Conquest ~ Indian Hill 3 ~ A Michael Talbot Adventure (10 page)

“Drababan, come on in
,
” I answered effortlessly as my odometer turned to eight miles.

“I do not wish to intrude on your workout routine, Miiike
,” Drababan answered
almost sheepishly. Yeah a wolf in sheep’s clothing maybe.

“What brings you here at this late time
?
” At least I thought it was late.

“Your recovery seems to be going exceedingly well.”

“Did you really come to see how my training is going?” I
said looking in
to his eyes for the true meaning of his surprise arrival.

He glanced to the far wall first and then looked me straight in the eye. “Tomorrow is the day.”

I pulled the safety clip out of the
treadmill
and
it came
to a
halt
“Tomorrow
,
huh?” I answered as best I could between
the
rapid
beats of my heart. I knew the outcome, that didn’t mean I was looking forward to it.

He glanced away again. He mystified the shit out of me
.

“What’s the matter
,
Drababan
?
I
t almost looks like you care.”

“Miike, we must fight to your death tomorrow.”

“Drababan, don’t sugar
coat it.” I didn’t e
ven wait to see i
f
he would understand what I had just said.

“You
,
hu-man
,
are the closest thing that I have to a friend on this ship.”

If I hadn’t been holding on to the
side
rails
of the treadmill I probably would have f
allen
over, that and the fact we were talking about my imminent death, I suppose.

“Friend?” I answered, but I guess that wasn’t so far out of the realm, we had talked for hours about our home
worlds and growing up and the battles, I had at times forgot that this eight foot behemoth was my adversary
.
“Yeah
,
I guess the same goes for me too
,
Drababan, I hadn’t really thought about it before, but you’re definitely the closest thing that I have to a friend here too.” How much that really meant in the greater scope of things
,
I wasn’t sure, but I wasn’t displeased when he came around.

“I hope that your fight is a valiant one, I would greatly like to place you atop of those that I honor.”

Hell
, now he was a mind
reader. “I’ve got a surprise or two lined up for you my friend.”

Drababan stood straighter with my loose use of the word ‘friend’, he took it much more literally than it was intended but if it made him
hesitate
five-
tenths of a second
longer
than normal before he skewered me, that would give me ti
me for one last vision, and
it would most likely be
Beth.

"I hope that you take solace in the fact that you will at least die on home soil." Drababan told me.

"What?"

"Have you not been told? The fight is to take place on your planet."

"Are you kidding me?" I asked. Drababan frowned, I'm pretty sure. I should know better, a comedian would easily starve to death on his home world. "Death is death Drababan I take no solace wherever it happens, but it will be nice to see my home one final time."

He nodded his head and stepped out.

CHAPTE
R
TWELVE

“Is everything ready?” Paul asked
,
never looking up from his desk.

“Yes
,
”
Major
Salazar answered.

Paul placed his pen down and looked Frank straight in the eye. “It had damned well better be.”

Frank
saluted, turned and walked out.

CHAPTER THIR
T
EEN
- Mike Journal Entry 4

The trip to
E
ar
th went a lot smoother than my last venture
.
Drababan and I sat on opposite sides of the transport ship
.
I was completely focused o
n my opponent,
he seemed to be
rapt in meditation. Except for the shifting and bustling about of the
fifty
or
so
Devastator
troops the journey was exceedingly quiet.

Drababan had told me that the invasion of Earth would start the day after his defeat of me, I sat dumbfounded as I looked over at the
troops
who
knew that this was their last easy day of duty, tomorrow they would begin to earn their keep with a full onslaught on my home world. They were confident
,
but they weren’t stupid, you don’t take over a planet without casualties, and each one would fight to the death to protect his comrade while also praying to whatever comforted them to make sure they weren’t the one to have their
life ended. Drababan gazed
in
my direction
,
but he had the glazed over look of someone on quality
tranquilizers
, his eyes reminded me of
my own on some nights at school.
I involuntarily snorted a small laugh, if anyone
,
including Drababan
,
noticed no one reacted. Drababan was deep in his private thoughts, he most likely wouldn’t even kn
ow i
f
I tried to kill him now. T
here was a thought
,
I could end this thing before it even started. Although I knew the
fifty
or so troops
would have something to say about that.

We landed with little fan fare. I don’t know what I was expecting, a welcome committee perhaps or maybe a rescue party
—
now wouldn’t that
have been
a surprise. Half of the guard detail exite
d the shuttle first followed by
Drababan, myself and then the rest of the
Devastator
troops. The shuttle took off the moment the last troops
’
feet hit terra firma, but it didn’t go far and why I was to learn soon. It hovered about
a thousand
feet
over our heads, most likely to guard against any insurgents, but also to be able to broadcast the proceedings, and another surprise that it bestowed upon us. Almost instantly the giant crater began to take a new shape
,
blurred
at first. The effect was dizzying
.
I gazed
about
and
could not get a fix on anything, but as the image became clearer, I was at once awed and terrified. The image became that of the old coliseum in Rome, it was amazing but unlike the changes that took place on the ship this was more of the hologram type. This was clearly only an overlay of the land with which we stood. It was very disconcerting, what appeared to be the solid ground
of the stadium did not take in
to account the actual pock marked land which we actually stood on. If I looked hard enough I could see the real ground beneath the illusion, but I was not going to have the luxury of being able to concentrate on the ground I was stepping on, Drababan would make certain of that. He would have the same handicap,
somehow I did not
think he cared.

The guards took up a perimeter defensive position around our newly formed battle
field.
T
he game was drawing near. I
took
in
a great draught of air, hoping upon hope that this wouldn’t be the last time, but who was I kidding
?
Dr
ababan turned and walked a short distance and picked up a shield and sword, what I had thought were just more props were in fact the weapons
of choice for th
e
event.

Where had they come from?
I wondered
.
I didn’t see any of the guards carrying th
e
stuff, but it wasn’t like I had been scoping them out too much
.
M
ost of the trip
down I had sat with my head down
,
deep in thought of what was about to happen. Not knowing what else to do
,
I walked over to my sword and shield
.
Damn
,
they felt heavy.
M
aybe this was a good thing
.
I was tired of fighting, tired of trying to save others, tired of trying to justify all the things I had done thus far. I honestly hoped at th
at
point there was no heaven
.
I did not want to have to explain myself at the Pearly Gates, if that was indeed the direction in which I was heading. The devil
,
though
,
I’m sure he had a special wing already set up for me
.
N
o
,
it was much better to think that once Drababan laid the killing blow I would just fade out to black.

And then I nearly dropped my shield as a
voice
thun
dered
from above
,
“
Warriors
—l
et the games begin!
”

“Fuck
,” I said
as I
walked
toward
Drababan.

CHAPTER
FOURTEEN

“Is everything in place
,
S
ergeant?”
t
he
stern-
faced
Colonel
asked.