The Major turned to Tim, and then he looked back to the Lieutenant.
“Lieutenant, he isn’t armed. He doesn’t have anything on him,” the Major said.
“Sir, I specifically saw an extremely powerful energy beam originate from his left hand, and strike the hill, there, Sir.” The Lieutenant was smiling in Tim’s direction.
“Lieutenant, do you see the kid with anything that could possible contain a weapon big enough, ‘to cause a hole like that’?” the Major said the last part loud and forceful. “I will tell you, once again, that we are under attack, and if you don’t follow my orders, immediately, I will personally shot you right here and now,” The Major said as he raised his pistol at the Lieutenant’s head.
The Lieutenant raised his hands like he was trying to protect his head. “Sir, again, we are not under attack. I think you might find out if I’m right by simply asking, ah—” The Lieutenant turned to Tim. “What’s your name?” he asked Tim.
“Tim Ra—” Tim started to say before the Major cut him off.
“Shut the fuck up!” the Major screamed at Tim. “I did not ask you to speak!” He turned back to the Lieutenant. “And as for you Lieutenant, you really blew it!” The Major straightened his arm and looked like he was going to shot the Lieutenant, but before he could, Tim fired a charge from his right hand that slapped the Major’s arm all the way around his chest and spun him to the ground. The pistol went flying out of his hand.
The Major rolled over to his knees and slowly tried to stand. Tim was somewhat surprised because all the other people he had hit with the stun had been knocked cold. He had only hit the Major in the hand, though.
“Shoot them. . .shoot them both, now,” the Major ordered weakly.
“Don’t anyone shoot anybody, and that is a bigger order!” Ed commanded.
The Lieutenant held his hands up. “Stop this! You men, put down your weapons. Now!” he ordered sternly.
“Shoot them,” the Major moaned.
“Major, I’m relieving you of your command,” Ed jumped in. “Lieutenant, take over.”
“I don’t know Sir?” The Lieutenant said uncertainly to Ed. “I don’t think—”
“Lieutenant, I work directly for the President and—”
“Shoot them,” the Major interrupted.
“And he is your Commander-in-Chief,” Ed continued forcefully, “and I am placing you in charge. Now, take command Lieutenant!”
The Lieutenant looked around at the men and then down to the Major who was still mumbling. “Shoot them, shoot them.” He looked at Tim, shook his head again and said, “Oh man. . .All right you men, you heard the man. Sergeant,” the Lieutenant pointed at one of the men, “please help the Major.”
Then the Lieutenant shouted at his men, “Get a Medic up here on the double, and put your weapons down, dammit! There will be no shooting! That is an order!”
Tim had relaxed because the situation looked like it had settled down. He stepped toward the Lieutenant, to thank him, and was hit hard in the back of the head. There was an accompanying explosion. He was propelled forward by the impact and went halfway down to his knees. He spun around immediately and saw that one of the soldiers had shot him with a forty-five pistol. The soldier had a strange, shocked look on his face as he pulled the trigger again. The second shot hit Tim square in the face, snapping his head backwards, and throwing him to the ground. He heard two more shots in quick succession, both hitting him in the side. Although the bullets couldn’t hurt him, there was still enough force on the energy field to toss him around. He spun quickly to the side, and flattened onto his stomach as he stuck out his right hand. The soldier with the pistol was in front of Tim, and still had the pistol aimed right at him.
Tim fired, and the soldier buckled, dropping to the ground.
Tim could hear the Lieutenant, shouting, “Cease fire, cease fire!” through all the yelling and shouting.
Ed and Randy ran to Tim, both with a look of disbelief on their faces. Tim jumped up and said. “Now do you believe me?”
“Medic, get a Medic over here!” Randy shouted.
*
It took a few moments for everything to die down, but the Lieutenant did manage to restore order.
“My god, are you okay Son?” Ed asked.
“Of course! I told you! You guys can’t hurt me!” Tim exclaimed proudly.
“I don’t believe it! How can bullets just bounce off like that?” Randy asked excited. “You’re not even covered or anything.”
“It’s a force field,” Tim answered.
The Medic arrived. Although Tim assured them he was fine, they insisted on checking him out. It didn’t go far because the Medic was unable to get a pulse from Tim. “Shit, he’s been dead for a week anyway,” joked the Medic, and everyone laughed.
The Major was still yelling orders to everyone, but they had taken his pistol away, and he was forced to sit. That didn’t stop him from continuing to threaten the Lieutenant, until Ed told the Medic to give him a shot, to shut him up.
The Lieutenant, on the other hand, was issuing orders and everyone was listening. He had a chopper warming up, and in a couple of minutes; it would take Ed, Randy, and Tim back to the Walls. Ed insisted, the Lieutenant accompany them also.
“I’m really pissed about them taking Ann.” Tim growled angrily to Ed. “I think you had better get in touch with someone, and inform them that she is to be left alone, otherwise I’ll come and get her, and I can, you know that now.”
“Don’t worry Son,” Ed returned, “General Miser is being met by the President’s own security branch. They have orders from the President himself to take her into their care, and when they have been entrusted with the care of someone, that person is well protected.”
“I don’t want anyone trying to extract information from her,” Tim added. “I mean it, that’s part of the deal.”
“Tim, those people protect, it’s not their job to get information. Don’t worry, I am not going to jeopardize our deal,” Ed said, as they headed for the chopper.
*
The flight back to the Walls took just a few minutes. They landed at the top of the canyon, on the West side, and Ed, Randy, and Tim hopped out. Ed instructed the Lieutenant to make sure no one came down into the canyon. The Lieutenant was extremely nervous. He had gotten a call on the radio, and his ass had been chewed out and threatened. Ed had intervened, but it was in question if he had the right to call off the Major, like he did. He put through a call, as soon as the incident at the command post had calmed down, but he had been unable to talk, personally, with the President. Sides were being drawn, and Ed hoped he could diffuse the other side before it was too late for the Lieutenant’s sake.
The three of them were quiet as they descended into the bottom of the Walls. Tim led them into the crack before he said anything.
“How did you figure out this place was out of the ordinary? I mean, I can see where I might have created a little attention at the hospital, and the plane thing would’ve been unusual too, but you knew exactly where to come.”
“The hawk!” Randy stated.
“What hawk?” Tim asked.
“A hawk flew into an air-base and crashed through the Commander’s window,” Ed chuckled.
“So what does a hawk have to do with this place?” Tim asked.
“A mechanical hawk?” Randy said.
“Oh, oh, I’ll bet no one’s seen anything like that before, huh?” Tim snickered.
“An understatement Tim. Do you know anything about it?” Randy asked.
“No, honestly, I didn’t send it out. It crashed through a window?”
“At an important location, extremely sensitive,” Randy explained.
“What did it do then?” Tim asked.
“Nothing,” Randy said. “At first they thought it was dead. Somebody was about to put it in the trash, I guess, but it came alive. Then it walked over to a computer and pecked out a message. I guess the whole thing caused quite a sti
r.”
“I’ll bet. That still doesn’t explain why you came here? What was the message?”
“Take me to your leader,” Randy laughed.
“Whoa,” Tim laughed back, “but that still doesn’t explain why you guys came here?”
“It typed out these coordinates,” Randy said.
“Positively?” Tim asked.
“Right to your door, and it typed out that it had left those coordinates three days earlier,” Randy continued. “Did it come from here?”
“Oh, it came from here all right, but I don’t know who sent it,” Tim lied.
I hate to, but considering the mindset of the people I’m going to have to deal with, if I even hinted that Arty might have some influence, the whole thing will be lost. No one is going to give a fifteen year old any consideration over a former Navy pilot. I’m going to get swept aside, and nothing short of demonstrating my awesome power will get me back in the loop.
“Can you at least give us an idea, of who else might be involved?” Ed asked, going right where Tim didn’t want to. “You know, we have been more than cooperative with you. I can’t tell you how far our necks are stretched on this thing. We’ve got to have something to take back. I hope you understand that?”
“You have the bird, that should explain a lot,” Tim said.
“It flew away,” Randy said quietly.
“Whaaaat?” Tim laughed hard. “I’ll bet somebody’s ass got fried for that, huh?”
“I would imagine. It was supposedly shut down, but it got up, blew out a brick wall, and flew away,” Randy confessed.
“Now dammit Tim, we have been patient. What the hell is in there, we have to know?” Ed shouted.
“I can’t tell you exactly, but I can tell you this. What’s in there, is dangerous to all of us if we don’t continue with caution, and that means no stupid acts by your government. For your own good, don’t allow anymore crazy shit like that episode back there. You can see how far that got you.”
“We had nothing to do with that,” Ed stated.
“It makes no difference if you planned it, executed it, or were not a part of it. It happened, and you guys should be thankful it was me. I’m the nice guy in this deal. The other guy is not going to be so gracious.”
“Is Arty the other guy?” Randy asked quickly.
“I can’t say.” Way to go, dumb ass. Mentioning someone else was brilliant.
“Look Tim, by law you must tell us,” Ed demanded. “By law, all that is on our soil belongs to us. That’s where were coming from. You’ve got to understand that. Until you can show us some reason this structure, or whatever it may be, is not part of the U.S., there are going to be attempts to secure it. Threats will do no good.”
“Ah, you think you have a legal claim to what’s in there?” Tim declared. Ah hah, I think I see a way around all this.
“The law is the law,” Ed stated.
“What if I can show you that what’s in there, is, what would you call it? Ah, someplace that you couldn’t legally claim?” Tim questioned.
“A Sovereign State,” Ed replied.
“Yeah that’s it! I declare, it is a Sovereign State.”
“That’s impossible!” Randy shouted.
“Hey, I can back up my claims, as you have seen.”
“There are many things that constitute sovereignty; for one: a banking system, you have to have an economy, second, it helps to have an armed force to back that economy, and third, there has to be some sort of governing body.”
“Ah ha, tell you what!” Tim exclaimed emphatically. “You want to play hard ball? I’ll buy you guys out, how about that?”
“Oh come on, Tim get serious,” Randy laughed.
“No, no, I am serious. I’m going to enlist the golden rule. You know what that is?”
“Yeah, he who has the gold makes the rules,” Randy chuckled.
“That’s right, and I can do that, trust me, and as you have already seen, I can back up my claims, with force, if necessary!” Tim exclaimed.
“One guy doesn’t comprise a fighting force,” Randy argued.
“You already experienced the air power at my disposal,” Tim bragged.
“Then you know more about the F-16 that went down than you’re telling us,” Randy said quickly.
“Yeah, but I did not shoot down the F-16. I was there, but I did not shoot it down.”
“You were in the little black plane?” Randy asked.
“No, there were two planes, I was in the second.”
“There was a report of only one,” Ed said.
“All your pilots saw was one. I was above in a second plane. Your radar didn’t pick them up, in case you didn’t notice.”
“We noticed. Who was flying the plane you were in?” Randy asked.
“I was,” Tim bragged.
“Ah huh, and you, uh, you want us to believe that you’re a fighter pilot?” Randy said with a chuckle.
“I was in a second plane, identical to the first, and I was flying it.” Tim looked directly at Randy and said nothing more.
“We don’t have any real confirmation on this report, but a patrol stated, and I quote, ah let me see here,” Ed reached into his case and drew out a piece of paper. “Ah here it is, quote, ‘A small vehicle with no wheels, flying, yeah flying, went down through the wash we were headed to. It had a rider in a light brown uniform. It was traveling at such a rate of speed that it was out of our view in a matter of no more than half a minute. It didn’t make any noise,’ end of quote. Has this got anything to do with you?” Ed asked.
“It was me, and it’s called a Sky-bike.”
“Well, that clears that one up. Now back to this sovereignty claim. What would you base this on?” Ed asked.
“Time. My place has been here longer than the U.S. So as I see it, your country is infringing on mine.”
“When you say longer, what exactly are you talking about?” Ed continued.
“Thirteen million, give or take a few.”
“Years? This place has been here that long?” Randy asked short of breath. “Are you serious?”
“That’s a true story guys.”
“Do you have any proof of this?” Ed asked astonished also.
“I can get it, and I’ll give you absolute proof of its value, also. And you have witnessed its military might. Interested?”
“Yes, yes very much, and it would give us something to take back,” Ed said.
“Do you believe me about how dangerous this could be?” Tim asked.
“We do Tim, we do,” Ed agreed.
“Gentlemen, will you please walk outside. I’ll be back shortly. Don’t attempt to follow,” Tim warned.
“We can’t just let you go!” Randy returned excitedly.
“I’ll come right back, I promise. Besides, I can just go anytime I want, and you can’t stop me, remember?”
“Oh yeah, but we had to protest, just for the record,” Ed confessed. “Don’t take too long, please.”
Ed and Randy got up from where they had been sitting and headed out of the crack. Just before they got completely out, Ed turned. “Hey Tim, just one question?”
Tim had activated the force field and was standing in the soft blue light. “I might be able to answer one, try me?”
“Where did all this come from?” Ed questioned.
“From the stars,” Tim answered, backing into the light and disappearing. The light shimmered, and was suddenly solid rock again.
Ed walked over to the other side of the pool and sat down, resting his back against the rock there.
Randy went back to the rock where Tim had gone through, reached out and tested it to see if it was really solid. Satisfied that it was, he came back out, then began pacing back and forth with a cigarette in his mouth.
“This is not doing much for your quitting, I see,” Ed scolded.
“Shit, don’t be surprised if I end up with a worse habit than this. How can you be so calm? We are sitting here, and w
e should be in there.” Randy pointed and jabbed his fingers at the spot where Tim had disappeared. “Dammit Ed, we’ve got to get in there.”
“I don’t think we ever will, to tell you the truth,” Ed explained.
“What? You can’t be serious. He can’t keep us out forever! Shit, Ed, he’s only a kid!”
“You were there, you saw what happened. How do you figure anyone’s going to be able to force him to do anything? Can you answer that?”
“There’s got to be someone else in there, maybe we can deal with them?” Randy said.
“Maybe, but it seems to me that Tim doesn’t want that to happen. Remember, he keeps warning us we should be happy to deal with him and him only. Maybe he’s on the up and up?”
“Maybe he’s not. He could just be trying to act like a big shot. He is still a kid, for christ sakes,” Randy stated.
“I can’t see it really. He’s awfully mature about the whole thing. He was truly sorry about zapping the Major and the other soldier. I could see it in his face. If he was trying to prove something, he would be pushing his weight around a lot more. I think he wants us to leave this thing alone, and I think it’s for our own good.”
“I don’t know, maybe? But how the hell are we going to explain this?” Randy asked with a worried tone. “We’re supposed to be getting answers,” Randy continued, “and all that’s happening, is we’re getting pushed around by a goddamn kid! There are going to be a lot of questions, and I don’t have any answers.”
“Oh, blame it all on me. I’m advising you to be prudent, and I outrank you. You have to listen to me, and they all know it,” Ed said, trying to comforted Randy.
“What about you, aren’t you expecting any heat about this?”
“Oh hell, they’ll try to crucify me, as usual, but it’s my job to do what I think is correct, and I’m going to do my job properly. I think we have to deal with the kid. If that changes, then we change.”
“What about the military, aren’t they going to want to push the issue a little?” Randy asked.
“Oh, of course, but all they will accomplish is getting a few of their men zapped. I’d like to see that Miser get a jolt right up his ass.” Ed laughed first, but Randy appreciated the thought and joined him.
“I wonder what he’s going to give us?” Randy said. “I hope it’s good, otherwise Maclusky is going to have my ass.”