Conquest ~ Indian Hill 3 ~ A Michael Talbot Adventure (60 page)

The lieutenant turned and called
,
“
Ouster, Hendricks
,
and Clantry
—y
ou’re with me.”

“Weapons holstered
,” I said
,
putting my hand up like a traffic cop.

“Sir.”

“Listen
,
L
ieutenant, you’ll still be armed and behind us, should the need arise I’m
sure you will be able to make ready in a sufficient time.”

“You’re stretching
the
g
eneral’s orders
, sir
,”
t
he lieutenant r
e
plied.

“It’s what I do. Urlack has already been injured and is already feeling the ill effects from his wounds. The longer we wait here increases the odds that he might die.”

“I feel fine
,”
Urlack shouted to me.

“Dee
,
could you help me out?” I asked.

“He says that he feels fine, what more could I add?” Dee asked.

“This is brutal. Lieutenant
,
I take personal responsibility from this moment forward. Let me just get him to sick bay.”

“Alright,
squad, everybody besides the three I called out, return to secondary positions
.
D
o not move until you are ordered to do so.”

“Aye-
aye
, sir
.” The remaining men and women melted down the hallways.

The walk down to medical was not quite as tense as I expected
,
but it
also wasn’t a walk in the park.
T
hat probably had more to do with my nerves t
h
an anybody else’s.

Paul was waiting by the entrance to
the hospital
. “That the prisoner
?” he asked
me.

Urlack scoffed at the assumption.

“He’s more of a guest
,” I told
him hastily, hoping to head off any confrontation.

“Mike
,
you really need to stop usurping my authority
,” Paul said
in no uncertain terms.

“We need to talk
.
C
an I get Urlack some medical attention and then I promise no more usurping today
,” I told
him.

He stepped off to the
side to allow Urlack and Dee in
and then looked over my shoulder to motion the lieutenant and the three guards in. “Problem with that
,
Mike?” Paul asked me.

“Sort of, but I’ll let it slide
,” I told
him.

“Appreciate that.
Come on
,
let’s go to my quarters.”

“Dee
,
I’ll be back
.
Please tell Urlack the doctors
mean well
,” I told
him. The doctor looked none t
o
o pleased at my words.

“I don’t like this
,
Mike
,” Paul said
coming right at me, once the door to his room was closed.

“Whoa
,
hey buddy, I didn’t invite him here.”

“Are you sure? The big green things seem to follow you around!” He was shouting now. “How do we know he’s not wired somehow?”

“Because we’re still here.”

“Maybe he’s doing reconnaissance.”

“Maybe
,
Paul, but that’s not really their tactic
.
I
t’s usually more along t
he lines of seek and destroy. Do
you really think what we’ve got here could hold out against any sort of sustained attack? Shit
,
Paul, he knocked and your guards let him in.”

“What?! Who was on duty!” Paul shouted, he looked like he was about to go head hunting.

“Paul
,
my point is that, if they had truly discovered us, we’d be under a full-fledged attack.”

Paul sat heavily at his desk, his chair groaning from all the times he had done
so
. “What is he doing here
,
then?”
he
asked
,
a little more subdued but not by much.

“He’s a deserter.”

“He told you that? And you believe him?”

“They don’t lie much Paul, if at all.”

“So he deserted and just so happened to stumble upon our little home then? He figured holing up with his enemies was a good idea then? You cannot be so fucking naïve
,
can you?”

“Can you be so jaded
,
Paul!” My voice was raising now. “I’ve yet to get a complete answer out of him, even he is unsure as to why he is here, but he is as sick of the killing and the destruction as we are.”

“A beast with a soul
—
how quaint.”

“Don’t underestimate their spirituality.”

“Don’t you underestimate what damage they could bring here!”

“Are you not listening to what I’m saying
,
Paul? I think he’s here to help.”

“I don’t believe it
,
Mike, not for a second and I’d much rather put a bul
let in his head. Let the doctor
s do a little dissection and figure out how to kill them
more effectively.”

“Should we start with Dee?” I asked hotly.

Paul was glaring at me
,
but he chose not to speak.

“You’d shoot him to
o
,
wouldn’t you?”

“In a fucking heartbeat
,” he answered
.

“They might hold the key to this whole fuck-fest and you’d rather add them to the growing pile of dead. You kill them and it’s really over. W
e’re hiding in a hole like rats.
W
hat has landed so far is nothing more than an expeditionary force. As soon as the big guns get here, we’re gone. Oh a few of us might be saved for food and games, some might even luck out and get into a zoo, but other than that man becomes an extinct animal.”

“All I think you’ve done by having them here is to hasten our departure.”

“They’re here now
,
Paul
.
I think we find a way to utilize them.”

“I had to tell Dennis’ mother about her son today
,” Paul said
abruptly changing the conversation.

I pulled up a chair and matched his heavy seat fall, my gusted sails having completely gone windless. “I’m sorry
,
Paul
.
H
ow’d that go?”

“As well as you’d expect. Do you think these aliens can really help us?” Paul asked
,
looking for a glimmer of hope in an otherwise gloomy day.

“Paul
,
I do
.
B
y ourselves we’re merely marking time and I know you know that. Oh
,
we’ll go out gun
s
blazing, but focus on the ‘go out’ part. I think we could have something here. The Genogerians are slaves, plain and simple
,
and I think if we can somehow get the message across to them that they can be free here they might bite.”

Paul looked up at me at my last word.

“Okay
,
bad choice of words, but you know what I mean. They don’t want to be here, especially now that they are dying at an unprecedented rate.”

“And then what
,
Mike
,
we all go strolling down the road like nothing happened?”

“Paul, the
Genos
make up somewhere in the neighborhood of
eighty percent
of the population on that ship and on the ground. They become our allies, this war is over. I don’t know what happens after that, but it would be nice to have
the
time
to think about that, don’t you think?”

“What do you propose
,
drop flyers on them like the Germans did to the African-Americans fighting in World War
Two
?
”

“You sure are young to be a cynical old bastard.”

“I’m serious Mike.
They might despise the Progerian
s but they downright hate us.

“But they don’t hate Dee or Urlack.”

“Emissaries? But how would we even get their words across to the Genogeria
n
s?”

“I don’t know any of that yet
.”

“I think you should find out soon
,” Paul said
as he grabbed a stack of paper
work
on his desk.

I was a little taken aback, my old friend was summarily dismissing me from his quarters without speaking a word. I wanted to tell him to kiss my ass, but I was afraid he’d throw me in the brig
.
I saw no reason to push my luck.
I wanted to get back to medical as quickly as possible
,
mostly for selfish reasons
.
I knew if I stayed out in the open long enough Beth would track me down. She was not a fan of Dee and I could guarantee she would not want to be anywhere near Urlack
either
. I found myself peering down hallways before I entered
,
much like I
had in
h
igh
s
chool while I was keeping an eye out for Spindler
.
I needed to remember to check in on him later.

“How’s he doing
,
Doc?” I asked as I came in, grateful I had somehow eluded my stalker.

“He’ll be fine, the bullet
s barely got through his hide
and he’s marginally nicer than your other friend, although that isn’t saying a whole bunch.”

“I very much enjoy this beverage
,”
Urlack was saying as he looked at the container he was drinking from. “Does it have medicinal properties
?” he asked
Dee.

“What’s he drinking?” I asked coming over, happy that Urlack was lying down and Dee was sitting
.
I almost felt
big enough.

“Something called Moxie
,” Dee said
.

I almost choked. “You like that?” I asked Urlack.

“I do not think I have ever had anything as refreshing. This must be a prized drink on your planet, perhaps reserved primarily for dignitaries
.
I am honored to drink it.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell him the last time I used Moxie was to remove rust off my bike chain when I was
nine
. I would
no sooner drink that concoction
than walk through a briar patch buck naked.

“I’m glad you like it
,
”
w
as all I could muster with a straight face. I thought that he might want to drink it fast before it ate through the plastic glass he was
holding.

“Is Paul angry?” Dee asked, his normal intuitive self.

“You could say th
at
.
W
e need to come up with a plan for Operation Genogerian freedom.”

“That has a nice sound to it
,” Urlack said
. “Not as nice as this drink
,
but nice nonetheless.”

“I still have a hard time with you guys speaking English.”

“Würden sie eher ich deutsch sprechen?” Urlack said, the harsh words made me pause.

“What?” I asked.

“
’
Would you rather I speak German
?’
I asked
,” Urlack said
.

“No,
just English
,” I answered
. “It’s just weird to hear human language come out of your mouths.”

“It is a means that we use to have cultures lose their hope.
If we can learn and take your
language…”

“Yeah,
I know
—
if you can do that so easily
,
what else could you take over
as
quickly
.
I get it
. I’m just saying it’s weird.”