The Sleeping Army Awakes

Part 80 Bad News

Elektra informed Spencer what had happened. The Sikorsky had just landed at the mine entrance.

"How many casualties so far?" Spencer asked, feeling that the day was spiralling out of control.

"So far seven!" Elektra said, "three shot by Skidges, although Pawel, the naval guard managed to shoot down two of them before patrol was recalled, he is actually good shot. One broken arm and rest are minor abrasions but all of them require medical attention because of foul stinking mud everywhere. Whole area is infected."

"But I told Kelp to cancel all patrols!" Spencer said angrily.

"So did I!" Elektra confirmed, "and just for good measure I scheduled alarms on his Dudat to remind him but drunken old bastard helped himself to several jars of cider so he got window!"

Getting a window was Slavik for drink induced memory loss.

"I want word with that man." Spencer said. The tone of his voice suggested that it wouldn't be a very nice one, if he bothered to say anything at all, before he terminated Kelp#fs existence.

"Not as much as I do!" Elektra commented, "And knowing Pawel and Michal you'll have to fight them for privilege of getting to him first."

Infirmary

"We have incoming wounded on the way." Samuel said, "According to Elektra, all three of our lads have been shot and they are all bleeding. We will have to find the infirmary!"

"Probably serves Basil right. What did he do?" Katka asked. "Was he trying to run away?"

"No actually Basil was bravely giving the locals first aid and then he was driving the truck to evacuate them!" Samuel advised, although perhaps, bravely, was exaggerating a little, "He got shot several times by a Skidge while driving the auto-truck on manual, because the control cabin had been washed away and he just carried on driving without even making a whimper! Pawel and Michal have also been shot! They bravely fired at the Skidges to draw their fire away from the old people that Basil were evacuating."

"What is Skidge?" Katka asked.

"A Shoot-to-kill-Drone for the Gamekeeper!" Samuel replied. "Luckily the moniker overstates their capabilities.

"Sounds nasty!" Katka said, having no knowledge of Skidges at all, what she imagined the injuries would be like was far worse than the reality of the situation. "The poor things!"

"I think that they'll live!" Samuel smiled."Luckily the Shoot to kill bit is just total invention!"

"Oh!" Katka said. She sounded disappointed.

"So you were more than ready to welcome them as horribly mutilated heroes." Samuel said with a smile. "but because they merely have flesh wounds you think less of them!"

"No of course not!" Katka defended, but she knew that it was useless to resist Samuel's powers of intuition and persuasion. "Well perhaps little..." At that moment she told herself that she could never marry a man who would always be right. It would be far too annoying.

"Don't worry !" Samuel consoled her. "I only knew what you were thinking because a little corner of my mind was thinking it too. Just because I am Mík doesn't mean that I am not human."

"Fakt?" Katka asked.

"Fakt!" Samuel laughed.

Katka cheered up a bit at this.

"Have you ever been shot Samuel?" Katka asked.

"Yes long ago but it was only a minor wound everything still functions normally."