by Mark Tufo
“Got an idea?” I asked him, gingerly pulling my finger back.
Dee handed me Dunner’s dog tags.
I grabbed them, not knowing what to think.
“Read them,” he prodded.
“I’ll be damned.”
Thirty eight seconds left, I quickly but very, very precisely typed in a seven. The mechanism flashed red once, then green twice, and the timer shut down.
I’d seen closer times in the movies, but when you're living it, let's just say that's entirely too close to a blast.
“What the hell happened?” Paul asked.
I handed him the dog tags.
“I’ll be damned, it was his birthday.”
“More likely, he was paying homage to his brother. Let’s just be happy they shared the same date.” I patted Paul on the back. “I’m going back to my room. Come on, Dee, we’ll talk as we go.”
“I would enjoy that,” he said.
Dee and I ended up at the cafeteria. I got a coffee and Dee drank a V-8. It was his absolute favorite drink on the planet.
“I wish I was going with you, Michael,” Dee said after he downed a family sized bottle of the liquid. I couldn’t stand the stuff, there was just something about drinking something that thick that made me get queasy.
“It’s not because you miss home, right?” I asked, sipping my coffee, angry that they did not have any of the iced variety.
“I never wish to be among Progerians again unless they were to have some great epiphany and wish to rejoin in the harmonies of all life. It would be for your safety alone that I would go.”
“My safety? What makes you think I need any help?” I asked, not looking up from my coffee. I knew the folly of my question, plus I wanted to make sure I didn’t burn my lip on the scalding brew.
“Michael, you cannot even go to relieve yourself without some form of problem arising. Trouble follows you around like children to an ice cream truck.”
“Okay, how the hell would you even know what an ice cream truck is?”
“Your methods of deflection are immature. You try to steer the conversation away from what troubles you most.”
“It’s a defense mechanism, but I still don’t know how you would know anything about that. So are you comparing me to the ice cream truck?”
Dee sighed heavily, it seemed a very human thing to do at the moment.
“Michael, the fate of three species rests on what happens tomorrow. I wish you would not be so cavalier about it.”
“Dee, I’m so scared I can’t even think about it for more than a few seconds. I can literally feel my mind doing all in its limited power to avoid the subject at all costs. I have wrapped those thoughts up and every time I try to wrap my mind around them they squirt right out and away. I don’t want to think about it—what’s the point? I have to do it. I have to try no matter the potential for disaster.”
“That is a fair assessment. I did not think you were concerned at all. Do you think they have more of these?” Dee said holding his empty bottle up.
“I’m sure they can find one somewhere. I’ve got to go back to my room, it’s been close to an hour and Tracy has got to be wondering where I’ve been off to.
“I’m going to stay here and meditate,” Dee told me.
“Alright, my friend. Will I see you later?” I asked, but Dee was already in the early stages of his trance. “I’ll take that as a maybe.”
“You should get me another V-8 before you go.”
“Nice,” I told him sarcastically, although I did get him his drink.
I headed back to my room, thankful Beth hadn’t somehow pulled another appearing act and was waiting for me somewhere along my path. I swear she had a tracer on me, probably residually attached to my heart strings.
I quietly opened the door to my room, a sleepy-eyed Tracy looked over at me. “That was quick, did you find out what those men wanted?” she asked before she rolled onto her side and back asleep.
CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX - Mike Journal Entry 23
After all the commotion of the previous evening, the following day had been calmer than I could have hoped for. Tracy and I spent the majority of the morning in bed. To say we made bliss that morning would not give what happened between us justice.
I fell asleep for what seemed moments, I had no sooner closed my eyes when Tracy was shaking me awake, she was already in her B.D.U.s.
“Any chance I missed the bus?” I asked her.
“Get up,” she said, pursing her lips. She was less than enthusiastic about my latest endeavor.
I got out of bed slowly, my body ached and for a moment I had forgotten why.
“You’re getting old,” Tracy said as she strapped on her belt and pistol.
“I feel it today,” I told her as the memories flooded back. I’d let her have her barb. I saw no reason to clue her in on the events of the previous evening, although she'd find out soon enough. Paul had dismissed her after she and the guards had deposited my bathroom way-layers at Paul's office. If she knew she’d probably just knock me out, stick me under the bed, and tell the general I had gone awol.
Paul was coming up the hallway just as Tracy and I exited. His face looked hardened, it softened a bit when he saw me. I think I had caught him unawares and he had not enough time to put his true game face on.
“How you doing, buddy?” he asked me.
My initial response was to tell him I felt like I was walking the Green Mile, but none of the three of us would see the humor. “Fine,” was all I could muster without lying or making some bad analogy.
“No problems from last night?” he asked.
Tracy had been lost in her own thoughts, but not so deep she didn’t pick up on Paul’s words. “What happened last night?”
“You didn’t tell her?”
“No, and I wasn’t planning on it,” I told Paul more than a little bit angry.
“What happened last night?” Tracy asked.
“Nothing really,” I told her, knowing full well that approach wasn’t going to work.
"More than what happened after the bathroom incident?" She asked with alarm.
"Mike almost blew up the entire installation." Paul said evenly.
“Paul! You’re not helping,” I said. He was merely smiling. I turned to Tracy, she had the look that said she was waiting for a more lengthy explanation.
“Fine.” As we walked to the eastern exit, I related the events of the entire evening. Tracy looked appalled and relieved, she could not believe she had missed it. “How would you have known?” I asked her.
“Still.”
I had just finished up when we finally came to our destination. Besides the two guards there were only Dee and Urlack. The absence of Dennis was an acute pain I would not soon get over.
“I will see you soon, my friend,” Dee said, grasping my hands in his.
“Do you truly believe that?” I asked him.
“I want to,” he said honestly.
“That’s good enough for me,” I told him.
“I will see you soon my love, and I believe it completely,” Tracy said as she kissed me.
Paul grabbed my hand. “To another adventure, my friend.”
“I’ll be happy when I can retire,” I told him. He laughed.
“Time grows short,” Urlack said, all business.
The door swung open, the fresh air helping to sweep away my anxieties. “Lead on,” I told him. In hindsight, probably a poor choice of words. Urlack took off at a pace I think was challenging the current land speed record.
I was exhausted when we came to the outskirts of Dedham, my previous night’s adventure and subsequent lack of sleep taking its toll. Urlack on the other hand, even with his healing injuries, looked like he was ready to take on the world.
He turned to face me. “You ready?” he asked.
For a long, lingering moment, a crevice of doubt formed in my gut, replaced by a fissure of fear. What the fuck was I doing? I was willingly delivering myself a
nd my people’s location into the hands of the enemy. I cannot even convey how close I was to pulling my service revolver from its hidden location and putting a bullet in Urlack’s eye.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I told him instead. He looked at me, confused, he did not understand what I had told him. “Yes,” I said answering the question less circumspectly.
“You will need to stay as close behind me as possible so as to shield your silhouette from any Progerians,” Urlack told me.
“Any chance of a piggy back ride?” I asked him, my feet where killing me.
Even though I’m about ninety-eight percent sure Urlack had no idea what a ‘piggyback’ ride was, he scoffed at me. I really think that he did not appreciate my lackadaisical demeanor. Or at least what he supposed was lackadaisical, my guts felt like they were hopped up on espresso and I had shotgunned a couple cans of Mountain Dew for good measure and marinated it in Jolt.
I stayed as close as possible to Urlack without tripping him up, I generally kept my head down, figuring wrongly that if I didn’t look around, no one else would look at me. That was an incorrect assumption, as I dared to gaze around my eyes met more and more stares from the Genogerians. To say I was unnerved would be as big an understatement as saying that World War Two was just a misunderstanding.
Urlack walked up and into a fighter as if he owned the thing, the Genogerians guarding the area made sure to look like they were busy doing anything but watching the machine. I looked up at Urlack as he got into his seat.
This is too easy, I was thinking to myself. There was no way we could just walk up to a ship and steal it. Alarms began to go off in my head, I felt like a rabbit as the snare snapped on my leg.
“Where am I going to sit?” I asked, looking at the single-seated cockpit. What else could I do now?
“On my lap,” he said without a hint of merriment.
“Are you kidding me? I’m not six and you sure don’t look like Santa.”
“We have approximately sixty seconds to get off the ground before the Progerians know something is amiss.”
I looked around wildly trying to find the best avenue of escape. I was deep in the enemy encampment. If I sprinted for it now, someone would shoot me. My only chance now was to go up with Urlack. I felt hopelessly, helplessly trapped. I couldn’t have put myself in a bigger bind if I tried.
“We must leave now, hu-man,” Urlack hissed.
His reverting back to the derogatory did little to appease me, but up I went. “Don’t go getting any ideas,” I told him.
“Sit back so I can see properly.”
“This is a lousy first date,” I told him as the fighter took off straight up. For a moment, I thought the gravitational forces were going to meld myself and Urlack into some new species of mammal and amphibian. I could feel the fillings in my teeth shifting as we gained more speed and more velocity.
“I am sorry for the discomfort that your delicate frame must be experiencing but this is the only way I can keep the targeting system in the base from getting a fix on our location and destroying us.”
Right now that seemed like a reasonable alternative rather than having my internal organs compressed into wafer thin versions of themselves.
And then, blessedly, it was over. I went from feeling like a cartoon character being steamrolled to my face sticking against Urlack’s window. A big meaty paw dragged me back down.
“Hold on to my seat belt,” he said.
“What about the ship? Won’t they be targeting us?” I asked, not fully taking into account all of the variables in this mission. But that’s usually my problem anyway, go charging in first, guns a blazing and try to figure a way out second.
“That will be taken care of,” Urlack said cryptically.
“Comforting,” I told him.
He didn’t say anything as we came closer to the massive ship, but I’d been around Dee long enough to know that Urlack was stressed out. His large maw was partially opened and his residual (vestial) second eyelid was closed.
“You sure about the guns then?” I asked again.
“I told you it should be taken care of,” he said tersely.
“No, you never said ‘should be’ you said ‘will be’. Big difference.”
“What does Drababan see in you?” Urlack asked.
“It’s my winning personality.”
“Stop chattering like a Fraterdsnip!”
I didn’t know what a ‘fraterdsnip’ was, but I figured that was a flattering term. I did shut up, but it did little to put me at ease.
“Fighter 312, this is Home Base. Identify yourself and your intentions or we will be forced to destroy you,” came over the monitor in Urlack’s ship.
We watched as a squadron of fighters were dispatched from the mothership.
“Look, an escort,” I told Urlack. “You going to answer? They seem serious.”
The intercepting fighters were getting closer.
“I had not expected them to send fighters. They will see you.”
“You come millions of light years to come and destroy our planet and you guys can’t tint your windows?”
“Tint? Color the windows? We do have sun shields.”
“I’m thinking now might be a good time to use those shields.”
“That should be adequate,” Urlack answered.
“You can thank me later,” I told him. I was wondering if there was enough room down by his feet to hide. The fighters were approaching like a hive of angry hornets and we had just tweaked the Queen’s ass. “You might want to respond to the ship too,” I said, prodding him further.
“I think you are right again,” Urlack simply stated. "Julipion this is fighter 312. This is traitor Urlack Evertrek and I am surrendering so that I may restore my honor.”
“I’m not sure I would have gone with the whole honesty part,” I told him.
And then my blood froze solid. Urlack flipped the switch so he could talk to the ship again. “I have captured the human Michael Talbot.”
“You motherfucker!” I spat.
I moved away so I could put some leverage behind a punch. A powerful arm of Urkack’s pinned me against the windshield. I was stuck like a pinned butterfly. I swung uselessly against an arm that could have been hewed from oak.
“Calm down,” Urlack said. “I am doing what is right.”
“You piece of shit, you come promising peace and deliver disaster.”
I was subdued as our escorts circled us and guided us through the large bay doors. It appeared as if half of the entire Genogerian guard force was there along with some high-ranking Progerians.
All the fight drained out of me. Urlack might as well have been holding a wet sock. A life in the arena until I died, maybe I’d make a mad dash for the Supreme Commander and just get cut to ribbons by rifle fire. It would be less painful and much quicker.
We landed without incident. I had hoped Urlack would skid into a structural support beam so we could burst into flames and I could push his traitorous eyes into the back of his head while we both burned.
“When we get out you will stand on the wing and I know it will be difficult for you but project as much strength as you can,” Urlack told me.
“Why, so you can say how difficult it was to capture me? You did nothing except lie. I walked into your trap, it couldn’t have been any easier.”
“Do as I say,” Urlack demanded. His maw was open even farther, which indicated his hyper level of stress.
Urlack pushed me up and over as his canopy pulled back. I walked onto the wing and nearly into the waiting arms of a Genogerian as my heart was tripping over itself. My extremities, now leaden and dead.
Urlack stood on his pilot’s seat. “My fellow Genogerians!” he yelled. “I bring you the earth champion, Michael Talbot.”
A pin dropping would have been welcome to the ensuing silence. I watched as the confused heads of some of the Progerians swung back and forth, trying to figure out what was going on.
&n
bsp; “The hu-man that has bested all of his kind in the games. The hu-man that launched the first successful escape from any Progerian vessel.”
I didn’t know if that was the right approach, a lot of Genogerian guards had died during our escape and I had a hell of a lot of help from a nuclear bomb.
“The hu-man that has befriended our great Genogerian champion Drababan.”
Now there was an increased murmuring among the throng.
“Yes Drababan is not dead, he has seen something in this one hu-man that made him leave his former life behind so that he could stay on earth and become a freedom fighter.”
The murmuring increased.
The Progerians were no dummies, they knew something was up. “Guards seize them!” One of them shouted from his perch a level up on a catwalk.
I saw some of the Genogerians advance, most were held back by their peers.
“This hu-man Michael Talbot has promised us peace and a place on his planet to foster our own beliefs and to live a life unhindered by cruel masters.”
Any and all murmuring ceased completely.
I didn’t think it was really ‘my planet’ to be making those kind of decisions, but I wasn’t going to correct him now.
“Shoot them!” the same Progerian said. He knew what was happening, even if those around him were a little slow in the realization that this was the dawning of a revolution.
“You have been slaves long enough!” Urlack shouted forcibly. A blue shot streaked by my face; the shooter was clubbed down by those around him. If it was possible, I now felt even more exposed. There would always be those who were comfortable with their lot in life and would fear change with every beat of their hearts, I could sympathize with the Geno that had tried to kill me, up to a point.
I didn’t say a word as Urlack surveyed his brethren. I was fairly certain anything I said would not be the right thing. I watched in amazement as about a dozen or so Genogerians ran up to the catwalk and rounded up the five Progerians staged there.
“Is that it?” I asked Urlack. “That sure seemed easy.” And as if my words had shattered the illusion, all hell broke loose as klaxons raged.