M. Short's Blog, page 6

Day Four

After lunch yesterday, Christopher was continually scanning the horizon for any signs of people moving toward the house. Because of the tracker, he changed his course from due east to south. He was hoping the reason they had not zeroed in on him was the fact he was going toward them.

The southerly heading soon became mountainous. Bud, answering the call, walked further than last night. As the darkness gave way to the light, Christopher looked for shelter. As he searched the terrain, he found a cave.

Christopher laid Bud on the thermal blanket and covered him. The view from the cave gave him the ability to watch vast areas, preventing them from being caught unaware. He thought of staying a few days to let him get his bearings and plan his next move. Finding terrain features during the night was difficult.

Christopher gathered wood and started a fire back far enough in the cave to avoid the fire’s smoke giving away their position. He then laid beside Bud and cover them both with a second thermal blanket from the field pack.

A few hours later Bud was shaking him, “Christopher, Christopher. are we on a camping trip? Can we play hide and go seek?”

Groggy, Christopher sits up seeing Bud running around the fire, which was more smoldering embers than a fire, “We can play later. Let’s explore the cave? Caves are fun.”

Bud, jumping shouted, “Let’s go exploring Christopher. Maybe we’ll find a bear or a dragon. Can we go now?” Bud asked.

Christopher wondering where his energy was last night, “First we eat breakfast, bush our teeth and get cleaned up then we can explore. Come sit on the blanket. I replicated energy bars and meat sticks for our camping trip.”

Bud on the blanket ate his breakfast as Christopher put more wood on the fire. The sun was an hour above the horizon. Christopher could see with the naked eye for miles. With binoculars he could see the house they left twenty-seven kilometers away. He scanned his field of view and saw nothing in the sky or on the ground.

As he sat on the ground thinking of scenarios why he saw no one on the thirteenth day of collection, Bud sat beside him and looking up at him, “I can’t find my toothbrush.”

Christopher shook his head, “You couldn’t find your tooth brush yesterday, but when I looked for it, I found it on the bottom of your backpack. Did you look there?”

“I don’t remember. Maybe I looked there.”

“Let’s find our tooth brushes and brush our teeth together. Then we can go exploring.”

As they brushed their teeth, scenarios kept running through his head. Why was no one to be seen? The collecting usually ran from an easterly to westerly direction around the planet. Christopher’s curiosity got the best of him and he turned on the radio. There was nothing. No chatter of ground troops or Troop transports. There was no chatter or signal period.

He could think of only two explanations. They’ve left or were on the other side of the planet. Either way, he felt better. But Christopher knew caution was the best course of action.

He and Bud started their day of exploration. They explored the cave and found a source of running water, and as they followed the stream, they found pockets in the cave where they could move further back if needed. Christopher, following the stream, saw it drop off into an opening in the earth. As he peered over the edge, he could not see any bottom.

He turned to Bud, “Monsters may live there. We better go back. I don’t want to wake them.”

Bud holding Christopher’s hand with wide eyes nodded his head and started pulling him back from the edge. By his estimation, the cave was 100 meters deep and could give them hiding places if needed.

After they explored the cave, they ate lunch and then set out to explore the mountain from the cave entrance up to the top. When they reached the top, they saw a town of several hundred homes and stores with paved streets. Christopher estimated the town to be 25 kilometers away. From the top of the mountain, he could see in every direction.

Christopher motioned to Bud as he ran back and forth, “Bud, let’s build a fort here on the top of the mountain.”

“Yeah, let’s build a fort and I’ll be the general.” Bud said. 

“OK general, let’s get to building your fort. Where do you want the fort?”

“We can build it right here. Ten meters tall and 30 meters long.”

“Wow, general. Do you see any trees? Why don’t we use what we can find and build the fort?”

“I’ll collect the sticks and you collect the stones private.”

“Yes, sir, general.”

The rest of the day they constructed a fort one meter high and two meters in width with an entrance facing the cave. After they covered it with grass, it was perfectly concealed on the top and sides.

Christopher and Bud gathered more sticks for the fire and headed back to the cave to eat dinner. 

After dinner, they cleaned their utensils and burned the ration packets. The sun had set and darkness covered the countryside. Soon Bud drifted off to sleep after a hard day of exploring and building. While Bud slept, Christopher using the thermal setting on the binoculars scanned from the cave entrance the 27 kilometers back to the house they left last night. He saw nothing. He then checked to see if Bud was still asleep. After checking on Bud, Christopher headed to the fort to see if there was anyone moving in the town. As he looked toward the town, he saw a dim light in one house. Someone was there.

Day Three

Christopher and Bud stayed at the house until nightfall. Then they walked all night with Bud sleeping on his shoulders with Bud’s head resting on top of his. As day three dawned, Christopher had reached another abandoned house.

Christopher laid himself and Bud on a bed to get some rest before nightfall. Christopher lying on the bed looked at Bud. One side of his brain was telling him to leave Bud. Packing around a six-year-old child isn’t good evasive tactics when trying to escape. But the other side of his brain couldn’t let Bud suffer his fate. After six hours, Bud’s stirring woke Christopher.

He rose from bed and scanned area signs of Troop transports or troops on the ground with binoculars found in the field pack. Christopher’s plan was to stay clear of populated areas. Troop concentrations would be higher there, and so were the chances of being captured.

From previous collections, he knew they only collected from large populated areas and limited the collection to only 30 solar days. A question then popped into his head, “Why were there troops at Bud’s house? It was far away from large population centers. And why did they not comb the area if they thought he was close.?”

Christopher searched the field pack, and it’s lining for any tracking device. There were none. He then opened the radio, none there. Bud entered the kitchen where he was sitting, “I need to pee. Where is the bathroom?” Bud asked.

Christopher jumped up and showed Bud the bathroom. Afterwards he brought Bud back to the kitchen. “Are you hungry?” Christopher asked.

Bud nodded. He discovered this house had a food replicator, so they both had bacon and eggs along with Bud’s favorite cereal and coffee for himself.

After they ate, Christopher looked at Bud with a big smile, “Bud, let’s play a game. It’s called find the bump. Do you want to play?”

Bud’s eyes widen, “Sure, I like playing games. How do you play find the bump?”

“Let me show you first them you can start the game.”

Bud was bouncing in his chair, “OK. Show me how to play find the bump.”

Christopher, as he talked to Bud, telling him what he was doing, checked Bud’s head and neck and arms for unusual bumps that could show an implanted tracking device. He found none.

Christopher then turned his back to Bud, “Now it’s your turn to find the bump or bumps. There may be more than one. You ready?”

Bud stood up on his chair and started his search for bumps on Christopher. Bud imitated Christopher’s moves, starting at the top of the head, and worked his way to the ears.

“I found one.” Bud said.

“Keep looking. There may be more. You get extra points if you find more.” Christopher said.

As Bud probed his neck, when he reached the back of the lower neck, “I found another one I win I win.”

While Bud was celebrating his win, Christopher knowing of the bump put both hands behind his neck, pressing hard against the bump. There it was. He felt the top and the bottom of a cylindrical implant. Scare tissue had hidden the main body of the device, but not the ends.

When he found the device, he grabbed Bud and swung him around and around, then he set Bud back in his chair. “You won your first game of find the bump, but we need to clean ourselves. Do you shower or bathe?” He asked.

Bud frowned, “I take showers. I’m not a baby.

Christopher looked at Bud’s stern face, “I apologize. You are correct. You are a big boy. Can you shower in the bathroom where we were sleeping?”

Bud looked at Christopher sheepishly, “Can you turn the shower on? I can’t reach the knobs.”

“For the winner of the game, sure. Let get cleaned up.”

After he got Bud into the shower, he started his shower, then with his knife in silent pain cut the tracker from the base of his neck. Christopher then with bandages and tape from the bathroom cabinet cleaned and bandaged the cut. Then he dressed in the bathroom to keep Bud from asking his inquisitive questions. After he finished getting dressed, he got Bud out of the shower. Bud dressed himself and joined Christopher in the kitchen.

“We are going to walk again tonight. I’ll clean our clothes, then I am going to take a nap. How about you? If I take a nap, can you?”

Bud looked at him puzzled, “You take naps? But your grown-up. I didn’t think grown-ups took naps.”

“All the time. I take naps two or three times a week. Will you try to sleep?”

“Can I eat before the nap? I’m getting hungry, it’s lunchtime in three hours”

“Deal. Check your backpack. What you took out goes back in your backpack. When you’re done, bring it in here. After lunch, clean the dishes and put them back in the cabinets. A big boy never leaves a mess. While you do your job, I’ll clean our clothes and check outside to see if there is anything we need. OK?”

Bud nodded his head, “But lunch now, please.”

“Lunch is three hours away. A snack now, lunch later. Deal?” Christopher asked.

Bud reluctantly nodded his head.

Little Bud Meets Christopher

The next morning Christopher awoke to the sound of a childish voice, “Your lost too?”

Christopher looked at the boy of what he determined to be around six years old squatting in front of him, “Are you lost?”

” You talk funny.”, The young boy said, puzzled.

While he could under stand the boy through his translator, the boy could not understand him. He took a stick and drew two parent and on kid stick figure and then shrugged his shoulders.

“You forgot my sister silly.”, The boy said,

He drew another stick figure and again shrugged his shoulders.

“My sister and I were playing hide and go seek. I was it so I hide in the bushes. Then the soldiers came and took everyone away. Except for me, I’m a good hider.”, the boy said.

Then Christopher drew a house, then shrugged his shoulders.

The boy pointed in a direction behind him. Christopher stood and turned in the direction the boy had pointed to see a house only a hundred meters away. He gathered up the boy under one arm and put the thermal blanket over them both, then ran to the house. Once they were in the house, Christopher set the boy at the kitchen and table motioned his to stay. Then he began searching the house for clothes and food. As he was searching the rooms a gust of wind moved the uniform of a dead Mamluk soldier, which caught his eye from a bedroom window.

When Christopher had found more clothes he went to the boy at the kitchen table and made the motion of eating.

“I’m hungry too. Can I have my Cereal?”, The boy said.

Christopher nodded his head, then searched for the cereal. After three different cereal boxes, he found the boy’s favorite. As the boy started to eat, Christopher mentioned him to stay.

Leaving the house, he headed toward the body. At the body he took the hand held radio, rifle, hand gun, clips of ammo, and field pack. Then taking his knife cut a universal translator from behind the ear of the body.

Afterwards, he headed to the house, the boy still at the table. He refilled the bowl and again motioned for him to stay. The boy nodded his head. Christopher then took the translator to a bathroom and cleaned it. At the kitchen table, he squatted behind the boy and with a heavy duty tape he taped the translator on the bone behind the boy’s right ear. As he was holding the translator to the boy’s ear, “What is your name?”

The boy squirming stopped when he heard Christopher asking his name. The boy looked at Christopher, “You don’t talk funny anymore. My Name is Bartholomew Archibald Jennings. Everybody calls me Bud though, because Bartholomew Archibald Jennings takes to long to say.”

“If you leave the tape on you will know what I am saying.”, Christopher said.

“Ok, I won’t play with it, but it tickles. What is your name?”, Bud asked.

“My name is Al Malik Mansur, but everyone calls me Christopher because Al Malik Mansur takes to long to say.” Christopher said.

“Your right, Your name is hard to say too.” Bud said.

“So, the tape stays?”, Christopher asked.

Bud eating another spoonful of cereal nodded his head.

“When you’re finished with your cereal, we’ll start our adventure.”, Christopher said.

While Bud ate his breakfast, Christopher found a backpack for Bud filling it with clothes, canned and boxed food and basic medical supplies. Once Bud’s backpack was at a weight, he thought Bud could carry, he checked the soldiers pack. Everything was in the pack he and Bud needed for several days.

Christopher then grabbed a box of cereal and sat beside Bud, smiling at each other as they ate.

His Plan to Escape

After the first day of collecting on planet 623, Christopher knew he had to do something. but what?

As he laid in bed, his mind began to think of ways to stop the collection, but every scenario resulted in his death. While death was an escape, Christopher was not ready to go to such an extreme. He needed to rely on a higher power to show him the way out. When the opportunity presented itself, he would take it.

The ninth day of the collection, his opportunity to escape presented itself. As he was strafing positions for the advancement of ground troops he took a round that started a fire in one engine.

Christopher radioed, “Mayday, Mayday. Engine fire. Fire suppression system inoperative. Making emergency landing.”

He found a clearing far enough away from the main body of troops, but close enough to avoid suspension. As he was landing, he placed an incendiary grenade on the top of the glare shield.

Again, he radioed, “Mayday. Mayday, fire spreading. going down in sector A17. Mayday.”

He landed with the nose down, taking out the front landing gear. As the fighter came to a stop the incendiary grenade had melted through the glare shield and into the the instrument panel. Flames were rising in the cockpit.

Christopher opened the cockpit canopy manually, left the fighter and closed the canopy.

As the fighter was being engulfed in flames Christopher was hiding under the nose to prevent being seen by other Mamluk fighters.

The Mamluk, while keen on retrieving their pilots, were not interested in the retrieval of bodies. By Christopher positioning himself under the nose close to the fire his heat signature would be masked and presumed dead.

As a Mamluk fighter pasted over him once without a second pass, he knew he was successful.

After the pass of the fighter Christopher remained in place as long as he could to avoid any detection from the Battle Starship above. But he also knew the inhabitants of planet 623 would be interested in the fighter as well.

As the flames consumed the fighter it broke up. It was time for him to make a move. He dashed to a nearby wooded area and found a shallow pond to immerse himself to cool his heat signature. He laid there until nightfall.

As darkness, fell Christopher, convinced that the Mamluk had confirmed him death, but surprised the military forces of the planet had not come to check out the wreckage. He rose from the shallow pond, stripped off his flight suit and buried it along with his helmet.

Wearing only a t-shirt, underwear, boots and a survival vest he began walking across the country side to find shelter and clothes. After two hours of walking he stopped and crawled under a rock overhang. He wrapped himself in a thermal blanket from his survival vest to rest for the night.

The Next Morning for Christopher

The next morning as Christopher entered the hangar deck, security at the entrance directed him to the briefing room. Already in the room he saw his squadron along with the entire wing.

For Christopher, this was not his first rodeo. The mission would now change from one of protection to one of close air and ground support for the troop transports and troops on the surface. Christopher’s least favorite phase of the invasion was about to begin the collection.

The collection phase was a brutal and heartless operation of collecting and separating the men, women and children, then transporting them to the Empire’s home world’s reeducation camps. For the men that meant military training. They sent those who did not comply to the factories. The women would be tested and placed in society according to their aptitudes. The children would be placed in foster homes across the Empire.

As the briefing continued, Christopher, who by now knew the briefing by heart, tuned it out as he envisioned the carnage that was about to take place. He thought by now his heart would have grown cold to the slaughter of an entire planets, but it had not.

He was growing tired of war. He needed to find a way out.

Remembering When

Christopher returned to his quarters on the Battle Starship, placing his helmet, as he had for years, on the end table by the door. His creator granted him yet another day, but his thoughts were with the three enemy space fighters, whose lives he ended today defending his Battle Starship. Taking a shower and eating his dinner from a food replicator, he laid exhausted on his bed. Soon he drifted off into another night of what would be a restless night. A night much like the nights for the previous 1,000 nights since his assignment to his Battle Starship.

As Christopher drifted off into his slumber, he dreamed of his childhood and his home world in the Mamluk Empire. He and his parents lived on a knoll just outside the city of Maydan. He remembered when as a youth, after a long day of playing with his friends, he would sit on the front porch of his home before dinner looking down at the city and then looking up at the massive Battle Starships in a low orbit as they prepared for their attacks on other worlds to gather more soldiers.

Christopher’s father was one such solider slave. Collected by the Mamluk 80 years ago and trained to serve the Mamluk Empire at sixteen. As the offspring of the Mamluk Empire, he being free as his father now and loyal to the Empire, trained him in the art of war. Christopher as he became of age tested and admitted to the Star Fighter Academy. After three years in the academy training to take his place among the stars, his first assignment, a small Battle Group collecting soldiers from various less developed planets.

As he proved himself as an excellent Star Fighter Pilot, they moved him to the Battle Group he now serves. Unlike the first Battle Group, its mission was eliminating more advanced planets considered a threat to the Empire.

Dreaming of his childhood soon gave way to the many opponents he had confronted over his years of war. Seeing the fighters, he destroyed as they break apart from his weapons fire in the vacuum of space. The screaming over the Battle Channel as his follow Star Fighter Pilot’s fighter as it breaks up from enemy fire, their prayers unanswered.

Christopher woke up startled in a cold sweet. He reached into his nightstand, retrieving a bottle of relief. Swallowing two tablets he laid down waiting for the medication to work. As he laid on his back he thought, “If only I could be a child again.”

Life Lesson #40

The Sheep & the PigLibrary of Congress an Aesop Fable.

One day a shepherd discovered a fat Pig in the meadow where his Sheep were pastured. He very quickly captured the porker, which squealed at the top of its voice the moment the Shepherd laid his hands on it. You would have thought, to hear the loud squealing, that the Pig was being cruelly hurt. But in spite of its squeals and struggles to escape, the Shepherd tucked his prize under his arm and started off to the butcher’s in the market place.

The Sheep in the pasture were much astonished and amused at the Pig’s behavior, and followed the Shepherd and his charge to the pasture gate.

“What makes you squeal like that?” asked one of the Sheep. “The Shepherd often catches and carries off one of us. But we should feel very much ashamed to make such a terrible fuss about it like you do.”

“That is all very well,” replied the Pig, with a squeal and a frantic kick. “When he catches you he is only after your wool. But he wants my bacon! gree-ee-ee!”

The Moral of the Story: It is easy to be brave when there is no danger.

Has anyone tried to get your bacon? Or were they only after your wool?

Introduction to Cry Havoc

Cry Havoc second edition

Introduction

   As corruption and the lack of faith in government grew, six large multi-national corporations, employing over half the world’s population, joined in a campaign to undermine the government.

With their combined influence and the help of celebrities, news and social media, they set about swaying public opinion against government bureaucracies in favor of a corporate form of rule.

As public opinion grew in favor of this corporate governance, the people revolted, bringing an end to one world government in 2166.

They abolished militaries and police forces giving way to corporate security.  

The corporations while at first seemed benevolent before the revolt quickly became corporate dictatorships.

Disputes between the Big Six over corporate espionage and the ability to move goods across another’s territory escalated into small, deadly conflicts between corporate security forces.

They ignored the environment unknowingly setting into motion a cataclysmic event of Biblical proportion, plunging the Earth into unending earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and Tsunamis.

As the earthquakes and volcanic eruptions increased, the Big Six began its search for a new home. The end of the Earth was at hand.

Each of the Big Six began exploring Mars to establish their corporate colonies. The first two corporations that started the race to Mars were XTECH and SME (Specialized Military Essentials). They were the first to reach Mars and establish their colonies in 2175.

Boom Associates, a bio-metrics firm in early 2176, sent teams of surveyors, engineers and laborers to Mars to prepare corporate colonies in the unclaimed territory between XTECH and SME.

However, faulty navigation sensors landed them in one of the harshest areas of Mars. This led to their settlements being moved underground to escape the harsh environment. Boom moved to Mars in 2179.

Virtual Visions, Inc. dealing in virtual reality-based software and Space Enviro LTD. with expertise in environmental engineering, settled on Phobos the larger of Mars’ two moons in 2179.

 Enceladus Services, a large venture capital and investment firm, settled on the moon Deimos that same year.

When the last ARCs (Artificial Relocation Community) left, the cataclysm engulfed the Earth.

The one thing the Big Six didn’t leave on Earth was their oppressive policies. But as with most oppressive societies, dissidents soon rose from the ranks of the corporate colonies.

Fleeing corporate rule, these rebels created free towns, lawless communities the corporations tolerated. 

The corporations, learning from the conflicts of the past, created a Trade Federation to keep commerce between the corporations’ secret with Platinum, Gold or Silver being the only acceptable forms of payment.

Even though the corporations’ traded in secret, the corporations still hungered for more influence and power.

To spread this influence and power, corporations secretly sponsored Proxy Clans to conduct its covert activities.

They recruited these Proxy Clans from free towns across Mars and its two moons.

The corporations, through the Trade Federation, supplied the Clans with Battle Robots, Hangar Ships to transport the Clan and bases from which they conduct their covert operations.

They paid each clan a commission from the proceeds of raids on other corporations and smugglers.

Mercenary Proxy Clans where an absolute monarchy and as in ancient times ruled with absolute authority and absolute power.

Clan Leaders, with less than honorable intentions, oppressed its Clan members with Draconian rules and decreased commissions. This led to Break-off Clans and Independent Mercenary groups.

Independent Mercenaries worked in small groups of two or three. They associated themselves with smugglers, who contracted them to deliver a wide variety of goods to their clients from Platinum to Gold or Silver and rare artifacts left behind on Earth. They lived on Earth in their Battle Robots, or in small shelters. Their life was hard, but profitable.

One Break-off Clan of like-minded Mercenaries dedicated to the Warrior Code, predicated on an ancient belief of Honor, Dedication and Glory emerged. 

Here is their story as they embarked on their journey sixty years after the cataclysm that ravaged Earth.

Tomorrow?

As we grow older, we have been told many tales of how to act, react and believe. The one concept that still eludes me today is that of Tomorrow.

Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today. Tomorrow is another day, If you can’t get to it today, you can do it tomorrow. These phrases we hear every day, but does tomorrow ever come?

If we go to the English definition of tomorrow we find: Tomorrow translation, English dictionary definition of tomorrow. n. 1. The day following today. 2. The future. adv. On or for the day following today: “I won’t think of it now…. I’ll think of it tomorrow” .

After reading the definition, confusion and wonder swirl about in my mind. How can this be? For if we refer to the future using tomorrow then when it is tomorrow is it not the present? As a noun if we use tomorrow does it exist in the future which is now the present? As an adverb is it action or perception?

Has anyone ever seen tomorrow? Will anyone ever see tomorrow.?

Perhaps we need to look at tomorrow as a concept of hope created by GOD rather than a word describing a tangible object. A hope that pushes us into today, hoping for a better today than yesterday. A word that brings us joy in hopes for a better future for our children and grandchildren.

Tomorrow never comes. It is a non-tangible hope for the future.

Life Lesson #39

The Goose & the Golden EggLibrary of Congress Aesop Fables

There was once a Countryman who possessed the most wonderful Goose you can imagine, for every day when he visited the nest, the Goose had laid a beautiful, glittering, golden egg.

The Countryman took the eggs to market and soon began to get rich. But it was not long before he grew impatient with the Goose because she gave him only a single golden egg a day. He was not getting rich fast enough.

Then one day, after he had finished counting his money, the idea came to him that he could get all the golden eggs at once by killing the Goose and cutting it open. But when the deed was done, not a single golden egg did he find, and his precious Goose was dead.

The Moral of the Story: Those who have plenty want more and so lose all they have.

The countryman should count his blessings denying evil a chance to enter his thoughts. For one golden egg in far better then none. Count all your blessings, large and small, as gifts, cherish them all. Don’t allow evil thoughts to deny your blessings.

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