Hell's Hoplites - Book 1 - Thebes - 2 - Chapter 1

Chapter 1 -

Sol System - Mars - Olympus Mons Mountain Range

Kawamura Sponsored Archeological Dig Site - Area 3313C

January 17th 2495 - 17:55 GMT

As Dr. Erskine Sikorsky straightened up from the small pit he had slowly been excavating with a small hand trowel and a soft bristled brush he heard several vertebrae in his back pop. Erskine had been studying the piece of metal he had unearthed. Or unmarsed, he thought to himself with a small mental chuckle. Grimacing at the popping sound his back had made and his rather poor attempt at humor he placed one hand on the small of his back then repositioned his baseball cap to help further keep the sun beating down on the red soil from blinding him even worse. Unfortunately earlier that morning he’d forgotten his sunglasses and the price would be a severe headache by the time he returned to base camp.

Looking down at the piece of metal that he had been clearing the detritus from Erskine studied it thoughtfully. The metal plate appeared to be approximately five meters to a side and if with the limited portable equipment he had brought he could tell that it was not terrestrial in origin. He wasn’t actually sure of its metallurgical make-up and had tried rather futilely to remove a piece of it for examination.

Jamming the trowel and brush into a cargo pocket he absently dusted some of the red soil from his pants and waved to one of the support crew sitting on the treads of a small bucket loader/crane. Seeing the gesture the local quickly scrambled into the cab of the vehicle starting it up and gingerly wound his way towards the archeologist’s position being careful not to disturb similar pits dug throughout the area.

As the construction vehicle reached him Erskine stepped up onto the foot board next to the cab again catching as he did so he caught a glimpse of the Kawamura Industries Corporate logo; a deep amber half sun peaking over the horizon with a dozen rays of sunlight in gold spiking outwards and the letters KIC in bold script beneath; his nostrils flared slightly at the logo.

Erskine had no qualms about big business being involved in archeological finds however after he had signed the agreement to lead the dig he’d found out some interesting things about Kawamura. When they lead a Xeno-dig any technologically advanced artifacts found had a bad tendency to disappear during and after the dig with all files pertaining to them disappearing as well.

Sticking his head into the cab Erskine basked in the pitiful amount of air being blown around the cabin by a small fan clipped in one corner. “Okay Larry radio a couple more guys and get them up here with some padded straps and a flatbed truck, meanwhile I need you to dig an additional meter out on each side of the pit,” the archeologist ordered pointing behind him with a thumb.

“Roger Doc,” Larry Mulgrove replied as he reached for a small microphone on the simple dash and the worker radioed down to one of the tool barn. “Hey, send Steve and George up with some padded straps and a flatbed truck large enough to haul a five meter by five meter metal plate,” there was a tinny question from the speaker, and Larry glanced out windshield into the pit. “Uh, probably about 500 ton limit should do,” there was another answer from the speaker and Larry re-hooked the mike.

“Should be here in about twenty minutes Doc,” the construction worker told him.

“Thanks Larry I’m going to take a little break, if you could get started on that digging I’d appreciate it,” Erskine said patting the man’s shoulder and then hopping down from the vehicle’s tread.

“No problema,” Larry hollered over the bucket loader/cranes roaring engine as he started the machine moving forward again and dug the bucket into the semi-soft soil around the pit. With a swing of the bucket it dumped the offending soil far enough away from it to keep it from falling in if the sides collapsed.

Satisfied with what the man was doing Erskine moved further back and walked over to the shade of some boulders where he had stashed his pack hours earlier. Rummaging through the pockets of the fade canvas pack he came out with a bottle of water and found that the cooling ring in the bottom had failed but drank down a quarter of the warm contents anyway.

At 45 years old Dr. Erskine Sikorsky was in good physical shape despite what his back tried to tell him. He stood at a lanky 1.8 meters tall but probably didn’t tip the scales much over 200 lbs. Holding degrees in Ancient History, Xeno-History, Metallurgy, Biology, Bio-Chemistry, and Geology, he spoke over fifteen languages. With those skills and his innate aggressive get it don attitude Erskine was much sought after in both the halls of academia and the corporate board rooms and had even been offered positions at various research and development labs; but he had declined working in sterile white coated labs and the musty halls of universities for the field.

Erskine’s first love had been the field and would most likely stay that way till the day he died, and although his early theories about an ancient advanced civilization once having inhabited Mars had originally been put down as inexperience of a young man they had later born fruition at both the Face Of Mars and the Pyramids Of Mars after the government had finally allowed people into those areas.

Even though Erskine had never been able to penetrate either structure to date he still led digs in both areas and here at Olympus Mons as often as he could. He had also proven that while from early photos the Pyramids of Mars had seemed similar to those at Giza they were actually stepped in similar fashion to those built by the Aztecs, Incans, and Mayans in South America on Earth and the only reason they had originally been thought to have been similar to those at Giza was due to the huge amounts of sand that had blown over the structures for who knew how long.

Letting his mind wander for a few minutes and wishing he hadn’t forgotten his sunglasses his thoughts were soon interrupted by the barely audible sound of gears shifting as an oversized flatbed single cab truck from the base camp wound its way up the steep ridge.

Standing up as the truck approached he brushed dirt off the back of his pants; Erskine walked slowly towards the pit where Larry had just finished excavating the extra meters of dirt which now sat in a small pyramidal mound to one side, timing it just right he reached the pit just as the truck pulled up.

Steve and George jumped down from the truck immediately dashing around to the back of it and started pulling the straps off of the trucks flat bed. He almost didn’t notice his assistant Angela Di’Eriqua as she hopped down from the cab and walked over to him with a small case in one hand and a cooler in the other.

“Angela I thought you had something you needed to do in town?” He asked the tall red head.

“Got it done early enough that I came back to see that you had left your sunglasses behind again,” she said with an admonishing tone and handed him the case in one hand.

Opening the case Erskine pulled his sunglasses out and settled them on his nose, his wrinkled forehead smoothing out as he could finally stopping squinting in the bright sunlight and he could already feel his headache ease a little. “So what’s in the cooler?” He asked her.

“Ah, a little celebration, I’ve got a six pack of Sam Adams in here,” she replied smiling at him.

“What are we celebrating?” He asked his heart skipping a beat as she smiled at him.

“I was able to finagle some more money out of Kawamura this morning,” Angela replied with an evil grin.

Erskine felt his nostrils flair again but started smiling, “what would I ever do without you?”

“Probably have a constant migraine, unwashed clothes, messy bedroom, and no personality,” Suzanne teased with a grin. “And of course no sex life,” she added grinning devilishly.

“You’re probably right,” Erskine said before catching the last one she had thrown in. “I’ll have you know that there are many women who would be willing to throw themselves at this body,” he said trying to strike a dramatic pose.

Suzanne rolled her eyes, “Yeah and they are all under twenty years of age and college students, or more likely they want to throw things at your body, like rotten fruit.”

“Nothing wrong with that,” Erskine retorted.

Suzanne just rolled her eyes and watched the workers.

“Hey Doc we’re ready to get the straps in place,” Larry called from the cab of the vehicle.

“Okay, be there in a sec,” he shouted back waving his assistant forward as George and Steve carried the lightweight but sturdy straps down into the pit and started laying them out.

It took nearly an hour for the five of them to get the straps into place as they carefully dug out channels under the metal plate. They deftly slipped the straps under it and looped them over a hook attached to the Crane portion of the construction vehicle.

“Alright Larry, steady as she goes,” Erskine hollered and twirled a finger over his head; he could barely be heard over the noise of the engine as its transmission dropped into a lower gear.

Larry engaged the cranes gears and nearly cut off the heads of every one standing around the pit as the plate shot up into the air and then fell back towards the pit. The dangling piece of metal made a wild pendulum sending those around the pit diving for safety. Larry was able to quickly correct it and keep the metal plate from becoming an even more deadly pendulum as he smoothly lowered it to the flat bed of the truck.

“What the hell,” George uttered as he knocked red sand from his clothes.

“Hmm, appears that it’s much lighter than we thought,” Erskine murmured in a low voice as he examined the plate on the flat bed. He could now see that the plate was approximately three meters thick and didn’t show any signs of welding or rivets it was also a very shiny silver in color telling him that any paint it had ever had on it had been scoured away by the shifting sands who knew how many centuries or millennia ago.

“Damn, sorry about that folks,” Larry told the others sheepishly as he climbed down from the cab of his machine.

“Not your fault Larry,” Erskine said trying to reassure the man as he continued to study the piece of metal. “I don’t think any of us realized how light weight our little friend here is,” He reassured the man again as he patted the piece of metal and realizing for the first time that the metal was actually a few degrees cooler the mean temperature.

“So how about a beer guys,” Angela said breaking the small amount of tension that was left as she bent over setting the cooler on the ground and pulling the six pack out.

“I’ll go for that,” George exclaimed grabbing one of the Sam Adams from the small cardboard carton and pressing the cool bottle to his forehead.

“Same here,” Steve echoed and quickly snagged a bottle as well.

Angela handed bottles to Erskine and Larry as she pulled out an old and battered Swiss Army knife and deftly flicked the bottle opener out then proceeded to pop the tops off of bottles.

“How about a toast,” Angela suggested holding her bottle of beer out.

“What should we toast?” Larry asked.

“How about Angela for finagling more money out of Kawamura,” Erskine suggested.

“I’ll drink to that,” Steve said.

“To Angela,” a ragged chorus went out as the bottles clinked together.

“How about one for the Doc guys,” Angela threw out.

“And what in the world would you toast me for?” Erskine asked blushing slightly although it was hard to tell under the slight sunburn/tan that he had.

“Doc you just found a new type of metal and will soon manage to dump all the nay-sayers on their fat academic asses,” George told him.

“I’ll drink to that,” Steve repeated.

“To the Doc,” chorused across the pit where the metal plate had been found.

The five of them stood silently with their own thoughts as everyone enjoyed the cold beers; thankfully the temperature had dropped a few degrees as they had talked. The Sun was now balanced on the tip of Olympus Mons peak as if it might roll down either side on a seconds notice.

After everyone had finished their beers Angela policed up bottles and caps so as to make sure there would be no contamination of the dig site and then hustled everyone to the flat bed pick-up.

Quickly covering his vehicle with a tarp Larry hopped onto the back of the bed joined by George and Steve while Angela and Erskine shared the cab with the Doctor behind the wheel.

“Well Doc it looks like things are going pretty good for the dig,” Angela commented popping open the sixth beer and swirling the bottle in her hand.

“Yeah; this piece of metal is amazing. If we can decipher its matrix we may be able to revolutionize everything from the automotive industry to spacecraft hulls. When we get it back to base camp I can study it with the larger equipment since it seems to be resistant to most of my on-hand equipment,” Erskine said excitedly.

“Sounds like fun,” she said taking a large swallow of the beer and settling back in the seat.

Erskine just shook his head, started the truck then dropping it into gear as he maneuvered it back down the slope to the base camp.

Sol System - Mars - Olympus Mons Mountain Range

Kawamura Sponsored Archeological Dig Site - Base Camp Mess Hall

January 17th 2495 - 21:08 GMT

After word of the find spread around the camp Erskine had to post a guard in front of the metallurgy lab to keep looky-lous from possibly contaminating the sample and then was continuously assaulted by questions during dinner.

Angela set her metal food tray down on the table hard enough to spill peas from it and slop some gravy into her pudding. “Alright that is enough folks you have your own portions of the dig site to take care of. Dr. Erskine is a very busy man and I’m sure he’ll be willing to share his finds with us during the staff meeting Monday morning, until then zip-it,” with that Angela turned her scowl towards her now ruined butterscotch pudding.

“You know it all goes the same place,” Erskine told her with a bit of an impish grin, he knew full well what her reply would be and agreed with it but not wanting to waste a chance to tweak her nose a bit.

“I don’t care where it ends up, just what it tastes like getting there,” and with that the conversation ended for the time being as both delved hungrily into their meals.

After dinner Angela followed the Doctor to the metallurgy lab and inside as he started tapping commands into the computer terminal sitting on a counter at one end of the small building. The equipment in the building hummed to life as the piece of metal rolled down to the beginning of a long conveyor belt that ran the length of the building and passed between every known metallurgic tool known to man, and even a few that Erskine had cobbled together over the last few months.

Bending over the computer for a few more minutes and humming as he typed more commands in and then let out a grunt as he straightened his lanky frame the vertebrae is his back popping again.

Angel winced at the crackling popping sound. “So how long is it going to take?” She asked.

“Thirty-Six hours and some odd minutes,” he told her.

Angela let out a low whistle.

“Yeah I know but I want the equipment to wring out every bit of information that it can from the plate,” he explained.

“Well don’t forget that you have that business meeting with the Kawamura people tomorrow,” Angel reminded him and then shrugged bending a finger towards him as she left the building.

Erskine followed a few minutes later triple-checking to make sure that the door was securely locked and nodded to the guard as he headed after Angela who was already walking through the door of his small cabin.

Sol System - Mars - Olympus Mons Mountain Range

Kawamura Sponsored Archeological Dig Site - Erskine’s Cabin

January 18th 2495 - 07:23 GMT

Erskine awoke at some point during the early morning feeling slightly gamey with the residue of two people’s sweat covering his body and the odor of the same lingering in the room. Turning to the other side of the bed he found Angela gone but not her scent as it lingered in the folds and creases of the pillow they had shared, pulling the pillow close he caught the slight scent of peaches and strawberries, her perfume and shampoo.

Swinging his legs over the side of the small bed Erskine stopped himself before setting his foot down; snapping on the bed side lamp he quickly checked the floor. Somehow scorpions and some rather nasty species of desert spiders had made their way to Mars having found the environment to their liking. Finished with his safety check Erskine set his feet into a pair of sandals next to the bed and walked stiffly towards the bathroom performing another check before entering the shower and turning it on. Stepping under the spray he yelped as the cold water hit him like a thousand needles. Waiting patiently as the water warmed up the archeologist lathered his body with soap and then rinsed as the water became warm enough and washed his hair. Stepping out of the shower he quickly dried off slipping on a pair of charcoal slacks; to a tan button up shirt he added a dark red tie and then slid into a charcoal blazer and slipped his battered but faithful Doxa over his wrist. Grabbing wallet, keys and all of the essentials, he left the cabin and walked towards the parking lot climbing into his dusty aquamarine 2472 model Dodge Magnum station wagon that was waiting for him and headed down the graded road to the bustling city near the dig site.

Erskine had just enough time to grab a maple frosted long john and a cup of coffee from one of the bakeries at the edge of town before heading for the meeting he had with some of Kawamura’s bean counters. While Angela was able to wrangle more money from Kawamura Erskine still had to sign the papers and dreaded every minute of it, after the last round of paper signing his wrist had hurt for over an hour.

Erskine was ten minutes early as he walked into the main lobby of the Shadow of Olympus Hotel and Conference Center. With the temperature outdoors already reaching the upper 70’s at only 10:00 AM he let out a sigh as the building’s air conditioning hit him in the face.

Straightening his jacket and tie the Doctor walked up to the service counter and nodded to the clerk.

“May I help you with something Sir?” The clerk asked politely.

“Yes I’m Dr. Erskine Sikorsky here to see Mr.’s Sato and Kamakura from Kawamura Industries,” Erskine told him.

The clerk bent over his computer for a several seconds and tapped several things into it before looking back up. “The gentlemen you are looking for are in the Valhalla Rising Conference Room,” the clerk then proceeded to tell Erskine how to get there.

A couple of minutes later Erskine found himself in front of a door bearing the title of Valhalla Rising in a somewhat runic script, knocking once he opened the door and stepped through.

Two Japanese men in Seville Row suits quickly stopped what they were talking about in a corner as he approached. Erskine bowed to the two men with the proper amount of respect and then shook their hands, the two men were short even by modern Japanese standards and Erskine towered over them by almost half a meter.

“Mr. Sato, Mr. Kamakura,” Erskine greeted as they shook hands bowing slightly during each handshake.

“Dr. Sikorsky it is a pleasure to finally meet you,” the one identified as Mr. Sato replied the hint of an oxford accent marring otherwise impeccable English.

“And it’s nice to finally meet you as well,” Kamakura said a smile crinkling his eyes his English a bit rougher than his colleagues.

“Shall we get started then?” Sato asked gesturing towards a small area that had been set aside on a small raised platform.

“Certainly,” Erskine agreed.

The three men approached the platform taking off their shoes before stepping up onto it and settling onto cushions around the low table, a small tea set made of extremely delicate looking porcelain was laid out on the table.

Erskine groaned to himself inwardly; the last time he had to do a tea ceremony was more than twenty years ago in college when he had been dating a Japanese exchange student. Thankfully he managed to get through the tea ceremony without any flubs and sighed to himself.

After the tea ceremony was completed Kamakura placed an eight inch stack of hardcopy on the table after it had been cleared of the tea set and Sato produced a Mont Blanc fountain pen for Erskine to start signing the papers.

Forty-five minutes and two ink-refills later the Doctor was gritting his teeth behind his closed mouth as his wrist joint continued to scream in pain. Signing the final line Erskine handed the pen back to Sato and the three men made their farewells.

Erskine quickly left the hotel climbing back into the station wagon he pointed its blunt nose out of the city and back up the hill to the dig site practically flooring it as he wove his way through the afternoon traffic; several times he lifted his right hand from the steering wheel and shook it trying to relieve the soreness in his wrist.

By the time he reached the base camp’s parking lot the car had gained another layer of dust and his tie was off with the top two buttons of the shirt undone. Erskine quickly parked the car and hurried to his cabin to change, the slacks, shirt, blazer, and tie went into the clothes hamper and were replaced by a faded pair of authentic military BDU cargo pants, a barely readable t-shirt exclaiming the virtues of the New Grateful Dead’s 2470 Solar Tour and some sturdy but comfortable hiking boots that were only slightly worn but almost a rust color from the area’s sand. Walking towards the door Erskine flipped back around and grabbed his baseball cap and sunglasses from the dresser before leaving the cabin.

Sol System - Mars - Olympus Mons Mountain Range

Kawamura Sponsored Archeological Dig Site - Area 3313C

January 18th 2495 - 16:22 GMT

The archeologist spent the next four hours continuing to dig through the pit that he had pulled the steel plate from but found no further traces, on a hunch he grabbed a metallurgical analysis unit from the bed of the truck he had driven to the site. Putting the unit on the highest setting he started a spiral around the edges of the pit and almost immediately got a hit the screen showed him a blurry picture of another metal plate as he continued to walk around the site he found more and more plates, some of them not fully intact and wondered what had done such extreme damage to the ü ber metal.

After about two more hours of marking the various sites he found a huge metal deposit that sent the unit off the charts, it started emitting a high pitched whine that hurt the ears then started smoking. Tossing the unit away with a yelp Erskine stood looking at the spot for a moment. High amounts of radiation and a huge metallic object over seven kilometers in length, I think I just found what those plates came off of, he thought to himself.

Still deep in thought Erskine climbed back into the truck and started making plans as he drove distractedly back to the base camp. By the time dinner was served that night Erskine had a full plan on how to excavate the huge object.

Sol System - Mars - Olympus Mons Mountain Range

Kawamura Sponsored Archeological Dig Site - Area 3313C

January 19th 2495 - 07:02 GMT

The next morning a parade of over three dozen vehicles including flat bed trucks, bull dozers, and other construction vehicles wound its way up the slope with every worker, student, TA, and professor from the site. Some one hundred people converged on the site and started digging out the small items that Erskine’s search had found the day before as well as hundreds of other pieces; some as small as a baby’s fist others over the size of the largest bull dozer that they had brought with them. By the end of the week every metallic object that could be found had been and a huge new building was built just to store the items, that and Kawamura sent in a team of uniformed security guards to patrol the dig site and base camp.

Sol System - Mars - Olympus Mons Mountain Range

Kawamura Sponsored Archeological Dig Site - Erskine’s Cabin

January 25th 2495 - 20:12 GMT

After the scouring of the slope Erskine gave everyone an entire week off and spent most of his time either with Angela in his cabin or studying the results of the metallurgic analysis that the lab had performed on the first metal plate.

“This is amazing,” he said in amazement and holding up the analysis he told her one night as they ate a quiet dinner in his cabin.

She used one hand to make a come on gesture.

“This report shows that the plate is not just steel but a mixture of Titanium, Diamond, Corundum, and ceramics,” he explained gulping down a thick strand of spaghetti.

“No wonder it was so lightweight,” she commented slurping a bit of spaghetti off her fork.

“This is amazing if we can break the exact matrices of this formula it will revolutionize everything even more than I first thought,” he told her excitedly.

“That’s great and it should open up whole new job markets,” Angela said being the pragmatic one.

“Yes it should,” he looked at her for a second. “Let’s get married,” he blurted out.

“Whaa-aat,” she stuttered red wine dribbling down her chin and onto her shirt.

“Angela I love you and I want to marry you,” Erskine said looking lovingly into her eyes and grasping her hand.

“I love you too Erskine, but right now?” she asked wide eyed.

Standing up he grabbed her by the forearm. “Yes right now,” answered pulling her out of her chair and towards the door.

Angela barely had time to wipe her mouth off and keep from spilling the rest of her wine as he pulled her towards the door. Erskine didn’t let go of her arm until he opened the passenger door of his station wagon for her.

“Bu-but what about dinner I fixed your favorite?” she stuttered questioningly still stunned by his proposal as she sat down in the car. “And just where are we going to get married at this time of night?” She asked with confused exasperation.

“You’re forgetting that Olympus City is Mars’ version of Las Vegas,” He told her as he shut her car door and then jogged around the front end and slid behind the wheel starting the car.

The two of them rode in silence and wrapped in their own thoughts on the drive to Olympus City.

Angela was confused at the whirlwind pace of the chain of events and a bit dazed. Erskine clenched the steering wheel in fear; hoping that Angela wouldn‘t turn down his proposal.

Upon reaching the city Erskine drove around till he found the least tacky chapel there was and then found an all night jewelry store at one of the huge casinos.

Treading along behind him their hands intertwined Angela was still in a bit of shock as they looked around the jewelry store.

“Anything I can help you folks find?” A clerk asked.

“Yes we are looking for a wedding set,” Erskine told the man.

“Anything in particular?” The clerk asked.

“Hold on one second,” Erskine pulled Angela off to the side and they whispered in conversation for a few moments. Turning back to the clerk Erskine described what they were looking for.

“I think I may have just the thing,” the clerk told them turning towards one of the cases on the far wall and entered the employee only area behind it.

Erskine and Angela followed him down the front of the cases until he stopped and opened one of the panels pulling out a red velvet covered pillow holding four rings and setting it on the counter.

“Now this is the closest thing I can think of to what you were wanting,” the clerk explained as he pulled three of the rings off the pillow and showed them each one individually. “Now the first ring has a single 1.5 Karat diamond on it and actually goes in between the two other rings,” he explained.

The two of them examined the ring for a second and Erskine noted the two arrow head shaped notches on either side of the diamond. “What are those for?” he asked indicating the notches.

“That’s the best part of the ring, but I’ll show you here in just a second,” the clerk told them pulling the second ring off of the pillow. It had five small sapphires and was rather oddly shaped with the middle actually bowing towards where the front of the finger would be once the ring was put on. “Now this one has six sapphires, one 0.75 Karat, two 0.5 Karat, and two 0.25 Karat, and now for the final piece,” the clerk intoned pulling the third ring off and showing it to them it was identical to the first save that instead of sapphires it had emeralds on it. “May I see your hand for a second ma’am?” the clerk asked gripping Angela’s hand lightly as she held it out.

As they watched the clerk did something complicated with the three rings and when he slid it over her finger they were interlocked, the sapphires were at the front of the ring and the emeralds at the back and the light caught the stones just right reflecting and shining beautifully.

“Wow,” Angela said and let out a breath, “It’s beautiful.”

“We’ll take it,” Erskine said pulling his wallet out and handing the clerk his Mars Express card.

“First let me show you your ring sir,” the clerk said taking the card and pulling the final ring off of the pillow; it had an intricate almost Celtic knot work on it and had a centrally mounted diamond chip with two sapphire and emerald chips on either side.

The clerk boxed up the two wedding rings then placed them in a bag and ran the credit card through. “You folks have a nice night and enjoy your honeymoon.” The clerk said handing the sales slip, card, and bag to Erskine. Erskine thanked the clerk and the two of them almost rushed out of the store in a hurry but restrained themselves as they quick walked to the chapel down the block. Before going to the jewelry store Erskine had set up the small service as well as the witnesses and presiding pastor or justice of the peace or whatever they were calling themselves these days.

Erskine had wanted a simple wedding ceremony with no celebrity impersonators or weird stuff and had gotten what he wanted. Although throughout the ceremony he had dubiously eyed the presiding official who even though he was wearing a somber brown suit and spoke normally still had some awfully long side-burns, and the hint of curl to his lips.

The ceremony went quickly and thankfully without incident; when the official told him he could kiss the bride he was still kissing Angela as he carried her out the door in his arms and back to the hotel where they had gotten the rings and had reserved a suite.

After a quick dinner at the hotel’s restaurant the two of them retired to their suite and spent a long slow night together napping fitfully a few times then sitting up to watch the sunrise together. The two of them sipping coffee as the sun turned the sky from gray-purple to a burning gold-red that reflected from the red sands that surrounded the city.

Angela sighed laying her head on Erskine’s shoulder, “I was hoping last night would never end.”

Erskine just chuckled quietly into his coffee.

“What’s so funny?” Angela asked punching him on the shoulder playfully.

Erskine got a hurt look on his face. “Man spousal abuse already we haven’t even been married twenty-four hours yet,” he tried to say seriously but a small smile gave it away as he mock rubbed his arm as if in pain.

“You’ll be getting more of it too buster if you don’t tell me what you think is so funny,” she said waving her fist under his nose threateningly.

“Okay, okay,” Erskine said making a warding off gesture with his hands. “If it will keep you from brutalizing me further,” He joked. “Oh just after you said that it kind of reminded me of those sappy hero books where the hero and his woman finally get married and watch the sun rise, and…,” Erskine trailed off.

Both of them said it in unison, “I wish this night would never end.” Both of them broke out in a fit of giggles at the absurdity of it and while Angela was still trying to control her laughter Erskine set his cup down, grabbed her up into his arms and started carrying her back into the room eliciting a bit of a squeal from her at the unexpected movement. The rest of that afternoon was spent neither long nor slow as time constraints meant that they had to be back at the dig soon.

Sol System - Mars - Olympus Mons Mountain Range

Kawamura Sponsored Archeological Dig Site - Area 3313C

January 26th 2495 - 10:38 GMT

Erskine had a thoughtful look on his face as he laced his boots back up and repacked the small bag of clothes he had brought with him.

“What’s wrong?” Angela asked as she left the bathroom running a brush through her still wet hair.

“Nothing just a feeling, I think we need to keep the fact that we are married a secret for awhile,” Erskine told her a thoughtful distracted look on his face.

“Now why would we do that?” Angela asked her hands now on her hips and the fingers holding the brush going white from the grip she now had on the handle.

“I’ve been getting some weird vibes lately from the dig site, and what with Kawamura increasing the security around the place I’m beginning to wonder if they just want to make sure no one does damage to the artifacts we are finding or if they want to protect their own little secrets about what we are finding.”

Angela relaxed her grip on the brush and used it to point at him. “Fine but I’m going to tell my sister,” she told him bluntly.

Erskine gave her a toothy grin. “Probably would be good idea so that she doesn’t break my legs and reset them if we tell her later,” he said as his face took on a more sober expression. “But do it from a public terminal that way you know it is more secure, you never know who might be listening in on our personal lines,” he said cryptically.

“Anybody ever tell you that you’re paranoid, oh husband of mine,” Angela told him heading back into the bathroom.

“Let’s just hope I’m too paranoid,” he whispered to himself.

Sol System - Mars - Olympus Mons Mountain Range

Kawamura Sponsored Archeological Dig Site - Base Camp

January 26th 2495 - 11:00 GMT

Arriving back at the dig site Angela and Erskine went about readying it for the return of the crew the next morning; doing mundane things such as laundry as well as policing the camp area for any trash and detritus that might have blown into the site during the crew’s mini-vacation. Erskine was bored to tears with doing that and decided to take a break when the heat of the day started bleeding off.

Lugging a heavily modified metal detector with him Erskine puttered around the site seeing if any of the modifications he had done to the unit were working. He was just about to give up on finding anything for the night when he found a rather large metallic item imbedded in the ground closer to the foot of the mountain than any of the previous items. Pausing for a moment he studied the readings and saw that the item was buried about a meter and a half down under the soft sand. Dithering for a moment he decided to head back to where he had left the ATV he had driven here with its small cart of tools that he had brought with him and grabbed a shovel to dig with.

After about forty-five minutes of digging the tip of the shovel clinked against something; stopping and setting the shovel aside Erskine bent over and started clearing away the sand by hand and found himself looking down at a baby, or rather through an armored window at a baby inside the object he had found.

Staring dumbfounded for a few moments he raced back to the small cart and detached the all terrain vehicle from the front and raced back to the camp. He only slowed once he spotted the guards posted around the main camp buildings. Erskine soon came to a stop outside of his cabin and sedately walked into the small building smiling at Angela.

“I think we should have a picnic,” He told her a neutral expression on his face.

“A picnic; Why do you want to have a picnic at this time of day,” Angela asked with a puzzled look on her face as she set down the book she had been reading.

“Yup, a picnic,” said Erskine pulling a cooler out of the closet and putting some chicken legs, several bottles of water, a six pack of soda into it as well as several other items and a cooling pack.

Still confused Angela stood up and grabbed a bag and pushed dishes and plastic ware into it then followed him out to the all-terrain vehicle.

“Where are we going to picnic at?” She asked still puzzled by his attitude.

“Up by the dig site, I found a really nice spot to sit and enjoy the sunset,” Erskine told her that neutral expression still on his face.

“Oookay,” she dragged out as she placed the bag on the carrier rack and sat down behind him.

Erskine drove them to a small secluded spot near the foot of the mountain and set a blanket out then he started setting food on it. “Why don’t you take a walk while I get the food ready; I saw some really interesting flora over there beyond that small ridge,” he pointed with the flip of his hand.

“Sure,” Angela threw him several puzzled looks as she walked towards the spot he had indicated and nearly stumbled into a hole. Looking down she saw the capsule and the baby through the armored port. Sucking in a breath and letting it out with a hiss Angela climbed down into the hole and examined the capsule closely noting the markings and what appeared to be controls; there were three buttons of various colors along the top near an extremely thin seam.

“Erskine honey,” she called over her shoulder. “Could you help me with some of these plants?” Most people knew that Angela had majored in Botany and Xeno-Botany, but what most people didn’t know and a fact that she didn’t advertise is that she held degrees in engineering as well as computer programming and development. She brought these skills to the fore as she examined the capsule more closely while waiting for Erskine.

Getting up from the blanket and dusting himself off Erskine sauntered over to where Angela was waiting; seemingly in no great hurry as if some exotic new flower find where an everyday occurrence; finally reaching the edge of the hole he jumped down next to her.

“You couldn’t have just told me about this at the Cabin?” Angela asked.

“No too many of Kawamura’s eyes and ears around,” he told her with a serious expression on her face.

“What do we do about this?” She asked tapping her lips with a finger as she thought.

“You are going to find out that you have been pregnant for the last eight months and go visit your sister for awhile for obvious health reasons,” Erskine told her with a completely straight face.

“Such as?” She looked at him with her arms folded across her chest an eyebrow cocked and her hips angled to the side in that eternal female pose of defiance.

Seeing her in full defiance mode he sighed mentally. “Well one, we’ve got all this alien technology putting of who knows what kind of radiation,” he flipped a finger out on one hand. “Two all this blowing sand can’t be good for a mother to be respiratory tract,” another finger joined the first. “And thirdly this intense heat can’t be good for mommy or the baby,” he said as third finger flipped out to join the other two and then waved his hand towards the child in the capsule. “Plus there is the fact that if we hand this child over to the government or Kawamura…” Erskine paused for a second and looked into the capsule, “he’ll probably end up a lab animal and test subject for the rest of his life.”

Angela relaxed her posture and her defiance slipped away into the hot wind blowing at the foot of the mountains. “Well since you’ve given me such stirring arguments as to why we should do such a crazy thing, we’ll need to figure out how I became pregnant and didn’t notice,” Angela said staring down at the capsule.

“Well with your sister being a doctor we could have her say your implant failed,” he suggested.

“Hmmm, I probably could get her to do that,” Angela said walking slowly around the capsule.

“And we could explain away the fact that you really haven’t shown any weight gain,” Erskine paused at the glare from Angela. “Err, signs of pregnancy due to your rigid diet and lots of physical activity,” Erskine quickly finished.

“Is that even plausible?” She asked.

“Well I saw it in a movie once,” Erskine stated lamely.

“A movie,” Angela said giving him an incredulous look.

Erskine just shrugged.

Angela rolled her eyes, sighed, and nodded, “maybe it‘ll work.”

“Now that we have that somewhat figured out, can you get the capsule open?” He asked her.

“Well there is only three buttons that I can see, one is red, one is green and the other is black,” she told him. Angela bent over the capsule and pulled a set of reading glasses out and squinted to make out the slight markings on the buttons. “The black button looks like it has a picture of a lid rising or a door opening,” she told him glancing back over her shoulder.

“Well we need to try it then get you two out of here; of course we’ll need to do a bit of theater first once we get back to the cabin,” Erskine said his face creased in thought as his brain kicked into high gear.

Angela only nodded and held her breath as she depressed the black center most button of the three.

Several seconds ticked by with no response and Erskine was about to say something; Angela had a disappointed look on her face when the seam around the capsule widened suddenly spewing out a cool mist of something that caused the temperature to drop by at least 15 degrees. Both archeologists shivered and rubbed exposed flesh in the sudden chill as sweat froze. The mist stopped after about a minute and the lid rose slowly from the capsule as if in no hurry after having waited for several thousand years.

As Erskine and Angela continued to watch the baby stretched itself out and rolled onto it’s back, it’s pudgy little hands rubbing at still closed eyes and then opened them to look at it’s world through deep grey eyes waiting quietly not even so much as kicking as it looked around in silent wonder.

“Uhm, well at least he’s well behaved,” Erskine said at a loss of anything more intelligent.

“Yeah and maybe he’ll be potty trained as well,” Angela rolled her eyes, and thought that men were just about useless and total weenies when it came to babies. Reaching down she picked the baby up, probably a good ten pounds of weight and saw that there was a compartment nestled into the white padding in the capsule. Angela put the baby against her shoulder and motioned to Erskine to open the compartment.

Having seen the eye rolling Erskine had to conceal a small smile as he ducked down and opened the compartment and found a blanket inside as well as a change of clothing for the baby.

It took them a few minutes to get situated and get out of the pit with Angela handing the baby up to him, climbing out and then taking the baby again. The two of them quickly got back to their picnic area making it look like they had been eating for awhile then Angela made herself vomit off to one side as Erskine placed the babies blanket in the cooler and punched a couple of discreet holes for air into it with a hammer and screwdriver from his tool cart. Placing the chest on the back of the four-wheeler he snuggled the baby down into it then closed and fastened it securely to the cargo rack.

When Angela came back to the four-wheeler her hair was messed up and her make-up had been wiped off even her lips had a slight chapped looked to them, with the forced vomiting she had also obtain a green tinge to her skin.

“Wow, are you alright?” He asked concerned.

“Ever made yourself vomit when you haven’t had that much to eat?” She asked weakly holding one hand over her stomach as it gurgled.

“No thankfully not,” He gently handed her a bottle of water. “Are you going to be able to make it back to the cabin?” He asked her.

“Yeah, I think I still have a little more puke in me to add to the illusion,” she told him swigging some of the water from the bottle around in her mouth, spitting it out and then drinking half of the bottle.

“Alright, hold on tight then,” he told her. Climbing onto the all-terrain vehicle Erskine turned the key firing it up as felt the weight of the vehicle settle as Angela climbed up behind him laying her head against his back, and then clasped her hands tightly around his torso. Erskine headed down towards the camp. “Just don’t puke on me, okay,” He yelled over his shoulder jokingly and got a punch in the kidneys for his attempt at humor.

As it was the two of them made it back to the cabin just before she had to race into the bathroom to puke, she managed to get the window open to add to the drama a little bit.

“Is everything alright Sir?” One of the guards asked.

“Just fine, I think it’s something my assistant ate while we were on our picnic,” Erskine told the Guard Sergeant reassuringly.

The guard just nodded as Erskine headed into the cabin lugging the cooler and had a quiet conversation with Angela. “Okay I’m going to head into town and get some things like anti-nausea medication and a pregnancy test; try to keep the baby quiet until I get back then I’ll finagle a positive reading out of the pregnancy test,” he told her quickly.

“Alright but be quick about it, and you might also want to stock some food and baby stuff in the car too if I’m taking him to my sisters, it’s an almost eight hour drive,” she reminded him.

Erskine nodded and added a few more items to his mental list as he gave her a peck on the cheek. Using a louder voice he walked out the door, “Alright I’ll get the things you need and be right back dear.” Closing the door he walked down to the guard he had talked to and pulled him aside. “Sarge I need you to kind of keep on eye on her till I get back, but don’t go inside you know how embarrassed women get about their looks when they are sick,” he told the man playing on the fact that he was wearing a wedding ring.

“Certainly Sir, we’ll make sure nothing happens while you’re gone to get supplies,” and the man actually saluted.

“Don’t salute me I work for a living,” Erskine told the man out of long ingrained habit from his military days.

“Sorry, Sir, I forgot you were a NCO in the Martian Marines,” the man looked panicked for a second as if he had let something slip but quickly smoothed his face out.

“Don’t worry about it son,” He said patting the guard’s shoulder and the guard just nodded at him heading back to his post. Erskine headed for the nearly empty parking lot save for a few security vehicles, his station wagon and Angela’s motorcycle were the only vehicles there. Well at least I won’t have to come up with too large of an excuse as to why Angela would be taking my car to get to her sisters, he thought to himself. “Can’t have a pregnant woman driving a motorcycle for eight hours by herself,” he muttered.

Sliding behind the wheel of his car Erskine quickly keyed it on and dropped it into gear he spun the tires a little pulling out of the lot, not a whole bunch but as if he were concerned about someone’s well being and was in a hurry to get his errand done and be back.

The drive into town didn’t take long and he stopped at the first HBT station he came to paying the clerk an extra fifty dollars to box up the food and baby necessities he had bought and have them ready to be picked up by Angela as she was headed for her sister‘s home in Fordtland. With pregnancy test in one hand and a name brand anti-nausea medication in the other he quickly jumped back into the car and returned to the dig site.

Jumping out of the car he put just the right degree of hurriedness into his step as he made his way to the cabin nodding to the guard as he walked up onto the porch and opened the door.

Closing the door behind him he quietly slid the bolt lock home and turned to Angela who was sitting on the couch with the baby in her lap. Letting out a sigh that left him feeling deflated he quickly crossed the room and gave her another peck on the cheek. Angela was looking better and had repaired the damage done to her hair and had replaced her removed make-up with a lighter application.

“How’s the baby doing?” He asked quietly.

“Incredibly calm and quiet,” She told him with a strange look on her face.

“What’s the matter?” He asked looking at his wife.

“I’ve never known a kid to be this quiet,” she told him.

“And you’re complaining about that,” he asked blinking in surprise.

“No it’s just weird is all,” she told him.

“Have your sister check him over thoroughly when you get there,” he suggested distractedly. During the conversation Erskine had been sifting through the cupboards for something.

“What are you looking for?” Angela asked as she bounced the baby on one knee.

“That cheap ass spill proof coffee mug that we got from the Kawamura rep,” his voice sounded hollow as he had is head stuffed into a cabinet sifting through things.

“The one that isn’t so spill proof and ruined your favorite Hellsing T-shirt?” She asked.

“That would be the one,” he replied.

“What do you need it for?” Angela asked him.

“Uh, well I need you to pee in it and I don’t want to waste a good cup for that,” he told her sheepishly pulling his head out of the cabinet.

“Oh,” She said and set the baby down on the couch and walked over to the kitchen and pulled open a drawer that held various Kawamura promotional materials including fountain pens that had a tendency to spray their contents all over, key clip rings that left you unable to get back into your house or car, and several of the offending coffee mugs.

“Ah, thanks,” he gave her another peck as he bent down to grab one of the mugs and hand it to her. “Now I just need you to fill it,” he told her with a grin.

She gave him a dubious look and grabbed the mug heading for the bathroom leaving the door open because he knew it would aggravate him.

Erskine sighed and sat down on the couch next to the baby and tickled it under it’s chin and was rewarded by a soft giggle as if he knew staying quiet were important, “I hope someday you can figure out women because I sure as hell can’t.”

Approximately two minutes later he heard the toilet flush and Angela came back out of the bathroom with the mug at arms length and handed it to him.

“Okay you pretend to be sleeping,” he told her.

“I don’t think I’ll be pretending very hard,” she said with a jaw cracking yawn and then nodded to him as she picked the baby up and went into the bedroom to lie down on the bed.

Quickly and quietly Erskine turned the lights off in the cabin leaving the bathroom light on and left the room’s door cracked. Having done that he picked up the mug of urine and nearly sloshed it on his hand as the lid popped off. Mumbling something that shouldn’t be repeated in polite company he got a snort from the bedroom as he headed towards the door.

“That’s not very lady like,” He shot at the bedroom and was rewarded by a raspberry. Sighing and shaking his head he carefully exited the cabin shutting the door quietly behind him. Setting the mug on the porch out of kicking range he walked down the steps and found the sergeant again.

“Is your assistant doing better?” He asked.

“Much, yes, thank you.” Erskine used the opening to start his little fib. “Could you make sure she isn’t disturbed she’s laying down taking a nap and waiting for a certain test to be finished?” He emphasized the word test seeing enlightenment dawn in the guard’s eyes.

“No problem, we’ll keep things as quiet as a church mouse,” the guard told him.

“Thank you,” turning towards his lab he told the guard, “So that I’m staying out of her hair as well I’ll be doing some work in my lab for a few hours.”

“No problem I’ll tell the others not to bother either one of you,” the guard assured him.

“Thank you sergeant, thank you very much,” With that he left the guard sergeant to his job and grabbing the mug off of the porch Erskine carried it to the lab. He would have liked to walk faster but was stuck to a sedate pace that left him looking like he was in need of a walker; although it was better than spilling luke warm pee on his hand.

Entering the lab Erskine maneuvered towards the synthesizer sitting on the far table, he hardly ever used the large piece of machinery mainly due to the fact that it cost quite a bit too even run.

Setting the mug of urine next to the machine Erskine brought up a program he had only used once before and programmed in exactly what he wanted the synthesizer to do and poured the mug into the side of the machine. He then sat back for the next three hours as the hormonal cocktail he needed was mixed with the mug of yellow fluid.

While waiting for the machine to complete its task he pulled a novel off the bookshelf next to the counter and started reading it only glanced at the command screen every now and then; he’d have to remember to tell Angela she needed more vitamin E in her diet.

After almost reading the entire book about a female naval officer in the future the machine beeped and Erskine put the book back on the shelf that held non academic reading material; he kept that shelf for just such times when he had to wait for a long running program to finish. Leaning back over the computer he tapped in a few commands and pulled the fluid tray from the machine pouring it back into the cup. The smell of warm urine filled the room and he cursed as he dug through the desk drawers pulling a small foil packet out and ripped it open dumping an air freshening tab on the counter he jammed his thumb down on it till he felt the two glass vials inside of it break the smell of lilacs instantly filled the lab.

Erskine quickly shut the machine down and started putting out lights and quickly headed back to the cabin. “Angela I’m back,” he whispered into the darkness of the cabin as he entered.

“’Bout time,” he heard her yawn.

“Okay I’ve got the mixture, go ahead and dip the test in it and then pour the rest down the toilet,” he said handing her the cup as she came out of the bedroom and headed for the bathroom.

Heading into the bedroom he sat down on the bed next to the baby as it slept quietly, this was the first time he’d actually thought to look at what the child was wearing and saw that it was clothed in a one-piece jumpsuit of some stretchy material that was slightly shiny and he could barely see the outline of a diaper through the material. Reaching down with a finger he gently touched the material and found it incredibly smooth, the baby was lying on his side as he examined it. Moving his hand around the back thinking he would find a zipper or snap of some sort but found nothing for a few seconds until he gently ran his finger around the collar of the suit and found an invisible seam.

Hmm, that’s weird I wonder what is holding it together then, he played with the seam for a few seconds being careful not to disturb the child as it breathed evenly in its sleep and was finally able to pull the seam apart a little bit. Magnetic most likely, he thought to himself after a few seconds and then heard the flush of the toilet in the bathroom.

Angela entered the room and flipped the light on holding up the thin plastic case. “Honey I’m pregnant,” she told him matter of factly.

“You’re pregnant,” he said feigning a stunned tone of voice for a second and got up walking towards her. “You’re pregnant,” He said even more loudly grabbing her around the waist they jumped up and down for a few seconds in excitement.

Angela leaned her mouth near his ear as if to kiss him there. “Don’t over do it,” she whispered.

“Yes your right we wouldn’t want to injure the unborn child,” Erskine told her straight-faced as he let go of her.

“I think I should call my sister and let her know,” Angela said pulling out her cell phone and dialing her sister’s number.

While she was dialing her phone Erskine looked over his shoulder at the bed and saw that the child was awake and looking at him intently. “Just a little fib to keep you from being a guinea pig in some lab for the rest of your life my little boy,” he said under his breath and winking at the baby.

Angela started talking rapid fire in that highly excited voice that women used when talking about pregnancy or weddings and didn’t notice when her husband left the cabin.

Erskine pulled a pack of crumpled Pall Malls from the pocket of his jacket next to the door as he exited the cabin and tapped out a cigarette, walking towards where the Sergeant was he lit one and offered the pack to the man who declined.

“Those things’ll kill you,” the guard joked.

“W all can’t live forever Sergeant,” Erskine said taking a long drag on it that ashed a good two millimeters of the cigarette.

“So is everything alright then?” The man asked.

“Let’s just say that she’s having a very excited talk with her sister at the moment,” he said dryly the glowing cherry tip of the cigarette in his mouth describing a lazy up and down arch as he talked.

“Kids are fun but they can be expensive,” the Sergeant said knowingly.

“You sound like a man talking from experience?” Erskine said pulling a final drag on the cigarette and pinching out the tip before flicking it into a nearby trashcan.

“Three points,” the Sergeant said then shook himself as he reached into his back pocket. “Yeah four already and the wife wants to have even more,” the Sergeant answered flipping his wallet open to show Erskine various pictures of his family and they were both engrossed until Angela called his name from the cabin’s porch.

Nodding to the Sergeant who flipped his wallet closed again and putting it back into his pocket Erskine jogged off to the porch.

“Aireal thinks I should come and stay with her for health reasons until the baby is born,” Angela told him loud enough for any nearby guards to hear.

“Well she is a doctor, most likely it would probably be best for you what with the higher background radiation and the continuous heat around here,” he told her emphasizing it by pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and mopping his brow and only now realizing even though the sun was sinking below the huge peak above them that it was still hot enough to leave dark spots under the arms of his shirt. “You’ll have to take my car there is no way I’m going to let you ride that motorcycle clear to your sister’s house,” he ordered.

“Fine; would you pack some food and drinks in the cooler for me then while I pack some clothes and essentials?” She said brightly as if she had won an argument with him.

Erskine gave her a rather long and somewhat passionate kiss that one of the younger guards saw and was glad he was standing in the shadows so no one would see him blush at the audacity of the two occidentals kissing on the porch.

After a few seconds Angela broke the kiss and slapped him on the chest. “Now go get my food and drink packed man servant,” she ordered playfully.

“Yes mistress,” Erskine mocked back and ducked a bow as he walked around her and into the cabin. Entering the bedroom with the cooler he looked at the baby. “Sorry pal but you have to go back into the cooler for a little while,” the baby looked at him as if he understood and forgave him.

While Angela packed her things Erskine carefully arranged the baby in the cooler and when she was ready to go carried it out to the car setting it on the rear seat.

The two of them exchanged a quick kiss and hug as well as car keys. Erskine told her about the supplies waiting at the HBT station before Angela hopped into the car, gunned the engine, and shot out of the parking lot at her usual near suicidal speed.

Standing for a few seconds watching his car’s tail lights recede into the distance he then turned and walked back to his cabin nodding to the Guard Sergeant again. Climbing the stairs of the small porch he pulled the door shut behind him. Making sure that all the windows were shut and locked as well as the two doors he cranked the AC up to chilling proportions and dug a trunk out of the back of his closet and pulled it over to the couch. The trunk was green/brown in color and it’s once polished brass fittings were now a tarnished brown color across the forward edge of the lid in military stencil were the words E. SIKORSKY, Sgt. Maj., MRMC. Pulling his keys out Erskine selected a small key from the ring and undid the three locks before flipping up the lid. The underside of the lid held his various commendations and photos taken with former colleagues in the Marine Corps as well as unit pictures and patches. Reaching down he pulled the upper tray that held his gray beret, dress cap, and dress sword, underneath that was a layer of uniforms including undress khaki’s his black and gold mess dress uniform and a couple pairs of almost new BDUs. Buried under the layer of clothing were three rosewood boxes, each had his name engraved in gothic script, two of the boxes were almost the same size one of which held his various fruit salad and medals including a purple heart and several campaign ribbons from actions on Ganymede and Io that included the V for Valor. Looking at the box for a second he took it in his hand as if weighing it and set it on one end of the coffee table he’d mail it to Aireal’s house tomorrow morning after the staff meeting, he wasn’t sure why but it felt like the right thing to do.

The second box the professor pulled from the trunk held a well oiled and maintained Colt Model 2411A8 Government Model chambered in the powerful .45 Winchester Magnum round. I haven’t shot this thing in years, he thought as his well trained reflexes went through the process of pulling the slide back to make sure there wasn’t a round in the chamber and then slipped an eight round magazine home with a click, his thumb popped the slide release and then lowered the hammer and set the safety. Digging around near the bottom of the trunk he pulled out a paddle holster and slid the weapon into it setting it down next to the first rosewood box along with four loaded magazines and a box of fifty shells. The third and final box yielded a Benelli M2428 shotgun with a shell carrier opposite the ejection port, handling the weapon with ease he slid five 8-Gauge shells into the tube and pumped the slide adding a sixth round of 000 buckshot; setting the shotgun down he pulled several boxes of shells of varying types out and filled the carrier and a twenty-round bandolier and set it and four still full boxes of shells next to the pistol and it’s magazines.

Sitting back against the couch for a moment Erskine relived some of the more horrible moments of his military career as he replayed the deaths of several good friends as well as the bloody battlefields he’d had to cross on moons far removed from where he sat now.

Sol System - Ganymede - Break Through Point Sigma

Operation Thunder Lizard - Jovian/Martian Command Trench

January 28th 2472 - 03:20 GMT

The second solar war had been dragging on for nearly two years now and tens of thousands had died on the battle fields of Io and Ganymede, both the UEF, the Jovians and their Martian allies were not giving an inch as trenches and hills were traded back and forth on a daily basis if not on an hourly one sometimes.

Currently the 8th Jovian Ranger Battalion and the 12th Martian LRRP Company; or what was left of them was trying to hold out against a fresh from camp brigade of UEF armored infantry.

Some genius on the UEF side had decided to name the operation to wipe out the Jovian and Martian forces operation Thunder Lizard and their main thrust of attack was through an area they had labeled Break Through Point Sigma. Unfortunately for the UEF forces the remaining members of the Martian LRRP Company was being led by Sgt. Major Erskine Sikorsky nicknamed Crazy E by the enlisted; and as his nicknamed suggested he had come up with an audacious and crazy plan to take out the entire UEF mechanized brigade.

“You want to do what Sgt. Major Sikorsky,” Captain Pietro Ledlaw asked in his slurred Ganymedan speech staring at the Martian as if he were crazy.

“Sir, we have enough explosives to pull it off and my company is down to an under strength platoon and no officers are left alive, if we can pull this off we’ll have disabled and killed most of a UEF mechanized brigade and they’ll have to pull back long enough to either make good their losses or to at least reorganize,” Erskine Sikorsky explained.

“What happens if they break through Sergeant, you’re men will be caught out of trench and get squashed like bugs, and we’ll need your firepower if we have any hope off holding them off?” Ledlaw asked.

“With all due respect Sir, thirty three more shooters isn’t going to make a difference, if we can plant the charges without being caught we’ll di-di back to the trenches and help fight them off if they still persist in their attacks after the explosives are detonated,” Erskine explained patiently.

Ledlaw stared at the Martian Marine Corps Sergeant Major for a few seconds and then nodded his head reluctantly, “Alright Sergeant due it, but don’t get your asses needlessly shot off.”

“Don’t worry sir, the boys and girls have wanted to get some of their own back for awhile now,” Erskine replied with a hungry wolfish grin.

Ledlaw just shook his head and waved the man on his way.

Sol System - Ganymede - Break Through Point Sigma

Operation Thunder Lizard - Jovian/Martian Command Trench

January 28th 2472 - 05:47 GMT

Ledlaw had tried to stay up for as long as possible to see if Sikorsky and his men made it back to the joint force’s trenches but his orderly had finally ushered him off to bed which wasn’t much more than a cot behind a pair of blankets blocking off a section of the back wall.

“Charges have been placed,” Ledlaw heard a voice say in the small command bunker. Standing up he slipped his tunic back on and pushed through the blankets seeing Sikorsky standing grinning as he reported to the Officer of the Watch.

“Well I see you managed to make it back in one piece,” Ledlaw said to the Martian.

“Yes sir and when the UEF starts their attack tomorrow morning they’ll get one hell of a surprise,” Erskine said with that wolfish grin again.

“Well you and your men get some rest, our spies report they’ll start their attack at 09:00 hours,” Ledlaw told him and then returned to his cot.

Early the next morning Ledlaw and Sikorsky were standing in the command trench and watched as the mechanized brigade started its movement across the rough terrain the two hundred or so M758 Lynx armored personnel carriers bounced and jounced over the rut and gulley filled plain of the battlefield straight for the allied forces position.

“Watch this Sir,” Erskine said and pushed a button on a small remote detonator just as all of the APC turrets swiveled in their direction to start laying down suppressing fire.

There was a string of explosions reminiscent of a string of black cats being detonated and across the torn battlefield turrets flew into the air their munitions detonating and killing those in the vehicles, tracks snapped and caused APCs to lurch into one another and others simply had their doors and gun ports explode with flame and shrapnel as over three quarters of the opposing brigade were wiped out in less than five minutes.

The allied forces had won that day but the UEF had rushed two more brigades up and had forced them out, Captain Ledlaw had been killed in the action.

Sol System - Mars - Olympus Mons Mountain Range

Kawamura Sponsored Archeological Dig Site - Erskine’s Cabin

January 26th 2495 - 19:00 GMT

Letting out a deep breath Erskine fingered the bill of his dress uniform cap and then pulled out his beret he had left the 33rd Battalion insignia intact on the front of the head gear which he set on top of the box holding his ribbons.

With a sucked in breath Erskine stood up from the couch replacing everything in the trunk save for the items he had set aside and pushed it to the back of the closet once again.

Sol System - Mars - Olympus City

HBT Station On The Edge Of Town

January 26th 2495 - 17:00 GMT

After leaving the dig site Angela quickly drove to where the HBT station her husband had indicated was; at the thought of her new husband she fingered her wedding ring through her t-shirt smiling as a small tear rolled down her cheek from the corner of her eye as she thought of the situation that was careening somewhat out of control around the two of them and the small child in the back seat. Wiping away the tear Angela pulled into the HBT station letting the clerk know who she was then purchasing an ice tea and a candy bar and then talked to the clerk for a few moments. Getting back in the car she drove it around back of the shop where the clerk waited with the box of baby items. She directed him to place the package in the cargo area, then handed him another ten dollars as she thanked him for his help.

Angela left the HBT station at a more sedate pace than when she had left out of the parking lot at the dig site and drove for another hour before finding a deserted rest stop along the highway to her sister’s house in Fordtland. The only company Angela had as she dropped the tail gate on the wagon was the baby, a flickering buzzing sodium vapor lamp in the parking lot, and the pinpoint glare of the stars above.

“Alright let’s see about getting you changed and fed big boy,” Angela told the baby as she pulled him out of the cooler and set him on his blanket next to the box of baby items which included bottles of formula, a baby seat, diapers and clothes. “First unfortunately we’ll have to get rid of your little outfit and your futuristic diaper as comfortable as they may be for you,” Angela found the magnetic seam that Erskine had told her about while they had been doing their hugging back at the dig site. The outfit came off easily even though it was formfitting and the diaper seemed to be made out of a similar material that looked like the child hadn’t soiled at all in the past few hours during Angela and her husband’s frantic plans to keep the child from being locked up in a lab.

Setting the two futuristic garments aside Angela opened one of the packs of diapers and put it on the boy and then realized they hadn’t given the child a name yet, pausing for a moment she tapped her cell phones ear bud. “Call Erskine,” she sub vocalized, after a few rings he picked up.

“Erskine speaking,” he said as he answered phone in a distracted voice.

He must not have checked his caller ID she thought. “Honey it’s me,” She said rather more brightly than she was feeling but knew that pretenses needed to be kept up.

“Is something the matter?” He asked worriedly.

“No I’m just stopped at a rest stop to use the restroom and thought that we haven’t come up with any names for the child we are going to have,” she told him.

“Oh, uh, a little early for that isn’t it,” he stuttered as he tried to think.

She knew he was probably cursing himself for forgetting something so simple. “Well it’s a woman thing,” She said brightly and rolled her eyes at her own phrasing.

“Huh, well how about if it’s a boy Jackson Dane, seeing as how Jackson is my grandfather’s first name and Dane is your grandfather’s name.”

“That sounds good, but what if it’s a girl?” She asked.

“Uhm, well let’s see, uh,” Erskine stumbled over his words for a few seconds until Angela rescued him.

“Well how about the opposite then, my Grandmother’s name was Rochelle and your grandmother’s name was Ivory right,” She gave him a few seconds to confirm it and then continued in such a bright voice that she had to check her own skin to make sure she wasn’t glowing in the dark. Lord girl don’t lay it on too thick. “Well then how about Rochelle Ivory Sikorsky as a name for a girl?” Angela suggested.

“That sounds good to me, are you sure you’re doing alright?” He asked worriedly.

“No nothing’s wrong just had to pee really bad, probably just my nerves causing that, I’ll call you when I get to my sister’s sweetie,” she told him.

“Love ya lass, bye,” Erskine clicked off.

“Whew,” Angela let out a gust of air and turned back to the baby. “Looks like your mama is either going to end up in hell by telling so many fibs or win herself an acting award,” Angela finished re-clothing the child putting his old clothes into a plastic bag then burying them at the bottom of the box and pulled out one of the bottles of formula. Pulling the ring tab she heard a click and felt the bottom warm instantly, glancing at her watch she waited the allotted time decreed on the side of the bottle and then held it while the baby fed but soon found that he could hold it himself and seemed to prefer it that way.

“Well kiddo it looks like you get christened with the name of Jackson Dane Sikorsky, not a bad moniker really, don’t worry I won’t call you JD or Jackie,” Angela gave a little shake at the second shortening of the child’s new name. “Mother always called me Angie and I disliked it, but Nana Ro called me Angela or her little Angel,” She looked at the child thoughtfully and he seemed to return the look as he finished the bottle of formula. “I think you and Nana Ro would have hit it off,” She told him earnestly and pulled the empty bottle from his hands and laid a towel over shoulder picking him up she patted him on the back a couple of times being rewarded by a huge burp. “Wow kid you’d do a beer guzzling pirate proud.” She patted his back a few more times but nothing more came out. Setting the child back on the tailgate she dressed him in a pair of lightweight footed pajamas and set him on the driver’s seat while she unpacked the car seat.

A few frustrated minutes later Angela’s face showed irritation as she tried to get the car seat to fold out into its proper configuration. “This is ridiculous I have a degree in engineering,” She moaned irritably to the still sputtering and buzzing light above the car. Angela took a step back stared at the seat for about half a minute took a step forward and brought her steel-toed boot up and under one of the cross bars of the car seat with a thud and smiled in satisfaction as it folded out into it’s correct position. Dusting her hands against one another she smirked. “Nothing a little applied force can’t fix,” she said proudly. Picking up the car seat she buckled it into the rear bench and put the child in it. “Well it’s time to get rolling kiddo,” she told him before sliding behind the wheel she buckled her own belt. “How about some traveling music?” She asked the baby flipping through the small selection of micro discs in the console, pulling one free she slipped it into the player and punched it for track three.

As she pulled back onto the road and rolled the windows down the sounds of music drifted out of the car as Paul Simon sang.

I’m going to Graceland, Graceland; Memphis Tennessee… The lyrics from the Paul Simon song rolled away into the night as the car rocketed down the highway by itself.