Days of Future Past - Part 3: Future Tense Read online

  "Come on, this way!" I said and kicking my horse I turned off the road to follow a dry wash that I suspected went around the other side of the hill.

  "What are you doing?" Sarah yelled as she and Heather followed me.

  "Tanks are weapons and tend to shoot first and ask questions later! But I don't know if it will be able to follow us up through here. I need to get us to someplace where I can access a terminal before we get shot!"

  "Where will that be?"

  "I don't know! I thought there'd be some sort of gate instead of just a sign!" I yelled back as we galloped up the wash and around the hill.

  I saw the tank as it came into view, and its turret swerved around in our direction; however that was all it did. Well that and speed up as we rode out of sight as the wash we were following turned to the left.

  But it wasn't hard to hear it following after us. I just hoped that it wouldn't be able to go as quickly over the rough ground.

  The next several minutes were harrowing as we rode as fast as we could over the rough ground, the noise of the tank not getting any louder, but not getting any quieter either. When we came to a dirt road that crossed the wash I just rode straight across it and kept following the wash. I figured the tank would do better on the even surface, so it would be best to avoid that.

  My horse was panting pretty hard now, so I had to rein it in and slow down, give it a chance to catch its breath.

  "You know we can't keep running from that thing forever," Heather said. "We should find a spot to try and take it out!"

  "These rifles won't stop it," I called back. "We need one of those anti-tank rockets."

  "Which we do not have," Sarah added.

  I heard the sound of the tank stop then, and looking back over my shoulder I saw it back up on the dirt road. The turret was depressing to look down at us.

  "Oh, shit!" I swore, "Ride!" and I kicked my horse into a gallop just as a loud 'Thump' was heard and a moment later the spot fifty yards ahead and to the right of us exploded.

  The horse didn't like that one bit and took off even faster.

  "That was only a warning shot!" Sarah yelled, but kept up as we turned a corner and rode out of sight of the tank.

  I thought about that as I tried to get my horse back under control. The tank hadn't fired directly on us, and from what I knew of the kinds of things that tanks could fire, it hadn't shot anything particularly nasty.

  Still, I really didn't want to deal with it.

  It must have had most of the gulch we were riding through sighted out; because it fired two more times, but neither shot was actually in the pathway we were riding. After another five minutes we came out onto a road again, and I could see down to our left was an actual guard station, a gate, a fence, and a whole lot of antennas and other equipment.

  "This way!" I said and turned my now stumbling and exhausted horse towards it.

  I almost swore when the tank came rattling down the road behind us, but its turret was pointing straight ahead and not at us. It also didn't come within a hundred yards of us, so I just decided to ignore it for now.

  "Well this doesn't look good," Heather complained as we neared the guardhouse at the gate. There were several things that looked like obvious weapons, and they were all pointing directly at us.

  "Halt! Stop right there! You are trespassing on government property and you are all under arrest!"

  I stopped my horse and the girls stopped theirs behind me.

  "Dismount!" The voice called, so we all did just that.

  "Security forces are en route, do not attempt to flee, or deadly force will be used."

  "I wish to speak to whoever is in charge," I called out.

  "Security forces are en route, do not attempt to flee, or deadly force will be used," it repeated.

  "I am Lieutenant Colonel Paul Young," I called looking at it, "I am here to take command of the base, pursuant to my being the highest ranking active duty officer available. Please advise base control."

  That got silence for a minute.

  "Please approach the gate and submit your orders!"

  "Stay here," I told the girls and dropped the reins for the horse which was more than happy to just stand there as it was still panting heavily.

  Walking up to the gate it rolled open just enough to allow me to enter, as a metal box mounted to the side of the gate opened up and once again I saw one of those flat display screens with a keypad next to it.

  "Please hold your orders up to the screen," a male voice, unlike the one I'd heard at the last two terminals said.

  "Emergency war order," I said looking at the terminal. "Lieutenant Colonel Paul Young is hereby assuming command of this base," and I put my hand on the terminal.

  There was a moment of silence then, "Identity confirmed. Please stand by."

  I counted to twenty, there was still no response.

  "What's the hold up?" I asked it, "I gave you a direct order."

  I heard a couple of clicks from the speaker; the male voice came back on then, but no longer sounded like a recording.

  "Colonel, this is the base AI, I'm having a bit of difficulty in resolving this situation."

  "And just what would that difficulty be?" I asked.

  "According to your records, your date of birth is September fifth, nineteen seventy-seven."

  "Yes, that would be correct," I said and nodded.

  "Sir, human beings do not live to be as old as you are."

  "But you have confirmed my identity, correct?"

  "Yes, I have confirmed via the military communications channel with the central command your identity."

  "So what's the problem then?"

  "I cannot resolve the logical inconsistency between your appearance and the biological fact that you should be dead."

  I nodded and thought about that, "Do you have a name or a designation, by the way?"

  "Yes, I am referred to as Apollo, after the Greek god ...."

  "Of knowledge," I finished for him. "Yeah, had that in high school. Well Apollo, I suspect it's been a long time since you had any active duty Air Force officer here, would that be correct?"

  "Yes, Colonel, it would."

  "What were your final orders?"

  "Not to let the base fall into enemy hands, Sir, and to keep out all civilians."

  "Well, I'm not a civilian, or an enemy, am I?"

  "No, Sir."

  "The two women with me, they are both government service workers," I said trying to remember what GS levels I'd assigned them back when we were at Pendleton. "So they would not qualify as civilians either, would they?"

  "No, Sir."

  "Good, now how about you open the gate, let us all in, and give us a nice comfortable place to clean up, eat dinner, and sleep. We can continue resolving your philosophical dilemma in the morning, Okay?"

  That was followed by a long moment of silence.

  "Apollo?" I asked.

  "Yes, Sir?"

  "That was an order, Apollo, and I think it is safe to say that I still rank you, questions of my existence unresolved or otherwise."

  "Still sure, the discrepancy is causing problems with my security processes."

  I sighed and facepalmed. Just my luck to get an artificial intelligence with a sense of duty and logic.

  "Do you really think that every secret government program goes on inside the boarders of this facility, Apollo?"

  "No, Sir."

  "And isn't it curious that even though my records report me as missing in action, I was never declared legally dead?"

  There was a moment of silence, then "Yes, Sir. That is a curious phenomenon."

  "That is because they knew I wasn't dead. So they couldn't declare me dead or strike my commission. I was declared missing in action for political reasons and because it was an expedient way to not mention a classified project of which I was a member. Due to the war I have only recently been returned to a more 'active' status.

  "Now does that answer your damn question?"r />
  "Yes, Sir!" Apollo responded and the gate slid open.

  I turned to Sarah and Heather, "Girls, please come here and let the system scan you so it knows who you are."

  The both nodded and dropping their horse's reins came over as well.

  "Oh, any chance of getting a new uniform, Apollo? Mine was destroyed due to a bit of unpleasantness."

  I almost laughed; I was actually starting to talk like a senior officer.

  "Yes, Colonel. Of course. I was about to inquire about your lack of uniform myself and offer to repair the situation."

  "Fine," I said as a rather large vehicle pulled up and stopped before the gate.

  "Ah, transportation," I said and went to gather up the three horses as the girls got checked in.

  It took a little doing, but we got the horses into the back of the vehicle. Apparently it was meant to hold prisoners in the back and had been sent out to bring us in. This gave me a bit of a queasy thought as to just what might be in the base's jail, if they'd been arresting people, and then not having anyone to turn them over to.

  There was enough room in the front where a driver and guards would normally have sat, so I declined Apollo's offer of a second vehicle and just took this one back to the officer's barracks.

  "That went well," Sarah said as we watched the scenery go by outside as we headed towards the base proper.

  "I wonder if they have any food or rations that are still edible," I pondered.

  "Why?" she asked me.

  "We're going to need food for the flight to the Moon. I'm not sure how long that takes now, but when I was a kid, it was three days in each direction."

  "Good point," she nodded.

  "Apollo, are you listening?" I asked.

  "Yes, Colonel," It responded.

  "What is the status of the space plane that recently landed, and how soon can it be turned around to fly again?"

  "It is in need of fuel and requires maintenance. Fueling should only take an hour, but this facility has no automated fuel systems, so it will have to be performed by a human. Maintenance will require your review before it can be performed."

  "Well I guess that can wait until tomorrow," I said as the sun was now quickly setting. "Do you have food stores we can use, or do we have to eat our own food?"

  "Colonel, we have rations that are still edible. However I have been told in the past that the quality leaves something to be desired."

  "Yeah, they usually do," I agreed having tried some of them myself back in the past. I seriously doubted that they had ever gotten any better. Especially not after sitting on the shelves for a couple of hundred years.

  - 11 -

  I was surprised by the condition of the quarters that we were put in, in the VOQ, the Visiting Officers Quarters, apparently housekeeping robots had become a thing prior to the war, and I suspected that there might be other robots as well.

  "Well, this is nice," Heather said looking around as we opened the door my room, a small display next to the door was flashing my name on it, though it has stopped once I opened it.

  "Why are there rooms for each of us?" Sarah asked, motioning down the hall to where their names were still flashing on displays next to the door.

  "I put your status in the system when we were back at the armory," I told her, "I haven't had the chance to update it and tell the system that we're married." I stopped and pondered that a moment. I had two wives now.

  "What is the problem?" Sarah asked.

  "It used to be illegal to have two wives," I told her, "I don't know if the system will let me set you both as my wives."

  "So?"

  "Yeah, what's the big deal?" Heather asked.

  "There have always been unofficial, as well as official benefits to being the spouse of a high-ranking officer," I told them as I stepped in side the room and looked around. I'd been in VOQ's before; usually it was about the same as a nice hotel room with a standard bed.

  Apparently lieutenant colonel's got better quarters than the lowly second lieutenant! I almost whistled as I looked around. We were in a large room with a kitchenette off of it, a rather nice living room. I checked the first door I came to, it was a closet. On the wall to my left, on the other side of the room was another door. Opening that one, I saw the bedroom. It had a king sized bed and an attached bathroom.

  "Wow, I wonder how the generals live?" I chuckled.

  "Maybe you should get a promotion so we can find out?" Heather laughed and went over and tested the mattress, "Hmm, not bad!" She looked over at Sarah, "How's the bathroom?"

  "It has a tub!" Sarah called.

  "So?"

  "A big tub!"

  I heard the water start running then, and Heather went to go look, shedding clothing along the way. I went back to the door to our room, closing and locking it.

  "Apollo, can you hear me?" I asked, the only thing I heard were a couple of feminine squeals of delight from the direction of the bathroom past the bedroom door.

  I grinned and shook my head and looked around for a phone. There was one in the kitchenette on the wall, and another on the table.

  The one on the table had a speakerphone, so I turned that on and pressed zero when I got a dial tone.

  "How may I help you?" came a recorded sounding female voice.

  "Connect me to Apollo," I told it.

  There were a couple of clicks, and then Apollo came on the line.

  "Is there a problem, Colonel?"

  "No, actually I'm rather pleased by the shape of our quarters. What are the laws currently on record in regards to spouses, Apollo?"

  "How do you mean, Colonel?"

  "How many wives is a man allowed to have?"

  "That is a civilian matter, Colonel. The military no longer takes a stand on that issue unless it violates the law."

  "Huh," I said, things really had changed, "Well then I need to update the status of both Sarah Alder, Heather Mays and myself. We are all three married to each other. So they are both my spouses now."

  "Whose last name should I assign to the three of you? Or will they be retaining their maiden names?"

  "Mine," I said with a smile. We'd actually never talked about that, it would be curious to see what their reaction would be.

  "Understood, is there anything else, Colonel?"

  "Not tonight. I'll come over to the command post tomorrow, in the morning."

  "Oh, Paul!!" I head Sarah call from the bathroom.

  "Better make that more like noon," I chuckled. "See you tomorrow, Apollo."

  "Goodnight, Colonel."

  I hung up the phone and kicking off my moccasins, I headed into the bedroom and over to the bathroom, pulling off my shirt in the process.

  The bathroom was huge. Two sinks, a toilet, bidet, shower, and a very large tub.

  "So, going to join us?" Sarah asked smiling up at me. Heather and her were both already in the tub, which was filling rather quickly, wearing nothing but smiles.

  I did not have to be asked twice.

  When we awoke in the morning, there were several uniforms for me outside the door, including a flight suit, hat, shoes, and a pair of flight boots. There were also several pairs of underwear, socks and a new set of dog tags. I was honestly rather happy with the clothing and impressed at how well it fit. There was even a bag to pack it in. I got dressed in the flight suit and after the girls had showered we headed over to the command post.

  "Apollo," I said as we walked into the command center, passing through the multiple security doors after having gone down a flight of stairs into the basement.

  "Colonel, security measures do not allow civilians or uncleared personnel into the command center."

  "Apollo, emergency war order: assign both of my wives, Sarah Young, and Heather Young the same level of clearance that I possess, and update my clearance to the highest level that you are currently capable of assigning."

  "Yes, Colonel. You do realize that this is highly irregular."

  "Apollo, there is nothing ab
out the current situation or the state of things that I would refer to as 'regular' anymore. At least not compared to what I grew up with. You may feel differently as you actually had to experience the last three or four hundred years since the war. Would you agree with that statement?"

  I looked around the command center as Apollo digested that. It was a good-sized room, around forty feet to a side, with desks arranged in ranks, and facing a center display screen that took up the entire wall. The base commander's desk was to the rear and there was a nametag with a general's star on it. Each desk had a series of smaller displays and all of them were active, showing different scenes. The main screen on the wall displayed an overhead view of the base, with status symbols.

  I think it took Apollo all of five seconds to respond.

  "I agree, Colonel. What are your orders?"

  "Well first, what's the status of the base?"

  "The base is still operationally effective; however there are currently the following issues:"

  And with that I listened for the next half-hour as he ran down a long list of items. Most of them I didn't care about, but some I did and each time he mentioned one, I made a note of that one, and just let him continue on.

  The long and short of it was while there had been some bombardments around the base, the base's defenses had deflected any serious attacks. Which was part of why Las Vegas was now only a hole in the ground. Most of the people on the base had been at their homes when the attack had hit, the rest were military and had been deployed in the immediate counterattacks.

  When all was said and done, the remaining personnel had all left to head south to one of the surviving enclaves of people. The last one out had only been a Captain, and hadn't had the rank or authority to change the previous base commander's orders, or those of the Pentagon, which had put the base on a high security lock down.

  "Okay," I said looking at my list. "Let's deal with the unpleasant issues first. What is the status of the people or things you've detained in the base security facility?"

  "Currently, they are all dead."

  I sighed, "What are your orders regarding people who are detained or arrested?"