Blaze (The High-Born Epic) (64 page)

             
“Good morning, Harold,” Colonel Stevens said with a smile.  “You better fix yourself a plate before Ralph gets here.  There probably won’t be much left.”

             
Harold smiled as he looked over the food.

             
Biscuits, sausage, ham, grits, and eggs.  He got a serving of each and sat down.

             
After he spooned a few grits into his mouth, he asked, “Colonel Stevens, I’ve been wondering something.  How have y’all stayed hidden all of this time?”

             
“It hasn’t been easy, I can assure you of that,” he answered, and took a deep breath.  “In the beginning stages of World War III, there were many top-secret projects ran by the various nations involved in the conflict.  Submarine warfare proliferated and a few undersea facilities were created at great cost. 

             
“The largest of these was created in the Pacific Ocean far south of Hawaii.  Only the most high-ranking officials in the world knew about it, and it actually became a bunker for very important people in the latter stages of the war.  The resistance began there, and it is now called Pacifica and houses close to 50,000 individuals.  Most of them are descendants of the last American government.” 

             
“Back then, those people could do nothing but hide from the lab rats and A.I. Drones.  Thankfully, its secrecy had been protected and it gave the resistance time to form.  As time moved on and the last Americans grew in strength, they realized that the conflict would be a protracted one.  They created the first CASE armor and active stealth submarines.  There were still remnants of the American Special Forces at that time and they were outfitted with the first CASE armor.  Over the course of many years, these men and women rescued children from the forming communities and brought them back to Pacifica where they could be trained.”

             
Harold raised his eyebrows, “The Mid-Night Stalkers?”

             
“I don’t understand what you mean?” Colonel Stevens puzzled.

             
“Just stories that the old folks in Foxx Hole told us about things that would take away bad young’uns in the middle of the night,” Harold answered.  “It’s funny to think that they were actually the good guys.”

             
Colonel Stevens nodded, “Yes, many legends are based on factual events.  Anyways, now, we have two more undersea cities, Atlantica and Marianas.  Several years ago, we found remnants of former allies with whom we have begun coordinating.  There are dozens of smaller facilities scattered across the oceans too, but the smaller ones are military in nature.”

             
“How have they stayed hidden from the High-Bo– ” Harold shook his head.  “I mean, lab rats?”

             
“They seem to have an aversion to water,” Colonel Stevens answered.  “It’s not a total aversion, because they do have naval forces, but they are more focused on dominating the air and land.”

             
“That’s strange,” Harold said.

             
“Well,” Colonel Stevens said.  “They have chimpanzee DNA in them.  That is actually why they are so strong.  Their muscles are much more dense than normal individuals, and that is the leading theory on their aversion to water.  Most people think that it’s because they don’t swim very well.  However, it also allows their bodies to tolerate greater levels of physical stress than normal individuals.  It’s one reason they are such extraordinary pilots.  Along with their cybernetic enhancements and strength, they can absorb much higher G-forces.”

             
Suddenly, Harold understood all of his dreams about the rat-monkey things.
  Lab rats mixed with monkeys.

             
“What are G-forces?” Harold asked.

             
“It’s a little complicated as to how they’re created, Harold,” Colonel Stevens answered.  “But a simple answer is one G is the normal gravity of the earth.  Two G’s is equal to twice the gravity of earth and three G’s would be?”

             
He waited for Harold to answer.

             
“Three times the gravity of earth?” Harold said, but questioned him at the same time.

             
“That’s correct,” Colonel Stevens replied.

             
The door opened and Ralph walked in, stooping to keep from bumping his head.  Just behind him was another man who looked to be in his early thirties.  He was of average height and build with a clean-shaven head, and his blue eyes sparkled with intelligence.  As he and Ralph walked towards the table, a diminutive young woman came through the door.  She was smaller than most women, and had brown hair that was pulled back into a pony tail.  Her brown eyes held a confident gleam to them and she walked with grace as she made her way to the table.

             
“Good to see you again, Blaze,” the man said as he extended his hand to Harold.

             
“You can call me Harold, Major Young,” Harold said as he took his hand and pulled him into a hug.

             
Major Young smiled as he returned Harold’s hug, and said, “I’m glad that this meeting isn’t as stressful as our first.”

             
“That goes for both of us,” Harold replied as he shifted his attention to the young woman.

             
“D-Con?” Harold asked as he regarded her.

             
She smiled and nodded as she extended her hand, “I’m Lieutenant Amanda McDaniel, Harold.  But most people call me Mandy when I’m not geared up.”

             
“Thank you for what you did,” Harold said as he took her hand and she leaned in to give him a hug.

             
“No,” she answered and stepped back away from him.  “Thank you for what you did.  It gave me chills when you and Aireon cut down that billboard.  All of us down here heard your message loud and clear.  And we’re with you.”

             
Harold smiled and nodded and then they all took a seat at the table.

             
As they ate, Harold learned many interesting things.  Colonel Stevens and the others explained to him that it was the year 2173, and that after the lab rats had taken complete control of the world, they had renamed everything.  Harold was surprised to learn that he was actually from a place called Dale County, Alabama.  In a strange coincidence, Lieutenant McDaniel could trace her ancestors to very near that area since the Mid-Night Stalkers had rescued her father from a village near Foxx Hole when he had only been a child.  Her father had been one of the original children of Atlantica and he had even met her mother there.

             
After they got him to understand that, they explained to him that Gabby was from a place once known as Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and Ralph learned he was from somewhere near Crystal Springs, Mississippi.  Michelle discovered that she had grown up in what was once Charlotte, North Carolina.  He also found out that what he and Gabby had called Naxos was at one time a very large city called Atlanta, Georgia.

             
As these revelations came to light, Harold hardly even noticed that the morning had faded into noon because he was already getting hungry again.  As they ate lunch and discussed various upcoming strategies, a beep came through a speaker on the wall.

             
“Colonel Stevens,” a female voice on the other end said.

             
“Go ahead,” he replied.

             
“It’s just as we suspected, sir,” the voice said.  “There aren’t even any scars.”

             
Colonel Stevens smiled and pumped his fist in excitement, “Send her up.”

             
“She’s already at the door, sir,” the voice answered.

             
Colonel Stevens gave a nod to Lieutenant McDaniel who went to the door and opened it.

             
“Gabby!” Harold exclaimed as she walked into the room.

             
She smiled and ran to him, flinging her arms around his neck and he spun in a circle with her.

             
“I thought we were dead,” she said as she gave him a peck on the lips.

             
“Me too,” Harold answered.

             
Harold put her down and she walked to the table and began helping herself to the food there.

             
“I’m starving,” she said as she cut herself a large helping of fish.  “Dr. Carter said that y’all expected me to recover rapidly.  How did y’all know, Colonel?”

             
“I was pretty beat up when they found me,” Ralph answered.

             
“And so was I,” Michelle said. “We got over our wounds quickly.”

             
“It made sense that you would as well,” Colonel Stevens said to Gabby.  “Whatever it is that makes all of you like you are, has made you extremely resistant to physical trauma.  Even lab rat elites can’t absorb the shockwaves that you can.  Your bodies are much more stout even than theirs.”

             
“How do you know?” Harold asked.

             
“The pressure waves created by the explosives that you’ve survived would’ve killed D-Con and I if we had not been in our suits,” Major Young answered.  “By everything we know about physiology, you should be dead.”

             
“And yet, here y’all stand,” Lieutenant McDaniel finished.

             
“After we finish lunch,” Colonel Stevens said.  “I will take all of you to see the hangars and launch bays.”

             
While they ate lunch, they asked Gabby various questions about Marksville and other things.  They also gave her a brief overview of the history they had told Harold.  Soon, they had all finished eating and Colonel Stevens sat back in his chair.

             
“Okay, guys.  Let’s go,” he said and led them out of the room.

             
Harold; Gabby; Ralph; Michelle; Major Young, and Lieutenant McDaniel all fell in behind Colonel Stevens as he moved through the domed room and back out into the hall.  They found their way to the elevator and Colonel Stevens pressed a few symbols.  The elevator creaked and moved up for a few seconds and then stopped.

             
When the doors opened, they all stepped into a gigantic, rectangular-shaped room.  All throughout it were ATLAS units walking around.  Some were carrying large barrels and others were carrying boxes full of various things.  Down the center of the room sat the fighter jets that had the face of the white eagle painted on them.  Four were facing one direction, and three were facing the opposite direction.  All around the room, in a single file line, stood dozens if not more than a hundred unmanned ATLAS armored units.”

             
“This is the hangar for the F-77 White Eagles,” Colonel Stevens said.  “The most advanced fighter aircraft ever made.  It has an anti-gravity lift for vertical take off and landing and basic locomotion, but jet engines for combat purposes.  It also employs an active-stealth polymer cloak, thermal reduction, and 360 degree thrust vectorization on both the vertical and horizontal axis along with inertial abatement technology and a rotational cockpit.  All of this is combined with computer-assisted monitoring and maneuvering which allows it to compete with anything the lab rats can throw at us.”

             
“If I knew what any of that meant,” Harold shrugged. “I’m sure I’d be impressed.”

             
Colonel Stevens and the others laughed.

             
“But their fighters are invisible,” Gabby replied.

             
“Ours are also,” Colonel Stevens held up his hand before Harold could speak.  “When a LAMPP is deployed it also renders us visible as well.  Without getting too in-depth, technology has almost become a wash and it is necessary to engage in old-school dog fighting within the illumination radius of a LAMPP.”

             
“How large is the radius?” Gabby asked.

             
“About 300-350 miles, give or take, depending on atmospheric conditions,” Colonel Stevens answered.

             
“Why were these not made to fight the AI Drones?” Gabby asked.

             
“The technology didn’t exist then,” Colonel Stevens replied.  “Genetics was further ahead at that time.  As far as we know, the lab rats still have not developed inertial abatement technology.  That is the true strength of the White Eagle design.  It levels the playing field.”

             
“Colonel Stevens was a key ingredient in the development of inertial abatement technology,” Major Young interjected.  “It greatly reduces the G-forces inflicted on the body and now normal individuals can perform maneuvers that were previously impossible for anything but lab rats and AI Drones.”