Rust Bucket (36 page)

      She said, "You think the Ape-oids will attack Beulah? But why? We don't have anything really valuable here."

      I replied, "Maybe not, but we're in a strategic location. That's partly why the naval base was established here. That's why so many of the shipping companies are located here. If it had nothing and wasn't strategic, then this planet would probably be uninhabited because of its higher gravity. There might be a few people willing to live here, but not many. It would probably be just enough to support the Academy since the Navy deliberately looked for a higher gravity planet to conduct officer training upon."

      "I guess I see," she replied.

      I said, "I didn't want to have to tell you these things because I was hoping that it wouldn't get worse. Now it looks more and more like I was right. I can't ignore the signs anymore. I'm sorry I have to tell you these things and make you worry, too."

      "But you care too much about us to take even the slightest chance. Okay, I'll take William and Angelica to the cavern if Beulah is attacked. How long will the supplies last?" she asked.

      I answered, "I've got a year's supply for three people right now. I'm still trying to add some more to it."

      "You think we'll have to stay in there a year?" she asked in alarm.

      I said, "No, but I'm being overly cautious. I'd rather have too much than not enough when it's you and the children who are concerned."

      "How will we know when it's safe to come out?" she asked.

      I answered, "I'm not sure how you'll know. Hopefully there'll be broadcasts that it's over or that it's safe to come out from cover. Just don't take any chances."

***

I think it was from that moment on that Annie saw what I was going through as she paid more attention to what I was doing in my spare time and saw that it wasn't so much for my enjoyment as our survival. She paid more attention to what was in the cavern and added some items herself, items that were necessary for infant care that I missed. When the items showed up, I realized how much I needed her help if our survival plan was to succeed. Then I was glad that I quit shielding her from the truth.

      The more I thought about how I was shielding Annie from the truth, the more I realized that maybe Sarge had seen this even sooner than I realized. Maybe the war and the war to come were what the Sarge had been talking about. Was that what was so obvious that I couldn't see it at first? Were he and Pennyweight working to see to it that our interplanetary nation was prepared to survive? It was a possibility, but not a strong one. After all, I could see no need for secrecy if that were his or Pennyweight's goal. I was sure that it had to be some other purpose than that, though that might have been a piece of the overall puzzle. I wondered just how much more of the puzzle remained.

Then the incident came that threatened to make the whole pot boil over. The Ape-oids captured a small passenger ship from within our territory and returned with it to their home planet. They swore up and down that the ship violated their sector of space and that they weren't going to release it unless certain demands were met.

      The diplomats went into their motions to find out what the demands were. For awhile, the Ape-oids no longer made incursions into our sectors as they negotiated for release of the ship and passengers. They started off by demanding additional sectors of space. They actually demanded that the Union give up some of its territory for a ship and some passengers. They also wanted an apology and reparations for their losses during the war, dismantling of our military, and for our government to turn over certain specified persons to their government for trial as war criminals.

      For the first time, I discovered how badly I hurt them when I discovered my name at the top of the list. Even more than before, I was glad that Annie and the children were invisible. With some of the crackpot groups that existed on every planet in small numbers, there was no telling what one of them might do to get at me to please the Ape-oids whom they seemed to have aligned themselves with. I resolved to increase my efforts to get the cavern fully stocked for an emergency. That meant I was going to see retired Admiral Cunningham again soon.

      At the same time, I felt a certain pride that they had me at the top of their list. It helped validate some of the techniques I used against them during the war. I didn't see that it would ever help me to get a regular commission, but I did think that it would give my recommendations to the military some additional credibility.

***

 Annie and I talked some more, especially when she saw my name at the top of the war criminal list.

      I said, "It's nothing. They're just doing that to use as a bargaining chip. I mean, look at this list. It's made up with a few correct names. Some names are people who are already dead or didn't even participate in the war. Look, here's Sergeant Clark's name. He was at the Academy the whole time. That's being a war criminal? If our government gave in to this demand, they'd have to turn over to the Ape-oids almost everyone before it was through. Then the aliens would just demand more people as a result of interrogations of the war criminals."

      Annie said, "Still, Dave, I'm worried that they know who you are. What if they come looking for you?"

      I replied, "They'll find that I'm ready for them. That's why I want you to go to the surplus store in town and see retired Admiral Cunningham. He'll sell you a gun and teach you how to use it properly in case you have to defend our children while I'm not home."

      "Me? Handle a gun?" Annie exclaimed.

      I replied, "Yes, you! You once told me you'd do anything I told you to do. I've tried not to ever tell you what to do, but I'm going to make an exception this one time because it's for your own good and the welfare of our children. I want you to purchase a weapon and learn how to use it. Don't worry about what weapon it is. Admiral Cunningham will pick out a weapon that you can handle safely and teach you completely about it. You'll walk out of that store feeling a lot more secure and knowing that I feel better, too."

      Annie sulkily said, "Okay, I'll do it. I did tell you that I would do anything you told me to. I'd rather be told to do something else, though."

      I said, reminding her, "You also told me that you wouldn't ever give up our child. I figured you not only meant me when you said that, but everyone. Well, think of this gun as helping you to back up that statement for the sake of both our children. Now you've got two reasons to get a gun and they're both your own statements."

      Annie reluctantly gave in.

***

 The diplomats, thankfully, refused the initial demands. The days went by while the process stretched into weeks. The only good thing about it was the lack of Ape-oid incursions. But that was all part of their overall plan to lull the diplomats into a false sense of security. The Ape-oids even stated publicly that it was a part of a crackdown on their part to make their military perform proper maintenance on some of their ships in order to maintain good relations and not stray into Union space. Our diplomats sucked up to the Ape-oids instead of recognizing it for what it was.

      The Ape-oids countered the first refusals by our diplomats of the initial demands by demanding rights of passage through certain Union sectors, an apology, a greatly reduced demand of reparations, grounding of our military, and for our government to punish the war criminals they identified. Our diplomats continued to refuse, but they were weakening, mostly on the rights of passage. After all, we wanted to look like good guys to the rest of the universe, although the only other beings we were really trying to convince were the Ape-oids. The few non-aligned inhabited planets we knew of were either inhabited by humans or the Blues on Leuion. The Blues were very much astounded at the Ape-oids unreasonable hostility and not at all sympathetic to the Apeoids. I don't think the diplomats ever reasoned that part out.

      Still, I wondered why Sarge was listed on the war criminal's list. The more I looked at the list, the more singled out he seemed to be. He was virtually the only person on the list who had nothing to do with them, yet his name remained on the list.

***

It took a couple of months before the Ape-oids reduced their demands to rights of passage, an apology, and restricting our military away from the sectors nearest Ape-oid territory. Even before any of the negotiations were finalized, the politicians were leaning on the military to limit their operations away from the Ape-oid territory and to training only. The politicians didn't want the military operating any patrols and to stay near their own bases.

      That's when I realized that we were approaching another holiday season and concluded that the attack was imminent. It wasn't as much as a year away anymore. It was then less than a month away. Whether the negotiations were completed or not, the Ape-oids already had one of their goals accomplished. They had our military restricted to certain areas and almost helpless to respond. The diplomats were on the verge of granting free passage through part of our territory. If the Ape-oids got that, then it would likely be the very next holiday when we would see them overhead. I was sure that the apology didn't matter one way or another. It was probably just for show or something to be given up in order to get the last thing the aliens wanted. It was a mere bargaining chip like most of their other demands had been.

      Since I could practically predict the holiday that the attack might fall on, I figured that I ought to call the Sarge to use him as a sounding board as well as get his opinion. I couldn't get through to him because he was out in the field on a training exercise. When I tried again at some different times, I still got the same reason for him not being available. For two or three days, I tried to reach him, but without success.

      Then the schedules at Pennyweight changed and I had to report in. It wasn't at all unusual for the schedules to change. They were always experiencing changes as the flow of business changed from a consumer fixation on one product to another. For that reason, I didn't notice how it would affect me at first as the holiday season began to get in swing. I would be in space for virtually every holiday that year. I didn't take it personally since I was at home for virtually every holiday the previous year. I figured that it was just my turn to be at work while someone else had the good fortune of spending time at home with their family.

      Though I constantly thought of the alien threat and was almost sure that it would happen, I didn't quite make the connection with my absence until a few days before the first national holiday of the season that would be celebrated on every planet of the Union. All twenty-one inhabited planets that made up the Union would be celebrating because it was Union Day, a special day that not only marked the birth of the Union of Planets, but the last day of the last war among nations of mankind. Aside from fighting pirates and criminal gangs, our people had been at peace with each other for over a hundred years.

      The thought finally coalesced within my mind that the attack would come in just less than five days as I strapped myself in the Captain's seat of the
Thurman
and we were less than five minutes away from launch. I sat there helplessly as I realized that I had a job to do regardless of whether the enemy did or didn't attack. There was no way for me to justify my absence from my ship just because I thought that the attack would happen in five days. Even though I was sure it would, there was absolutely no way for me to prove that it would happen. I wasn't willing to risk my integrity on something that ephemeral and dependent on the whims of the Ape-oids.

      The Rust Bucket kicked into orbit where, along with the
William,
we went into an immediate drill of battle stations before we joined the convoy to Gabriel, away from the alien sectors and away from Beulah.

***

We were three days out in space or midway between ports when I received the call from the office over the lightbeam communications system. It was the single most unusual order I ever received from them so I quickly requested a verification code before I responded to the order. When the verification came in as valid, I signaled the
William
to take position with my ship as we left the convoy and headed back towards Beulah at top speed for my ship. It was the first time ever that I was ordered to abandon a company convoy to return at once. For a moment I didn't know if anything was wrong. Then I wondered if they had the same thoughts I was then having that I would be near Beulah when the attack came. Had they picked up on the same indications of an attack or had some other cargo come along that was far more important than the shipment we were guarding to Gabriel? Either event was certainly a possibility.

Despite our best speed, we were half a day away when communications went crazy all over the universe. Over a dozen military bases reported being attacked by the Ape-oids in an apparent sneak attack as I had warned about in my second treatise. It was difficult to make out what was happening in all the confusion of messages crossing back and forth. Regardless of what was happening, as the senior captain, I signaled the
William
with a line of sight, or LOS as we called it, lightbeam message that we were on a war footing and to be prepared to attack or defend against any enemy ships by going to battle stations immediately. I directed my ship to do the same. We tried our best to get a little more speed out of the Rust Bucket to get to Beulah in time to offer any assistance if possible. While we headed for home, I continued to monitor the naval messages. Some of our bases were being hit hard. A few were holding their own remarkably well.