SARGE PACKS HIS RUCKSACK
The things that Tinker had shown amazed and mystified them, but it did one additional thing too. It had consumed most of the day! Sarge looked down at his watch – 1800 hours (6pm). ‘We’ve got to get moving - we’re burning daylight’, he thought.
Motioning to Tinker he said, “Tinker where are the blueprints, plans, directions or whatever to all of this equipment? Did the ‘silver men’ keep records? These gadgets are too big and bulky for us to do anything with. We are going to destroy this whole building and all the equipment when we leave, and that has got to be pretty soon.”
Tinker answering Sarge said, ‘les hommes en argent’ were worse than the German Nazis during WWII. They kept records on everything, and microfilmed it all too. Everything is in that black filing cabinet with the funny looking symbols on front (pointing to a cabinet over in the corner of the room).
"Spook how about getting out to that white disc thing up above the power plant and get a reading on where that thing is aimed. That might come in handy if we ever figure this whole thing out," directed Sarge.
“Roger, Sarge!” Spook was running out the door as he finished saying the word ‘Sarge’.
“Son, go get the rest of the Composition C4 and let’s charge this place up. Lets fire up every piece of equipment in this building! Put a couple of sticks on that generator and one on that big round white thing that Spook is checking on too. When you're through we are going to ‘Cut a Chogie’ (move out quickly), and we’re going to blow this place to hell!”
The plan all along had been for the team to find Pac Toul. Once there, if any information or equipment was found that was believed useful they were to return back to base with it.
If that proved to be impossible, all was to be destroyed; otherwise it might fall into the wrong hands. If the choice was available, their means of escape was to follow the river northward toward the Thai border, cross over and make contact with our people over there. Now that Spook was with them this would be easier with his personal knowledge of Thailand and his ability to speak their language.
Sarge snatched open the filing cabinet drawers, removed all their contents and stuffed them into his rucksack. He had to throw away nearly all his personal items; his soap; shaving gear; poncho; extra “dry” socks; a jungle hammock and his toothpaste.
One object in his rucksack he simply would not discard – he thought it might come in handy later - the Russian colonel, ‘Thumper’s’, Tokarev 7.62 x 25 mm revolver given to Sarge when he was released from the 75th.
‘Hell, it all belonged to Uncle Sam anyways, he’ll never miss it and he’s a good Uncle he’ll issue me more (if I live long enough),’ he thought grunting as he swung the heavy ruck’ across his shoulder to his back.
Sarge and Tinker were swiftly stepping down the stairs two steps at a time as they heard the sound of boots striking the Mahogany floor heading toward them. Looking toward the front door they recognized Spook running back to report the completion of his assignment.
As Sarge finished tightening the straps on the ruck he hollered at Little ‘S’ who was upstairs finishing placing the C4 had now moved out onto the mezzanine. “Kill all the lights upstairs Son, and meet us downstairs when you get done.” The lights on the ground floor did not need to be extinguished - they had never been switched on.
The large area downstairs was getting dark as the sun began dropping below the horizon on another miserable Cambodian day. The group quickly walked toward the last rays of daylight streaming in the large hole in the western wall; all that could be heard were the heavy thuds of the footfalls of leather soled G.I. issue Army boots.
Standing in the ‘door’ they gazed out amidst the mangled remains of the well, the twisted Ma Deuce machine guns and the faint trail of blue smoke still filtering up from the aftermath of the previous explosions. Off in the distance along with the last rays of sunlight the sound of another monsoon thunderstorm could be heard developing. The storm was not the most pressing question right now Sarge wondered, ‘where do we go next to escape?’
Escape they must... but to where?
The original ‘Photo Shoot’ plan, back at Polei Kleng, was to capture or destroy the equipment at Pac Toul. ‘Hummm’, thought Sarge, ‘the best laid plans of mice and men’.
He had the building and all the surrounding structures ready to be instantly vaporized by the C4 but where were they to go after destroying them? Again, the original plans had them navigating upstream toward Thailand find friendly forces and join up with them until rescued.
‘Someone forgot to tell HQ that ‘upstream’ a shitpot full of Russians were waiting, with guns, big guns and plenty of’em. Mean Russians who wanted nothing more than to kill all of us and take the rucksack full of documents from my back’, thought Sarge. ‘I can’t let those Russki son-of-a-bitches get a hold of this information.
There’s got to be a way to escape... got to be... I just have to figure it out...’
* * * * *
Gradually the lightning display grew more intense, the storm was intensifying; at each flash Sarge could see figures hiding in and around the yard. ‘Come on,’ Sarge thought to himself, ‘get a grip, this is just my imagination.’
Settling down with his back propped against the doorframe, Big ‘S’ fired up a Winston, keeping his black Mickey Mouse rifle (M-16) nestled handily on his lap and the ruck’ tucked up close to his side. As the light blue cigarette smoke slowly floated out into the impeding storm Sarge drifted off into a melancholy mood thinking, ‘is this where it ends...? Did I fail...? Have I gotten them all killed...? Snapping back to reality...Not No...but Hell no...Tomorrow we’re getting our asses out of this place!!!
The next morning they were up early, had a small breakfast and began stirring around on the second level before daylight – the C4 charges that had been set the previous day were now being checked and re-checked. Everything seemed to be progressing smoothly. The sky was overcast and grey but if any news could be good, the good news was the storm of the previous night had ceased for the present.
All the charges were ready; Spook had taken coordinate reading on the white ‘dish’ thing out beside the river. Sarge was looking over The P.H.O.T.O. equipment making sure they had not forgotten anything, when unanticipatedly they heard a low whining roar off in the distance. Tinker yelled, “That’s ‘les hommes en argent ’, they’re coming back! That’s the same sound of the ‘hover’ thing that took the ‘others’ away!”
Sarge yelled to Little ‘S’ and Spook, “Okay guys, lock and load! Looks like we’re going to have unwelcomed company.” No sooner than this order was given they realized the whining noise seemed to be coming from directly overhead!
“What the…” Sarge said as he heard a loud “thud” noise slamming against the corrugated metal roof. Another impact noise followed this, then another and another. It seemed like two or three “strikes”, at close intervals, occurred next. In a mere matter of a few seconds, at most, the violent impact noises stopped. The whining sound seem to get quieter, as if the ‘flying saucer’ that Tinker had described was leaving. What was all that about they wondered as they glanced inquiringly at each other?
Sarge signaled the other two men to follow him. He motioned Tinker to stay in the ‘workroom’ and put one finger to his lips to indicate ‘be quiet’. The three men hurried down the marble stairs, across the wide-open floor and cautiously approached the hole they were using as the front door.
Sarge went to one side, the Captain to the other – Sarge cautiously peeked through the hole to the outside of the building toward the Captain’s side. This procedure did not expose his head to gunfire from his side. The Captain did the same to Sarge’s wall. Spook stood un-exposed in the background hugging the nearest wall.
Neither saw anything out of the ordinary – the drinking well ‘volcano’ was still smoking; the ghastly minuscule remains of Teach and the Scout lay undisturbed in the place where they had been blown to bits.
Another signal by Sarge and all three men jumped up and ran outside, rifles with safeties ‘off’ ready to fire. They still saw nothing – Sarge motioned for the Captain and Spook to go around the right side of the building toward the river and he would go left to the other side.
Sarge watched the two advance to give cover fire, if needed. The Captain and Spook stopped at the Ma Deuce gun emplacement, at the right corner of the building, and slowly gazed around the corner of the building. The two turned back toward Sarge with the most anguished look on both their faces.
Spook who had approached the corner energetically and somewhat courageously with his rifle up and ready to fire. Now he held it with his two hands, limply, in front of him at his waist. Sarge saw this and thought Spook was losing his nerve and was about to drop his weapon.
He motioned for them to proceed. They were hesitant, and did not move. They did not seem to want to venture any farther.
Sarge once again gave them the ‘Advance’ sign. Simultaneously he turned and slowly slipped his head around his corner to check for the source of the noise they earlier had heard falling on the roof.
“NO…! NO…! This couldn’t have happened! This can't be!! NO…! NO…! Sarge yelled. “Someone tell me this isn’t real!”
Now he knew what was wrong with Little ‘S’ and Spook... he was seeing the same dreadful scene on his side of the building as they were witnessing on the river side – the loud impact noises they had heard earlier were BODIES!
The ‘silver men’ HAD THROWN their ‘captives’ out of the ‘flying saucer’ upon the sheet-metal roof of the ‘mansion’.
Sarge could see blood pouring from the bodies’ noses and mouths. Qualified as a medic he knew they had to have been alive when they were thrown or forced out of the craft.
It's been said 'dead people tell no tales'...that's might be correct... most importantly right now he knew ... dead people don’t bleed either!!!
He immediately ran over to the eight or ten victims lying in all sorts of contortions checking if any were still alive, none were, they were killed hitting the metal roof.
He quickly surveyed the area, saw nothing, and ran around to the riverside of the building thinking maybe he could save one or two of the victims on that side.
Arriving at that scene of carnage, Little ‘S’ and Spook were standing motionless looking at the dead ‘prisoners’ – no words were exchanged.
Sarge noticed a tear trickling down Spooks cheek. “Did you check them?” Sarge asked. Spook stood transfixed, he did not respond. Little ‘S’ nodded his head affirmative. “Any alive?” Sarge asked. Little ‘S’ just sadly shook his head ‘No’.
“What kind of people, no… what kind of animal, would do this,” Sarge said, speaking to no one in particular.
Spook answered, “You know Big ‘S’ every since we were upstairs and I first saw those symbols I have been trying to determine what language they are written in. I’ll be honest with you, I have never seen anything like them and you know I am, what they call, ‘an expert’ in code interpretation and languages. Man did they get that wrong I cannot interpret squat. Sarge you want to know what kind of 'people' they are? The only thing I can say their language is not used anywhere on Earth, that I know of! And I agree, animals...just plain animals.”
“Yeah,” said Little ‘S’, “they call me an expert in languages too and I have to admit I don’t have a clue either. So don’t beat yourself up.”
“But Little ‘S’ I haven’t had time to tell you and Big ‘S’ what I discovered when I checked the coordinates on that white ‘dish’ thing. I calculated exactly where they were sending all their information. I understand Little ‘S’ you are knowledgeable in the Earth’s history, how are you on the grand expanse of the universe?”
“Well, I can hold my own – but I know Spook you are an Astronomy nut… I mean that in a good way - so if it concerns the stars I’ll concede to your expertise. What did you find out?”
“It is known in professional astronomy circles that five of the pyramids in Egypt are aligned with the seven stars in the Constellation Orion. The three great pyramids correspond with the three stars in Orion’s belt. The pyramid Nebka is aligned with the star Saiph and pyramid Zawat uses the star Bellatrix. Two stars Betelgeuse and Rigel in Orion were not aligned. Well ONE of them is now: Betelgeuse. The big white ‘dish’ is pointing directly at that star!”
Sarge jumped in first, before Little ‘S’ could say anything, “What do you think it all means? I think the emblems painted on the disk and over the pocket on Tinkers coveralls could be those three pyramids. Now we need to understand the significance of the face, the lion, the cow and the bird that Tinker told us was painted on the front of the alien spacecraft.
And Spook tell me about this star called Betelgeuse.”
Well from what we have already learned about the ‘silver men’ it’s seems apparent they are not from our planet Earth. They have been gleaning information about our society as far back as they can get photographs or film and they instill the datum on those “CD” things and transmit them via that white ‘dish’ to the star Betelgeuse. Betelgeuse is over 640 light years from Earth.”
“Uh, Spook how far is that in English,” asked Sarge.
“Well light travels at the speed of 186,2732 miles per SECOND. So 186,272 times 60 seconds in an minute times 60 minutes in an hour times 24 hours in one day times 365 days equals...equals...well hell without a paper and pencil... you get the picture it’s a damn long way.”
If Tinker was correct it’s possible they may have already developed extraction of voices associated with printed or written material. Who knows why or for what purpose, is anyone’s guess!”
Bewildered Sarge said, “Well if what you are saying Spook it would take over 640 years for the data to get to this piss ant star Tobaccojuice.”
“No Big ‘S’ Bettlejuice . This one is BETELGEUSE. But who knows, they may have found another way to transmit data faster than we have ever dreamed of. Who knows, maybe that is what they have been doing here all along.”
Spook conjectured. “If they have its mind boggling! We just do not have all the facts. That might be why they murdered the ‘captives’ to keep us from finding out how far their research had progressed. If we can ever figure our their mystery message: 1st Section, Book 26, Chapter 1, Paragraphs 5-26, maybe we will get some answers.”
“Well,” replied Sarge, “they’re a sadistic bunch! THAT’s a fact that I DO know!”
CHAPTER TWO
DANGER APPROACHES FROM THE RIVER
Sarge continued, “I know all this ‘saucer’ stuff is a mystery but someone else will have to sort it all out later. Right now, check out and count those dead ‘prisoners’ and let’s see if we can, at least, find some identification on them. I know their families would certainly want to know what happened to them. We will check with Tinker too, she may remember some of their names.”
In a few minutes all parties had returned from examining the corpses. They counted eighteen. Two were missing -Tinkers best guess was a man she didn't know and a German chemist - a woman by the name of Helga Friedmann.
Nothing was found on the bodies or in their pockets to id any of them – the only object found was a blood-smeared book. It had been found clutched tightly in one of the victim’s hand.
Sarge reached out and took the object from Spook noticing it was the Holy Bible with a big ‘Z’ scribbled in blood across the front cover. “Did you find this book Spook?”
Spook stopped talking to Tinker and turned toward Sarge, “The Bible? Yeah, I did Big ‘S’, I was just getting ready to tell you about it.”
“Who had it, a man or woman?”
“It was a woman….”
“That’s okay, don’t worry about it,” Sarge replied cutting off the rest of Spooks’ conversation.
Sarge looking down at the blood soaked King James’ English edition of the Bible said, “What was the victim trying to tell us? That ‘Z’
means something, but what…?
And why did they keep two hostages?”
“Big ‘S’ that’s what I have been trying to tell you. The woman clutching the Bible was barely alive when I removed a couple of bodies that had her almost buried”
“Go on!” Sarge said excitedly. “Did she say anything?”
“Yes… her almost inaudible dying words were about ‘the silver men”.
“What… what… did she say?”
“She was PRAISING them – she said ‘the silver men’ were fearful for the ‘prisoners’ safety when the gunfire in the swamp broke out and they only removed them for the 'prisoners' personal safety.
When they returned they were being lowered onto the roof of the main house using some type of levitation mechanism when it suddenly quit working and all the ‘prisoners’ were dropped onto the roof and killed. It was an accident,” she said, “those were her last words as she quietly died in my arms.”
“Well, I’ll be! What about that… I had them pegged all wrong!” Sarge said quietly shaking his head in disbelief.
Tinker chimed in, “She might be right Big ‘S’ there IS a big sundeck on the roof that opens directly to a set of stairs that enter the building.”
‘Tinker’, Sarge said, “would you run back upstairs and double-check to see if the dead ‘prisoners’ left any personal items behind that might identify them.”
“Sure, I’m gone.” Upon her return she handed a scrape of paper to Big ‘S’. It was a list of the ‘prisoners’ captured by the ‘les hommes en argent ’. A quick body count indeed revealed the two missing ‘prisoners’ to be a women and a man. Tinker knew the woman but not the man.
Off in the distance a slight roar could barely be discernable.
Sarge slipped the Bible into his ruck’, turned and looked at Spook and Little ‘S’. They too had heard the same sound.
What was it?
Which direction was it coming from? Was the ‘saucer’ returning? None of the answers to the questions was readily apparent. The rumbling roar increased slightly, Sarge questioned, “What is that?” Both men glanced at Sarge with unknowing bewildered looks on their faces.
Sarge walked a few steps toward the powerhouse by the river. He turned his head side to side as he walked trying to discern from where the sound was coming – the noise reminded him of far-off rolling thunder or artillery fire.