The Black Planet (17 page)

Chapter 33

Kelly walked slowly through the field of crosses.  Dawn was upon him and the fine ground mist played around his feet.  He held a map in one hand and holdall that clanked in the other.  It took him half an hour to find the cross he was looking for in the Normandy field.  His fingertips kissed the white marble.

‘Hey Johnny Reb, sorry I'm a bit late buddy but I got here.’  From the holdall he took a strange folding chair and sat on it.  Then he took a bottle of Kentucky Bourbon and a couple of shot glasses.  He cracked the bottle and filled them both.  One was tipped onto the grass and he downed the other.  ‘I’m eighty years late but we got the job done.  I owe you an apology, on the landing craft I said a hundred years from now no one would remember us.  It’s almost a hundred years now Johnny and I was wrong, dead wrong.  They still remember us, they still celebrate D-Day.  Here they tend the graves of the fallen and it’s right pretty.  Families still come here to visit their grandfathers Johnny.  I suppose you know five years ago your family made a voyage here and put flowers on your grave.  You would be proud of them Johnny.  I spent a couple of days with them, I tracked them down.  They are a fine strong hard working family Johnny, you did well buddy.’

He poured another drink and downed it.  Johnny’s went into the grass, ‘been a lot of shit happened to me since D-Day.  I didn’t leave the army, I felt I still had a duty to do.  So many young men and so bloody clueless.  We had another war in a place called Korea.  Man you should have seen that war.  Hordes of the little bastards.  They would just keep on coming until you ran out of ammunition, then they would slaughter you if you hung around.’

Kelly growled as a small rotund French man approached with a disapproving look on his face.  ‘Je excuse, it is forbidden to drink in the grounds of the cemetery.’

Kelly stood to his full height and growled, ‘I fought alongside these men, many of them died at my side.  If I want to have a drink with them I will.’

The Frenchman’s eyes few wide in alarm then even wider in recognition, ‘mon due, you are the American sergeant that returned from space.  Sergeant it is an honour to ave you here.  Please drink with your friends as long as you wish.  I ave looked after these men for many years, I never once dreamed I would meet a man that helped liberate my country.  I will make sure that no one disturbs you.’

Kelly’s eyes softened, ‘I am sorry I was rude.’

‘It is understandable.  Excuse me I must attend to my duties.’

He marched away and Kelly watched him go and felt his anger subside.  He sat down and filled the glasses.  ‘Where the hell was I Reb? Oh yeah!  America has been in a lot of wars since then Johnny.  I missed most of them.  I was abducted by aliens, can you believe that shit?  An alien species from outer space Johnny Reb.  I woke up and killed a couple of them; it made me real famous, the first human being to kill an alien.  I finally met a president; presented me with a medal.  After that he stopped to chat, we had sandwiches and coffee.  He was real swell.

The government was real good; back paid me every penny from the day I was taken until the day they discharged me, and at present day rates.  Then I made a shit load of money selling all the guns from that planet and even more from some TV guys.  I did a few adverts, a lot of interviews.  Here I am talking about something you have never heard of Johnny, you want to see this world now Johnny.  It ain't perfect but hell it’s unbelievable the shit they have now.

Remember how we talked about getting a rocking chair and sitting on the porch sipping whiskey watching the grand kids getting dirty playing in the dust.  Well I bought myself a small house with a bit of land.  Not much just a few acres.  Well I managed to put up with it for a few weeks but I had no one to share it with Johnny.’  He shook his head.  ‘This retirement thing ain't so hot.  I don’t feel ready to be put out to stud.  They don’t want me back; I did talk to them.  Said I was too old and to out of touch with modern technology.  Then I tried living in a city for a few weeks, which drove me mad so I came over to visit you and the guys.  A promise kept Johnny Reb.’  He took another shot and poured one onto the grass.

‘I'm feeling lost Johnny, don’t know what to do.  I ain't ever found a woman, well you know, not a decent one I’d like to settle down with.’  He suddenly grinned, ‘met a real swell dame in space, a real English Lady to boot.  She is staying with the King of England now.  Hell she’s older than all of us and a stuck up bitch, but I liked her, she had, something, I don’t know can’t put it into words buddy.  So what now?  I'm thinking about going to see Captain Gordon. You would like this guy Johnny Reb, some say he is the smartest guy on the planet.  A lot of folk don’t like him though; especially them damn politicians.  This guy sees a job that needs to be done and just goes and does it.  He offered me a job before I left but I think he was just being polite.  Don’t know what the hell he could use me for.  Saying that though, they say he ain't never gone back on his word and he can see things in folks that most cant.  Have to admit that the idea of shooting aliens instead of humans kinda appeals to me as well.  What they did to some of my boys from the hill was worse than what Even the Nazis did.  He was the guy that rescued us from that Black Planet and took us back to Earth.’

He put the bottle of bourbon away and dug out another bottle, ‘well it was great to catch up with you Johnny Reb, gonna go have a drink with Angelo now.  Got a bottle of that crap he used to drink.’

He picked up his chair and his map and made his way to the next grave.  At closing time the staff helped bundle him into a taxi.  It took Kelly a fortnight to get round all of them.  When he was done he left a large food basket for the caretaker and his staff thanking them for their understanding and the continued care of his friends.  Then he took a trip to Germany and spent a few days with Herr Goth; after that he spent a week in Hamburg with the two troublemakers.  The apple strudel and sex went down very well.

Chapter 34

Mya stood surrounded by the lush jungle vegetation with tears streaming down her face.  There was nothing left of the village where she had grown up.  No relatives had come forward to greet her when she stepped off the boat from Manila.  A taxi driver had picked her up and dropped her here on orders from the man she thought was going to protect her and the man who had promised to care for her.  Things had gone well to start with.  The politician had paraded her around like a hero.  Although shy she had been persuaded to talk about her experiences.  She had been put up in a small hotel in Manila and every day the politician or one of his staff would come round to discuss the day’s itinerary.  A few times he had gotten fresh with her and it shocked her as he was a married man.

She didn’t know that Steven had supplied her with funds and that the politician had stolen it along with all the money he made from her appearances.  As her popularity waned she was put into a dingy flat and forgotten about.  It wasn’t until she banged on his office door and threatened to go to the papers about his abuse that he had shipped her onto a boat for her native island of Bohol.  The taxi driver had been pre-paid and she was bundled inside and literally tossed out at this destination

Mya sank to her knees.  Only a few broken shards of pottery remained of the once happy village.  Their faces went through her mind like it was yesterday.  The laughter the joy and the singing.  The man she hoped she would one day marry.  Now there was nothing left.  Maybe it would have been better if the Japanese had killed her too.  At that moment she felt there was nothing left for her to do but die and a strange calm descended upon her.                     

‘Mya.’  It was a familiar voice that jolted her out of her reverie.

She got up and turned, ‘Captain Gordon.’

He handed her a translator, ‘please call me Steven Mya.’  He took a handkerchief from a pocket and wiped the tears from her face.  ‘You are a very hard lady to track down.’

She managed a small smile and took the offered handkerchief, ‘I was not hiding.’

‘I know but while trying to track you down we ran into a very unsavoury politician who blocked every effort we made to find you.’

‘He is not a nice man.’

‘Yes I know we attached a bug to his clothing in order to try and track you down and discovered he was having an affair.  A few cameras beamed into his hotel room and the threat of exposing him made him squeal like a little pig.’

‘That does not surprise me at all.  He even tried to seduce me the pig.’

Steven grinned, ‘now that we have found you we are going to release the video on the internet.  That should put an end to his shabby political career.’

‘Serves him right.  What can I do for you Steven?’

‘I have a request from the emperor to present you to him at our earliest convenience.  It would seem you made rather an impression on Captain Gairloch as you knew him.’

‘I heard he was related to the emperor, was that correct?’

‘It most certainly was.  Gairloch was never married but as part of the royal family he inherited quite a sizable estate.  He bequeathed that estate to you.’

Her legs went and he had to help her up, ‘but why?’

‘I have no idea but I believe his race are rather big on courage.  We would like you to become an ambassador of Earth to the Royal House.’

‘I cannot do that!’

‘Why not Mya.  What have you to live for here?  You would not be an official ambassador with duties just a friend to the Royal House an ambassador of the people.’

She looked round and took it all in.  Her decision made she held out her hand to Steven.  A moment later they vanished leaving the jungle to the ghosts of the past.

Chapter 35

Steven was in a strange mood.  They had finally devised a portable power pack that would keep the nanobots in the crews body’s powered indefinitely.  The moment they had announced it most of the scientists on board had quit.  All of the soldiers from both crews had stayed on but they had been farmed out to the space corps for the moment.  Mya had settled in and was helping Cookie up in the dining hall, not that they had much to do at the moment. 

He had spent a long morning in the American Space Corps headquarters and decided to go out for lunch.  He was used to getting stared at but all of a sudden he got a strange feeling and snapped round.

‘Morning sir, sorry to startle you.’

Steven relaxed and smiled, ‘Sergeant Kelly, what can I do for you?’

His smile was returned, ‘I would like a word with you if possible sir.’

‘I'm heading for something to eat and a coffee, join me if you will.’

‘Be a pleasure to sir.’

‘My names Steven or Stevie if you prefer, I'm not your commanding officer.’

Kelly grinned, ‘I'm Jeb.’

They reached the small restaurant and they ordered lunch.  ‘So what can I do you for Jeb?’

‘You once promised me a job, is the offer still open?’

‘Why what's gone wrong?’

‘Ain't nothing gone wrong Stevie, in fact everything’s gone right.  I got more money than I can shake a stick at.  I got my own piece of land, a small house with a porch and hell I even got the rocking chair.’  He shook his head, ‘but it just ain't me sir.  I have always been a soldier and never really wanted to be anything else.’

‘Did you try joining up again?’

‘Yeah they said they didn’t want me.  I think I got plenty to offer but they consider me a relic.’

Steven nodded thoughtfully, ‘I hear you did well at that weapons auction.’

‘Hell yeah, we made a couple of million.’

‘I also heard you donated most of it to the survivor’s fund.’

‘Hell I didn’t really need it sir.  There were those who needed it a lot more.  Heard you also put a lot in?’

‘I just tried to make sure everyone who we took off that planet had enough to start again.  You really didn’t need to donate all that money Jeb, I had it taken care of.’

Kelly shook his head, ‘yeah well figured with all those ships you are building you would be strapped for cash.’

Steven laughed, ‘I heard that rifle that fired round corners went for almost a million itself.’

Kelly grinned, ‘yup it’s in a museum now I hear.  Best place for it.  So do you have a job for me?’

‘I'm not gonna beat about the bush Jeb,’ Kelly felt his guts slide.  ‘We need your expertise badly.  Colonel Howe has set up a simulator on the moon.  It is a very large building that is meant to represent the inside of the city ship.  Now Colonel Howe and his men are Special Forces and are used to taking out houses and things like that.  Working from room to room, but nothing on the scale we are dealing with now.  You however have fought through whole villages, towns and cities.  When we meet the enemy we will be assaulting his big city ship and it is exactly that kind of experience we need.  There will be thousands of men to train, thousands of instructors to train.  We need large-scale tactics, a man who understands them and a man who can train them.  When battle is joined we will be going in first to clear the way for the major assault and you would be right by my side.  What do you say?’

Kelly felt himself growing inside and held out his hand, ‘I would be honoured to serve you sir.’

Steven laughed and shook his hand, ‘you haven’t asked about the pay yet.’

‘Yeah I already heard its shit.’

They roared with laughter, ‘I will pick you up tomorrow just give me your address or meet me here at five.’

‘I will be here at five sir.’

‘Excellent, we will be returning to the moon where you will be given an apartment.  Once you are settled in you will report directly to Colonel Howe and help him plan a training strategy then you will have to implement it.  Of course you will also become a full member of my crew.  That means you will have to learn a lot of new shit.’

Kelly laughed, ‘hell I'm an infantry man sir, I will adapt.’