Chapter 9

Sgt. James Haggerty, please come in as speedily as possible. A new factor has shown up which requires your immediate attention.

On our way, Voice.

That sounded downright scary! What could have happened so suddenly that Voice needed us back at the home cave before we had finished our patrol? Talk about shaking up the troops! It was scary to have a sudden change like this! We moved as fast as we could, short of running, to get back to the cave as fast as we could go.

Back at the cave, we did not see the usual grand hotel. Instead, we entered a big conference room and lecture hall. There was no sign of the women, and that was enough to scare us even further!

Sgt. James Haggerty, please sit down with your men at the table where your places are marked with name placards. Don't worry about the women, they will be in shortly with coffee for each of you.

Almost before he finished speaking, the women came in with cups and pots of coffee. They poured the coffee and distributed cream and sugar. Then they sat down in chairs they pulled up right behind us. Beth said, "We were told to warn you that you would finally meet the aliens that we are allied with. Be prepared for some strange sights, but, remember, these are all friends! Go ahead and enjoy the coffee while you are waiting."

The door at the other end of the room opened, and the strangest thing I ever saw came in through that door. It was a large round glass case filled with a swirling gas that was just barely discernible. Also in the case was a blob of what looked like raw beef with dozens of arms and a head with six eyes equally spaced around the head. It was almost enough to make us vomit the coffee that we had just drunk.

Hello, Sgt. James Haggerty and the men of Second Squad, Third Platoon, E Company. Now you know why you have never met me before, I am the one called "Voice!" If we had met earlier, I am sure that you would have tried to kill me out of fright, and, judging from your record so far, I am pretty sure that you would have succeeded! I know that you are all startled by my appearance, but I am happy to see that you can now view me without a panic reaction.

There are four more members of the steering committee that you should meet. Each one is from a different planet, and none can survive in the atmosphere that you enjoy. Therefore, all of us will have to be present while held inside the same kind of protective chamber that I am using.

You could not hope to pronounce their names, nor they yours. To simplify things, we will conduct all conversation through me. I will translate for them and for you. Again, for simplicity, they will be designated by the code words Able, Baker, Charley, and Dog, and you will be known collectively as Easy. Please remain seated as they come in.

The first being is known at the moment as Able. Please come in, Able. The door opened and another creature rode in, in his mobile isolation chamber. He was at least eight feet tall and looked something like a robot out of an old horror movie. His skin was a shinny metallic color. He had four arms with hands and four legs with what looked like wheels. I can't imagine how that was possible. He was standing inside his chamber and looked like there was no way for him to sit down. There was a little sign on the front of his chamber on which was lettered "Able."

Please come in, Baker. This being was surrounded by a greenish-yellow liquid. It was easy to see through, but the colors were shifted as the light passed through it. The being looked very much like an octopus, but it had hair on its head. It appeared to be reclining on a board and seemed to be about five feet long from the tips of its tentacles to the top of its head with the orange hair. Its chamber was marked with "Baker."

Please come in, Charley. This time, the chamber was opaque, so that we could not see what Charley looked like. All we knew was that his chamber was marked with "Charley."

Please come in, Dog. There was no problem seeing through this chamber, and the individual inside could have passed for a human if he would just wear clothes. Except for his hands and face, he was covered by blue filaments about two inches long and which writhed to and fro continuously. His chamber was labeled "Dog."

That was when I noticed that there was a little sign in front of us which was labeled "Easy."

I said, We really need to talk about the weapon selection among ourselves and get back to you. Of course, we could talk about it here, but we would tie up the valuable time of all of these people, and I don't think they would want us to do that. It might take us over an hour to come to a conclusion about the weapons. It just doesn't seem polite to have a private technical discussion before people who might well not know what we were talking about.