Broken Soldier (Book One) (2 page)

For a while, she made more money than he did. That
wasn’t entirely true, because of the benefits of being able to live
on base and having the use of the Post Exchange and medical
services. It all added up to a nice package, if only the soldier
didn’t have to go on deployment.

They wanted children; but being prudent about the
expense of raising a child, they waited until he made corporal to
even try. By the time Sherry became pregnant, he had just made
sergeant. At the time of Wayne’s birth, she was thirty years old
and Mike was thirty two. Having a first child, at an age older than
most Army couples, made no difference to either of them. Their
little boy was the apple of daddy’s eye and Sherry adored the boy
and doted over him as much as she could.

Some wives made it very clear they didn’t want their
sons or daughters to join the army. But Sherry was Army all the
way, God bless her. She bought a tiny set of camos and had Wayne’s
picture taken in them and sent him the picture. He proudly carried
it with him all through Ranger School. That ordeal had been a real
bitch, at his age, but he made it and was extremely proud to wear
the shoulder patch.

***

The light was getting dim, as he carefully made his
way back to the old beat up cabin, in north Georgia. It had been in
the family for three generations and had been the scene of many
wonderful fishing and hunting trips.

A flashlight appeared close to the front door,
surprising him. An odd mechanical bass voice asked, “Sergeant First
Class Michael Hurst?”

“Yeah, that’s me. Who are you, and get that damned
light out of my face.”

That was the last thing he remembered.

Chapter
2

It was dark and something was over his eyes. When he
tried to move, he felt the straps on his arms and legs that had him
pinned to a slab. He detected the cold of a thinly padded metal
table, where his hands and feet touched it.

WHAT THE HELL! For years he used to get pains in his
non-existent legs, but never anything like this. It felt so real
and he could feel the pull of the straps on his ankles. Because he
was groggy, he knew he had been sedated with some sort of
pharmaceutical; so maybe that explained the false sense of having
legs. Mike just wanted to know what was going on and who had done
this to him.

A low mechanical monotone voice spoke to him. “Relax
Sergeant. You’re doing fine. The med unit needs to sedate you
again. When you awaken, you will be shown a video that should put
your mind at ease.”

“Where the hell…” His thoughts quickly disappeared,
as he faded out of consciousness.

***

Music…he heard music. To be accurate, it sounded
like some God awful elevator music.

Mike opened his eyes and the pure white light felt
like needles piercing his pupils. The lights dimmed automatically
and changed to a soft amber hue, as though someone was watching his
reaction and accorded him the courtesy of reducing the bright
glare.

He closed his eyes for a moment, and then opened
them again. The shock of it struck him hard. He was seeing out of
both eyes. Who ever had captured him had seen to the repair of his
sight. As far as he knew, that was impossible.

He looked around and saw that he was in a very small
room with white walls and a very high ceiling. On the wall behind
him were a few medical devices that monitored his progress, or so
he assumed. They didn’t look like any type of medical equipment he
had ever seen.

When he tried to move, he realized that he was still
strapped down to a padded metal table. He must still be drugged, he
thought, because he felt sluggish and heavy, as though gravity had
increased.

The mechanical voice spoke to him again. “I will
release the restraints now, Sergeant Hurst. For the next few days,
the gravity will be kept at twice Earth normal. That will speed up
your recovery, by stimulating the new elements of your body.

“You have nothing to fear from me. Just allow your
body to heal and grow.”

The straps that held him down automatically
released, providing him freedom of movement. He tried to sit up,
but found it difficult, as the press of gravity fought his
effort.

“Please, Sergeant Hurst, lay back and watch the wall
to your left. I’m going to show you a video that will begin to
explain what has happened to you and why it happened.”

The room darkened and the music changed to an
orchestral piece he didn’t recognize. Almost the entire left wall
became a video screen. On it, he saw himself fishing, and then
walking back to the cabin.

A woman’s mechanical voice began to explain. “You
have been watched for a few days, Sergeant Hurst and your military
service record has been thoroughly researched. You have
demonstrated great courage, in the face of life threatening danger
and an ability to lead men in brutal combat. Also, and this is very
important, you have shown that you can take life when it is
necessary, but not to excess. That is a rare talent, in a universe
where beings shoot first and ask questions later.

The voice added. “I believe that’s a term you were
taught in boot camp, was it not?”

Mike tried again to sit up again and made it this
time, parking his naked rump on the cold thin pad of the metal
slab. He called out angrily, “Who the hell are you?”

The video froze, with a picture of him lying on the
ground, in front of the cabin. A different mechanical voice came on
and told him, “I understand that you have questions, Sergeant.
Also, I know that it isn’t in your nature to be patient about
getting answers. That’s another reason why I selected you first. If
you will remain calm, I’ll continue the video, which will answer
many of the questions you have, as you discover what has brought
you to this crossroad in your life.”

Who ever was speaking sighed, as though frustrated,
which Mike found odd coming from a mechanized voice.

“I’ve created this video, after giving the situation
a great deal of thought, Sergeant. I’m certain that it is far from
perfect and it is my hope that you can help me improve it, when we
recover other men, such as yourself. Again, I ask you to be
tolerant of my efforts and watch the video.”

The background music started up and he watched as an
odd, four wheeled robot picked up his body and carried him to a
oblong, boxy looking vehicle, behind the cabin.

The woman’s voice narrating the video told him,
“Sergeant, you have been taken from your planet, by an alien being.
I am not a monster and I don’t intend to eat you. You are on a
spacecraft and are currently on the far side of the planet your
people call Jupiter.

“You have been gone for three weeks, as your eye and
legs have begun to regenerate. My people need your services and I
can assure you that your people, in time, will need your services
as well.

“I am carrying you, in a small craft, out to the
large Mother Ship. It is waiting for us, in the Kuiper belt. If you
don’t know what that is, it can be explained to you later. Think of
it as thousands of asteroids beyond the planet Neptune.

“A few countries of your planet have developed
mildly effective devices for detecting asteroids and meteors that
are close in to your part of the solar system. In order to avoid
disturbing any of those countries, I set our speed relatively low
for the initial distance we needed to travel. Now that we have
moved out far enough from your star, I feel we are nearly
undetectable. So, we can go much faster, as our presence is
unlikely to be discovered. In human terms, we’re traveling
approximately four million miles per hour, or point zero zero six
(.006) the speed of light.

“If some country on Earth discovered us, word would
spread around to the various militaries of your world and they
would feel compelled to prepare for war. The sensors of my enemy
might detect the increased military activity directed by your
planet into space. That would trigger their concerns about your
people and they would view humans as a threat. I’m sure you
wouldn’t like the way they deal with threats.”

The implication was that these other aliens would go
to war with Earth. Could it really be that easy to trigger a
confrontation with perfect strangers?

The woman’s voice went silent, when the video
stopped and the deeper toned mechanical voice asked, “Sergeant,
would you like something to drink and perhaps some food. I took the
liberty of seizing your supplies at the cabin, so you won’t have to
be concerned about eating anything unusual.”

At the mention of food, he realized he was very
thirsty and hungry.

“Yes, I’d appreciate it, especially some water. My
mouth is dry.”

“Of course, Sergeant.”

A three-foot square section of the wall behind him
opened and out rolled a tiny sink with a spigot. There was a metal
cup, on the side and he placed it beneath the spigot and turned it
on. What looked to be plain water came out.

“As you probably know, Sergeant, water is two parts
hydrogen and one part oxygen. It is basic throughout the universe.
In space, we produce it and recycle it as well. It is as pure as
you will ever find.”

Mike took a sip to test it. Much to his relief, he
found it cool and refreshing. Another hole opened, next to the sink
and it contained the box of breakfast bars that he had brought with
him to the cabin.

All right, he thought, at least I’m not going to be
starved to death.

As he chewed the oat and raisin bar, the video
continued.

The woman explained, “Once we are on the Mother
Ship, further improvements to your body can be made, which will
allow us to communicate, without the aid of an interpretive device.
My enemy created the one you have heard me speak through. They made
no effort to have it sound like a human being.

“You would be unable to pronounce the name for them
in my language or theirs. Your vocal cords are not tight enough to
speak their language, which is in a higher frequency. However, with
the addition of a biological interpreter to your brain stem, and
some adjustments to your vocals cords, you will be able to speak
within the range of several species.”

That was a frightening revelation and Mike called
out loudly, “Hey just a fucking minute. You are not going to grow
strange crap in my head.”

The video stopped and the odd voice told him,
“Sergeant, nothing will be done to you that you have not approved
in advance. There are several improvements to your body that will
help you to survive out here. I can assure you that you will be
very pleased with these additions to your capabilities. Again, no
additional medical alteration will be performed, unless you have
indicated your acceptance. Please watch the rest of the video.”

The woman’s voice on the video continued. “I know
you must be curious about my appearance. Here is a picture of a few
members of my species.” The video continued, as the woman’s voice
trailed off.

With those words, he watched intently, as a
photograph of an alien slowly came into focus. It was a biped;
slender, with well defined muscles beneath smooth grayish skin and
a bald perfectly oval head, somewhat similar to what he had seen in
movies. He, at least Mike thought of the creature as a he, was
wearing a light blue set of overalls, with odd patches on the
chest.

The facial features were human like, but no one
would ever mistake him for a human being. Unlike the movie version
of aliens, this fellow had fairly normal deep set eyes, with long
lashes. The eyes seemed to be similar in size to a human’s, yet not
humanoid. Due to the tilt of his eye sockets, he had an angry look
about him. His high forehead protruded slightly somewhat
Neanderthal like, and there was a long thin nose, with large
nostrils. The mouth was almost pretty, with thin lips and a slight
indication of a smile. His hollow cheeks were emphasized by the
prominent cheek bones, which extended to the side of his face and
his jutting jaw gave the impression of stubborn determination.

On looks alone, Mike’s felt that the creature could
be judged as looking good or evil. He would need to see it in
motion and watch it’s facial movement to form an opinion either
way. Even then, he knew he shouldn’t base his idea of the being
based on that alone. He had had men in his unit who looked evil as
hell, yet they were gentle and kind, when not engaged in
combat.

From what he saw, he had no idea of scale. The being
could be shorter than him or taller. His thoughts had been
anticipated. “Our race is generally taller than yours. I don’t have
a picture of me to show you, but once we meet face to face, you
will see that I am a full head taller than you.”

Mike was six foot three, so this guy was over seven
feet tall.

More video showed these people walking and doing
manual labor. Their movements were nearly identical to humans,
although they seemed to have amazing strength. The creature doing
the work did not look happy. None of them were smiling. If
anything, they grimaced and seemed displeased at what they were
doing. Perhaps they were incapable of smiling, in spite of the
still photo he had first seen. He wondered what that said about
them.

The old soldier in him tried to analyze their
movements, looking for weaknesses that he could take advantage of
if it came to direct combat against one of them. They were clearly
stronger. In his youth, he had gone up against stronger men before
and won. He wished he could see them perform in a competitive
environment. That might provide him with some idea as to their
capabilities.

“Sergeant, the people of your planet call themselves
humans. As I said earlier, you won’t be able to pronounce what we
call ourselves. However, for now, the closest in your voice
capability would be Thorian.