The prize book two ret.., p.5
THE PRIZE: BOOK TWO - RETRIBUTION, page 5
“Don’t say that. Tarl Regina and Rem Timor were grateful you saved their lives, and didn’t kill them when you had the chance.” Penn lifted his head and gave her a puzzled look.
“There wasn’t any reason to kill them. They were no threat to us, and they probably died some horrible death before Michael transported them home.” Penn looked up at the ceiling. “You did transport them home, didn’t you Michael?” He didn’t need to look at the ceiling, as the entity known as ‘Michael’ could hear his question no matter where he looked. It was more a force of habit.
“Yes Richard, I transported all of them back to the world they came from, healthy and uninjured and a little wiser.”
“See, I’m sure they’d be very grateful and want to help us.” Penn replied sarcastically before he returned to kissing as much of her as he could. To him, the prospect of an alien force helping the people of Earth to get their own space navy seemed dubious at best.
As far as the rest of the known galaxy was concerned, all humans were stark raving mad. That wasn’t far from the truth as far as the Tellurian Empire was concerned. The moment any human saw an Imperial soldier they’d start trying to kill him. You don’t come to Earth and wipe out four billion men, women and especially children without invoking a deep-seated homicidal rage to kill the perpetrators. As for surrendering, that was out of the question. With no governments remaining to order them to surrender, Human Beings all over the world devolved into fighting groups of one kind or another, all intent on inflicting as much pain, suffering, misery and death on the invaders as they could. With no organized army, navy, and air force remaining, the human race resorted to the one form of war they knew best, asymmetrical warfare. Every country on Earth had its group of ‘freedom fighters’ or ‘terrorists’ depending on your point of view. From the Vietcong to the Afghan Mujahedin, resistance groups sprung up like weeds. Now this was no longer a moral issue about humans killing humans. The Imperials were alien invaders and the world had become a free fire zone. Even the battle hardened Imperial troops were shocked and sickened by the inventive horrors humans inflicted on them. Even pulling back into their newly built, well-fortified bases didn’t help, as the ever so inventive humans came up with dozens of ways to get at them. From poisoned fruits, meat and vegetables, to smuggling in cans of fleas, lice and rats to drive them crazy. Venturing outside on foot, even in well armed groups was nothing more than an invitation to get themselves blown up, shot, stabbed, filled full of arrows, or getting a foot or hand mangled when they touched some innocent looking object. Flying wasn’t much safer, as the humans appeared to have an inexhaustible supply of ground to air missiles. Even guard duty on the walls of their fortresses had its hazards. One incautious moment of exposure invited a .50 caliber sniper round from over a mile away to meet with your head or other exposed part of your anatomy. Return artillery, or mortar bombardment had little effect on eliminating the sniper, as by the time they responded, he, or she was long gone.
By now, little remained of any sizable town or village within the immediate vicinity for the Imperial bases to retaliate against in reprisal, not that it would have done much good. The attacks continued unabated. Even going out to round up humans to execute for the attacks was a losing proposition that just put more Imperial troops at risk from an IED attack. It might be said, that when the commanders received the order to depart Earth and go home, the word spread quickly, and most officers had breathed a sigh of relief, silently praying to whatever God they believed in for getting them off this hell planet before they got killed in some horrible fashion. Of course, once the Imperials departed, the human predators returned. Every would-be gang leader started carving out territory for themselves. Petty kings and warlords of every description crawled out of the ruins and set up business. Tolls were placed on anyone traveling on roads through their territory, slavers roamed the countryside looking for the unwary, or simply raiding some poor village, or unsuspecting group trying to wrestle a living in the devastation. That had to stop, Penn knew that, but sending an army out to do it wasn’t the best way. That just starting the old cycle all over again.
On a more personal note, gaining the trust of the human children they’d rescued from the imperial palace was another hard road they had to travel. From personal experience, Penn knew how hard it was to trust again, once betrayed. The slavers and the Empire had ripped the last shred of innocence these children had had, condemning them to a life of brutal slavery and horrible abuse, mental, physical and sexual. Intuitively, Ellis had gained their trust faster than Penn, maybe because she was female, or maybe she radiated a warmth they only dimly remembered. To them, at first, Penn was a frightening figure, his bright yellow eyes sending spikes of fear through their small bodies. Knowing the effect his eyes had on grown ups he’d wisely kept his distance, never daring to touch, or lay a hand on them until one day, several months later, a thunderstorm had passed over the valley, and their home. The youngest simply came running out of her bedroom, clutching a teddy bear and her blanket, shivering in fear, and ran into the living room where Penn was watching old videos. She quickly snuggled down in his lap, wrapping the blanket around her small body and went to sleep, safe from the monsters in the dark. Penn was a little surprised, but loathe to disturb her, so he stretched out on the couch with his arms protectively around her and went to sleep himself. Ellis smiled when she found them that way a little later, wondering why Penn hadn’t come to bed. She gently covered the sleeping forms with a blanket, kissed them both and went back to bed. She had a lifetime ahead of her to enjoy the comfort of his body beside her, so she couldn’t begrudge one night for him to comfort one scared little girl. After that, the rest of the children gradually came closer until it reached a point where they’d come over and give him a hug and a kiss as well as Ellis before going to bed. Things got even better when they introduced the children to the game of hide and seek, much to their delight once they got the hang of it. They soon understood this was more than just a game as Penn expanded on it when he started dividing them into sides, boys against girls, with him coaching the girls, while Ellis did the same with the boys. Children all over the world had played this game since time immemorial without realizing they were learning the basic skills of hunting, and later the adult version of the game called war.
* * * * * *
“Alright troops. I’ve scouted the girl’s fort and as I thought, they have three baby raptors guarding their flag.”
“Wow that means we can get Eeny, Meeny, Miny and Moe to guard our flag as well.” John shouted gleefully.
He reached over and stroked Meeny’s crest, not that he could tell the identical baby raptors apart, but one always answered when he called each of their names. None of them really knew which sex they were either, and the boys thought the girls’ suggestion of putting pink and blue ribbons on them a bit daft. Beside Eeny, Meeny, Miny and Moe there was Tweedledee, Tweedledum and Huff and Puff who tended to stay with the girls wherever they went, including the bedroom if Ellis hadn’t put her foot down. Who exactly had conjured them up in the first place was a bit of a mystery, but Ellis suspected Penn who immediately denied all knowledge, and pleaded he didn’t do it, he wasn’t there and it’s wasn’t his fault. Looking at all the oh so innocent faces, including Penn’s, for once in her life she couldn’t tell which one was lying.
“That’s the last time we are showing any monster movies, and that includes ‘Ice Age’ all three of them.” Ellis stated firmly. She looked up for a moment. “And that includes you Michael.”
“Me?” The AI sounded surprised and indignant at the same time.
“No monsters indeed.” Ellis snorted.
“I merely stated that children do not have the capacity to create real monsters.”
“And I suppose baby raptors are just pets for them to play with.” She observed drily, eyeing the floating red orb with a cocked eyebrow.
“Of course, Alexis. The synthetic raptors are semi intelligent above the level of earth dogs, and would not, and cannot harm the children in any way.” Ellis looked out the window at the eight baby raptors waiting expectantly outside the back door. Each about four feet tall with razor sharp claws on their hind legs, and a mouthful of backward curving teeth that could bite any one of the children in half with one bite.
“Alright, but!” She held up her hand as they all started grinning. “One scratch, even one little bite and out they go.” She’d turned away to hide her own grin, but whipped around when she heard a slapping sound behind her and caught them all giving each other high fives, including Penn.
Before she could say a word they were all out the door and running for the tree line with Penn in the lead. Ellis smiled softly and shook her head. Richard was just as much a child as the rest of them, and maybe this was his way of reliving the childhood he and all of them had lost.
“So, your idea is to leave the raptors to guard the flag and go sneak up on their fort and capture the flag, right?” She asked the boys.
“Right on!”
“And what if it’s a trap and they come here to capture our flag?” The boys looked at one another and pulled long faces.
“So we leave someone here?”
“How about we split up and half of you stay here to guard the flag while the rest go try and capture their flag?”
“Ah, that’s no fun. We want to go and capture their fort.”
“Oh, all right then. Tell Eeny, Meeny, Miny, and Moe to guard the flag.” From a military point of view she knew it was a mistake, but they were all having so much fun, including her she had to admit that she let them have their way.
“Yeah! Let’s go teach those silly girls a lesson.” They whooped.
“Alright. Paint ball guns loaded - helmet on and face guards down, and follow me.”
As much as Ellis would like to claim later that Penn and the girls cheated it didn’t change the fact they'd walked into an ambush, and lost their flag. Eeny, Meeny, Miny and Moe were in the doghouse for a while with the boys when it was discovered they’d been tricked out of the fort with twenty-five pounds of raw meat laced with a sleeping agent. As penance, Ellis and the boys had to serve Penn and the girls’ dinners that evening, much to their delight, amusement and the humiliation of the sulky, crestfallen boys. Any reluctance the children had was now gone, yet Penn and Ellis both knew it would be a long time before the mental scars healed, if ever. They now accepted Ellis and Penn’s authority out of love and respect instead of the fear they'd once known. Now, while watching old time movies that Michael had managed to resurrect from various archives, the little girl was snuggled up on his lap again, giggling and laughing along with the rest of them. Some of the old black and white so-called silent movies had them all rolling on the floor laughing themselves silly. Penn wondered how a funny little tramp called Charlie Chaplin could make the ordinary so hilarious. Ellis had to call a halt at one point as the little one almost threw up laughing so hard at another silent star called Buster Keaton. She just couldn’t get over the deadpan expression on his face while the whole world was exploding in chaos around him.
“Good God. I wish we could make vids… movies like that now.” Ellis corrected later as they lay in bed caressing each other’s bodies.
“We could if we had the talent those guys have.” Penn answered. Ellis shook her head and brushed away a tear. “What, my love?” Penn catching it before she could remove the traces.
“Those bastard Imperials took so much away from us that we are only now beginning to realize.” Penn nodded in understanding. It wasn’t just the four billion men, woman and children the Empire had killed during their invasion, it was the little things as well, like these old movies, or a fresh morning sunrise without the ever-present dust hanging in the air from the KEW bombardment of Earth’s cities.
“Someday, we’ll get it all back.” Penn knew it would be many years before Earth was anywhere near ‘normal’ whatever that was now.
First they’d have to clear the rubble and rebuild the infrastructure. Mend the roads and mag-lift rail services, rebuild the bridges and clean out the tunnels to reconnect the human race to each other again. Putting people’s lives back together would be an almost impossible task, and the hardest part of all. Even now, he knew there were war lords, petty kings and so called people’s democratic republics of this or that out there, and nothing more than a thin excuse to enslave people and exploit them. They would be the first to go, but the question was how to do it. The germ of an idea came to him while watching another old movie, this time in full color and with sound. Mainly the story involved someone called Texas John Slaughter. A day later he had it, yet he knew the road to recovery would be long and hard. As the old Chinese proverb said, a journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step. The next day they all walked through the transit corridor back to Earth and went to meet Ellis’ adoptive grandfather, Chief Tommy Standing Bear. The kids were wide eyed at meeting people they’d only heard about recently, after seeing old western movies. Most of them got it wrong, not that it mattered now. The frail old man greeted Ellis as they walked into the hidden village, hugging her tightly in a paternal embrace so unlike the Apache Penn had heard about. Around him stood six very tough looking young men who eyed them with deep suspicion.
“Yuta hay, Morning Star. You have returned at last.”
“As I promised in the dream.” The old man nodded and grinned.
“So it was you I spoke to in my vision quest with the diye.”
“Yes, grandfather. I saw and heard you speak to me, and that you and my brothers and sisters were waiting for me to come home again.”
“They are here, waiting for your return, but what would you have of them?”
“First, you must greet my mate.” She looked around at Richard, standing a few feet away, playing eye games with the young men. It was funny in a way, as few of them could look him in the eye for more than a few moments. Two others couldn’t tear their eyes away, as if mesmerized. Seeing Ellis’ look, Penn walked over and held his hand out.
“Pleased to meet you.” The old man looked into his eyes, showing no fear as he took Richard’s hand in both of his.
“You have the eyes of the great eagle, the thunderbird.” Penn grinned.
“So I’ve been told. Ellis… Morning Star tells me that there are some men and women like her here.”
“This is true.” He answered. Penn looked over at Ellis. “In that case, I have an idea I’d like to talk to them about. The old man looked at them a moment before nodded.
“Come. We will talk of many things.” He led them to a large Wickiup in a grove of Velvet mesquite and desert ironwood trees and they arranged themselves around a small fire pit. For a while they spoke of mundane things such as the weather and how it was improving now the dust had started to settling out of the atmosphere. After that, Penn brought the conversation around to Ellis’s brothers and sisters, finding that most of them were still here, married and now part of the tribe.
“Since the invasion and the destruction of civilization we have become isolated and no longer suffer from the temptations of the white man. His drink, gambling and prostitution and have grown closer to our roots.”
“I can understand that. Has your tribe grown in that time?”
“Yes, by many folds now that the wild game has returned. The invaders had little interest in us in these mountains and the few white eyes that came here soon learned it was better for their health to stay away.” The old man laughed.
“It is the same with my people in the jungles of South America. The Imperials do not like going there. They lose too many of their soldiers with little to show for it.”
“True. A few come looking for gold and silver, but the mines are well hidden now and protected from outsiders.”
“Now the Imperials have gone, it is time we started rebuilding this world, a better one this time where all men and woman are truly equal.”
“And what will your new government have to say about that?”
“You tell me. I want you to be part of it.” The old man smiled and shook his head.
“I doubt I will live long enough to be of help. I’m close to one hundred years old now and I can feel death sitting closer to me each day. One day soon he will be sitting next to me and we must talk.”
“Oh, I think we can convince death to take a holiday in your case for a number of years, if you are willing, that is.”
“And how can you convince death to do that?”
“There is a place you must go. A special place that will ask many things of you.” Ellis added.
“And what if I answer wrongly?”
“There is no wrong answer, only truth.”
“This place I must see, but how will that convince death to sit further away?”
“Go, and you will see.”
“And what of my people?”
“I will ask them to join you and me in rebuilding this world.”
“I see and hear the truth of this in your eyes and your words. So be it. Take me to this special place so I can speak the truth of it.”
“I have created a portal in the cliff behind the camp, Richard.” Michael whispered in Penn’s ear.
“Come. The entrance to this place is close by.” The old man looked at him skeptically.
“I know the land here-about as I know the palm of my hand. There is no entrance that I know of…”
“You will see.”
Two young women helped the old man up the slope to the base of the cliff, stopping every so often for him to rest. Ellis gripped Penn’s hand seeing how frail he’d become in the intervening years. Most of the tribe followed, curious to see what was going on.
“Can you help him, Michael?” She whimpered.
“It will be what it will be, Alexis.” Penn returned the grip, hearing Michael’s reply. If there was any evil in the old man’s mind, it would condemn him.
“Where’s the entrance, Michael?”
