The Black Planet (12 page)

‘That is a lie,’ screamed Herr Goth, ‘that is a dirty rotten lie.’

Hertz was beginning to get angry, ‘no it isn’t sir, I saw the pictures and we heard the rumours of massive relocation camps that were being built.  We had a dozen men in our regiment who transferred to us from these camps when they realised what they were being used for.’

‘It is all lies,’ Herr Goth screamed red in the face.

‘No it wasn’t sir.  We were soldiers, men of honour; that was our greatest strength.  Something went wrong sir, something went sour in Germany. The Fuhrer turned into a mad dog and deserved to be put down.’  Something slipped from the sergeant’s hand and clattered on the floor.  ‘I am sorry sir.’

‘You are deserting me,’ he screamed in his face.

‘No sir, I will stand by your side as a friend but not an aggressor.’

‘Traitor,’ Goth screamed and lunged.

Steven had been watching the exchange with growing concern, ‘you may need to get that man out of there Babes, we will be too late.’

‘I cannot endanger a life my heart.’

Steven leaned forward, ‘then you will be responsible for killing him.  Lock on to him now.’  She complied but he felt her reluctance.  When Herr Goth lunged Steven screamed aloud, ‘now for god’s sake.’

On board the freighter Hertz began to shimmer.  Herr Goth cried out in alarm as his hand passed through the sergeant and jumped back.  Sergeant Hertz had vanished.

He appeared in front of Buzz and Steven; both rushed to his aid.  The man cried out and Steven felt a wave of relief wash through him.  ‘Breathe deeply, take deep breaths.’  Steven cried out.  The sergeant had collapsed to his knees and was holding his stomach.  ‘Are you wounded?’  Steven ordered the glare turned right down as far as possible. 

‘I, I felt his hand go right through me,’ stuttered the sergeant, ‘what happened, where am I?’

‘We took you on board my ship for your own safety,’ Steven informed him.

The man took a deep gulp of air and began to calm down.  He stood checking his hands for blood, there was none.  He looked round and squinted, ‘it is very bright in here, I can barely see anything.’

‘Long story,’ Steven admitted.  ‘Babes put me on their viewer please.’  She did so, ‘Herr Goth, we are beginning docking procedures now, if you and your men would like to make your way to the airlock.’

‘Where is Hertz?’  He screamed.

‘He is on board this ship, if you want him you had better come and get him.  Screen off.’  Steven took out his pistol and set it to stun.

Hertz shook his head, ‘please try not to kill him captain, the man doesn’t know what he is doing.’

‘He just tried to kill you.’

‘That is true I know, but he just discovered everything he believed in was a lie and his wife and daughter were put in a concentration camp when we disappeared.’

‘I didn’t know that.’  Steven admitted.

‘We were branded traitors and deserters.  His wife died in the camp and his daughter was adopted by a good German family in Berlin.  They were all killed in an air raid.’

‘I will remember that sergeant Hertz but don’t worry our weapons aren’t set to kill only stun.’

He smiled, ‘my name is Manfred Captain.  I am not a sergeant.’ he smiled, ‘not anymore.’

Steven returned his smile, ‘please sit here until this is over.  If you watch the screens it might not hurt your eyes so much.’

Manfred sat and looked up at the screens, ‘my god you can see everything!’

‘And hear everything,’ Steven confessed.

‘What is happening in the cargo hold?’

Buzz laughed, ‘oh they are just hanging about.’

The three men began to laugh.

Herr Goth and his men stormed onto Babes brandishing their weapons only to be struck almost blind by the intense bright light.  Green light flashed through the stumbling men and within seconds all were lying paralyzed or unconscious.  Calmly Steven and Buzz marched on to the bridge and shot the three men left to guard the crew.  Then they went into the cargo hold.  Their magnetic shoes held them firm as they targeted the insurrectionists.  Steven pointed his pistol at a particularly brutal looking man.

‘Not him captain he is one of the good guys,’ Kelly shouted.

Steven glanced over, ‘you sure?  He doesn’t look very good.’

‘I am good captain,’ pleaded the flapping giant to a gale of laughter from his friends.

Steven nodded and walked over to where Kelly was floating above his head, ‘Sergeant Kelly.  Tell me sergeant what do you think you were doing?’

‘Uh, trying to take the ship back for you sir.’

‘I see, and what was it I told you not more than twenty-four hours ago sergeant?’

‘Uh!  That you were aware of what was happening and not to get involved sir.’

Steven nodded, ‘yes I do believe you are right.’  Steven shot up into the hanging figure; Kelly juddered and went limp.

‘Sarge!’  Shouted Roy.

‘Relax,’ Buzz told Roy as he passed underneath, ‘he is only unconscious.’

Chapter 21

Steven finally managed to find some time to himself and was messing about in the freighters navigation room.  ‘Babes do we have room at the academy to recreate this map room in its entirety?’

‘I do believe we have my heart but why would you want so antiquated a system.’

‘It is beautiful Babes.  From this room you can navigate and plot a course by hand if everything else fails you.’

‘That is true my heart but that just doesn’t happen these days.  This freighter is an old design which hasn’t changed in near three hundred earth years.  They only have these rooms built in because no one has bothered to change the design.’

‘Yeah I know that but humanity is coming from way back in the queue Babes, we need to understand the fundamentals before we go jogging into battle.  If the students can understand the basics of this it will go a long way to improving our understanding of the universe, how it is set up and the difficulties in navigating it.’

‘I understand my heart; I will send a signal to begin construction.  Will you be writing the lessons or do you want to use age old methods of teaching?’

Steven laughed, ‘I will go through any material you have first then construct some lesson plans from there to pass on to the lecturers.’

The door slid open and Buzz came in, ‘hi Stevie, you look as happy as a pig in shit.’

Steven had felt a moment’s irritation that his private time had been disturbed but it passed quickly and he laughed, ‘this is an awesome find Buzz.’

‘Buzz shook his head and grinned, ‘well glad you’re happy.  Have you got a couple of minutes?’

‘What for?’

‘Sergeant Kelly insists he wants to talk to you.’

Steven sighed his irritation returning, ‘I'm not in the mood.’

‘We got that thing later remember?’

Steven rubbed the back of his neck, ‘you're right I suppose I had better talk to him.’  Buzz went out and Kelly marched in.  He came to a halt and saluted, he didn’t look happy.  ‘At ease sergeant.’ 

Kelly relaxed and watched Steven for a moment as his fingers flew over a large star chart in the centre of a room.  Strange lights and figures appeared on the chart.  Steven was writing something on a large pad and seemed to be doing some form of calculation. 

‘Just give me a few seconds will you.’  He began typing his calculation into a keypad on the side of the unit.  When he hit enter a line appeared on the screen and Kelly followed it with his eyes.  The line went from one dot to another and something bright flashed at the top of the map table.  Steven laughed and Kelly realised that whatever he was doing he must gave got it correct.  His eyes scanned the note pad and the strange figures on it and an idea of the man’s intellect began to dawn on him.

‘That looks complicated sir.’

‘It is to begin with sergeant but I'm finding it a lot of fun and very gratifying.  Now I'm sure you didn’t want to talk to me about the mysteries of stellar cartography.’

Kelly frowned, suddenly what he wanted to talk about seemed petty.  ‘I shouldn’t have bothered you sir, I'm sorry.’

‘You are still pissed at me for shooting you aren’t you?’

Kelly took a deep breath, ‘now you mention it sir, yes I am.’

‘You disobeyed me sergeant, I told you not to get involved and yet you led a wild charge into the affray, risking the lives of men I have gone to a lot of trouble to save.  Tell me if I had been your subordinate and I had disobeyed you, what would you have done?’

‘Probably taken you for a walk and beat the crap out of you sir.’

Steven grinned, ‘yeah well I did consider that option Sarge but as in height and width you are probably near three times my size and have more combat experience than all of my military personnel put together I decided the simplest punishment would simply be to shoot you instead.’

‘I didn’t think you would be able to handle the situation sir.’  Kelly took a deep breath, ‘I was wrong of course, I didn’t know about the anti-gravity thing.’

‘Effective wasn’t it.’

‘Yes sir, you should have told me goddamn it.’  It was out before he could stop it.

Steven could feel his ire rise and put down his pencil.  He tried to pace off his anger, ‘right now I don’t really have the time to answer to your petty accusations sergeant, but you have been invaluable over the past few weeks and as a mark of respect I will give you an answer and I expect you to listen.  It is my job to get all of these people home safe and sound including you.  Not all were soldiers and not all are coping very well with the situation.  It was bad enough having one group planning sedition without you and your men escalating the conflict.  You and your people should have sat back, watched the show and laughed because you knew better.  It took you the better part of a few days to adjust and accept the situation in its entirety.  Half of that was because you saw men and women going about their assigned tasks and never paying you any particular heed.  They gave the impression of complete normality.  It’s what I told them to do sergeant, not to fuss over any of you or try to persuade any of you this was all real.  That was a dry run if you will.  However you gathered your men together and built an opposition to the aggressors which gave their ideas credence and a focus which helped the German officer build support.’

‘How do you know that sir?’

‘Because I have microphones sown into the buttons of your overalls and cameras everywhere.  My ship has been monitoring everyone and brought to my attention any problems as they arose.  I was well aware of what Herr Goth was up to; he was going to try and acquire my ship.  You have been aboard my ship sergeant, what do you think the outcome of that would have been?’

‘They wouldn’t have been able to fly it sir.’

‘Not this ship nor the freighter either.  Maybe you should have told them that instead of gathering a force.’

‘But sir!’

‘No damn it man.  This is my job my responsibility.  You should have paid heed to me and not made up your own mind, or made your own plans, or jumped into action as soon as you saw something happening.  I trusted you to keep at least half the combatants sitting on their arse, but instead I have two men in the infirmary with stab wounds.  On top of that I also have to guard fifty men round the clock because they can no longer be trusted.’

‘I can help you guard them sir.’

‘No you damn well wont.  I will deal with Herr Goth and his men my way sergeant.  This time tomorrow we won’t need to guard them at all.’

‘How are you going to do that sir?’

‘I really don’t feel like telling you at the moment sergeant.’

Kelly's eyes dropped, ‘I am sorry sir.’

‘Would you like to redeem yourself sergeant?’

‘I would like that opportunity sir.’

‘Good, it would seem that some members of my crew have been shouting their mouths off about a certain sergeant they consider a true hero and the captain of The Burning Wind a decorated hero himself, would like to honour a fellow warrior.  He requests that you join us in his mess tonight.’

Kelly swallowed, ‘on board his ship sir?’

‘Yes.’

Kelly took a deep breath, ‘only if you would like me to sir.’

‘I would.  Don’t worry about it sergeant they don’t bite.  I asked your government to send me details of your full dress uniform and awards.  We have reproduced them in their entirety.  Would you like to go and make sure that what we have produced is correct?’

‘Yes sir.’

Buzz entered, ‘go with Buzz, he will get you sorted then bring you over tonight.  Cheer up sergeant, they have alcohol that is actually supposed to be consumable by humans.’

Chapter 22

Kelly actually found himself trembling as Buzz escorted him across to The Burning Wind, ‘you’re looking smart Sarge.’

‘Thanks Mr Anderson, the ship did a great job.  This is a smart as an officer’s uniform, great material.’

‘Call me Buzz Sarge; I'm not an officer, well not in the way you understand.  You still mad a Stevie for shooting you?’

‘Yeah a little.  I was out for ten minutes then I couldn’t move for the better part of an hour.’

‘Scary huh?’

‘Yeah I thought I was paralysed for life.  I would rather have taken a crack on the jaw.’

Buzz’s eyebrows shot up, ‘not from Stevie you wouldn’t.’

Kelly almost laughed, ‘you’re not trying to tell me he is a tough guy are you?’

‘Oh hell yeah, I wouldn’t mess with Stevie.  We go back a long way Sarge.’

‘So I heard.’

‘The first day I met Stevie he was about nine and kicking the shit out of two football players who were both fourteen.  He made an example of both of them in the hope it would deter others from bugging him.’

‘Did it work?’

‘Oh hell no, there was always some new idiot every year who thought he was just too tempting a target.  Saying that they never came back for seconds.’  He grinned.

‘I find that hard to believe Buzz.’

‘Yeah well Stevie is a proficient martial artist.  Very proficient.  When Stevie was fourteen one of my neighbours burst our football when it landed in his garden; put his garden fork right through it.  Anyway a few weeks later he went on holiday.  We took Stevie round the back where he had a high red-bricked wall and tricked Stevie into demolishing it with his fists and feet.  He might have been a genius but he was a little naive back in those days.  It was two bricks thick and Stevie kicked a hole in it you could walk through.’

‘No shit, you sure it wasn’t rotten?’

‘Dead sure, I know cos it took me the better part of a year to pay the old shit back.  What we didn’t know was that his sister was house sitting and the cops caught us red handed.’

The Sarge laughed, ‘wow, bet that made you popular!’

‘Oh we got hell for that one; but the moral of this story is you don’t want Stevie to punch you out.  In fact his punch is so powerful it could actually kill a man if he hit them full force.  We know because we have measured it and it’s why Stevie will never hit anyone these days.’

‘Wow,’ the Sarge walked on board the battle cruiser and sniffed, ‘that’s a familiar smell.’

‘Yeah over half the crew is dead now.  The smell isn’t as bad as it was thought.  We leant them a machine that made coffins for them out of the black dust from the planet.  Those that had already died are completely sealed now, and there is enough for all of them.’

‘They are all going to die huh!’

‘Yeah they sure are.’

‘So now I got to pull up a sandbag and swap a few war stories.’

‘You are an ambassador of Earth now Sarge.  These guys have been fighting for years, but like you their war is over.  We are trying to find common ground with this race.’

‘Yeah I get it.  Can’t say I'm looking forward to it though.’

‘They are OK, just take a bit of getting used to.’

‘A bit like everything else.  I think I'm more frightened of returning home than what I am here.’

‘Well you will always have a couple of friends here to turn to if you feel lost.’

‘I appreciate that Buzz.’

They were met by an escort; Kelly felt the blood drain from his face and his legs begin to shake.  The smell of corpse gas also wanted to make him puke.  The two armed guards made strange noises as the marched in front of the two humans.  Kelly had recovered somewhat from the shock by the time they reached the officers mess.  The alien officers stood when Kelly entered and saluted him, or at least that’s what he thought they were doing.  They exulted as they saluted and it made him want to bolt.  Instead he cracked to attention and snapped out his name rank and number.

The other officers sat but captain Gairloch remained standing.  ‘It is an honour to have such a dedicated soldier of the human race at our table this evening.  Please join us Sergeant Kelly.’

‘The honour is entirely mine sir.’

There were fruit and vegetables available that the humans on board had found palatable and of course the alcohol.  Again it was palatable if somewhat vile.  It took a while for them all to warm up.  Some of the officers described fighting hand to hand through an enemy war ship and then Kelly began to talk about the house to house fighting in Normandy and across France.  They were particularly interested in the Normandy landings.  Steven sat back and listened to the warriors talk shop and by the end of the evening the atmosphere was warm and friendly and for Stevie very informative.  Toasts were drank to honour the sergeant and the emperor but then the aliens had to get back to their duties, with half the crew dead and more dying daily their workload had doubled and in some cases tripled. 

There was only one more thing to do and Steven pulled Kelly to the side.  Five minutes later the battle cruiser pulled up alongside the freighter.  On board the freighter one set of doors opened and everyone watched as the cruiser slid alongside.  A long docking port slid out of the cruiser and onto the deck of the freighter.  The air lock opened and the tramp of marching feet could be heard clearly by the spectators.  The fact that The Burning Wind was an alien ship was a secret that Steven had guarded carefully in case such a situation as this arose. 

Alien soldier marched onto the freighter arms held across their chest and provided a vanguard for the captain and his guests.  Men and women cried out in alarm but the noise quickly settled as Steven and Kelly came on-board flanking the huge Captain Gairloch.  They marched straight over to the holding pen the prisoners were kept in.          

Gairloch growled something that didn’t translate.  ‘Are these the traitors Captain Gordon?’

Steven sighed, ‘yes that’s them.’

The force field came down and Gairloch walked into the pen.  The men shrank back.  ‘What are you going to do with them Captain Gordon?’

Steven shook his head, ‘I haven’t decided yet.  Mutiny during a time of war is punishable by death.  Of course there is mitigating circumstances.  The shock of their captivity.  The fact that they are misplaced years out of time and when they were abducted they were all fighting one war or another.’

‘I could deal with them for you.’

‘You mean you want to eat them.’

Gairloch shrugged in the manner he had observed humans do, ‘my men haven’t had fresh meat in ages, it would lift their spirits.’

Steven shook his head, ‘I think the authorities on Earth would object.’

‘I could give you a half dozen of those rifles you have been wanting for them.’ 

Steven seemed to think it over, ‘how about a rifle per man, I'm sure the council on Earth would be understanding.’

‘Why do you need one per man, one would do, just reverse engineer it.’

‘That’s true but the Earth council wouldn’t understand one for all.  It would have to be one per man.’

‘Half the number of weapons, that’s it.’

Steven rubbed his chin, ‘I suppose I could ask.’

Kelly stepped forward, ‘you can’t do that sir, that’s barbaric.’

‘I have the right to execute them Kelly.’

‘Then for god’s sake shoot them sir, not this.’

Steven rubbed his chin, ‘we could still sell the corpses.’

Gairloch snarled, ‘that would bruise the meat.  My butchers would make it quick and painless.’

‘Sir I must insist that these men be returned to Earth for a full trial.’  Steven ignored Kelly’s remark.

‘Could you throw in a few females as well, I could make it worth your while,’ Gairloch suggested.

Steven shook his head, ‘unfortunately no women took part in the mutiny.’

‘What about more men then, didn’t some of them disobey your orders?’

‘Yes actually quite a few.’

‘I could increase the rifles, maybe throw in a cannon.’

‘Sir I protest,’ snapped Kelly.

Steven eyed him warily, ‘they are already planning their next move sergeant.  In fact you and your men are a prime target the moment we feed them tomorrow morning.  They are going to try and escape and attack you and your men before trying to take the bridge again.’

‘They won’t sir.’

‘They are already planning it, ask Herr Goth there.’

Kelly scowled at Herr Goth, ‘are you an idiot?’

Her Goth had gone pure white, ‘we will give you no more trouble.’

‘See sir.’

‘Do you think I am going to take his word for it?’

‘Will you take mine?’

Steven thought it over, ‘I might well but if they cause any more trouble your life is forfeit as well, along with the rest of your compatriots.’

Kelly took a deep breath and turned to Herr Goth, ‘give me your parole now.’

‘You have it sergeant, mine and from all the men present.’

Kelly turned back to Steven, ‘agreed, but if they cause no more trouble then I expect the charges to be dropped.’

Steven grinned, ‘that’s a deal.’  He rubbed his hands, ‘I doubt if they will last the night.’

‘You mean I could have more?’  Gairloch asked.

‘Or maybe another thirty by morning.’ Steven grinned.

‘Sounds good to me,’ Gairloch barked as he turned away.

Halfway back to the airlock he stopped suddenly, ‘is this one of your children?’  He put his hand down to lift the woman’s chin but she slapped it away.  He cried out in surprise and snatched it back; then he burst out laughing.  ‘I like this one she is feisty.’

‘This I believe is Mya she is from the Philippines.  She is a fully grown young woman, her race is rather petite.’

‘I see, I like her spirit.  Would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow night Mya?’

She lifted her head, ‘I cannot, we have not been properly introduced.’  Her head dropped again.

He growled something and took a step back, ‘a human with proper manners, I am both surprised and delighted.  Captain Gordon would you formally introduce us.’

‘Captain Gairloch this is Mya from the planet Earth.  Mya this is Captain Gairloch, Captain of The Burning Wind.’

She dipped her head and looked up, ‘it is a pleasure to meet you Captain.’

‘It is a pleasure to meet you to Mya.  Would you do me the honour of dining with me tomorrow night?’

‘I am an unmarried woman captain, it would be improper for us to dine alone.’

‘You would be dining with me and some of my fellow officers.’

‘That would be acceptable sir, thank you.’

‘Until tomorrow, I will make arrangements with Captain Gordon.’

She bowed her head and he left with what Steven assumed was a smile on his face.  Steven returned to the bridge and the passengers began to unwind from the surprise visit.  The volume of noise increased dramatic as they discussed the visit.

The Sarge was surrounded by his concerned friends but he sent them packing.  Lady Jane cornered him alone.  ‘That was very noble of you Sergeant Kelly.’

He flashed a grin at her, ‘not really, those people only eat vegetables and grass.’

‘You mean they are herbivores.’

He shook his head, ‘I have no idea what that means, but they don’t eat meat.’

‘That’s what it means sergeant, so it is a ruse to keep them in line.’

‘Yup, not very noble I'm afraid but please keep that to yourself.’

She smiled, ‘I will, don’t worry.’

He undid his tie and unbuttoned his jacket before going over to release the prisoners.  He waved his hand in front of one of the posts.  ‘Just return to your bunks and behave huh.’

Her Goth was the first out.  He stopped in front of Kelly, ‘thank you sergeant, I will not forget.’

Kelly nodded, ‘just keep your men in line please sir.’

He offered his hand, ‘I will.’

Kelly shook it and Herr Goth sought out Sergeant Hertz and made another apology.