Wicked Messenger by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Chapter 26

Eli war preparations started on the outskirts of Seattle, Washington; on Bainbridge Island, known for its sparse population, evergreen trees and privacy. While not considered remote, the area had successfully resisted development in the twenty-first century, endeavoring to maintain its “rural heritage.” Most residents were members of a two income family, working in Seattle, requiring a long day and leaving scant time for nosing around. In a “wild” area one hundred feet from the Puget Sound, Marshall found a seemingly never disturbed tiny brick building, surrounded by a chain link fence with barbed wire on top of it. The “compound” was surrounded by overgrown Johnson grass, flora and fauna, indicating that no one had recently visited the site and also making it invisible to all but aerial viewing. Its size did not permit the entry of a full sized human or Eli; rather it made one think of a large doll house. The chain link fence had no entry way. Its purpose was undetermined; the most logical suspicion was that it once housed tiny aliens who had abandoned it.

It was perfect for the top secret Eli military operation.

Marshall planned for his men to get small in order to decrease their possibility of being sighted, even before he discovered the site. Without an entry way, the Elis walked between the small openings for access. The President and the other Directors

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visited to “monitor” goings on, which substantially consisted of properly outfitting and arming the troops. The higher echelon worked with a publicly available internet search engine’s program, which used a spy satellite purchased from the US

government, to pinpoint arms locations. The plan was to take them all out in one surprise morning, along with the Pentagon and Washington, DC. And before Earth knew what had hit them; being in a leaderless state of confusion, to start picking off the general population; first in large cities and last in remote rural areas.

Joshua was informed by Seth, as part of his group’s “WE

NEED MORE INFORMATION” campaign that war preparations had begun and that he should go to Bainbridge Island to lend his expertise. Seth advised him that the “silver bullet” issued to Ares had been recovered and consequently Intelligence had concluded that the possibility of America having the weapon was infinitesimal; statistically insignificant, confirming Joshua’s suspicions.

Joshua immediately knew what he had to do to keep his promise. He went to the war camp, stood at the fence and showed his Director issued pass. He explained that he needed a new controller as his was damaged. He got outfitted with a new one, got small and entered the facility.

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He told Marshall Ordnance that there were some things of a confidential nature that he thought the military commander should know. The first opportunity he had to be alone with Marshall, he said; “Nothing personal,” drew his “silver bullet”

and obliterated him. He knew this would buy some time, as temporarily there would be no one to give orders and the others would assume that he would soon be back from somewhere.

Joshua left, returned to full size, and made a call to the Hawley residence. He wanted to say goodbye, but didn’t want to risk upsetting Grandpa with the complications.

Grandpa answered saying; “If this isn’t good news, hang up now.”

“I always bring you good news.”

“Yeah, sure. Joshua, where the **** are ‘ya?”

“Someplace called Bainbridge Island. ...... Seattle! Just called to check on you. ”

“I get a little better every day. Still haven’t gone down the stairs though.”

“They’ll wait for you.”

“Did I ever tell you about the time the power went out when I was in an elevator? I don’t think so. I must have been about thirty years old at the time. I was in the Empire State Building, you know. There must have been ten or eleven other people with me. A few of them looked strange. You probably don’t

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know what I mean by that, so I’ll explain. One lady was wearing

.................”

Joshua cut him off, saying; “You’re babbling.” He laughed and added; “I’m happy that you’re doing well and hope you carry on for at least forty more years. I love your stories and don’t want to cut you short, but I’m meeting President Stabile in two hours.”

Grandpa cut back in and said; “Who’s the story teller here?”

“I guess I learned from you. Can I get Becky for a little while?”

Joshua didn’t want to tell Becky that she had any fault in the current situation. She got on the phone saying; “Joshua!”

“How’s my favorite actress?”

“Oh, come on. Don’t tease me.”

“I’m not. Are you alone on the line?”

“Yes, why?”

“I want you to know something and I’m afraid if Grandpa overhears it will upset him. We can keep secrets and this will be another one.”

“War?”

“No way. There were some complications, but it’s all straightened out now. Those war hungry Elis re-assessed the situation and decided to take the risk because so many were

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getting killed and because it was so unlikely that Earth had the

‘silver bullet.’ I’m going to publicly give the ‘silver bullet’

to the American government. That will put an end to the calculations and avert war. Watch your TV. I’ll be on it in two hours.”

Becky said; “They’ll kill you.”

“They’ll have to first find me. I know where to hide.”

“Why don’t you give it to them secretly?”

“Because time is of the essence. The war machine has been put in motion. Besides, I want them to know. No more riddles. No more garbage.”

Becky asked; “What went wrong with your first plan? Whose fault was it?”

“No ones. It’s the fault of hate and ignorance, amplified by mathematicians, logicians, game-playing self-servers and some other jerks I can’t think of right now.”

“Will I ever see you again?”

“I hope so. Who can say for sure?”

She sobbed.

“Do something for me. ...... You just go become the greatest actress the world has ever known. I know you can. You can do anything. Then, get married and have lots of babies just like you.”

“I love you.”

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“I love you, too.” He hung up before his voice broke.

Being the big girl, bearing responsibility for the “silver bullet,” she made her own choice and decided not to listen to Joshua. She wanted to retrieve her weapon and give that one to the US government before Joshua could get the opportunity to sign his own death warrant. She ran into the desert and found the spot where the cholla met the prickly pear. She dug, but nothing was there. She looked around in consternation and saw that there were now many spots where the dangerous cactus met the innocuous. She furiously dug between more and had no luck.

She stared at the desert hoping something would jog a memory in her mind. The longer she looked the more places where cholla met prickly pear she saw. It was futile. Time had run out. She cried and vowed to respect Grandpa’s wisdom in the future.

Fifteen minutes later Becky was sitting on her bed watching the TV, as Joshua had said. “Jeopardy” was interrupted as the runner up made a bid for the lead. The announcer said; “We interrupt your normal programming to bring you a special message from the President.” She saw a stage filled with red, white and blue American flags. She was accustomed to this patriotic display, but this time each “Old Glory” sat next to other flags of dark gray and blood red. At the side was an old Chevy. Frank Stabile strode to the podium, with Joshua to his side and said;

“My fellow Americans. My fellow Americans from many places of

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origin. I come before you today with good news. God knows we can use it. With me is Sunny Eli, Joshua Foucalt, Eli Senior Galactic Executive.” He smiled and nodded to Joshua, who bowed slightly. Frank smiled and continued; “I don’t know exactly what that is either, but it sure sounds important. ............ And, I’m sure it is. Please excuse my clumsiness. This press conference was just called two hours ago, and my speech writers didn’t have enough time to make me sound smart. You may be curious about the flags between our own; they are Eli’s flag; and they are appropriately displayed today as Joshua has graced us with one of the greatest gifts America has ever received; a

‘silver bullet.’” He took one from his pocket and went on; “I know it doesn’t look like much, but it is the most potent weapon ever on Earth. We have been running them off on our Warhollian Duplicating Machines and this is one I took.” He pointed it at the Chevy, pushed the button and it disappeared. The audience made an indecipherable sound somewhere between “whoosh” and

“mmnnn.” “That was no trick. That car is gone forever, and so is anything else that gets zapped with a ‘silver bullet.’ This is a small one, but they can be made in any size, and do proportional damage. We greatly thank our Eli friend and all of the people from Eli. They have been having their difficulties in America, and it is a tribute to them that they have demonstrated their peaceful intentions, by not using these monsters against us.

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Believe me, it would have been quite a problem.” He turned to Joshua and said; “All true Americans offer you the most sincere of thank yous. We will forever be in your debt.” He turned back to the audience and added; “They will never be used against our neighbors, but will hopefully serve as a deterrent to anyone who considers aggression against us. As a showing of good faith I hereby grant the Elis full citizenship and equality under the law. I know you all will consider their good hearts and grant them peace. Peace for all residents of the US.” He gave the two fingered peace sign and left the stage. Joshua demonstrated the effectiveness of his “silver bullet” by eradicating all the flags on stage. He then followed the President.

Cronos was watching the show and thought that he now knew Joshua’s game, but not the rationale behind it. He thought; “He has become a hero to the Earthlings, but at the same time a traitor to his own people. Illogical.” He sighed and thought that Joshua had temporarily gotten his way; until a better weapon was developed.

Aphrodite Jones, a buxom Sunny, darker than most, called Zeus on a special line accessible to only her. At least that’s what he told her. When he answered in a bothered tone, the first thing she said was; “Did you see what our son just did?”

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“Your son. He’s nothing like me.”

Aphrodite dismissively said; “What ******* ever. Did you see?”

“No. I’ve been gellin’ with Frigg. What’s the big deal?”

“Careful. The ***** will probably get pregnant. Our little bastard just gave the “silver bullet’ technology to the US.”

“No. You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“He did it all right. Turn on your TV.”

“****.”

Aphrodite chastised; “You should really pay more attention to what is going on.”

“What the **** do I care?”

“The Earthlings just became truly equal in power.”

“So, no ******* war. We’ll dominate them some other way.”

“You self-assured ***********. You’re supposed to be in charge of everything, and all hell is breaking loose. On your watch, Eli has become partners rather than masters.”

“I didn’t create the problems, and if the ******** are going to make a mess, they can clean it up themselves. I’m not spending my life doing it. I have no control over that *******

sun.”

“The problem is our son. The result of your incompetence is that he had to become a martyr.”

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“He didn’t have to. He has chosen to. And he gets that stupidity from your side of the family. Mine doesn’t give a

****.”

“Whatever. Your only son is dead meat.”

“******* place. This wouldn’t happen on Eli.”

Aphrodite curtly said; “Keep living in the past,” and hung up.

Zeus called Joshua. He didn’t disclose the family history, but wanted to be certain that he knew he was a marked man.

Joshua disdainfully answered; “Is this some kind of moronic trick? Of course I anticipated that.” He used a moronic voice to sarcastically say; “Thank you so much.” He hung up abruptly in fear that the call was being traced to place him.

Joshua had been offered US protection, which he refused.

Since he had been on Earth, he had been doing things his own way, and he planned to continue his independence. Joshua got small, entered his (actually Ares’) rocket and took off.

LIGHT. DARK. LIGHT. DARK. LIGHT. DARK. LIGHT. DARK. LIGHT.

DARK. LIGHT. DARK. LIGHT. DARK. LIGHT. DARK. LIGHT. DARK. LIGHT.

DARK. LIGHT. DARK. LIGHT. DARK. LIGHT. DARK. LIGHT. DARK. LIGHT.

DARK. LIGHT. DARK. LIGHT. DARK. LIGHT. DARK. LIGHT. DARK. LIGHT.

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DARK. LIGHT. DARK. LIGHT. DARK. LIGHT. DARK. LIGHT. DARK. LIGHT.

DARK. LIGHT. DARK. LIGHT. DARK. LIGHT. DARK. LIGHT. DARK.

When he landed in Acceptance, Sunny, Eli the sun was still shining. He first went to food stores and found a lifetime supply of canned goods. He walked around aimlessly and soon was charged by a hungry and scared Dalmatian puppy, about a year old, who must have been left behind. It appeared as if she was through the process of developing her spots. He led her to the food store and opened a can for her. As she ate ravenously, he rubbed her back and said; “I’m going to name you Daisy. A wild flower.” He looked at her coat’s mixture of black and white.

Each color was as strong as it could be, and yet they didn’t clash. They complemented each other, forming a beautiful pattern that mimicked a photo of the heavens, taken in black and white.

They walked a bit. His new friend’s bouncing exuberance almost tripped him a few times. Joshua stopped at the border of

“People’s Park” and opened another can. He sat on the ground and caressed his canine companion as they shared the hash. His mind went to Earth, Becky and Grandpa. He looked to the sky and said;

“It can be such a beautiful place. They’re just going to have to

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learn to at least tolerate each other out there. It’s either that or meet oblivion. That’s all there is to it.”

END OF THIRD EPISODE

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