Blaze (The High-Born Epic) (9 page)

             
After a few more minutes of rapidly pressing symbols on the data-pane, the woman handed Colonel Foxx her data-pane and he studied it for only a few seconds.  Then, he gave a thumb’s up to the squads at all of the crossroads.  Harold had figured out several years ago that meant that all villagers had been accounted for by the profilers’ computers.  Somehow, all of those data-panes were linked together and fed information back and forth to each other.

             
Colonel Foxx walked to the base of the pyramid and motioned to his gunship.  The entire southern section of the elevated platform around the pyramid shuddered and lowered itself to ground.  Colonel Foxx stepped up on it and it rose to a height of about ten feet.  Once it had stopped, the colonel tapped the piece of equipment in his ear that ran to his mouth. 

             
The speakers in the pyramid did not make any noise, and he looked back at the pilots in the front of his gunship and pointed at the microphone.  The pilots moved their arms around, flipping switches, and pressing buttons.  After a few seconds, they gave the colonel a thumb’s up.  He tapped the microphone again and you could hear the strikes coming from all around town.  The Kristall above him suddenly stopped and the rotating image of him that always floated above it flickered from view.  Just as soon as it disappeared, four images of him shimmered into sight.  Each likeness faced one of the four directions and mirrored him exactly.  The crowd became quiet and Colonel Foxx cleared his throat. 

             
“Citizens of Foxx Hole,” his deep and authoritative voice echoed around the town circle.  “As always, we gather once a week to commemorate the sacrifice that the High-Born have made on behalf of you.  As always, electricity will be left on until midnight tonight, so that you may celebrate the blood that the High-Born have shed so that you may live in peace and security.”

             
Colonel Foxx spoke about the importance of hard work, and the upcoming planting season.  He also talked about how villagers could earn some coins to trade for High-Born merchandise if they wanted to learn about the Low-Born trade initiative.  He also spoke about giving the High-Born the proper respect they deserved and how a citizen should always comply with High-Born orders.

             
The speech lingered for about fifteen minutes before Colonel Foxx queued the pilots.

             
The icons of him sputtered out of view and the Kristall began rapidly spinning.  Sounds began clicking all around town and the Kristall glowed a bright blue.  The Vista always started this way, but the realistic images that the Kristall made never ceased to amaze Harold.  A gloomy and ominous bit of music slowly rose in volume as dark storm clouds seemed to gather just above town.

             
“The Forgotten Nations brought war to their many and varied peoples,” a deep voice echoed from all around.

             
The roar of jet engines blared and the washed out images of fighter jets appeared on the eastern and western sides of town and flew towards the crowd.  They fired guns and missiles at each other and looped in and around one another seeming to dogfight just above the town circle.  Harold looked to the north as it turned into a beach full of breaking waves.  Soldiers began surfacing from beneath the water, seeming to walk toward the crowd.  As they advanced on the town circle, none of Foxx Hole’s citizens even flinched as they fired their machine guns.  Harold turned and looked to the southern part of town as the transparent images of tanks began rolling out of the buildings.  They started firing and the faded likenesses of explosions detonated in and around Foxx Hole.

             
As the ghost-like images fought all around the crowd, the speakers boomed:

             
“The Forgotten Nations could not easily overcome one another, and believed that more advanced fighter aircraft could solve their problems.  The development of artificial intelligence gave rise to horrible machines that turned on the Forgotten Nations.  And so began the Artificial Intelligence Revolt... And a new... more terrible war began.”

             
The music darkened and several sleek fighter jets screamed from the north and south toward the other fighter jets.  The sleek jets made amazing maneuvers around the original jets as the transparent images of missiles and bullets flew all over the sky.  A couple of the first jets exploded and the new fighters sped all around the remaining warplanes.  They quickly outmatched them and in just a few moments, nothing but the sleek planes were flying above Foxx Hole.

             
The Kristall began glowing red and the soldiers who rose out of the water walked through the crowd.  Their images seemed to be little more than ghosts as they passed through the citizens of Foxx Hole.  They soon made their way to the tanks on the southern end of town and took up positions around them.

             
The soldiers and tanks then turned their weapons toward the oceans and the sky.  Then, man-like robotic soldiers stomped out of the water, and the soldiers and tanks began firing at them.  The mechanized soldiers began firing back with weapons that had been built into where their hands should have been, and the sleek fighter jets circling around town began firing at the tanks and human soldiers.  The mechanoids and fighter jets made quick work of the normal soldiers and tanks.

             
“Humanity, as it was, could not compete in the face of this mechanized onslaught.  Therefore, the greatest minds of that lost age came together and created the solution to the AIR War.”

             
The music lightened and seemed hopeful as the beat increased.

             
“And the work of the Forgotten Nations gave birth to the first perfect human beings.”

             
The music became exciting as all of the ghostly images disappeared from sight; however, the Kristall did not stop spinning.  Suddenly, a gigantic pair of beautiful, crystal blue eyes appeared in the air above the Kristall.  Applause erupted from the speakers, and the soldiers around the town circle started clapping and whistling.  And so did a few villagers when the soldiers gave them harsh looks.

             
“The High-Born were able to turn the tide against mankind’s seemingly invincible enemy.”

             
Several new fighter jets streaked across the sky, and the sleek jets roared into sight as well.  Rail gun friction-trails and missiles covered the dark and cloudy sky as the two forces collided.  The music upticked to a heroic beat as the new fighter jets circled in and around the A.I. fighters.  Soon the A.I. fighters began slowly falling one by one as the High-Born fighters sped in and around them. 

             
As the fight raged above town, dozens of the man-like robots began walking in large groups from all around town.  The faded images of High-Born grunts began parachuting from all over the sky and seemed to land on the perimeter of the crowd.  The ghostly soldiers raised their guns to their shoulders and began fighting with the mechanoids.  As the robotic soldiers fell all around, the speakers blared:  

             
“Though the A.I.R. War cost many High-Born their lives, the High-Born bore this burden for YOUR sake.  The High-Born ARE the only reason YOU are alive today!  They died so that YOU might live!  Take time to thank them for what they did for YOU!  Be thankful that YOU have opportunity to repay them!  Find a High-Born and shake their hand, because they still bear this burden for YOU even unto this very day!”

             
Harold had to admit that the manner in which the information was presented was mildly inspirational. 
That is, until you’ve lived under their rule.
  Harold thought.

             
All of the images flickered from sight and the Kristall projected the four images of Colonel Foxx toward the crowd.  He was clapping, and he looked out across the crowd, “Let’s give our heroes a big hand!”

             
Colonel Foxx began clapping louder, and the soldiers around the circle clapped louder too.  Then, the squads of soldiers began urging the villagers all over the town.  Soon, about half of the crowd was clapping, but the entire crowd still hadn’t joined in.

             
“That’s right,” Colonel Foxx shouted.  “Show your thanks!  Come on, now. ”

             
And he clapped even more furiously, while the soldiers around town began whistling and hooping.  Slowly, the entire crowd joined in applause, even Harold.  Colonel Foxx kept the standing ovation going for a long time before he finally stopped.

             
“Now,” Colonel Foxx held out his arms in a welcoming gesture.  “Please, send your children forward so that they might see the generosity of the High-Born!”

             
Harold hadn’t noticed, but sometime during the Vista several large crates had been placed all around the pyramid’s platform.  Now was the time for all the heads of Foxx Hole’s households to step forward and receive their crates of weekly rations.  This was always done in twenty-four lines, each line representing the right and left side of a respective road.

             
The six northern lines were for the left and right sides of roads eleven, twelve, and one; while the six eastern lines represented roads two, three, and four.  The six southern lines were for roads five, six, and seven, and six western lines comprised roads eight, nine, and ten.  The villagers always lined up according to the nearness of their house to the town circle.  The households that were closer to the town circle were at the front of the lines, and the households that were farther were behind them.  As the High-Born with the data-pane checked a household off the list, the other High-Born gave its head their labeled crate.

             
Aunt Nean was always one of the last households in line, and Harold was constantly worried that the crates would run out before it got to them, but it had never happened.  For everything that the High-Born were, they were efficient.  The High-Born always managed to make this process very fast and in less than a half-hour, the entire village had their weekly allotments.  It was almost always the same: a jar of peanut butter; a block of cheese; enough powdered milk to give each of them about a half-gallon per week; some flour and corn meal; and an assortment of canned vegetables, fruits, and meats.

             
Rationed properly, it would last a week, but was never really enough to completely satisfy.  However, Harold often caught enough fish, squirrels, and birds to give them all a little variety, and they had put back some turnips just in case.  Between that, and the crops he often lifted from his fields, they ate better than most people in Foxx Hole, but it always bothered Harold that most of their canned food actually came from the crops he had made the prior season.

             
After that was finished, Colonel Foxx called up all of the children.  In just a few moments, the area just below the pyramid was full of Foxx Hole’s children.  Colonel Foxx, the woman, and the ration-giving soldiers all began passing out all manner of extra canned goods.  They also tossed out bread; cloth; toothbrushes; toothpaste; soap; shampoo, and even some toys. 

             
Harold shook his head because the toys were always action figures of High-Born soldiers.

             
After all of the crates were empty, Colonel Foxx blew kisses to the crowd and walked into his gunship.  As it rose into the air, his large image flickered into view above the Kristall and began rotating with him seeming to embrace all of Foxx Hole.  The gunship moved toward the south, almost directly above the road on which Harold lived.  In fact, he probably went directly over Aunt Nean’s house.

             
Once he was safely away, the soldiers at the various checkpoints began sprinting away from the town circle back down the roads they were each guarding.  It always amazed Harold at how fast the High-Born could move.  About two hundred yards from the town circle, above every road, he saw gunships seemingly fade into existence.  All twelve of the gunships were hovering about twenty or thirty feet above the ground, just above the building tops.  It looked like they had been there for the colonel’s entire speech. 

             
Harold looked around, it was always the same.  Their weapons were pointed in the general direction of the crowd as they just hung in the air, a blue glow coming from their six thrusters.  Six ropes fell from each of the gunships, three from each side of the vessels.  Each of the High-Born soldiers on the ground then hooked one of the ropes onto something attached to their belt, and were all swiftly lifted.  In fact, all 72 soldiers rose from the ground so nearly in sync that they all arrived in their respective gunships at practically the same moment.  Then, the gunships turned and all headed in the direction of Colonel Foxx’s mansion.

             
After they were all out of sight, Harold searched for Sarah, but she was nowhere to be found.  He had hoped to go the bonfire like they usually did on meeting night, and looked for several more minutes, but he still couldn’t find her.  He then walked home, but Aunt Nean, Cooper, Ollie, and Scape stayed in the town circle to enjoy some of the festivities.