So It Begins (Defending The Future)

by James Chambers

  We don’t claim to be,

  Hell what do you expect?

  Twenty thousand years ago,

  We were all still monkeys!

  “But you can trust me, you can trust that fact,’

  Cause even after all this time,

  You throw crap at us,

  And I guarantee . . . We’ll throw it right back!”

  The captain, of course, could only be overjoyed by the obvious shift in the average Edilsonian attitude toward humanity. But Rocky was set to wondering. He had seen the response the natives had shown the Danierians. They had gotten into the rhythm of things, had seemed ready to sign on to the program, so to speak. But, the reaction to Noodle’s presentation was overwhelming. The aliens were actually dropping down onto the stadium grounds and rushing the stage, eager to join the machinists’ newly forming macarana formation.

  “But we’ll stand at your side,

  We’ll be there at the end,

  We make lousy dictators,

  But we make really good friends.

  “Yes, everything’s better with monkeys,

  The bad ones mixed in with the good,

  So, show a little trust, but keep your eye on us,

  And everything—I’m saying just everything—

  Will work out, as it . . . sshhhoooouuuullllddddd!”

  And in that moment, as Noodles dropped to one knee and delivered the greatest display of jazz hands since Bob Fosse starred in “The Al Jolson Story,” the long unfathomed secret of the Edilsoni came to light. Although the race could communicate through speech, they were actually a telepathic species, one bound by a hive mentality. As the native population cheered, not just there in the capital city’s stadium, but across every continent, in every corner of the planet, their human guests’ minds were suddenly filled with billions of voices, all of them sharing in the wonder that was the unquestionable uniqueness of the human race.

  “Do you get it, Vespucci,” shouted the captain, straining to be heard over the multitudinous ringing within his mind, “the Edilsoni have rejected every offer that’s come their way because no one else has ever opened up completely to them!”

  “Jiminy,” answered Rocky, still a little befuddled over exactly what had happened, being distracted as he was by coordinating the start of the Roosevelt fireworks display, “I didn’t think his song was that good.”

  “It’s not the song,” cried Valance, tears streaming down his face as an utterly alien race’s reflected understanding of the true nobility of the human spirit washed through his mind, “it’s not the song.”

  What happened over the next few days became somewhat of a blur in the intergalactic news items out of the Kebb Quadrant, the official reports sent from the Roosevelt back to the Confederation, and to be honest, in the minds of most of the ship’s crew. That last, however, had more to do with the planet-wide party spontaneously thrown by every individual on Edilson than with any deficiency in the human ability to comprehend the situation.

  Distrustful of aliens who masked their true intent, the Edilsoni had turned down every offer of alliance over the two hundred years since first contact. Understanding better than any others the upcoming importance of their world, they had kept communications open with all, dangling the hope of eventual alliance with one world, or league, or whatever, to keep any one of them from invading.

  “Four hundred of your years,” their prime minister eventually sang to Valance, “is not a great deal of time, galactically speaking, but it did give us some room in which to maneuver.”

  They had responded as well as they had to the Danierians because, vicious and cruel as that race might be, at least they were honest about it. Their warriors had held nothing back emotionally on the field, and for once someone had shown the Edilsoni true intent. Luckily, as the prime minister was happy to admit, someone else had come along and done the same who had something better to show.

  The surprise hit of the negotiations, or whatever one would call the drunken insanity that had transpired on Edilson, had been the trio of Thorner, Harris, and Michaels, who had taken to the stage in their dress kilts to not only sing the Scottish ballad, the Blue Ribbon song, but to show off the fact that the Edilsoni were not the only sentient beings around who walked on three legs. Valance had been mortified at first, but the riotous response of the natives to the spontaneous gesture had been so positive the captain had been given no choice other than to return to attempting to drink the prime minister under the table.

  In the end, the Confederation of Planets got the wished-for deal with Edilson. Valance was showered with praise from Earth Central, which he translated into as much shore leave and good favor as he possibly could for his crew. The next issue of the Monthly Newsletter of the Grand Gaggle of Confederation Machinists tripled in size and, once the ship’s doctor had been able to synthesize enough Hangover-B-Gone, the crew of the Roosevelt had been able to finally remember how to break orbit and set a course that did not skew to a basanova beat.

  Heroes all, loved and admired by an entire world, showered with gifts, the men and women of the Roosevelt set off for whatever the universe had in store for them next. The Edilsoni could tell the earthlings were reluctant to leave, and yet somehow eager to be on to whatever came next, and loved them all the more for it. But, beyond that display of all-too-human confusion of purpose, beyond everything they had heard and felt and learned of the gorilla-spawn who had won their hearts, there was one single moment that gave them greater insight than any other.

  Being a collective species, having no actual experience with the idea of male or female, sons and daughters, or any of the other mammalian building blocks of individuality, nothing revealed more to the Edilsoni about their human visitors than when the prime minister met privately with Noodles. Asking the machinist what boon he might ask for his part in that which a united Edilson believed was the cementing of their security for the next four centuries, offering him anything the wealth and might of an entire planetary treasury might secure, the sailor asked if he might send a real-time message.

  Yes, Noodles explained, he could send notes to Earth via the Roosevelt, but because of the distance they could take months, sometimes years to reach their intended destination. He did not want to send anything exceedingly long, he told them, just a few words. Understanding his request, touched to the core of what he had thought until meeting human beings was an emotionless heart beating within his breast, the prime minister not only agreed, but without the machinist’s knowledge, he sent his own note as well.

  Which is why, while the U.S.S. Roosevelt broke orbit and headed back out to their next destination in the stars, on the planet Earth, at 12/17 Seloon Street in one of the quieter corners of Canton, China, Mrs. Xiu Yue Kon received two messages. One that read;

  “Thanks, Mom.”

  And a second that read;

  “Yes, good Earthwoman, thank you, indeed.”

  Author Bios

  Charles E. Gannon

  RECIDIVISM

  TO SPEC

  Dr. Charles E. Gannon is a Distinguished Professor of English (St. Bonaventure U.) & Fulbright Senior Specialist (American Lit & Culture). He has had novellas in Analog and the War World series. His nonfiction book Rumors of War and Infernal Machines won the 2006 ALA Outstanding Text Award. He also worked as author and editor for GDW, and was a routine contributor to both the scientific/technical content and story-line in the award-winning games Traveller, and 2300 AD. He has been awarded Fulbrights to England, Scotland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Netherlands, and worked eight years as scriptwriter/producer in NYC.

  John C. Wright

  THE LAST REPORT ON UNIT TWENTY-TWO

  John C. Wright is a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, who was only once on the lam and forced to hide from the police who did not admire his newspaper. His works include a number of short stories in such publications as Asimov’s, Absolute Magnatude, and several editions of The Year’s Best SF. In addition he has eight
novels to his credit published with TOR Books, including his first, The Golden Age, and the forthcoming Titans of Chaos. He presently works (successfully), as a writer in Virginia, where he lives in fairy-tale-like happiness with his wife, the authoress L. Jagi Lamplighter, and their three children: Orville, Wilbur, and Just Wright.

  James Daniel Ross

  THE NATURE OF MERCY

  A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, James has been an actor, computer tech support operator, historic infotainment tour guide, armed self-defense retailer, automotive petrol attendant, youth entertainment stock replacement specialist, mass-market Italian chef, low-priority courier, monthly printed media retailer, automotive industry miscellaneous task facilitator, and ditch digger. The Radiation Angels: The Chimerium Gambit is his first novel. Most people are begging him to go back to ditch digging.

  Jonathan Maberry

  CLEAN SWEEPS

  Jonathan Maberry is the multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning author of novels (Patient Zero, Ghost Road Blues, etc.), nonfiction books (Zombie CSU, The Cryptopedia, etc.), comics (PUNISHER: Naked Kill and WOLVERINE: Ghosts), and over 1100 magazine articles. Jonathan is the co-creator (with Laura Schrock) of On The Slab, an entertainment news show for ABC Disney/Stage 9, to be released on the Internet in 2009. Jonathan is a Contributing Editor for The Big Thrill (the newsletter of the International Thriller Writers), and is a member of SFWA, MWA, and HWA. Visit his website at www.jonathanmaberry.com or on Facebook and MySpace.

  James Chambers

  WAR MOVIES

  James Chambers “writes stories that are paced fast enough to friction burn a reader's eyeballs,” says Horror Reader.com. His tales of horror, fantasy, and science fiction have been published in Bad-Ass Faeries, Breach the Hull, Crypto-Critters (Volume 1 and 2), Dark Furies, The Dead Walk, The Dead Walk Again, Hardboiled Cthulhu, Lin Carter’s Anton Zarnak Supernatural Detective, No Longer Dreams, Sick: An Anthology of Illness, Weird Trails, and Warfear as well as the magazines Bare Bone, Cthulhu Sex, and Allen K’s Inhuman. His short story collection, with illustrator Jason Whitley, The Midnight Hour: Saint Lawn Hill and Other Tales, was published in 2005. His website is www.jameschambersonline.com.

  Patrick Thomas

  THE BATTLE FOR KNOB LICK

  Patrick Thomas is the author of 80+ short stories and fifteen books including the popular fantasy humor series Murphy’s Lore. The eighth book, Empty Graves: Tales of Zombies, was recently released from Padwolf Publishing. His tentatively titled The Mystic Investigators of Patrick Thomas and Fairy With A Gun (a Terrorbelle collection) will be out in 2009. Patrick co-edited Hear Them Roar and the upcoming New Blood vampire anthology. Patrick has novellas in Go Not Gently and Flesh and Iron from the Two Backed Books imprint of Raw Dog Screaming. Patrick writes the syndicated satirical advice column Dear Cthulhu. Drop by his website at www.patthomas.net.

  Andy Remic

  JUNKED

  Andy Remic is a hard-hitting kick-ass military science fiction author with five novels in print. In his spare time he enjoys mountain climbing, sword fighting and hacking computer systems. He can kill a man with a single blow of his chainsaw, but prefers photographing woodland wildlife and biomod engineering. He is sometimes accused of nihilism.

  Danielle Ackley-McPhail

  FIRST LINE

  Award-winning author Danielle Ackley-McPhail has worked both sides of the publishing industry for nearly fifteen years. Her works include the urban fantasies, Yesterday's Dreams, its sequel, Tomorrow's Memories, the upcoming novella, The Halfling’s Court, the anthologies, Bad-Ass Faeries, Bad-Ass Faeries 2: Just Plain Bad, and No Longer Dreams, all of which she co-edited, and contributions to numerous anthologies and collections, including Breach the Hull, Space Pirates, and the upcoming science fiction anthologies New Blood and Barbarians at the Jumpgate. She is a member of The Garden State Horror Writers, the electronic publishing organization EPIC, and Broad Universe, an organization promoting the works of women authors. To learn more about her work, visit www.sidhenadaire.com.

  Jeffrey Lyman

  GUNNERY SERGEANT

  Jeffrey Lyman is a 2004 graduate of the Odyssey Fantasy Writing Workshop. Since then he has been published in various anthologies, including No Longer Dreams by Lite Circle Press, Sails and Sorcery by Fantasist Enterprises, and Breach the Hull by Marietta Publishing. He was involved in editing both Bad Ass Fairies I and II. He is currently finishing up a novel about some pretty rotten fairies. By day, he works as a mechanical engineer near New York City. Visit www.jdlyman.com.

  Jack Campbell

  GRENDEL

  John G. Hemry, writing as Jack Campbell, is the author of the best-selling Lost Fleet series. Under his own name, he’s also the author of the ‘JAG in space’ series, the latest of which is Against All Enemies. His short fiction has appeared in places as varied as the latest Chicks in Chainmail anthology (Turn the Other Chick), and Analog magazine (which published his Nebula Award-nominated story Small Moments in Time). John’s nonfiction has appeared in Analog and Artemis magazines as well as BenBella books on Charmed, Star Wars, and Superman. John is a retired US Navy officer who lives in Maryland with his wife (the incomparable S), and three great kids.

  Mike McPhail

  CLING PEACHES

  Mike McPhail is a member of Military Writers Society of America (MWSA), and the winner of the 2007 Dream Realm Award for Best Anthology (and finalist for Best Cover Art), as editor and cover artist for the military science fiction anthology Breach the Hull (book I in the Defending the Future series), as well as By Other Means, book III, planned for 2011. He is also the creator of the Alliance Archives (All'Arc) series and its related Martial Role-Playing Game (MRPG); a manual-based, military science fiction that realistically portrays the consequences of warfare. To learn more of his work, visit www.mcp-concepts.com.

  Bud Sparhawk

  GLASS BOX

  Bud Sparhawk began writing science fiction stories in 1975 and, after two sales, stopped writing for thirteen years. Since again taking up the pen, his stories and articles have appeared frequently in Analog, Asimov’s, and other SF magazines as well as anthologies. Bud has been a three-time finalist in the Nebula’s Novella category in 1998, 2002, and 2006. More information may be found at http://sff.net/people/bud_sparhawk.

  Tony Ruggiero

  LOOKING FOR A GOOD TIME

  Tony Ruggiero has been publishing fiction since 1998. His published novels include Team of Darkness, Alien Deception, Alien Revelation, and Aliens and Satanic Creatures Wanted: Humans Need Not Apply. Tony is also a contributing author to The Fantasy Writers’ Companion from Dragon Moon Press. Other collaborative work includes The Writers for Relief anthology and No Longer Dreams anthology. Tony retired from the United States Navy in 2001 after twenty-three years of service. He and his family currently reside in Suffolk, Virginia. While continuing to write, Tony teaches at Old Dominion University, Saint Leo University, and Tidewater Community College in Norfolk, VA.

  C.J. Henderson

  EVERYTHING’S BETTER WITH MONKEYS

  CJ Henderson is the creator of the Teddy London supernatural detective series, author of such diverse yet fabulously interesting titles as The Field Guide to Monsters, Baby's First Mythos, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Movies and some fifty other books and novels. He has had hundreds of short stories published along with hundreds of comics and thousands of non-fiction pieces. The first novel in his latest series, Brooklyn Knights, will be coming out from TOR later this year. For more check out his website, www.cjhenderson.com. If you send him a pie, he will remember you in his prayers.

  David Sherman

  SURRENDER OR DIE

  With thirty novels and only one previously published short story to his credit, you could say that David Sherman writes long-form fiction. He is the author of eight out-of-print novels of US Marines in Vietnam (he was one); military SF series Starfist and its spinoff, Starfist: Force Recon (both with Dan Cragg); a Star Wars novel, Jedi Trial (also with Dan Cragg); and fantasy seri
es DemonTech. "Surrender or Die" was written as the prolog of the fourth book in the DemonTech series, but, *alas*, that never happened. He invites readers to visit his website: www.novelier.com.

  Charles G. Weekes

  CONFRONTATION

  Weekes was a Machinist Mate (MM2) in the US Navy. He served during the time of the Lebanon Crisis, and had known many of the Marines lost in that infamous truck-bombing. He obtained his goal to become a submariner and served aboard the fast attack sub USS Spadefish (SSN 668).During his service, he dreamed of becoming a science fiction writer; one who envisioned in the grandeur of Galactic Fleet Warfare, waged by mile long starships. Unfortunately, his characters and stories never saw the light of day, and although several manuscripts have been found, there is no legacy to authorize there release, let alone carry on his vision. To date, his only published works, is an excerpt from his novella "Confrontation", on the eBook version of So It Begins. On the web there are two articles in GDW’s "Challenge" magazine (issues number 51 and 63), both of which deal with gaming within the FASA Star Trek universe.

  Bonus Content

  Surrender or Die

  A DemonTech Adventure

  David Sherman

  Pinions fluttered from crosspieces at the tops of tall staffs that marched toward Handor’s Bay. Long columns of soldiers tramped behind those pinions, or rode on dust cloud-enshrouded horses. The horsemen followed pinions of solid color; red, white, green, black, orange, and more. The footmen’s pinions were checked or slashed or barred, all in multichrome. At the distant rear of the columns the supply wagons trundled, food-animals herded, camp followers trudged. Bugles, thin at the distance, sounded along the columns.

  Duke Harrand Handor, Gate Master to The Easterlies, stood atop the highest tower of the keep that guarded the landward approaches to the harbor and its city. North, he saw ten columns of soldiers marching south. From the south, six columns of footmen and five of horse marched north. In the west the forest partly blocked his view, but he was sure of eight columns of foot and as many horse.