Monsters Win Wars: A Novella (5 page)

“But things aren’t that simple. The only
truth is that while legions of soldiers scour the stars for me, you
sit in a hole on some godforsaken rock, waiting to rot. Your lizard
men can’t save you. Nothing can. This is the only thing your
idealism has gotten you.”

Henry punched him again, and Sallis laughed
as he fell to the ground. Emily then dragged him out to the door.
Sallis continued to laugh as they closed the door behind him.

“Is everything alright?” Aric asked as they
exited the cell.

“Yeah, I just...” Henry trailed off, feeling
shame and anger well-up inside him. He’d let himself lose control.
He knew that he might have to get physical, but he didn’t want to
act like a madman. He turned to Emily, and said, “Thanks.”

“No problem.” She said, patting him on the
back.

“Why did you stop?” Rand asked. The two
humans looked at him. “You were just starting to do it right.”

“I…I didn’t want to risk hurting him anymore
than I needed to.”

“It doesn’t matter what you want boy. The
fact is we need that information, and we need it fast.”

“I know that!” Henry shouted. He stopped and
took a deep breath before saying, “We’ll wait another few minutes,
then I’ll go-”

“No it won’t work.” Aric said. “He knows that
he can get to you.”

“I won’t blow my top this time. I know now to
be careful with him.”

“That’s not what I mean. He’s seen you with
your guard down. Your threats won’t work as easily.”

“I don’t need to threaten. I just need to
emphasize that we have the upper hand.”

“But he won’t see that. I heard the way he
talked to you. In his mind, you can never have the upper hand.”

“Commander!” said a voice coming down the
hall. They all turned to see another Saurian troop running up to
them. He wore a pair of headphones around his neck, and held a
clump of papers in his hand.

“Sir.” The troop stopped, and slammed his
right claw against his left shoulder. Henry had learned that this
was the Saurian salute. Aric returned the salute, and asked the
troop what he wanted.

“There is a human military dreadnought about
to enter Saturnian space.” He said, handing the paper in his hand
to Aric. Emily walked over, and they both looked over the
printout.

“Shit.” She said, taking the paper from
Aric’s hands.

“Have they found us yet?” Aric asked.

“No.” The communications trooper said. “We’re
still too far away for their scanners to break through our jamming
signals. But they are getting close. We estimate they’ll be over
Titan within the next four hours.”

Aric turned to Emily and asked, “Can your
jamming signals work if they’re right over us?”

“I don’t know.” She said. “They’re going to
be using the latest military-grade equipment.”

“Is there any way to increase the signal
strength?”

“Maybe, I do have a few ideas.” She looked up
at the trooper with the headphones around his neck. “Let’s go.”

The trooper nodded, and they took off back to
the communications room. As soon as they left, Rand swore in his
Saurian tongue.

“We’re running out of time. We need that
information from him now.” Rand said.

“We have other things to worry about besides
the interrogation.” Henry said.

“Don’t you see, if we interrogate him right
now, we could get that dreadnought off our backs.”

“He’s right.” Aric said. “If he can tell us
the exact frequency codes for the sensors on the dreadnoughts,
it’ll be easier to jam their signals.” Henry bit at his lower
lip.

“But we don’t have enough time.” The rebel
leader said.

“Yes we do.” Aric said. “Rand is one the best
interrogators you’ll ever meet.”

“It won’t take long at all.” Rand said. Henry
looked at those dark yellow eyes, and saw a pinch of a smile at the
corner of his reptilian lips.

He remembered the brutality with which he’d
dispatched the soldiers in the villa, and said, “No.”

“Senator, we don’t have a choice.” Aric
said.

“I know, but I don’t want him doing it.”

“Why not?” Rand asked. Henry stopped to pick
his words carefully.

“I want you to….”

“To what?”

“Senator,” Aric said. “I know you place human
rights and dignity in very high esteem, but this is war.”

“I won’t hurt him.” Rand said. The other two
stared at him. “I will get the information without giving him a
scratch, or breaking any bones.”

“You swear?” Henry asked.

“Interrogation is primary about intimidation
anyway, and there are many ways to intimidate without causing
serious physical injury.” Henry stared at him for a few moments,
searching the reptilian face for any hint of his true intentions,
but couldn’t find any.

“Alright,” Henry said finally. “But remember,
we’re soldiers, not monsters.”

“Yes sir.” Rand said. He nodded to Aric,
before entering the cell.

“What is he going to do?” Henry asked as the
saurian closed the door behind him.

“He has his methods, and they almost always
work.” Aric said. He turned to Henry, and saw the bags that hung
under his eyes and the sunken-in cheeks on his face. “How long has
it been since you’ve eaten?”

Henry shrugged and said, “I don’t know. Me
and Emily have been very busy. I think I’m going to go meet her in
the communications room.”

“I’ll go with you.” Aric said, and they
left.

Upon opening the cell door, the president
stood up with a start.

“You…your one of them.” He said. Rand didn’t
look at him. He just closed the door behind him, and pressed his
ear against it. He was listening for when Aric and Henry left. “You
know you guys are making a mistake.”

Rand turned around to Sallis. His yellow eyes
stared at him with contempt.

“I didn’t mean that you can’t win.” Sallis
added quickly. “I just mean that, you’re wasting your time with
this Patrick. Why not join up with me?”

“I am loyal to Aric, who is in turn loyal to
Senator Patrick.” Rand pulled himself from the door, and faced
Sallis.

“Oh c’mon, be reasonable.” Sallis said. He
smiled nervously as the lizard man approached. “I am the most
powerful man in the solar system. I can be an incredible ally to
you.”

“Not interested. Take off your clothes.”

Sallis eyes went wide. He watched as Rand’s
clawed hands undid the fabric belt around his torso. The red dress
robe slid off his body, and fell the ground, revealing his skinny,
scaly, naked form.

“What are…?” Sallis began, his heart racing
in his chest.

“Take off your clothes.” Rand said, walking
toward him.

“Oh god.” Sallis muttered.

“Do you need me to do it for you?” Rand
asked. Sallis didn’t answer, and instead tried to make a run for
the door.

“Help! Help!” He said. Rand stuck out a foot,
and tripped him. He then threw himself on top of the president. His
scaly chest pressed against his back.

“Scream if you wish.” Rand said.

Six months later, and the rebellion could
finally say it had the upper hand.

They were on Mars, on a stretch of
uninhabited desert. They’d abandoned the Titan base, and had
instead begun to use the saurian ship as a mobile base of
operations. Using the frequency codes that President Sallis had
given them, they’d been able to prevent themselves from being
found, as they nomadically traversed the solar system.

With Sallis as their prisoner, Rand was able
to extract tons of vital information; security codes, and the
locations of targets with strategic military value. Armed with this
information, the rebellion was able to deal strategic blows against
the government, crippling their armies, and weakening their
leadership. Using pure guerrilla tactics, and the skill of the
saurian soldiers, the rebellion seemed well on its way to
liberating the solar system. Henry himself had trouble at times
believing their good fortune, and frequently suspected that
something might be amiss. He didn’t have any concrete evidence, it
was just a feeling.

Rand and a few of the other troops were in
the hold of the saurian ship sparing. Henry walked onto the balcony
that overlooked the hold, and stood watching the training session.
There were four of them, all circling around Rand. They were
wearing the black commando suits they wore in combat, but they had
forgone the helmets for the training. On their hands were black
gloves that covered their claws. Henry had seen a few sparing
sessions before, and he always found them impressive and
disturbing.

It was different from watching them fight
with human soldiers, who were slower, and relied on rifles. The
movements were quick and precise, the scaly limbs blurring past
each other almost too fast for the human eye to detect them. They
liked to get right up to their opponent, assault them head on. They
pummeled, kicked, clawed, elbowed, and threw each other all about
the hold. As he stood up there, watching the inhuman battle before
him, he felt some of his conviction leave him. But he remembered
the folder in his hand. Before he could leave, he forced himself to
speak.

“Rand!” he said. Almost immediately, the
sparing stopped. Some of them lay pinned on their backs, some were
crouched, and preparing to pounce. Rand and one other were
standing. They all slowly turned and looked up to face Henry. The
rebel leader picked out Rand’s scarred face. A line of blood ran
from the temple to the chin, and another ran just under the right
eye. A few of the others had blood on their faces. In the last few
months, Henry had seen these commandos in countless combat
situations, but the only time they bled was during training.

They didn’t pant, or sweat, but just stared
up at him as their tense, combat ready bodies began to relax.
Without their helmets, Henry could see the trails of tears that
glistened on their cheeks. But these were not tears of anguish at
the pain they’d endured. According to Aric, it was quite natural
for saurians to cry during combat.

Henry didn’t want to ask anymore. He’d
resolved to spend as little time around them as possible during
training sessions. But what he found out couldn’t wait. He needed
to know what was going on.

“What is it?” Rand asked, his voice
irritable. “I told you never to disturb us while we’re
sparing.”

Henry held up the medical report in his hand
and said, “It’s about Sallis.” Rand’s eye’s narrowed into
slits.

“Leave us.” Rand said to the others. The
others left through a door along the wall, as Henry descended the
stairway, to meet Rand on the ground.

“We did a physical on him this morning.”
Henry said.

“I ordered that you were not to do any such
thing.” Rand said. During the six months that they’d kept Sallis as
their prisoner, Rand had insisted that he be the only one to have
contact with him. The logic was that for continued interrogations
to work, that Sallis needed to feel trapped, and only having
contact with the one who interrogated him would help. Aric agreed,
again appealing to the fact that Rand was an expert interrogator
who knew what he was saying, but Henry protested. He felt that at
the very least, Sallis should be allowed an occasional visit to the
ship doctor to see if he had any health problems.

“It’s only the humane thing to do.” Henry had
said. But they ignored him.

That morning, against their wishes, Henry
decided to visit Sallis. The president lay in his bed, staring up
at the ceiling.

“Mr. President?” Henry had said. The
president didn’t say anything. He didn’t speak or acknowledge
Henry’s presence. The rebel leader immediately called Emily, and
together they carried Sallis to the infirmary, where they performed
some tests, the results of which Henry had brought to the hold
where Rand had been training.

“Well we did it anyway.” Henry said, holding
up the medical file on Sallis’ physical.

“You defied my orders?” Rand said, more
annoyed than offended.

“Do you know what we found?”

“I don’t care. I am the second-in-command of
this army, and the chief interrogator. Do you have any-”

“Shut the fuck up!” Henry interrupted. His
breathing had become hard. His arms were shaking, and his eyes
seemed to bore into Rand. The saurian didn’t say anything. Henry
held up the file, and asked, “Do you know what we found when we did
the physical?”

Rand stared at the file silently for a few
moments, before looking back at Henry. His thin lizard lips spread
in a small smile.

“Is he pregnant?” Rand said. Henry dropped
the folder, and punched the lizard man in the face. The force of
the punch made Rand stumble back. Henry began to nurse his fist. He
could see the diamond shape indentations on his knuckles, where
they’d collided with the scaly face.

Once the shock of the punch had worn off, the
saurian ran up to Henry and grabbed him by the arm. He pulled him
close, and wrapped his hand around his neck.

“Don’t ever strike me again!” Rand said, his
lizard face had become livid. He bared his dagger-like teeth, in a
menacing scowl. His eyes seemed to glow with hatred, and his claws
pressed into Henry’s skin. “If you ever strike me again, I will
slit your throat!”

“And what would Aric say about that?!” Henry
said. The long scaly fingers around his throat began to tighten
their grip, and the claws began to sink deeper into his skin. For a
few seconds, Henry thought he was going to suffocate, or that the
lizard claws at his throat would find their way to a major artery.
Instead, the Saurian Commando gave an angry grunt, before throwing
Henry to the ground.

Rand stood watching as Henry pushed himself
off the ground. He stood up, and dragged his fingers around his
neck, checking if the creature’s claws had broken the skin.