Lt Frank Jackson slammed his fist down on his boss’s big wooden desk. “That’s pure crazy! The big lasers, the few of them we have, OK; it makes sense for trained security personnel to carefully use them on the biggest worms. But giving machine guns and our extra small arms over to untrained civilians is a recipe for disaster. Besides, small-scale projectile weapons are only effective on the smallest of worms, the same ones the birds can handle with no problem. The farmers will shoot themselves up and shoot us up as much as they shoot worms, or just as bad, they’ll shoot some birds. Do you want to have both the worms and the birds attacking us? Either way, we’re worse off.”
“The workers want to be armed, or they won’t go out there to pick crops,” replied Zeke Thomas. “Thanks to your buddy Tiny and some other loudmouths, everyone knows we’ve lost over fifty people in the last two days.”
“That could never be covered up in the first place, Zeke, not for a single day. You were crazy to try. The people we lost all had friends and family, and this is a small community. Practically everyone on Aves knew what really happened within an hour or two."
Zeke's cheeks were becaming puffed up and red. "The bottom line is this: the Corporation wants to keep this situation under control. This is a Corporation run planet. You and everyone else simply need to follow orders. Corporation orders. My orders!
"No, the real clincher is this: during both attacks the birds wouldn't join in until we humans put away our weapons. Bring out the guns, and we’ll have no bird help. When the blackbirds see all those yahoos with guns they won't help, and I won't blame them. I'm going to be terrified myself of guns in the hands of untrained, scared to death civilians. Why, most of them have never even seen a gun!
“And without the birds, we have no chance against the worms. The birds are a hell of a lot more effective than small arms fire. I’ve seen two attacks; I know what I’m saying. The best tactic is for our workers to run out of the way at the first sign of worms and let us professionals and the birds do our jobs. We'll try to selectively use the lasers on the bigger worms without scaring off the birds.”
“Wrong. You have your orders. Now carry them out.”
“That’s your answer to everything, isn’t it Zeke, no matter how stupid the order is. Or maybe you simply can’t tell when an order is stupid.”
Zeke Thomas shook his head and sneered, his red face and shifty eyes bulging. "How long have you worked for the Corporation, Jackson?"
"Three years."
"And before that you were a damn Government cop."
"I was a damn good, REAL cop."
"Working in a hell-hole of an Earth city for close to minimum wage."
"Your point being?"
"Your job here is to follow Corporation orders as I give them to you. Period. Now get to work or get fired."
Steaming, Frank stomped out of the security office and to the nearby gun impalement where the last set of the twin 13MM machine-guns were already being removed by Tiny and Captain Jack.
"I don't suppose Zeke listened to reason," said the Captain.
"Not a word. Stupidity doesn't need reason."
"You did what you could. If I had weighed in, it would have only been worse. You know what Zeke and I think of each other."
"Yeah, sure Captain, I know." He helped Tiny and Jack carry the heavy machine guns to Jack's jeep. Probably half of all such weapons in existence were on Aves, as they were outlawed nearly everywhere else in the Federation. "Well, at least I’ve tried to get the bigger guns to the most responsible folks, mostly old-timers like you guys. By the way, mounting those things on the back of your truck is a good idea. I'm going to do that with the lasers."
"I don't like it," said Tiny. "We're setting up our biggest weapons to cover only surface targets. We got nothing left in case of bad birds. There’s still eagles and jays out there someplace, and I for one sure as hell still don’t trust the blackbirds."
"The blackbirds have proven themselves once and for all these last two days, by fighting the worms," said Jackson. "That's the Corporation line, anyway."
"And I still don't like it," said Tiny. "Sheriff John said he'd never trust them. Say, Did you ask Zeke about the Sheriff and Kate? We sure as hell need them now."
"I didn't have to. First thing he did was reiterate to me that all search efforts have been suspended."
"And have they?" asked Captain Jack.
"You know better. I've got Mike over at OPs reviewing satellite images, and Sally and George searching the woods north of where we last saw them."
"Good."
"You know how their chances add up though, Jack. They were obviously blown far from humanized territory, deep into hostile, bird-controlled forest. Nobody comes back from beyond the outback."
"Sure, I can do the math. Kate couldn't have a better guide and protector, though. John knows as much about fighting off birds and bugs as any man alive. If anyone can get them out of any jam they're in, it's John Weltman."