The Cross of Mithras Vol. 1: EOD Operation Welcome to Hell (14 page)

  I’ll tell you more about the religion some other time. It’s getting close to the top of the hour and… I don’t know about you, but I’m getting hungry.”

  “You payin’?” Ramirez said with a smile.

  “No, you are.” She said in a teasing manner which caused him to laugh a little.

  “You know,” Vaistll said as she just remembered something, “I do want to tell you a little bit about the government of my civilization. There’s not much to say… I just wanted to mention it before I forget about it.”

  “Okay.”

  “With our government, I don’t remember much about it. But what I do remember is that it was a collection of city states. I don’t know if they ever went to war with each other. I don’t remember what type of leader each of the city states had, or their connection to the Iomiyyan government. But I do know that the Iomiyyan government was a council. As for our leader, I don’t remember if he was the leader of the council, or what type of a leader he was. But what I do remember is that he had the power to declare war and to appoint ambassadors. And he kept the peace between each of the city states. Beyond that I don’t know what else. And... Well... that’s it for now.”

  With that, both of them left the room, giving Ramirez something to think about. He had the look of deep thought in his eyes, as he thought about all that she said. To him, it made her life back on her planet seem more real to him. It reminded him that somewhere out there, is a planet that she is from. Knowing all that he knows about the Apollinarians, he couldn’t help but to think about what they are up to on the Earth. Is it good… or bad? Will they bring salvation… or damnation? He kept on thinking about it, and so was Vaistll. If only they knew the truth. If only they knew.

(6)

  Wexler was sitting in his jail cell, waiting for somebody to come and give him the news. It was the news that told him how long he will have to wait there. Lucky for him, the guards where kind enough to give him a uniform - prison that is. It was close to 08:30 when he saw who would be giving him that news. When he saw who it was he had the look of, ‘Oh God, anybody but you,’ on his face - it was Lieutenant Sanchez.

  When he saw her, he stood at attention and saluted her. She saluted him back and, with a smirk on her face she said, “Well… old man… I hate to be the bringer of bad news but… you have to stay here until we are ready to leave for our mission.”

  “What… ma’am!?” He said, a little shocked to hear that.

  “Yeah well… last night I talk to vee-stall-la-la, blah-blah-blah… whatever…”

  “It’s Vaistll.” Wexler said correcting her.

  “Well… like I said… whatever. And I talked to Taylor. And I talked to that one-eyed freak. And they all said that you should stay in here that long.” She then laughed and said, “They said that they ‘don’t want to worry about you, since they know that you are in a safe place.’”

  She then looked at him in a curious manner, and then she asks him, “Are you mad at me? Well… you can get glad, the same way you got mad. I’m outta here old man.”

  She then cleared her throat waiting to be saluted, Wexler then saluted her back, and then she left in a cocky manner.

  Wexler was not that old. Everybody calls him that because he was the first to join Task Force ZH-3C. First came Wexler, then came Vaistll, and finally here comes Ramirez. Most of the other members of Task Force ZH-3C have been with the team for no more than five years. Only a few has been with the team between five to ten years. Wexler, Vaistll and Ramirez will always remember their first mission that they had together. It was Ramirez first mission with the team and as a Project 21 agent. It was a mission that neither one of them will ever forget.

  An old EOD spaceship landed on Mars, at the same facility that Vaistll was at in the mid-part of the 22
nd
century. What made that ship being there so strange was the fact that that facility was abandoned for more than a century. When Task Force ZH-3C got there, they didn’t know what to expect. It was not like the EOD to do something like that. Or even Project 21 or anyone else for that matter. But over the years Project 21 learned to expect the unexpected when dealing with the EOD. You never know what may turn up when dealing with odd behavior from the EOD.

  When Task Force ZH-3C got there, they learned that it was too easy getting inside both the ship and the facility. (More odd behavior from the EOD) When they got inside the facility they were confronted with the terrible sight of the scars that went on there so very long ago. It was quite disturbing. But what got everybody the most was the smell. The body parts may have been gone, but nobody cleaned up all of that blood. They couldn’t, there was just too much of it.

  With the lights flickering off and on, everybody jumping at shadows, sounds that nobody can identify, it felt like they just enter some type of a haunted horror house of madness. At one point they had to go into a narrow maintenance duct. They all saw some blood in one corner; it was the only blood in the duct. They started to leave but Vaistll just stood there, looking at that blood. She then bent down and pick up an ID card that was covered in blood. She recognized who it was and then she started to cry. It was a maintenance worker that she ran across on that horrific day. He thought that he might be safe in there, so he locked himself in. He was amazed when he saw her; she was the first ET that he saw in his entire life. Vaistll wanted him to come with her, but he said no. He was just being too scared. She said to him that if he comes with her, she will tell him more about her planet. He still said no. So she had to leave him there. Before she left, she took one last look at him, and hoped that he would make it. She always thought that he did and now she knows the truth. Seeing her standing there holding that ID card reminded everybody of the human death toll. And how they can’t let it happen again even if they must die.

  Everybody except for Vaistll was afraid of getting lost. The place was huge; it was design to house between five to ten thousand people, including all of the basic amenities. When Vaistll was there back 2155, there were 8,133 people living there, of which only 5% percent survived. Maintenance like with any other space colony is considered a critical part of the facility. Machines may do most of the work, but humans are still needed. The maintenance facility is so huge that it needs 1,500 workers just to maintain it. 250 workers are considered a skeleton crew, anything less than that is considered suicidal. It’s just a typical space colony.

  When they got to the power plant area that is when they discovered the big mystery. As it turns out, the EOD had nothing to do with it. Instead it was squatters. Apparently, 145 squatters were looking for a ship with its hull still intact. Unlike their engines, the hull of their ship was no good. They found an abandoned EOD ship with a good hull and bad engines. Replacing those engines with their own, they then left to find a place to call their own. So they went to Mars and found that abandoned EOD facility. Vaistll had to ask them if they noticed all of the blood. And they said, ‘Yeah… well… we thought we might be able to clean it all up.’

  Wexler always thought about that incident when he wanted to cheer himself up, but this wasn’t one of those occasions. He was just too mad and angry at what Sanchez said about Vaistll and Ramirez. He had deep profound respect for both of them, and none for Sanchez. The things that she said about them boiled his blood. He didn’t care about how she treated him. After all, at times, he had to deal with officers like her.

  He then thought about who outranked her, and the possibility of what might happen if they got killed. Vaistll, Taylor, and Ramirez, they all outrank her. As for Hayes, he is the same rank as she is. And if Hayes gets killed, then it would be Sanchez that would be in charge.

  “Fuckin’ penny-whore! She better not be responsible for the death of Captain Adnrwal or Lieutenant Commander Ramirez. Aw fuck it. If they get kill… I’ll kill that damn bitch.”

(7)

  Vaistll and Ramirez were traveling in a robotic car. Both of them were thinking about all that she said. They were heading to some place to eat breakfast. Vaistll then noticed some homeless person. He was drunk and was holding a bottle of Martian Whiskey. Seeing him with that bottle reminded her of something. It reminded her of something that was in the report on her when she first arrived upon the Earth. She didn’t know if Ramirez read the full report or not. Being in the mood of telling him about her past she decided to say something.

  “That reminds me of something.”

  “What?”

  “That homeless person.” She said pointing to him.

  “What about him?” Ramirez said, looking over his left shoulder.

  “He was standing there with a bottle of Martian Whiskey.”

  “So why would that remind of something? And what does it remind you of?”

  “You never read that report on all of the items that I brought from my planet, did you?”

  “Noooo?” Ramirez said in disbelief, as he couldn’t believe what he thought she was fixing to say next. He started to read her to see if she was joking - she was not.

  “When I was being led away to Natas’ palace, right before I came to the Earth, I figured that I was going to die there. I knew him well enough to know that he would probably put me under house arrest until the day that I die.

  He wanted me and that book that I written on him. It’s strange because he never would have cared. After all, he had too much power, and he never cared about anything that anybody ever said about him. He was something like 308 years old. So you can imagine all the things that he must have heard about himself over the years. So why would he cared?”

  “Wouldn’t that make him the equivalent to a 138 year old human?”

  “You got it. Too old for it to be considered normal. I know for a fact that he was somewhere between 31 to 36 years older than I was. Other than black magic, I can’t explain why he was as old as he was. But it wouldn’t surprise me if black magic was the reason.

  The very couple who saved me - when I was deeply traumatized that is - became my closest of friends and they gave me a second chance at life. They never would listen to me when I told them that in all likelihood, Natas planted a spy in their palace. I did try my best… but I couldn’t find out who it was. And that’s how Natas learned about me and that book on him.”

  “What was their name? And, why didn’t they believe you?”

  “His name was Tsk’llk (tsk la-look) and her name was Llyysta (la-la-e-sta). I have no idea why they didn’t believe me. I guess it all depends upon who the spy was. Ever time I try to narrow it down… I came up with nothing. Maybe Natas told the spy to avoid me or something.

  When I was halfway finished with the book that is when I realize that he probably planted that spy. It was strange that he would wait until I finished it before he came after me. But it wasn’t until I got to the Earth and had time to think about it, is when I figured it out. It wasn’t me that he was after… it was both of them.”

  “So what way did he come after you? And how come they couldn’t protect you?”

  “He threatened to use a professional army. One life versus over a thousand. Maybe even tens of thousands. Natas would have most of the people killed or enslaved. So as you can see, they had no other choice. They just couldn’t afford a war with him.

  I never did learn why he hated them so much. They didn’t know either. And when I had to work for Natas, neither he nor his wife, would ever give me a straight forward answer as to why they wanted me to destroy them.” Ramirez had the look of shock when he heard that.

  “If Natas wanted you to destroy them, then why, and how, did you become their friends?”

  She took a deep breath in, let it out, and then said, “I’ll tell you in a little bit.”

  “Oh, okay.”

  “I did figure out one thing about Natas hatred for them.”

  “What, he gives new meaning to being an asshole?” That caused Vaistll to laugh a little.

  “Yeah that would be it. No, what I figure was this: Apollinarians may have the advantage of having all the smarts, but the downside is: if we are not careful, we can develop a psychosis. And that’s what Natas had against both Tsk’llk and Llyysta.”

  “Do you know what type of psychosis he had?”

  “No. And neither did any psychiatrist on Earth. They said that they needed more information on him. So I guess we will never know.

  Natas and his wife used me, manipulated me into doing their damn dirty work. They wanted me to destroy that couple, and in the end… it only destroyed me. I lost everything near and dear to me… my independence… my religion… my reputation… my honor… my… my… sanity.”

  “I am so sorry to hear that.”

  “It was Tsk’llk and Llyysta who saved me. Natas sent me to destroy them… and… and… and on the very day that I was deeply traumatized, I stumble into their camp. They took pity on me and didn’t kill me. I guess they just didn’t know what to do with me. They learned that I was not their enemy Natas was. I was the one who told them that. They wouldn’t believe me if I told them that before. Who would? So I guess when they saw me in that state of mind it helped them to believe me. I wanted to stay with them because I had nowhere to go and nothing to go back to.

  It was Tsk’llk and Llyysta who gave me a reason to live. It was they who inspired me to write that book on Natas. It was they who let me live in their palace. It was they who encouraged me to go on some of those trips to find information on him. And it was they who took me on some of their military campaigns. I didn’t fight in any of them. The very next time that I fought in any military operation is when I joined Project 21. For all that Tsk’llk and Llyysta did for me; I will always be in their debt. They restored my honor, my hope, my reputation, my good name; they gave me back my dignity. Because of all that they did for me I went back to being a pagan.”