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

  Six cots, three to a side, all occupied, all asleep.

  I looked back at Sarah, who came in behind me and we each took up a position between the heads of the first two cots. I looked down at the orc sleeping there and realized that it's one thing to say you're going to shoot someone dead in their sleep, but another entirely to do it. This wasn't in the head of battle, this was cold blood. Sure it was the enemy but....

  I heard a soft thump followed by a wet smack, then another. I glanced over at Sarah, she'd already killed the first two and was now aiming at the third one in the next cot over.

  I heard a noise and the one in front of me was stirring! Panicking I shot him in the head twice, then turning around I did the same for the one right there, and raising my rifle to shoot the third one I saw his head explode as he started to sit up and look around.

  "Be a little faster next time, Hon," Sarah's voice whispered over the radio.

  I nodded and led the way out of the tent feeling both embarrassed and just a little bit ashamed. There was a war on, they were the enemy, and neither side believed in quarter, prisoners, or anything but killing the other. I needed to remember that.

  The next tent was the mess tent, and there were only two cots in it. The cooks I guess, and we each shot one and moved back outside.

  The third tent, was another barracks tent, only this one had only three of the six cots occupied. I made fast work of the three sleepers before Sarah even got inside. The last thing I wanted was for her to think I couldn't do the job.

  This was kind of stupid when I thought about all of the things I'd done so far, and how much I'd had to pay with my own blood for most of them. Still, they'd grown up here in this world that was so much tougher and crueler than the one I'd been raised in, so it wasn't any surprise to me that they were having an easier time of it when it came to cold-blooded killing.

  The last tent was a little bigger than the others; there were the six cots, of which two were empty. But there was a separate section to the back. My guess was that the commander was in there.

  I had just finished with the one on my side, when the tent flap to the back opened and looking up I saw a rather large orc standing there, naked, and scratching himself as he yawned.

  I brought my rifle up and pointed at him just as his mouth snapped shut and his eyes got wide as he saw me standing there as Sarah finished off the last of his men with another quiet shot.

  I put two in his head as he opened his mouth to yell something, and then another two in his body as he hadn't even started to fall over yet.

  Running to the back of the tent as his body started to slowly fall forward I went around him and pointing my rifle barrel at his cot I put four more shots into the lump I saw there.

  "What is in there?" Sarah commed me from out in the larger area.

  "Single cot, I think there may have been another body in it, so I put a few rounds into it."

  "Better safe than sorry," Sarah agreed.

  Using the muzzle of my rifle I pulled the blanket off the bed to see what was there.

  It was a girl.

  "Oh, shit!" I swore.

  "You okay, Paul?" Sarah's voice came over the radio as I looked at the body.

  She was young, or had been before I'd shot her. Two of my shots had hit her, one in the chest, which was probably instantly fatal, the other in her left arm, which it had severed from her body.

  "Paul!" Sarah growled over the radio.

  "I'm, I'm okay," I said, staring down at the dead body. She was dirty, and she was thin, she'd been what? I'd have guessed fourteen, maybe fifteen?

  And I shot her. Dead.

  "There was a girl in the bed."

  "What?"

  I looked up to see Sarah standing at the entryway in to the back area.

  "She's dead, I killed her," I said, and pushing past her I went outside to get some fresh air and get away from the smell of filth, blood, and excrement.

  Dropping to my knees I bent over and took deep breaths. I'd killed an innocent, a civilian. Hell, more like I'd killed some poor slave who'd been getting raped every night and who knows what other hell she'd been going through.

  "You okay, Hon?" Heather's voice came over the radio.

  "I, I'm not sure," I replied.

  "He killed a girl who was in the boss's bed," Sarah came over the radio.

  "I heard," Heather sighed. "Fortunes of war, Hon. I'm sorry. She's better off now."

  "But I don't know that!" I growled back, trying to keep my voice down, but angry at what I'd done all the same.

  "I do," Heather replied softly. "I've seen it before, they don't treat these girls well, Paul. Sooner or later, they kill them. They're nothing to the orcs. They treat their pets better."

  "I, I don't know," I sighed.

  Sarah put an arm around me as she squatted down next to me, "You didn't know, Hon. How could you? And what if she had woken up and screamed or yelled? The two up the hill would know we were here. They might even be able to use the station up there to call for help."

  I shook my head and gave a soft sob. I could feel my eyes tearing up.

  "She was chained to a stake in the ground; she was bleeding from being raped by him. Who knows what else he had just done to her. You did her a kindness, Love. You ended her pain, you sent her off to a better place."

  I sniffed back my tears and swallowed.

  "Do you believe that?" I asked her.

  I could see Sarah's outline as she nodded slowly in the darkness, "Yes. Yes, I do. I've lost friends to orcs in the past, we even got one back once. It, it wasn't pretty. She killed herself the first chance she got."

  I shook my head again and took a few more deep breaths. Her eyes had been closed, she'd been asleep, she'd looked peaceful. There had been lines of pain on her face, but she hadn't been in pain then.

  "That was because you ended her pain," Sarah said and I realized that I had been talking out loud.

  "You're a good man, Hon," Heather said over the radio. "Most men wouldn't have even cared."

  "Which is why we love you," Sarah agreed and leaning over she kissed me.

  I gave a couple of small nods, then took a deep breath.

  "Let's finish this," I said slowly standing back up, "I want to get out of here."

  The last two guards weren't all that difficult. One was sleeping and the other one was keeping watch. Heather got them both after we'd moved to a closer position. The one who was awake really hadn't been paying much attention; I guess he figured the guys at the camp below would alert him if there were any intruders.

  "So how do we open the door?" I asked Sarah as we both examined the locks as Heather scrambled up on top of the building to keep watch.

  "Give me a minute, I have a spell for this," Sarah.

  "That's handy."

  "Very," she agreed and as I watched she dug through her backpack and pulled out a few items and started working on the lock. At first I thought she was going to pick it, but once she had the wires and pieces of metal stuck in it, she made a few passes with her right hand and spoke in that odd language again.

  Then she just grabbed the wires and twisted and the lock opened up.

  A few minutes later and she had both of the locks on the door undone and I pulled it open.

  Lights started to come up inside, so I immediately stepped inside with Sarah right behind me and pulled the door closed. The last thing I wanted was to be shining a bright light for all the world to see from up here. Especially not with me or Sarah silhouetted by it.

  I looked around the room, it wasn't terribly big, maybe twenty by twenty, but there were equipment racks on two of the walls, and what looked like a massive set of batteries on the third wall. Next to the door we'd come in there was a desk with a phone sitting on it and console fastened to it.

  I walked over to the console and looked at it. There was a display that took up about half of the console and a fairly large keypad next to it. It looked similar to the one I'd seen at the armory at Pend
leton.

  I put my hand on the screen and it suddenly lit up.

  "Please identify," spoke a female voice from a speaker by the screen that also sounded similar to the one from Camp Pendleton.

  "Lieutenant Colonel Paul Young, United States Air Force, serial number niner zero seven five three three six six one."

  "Identity confirmed. How may I help you, Colonel Young?"

  "Tell her you want to encrypt all weather and forestry satellite data and feeds for the next thirty days."

  I looked over and saw that Coyote who was now standing in the room, I then turned back to the console.

  "Why?" Sarah asked him.

  "Because Aybem has access to those satellites and is using them to track Riggs' forces."

  "Oh," she said, nodding. "I suspect the people back home will not be very happy about this. They use them as well."

  "Which is why I've asked Paul to only do it for thirty days."

  "Please encrypt all weather and forestry satellite data and feeds for the next ninety days," I told the console.

  "What would you like to use for the encryption key?" The voice inquired.

  "What are the key requirements?"

  "Any word, number, or combination thereof will be sufficient. The longer the key, the more secure it will be."

  I nodded to myself, that made sense.

  "What would you like to use for the encryption key?" It asked again.

  I rattled off the address for my parent's house, where I'd grown up. As I did so a circle appeared on the screen with the words 'touch here when done' under it. I pressed it when I finished.

  "Key entered. Encryption algorithm being computed. When would you like to start encryption protocols?"

  "Immediately," I told it.

  "Encryption will begin in twenty minutes, sixteen seconds. Awaiting further orders."

  I looked at Coyote, "Anything else?"

  "Yes, issue emergency order alpha-alpha-six-one-one-zero-beta-three to begin immediately."

  "Computer," I said.

  "Yes, Colonel Young?"

  "Issue emergency order alpha-alpha-six-one-one-zero-beta-three to begin immediately."

  "Please move closer to the screen for retinal identification."

  I leaned over the console and opened my eyes wide.

  "Scan confirmed. Security protocols engaged. Lockdown initiated."

  I looked at Coyote, "What was that all about?"

  "There are still some very nasty weapons left over from the war. This will make it harder for anyone to hijack them. Next order: Issue general order one hundred and ten."

  I repeated it to the computer, who asked me to confirm, so I did.

  "And that does?" Sarah asked him.

  "Inventory of all remaining and working assets," Coyote shrugged, "book keeping mostly."

  Sarah looked at him and blinked in surprise. "Huh? Why are you doing that?"

  "Because since the war ended, no one has been in control of any of this. The systems can handle a lot of the work themselves; they were designed that way. But they still need a certain amount of human oversight, and right now, you're the only one left who can give the orders. That order will force the system to aggressively update what's working and what isn't."

  I shrugged and looked at Sarah, it made sense. "Okay, I guess. Anything else?" I asked him.

  "One last order," Coyote said. "Issue emergency war orders, all units still active to cease hostilities and return to either their home base, or whichever operational base is most available."

  "What does that do?"

  "It ends the war," Coyote said.

  "Are you telling me that there are still units out there fighting the war?" I asked, surprised.

  Coyote nodded, "Yes, but none of them are controlled by anyone anymore. They're just machines following their programming."

  "Well that does not sound good," Sarah said.

  I nodded my agreement.

  "Computer, issue emergency war orders, all units still active to cease hostilities and return to either their home base, or whichever operational base is most available."

  "By what authority?" The computer replied, surprising me.

  "By my authority as the last remaining active regular commissioned officer of the United States of America's military," I replied. I was pretty sure at this point that I was the last, well Riggs was here, but I outranked him now. Plus as an officer holding a regular commission, technically I was considered a part of the government.

  I looked at Coyote who shrugged, as I waited for the system's response.

  Ten minutes later the system responded.

  "Emergency war order issued. All active units have been ordered to return to pre-war locations, or suitable alternatives. General order one hundred and ten is still processing, command central estimates it will be able to report on status in twelve hours. Would you like to hear the preliminary report now, Colonel Young?"

  "How long will that report take?"

  "Four hours, Colonel Young."

  "No, postpone it until later," I told the computer. I didn't want to be anywhere near here when the sun came up. In fact, the sooner we got going, the better.

  I looked around for Coyote but he was no longer there.

  "Time for us to go," Sarah said.

  I nodded, "Computer, turn off the inside lights and log me off."

  "Acknowledged," it said and the ceiling lights went out.

  We left the room and relocked all of the locks. Next we stripped the guards of their weapons and going back to the camp we took all of their weapons too. Sarah thought if we made it look like a bandit party from another tribe had done this, they'd go and investigate the other orc settlements in the area rather than come looking for something else, like possibly us.

  By the time we got down to where we had left the horses, the sun was starting to rise.

  "Let's go find a place to hole up and get some sleep," I said yawning.

  "Yes, definitely," Heather said, and then scowled at the two of us, "and let's make it sleep this time, okay? I'm beat!"

  Sarah and I both laughed as we mounted up and rode off.

  - 3 -

  That night we looked at the old map we had of Nevada.

  "Now, here's Ruth and here's the spaceport," my mind still boggled a little at that. I'd always been fascinated with the idea of space travel, "and here are the mines." I was surprised to see those were also featured on the map. I guess they were pretty large.

  "Well," Sarah said looking the map over, "we need to go further east before we can turn south," and she drew a line down to where interstate eighty had been, and then following it eastwards and then turning south after a hundred or so miles.

  "Why not cut through this pass here?" I asked pointing to a spot on the map. "It would probably save us a day's travel."

  "I would rather not take the chance that any pass that narrow might have someone ready with an ambush. Besides, you said it would be ten days for Riggs to get there. After that I am sure it will take a few days for the battle lines to form up and the attacks to begin. Even Coyote said as much, right?"

  I nodded.

  Heather spoke up, "It'll also be a lot safer for us if we show up after Riggs gets there and not before. All of Aybem's defenses will be focused on him, and the others. We'll be a lot less likely to run into any patrols."

  I nodded again, conceding the point.

  "Think we'll run into anybody on the trip?" I asked.

  "I have no idea," Sarah admitted. "People do not usually travel through the Nev Wastes, the only reason we have been unmolested so far is, I suspect, due to Riggs and the Navajo army. Either they are moving to attack him, or moving to defend Aybem."

  "Or just plain runnin' away," Heather interjected.

  Sarah smiled and nodded, "Exactly."

  "Well I hope we don't show up too late," I said measuring out the distances. Twenty to twenty-five miles a day shouldn't be too much of a problem for the horses, unless the terrain wa
s worse than it appeared on the map. If the road was still in good shape and we were able to stick to it, we'd easily be able to make more.

  Then again, there had been that hundred yard long boulder back in the middle of that town and we were getting closer and not farther from the source of it. So other such obstructions were equally possible.

  We left our camp just before sunup the next morning. Breaking into the relay station hadn't been much of a challenge, though I had mixed feelings about it after what had happened in that tent. Both of the girls had told me that I had done the right thing, and from what Sarah had told me of her condition, she was probably right.

  Then, there was the whole issue of what if I had managed to save her? Then what? We couldn't have taken her with us, we didn't have the supplies or the room. So leave her to be captured and tell the orcs all about us? Or assuming she survived what the orc had done, drag her into even worse things?

  I shook my head, there just were any easy answers for any of this. Part of me wondered why I was so upset and concerned with the fate of a single young girl, who I probably couldn't have saved, after the hundreds I'd killed, the thousands I'd seen killed.

  I'd like to say it was because she was an innocent, but Heather had been quick to point out that there are no innocents in war.

  Maybe she was right.

  I turned my thoughts back towards our, or rather, my latest assignment from Coyote. On the one hand I was facing what was supposed to be the climax of this whole screwed up series of events, events that I really never wanted any part of, but which I'd been thrust right into the middle.

  On the other hand, this was the path home. Oh, not to my old home in the past, no, that was dead and gone and I'd come to terms with that sad fact. No, this was the path to my new home in Havsue. The girls had discussed it several times while we were enjoying out little 'honeymoon' in Paradise Valley. Sarah's family had a nice little estate on the grounds of their company, which I'd seen part of whenever I'd visited her. We'd take up residence in one of the wings in it, Sarah assured me. As she was the oldest child and the one set to inherit the family business, she got the best spot in the house. We'd need the space to raise a family after all, and I was a just a bit surprised and embarrassed to find out that both Sarah and Heather wanted kids.