Chapter 10

Within the hour I found myself in my quarters along with Jane, Ally and Chris. Chris was laying on the floor, head propped up by her arm. The rest of us were on the couch, Jane to my left and Ally laying with her head in my lap. I was absently stroking her hair as we all watched the scenes on the view screen To say that I was impressed with this Star Trek would be an understatement. So many of the things were so accurate that I was amazed that these people had just made it all up. Even the effects of the stars while in warp was similar, not to mention the weapons. Phasers, torpedoes and missiles all very similar to what was used throughout the galaxy.

Star Trek started off, what turned out to be the first of 11 movies. It was a good movie but I found the plot a little hard to follow. I was especially aware of the likeness between the Vulcan portrayed in the movie and the Valcun race. It was uncanny, right down to the ears and the hairstyle. Either this Roddenberry person was from space or he had to have a future sight of some sort. Telepathic abilities were a rarity but there were some cases in history even if they weren't official or proven.

"That was a good movie, I see now why your people enjoyed this T.V. so much."

Jane and Ally giggled in unison once again. "How about another one?" Ally asked looking up from my lap.

"Sure," I said excitedly.

The girls giggled as Christine began the next movie. I have to say, in comparison this was by far the better of the two I've watched. Ally did explain that they had met Khan before and that is why they knew who he was. I was intrigued by their genesis device. My people created something similar but we called it a Terraformer.

"Do you have anything other than Star Trek?" I asked once the movie was over.

"Of course silly. Those were just a couple of the older favorites There are a lot more where that came from."

"What's your favorite?" I asked Jane.

Her face seemed to turn a nice shade of pink before she managed to answer. "A movie came out almost 2 years before everyone started dieing."

"What was it?" I couldn't figure out what it was that had her seeming so pinkish.

"Iron Man," she said simply.

"Iron Man, is this a movie about a robot?"

The two women laughed at that. "Not really, it's a movie based off a comic book."

"A comic book?"

"It's kinda like a magazine with artwork in it most of the time telling a story."

"Christine do you know anything about this comic book stuff?"

"Captain, I have crossed referenced the word and there are several mentions of it. Not a lot of files on line though. I do have the movie Jane spoke of on file."

"Play that Christine, we'll search for comic books at a later date." Just before the movie began the lights dimmed and the alarm blared.

"Captain, we have inbound aircraft. Four in total." I was out of the chair and headed toward the bridge in seconds. By the time the girls made it I'd had the alarm silenced and Christine was giving me the info. "Sir, there are four Cobras inbound for this installation."

"And what exactly are cobras?"

"They are attack helicopters, Captain. Used by the U.S. Army. They are 13.6m long, 4.1m tall with a rotor width of 13.6m. They travel at a max speed of 277km/h and a distance of 510km. There weapons include 20mm cannons, 7 70mm rockets and 8 TOW missiles."

"Are our shields up and are we cloaked?"

"Affirmative for both sir. Though I doubt their weapons could damage this ship even without the shields."

"No need to take any chances. Any idea of what they're doing here? Could they have located our ship?"

"They're with the group from Ft. Knox. They usually do a fly by the day before the rest show up to take their cut of our hard work." Jane replied with a look of anger that scared even me. I would make it a point not to direct that anger toward myself.

"What do you mean take their cut? Do they provide some sort of service to receive such payments?"

"Hell no, those bastards just sit down there and do nothing but take take take. They party almost everyday and they go to different groups and take what they want. They say it's to provide protection but it's them we need protection from."

I could see what the lack of a governing body had done to these people. The survivors have banded into small groups hoping to be able to make do. And there were now groups of a militaristic nature that could and did abuse their knowledge and others. I shook my head not believing that someone would do that to their fellow man.

"Captain, Derrick is outside and would like to speak to you. The cobras are now returning to their base."

"Show him the way in please. This will save me a trip as I wanted to see him too."

Shortly after Derrick was on the bridge looking around in amazement I allowed him a couple of moments to take in as much as he could. He seemed to remember why he was here and shook his head to regain focus. "I need to ask you a favor?"

"And that would be?"

"I need you to go away from here tomorrow."

To say I was a little surprised would be an understatement. Have I done anything to deserve this type of treatment? I couldn't recall anything so I just asked, "Why?"

"It's nothing bad, you just don't act ... human. And with them coming tomorrow I'd just as soon not try to explain who you are when I could as easily not."

Understanding dawned on me then, he wasn't mad at me. He was trying to protect me. "I understand your concern and will bow to your wisdom."

"Hey I have classes tomorrow, why don't you hang out with me. I'm sure the others would like to meet an alien in person."

"Ally!, apologize right this instant. He's not some sort of thing you take in for show and tell." Jane reprimanded.

"I'm sorry," Ally said with her head lowered. I couldn't stand it. I never wanted to see this girl sad.

Placing a finger under her chin I softly raised her head to look at me. "I'd love to 'hang' with you tomorrow. It might be fun." this seemed the right thing to do because I soon found myself in the tightest hug I'd ever felt. I think I even saw stars for several moments. "Jane, what will you be doing tomorrow?"

"I'll be working with the dairy cows we have hidden in central park about a half mile from here. It's not many but there are enough to produce milk for everyone here. We also have about 20 calves as well. In a year or so we'll have enough to begin trading with other groups."

"Will it be OK if I spend tomorrow with Ally?" I asked Derrick.

"Yes, they hold their classes in the library so the chances of anyone going in there are slim. If they do, try to stay in the background and not draw attention to yourself."

"I can do that."

"What about the ship?"

"I'll have Christine move the ship underground. There is a tunnel leading down where the railroad merges together."

"What do you mean underground? There isn't a subway or anything here."

"Well, I had Christin begin construction of a base. It'll be underground so nothing top side will be disturbed. I just needed some place to work and not be bothered."

"I see," Derrick said but didn't elaborate. "Well, I should be going. It's getting late and we all seem to have a busy day tomorrow."

He left then while Jane and Ally explained more about the group. The leader wasn't an overly bad man but he ruled with an iron fist. He took what he wanted when he wanted and claimed it was for the good of the people. The good of his people. He didn't allow for mindless killing or attacks but if anyone acted as if they posed a threat he would use every resource to end that threat. I realized that after this meeting I'd have to take measures to ensure that it was the last one. The group separated as everyone wanted to get to sleep early as they were expecting a big day tomorrow.

Tuesday October 1^st, 2013

The next day I found myself in the library with over 40 kids. They were separated into three groups each group led by two teachers. It seemed that they were supposed to be working on geology but everyone seemed more interested in what my planet was like rather than in their own.

I realized that these kids probably couldn't remember what it was like before the plague began. So I told my tale. Of what my planet looked like and the numerous animals that roamed freely on it. The size and beauty of the cities with their many parks. The people and how peace seemed to reign throughout the world. I skipped over all the bad things, like the in fighting between officials in their quest for power. The war with the bugs and things like that. I thought I was doing a good job until one bright young man asked the million dollar question.

"If your planet was so nice, why are you here?"

"Well, I was attacked and there was an accident." I went on to tell them about my waiting near the station and how a unknown group attacked the station and myself. The explosion and the resulting hyper jump. The story then warped to me finding and saving Ally on up to today.

Before the questions of what I was going to do next came the teachers ended class for the day.

"You wanna see some comic books?" Ally asked pulling me away from the other children as they broke class.

"You have them here?" I asked looking around at all the books. I felt very at ease in a place like this and the itch to pick up a book was almost overwhelming.

"Sure do, some of the grown ups brought them back during one of their outings. They said it was to keep us kids busy, but I know better." The smug look told me exactly what she thought. She led me to the northern corner of the building and there she pointed out thousands of comic books. At that time we were given the all clear that the other group had left. Ally and I grabbed a box and headed back to the ship. We got some food from the replicator and lounged out in my quarters. Time drifted by until Christine brought us out of our trances.

"Captain, Derrick is outside and wants to speak to you." I had Christine show him the way. Chris, who'd been absent for most of the day made an appearance as well.

"How can I help you Derrick?"

"I was wondering if you'd heard from Jane?"

"No I haven't. I thought she was working in one of the parks with some others."

"They left at 9 this morning. They should have been back by 5 or 6."

It was then that I noticed it was almost 8pm local time. Time sure flies when you're having fun. "Christine, lets get the ship in the air and to the location Jane and the others were supposed to be. We're heading to the bridge."

I took my chair, Chris took the sensors station and Derrick and Ally stood around not knowing what to do.

"Just pick a seat, none of the panels will activate so don't worry about accidents."

Each Panel had to be activated by Christine for security reasons.

"We are now 1 mile above central park captain. Scanning..."