Princess Rescue Inc (42 page)

Unfortunately
there were few old, infirm, or young left in the Kingdom. The past three
harvests had been poor, each worse than the last. The men had been called away for
too long to train constantly it was said. Each year they had scraped by on
their reserves but this last winter the reserves were not there and winter
hunting had been sparse. Hungry faces had been all around the halls, and all
too many children and old folk had paid for the lack of food with their lives.

The
King grunted in irritation. “Well, that's that,” he said with a sigh, turning
once more. “See to it that the next bunch knows that if they run like the
cowards they are, they will find no shelter amongst out lines. In fact they
will be cut down as unworthy dogs.”

Uuôden
frowned. Most of the sappers had been slaves or new conscripts. He had no
intention of wasting good warriors on a forlorn hope. “Majesty the outer walls
are too thick and the moat is too wide in many places to ford easily. That
leaves treachery or waiting them out,” Uuôden reminded him.

“Do
not tell me my business Imperator, I know,” the King ground out between gritted
teeth. He closed his eyes for a long moment. Uuôden had been at this far longer
than he but he couldn't acknowledge that. “Do you have a third option?”

“Disease
majesty.”

The
King frowned, thinking about it. Sending sick or disgusting packages over the
walls seemed... appealing. “See to it. And make sure you send them our best
regards,” he said, drawing his sword and pointing its tip to a pile of garbage.
“Suitably packaged of course,” he said, pointing to a knot of prisoners nearby.

“I
don't know if the siege machines can send them majesty. The weight...”

“Then
send them one pieces at a time,” the King said rounding on him. “Must I think
of everything?” he demanded. The other lords gulped at that order. The baron
paled visibly. Sensing his fear, his mount shifted about.

“Steady
there,” Fargut grumbled slapping it with his crop.

“A
problem baron?” the King asked, turning to the baron.

“No
majesty, my mount is eager for battle.”

“Well,
if we can find some more villagers to deal with then I shall see your mount
gets proper exercise,” the King replied nastily.

“Thank
you majesty,” the baron said. He bowed slightly from his saddle.

“Think
nothing of it. Now, we must plan the next attack. Pray it goes better than this
did.”

<==={}------------>

Sniper
extraordinaire Zack Edsfield wasn't happy about trying to teach the new
recruits marksmanship with mock ups and electronic games. They had one
prototype but couldn't fire it since the damn barrel needed to be remade. That
was all he needed, the threat of a screwed up barrel exploding in someone's
face. They had some wood and paper mock ups that the troops were to drill with
but he knew that was a poor substitute for the real thing.

This
thing was a modified Springfield, with a heavier barrel and ring bayonet. It
had a ladder on top of the barrel for easy modification and iron sights. Apparently
the ladder was for anyone who earned one of the extremely rare scopes they had.
Hopefully someone had thought to try to make some more.

The
rifle had an enclosed, banana cartridge with ten rounds in it. Keeping the
thing light was a pain in the ass, right now everything was cast steel and that
weighed a lot. They needed to get the industry into stamping and thin sheets to
get the weight under control.

Of
course the hybrid Springfield was what they were shooting for but not
necessarily what they would end up with. Right now the best the riflemen were
going to get were powder muskets with
maybe
rifled barrels.

“Okay,
here's the deal,” he said, looking around his class. He had a hundred earnest
faces staring back at him. “Each of you are going to get one clip of ammo in a
couple of days,” he said. Hopefully he thought. Sergeant Lewis's class was
stuck with muskets and they had been promised a working Springfield for a week.
So far the so called geniuses hadn't delivered. “You're going to have to figure
out how best to shoot, get it right the first time. Those of you with the best
scores will be singled out for sniper and instructor training. Those with the
worst may be sent to the general army,” he said.

The
gaijin weren't happy about the way the army had been split up into three
groups. General Pendragon had insisted, since they were limited on the new
weapons. One group, the largest would train in traditional methods of fighting
and be outfitted with pole arms and ranged weapons. The second would be made up
of the lords and county knights and would form the various cavalry units. The
third would be the smallest, the gaijin led riflemen. At least that was the
plan anyway.

Of
course it meant the cavalry men were sitting on their asses shining bar stools in
the capital most of the time instead of out training like the riflemen.
Pendragon at least had his people drilling regularly, though not nearly as much
as the riflemen. Apparently he took the training as both as joke and a
challenge.

Edsfield
wasn't at all keen about the plan, and was even less enthused about giving guns
to kids with no background in firearms, no concept of firearms, and trying to
train them in a few short weeks with limited ammo.

“Since
we're low on ammo we're going to try something a little different so bear with
me. What we're going to do is break you down into groups of four and then run
you past a shooter game. We've got two games set up. We're using a WII with a
simulated weapon. I know it's clunky and not what we're trying to train you for
but it should help give you an idea of some of what we're doing. I know for all
of you this is going to be your first taste of computers and videos so don't go
all teenage female on me or I'll have your ass...”

<==={}------------>

A
page heard the gaijin talking in English and led them to a beggar. They were
confused by the idea but the page insisted that the beggar knew English and was
a gaijin. Perry was wary of a trap so he took two of his own and a squad of
soldiers for back up.

They
found the beggar in an alley. The page pointed the bundle of stained rags out.
They were confused and hesitant about the mess, wary of a trap. There was so
much human misery there, and something oddly familiar about the leather coat he
had. The beggar turned and noted them. He mumbled. He had one eye, a battered
head and face. Scraggly beard, twisted arm, and leg. He was wearing a battered
flight suit under the rags, Perry observed, eyes going wide in recognition.

“You
okay old timer?” he pitched his voice to the bundle of rags. The man's face
twisted. Fire had ravaged him, He was heavily scarred. He pulled off the woolen
frayed cap to show a scarred scalp. “Alms?” he asked, hand shaking. “You ain't
going to understand a word I say no never mind,” the guy muttered in English.

“Wanna
bet?” Perry answered in English, shutting his bluetooth off.

The
guy stared at him. Spittle dribbled from the burnt side of his face. He
struggled in the rags, trying to get the crutch under him to get up. “Now I know
I'm in for it, must be dreamin'.” He tried to pinch himself.

“You're
not,” Ryans said shutting off his own earpiece. “We came through the portal
too.”

The
man stared and then teared up. He reached for Perry who let him hug his leg but
waved his face at the smell. The man gibbered and sobbed for a few minutes and
then started to calm down when Perry patted his back awkwardly.

“Ensign
James Buckland, United States Navy. E-double Oh...  um... ah I canna...”

Ryans
crouched down and patted his shoulder. “It is all right sailor.” He looked up
to Perry. “Get Doc. Have the Sergeant escort her. Tell her we've got a long
lost friend in need of her tender care.”

The
man looked scared. “Not them healer’s dem the devils work.” He shook his head,
clearly frightened.

Perry
smiled. “Doc's doing her best to set them straight ensign. She's from Earth
like us. She's a Canuk. My name is Lt Marcus Perry. This here is my boss,
mister Eugene Ryans of Futuretech. We came through the portal a couple of weeks
ago.”

The
guy nodded. “I figured as much. You know it moves around here on dis end too
right?”  He wiped at the spittle and drool with his good hand. The hand
was mottled with liver spots on it.

The
men look at each other. “Ah, no... No we didn't,” Perry drawled. Perry turned a
concerned look on Ryans who shrugged.

Buckland
nodded. “Yeah, it jumps around. I tried to get back. Honest I did. I ain't no
deserter. After the crash...he waved to his broken body.”

“Right.”
Perry turned as a guard called over to them. He turned his bluetooth back on
and ordered a litter to be brought.

Doc
came up with her EMT pack. She crouched down and checked the man over. He
clutched at her arm. “Ain't never seen a more beautiful sight lass.”

The
doctor blushed. “I bet you tell that to all the nurses too. Well, you will once
you get to the castle.” She chuckled. “You're a right mess, going to take a
while to fix you up,” she huffed as she worked. She checked his heart with her
stethoscope then hung it around her neck while her helper attached the leads to
the heart monitor. “I'm giving you a shot of morphine here and some fluids
since you’re about a quart low,” she said, setting up an IV. “You've also got
some fluid in your lungs so we'll give you some antibiotics. It sounds like
chronic pneumonia,” she said. He winced as she stuck his good arm as he cackled
at her joke, and then started coughing.

He
patted her arm as he calmed down. “I'm used to it Doc, been twenty years like
this.” His head lulled around.

“Bad?”
Perry asked as Doc straightened.

“Yeah,”
Doc murmured. “How he didn't die of sepsis poisoning I'll never know. The human
will to live can be strong.” She shook her head in wonder. “I've given him an
injection of morphine to ease some of the pain.”

“Do
what you can Doc, we owe him that much,” Perry said as the guards hefted the
litter. She nodded.

<==={}------------>

They
took him to the hospital tower. The Queen pursed her lips when she smelled and
took note of the beggar. Perry told her he was a gaijin, a lost one. She didn't
say anything.  Doc made sure Buckfield had food and water and was resting
comfortably before she turned back to showing the healers how to use an
ultrasound on the King. The King was amused and amazed. The ensign noted it and
smiled laying back.

“Miss
it?” Ryans asked catching the look.

The
ensign closed his eyes. “You have no idea.” he said softly. “I need a shower in
the worst way, I can't get clean here. I know I stink so bad, I can't help it.
A decent beer and a Mc'dee's cheese burger would be nice right about now too.”

Ryans
chuckled. “Yeah, we ah, kinda smelled that. Doc will fix you up. A bath at
least till we get our local inventors up to making indoor plumbing. Just don't
get to frisky with the nurses or they'll sick an orderly on you next time,” he
cautioned smiling. The ensign chuckled.

The
Queen sniffed overhearing that, then hid a cough as she recognized her mistake
too late. “Indoor plumbing?” she asked, taking her fan and waving it in front
of her face. She glanced over her shoulder to them.

“Copper
pipe,” Ryans explained. “Galvanized iron would work too, but not as good.
Currently you use lead and ceramic. The ceramic and stone is okay, but the lead
is poisonous to you, and especially your children,” he explained, deadly
serious. Her eyes widened at that. “On Earth we use copper or galvanized steel
to pipe water to where you want it. Like a bathroom. Ah, a  balineum for
you,” Ryans explained. She cocked her head. “It's great for hot water too. You
can have it on demand in the kitchen, or for a bath. The copper even acts as an
antimicrobial, it puts on a green patina over time that kills a lot of nasty
bugs that live in water. With proper filtering you can even drink the water as
well,” he explained.

She
was fascinated with his explanation, her eyes widened thoughtfully. “Perhaps
it’s not so bad,” she murmured watching a pair of servants struggling to bring
in and not slop rather full water jugs.

“Right,
and it makes it cleaner and safer too. With water you can flush a toilet. Which
means the waste is flushed away,” the ensign explained in a hoarse voice. “No
stinky sewer gases, and no creepy crawlies in the sewers to come up and take a
bite out of you when you go do your business.”

She
cocked her head again. “You've known this,” she, asked. He groaned and nodded.

“I
tried to tell anyone who would listen,” he said with a sigh. She bowed.

“I
am sorry you were not seen,” she murmured. It bothered her that a gaijin had
been here, in her capital right under their nose all this time. What could he
have done for her people? For her?

He
waved feebly. “Not your fault ma'am, I know I look like crap,” he grunted.
“Hell, smell like crap too,” he said, lifting his arm to take a sniff and then
laying back with a sigh. “I tried to ride her too far, ran out of fuel and
tried to belly land. Didn't work obviously,” he mumbled. He sighed again
eyelids fluttering. His eyes close for a moment. He still remembered the
tremendous crash, the fire. He shivered.