Chapter 4

Now, what? Aelinor has been so intent on getting some money and killing the alien rulers in Newberry that she was at a loss for what to do next. They had been so successful so quickly that she had not planned far enough ahead. Even Armor was caught short; he had not expected their success to be so complete so soon. Armor finally realized that it had been so long since the Glaxoi had faced any opposition that they simply were not prepared for it. However, Armor was sure that they would react to the recent events, though he didn't know how long that would take.

The revolutionaries had several choices, the easiest of which was to run like hell to somewhere, anywhere, away from Newberry. They didn't want to do that, because that would waste all of the work that they had done so far. The much more difficult choice was to organize the people of Newberry to resist the efforts of the Glaxoi to restore their control. This was what they wanted to do, but it would take the cooperation of the citizens of Newberry to make it happen. Stan suggested that they call a meeting of all of the people of Newberry who were willing to help them in their fight against the Glaxoi. Nobody could come up with a better idea, so that's what they did.

Joe had some signs printed up announcing a big meeting in the town square for two nights, hence. A good half of the population couldn't read, so they would have to be reached by the town crier technique. They made up 4 speaking trumpets and spent most of two days roaming around town announcing the meeting and calling for people to attend. There were still bound to be people who didn't get the massage, but they hoped that they had reached 90% of the people.

When time came for the meeting, a big crowd had gathered, but there was no way of knowing how many were there to support the revolution and how many were there seeking entertainment. Well, whatever the ratio might be, Aelinor and her friends decided to proceed with the meeting.

Stan talked first, since he was the most widely known of the original four. He explained what they were trying to do and why. He was met with absolute disbelief. Nobody in the audience had any idea what a planet was, much less that there could be people living in places other than Earth. His presentation was met with laughter, jeering, and cat calls. It was obvious that they were not going to make any progress with their current track, so Joe took a different approach. He talked about the injustices regularly done to the people of Newberry and asked if anyone in the audience was willing to help them fight to stop these injustices from coming back to their town.

This tack got a more favorable response, and several men indicated that they were interested in continuing the fight. Unfortunately, only 16 men and no women were interested in actively fighting the oppressors. A question of what they would do when the high king sent in troops to restore his rule was met with shrugged shoulders and general indifference. By this time, the four revolutionaries on the stage could see that they were not going to get anywhere trying to recruit people with a big meeting like this, so they closed up shop in disgust. The only thing positive that they had accomplished was to have a list of 16 potential recruits.

Aelinor and Brad stayed overnight in Stan's house, and they were joined the next morning by Joe for another planning session. Armor had been strangely quiet during this recruiting fiasco, and Aelinor asked him why he had no advice to offer. Armor answered, I just don't have enough data to base an opinion on. My guess is that these people have no standard of reference to know how they could be better off than they are now. I cannot make enough amulets to indoctrinate over 2,000 people, so we will just have to look for some other way to attract recruits. Maybe, if you look through your memory store of ancient events, you may be able to spot something that we could do.

Aelinor said that she would try his suggestion, but she would have to wait until that night to begin. She was too distracted at the moment to do a proper job. Meanwhile, the four discussed what they were going to do with their list of potential recruits. It turned out that either Stan or Joe, sometimes both, knew each of the men whose names they had gotten at the meeting, so Stan and Joe agreed to make a one-on-one pitch to each man. They would drop all reference to the alien beings and just leave it as a plot against some evil humans who had conquered the world. However, at the appropriate time, they would show the recruits the near paradise of the past by means of an amulet. Armor could make that many in a reasonable time period. Stan and Joe were going to approach a couple of the prospects that afternoon.

Two weeks later, 13 of the 16 potential recruits had agreed to join in an active revolution. The other 3 claimed that they could not leave their families for the time required. None of the 13 recruits currently had a family; in most cases, the man's wife had disappeared during her period of duty in the castle brothel. The men all assumed that the women had died as a result of mistreatment while at the brothel. It turned out that this was the real reason the the men wanted to join the revolt—revenge made a powerful recruiting inducement.

Each man was given an amulet and trained in using the radio and several other features made possible by the device. They moved to Brad's place outside of town and converted two of his storage sheds into sleeping quarters. There was plenty of money from the theft of the local ruler's treasury to buy food for everybody, so that problem was avoided. Crossbows were issued to the men and they spent considerable time learning how to use them. Meanwhile, Stan was making as many bolt points as he could crank out, and he was buying them from other blacksmiths, too. Joe was pushing the manufacture of fletched shafts, so they were building up a nice reserve of ammunition for the crossbows. After a few weeks, storage space for the extra bolts actually became a problem, but this was a problem nobody complained about.

It was nearly a month before anybody in authority tried to find out what had happened at Newberry. One day, a small detachment of troops showed up at the gate and demanded to be escorted to visit the ruler. Some idiot told them what had transpired in great detail, and the detachment left in haste to report to the high king's functionaries. Two weeks later, a larger detachment of soldiers showed up and moved into the ruler's house and the barracks. A new ruler was installed, and life returned to pretty much what it had been before the abortive revolt.

Joe and Stan were pointed out as major actors in the revolt, so they were arrested and thrown into cells at the barracks. They were subjected to relative minor torture, but they had used their radios to call for help before they were stripped. They were scheduled to be crucified in 2 weeks time, as soon as a suitable reviewing stand could be constructed. The torture was minimal, because the new ruler wanted them to be in prime condition for the crucifixion, so that they would last a long time.

There was no question of whether or not an effort would be made to rescue Stan and Joe; the question was what was the best way to do it. Brad, Aelinor, and Armor held several meetings to plan for the rescue, and they decided on a variation of the operation that had been used when the previous rulers had been killed. They now had plenty of crossbowmen and plenty of ammunition, so there was enough firepower for just about anything they wanted to try.

The final plan was that Aelinor/Armor would lead 8 of their men in providing cover from rooftops, while Brad led the remaining 5 men in a direct attack on the executioners just before they nailed Stan and Joe to the crosses. They rehearsed the rescue many times as best they could. By the day of the execution, every man knew his job so well that he could very nearly have done it with his eyes closed.

Armor said that he could do it, so Aelinor flew each man to his position before sunup on the appointed day. Some of the men had trouble believing that they had been carried through the air, even after the ride was finished, but everybody survived without getting airsick, so that part of the operation was a success. Once the men were in place, all they had to do was suffer through the boredom of staying hidden so that they would not give away the operation before it started. Each man had a flask of diluted wine and some cheese to nibble on while he waited. Any noise was strictly forbidden.

The sun was just coming up when Stan and Joe were dragged into the town square. In the interest of efficiency, the execution plan was for the victims to be in place on the crosses before the public was admitted to the affair. However, the crosses would not be raised into position until the new ruler had arrived so that he could get the full pleasure of the victims' ordeal.