Charger the Soldier (24 page)

Scowling darkly, small veins throbbing in his
neck, General Harris said, "Shit, Fritz, whatever! Just get to the
goddamn point. I need a coffee." He was not a man to trifle with
before breakfast.

"I need you to get a message to my wife. She
can help with broadcasting to these separated forces of yours, both
our intentions and the tactics we'll need to use," General A'Ochay
said. "If the armies have this information, we might finally be
able to seal the pockets of alien resistance that are killing so
many of our forces. And we must let the world know that we intend
to use nuclear weapons to try to contain the aliens."

The invasion had begun with the loss of most
satellites in orbit around the planet, which made communication
difficult. Now that every satellite was under alien control,
getting information out to all parts of the country was almost
impossible. But not quite. Old methods of broadcasting were still
available, and it was General A'Ochay's wife, Pam, now in full
control of the media, who was reporting daily to the citizens of
America on what was happening around the country.

"Fine, fine, just get it done," General
Harris said, with a sneer. "Corporal!" he snapped, "Get Fritz here
a radio and a line to his wife, and get me a goddamn coffee!"

Some twenty miles to the south, Thad and his
sidekick, Pete, were now moving with a German light infantry group.
The small party was huddled tightly around one of the American M-1
tanks, moving slowly down the narrow streets of a small east coast
town. They were trying to get to a better-fortified position before
the aliens' next surge. They had rounded a street corner that
crested a small hill when, to their surprise, they found themselves
face to face with an alien interpretation of a tank.

It had become clear by now that the invaders,
though they had eyes, clearly did not see things as humans did.
There were reports of aliens trying to infiltrate military
positions by casting themselves as human in appearance. To the
human soldiers, these impostors were easily spotted. The human-form
aliens were merely a dark shadow outline of a human all hunched
over, like something out of a horror show. Nevertheless, this alien
version of a tank was massive. It shimmered in the morning sun and
moved much like the aliens themselves. It appeared to dart from
side to side as solid parts seemed to pass through liquid parts
while it advanced.

The alien tank fired a solid projectile,
which struck the M-1, slicing a large gash down one side and
tearing off part of the track. As the invaders' original tactics
had begun to fail, they seemed to be adopting a more human method
of fighting. Human-form aliens appeared now on the front lines of
battle and, instead of being themselves the weapons, they sent
spike-like projectiles like bullets from their forms into the human
armies. The small band of soldiers around the tank fought well, but
more and more humans were falling to this new alien tactic.

As Pete collapsed to the ground beside him,
sliced in two, Thad yelled, "Fall back, fall back, damn it!"

An eerie, haunting scream almost drowned out
the noise of battle.

The scream shook Thad to his boots. He looked
up and rubbed the dirt from his eyes. Was he actually seeing what
he thought he saw?

Appearing from behind the aliens and slicing
into them were Indians.

Indians in jeans, with leather vests,
feathers in their hair and war paint on their faces. This
unexpected army had arrived like the cavalry always did in movies.
Native Americans, wielding historic weapons that signaled to
everyone a new way of creating fear and panic in the aliens. They
swarmed over the enemy, slicing into them, scattering bodies left
and right.

Hope had been fading for Thad's group before
that moment, but this army of people had shown up, as if from the
ashes of their ancestors, howling like demons, and turned the tide
of battle back into human hands.

When things calmed down, Thad said, "Damn,
it's good to see you guys. I was beginning to wonder if I had to
fight this thing alone."

Danny Opinhimmer said, "We need to capture an
alien, try to learn its weaknesses. I have a plan on how to do
that, but I could do with some help."

"Capture one? Have you got stuff to freeze
them with?" Thad asked. "I helped capture three of the things and
that's what we used."

"Okay, follow me on this for a second,"
Danny's voice rang out. "If we get some liquid nitrogen, we can
freeze one long enough to capture it. We can then go find some
scientist guy to help figure these things out."

"Wow, that almost seems logical." Thad
smirked. "I guess you didn't hear what I said." Maybe the Indian
wanted a commendation or something. "Already been done."

"Never mind, bitch, we will do it ourselves,"
Danny said. Turning, he called to his troops to advance and, to
Thad's surprise, thousands of Native Americans in all manner of
clothing and weapons began advancing through the city in search of
the right alien for Danny's idea.

Danny was determined, and maybe just a little
lucky. His native tradition spoke of a great serpent god that
descended from the stars and ruled his people cruelly for many
years until one day a young brave found the secret of the god and
defeated it. Danny was set on finding the secret of these alien
invaders. But first he needed to catch one. That guy, Thad, was
likely full of shit with his talk of capturing aliens.

"Okay, wait, I'm sorry," Thad called as he
chased after Danny. "You helped me, now let me help you."

Danny nodded and the group moved off in
search of an alien. The mass of humans moved through the streets,
in and out of buildings, looking everywhere, when suddenly the call
came back to Danny. They had found one!

What they caught even surprised Thad. One of
the human-form alien spies had managed to get itself locked into a
delicatessen meat locker. The cold air was slowing the alien's
movement considerably and Danny was overjoyed.

"I have an uncle, a professor at the
university close to the town where I grew up. He told me of a
theory he developed regarding aliens," Danny told Thad as they
observed the chaotic and confusing movements of the trapped
alien.

"He said they would probably be like maggots.
They would be birthed from a single form, all identical. They'd be
able to fit together to form whatever object they conceive," Danny
continued. "Maybe that's how these aliens got here. They came as
one being, and then split into multiple beings. My uncle believed
they would be connected in thought somehow."

"What, like psychic alien cloning monsters?"
Thad asked, revealing his usual combination of too little knowledge
and too much brash stupidity.

Danny sneered. "Yeah, right. That's it
exactly, or for the grown-ups in the room, they'd be more like
living Lego, able to form complex shapes that operate from a single
brain with a common purpose."

Thad was not pleased with this response. "So
what's your plan, smart ass?" Thad said. "We got an alien but do
you know any scientists that can figure this thing out fast? Last I
heard from command, we have like a hundred giant maggot monsters
heading our way!"

Danny gave instructions to his men and they
found a heavy steel crate, filled it with bags of ice and managed
to trap the sluggish alien inside the crate and load it into the
back of a waiting truck.

"Let's get it to your command structure and
see if someone there can help," Danny said aloud, not speaking to
anyone directly.

Thad, Danny and half a dozen others loaded
the crate into a truck and drove north to the command post. Thad
led the group to the building that housed the generals and after a
lot of explaining and arguing with the gate-keepers, the generals
finally relented and took an interest in what Danny was saying.
When they realized the alien was alive and in a metal box
practically on their doorstep, things started moving. Commands were
shouted and a few scientists were summoned to the building.

Scientists from varied backgrounds arrived
and were seated in one of the larger rooms along with the generals.
Danny, with his native compatriots, wheeled the alien in its box to
the front of the room. Danny started explaining what he had learned
from his uncle.

"So you're saying your uncle thinks they are
symbiotic in nature, a single organism with a conjoined
intelligence?" Dr. Pablo asked. Dr. Pablo was a physicist from
Caltech, learned and careful in speech. Every word, and he used
many, seemed to be planned and formed precisely, causing his speech
to be somewhat slow.

"That's right, and he also believed that if
we could catch one, we might be able to find out what radio
frequency they use to communicate," Danny replied.

"And how did your uncle manage to come up
with this theory?" Dr. Pablo inquired.

"He worked at Area 51 before he went to work
at the university," was Danny's response.

The silence was deafening, and then the
giggling and snickering started.

"They only sent him to the university after
his breakdown, but he has several degrees and he always said the
alien ship he was working on was the reason he got ill," Danny
continued.

Outright laughter and anger filled the
room.

"You must be mad!" Dr. Pablo said, losing his
well-crafted composure. "Area 51 itself was madness. What was your
uncle's name?"

"Dr. Harold Opinhimmer," Danny said
flatly.

The room went silent. The scientists knew the
name. This man's work was published in many learned journals, and
he had once been considered one of the most intelligent men on the
planet, possibly in history.

But one still had doubts and demanded, "How
is he your uncle? He is not a native American."

"Well, call him my half-uncle then," Danny
said, glaring at the questioner. "His half-brother was my father,
who was half native. He married a full-blood native, my mother. You
get all that?"

"And how did your uncle conclude that the
aliens use radio frequency to communicate with each other?" another
of the attending scientists inquired.

"I'm not sure," replied Danny. "I only know
what he told me. When we find him, I'm sure he can explain how he
learned this. He was working on a dig in Turkey when the invasion
started and I don't know whether he survived or even where he
is."

"I'm sorry," said one of the generals, who
had just returned from some sort of interruption at the door, "but
we have just learned that your uncle is dead." The general spoke to
an aide. "Get the man who calls himself Ben and bring him
here."

Danny's heart was aching, but he looked at
Ben walking into the room, and sensed that this man was kind. "How
did you know my uncle?"

"We were on a plane from Turkey, hoping to
land in Seattle, when the aliens attacked," Ben said. "We found
shelter and fought, but one of the aliens mortally wounded your
uncle. Before he died, he said that the key was radio frequency
823.43. I've been hoping to get that information to the top
authorities ever since." Ben looked around at all the brass. "Looks
like I might finally have found the right place."

"Did my uncle say anything else?" Danny
asked.

"Sorry, mate, but he didn't," Ben said. "He
was a good man, your uncle."

That was the end of the conversation. Another
officer rushed into the room and after a few words with the
commander in charge, everyone's attention focused on what the
commanding officer announced. "We damn well better figure this out
fast. I have just received word that the large objects heading our
way, the objects that we have been tracking for the last few days
are now within visual range, and you won't like what we are
facing."

The group in the room broke up into their
constituent parts, the scientists disappearing into the bunkers to
work and the officers heading to the main command post to assess
the next strategic move. Danny and Ben were swept along with the
scientists.

General Harris bit down hard on his cigar and
glared into the computer monitor that now showed three large
objects which moved seemingly at a snail's pace toward their
position. "Where's my goddamn coffee!" he snapped. "Can't you
idiots focus the screen better? I can barely make out the shape of
these things!"

The young officer hard at work operating the
computer replied, "That is already in focus sir. They seem to
vibrate as a form of camouflage and it makes getting a bead on the
objects that much harder to achieve."

"Goddamn wiggling alien bastards!" Harris
snapped "Try harder, damn it. I can't fight what I can't see!"

What they could see, however, were three
large siege weapons roughly the size of an office building, moving
at a walking pace, shrouded in mist. Each object consisted of large
insect-like pincers, attached to a long neck that swung about,
grabbing and tearing any large objects in its path. Beneath the
large pincers and closer to the body of the alien were multiple
claws of varying lengths moving about on thick arms, possibly eight
or ten in total. Each gigantic body moved forward on five massive
legs that resembled heavy concrete pillars splayed at the ground
level like tree roots, all covered in thick black armor that jutted
out from the body in spikes and plates. As a siege weapon got
within range of a combat group, alien troops would drop off the
main body like spiders descending from webs. They were decimating
the troops, who were now in full retreat.

"Where the hell are my undead?" Harris
yelled.

"The 7th and 13th half-breeds are attacking
the left flank now, sir, with the 25th platoon of high-bred vamps
holding the center," replied a captain.

"I want all retreating and standing combat
groups, including artillery and lasers, to focus fire on the left
flank alien. Bring that goddamn thing down!" General Harris
roared.