Chapter 7
Jim Allbright wondered what was peculiar about himself. It didn't make sense him being lined up with these fellow American airman in this hilly area of France where planes could not take off or land. The only airplane on hand was the transport craft that brought them here and that was one hour's walk away in a remote disused runway. All questions as to why they were here remained unanswered.
All pilots lined up seemed to have a peculiarity, save himself, whose only outstanding claim was a heroic midnight flight. Kent Allard, who was next to him, had an abnormally long nose, it even stuck out on his shadow. Clark Savage had his bronze coloured skin over a tall well muscled physique. The remaining figure, which squatted next to Clark, was something altogether hideous. The three pilots found it difficult to keep at attention in its presence; even the steel nerved man of bronze almost quivered in disgust at its proximity.
"Jim Allbright, Kent Allard, Clark Savage." Yelled the flight instructor who ordered them here. "I want you to meet your newest fellow aeronaut."
Waldo Pepper was the instructor, he had been away for the last month on a special assignment, then showed up to commandeer three pilots for this undertaking. He had brought them here to meet this figure that had all the loathsome appearance of a giant insect.
The squatted figure seemed to have a black suit of armour on but as it moved the pilots noticed several parts of the armour shifting to accommodate the movement. All three then realised that it wasn't a suit of armour but an exoskeleton. Six thin bony limbs moved the body, each were black with a short femur and long tibia ending at an extra joint where beyond was a barbed tarsus with a sharp claw on the end. The two front limbs had pincers on the end. A set of antennae came out of the exoskeleton then a hideous head upon which they were attached. It had black orbs for eyes and; as it lowered its mandible, a salivating dark mouth that gave all the impression of doing great damage to any organism it bit. The figure stood upright for an instant to reveal a multi-tiered abdomen made up of crustaceous rings kept moist with slime oozing from his bodily pores. Clearly preferring to stand on all six limbs the figure, that was the size of a man, adopted the stance and appearance of a beetle.
"Gentlemen, This is the individual I have been training over the last month." Announced Waldo while indicating the verminous figure. "His anglicized name is Gregory Sampson and I have instructed him to fly."
Jim, Kent and Clark looked at each other, then at the figure called Gregory, in bewilderment. This thing couldn't even get into a plane let alone manipulate the controls with those inhuman limbs.
"Show them what you can do Gregory." Commanded Waldo Pepper.
A split appeared down the centre of the exoskeleton covering the back abdomen. the two armoured panels, hinged at the middle of the thorax, moved apart and formed two armoured wings; these were protecting the cicada like wings that unrolled from that thorax. A noise much like that of a spinning propeller filled the area as the soft wings vibrated then flapped. Gregory bounded forward as he was lifted into the air; he hovered ten feet off the ground for a few seconds then the wings adjusted their angle and then the beetle darted upward for some aerial travel above his astonished scrutineers.
Gregory Sampson flew in circles, arcs, vertical loops and mock dives, he even flew around the hill the pilots were on in a matter of seconds, then did the same to other hills before returning to seize Waldo Pepper in his front limbs, lift him into the air and fly once more around the hill with passenger in keep. Waldo did not seem to mind being picked up, he looked quite thrilled when the beetle put him back on the spot he was grabbed. Gregory ended his demonstration by landing on his launch point next to Clark Savage. His wings retracted back into the thorax before the exoskeletal panels closed together and naturally sutured shut.
"There you have it gentlemen." Said Waldo to the stunned pilots. "Your new friend in the air."
The awkward silence was broken by the sound of distant propellers. Waldo quickly checked his fob watch.
"It's time." He said to Gregory.
The three pilots each broke out of their stupor; they recognised the sound of German planes. All but Gregory got out their binoculars and searched the sky. It was Waldo Pepper who pointed out the aerial menace: a Gotha G.V bomber and two Albatross fighter escorts.
"They're heading for a munitions storehouse five miles from here." Said Waldo.
"How do you know that?" Asked Jim.
"It's their most viable target. Intelligence sources predicted such action would be about now. That's why I brought you all here. To stop them."
"How are we going to do that?" Yelled Kent. "We don't have any planes."
"What; no planes." Jested Waldo. "Why that's terrible. I guess we're going to have to stand aside and let Gregory handle this."
The three pilots turned their gazes at the insectoid figure. Clark Savage approached Gregory and put himself face to face with the bug head.
"Gregory; those German planes are going to do bad things to a nearby town. We can't stop them. But hopefully, you can. Could you stop them for us please?"
A few bug sounds came from the insect figure, then his exoskeleton began to open again, the swinging panel forming a set of elantra, effectively being wing guards. The cicada like wings unfolded and spread, then vibrated and flapped sending Gregory into the air, he turned his course towards the passing planes. The engagement was going to be near, Jim, Kent and Clark would get a good view.
"Hang on." Yelled Kent to Waldo. "He doesn't have any firearms."
Waldo Pepper only smiled.
Single file was the formation used by the German planes. The Gotha G.V bomber was in the middle with one Albatross fighter in front of it and one behind. Neither of the airman saw the approaching presence. The rear fighter pilot picked up that something was wrong when the plane lurched a little as if it suddenly took on extra weight; he corrected his course then noticed a bizarre reflection in the dial glass, it was horrible. A Sharp fierce pain gripped his chest as a large insect talon stabbed into his shoulder and tore through his rib cage. He died without screaming. Gregory withdrew his deadly limb then flew off upwards.
The Gotha G.V bomber had a crew of three; one pilot and two gunners. What concerned Gregory right now was the gunner in the rear gunpit; if he sees the giant insect approach he will fire his Parabellum mounted machine gun and Gregory's exoskeleton may not be thick enough to stop that heavy fire. The insect man wasn't noticed so far so he hovered above his next target.
It was when the rear Albatross fighter plane lurched and began its crash dive because the pilot was dead, that Gregory's opportunity came. The rear gunner kept his attention downward to observe the falling craft. The Insect did a swooping attack seizing the gunner and lifting him out of the pit into the air then dropping him. In his confusion, panic and screams, he managed to open his parachute but there was insufficient altitude, the gunner fell to his death.
Gregory flew back to the vacated pit hoping he wasn't noticed, he was. He sensed a pheromonal shift in the other two crew members body chemistry; they were in a panic. The front gunner swung the Parabellum towards him but dared not shoot through the plane's structure; the fuel tank was between him and the hideous target. A bullet was shot through the grid that divided the front and back, it came from a Luger pistol, the round bounced off the exoskeleton.
Under the bomber's fuselage seemed safe at the moment, all the bombs were attached to the wings. These planes did have a belly turret though and the front gunner fired it prematurely after he saw the horrible bug monster fly under the plane. Gregory had clung to the belly, he approached the turret, waited for it to stop firing then seized the barrel with his pincer and, employing his giant insect strength, bent it. The panic stricken gunner tried to fire again but the barrel exploded. The insect pincers seized the fuselage floor panel and began to tear it from its rivets; it was ripped asunder. A hole was beneath the gunpit, the gunner had one foot in a pit shelf supporting him, he was terrified and, in a panic, so he primed a stick grenade. Gregory clamped his pincer on the supporting foot and yanked him down through the hole to his fatal plunge. Half way down his parachute opened up, not that it would do any good at this altitude. An explosion blew his body to the four winds. In his terror he forgot to let go of the grenade.
Another Luger shot bounced off the exoskeleton; the pilot was not finished yet. Gregory maneuvered himself along the right wing severing many choice control wires with his pincers, then flew away from the doomed aircraft. The pilot tried futily to compensate for the lack of control over the right wing. The left wing could only do half the balancing not all of it. Soon the large plane helplessly veered left and downward into a spiral dive. It crashed into an empty space between four hills triggering off all 50 bombs. The explosion was enormous and would've been heard by all within a fifty mile radius.
The remaining Albatross pilot had turned his craft around spotting the aerial terror and surmising it was the cause of the calamity. Gregory sensed the fighter approaching him, the insectoid angled his wings and cut his flight path left. Maxim machine gun fire spat through the whirling propeller to where Gregory was a second ago. The pilot veered his plane to get the hideous gremlin in his sights again but its course was spiral and closing in. For teasing instants the target would cross his path the short bursts of fire would be too late to hit it as it corkscrewed towards him. A change in the fighter's course would be compensated for instantly. The pilot lost sight of his quarry, then fired his Maxim gun non-stop hoping the aerial beast would appear in his line of fire for another instant. A shift of the plane's balance at the back had the ace look back to see a giant black beetle on the tail; its pincer was on the main control wire. The pilot's Luger pistol was drawn but the wire snapped before it could be used. At once the aircraft began to whirl chaotically; Gregory flew clear of the gyrating tail. The pilot knew the Albatross was a write off and, with his parachute bag attached, jumped out of the cockpit, but the whirling tail hit him like a baseball bat hits a ball. Down was the course for both the plane and the limp airman who could not pull his ripcord. Destruction found them both as they hit the ground.
Gregory hovered for a minute to view the three crash sites until heavy black smoke from the bomber wreck covered the scenes. He flew back to the hill where a standing ovation of clapping and cheering from the four American pilots greeted him. Waldo, Jim, Kent and Clark all mobbed him as he landed with pats on the exoskeleton and hand skakes with several of his insect limbs including the pincers. He stood upright for this jovial fraternization and felt an acceptance that had mainly eluded him throughout his bug life.
Kent asked Gregory to join them all for drinks when they got back to the airfield.
"We will talk about that during the trip back." Cut in Waldo. "You three know him but everyone else in the airfield do not. We do this one step at a time."
The three airmen then realised Gregory, after having been trained by Waldo Pepper to employ his natural ability to fly and undertake aerial combat, was to be slowly integrated into the American Flying Corps. Their introduction was the first step. The flight of the Gotha Bomber was predicted and used to demonstrate his ability.
Upon goodbye the pilots expressed their hopes to be flying with Gregory soon before departing on their hike back to the transport plane. The black beetle waved farewell with his pincered limb then rested alone for ten minutes before flying back to his own camp.
A tent in the vicinity of the airfield was Gregory's abode; as he flew over it he noticed a British transport plane on one of the runways. He descended to his camp and sensed a familiar presence.
"Hello Gregor." Said the presence.
The giant insect turned to see James Bigglesworth facing him without any of the awkward jittering Gregory usually sees when he meets a human. A few friendly signals was his reply.
"I'm here because M has summoned us both." Said Biggles. "We are to get on that transport plane and fly to London at once."
Gregory expressed a sad agreement. He just made friends with three American airmen with more to follow and now he has to take off.
Biggles had called him by his real first name. What the Americans didn't know was that his name was once Gregor Samsa and that he was a salesman living in Prague; who got up one morning to find he was transformed into a verminous insect.