Indian Hill (45 page)

“Afghanistan was invaded by a far superior technological civilization that was bent on the absolute destruction of that country.
F
or years the Afghans fought, tooth and nail, grudgingly giving land measured in inches instead of the proposed miles the Soviets wanted. For years they defeated the vastly superior Russian army, but not with technology.”

“Th
e
n with what, hu-man
? Y
ou are beginning to bore me.”

“With something I believe that your kind does not have,” as I poked him in the chest. He flashed his pearly whites at me, but quickly regained control of his anger as three rifles pointed directly at him.

“What is it?!” he asked exasperatedly.

“Heart,” I answered.

“Silly hu-man.” And he laughed that horrible grating metallic laugh that only evolutionary evolved crocodiles had. “Yes we have hearts.”

“Not the heart in your chest.”

“Then what hu-man? You make no sense.”

“We have the kind of heart that makes you go on when all seems lost. We have will and determination and spirit, your invasion will not be the roll over you and your kind believe it to be.”

“We have encountered many worlds hu-man, and they all talk big and boastful, but when the
populace starts to die
your kind will fall in line as quickly as all the rest.”

And maybe that was our key to survival. We had been fighting and killing each other for so long that we would not seize up like the Commander thought, when people started to die. Our repeated attempts at destroying ourselves may have prepared us just for this event. Besides ants, I could think of no other species on earth that waged war and maybe that's how it was across the cosmos, maybe most civilizations just didn't know what war was. The Progerians were going to be in for one hell of a fight.

"
I think that you’re going to be in for a big surprise, Commander,” I answered softly; my anger was very near the boiling point. But now it was time to give him some back. “
E
ither way Commander, you’re going to be sitting on the sidelines watching how this unfolds.” He didn’t answer but it was clear from his body language that he didn’t much like that.

The ship no sooner came to rest when we were surrounded by what seemed like the entire East Coast National Guard. There had to be at least two to three hundred men with rifles pointed directly at us, that wasn’t even counting the eight or nine tanks that had their turrets aimed at us. It was very disturbing to say the least. I didn’t make it all this way to get killed in my own backyard by friendly fire. I was about to open the hatch to make them ease their fingers off their triggers, when a hummer came to a screeching halt alongside the ship.

“Mike Talbot, can you hear me. My name is General Burkhalter. Please do not open your entryway,” he said over his bullhorn. “Our scientists are afraid of any alien contamination and want to quarantine the lot of you before we debrief you and your fellow travelers. Is that understood?” I gave him the thumbs up through the front window.

“Great, we travel all the way back from Venus and we’re going to be stuck in a quarantined lab for who knows how long.” I was hot, I was sick of being confined first by aliens and now I was going to be confined by my own kind.

“We are going to seal the hatchway and then you will be allowed to exit into the rear of a transport van. Please make sure that our ‘guest’ disembarks first.”

I understood the concern they had. And I sure didn’t want to be the person responsible for unleashing a new and improved version of the Black Plague. I
just
wanted to be far away from this whole party, hopefully holed up in some little dive with a couple or three cases of nice cold beer.
I
t was beginning to look like it wasn’t going to happen any time soon. The tanks might look impressive but I was pretty sure they wouldn’t stand up to more than two or three blasts from the small arms I was carrying, much less what their fighter ships were capable of unleashing. And I knew without a reasonable doubt that the
mother ship
knew exactly where we were. They could probably track the commander from his vital signs. Just like in all those Star Trek movies.

The commander left the ship on his own accord much to the gasps and horrified stares of the detail that was ordered to watch him. Even in full de-con suits I could tell from their body language that they were shocked and scared of their new captive. Just think how I felt, boys, when I had to look at him when I was his captive. That was infinitely worse. One of the guards had to be replaced after he began to hyperventilate in his suit. Whether it was the heat in the suit or the sight of the commander I’m not sure.
E
ven through the suit I thought I could smell that he had soiled himself.

“
G
et him out of there!” the general yelled over the bullhorn. The mess that was Staff Sergeant Bruce Gardner was unceremoniously hauled away into another waiting van. We would have to wait our turn. Our getaway ship was sealed back up and the commander was taken to parts unknown.

“What’s going on?” one of the girls cried from the rear. “Why aren’t they letting us off of the ship?”

“Don’t worry Suzy.”

“Susan,” she said indignantly.

“Whatever.”

She crossed her arms.

“We need to be quarantined before they will let us out, and then I’m sure that they will want to debrief us to no end.”

“I’m not contaminated. And I don’t know anything!” she whined in a high pitched voice that suddenly made the commander’s grating laugh seem enjoyable.

“Of that I have no doubt Suzy.” And luckily she shut up. It took them a couple of hours to get another
hermetically sealed van rolling
. We were all uncomfortable, tired and irritated when
our
ride finally arrived. The negativity seemed to flow out the second the hatch was opened, but staring at those inhuman decon suits was still unsettling even though we knew they were inhabited by humans.

One suit stepped towards me.

“Welcome home Mike,” the suit said as it extended a rubber clad hand.

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