THE PRIZE: BOOK TWO - RETRIBUTION (7 page)

First they’d have to clear the rubble and rebuild the infrastructure. Mend the roads and mag-lift rail services, rebuild the bridges and clean out the tunnels to reconnect the human race to each other again. Putting people’s lives back together would be an almost impossible task, and the hardest part of all. Even now, he knew there were war lords, petty kings and so called people’s democratic republics of this or that out there, and nothing more than a thin excuse to enslave people and exploit them. They would be the first to go, but the question was how to do it. The germ of an idea came to him while watching another old movie, this time in full color and with sound. Mainly the story involved someone called Texas John Slaughter. A day later he had it, yet he knew the road to recovery would be long and hard. As the old Chinese proverb said, a journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step. The next day they all walked through the transit corridor back to Earth and went to meet Ellis’ adoptive grandfather, Chief Tommy Standing Bear. The kids were wide eyed at meeting people they’d only heard about recently, after seeing old western movies. Most of them got it wrong, not that it mattered now. The frail old man greeted Ellis as they walked into the hidden village, hugging her tightly in a paternal embrace so unlike the Apache Penn had heard about. Around him stood six very tough looking young men who eyed them with deep suspicion.

“Yuta hay, Morning Star. You have returned at last.”

“As I promised in the dream.” The old man nodded and grinned.

“So it was you I spoke to in my vision quest with the diye.”

“Yes, grandfather. I saw and heard you speak to me, and that you and my brothers and sisters were waiting for me to come home again.”

“They are here, waiting for your return, but what would you have of them?”

“First, you must greet my mate.” She looked around at Richard, standing a few feet away, playing eye games with the young men. It was funny in a way, as few of them could look him in the eye for more than a few moments. Two others couldn’t tear their eyes away, as if mesmerized. Seeing Ellis’ look, Penn walked over and held his hand out.

“Pleased to meet you.” The old man looked into his eyes, showing no fear as he took Richard’s hand in both of his.

“You have the eyes of the great eagle, the thunderbird.” Penn grinned.

“So I’ve been told. Ellis… Morning Star tells me that there are some men and women like her here.”

“This is true.” He answered. Penn looked over at Ellis. “In that case, I have an idea I’d like to talk to them about. The old man looked at them a moment before nodded.

“Come. We will talk of many things.” He led them to a large Wickiup in a grove of Velvet mesquite and desert ironwood trees and they arranged themselves around a small fire pit. For a while they spoke of mundane things such as the weather and how it was improving now the dust had started to settling out of the atmosphere. After that, Penn brought the conversation around to Ellis’s brothers and sisters, finding that most of them were still here, married and now part of the tribe.

“Since the invasion and the destruction of civilization we have become isolated and no longer suffer from the temptations of the white man. His drink, gambling and prostitution and have grown closer to our roots.”

“I can understand that. Has your tribe grown in that time?”

“Yes, by many folds now that the wild game has returned. The invaders had little interest in us in these mountains and the few white eyes that came here soon learned it was better for their health to stay away.” The old man laughed.

“It is the same with my people in the jungles of South America. The Imperials do not like going there. They lose too many of their soldiers with little to show for it.”

“True. A few come looking for gold and silver, but the mines are well hidden now and protected from outsiders.”

“Now the Imperials have gone, it is time we started rebuilding this world, a better one this time where all men and woman are truly equal.”

“And what will your new government have to say about that?”

“You tell me. I want you to be part of it.” The old man smiled and shook his head.

“I doubt I will live long enough to be of help. I’m close to one hundred years old now and I can feel death sitting closer to me each day. One day soon he will be sitting next to me and we must talk.”

“Oh, I think we can convince death to take a holiday in your case for a number of years, if you are willing, that is.”

“And how can you convince death to do that?”

“There is a place you must go. A special place that will ask many things of you.” Ellis added.

“And what if I answer wrongly?”

“There is no wrong answer, only truth.”

“This place I must see, but how will that convince death to sit further away?”

“Go, and you will see.”

“And what of my people?”

“I will ask them to join you and me in rebuilding this world.”

“I see and hear the truth of this in your eyes and your words. So be it. Take me to this special place so I can speak the truth of it.”

“I have created a portal in the cliff behind the camp, Richard.”
Michael whispered in Penn’s ear.

“Come. The entrance to this place is close by.” The old man looked at him skeptically.

“I know the land here-about as I know the palm of my hand. There is no entrance that I know of…”

“You will see.”

Two young women helped the old man up the slope to the base of the cliff, stopping every so often for him to rest. Ellis gripped Penn’s hand seeing how frail he’d become in the intervening years. Most of the tribe followed, curious to see what was going on.

“Can you help him, Michael?” She whimpered.

“It will be what it will be, Alexis.”
Penn returned the grip, hearing Michael’s reply. If there was any evil in the old man’s mind, it would condemn him.

“Where’s the entrance, Michael?”

“Go through the cleft and you will find it, Richard.”
He led the way, hearing the old man grumbling behind him.

“There is nothing here of interest, Morning Star.”

“You will see, Grandfather.”

Once through the cleft the cliff opened up into a small canyon with a trickle of water running down the center and high, sandstone cliffs on all sides. Reaching the end Penn saw the cut stone blocks with their red and gold hieroglyphics on the surface, touching them with his finger tips. They spoke to him in welcome and he felt rather than heard the music. Chief Tommy Standing Bear stopped in the doorway and looked at the stones.

“Never before have I seen these stones, even as a child playing here, and yet they are here.” He touched them to make sure they were real. “What must I do now?”

“Walk through and speak the truth from your heart, Grandfather.”

“In my old age, I always speak the truth, Morning Star, what else is there?” Leaning heavily on his walking staff he shuffled through the doorway. The two young women wanted to go with him, but Ellis stopped them.

“This is a journey he must walk alone.”

Surprisingly, it didn’t take as long as Penn thought it would, and less than ten minutes later the old man came striding back out, except he wasn’t old anymore. He wasn’t young either, but Michael had taken forty years off him. A strange chant started in the waiting people when they saw him and the two young women fell to their knees in shock.

“Yuta hay, Morning Star, and you Richard Penn.” He smiled at them both and looked down at his body. “You spoke the truth yellow eyes.” Walking out, he touched the hieroglyphics and nodded, as if in understanding.

“How close is death sitting now?” Penn asked.

“A long way away now, friend Penn.”

“Good. We have many things to do, and claiming you are too old won’t cut it.” Tommy Standing Bear laughed and went out to talk to his people. He now stood tall and proud, his long hair now midnight black, likes a raven’s wing, hung down his back. This was the war chief of the Chiricahua Apache nation of old, now able to lead them to a new, brighter future.

Chapter Five

Tucson Arizona - Sol Space

…♫Tommy was a Piper's Son, and fell in love when he was young; But all the Tunes that he could play, was, O'er the Hills, and far away. Over the Hills and O'er the Main, through Friend, Foe, and Markoff’s hand, Emperor Cytec commands and we'll obey O'er the Hills and far away♫…

Penn set up his base of operation in the geometric center of the old USA, in a town called Lebanon, Kansas in an old brick building on the corner of Chicago and Main. Using what remained of the net, which surprisingly was still in operation, despite all the Imperials could do to shut it down, Penn stood looking at the one hundred and twenty volunteers who’d answered his call, wondering how many he’d have left at the end. Most were the young bucks from the reservation with a few locals who’d answered the call who thought it would be cool to swing a nightstick, bash a few heads in and lord it over everyone for once. They probably thought they could hide behind a badge and do whatever they wanted. It was questionable how many would walk back out the gateway. While General Marks was busy sending out his people to recruit volunteers for his new army, Richard concentrated on starting the rebuilding on Earth. He suspected that the genetically advanced ones in his group wouldn’t have much trouble with the physical part of the challenge; it was the mental part he wasn’t so sure they could pass.

“As I said in my request.” He said, standing in front and looking over the volunteers. “I’m looking for men and women who’d like to help rebuild our world by becoming our new police force.” He could see the look in some of their eyes, the look of greed, but it didn’t matter. On the long table behind him sat neat piles of gray uniforms and assorted equipment.

“To get one of these neat new uniforms, and the authority to do whatever you like to police and enforce the law in your assigned district, all you have to do is walk through that doorway over there and take the test.” All eyes flicked to the ornate stone archway with the red and gold motif etched into the stone.

“What sort of test is it?” a burly young man asked, “I don’t read so well, nor write for that matter.”

“Not to worry, the test is simple. All you have to do is walk through that doorway.”

“That’s all?” Another asked. “And we become cops?” Penn nodded.

“Used to be a SEAL one time, long ago, and I might be a bit old, but I think I can still cut it. “ One gray haired oldster put in. Penn shook his head.

“No matter what age you are, you take the test and pass, you get the job. It’s as simple as that.”

“Don’t know how much good I’d be in the field, but I sure could use a job behind a desk, or something like that.” The guy that spoke had to be in his seventies.

“As I said when I put the call out, any age, any sex, any color. If you want the job, one at a time walk through the doorway.”

A few looked at each other, others squinted as if thinking there had to be a trick, but at last, one stepped boldly across the room and through the archway. As the last one passed through, Penn sat by the table drinking his morning coffee, smiling slightly. He remembered what Michael had said about his creators using the pyramid to test anyone who wanted a position of authority within their society. Without knowing it, he and Ellis had taken the ultimate test and passed through the rite of passage. What winning the ‘Prize’ actually meant wasn’t what he'd expected at all. He sure as hell didn’t want to run planet Earth, but what he wanted didn’t seem to matter. He was the de facto ruler of this world now. Just as he was finishing his coffee, one of the applicants walked back out of the doorway. Looking a little worse for wear.

“And you are?” Penn asked.

“Simpson, sir.” Simpson shook his head and looked back at the doorway. Richard could only guess what he was thinking, or what trials he’d been through.

“And, do you still want the job?” Simpson drew himself up and came to attention. At that moment, Penn realized he was the really old guy in the group, or had been. “You might want to take a look in the mirror over there before you say anything else.” He did, and stood there for a long time looking at himself.

“You knew this was going to happen didn’t you?” He asked at last.

“Yes. If you pass the test, you get the benefits.”

“I haven’t looked and felt this good in a very long time, well, before… you know.”

“I do.

“Shit! I used to think SEAL training was hard, but shit...” He looked over at the doorway.

“So, the question still is, do you want the job or not?”

“Yes, sir.” He answered in a firm voice. “My duties?”

“Then as of this moment, you are Chief Ranger. The data pad with your uniform and other equipment will give you your assigned district. There’s a fully equipped all-terrain rover waiting outside for you for your use.”

“And my instructions, sir?”

“As you are the first, I’m going to put you in charge and take care of the rest as they come back out. Once you have them all dressed, you and the others will unload every bit of equipment in the vehicle and check out each item to familiarize yourself with it. Then you check out the vehicles from front to back, as you’ll be responsible for maintaining it.

“Just like back in the service.” He smiled and flexed his shoulders, as if getting used to his new body.

“Within your district, you will be the supreme authority. In fact, you will be the only authority. You’ll be judge, jury and if necessary the executioner. Like the Royal Mounted Police and the Texas Rangers in the old days. It will be your job to start organizing the people in your district by any means you deem necessary and start rebuilding.” Simpson blew out his cheeks.

“That’s a tall order, sir.”

“I know. You might like to review the history of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and that of the Texas Rangers. Both had similar duties and responsibilities over a wide area. Unlike them, you do not have to report back to any higher authority for a decision. You’re it.” Simpson nodded. “You’ll also have twenty five fully equipped ground troops on call to help clean up the more violent elements in your district if you need them.”