few of those as well.

  I closed the box and looked at it a moment, then on a whim I switched it with the last one and read the number off of it.

  "I'm signing out number six eight five niner niner six," I said to the computer as I left the room.

  "Seal the vault; grant Major Riggs, United States Air Force, full access to the vault if he should request it."

  "Acknowledged."

  I started walking back towards the exit when Heather came in with a cart.

  "How many of these can we take?" she asked motioning to the cases.

  "Ten," I said and looked around the room. The units were actually fairly small, not much larger than the rockets in the previous room. Say about four feet long and ten inches wide. But they weighted a good fifteen or twenty pounds.

  I grabbed one and went back outside to get my backpack.

  Two hours later and we were finishing up. Jack packed out six hundred of the gauss rifles, three rechargers, and ten large crates of ammo and ten large crates of batteries. I'd also found field maintenance guides, operators manuals, and cleaning kits to go with them.

  On the rail guns and anti-aircraft rockets, he only took what I said he could. I'd found the manuals on those and even for the rockets. The rockets he took a lot of, I was surprised he was able to fit so many, but he emptied the crates and carefully stacked them. I think he had about two hundred of them. And there were probably six hundred still there.

  I'd made sure to stick a dozen battery packs in my backpack, along with a couple thousand rounds for the rail gun, and twice that for the gauss rifle. I figured I'd give my old rifle to Sarah to take back for me, these were way better, and the ammunition was lighter.

  I looked around the room as everyone cleared out, Tim had already started off with the wagon and Lisa, Glenn and Geoff were with him. The rest of us would be catching up soon enough. He was so full now he couldn't go all that fast.

  "Okay," Jack said looking at me, "you promised an explanation."

  I nodded to him, "Yes, I did. What do you want to know?"

  "How did you know about this place? Where it was? I've seen the security, how did you even get past it?"

  "Like I said upstairs, I was stationed here before the war, or the attack, or whatever the hell destroyed the world. I worked here on summer when I was a cadet."

  "A cadet in what?"

  I motioned to my flight suit, "The United States Air Force. I was in the military. I grew up about two hundred miles north of here. I'd been here several times growing up then spent a whole summer here."

  "And you expect me to believe that?" he said looking at me as if I'd sprouted wings. "You'd be like five hundred years old!"

  "I'm twenty-three. I was flying in a jet with Major Riggs, the guy who will be showing up here soon and an Indian goddess showed up and told him he was the savior of his people and dragged him into the future.

  "I just happened to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time, so I get to help."

  "Okay, assuming I believe all of this, why are you here? Why are we raiding this place?"

  "Because you are going to need it?" I said looking at him and shrugging. "I was told how much to leave for him and his men. I did that."

  "Told by who?"

  "Who do you think?" I said, "But that's why I know what's here, and why I know my way around here, I've been here before. And because I'm an officer I was allowed access to the armory. I figure with everyone else in the military being dead, the program pretty much defaults to any officer or senior enlisted who shows up."

  "I still don't believe you; you just know something that the rest of us don't."

  I sighed and pulled the grease pencil out of the holder on my arm.

  "Here, this is my signature," I said and I signed my name on the wall.

  "What does that prove?"

  "Follow me," I said and I led them back to the door that had been on the right when we descended the stairs into the complex. I opened it and the lights came on as we entered.

  We were in the workshop area, where the gunsmiths and armorers all worked. It was a very large room, easily a hundred by a hundred. There were bathrooms off the right side, and smaller machine shops on the left. I took them to the back, and opened another door; it was a large storeroom, which was actually still rather full of boxes.

  I led them around to the back of that, and over to a door in the right corner and opened it. It was just a janitor's closet. One that no one rea
lly had used when I was here, they just stored odd crap in it. From the looks of things, it hadn't changed much.

  "Now, step inside and look at the left side of the door frame, way up here," I said and pointed.

  Jack looked, looked at me, looked again and swore, then stepping out of the closet; he quickly headed for the door.

  "I'll meet you all upstairs," he said as he left the storage room.

  Sarah and Heather looked at each other, and then stepped inside together, squeezing to fit, and both looked at the wall.

  "Is that your signature?" Sarah asked as Heather looked around. I nodded and stuck my head in and looked. There were initials and signatures scattered all over the place. Some went back as far as nineteen thirty-eight. I'd added mine one day, when after being assigned every crap job in the place I'd noticed them by accident. Very few people step into a shallow closet and look behind them.

  And seven feet off the ground, right under the signature of a seaman Fuller, was 'Paul Young, USAF Cadet, nineteen ninety-eight.'

  "Okay," Sarah said stepping out of the closet and looking past me, as Heather followed, "what are you supposed to do next?"

  I shrugged, "I don't know, ask Coyote."

  "I am," she said and pointed.

  I turned and looked, and there he was, sitting there.

  "See, girls? He wasn't lying about anything," Coyote said with grin.

  Heather swore and Sarah smiled, "I never thought he was, Coyote. So, what does our man have to do for you next?"

  "I need you to go to Sutter Buttes, Paul. But before you do that, I think Riggs and his people could really use your help right now. And I would suggest you two girls might want to get away from here while he does."

  I nodded and gave Heather a hug and a kiss, and then Sarah a hug and a kiss.

  "I need to get to work, you two better go."

  "Say your goodbyes later tonight," Coyote said, "right now; you need to get upstairs and outside."

  I nodded and ran for the staircase, and then up the steps and out of the building as Heather and Sarah followed.

  I heard it before I even saw it, there was a dragon flying around, and he was attacking something on the ground, making strafing runs and breathing fire.

  I went and grabbed the MPADS from where I'd hung it on my saddle and started to read the simple operating instructions on the side.

  "We'll meet you at the gate house!" Sarah said, and mounting her horse, she grabbed the reins to mine and both she and Heather galloped off quickly.

  I pressed the releases to open the front and rear covers, folded out the handgrip and exposed the trigger, which looked like the handgrip and trigger on a normal rifle with a button by your thumb. I then flipped up the sight panel, which was apparently a small flat screen display.

  I then grabbed the now exposed ring from where the panel had lain flat against the tube and pulled it out.

  I felt the tube shiver a moment, and then it was still, but the screen was now functioning and it was showing a picture of the ground where the front of the launcher was pointed.

  I put it on my shoulder and the instructions said, 'center your target in the window, push the button on the side. When the target highlights, pull the trigger.'

  I pointed the launcher at the dragon as he started another run, got him in the site and pushed the button, I felt something twitch and I lost my aim on him down the barrel, but the picture of him was still in the window, and it was now highlighted.

  So I pulled the trigger.

  There was a loud 'poomp' sound, almost like an air gun and a three-foot long missile left the tube with enough force to knock me on my ass. It coasted up into the air about twenty feet, and just when I thought it wasn't going to work, the engine lit up and it streaked over towards the dragon so fast that I think it broke the speed of sound from the loud 'crack' it made.

  The dragon must have heard it or saw it, or something, because it tucked its wings in tight and started to fall towards the ground. But the missile was moving too fast and its flight path curved down and it impacted the dragon dead center in its body.

  And then it exploded.

  There were dragon parts flying everywhere, and I heard men cheering. I smiled and I looked down, and there sitting next to me was Coyote. I smiled at him.

  "Can I go inside and be an asshole?"

  Coyote laughed, "By all means, I do believe you've earned it."

  "Please let Sarah and Heather know that I'll be along shortly," I said and I setting the now used launcher down by the front door, I went inside to wait.

  - 22 -

  I was standing behind the screen, in the place that the guard used to sit. There was actually a display here, so you could see who was there, and even a microphone so you could talk to them.

  I heard the machine tell Riggs to approach and identify himself, which he did. But I then pressed the button that said, 'manual override,' and spoke into the microphone.

  "Well, hello, Major Riggs," I said.

  I could see him blink and look at the display in surprise as my picture appeared.

  "Lieutenant Young, what are you doing here?"

  "Well, someone had to kill that dragon for you," I said with a smile. "Now, why are you here?"

  "You know damn well why I'm here, if you're here too. Though I have no idea how you found this place, or even got inside!"

  I shrugged for the camera, "I was stationed here before I went into flight school. I actually did quite a bit of work in this place."

  "That's not possible, this isn't home, this is a different reality, a parallel dimension!"

  "Sorry, Major. But no, it's not. It's our home, just well into the future. The weapons you'll find here are well in advance of anything we had back home, in our time. And this place is pretty well stocked, though I did take a few things out before you got here."

  "What! You can't do that! This is official government property!"

  I laughed, "Yeah, right. For a government that no longer exists and a military of which we are the last two remaining members."

  "And I still outrank you, so open the door and let me in. That's an order."

  I shook my head, "Not until we get a couple of things straight first."

  "I'm not negotiating anything with you, Lieutenant!"

  "Considering you set fire to the hut I was in and tried to murder me, I think we are."

  I saw him twitch at that, and the expression that momentarily passed over his face was a painful one.

  "I had to do that; you were causing me too many problems. There's too much at stake here, I didn't want to do it, but I had to."

  "And the other men in the hut?"

  "They were all criminals, again, I didn't want to do it, but I had to."

  "Sure," I said.

  "What do you care? You got away, and I notice you didn't try to save any of them either!"

  "I got away, because while the chief's son poisoned the food killing everyone who ate it. I didn't because I wasn't fed that night, as punishment for coming to your attention."

  I could see he was getting annoyed.

  "Fine, I tried to kill you, but I failed. Computer, I request access."

  "Identify," the computer said.

  "I wouldn't do that, if I were you," I said to him as the computer started back up. I had removed my hand from the interrupt key.

  "Why, did you booby-trap it or something?"

  "Oh no, something much much worse. You see, I could get in here because I'm listed as missing, presumed dead. As we both know, I can't go back, ever. You however, you still have that option."

  "So?"

  "So, if you go back, you will have lived the rest of your life and died, and you won't be allowed access."

  "What?"

  "In fact, the only way you can get access, is if you decide right now that you're never going back, and then you'll be just like me: missing, presumed dead. But as soon as the machine identifies you, you'll get access.

  "You just won't ever
be able to go home. You'll be stuck here, just like me."

  I smiled as he scowled, I could see I had him.

  "But, I could just let you in, grant you access, and then you will have the option to still go back, if you should wish."

  He growled, it was pretty funny and I almost laughed at him. I was enjoying this immensely.

  "What do you want, Lieutenant," he said, almost grinding the words out.

  "Simple actually. First you do not destroy what you leave behind here. I don't know if you can take everything or not. But whatever you have to leave, you leave it whole and don't break it or destroy it, and you don't damage the armory."

  "Why?"

  "Because after you leave, I'll still be here, and someday one of the gods might decide they need a rocket launcher or something, and just like I was sent here to cover your ass today, they'll send me out here again."

  "Fine, I won't destroy anything. And you did not 'cover my ass' today."

  "Second, I'm not a slave. Tell the chief it was some brilliant plan to distract the enemy, that you sent me out here first to get things ready for you, or make up some other story. I really don't care, but just make it clear to them I'm a free man."

  "I don't know if I can do that," he said.

  "Of course you can, you're the chosen one Major, you're their hero. They're going to expect you to do strange things for obscure reasons. The gods really did send you here after all."

  "Fine."

  "Third, after I leave here you will leave me alone, and you will not come after me, or the people I came here with. They're going to be your allies in the upcoming fight anyway, so they'll be able to help you with the better arms, and trust me, you're going to need their help."

  He nodded, "That one makes sense, anything else?"

  I smiled at him, "Last of all, you will thank me for killing that dragon and helping your men and preventing any further loss of life."

  I was surprised when he came to attention, saluted the monitor and said "Thank you, Lieutenant for your actions today in assisting me and my men," and then dropped the salute.

  "Computer, I confirm that the man before you is Major John Riggs, United States Air Force, on active duty. He has access rights to all portions of this armory, including the vault as specified earlier. His men are all to be considered government employees, also with access to the facility."