R.A.E.C.E. Genesis

by Geoffrey C Porter

  Mendola explained again, and the middle manager put him on hold. He waited, twenty minutes this time. He went back to the front door and asked for that middle manager's boss.

  This is how it went for five hours. After explaining to over a dozen Lithor, he finally got transferred to the CEO of CromSys himself. The CEO was part executive officer, part religious leader. His name was Crom.

  "One of your ships invaded Human space and kidnapped over six thousand scientists," Mendola said.

  Crom smiled. Why? Mendola didn't know, but it made him mad. Crom said, "This is the first I've heard of it. It must have been one of our slaver ships."

  "We want our people back."

  "I'm not sure which ship it was. They operate on their own. They have to turn a profit to not be decommissioned. Would you like me to look into this matter?"

  "Yes. Right now."

  "Will you wait on hold please?" Crom asked.

  Mendola grimaced. "Yes, I can wait."

  And so Mendola waited. An hour passed. He ordered an underling to bring him food. While he ate his dinner, the monitor flashed back to Crom.

  "I've queried all of our slaver ships, and none have violated Human space, nor do they have any Human slaves. You must have the wrong corporation, Admiral."

  "I have video feed of your personnel wearing CromSys logos on their uniforms. We want our people back, Crom."

  "I feel for your loss, Admiral. This is a real tragedy, but it wasn't one of our slavers. The going rate of slaves on Lithor is three quarters of one of your kilograms in gold. We'll compensate you for your loss. Double that, in fact. Would that be satisfactory?"

  Mendola almost lost his temper. "We don't put a dollar value on Human lives, Crom. Slavery is outlawed on Earth and in the commonwealth. This could be seen as an act of war."

  "Nonetheless, we don't have your slaves. We don't want war with Humans. You've given us so much. Let us compensate you for your loss."

  "There is no compensation you can give us, Crom. I'll be taking this up with the United Nations in the morning, and we'll be taking it up with the governing bodies on Lithor after that."

  "We aren't governed by the laws of any of the governments on Lithor, Admiral. CromSys existed before governments were invented, and we intend to outlive them."

  * * *

  Admiral Mendola went before the United Nations the next day, showed them the videos, and played the record of his conversation with Crom.

  The delegate from Russia yelled first, "If they want a war, let's give them one!"

  South Africa's representative shouted, "We must go and get our people!"

  America's representative stood up and paced back and forth a few steps. "Is Fleet ready to go and cross into Lithor space and pursue CromSys slaver ships? Can we fight a limited war?"

  Mendola thought to himself, the Americans and their 'limited wars.' But he answered truthfully, "Fleet is ready for this contingency."

  Britain's representative howled, "Then go and get them, Admiral!"

  Chapter 31

  A.D. 2134

  Fleet returns…

  After the nighttime escape by the Kilken, Jack expected the Lithor to execute a full scale invasion of the hills. None came. He spied on the city proper each morning, to watch the Lithor. He always took at least two fighters with him. After about a month or so, he noticed a group of Humans led by only five Lithor. He grew tempted to free them then he noticed that the Humans wore collars. He assumed the collars had explosives in them. Sarah was with him that day, and she wanted to take down the Lithor. Jack ordered, "Fallback."

  "Come on, let's take'em." She hadn't seen things through the scope on the blast rifle Jack carried.

  He handed the rifle to her. "What do you see?"

  "They're wearing collars…"

  "Yes, and what do you think is in those collars?" Jack asked.

  "Damn… Explosives I'd guess."

  "So we fallback…"

  The stream seemed to be getting colder with each passing day, and the leaves on the trees changed to a myriad of colors oddly enough ranging from orange to purple. Within a week, just after dawn, Jack washed up in the stream when Junior came running. Jack looked the cat over--something scratched his side, a bit of blood, not much. Jack said, "Who did this to you, boy?"

  The cat growled. Jack grabbed his blast rifle and said, "Show me, Junior. Take me to it."

  Junior took off in a run, and Jack followed. They ran along the path of the stream to a wide spot: likely Junior's favorite fishing place. A giant white bear stood on all fours in the stream, slapping fish out of the water. The bear turned and looked at Jack and Junior. It growled and then charged them. Jack aimed for its forehead and squeezed off a round from the rifle. The beast slid to a halt, dead as can be. Jack smiled. The beast sported quite a fur coat, and Jack wanted it for the winter.

  That's when Jack heard a "Mew." He looked, and behind the bear stood a bear cub. It walked up to its mother and nudged it with his nose. The cub went "Mew," again and again, nudging its mother each time. Finally it sat down on its haunches as if to wait.

  Junior started growling. The cub looked over at him and just "Mew'd," again. Jack knew the cub wouldn't survive the winter without his mother--he would starve or freeze to death. Jack raised his rifle to his shoulder, took aim for the head, and shot it. He told Junior, "Go get Sarah and Rob! Go get'em, boy."

  Junior sprinted off.

  Jack couldn't carry all the meat from both animals back to the others, and he knew Sarah and Rob would be together, and that they'd come running, after seeing the scratches on Junior.

  Jack started skinning the mother bear; the cub-skin would make a nice pillow. Sarah, Rob, and two others showed up as he finished skinning the bears. Jack looked up at them. "Carve up as much as you can carry. Let's have a big barbeque. My guess is we're going to see more of these bears as it gets colder."

  Sarah looked like she could cry. "You shot a cub…"

  "It would have starved or frozen to death without its mother."

  "You shot the mother first? You killed them both…"

  "I didn't see the cub until after I shot the mother." Jack put his hands in the stream and washed the blood off, and it came off just fine. "She charged us. I didn't have a lot of choice."

  * * *

  With winter approaching, Jack called a meeting with a simple agenda. They needed to stockpile food for the winter, and he hoped that somebody would have some ideas as to how they'd do that. One of the men stepped forward. "We need to stockpile firewood for one. Two, we need to start drying meat and fruit. Three, we need to gather up more nuts. Those will keep, and we'll just have to roast them."

  Jack smiled. "So, how do we dry meat and fruit?"

  "Simple matter really: set up a cave as a smoke house and start smoking the meat. Although, it would be really helpful to have some kind of screens to put thinly sliced meat on. And salt, dried meat without salt is bad."

  Rob asked, "Would window screens work?"

  "Yeah, those would work fine."

  Jack put two and two together. "We need to raid the city, at night. Volunteers only. We should grab up blankets and winter clothes as well. Tonight, Kai, Loc, and Che will be our cover fire, who's volunteering?"

  More than fifteen stepped forward. Jack said, "We're only taking ten people. Sort it out, or we can draw straws."

  Sarah said, "Well, I'm going!"

  Five of the ones that stepped forward stepped back, and they had their ten.

  One of the women spoke up, "Bar soap, and shampoo, please try and get some."

  "Pots and pans, too," somebody said. "Having nothing to cook in limits a lot of what we can eat."

  Jack asked, "Is that all?"

  "Dry foods, like spaghetti and noodles, things like that, if we're going to have pots and pans."

  "Spices besides just salt," Rob said. "Pepper would be great."

  Jack told himself they should make shopping lists and check everything off as they foun
d stuff. "Ok everybody, we meet back here at sunset. You can bring laser rifles, but only one extra ammo clip and no grenades. Kilken, arm yourselves to the teeth."

  * * *

  Everybody assembled around sunset. Jack addressed them, "Ok, here's the drill for tonight. One, we deal with any potential perimeter guards. That'll be my job and the Kilken. Then you guys will break into the houses: first thing to look for is backpacks and duffel bags. All colonists should have something like that from when they moved to Amber. Fill the bottoms of the bags with blankets and clothes then hit the kitchens and pantries for sundries. Grab screens last. Two people to each house, and don't turn any lights on. Use the flash lights on your laser rifles, if your batteries are dead go get somebody else's rifle. If you find any usable hand tools like saws, axes, and shovels, bring them too. Everybody clear?"

  "Aye's," and grunts followed.

  Rob looked kind of sad. "I can't carry that much stuff."

  Sarah glared at him then punched him on the arm.

  Jack looked over his troop of three Kilken and ten Humans. "Let's do this," then he turned and took off at a run to the north, towards the city. They ran through the hills, then the jungle, then out onto the plains. Once they could see the lights of the city, they stopped, and Jack checked on things through his blast rifle sights at max zoom. Things looked clear to him. He let his troop rest for a few minutes and then took off again. When they reached about one kilometer from the city, Jack stopped again and knelt down. His troop followed suit, kneeling in the field. Jack saw one sentry through his sights, and he risked shooting him in the back. Then he waited. He saw no movement, and the Lithor didn't raise any kind of alarm.

  Jack peered towards the city. "Kai, Loc, Che, take up positions two hundred meters from the edge of town, stay low, stagger your positions." The Kilken started advancing. Jack watched again.

  "Ok, let's get closer, people," Jack said. "Stay low."

  The Kilken reached their posts and waited, crouching on one knee. The Humans caught up to them and then passed them. Jack waited about one hundred meters from the first houses. His people advanced on the houses and broke in via windows. Jack scanned the city for signs of life; he noticed none near enough to be a concern.

  Jack waited. The Kilken stayed alert. No more Lithor guards showed themselves. Jack waited some more, close to thirty minutes. His first pair of thieves climbed out their window. Then another pair, then another. They busied themselves removing window screens from the houses, frame and all. The last two pairs of thieves climbed out. They all regrouped with Jack, who whistled for the Kilken.

  Some of the Humans carried two bags plus screens. Jack said, "Give up a few of the backpacks to the Kilken. If anyone is over burdened give me a bag, I can carry two."

  Sarah handed Jack a big duffel bag. Everybody else shouldered their burdens and just nodded. Jack took one last look at the city, then turned and started jogging south towards home. When they made it to the caves, everybody woke up. They wanted to see what the scavengers had brought back.

  The first to open his sack pulled out a package of twelve bar soaps still in their wrapping. Jack smiled. He hadn't seen bar soap in months. He also had a gallon jug of shampoo. Everybody had bagged salt and pepper, pots and pans, forks, and utensils. One of the men said, "Hold up a minute, look at this…" and he pulled an unopened bottle of Scotch, from Earth itself, hoots and hollers followed. Then he said, "Wait, I'm not finished…" then he pulled out a bottle of Vodka, then a bottle of Gin. He smiled. "Ok, now I'm finished!"

  One of the women laughed. "Now if only we had olives!"

  One of the younger guys asked, "Are we drinking that tonight?"

  People looked over at Jack, who smiled. "I don't see why not."

  * * *

  The man claiming to know how to dry meats set up a smoke house cave and started working at drying meats and fruits for winter. The bears started showing themselves more and more, stupid animals. A laser shot to the head wouldn't kill them, but to the heart would. One of the women who took the time to keep everybody organized approached Jack and told him they hadn't brought back enough clothes or blankets to get them through the winter. Jack organized two more night time raids on the city which went as smoothly as the first. The man that found the liquor on the first trip seemed to have a knack for finding more…

  * * *

  Winter hit with a vengeance, all at once, six inches of snow. Jack went to the stream as usual, and it sent a bitter chill through him. Junior didn't seem to like the snow. The natives to Amber told Jack that the winter would last two months or so. Jack decided they wouldn't have enough firewood if they kept a fire burning in each cave, so they consolidated everybody into the two biggest caves. They went out in hunting packs looking for bears, which became harder and harder to find. They waited out the cold, huddling together for warmth…

  * * *

  Spring came, and Jack went back to his regular scouting patrols spying on the Lithor. He didn't scout in the winter time because he didn't want to leave a trail of tracks through the snow leading directly to their caves. Within three days something disturbed him: troops of Lithor, marching in columns, at least twenty strong each, spread out across the horizon to the left and right. Marching in his direction. Hundreds upon hundreds if not thousands of Lithors. Jack turned and ran back towards home to gather everybody up. They needed to mobilize.

  Jack rounded up everyone and gave them the bad news. He spoke loud enough so everybody could hear him. "Kai, Lok, and Che will stay behind with me. The rest of you hightail it to the south like the hounds of hell were baying on your heels."

  Hatred oozed out of Sarah's eyes in Jack's direction. "You're going to fight them. You're going to ambush them, and I want in."

  "You can't keep up with me and the Kilken, Sarah, no."

  "I only have to keep up with them," and she pointed at the other Humans.

  Jack sighed, and Rob spoke up, "If Sarah is staying and fighting, I want to stay and fight, too."

  Kai said, "They're good with a rifle."

  Jack looked at everyone's eyes staring back at him. Why, he didn't know; part of him didn't like having a troop under him that he needed to second guess. "Everybody give up your extra magazines for us and then go, run."

  The three Kilken, Sarah, and Rob carried three extra magazines attached to belts. The rest of the Humans took off in a run to the south. Jack looked at Sarah. "You make things more difficult for me than need be."

  "I want to do my part in the killing."

  "You'll get your chance today. There are thousands of them."

  Jack looked around at the terrain; it looked like as good a place for an ambush as any and was so rugged the big tanks would be denied access. Jack looked at the Kilken, "Kai, go along that ridge to the right. Sarah, Rob, and I will set up along the ridge to the left. Everybody stay hidden until I give the word. I figure we've got at least an hour or so to wait for the first ones to make it into range."

  Jack watched while the others crouched behind rock. He spied on them with his range sight on his blast rifle. He carried an extra laser rifle. His blast rifle only had 47 shots left to it, and he wanted to save those for targets at long range. A pair of Lithor infantry columns marched directly towards them, a kilometer away. Jack figured they'd be in range in just over five minutes; he ducked behind the rocks and waited. He spoke quietly to Sarah and Rob. "Five minutes."

  Kai nodded to Jack that he'd heard.

  Sarah smiled. A happy, secret smile. It scared Jack a little. It reminded him of meeting with Dr. Michaels and being told that some people Fleet didn't want in uniform. Still, it's not like he picked her, and he didn't seem to be able to get rid of her. He would let her fight, and let her have her revenge.

  Five minutes passed. Jack called out, "Now!" Everybody lifted up from their hiding places and let loose on the Lithor. A few of the Lithor made it to cover, and a firefight erupted. It ended with all the Lithor dead and nobody hurt on Jack's side. Jack shouted
, "Now we run!" And he turned to the south and took off, assuming the others would follow. They did. Jack set a fast pace for them, but slow enough that Rob and Sarah could keep up. They ran for a kilometer and then set up another ambush.

  After that ambush when they turned to run away, a wounded Lithor shot Sarah in the leg. Kai spun around and finished him, but Sarah curled up in a ball on the ground in pain. She whimpered. "Leave me here. I can bag a few more of them."

  Rob grimaced. "I'm going to stay."

  Jack looked down at her. "We're not leaving anybody behind."

  He picked her up and put her over his shoulder. Jack ordered, "Now we run again."

  They ran for about another kilometer and then waited behind rocks. Jack put Sarah down and used his blast rifle sights yet again. A troop of Lithor found the troop that they just killed. The leader could be seen radioing, presumably to their commanders. Jack waited. The Lithor turned around and started marching north again. Jack waited to be sure, and they kept marching away. Jack addressed his Kilken comrades, "You three split up and head south. Find the rest of our people and tell them they can return to their homes. We'll head back ourselves."

  Sarah still needed to be carried. Jack didn't mind. They started hiking home.

  * * *

  They missed their modern conveniences, but they enjoyed their freedom. Within a few months Fleet brought the battle back to the Lithor. Jack went on patrol when Fleet established a landing zone about five kilometers from Amber proper. He had Che and Rob with him that day. They approached one of the Fleet vessels with its bowels open to the ground, a troop ship. Jack walked up to a few Fleet personnel that stood by some equipment and said, "Hello, it's good to see you fellows."

  A lieutenant turned and looked him up and down. "Just who are you supposed to be?"

  "Sergeant Jack Grean, sir! I was part of the last invasion attempt. My CO was Major Wilson."