Conquest ~ Indian Hill 3 ~ A Michael Talbot Adventure (7 page)

“Ah
Miiike
, it is good to see you up and eating
,” Drababan said
with what could have only been considered a smile.

I had been so busy stuffing my face I had not
heard
him
enter. The range of emotions he brought out in me were staggering, we were both captives in
another’s
game, on opposite ends of the spectrum. 

“Drababan
,” I said
perhaps a little too excitedly. “Sit down share some of this food with me.” What was
I doing? Could I
have
b
een
that lonely?

What I considered to be a slight frown creased his
maw.
It was tough to distinguish on such an alien face, but I had been around their kind long enough to pick up on some of their more subtle facial
tics
. Perhaps it was their
leathery
skin or their
need not to
,
that
they
just didn’t posses the range of expressions like humans
did, but they still were there.

“
Ah
,
Miiike,
I would like to ‘break bread with you’ as your kind says, but it is my time of fasting.”

I looked up at him with what could only be considered a look of questioning. “A religious fasting
,
Drababan?”

“Yes
,
it is my people
’
s time of Chakaratyne
.
I
t was during this time many millennia ago that our savior Gropytheon was crucified and then reborn.”

I almost choked on what I could only describe as a hybrid between a pumpkin and a watermelon
. T
hank
God it was soft because it would have most definitely lodged in my throat.

“It’s your Easter?” I gurgled as the soft melon type substance made its way down.

“I am somewhat familiar with your earth history and while Chakaratyne is similar it also varies greatly.”

“It sounds a lot similar to me.”

“Perhaps. But none the less
,
I still cannot sit down with yo
u to enjoy
your
meal, it seems you have everything well in hand
,
anyway.”

I sheepishly looked down at the mess I had made
.
I
t looked like a kid had got
ten
loose in a candy store and had proceeded to ‘go to town’ as some would say.

Drababan seemed to ha
ve noticed my discomfort. “Do not be ashamed of the way you have eaten your meal, making a mess is a show of
high
respect for the cook who prepared
it
.

I laughed, thankfully I had not been chewing at the time or I would have been rewarded with near
ly
choking again.

“You amaze me
,
Drababan, you talk about how you have been persecuted for your beliefs
,
but yet you still practice them right under the enemies
’ nose
.”

“Quite.” He turned and walked out with as much warning as when he had entered. I sat and pondered the conversation for a few moments but the tug of my belly still had not been quenched, I proceeded back to the task at hand.

CHAPTE
R
NINE

“You know that eventually we’re going to have to abandon this place
,” Paul said
more longingly than he probably intended. The memories he and his friends had built on ‘the hill’ a seeming
lifetime ago weighed heavy on his soul.

“Paul
,
what are you talking about
?”
Frank responded, trying to lighten the somber mood radiating from Paul in all directions. “T
his is all we have, unless you pulled some other sort of miracle out of your hat.”

“No, there are no more miracles
.
” Paul
looked up from his desk a
t
the hand that held the soothing liquid in it. “Shit
,”
he
said
without much conviction,
ho
ld
ing
up his glass to catch
the
light. “Growing up
,
I hated the taste of this crap. Now it’s the only thing that gives me
some
semblance of
peace
of mind.”

Frank wanted to add that he didn’t feel Paul was grown up just yet, but even he didn’t see the humor in his thought, he doubted very much that Paul would.

“What’s
got
your goat, Paul
?
You’ve been like this for days. Sure
,
you’re hiding it well from the men, but I know you far too well.”

Paul stopped gazing at his drink to look over at his
major
.
Frank did not welcome the scrutiny.

“They’ll find this place.”

Frank
’
s spine tingled, he knew implicitly who ‘they’ were.

“How can you be so sure? This place isn’t on any map in the world. And we have security ratcheted up so tight I don’t think a rabbit could break perimeter without half the base knowing about it.” But his words had li
ttle
e
ffect on Paul
.
Frank began to doubt himself even as he tried to bolster up Paul.

“After
Mike
’s fight, they’ll land.” Frank began to question him, but Paul merely shook his head to tell Frank that he wasn’t through yet.

“I’ve been thinking about this
,
Frank, just let me run with it. They first come cruising into our galaxy with their running lights off, seems to me they wanted to get a lay of the land
,
so to speak. See where our technology was at and if we were any serious sort of threat. When they figured they were the big kid on the block they just came on down and snagged a few thousand people, for what? Entertainment
,
sure, but then what? Food. They were like the old pirates landing on an island and replenishing their stores. Sure we stung them a bit when they came down, but at what cost
one thousand
to
one
?
M
ore like
ten thousand
to one. Then we do a last ditch effort to mess up their plans, it bought us time no doubt
,
but more than likely it just stirred up the nest. They worked day and night to get that ship repaired and I’m sure that they had only one purpose in mind and that was revenge. How dare we try to defy them!” As Paul slammed his drink down, Frank inadvertently jumped, he hoped Paul didn’t notice. “They plan this huge television event so that we can watch our Earth champion get crushed by their gladiatorial champion. So then when we are at our lowest, they’ll hit. You know the old adage, kick’em while they’re down. Frank
,
that’s exactly what they’re going
to do. My guess is we’ll have ground troops here within the next two weeks. I can’t imagine they have enough troops or weaponry on board that ship to take the whole p
lanet, so they’ll copy the
Nazi
s
.
”

“Sir?” Frank asked raptly.

“They’ll turn people against people. They’ll tell some that if they pledge obedience that they won’t eat them, or some
thing
like that. People will drop their weapons and line up to be the first to save themselves. Kid
s
will turn in parents, brother
s
will rat out brother
s
just to save their own hide. This place will be compromised within days. To save themselves
,
they’ll doom us all.”

“Paul
, d
o you really believe that will happen
,” Frank said
as he poured himself a stiff one.

“Who knows
,
I’m probably just drunk.”

But Frank didn’t believe that and neither did Paul.

CHAPTER
TEN

Beth ached, mind, soul, and most assure
dly body
.
S
he dared not stop to check her blistering sore feet. Taking off her shoes now would be foolhardy to say the least and more than likely she would not be able to put them back on once the swelling began. And what would be the purpose it wasn’t like she had any first aid supplies to soothe the pain. And something else was nagging her too, the roadway was eerily quiet, she had once retreated into the woods when a phantom sound pervaded her ear drums, but
no one
came, neither sinner nor saint, but her sub-conscious was in overdrive, she could not shake the feeling that she was being followed, she had been through too much to doubt what her
conscious
ness
was telling her. But what could she do, she had no weapons and she didn’t have the strength to out run… what? A phantom? The man from the woods? What!

“W
ho the fuck is out there
!” she screamed
. Dreading and wishing for a response at the same time. She turned back to begin her journey anew. And there it was.

“Shhhh!” Came the veiled whisper. Beth would have shot out of her shoes if it wasn’t for the fact that they were molded to her feet like sausages stuffed in casing.

“Who…who is that.” She quivered.

“Lady, shut up!” The screamed whisper came again.

“What?” She felt paralyzed, the desire to flee was there, but the body was not willing. She wanted to scream but what was the point, she was caught as effectively as a fish in a net.

“Come here.” The voice said semi frantically.

As she scanned the woods she was able to see a small arm motioning her onwards. Like a moth to a flame she was powerless, she hesitantly moved
toward
her doom.

“Faster lady or he’s going to see you.” The voice said near hysterics.

Beth understood that fear, even if she had no clue as to what was going on. She half hobbled, half shuffled
toward
the
diminutive
figure. He wasn’t the man from the outpost, this was a boy probably not much older than ten or eleven from the size of him.

“Come on
,” he said
urgently.

She had no sooner reached the boy when he pulled her arm down and with
her earlier
fight spilled out of her, and relief flooding through her, her whole body dropped into a heap.

“Who
—
” she tried to ask.
T
he boy was having none of it. He clamped his hand over her mouth with a strength that belied his size. And this is it she thought, he tricked me and now it’s done. Fear and surrender overwhelmed her
.
S
he hated herself for being so weak.