Extinction

-16-

“Private channel requested by the Napoleon,” announced my tank.

“Accept it,” I said. “Mute transmissions to open channel.”

“Options set,” rumbled the Patton.

“What the hell are they doing?” asked Crow.

“Might just be a fly by. I don’t see any missile launches yet.”

“Bullocks, Riggs. Burn them out of the sky.”

I didn’t say anything for two seconds. The contacts grew a tiny bit closer. They had to be traveling at twice the speed of sound, I figured. I did some quick calculations. At Mach 2, they would be directly overhead in about ten minutes.

“We don’t have to fire yet, sir,” I said calmly. “They might be scouting us.”

“When will we have to fire to be safe?”

“If they get to within a ten-mile range, I would feel they pose a serious danger. I wouldn’t want them to get any closer.”

“They can fire an anti-ship missile from much further out that that,” Crow said.

“True, but I fear their cannons more than their missiles. We can shoot down the missiles unless they are fired very close in. A stream of 20 mm rounds would be unstoppable and would punch right through the walls of these tin puffer-fish we are riding in.”

“I repeat, in order to be safe we should take them out, now.”

“Crow, I’m in operational command, remember?” I asked.

Silence.

“If we blow our cover and fire on these planes without need,” I continued, “we will warn them that we have offensive capabilities. Let me try to talk to Kerr first.”

“All right, but if they get to within two minutes of us, I’m relieving you of command and ordering everyone to fire.”

“Fair enough,” I said. I figured he was right, we couldn’t allow them to get that close. As I recalculated, we didn’t even have as much time as I’d figured at first. I’d forgotten that we were heading toward them at about one hundred knots. Our combined speeds were closing the gap very quickly.

With five minutes to go, I got out the communications box I’d used to communicate with Kerr from the camp. He seemed to be waiting for the contact. I was able to get in touch with him almost immediately.

The General’s voice came in over the speakers, answering my call. “Kyle? You ever been to a friend’s house where they had a really big, annoying dog?”

“Hasn’t everyone?”

“Well, those planes are just like big dogs. They are friendly. They only want to sniff you, to take pictures.”

I thought hard for a few seconds. There seemed to be no way to win this situation. Either I threatened to destroy his planes, in which case he would know that we had offensive capability—if he didn’t already. Also, I’d have tipped my hand as a hostile. If I simply blew away his planes, Kerr would be even more upset. On the other hand, if I did nothing, they would come close and either take pictures, showing my armament, or fire on us, which would probably be disastrous.

“I can’t allow them to come closer than fifty miles, Kerr.”

“Do you have any choice?”

“Do you believe I’d leave my base completely unarmed and at your mercy? Is that my style, General?”

Kerr fell silent for a minute or so. The planes grew closer. I steeled myself to give the order. They were going to have to be shot down, good pilots wasted.

“What’s eating at you, General? There is no need to force this issue. We were getting along so well.”

“No. No we weren’t, you prick!” shouted Kerr, with sudden rage.

“The planes, sir,” I said, not sure what his problem was, and not really caring.

“What about my men?” shouted Kerr.

“What men?”

“The full platoon I sent in there to your empty camp. They were all fried. No warning shots. There’s nothing left except a few smoking boots!”

I felt a pang of guilt. I sighed. “I apologize, General. We haven’t built our trust back, I can see that.”

“You didn’t have to leave the base on auto-attack.”

I closed my eyes, trying to think. Each death on either side seemed like such a waste. Was I in the right? Why couldn’t I give up power, and let the so-called pros do the work? Let them protect the world for awhile. I wondered if every tin-pot dictator in history had felt moments of self-doubt like the one I was having right now.

“It was a matter of trust, sir. I have to use voice-command to reset those turrets. If I had done it before we left, I would have had no defense. You attacked us first sir, please keep that in mind. I’m sorry good men died, I’ve been sorry every time we’ve clashed. But you are the ones in the wrong, here. We had a deal with your government, but the moment you accounted us as weak, you lunged at us. It is not my fault, General, if I felt obliged to defend myself.”

A new voice broke in over the broadcast channel. “They are in too close, Riggs. I’m ordering every unit to track the incoming aircraft. Every unit will fire on my command.”

“Patton, open broadcast channel. Crow, wait!” I shouted, staring at the big screen. The aircraft had indeed slid closer while I was arguing with Kerr. “Give me one more minute, Admiral.”

“Riggs?” said Kerr. He sounded angry and defeated. “I heard all that. You weren’t bluffing.”

“I rarely do, sir.”

“Fine, if that’s how you want things.”

The connection broke, and a few seconds later, the planes split into two wings and flew off to the north and south. I licked my lips, watching them go. It had been close.

I thought about the auto-defense turrets I’d left behind in the camp. It had been a trap, and I should have known there would be deaths involved. I felt guilty about it, but I wasn’t sure what else I could have done. If I’d turned them off, they would have the factories right now. If I had called Kerr and warned him about the trap, he might have sent assets after my bloated hovertanks sooner. I had slid along, trying to get out of the situation as quickly and quietly as possible. I’d hoped that Kerr would wait until morning to make a move on the camp, and by that time it would be too late. I recalled reading a military axiom to the effect that every plan, especially the closely-timed, complicated ones, rarely survived contact with the enemy.

Stressing over every mile, I led my gliding whales southward now, toward the main base. Soon, Kerr would figure out where we were headed. I decided to throw him a red herring.

“Team, we are pulling into our little village at Stafford Creek,” I said.

“Private channel requested by the Napoleon,” announced my tank.

I accepted the request with a sigh.

“What the hell are you up to now, Riggs?”

“There were two companies of marines stationed at Stafford Creek, Crow. I want to see if we can gather more support.”

“Those men will sit on their hands for another day or two. If we look strong, they will stay loyal. Let’s head down now and capture the main base before they get smart.”

I paused. “I want to drop off Sandra, sir. I’ll have her talk to the men. We could use more troops on our side.”

“Personal issues getting in the way of good military thinking, eh? Right. Why not? Maybe we’ll have a birthday party on the beach, too. Hey, crew, is anyone having a birthday today?”

I heard, in the background, a few marines chuckling and volunteering that it was indeed their birthdays. I grunted and disconnected the channel. I figured I’d gotten the approval I needed.

We stopped en masse at the beach along the Queen’s Highway in the Stafford Creek area. I practically had to push Sandra out of the ship.

“I’m staying with you,” she said, arms crossed and face drawn up in an exaggerated frown.

“Sandra,” I whispered, “everyone is watching, and I’m not taking my girlfriend into another pitched battle.”

Sergeant Kwon stood up from the steel benches. “I’ll escort her, sir. I’ll see if I can get us some reinforcements from the troops here, too.”

I eyed him for a second, then nodded. I just didn’t have anywhere completely safe to put her right now. Those planes had worried me. If we’d been hit, I might have survived serious injury, as might have everyone else aboard. But not Sandra. She was the softest of targets, no matter how tough her attitude was.

I managed to coax her onto the beach. She gave me a sudden, desperate kiss which I returned, and then she and Sergeant Kwon vanished. The gorgeous beach scene vanished with her. I was left staring at a dimly lit metal wall. The smell of the sea, the fresh breezes and flecks of white sand had swirled inside our tomb-like hovertank.

The men around me on the benches nudged one another and chortled. I ignored them. I was lost in my own emotions, wondering if I would ever see Sandra again. And wondering if I was out of my mind.

I climbed up into the cockpit again and took the battlegroup out over the waves. We silently glided southward, toward the main base that had been taken from us.