No one was in the barracks. A collective sigh of relief as no enemy appeared. However, Jonathan would not let them relax until it was one hundred percent certain no slaver or slave was about. The slavers didn’t seem to be imbued with artifice but he could be wrong. No sense in underestimating them.
Once they had scrutinized the tent, inside and out, they set up a perimeter and awaited puddle jumper 3. Tony landed near puddle jumper 1 and B team exited to join the A team.
They did a reconnaissance of the entire cove and the ridges along the hills to the north where Jonathan force had first seen the slavers. All the ridges were scrutinized. No one. It was eerie in that it seemed unnatural for the area not to have been revisited by any slavers from their mother ship.
Everything was how they had left it. No new tracks from puddle jumpers recently landing. The screen in the tent and the computer setup was still undisturbed and they dismantled that first since it could be the most important item. They may learn a lot from it assuming they figured out how to operate it.
By the time they had taken all usable material from the barracks, thin pallets, tools, seeds and a lot of crated food for the slaves, puddle jumper 2 had arrived. They dismantled the tent after taking out the items.
Sam told Jonathan and the others the bodies had started to decompose and some animals had nibbled at toes and such but the medicos had placed them in body bags and hauled them into the puddle jumper on stretchers. The smell wasn’t a lot of fun and Terry flew as fast as he could to get them back to North Vancouver. Terry didn’t bother to land at the park but got as close as he could to the facilities.
Preparations for the missions of the puddle jumpers had lingered and it grew late leaving too little daylight for any more training or maneuvers. They all needed sleep and Jonathan at least needed a shave. He’d see Kookli later that night and wasn’t too upset to share her company with Keoni, Lanni, Hawk and Beth.
>
Jonathan had mixed emotions in utilizing the tent instead of the willy-nilly manner of how the Earthland Security Force camp had begun to look. There was a certain amount of joie de vivre, individualism and democratic spirit exhibited in the randomness of the camp appearance. However, better organization meant better reaction time to assemble and potentially better planning yet he secretly hoped some of the eccentricity would remain.
The slaver’s tent bedroom was used as a day care center. The main room was used for meetings and planning sessions and the small storage room off the foyer was used for, well, storage. They parked puddle jumper 5 next to it and cut the silk-like material to form a passageway to the side hatch. It was a fairly secure way to house their weapons.
Puddle Jumper 4 was for those with families. However, Hawk and Keoni and their families preferred to stay under the awning which suited Jonathan’s sense of individualism. Jonathan had been staying in Kookli’s hospital room at night.
The next few days were difficult for Jonathan as he and the others had to wait for the computer techs to tell them whether they would be able to use the implants to their advantage or not. They took turns flying to different locales and created a firing range to gain expertise in ray gun blasting.
The ray guns had two firing methods. A short burst like a pulse. This was effective for accuracy with short elapse of time to return fire. The other was a long steady beam. The beam would last ten seconds if fired with just one trigger pull and continuous depression of the trigger.
This had an advantage of being able to eventually pierce any obstruction but it had a shorter range and worse it was difficult to move quickly in another direction as it would turn itself off. It would then take a few moments before it was ready to discharge again. You could only move the beam slightly a little at a time and could not just jump to another target.
They eventually had time to return to the cove clearing and take down the barracks so they could build a kitchen and a lounge with the material.
After ten days of rest and observation Kookli was allowed as were the other English speaking former slaves who had the chips taken from their implants to leave the medical center.
Kookli proved to be good company and very curious. One thing Jonathan found out was the need to be clear and concise when answering her questions. Often much ancillary data had to be brought up but he thought out the answers to speak with clarity not pedantry. The others noticed greater simplicity and less verbosity and ribbed Jonathan.
Kookli was especially interested in the democracy which Jonathan had grown up in. She wanted to understand how the earth humans created the governments which made their lives better. Jonathan had to inform her not all governments and not all democracies made life better for the average citizen.
“Jonathan,” Kookli asked, “do all earth people hate slavery?”
“Hmm, generally I’d say yes.”
“Is slavery abolished on earth?”
“Yes, at least the formal kind.”
“What do you mean?”
“Most countries at one time or another had legalized slavery. Certain Arab countries had slavery until a few generations ago. It’s outlawed everywhere I think. But now slavery has developed in two other ways. In the non-democratic countries the government can pretty much do what they want and though there is no legal slavery it’s pretty much the same thing.
“Do not all earth countries have democracies?”
“No.”
“Why do not the people of the country that is not democratic demand democracy?”
“Because they would be jailed and tortured and probably killed.”
Kookli thought for a few minutes digesting that. “So, only non-democracies still have a form of slavery?”
“No. In democracies there is economic slavery. And that is practiced all over the world in some degree.”
“Did not the citizens vote for the type of representatives they want? Is not a democracy established to protect the citizens? So why do they allow this form of slavery?”
“Citizens, at least the United States, can only vote for people from two parties and these people get most of their money from big business. It is tradition in my country that whoever gives the most money to a politician enjoy biggest rewards once that politician is elected. So big business actually controls who the representatives in government are and what policies these politicians support.”
“Why do the citizens allow this?”
Jonathan had to think hard in answering questions that on the surface seemed straightforward and in a sense juvenal. Why would people indeed…
Why would people reelect a man who had lied to the American people to get the country in a war which cost five hundred billion dollars a year? Why would people reelect an actor who created a trillion dollar deficit for an excuse to get rid of the protections, social services, and to decimate the middle class, working class and unions? He had no easy answer for this and other incongruities which allowed his government to shed regulations and diminish the prerogative of protection for the citizens.
Jonathan had found it even more difficult to be a teacher to the English speaking slaves who had also been discharged from the medical facility. They had so little experiential knowledge to begin with. However, Kookli took over as the main conduit to Jonathan and the earthborn humans.
These new recruits still had the bandages but the healing was sufficiently advanced so they could have a normal daily routine.
The problem was only Kookli had any experience in not being a slave and normal daily routine did not exist for the ex-slaves for they never had experienced what earthborn humans thought of as normal.
The Earthland Security Force recruited these former slaves. Actually, the earthborn guerrillas really had no other choice. These former slaves were hell bent on having revenge on their former masters. Kookli became a de facto intermediary.
Learning to read English classes were established. They had learned oral English and Spanish from subliminal taping as they lay in their pods. Consequently they co
uld speak well as they had a vocabulary and basic knowledge of usage but they were not literate.
These former slaves were just as equally eager to become part of the larger earth culture. They were encouraged to ask questions. This did two things.
Those earthborn recipients of the questions had to be very specific in their answers so generalities and ideologies were ignored for clarity and accuracy. This helped the earthborn as well as streamlining what was important.
There had been extra clothes found in the barracks so they were still attired as slaves with one major exception. On the front and back of their shirts they had painted a large X. X as in ex-slave.
Whoever went up into the mother ship would have to look like slaves on cursory inspection but would also have to be distinguishable from the real slaves. It had not been decided how many would go up though all hoped it would be the entire force. That would mean over sixty.
On the one hand the inactivity gave Jonathan and Kookli more time together and they made the most of it. Their relationship quickly accelerated with greater emotional bonding. Plus, Jonathan’s sex life blossomed with joy and regularity and his friends found him better company.
On the other hand, the lull was frustrating. They had no idea what damage the slavers would be doing with the time afforded them. They could only guess where the slavers had decided to have their colony set up, or colonies which seemed likely as the mother ship contained up to five thousand slaves.
Yet the time also allowed the Earthland Security Force to acquaint themselves with the design of the mother ship and Sasha was particularly adept in assisting in this. With Turk’s absence Sasha was allowed to become part of the A team. To break up the other teams which had worked together and gotten to know one another seemed counterproductive so Sasha was assimilated into the A team. The others on the team had developed confidence in Sasha and they felt he had proven himself.
One of the reasons for flying over an extended area was to see if they could find any other slaver outposts and colonies. To date they had not.
Dr. Fimat would come to the encampment from time to time to report on the progress with the implants. After more than a week they had isolated the radio component and felt it would be soon to listen in on conversations between slavers. They had not yet been able to switch off the location beacon but hoped it would be resolved before long. Jonathan impressed upon Jean-Paul that it was vital and they needed to ‘go up,’ as they called flying into space, to the mother ship without delay.
Without the one mother ship in orbit to jam earth’s communications systems they were optimistic in redeveloping a communication network. At least for their military needs. There were walkie talkies but getting batteries for them was a problem. However, they had two which worked and now, they hoped, they could have two separate teams in the mother ship and be able to talk to each other.
They just awaited the go signal.
CHAPTER FIVE
Dr. Fimat and two others could be seen walking down to Mosquito Creek Park. They were carrying something and it generated excitement in the Earthland encampment. Nothing was actually said but the members of the security force began to gather their weapons and head to the meeting room in the tent.
It had been just over two weeks since Jean-Paul’s computer team began working on the implants. Another benefit was in that time the five ex-slave pilots had recovered sufficiently to join the Earthland force. It was thought they at least would be able to fly five transport ships back to earth and hopefully be filled with soon-to-be ex-slaves.
Dr. Fimat approached the tent as Jonathan, Keoni and Hawk awaited them at the tent’s entrance.
“Sam and Navin, go ahead and set it up,” Jean-Paul said to the two who had accompanied him to the tent. Dr. Fimat shook hands with the three as his two assistants brought what they were carrying into the tent. He was beaming.
“I’ve got good news for you.” Keoni and Hawk looked at each other and smiled. This could be it.
Jonathan was more subdued but he was anxious to “go up.” He feared the longer the wait the more the Peeds would get entrenched and established on Earth. That would not be a good thing.
The four entered the tent and into the main chamber. The complete Earthland Security Force was there sitting the few mismatched chairs or on a few table tops. Some stood around the perimeter of the room.
“Okay everyone,” Jonathan said to the room. “This here is Dr. Fimat. This is Sam and this is Navin. They have been working on the implants to see if we can listen in and to eliminate the locator beacon. He says he has good news so without further ado…”
“Thank you Dr. Prezlee. Yes. We have some good news and no bad news. We think we have broken the circuit of the beacon. The locator beacon circuitry is very sophisticated and incredibly small. However, we think by bombarding it with, well easier to say a form of radiation, actually gamma rays, it broke the signal. We’ll know better when we can test it with one of the transpor…”
“PUDDLE JUMPERS,” several present yelled out. Many laughed.
“Ah, yes. The TV show. So, with one of your puddle jumpers we can test that. The other good news is we have made a connection into the frequency used in the implants to an amplifier which is connected to speakers. Listen to this.” Dr. Fimat hit a switch and light noise came from the speakers.
“However, we can only listen in to whoever uses this frequency. Each implant has many frequencies. We think the frequency for death is much different from the one used by a boss slaver at a colony in controlling his slaves. The slaver can manipulate the frequency to speak to one or several slaves or all of them. It does not appear that the communications room in a mother ship would necessarily be able to find a particular frequency to use for all the slaves at a site though they would have the technology to do so.”
Dr. Fimat paused and looked at the speakers, “it appears each boss slaver has their own frequency. The communications room can speak to him directly but it would take the communications techs awhile to find the frequency to speak to all his slaves.”
Only a light noise came from the speakers. “We have not been able to find the other frequencies though we are working on it. The technology is remarkable. I have no idea how they figured it out. The original aliens must have been so far advanced that even the little these Peeds learned allowed them to establish this communication system. It’s more advanced than the flight systems I think.”
“So professah....” Keoni started to say.
“Barthsha. This is the commander.”
“Go ahead.”
“We are going to increase your colony. I am sending down Talcsha with more slaves. I want to clear out the earth humans in the hills west of you.”
“I do not think I need Talcsha. Those humans are few and do not pose much of a threat. I can move on them in a couple of days. They will make good slaves for us. We will need them for the humans in the north. They are more substantial and dug in very well. Send him in a couple of days when I can use him.”
“Do not worry Barthsha. You will still be in charge and eventually Talcsha will move over those hills and claim the land to the far east of you.”
“Are you sure that land can be habitable? There were nuclear reactors there.”
“I now believe we can decontaminate the area. We need to expand quickly. Some of the other Peeds have expanded to control very large areas. The numbers of slaves in Perkdel’s command is staggering.”
“But they didn’t have to deal with radiation from nuclear reactors and such.”
“That does not matter. When we divided the planet into our respective spheres we had no idea about the reactors and bombs. We are stuck with the original plans. And we are still way ahead of those in what is called eastern Asia. They will have to deal with contamination from extremely radioactive sites.”
“Barthsha you will take Talcsha and his slaves. Put them in the first wave. There are many humans we can make into slaves. We must move ahead on our timetable.
Is that understood?”
“Yes. It will be done.”
The speakers deadened to the light noise once again. No conversation was heard. In fact, you could have heard a pin drop in the main chamber and it was carpeted. Silence reigned as all present digested what they heard. No more laughter.
Jonathan wondered if he would ever laugh again. Jonathan looked at Dr. Fimat. The computer wiz had a look of sheer horror in his face. And well he should, thought Jonathan. Few of the survivors had really taken seriously the threat to earth’s humankind. Stark reality impinged on their consciousness now. They had no time to waste.
“Motherfuckingsonavabitch!” Hawk finally broke the silence. Then everyone was talking or yelling or trying to speak to their neighbor. A few like Jonathan remained still. He had no desire to quiet everyone down as a military commander might.
Instead he thought it was better to allow those who needed to vent to let it out. There would be no distractions now. They would be more cohesive and more determined.
When the noise was reduced to a dull roar Jonathan stood up and placed himself in the front. Finally the room quieted.
“I guess I don’t have to mention that the one mother ship we we’re going after has now turned into several. Maybe quite a few. As long as these slavers don’t know what we’re capable of and do not speak to one another often we have a chance to take them out.”
Jonathan paused, “I think our initial plan is sound but we should discuss it. If we take over one of these mother ships will the other slaver commanders know about it? And do we want them to know about us?”
“We leave tomorrow morning. I want all those who have been in our planning sessions to remain in this chamber. Everyone else, I want you to relax and get mentally prepared for tomorrow. Think on what you’ll be doing and go over it in your minds. I want everyone to get a very good night’s sleep. We may need it. We may be up there for a little while. So everyone get rested. And be confident we will eliminate this threat to us, to all humans.”
Keoni and Hawk jumped up shouting. All members of the Earthland security force was on their feet yelling. Jonathan felt a tingle start from the nape of his neck and move down his spine to his lower back. He had many great memories of success in athletic events but nothing compared the way he felt at that moment.