Indian Hill (36 page)
Outside Vail
“Hey sir, ah Paul, I was wondering something?” Frank asked tentatively.
“What is it Frank, you look a little perplexed
.
”
“
W
ith the recruitment of so many personnel...”
“Speaking of which, oh I’m sorry to interrupt, but how many people are we up to now? I’ve been so busy with appropriating supplies I haven’t got a chance lately to go out there and see what’s going on.”
“We just topped one hundred.”
“Damn, no wonder we need so much stuff.”
“They need more.”
“I’ve got just about everything that I can think of on this list, what more do we need.”
“It’s not a physical thing sir, I mean Paul, it’s not something you can hold but it is something you can hold onto.”
“Frank, you’re talking in circles, come out with it.”
“Sir, I mean Paul, we need leadership.”
“Well then, make yourself a general and let’s be done with it.”
“Paul, that’s not how it works. These people here, they came because of you and your ideas, they merely see me as an instrument of yours.”
“So you’re saying I should just stop with all this requisitioning stuff and go play soldier.”
“Basically in a nut shell that’s exactly what I’m telling you to do. These people came here to learn how to defend their homeland and if necessary die for it. Go get Dewey to do all this appropriating and paperwork, he’s very adept at it and it will give you a chance to get out there and be with your personnel.”
“You make this sound like an army.”
“What do you think this is? And speaking of which, any time you get a mob this big together under stressful situations you’re going to have problems. We need to instill some discipline, definitely into the newbies.”
“Frank, this is the kind of crap I avoided in college. I didn’t even fill out the form at the post office when I turned eighteen.”
“Well like it or not Paul, you are now in command of the first planetary defense army and as such I think that you need to start acting the part whether you want to or not.”
“Well Frank, you were in the Marines, what’s a good rank for me?”
“Well to be honest I always thought full bird colonels were the baddest asses in the Corps, they weren’t so high and mighty that they couldn’t come out and do physical training with the troops. They mostly seemed like regular Joes with a little more responsibility. I knew colonels in the corps that every one of his troops would willingly follow to the death. And that’s the feeling I get with our troops when they look at you. They’d follow you to hell, and to be completely honest I think they might just do that before this whole thing is over.”
“Well then Frank, Colonel Ginson it is, and just exactly what rank would you like to garner?”
“I’ve always fancied myself a captain.”
“Congratulations Captain Salazar. Now I just need to get us insignia and some uniforms and we’ll be all set.”
“Already done sir.” Frank pulled out a set of camouflage fatigues with colonel wings on the lapels.
“Pretty sure of how this conversation was going to turn out Frank?”
“Just a little bit, sir.”
“Captain.” Frank snapped to the position of attention. Paul thought that this was going to take a little getting used to. “Captain, please send in Private Dewey Johnson.” Frank smiled with the corner of his mouth, said “Aye sir,” did an about face and left the command tent.
NORAD
“Captain
Moirane
.”
“Yes General.” The Captain had been awakened by his lieutenant when the call from the general came in over the scrambled line. He had been in a deep sleep and found it relatively comforting that he could awaken so fast when the need arose. His mother would be so proud. As a youngster it had taken nothing short of soaking him with cold water to get him out of bed and on his way to school.
“Captain
Moirane
, are you there?” Apparently he hadn’t woken up nearly as well as he first believed.
“Sorry sir, the line faded out.”
“Captain, have you been keeping an eye on those zealots up by Vail?”
“Yes sir, we have a satellite that monitors their doings. Sir, may I speak freely?”
“Go ahead Captain, I have never been one to stifle your opinions even if you would let me.”
“Sir, why are we wasting so much time and resources on this small band of militia?”
“Well Captain, there are a couple of reasons. Number one, we don’t want them alarming the general population. So far they have kept their theories pretty close to the vest. Th
eir recruitment is very limited
. We just want to make sure that they don’t get the country’s panties in
a
bunch and secondly... well, secondly we’re funding them.”
Now the captain was fairly certain that he had not fully awoken from his sleep. “Sir, say again?”
“We’re funding them, this is known only to myself,
Senator Allard,
their leader, Paul
Ginson
, a supply sergeant in the Springs and now you.”
“But sir, why would you help out a fanatic militia?”
“Because they are at least preparing for the inevitable. The President is so busy trying to negotiate a peace with a species that won’t even acknowledge our existence except to scoop some of us up for God knows what purpose. He won’t bring any of our troops back from the Middle East or Europe, this is the time when we should be monitoring our own, and he hasn’t eve
n mobilized the National Guard.
”
“Sir, what could you possibly think this rag tag bunch could do?”
“Captain I just don’t know, but that Paul’s got moxie and I like him.
Paul's father and Senator Allard grew up together, and the Senator is Paul's godfather. They
approached me and convinced me of
their
intentions.
Both knowing
full well I could have
them
thrown
i
n jail just for mentioning it, but yet
t
he
y
went full steam ahead. And you know Captain, sometimes the smallest cog in the machinery has the biggest role. And something deep down in my gut tells me that this is the case here. So basically Captain, I want you more to keep an eye on the activity around the mountainside as opposed to the activity in the camp. I don’t want any of the local police messing this up. You, my fine Captain, are going to run interference for, I believe he is now called Colonel. Yeah, Colonel Ginson.”
“Sir, how am I possibly going to do that?’
“Easy Captain, you are going to join the Earth Defense Militia. Over and out Captain. Any questions, you know where to reach me.”
All thoughts of sleep had completely left the captain. So there he was watching an infomercial for a juicer at three in the morning with an ice cold Budweiser. He didn’t know if it was the late hour or the cold beer, but that juicer really looked like a good buy.
Orbiting Venus
- (I had asked)
I had less than a week and I had yet to find any viable strategy regarding my next opponent. He was as smart if not smarter, he was as big if not bigger and he was fast and yes, faster than myself. He displayed a wide range of excellence with almost every weapon. He had stood toe to toe and won, he had tricked opponents and won. He had even fallen into a trap and was deft enough to get out, get the upper hand and still kill his opponent. This fight was going to take everything that I had. And even that prospect didn’t seem very fruitful. I had no clue which weapon I even wanted to attempt with him. Luckily the Progerians took care of that small detail. The remainder of the week flew by, I d
id
n’t know how because I sure wasn’t having any fun.
T
here it was on the screen
though
, game time; only I didn’t get to sit back and watch the Giants with Wags and
have
a cold beer. Everything that I had planned hinged on one man. The fate of the entire planet Earth itself seemed to hinge on this battle. If I lost, we as a species would pretty much have sealed our fates.
I
f step one in my at least ten step plan went as planned, I would be the victor
t
here and one step closer to warning my home. The problem however with plans is that they rarely go as planned. Joe Pontiff had no desire to be my latest victim and the Progerians had made this round of the battles the toughest thus far. I was introduced first as seem
ed
to be customary for me. I surveyed the arena to get the lay of the land and that was when I noticed the first thing that was amiss. There were no weapons on the walls. One would reason that the aliens quite possibly hid them within the arena tapestry. But that would also be a falsehood, because the arena was merely a level dirt surface, there was nowhere to hide anything. Anxiety rose within me. Fighting was hard enough but hand-to-hand combat to the death was almost a little more than I could bear. My legs literally began to wobble. I looked up at the big screen as soon as Joe was receiving his introduction. He also surveyed the arena, and he
quickly discerned
what was happening. He did not seem in the least concerned, and why
w
ould he
?
I had thus far not proven to anybody that I was very adept at this style of fighting. Perhaps the powers that be realized this and were finally finding a way to get rid of me. The horn sounded and the bout began. I did not move for fear of falling over, I didn’t want to give Joe any more confidence than was absolutely necessary. He started heading towards me but he was cautious, he was making sure that I had not set up some sort of elaborate plan. I d
idn
’t know what he was thinking, I had nowhere to hide and nothing to use. I guess when it’s your life on the line it’s better to err on the side of caution. I felt like a deer caught in the headlamps, I couldn’t move backwards and I didn’t dare move forward. I felt naked without a weapon. I felt small, I felt puny. I wanted to run, but there was nowhere to go. And yet he kept approaching. I knew he was coming but I felt like I was stuck in a Twilight Zone show. Every time I looked at him he never appeared to be getting any closer. I
was
pretty sure it was wishful thinking on my part
though
. If he never looked like he was getting
to me
than just maybe he wouldn’t really get
t
here. But my body knew what my mind failed to grasp,
that
little thing called reality. He was coming and if I didn’t get a groove on I’d be dead before the next minute ticked off.