Chapter 3

Djai Mtumbo was just emerging from his med-unit when Colin entered the sickbay carrying an unconscious gang member over each shoulder. He was followed by an ID platform loaded with three more.

The ebony skinned warrior gazed at his own arms and hands in wonder, turning them this way and that. "Is it true, what that thing told me? Am I now as strong as three men?"

"Help me get these guys in the med-units and we'll see," Colin laughed. "It seems the MIs taught you English, too. Welcome aboard! We don't shake hands here because we need to get out of the habit. If we shake a civilian's hand, we're likely to crush it, and that doesn't make very good PR."

"No," the other chuckled. "I don't suppose it would."

It was the work of only moments for the two of them to load the wounded gangsters into med-units. While this was happening, Colin's MI filled him in on the results of Djai's indoctrination and the battery of psychological tests he had undergone while in the med-unit.

"The MIs are very impressed with you, Djai," Colin told him, as they made their way to the training center. "If you do well in the sims, you will rank very high in this new space force we are building for Earth."

"And those that you just brought aboard?"

"They will undergo psychological evaluation while the med-units are repairing the damage to their bodies, and any gaps in their education will be filled as well. Then they will be given the opportunity to join us. Any who choose not to do so will be returned to their homes. It seems unlikely, though, that after the sleep-teachers have finished with them, they will return to their old ways. It's amazing what a good education can do for one's outlook, especially when it includes understanding of the consequences of one's actions."

"These simulations - can they really train one thoroughly enough to go into battle?"

"Let me put it this way, Djai: These simulations are so real that you will feel the agony of your wounds, smell the stench of your vomit, and know that you have died if you take a fatal wound. Your muscles will feel the fatigue of long exertion, and the strain of heavy weights. Every one of your senses will experience the simulation just as if you were actually there. It is almost impossible, while in the sim, to remember that it is not real. If that cannot prepare you to go into battle, nothing can."

"And will you be in the simulation with me?"

"Not yet. You have some initial training to complete on your own, and I have some more recruiting to do. Later, we will train together so that we can learn to work as a team, but not until more of our team are aboard."

A lot of this was stuff the MIs had already told Djai, but it was somehow comforting to repeat it in a regular conversation.

Pham Tran peered carefully around the corner. He hated stealing from Mr. Nguyen, but there was no money to pay him, and begging was out of the question. Sometimes Pham wondered if the owner of the market didn't look the other way on purpose. The little store couldn't be making a lot of money, and certainly, he had chased, and even caught thieves now and then, but whenever Pham was around, somehow, he seemed to always have something to do in the back of the store.

Even so, his heart was in his throat as he picked up a small sack of rice and a can of Spam. As an afterthought, he also grabbed a small bunch of bananas. To most people, it was not much, but he and his mother and sister could eat for the next couple of days. Pham looked over his shoulder as he hurried down the alley, away from Mr. Nguyen's market. As usual, there was no outcry, no pursuit. Congratulating himself on another successful foraging trip, Pham slowed his pace and continued down the empty alley.

Suddenly, he ran into an invisible wall. As he collided with the immovable object, it instantly transformed into a mirrored three-dimensional image in the shape of a man. Astonished, but not enough so to forget that he was carrying stolen food, Pham turned to run the other way, only to feel his arm caught in a steel vise.

"Don't struggle Pham," a strange voice told him, from the direction of the invisible wall. "I am trying not to hurt you, but if you struggle too much I may not be able to avoid it."

Realizing both the truth of the other's words and the futility of his efforts, Pham ceased his wriggling. "Who are you? What do you want with me? Is it the rice? I only wanted to feed my family!"

Suddenly, the owner of the voice appeared out of thin air. Well, a figure in a spacesuit materialized. As the helmet popped off of the suit, a man's head appeared.

Detaching the helmet, and tucking it under his free arm, the man smiled. "Actually, I have come to help you with that little problem."

"Help me? Why? How will you help me?"

"What I had in mind was more you and I helping each other. Care to talk a while? You can deliver your 'purchases' and we'll talk at your place."

Pham shrugged as best he could within the other's iron fist. "Sure. Just let go of me, will you?"

"Okay," the other said, and released him.

Pham was gone in a flash. The man didn't even chase him. Crazy nut! Stupid too, to let him go, just like that. He followed a circuitous route home, keeping an eye on his back trail. Now that he knew the guy could be invisible, he didn't bother looking for him, but for signs of his passing. The dusty, crowded alleys would make it difficult for even an invisible man to pass without leaving footprints or brushing against someone. If the stranger did either, Pham would know by the marks in the dust and the reactions of the people.

Still, he saw nothing, and began to wonder if the guy really gave up that easily. Finally convinced that he wasn't being followed, Pham's feet turned their way homeward.

As usual, coming in out of the bright sunlight, it took his eyes a few moments to adjust to the dimness of the inside of the little shack. By long familiarity and vision that was clearing as he went, Pham put away his booty. He knew that Mother would not cook it until the evening meal. Thinking of cooking made him realize that he could already smell food - something that had a wonderful aroma. One of the neighbors must have gotten lucky.

When he turned to face the room, he was astounded to see not only his mother and little sister sitting at the small table, but they were sharing tea and food with the stranger from the alley! He no longer wore his spacesuit, but there was no mistaking the face of the man who had accosted him.

"Mother... !" he began, but his mother held up a graceful hand to stop him.

"We have a guest, Pham," she said gently, "and he has brought us this delicious food. Won't you sit and join us?"

Mother was not to be disobeyed, but Pham sat warily on the edge of his stool, resenting the stranger's having taken his late father's place as if he belonged there.

"Mister McClintock has been explaining to us how impressed he is with your abilities," Mother told him in a quiet voice, as though she was accustomed to having strangers drop by. "Please, eat while the food is still warm! He has made an offer that I would like for you to consider."

"What offer, Mother?" Pham asked irritably, as she spooned food onto his plate.

"I think it would be polite to let him tell you in his own words, son," she admonished. "Mr. McClintock, would you mind?"

"Of course not. I was just telling your lovely mother and charming sister," his smile beamed at each of the ladies as he spoke, "how I would like for you to join me in saving the world from alien invaders."

Pham could not help himself, it was just so absurd! He burst out laughing until the sharpness in his mother's voice cut him off.

"It is not polite to laugh at our guest, young man!"

"I am sorry, Mother," Pham answered, "but do you not see the absurdity of his request? Alien invaders! Pah!"

"I believe him," Mother replied quietly, stifling anything else he might have said.

Pham stared first at her, then at the stranger. His mother was the cynic in the family, especially after his father's death, so it was a shock to him for her to be won over so easily.

The stranger spoke into the silence. "Perhaps this will help."

Pham gasped as, suddenly, in the air above the table, a three dimensional image appeared.

"This star," the stranger intoned as a green circle appeared, surrounding a small star out on one spiral arm of the galaxy centered in the spherical display, "is our sun. This one," now a red 'x' appeared, not too distant from the circle, "is the primary of a planet once known as Chofri'at. Chofri'at was once home to a race of highly evolved beings."

The view zoomed in on the indicated star, until planets could be seen around it, then it centered on one of them and dove further in until the camera, or whatever it was, was on the surface of the strange planet, surrounded by four-armed, two legged beings. "This is what Chofri'at and the Chofri looked like before the Gorz."

The view zoomed back out to a system wide view, then in again, focusing on a point near the edge of the system. As it drew nearer, a vast fleet of ships could be made out. A hodgepodge of designs, they were, but each was clearly bristling with weapons. Time speeded up as Pham watched the invading fleet enter the system. At first, it looked like the Chofri would win. Their technology was better, their ships faster, their shields stronger.

Then the view zoomed in on a part of the enemy fleet that Pham had not noticed at first. These ships were systematically taking apart the outer planets of the Chofri'at system, and using the raw materials to make more ships to replace the ones lost in battle. It was only minutes, but Pham got the impression that years were passing before his eyes. As he watched, the Chofri fleet got smaller and smaller, while the enemy fleet grew even larger. When the outcome was all but accomplished, the view shifted to follow one ship that escaped into space.

The young man watched as the ship entered the system designated as the Solar system and went into orbit around Earth. He watched the scouting expedition launched, and the exploration of the planet. He didn't have to be told that the time was almost three hundred years before - the clothing of the people, the lack of technology, the quaint buildings and transportation served to fix the time frame. He watched the untimely demise of the scout and the passage of time as the mothership and scoutship waited. He followed the probes sent back to the home world and along the Gorz' trail of destruction.

The view mapped that arc through the galaxy and he saw the point where it changed course and headed for Earth. The scenes changed rapidly now as he watched the selection of candidates by hidden probes. The recruitment of the stranger who sat across from him, and, yes, his own misadventures as seen through the lenses of the hidden remotes.

As suddenly as it had appeared, the hologram disappeared. Pham sat in stunned silence, his thoughts in turmoil. Sure, maybe Hollywood could produce something like that, or the CIA, but why bring it here and show it to him? He was, at worst, a petty thief, and that only because his family needed the food. No, there was no good reason that he could think of why anyone would go to all that trouble.

"Why you bring this here? Why you show it to me?" His English slipped a little as he felt himself on the verge of panic.

"Because I want you to join me," the stranger said, simply. "You are tough, clever, and resourceful, and we need people like you if we are going to succeed in our struggle with the Gorz."

"You no need me!" he almost shouted. His mother's gentle hand on his arm did little to calm him. "That Gorz not going to be here for hundred years! I dead then. And what about Mother, Sister? Who take care of them?"