Charger the Soldier

by Lea Tassie

  "Never mind, bitch, we will do it ourselves," Danny said. Turning, he called to his troops to advance and, to Thad's surprise, thousands of Native Americans in all manner of clothing and weapons began advancing through the city in search of the right alien for Danny's idea.

  Danny was determined, and maybe just a little lucky. His native tradition spoke of a great serpent god that descended from the stars and ruled his people cruelly for many years until one day a young brave found the secret of the god and defeated it. Danny was set on finding the secret of these alien invaders. But first he needed to catch one. That guy, Thad, was likely full of shit with his talk of capturing aliens.

  "Okay, wait, I'm sorry," Thad called as he chased after Danny. "You helped me, now let me help you."

  Danny nodded and the group moved off in search of an alien. The mass of humans moved through the streets, in and out of buildings, looking everywhere, when suddenly the call came back to Danny. They had found one!

  What they caught even surprised Thad. One of the human-form alien spies had managed to get itself locked into a delicatessen meat locker. The cold air was slowing the alien's movement considerably and Danny was overjoyed.

  "I have an uncle, a professor at the university close to the town where I grew up. He told me of a theory he developed regarding aliens," Danny told Thad as they observed the chaotic and confusing movements of the trapped alien.

  "He said they would probably be like maggots. They would be birthed from a single form, all identical. They'd be able to fit together to form whatever object they conceive," Danny continued. "Maybe that's how these aliens got here. They came as one being, and then split into multiple beings. My uncle believed they would be connected in thought somehow."

  "What, like psychic alien cloning monsters?" Thad asked, revealing his usual combination of too little knowledge and too much brash stupidity.

  Danny sneered. "Yeah, right. That's it exactly, or for the grown-ups in the room, they'd be more like living Lego, able to form complex shapes that operate from a single brain with a common purpose."

  Thad was not pleased with this response. "So what's your plan, smart ass?" Thad said. "We got an alien but do you know any scientists that can figure this thing out fast? Last I heard from command, we have like a hundred giant maggot monsters heading our way!"

  Danny gave instructions to his men and they found a heavy steel crate, filled it with bags of ice and managed to trap the sluggish alien inside the crate and load it into the back of a waiting truck.

  "Let's get it to your command structure and see if someone there can help," Danny said aloud, not speaking to anyone directly.

  Thad, Danny and half a dozen others loaded the crate into a truck and drove north to the command post. Thad led the group to the building that housed the generals and after a lot of explaining and arguing with the gate-keepers, the generals finally relented and took an interest in what Danny was saying. When they realized the alien was alive and in a metal box practically on their doorstep, things started moving. Commands were shouted and a few scientists were summoned to the building.

  Scientists from varied backgrounds arrived and were seated in one of the larger rooms along with the generals. Danny, with his native compatriots, wheeled the alien in its box to the front of the room. Danny started explaining what he had learned from his uncle.

  "So you're saying your uncle thinks they are symbiotic in nature, a single organism with a conjoined intelligence?" Dr. Pablo asked. Dr. Pablo was a physicist from Caltech, learned and careful in speech. Every word, and he used many, seemed to be planned and formed precisely, causing his speech to be somewhat slow.

  "That's right, and he also believed that if we could catch one, we might be able to find out what radio frequency they use to communicate," Danny replied.

  "And how did your uncle manage to come up with this theory?" Dr. Pablo inquired.

  "He worked at Area 51 before he went to work at the university," was Danny's response.

  The silence was deafening, and then the giggling and snickering started.

  "They only sent him to the university after his breakdown, but he has several degrees and he always said the alien ship he was working on was the reason he got ill," Danny continued.

  Outright laughter and anger filled the room.

  "You must be mad!" Dr. Pablo said, losing his well-crafted composure. "Area 51 itself was madness. What was your uncle's name?"

  "Dr. Harold Opinhimmer," Danny said flatly.

  The room went silent. The scientists knew the name. This man's work was published in many learned journals, and he had once been considered one of the most intelligent men on the planet, possibly in history.

  But one still had doubts and demanded, "How is he your uncle? He is not a native American."

  "Well, call him my half-uncle then," Danny said, glaring at the questioner. "His half-brother was my father, who was half native. He married a full-blood native, my mother. You get all that?"

  "And how did your uncle conclude that the aliens use radio frequency to communicate with each other?" another of the attending scientists inquired.

  "I'm not sure," replied Danny. "I only know what he told me. When we find him, I'm sure he can explain how he learned this. He was working on a dig in Turkey when the invasion started and I don't know whether he survived or even where he is."

  "I'm sorry," said one of the generals, who had just returned from some sort of interruption at the door, "but we have just learned that your uncle is dead." The general spoke to an aide. "Get the man who calls himself Ben and bring him here."

  Danny's heart was aching, but he looked at Ben walking into the room, and sensed that this man was kind. "How did you know my uncle?"

  "We were on a plane from Turkey, hoping to land in Seattle, when the aliens attacked," Ben said. "We found shelter and fought, but one of the aliens mortally wounded your uncle. Before he died, he said that the key was radio frequency 823.43. I've been hoping to get that information to the top authorities ever since." Ben looked around at all the brass. "Looks like I might finally have found the right place."

  "Did my uncle say anything else?" Danny asked.

  "Sorry, mate, but he didn't," Ben said. "He was a good man, your uncle."

  That was the end of the conversation. Another officer rushed into the room and after a few words with the commander in charge, everyone's attention focused on what the commanding officer announced. "We damn well better figure this out fast. I have just received word that the large objects heading our way, the objects that we have been tracking for the last few days are now within visual range, and you won't like what we are facing."

  The group in the room broke up into their constituent parts, the scientists disappearing into the bunkers to work and the officers heading to the main command post to assess the next strategic move. Danny and Ben were swept along with the scientists.

  General Harris bit down hard on his cigar and glared into the computer monitor that now showed three large objects which moved seemingly at a snail's pace toward their position. "Where's my goddamn coffee!" he snapped. "Can't you idiots focus the screen better? I can barely make out the shape of these things!"

  The young officer hard at work operating the computer replied, "That is already in focus sir. They seem to vibrate as a form of camouflage and it makes getting a bead on the objects that much harder to achieve."

  "Goddamn wiggling alien bastards!" Harris snapped "Try harder, damn it. I can't fight what I can't see!"

  What they could see, however, were three large siege weapons roughly the size of an office building, moving at a walking pace, shrouded in mist. Each object consisted of large insect-like pincers, attached to a long neck that swung about, grabbing and tearing any large objects in its path. Beneath the large pincers and closer to the body of the alien were multiple claws of varying lengths moving about on thick arms, possibly eight or ten in total. Each gigantic body moved forward on five massive legs that resembled heavy concre
te pillars splayed at the ground level like tree roots, all covered in thick black armor that jutted out from the body in spikes and plates. As a siege weapon got within range of a combat group, alien troops would drop off the main body like spiders descending from webs. They were decimating the troops, who were now in full retreat.

  "Where the hell are my undead?" Harris yelled.

  "The 7th and 13th half-breeds are attacking the left flank now, sir, with the 25th platoon of high-bred vamps holding the center," replied a captain.

  "I want all retreating and standing combat groups, including artillery and lasers, to focus fire on the left flank alien. Bring that goddamn thing down!" General Harris roared.

  "But sir," the captain replied, "that will destroy the 7th and 13th."

  General Harris exploded. "I don't give a rat's ass about the undead. They are already dead. Open fire!"

  Later, many people asked whether this order was a crime against humanity. Killing one's own troops in a battle was an act of treason. Did any soldier, whether human, half-dead or hybrid, have any rights at all? General Harris's willingness to sacrifice soldiers in battle happened all too often, and would eventually result in making enemies of those soldiers he considered disposable combatants. But Harris focused only on his obsession to win, on the results. During that moment, as he looked on, hundreds of soldiers perished.

  Gathering in a room deep below ground, the scientists, with Danny and Ben, were trying to understand the physical nature of the captured alien. The alien fought wildly against its restraints. A few brave medical scientists approached the thing and cut a section of the skin to have it examined for DNA. They hoped this might tell them what weaknesses it had in biological warfare. The answers came back as inconclusive and for some time the group was stumped as to how to proceed.

  A young woman in the room noticed a small seam line around the alien's body, and it was soon discovered that the alien was housed in a synthetic body suit. The scientists went to work dissecting the suit to get at the occupant. What they found inside the suit made Danny's skin crawl. The stench it produced was almost unbearable and a small figure with dark slanted eyes and blackened skin, with a hideously deformed face, glared out at the amazed group. The gold-colored multifaceted eyes, noticed by so many, turned out not to be eyes but what the scientists assumed were protective goggles.

  It was measured as being a little under five feet in height, and possibly a hundred pounds. The skin was rough and oily, and lacked hair. It fought savagely, trying to attack the scientists, causing many to jump back. As it broke free, an intense, blinding light filled the room and a piercing screeching ensued. The small humanoid leapt toward the young female scientist just as General Harris entered the room. He quickly drew his weapon and fired. The bullet tore off the woman's ear but killed the alien.

  "Nasty little pricks," Harris spat. After a long pause, he said, "Well, gut it, and let's see how it works!"

  Chapter 16 The mother ship

  When General Harris stopped to look out the window of the command building, all he could see was utter destruction. Soldiers lay scattered about like children's misplaced toys, broken and dying. Medics scurried among them. "This ends tomorrow," Harris said, and drew hard on a half-finished cigar. His plan had been conceived over quite some time and, with the intelligence the military had managed to gather from many battles with the invaders, he was certain of its success.

  "Even if this plan fails, it will still get rid of that Nazi thorn in my side, General A'Ochay. Sometimes I'm not sure who to cheer for here, the aliens or our guys, goddamn Nazi bastard." The general went back to pacing around the room.

  With the backing of what remained of the American leadership, and the discoveries made from the four captured alien specimens, coupled with the strange red blinking light Hanna carried, Harris was certain he had a plan worth trying. "Besides, what the hell do we have to lose? We've been handed our asses in so many battles that, if nothing else, these damn aliens will learn not to fuck with us. Can't wait till this is all over and they honor me with a statue. Better damn well be bigger than what Crazy Horse got."

  A knock on the door halted General Harris's conversation with himself. His secretary entered and said a car was waiting to take him to the project site. Grabbing his hat and coat, General Harris went downstairs and was whisked off for his two o'clock meeting.

  For four months, scientists had worked day and night to understand the mechanics of the captured alien as well as his synthetic encounter suit, looking for a weakness that could be exploited in Earth's favor. What they discovered shocked and appalled them, but General Harris was jubilant.

  Many of the scientists thought the creature was an aberration, or a freak of nature, until examination of the three other aliens brought to them by Sergeant Hanna Massey proved that the so-called alien invaders had originally come from Earth. The knowledge that these invaders were human, though they had obviously left Earth sometime in the distant past, caused some optimists to think it might be possible to communicate with the invaders and end the destruction.

  Everything was tried, without success. The invaders kept fighting and the destruction kept mounting, giving General Harris all the power he needed to attempt to win the battle for Earth on his own twisted terms. Seven billion people worldwide had been reduced to a mere fraction of that number after three years of fighting, which meant that General Harris was now firmly in control of the remaining armies.

  His plan was simple, straight out of Hollywood. Remove the encounter suits from the captured aliens and put soldiers in them. Send the soldiers to the mother ship, now that they had learned the radio frequency the aliens used and triangulated their position in space. Load their pockets with nuclear bombs and presto, lots of dead aliens and the mother ship destroyed. That meant no more supplies for the ones on the ground.

  As crazy as all that sounded, Earth was desperate, and the remaining government impotent. So it was agreed that Harris's plan had to be tried, and science, the strong, steady backbone of humanity, was again employed in doing the army's dirty work in order to end yet another pointless war. Some people thought that science may have been to blame for the whole thing getting started. Throughout the vast number of holy and political wars started by humans, it was science, in an attempt to make life better, that had invented television. And it was television which had broadcast Earth's position in the universe, as useful to potential enemies as painting a giant target on one of the continents.

  As science began to realize its role in the possible destruction of all life, digital technology was developed in hopes of quieting down Earth's position in space. But it seemed the damage had already been done. So now it fell to science to find a way to encase humans in the biological suits and to play a part in the destruction of the masses of bloodthirsty life on the doorstep. The hands of science would be forever stained with blood but, resigned to their fate, they found a way.

  From the day that Danny and Thad captured the alien and brought it kicking and screaming to the military, they found themselves drafted to alien research duty. No matter where the alien was trucked for scientists to examine, Danny and Thad were never far behind. So when the day came that General Harris got his wish, Danny and Thad were the two obvious choices to go into space to do Harris's dirty work. Sergeant Hanna was chosen because the red blinking light that allowed them to gain access to the aliens had bonded with her and would never operate for anyone else. That only left the fourth alien suit, and as General Harris hated General Dieter A'Ochay, the choice was an easy one.

  There was only one real problem. "Well, do we or do we not have a way to get this team into orbit and onto that damn mother ship?" screamed a half-crazed General Harris at the project leaders. His weekly visits to the project personnel always ended as scream fests on his part, rather than resolutions to problems. "I have a goddamn world that needs saving and you idiots are dicking around and eating bonbons!"

  "We think that the Russian and Chinese part
s we have can be adapted to work on our rockets, but we need more time," pleaded one of the project leaders.

  "Sure! How much more time do you think you need? I'm willing to let a few more million humans die so you assholes can have more time," yelled a red-faced Harris. "Don't try to tell me you jerkwads don't have enough personnel to get the task done! Take your goddamn dicks out of each other's assholes and stop fucking around! You have two more days, and that's it. Then I will start drafting you bastards to go fight at the front lines." General Harris slammed his fist down hard on the table and everyone jumped. He turned and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him, and everyone jumped again.

  Two days later, three botched but functioning rockets sat on the launch pads at Cape Lincoln, Nebraska. So many of the states were now desolate and barren because of the alien attacks that Lincoln was the only safe place left for rocket pads. Each rocket was capable of carrying five geared soldiers into orbit, which meant that fifteen good soldiers would attack the mother ship, hoping to save Earth. But General Harris suspected that the aliens in orbit could easily see the rockets and guess what he had planned. So, off to the side of the launch pads was a discreet, dull building that housed the real assault team.

  The space plane developed by NASA for reconnaissance in high orbit had been retrofitted to hold four soldiers. Hanna, Danny, Thad, and Dieter were stitched into the alien encounter suits, which, fortunately for Harris's plans, had enough elasticity that they could be stretched to cover the larger humans. Then they were fitted with small oxygen recycling packs, and loaded into the craft at night. The other fifteen soldiers were to fight their way as far as possible onto the mother craft, buying time for, and eventually dying for, the four principal fighters. Those four, flying in the space plane, were to sneak aboard and plant high-yield nuclear explosives at key locations. Each of the four encounter suits was fitted with thruster packs and one weapon of mass destruction.