Charger the Soldier (3 page)

"Reko, take point, and when the Gray enters,
start the distraction," I say firmly. We have been planning this
for days, and I feel confident that all aspects of this plan have
been considered. The Gray starts fumbling at the cell door,
releasing the locks so it can enter.

We are surprised. Two Grays enter the room,
where it is normal for only one to enter. I nod to Ook. He knows
what to do, because we prepared for this possibility. Without
warning, Reko throws a large object towards me, just missing my
head, and begins to yell at me. The first Gray sees this conflict
and moves toward Reko to intervene. This is when Ook begins to use
violent behaviors to distract the second Gray.

With both Grays occupied and paying no
attention to me, I reach into the cavity we had created in the wall
to hide the weapon and, with a quick click, the bolt is fired. I
yell "Now!"

As the first Gray falls to the floor, hit by
the sharpened steel, Reko and Ook both attack the second Gray. This
gives me just enough time to reload and fire the second bolt which
hits the target perfectly and drops the second Gray to the
floor.

"We have little time, we must go now," Ook
shouts.

"Leave it!" Ook shouts again as I bend over
the first Gray but I stop long enough to remove the control device
the Grays use for their repulse field. Reko gathers up our gear and
the three of us rush from the cave toward Ook's escape route. As we
run down the halls, we unlock the other cave doors, releasing all
of us from the Grays' captivity.

>>>

"I saw two more tribes captured by the Grays'
flying machines the other day. If we don't leave here soon, they
will find us again, too," I said to Ook as we gathered wood for a
small evening fire. It's been almost two hundred days since we and
the other human captives escaped the Grays' complex. Most of us are
surviving hidden in the hills and deep in the forests.

"I agree, Blix. We will leave tomorrow
morning," responded Ook as he stood holding an armful of gathered
wood. "I think I have managed to find a location where the Grays
will not follow us."

The Gray aliens had a preference for us, the
species
Homo erectus
, and Ook had guessed that hiding among
the small groups of ancient
Homo habilis
still clinging to
life in our changing world would afford a good deal of safety. Not
only were we
Homo erectus
, but now we were also genetically
modified humanoids and the Grays would not expect us to mingle with
primitives.

"I think the Grays perceive the primitives of
the south as unfit stock, so they will make for a good place to
hide." Ook knelt down to pick up one more piece of wood for the
fire. Satisfied that we had enough, we started back toward the cave
where Reko and the others were hiding.

"How will we convince Reko and the other
women of this? You know how much they fear those primitives," I
asked as I plodded along behind Ook through the vegetation and
underbrush.

"I have managed to replicate the repulse
device you stole. With one of those in the possession of each
woman, they should feel safe enough," Ook responded quietly. He had
seen a herd of giant deer ahead; one of those would make for many
good meals.

Ook pointed to the game as he dropped the
wood. This was a good time to hunt. I took aim at one of the deer
with the weapon I had created. Winding up the gears till they were
tight, I released the bolt. We needed just one kill for there were
only twelve mouths to feed for this night. The kill was instant,
and we approached the dead beast.

We quickly fashioned a sled with branches
from the surrounding trees and dragged the deer and our firewood
back to the cave. The group ate well that night and retired to
sleep early, deep inside the hidden parts of the cave.

In the morning we set out south, according to
Ook's plan. It would take us a good week to reach the borders of
our primitive relatives. We kept mostly to the thick forest areas
for protection. Whenever one of us thought he detected the sound of
the Grays' search drones, he would immediately fall to the ground
and cover himself in debris. This worked well against the drone's
detection equipment.

While we traveled, we sometimes talked. Reko
said to me, "Did you notice the Grays look a lot like us?"

I hooted with laughter. "Your eyes lie. The
evil ones are much shorter. They are skinny and hairless, and they
have gray skin like leather. And big heads."

"They have eyes," said Reko. "And two legs
and two arms, like we do."

"They are not human," I said firmly. "Their
pupils are vertical and their irises are gray, like their skin.
Besides, they only have four fingers on each hand."

Reko said no more.

Finally, we arrived in the area we had sought
and crouched on a small rise overlooking the camp of primitives
below. I asked, "How will we approach these men?"

Ook answered. "Blix, I have given it
considerable thought. I have concluded that there is no good way to
introduce ourselves. These are a violent and protective people.
They are as likely to attack us on sight as they are to welcome us
into the group."

"But this is our only hope for survival," I
replied.

"I realize this, and have come to a
conclusion," Ook said confidently, though his tone betrayed fear.
"I will approach them alone, while the rest of you take up
positions of tactical superiority."

"You expect a fight?" I queried as I
scratched. My furs were itching me.

"I hope to avoid a fight, but it seems that
you have one going on right now." Ook pointed to the tiny ants
crawling on my clothing.

I began to jump about, trying to keep the
ants from the tender areas of my body.

The group gathered close together, as Ook
explained the plan. I had stripped off my furs and stood naked next
to Reko while I continued to brush off the tiny ants, much to the
amusement of the group.

"Now you will understand the value of bathing
after you gorge yourself on honeycomb," Reko said. The others
laughed.

After Ook explained the plan, the group broke
up and we went to our designated positions. Ook walked toward the
primitives, making plenty of noise so they would not think he was
trying to sneak up. The primitives reacted as predicted. Once aware
of his presence, they started yelling and grabbing thick sticks,
smashing them violently on the ground in a threatening manner.

Ook kept advancing, never flinching or
stopping, much to the confusion of the primitive humans. As soon as
he was close to the group, with the repulse device hidden in his
palm, he raised his hands above his head and clapped them
violently.

The repulse field exploded outward, knocking
all the primitives off their feet and sending them tumbling. They
were stunned but instantly reacted with violence. They rushed Ook,
who calmly clapped his hands above his head, again sending the
attackers spiraling backward out of control.

I was next to walk into the tribe's camp and
repeat what Ook had done. Then Reko followed. One by one, the
members of our small group approached the tribe, repeating Ook's
actions. Finally, the primitives seemed to get the message. We then
presented food as an offer of friendship. The better part of the
day was spent trying to get the primitives to accept it. Finally,
they did so.

Several nights followed with some of us
always on guard against the attacks of the primitives, who still
seemed determined to drive us out, but they could not succeed
against the repulse fields. As I took my turn one night, I wondered
if my group was doing to the primitives exactly what the Grays had
done to us. But the situations were different, I told myself. We
were simply hiding; we were not attacking or hurting the
primitives. In retrospect, the Grays' actions seemed even more evil
than they had at the time.

Many full moons passed overhead before the
Grays' ship left the planet. We waited for a long time afterward
but it did not return. Then we melded our two groups into one
cooperative unit and started the journey towards the future.

>>>

Dart speaks to Reader:

In the fullness of time, Blix's group
directed the building of a village, which eventually grew into a
town. Moving onward to cities and great empires, the humanoids'
rise to world dominance took only a few thousand years. The
alterations the Grays had made to these humanoids gave them the
gift of advanced knowledge and, with that understanding, they
became the First Ones.

How do I know all this?

Blix's diaries survived and his experience
influenced the actions of the First Ones, who kept records of
everything. Sure that the Grays would someday return, the First
Ones prepared by building three great cities underground to house
themselves and their technology. The first was built on the great
continent of modern day Africa to store their knowledge and their
corporeal bodies. The second was built to the east in Egypt and
provided a gateway to a higher dimension. The third city, meant to
be a gift to the future, a sort of time capsule, was built to the
west, in Britain.

That done, the majority of the First Ones
became of one mind, shed their bodies and took the name of Enoch,
an old word for 'people of one planet.' Now immortal, they did not
return to the surface of Earth after the cities were fully
functional.

Ordinary humanity continued to evolve without
interference for almost a million years.

Where were the Dinosauroids while all this
was happening? Remember, they were clever and they stole much of
the Grays' technology, including a couple of time-lock devices.
They hung around on Earth long enough to watch what the First Ones
were doing and to share some of their technology. But they, like
the First Ones, were afraid the Grays would return and try to
destroy them again. So they used one of the time-locks to put
themselves into a parallel universe, one second into the
future.

What happened to the First Ones who didn't
meld into one mind? You're good at remembering details, Reader.

That's the next part of the story. This small
branch of the First Ones settled on what was almost an island,
connected to the mainland by just a narrow strip of land. A small
verdant plain, surrounded by mountains, gave them their own
country, which they called Mahoud, though in later times it was
called Atlantis. And what they did with Mahoud will take your
breath away!

And where was Charger during all this?

Oh, Charger wasn't born until 2010, about a
million years after the Dinosauroids and the First Ones put
themselves into time-lock, and long after the adventures of Mahoud.
But his very beginning, like that of all humans, can be traced back
to Blix and Ook, back to when the human line split from the primate
line.

Yes, stop and think about it. A million years
is a very long time, and I've just covered roughly sixty-three
million years of history in about an hour. And you know what, I
wouldn't be surprised to learn that Charger is descended from the
mating of a First One with one of the primitive humans.

Why? Because of his brilliance in
mathematics, because of his powerful brain. Of course he's
descended from the ordinary humanity who were allowed to evolve
naturally, but who can know where his DNA came from?

No, Reader, all that brilliance does not make
him fun to talk with! Anyway, Charger doesn't talk. He acts.

Ready for the story of Mahoud? Oh, this story
happened about fifteen or sixteen thousand years ago. In the
history of the universe, that's about five minutes.

V
isha was, in most respects, a typical twelve-year-old
boy, with two pesky younger sisters. His father was a very
important scientist and would often take Visha to the university on
weekends, encouraged by the boy's eagerness to start sampling the
higher learning planned for his future.

This day Visha rose early from his bed,
hurried to dress in his long robes of silk and hagfish fibers, and
stumbled downstairs to eat a quick meal before he and his father
went off for the morning. He was greeted by his two sisters, Malef
and Shaquan. "When will papa take us to the workshops?" they
whined.

"Hopefully never, should fate be merciful,"
teased Visha.

"Now, now, don't be so mean to your sisters,
or you will be punished for arrogance," Visha's mother said. "Hurry
now, eat and then wash your hands. Your father is waiting for you
outside. And wear some sandals this time."

Visha tried to be dignified, as befitted his
age, but he was almost too excited to eat. Today was going to be
different. His father had mentioned that they would not be going to
the university as they usually did. In the normal way of things,
the boy would have been disappointed because he was fascinated by
his father's ongoing experiments with the clear slime exuded by
hagfish as a defense mechanism.

The Mahouds had been conducting such
experiments for thousands of years and farmed hagfish in deep ponds
as well as harvesting them from the ocean. They made wearable
fabric from the slime but also used it as a defense themselves.
They had perfected a way of enclosing the slime in a clear envelope
which functioned as a complete body suit, worn by scouts who flew
to other areas seeking information. The primitive, murderous tribes
were terrified of Mahouds in these suits, for they appeared to be
moving, quivering masses of liquid refracting light in a rainbow
effect. The suits were semi-transparent and the solid body inside
seemed to shift back and forth in a way that made it impossible to
pinpoint an exact shape or location. The primitives knelt down,
faces buried in the dirt, to worship these Mahoud explorers, who
thus explored the continent in peace.