Such a procedure should drive out those inside unless, an unlikely scenario, they had gas-masks. The next problem was how to maintain control of an unknown number of potential opponents exiting in haste. We had no handcuffs and would not be able to divine friend from adversary.
The first problem, however, was to stop the generator. The generator had two pipes, within a constellation of four, one hundred and fifty millimetre pipes; one for induction and the other exhaust. It was, therefore, possible for us outside the shelter to stop the inducted air to the motor. If we had wished we could have inhibited the exhaust but this was unnecessary to stop the generator and could have been dangerous to the inmates. If the blocking of the induction worked we then required the inmates to be disorientated so as to reduce their defensive capabilities.
To achieve this we demanded, via the air exhaust pipe, that the inmates exit one at a time, woman first, on the threat that we would drop a shrapnel grenade down the air exhaust vent; shrapnel sounds more dramatic than gas though the latter is just, possibly more so, as effective and less destructive to humanity or the shelter. As expected our request failed to produce the requested results.
We were not prepared to discuss our demands and continued with our pre-planned procedure. If an attempt was made to close the air exhaust vent we would drop a gas grenade down that vent. If an attempt had been made to block the vent we would fire a shot down that vent and use a pole to unblock the obstruction allowing the gas canister to enter. Once in the shelter it would be impossible for the inmates to eject the canister up a more than a two meter length of pipe. The air intake was also blocked to prevent the gas escaping due to positive pressure within the shelter if they then switched on the battery fan.
Two of our group would assault those who then exited through the small shelter exit. An attempt would then be made to rapidly bind each evacuating person with pieces of the chord we had removed from our snowshoes. The third person would examine the prisoners for weapons and check their bonds. The fourth person, the smallest (again myself), would, with one of our weapons, attempt to guard, under the implied threat of lethal force, those we had incapacitated. Lethal force would, if necessary, be applied by myself as we knew that some of the inmates had been willing to kill some of the original inmates.
We prepared the binding cords in advance but here we had the problem in that we were unable to substantiate how many were in the shelter. We decided on there being up to sixteen. This assumption was based on the vague unsubstantiated fact that we thought we could detect at least ten voices and added a few more for good measure (Not a good estimation system). This also happened to be the number of bindings we could prepare using eight of our snowshoes. We made our preparations to handle this assumed sixteen persons. I considered it unlikely that our estimate would be greatly exceeded due to the known size of the habitation.
We decided that all exiting males would be forcefully, though hopefully not fatally, clubbed on the head. Whilst our opponents were thus dazed their hands would be bound; preferable behind their backs. All ladies would, preferably, be pulled out by the hair and while their hands were raised to protect themselves they would be similarly bound. If their hair was of insufficient length the clubbing of the person would be considered if such a person offered any resistance. Any child, or small adult, would be treated according to their perceived risk.
This sounds ungentlemanly but we were dealing with a potentially dangerous situation for our small group. We knew that some persons had been killed by some of these inmates and this was worrying. For humanitarian reasons we wished to get the inmates away from the gas as quickly as possible. The gas itself was specified as non lethal but it would be very uncomfortable especially in a confined space. There was also the potential danger that too much gas in a restricted space would reduce the available oxygen putting at risk the lives of the inmates. We would not intentionally harm these people more than necessary but our group’s safety would always be paramount.
The bound prisoners would be placed face upwards at a short distance from the exit. Having their hand tied behind their backs and placed in such a position would be uncomfortable but would limit their ability to get up rapidly and surprise us.
To further restrict any resistance they were kept within the beam of one of our two powerful lights. The other light was tied to a post near the shelter exit directed into the face of the exiting inmates; we had remembered the ladder position from our previous visits.
We spent nearly two hour preparing the bindings and practicing on each other. We became pretty good at achieving the required immobilization very rapidly. Indeed our two binders could incapacitate a non struggling person within fifteen seconds and then physically pass them on to be examined for weapons by Fabio. These principles were not subtle and must have been uncomfortable for our prisoners but it gave us, as was the intention, maximum authority.
As I was the smallest I was designated for our defence and the weapon I chose was a large calibre revolver with hollow point ammunition. This was physically heavier as a club and had more stopping power per cartridge. I had a reserve automatic which could be dangerous to our group if I was forced to defend us against more than a single opponent. Fabio had a revolver but this was on safety in the back of his belt hence not available for immediate use.
I felt confident with my part of the action as I expected to have, at worst, to deal with a single individual who would probably be unarmed. I was, however, quite prepared to use lethal force if I perceived any of our group to be in danger of being overrun by any opponent. Such a situation could have resulted in a potential risk to our main shelter which we considered unacceptable. In the situation we were in I considered that the use of lethal force, to obviate such a potential risk to our community, was entirely appropriate.
We initiated our assault by closing the generator air vent which rapidly stopped the motor. We observed the lights going out and returning as those inside transferred to the battery. We then called down the air exhaust vent describing our proposed action and advising the inmates of what we required of them. As expected an attempt was made to close the air vent but a shot from the pistol, the insertion of the gas grenade followed by the external blocking of all the air vents were successfully achieved.
The enhanced activity within the shelter suggested the possible success of our objectives to discommode our opponents and eject them from their shelter. The shelter hatch opened rapidly and a masculine head appeared. This was immediately struck with a club further disorientating the victim. While in that state the man’s hands were rapidly bound and the body roughly passed to the examiner.
The second and third heads were all masculine and received similar treatment. Then there appeared a male child who was bound but not struck. After this came female heads who were treated, as planned, by hair pulling and binding which, in the circumstances, proved successful. The tenth person was masculine though the remainder, to a total of fourteen inmates, were female.
We now had fourteen prisoners whom my companions then examined more aggressively related to the state of their bindings and any weapons. We placed those prisoners not on their backs in our desired condition. Four of the women and two children, one male one female, were recognized as being original inmates but none of the original adult males were there. We separated the recognised females and children from the rest and proceeded to interrogate them, as kindly as we were able, as to what had happened.
It appeared that a group of eight persons had turned up and requested, most piteously, for assistance. Assistance was offered but, while they were being helped into the shelter, the new men produced guns and held the original inmates as prisoners. The original males were escorted from the shelter and a short time after they had left, with two of the male newcomers, shots were heard. The two male newcomers returned but without the original males.
The original females, including the female child, had been, from that time, used by three of the new males as slaves both sex
ual and as workers. The young girl had received what appeared to be considerable damage to her foot at the hand of those thugs and she had some difficulty walking. The new groups females had been used little better even though they had, as we were to find out later, accepted the situation as an inevitable result of their decision to join that group.
The male child was used as a working slave but was otherwise unharmed. One of the new group males was considerably kinder and stayed with the lady he described as his wife. He did nothing to help the original ladies or the children during their mistreatment though we considered that such action would have been beyond his capability. Other than not helping them, however, he refrained from doing them any injury and provided some assistance with their basic needs whenever he was able.
Three of the original ladies described, to us, their treatment in some detail. This abuse included oral sex, sodomy, bindings and beatings to such an extent that they would all require some medical treatment by our doctors. One of the original ladies would, due to her treatment by those savages, be unable to have children. I was sickened, but I will admit a little exited, by the details presented and I suppose this might have affected my analysis of the situation.
In order to return to a more comfortable existence we restarted the generator to power the fan in order to remove the gas from the shelter. As this meant two of us entering the shelter without a mask I can confirm that it was a most uncomfortable experience. Two of us then spoke to the other women whilst, because it was very cold, the original shelter inmates were taken below the adults with their hands still bound. We were not taking any risks at this stage; women being strange creatures.
With the original ladies and children now as comfortable as possible in the shelter one of our group stayed below to look for weapons. During this search the original ladies were helpful in indicating the position of all the weapons of which they knew.
We next spoke more seriously with the new group of ladies and apparently, except in the single case of the wife, they had been picked up by the group who found them in the basement of a house within a small village some distance from the shelter. This village, at that time, had had some survivors living in caves and basements. There had been little food and because of the starkness of the situation civilization had effectively broken down.
The men of the new group, on arrival at the village, had acted very violently towards those not within their group. They would kill, without apparent concern, anyone who tried to limit their theft of food or any other items or services they required. They had offered the ladies, now within their group, their protection in exchange for favours. As they, in reality, had a very limited chance of continued existence by themselves they had submitted to the offered regime as being their only realistic hope of medium term survival.
When the men had effectively plundered the small village and killed several of the initial survivors they had decided to leave the area. They left, with what they could carry, to look for better prospects elsewhere. The ladies were used as beasts of burden; pulling a small cart full of food and other useful items looted from the villagers. They had then wondered from shelter to shelter, usually a house or cellar of such, until they came upon the rich mans shelter.
They arrived at the big house and were attracted to the shelter by the unexpected sight of the light from the air exhaust vent reflected on the mist. They had taken over the shelter and murdered the adult males in a most brutal manner. The original ladies stated that the married couple were not involved in the massacre; the only decent man, it turned out, was the younger brother of the group’s leader.
The then new shelter masters obtained the information from the original ladies of the better resources thought to be available some distance away in our main shelter. They were, however, misled into believing that we would not return for at least six months. Though this was believed by the original ladies the fact that the new owners had not bothered to place a guard had benefitted us and allowed us to retake the shelter without immediate loss to any party.
We now assisted the new ladies and the married couple below that they would be more comfortable out of the terrible cold. For these persons, about whom we had such little knowledge, we maintained their restraints for our protection.
Fabio and I remained outside with the three male prisoners and discussed the situation between ourselves; the result of our discussion has ever since troubled me. Even though I remain convinced that the decision we made was not only correct but fully justified as being necessary for the safety of everyone, both where we were and at our main shelter, I remain unable to fully relieve my conscience from its implications. The three men had proved themselves to be, without doubt, ruthless murderers and rapists; even of the innocent female child. In addition we had no means available of keeping them permanently secure. Had we tried to secure them they would have remained not only a threat but would also have been useless mouths to feed. In addition it would have been necessary to waste personnel on a permanent guard. These three men, therefore, would have required a level of support that we were both unwilling and unable to provide.
The situation, within the then world, gave temporary preference to such tough individuals as these invaders. Such individuals tend to survive as predators and parasites, in the short term, within such environments as existed at that time but would require support into the future. We had to face the fact that we had not the facilities to support our recent adversaries.
Their survival had been at the expense of others who would probably have been better able to develop a new world. In the medium to longer term these tougher elements could either not survive, as they would be unproductive, or they would become permanently parasitic on any functioning society that others had then developed. What we would later do with such persons would not, hopefully, be left to two men on a dark day trying to maintain a small group of survivors within a very difficult state of affairs.
If we had then taken the easy option and released them they would, if they had been able to survive, have been liable to destroy any other group they came into contact with. Such actions would have further inhibited the possibility of developing a new civilization. Contrary to what might appear, from my previous comments, I am against killing but I, to my eternal regret, was forced to accept the logic of erasing the problem as it appeared the only realistic and valid resolution to our then problem.
This death sentence, therefore, became the determination of two people who were prepared to accept the responsibility and the culpability of such a horrible decision. We agreed, between us, not to include our two companions in this decision that they might be spared any regrets or guilt that we had voluntarily, though very regretfully, taken upon ourselves.
We walked the three men some way from the shelter towards the other side of the house in order that the others would not have to witness the graves. All three recognized our intention and the two subservient members of the group began begging for mercy; each blaming their leader for their situation. Their leader, however, had resigned himself to his fate and merely condemned us, in unprintable versions of the Spanish language, to hell and some other destinations. For him I have retained some respect as, from his prospective, he probably considered that he had preserved his small group in extreme adversity. For his two subordinates, who had been equally involved in the killing and raping, I shall forever feel contempt.
We took them to where they had murdered our friends. Here we shot each man twice in the head and waited with them until all signs of life had ceased; we had no wish for them to suffer. Our intention was merely to remove a potential threat to our group and once this had been accomplished we were satisfied.
I would have preferred to bury the bodies of those we had killed and those of the original shelter inmates in individual graves. Unfortunately the impracticality of such a solution, due to the frozen ground and the fact that we had no suitable tools, required an alternative resolution to the problem.
The resolution
we agreed upon was to place all the bodies together and cover them with snow and stones taken from the wall that had been considerably damaged at the point of murders. Here was sufficient rubble for the extension of the original grave of our friends. Burying the bodies was strangely beneficial to my conscience. We did our best to ensure that the grave was respectable presented but that was all we could then do. We fervently hoped that our original guests would accept being entombed with their murderers.
What we did that day was the most unpleasant event of my life. It was something which, at the time and even now, I considered essential to our future. As an event it was a small part of my life but I sincerely hoped it would never be repeated. Unfortunately the memory will remain on my conscience forever.
We then returned to the shelter and said nothing to those within. I understood, from their silence, that our applied solution to an obvious problem had been accepted. For such acceptance by our then companions I was, and always will be, so very grateful.
We decided to wait in the shelter for the remainder of the day and spent the night in reasonable comfort. The original shelter ladies were released as we had known them previously and were prepared to trust them. Having been released they were kind enough to offer to make some dinner which somewhat improved my flaky nerves. We made the best of our surroundings and later, after releasing all our prisoners so that they might eat more comfortably, we rested as best we could. We had, by this time, decided that the new people were an acceptable risk and anyway they were, as far as we were aware, without weapons.
The inhabitants of the shelter had previously set up a music system and we listened to their choice of music before preparing for bed. I believe that music produced a beneficial break for us all allowing us all a period of contemplation of the days, thankfully, unusual events. We, from the main shelter, were very tired having walked a considerable distance in difficult circumstances and then been involved in other difficulties, both physical and mental, during the day.
Our asteroid survival: A fictitional history of the ten year survival of a large ELE asteroid impact by a small, pre advised, group Page 19