Space Chronicles The Beginning

Chapter 7

What seems to be the problem Lieutenant?

I'm not sure. I'm having these strange nightmares. I often wake up in a sweat, breathing hard and afraid.

Describe them.

I see these strange faces that have large black eyes with no pupils and tiny nostrils and a slit mouth. They never show any emotion like dolls.

You've described what many people see as extraterrestrials. It's a common image.

Does that mean that they're real?

I believe it's the result of mass suggestion. People see what they want to see.

 

Marty and Angie smiled when they looked over their line of recruits who were standing at attention under a bright southwestern desert sun. These unlikely trainees were all attired in khaki pants and white tees making an amusing image to a seasoned warrior.

Neither Angie nor Marty was enthused about making their crew go through basic training. It smacked of military paranoia, but they had no choice. There's was not to reason why . . . .

"Step forward Lia," Angie said.

When she did, Angie saluted her. She returned it but hers was typical People's Liberation Army style.

"Lia is your drill sergeant," Angie said to the others. "She'll take you through precision marching."

"Why are we being tortured?" Uma said. "We are being made to run, jump and do pushups in the hot sun."

"It's to help shape up our bodies," Marty said.

"I do not need that," Uma said. "My body is in perfect shape."

Angie flashed a teasing grin at Marty, and he couldn't keep from smiling.

"We are not American citizens," Ferris said. "How can we be drafted into the American military?"

"Your respective governments have given each of you to us," Angie said. "Your service is extremely important to the security of all Earth's citizens." She pointed to Marty. "We were retired from the military, but we have been reactivated."

"Why me?" George said. "I'm too old to be drafted."

"Never too old to get in shape," Marty said, slapping his middle.

"Are we training for a military action?" Anna asked.

Marty turned to look at her. She was a well-endowed blond with eyes that flashed with arrogant pride. Her thin-lipped mouth and thin nose gave her a sharp look, but she was not really beautiful in the traditional sense.  She seemed younger than the rest, but that was a pure guess on his part. "You’re not being trained for any specific action, but I can assure you that you do not want to be taken alive by these aliens. It would be orders of magnitude more unpleasant than this training."

That resulted in only the sound of wind whipping up in the heat of the desert and a funny look from Angie.

How does he know what aliens might do to a human captive?

“Are we being trained to shoot aliens?” Uma asked, breaking the silence.

“You are going to be trained to use three weapon systems: the KLV-16 assault rifle, the ML-60 mortar and the TL-100 missile launcher,” Angie said. “We hope that no confrontation will occur, but if it does, we want you to be ready.”

After hearing no new complaints, Angie saluted Lia. "Commence."

"Attention," Lia yelled.

No one moved.