Escape to Earth 1: Running From Fate (24 page)

“We backed out and left the hostages. Two weeks later we learned that all twenty-five of them were butchered and left nailed to a wall where they were being held. Some of them were younger than twelve years old.” Jinks raised his head, “I learned that day that my government doesn’t care about doing the right thing; they care about doing what is in their best interests. If my leaders had possession of this remarkable ship you have here, no one would ever be free again. We would impose our will on the rest of the planet and who knows how many innocent people might be allowed to die.”

Stoney shook his head, “Don’t misunderstand what Jinks is saying. We love our country and believe it’s the best nation on Earth. But even the best can lose control if they are invincible. Absolute power has never had a good ending.”

“We’ll possess absolute power if we build these ships.”

Jinks nodded, “Yes, but there’s a difference.”

“What is that?”

“You could have run and escaped, leaving us to what’s coming. You chose to stay and help us. I also learned from your girlfriend that she sees the inherent danger of one nation having absolute power. I like her and, by extension, I believe I’m going to like you as well.”

Lukas smiled, “Well I’ve been told I’m a very likeable person. However, I intend to prevent your planet from being invaded, all your species enslaved, and all your natural resources stripped and taken. Once that is done, your governments are going to have to figure out where we fit in the larger scheme of things.”

“Where would you like to fit?”

“Personally, I’d like to just stay here and spend the rest of my life sitting on the beach with Salud.”

Jinks started laughing. Stoney looked at him, “What’s so funny?”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say that Lukas has seen more war than both of us.”

Lukas lowered his head, “How could you possibly know that?”

“Because everyone who has wishes to have a peaceful beach to sit on.”

Stoney looked at Lukas, “Is he right about you?”

“Mr. Stone, my planet takes children away from their parents at the age of four and trains them how to operate a Battleship’s weapons. More than sixty percent of them never reach the age of thirty five when they could retire and have a family.”

“I thought you said the government took your children?”

“Those that are smart enough to pass the tests. Those who don’t pass the tests but are still above normal intelligence are put to work building the weapons of war used by the warriors.”

“What about the others?”

Lukas looked at Jinks, “I had three older brothers that were executed because they didn’t have the necessary talent to be a productive part of my society. Oh, I’ve seen war up close and personal and I never knew there was another way until my escape pod brought me here. You may think your planet is constantly fighting wars but this is heaven compared to what’s going on out there in the galaxy.”

“What makes you think we stand a chance against them?”

Lukas nodded at Salud who was standing across the building talking to Joey, “She built a force field that is beyond anything the Fellowship possesses. It is due in large part to this planet having a massive abundance of petroleum and carbon deposits, which the other civilizations don’t have. The weapons we build using carbon and petroleum will give us a chance to hold them off.”

Jinks looked at the pod still hovering off the floor and sighed, “I saw some shapes out there that were close to a mile long.”

Lukas nodded, “A lot of that was the force field surrounding the ships. Some of them are longer than half a mile with hundreds of disruptors and missile batteries.” Lukas saw Jinks and Stoney shake their heads. “Think of it this way, gentlemen. If you’re in a gun fight against an adversary that has twenty guns to use against the one you’re carrying, who will win?”

Jinks tilted his head, “That depends.”

“On what?”

“Who gets off the first shot.”

“Or, said another way, the first shot through a force field.”

“Do you think one shot will kill a space ship that’s half a mile in length?”

“If your shot gets through and hits it in the right place, yes.”

“Do you think you can get a shot through their force fields?”

“We’re working on it.”

“Do tell. What if they attack while you’re working on it?”

“They can’t attack until they detect a stardrive.”

“What?”

“I’m sure you’ve wondered why they haven’t just come in and blown the living hell out of your defenses and made a nuisance of themselves.”

“I have wondered about that.”

“The Species that imposes rules of war prohibits contact with any primitive planet that doesn’t have the ability to leave their solar system. Before the planet can be taken, it must have built a space ship with a stardrive.”

“That’s good news, we’re a long way from developing faster than light ships.” Lukas stepped aside and they saw the pod behind him still hovering above the floor. Stoney looked at Jinks and then back to Lukas, “The ships we’re going to build will have a stardrive?”

“If it doesn’t, it can’t win against them.”

“Should we be doing this?”

“Mr. Stone…”

“Call me Stoney.”

Lukas smiled, “Stoney, have no doubt those ships will be coming. The force field Salud built would also bring them here. Someone will stumble on the principles and build a stardrive eventually; it could be in two hundred years or tomorrow. I suspect it will be within the next thirty years but that’s another story. When do you start preparing for their arrival? You should understand that the first civilization to nuke a city on Earth will take possession of the planet and I suspect quite a few nuclear missiles will be launched in the hopes that the lucky first one will belong to those that fired first.”

Jinks shook his head, “Damned if we do, damned if we don’t.”

“No, you’re damned for certain if you don’t.”

“Couldn’t we get together as a world and start building what we need to hold them off?”

Lukas looked at Stoney, “You would, of necessity, have to develop a stardrive to build a ship that would stand a chance against them. As soon as the probe above this planet detects the first one you power up…”

“The game is on. But you could help build what we need.”

“Jinks, then we’re back at, who gets the gun?”

Jinks looked at Stoney, “He’s right.” Stoney nodded, “Count us in, Lukas and tell us what we can do to help.”

“I’m going to need both of you to set up the facility that will be building the control modules for our disruptors. You will tell the locals that are working on their assembly that they are building the power transfer boxes for the hybrid motors. We’ve started making the components and they’re ready for assembly. The two of you will teach the workers how to put them together and keep things running smooth.”

“Who’s going to do the hiring?”

“That’s being taken care of by Joey’s staff. They’ll handle all the personnel details; you just need to focus on the workers.”

Jinks nodded, “When do we start flying?”

“Not until we’ve built enough ships to hold them off.”

“That could be a while.”

Lukas smiled, “Drag a chair out to the beach and you’ll stop worrying about that.”

Jinks smiled and saw Stoney was smiling as well.

• • •

“Sir, I’ve lost track of Jekins and Stone.”

“What?”

“You ordered me to check in on them periodically and I can no longer find them.”

“I thought you people were the best at finding anyone.”

The operative shrugged, “It appears we will lose a gold star on this one. They are not anywhere around their normal haunts.”

The General stared at the man and thought about why the two would disappear. He pulled out an electronic planner and looked at the operative, “Did you call them?”

“What?”

“You have their phone numbers, don’t you?” The operative nodded and watched the General start dialing his phone.

• • •

Stoney heard his cell phone ring and pulled it out, “What?”

Lukas said, “What’s going on.”

“The General that replaced me is calling me. What do I do?”

“Answer it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Answering it is better than having him send out a search party.”

Jinks shrugged and pressed the green button, “Jekins here.”

“Hello Jinks. I thought I would check up on you and Stoney to see how you’re doing.”

“Better than I was.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. We had to find work, our retirement wasn’t enough.”

“What sort of work?”

“The only kind retired military can ever get, manual labor. We’ve been hired by a company to build parts for hybrid cars. It’s not hard and keeps my mind occupied. How are you doing?”

“Oh, you know.”

“I understand.”

“Stay in touch, Jinks.”

“If it’s all the same to you, I need to get things out of my mind.”

“I understand. Good luck in your new job and tell Stoney as well.”

‘Thanks, General.”

• • •

The General hung up the phone and stared at his desk. After a moment he said, “I assume you heard.”

“I did.”

“Did you trace the call?”

“I did. It’ll take a few minutes to determine the location.” The operative said, “What’s bothering you?”

“I don’t know. Probably nothing but…I just can’t see Jinks doing manual labor.”

“Sir, he’s right about the jobs military retirees have to take.”

“But he was a general for Christ’s sake.”

The operative shrugged “Colonel Dickens works as a greeter at Walmart.”

“Check out the business and let me know what you find.”

The agent nodded and left the room.

• • •

He arrived in his office and the trace was already in his computer. He looked at it and smiled, now that is a choice place to work. He started running inquires through various agencies and discovered that the company that had hired Jinks was licensed to build hybrid vehicles. Ummm, that rich kid was the owner and that didn’t seem out of place. He looked up and tilted his head, wasn’t the hybrid car market on the rocks? He remembered that general motors had cut back on hybrid production. Why would a company want to invest in building them? He leaned back in his chair. That didn’t feel right.

He sent a request to his staff and waited for a few minutes. His computer beeped and he saw the file had arrived. He opened the folder and began reading General Jekins’ service history. After five minutes he knew that Jekins was one of the smartest officers in the armed forces. He was fast tracked for promotion and his action record was impressive. He took part in heavy fighting in Iraq and was decorated twice. He completed the file and wondered why Jekins had resigned his commission. He shook his head and then remembered Jekins saying the shakes had returned. He immediately reopened Jekins service files and searched them thoroughly; nowhere did it mention he suffered from PTSD. What was going on? He leaned back again, and now he’s working in a plant building hybrid cars. What’s wrong with this picture? He picked up his phone, “Jill, this is Jim.”

“What’s going on?”

“I need you to get someone inside a business on an island off Barbados.”

“Surreptitiously or out in the open?”

“Out in the open, according to the information I’ve been given, they’re hiring employees to work in their plants as we speak. Do you have anyone we can insert?”

“Let me see what I can do. What will they be looking to find?”

“I want to know why one of our best General Officers retired and went to work there.”

“I’ll get on it. I’ll let you know if anything turns up.”

“Thanks, Jill.” He leaned back again and decided to wait to discuss this with the General. He might get angry with this much involvement when he told his Commander that it wasn’t an issue. It probably wasn’t…but…why would a real bonafide hero leave in his country’s most desperate hour of need? Something just didn’t feel right. Let’s see what Jill could come up with.

• • •

Jinks stood beside a young islander and shook his head. The young boy was frightened out of his mind with him watching him work. Jinks knew he looked imposing and this young kid had to have a history of mistreatment. He put his hand on the boy’s arm and said, “Stop.” The boy froze. Jinks went down to a knee and looked the youngster directly in the eyes and smiled, “Julio, take a deep breath.” The young boy tried but failed. “Try it again, but this time, close your eyes.” “Do it again.” “Once more. Now look at me.”

The young boy opened his eyes and Jinks said, “Why did you come to work here?”

“My family needs the money.”

“What do you need, Julio?”

“What?”

“What do you need?”

“I’m not sure I understand, Señor.”

“When everyone is depending on you, then the pressure to keep your job is almost overwhelming. What do you need, Julio?”

“I’d like to have a scooter someday, Señor.”

Jinks smiled, “Then let’s you and I agree to do this. You put these modules together correctly for six months and I’ll buy you a scooter.”

“REALLY!”

“Really. But you will work against yourself if you’re so tense you can’t think clearly. Now you and I are going to come up with a pattern you follow to do it right.”

Julio and nodded and Jinks took the first module and turned it upside down, “Down, up, slide, snap.” He handed Julio the two modules. “That’s right, upside down on one, rig side up on two, slide them together until they click. Now put ten of them together and call it out as you do it.”

“Down, up, slide snap.”

“Very good. Now here’s the pattern for the next module.”

Within an hour Julio was assembling the entire module perfectly. Those working around Julio listened and learned the pattern with him.

A woman sitting several rows over from Julio watched Jinks work with the young boy and shook her head. Spending that much time with a worker was something that shouldn’t be done. She leaned forward and continued putting the modules together. He should have just hired someone more mature.

From that day on, Julio and Jinks always high fived each other as he left the building. The young boy had something to look forward to.