"You'll have to arrest me, General. I won't go peacefully and I won't let you kill any more civilians. You're not thinking clearly. You keep blasting their planet; as if that's going to make them get up and leave. You've gone over the edge and I'm sick with it."
He gave me a level stare, and responded, "I'm sorry you've lost the stomach for this, Doctor. Sergeant, arrest her."
And so I was put in handcuffs for the second time in my life. Only this time it was by my own people.
I am Doctor Rosamund Weston, a quantum physicist and a pretty sharp tack if I do say so myself. However, being raised in a community of scientists and doctorates, i.e, a roomful of sharp tacks, I am only maybe a cut or two above the average. I had however managed to distinguish myself early in my career with a couple of major breakthroughs. It was the latest one that had really skyrocketed my career. Using a dimensional gateway and a special particle I had created, I had come through with one of the dreams of mankind - an unlimited power source that never ran out and that literally used time and space and matter to keep on regenerating itself.
I had high hopes for this sphere, affectionately dubbed the Weston Sphere by my colleagues. I hoped to usher in a brand new era of prosperity for my people. Imagine what we could do if we never had to worry about power! Imagine what we could accomplish!
But human nature intervened and things went down just about as you would expect. The knowledge had been leaked and our neighboring planet, Saracen, using alien technology, had attacked. They had destroyed us utterly - we were mostly a community of scientists and not warriors. I had escaped the research labs I had been working in with my Sphere, which was small enough to fit in a pocket, and had actually managed to survive out in the country, entirely on my own, for seven days before encountering one of our own patrols. (It helped that service in the Armed Forces was mandatory for everyone. I'd done my two years.) I had hopes of somehow escaping, but one of my colleagues had been the source of the leak, and he had planted homing devices in the case I carried the Sphere in. Stupidly, I had not thought to check.
We were captured and all of the soldiers were executed.
For nine months I had been forced to work for the enemy. They had my baby sister, grown up to be a history professor at the local university, and threatened to hurt her if I didn't work. As long as I worked, she was safe. I tried to sabotage the project, but they caught on and I was only able to escape her being hurt badly by agreeing to do what they said. I repaired all of my work.
After nine months, however, my own people - Caledonians - broke me out. On the way the Saracen Colonel who had been overseeing my work threatened my sister over the intercom and when I wouldn't comply, shot her. I wanted to go back to her, more than anything, but the Sphere I was once again carrying could signify the death sentence of billions of people. Even when I hesitated at the last, she screamed, "Run, Rosa!"
So I ran.
I then spent eight months in a bunker with my people designing a cannon to be used with my Sphere. Me, who had always sworn to use my intellect for non-violent purposes. I knew there was no way out of this, though. In front of me all I could see was my sister's face. And for the last two weeks we had been tooling around the countryside in a ridiculously massive truck with an enormous cannon mounted to it. A fully-grown man was the size of one of the tires and I was just a petite woman.
At first we shot all hard targets - shooting destroyers right out of the sky, a capital ship carrying troops and equipment. Then we went to one orbital platform, then another. I began to grow uneasy - there were most likely civilians on these.
By then, however, the Saracens had mostly pulled their ships out of low orbit. I showed them the capabilities of my machine by calculating the trajectory to hit a carrier ship in high orbit. I think they pulled their ships to the other side of the planet then!
Then the General wanted to target their planet. I knew I could do it. And I did it. We hit their capital city. I justified it by the ruins of my own home - they had unleashed planetary bombardment on our capital, and dropped a nuke on two other cities. My world was in ruins.
But the General wanted to keep on going. Two shots on the capital...Ok. A third shot on some coastal cities. And then a fourth shot. I admit I let it go on this long. Some out of vengeance and some out of a genuine feeling that the Saracens would expect no less. But that inner eye, the one that saw my sister all the time, finally dimmed a little and I began seeing all of the other sisters that had lost loved ones.
Finally one day the General came back with news that the Saracens "had not capitulated", and told me we'd need to make more examples. I looked at him, flabbergasted. Did he think they would just roll over and play dead because we had a mighty big cannon? We needed to conduct guerilla warfare, to hit things on the planet, to let them know we still stung. He said he wanted to "make a point". I said the point had been made.
Well, you see where this conversation led me. To being locked in the back of a Jeep. At least they took my cuffs off. This went on for two days, during which time they hit three more targets.
The third one went differently, however. The shot went off, and even as they were lowering the cannons, the power generators exploded. It took me a second to realize that the hit had come from the sky, from fighters flying overhead. I had little protection in the Jeep and lay low until I heard someone fumbling at the door.
Into the driver's seat jumped Dr. Robert Walker, my colleague and friend, who had been helping me with the cannon. He had also heavily disagreed with the General but had kept his mouth shut during the argument. I pressed up against the grate separating us.
"What the hell happened?" I shouted.
"I told the Saracens where we were, what else?"
"You called them down on our own people?" He'd started the Jeep and drove, away from the battle.
"Yes, and I shot the General. Anything else?"
Silence for a moment, and then I grinned. "Bloody brilliant. Now get us the hell out of here."
"What do you think I'm trying to do?" Just then I heard shots hitting the back of the jeep and dropped low.
"I think they're on to us!"
"I know, but I think they've got bigger fish to fry. Is there a gun in this car somewhere?" He was driving hellbent into the woods now and I was being tossed back and forth. I gripped the seat as tightly as I could.
"Yeah, between us. I can't get to it, before you ask. I'm kind of locked up back here."
"Great. Let me get clear and I'll get you out."
It didn't actually take that long to get clear. Our troops were too busy dealing with the fighter jets and helicopters overhead. It was the middle of the night, so visibility was poor anyway. Deep in the woods he stopped the car and came around to let me out.
Robert – never Bob or Bobby or even Rob – and I have been friends since he first moved into my hometown, Memphis at age six. We were the same age now; thirty-three, and our friendship had never wavered.
Right now his face was pale as he helped me out of the back of the Jeep. Impulsively I hugged him. He was sweaty and I could tell he was scared but not showing it by the way he hugged me back tightly. Well, I was scared, too. "Thanks for sticking by me, Robert."
He grinned. "I figured if you were going to be that crazy so would I."
"Do you have it?"
He nodded and started to undo a case at his side. I shook my head, stopping him. "That thing is more important than me. If they – either side – capture me again, they can't have that. Can you protect it?"
He nodded. "Of course. Now let's get out of here."
"Sure." I jumped in the passenger seat with him. "Let me find a map."
"This thing has GPS."
I loaded it up and examined it. "It's also got a tracker, so we're going to have to ditch this vehicle pretty soon. But let's see...we're about thirty miles outside of New Caledonia." I looked at him. "Go west."
"All right." He started the car and headed off before he asked me. "What's our destination?"
"You know there's only one safe place we can go."
