Skeleton Wars (10 page)

This operation had been kept secret from all
the skeleton warriors including their battlefield commanders. Only
Lord Ghost, Gen. Cov and Roth knew about it. The other skeleton
warriors were fighting with all their strength because they had
been promised better living conditions on earth. After conquering
earth, each skeleton was to be allowed to live in all the beautiful
places of their choice! But none was told about this plan!

Prof. McDonald, being a specialist in
Molecular Phylogeny, was forced to be part of the team of the
cytologists. In their pilot experiments, they were able to develop
different body tissues in a short period of time. Five skeletons
were put in separate closed test tubes which had been connected to
delivery tubes through which they were feeding the test tubes with
the bone marrow solutions and other mixtures of different
chemicals. Gradually, skin tissues started forming over the
skeletons and within ten minutes, they were all covered with flesh.
Their next operation, which was perhaps the hardest but most
important was developing internal body organs, blood and its
vessels. According to Lord Ghost’s plan, all the skeleton warriors
were to receive these cloned bodies and organs. The brains which
the warriors were to get were to first be programmed in such a way
that they could listen to orders from Lord Ghost only. This was the
best way Lord Ghost would be secured against attack from his own
soldiers.

The ghosts turned the Pentagon’s National
Military Command Center into a communication hub for the whole
world. They were using it to provide accurate, complete and timely
information for the operational chain of command for their armed
soldiers both on the ground and in the air. Lord Ghost himself went
to the Pentagon’s Briefing Room and ordered his computer
specialists to connect Pentagon’s communication system to all the
secure underground military bunkers in different countries where
the world’s leaders were hiding. In a live video feed to these
bunkers, Lord Ghost issued a series of threats to the world’s
political and military leaders across the globe. Leaders in
different parts of the world were able to watch him speaking from
the comforts of their covers and many took his message
seriously.

“Don’t be fooled to think that by hiding
behind those heavy blast doors you are out of reach!” he warned.
“You must know that we don’t need any explosive to kill you from
there. We have enough dangerous chemicals to saturate the
ventilation systems of all your bunkers to kill you in just seconds
without a single blast. Most importantly, remember we are in
control of all your nuclear stockpiles. If any country tries to
intervene in this fight, we shall be forced to nuke your own
cities. If not, we shall self-detonate them at once from their
silos. I hope you can all guess what will happen if we reach that
far.”

He first paused for some seconds before he
resumed. But midway his next sentence, “We have not come to kill
all………..” all the computers at Pentagon went off at once due to an
abrupt signal transmission failure. Lord Ghost was stricken with
panic and rushed to the Pentagon’s war rooms to find out what had
happened, but he was humbled down when he found his specialists
equally confused. They were trying as much as they could by
pressing all possible buttons on the computer keyboards to restore
the condition but it was not an easy task.

The source of that confusion was from
Beijing, China. As soon as Lord Ghost had started talking to the
world leaders, three hackers attached to The Second Artillery Corps
which manages China’s ICBMs gained access to Pentagon’s computer
systems. For over five minutes, they took control over them from
the ghosts. After locating where Lord Ghost was talking from, the
hackers launched a DF-41D ICBM from Jiuquan launch center in
Northwest Gansu Province to destroy the Pentagon.

Unfortunately, the ghosts managed to regain
control over their computer systems before this Dongfeng missile
could reach the US airspace. Using one of their three killer
satellites in space, the ghosts managed to blow it out of the
Pacific sky in time. Luckily, all the ICBM’s Multiple Reentry
Vehicles were carrying conventional warheads. Their explosion in
the sky did not cause any irradiation effects to humans on the
ground, as it would have been if they were nuclear warheads.

Lord Ghost was greatly angered by that
action. In retaliation, he ordered his computer specialists to fire
one manmade ICBM at one of China’s large cities as a warning to the
world. They launched a RS-24 Yars missile from the Russian
31
^st
Missile Army Centre, a silo based ICBM complex near
the town of Dombarovsky. It was carrying a 50 megaton nuclear
warhead and was destined for Shanghai, China’s most populated city.
It was recorded live by their satellites as it followed its
trajectory and the videos were fed live to all the bunkers to
ensure that all world leaders could see what would happen to their
countries if they attempted to attack them again.

When it reached Shanghai’s airspace, the
missile made a dive and raced towards the ground. Its center of
explosion was to be in the People’s Square, near Shanghai Museum.
But before it touched its ground zero, the ghosts diverted it back
into the skies. It soared back in the air from where the ghosts
weakened it and then forced it to fall in the nearby East China Sea
without exploding. When it dropped in the water body, world leaders
took a huge sigh. They were relieved of the stress they had
developed after thinking about the millions that were to die at
ago.

That was a good warning which the three
Chinese hackers would have lived to remember had they survived the
wrath of the ghosts. The skeletons were able to establish their
location and sent one of their hypersonic aircraft to destroy the
building from which they were operating. The aircraft reached
Beijing and dropped only one bomb at the building which demolished
it at once. It then returned to the US airspace without bombing any
other place in China

Back to Ghostia, the moment Lord Ghost’s
third division left for earth, Gen. Cov and Gen. Path invited all
the ordinary ghosts to the Ruthst Square. Gen. Cov had planned to
address them for the first time in his new capacity as the acting
Lord Ghost. When they started arriving, he ordered the warriors of
the reserve force to surround the palace in order to tighten the
security. Over one hundred warriors were ordered to escort Gen.
Path to the last floor of the underground facility on mission known
only to the two generals.

Four hundred years before, after the
construction of the underground facility, all the prisoners had
been forced to work on the facility either as experts, warriors or
casual laborers. Only the eight former Ghoes were left in custody.
Each Gho was heavily chained and placed in a metallic box that had
been made from a very strong alloy. These eight boxes containing
were locked up in one vault that had also been made from thick
walls of a similar alloy. Their golden crowns were also packed in
two separate boxes and locked up in the same vault. The twenty ton
metallic door of this vault had only one key and it was only Lord
Ghost who knew where he kept it.

When Gen. Path and his one hundred escorts
reached the vault, he opened it and ordered the warriors to carry
the metallic boxes to the Ruthst Square where the ordinary ghosts
had gathered. The warriors were not aware of the contents of the
boxes because the presence of the vault was a secret that was known
to a few skeletons. The procedure of locking them up had been done
by Lord Ghost, Roth and their trusted bodyguards only. No other
ghost had been told about it.

Meanwhile, by the time they came back, Gen.
Cov had already started addressing the assembly. The sight of a
group of skeletons who were carrying the metallic boxes attracted
the attention of the ordinary ghosts. Gen. Cov’s speech was
interrupted for a while as the warriors lifted the boxes to the
platform and lowered them next to the general. After putting them
down the warriors were ordered off the stage and left it to the two
generals. There was total silence among the skeletons as they could
not understand what was taking place.

When Gen. Cov resumed with his speech, he
abruptly changed the topic and started speaking about the boxes.
“Comrades, since time immemorial Planet Ghostia has been known as
the planet of the dead. It was given to us as a gift by the gods of
the universe. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, the first person
to die on earth arrived here. He was followed by many like you from
the same planet. But by then, very many of you had not even been
born. A few of you were still immortals on earth. But for us we
were here!”

“We started planning for you because we knew
that one day you would be born and you would then die to join us
here. We laid the foundation for this planet. We built all these
structure that you see to ensure that every ghost that would come
to Ghostia could live in peace and harmony. We achieved all our
dreams. There was bliss everywhere. Love, equality and justice
flowed. We had got the comfort that could make us forget planet
earth. All our differences on earth were put aside and we were
one.”

“I want to remind you that all that success
had been achieved because of the courage of ten ghosts. These ten
comrades tirelessly mobilized us to build a new earth. They
deserved respect for that. We owed them much for their courage!
However, does any one of you know how we chose to pay them?’’ After
asking the question, he looked at them. They were just looking at
him because they could not understand what he was saying and he
knew it also. But still, he waited for some seconds and when they
failed to reply, he requested Gen Path to open all the boxes.

Eight skeletons that had been heavily chained
jumped out of the boxes. Gen. Cov was forced to call for assistance
from the warriors to help unchain them and to prevent them from
running away. The last two boxes that were containing the golden
crowns were also opened. The generals removed the crowns and placed
them on the skulls of the eight skeletons. One by one, the crowns
started shining yellow and their skeletons became whiter! “They are
the Ghoes! ….. The Ghoes!…..” shouted the ordinary ghosts in
unison. The sight of the Ghoes was a vivid flashback to the pioneer
ghosts. But to the younger ghosts, it was a fairytale that had
turned out to be true!

The ordinary ghosts continued shouting “The
Ghoes….. The Ghoes,” until when Gen. Cov signaled to them to stop
such that he could continue with his speech. “Comrades, before we
fully celebrate this triumphant moment we should first recall that
these great leaders were ten not eight? Now where are the others?”
Again the ghosts lapsed into silence. For all that long, they had
been thinking that Lord Ghost had managed to arrest the two missing
Ghoes but they couldn't figure out what he might have done to them.
There was silence for the few seconds that followed as the
skeletons waited attentively for the generals’ next action.

Gen. Path removed the two crowns that were
remaining in the metallic boxes. He handed one to Gen. Cov and
retained the other. They simultaneously placed them on their
skulls. Immediately, the crowns started shining and their skeletons
also turned whiter. Everyone present could not believe it. The
ordinary ghosts plus the warriors started looking at their lost
leaders in amazement for they could not believe it also!

For all that long, the two generals were the
two missing Ghoes. They had been arrested by Lord Ghost’s soldiers
but were never identified. When Lord Ghost started recruiting
soldiers from the prisoners, the two agreed to join him. They
exhibited good military and leadership skills which impressed Lord
Ghost. This enabled them to rise through the ranks in a short time
until when they became full generals. Gen. Cov was made the overall
commander of the warriors, second only to Lord Ghost and Roth. Gen.
Path was made the commander in charge of training the recruits.

They showed so much loyalty to their two
leaders that it was had to suspect that they had other intentions.
But they kept a close link to each other and would seldom meet to
discuss the ways through which they would regain their leadership.
They had intentionally requested to stay in charge of the reserve
force such that they could use that chance to overthrow the regime.
Lord Ghost had not objected this request because he trusted them to
the full. When Lord Ghost was leaving, he had left the key for the
vault with Gen. Cov and requested him to keep it with all his
might.

After donning their crowns, Gen. Cov invited
Gen. Path to address the audience.

“Comrades,” he began. “The last time that you
were here, you were informed about Lord Ghost’s intention of
attacking earth. But as I speak now, they have already reached
earth. I want to let you know that the children, spouses, relatives
and friends whom you left on earth are dying in the hands of our
colleagues right now! Some have already died and will join us here
very soon. The only bad thing is that our colleagues have no
prudent reason as to why they are doing this!’’

“We must know that humans are the ghosts and
we are the humans. Ghostkind survives only because mankind
survives! We cannot kill the people who buried us. The people who
continuously pray for us to ‘’Rest in Peace.” It’s malicious for us
to start admiring the beauty of planet Earth. We were the ones who
laid the foundation of that beauty and we can do the same here! If
we could do that in that short time that we spent on earth, what
about here where we are going to spend all our eternity?”