My trainer keeps telling me to cut out the late night snacks but I can't help it; my fridge has a light inside it.
Chapter 59
Not You Again (sigh)
There was something about the look in Abigail's eyes that told Blue she was not telling him something; and it could be something important.
"I'm not crazy" he said "I know there is no such thing as dragons but... well... it was just such a surprise to see my name in this ancient book."
"Oh I don't think you are crazy, it's just that... Mom used to tell us stuff when Saffy and I were little. We knew about Earth from our history lessons and we would ask her to tell us all about it every night at bedtime. We just loved to drift off to sleep with fresh visions of this mystical, magical place where you could run around outside without a pressure suit and where the sun would warm you up instead of burning you with deadly radiation. Oceans of water, filled with incredible creatures and animals as big as an elephant or as small as a mouse. Pets like dogs and cats, wild animals like tigers and rhinos; it all sounded so wonderful."
"I had a cat" Blue smiled "A white lump with a few grey splotches named Moon."
"Why did you name his splotches?" Abigail asked.
"No, the cat was named Moon."
"So what did you call his splotches?"
"Alphonse and Bertie" Blue said sarcastically "now get on with your story."
"Okay grumpy" Abigail smirked "After a while, Mom started telling us about the places she'd been and the people she had known; friends, family and the like. One night she told Saffy and me about her grandfather Gerwin Haddock, who would tell Mom fantastic bedtime stories of his own about our Viking ancestors who rode... dragons."
Blue looked at his sister with mild amazement
"Did she ever mention anything about DeGroot?" Blue asked.
Abigail thought for a moment before answering.
"I don't think so; I'm sure I would have remembered a name like DeGroot. So what's his story anyway; is he another Viking descendant?"
"Not really" Blue explained "Maximilian DeGroot says his family were from the kingdom of Elydonia; a place once ruled by a tyrant king who tried to take over the Viking lands, but was defeated in a war with the Dragon Riders of Berk. The new king became a firm friend of the Vikings and was even married to one of their warrior maidens. Apparently there was a Yolon DeGroot back then who was the Royal Historian and keeper of all important artefacts and upon his death, the task was passed down from generation to generation."
"I don't remember any place named Elydonia from my studies of Earth geography" Abigail noted "Do you know where it was?"
"Northern hemisphere is all I can tell you" Blue apologised "DeGroot said he spent a long time searching for it along the west coast of Europe from the Netherlands up to Norway, with no luck at all."
"Wait a minute; didn't your friend say her name was... Calla Donia Linwood?"
"Yeah... so what?" Blue shrugged.
"Calla Donia... Elydonia..."
"Oh now you're being ridiculous" Blue shook his head "The odds against Calla being a part of this whole thing..."
"Yeah, I know you're right but I'm thinking about how the Roman Empire used to refer to what is now Scotland, as Caledonia; so maybe the ruins of Elydonia are in Scotland."
"I think you're drawing a very long bow to come to a conclusion like that" Blue sniffed.
"Maybe so, but it might be worth a look someday" Abigail smirked.
"Looks semi rural out this side" Henry Dias noted as he peered through a split in the canvas cover of the truck "I can see shacks and barns about five hundred meters apart well into the distance."
"Same on this side" Professor Adisa agreed "but with one noticeable difference."
A few minutes ago, the truck transporting the two prisoners had emerged from the winding hills road and was moving down into a fertile valley beyond. It all looked very much like a mid 20th century farming community with one obvious exception. Out of the right side of the truck, about fifty kilometres away were four craters in an almost straight line. The first was the biggest and looked to be several kilometres across while the other three would have been just under a kilometre in diameter each.
"Judging by the way the crops are set up around the craters, I'd guess at least five years have passed since that particular strike" Linton noted.
"Makes you realise how lucky we were to be so well protected" Henry pondered.
The long journey had been less than comfortable and although Linton was not looking forward to meeting his captures superiors, there was a real sense of relief when the truck pulled up outside a razor wire topped fence an hour later.
"Stay where you are" the young man barked as he alighted from the truck cab.
Henry had a quick peek through the torn tarp before sitting down again with a look of dread on his face.
"I think we'd better do as we're told; those are real soldiers out there and they have weapons are almost as big as the guns we put on the One and All" he advised with more than a little exaggeration.
The two men sat quietly and listened to the terse conversation outside.
"What are you doing here Shifty?" one of the soldiers asked "You know fuel is in short supply and you should only use the truck to deliver our supplies."
"But this is important" the young man who was apparently called Shifty replied "Another ship arrived yesterday and…"
"Don't tell me your problems" the soldier interrupted "If you used up your bullet supply seeing them off, it's none of my concern and I'm not giving you anymore."
"No… well… we did use one, but I've brought you a prisoner" Shifty said proudly.
"What the hell makes you think we want him? Raiders are your problem" the soldier barked.
"But… but… he's on the list."
"What list?" the guard sneered before he suddenly remembered.
It was not surprising they had forgotten what Shifty was talking about, as there had not been any mention of the Wanted Persons lists among their ranks for more years than either of them could remember.
"Which list is this prisoner on?" the second, more superior soldier asked.
"The prisoner is on the Priority One list, but I've also got a guy from the Informants list."
Linton gave Henry a dirty look when he heard the word Informant mentioned. In reply, Henry just shrugged his shoulders and smiled meekly. One major difference between Shifty and the soldiers became apparent when the young man checked his copy of the list from a battered old notebook, while the military men used computer tablets to retrieve their information.
"Okay then Shifty, what are their names?"
"The informant is Henry Dias and the prisoner is Professor Linton Adisa" Shifty pronounced proudly.
The soldiers scrolled the information on their pads until a look of shock mixed with a little bit of fear crept over their faces. They quickly put the pads away and lifted their weapons but not towards the truck, instead they pointed the machine guns up as they scanned the sky. When they were both finally satisfied there was nothing about to attack from above, the soldier's attention returned to the truck.
"Is err... is there a problem?" Shifty asked nervously.
"You've got one of the top leaders of the Earth First Alliance in the back of your vehicle" the senior soldier stated "and you know how much the EFA loves to make use of Attack Drones."
When Linton overheard the revealing statement, he stared at Henry with a mix of anger and disgust.
"I swear" Henry protested "I don't know what he's talking about."
The soldiers hurried around to the rear of the vehicle, keeping their weapons trained on it at all times.
"Come out slowly Adisa; and keep your hands where we can see them!"
It was difficult to work out who was more surprised. The Professor followed the order to the letter but was still very confident things would not work out well for him in the long run.
"I think there's been a mistake" he said as he stepped down to the ground "I've never been part of the EFA..."
"SHUT UP!" the soldier screamed "Get down on the ground and stay there."
"I can vouch to you, he not dangerous" Henry offered.
"Did he brainwash you with his propaganda?" the soldier accused.
The senior man unclipped a two way radio from his belt and reported the identity of his prisoner to whoever was on the other end of the conversation and in a very short amount of time, four electric vehicles turned up and each one carried two more armed men.
"REPORT!" shouted the one who was obviously in charge.
"One of our scouts has arrived with two men sir" the senior soldier noted "It is claimed one of them if Professor Linton Adisa; a high ranking official in the EFA."
"I've got nothing to do with the EFA!" the Professor stated adamantly.
"Who's the other one?" the commander asked.
"Doctor Henry Dias sir" Henry smiled and waved "and I can verify the Professors claim; he's not EFA."
The commander looked both of the intruders over carefully before he spoke again.
"Take them both to Sector One" he ordered.
Four of the soldiers stepped forward and handcuffed both Henry and Linton before dragging them off to the electric buggies.
"I've got a bad feeling about this" Henry sighed.
"Before you go Commander..." Shifty called out.
"What is it son?" came the terse reply.
"We were forced to use one of our bullets when holding the prisoners shipmates back; could we have another one please?"
The commander walked out towards the young man as he considered the request.
"What kind of ship and how many people were on board?" he asked.
"It was a two masted sailing ship sir with about a dozen people on board" Shifty reported "They were not heavily armed but they did have four odd vehicles that looked like small black tanks with no guns."
The commander strode back to the prisoners sitting in the carts.
"Bull Ants?" he enquired.
"Err... yes" Linton admitted with surprise.
"Where did you get them?"
"They were part of the equipment we would use to move sections of spacecraft during assembly" the Professor said with a little venom in his voice "We've been sending supplies and equipment to support the Mars Colony for decades."
"Oh really" the commander gave a very sarcastic smile "And you decided to come here on a little vacation?"
He walked to the rear of the vehicle and opened the trunk. From inside he took two small boxes before he returned to Shifty.
"Sergeant; have this young man's truck filled with fuel."
"Filled sir?" the sergeant questioned.
"Yes... and his spare fuel cans too" the commander ordered as he handed Shifty the boxes.
"Sir... there's... fifty rounds here" the young man said with surprise.
"You've earned them" the commander smiled "Just don't waste them."
"D-did you want me to... stop the prisoner's friends with these Sir?" Shifty asked nervously.
"No m'boy; if they want to come looking for their friends, feel free to point the way for them."
He left Shifty standing confused with the cartridges in his hands. As the carts drove off the Sergeant walked over and slapped the young man on the shoulder.
"Looks like you did something right for a change Shifty" he said.
The last few hours had not been good for Florian Klein. The woman who had been like a daughter to him for so long was not just angry with him, she was furious. He had tried to explain his difficult position to April, but it had not been easy to get her to listen.
"Please understand April" he had begged "I really had nothing to do with what happened to you on Earth. Remember I came to Mars as part of the very first team of engineers before you were even born."
"But you thought nothing of keeping it from me when you found out" April scowled.
"I found out as part of a Deep Council briefing weeks before you arrived. I felt sorry about what had happened, but I also knew there was absolutely nothing I could do about it because if you had ever discovered the truth, your very life could have been forfeit but even if they had let you live, you could not have returned to Earth anyway."
"So who was to blame?" April asked directly "Who decided to tell me my son was dead?"
Florian took a deep breath. He did not want to continue, but there was no way he could avoid the oncoming freight train of future events.
"I was informed it had always been the plan to tell you... well... to tell everyone, the ship had been lost with all hands. This was just one of the ways the Deep Council used to get the colonists accustomed to the idea that there would be no more survivors arriving from Earth. It was meant to give everyone the impetus to make personal sacrifices in the rapid expansion of the base. When you arrived at the airbase outside San Diego without your baby, it was Olive Roux who made the decision to include him in the deception."
"I'll kill her" April threatened "I'LL BLOODY WELL KILL HER!"
"I know how you feel April, but..."
"HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY KNOW HOW I FEEL?" she shouted back.
Her protest made perfect sense but Florian knew he could explain his statement.
"April... when the automatic report to the Deep Council came through about the ship being discovered by Luis on the MTV, along with what Sage had done about it, I was so angry to hear he had murdered two members of my Mars family, including one of my granddaughters, I demanded the Deep Council agree to have him executed for the crime. They did not agree with me but said they would not stop me if I wanted to do it myself; it was their way of keeping their hands clean. So I contacted the MTV, let Sage know what I intended to do and then sent a command to the computer ordering it to decompress the ship. It did not occur to me he would have enough time to escape in one of the Soyuz capsules."
"Y-you really tried to execute him?" April was slightly shocked.
"I believed he had just killed Luis and Abby. Maybe I was wrong, but I felt I had the right; I was really very upset... just as you are with Olive."
April just stared in shock; she never guessed the old man in front of her felt so strongly about her family, or that he was capable of such vengeance.
"The real question is what do we do now?" Jarred put forward "The MTV will be leaving Earth soon with some unexpected passengers on board and I'm sure it would be best if we did not wait until they got here before we tell anyone."
April stood up and paced back and forth for a while. The others all had opinions about what their next move should be, but since it was April's family who would be most affected, it seemed right to hear her ideas first."
"I think it is about time we put a permanent end to all the secrecy around here" she stated bluntly.
When I saw The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, I wanted to go to Narnia. Upon seeing Harry Potter, I wanted to go to Hogwarts. Then I saw the Hunger Games and thought... no thanks; I'm happy here.