two guards will collect me from here and then escort me to the Citadel on my work detail. Obviously I have two guard uniforms for you and John. Harder to acquire were the laser rifles, but I eventually managed to get my hands on two. Don’t ask me how I did it!”
Kronos laughed. “Well we always knew you were resourceful, Adema. That’s one of the reasons you got the job in the first place.”
“Huh, more like no one else was daft enough to take the mission on. Now, I have altered the two laser rifles to a more rapid rate of fire. The down side is they will burn out in a matter of minutes. But on the plus side, they will give out the fire power equivalent to a heavy machine gun.”
“Excellent. Well done,” Kronos replied. “You have thought of everything and covered every conceivable eventuality. I can ask no more of you.”
“Thank you. But I must ask you… what are your thoughts on John? He has only had a matter of days to prepare.”
“Oh, he will do it. Of that I have no doubt.”
“Well, that is good enough for me,” Adema said. “Does he know the significance of Earth?”
“Not yet,” Kronos replied. “I will tell him when we get back to Sontral.”
“Probably for the best. You don’t want to pile any more pressure on him. Well, shall we call it a night?”
Kronos nodded. “Good idea.”
Eighteen
As they both retired for the evening it was still relatively early so, unlike the Kaytons, all three of us would have a good night’s rest. And what, you might ask, were all three of us dreaming about on that emotionally charged night?
Adema was dreaming of that time in the past when his wife was alive and his son had just graduated from the officer training academy. They were having a farewell party before his posting to the battle front which would take effect the following day. On that morning as they said their goodbyes, Adema told him not to take any unnecessary risks. Then that terrible day arrived when the news came of their son’s loss. Adema swore vengeance as his wife screamed uncontrollably with grief.
What of Kronos that night? Well of course he was dreaming about his wife and children on his home planet and then the news came that Drakos had betrayed him, his family and his home planet. Also that night he was dreaming of the time he Transported himself behind the Kaytons’ lines to one of their work colonies. He did not believe the stories the Solarans had told him that the Kaytons were putting captured Hellertron civilians to work in their war factories. He wanted to see the evidence for himself. And what a sight confronted him as he observed the scene from a safe distance. Endless columns of Hellertron civilians, including the old as well as the women and children, no distinction made… all being led into vast Nissen-hut-styled accommodation camps which were surrounded by armed fortified watch towers and also surrounded by electrified fences. Next to the camps were the war factories themselves where the Hellertrons would toil twelve hours a day, seven days a week. The whole valley, like the whole planet, was covered in the same repetitive complexes and it was also repeated in many other solar systems. Yes, the Kaytons wanted an empire and that empire would come from the former Hellertron territories, incorporating them into what they called their Greater Galactic Prosperity Sphere.
Oh, but there was more… a lot more to this colonisation. Once the war was won, the war factories would then be converted to produce cheap consumer goods for the Kaytons so as to rival the Solaran Commonwealth. When the process was complete the Kaytons would be the dominant political economic and military power in the galaxy with just about everyone else servicing their needs. So even when the war ended, there was to be no end in sight for the Hellertrons; just a lifetime of slavery to look forward to. As Kronos looked on at the pitiless columns of civilians, a small boy strayed slightly away from his parents. The Kayton sentry’s guard dog which was on a leash, barked menacingly at him. The dog’s name was Prince; he was the bad boy of the guard dogs. Even some of the Kayton guards were frightened of him. Only the guy who looked after all the dogs, the kennel master, could keep him in check. He loved the dogs; he doted on them. Many a time you could see him in the kennel compound on his knees with the dogs, or as he called them, his little babies, licking his face. Anyway, the boy immediately ran back to his parents, embracing his father, crying, “Papa, the dog barked at me!” His father replied, “It’s alright, son, he only barked because you startled him. Don’t worry, you’re back with us now.”
Immediately in front of that family was a very old woman. As the column came momentarily to a halt, a Kayton guard placed his truncheon directly under her chin. He then raised her head until his eyes met his.
“Mercy, mercy, please show mercy, sir,” She begged.
The guard smiled. “Come on, keep moving. We’re stocktaking; you’re all going to do an honest day’s work from now on.”
Another guard shouted, “I’ve never seen a Hellertron get their hands dirty and do an honest day’s work yet!”
“I used to work on a chicken farm before the war,” the other guard said. “We tried to do a stock take on the chickens once but they ran too fast for us to count them, not like this lazy and shiftless lot. Counting them will be very easy.”
All the guards started laughing as the column of hapless civilians continued their long trek into captivity. A statistical analysis report commissioned by the Solarans had conclusively proven beyond doubt that the Kaytons had more dudes than any of the three combatant powers. The only logical explanation was sabotage by the Hellertron slave labourers, so in their small way they indirectly saved the life of a Hellertron or Solaran soldier. If the Kaytons caught them, the punishment was an instant death sentence but it didn’t stop them. If anything, it encouraged even more workers to commit sabotage.
Kronos then woke up from this nightmare, sweating profusely. After a while he calmed down and managed to get back to sleep, this time uninterrupted.
And what of me? What was I dreaming of on my one and only night on Tyros? I had been thinking of my parents a lot in the last few days so it was no surprise that I was dreaming about them, as I had done many times in the past. Sometimes when I woke up the following morning, I would forget what I had dreamt. But if I was lucky enough to remember, I would always say to myself it was an honour and a privilege to have seen them once again.
In the first part of the dream I was very young. I was making a snowman with my father, using pieces of coal for the eyes, nose and mouth. Yes it really was games without frontiers and war without tears. You could rework some more words from that particular song that would apply to the current situation. And the Kaytons built a bonfire and we all played with it. Next, I flashed to a time when I was older. My parents were saying to me, “If you put your mind to it, son, you can achieve anything you want in life.”
I remember that I once had two girlfriends at the same time. My father asked, “Which one do you like the most?”
“The one I am with at the time,” I replied.
My father said, “That is a good answer, son. You will go far.”
Anyway, next I was in a room with both my parents. I ran over to greet and hug them, embracing them both very tightly to make up for all the years we had been parted. As I raised my head to look them both in the eyes, they were smiling.
My father said, “It’s good to see you, son.”
My mother said, “How are you, John?”
“I’m all right,” I replied. “It’s so good to see you both again, not a day goes by without me thinking about you.” But there was no disguising my anxious tone of voice or worried appearance. My parents knew me too well for me to be able to pull the wool over their eyes.
“What’s wrong, John?” my mother asked.
“I’m so frightened of what lies ahead for me,” I replied. “I don’t know if I possess the inner strength to go on.”
My mother put her hand on my cheek and said, “Don’t be frightened; your father and I will always be watching over you.”
I smiled. “You are both angels now, aren’t you, working for God?”
They both smiled, as did I but alas, my time with them was over all too quickly as I felt myself being shaken awake by Kronos. It was morning.
As I opened my eyes, he was saying, “John, wake up; it’s time.”
“Already?” I replied. “That soon passed. Don’t I get a lie in?”
He smiled. “Not today, John.”
He left me to get ready but as I lay there I kept saying to myself, I will just have five more minutes in bed before I get up. But after saying that a couple of times I could delay the inevitable no longer. I dragged myself out of bed, had a shower and then dressed in my black Drone army uniform that Adema had provided for me. Then I made my way into the kitchen for a drink and a bite to eat. I had Kayton porridge… and would you believe it? Just my luck, it was full of lumps. I’m telling you, if I backed a horse in a two-horse race you could guarantee that mine would come second. When I had finished I made my way into the main living room, saying good morning to Adema and Kronos who were both busy preparing for the mission.
Nineteen
Adema was packing the explosives and the decoder as well as the two Guardianship belts into the false bottom of his work trolley, which looked a bit like the ones they use in my local library to ferry the books. I