people making big money on Sontral at the moment are lawyers defending war criminals like you. I was on top money in military intelligence during the war. Now the only work I have been offered recently is on reconstruction projects on planets that have been devastated by your lot. I’ve got an I.Q. of 123 – I am not working for minimum wage.”
“I don’t suppose I could talk you into working for me?” Wesker asked. “I could use a good man like you and the pay would be good.”
“You suppose right,” Drexler replied. “I’m not so keen on the company you keep and life expectancy could be short. I don’t want to end up with a knife in my back like Drakos, or a rope around my neck from the Solarans for committing high treason. Anyway, I would probably never get much chance to spend the fruits of my gain. I do not want to end my days stuck in here with you and your little entourage. The Solarans executed ten defectors last week. I don’t want to be the next name on their hit list, which is what will happen if they find out I am working for you.”
“Yes, I knew all ten of them.”
“That’s nothing. Did you see what the Hellertrons did to the last lot of high-ranking Kaytons they found guilty of war crimes a few weeks ago? They were given a public execution by hanging, using piano wire on meat hooks in one of Rueatarn city’s squares and by all accounts it was very painful and very slow. So if it’s all the same to you, I will be on my way.”
Wesker remained impassive. “As you wish.”
Drexler made his way back to the air lock with his ill-gotten gains. As he reached the entrance, Wesker shouted, “Don’t spend it all at once!”
“I won’t,” Drexler replied. “What a pair we are. I will see you on the gallows one day.”
“Yes,” Wesker said, “but mine will be a lot higher than yours.”
With that they parted, Drexler and his motley crew boarding their scout ship and making their getaway as fast as their engines would carry them. Firstly out of the Kayton enclave and then out of the Asteroid Fields proper and back to civilisation to begin to spend their wages of sin that were gained in such a shameful way.
Back on the Kayton Battle Cruiser, Wesker showed his senior officer the video footage. “We’ve got him. Transmit this name to the memory core of all our scout ships and don’t even tell the captains what we are looking for. Only if we get a match is the ship’s computer to notify the Captain. He will then tell me directly and we can gather our forces to go in for the kill.”
“But sir, do you know how many habitable planets there are? And that’s not counting the uncharted ones. Plus the fact we don’t even begin to have enough scout ships to make a proper search and even if we did, we could be looking for years and still not get a match.”
At that, Wesker flew off the handle, hurling a tirade of abuse at the officer. “Oh, I’m getting sick of hearing excuses from you lot! I want the Guardian’s home planet found, after which I want him killed and then I want death and destruction to rain down on his home world to such an extent that not even bacteria and microbes will be left alive by the time we have finished. I want him to pay for me having to live in this hovel with you bunch of idiots.”
“But sir, where are we going to get all the extra scout ships we will need?”
“Do I have to think of everything? What about those huge mineral cargo ship convoys that are piling virtually unprotected from the Backtoomi mining systems? Direct our ships to start robbing them and use the proceeds to buy the scout ships we need on the black market. Standards have certainly fallen since the collapse of the empire. I’m telling you, if I don’t see a more aggressive stamp being brought to proceedings and very soon, I am seriously thinking about evoking the punishment of decimation. I will have every tenth man executed for cowardice. And while you are at it, tell all the captains of the scout ships not to bother coming back until they find him. Now go on and get out of my sight, you bunch of incompetent fools. I’m sick of the lot of you!”
“Yes sir,” the officer replied. “I will get things moving immediately.”
Thirty
Now seven years have passed and the Galaxy is certainly a better place. Peace and prosperity have been restored for all, not just a privileged few. The Hellertrons have joined the Solaran Commonwealth, quickly followed by most individual planets like Tau Seti, that had suffered so much during the war under the Kayton occupation.
As for me, I am living in Los Angeles. I thought it better to be a little fish in a big sea where I would not be noticed, rather than a big fish in a little sea where I might stand out more. Well, that was the logic of my thinking. And what am I doing for a living in Los Angeles? Well, I bought an existing company. And no, it was not bought with the proceeds of bank jobs, but from the money we raised from the gold that Freema brought with her from Sontral that the Prime Minister had given to us both to start our new lives together. We live a comfortable life but the majority, if not most of the profits, we donate to charities. Not in one-off payments, though. I think that is a flawed strategy because once the money is spent the charity is back to square one again and looking for more donations. Rather, my novel solution is say, for arguments sake, to put a million pounds into a trust fund for the charity. The charity cannot touch the capital. It is the yearly interest that is given annually to the charity so in effect they have a perpetual source of income instead of living a hand-to-mouth existence. So in my own way I am leaving a rock solid and lasting legacy.
Now before I relocated, I paid my friends in the bookies one last visit. Amazingly, Bob has bought a microwave oven and a television set, so it is not such a wretched life he is leading after all. When I told Bob I was going to live in Los Angeles, he said, “I will be hitting that Scoop Six one of these days, Johnny Boy and when I do, I will come and see you in Los Angeles and then we can go to that Santa Anita racetrack.” Oh dear, he will never learn. It’s funny; I met a guy once who said he was going to pray for an improvement in Bob’s life. His prayers must have been answered.
As for Brian, his girlfriend has moved in with him.
I said, “She will put you in an early grave.”
He replied, “Yes I know, but what a way to go!” He is happy; that is the main thing.
After leaving the bookies for the last time, I took one more walk through Leeds City Centre, where I heard the sound of the South American musicians again. I had to stop and listen to them one more time and at the end of their performance, the guy who had spoken to me the first time caught my attention.
He came over to me, smiling, and said, “You look much happier now, much more at peace with yourself.”
I smiled back and thanked him and continued on my way.
As for my life, I still had nightmares about my experiences but over the passage of time and with the love of a good woman, they became less frequent and less intense. One particular night I had a dream in which I saw my parents, but that was not all. As I got closer to them, I could see other figures appearing and I smiled as standing before me were Kronos, his wife and two children, as well as Adema and his wife and son. Of course, it was an honour and a privilege to see them all.
My father said to me, “Well done, son. You have done us all proud.”
I tried to get even closer to them but I could hear Freema’s voice calling my name. My mother smiled and then waved me back, along with everybody else. I told them how much I loved them and then I began to wake up. As I did so, it felt like sandpaper was being rubbed against my cheek. Of course I realised what it was straight away. I opened my eyes and yes, it was Felix, licking my face with his tongue that was as rough as a Canadian bear’s backside.
There was also a little girl… yes, my daughter. She had hold of Kev and was saying, “Take me to Disneyland.”
Kev replied, “No, I cannot. You are not the Guardian.”
Freema then said to me, “Oh, so you have decided to wake up and about time, too. Can you bring these two under control? The cat has started climbing up the curtains again and will you
tell our daughter that when she goes on a sleepover to her friends, to stop pointing up at the night sky, at Sontral’s sun, and saying, ‘My mummy comes from a planet that orbits that star.’”
I laughed and beckoned them both to come over to me, whereupon I put my arms around them both and told them how much I loved them.
Freema replied, “You silly boy.”
Yes, this is my life now and so proud of it I am, too, and alas this is where my story ends. But I think it is only right and proper that I give the last word in this epic story as I did the first words, to that Unknown Soldier who, along with millions of his comrades, gave their lives so that we could have a future.
I know not what the future holds, I know not what it brings, I only know what has passed and what tears that would bring. Now we must go forward with our heads held high, together in our belief in God and what we know is right.
END
© John Davenport
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