by Mark Tufo
Tabor struck out and laid a bite to his thigh. Sendillian fell hard onto his ass. He was sitting up, but struggling to move his arms. Tabor and Karum circled for a few moments and would, at random intervals, pull a small piece of meat away from his body. They did not eat it, but rather spit it out in a circle around him. This was looking like a gruesome jigsaw puzzle in reverse as they disassembled him. There was some retching from a couple of the men behind me.
“How long are you going to let this go on?” Tracy asked. Sendillian was somehow still alive as they were killing him by a thousand tiny bites.
“If what they say is true, I think they earned this.” It was another excruciating eight minutes before the Prog toppled over. His head struck the ground hollowly. Tabor immediately sat up and began to preen herself. Karum took a couple more bites before following suit.
“What is to happen to us?” Tabor asked when she was cleaned up.
I wheeled myself close to her. “I would hope that you would join us in our fight against the Progs and the Stryvers, though I will not force you to do so.”
“And will we gain our freedom if we do this?” she asked warily.
“You are already free, Tabor. My kind do not imprison beings simply to serve us. Not anymore.”
She and Karum were having a private discussion between themselves. Oh, I could hear it, just that it was a series of chirps, hisses, clicks, and maybe a few growls.
“My sister would like to know what will happen to us should we win.”
No need to answer the flip side; we would all be dead. “Do you have a planet you call home?” I asked the question but I wasn’t sure I wanted an answer. It was quite possible that they lived another five, maybe even ten years away, and it would be another twenty before we got home. I couldn’t ask that much of my crew.
“We do not. We are…created in laboratories.”
“We make it back to Earth and I will let you scope out the entire place. You pick an area that appeals to you, and you can live out the rest of your lives there.”
“Is your planet cold?”
“There are places that are covered in snow and ice all year long.”
I think Karum sighed when I said that.
“It will be like the snowfields of Astas,” Karum dreamt aloud.
“We have ancestral memories of where we originated.” Tabor felt the need to explain. “There are many more of our kind down on Aradinia.”
“What would you have me do, Tabor? Our chances of success in this mission are already pretty low, and that is with hit and run maneuvers. There is no way I can land this beast and pick up passengers.
“There are only a few thousand. One troop transport could house them all while they are in stasis. Three, if they are active.”
“Tabor, you’re asking something of me that I don’t think I can deliver on.”
“Are Stryvers, Progerians, Genogerians, and Devastator troops on your planet?”
“They are. Or at least they will be.”
“You saw what four of us did to forty-two Progerians. What do you think a force of thousands could do?”
“Tabor, you are asking me to risk my mission for a rescue that has about a zero percent chance of succeeding. There is no way I could get you down to the surface. The shuttles are too slow, and the fighters don’t have the range. We’ve been studying their planetary defense systems; they can shoot just about anything out of the sky.”
“If it were Humans upon that planet?”
“I still couldn’t do it Tabor, I have to think of the fate of the many over that of the few.”
“What if I told you there was a way to get us to the planet undetected?” she asked.
I was curious and asked her to go on.
“The canisters you found us in can be attached to special missiles that fly at much slower speeds; they are so small that the Progerians will not pay any attention to them.”
“And once you are on, Tabor, how am I supposed to get you off?”
“We may be able to cause enough disruption to allow you to retrieve us. My kind are housed at the largest military installation on that world. If we were to be freed there, that could have great repercussions on their ability to defend the entire planet.”
I looked over to Tracy, who had a mind-blown expression. She had nearly jettisoned an ally that could very likely help us win.
“If you can get on that planet and you can do the damage you say you can, I will personally make sure that we do everything in our power to get you, to get all of you, out of there and to a new home. A nice cold one.”
“There is no deception in your words,” she replied.
I repeated her words. “There is no deception in my words, Tabor. It would seem we greatly need each other. We can discuss this after you have eaten and rested, speaking of which, I need to do both as well. Between my injuries and the medication, today’s events have taken a toll.”
“We will not need much rest for quite some time after the cryo-pod. I would like to look in on Glantun and Fledling. However, eating something that was not inserted by a needle into my stomach would be most appealing.”
“Fields!” I yelled, not needing to, the man was prescient and was already at my side.
“I’ll get them to sick bay, the chow hall, and some quarters they can call their own, sir.”
“Tracy, I thought I was hungry. Now I’m just tired and sore.”
“Medical, or our quarters?”
“I think this is going to be a moan-worthy night. Bring me to sick bay; I’ll bother BT.”
As Tracy was helping me to bed, BT sat up.
“Where did you go?” he asked groggily. He looked to me, then to Tracy, then to Tabor. He blinked a few times, sat up straighter. “Mike. Man, what the fuck am I on?”
“I have no idea. Why, something wrong, buddy?” I asked. Tracy gave my shoulder a punch.
“Mike, what the fuck is Falkor doing here?”
“Who?” I racked my brain trying to figure out what he was talking about.
“The flying dog, man, the flying dog from The Neverending Story. What’s he doing here?” BT tried backing up as Tabor approached him.
“Oh yeah, I remember him. I think I’d know if a giant flying dragon dog was here.”
“You are seriously telling me you’re not seeing this?” Tabor was within a foot of BT’s face. The big man could not get any farther away unless he fell out of bed. I didn’t want him to re-injure anything. Had a feeling I was going to need his brawn and expertise soon enough.
“BT, meet Tabor. She is a Rodeeshian, and they have joined our cause.”
“This is real?” He looked past Tabor to Tracy, who he figured would give a straight answer.
She nodded.
“This…she,” he corrected, “was in that container?” He looked down the length of the animal.
“It was not comfortable,” Tabor said into his head.
“Whoa,” BT said. “You communicate like the Stryvers?”
“Pretty much,” I told him.
“Lot better looking,” he told her.
A warm, friendly feeling passed briefly through my mind.
“General, I think I was pretty specific when I told you that you needed to stay in bed. Going to give you a sedative; that ought to keep your ass parked. Your fellow Rodeeshians are in the other room. I sewed up a few wounds, but I think they are nervous. I’m having some food brought up for them, if you wish to stay here and eat,” he told Tabor.
“Thank you,” Tabor told him as she and Karum moved.
I was starting to get loopy from the effects of the sedative and maybe said something I shouldn’t have, though if there were repercussions I was going to be asleep for them. “Don’t be offended if at some point BT looks for your sexual organs.”
“Such an asshole,” was the last thing I heard uttered from BT that night.
Chapter 15
MIKE JOURNAL ENTRY 12
I stayed in bed another few days, ju
st long enough for Pender to get his modifications in place, for a war council to figure out how to get the Rodeeshians onto the planet’s surface, and near where they needed to be, and for BT to heal up as well. I might have gotten up sooner, but the Doc kept me sufficiently dazed and confused. I was having a hard time trying to figure out a way to escape. My leg was healed enough that I could stand with a cane and a brace. Running wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. My shoulder was almost a distant memory compared to the throbbing of my leg. Got to admit it was nice getting back on the bridge.
“General on deck. Good to see you, sir,” Fields said.
Tracy smiled as she gave up the commander’s chair and resumed her duties as the pilot.
Peter Pender, who was now a lieutenant, was busy on a console. He never stood when I came aboard, not sure he even knew I was there yet. I took no offense; what he was doing was much more important than a little slip in military decorum. The crew had not gotten completely comfortable with Tabor and those with her, but they were a lot easier on the eyes than the Stryvers or even the Progerians. Didn’t hurt that we were both mammals. Or at least, I thought they were.
“We ready for this?” I asked all those around me. I got a lot of smiles and head nods and the occasional “Oooh Rah.” “Put me through to the crew.” I cleared my throat as Fields hit the button. “Crew of the USS Sentinel.” I had just re-designated the ship, not sure if that’s normal or even allowable, but I figured since I was in charge I should be able to do it. I continued. “We are less than two days away from embarking on the single most significant military endeavor to save the entire human race, ever. What we do here will be remembered throughout all recorded history. We have never seen a threat this large and menacing since our species began its journey on Earth, and it’s up to us, the few soldiers aboard this ship, to right every wrong the Progerians have committed against us. We now martial our strength to show them they made the single largest mistake in their infamous history. They will rue the fucking day they ever discovered Earth. As this will forever live in our collective spirit, so shall it in theirs, but instead of the thrill of triumph and victory, they will be ever mired in the regret and misery that comes with a crushing defeat, for that is what we are racing through space to deliver. Colonel Talbot, please place the ship into buckle.” I could hear cheers throughout the decks, I could only hope I would deliver on all that I promised. We would surely go down in history. The question now was which would be the species to record it?
Chapter 16
I grilled Lt. Pender on how the slider, as I decided to call it, worked. I’d talked to the rest of my officers, none of whom doubted him, really, but were asking to give it a live action test. Although he assured me beyond question that it would work as promised, he refused to show us. He gave us a couple of reasons; one seemed legit, the other left a lot of doubts. The first was he thought we might be too close to the Prog home world, and if we came out of a buckle there was a chance we could be discovered. The second was he didn’t want to put any more undue stress on the ship than was necessary. He was like a first grader with a mouth full of paste when I pressed him on what exactly that meant. That is, he wouldn’t talk. Like, basically, he just kept shaking his head back and forth. That made me as comfortable as a bed full of porcupine quills and a wife that wanted me to be on the bottom. Sure, you were still going to do it, but now there was going to be pain, because there was more than one prick in the bed. Horrible pun, well aware.
Those last few hours were crammed full of computer generated simulations, of course, none proved what would actually happen, but that wasn’t the point. By focusing on the battle ahead I was attempting to keep everyone’s mind, including my own, distracted from the eve of battle worry and dread. As with anything difficult in life, it is worlds better to be actively preparing for the event rather than fretting over it–a life lesson I had not yet mastered, and might never have the chance to, but I was going to try. I’d had the doc crank up the alien juice; he gave me all the usual warnings: too much too fast…system can’t take it…there will be pain. Nothing I hadn’t experienced a dozen times before. But this time was a little different. Maybe my body was just plain sick of being forced to heal at an accelerated pace; whatever the reason, the pain in my bones was not something I will soon forget.
I’ve been told that heroin addicts going cold turkey feel as if their bones are going to break and the pain is nearly unimaginable, that they’d rather be dead than go through withdrawal. I have no point of reference for what those people have suffered, but I could sympathize. BT had joined me in my advanced healing program. The thing with BT, though, was that he showed his pain in surliness. Deranged, rabid wolverines on crack were like those anime animals with the oversized puppy dog doe-eyes compared to the raging jackass I was sharing a room with.
With ten hours to go, I had the majority of the crew take a few hours off and get some rest, eat a big meal, maybe ask that person out they’d been meaning to. As I headed to my quarters, I could not shake the feeling that this ship was one giant hourglass and we were watching the last few pieces of sand make their way through the pinch point. Got to admit, I was feeling anxious and slightly depressed, all of the things I’d been attempting to keep out of the hearts and minds of those under my command. Amazing how quickly that all changed when I got back to my room; my wife was sitting on the bed painting her toenails a bright red. It’s not that I find that act particularly special, except she was naked while she was doing it.
“Was wondering when you would show up.” She sat up, smiling. “You mess up this nail polish and there will be hell to pay!” she said when she saw the look in my eye.
“Not sure what you thought was going to happen,” I told her as I started peeling my clothes off like they were on fire. Yeah, we fucked those sheets all up. Looked like a murder scene with all the streaks of red across them, I somehow even ended up with some on my face.
After we finished up, Tracy got up and looked over at me. First, she laughed, then she got serious. “You have red streaks on your face; it looks like war paint.”
I got up to look in a mirror. It did suspiciously look like I’d dragged three fingers across each cheek in a traditional Native American way. I could only hope that we weren’t as doomed as they had been attempting to stop the spread of the white devil. As much as I thought it would be inspiring to walk onto the bridge like that, I deferred to my wife who thought that had no place in her beloved Corps. I scrubbed it off and lay down; surprisingly I actually got a couple hours of sleep. It was Tracy who got me up; she was dressed in her combat fatigues and ready to go.
“Get up lover, we have a war to win.”
I had a disoriented moment of deja vu; I thought we were on the Hill and were about to do battle with a Genogerian encampment. It passed quickly as I took in our room. I wiped my face and stood up. For the first time in what seemed like ages, my legs did not ache and both did as I commanded. I could only hope I lived a good long while to enjoy the new agile, pain-free me. Tracy headed to the bridge as I got dressed. I did something I couldn’t remember doing since I was a boy. I knelt next to my bed, my hands clasped together on the mattress. I bowed my head.
“God? It’s me. I don’t know if what I’m doing is right. I know I don’t usually ask your opinion, but I am preparing to completely wipe out another species, so, I thought you’d like some input. Does trying to save my own kind make that alright? I’ve never believed those that say you take sides, but I am asking you not to turn away from this like you did when they killed billions for a lesser reason. Help us. Choose a side. Don’t forsake humanity again! I’m not asking you to do this for me; you certainly don’t owe me anything and maybe it’s too late, maybe I’ve burned through my soul, used up my wishes. But, God, do it for those with me, they have earned it, they deserve your mercy and your support. And…well, anything less is unacceptable. Amen.”
“Umm, Mike I don’t think you can demand compliance from Him.” It was BT.
I stood up. “He owes me.” I brushed past the big man. I’d started the prayer with the hope of soothing my burning soul, hearing my voice echo on the ceiling had only inflamed it.
“He didn’t mean it that way,” BT said quietly, looking up.
I headed to the weapons bay. Tabor was the only one not yet in her pod. She was watching nervously as her friends were placed upon transport missiles. I’d not known such a thing existed until Pender retrofitted them specifically for this mission. I idly wondered what else I could transport to the surface.
“It is good to see you, General,” Tabor said.
“You as well.” There was a part of me that wished they weren’t going through with this; I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how it could possibly work. Pender and Tabor both informed me that not only was it possible, but it had been done before. “I am worried for you and yours; I feel like I’m abandoning you to fate,” I told her.
There was a high, thin mewl; her laughter, I supposed. “Thank you for attempting to control our fate, Michael, but do not be apprehensive. We have survived many a long, difficult year holding out hope for this very chance you have given us. Win or lose, live or die, we are free. That is something we will not soon forget, nor fail to repay.”
I put my hand on her back. “You have four hours, Tabor. If we are still there, I will do everything that I can to come and get you.”
“I know,” she said as she began to coil herself up into her own pod. I waited until she was completely enclosed and she was placed upon her own missile. A technician set the controls that would automatically open her pod once she was on the ground.