21 3 7 by J. Giambrone
"Ourwills and fates do so contrary run
Thatour devices still are overthrown;
Ourthoughts are ours, their ends none of our own."
-WilliamShakespeare, King Lear
"2137,"Copyright 2019
J. Giambrone / JGB
All Rights Reserved
The slumping, sandy canyon stretched for 2,500 miles. Soft granules turned to sheer rock cliffs. Dark crevices appeared in the desolate, sub-zero Martian wastelands.
A flying, glowing drone whizzed above the gorge.
Instantly, it was shot down from a precise laser pulse, which emanated from somewhere within the walls of dark stone.The robot dropped to the canyon floor and disintegrated, never tooperate again.
Similar surveillance drones shot forward and fanned around the vertical cliff faces. These too were blasted from the dull Martian sky in a hail of blinding shots.
Miles away, a mechanized army progressed. Military vehicles floated on cushions of white emitted energy. These Floating Fortresses were larger than battle tanks, yet smaller than destroyer ships. A bevy of larger drones hovered above them, ever vigilant. Assorted tracked robots accompanied the expedition force,taking point around the bends of the cavern walls.
Within a floating fortress, rode the Secretary of Defenses, Mack, who nervously monitored his screens, now that they were forward-blind.
Crewmen operated at their stations as on a submarine. The Martian federal flag, its red circle on a field of black, adorned the workstations and on each left arm of each black uniform.
Flashes and beeps from the upper level called Mack to climb the metal rungs and enter a secure communications cell.Alone, he received the incoming coded transmission from Prime Minister Duncan, standing beside his lovely daughter Mallory.
"Mack!" said the PM. "Have you located those damned rebels yet?"
"Yes... and no. Definitely, maybe. Our scan of Valles revealed abnormal signatures."
"Oh?"
"And the probes we sent in were lost, I believe shot down, indicative of enemy presence."
"Hmm. Quite. Don't wish to distract you from your great affair. Just inform you that I've named my daughter Mallory as Deputy Prime Minister."
"Deputy Prime Minister? Hello Mallory."
"Hello Mack." Mallory was just out of college,attractive and stern.
"That sounds like an important duty."
Duncan nodded. "Not quite as important as yours.I'll leave you to your most worthy endeavor, sir."
"Thank you, Prime Minister."
Mallory nodded toward the camera. "Be safe."
The lights within the secure compartment flashed red and sirens pealed. Mack jolted from the cell. His Crew had taken up battle stations. An explosion rumbled the terrain, and then several other blasts.
In the gorge ahead, the mechanized division blasted away at the canyon walls. Small lasers returned fire from within the caves above.
Atop the fortresses, large-beam lasers sliced through 20 feet of rock in lines. What they did to human beings was beyond mention in polite society. The battle escalated viciously.Caves were destroyed one by one from the laser and projectile barrages.
