The Infiltration Game

The Infiltration Game

John W. Gilmore

Science Can Save The Day -- Chapter 1

I slid the new laser charge pack into my rifle as I answered. “Well Jerome, we all want peace, don’t we?” I lifted the rifle and looked through the sight to make sure it was all set for the upcoming battle. “But we don’t really have that choice now, do we? The women have gone crazy.”

“No Mark. We have driven the women crazy.” We were in a foxhole. He walked up front and peered out of the little slot. “We have driven them crazy and they are coming for us. Do you know what they do to men like us?”

“Men like you,” I said. “I’m sure they’ve never met a man like me.” I grinned. He smiled too. “I don’t know or care. The whole thing is crazy. Whoever heard of two members of the same species not being able to live together? Maybe it’s better for us to just wipe each other out.”

“That’s not going to happen as long as science can save the day. All we need is one cell. We can create people forever.”

“But are they real?” I asked. “I mean, really, have you seen some of those clones?”

“Hey! Don’t you talk about them. They happen to be our friends and families. It just happens that we weren’t generated, but we could have been. It’s a lot faster and cheaper...believe me. They had to pay a pretty penny to those professional women to come in here to get implanted.”

I wiped my rifle down. “That’s what they call it now, eh?”

“That’s what they call it. Especially since most of the men are impotent.” He walked over. “Little radiation will do that for you, won’t it?” There was an explosion. Dirt began to churn around us. Fine dust poured into our little slot. I couldn’t see anything. And then they came rushing in, laser weapons singing. Thank God they were stun guns, or we would have been dead. All of us. I don’t know if it would have been better or not. The Venuzians had us overrun and captured.

So began the march. Almost everyone was wiped out by these little looking women. I hadn’t seen a woman in years outside of her battle suit, which made them seem a lot bigger, but these were really small. Even their guns were, but I bet the bullets weren’t. So we marched.

The ground was strewn with dead bodies everywhere. All men, dogs, anything we had sequestered for the battle. I had never seen so much mess in my life. Jesus. I was a Massage Therapist. What was I doing on an off planet colony where the battle of the sexes had escalated to outright warfare.

I had heard about the battle of the sexes on Earth during ancient times, but I thought it was about getting good jobs or something, not about crushing each other's heads, but here we were. I looked at one of the commanders, but turned away quickly when I caught her eye. She scared the heck out of me. I wasn’t used to seeing women like that, I was from a female dominated planet. The women were clean and polite. Gentle. Sexy, not stinking, horrible, violent, and small. I wondered if their size made them so mean. I saw her leaning over and whispering to another probably stinking woman who approached us.

“You two,” the little dark haired woman said. “Fall out of line.” What the hell was she talking about?

“Fall out,” I said. Mark and I just looked at each other.

“What the hell is she saying?” I asked.

“It means stop walking, don’t you know anything?” She asked.

“I’ve never heard of any such thing in my life.”

“Now you know it, Mark. You’ve drawn the attention of these savages!” Jerome spat, loud enough for them to hear on purpose. I didn’t think that was such a good idea. She put her hands on her hips, still holding a stun stick in one of them. She just glared at us. I didn’t even look at her while those two were engaged in a staring contest.

“Get your asses moving over here now!”

That’s what I mean by impolite, I thought to myself.. We walked over to a group of the officers, I guess. The tall dark woman was smoking a cigarette. They were passing it around. She looked at me.

“Where’s the smokes!?” She asked. The others began to smile. I just looked at her. I didn’t know what she was talking about. She stepped closer. “You dumb or something?”

“Maybe, because I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. What the heck is a smoke.”

“English is not his first language,” Jerome said. He drew their attention. “We don’t have contraband. It’s against the law.”

“Against the law, and this isn’t.” She spread her hands.

“It is glorious,” he said. She hit him as hard as she could. Had she been from my planet he would have hit the ground. He just looked at her and grinned. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and just spit on the ground. He smiled. I just looked anywhere except at that crazy woman.

“And you! You have anything to add to this conversation?” I looked at her and then Jerome, and then the rest of the women.

“Well I do have a pack of cigarettes in my inside jacket pocket,” I said. “I don’t smoke though. They are for bribes and what not.”

“Bribes and what not? Give them to me, now!”

“And what do I get in return?” I asked.

“Maybe your life.”

“I’ll have to really think about that,” I said. She pulled a gun and pointed it at Jerome’s head. Did she think that would change my mind? Actually, it did. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my case of cigarettes. I handed them to her.

“Good.” She handed them over to her second. “Now I don’t know what to do with you.”

“According to the laws of war,” Jerome started. She hit him again. He just glared. He was a tough guy. I never knew that. I looked at him with admiration. I looked at her.

“You gotta admit, he’s a tough bastard. I never knew that.”

“Shut up, Boy!” She stepped closer. I stepped back. The smell was just...oh my god.

“You should trade those cigarettes for soap because you smell like a backed up sewer system. I mean, really, is there any water here? There must not even be a bucket.” The second laughed a little as they distributed the cigarettes.

“Can we go now?” Jerome asked.

“Get out of here,” She said. “Take him back. You...you stay here.”

“I don’t want to stay here,” I said. “I’m used to being treated well by women. I don’t want to be around you.” One of the women in the background started to laugh. “I’m sorry,” I said, “But you are just mean and rude.”

“We are at war, that’s why!” she shouted.

“Well you’re crazy. You’re the only ones on the planet and you’re fighting each other!” I flagged them off. “You people from Earth are crazy anyway. What difference does it make? We always knew you were crazy, just not how crazy you were.”

“And where are you from?” Her second asked.

“Terrabundi.”

“Terrabundi. One of those big female planets.”

“I guess you could call it that.”

“And the wimpy man planet,'' another woman said.

“Whatever that means,” I said. “We don’t believe in what you are talking about. We believe in treating people kindly, not shooting, cutting and killing, thank you. If that’s wimpy, instead of macho, I prefer that.”

The commander looked at Jerome. “Get him out of here,” she said to the second. “I want to talk to this one. This one is different.”

“Let’s go!” the second said. Jerome went walking away, hesitantly.

“It is just a shame the way you treated him,” I said, as I watched him walk away. “He’ll be worried about me.”

“Don’t worry. Your boyfriend will be fine,” the second said.

“I don’t have a boyfriend, but if I had one it would be like him, so if that’s an insult you might as well forget it. We don’t hate each other because of who we choose to love on my planet either..” I crossed my arms. “So why am I here?”

“You are going to come with us and tell us about the troops.”

“I was in a Fox Hole. What do you think I know about troops? I'm canon fodder just like all of you are. Let’s not play, shall we. We all know this war is bullshit and that people with a lot of money are running it to get access to more money and power. When we’ve killed each other enough they’ll have the power to make a deal in a back room somewhere and all will be forgiven.” The second dropped down her cigarette butt and squashed it into the mud.

“Yeah,” she said. “You come with me.” She headed for a makeshift tent and I followed. The ground was wet with water, mud, and blood. This had been a long, terrible fight. Many people had died in my opinion, for nothing. Why was I there? To defend my world and my family.

My wife had died in this war. She wanted to be a space marine. She wanted to travel the galaxy to promote peace and social well being. She even called herself a peace keeper, and she was. Our planet had been at peace for thousands of years. We didn’t know the meaning of war. But as they went out farther and farther into space, moving beyond our vast empire, which we called The Empire, they found more and more violence and tragedy.

I wish she would have come back, but she thought of herself as a person trying to take justice out into a crazy world. Sometimes I traveled with her. We were a family. In our world, usually, if one person joined the service the other often joined not as a fighter, but as back up and support. When I met her I knew she was a soldier. She was just too...too strong and beautiful with such a magnetic personality that it was hard to resist her. I really tried, but she was constantly after me, giving me gifts, sending me notes, making me laugh at the stupidest things. I finally gave in and we got married.

We served on the ship together for many years before coming to the Tek Empire. It was simply 3 little galaxies as opposed to our empire of thousands. We thought to bring them peace and invite them to join. They pretended to do so only to attack us later, when they thought they had pirated enough of our technology for it to be effective. Poor Marsha was one of the first to be betrayed, killed, shot down on this very world. I took up arms as I was trained to do when we were under direct attack. The attacking never stopped.

For two years I fought alongside the troops. I missed her so much. I was lonely. I wasn’t used to this, the murder, the hatred, the violence. In my world the women were the warriors, not the men, so it was all new to me. People thought I was like them because I shared their biology, but I wasn’t. I got used to behaving like them and acting like them, and even fighting like them and watching people die, but I never lost sight of how cruel and stupid it was, and how crude both the men and women were in this galaxy.

I came in under the tent. There weren’t really any men there, which was surprising even though I had learned that they hated men. Just a bunch of old small, dirty women sitting around talking about the next murderous attack and toasting to their freedom. The Commander turned to me and said “Sit down!” Crude and rude as usual.

She took a seat at the end of the table and I took one adjacent to her. Everyone at the table was looking at me. I guess I didn’t look like all the other men. Or did I? Considering none were around, I couldn’t tell.

“So we have a friend here from Terribundi, one of the Women dominant worlds we’ve heard of. Very interesting.”

“Just looks like a guy to me,” a stocky looking blond said.

“Well I have to admit,” the second said. “I am curious about that.” I just shook my head. Why was I there?”

“I’m Commander Harris,” the leader said. “Carla,” the big second, “Brenda,” the stocky blonde, gave me a knod. “And you’ll get to know the others later. In the meantime, have something to eat. We don’t want to break any laws of war do we?” She grinned.

“I don’t understand why I’m here,” I said. “I can’t tell you about any troops and wouldn’t if I knew. And if you torture me I’ll just make something up anyway.”

“We don’t torture here,” Carla said. “And why are you here?”

“I am part of a military family.” They waited. “Don’t you understand? Where I come from if one person joins the military as a soldier her family also joins as support. If she is killed and we are left alone we have to take up arms and fight to save ourselves and keep the troops safe as long as we are in hostile territory. That’s why I’m here. I’ve never seen so much nonsense in my life. So much senseless fighting and violence for what?”

“We fight for our freedom.”

“And so do they. Why don’t you just give each other freedom instead of fighting, killing, dragging it out, doing things that are unforgivable to each other and then thinking that you are going to make peace someday. Even if one of you wins you will never have peace. The relationship has been broken.”

“And?” Harris asked.

“And you already lost the war before you started. Now you're just going through the motions of losing somewhere on a grander level than you even imagine because after you are through wiping each other out and weakening yourselves, someone much worse will come in before you can recover.”

“Who is that?” Carla asked.

“This universe is full of civilizations with some much worse than others. There are even multi universes. Anyone who wants to can attack you. Any planet that developed closer to the center of the universe who is a million or two million years ahead in evolution and development can wipe you off the map. Don’t you understand that? I guess not. You are just too macho. One day you’ll see the truth. I only hope enough of you survive.”

I looked around the table again. “Why am I here?” I asked.

“I’m not sure yet,” Harris said.

“Put him in the kitchen,” Carla said. “He and Manly Annie should make a good match.” Some of the people around the table began to laugh while others just frowned.” Harris just shook head before answering.

“That might be a good match for Annie. For some reason I don’t think this one will make a good ditch digger.”

“I can dig ditches as good as anyone else,” I said.

“Maybe next time,” Harris said. “After dinner we take you to the kitchen.”

“Why am I not surprised?”

***

Carla led me to a small building. She opened the door and I walked in. There was a sparse room with a small bathroom and group shower at the far end and 6 single beds lined against the walls in two columns. Beside each was a tall metal locker attached to the walls with heavy steel bolts.

“Welcome to your new home,” She said. “When you’re not on kitchen duty you’ll be staying here.”

“Why do I have to be on kitchen duty?” I asked.

“Because you are a POW and we do what we like with you,” she said. She grinned. “Sorry, but that’s the truth and we know that you hate it more than digging ditches. Most of the other men are doing hard labor, so be happy.”

“I’m not happy. I didn’t ask for any special treatment.”

“You’re not getting any. That’s why you do what we feel we need done, or you go in that iron box sitting out front for a few days. Do you want the kitchen or to be in the iron box?”

“Neither, but I’ll take the kitchen.”

“Good choice. Annie is looking for somebody to help her with all of the work she has to do and you’re the perfect choice.” She pointed to the second bunk with her chin. “The second bunk from the shower, right hand side is yours. In a few minutes the other men will be back. You can have a seat until then, and then you go to the kitchen.”

“Yes Carla,” I said.

“Yes Second Carla,” she echoed back.

“Yes Second Carla.”

“Good.” She turned and walked out. I walked down to my new bunk. I looked in the cabinet standing against the wall...empty. I don’t know why we had them with no clothing, unless they were going to prepare some type of POW clothing for us later. I sat on the bed wondering how I got into this and what these crazy women would do. I lay back on my bunk. Just as I was getting relaxed I heard a bunch of men returning. I looked up.

Most of them were covered with dirt and mud. Jerome was with them, thank God. He came marching in looking exhausted. When he saw me he brightened up.

“God, Mark! I’m glad to see you. I didn’t know what they did to you.”

“I’m glad you’re OK,” I said. “You really pissed them off. Don’t you think that is dangerous? They seem pretty crazy to me.”

“Not only to you,” another guy said. I looked closer. I knew him. “Ben. How are you? Sorry to meet again under such circumstances.”

“You can say that again.” He sat on the bed next to mine. “So. You’ve been recruited to dig holes for the Venuzians like the rest of us.” They began to laugh.

“No. I have to work in the kitchen,” I said.

“What? In the kitchen?” Jerome asked. “What did you do?”

“How’d you get to work in the kitchen?” Ben asked.

“I told them I didn’t want to. I wanted to dig ditches.”

“Oh,” Jerome said. He turned to Ben. “Mark is from one of those female dom planets, so they knew he didn’t want to work in the kitchen. I guess they wanted to make it as bad as they could for each of us.”

“I wish I was from one,” Ben said, laying back onto his cott. “My ass is tired.”

“Well I’ll be working with somebody they call Manly Annie.” They began to laugh.

“Must be that big old amazon chick I saw,” Jerome said. “She’s gotta be almost six foot five and full of muscles. That shouldn’t be a problem for you Mark. She might turn you on a little.”

“Scares the hell out of me,” Ben said.

“I haven’t met her, but I am going to have to go to the kitchen and help prepare the food for the men. As if all that I can do is cook and clean. Some nerve. I’ve never been treated so badly.”

“Ha! You must be crazy!” Ben said.

“Hey,” Jerome responded. “One man's meat is another man’s poison. And speaking of poison, here comes Harris to rub it in.”

***

The Commander and her Second stood at the end of the hallway. The second pulled out her whistle and blew it. “Attention. Line up for inspections. We all lined up. Harris began to walk down the middle aisle.

“This is your first day. I hope you found it...enlightening. You keep working, no trouble. You stop working, you go in the iron box or even worse...the firing squad. We aren’t your mothers. You will take care of this place. You will wash, you will sweep, you will keep it clean. You will do your own laundry and two of your members will help prepare your food. She stopped in front of me. One will be in the kitchen full time and the other, she looked at Jerome and smiled. Part time. Any questions.

We just stood there.

“Good. Hit the showers and get cleaned up.” She turned to me. “You. Come with me to the kitchen and we expect you to be there tomorrow afternoon,” she told Jerome.

“Why me, Commander,” he asked.

“Because you are a wise ass. Now get ready to get cleaned up after we leave. We don’t want to see your little secret parts, now do we?”

“You’re miniscule secret parts,” Second Carla said. They marched out grinning to themselves thinking how clever they had been. I thought they were just stupid and rude, but I wasn’t going to say anything. I just padded along like a little puppy without a leash following and thinking how dull one’s life had to be to think that what they said was funny.

We walked for several yards to something that looked like a large hut. I could see smoke coming out of the top of a chimney near the rear of the building. By now all of the bodies had been removed, but the place was muddy. Thick and dirty mud packed with chunks of black stone covered the ground. Pools of gray water sood freely where it had rained and the non absorbent mud just held it there. I walked slowly until we got to the large building that looked like a steel barn more than anything else.

We kept walking around to the back, the kitchen area. We walked in. I could see several men and women scurrying around trying to prepare this evening's dinner. Mostly women and very few men. I had almost forgotten they didn’t have men in their camp. The only men now were the prisoners of war. Most of them were assigned to other duties, the ones that required more physical strength. That is where I wanted to be, not cooking.

A giant woman with brown hair in a long braided ponytail approached me. She must have been almost six feet and a half and was built like a bodybuilder. I had never seen a woman like that among the Earthlings. I was quite surprised. She walked like one of the women on my planet. In fact, it made me a little comfortable to be around what I would consider a normal woman.

She grinned. “What you got for me, Harris?” She asked.

“We got a man for you, to help with the cooking.” She looked at me through narrowed lids.

“And what’s wrong with him? Is he cripple or something?” I frowned. She noticed and grinned.

“No. He’s from a female dominant planet. He wants to dig ditches, so we sent him over to you. We feel like he should be cooking like he is supposed to,” she said. Annie shook her head.

“Ok. I’ll figure out what to do with him.” They walked out and left me standing there. Annie came back, looked me over, and shook her head.

“And what is that supposed to mean?” I asked.

“You are a poor specimen.”

“I dont’ happen to be a specimen, thank you. I expect to be respected.”

“Oh do you? Ha! Well you go to that sink there and bust some suds. By the time dinner is over and you clean up this place you’ll be respected. And then you can clean the grease traps.”

I held my head up high. “No problem at all,” I said. “I strutted over to the sink, grabbed a dish towel and threw it over my shoulder. “I’ve done worse than this, Lady.”

“That’s Annie.”

“Manly Annie,” I said.

“I’d bash your face in if you weren’t from one of those backwards worlds.”

“Well with the way you women behave,” I said, “I am surprised that is even a consideration.” I walked over and began to clean the dishes.

Annie turned to one of the nearby women. “Go help him,” she said. “Take that dish towel from him and dry.” She looked at me and spoke loudly on purpose. “I don’t know what it will take, but I am going to make it as miserable as hell for him.” She walked over and stood behind me. “As miserable as hell,” she whispered in my ear before turning on her heel and walking out. The other woman started to grin.

“Never thought I would see that happen,” she said, as she approached. “Katherine,” she said, extending her hand. I shook it. She looked down at my hand. She looked back up and smiled. “Give me the towel and I’ll dry.”

“The only reason she wants you to dry is because she saw me pick up the towel,” I said, angrily.

“You got that right. Annie is a pretty mean customer. You better be nice to her.”

“So what are you doing here?”

“This is my assignment. I’m in the army, you know. Everybody doesn’t fight on the front lines. Some of us have to put up with a lot of shit behind the lines.” I began to scrub. “So. I have to make sure you do what you have to do if I don’t want to find my buns in a vice, if you know what I mean.”

“Yes. The last thing I would want is to see your buns in a vice.” She grinned.

“Yeah. Speed it up with the dishes. We’ll be here all night so if we pace ourselves we can at least get ahead and get breaks. I’m glad you’re here, or I would have to do all of these things myself. So get to work...what is your name, by the way?”

“Mark. My name is Mark. I’m from Terribundi, part of The Empire. I’m not from Earth or part of this colony. I just got trapped here because my wife was a peace keeper when all hell broke loose.”

“So you took up arms to stop us from killing each other, is that it?”

“Yes. It didn’t work too well though. My wife got”...I choked up a little. “Excuse me...killed. I picked up her rifle and took up where we left off. I don’t know why we didn’t leave. They were just too damn dedicated to the ideals of The Empire and so was I. I was a massage therapist, not a soldier. But I became one...a damn good one.”

“Don’t brag about killing us.” I was quiet. Scenes of battles flashed through my head. They were horrible and violent. They almost brought me to tears.

“We only defended ourselves,” I simply said.

“You shouldn’t have gotten trapped in someone else’s war.”

“That’s what I told my wife, but she wouldn’t listen. I’m just sad about what is going to happen afterwards. No matter what happens here today, you all will lose. That’s why we were involved. There are people who have their eyes on this planet. As soon as it is weakened enough and falls, they’ll take over. There can be no in fighting in hostile territory, and this plant is located right in the middle of one of the most violent empires that ever existed. It is not part of The Empire, so we cannot step in to help.”

“Who says we want your help?”

“You’re not getting it, so that isn’t even a question now. The Imperial Ones seem to not really care about those who don’t protect themselves, or take the right step when it is offered. No one is going to help. Only you and your male counterparts can. You either make up and create an equitable society, or you will probably all end up being shipped out as slaves somewhere in Tek Empire.”

“We’ll just happen to see about that, won’t we?”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“No. I’m glad that you did.” She stopped drying and looked at me. “It’s really good to hear something from an outside perspective, Mark. It really is.”

***

I thought the night would never end. We washed plates, bowls, pots, and pans, and then, after everyone was done eating utensils, glasses, butter dishes, giant bowls and serving platters. It was around 2AM before Katherine and I got out of there. Annie stood there grinning as we were packing up the dishes in the drying rack and were ready to go home.

“You’re lucky I’m in a good mood and you worked hard,” she said. “I was thinking of making you do those grease traps tonight, by yourself.” My head sagged. “Yes. You get it don’t you?”

“Yes Annie, I get it.”

“Right answer. Do you know your way back to your quarters?”

“Sure,” I said.

“You are dismissed then.” I took a step and my legs almost gave way. I was light headed and stumbled. Annie caught me. Her arms were huge and she had rippling muscles all over her body. I looked up into her eyes. She really turned me on for a second. I tried to hide it and stepped back.

“I’m sorry. I guess I was a bit light headed.” She just looked at me sternly.

“Can you walk him back please, Katherine?”

“Sure,” she said. She took my arm and we walked out through the kitchen and across the muddy ground together. We came to my barracks. I turned to her.

“Thank you for walking me home,” I hugged her and then turned and walked inside. I was so exhausted I just fell onto the bed and went to sleep.

He Isn’t From Earth -- Chapter 2

Pots were clanking. Dishes were stirring. Breakfast was over and lunch was being prepared. Harris sat at the table drinking coffee and smoking a cigarette after a late breakfast. She had been up half the morning doing paperwork and listening to reports from her officers. She waited for Annie.

Annie slipped out of the kitchen and took a seat across from her. “So Commander, how can I help you this morning?” Harris stumped out her cigarette.

“Just curious about our little man.”

“Oh, he’s not so little.”

“Well he is a little strange, you must admit.”

“Very strange. You can tell he isn’t from Earth. His ideas are just not Earthly, especially not Earth Male. This planet and empire he is from must really be something, unless it’s all talk.”

“I’ve explored it, you know. There is such an Empire. Not only that, a lot of the planets in the Tek Empire are part of it. Basically, all a group had to do is join, make a few promises and so on to become part, but it is harder to get out than get in.”

Just think of it. All we would have to do is join that Empire and lay down our arms and they would protect us.”

“You sure about that?”

“From what I’ve heard. I would like to consider it.” She sipped her coffee and then looked up at Annie. “Seriously, how is this Mark guy?”

“Like I said, definitely different. A hard worker. Katherine said he told her a horrible sob story. No worse than ours, but a little worse. He is the widower of a peace keeper. They came to try to promote peace here, but got caught in the crossfire. He took up arms to take her place.”

“Yeah. They are kind of crazy like that. Whole families join the service together. He was there to support his wife.”

“That’s what he means by being a Massage Therapist?”

“Yeah. Weird, eh? He seems tough though. I mean, he comes from a female dominant society, so this isn’t natural for him. I guess he’s kind of like us. Isn’t that strange?”

“Very much so. I don’t think he is as strong as an Earth man,” Annie said. “He was so lightheaded after I worked him he almost tripped and fell. I caught him and for a moment I could swear I saw something in his eye.”

“What was that?”

“Desire.”

“Desire for what?’

“Do I have to tell you?”

“For you? That’s impossible.”

“Hm. I don’t think it’s that impossible.”

“I know but...I guess he comes from that Female Dominant society and you are probably the closest thing to being a woman that he’s seen in years. And so touching and warm,” Harris said jokingly.

“Yeah. Not hardly.”

“Well. That’s interesting. Keep working with him and find out what you can about this Empire, will you? But don’t work the guy until he faints. He’s a wise guy, but a respectful wise guy, which is weird.”

“Yeah. I definitely noticed that.” He should be coming in around 1 to prepare for dinner and clean up. I think I might give him some other assignment. One that is more ladylike. Something he will hate.” She grinned. “He wants to prove he can hang with the other Earth men, so he requests the hardest, most grueling assignments. I’m going to give him something that will stick in his craw, but something he really needs.”

“Sounds good, Annie. I knew we could count on you.”

“You know that stinker had the nerve to call me Manly Annie to my face!” Harrison began to laugh. “I know people call me that behind my back, but that sucker did it right to my face. If he hadn’t been from that planet I would have beat his ass, but I didn’t feel like I could hit him. He had me all mixed up.”

“You probably have him all mixed up too.”

“Well I’m the one in charge, so he better straighten up.”

***

It was cold. A little rainy as I made my way across the muddy ground to the mess hall ready for a long day's work. My body was sore from the previous day, but I knew I would get used to it eventually. I was strong. I had always been strong willed. That is what my father used to say. My mother thought I was crazy. I wasn’t like the other men who accepted their limitations and settled down in roles assigned to them in our society. I wanted to reach out and experience everything.

I followed along with the other men, of course. We were smaller, the so called weaker sex, so there were activities we wouldn’t even try ranging from sports, hard work or heavy lifting and heavy labor. Boxing, wrestling, those types of things were understood as crazy. No man would do that, but I could take things like self defense, or fencing, tennis, all kinds of other sports that seemed less feminine, as they expressed it. On Earth this was all reversed of course. They were rather backwards in some worlds where what was feminine meant masculine and vice versus. It was hard for me to get used to the way the words were used at first.

So I guess on Earth I would say things that were masculine, even though it would mean something different on my world. In any event, I did what I wasn’t supposed to and cloaked it as being acceptable. And I did it very well. Washing dishes? I could do it forever. I knew people were being forced to do worse things.

I had a bit of freedom and would be working with some interesting women. What could be better? Of course these women were kind of strange...more like the men on my planet, but that could make it better, I guess. To be truthful the whole femnine, masculine thing was beginning to break down for me. Culture to culture, planet to planet, galaxy to galaxy you had places that didn’t fit our narrow viewpoints. I think the idea of feminine versus masculine was just an invention based on physical size that got carried away somehow.

The larger one did certain types of work their body type could more easily facilitate and likewise did the smaller ones. There were always exceptions to the rule, but over time they got ignored and we got put into boxes due to the adoption of a dualistic way of seeing the world. It is almost because of the underlying worldview of everything. When challenged, though it was convenient, it really wasn’t true. It was our invention. We believed it was true and then we worked hard to make it true.

At least on my planet and in the service, the roles weren’t as solidified as in many other places, especially since we had become part of The Empire and learned more about the whole universe, and how people lived in differing ways with various cultures. The best thing was that one could actually change their environment or even their world if they wanted, and slide right into a world that suited their dispositions and personalities.

The rain got a little harder and I picked up my step. The back door to the kitchen was open. I could tell it was hot because I saw steam coming out of a small rear vent just to the right side of the door. I stepped in and wiped my feet to make sure I didn’t slide on the grease slick floor. It was clean, but there always seemed to be a very thin layer of grease covering it. It felt as though you could easily slip and fall if you weren’t careful.

I got there around 11. People were eating lunch. I was there to clean up after lunch and then to prepare for dinner. Annie was standing over a large pot of soup slowly stirring. She looked up at me as I entered.

“Ah. You’re back.” She smiled pleasantly. She was a rather good looking woman with a beautiful smile. “My office is the last door down the hall on the left. I want to talk with you before work, OK?”

“Sure, Annie.”

“I made my way through the kitchen down the hall. I got to the last door. The knob turned easily. I entered. The office was large with a large black leather sofa and chair in the middle of the room. Along the wall were bookcases with books mostly on cooking. There were a few mystery novels and history books...all things one had to be able to move quickly. I was surprised to see such things. I guess they were thinking of staying here instead of moving on. I guess they were the army instead of the marines. I hardly knew the difference. In the corner to the left, facing outward, was a large desk. Two chairs facing the desk sat in front of it and a large comfortable looking chair behind it. I thought about taking the large one, but thought the best of it. Maybe she didn’t have a sense of humor, and she was a giant.

I walked over and took a seat in front of the desk waiting. I heard the door knob twist after about five minutes and she came in.

“You could have sat on the sofa, Mark,” she said. “This isn’t formal.”

“Oh.” I got up and walked over.”

“You weren’t afraid I was trying to seduce you or anything were you,” she said with a grin.

“No, I hadn’t thought of that,” I said, finishing with the thought, though it might be interesting.

“Good,” she said. “That would be totally against protocall.” She sat on the chair adjacent to the sofa. I talked with Katherine. She said you were a great worker. I was impressed. She just couldn’t stop talking about some of your ideas.”

“My ideas?”

“Yes. Concerning the war, The Empire, all kinds of things. That’s why I think you could be utilized in a better place. We are going to move you to data entry.”

“Data entry?” I said. “What the hell is that?”

“It is taking notes, discussions, ideas, transcripts and things like that and typing them into a personal computer and then saving them onto a crystal drive.”

“A personal computer. Why would you want to do that? I didn’t even know they had such things.”

“It’s old. Very low tech. It can’t be hacked into or stolen. All you would need to do is type them in, save them to an external crystal drive and an internal drive and then move to the next document. That sounds better than washing all of those dishes and pots and pans doesn’t it?”

I frowned. What was she up to? “I don't know about that. What is this typing thing. I mean, I learned to do that in third grade, but no one types since they can just talk into the computer to transcribe.”

“Not in a place the amount of noise and disturbance we have here. We are going low tech and you will be part of it. I’m glad that you know how to type. We won’t have to teach you how. So as of today, we will start giving you very important files for you to make copies of on the computer. We have a computer setup next door in the adjoining room.” She pointed her forehead toward a small door I hadn’t noticed to the left of her desk, “and after lunch you can get started.”

“Did I do such a bad job on the dishes last night?” I asked.

“No. You did too good of a job. You seemed to have enjoyed it too. You are here not to enjoy things, Mark.”

“Annie...why would you do such a thing?”

“It is for your own good and ours. You can’t see it now, but trust me. OK?” I was silent. “I’m afraid you don’t have a choice,” She said. She put her hand on top of mine. “Trust me, OK?” She quickly withdrew her hand. She looked a little embarrassed. “I’m very sorry.”

“You should be more sorry about assigning me to this stupid job!” I said angrily. “I got up and headed for the computer office.

“Not yet,” she said. “Go have lunch. Your friends will be eating soon. Tell them about your new job. They’ll be happy for you.” She grinned. I walked out without saying a word.

***

The men from my barracks looked grubby and exhausted and it was only around 12. I took my tray over and had a seat. Ben looked up from his plate. Jerome was sitting there leaning on one elbow and probably mentally preparing to go to work in the kitchen. I barely knew the other three.

“So, it looks like you guys have been working hard,” I said with a smile. Ben shook his head.

“They’re trying to work us to death,” he said. “How about you? Aren’t you supposed to be in the kitchen.”

I sighed. “No. I got reassigned.” Everyone perked up. “I’ve been moved to data entry, because I enjoyed working in the kitchen.” I chewed some of my food. “I enjoyed it too much even though I almost broke my back and almost passed out and am as sore as possible, but they wanted to humiliate me by putting me in an office and making me type.”

“I should be so humiliated,” Jerome said.

“They only did it because I requested something else. They want to keep me separated from you guys and treat me like some weak person. The bastards.”

Ben tried to hold back, but started laughing. The other guys did too. “What?” I asked. I couldn’t help but smile too. “I’m serious, you know.”

“You’re mad because you wanted to dig ditches and they want you to type instead?” Jerome asked.

“Yes! It’s unreasonable, but yes.”

“Well I wish I was a little weaker,” Ben said. “By the way, this is Bruce, Kelly, and Carl, the rest of your bunkmates who think you’re crazy too.”

“You have to chill out and take care of yourself man,” Jerome said. “They’re trying to work us to death. Pretend like you can’t stand it even more. I wish I could.”

“Amen to that,” Kelly said. “They’re playing a psychological game with you. Time for you to get the upper hand by wanting to type as compared to the shit we’re doing, but not letting them know it.. Believe me. You do want to type compared to this shit.”

“We’re smart enough to understand what is going on and we still have your back the best we can,” Jerome said. “But we are going to pretend like…” He lowered his voice, “we are angry and jealous so they think that what they are doing is working. We will be pretending though, believe me. Right. Everyone gave a nod. So let’s run a game on them for a change and just maybe one night we can find a way…”

“Amen to that,” Carl said. We continued to eat in silence. At 1 the bell rang. Time to go to my new job. We all parted. I headed back to the office wondering if escape was even possible. A light bulb went on. I could use this position to gather intelligence and maybe figure out a way to escape. So this shitty job might not be so bad.”

***

Two men were in front of the Mess fighting. Everyone rushed outside to watch. I came out at the end. There they were, beating the crap out of each other. Someone finally broke it up. One of them was pretty busted up. The other one was grinning. I guess he considered himself having won even though he looked pretty bad himself. The MPs took them in. Seems they had been workers assigned to the kitchen too.

As they approached. I said, “I hope you two are satisfied with what you’ve just done. Two prisoners of war fighting and guess what, you’re still prisoners of war. Instead of having sense and supporting each other you’re trying to beat the crap out of each other. No wonder we’re losing the war.” One of them gave me the finger, but didn’t say anything. I went back into the building. A couple of women followed close behind.

“You better be careful, those guys are tough,” One said.

“I don't care,” I said. “It doesn’t make sense. All of this violence and they have to create more.”

“It doesn’t,” Katherine said, “But you still better be careful. We all aren’t like you, you know? We don’t come from enlightened planets.” The other women looked at her and back at me. “Earth people are immature, Mark. Please remember that.”

“I will try to, Katherine.” I headed toward the office.

“Hey, where you going.”

I continued, turned around and walked backwards. “They moved me,” I said loudly. “Now I’m typing.”

“Typing! Who does typing?”

“That’s what I wonder.” I turned and kept walking. The door was already open and there was Harris and Annie sitting and waiting. I walked in. I ignored them, best I could, and headed toward my little cubby hole in the back. Harris cleared her throat loudly.

“Is that anyway to enter a room? I know we aren’t on the same side, but you don’t have to be rude.”

‘“I’m sorry,” I said. “I was just in deep thought.”

“Really?”

“First time I’ve heard of it from him,” Annie said with a grin. She looked up at me. “ We have some papers on the desk that we want you to start entering immediately. I’ll come back if you need any help with the computer. There is a little instruction sheet on the desk too, if you need that.”

“OK. Thank you. Good to see you again Commander Harris,” I said as a second thought before going into my office which was simply a piece of an office. It was quiet there, with no windows. That was good, at least. It would give me some alone time. The problem with being a prisoner was no alone time, unless you were in solitary. And here that meant being locked in an iron box out in the sun, or in the snow during the winter with the hope that you could survive. So this job, though insulting, maybe wasn’t as bad as I thought.

I booted up this ancient machine and slipped in the crystal memory drive. There were several journals and loose leaf notebooks beside it on the desk. I had never seen anything like that outside of a museum. Luckily I had taken several archeology courses and had studied inter planetary cultures in college and had found that some planets still used these things. They didn't know I was an expert in ancient technologies. That's why I hated it so much. As a man that was often one of the few adventurous things one could study. We couldn’t be too...masculine, was the word they used on Earth. I shook my head at the thought. I opened one of the notebooks and put in the book stand to the left of the typewriter. I turned the desk lamp on and began to type as I read.

It was all boring, but some of it was interesting. It was talking about dissension in the ranks. There was a thread of it throughout the conflict on this planet. Some women wanted to go to war, some wanted peace, some were in agreement with the men. It was thorough, but it never said much about the men. I wondered how men could get women so angry, or how they could get so angry, that they would go to war with their own. I couldn’t figure it. The text simply spoke of a slow deceleration of relating and relationships that existed only on this colony.

It had something to do with Earth and the desire to break totally free from it. If this were the case, of course, they would need a larger population. Thus came the struggle. They needed children, many children. Apparently they had tried to force the women to have children against their will.

It had escalated to the point where they were arresting women and enslaving them in prison and forcing them to cohabitate with them to produce a larger population. When it began the excuse was that they were just prisoners and they should pay back society, but soon it became apparent that more and more women were being arrested for trumped up charges just so they could be impregnated.

At the same time cloning facilities were being developed, but fanatical religious people were fighting against that tooth and nail. Eventually the women had enough and rose up. The men who were part of the fanatical group as well as all the others were suddenly trapped in this war fighting for their lives.

The groups who were not as extreme, the men and women who wanted to find ways to relate peacefully were constantly attacked by the extremists until they became extremists after seeing their loved ones murdered and butchered. So a war was going on between a very small population of people and they couldn’t seem to get out of it.

The owners of the colony quickly cut off weapons and supplies leaving the colony on its own which made things worse. Other planets in theTek Empire watched, just waiting for one side to lose so they could swoop in and take over. Many had already made bids to take it over and the well off people who established the colonies were more than willing. These people would lose no matter what happened.

I thought about how easy it would be to get out of all of this. All they needed was to join The Empire. Things wouldn’t happen over night, but they would be protected and peace would come. I continued typing. This was a fascinating story. I began to wonder if it was real. In the meantime, Annie came in. She was now wearing a white coat, a black dress cut about mid thigh, and comfortable flat shoes for work. Her legs were amazing. She walked over and looked over my shoulder.

“Good.” She grinned. “You can really type, can’t you.”

“I minored in ancient technologies,” I said. She leaned closer reading what I was typing. I looked up into her face. Our eyes met for a second. She stood up.

“I am so embarrassed,” She said.

“About what?”

“You excite me so much. This isn’t supposed to be happening.”

“I don’t know how to answer that, Maam,” I said.

“You don’t have to answer. Not yet.” She put her hand on my shoulder. “If you need a break feel free to take it. I’m going back to the kitchen, OK?”

“OK,” I said. She left the office. I stopped typing for a while and wondered about that. I could imagine being with her, that was the difficulty. I really could and was trying to not imagine it. As the weeks passed it got more and more difficult. I had a dream one night where we were making passionate love. Things got more difficult from there.

As I got to know her I discovered that she was a real delight. She was known as a very strong, and even somewhat violent woman by many of her peers, but there was a very side that often only showed to close friends. I would often take breaks and listen to her talking about her past and current events and how difficult it was to be led by people with very little insight.

She would come in with me as I typed and read along every so often, making comments on my notes. I guess the stuff was new to her too. One day she was standing there close to me leaning over. She had her hand on the desk. I looked down at it and her forearms. They were very developed. She had to lift weights. I looked up at her, following her eyes as she was reading and gently squeezed her muscular arm. It was warm and soft, unlike one would expect. She looked down at me. I kept stroking her arm and looked up. She leaned over and kissed me.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“What for?”

“You just...It’s hard to control myself around you.” She smiled.

“Why control yourself then.” She walked over to the door, closed it, and locked it. “Don’t worry, we’re both adults, and…” She never finished the sentence.

I Had Come To One Conclusion -- Chapter 3

I lay in the bunk looking up at the ceiling. I was on the early shift now, so I was going to bed the same time the other guys were. I was tired, but not the same type of tired as they were. My eyes, arms and shoulders were tired from doing all of that reading and writing every day. I was also fooling around with Annie at the job. If that small room and desk could talk.

I just hoped no one found out. What we were doing wasn’t allowed, since I was a POW, but she sure didn’t seem to mind. I wondered if she had done this before. Carla came to the front of the barracks.

“Lights out!” she shouted before hitting the switch. The room became dark. She closed and locked it, making her way to the next barracks. We all got out of the beds. We met in the center of the room. I had been sharing what I had learned for the past few months from the papers and transcripts I had been digitizing. I had come to one conclusion, which I was going to share that very night.

We all gathered and spoke in low voices knowing full well that they knew we would be up after they locked the door. It had become a real game and nobody cared, except for the 1 percent of the higher escalon who were the ones really behind the war. We moved in closer. “I think one of us has to escape and get away from here,” I whispered. “We have to talk the leadership into joining The Empire, or we have to join a group and do it ourselves. Once we join The Empire we will be subjects of The Empire and on one will dare touch us. According to the records that is what some of the women are considering. I think we should do it?”

“What would that take?” Ben asked.

“Just a communique from a designated government. Local or Federal. That is what it would take. Can we get the people here to form as a collective colony?”

“We’re already that,” Ben said.

“We need the representatives to reach out. Is it possible for that to happen?” I asked.

“I’ll ask around and find out,” Ben said.

“If anyone finds out we are doing this we could be slaughtered. So be really careful with this information. If we can last until that communique is sent, we are home free.”

“I’ll get on it,” Ben said. He looked at me. “It would be easier with a double agent.” They all nodded. “You are in the right place to be that. Pretend like you are working for them, but really be working for us.”

“I don’t want to do that. How would you know that I wasn’t really working for them and pretending to work for you?”

“Because of the conversation we’re having,” Carl said.

“I don’t like that idea.”

“We’re all taking chances, Mark. If you really want this to work, do it!”

“OK. I don’t like this. I really don’t.”

“I’m sure you don’t. I’ll put my feelers out, you put some out. We don’t know how to use you yet, but we’ll see.”

***

The next day wasn’t too bad, nor the following one after that. In fact quite a bit of time passed with me typing and getting to know Annie. Annie and I were in the deep throws of an affair which was a great no no between prisoners and the military leadership. It was a no no, but it was fantastic. I think we really had deep feelings for each other.

We got our work done. Spending time with each other and opening up to each other was a delight. I constantly thought that they should join The Empire. I had read about people suggesting that and the arguments going back and forth. Most of the argument was from lack of trust, but I was raised on a planet that had been a member for more than 2,000 years. The only time we ever had wars were when we did peace actions, and that wasn’t very often due to the number of members. We spanned hundreds of galaxies and more planets were joining each day.

I often talked with Annie and heard about her worries. I finally told her about The Empire. She perked up a little when I introduced the subject. I just asked, “Do you know there have been discussions going on for years about joining The Empire?” She looked at me quisicaly. “The Empire,” I said. “The one run by the Imperial Ones. I just don’t understand why you don’t join. Nothing bad could come of it and it would help stop all of the threats and violence. I know how they work first hand and I know that they can be trusted. They really do what they say.”

“Really. I didn’t know that discussions like that were happening.”

“I’ve been reading them and typing them up. All you would need to do is form a governmental agency, a town, or a colony, or some other grouping, and petition to join. That’s it. There is an oath involved and all of that, but it's just something most people would agree with because most people really want it.”

“I don’t know. That’s above my pay grade Mark, but I will talk with Commander Harris about it. Maybe we can arrange for you to talk to the higher ups about it and let them know about this empire. We aren’t familiar with it. I’m sure you can understand our doubts.”

“I certainly can, but I am very familiar with it. Truth is that you can check with any membership planet and they will tell you the truth about it.”

“We are landlocked right now. We can’t get off this planet. The Teks have made sure of that. They can blow us out of the air anytime.”

“The good part about it is that you can request without being there and they will send a representative to see you.”

“How about the Teks?”

“They would not worry about the Teks. Believe me.”

“They are that powerful are they?”

“Yes.” She leaned back and scratched her chin.

“Next briefing I’ll discuss this with the Commander.”

“You have to be careful because usually the people behind the wars, the ones who profit from it, don’t want groups to join the Imperial Ones because once they do they lose their power over the people. So be careful who you talk about this with. I wouldn’t want to see you get hurt.”

She smiled. “Don’t worry, Babe. I’ll be careful.”

“You better be. I think I would…” I choked up a bit. “I would die if something happened to you.” I began to cry. I couldn’t help it. She got up, walked over and put her arms around me.

“Don’t worry, Mark. I’ll be Ok. I’ll be extra careful. I promise you. I love you so much.”

I looked at her. She looked a little confused. “I didn’t mean to say that, but that is the way I feel. I’ve never met a man as kind and loving as you are. It almost makes me want to cry.” Tears began to run down her cheeks. We embraced and held each other for several moments.

“I better get back to work,” I said, wiping her eyes.

“Me too. I have to prepare dinner. Can you stay over a little late tonight?”

“I would love to,” I said. She grinned.

“That is music to my ears.”

***

She sat on the sofa in her office adjacent to Harris, who sat in the large stuffed chair, for their weekly meeting humming a little tune. Harris sipped her coffee and looked at her for a moment before speaking. “You seem pretty happy today,” she said, reaching for a notepad. She leaned back and crossed her legs holding it in her lap.

“I am kind of happy,” Annie said. “I know I shouldn’t be. Things are terrible, but for some reason I feel good. I feel like there is hope.”

“I’m glad you do,” Harris said. “What are you doing? I’ve noticed a change in you for the last couple of weeks.”

“I don’t know. Must be my new exercises.” She grinned.

“Yeah. I know about your exercises.” She uncrossed her legs, leaned forward and put the pad down on the coffee table. “I never expected it of you,” she said. Annie looked as if she had just been hit by a stun rifle. “Yes. We know about you. You let it slip and now we know. Some of the high ups put a bug in your office to see if it was true. Not your office, his office. Know what we heard, Annie?” She was silent. “I know you do.”

Do you know how much trouble you could be in if I were to turn those tapes over? I’m the only one who has heard them so far.”

“A lot, I guess.” She looked down. “I’m so sorry, I just.” She looked up at Harris. “Love, I guess.” She smiled sadly. “I can’t make excuses, you know? I thought I’d never find it, or the right type of guy.” She wiped the tears from her eyes. Harris wiped her eyes too.

“Damn you! Look at the place you’ve put me in,” Harris said. “You have to be careful. I’m going to hold on to those tapes in case you goof off again.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Just be careful, Annie.” They were silent for a moment. “Who started it?”

“Who started it? It started the first time we set eyes on each other. I didn’t know anything would happen, but I sort of knew something might happen.”

“You knew something might happen,” Harris said. She began to smile. “I never would have expected it from you.” She started to laugh. “I should have known. Anyway, we’re going to clear this up. The tapes will be destroyed when I’m satisfied. When you prove your loyalty.”

“What? Come on Commander? That is…”

“Yes it is. Listen to me. You know I care about you deeply or I wouldn’t be here. You know I am strictly by the rules and you should be being court martialed at best and at least Mark should be being reassigned, but that isn’t going to happen. Truth is, we are wasting our time. Mark has said it a couple of times and we’ve listened to what he said though not acknowledging it. We are going to lose no matter what we do. We have one choice...joining that Empire. And You have to help us do it. You have to get Mark to help us do it.”

He has access to a lot of information about them and I know that some of these men have a lot of information. And I know there must be some intelligence network among them. They are not stupid even if we pretend that they are. You have to get him to make the connections. Give him little unsupervised assignments. Send him places where he can be totally free of our surveillance. Turn into a turncoat and push the issue.”

Annie groaned. “I’m not a spy.”

“You are now.” Commander Harris leaned back. “I wouldn’t ask you for this unless it was important. You could be a hero. You could save this whole colony and bring into an age of peace, or you could go to the brigg. Those are your choices and I’m only giving you them because I’m your friend. I’m in as much danger as you are if I don’t come down on you. I hope you know that.”

“I do.” She leaned back. “If you’re a friend, give me the tapes first.” Harris lifted the corner of her mouth.

“I said I’m a friend, not an idiot.”

“Who told you about this?”

“That is confidential. But I do suggest that you find better friends. This could really be damaging.”

She Addressed The Table -- Chapter 4

Annie came to the staff lunch in a small side dining room that started after the enlisted women and prisoners ate. She walked in and something seemed a little strange. The way everyone looked at her was different for some reason. She had never fit in with them because of her size and disposition. She was always respected, but not completely accepted. Now some of them were looking at her with...admiration. She couldn’t believe it. She felt a little embarrassed. How many of them knew?”

There were two open chairs. She headed to the one in the middle of the table. “You come and sit here,” Harris said. Carla grinned. Annie walked over.

“I’m sorry for being late Ma'am. I was just tying up some loose ends.”

“I’m sure you were,” someone said from the other end of the table.

She took a seat. She addressed the table. “There are some rumors going around about me, I’m sure of it. I would just like to tell you all they are just rumors with no hint of truth. I’m a real scout.” Everyone started to laugh, even Harris.

“Of course you are,” She said. “You know we believe that. We would never accuse you of doing anything we wouldn’t do.” It was silent around the table. Annie didn’t know how to answer that so she just smiled and said thank you. Meals were brought in and they started the general meeting.

“I have had a lot of information loaded into the computer's hard copy, thanks to the help that Commander Harris has provided. Everything we have done and learned is being moved to crystal disks and we are making several copies for posterity. What we need to do now is go to some of the other bases and acquire more information. I have decided it would be best to send Mark to do that himself. He can take a personal computer and make copies right there.”

“What if he escapes?” Claire, one of the women at the end of the table said.

“I assure you he won’t. First of all, there is nowhere for him to go and secondly he is sort of a peace person...always talking about peace. I don’t know that he would want to escape to be on the front lines fighting again, or that he would kill anyone to escape. He is interesting. He is different, very different. Apparently that planet he comes from is...I don’t know how to explain it. They don’t do war as a first option. The most violent ones are real peacekeepers. Who go as far to die sometimes trying to stop wars. I think he’s the right person to send.”

Harris looked at her through hooded lids for a few moments. “I agree. He has the right temperament. I also think we should send somebody a little more hard with him, like that Jerome. Jerome is a hard ass.”

“I must agree with you there,” Carla said. “That is one thing he is. He and Mark are like total opposites but have been close friends from what I hear.”

“Let’s send them together. Give them a pass so they can go to a few bases. I think they are honorable, even if they are men.” The people around the table grinned. Harris turned to Annie. “Tomorrow give your friend the commands I gave you. I think he will be helpful in our endeavors. Unfortunately you won’t have his company in the office for days at a time.”

“I’m busy enough to get by, Commander. Believe me.” She looked at a couple of people at the other end of the table, lowered her head slightly and arched her brows, and then she turned back to the commander.

“I love it when things come together, Harris said. “Official business is over.”

***

Jerome put a few things in his backpack. He turned to me. “I can’t believe this man. They are just going to let us wander around by ourselves and think we aren’t going to escape?”

“We are losing so badly that I don’t think there is anywhere to escape to. They know that,” I said. “We can make the best of this though, but we really need to be careful, very careful. We can make connections. Organize, carry messages, that sort of thing, and try to pull together a rag tag group who will join The Empire.”

“Yeah. We have to really be careful though because they might be letting us loose and following us to see who we hook up with.”

“That is totally possible. These women aren’t stupid.”

“Well neither are we. Maybe we do nothing the first few trips and then we try to make some contacts.”

“I think that’s a good idea. I hope you can find some sources that you can tell about this so they know we’re out there, and they can watch to see if we’re being watched. That would be helpful.”

“I’ll get on top of it. We can make this work for us, and anything is better than digging ditches.”

“I would guess so,” I said. “I’ve had a pretty good time.” He looked at me through narrowed lids.

“So you are the one.”

“What do you mean?”

“Come on, Mark. I know you. You try to play all cool and shy and all that. I know that big old woman blew your mind. She reminded you of home, didn’t she?”

“A little.”

“Enough,” he said. He paused. “Can we trust you?”

“Of course. What do you think I am?” I leaned in. “I am supposed to be becoming a double agent, so you better trust me. I don’t want to be hung out to dry.”

“Oh yeah. I forgot about that. Don’t you go forgetting that.”

“I have to finish packing,” I said. “Remember, we don’t need money. We can go from camp to camp for free and as guests.”

“Why did they choose me to go with you?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they thought I was too soft or something, which I am not.”

“That could be true. Let’s just see how our first trip goes. There’s something strange about this.” A woman with very dark skin and long hair hanging below her shoulders was standing right behind us looking over our shoulders. She made me jump when I turned around. She smiled pleasantly.

“Oh. I’m sorry. My name is Linda.” She extended her hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sneak up on you. Seems like I’m your third wheel.”

“Our third wheel?” I asked.

“Yes. Do you really think we were going to let two men, two soldiers roam the countryside alone? And it is not because you may hurt someone else. There may be some people who don’t appreciate you moving through their camps freely. We are at war and some of us are more angry and crazy than others.”

“I hadn’t noticed that,” Jerome said. “You all seem to be about the same crazy to me.” I started to laugh, but looked at him and saw that he was serious. She just stood there dumbfounded. He slowly started to smile. “Just kidding,” He said, extending his hand. “Great to meet you, Linda. And this is…”

“Mark,” she finished, ``the Imperial Man.”

“Not quite, but yes, Mark.” I shook her hand. It was a gentle handshake, which was totally opposite to the firm one she had given Jerome.

“I want to be up front. I’m Intelligence. I am very high up in rank, even higher than your commander, and from the central camp. OK? I’m not here to spy, but to help you attain your objectives because we are on the same page.”

“What page is that?”

“Helping you put together all of our files, of course,” she said with a wink. “Are we ready?”

“Ready as ever,” I said.

“I have a jeep out front. Let’s go.”

“I did want to say goodbye to Annie.”

“I’ve said it for you,” she said. Let’s go.” We headed out of the barracks and loaded a few things, just a couple of backpacks into the back of the jeep. I carried my personal laptop with me so it wouldn’t get jarred, even though it was supposed to withstand all kinds of jarring.

“You sit up front with me,” she said. I looked back at Jerome. He just shook his head. Another pushy chick. I got up front in the passenger seat. As soon as his butt hit the back seat we were off. “Please fasten your seat belts so this ride won’t be so bumpy or dangerous.” It was both at the moment. This woman was driving down through these deep ruts and holes like a maniac. We raced to fasten our seatbelts. No sooner than we heard a click did we find ourselves airborne.

“Hey. You aren’t supposed to have things like this. Are you?” I asked.

“I got it babe. You don’t have to ask.” I thought it was a hovercraft, but it kept going up. It was really airborne.

“We’re going to get shot down.”

“No. We’re cloaked. Nobody can shoot us down. Sit back and relax. We’ll be at Camp Yellow soon. Stop crying on me. Ok?” She looked at me waiting for an answer. Jerome began to laugh to himself. I was afraid, so I said, “Sure, Linda.”

“I get a little intense sometimes,” she said. “I’m really sorry.” She laughed one big guffaw. Jerome and I started laughing. “You are one crazy lady,” Jerome said. “Do you know that?”

“Damn right,” she said as we zoomed into the clear blue yonder.

She hit a button and for polls rose surrounding the seating area. “Keep your hands in, we’re activating the shields.” There was a hum as the vehicle was covered in an invisible shield. The wind stopped and we moved easily through the atmosphere rising higher and higher until we found ourselves floating in orbit. Two large Tek Ships loomed on the horizon, but didn’t fire on us. I don’t think they saw us.

We turned the small jeep, really a spacecraft, in the direction of the setting sun and went against the direction of the planet. I just marveled.

“Where did this technology come from?” Jerome asked.

“Intelligence,” she said. “It’s classified.”

“Come on Linda, where’d you get this,” I asked.

“Classified,” She repeated. “Don’t you worry. Sit back and relax. We’ll be up here a few hours until we get to campsite.7.”

“Campsite 7. They’ve been out of touch with us for 20 years. They’re all dead aren’t they?” Jerome asked.

“No. Just out of touch. No radio capabilities. Their communication devices couldn’t be repaired, but they are well otherwise. They also don’t have a ship anymore and if they did those Tek Ships would shoot at them again. That’s what happened to them. They got hit with a barrage of weapons while they were landing. Luckily they survived. They’ve been living there alone building a civilization and thinking that they were the only ones on the planet.” She looked at me and then Jerome. They’ve even named the planet, Mere de Terre. Isn’t that fascinating. They will be ecstatic to find that they are not alone.``

“Yeah, but everyone else is at war,” I said.

“True. You can tell them about that. You can also upload some of their files and records for posterity too. And then we can move onto the next camp.” Jerome and I looked at each other but were silent.

“I love the sound of silence, especially in space,” Linda said.

“I’m sure you do?” Jerome said. He began to grin. She looked at him and smiled too. She turned forward again and turned on the radio. Soft music began to play as we waited for our landing site to appear underneath us.

Four Extended Rods -- Chapter 5

It was scary hovering in space next to the large ships. I thought we would be shot down any minute, but they couldn’t seem to pick us up. Finally we came to a point of descension where we entered into the atmosphere and headed to what looked like a small continent. We descended rapidly until the retro rockets went on and began to slow our descent. They were soon replaced by whirling fans and then some type of antigravity field. Where the hell had they gotten that technology?

We landed gently on a dirt road in the middle of an opening between the thick foliage. There were several small buildings also located there. We shifted into Jeep mode again. The shields went down and the four extended rods lowered themselve back into the body of the Jeep. Linda grinned.

“I Love doing that,” she said, looking at us each in turn. “Don’ t you just love going to space?” Jerome just shook his head and smiled. She smiled back at him. What was going on between them. We slowly made our way to the building at the center of the compound when several men and women carrying weapons rushed out and surrounded us. They saw Linda’s uniform and lowered their weapons. We weren’t wearing any.

“It’s about time you got here!” A tall man with long dark hair and a thick mustache exclaimed. Where have you been? We've been waiting for years.

“We’ve been at war,” she responded.

“With who? Are there Native people here, or he looked up in the sky. “We’ve noticed some large ships up there. Are they engaging us?”

“No. Your men and women have gone to war with each other,” I said. He shook his head. One of the women started to grin.

“About time something like that happened.” The women began to laugh. A few men did too.

“They are at the point of destroying themselves,” I said. They lowered their weapons. I got out of the door, closed it, and leaned with my back against the vehicle. “In any case in Compound 3 the women are winning and I am a prisoner of war.”

“We are,” Jerome chimed in. Linda hopped out of the jeep without opening the door.

“They are,” she said. “I’m Intelligence.”

“Not to be confused with intelligent,” Jerome added. She looked at him and grinned.

“I’m Linda.” She walked over and extended her hand.

“Kent,” he said. They shook hands. “Bren, Keyla, Tom, Kera.” We all extended greetings and shook hands. So what brings you to our planet, Mere De Terre. That’s what we’ve named it. And when did these new compounds come?”

“About 12 years ago,” I said. “Started fighting right away.”

“Seems there was a lot of stuff going on on Earth,” Jerome said. “I don’t know what happened on the ships, but before we knew it, we were just tearing at each other like crazy. I never thought it would lead to a war...Jesus.”

“I’m glad I didn’t know you were here,” Bren said.

“Well we thought you didn’t make it.”

“We bumped into one of those ships when it was cloaked, barely landed and lost flight capability and radio,” Kera said. “We were lucky to be alive. We set up and carried out our mission hoping somebody would come find us. You were the first. Thank God those ships up there didn’t decide to come after us. I don’t know what they are after.”

“They are waiting for the men and women to fight it out so they can come take the planet and make it part of the Tek Empire. You are in Tek Empire territory. No one on Earth checked thoroughly enough to make sure the planet didn’t belong to anyone.”

“Interesting dilemma,” Kent said. “Sounds crazy that a group could own an planet without anyone living on it.”

“That’s how it is out here in space.”

“Well, they should have told us, Mark. You seem to know a lot about space.”

“I’m not from Earth. I’m a member of The Empire. I was here on a peace keeping force trying to break up the battle here when they fired on us and we got caught up in the war.”

“Really? Weird. What Empire is that?”

“They call it The Empire. To them it is the only one,” I said. “They consist of thousands of galaxies and several universes and dimensions. They are run by a group called The Imperial Ones. They go around, find someone who is worthy of joining, and then offer them the invitation. If they don’t want to join, they move on.”

“Really,” Bren said. She sounded skeptical about it. Tom shook his head. I looked at him.

“They are the real deal. We’ve been part of The Empire about 2,000 years and they’ve kept up their end of the bargain. They can’t help it. They are an older race that was closer to the center of the universe when it began so they are millions of years ahead of us in evolution. They don’t have the attachments that we have. A lot don’t even really care what happens.”

“Sounds like my mother,” Tom said. Everyone began to laugh.

“Well let me tell you why I’m here,” I said. “I am an archivist and I have come to keep records about what you’re doing.”

“You came all the way here for that?” Kera asked.

“Yes. That’s all I do.”

“And I am just here for company,” Jerome said. “And to be fascinated.” He looked at Linda who gave him a strange look. “Is there a place we can go where we can settle in and where Mark can begin his work?”

“Sure. Follow me. I’m sure we can find an old tent somewhere,” Kent said. Bren rolled her eyes. “Ok,” he relented. “We’ll find you something good. What are the sleeping arrangements.”

“We all want single rooms,” I said.

“Don’t think that’s a possibility.”

“Well we can all share a room, or two of us can share a room.”

“Me and Linda,” Jerome said. She grinned. She walked over to the back of the jeep.

“Sure, as long as you can keep your hands to yourself, Jerome. Do you think you can do that?”

“Of course. I’m a gentleman.” He walked over and grabbed his pack.

“Well at least I won’t be bothered with anybody, snoring,” I said.

***

The room was small with a narrow bed and a small desk in the corner where I could plug in my personal comp. Bren brought in a few note pads and boxes for me to copy. I had been typing away for about 2 days.

“This is a lot. It might take almost a week,” I said.

“That is seven years worth of stuff you know? I don’t know why you are doing that.” She sat on the edge of the bed.

“To be truthful, we’re putting this on a crystal drive because we think we are all going to be wiped out. Those ships in orbit are waiting for the men and women to wipe each other out and then they plan to destroy us before we can find a way to defend ourselves. We can’t fly out and no one can fly in, and to be truthful, Earth cannot resist them. We’re afraid we’ll be wiped out of history so we’re trying this.”

“Boy. Things just get better and better, don’t they?”

“Yea. If only…never mind.”

“Mind. If only what?” Kent came walking in.

“I’ve been trying to get Compound 3 to join The Empire, but they seem to enjoy trying to kill each other too much to even talk about it. If they joined The Empire they would become citizens that would be protected by the Imperial Ones. All they would need to do is form a state, or town, or anything, and apply to be part of The Empire. When that happens the Imperial Ones come in, set up, supply resources, and help guide them toward growth and development.

Any enemy of Compound 3 would automatically become an enemy of The Empire, and no one can fool with The Imperial Ones. They are like these strange beings with light coming out of their heads and everything. Kent sat on the edge of the bed.

“What do these Imperials want? What is the cost of being part of their empire?” Kent asked.

“Just a pledge to live in peace and as a real democracy. That’s it, but you don’t know how hard that is for some planets.”

“And you say these things span thousands of galaxies?”

“Yes.”

“Why wouldn’t anybody join?”

“They have to be invited firstly, and secondly, most of the time the leadership in most societies have a hidden corrupt group working behind the scenes so they just don’t want to give up their power.”

“Really. No surprise there,” Kent said.

“Tell him how to join.”

“One only need create a governmental group and ask. That’s it. I can’t get them to do it though. They are fighting with each other, killing each other, even trying to clone children. They can’t get it together. The fighting has become more important than living.”

“We have a group,” Kent said. “This is our planet.”

“What?”

“I said we have a group. This is our planet,” Mere de Terre. We were the first to land. We claimed it, we named it. This is the capital city of this planet. We call it High-point.”

I was silent. I just looked at them for a few moments. “Do you realize that you could apply to be part of The Empire and all of your problems would be over almost immediately?” He shrugged.

“I can’t believe this. You could get rid of those ships in orbit, get your radio fixed, get help with...everything. Health care, farming, education, everything. Just for a vow in sincerity.”

“Could we?” Kent said. Brenda just grinned.

“You look skeptical. You need a visit from an Imperial One.”

“Maybe.”

“We’d have to bring something like this to the counsel,” Brenda said. She laughed. “Actually, the whole population will be in the mess hall tonight so it wouldn’t be that hard.”

“Will you?”

“What do we have to lose,” Commander Kent said.

***

It was a cavernous space filled with long rows of tables and chairs. The ceiling was high and curved, looking like corrugated steel. The sound of many voices echoed throughout the space as people moved back and forth picking up food and drink. There must have been about 400 people there, all of the survivors of the forced landing onto this world about 20 years ago. They did survive, and they created a new colony, despite all odds, according to their charter.

There were men and women there. There were families and children. They were growing farms and creating a peaceful civilization out of mostly know-how and the little bit of technology they had left over that worked. Part of their success was due to the fact that they were the specialists. They were the first to arrive. They were farmers, scientists, mechanics, doctors and engineers...anyone necessary to build a new generation from the ground up, and that they had done.

Here the men and women were not at war. I wondered why. What made them different. There had always been a subtle battle of the sexes on Earth from what I had heard, but there hadn’t been so much hatred they took up arms against each other. It was crazy for people of the same species to try to conquer each other, yet again, some of the men had always tried to keep the women under their thumb. I thought things would have changed in all of these centuries. It had on planet Earth.

No such battle was going on on Earth, but it was here, in the colonies, the other colonies or camps anyway. Why not this one? In this one they seemed just like your average Earth people. The women and men seemed to work together easily. The only difference in their work was that some of the men did things that involved heavier lifting, but some of the women were in there too and some of the men did the cleaning, cooking, whatever they wanted. It was a really balanced society. What had happened to the other groups? There had only been a 7 or 8 year gap between these two groups coming. What had happened?

“Tek Agents,” Linda said. I looked at her.

“What?”

“I am sensing you are wondering why the war and violence. It was Tek agents. They were inserted in the troops like Trojan Horses to find whatever they could use as a tool to divide and conquer. What they found, believe it or not, was sex and gender.”

“You mean just by doing that they could cause so much mayhem?”

“Of course. A few attacks here and there, a few rapes, a few judges in place who let the men off who were supposed to have done these things and who convicted the men who hadn’t done them but were framed. That’s all it took. When you are dealing with a group with lack of trust and you put crooked people in key positions you can easily divide and conquer them.”

“I can’t believe the Teks would do that.”

“I can,” Jerome said. “How do you know about this, Linda?”

“Intelligence,” she said.

“Why don’t you tell this to everyone?”

“One reason is everyone is spread so far apart, and the other is that most of them don’t care anymore. They are angry and out for revenge. It’s almost impossible to stop it.”

“So you just let this war go on.” She shrugged.

“I can’t stop it. Believe me, we have tried and we’ve run into one wall after the next. I can’t give you specifics, but we have actively been trying. Truth is that many of those agents are still in positions of power and cannot be removed without causing more damage. We could do it with outside help though. The Imperial Ones could do it.”

“But we have to join first,” Kent said. “Jesus! This just gets more and more complicated.”

“ You’re telling me,” Bren said. She stood to her feet and began to tap on her glass. Others followed suit until they had everyone’s attention. She looked down at Kent and he gave her the knod.

“We have a few guests you may have seen floating around here who are from some of the other compounds. They did send people after us, but apparently they are on the other side of the world with no idea that we exist.”

“So much like Earth Command,” someone shouted.

“You can say that again,” Kent hollered.

“Truth is that we are lucky not to be involved with them from what I am hearing,” Bren said, looking down at Linda. “From what I hear they are at war with each other.” She looked up at the crowd. “The men and women are fighting each other with rifles to the death.” Everyone started talking at the same time. One of the women punched a man in the arm after he whispered something to her. He grinned.

“Whose winning?” Somebody asked.

No one said anything. “The women,” Someone shouted. They all started banging on the table.

“Calm down, Children!” Bren shouted. “Truth is that those ships that shot at us about 20 years ago are from the Tek Empire. They are waiting up there for the war to end so they can come down here and wipe us all up.” The mood in the room changed. “And now we find that they infiltrated the colonies and instigated the wars themselves. The colonies are full of Tek spies in high places who keep spurring people on.”

So. A representative from The Empire, a big Fucken empire that spans thousands of galaxies and millions of planets have come to us with an offer. If we join The Empire they will kick the shit out of the Teks and we will be free. But it comes with a price.”

“What price is that?” Someone shouted. I stood up.

“You have to be peaceful,” I said. I sat back down.

“You have to say more than that,” Bren said.

I stood up again. “All you have to do is take an oath. You will live in peace and help one another. You will support the Empire when needed in order to help promote peace and justice, and your focus for you and your community will be one of self growth, self mastery, and creating a society where people can enjoy life. That is it.”

“That has to be a trick,” Kera said standing up. “Who wouldn’t join that?”

“People who are in leadership positions who don’t want to see people live in a society where everyone is equal, and where everyone can make decisions.”

“Well where do I sign?” Kera asked. Everyone began to laugh.

“All you have to do is agree to what I said in front of a representative of The Empire and then, eventually one of the Imperial Ones will come to visit.”

“These are beings with light coming out of their heads and all,” Jerome said. “That’s what I’ve heard.”

“Only when they want to look that way. They are advanced beings who can come to us in any form, actually. I could be one, but I’m not, of course, or I wouldn’t be here.”

“Show of hands,” Kent said. “Who wants to try this? I think we can always back out,” He looked at me.”

“Only if you want to, but you can’t force other people out. You all have to quit as individuals, but you can only enter as a group.”

“So do we want Mer De Terre to become an Imperial planet or do we want to stand on our own?”

“I think we want to go for it. What do you want?” Bren asked. “Who wants to be part of the Empire and kick the Teks out of here?” About 90% of the group raised their hands. After looking around a little the other hands slowly went up.

“OK. This is part of The Empire now. What comes next?” I shrugged.

“A visit from an Imperial One.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Linda said. “You already have an Imperial One present.” Beams of rainbow colored light poured out of the top of her head and filled the room as she stood up. She looked at us. “I’ve always wanted to do that,” she said. The light show stopped and she went out into the middle of the floor and addressed the crowd.

“Welcome to The Empire. We have just relayed the fact that this planet is under protection of the Imperial ones. You’ll find that your communication devices are working now. You’ve repaired them several times, but they have been being damped by the Tek ships in orbit. The Tek ships up there are being replaced with Imperial Cruisers. This is the start of a new life for your people and we welcome you.”

This area will be considered a zone of peace from shore to shore and we will not tolerate weapons of war or the use of them on each other in this area, or we will step in to end the wars. This may seem harsh to you, but peace has to start somewhere.”

Soon you will see ships coming and going and strange people. Don’t be afraid, they are your fellow citizens and they will be spreading the news to all the other compounds on your planet. Some will be teachers, some healers, some technicians and some farmers that will work with yours to bring you up to the latest level of technology you will be able to understand and fabricate. In just this galaxy we have thousands of planets and the knowledge of all of them combined to make your lives better.” She paused. “Are there any questions?” Everyone looked dazed. They were silent. She grinned.

“I often have that effect on people, especially men,” she said.

“Not on me,” Jerome whispered. She turned, looked at him and shook her head.

“I will give you time to think about this. In the meantime eat, drink and be merry.” Everyone started talking at the same time. She returned to the table and sat back down. “I hate to give speeches,” she said.

“You crazy thing,” I said. “You’re an Imperial One.”

“Yes. I said I was intelligence didn’t I? That’s The Empire Intelligence.”

“You are tricky aren’t you?”

“She sure is,” Kent said. “I hope this joining is not a trick.” She just smiled.

“They told me the Imperial Ones were weird, but not so...good looking,” Jerome said.

She looked at him and smiled. “We’ll talk about that later, Jerrie.”

“I hope so.”

“So we are really in this thing?” Bren asked.

“Yes. And by the end of the week the others will receive the news. The problem is that the Tek spies in high places will have to be removed, which is never pleasant if the people’s loyalty is more connected to their crooked leaders than their friends, neighbors and communities. We do whatever is necessary,” Linda said more seriously than I had ever seen her. “By the end of the week things will be beginning to be fine.” She looked at me. “I hope you are keeping a record of all of this.”

I pulled out a little recording device and showed it to her. “Good. Type it up and send it back to Compound 3 as soon as possible. I think you have some unfinished business there.”

To Rub Her Temples -- Chapter 6

Did you read the notes that came in this morning?” Annie asked, sitting at the briefing table with all the leading staff in Compound 3. A few people were missing. Harris looked around.

“I read it. Do you believe it?”

“Somebody does. We have reports that a lot of people in high ranking positions have suddenly fled the planet. They just disappeared. Some even seemed to be beamed away. And those ships in orbit are gone, but there are thousands of smaller ships floating around up there.”

“So what? Now the whole planet is part of this Empire?” Harris asked. “And infiltrators tricked us into starting this war. Goddammit! All those lives lost because of those cock suckers!”

“Calm down,” Commander,” Carla said.

“Calm down nothing.” She began to rub her temples. “They placed horrible men in here and horrible women in here to play on our fears so we could wipe ourselves out. That is evil. You would think that people so advanced wouldn’t be so evil.”

“Yes,” Carla said, “But to them we are probably a different species.”

“They know better than that,” Kelly said. “Especially if they were living among us.”

“That probably just proved that we were stupid to them,” Annie said. Everyone glared at her. “I didn’t mean it the way it came out. They probably rationalized that we were stupid because it worked and we sort of went along with it even though we really didn’t seem to have a choice.”

“Well we have a choice now,” Harris said. “As part of this planet we are part of The Empire if we claim our citizenry and I plan to do that. This is our new Earth and I want to be part of The Empire. I want all of us to be, willingly.”

“I would say as of now we are,” Carla responded. “Those who don’t want to be part have to get out...to request to not be part individually from what I’ve read.”

“So we in leadership are of one accord?” Harris asked.

“Everyone gave their knod.”

“I’ll be in touch with all of the other compounds since the radio jamming is down.” She looked at Annie as everyone got up preparing to return to their jobs. “First thing I want to do though is bring our boy back home. That OK Annie?”

“Oh God yes,” she said with a grin. Everyone started to smile and pat her on the back. They were happy for her. They were happy for the planet, and mostly happy that after so much struggle and so much violence Earth had finally found an advanced civilization that really was. The possibility of being in such an advanced civilization made it all worth it.

The End