CHAPTER TWO
The three of them, after much discussion, decided that the best location to get what they would need would be in the warehouse/supply area, When they arrived, then were not prepared for what they found. They knew that what they needed was a far cry from the technology of their ships original parts, but they had no clue how far off they were.
“Captain, as much of a mechanical wiz that I am, there is no way I could ever make any of these parts work. I doubt they would get us off the ground, much less anywhere close to home.”
“We have to try something!” The Sargent lamented.
“Steady there Sargent, what about communication equipment? The Captain asked.
“What good would that do us?” The Sargent asked.
“Did you not pay attention to any of our emergency training?”
The Captain calmed himself some, before he continued.
“We boost out communications some we can get a parts list of what we need back to Gein. That way all they need to do is use a sonic ship with the parts, and not a mother ship all this distance to pick up one research ship.” The Captain stated.
“I like it! As cheap as headquarters was getting, they would…”
“That is enough! Private, can you find what I asked for?” The Captain asked in a strong tone.
“I will look.”
The Private went up and down the rows of supplies until he came to an area that he thought might have what he needed. As he was going through some of the parts, a deep voice rang out from behind him.
“Just who are you, and what do you think you are doing?”
Private turned around to see a well-built officer standing there with his arms folded. Private glanced at his name tag.
“Well Supply Sargent Kurk, I am Percy Pennington,” Private stated as he showed him his clearance badge.
“Look Mac, I don’t care if you are the King of England, you need requisition forms to get anything out of my supply area. Do you have those?" The Supply Sargent asked as he unfolded his arms and held out his hand.
During the entire time that they had spent on Earth, the three of them had been able to avoid any kind of violent inner actions with humans.
“Look Sargent, I am just a computer tech on special assignment. The officer in charge up stair sent me down here to collect the parts…”
“Papers or cuffs, it is up to you!” The Sargent stated firmly as he reached for his hand cuffs.
“Sargent Kurk? Sargent Kurk, is that you?” Came a sweet voice from behind him.
“Be right with you Ms. Parker just clearing up a mess down here.” The Sargent said as he pulled out the cuffs.
“Oh, I see you have met Percy,” she said as she managed to get in between the two of them.
“You know him?”
“Officer Kurk, I am a little surprised. I thought sure someone as important as you would have gotten notification of the special task force members that are here today. From what I am told, Percy here is one of the leading computer scientists in the country, He and I met recently when he picked up some special-order pieces from our company. He and his other scientist colleges were kind enough to bring me here for my delivery to you this week.”
“Sara looked at Percy.
“I am sorry about this, I thought sure this base was different, that it informed everyone about your visit,” Sara said apologetically.
“That is okay Ms. Parker, we are quite used to it. This will simply be another Base that will go in our report to the President.” Private said sharply.
“Look Ms. Parker, I am required…”
She looked at him with a dark stare.
“If I, were you, I would back off, I was told the last base that this group reported on, those mentioned by name are now serving on bases in jungle locations, if you know what I mean.”
Sara now turned back to Private and took him by the arm.
Now Percy, let me see if I can be of assistance to you.”
The two of them went back to looking through the supplies.
Supply Sargent Kurk stood there for a moment. He finally put away his hand cuffs and went back to his desk.
“What are you doing here, and how did you know what to say to him?” Private asked.
“I just happened by when I heard your voice. I have learned how to handle these supply Sergeants. I do not understand why you are here.”
Percy looked around to see if anyone was nearby.
“We can’t talk here. Let me get what I need, and we will meet up with the others and I will see if I can explain.”
Sara was reluctant, but finally agreed.
When Private had gathered all, he needed, He looked at Sara. I am going to need you to distract Sargent Killer up there so I can get these things out the door.”
“Why can’t your Uncle just get the Base Commander to clear you?” Sara asked.
“Everything is top secret. If it was discovered why, we are here it would throw the Base into a panic.”
“Percy, I am so confused.”
“I understand, trust me I will explain as much as I am allowed once we get to some place we can talk.”
Sara slowly nodded her head and went off to distract the Supply Sargent. About ten minutes later she caught up with them in the hall.
“Where are you going, the computer room is the other direction?”
“Uncle, I think we need to give Sara more information on why the President sent us here.”
“You know that information is strictly classified.” The Captain replied.
“Yes, however seeing as much trouble as I have had getting these parts, if it was not for Sara, I would be in the brig. So, I am sure we are not going to be able to get these off base without here either.
“Off base?” Sara said, then had her mouth covered by Private.
“Sara, the government is very suspicious that this basis has some communist spies planted in it. The lab computers seem to indicate that there have been some unauthorized transmissions.”
The Captain picked up on where Private was going with his story.
“Yes, we were instructed that if enough information was found, we were to set up a small base nearby to listen and try to intercept any un authorized transmissions.”
“Why didn’t you just ask me for these parts?” Sara asked.
The Captain looked at Private.
“First of all, we were not supposed to let anyone outside our group know anything about our assignment. You have been so kind and helpful, we felt we could trust you. Second, it had not been confirmed until now that there were spies here. It would also be difficult to explain to you why we needed these parts without you getting in trouble at your company.” Private explained.
“Oh Percy, you are so sweet, I could have never said no to you.” Sara said with a sweet smile.
“Seems like that goes for a lot of people.” Sargent mumbled.
“So, Ms. Parker, can you help you get this stuff out of here?” The Captain asked.
“No problem, I have my ways.” She replied.
“That is becoming quite evident,” the Sargent mumbled again.
“Alright, let’s move out. Wait a minute where did Percy go?” The Captain asked.
“Where else?” The Sargent replied, pointing to a candy vending machine.
When he returned, Sara opened her brief case and pulled out stickers that stated,
“DAMAGED RETURN TO SUPPLIER”
As they got close to the exit, an officer came over to Sara.
“Leaving so soon?” he asked.
She smiled at him.
“Yes, my company asked me to take these scientists out for lunch. I have to drop off these damaged boxes and then take them out.”
She stepped a little closer to him and said in a quieter tone,
“I will be back on Tuesday; will you be here?”
“Yes ma’am, I come on duty at ten.” He said brightly.
“I’ll make a note of that.” She said with a big smile.
“I am sure you will,” the Sargent mumbled.
Sara blew him a kiss as they all walked past the dazed officer and on out to their car. They loaded everything in the car and started to back out, when two officers ran out of the building ordering them to stop.
The Captain and Sara rolled down their windows.
Is there a problem?” Sara asked.
“We need the cart you used,” one of the stated.
“Oh, right, it is right over there.”
Sara pointed to where they had put it.
“Thanks, we can’t be too careful with government property,” the other one stated as they grabbed the cart and rolled it back in.
All in the car smiled big as they drove back to Sara’s company.
“So, Percy, I will see you tomorrow,” Sara said as she was getting out of the car.
“Actually, Ms. Parker, we need to get busy assembling our equipment…” The Captain began.
“Really, you can’t put much of anything together with what you got today, and I cannot get you anything else from my company and have them believe it is for the base. I have risked too much for you to put me on a ‘Don’t call us, we’ll call you bases.’” Sara said with her arms folded.
The Captain motioned for Private to care for this situation. He got out of the car and walked with Sara towards the building.
“Sorry Sir, but do you think that was a good idea? That female seems to have every male human wrapped around her finger,” the Sargent said in a concerned voice.
“Then it is a good thing that Private is not human.” The Captain replied.
“Sometimes I think he is worse,” the Sargent mumbled.
When Private got back in the car, he waited until they were a distance away before he told the Captain what happened.
“What do you mean that you agreed to meet her three times a week?” the Captain shouted.
“Captain she was right, We don’t have everything we need, and from what she told me that she could order in for us, it should speed up the time in getting this system built. I also am not sure how the blending of this earth equipment with ours is going to work. It could very well be that we may need to try several different things to get a clear distress signal out.”
Private could see that the Captain was not happy, but did seem to understand his reasoning.
“Honestly Sir, she is our only hope of getting anything we may need, and right now she believes she is helping her government.” Private concluded.
The Sargent hung his head and chuckled to himself.
The Captain was silent for the rest of the trip. They pulled down the road that led to the cave where they had put their ship. They parked close enough to the ship to use its cloak to hide the car. Making their way down through a series of tunnels until they reached the ship.
Private went to work trying to adapt the parts they had to the existing ones on the ship. The Sargent went through systems check list, and the Captain began to review what reports he could find on exactly where the distress signal would need to be directed. They all worked late into the night. The next morning the Private was nowhere to be found. They searched the cave and all the tunnels, when they got back to the ship, they discovered the car had been decloaked and was gone.
“Find him!” The Captain ordered.
The Sargent transferred enough power from the shielding to do a quick scan of the area.
“There he is Sir; It appears he is on his way back. He is now on the road back to the cave,”
The Private was carrying two large cardboard boxes with three paper bags sitting on top. When he got to the ship, he saw the Captain coming down the ramp.
“Ah, good morning Captain,” Private said cheerfully.
“It will be when I get done with you!” the Captain replied.
The Private did not answer but stopped walking.
“Where have you been, and what makes you think that you think you can leave without permission?” The Captain shouted.
“Sir, I had agreed to meet Sara three times a week, an agreement that you are aware of. You never gave me specific orders on when those meetings could occur. I needed sixteen additional transfer coils in order to complete three vital communication circuits. After a brief discussion, Sara was able to come up with parts that I can make work. That is what is in these boxes.” The Private said as he moved forward again
He walked past the Captain and started heading up the ramp.
“So, what is in the bags?” The Captain asked in a tone that told that he still was not pleased.
“Oh, while I was out, I got us all breakfast.” The Private replied cheerfully.
“Breakfast? Good, I am starved.” The Sargent said as he came into the holding bay.
The Captain flashed him a shut-up look.
“Private, section three twenty-two, paragraph seven…” The Captain began.
“Does not apply.” The Private interrupted.
“What?”
“Sir, with all do respect, given our current set of circumstances, we are prisoners of war. No, the humans are not our enemies, only because they do not know that we are not humans. We are however, being held here against our will, thus by code seventy-five, section two, we are prisoners.”
The Captain stood and stared at the Private for a very long time.
“Private, you are over looking two important facts. First, I am the only one of the three of us that has ever been a prisoner of war before, therefore the most qualified to lead us in this situation. Second, I am much stronger, and skilled at Guha. Both of these factors I will use against you if you ever leave again without talking to me first. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes Sir,” the Private replied softly.
“Good, now which bag is mine?” The Captain asked as he took all three bags off the top of the boxes that the Private was still holding.
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