

### Colony Planets

Copyright 2017 Stephen Brandon

Published by Stephen Brandon at Smashwords

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Smashwords Edition License Notes

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Author's Note

This book is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, incidents, and dialogue are from the authors imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or other persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Real and fictional locations are used for background only.

The fact that this is fiction is for the entertainment of the reader. Nonfiction, however is for the education of the reader. There are many nonfiction documents that set the mores of behavior and physical capabilities of individuals. Fiction expands upon, stretches, and adds to these physical capabilities. The authors license to do so is understood and applauded in a good story. Superior strength and speed, ability to wield forces vaguely hinted at in nature, manipulation of time and space, and knowledge of events through the use of what in called magic are some of these licensed abilities. Prophesy, however indicates that the far future, the settings in fictional stories may never exist. The dystopian behavior of civilization in many fictional stories indicates the crushing of the human spirit in the societies described. There is much more than advanced technology to make the future. I attempt to weave in some of the lesser used attributes of humanity, both physical and spiritual, to give my characters hope. A character without hope of success is merely an automaton marching from birth to death.

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Main List of Stories (MLoS)

BERSERKER-D

Hell Hath no Fury

Plain Planet

Earth System

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BERSERKER-D

Table of Contents (ToC)

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

* * *

Chapter 1

"Captain, I am still having problems with the colonist, they just won't keep their areas up to ship standards."

"John, you knew your job as purser would be a challenge. Get the leaders of all three groups up here along with their assistants in an hour."

"Yes Sir."

~ ~ ~

"... but Captain, it's not all the fault of the colonist. The crew cuts through our areas, and is disrespectful to us. Plus the fact that they just shove our supplies and furniture every which a way."

"Mr. Johnson, the crew have to travel through your area's to get to their duty stations. Keep the corridors clear and nothing will be shoved over. As for the disrespect, I'll have the section chiefs talk to their sections."

"Mr. Johnson, Captain, I have to go, as Abraham stood up and headed toward the door."

The Captain yelled, "Abraham get back here."

As Abraham went through the door he yelled back, "My wife!"

"Mr. Johnson, you will discipline Mr. Abraham and tighten up your control over the rest of the colonist. We still have three months travel time to the colony."

"Yes Captain."

"I still have thirty empty cryogenic pods. Trouble makers will be place in them, and you are aware of the side effects."

"Yes Captain, I'll increase my security staff and keep the corridors clear."

Captain, there is a disturbance in cargo hold three. The internal sensors are giving crazy readings.

The Captain reached over to his comm center on the table and said, "Security, meet me with a detail outside cargo hold three."

~ ~ ~

Entering cargo hold three was like walking into a refrigerator. One glance at the scene and the Captain yelled, "Stun them all."

All but one of the security detail pulled their stun pistols and fired. One of the detail, seeing the blood and three twisted bodies bent over, and threw up on the deck. As soon as everyone was stunned, the Captain leaned against the bulkhead and ordered, "I want everyone in this compartment shacked now. Call for the doctor."

"Well Doctor, what are your findings?"

"Captain, the dead woman is bruised and shows evidence of forced sex. That crewman has scratches on his face and body indicating a fight with her. That crewman had his neck broken. Those others have broken bones, contusions, and teethmarks. That colonist is in surprisingly good shape considering the fact that seven of the crew were beating him when you arrived."

The Captain walked over to Mr. Abraham, "Mr. Abraham, calm down now or you will be sedated again." Turning he said, "Chief, escort all section leaders and the colonist leaders down here now. Bring another security detail with you when you return."

Leaning against the bulkhead, the Captain watched the thin coating of ice melt and pool on the deck. The environmental system slowly brought the air temperature back up to normal. With his eyes on Mr. Abraham he remembered a story his father had told him.

~ ~ ~

A pharmacist in the early twenty-first century lost his son to illegal drugs. Then his wife died of grief. Fox like insanity took control of him. At the pharmaceutical company where he worked, he used the laboratory facilities to create a new drug. It was a hallucinogenic, but it also modified the users RNA. He manufactured approximately twenty thousand doses. Some got mixed it with legal drugs manufactured and shipped. He was caught giving doses to drug addicts. When investigating him the police discovered where he worked.

The company trying to cover up their laboratory usage discovered the number of doses he manufactured and the computers listed some of the other drugs his hallucinogenic was mixed in with. The problem escalated with a rash of unexplained deaths, and the company was seized by the government.

The survivors, approximately fifty percent, showed no long term effects. However, their children started demonstrating Berserker tendencies when excited. Researchers classed the victims into five different categories by physical attributes.

The Captains father had run into one of the D categories when he was in the military. The military used them for suicide missions. When threatened they had the psychic ability to draw energy from their surroundings. This resulted in a gain of five to ten times a normal humans strength. Those that survived their missions were retrained and used again and again, until they didn't return.

~ ~ ~

With the section leaders and the colony leaders assembled, the Captain stated, "Doctor, this is a formal hearing. Describe the injuries of the crew-members, Mr. Abraham, and then the woman."

After hearing the evidence from the doctor the Captain turned to the colony leader and asked, "Do you know this woman?"

"Yes Captain, she is Mrs. Abraham."

Turning to the Security Chief, the Captain said, "When I'm finished all injured crew-members except him will be escorted to the medical bay for treatment, and then secured in their quarters under guard.

"That crew-member is guilty of rape and murder, put him in the airlock. His sentence is death by ejection from the airlock.

"Mr. Abraham, you are guilty of fighting aboard my ship. I don't care what caused you to go berserk, you will be confined to the brig for the rest of the journey.

"Stand him up this side of the airlock." The Captain walked over and closed the inner airlock door, then pushed the button to open the outer door. Then he re-pressurized the airlock and opened the inner door of the airlock, to show everyone that it was now empty.

"Chief, carry out the punishments."

Looking around after the prisoners had been removed, the Captain stated, "This should have been avoided. Section Chiefs, you will inform your sections of the incident, and punishments imposed. Mr. Johnson, you will increase discipline and security within the colonist areas, and you will inform all the colonist of the incident and punishments imposed. Dismissed!

"John, have Mrs. Riggings report to me on the bridge."

Mrs. Riggings, I need your expertise for a task that I need accomplished. No doubt you've heard of the incident in cargo hold three. Mr. Abraham is locked up in the brig. His children need someone to supervises, care, and protect them. The colonist are to disorganized to trust with this detail. Who would you recommend?"

"Well Captain, you know my record, and the fact that I'll be joining the colonist. Have the Chief issue me a weapon."

"Damn it, what is it with you retired marines, the first thing you want is a gun."

"Ha Ha, well Captain, us old marines want an equalizer. After all, we never underestimate our enemy. How many children are we talking about?"

"There are seven."

"Then with your permission, I'll move them to a more secure location, such as one of the colonist drop ships."

"See Mr. Johnson to get a detail to move their gear."

"Aye Aye Sir."

* * *

Chapter 2

"Captain."

"Yes John."

"Crew discipline is still deteriorating. There are rumors going around that there will be a attack on the brig to lynch the prisoner."

"Navigator, are there any colonies along our route?"

"No Sir, however there are two recently terraformed planets close by. One is only a days travel off our route. It's scheduled for settlement in two years."

"Adjust our course to that planet."

"Yes Sir."

"Orderly, I want Mr. Johnson and Mrs Riggings in my day room in a half hour."

Yes Captain.

~ ~ ~

"OK you two. I'm receiving reports that the crew is near mutiny because I didn't execute Mr Abraham. I'm diverting the ship to a terraformed planet that's scheduled for colonist in two years. I intend to dump my problem there. Mr. Johnson, do you know of any colonist families that would like to get off early? Do not make this a public announcement, and swear them to secrecy. The colony drop ships are set up for fifty. I'm sending one down."

"Captain, I'd like to accompany them. The children and I have formed an attachment."

"OK, Mrs Riggings, permission granted."

"Mr Johnson, that means you only need to find forty volunteers."

~ ~ ~

Several hours later, Mr Johnson reported to the Captain. No one wants to go down early.

~ ~ ~

The next afternoon, ship time, a picked security detail hauled Mr Abraham to Colony Drop Ship One. After he was secured to a seat, the Captain looked around. A young couple with a small girl were sitting with the Abraham children.

Mrs Riggings walked over and reported, "Captain, all passengers secured, drop ship prepped."

The Captain turned to Mr Abraham and said, "I completely understand your berserker rage, however the safety of my ship is in jeopardy. The crew thinks I was lenient by not spacing you. I am dumping you and your family on a terraformed planet that is scheduled for colonization in two years. Because no other colonist wanted to join you, you have supplies and equipment for fifty people. I expect that you'll make a go of it, and hope you welcome the new colonist with open arms. A full copy of the trial proceedings is included in the ships records.

"Chief, seal the ship while Mr Johnson and I go to the control room."

Mr Johnson inserted his key and selected an area between one of the oceans and a mountain range. "Captain, that should be a good area, small river right out of the mountains about fifty kilometers to the ocean and less than ten to the foot of the mountains. Target locked at the edge of the tree line. Launch it."

They watched the outer hull doors open, the drop ship drift out, orientate itself, and fire its retro rockets. Moments later a communications rocket launched itself from the drop ship, and headed for geosynchronous orbit.

"Chief, relieve the detail at the brig and leave all doors open."

"Yes Sir Captain. You know of course, once the outer door closes it locks from the outside."

"Exactly Chief, if a lynch mob enters the brig, they'll stay there. Mr Johnson and I will monitor the landing from the bridge."

* * *

Chapter 3

The colony ship arrived at its destination a week behind schedule. The loudest complainers about the crowded conditions were the thirty families that refused to get off early. They quickly realized that they only had five-sixth of their supplies and equipment.

The five drop ships all landed within a kilometer of each other.

Four months later, what would be considered a category five hurricane reduced the colony population by one third, and ruined half their supplies.

A year later the second batch of colonist to Sirius, found their equipment, but no survivors. They decided to move on to the established colony on Sherwood.

~ ~ ~

Mr Seth Abraham and Mrs Wanda Riggings surveyed their landing area. Mr Robert Young and his wife Alice, started unloading a temporary shelter and then a land vehicle.

Seth and Wanda placed the intruder sensors and secured the area. They then allowed the children out of the drop ship.

The next morning Seth and Wanda took the land rover and headed toward the mountains Seth wanted a more sheltered camp location. With the help of satellite photos they found an ideal location within two weeks, and started planning their move. It was only fifty kilometers from their landing point.

After transferring all the heavy equipment by land, Wanda flew the drop ship to a sheltered location one kilometer from their new site, using the remaining fuel. It took almost three months to build a road through the forest connecting the two. They used the lumber to build several cabins and a stockade during the winter.

In the spring they put in their crops and started some of the farm animal bio-units. The younger children were amazed when the first chickens started laying eggs.

That fall, Alice turned pale as she watched her husband and Wanda butcher one of the pigs. Wanda simply told her, "You'll learn on one of the calves or go hungry this winter, unless you want to eat the dehydrated rations all winter."

During the winter they started the wild birds and animals for release in the spring. Seth's favorite were the wild turkeys.

They built fenced in area on the other end of the large clearing to house the wild animals and birds. Within three months all the wild animals had escaped. It was only a little sooner than the manuals suggested release time. Their biggest problem was that the deer returned and started eating their crops. It took Seth and Bob weeks to capture and relocate them away from the farm.

The third winter they started more wild and farm animals, and even a set of hunting dogs. The children were thrilled when the first puppies were brought into the stockade. They moved the fenced area down to their original landing site to grow the animals. In a little less than three months they'd escaped.

That summer Seth's two oldest sons put together the solar powered microlights and carried some wild birds, deer, bison, and calves over the mountains to release. It took several dozen trips because their payload limit was two hundred and twenty kilograms plus pilot. When they returned from their last trip, Seth handed them hunting rifles and told them to go get him a few deer for the winter. After all they had two more mouths to feed.

Wanda kept watch on the radio's and radar all that summer and winter waiting for the next colony ship. Seth and Bob had found a good spot and installed the hydroelectric generator to supplement the solar panels. Now they could set up the grinding mill for the grain.

~ ~ ~

Five years later the radio's squawked. The colony ship had finally arrived. To their dismay, it reported an accident that wiped out half the colonist and crew. Seth gave them the original landing coordinates and told them to bring down what they could. Three of the drop ships landed hard, the fourth crashed hard enough to crack its hull. The fifth and sixth were so far off course they never saw them. The microlights were up immediately looking, but never found any indication of their landing. Only a hundred colonist survived. Half of them were injured.

After contacting the ship, the Captain informed them that they were going to try to make it back to Earth.

* * *

Chapter 4

Over the next month several more died, all but three with broken bones were up and helping to set up the camp. Survival rations was all that kept them alive that winter.

In the spring, Thomas took one of the microlights over the mountains to check on the bison and cows. His last radio contact indicated that he'd seen a reflection while at altitude off to the east, and was going to investigate before returning.

A month later, Seth, Wanda, and Frederic took off to trace his path. Wanda had rigged swivel mounts for the hunting rifles. It had only taken her a week to turn several into machine guns.

Frederick flew high cover while Seth and Wanda landed and approached the wreckage on foot. Even the ripped sail couldn't hide the bullet holes. Moments later they heard the chatter of Fred's guns. He was firing into the woods to their left. As soon as they spotted targets they engaged them. The aggressors stood no chance against the two marines. Then they started receiving fire from their rear. Engaging them, they saw four fall and two more flee. Over their radio, they heard Fred state, there's a larger party to your north headed your way. I am receiving fire from them and am retreating south to gain more altitude. Get out of there.

Running back to their microlights they headed south at treetop level and then gained altitude once Fred told them they should be clear. The bright orange delta wings made good targets. As they turned west, Seth swore they'd return.

Back at camp, Bob claimed he could make some die to turn the orange blue. The satellite finally located the two other shuttles. Both had crashed hard in the eastern mountains. After several weeks of satellite observation they realized that one was raiding the other for supplies. Seth left Wanda in charge and headed east.

It took him the last two weeks of winter to move into a good overlook position for the raided camp. It was women and children working in gardens. Several days later a raiding party of men entered their camp, took some of their food and dragged several women off to the woods. Several hours later the women returned.

He tracked them back to their camps, then returned to his microlight and headed west.

After his report and the pictures he'd taken, all the men were ready to head east. Wanda had been busy, she'd gotten most of the stun guns operational, and ten hunting rifles converted to clip feeds.

Nine microlights headed north east across the continent, and then south into the mountains. The valley Seth scouted was only a days walk to the womens valley. When they approached, the women and children panicked. Wanda screamed at them to stop and come to her. She then told them that they needed to hide while her men moved into the valley. As soon as the women hid in the northern end of the valley, Seth led his small army parallel to the trail down to the first of the mens raiding camps.

It was like shooting fish in a barrel. The one prisoner told them that they were dead, because the main group would kill everyone of them. Wanda asked him how many of the women in the valley he'd had. He spat in her face, so she slid her knife between his ribs. Everyone gathered the ammunition the raiders had, and took it with them.

After a cold camp, they approached the main camp in the afternoon. After scouting the camp they decided to attack during the evening meal. One from the camp walked right up to the tree Wanda was behind, so she eliminated him quietly.

The main group was eating when they attacked. A few were in their tents and tried to returned fire. They all died, but inflicted three casualties. Abraham's group searched the camp and took all the weapons, ammunition, and food. They took it back to the womens valley. It took another month to eliminate the raiding men. Unfortunately the women in the valley insisted that two were still out there. The women voted to return to the main colony.

With the new colonist, the main group decided to salvage all the supplies and equipment remaining in the two wrecked drop-ships. Several bridges had to be constructed so they could drive the heavier equipment across the continent.

* * *

Chapter 5

The second group of colonist didn't arrive. Five years later, a messenger ship arrived and contacted the colony. The colonist were not happy to find out that their colony ship didn't make it back to Earth. The worst news was that they'd be on their own for at least the next twenty years. Two of the four colony ships were lost, and one colony planet had never been settled.

~ ~ ~

Several families moved across the mountains and setup on the plains. They traded meat for vegetables and other needed items. After a few years they adopted a life style similar to the Indians before America was settled. Almost all the young men spent several years with them. A few remained and took wives with them.

Using the satellites, air surveys, and ground exploration, all the ores and minerals needed for manufacturing and building were located. Skilled colonist maintained the colonies equipment and built the automated factories needed to build more. Knowledge and innovation solved the problems of hardship. Mistakes of the past were mostly avoided. This allowed them to keep the technology level of the western settlements high.

It took nine years to manufacture fuel for the shuttles. Then using two as cargo ships, life got easier. The children were well educated and started taking their place as they reached adulthood.

Fewer and fewer of the elders looked to the skies for the next colony ship. As the children born on the planet grew to adulthood, some of them decided that they needed to explore their solar system. It took years to build their first spaceship. Automated asteroid mining and space manufacturing was a jump in their standard of living.

Soon children outnumbered adults, and most all wanted to explore. With a technological education and their desire to explore and innovate, the solar system soon didn't challenge them enough. It took less than a generation for them to duplicate a starship. They were almost ready to launch, when one of the elders told them that they needed more that the personal hunting weapons they had. Building and mounting ship size weapons only took a few years.

Using the old navigation data, they decided to visit the colony planets first. There were five listed as settled and one not settled.

~ ~ ~

As they expected, the unsettled terraformed planet was empty. While their bio-units grew animals, they seeded portions of the planet with food crop plants. They considered their two year stop successful.

~ ~ ~

Their next stop was another of the listed terraformed planets. They found the communication satellites, but got no answer from the planet. Their flyover survey of the surface discovered the artifacts from the landings, but no people. Heeding the warning their doctors gave, they didn't land.

~ ~ ~

The third planet they visited immediately became a problem. As they approached, they were attacked from the two small space stations in orbit. Communication with the two governments on the surface was finally achieved. Both were suspicious, and demanded they land in their territories. The ships council advised the captain that the governments simply wanted their technology.

The Captain finally informed both governments that they would not land, or give either their technology. After informing them of what they'd found on the first two planets, he left a warning. Until the planets governments could work together, they would be isolated!

~ ~ ~

The fourth planet, listed as Plain, had fallen back to an early industrial civilization, and lost its capability for space flight. There was no indication that they were even been detected. Two of the communications satellites were operational. Observation detected two small cities and large spread farming on one continent. The Captain decided to populate the other continent with food animals and a few predators, plus some wild food plants.

One of the early pioneers had written his experiences and uploaded it. Translation is attached.

~ ~ ~

The fifth planet, Sherwood, was united and mining its asteroid belt. They'd pushed themselves back into space to survive. They welcomed the visit, but wanted no physical contact. A third colony ship had arrived from Earth, but it brought a plague with it. The plague wiped out a third of the planets population. The doctors traded medical knowledge. The Captain informed them that our next stop was Earth.

~ ~ ~

Approaching the Earth system with utmost caution, saved them from the first attack. The Earth system was fragmented, and territorial. They were warned about several pirate governments. Every spacecraft they detected was armed to the teeth.

An international group of industrialist calling themselves Aurora, renovated the two surviving colony ships and built another. The shortages caused by all these industries suddenly leaving, ended up being the catalyst for a complete economic collapsed. Regional wars for resources escalated to a nuclear exchange, further wrecking both the Earth and Mars.

# (Return to Table of Contents) #

# (Main List of Stories) #

Hell hath No Fury

Day 1

xxx

Incident report, Tuesday 0900 hours, Cascade Village, Medical Clinic.

A woman exited the clinic and shot and killed the Copilot of fighter K342. She took his weapon and the fighter. She evidently knew something about flying, because she managed to get it off the ground and flew west.

Observed this through spy-scope, range 16050 meters. My location T93. Corporal Jones.

xxx

"Jones, quit screwing around with your targeting radar."

"Bill, it's not me, I thought you put the missile lock on me fo----."

Ground dispatch to CIC. "Two fighters just went down. Pilots were talking about missile lock. The air to ground reaction force was scrambled.

All the reaction force found was burning forest on the side of the mountain.

xxx

CIC

Attention all commands

A pilot and copilot were killed in Cascade Village today. The woman in a forest ranger uniform stole fighter K342.

Be alert, we no longer have sole air superiority in this sector.

Col Jones

xxx

4th Infantry, C Co., 8th Rangers

CIC, Attn: Colonel Jones

This morning at 0723 hours a squad ambushed a vehicle containing a young man and woman. The man was wounded. Their identification indicated were forest ranger trainees. The squad leader allowed the woman to drive him down the mountain after he got her word she would not participate in any military action. The squads medic patched him up.

xxx

Ground dispatch to CIC.

We just lost two more fighters, sector 3 east. Ground observer saw one of our fighters shoot them down. He was in the process of making a flash report when we heard over the radio strafing rounds impact. No further contact. Scrambled ground control unit 1412 hours.

xxx

CIC

Attention all units

We have a stolen fighter.

Reinforce spaceport perimeter security.

Colonel Jones.

xxx

Spaceport to CIC

Colonel Jones, your warning was a little late. As we were reading it a, fighter shot down troop transport T5214. Then they strafed the port and destroyed T4251 on the ground, eighteen fighters on the ground, and the primary fuel section. Estimate, 3000 killed on T5214, over 200 ground personnel from fuel and maintenance sections.

Pilot of attacking fighter was either an ACE or drunk, because he didn't fly in a rational manner. Ground security was unable to hit attacking fighter with antiaircraft guns or missiles. The two missiles launched detonated inside a maintenance hanger when they followed the fighter in.

What the hell is going on? We've been on the ground 16 hours. The invasion plan indicated that it would take two days for a reaction force to reach our location from the mainland. My other question is, who's the pilot of the fighter with tail number K342? I want that pilot courts martialed and then shot.

Colonel Asama

xxx

Looking at the spaceport report, Colonel Jones hollered, "Get me Colonel Asama on the phone now.

Yes Sir.

"Dirk, I haven't time to chat. I'm still counting damage and casualties."

"Jim, listen carefully. This morning a ground squad ambushed some trainee forest rangers, wounding one and scaring the shit out of the female. They released them so she could get her wounded partner down the mountain to the medical clinic in town."

"Colonel Jone, I don't have time for your fairy tales."

"Colonel Asama! Damn it Jim, you'll take time and brief all the ground forces commanders. As you know our orders were to minimize collateral damage and killing of civilians. This woman got pissed after a fighter jock walked into the medical station in Cascade Village and executed the wounded forest ranger trainee on the operating table."

"You're shittin' me Dirk."

"No I'm not, the preliminary MP report list her age as nineteen, and he was twenty. She grabbed a scalpel and stuck it in the fighter jocks throat and took his weapon. At the door she shot the copilot, then flew off in the fighter.

"The nurse knew them and said they were high school sweethearts. We have a pissed off woman with a million dollar weapon running around this island with revenge on her mind. Now what do you think?"

After a pause, Jim replied. "She's younger than my daughters. If that fighter jockey wasn't already dead, I'd kill him myself!

My aide just handed me updated an casualty report. Fighters on the ground destroyed or damaged, 26, crew 14. T4251, in the process of being loaded with 18 casualties for evacuation, complete crew of 39. Primary fuel section, completely destroyed, one reserve tank saved, 17 killed, 3 critically burned in dispensary. Dispatch reports 4 fighters missing in action and presumably shot down, 8 crew missing. Two of our three maintenance hangers with all equipment, 61 dead. T5214 was fully loaded plus half the senior staff, 39 crew, 3167 marines including the brigade commander, and 14 staff. We also have 186 personnel that ground units that cannot account for, and that includes some of the fire fighters.

"My quick total indicates we've exceeded projected casualties for the operation to subdue this planet. The high command is not going to be happy. I'll have my report ready to send up in less than an hour."

"Jim, I'll send up my report as soon as it's complete. This pacification operation is shot to hell. I don't know now if we still have enough assets to maintain it. Especially, once the word about the murdered boy gets out."

* * *

Day 1 plus 20 hours

"Sir, reports from the ground. They are marked FLASH."

"Lieutenant? What!"

"Here Admiral, communications sealed them."

Reading the reports the Admiral kept saying, "What the Hell!" Call a staff meeting immediately along with all ships Captains and unit commanders."

Thirty minutes later the Admiral sat at the head of the table with several officers and a line of monitors. "Gentlemen, we have a problem. Fourteen hours into our pacification operation a rouge fighter pilot murdered a twenty year old man, on the operating table in a civilian facility. His girlfriend, nineteen years old, grabbed a scalpel and killed him. She then used his weapon to kill the copilot outside and stole a fully armed space fighter.

"After shooting down four fighters, she attacked a troop transport in the air. No survivors. She then attacked the spaceport and destroyed another troop ship and destroyed or damaged 27 fighters along with two thirds of the maintenance section. The spaceport reports one third of its equipment damaged beyond repair. Preliminary casualty reports indicates 3566 either KIA or MIA.

"Gentlemen, we have a problem. Communications intercepted a news report of the incident at the medical facility. Also some civilians put it on their Internet, pictures of the spaceport and the downing of the troop transport where it crashed. This pacification operation was to be low key and swift. As you know orders were to minimize collateral damage and keep the civilians unharmed.

"Civil Affairs now claims we're screwed as far as the civilians are concerned."

The Lieutenant walked in and stated, "Admiral, communication just intercepted a planet wide media broadcast, it was for every able bodied adult to arm themselves and fight. By the way, the boy was the local governors son and the girl was identified as Alice Jones."

Oh shit was the only comment heard.

"Gentlemen, I'm suspending operations for twenty-four hours. Pull back to defensive positions. In twelve hours I want suggestions for a new pacification plan. And move all ships to high orbit, the intelligence section didn't report them building a planetary defense system, but I don't want to take any chances."

~ ~ ~

Alice was sitting at home when her mother came home. Noticing she was crying she asked.

"Mom, those soldiers killed Bob."

"Alice, war is dangerous and people do die."

"But Mom, he was on the operating table in the clinic."

"OH NO! That means they know who you are. Go to the cabin in the valley and hide, now. I'll get someone to bring you a few things and camping gear. Don't stay near the cabin, go down near the river in one of the big thickets."

Alice was just down the lane when she heard the helicopter. Stepping under a tree she watched it land on her street. Sneaking back to the curve, she watched the soldiers drag her mother out.

A voice whispered to her. "Follow me quick."

There were two men in the house, one she recognized because he was a friend of her boyfriend. The other was a forest ranger she'd seen around.

The ranger took a long look at her and asked, "Alice, do you still have that fighter?"

"Yes sir, I hid it in a cave."

"Good, some of the boys managed to retrieve weapons and fuel. I'm sure it needs it. You did a lot of damage today. They're after your blood now."

"I know, I watched them drag mom off."

"We heard, if there's anything we can do, just ask."

"Mom told me to go down near the cabin and camp at the river. I don't have anything or food."

The ranger then said, "We've got a guy that knows those fighters. I'll send him to disable any tracking devices. I know you can fly small planes and helicopters, but a fighter is different. Plus he can explain the controls.

"Tonight, a group of volunteers is going to raid the spaceport and try to destroy and steal several fighters. Remember, almost everyone on the planet left Earth to get away from that government.

"This afternoon congress called for everyone to arm themselves and fight. You've got a lot of friends.

"Tell Tim where to meet you, he's going to pick up camping supplies and food."

"Yes sir, I'll be in one of the thickets across the river from Mom's cabin. You know that big cave near lookout point. The fighter is in the back."

The ranger scratched his head. "That's a good location, we may be able to get a second fighter in there. Fairly easy access to the road. If I remember the survey right, that area has concentrations of iron.

"Now you skedaddle and stay out of sight."

Just before dark Tim rode through the thicket and dropped off camping gear for Alice. The then led his pack mules up the valley and built his camp along the river.

* * *

Day 2

About 2 AM three crews of twenty men each slipped onto the Spaceport. The first crew pulled a hose from a fuel tanker to the remaining fuel tank. When the tanker was full, it departed. They managed to fill three before being discovered. As they ran the incendiary devices they'd planted went off. The remaining fuel supply at the Spaceport turned into a fireball.

The second group started a small attack on the Spaceport perimeter opposite the fuel depot and fighter flight line.

The third group managed to set explosives in sixteen of the remaining forty fighters. Seven fully fueled and armed fighters were stolen by retired pilots. Four flew at ground level to preplanned hiding locations. Three went straight up. They flew within a few miles of the orbiting armada before turning on their targeting radar. They fired missiles as fast as they could lock onto the spacecraft. Three troop transports, four escort ships, and one supply ship were hit. Only three of the six escort ships survived the attack. Their close defense systems destroyed the fighters.

The battle was over before the Lieutenant could get from his quarters to the Admirals. "Sir, wake up. We've been attacked!"

"What do you mean, we've been attacked?"

Turning his pad around, he showed the details flowing in from the command ship battle center.

"Seven ships destroyed!! Who did this?"

Moments later another screen came up reporting the attack at the Spaceport. The Lieutenant stood shaking and open mouthed.

The Admiral slapped his hand to his face. "Those bastards stole and used our own fighters to attack us. Inform the spaceport that I want a full report in an hour. Call dispatch and tell them I need two courier ships fueled and ready to go in two hours."

~ ~ ~

He glanced over the reports from the ground CIC and the shipboard battle center. He just attached them to the cover letter.

xxx

Mr. President; Chief of Planetary Operations; Commanders of Solar Military Forces;

As you may remember, I had my doubts about a quick and easy pacification of this colony, even though it is only twenty years old.

I brought up the facts that many of the settlers were from areas that still had problems with their populations. We were told that shipping off the agitators would pacify those areas. Deporting those undesirables at government expense was a brilliant financial decision, because the Army could reduce the military forces required to police those areas. That has proven to be false.

I also brought up the fact that many of the volunteers to settle this colony were retirees and ex-military. The congress thought that that was great, since they could give the retirees a bulk payment and be done with them. The ex-military they gave free transportation. That allowed them to cut the veterans medical budget too.

By now you probably have read the first incident report I sent back several hours ago by courier.

There is more news now. At 0200 local ground time the spaceport was attacked again. The remaining fuel on the ground was destroyed along with fueling equipment. Another group infiltrated the fighter landing area and set incendiary devices destroying sixteen and damaging over twenty more. What was not in the ground report is the number of fighters stolen. We don't know at this time. Three managed to sneak up on our ships that had been moved to hight orbit. They launched a missile attack and destroyed the remaining troop ships, approximately nine thousand marines plus ship crews and support personnel. The supply ship was hit in the engine compartment and blew, killing all aboard. The supply ship was also used as the medical center, over half of our doctors and major medical equipment is gone. Three escort ships were destroyed with all aboard and one was damaged with major loss of crew.

As a summary, out of 15000 marines we have approximately 2000 left in fighting condition. The pacification force now consist of the command ship, 3 operational escort ships, 1 damaged escort ship, 7 courier ships, 4 undamaged ship to ground shuttles, and less than a quarter of our space and air superiority fighters. The attacks have intensified in the last three hours on all our ground forces. I hope to successfully evacuate some of them. By time you get this letter and attached reports, we'll either be headed back to Earth or dead. The people on the planet are now out for blood, ours.

The only remaining way to pacify this colony without more casualties on our side, is to turn it into a nuclear fireball. The only problem with that solution is the three planetary courier ships that managed to escape. We destroyed the other six. By now all the colony planets know what happened here.

Respectfully,

Fleet Admiral Solis

xxx

Lieutenant, put this on the two courier ships and tell their pilots to make sure they're delivered. Tell the ships Captain I want a video conference with all remaining ships captains ASAP. Then get me the CIC and Spaceport. I'll be in the communications section.

The Admiral walked into the communications section and barked, "Who's in charge."

A shaken major stood up and said, "Me Sir."

"I want the colony president on the line immediately. Broadcast on all military and civilian channels if necessary."

"Yes Sir."

~ ~ ~

Thirty minutes later a signal from the planet announced the President and planetary congress on-screen.

The Admiral then told the commo major to put both sides of the conversation on all planetary and military bands, including ship to ship. "Mr. President, the Earth government and military determined that a quick pacification operation would secure the resources your planet has in abundance. Yesterday an incident occurred that was against the rules of engagement, that all landing parties were given. Your successful counter attack forces me as Fleet Admiral, to request a ceasefire to evacuate our surviving military forces. What are your terms?"

When the president managed to quiet the congress, he replied. "Our military is just beginning its deployment. The forces that counterattacked were civilians. We have no direct control over them, and will not use our military to stop them. The murder of the governors son while being operated on, plus the other civilian casualties on the islands, has the population in an uproar. Again I state, our military forces will be deployed to the islands within a day, and I'll issue orders to them to only support humanitarian efforts. They will not be used to safeguard any of the invading soldiers.

"I suggest that you conference with all your ground commanders and find out their status. I do not know if the civilians will accept their surrender. Any further attacks on this planet will be met with a response from our military.

"If you can make peaceful contact with the island governor he may be able to help in your evacuation of personnel.

"However, I demand that you leave all fighters and other military equipment undamaged on the ground as partial payment for the damage your military has done. Any armed spacecraft lifting off will be shot down. Each one will be scanned. One moment."

Picking up a phone he blanched. "You got to be kidding, he's retransmitting our conversation... Shit!" Slamming the phone down he turned to the screen.

"Admiral, you've made a politically savvy move, it may help, or it may not. Your pilots will be able to identify our fighters by the red paint on the nosecones of the fighters and missiles.

"The island governor said he'd contact as many of the civilians as possible and request them to allow your personnel to evacuate. Once the evacuation begins he is giving you forty-eight hours to clear our solar system. Any Earth spacecraft in the system after forty-eight hours will be destroyed, with no quarter. Those are his words.

"I don't know how many of your fighters they captured, but he thinks it's enough to destroy whats left of your fleet. He was a gunnery sergeant. He also informed me that the original attack on the four fighters and spaceport was by a teenage girl that only recently got her pilots license. A friend of his son informed him that this girlfriend of his son is only out for revenge. At present she is being physically restrained, but only until the situation is addressed. They may let her go at any time, so don't waste what time you have remaining. Cut the transmission."

Putting his head in his hands, the Admiral said, "Connect me with all ships captains and the commanders on the ground."

"Everyone is on the monitors to your left Sir."

"OK, those of you on the ground, retreat to the spaceport. If you run into armed civilians you have two choices, pull out a white flag and surrender, or fight. I'm going to suggest you surrender even if you have the military advantage. I hope they aren't out for revenge and blood. Right or wrong, you were following orders from the Earth government and last me.

"Escort ships captains, ask for volunteers to escort the remaining shuttles to the surface for the evacuation and return. That means, that they are to put their fighter between any missile and the shuttle to protect the unarmed evacuees. The last shuttle will be for the fighter escort pilots. Inform them that they will leave their fighters at the spaceport in operational condition. The reason for this is the evacuated personnel will have to live in the fighter bays until we reach Earth. Every piece of nonessential equipment will be jettisoned. Any questions?"

"Yes captain."

"Sir we can still beat them if they don't surrender I have enough ordnance on my ship to pound them back into the stone age."

"CAPTAIN, you know three of the planets courier ships escaped. Are you ready to fight the military forces from every colony Earth put out in the last three hundred and fifty years. That's what you would start. Earth would be destroyed even if we won. Are you prepared to sacrifice the families of every man and woman on all our ships plus the civilians on Earth?"

"Sorry Sir, I didn't realize. Please accept my resignation."

"No, you and every officer in the fleet, are now responsible for the life of Earth. The government wanted the resources of this planet, and thought they could have us sneak in and takeover. The loss of 15000 marines and those other ships prove it was stupid decision. Prepare for the evacuees."

"Any other questions, if not get your personnel ready to safeguard the personnel evacuated."

"Admiral, you have two calls from the planet. Do you want to continue rebroadcast everything?"

"Oh hell, did everything go out?"

"Yes Sir, you never told me to cut off all the frequencies."

"Who's calling?"

"The first call is from the island governor, the second is from the planetary president."

"I talk to the governor first. Continue the rebroadcast."

"Governor Jones, Admiral Solis here."

"Yes admiral, I will try to contact the civilians I have on the ground. They are all volunteers with no overall command and control. I have the island guard moving toward the spaceport. Inform the personnel there to stack all arms at the perimeter. Make them understand that any sabotage will be met with deadly force. Unarmed personnel will be considered prisoners of war to be repatriated. You will have your escort fighters land and surrender. I have enough level headed pilots to escort your shuttles safely back to your ships. It's four hours to dawn. The ceasefire will begin at dawn. Those are my terms. I don't want the soil of my islands polluted with anymore blood, yours or ours."

"I accept your terms governor. I'll notify my chain of command. Thank you.

"Put up the next call, major."

"Admiral, this is the president. I hear that you made a surrender agreement with the governor."

"Yes, and I expect I'll be courts martialed when I return to Earth."

~ ~ ~

"Sir, the ships battle center OIC needs to talk to you."

"What's the problem colonel."

"I allowed one of the escort ships to put out a wing of fighters for close-in-security. Five minutes ago those four fighters reported multiple missile locks. I instructed the pilots to power down everything. Someone is giving them orders to land at one of the planets military airfields, or they'll be blown out of the sky."

"Damn it, hell, tell those pilots to follow the orders of the planets fighters. I hope they will get transportation back to the ship or island quickly enough to evacuate. Inform the ships captains that if they put anything outside their ships, the colonist will claim it. I don't want any more incidents."

"Yes Sir. You realize that you are still broadcasting on ship to ship as well as every frequency that anyone can pickup."

The Admiral replied, "I know, the reason is that I want everyone to know we are surrendering. If any reaction force arrives from any other colony before we're out of here, I want them to know that we are no longer an aggressor. The last thing I want is to be vaporized by lack of communications."

"Admiral, one of my operators reported a FTL drive detected entering the system. Sorry sir, it's now seven."

"Colonel, contact the planetary military, open band and in the clear. Tell them about the contacts, and request their instructions. Then contact all ships captains and tell them to turn on all marker lights. We are no longer an effective military force. We are only a transport service for survivors. Damn, I wish I had a passenger liner, then I could send them home without any more hardships."

# (Return to Main List of Stories) #

Plain Planet

* * *

Table of Contents ~(PPToC)~

Letter to Mom

Chapter 1 First Spring

Chapter 2 Sylvia

Chapter 3 Betty

Chapter 4 Trip to town

Chapter 5 Year Five

* * *

Dear Mom,

I know I should have written sooner, but we've been so busy. All the colonist jokingly say the survey teams lied. This planet should have been named Paradise, not Plain! The reason I'm writing now is the ship is due to head back next week.

This planet has narrow bands of trees on the sides of all the mountain ranges that run roughly north to south. The rest except for the polar ice caps and six deserts near the equator, is grassland. The weather, since I landed, is just like what Granddad's journal claimed the Piedmont area of North Carolina was, back when he was a kid. The top soil here is almost half a meter deep. The grass roots go down over a foot. I had to dig down almost four meters to set a firm foundation to build on.

After I got my farm equipment unpacked I spent two weeks planting a summer crop and then another month transplanting trees from the mountain band twenty clicks east. I found thirty seven young trees about a meter tall and planted them in an rough "L" formation three clicks south and west of my first barn, just north of the river.

My homestead is only three hours north of the main settlement in my truck, about three hundred kilometers. I have a shade over eighty square kilometers because the river wanders on my southern border. That gives me 8000 hectares or 19768 acres. Those of us lucky enough to win the first ship got twice what the following colonist will get. My property lines are just over 5 ½ miles on each side. I remember granddad telling me he had to walk five miles to school every day, I still miss him.

My first barn is almost completed and I'll start on the main house in the spring. I buried two of my shipping containers and built a sod house to connect them. The first month living in a tent while I cleared and built got inconvenient quickly. Luckily, only one of the farm machines I shipped broke. This winter, I only caught the last half of it, was weird because of all the heat dumped into the atmosphere by the rockets landing and taking off. Its rained like mad for the two months I've been here. By the way, the colony board decided that since the year here is six-hundred days long, we'll keep the same months only have fifty days in each.

John Dunn, my neighbor to the east. says he can fix my backhoe this winter. His sister has been a pest since she first came south from her homestead and introduced herself. Her name is Becky, and she is only two years younger than me. John, Darlene his wife, and Becky will help me build what he calls a combination root and tornado shelter this winter. They're from Kansas, and claim that it is a necessity when living on the plains. He shipped a complete environmental system. The darn thing could be dumped on this planets moon and he'd still be comfortable. They shipped enough containers and equipment to build a small town.

Fred and Millie Jones homesteaded a section including some mountains. He found, what he call "good stone" and filed a mining claim on another section in the mountains, and started a quarry. He claims that by next year he can deliver one metric ton stones for building anything we want.

Becky's homestead is just north of mine. She claims that her home will be a pyramid made from Fred's stone. When John showed me her plans, my first comment was, this ain't Egypt. When he quit laughing he told me that she'd always wanted to visit Egypt, but could never get the clearances, even with her college major in Egyptian archeology.

I've got to close now and write a letter to Susie.

Almost forgot, send all the artwork that Granddad willed to me, including the junk ones. It seems that no one thought of paintings and they will be worth their weight in gold in a few years. I've got another friend that claims he can make picture frames. He was an amateur cabinetmaker back on Earth and we're all helping each other build. He claims that some of the wood on his homestead, east of us, is similar to mahogany and he makes beautiful furniture. Being married, he and his wife both filed for adjacent claims right at the tree band. I have one of his first rocking chairs. It is comfortable. He plans to export some of his work back to Earth on the next ship.

Your loving son,

Sam

PS: Tell Susie that she needs to be on the next ship. I'll not wait forever to get married, after all nineteen months for the trip, a year to unload the ship, and then nineteen more months back to here is long enough!

* * * * *

Chapter 1 First Spring

Winter, arrival:

After dropping the containers and personnel for the main settlement, they started dropping us on our assigned homesteads. The rockets started to many fires to count. I've been down thirty days and there are still fires burning to the north from colonist dropped after me. We're lucky that spring is just around the corner.

The issued farm equipment is a bunch of crap. I guess that's what you get from the lowest bidder. At least my truck and Caterpillar made it without damage. I've got my first cargo container buried and built the foundation for my connecting tunnels to my second container.

First Spring:

Got a few hectares planted and almost finished my sod house. Foundation poured for the barn. The soil here is so soft I had to dig down eleven feet to hit hard subsoil.

Summer:

The colony ship departed in May. The Governor put out that we'd start counting years with the first anniversary of our arrival last November. He declared this year zero, the time to settle in. I think he's full of crap like many bureaucrats.

First crop harvested and second planted.

Fall:

Second harvest put up and third planted. Hope it matures before winter sets in. It still seems strange that a month here is fifty days, seven weeks long.

~

Winter, year 1:

The governor declared November first was the start of year one. Within a week weather moved down from the north. No one anticipated snow over three meters deep. The temperature dropped below -40 Celsius for over a hundred days. My barn collapsed under the snow weight taking down most of my solar panels.

I don't know where he got it, I think he shipped it, but John rescued me in a monster of a machine with tracks and an insulated cab. Even with the heaters running full blast it was freezing inside.

Spring, year 1:

After the winter snow started melting we checked several homesteads. Two homesteads west of me were wiped out. John and I found the bodies and buried them, most of their supplies were ruined. Neither family build sturdy buildings, and they just collapsed. I took over three hundred pictures covering both homesteads and what we found. Becky called us ghouls and locked herself in a bedroom after five minutes, and refused to come out until I put the camera up.

We reported the deaths, and the next day the web news reported an estimated death toll of three hundred and seventy colonist over the winter. Many bodies were found in their vehicles, at their homesteads, and in the capitol.

John thinks we can dig deeper and slide our shipping containers into deeper holes without compromising structural integrity. The ground froze over two meters deep. Mine are the smallest so they will be the test. If it works, Becky's are next, and then his. Becky suggested we build underground barns also. That leaves us with the problem of power. I told John that I needed to replace the trees I lost, so he called Fred and he said he'd bring some over in a week or two. He and his wife barely survived. John then told him about our plans to dig our shelters in deeper and we'd help him do his.

After sending our report to the governor, we suggested that everyone salvage all the farm equipment they could locate. We also suggested the all the colonist dig in their shelters with the roof at least two meters underground.

The governor wasn't enthusiastic about the idea of salvaging equipment, but then demanded we report everything we salvaged so it could be redistributed later. Then he said that digging in our shipping containers for underground shelters was a waste of time.

Becky got angry and said she'd talk to all the neighbors wives.

Between clearing and planting fifty additional hectares, I've had a full work load. Then John relayed a suggestion that his sister Becky told Darlene his wife. Between the two of us we got half a dozen tanks dug along with thirty miles of canals. We'll let them run, and will line them with stone and concrete next year to prevent erosion. It doesn't seem like we've been here over an Earth year, because the year here is six hundred days long.

* * *

Dear Mom,

I'm fine and feeling better than ever. I'm starting this letter and will add to it until the courier ship arrives. We got an early start on our planting this spring.

Remember the briefing they gave us on this planet. The weather was supposed to be mild year round. Well it isn't. After the colony ship left last fall, winter set in with a fury. The temperature dropped to about -40, which was much colder than the scouts reported. That wasn't the worse part of it. We got over three meters of snow before it really got cold. The snow weight collapsed my barn. I was lucky that my sod house didn't. Dad's suggestion that I ship steel beams and heavy duty steel plates for construction really paid off. Remember how I griped about the cost.

The coldest my thermometer registered before it broke was -50. I've attached a list of cold weather gear and clothing that Susie and I'll need as soon as she gets here and we're married. Sell what you need of the stock that granddad left me to pay for equipment and shipping. And don't forget to include all the artwork that granddad left me.

I've already planted my first crops for this year. The soil is so rich that I should have another bumper crop.

I've made some close friends here, even with the hardships last winter. I really enjoy working the land. I was homesick for awhile, but now I'm making this my home. I've starting a house that will have plenty of room, if you and Dad ever decide to immigrate. As soon as junior finishes college and is ready, I can help him set up. There's plenty of free land to homestead.

I'm looking forward to the mail and news coming in on the courier ship.

Your loving son,

Sam

* * *

Dear Susie,

I miss you so much. This last few years without you has been agony. I miss your sweet voice, and holding you in my arms. I love you more now than I did when we kissed goodbye at the spaceport. I can't wait until you get here, so don't miss the next ship.

Our farm is started, although a little primitive right now. I'll be starting on the house we talked about, this summer. No more composite floors for us, real wood floors and walls just like our grandparents had.

The soil here is deep and rich, so don't forget to bring your flower seeds. They may grow to be as beautiful as you, however the red roses you grew will never match the beauty of your hair.

I love and miss you! I can't wait until I see you dance off the shuttle and into my arms.

Love and miss you so much!!!

Sam

* * *

Late Spring, year 1:

It took a month to move Becky's and my shipping containers into much deeper holes with the roofs under two and a half meters of soil. We start on John's tomorrow. Becky talked to half the colonist wives and forty of them wanted John to build them underground shelters. Almost all of them offered a share of their harvest as payment.

It's a crime that the colony committee didn't require that everyone take courses on primitive living and farming along with basic shelter construction. Over three hundred people died because they didn't know how to survive. Most of our modern equipment was useless after we got over a meter of snow and the cold set in.

Our group of local survivors managed to salvage several fairly undamaged harvesters and other equipment from four homesteads west and south of us. The snow machine John shipped was a life saver, but he considers in inadequate if we get another winter like last winter. He plans to build a monster snow-cat, although time will be a factor this summer.

We've agreed to build twenty-three family size shelters. John didn't plant this spring, but Becky did put out four kitchen gardens, and she said she'd tend my crops while I helped John.

John sent the requirements for the hole and building supplies for the shelters to the colonist that wanted him to build for them. Concrete and re-bar are going to be a major problem. We've put out the word that anyone with experience working with concrete needs to contact us. We also downloaded all the information on the net about concrete construction. Only Bill Jones and his son replied. After all, we need tough secure tunnels between the buried containers along with structural reinforcement to keep anything from collapsing.

Fred called and told us that he could furnish all the crushed rock we could use, it was a byproduct of his quarry operation. He also informed us that he'd located a limestone formation in the mountains if we needed it. He also found the locations of a few inactive volcano's on the survey maps. Then he offered his services as soon as he completed his pyramids.

Albert, James and Mabel Stewart's son, has been exploring. He found several caverns in the mountains. Every adult can file for a homesteaded, slightly unfair for the single guys, and Albert being only seventeen can't file until next year. He now wants to file further north on half a mountain with a good forest, and almost thirty square kilometers of rolling hills with good land suitable for farming.

* * *

Driving over to John's, I thought furiously about the lack of materials available. Should I hold on to the sixteen bags of concrete and the steel I have left. What if I needed it later? What if some of the people we agreed to help reneged on the food they promised in exchange – arriving the first person I saw was Becky. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be putting in the kitchen gardens."

"I've finished for now and I'm going to help with the construction. John said I could. What do you have in the truck?"

"Oh, just sixteen bags of concrete and steel." I replied.

John came out of his barn and asked, "Sam, can Becky ride with you. Darlene wants to go over and make plans with Fred's wife on canning produce and meat for the winter. My back seat is full of her junk."

"John, you know it isn't junk! You'll be happy next winter when you get hungry that I have all this canning equipment. You know what happened last time we had this argument. This time you won't have a soft couch to sleep on."

Becky kept up a running monologue on the drive with complaints that my truck actually had wheels and tracks. Dad proved to me that a half-track could navigate and carry heavier loads over terrain that a wheeled vehicle couldn't, and carry more than an air-truck with less high-tech maintenance. The bumpy ride didn't bother me, but it drove her to distraction. She finally demanded, "Why do you drive this antique?"

My first thought was, to drive you nuts, but I replied, "Several reasons, my Dad said it would be more durable, carry heavier loads for its size, easier to fabricate parts for, and last but not least it's solar powered. It also has a built-in air-truck propulsion system for running empty. "

"Sam, you're a bastard," her Irish temper was matched by her red hair, "bouncing me around when we could be flying like John and Darlene."

"Like I said, "I only fly when the cargo bed is empty. There's over a ton of cargo back there. Plus the fact that when I finish building my trailer, it can haul several times as much on the ground. If you don't like the ride, you can walk." That finally shut her up.

Of the twenty-three underground shelters we planned to build only a dozen of the families ordered and received the supplies they needed. The industrial base that the colony board sent was inadequate, to say the least. Plus half the workers died last winter.

~

Cam, Johns older sister, has a hidden talent, organization. She convinced many of the farmers to get with their neighbors and combine their construction supplies to build what could be called community shelters with two or three families.

~

When we got to the Jones' homesteaded we found that they'd moved to their southeast corner. Their neighbors, Jim Schultz and James Stewart, had also moved their main homes and were constructing barns within spitting distance. The barns were mostly underground with steep peak roofs. They intended to house their surviving animals in the lower levels and put all their animal feed in the upper levels. Everything was planned so they could be connected by tunnels. They also told us that they wanted two more underground barns, a warehouse, and a factory type building built next summer, all to the shelter specifications. All their construction supplies and several humongous holes were prepared. Mrs. Jones surprised us with jars of vegetables, sauces, and meat that she'd canned.

* * *

Late Summer, year 1:

We've finished all the shelters that the farmers had supplies to build. Mabel Stewart and Millie Jones visited us and brought six more cases of vegetables, several cases of sauces, and a case of meat that they'd canned. Some of the native animals are tasty. Mabel claimed as long as James keeps getting game, she'd keep her pressure canner hot.

I told them that I needed someplace to shelter my two cows and the calf for the winter. They told me to bring them over with as much grass as I could cut within the next week. Mabel also told us that James was having a terrible time with his wrist and predicted an early and very severe winter. Cam said she'd pass the word.

Half the colonist laughed when told about the James's forecast. The governor even threatened Cam for passing rumors.

Fall:

Its only been five weeks since James forecast and the governors threat. This morning the temperature dropped eight degrees from dawn to noon.

Two days later it began to snow. I haven't finished my preparations for the winter, so I called John and asked if I could move in with him and his wife for the winter. He told me to pack everything I'd need, he be over in the morning in the snow-cat. I also took down half my solar panels and packed them for moving. After moving me he was going to pick up Becky and her animals.

We got screwed this year. We only got seven weeks of fall and I consider this full winter. The temperature hasn't gone above -25 in over a week. John put his old computer on his internet connection. Then he chained his new one to it. He's been reprogramming it all morning and resetting connection settings. When I asked he said it would receive perfectly, but only answer inquires from a few URLs that he considered safe. Anything we wanted sent out would be degraded to just above the transmission threshold before transmitting. Effectively that should make anyone receiving a data packet from us think we were on our last legs and close to power failure.

He then showed me pictures taken by a friend of someone he knew. The amateur astronomer had found an asteroid cluster with an oval orbit that came between Plain and the sun this winter. Every nineteenth orbit Plain passed through part of this asteroid patch. The strange thing about it is, it wasn't orbiting on the solar plane, it was sixty-three degrees off. So in effect we had a nineteen year cycle of mild to harsh winters, and that included a cycle of summers that his friends friend has no idea about.

Jim, Cam's husband, claimed that that asteroid formation could not be natural. Something artificial had to be holding it together, so we must be dealing with an alien civilization that wants us to leave this planet to them by killing us off, and making it appear that nature defeated us. That way future colony ships will bypass this planet as just to dangerous to colonize. Jim has an overactive imagination.

* * *

Chapter 2 Sylvia

Full Winter (by the survey crews calendar), year 1:

The temperature has held a steady below -40 for about thirty days. James, John, and I have been monitoring the net. About a third of the URLs pinged don't reply, but it could be the land-lines, repeaters, or atmospheric conditions.

All our modern weapons have started malfunctioning from the cold. John and I are making low velocity large caliber rifles and pistols. Cam and Becky came up with a propellant that has very little flash and smoke, using chemicals around the farm.

* * *

Late Winter (by the survey crews calendar), year 1:

Last night the Jones website quit right in the middle of a transmission. John decided to wait until this morning for us to leave. Jim and the girls will stay here, they are all familiar with the weapons we made including the defensive mines that Jim and I put together around the perimeter. I think he's paranoid. Come spring when the ground thaws, John intends to dig pits that will trap or kill any wild animals or anything else that comes our way.

It took us five hours to get to the Jones homestead. John stopped the snow cat while I climbed on top to take pictures. I've seen explosions before, but the crater looked weird. More like the explosion was on the surface, that then penetrated downward. As soon as I transmit these pictures we're going in.

All the barn entrances were secured from the inside so we had to break in. We were two levels down when John stopped suddenly and said, "I don't think you want to stick me with that pitchfork." It was one of the Stewart kids.

I shined my light in my face and said, "I'm Sam, John and I built your main shelter. Where are your parents?" He replied with a whistle and suddenly we were surrounded by children. They told us that they were feeding the animals. We were escorted down a level where Millie met us.

They explained that all day they'd been trying to rig up the surviving computer to the communication lines. Fred was down in the shelter salvaging anything that could be useful. They had no contact with the other family and their first topside survey showed the roof of one of the barns collapsed. I connected the computer to the net and configured it. Then I sent a message out to everyone informing them of the situation at the Jones homestead and told them to be wary. I used my URL, so anyone that received it would hopefully think that I was at my homestead.

When Fred came back up he informed me that he'd found a fist size rock partially melted into the bottom floor. Quite a coincidence, hitting dead center on the top level. Especially with all the empty land around and no other impacts, at least none we'd seen coming in.

The next afternoon we were an hour out when we heard the sonic boom. John slewed the snow-cat around heading off at an angle from our main course and we both looked back at the Jones homestead. We watched five more impacts before I noticed smoke behind me on the horizon. I estimated that it was about where my homesteaded should be and pointed it out to John. "We've got to go back and check, but how can we do that without putting ourselves in danger. After all this snow-cat makes a great target."

John slammed the controls and we took off toward the tree line to the east. It took me a minute to realize that we weren't traveling in a straight line or at a constant speed. We made it to the tree line and traveled north under cover for about an hour before John stopped and said, "We've got to pile all the snow we can on the snow-cat to cool it off to ground temperature. We'll move a little north and dig a snow cave for a camp tonight. We're about six clicks out, an easy hike in the morning."

During the night I could have sworn I heard a dog barking.

At first light, John woke me up and we started north on home made snowshoes that he'd fabricated during the night. We arrived about noon and saw that there were a lot of impact craters spread around and off to the north. We entered the barn and after going down two levels John started calling out to get someones attention. We found them on the lowest level along with the animals. All three families had linked up. One of the boys had built a crystal radio and they were listening to a transmission from the governors office informing everyone that could move to head south to the capitol. James exclaimed, "That moron is still trying to get us all killed."

Fred then told us their plan to head to a cavern that he'd discovered south of his quarry. We told him where we'd set up our camp and briefed all of them about traveling over the snow and showed them our snowshoes. They figured to start out in the morning and head for the tree line and then south to the cavern. The biggest problem they figured they had was transporting food for the animals. At least the calendar showed that spring should be about a week off. However the animals would starve before the grass started growing.

John pointed out that grass grew under the trees and the snow was much thinner there, so the animals could graze on their own once the snow was cleared.

I then told them, "If you need to, you can butcher my oldest cow, but I really want the calf back. Also you should make light colored ponchos for visual camouflage."

John then told them, "We have to get back to our homestead to get ready for planting in the spring. I also need to get some repairs completed and work on the new construction."

An hour out John stopped and said, "We'll dig a snow cave here and tunnel off to the north a few hundred yards before we make camp."

"What," I exclaimed.

He then pointed out that the entrance to the snow cave would be a target. I didn't know he was paranoid, but just because he was didn't mean that something wasn't targeting us. We spent three more hours digging and repacking the snow behind us before he called a break and we set up camp two meters under the snow surface. He then proceeded to cut blocks of packed snow and reinforced the sides and top of the snow cave.

In the morning we packed up and dug upwards til we hit the surface. It only took another three hours to reach the tree line. A few more hours south we found the snow-cat. As we started forward I grabbed Johns arm and yelled, "We didn't leave the door open did we?"

"No," he said as he froze and started looking at the snow carefully and then pointed out a camouflaged trail leading off the the west. All he said was, "Damn, we'll have to check everything for booby traps before we even get in."

The only thing we found was a small box with an antenna. It was hidden in the frame with a power wire going to the battery. John took several light batteries and wired them together and then hooked them up to the box. We moved the box and batteries over to a tree. John then rigged up a remote starter, we backed off almost a hundred meters and he started the snow-cat. When it didn't explode we ran for the cabin and started south as fast as he dared drive in the trees. When he turned west and we broke out in the clear he commented, "Wherever we park this machine will be a target for the next attack. Can you drive it over to near your homestead and park it. It's only a nine click hike over to my site. It will also give you a chance to eyeball your homestead, but I wouldn't enter any building or go to close. You never know who or what might be waiting for you. Camp out like we did and I'll meet you just south of my homestead shelter in a week." Then he opened the door, tossed his gear out, and jumped. I looked back and only saw some rough snow, not a sign of him.

When I approached the tree line. that I'd planted north of the river I had an idea, along with the dread of possibly being watched. After I passed the tree line. I slipped the right track transmission into neutral and then stomped on the right track brake. The snow-cat slewed to the right, slid in a drunken swirl, until it looked like it was broken. I then cut the off snow-cat and grabbed my gear. When I dropped off into the snow I floundered back toward the tree line. As soon as the sun dropped below the horizon I pulled out my thermal blanket and draped it over me. Putting on my snowshoes I headed east as fast as I could. At the first tree I turned north for two more and then started digging in. Once I had a hole I started back filling as I went down. Using my compass I dug north until I was too tired to move. Then I poked a small hole upwards to the surface for air, wrapped up in my tent, and went to sleep.

Something wet startled me awake. Slowly opening my eyes all I saw was a big mouth with lots of teeth. When it pulled back, I realized it was a big shaggy dog. He must have dug down to me when he caught my scent. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a beef stick. He almost took my hand off as he snapped up the beef stick, and took off. I wiggled up the hole he dug and looked around. Nothing in sight except the snow-cat and a few trees. Dragging my gear, I climbed to the surface and started northwest toward my homestead. Examining the surface I could make out the humps of snow over my farm equipment. My latest rebuilt barn had partially collapsed. Darn it, I've got to learn how to build a barn that will last the winter. As I watched the black speck approaching, it turned into the dog and he cut right across where the entrance to my underground shelter. Then he changed direction and circled my barn and then ran over to me and pounced. Darn dog either wants to play or wanted me to feed him. Leaving my gear I started toward the barn. The secondary entrance to my shelter was by the barn door under the roof extension. When I reached the barn I started digging. I hit the side of the entrance and then adjusted my digging until I could pull the door open. Slipping inside I whistled for the dog and he came like a shot. As I stumbled down the tunnel I could hear him scratching on the inner door. As I opened the inner door I was looking at the sharpened end of a broomstick held by a teenage girl. "Who are you?", she demanded.

"This is my home." I yelled. "What are you doing here?"

"I wrecked my car," she mumbled as she fell back against the wall and collapsed crying.

After closing the door I went an got another blanket and threw it over her after removing the broomstick from her grasp. The tear streaks on her face almost matched her brown hair. That evening I found out her name, Sylvia, and that her parents died when their barn collapsed. She took their air car and headed south until she crashed into my barn. She found the entrance to my shelter and had been living here since. After she ran out of food, she'd been eating my dog's food. I checked the air vent and made us a light meal from my hidden stash of emergency supplies. The dog gobbled down the dog food I gave him and whined for more until I yelled at him. Then he slunk over and laid down at her feet.

In the morning I informed her that we couldn't stay here and started making her some warmer clothes from my blankets. Four pairs of socks padded out my spare boots, so she could wear them. I sacrificed my favorite tennis rackets to make her a pair of snowshoes. We left by the barn entrance and then headed back to where I left my other gear. Then we headed east. The first night I dug a snow cave for us to sleep in. The next afternoon we stopped and I handed her the small shovel and told her to start digging. She complained that we still had enough daylight to go further. I told her that I was to meet someone here.

A few minutes later John popped out of a snowbank and invited us to join him below. When I whistled for the dog, he just ran off and started laying his tracks all over our trail. John looked at me and asked, "Is that dog an asset or a liability?"

Shaking my head I told him, "I think he'll be an asset, if he'll come when called."

Over some hot soup he briefed us about his plan. "I threw together two sleds, packed them, and they're still light enough to pull. In the morning, we'd head east to the mountains and catch the others."

"How heavy are those sleds?" I asked.

"Not to heavy, I packed extra blankets, food, and a little camping gear." John stated. "After we get all the women set up in the cavern, we'll come back and pick up more supplies."

Sylvia asked, "Who are the women?"

"James has a wife, a young daughter, and two boys. My wife, a single sister Becky that you'll like, and my other sister and her husband." replied John. "Don't worry, you'll be taken care of."

"John, do you think we can modify my truck and use it to haul supplies?"

"No Sam, not this winter, I'll have to build and mount a snow blower because the snow is too deep for just a plow attachment. After the spring thaw we'd put in our crops, and contact the government, and let them know we're still alive. Then I can design and start on your half track. Now that we have a plan lets get some sleep. "

I had a problem getting to sleep because John snored like a buzz saw and she sounded like a chainsaw. It took us four days to catch up with the others. The sleds we pulled really slowed us down.

The dog showed up the next day with blood on his muzzle. After cleaning him up a little and feeding him, he took off again headed north.

We found the cavern a week later. After building a fire it was warm and comfortable. We all collapsed and I slept around the clock. When I woke up, John and Fred were gone. They had headed back further to search for the other entrance. After all, the smoke from the fire went somewhere, and if there was another good entrance we'd all feel safer. They found two, also several better rooms, so we moved the main camp. Jim rigged up traps and alarms at all the entrances.

A week of laying around is driving me nuts. Exploring the cavern doesn't help. Tomorrow John and I are headed out to check the homesteads. Departure got delayed three more days, because James insisted that we finish building sleds from wood. He thinks that they will give less of a radar reflection and be more thermal neutral than our metal sleds. The trees we made them from have a pale wood almost the same color as the snow.

* * *

Chapter 3 Betty

Fourth day out. At least the empty sleds are lighter and easier to pull than the metal ones. Biggest problem is breaking the skids free every morning. Jim is with us, at least as far as his homestead. He claims that he has some wax that will solve the skids problem.

Dropped Jim off and turned south to check mine.

Two days trudging south we arrived. After checking around we entered the hole in my barn roof and found Sylvia's air car. No damage to the workings, just a crumpled fender, hood, and side panel. The windscreen is cracked, but that is no problem. Down in my shelter there was a terrible stink. When we finally located it, I decided to leave the dog poop, because the smell should discourage anyone that entered. Nothing I had left in the shelter would by troubled by the cold so I opened the power breakers to let the shelter assume ground temperature.

~

We were almost to John's homestead, and decided to spend the night in his temporary camp, where we rendezvoused almost a month ago. In the morning we spotted several vehicles that someone had parked by his barn. After watching for over an hour we got our pistols out and crawled in. After pulling the command modules from the air cars we slipped into the barn. It was empty. Then we entered one of his emergency exits and quietly approached the underground shelter. He said, "The interior entrance is in the hall, you turn left I'll go right. Then we'd tell anyone we find to lay down on the floor or get shot for trespassing." When the door opened the guy in the hall dropped the pot he was carrying. John simply said, "Put your hands up before I shoot you. Anyone else here?"

He quickly said, "Uh, the other guys are at the end of the hall."

I was facing that direction so I slipped down and glanced in the door. They were sitting at a table playing cards. Loudly I said, "Get your hands up, or I'd shoot you for trespassing."

They didn't look like they were going to do it until they saw the pistol. Then their hands shot into the air above their heads.

John brought the other guy in and I covered them while he searched and tied them up. Then he started questioning them and found out that they had a young woman locked in the bedroom. They'd captured her and were using her for their pleasure. John stomped on a crotch, accidentally I supposed, when he turned around and headed out down the hall.

He returned with the woman at gunpoint. His first question to her was, "Are any of these men related to you, or friends."

From the look of hate on her face we knew they weren't. She simply said, "All of them raped me after killing my son."

John replied, "OK, since the law's down in the capitol, we'll take care of them the old fashion way, unless you object." He then grabbed one and hauled him to his feet, undid the rope on his hands, and told him to strip.

When the guy refused he turned to the woman and asked, "Do you wanted to kill him here or shall I."

With venom in her voice, "Just give me a knife." The guy started stripping and as soon as he was naked John dragged him out and told her to follow. Ten minutes later they were back and he pulled the second guy to his feet and told him to strip and drug him out. The last guy refused to even get up, so John asked her if she'd help him drag the body outside. She screamed, "Yes."

John pulled his pistol and shot him. Looking irritated he mumbled, "I was hoping to salvage his clothes, doesn't look like anything other than his boots will be usable now," sighing, "unless we can get the blood out."

Looking at the woman I stated, "We'll disposed of the body, then I'll fix something to eat. We have some families in a safe location east of here. You can come with us, or take one of the air cars and head south to the capitol."

She mumbled, "I'll fix something."

After dragging the body out and away from the shelter we left it on top of the snow. We could see one of the other two headed back our way. I yelled, "Wrong direction turn around." He lifted his arm and shot me the bird, so I pulled my pistol and aimed it at him.

"Sam, at this distance, aim about two fingers above his head. That should give you a good body shot." I aimed as John said and squeezed the trigger. To my surprise, he fell down bleeding from a hole in his chest. I turned and threw up on the snow. It hit me, I'd just killed a man.

"Lets go in Sam, that rapist will be dead before we get to him, lets not waste the time."

She had pulled three ration packs from John's pantry. While eating John told her we were leaving in the morning, she could sleep in the bedroom, and give us her decision over breakfast.

We were awaken to the sound of pans clanging in the kitchen and when we entered she simply said, "Coffee and food is on the table. My name is Betty, I think I'll be safer going with you."

John looked at me and then said, "We'll load up both air cars with everything they can carry and leave at noon." Then he told Betty, The water should be hot, take a shower and to clean up, you'll find clothes that should fit in one of the closets. We'd be back in to eat in a couple of hours.

I then followed John out to the barn. We found the last rapist in the barn, dead. After dragging him out I put the modules back into the air cars and pulled them into the barn. John was busy sorting tack and tools to load. It took us over three hours to load the cars to the roof, leaving three empty seats

She surprised us by coming up the shelter entrance with two thermos of coffee and a large bag of sandwiches. "I turned everything off and flipped the main breakers off. I hope that's OK."

John then asked whom she wanted to ride with. She pointed at me and said, "You still smell of blood."

John then said, "Get in that car."

I pulled my car out and then closed the barn door after he pulled out. We headed north for a few minutes and then turned east. Less than an hour later we were in the tree line. and John turned north again. I was sure that the cavern was south, but John seemed to know where he was going, so I followed. Weaving through the trees caused us to make many small turns. After awhile I noticed that John was seldom turning to the right and when I glanced at the compass it was pointing south. I spotted the first cavern entrance, but John just kept going. A few minutes later he slowed and headed up a narrow ravine. A moment later we were in the cavern and had to turn the headlights on. This entrance was a creek bed and we didn't stop til we got the the second big room. Then John laid on the horn, eased over to the wall, and stopped.

Not five minutes later James stepped around a boulder, "Where did you get the second air car?"

John replied, "It was sitting just outside my barn, where can we park them."

All James did was wave his arm an turned and walked up the creek bed. A few hundred feet further on he pointed at a hole in the wall and said, "Two hundred meters in you'll find a room.

Early Spring, year 2:

The snow is finally melted. Jim's been telling us that we shouldn't plow our land, just plant our seedlings and seed in holes and let grow what grows. I'm going out with him tomorrow to his homestead to help him plant his way.

What he failed to mention was that he had a special set of planting tools. His method with the tools was much faster than I guessed, but still very labor intensive. We managed to plant two one kilometer square fields in three days and the fact that the ground was still so soaked that we squished with each step didn't slow him down. Then we moved over to the northeast corner of my homestead and planted a square kilometer of beans, squash, and tomato seedlings. He also had me carrying a bag of clover, peas, and other mixed seeds; to throw loose on the ground every few steps. His tools were light, easy to use, and fast, but they seemed heavy after a few hours. My biggest worry was that the native grasses would choke out our food plants. In a week we were done and back to the cavern.

John was still deliberating whether to contact the government, or not. Finally he decided that we'd take one air car and travel south to the main settlement and find out what was going on. John told me that we'd leave in two days. Jim and James would plant crops on all the remaining homesteads, including Sylvia's and Betty's. Everyone hoped that this would maintain ownership. While they were out the women would be on guard duty in the cavern. When they planted Sylvia and Betty's homesteads they would be the lookout and guard. Everyone was taught how to load and fire the weapons we'd made, and were instructed to be armed anywhere they went. Loading wasn't that hard because all the propellant was wrapped in paper packs, the slugs and wadding were in the second pouch of the ammo bags Betty made.

When Mabel and Cam objected, I called Betty up front and asked her to tell what had happened to her.

John then emphasized the rules by informing them that we'd put three men to death because they thought that they didn't have to obey the law anymore. By remaining armed and alert to danger, they could prevent more deaths by demonstrating that the laws of civilization would be enforced.

* * *

Chapter 4 Trip to town

Summer, year 2"

After our first harvest we loaded up my truck and headed south to the Capitol. Three hundred kilometers never seemed so long. At every homestead we found survivors, and John gave them a copy of the plans he'd printed up. Half of them were just barely hanging on.

Those that didn't have supplies to build with, John suggested that they explore the mountains and find a cavern. They could stock it with wood and food as soon as their harvest came in.

When we arrived at the Capitol we were greeted, and ushered directly to the governors office. The governor didn't seem to concerned when we described what we'd seen on our way down. However he got irate and ordered us out when John explained the plans to build underground to get away from the cold, if the winters kept being so cold.

I left my mail to be put on the courier ship from Earth is due in this winter.

The only thing the governors representative told us was to bring half our fall crop south as soon as it was harvested.

I hope the casualty reports don't squelch the plans for the colony. The governor declared the winters a fluke and finally authorized everyone to scavenge supplies from the homesteads of the deceased, however we must furnish a list to him of everything we collect. The courier ship arrived right on time and brought us news. Not much appears to have happened on Earth since we left, except more political scandals. The fact that we are colonizing a planet is still in the news and apparently there are still more volunteers than spaces on the colony ship when it reloads and heads back here. One story even told about a group of industrialist that were trying to get permission to build their own ship so they could move some basic industries here.

On our second trip, we stopped at every homestead we knew of from our first trip south. However, we only found six families still alive. None of them had any contact, because none of their net connections worked.

We approached the main settlement carefully circling it twice. We hid the air car and walked in from the west. The first person we met was a constable. He demanded our rifle. John refused and then proceeded to question him. From what he told us, the governor had departed on the courier ship, and no one was in charge after the lieutenant governor died. The Chief constable had confiscated all the weapons and ammo and was rationing the food to those that worked for him.

We saw someone looking out a window and approached that house, and after banging on the door a woman opened it. I pulled my pistol and asked where her husband was, then he stepped around the door with a butcher knife in his hand. His face fell when he realized we had guns. John demanded that they back up and we entered and closed the door. John told them about our journey to town and asked him if he knew of any other honest men that would help overthrow the chief constable. His wife started crying as he slipped out the door to bring help.

I then decided to search the constable we had as a prisoner. I found a small pistol and some food rations. The food, I gave to the woman and asked her where her back door was, and then told her to go upstairs and barricade the door to her room. When she asked why, I commented that if her husband wasn't an strong man, he might bring more constables and then there would be a gun fight. She walked over to her phone and called one of her neighbors and asked if she could bring some friends over. Then she told us to follow her and we went out her back door and over two houses.

Not ten minutes later six constables and her husband rushed her house with their pistols out. As they rushed through the front door John and I slipped up behind them and told them to drop their guns or else. There's always one, as he spun to face us John shot him in the chest. As he fell the rest dropped their weapons and I had them move aside and lay down on their stomachs. John and I searched them and removed all the ammunition and food they had. Then we gathered up the weapons. John told them to go home, because we were going to free the town and if we saw any of them again we'd kill them on sight. I was surprised when they scattered in all directions instead of heading back toward the center of town. I took off my jacket and put all the weapons, ammo, and food on it. I carried it back to the house we'd just left. When John opened the front door the room was full of women.

As I passed out the food, and it wasn't much, one of the women told us that all the men in town had been beaten down so much that they didn't have any backbone left. I stated, "Then it's up to you women to take back your town. It won't be easy and you might have to shoot someone, maybe even your husband or a friends husband."

Two scrawny women stepped forward and one said, "Will you help us, all of us are starving, even the children."

Another then said, "I'll not be raped again by those bastards."

I reloaded two of the pistols and showed them how to aim and then told them squeeze the trigger to fire, don't jerk it or you'll miss. Then they all demanded a pistol.

We didn't have enough to go around so John asked, "Do you know where the constables keep their weapons?"

One of the women volunteered, "My husband said they're all at city hall. They keep guards out front." No one knew what the setup was inside.

John thought a minute and then stated, "Call some of your women friends to bring knives, pitchforks, and any other weapon they have. Tell them to approach the city hall, from the east, in about half an hour. We'll sneak around to the west and grab the guards from behind, and then force our way inside."

As we approached city hall one of the women saw an open window and pointed it out. John immediately said, "Sam, take three of the women and go in that way. Find the armory and keep them from getting any the guns out. Be as quiet as you can, but don't hesitate to shoot anyone that resist." I turned and asked for three volunteers that could shoot someone if they needed to.

The first two that demanded guns volunteered and then one of them grabbed another woman and said, "How hungry are your children, are you going to fight to feed them?"

She said, "I'll fight, but I don't know if I can shoot anyone."

I said, "Fair enough, you stay in the back, and only shoot if you have to." The office was dark, but I saw a pistol on the desk and several racks of communications equipment. We were all in and I'd just grabbed the pistol off the desk when we heard a key in the door. I waved the women to the hinge side of the door and I flattened myself against the wall on the doorknob side. As the door started to open I grabbed the hand on the doorknob and pulled as hard as I could. A short fat man fell into the room. I pulled him further and and tried to kick the door closes. The women evidently realized what I was trying to do, and they pushed the door shut.

One woman stuck her pistol in the fat mans face and told him that she would kill him if he made a sound. All he did was whimper as she ground the barrel of her pistol into his forehead. "This used to be the governors clerk."

I pulled off his belt, flipped him over, and used it to tied his wrist together, and then drug him over to a communications rack and tied the end of the belt high enough to pull his arms up. Then I demanded, "Where the guns?"

He didn't answer until I stepped on his ankle and started twisting my foot back and forth and asked, "Do any of you women have a knife?"

As soon as the knife appeared he squawked, "Tha, tha guns are on the second floor in the back, but the elevator is guarded. You'll never get there."

As I started cutting out the crotch of his pants out I asked, "Where are the stairs and are they guarded?"

He whimpered, "The doors were locked and can only be opened from the inside."

Then the timid woman with the children said, "Lets just burn the building down, that will solve the problem."

I looked at her and said, "That's one solution, however I don't want to kill everyone, just those that resist. Maybe the smoke from some burning rags will distract them so we can get to the second floor."

Then we heard gunfire. "Times up," I exclaimed, "we'll have to rush them, follow me." I opened the door and headed for the lobby. As I rounded the corner I saw two men with rifles rushing toward the front doors. I shot them both and then the guard standing by the elevator with his mouth open. As we entered the elevator I told the women, "Yell to the guards to drop their guns, if they do anything else shoot them. It's do or die time." The kid on the second floor wet his pants as I stuck my gun in his face and the women started shooting down the hall. I knocked him down and looked the other way and saw another guard raising his rifle. When he saw me swinging my pistol in his direction he dropped the rifle and ran around the corner. I handed one of the women the kid's rifle and told her to keep the elevator door open and watch that end of the hall. I then took the other two and we ran down to the corner where the abandoned rifle was laying on the floor.

There were two guards hiding behind a desk in the hall. I yelled to them, "Drop your guns and come out with your hands in the air." Their answer was a shot. I dropped to the floor and aimed for their feet, which showed below the desk as one of the women fired the rifle at them.

My second shot hit one in the foot and he went down. The other guard yelled, "I quit," and dropped his rifle. We ran down and took both rifles, I had one guard tie up the other using his shirt. Then I tied up the other and searched both of them. One clip of ammo.

Then I shoved the desk to the other side of the door they were guarding and flipped it on its side. "If anyone pokes their head around that corner shoot at them. I'll be back in a minute." I ran back to the corner and yelled down the hall, "Let the elevator go and get down here. As she started running toward me someone stuck their head around the far corner so I took the shot. Missed, but no one else stuck their head around that corner. I instructed her to lay down on the floor and aim the rifle at the far corner. If anyone starts down the hall, yell at them once, then shoot. Same thing if anyone you don't know comes out of the elevator.

As I turned I saw a door open and a man step into the hall and aim his rifle at the backs of the women at the desk. Without thinking or saying a word, I shot him in the back. A second constable halfway out the door froze and I told him to drop his rifle and go tell his buddy's that if they wanted to live they'd better surrender. He started to raise his rifle so I shot him too.

Then I heard a shot in the stairs and a young kid jumped into the hall with his hands in the air crying, "I surrender, I surrender."

A second later two women, one with a pistol and the other with a big butcher knife came through the door. I hollered at them, "He surrendered, tie him up."

The woman with the knife started to swing toward me when the other said, "He's with us." I picked up a rifle and shoved it into the knife wielding woman's hand and said, "Go help her guard the hallway," pointing over my shoulder.

She looked awestruck and asked, "How do I work this thing."

I grabbed the other rifle and said, "Pull the stock tight against your shoulder like this, look down the barrel at your target, and squeeze the trigger. If you need any other help, call out and one of us will come right away." Then three more women and John came out the stairwell door.

I pointed at one woman and told her to guard the stairs. "Crouch in the door and watch the stairs," if you see anyone yell, "Drop your guns, surrender or die. If they hesitate shoot them."

After securing the building we sent runners out to call all the women to assemble at city hall. All the constables were tied and herded into a group by time the women arrived. The first thing I did was to get one of the women that stormed the building to tell them to listen up. After giving them a brief run down of the events she introduced me.

The first thing I did was hand her the rifle and pistol that I'd taken from one of the constables. Then I announced, "Well, it seems that the governor fled, some unsavory characters took over. I think we got them all in that group. In case we don't, I think that you women deserve to and should arm yourselves. We can teach you how to aim and fire a pistol or rifle, but it will be up to you to defend yourselves, and that may mean killing anyone that tries to harm your neighbors, yourselves, or your children. Can you do that?" Stepping back from the edge of the porch, I waited for some kind of reaction.

After the stunned silence an angry scream erupted from the women. I stepped back forward and then announced, "All the constables are prisoners of the town. First you women need to elect a sheriff and swear in some deputies. After that you need to elect a couple of judges. To make the trials of these constables fair and uphold the laws of the colony they should not be executed without being tried and convicted. However unlikely, there may even be one or two that didn't break the law in the performance of their duties. The judge and jury will determine the sentence and the sheriff will carry it out.

"In the mean time, my partner and I will train any of you that want to learn how to shoot accurately. Then we have to get back north to our homesteads and families."

Three weeks later we finally got permission to leave. The sheriff was a small woman that didn't take lip from anyone. She even threatened to throw us in jail several times to keep us in town and ensure that every woman knew how to fire a gun, and hit what they were aiming for. The free men of town were walking a fearful straight line. We also left a request that as soon as the factory was operational we needed supplies. John even left plans on how to build underground homes that should withstand the next winter, away from the present town. He even told the women that they needed to start kitchen gardens for fresh food until the homesteads could bring in a full crop.

On our way north with an updated homestead map we found several more homesteads with their occupants alive. It took us over a month to cover the distance back to my homestead. We were exhausted because everywhere we stopped, we had to help the farmers get started again.

We found my homestead clean and stocked. When I turned the circuits on everything started. John just smiled and commented, "Becky's been here. You better watch out, I think she likes you. I'm sure she knows about your fiancée on Earth, but that girl's to far away to protect you." We spent the night and then headed over to his homestead.

When we arrived we were surprised at the number of air cars scattered around. Then the party started.

~

Fall, year 2:

After working all summer on half a dozen homesteads John called a halt for the season. Jim's weird planting method gave us some good crops. The fall harvest wasn't easy, everyone, even the children helped, but we got almost all of the crops in before the weather turned bad. Jim simply claimed that what we didn't harvest would reseed and grow wild. We should plant the same crop in a different area, in other words we would be naturally rotating our crops, letting nature choose the most adaptable and strongest plants. He claimed that he would show us how to gather seed from the spontaneous plants the next year, and that way we would have stronger crops. Cam, Jim's wife kept harping on something called three sisters. Jim also gave us some seed he called winter wheat and told us to throw it out on the fields as we cut grass for the livestock.

Jim and James had build a kiln during the summer. Mabel had been busy blowing glass bottles and making cups and plates using the sand and clay they found. Sylvia and Betty were her assistants. It took us two weeks to stock the caverns so we could move in. Moving big clay pots full of seed isn't easy. They even made large bottles and wove something like grass around them to store liquids.

Our communications with the capitol seemed to indicate that they were doing OK, but the sheriff sent us a message that she didn't think they had enough food for the winter, unless they ration it from the start. Local animals had gotten into some of the warehouses and spoiled a lot of the emergency rations.

John seems to be the default leader here, and he sent her a message that we had barely enough for ourselves, but he's try to make a supply run to them after the first snow. Then he started sending messages to all the homesteaders we'd been in contact with and asked them how they were set up for the winter. Only half of them thought they were OK. The rest wanted to know where they could get help.

He sent messages back to them telling the situation in the capitol, and told them that they should start rationing their supplies immediately. He also warned them that if they didn't cut enough grass to feed their livestock over the winter; they wouldn't have any meat the next year.

* * *

Chapter 5 Year Five

Dear Mom,

So far the courier ship that was supposed to be here last year, didn't show. Hopefully the colony ship will arrive this spring as scheduled.

Looking back, once we got past the first two winters we did pretty well. Just about everyone spends their winters in the caverns on both sides of the continent. To someone from Earth it must seem strange that in the spring and fall, we migrate east and west instead of north and south. Our explorers found many more cavern complexes than anyone expected. We've built some of our industrial complexes in the caverns. The only town occupied year round is the capitol, and most of it is now located below ground, and well farmed in the spring.

Of the original thousand colonist only six hundred and six survived, but they have almost three hundred children. Becky is still chasing me. I just hope that Susie is on that ship and it's on time. If she doesn't show, I may have to marry Becky. I've just about lost all resistance when it comes to her.

I started several letters, so they'd be ready when the ships arrived. This letter is complete as of now. I just don't know when it will get on any ship headed back.

Your Loving Son,

Sam

PS: Almost forgot, my farm is doing great and I finally learned how to build a barn that didn't collapse under the heavy winter snow. I now have two cows, three calves and five chickens. None of my pigs survived the second winter.

~

The scheduled arrival date for the colony ship is next week. Everyone has plans for a few days off with a big celebration whether it arrives or not. I built a smoker and one of my calves is already butchered and company is coming in from all around for a big BBQ.

~

Well the ship didn't show. We did have one hell of a party. James demonstrated a skill that no one expected. He built a still. The only fault that anyone could find with the whiskey he made was that it wasn't aged. Of course his wife Mabel brewed up over five hundred liters of beer. She won't tell where she got the corks for the bottles she made. Even with my hangover I had my chores to do this morning, and the women started canning the leftovers.

~

PS: The ship is now two months overdue. I finally gave in and asked Becky to marry me. She demanded three weeks to get ready and let everyone that wants to attend, get here. Then she gave me a "Got to Do" list that I must have completed prior to the wedding.

PS: Its spring again, Becky and I have a beautiful baby girl. Her name is Hope. Everything is progressing fine, the only downside is the fact that some people have disappeared and strange tracks have been found.

One of the women from town suggested that I upload my journal to the communications satellite.

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Earth System

Heeding the councils warning after the attack at Islands, the Captain dropped below FLT speed and had all personnel man the ships weapons. A day later the first spacecraft was spotted. While attempting to raise them on the radio, the ship started firing laser weapons. The Captain ordered several missiles fired and returned fire with lasers. The aggressor ship was destroyed.

Two days later approaching the asteroid belt they picked up communications between several asteroids and made contact. The three asteroids gave them the frequencies and location of their local government. Hours later they made contact. The Captain and one member to the council took a small shuttle over to the space station. They were met at the airlock by armed personnel, and disarmed.

The local governor quickly realized that they were from out system and returned their communicators and handguns. He apologized and then asked if they knew the history of the solar system after the collapse.

"Captain, after the second colony ship failed to return and the two others returned damaged, a group of industrialist got together and formed a group called Aurora. They bought the ships from the governments that owned them and repaired them. The fifth government ship being constructed was abandoned and then built by the Aurora group. In a few decades they'd moved almost all their manufacturing facilities off planet to a location between Mars and the asteroid belt. They even built up their own security force, that was as well armed as Earths. As Earth and Mars demanded more and more credit they issued an ultimatum. Both Earth and Mars launched military forces to bring them back into line.

"The space battle lasted one day. The next day the Aurora group launched out of the system taking everything. No one knew that they'd repaired the engines of the colony ships, and had FLT engines on all their manufacturing stations.

"With the Earth and Mars military decimated, they couldn't enforce their demands that the miners in the asteroid belt furnish them with raw materials. They tried, but when two asteroids detonated nuclear devices while being attacked they withdrew the surviving forces. Quickly the planets economies collapsed, and then they had their own wars for resources.

"We were in survival mode for over fifty years. There was a battle somewhere in the belt every month over supplies. Miners started banding together to survive. A hundred and seventy years ago on Ceres a group of governments got together and set up the trade rules we live by today. There are a few what we call pirate governments that won't abide by the rules, however they are contained to several small areas within the belt. Occasionally they will send out raiders to hijack trade ships. Most are dealt with by our armed traders.

"An interesting story that everyone knows is about the Brown clan that had a trading station. One of them started a farm before the collapse. They traded fresh food for minerals that they traded to Aurora for high level manufactured goods. They got successful enough that they linked several asteroids together and built domes connecting them. One of them was a little paranoid and armed the clan. When the shit hit the fan they were one of the first attacked by other miners needing food and supplies. The dummies that attacked, holed one of the farm domes. The Brown clan replied with a laser barrage that cut the attacking ships to pieces. After salvaging those ships they announced that due to damage they were limiting the amount of food to be sold until they had a new crop in. Suddenly several groups of miners offered security forces for trading rights. They now have farms in six locations, all armed, and with external security forces on call.

"Years ago a pirate government sent a few ships to raid one of their farms. The Brown's warned them. When they attacked, the Browns blew panels out of the farm domes. The pirates won that battle, but came away with no food. Every miner and pirate in the system took that lesson to heart."

The Captain then said, "That's an interesting story. I'd like to meet the leader of that clan. We may have things to trade.

"And, if you would, pass the word that we won't be screwed with either. Our elders were a little paranoid. They built safeguards into our ship."

"Yes Captain, we are aware of some of the ships capabilities. Your battle outside the belt was observed, and it made the news."

"That's nice to know governor. We've visited of all the known colonies. We didn't know about Aurora. Does anyone know where it is?"

"I'm afraid not Captain. They took everything when they left. Your colony was the last settled by the Earth governments.

A lot has happened in the last three hundred years. There is even a group now trying to gather support to build another colony ship using the design the Confederation of American States used. If I remember my history right, the ship returned from one trip and had to gather backers from north and south America before they could launch again."

"Yea governor, we found that colony. It has two small cities and everything else is farms. They only settled one continent. We seeded the second continent with animals and food crops. We spent over a year there. I don't think they even detect us in orbit. At least we didn't make the broadcast news. They aren't even using their two communication satellites.

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