A Planet in the Middle of Nowhere Book 5

a planet in the middle of nowhere

book 5

the Struggle for Hope

(part one)

by DRK

© 2015

Smashwords edition

What Already Happened

Capt. Harry and his troops kept digging, trying to get through the wall of stones blocking the tunnel. They had been at the task for what seemed a long time, using those small military spades and shovels which came with their Earth Army backpacks. Capt. Harry wanted to rejoin Gen. Schnell and the rest of their forces on the other side of the stones.

Why not use our blasters? asked a soldier.

"Yeah, right. Blasters can't work on clearing our path. More rocks will keep falling and sliding in the place of those we blast- No, we must use our shovels and work at it, actually removing the rocks,

unfortunately. Keep digging." replied the captain.

Some of them had been directly under the cave-in, and those survivors whom they managed to pull from the rubble were now lying in the backs of jeeps- a poor substitute for hospital beds-, moaned and groaned- if they still held on to consciousness. But most who had been under the roof of the stone passageway when Gov. Xavier Bright sprang the trap on them didn't make it. A few souls were even still trapped under the stones and boulders.

The general had led the Earth Army through the governor's escape route in pursuit of the rogue governor. The tunnel probably came out somewhere in the fuel ore mines. That's why another company of soldiers had been sent to attack the mines from above, from ground level, with the goal to make it past Gov. Bright's loyal miners and to capture the criminal in his hide-out. His crime? Declaring

independence for the World of Hope.

Earth had sent Gen. Schnell and Capt. Harry and their troops through the wormhole to this world to keep Hope under Earth's control. When Earth victory seemed certain, the governor had slipped away through this tunnel. And the troops had followed him. But the governor cut in half the military forces following his path with a well-placed cave-in in his escape tunnel.

When that had happened, Capt. Harry got stuck on this side of the wall of rocks. He immediately ordered the survivors to pull free those trapped under the rubble, and to get to work shoveling a way to the other side of the barrier.

Capt. Harry tried to raise Gen. Schnell via walkie-talkie but either the signal couldn't penetrate the thick obstruction or else they couldn't answer because- Anyway, nobody answered Capt. Harry. Best not to think the worst.

Capt. Harry checked his watch. They had been trying to get past this rock wall for almost an Earth hour.

Suddenly, a terrible shaking knocked them to the ground! Capt. Harry had never felt a quake that bad before! This can't be good, down in this cavern tunnel during a quake like this!

As quick as it came, so also as quickly it stopped. The soldiers were afraid to breathe, scared they might bring down the whole rock tunnel upon themselves.

Amazingly it didn't collapse! Thank God! Apparently, without the use of explosives, nothing could make this ceiling fall!

Shortly after that, Gen. Schnell finally contacted Capt. Harry on the walkie and told him all that had happened to the general and his people on his side of the rock wall since the boobie-trap had

separated their forces.

Capt. Harry gasped. What the general told him sure was a lot to take in-

According to the general, after Gov. Bright's trap had split them up, the governor then caused another controlled cave-in ahead of Gen. Schnell this time, blocking the general's group in the tunnel between

two walls of rock. But the worst of it was that Eaters were let loose on the general's half of the troops! Eaters!!

As Gen. Schnell's team frantically tried to dig out of the trap and escape them, the monsters- which hid inside dark clouds- attacked with ferocious gusto, happy to find an imprisoned meal.

The two ex-miners who had accompanied Gen. Schnell worked harder at digging than the general had ever seen anyone go. Without those two and their amazing strength, doubtless the outcome of this war would have differed from the way it turned out.

Tretl Clyden, the former Security Leader whom Xavier Bright had made into a miner and who had escaped the mines and joined in with Gen. Schnell, battled the Eaters and kept them at bay while George McCleer, the other escaped miner, hurried to make a way through the pile of rubble, inspired by concern for his wife Nina, who came along the tunnel with them.

Tretl Clyden died in the fight, taking the Eaters with him. But McCleer had at last managed to get through the obstructing mound lying before the army. To everyone's surprise, two large robots on the

other side invited them to Xavier Bright's underground control bunker. As it turned out, Gov. Bright had realized his niece Sheila Bright had disguised herself and was among the army from Earth as one

of them. And so, he told the robots to bring them to his command center.

The rouge governor had already started his Doomsday Device, and there was no way to shut it down. He had a small escape rocket which he desired for his niece Sheila to take through the wormhole to safety on Earth. Security Leader Mita Morgan was to pilot the craft.

No, Sheila refused to leave. She loved her Uncle Xavier and respected him, but to destroy the World of Hope so Earth could not exploit it- That was wrong! Wrong for the people of Hope! However, if Hope should die, then she, too, would die with her home. She refused to flee to save only herself.

Sec. Ldr. Mita Morgan agreed: it was wrong to destroy Hope, since Hope was Leader Bright's legacy. (She and the people of Hope mostly called him Leader Bright, seeing him as the Leader of independent

Hope.) She said one future day the people of Hope would again try to overthrow their oppressors from Earth, and then Leader Bright's legacy would continue.

With Sheila refusing to leave and with Mita Mogan's reasoning about a legacy, Gov. Bright reconsidered allowing his Doomsday Device to wipe out his planet. But how to stop the bomb? The bomb was to open another wormhole, but as it did so, the process would rip apart the planet. He would succeed where the Quarantine terrorists had failed, the crazy gang which Gov. Bright and then Sec. Ldr. Clyden had managed to round up and stop years ago. How ironic.

The Doomsday Device had little time left before it did its awful work. The only way to get it far enough away from the World of Hope before this happened would be to take the device inside the original wormhole that led to Earth and to let it erupt inside that wormhole, assumably distant enough from the World of Hope inside that wormhole that warped and cut short distances in space.

What would happen, though, if someone took the bomb into the wormhole via the escape rocket- and another wormhole opened inside that wormhole??!! Nobody knew. Maybe the bomb would still destroy Hope-

Sec. Ldr. Mita Morgan- nearly dead anyway from a shoot-out with Osmo Martin when she tried to protect the force field generator- volunteered to take the rocket on the suicide mission with the Doomsday Device. Xavier Bright pretended to accept her offer, but then unexpectedly he stabbed her with a hypodermic containing an experimental quick acting rejuvenation wonder drug. The shock of it collapsed Mita Morgan onto the floor.

Gov. Bright said he wouldn't let someone else do what he should do. He appointed his four bodyguard robots to watch over his niece Sheila and over Mita Morgan, and then he left in his escape rocket- which now carried the bomb- into the wormhole. And Gov. Bright barely made it into the wormhole in time before the bomb went off.

The second wormhole opened up inside the first, and somehow that process destroyed the original as well as the second wormhole, causing that terrible quake- a gravity quake. Then the gravity imbalance quickly righted itself.

The general used the bunker's impressive communications console to contact Capt. Harry with new orders- to return back along the tunnel the way they had come (assuming the tunnel had not fallen in on

itself from the quake at some points along the tunnel) and upon reaching the end of the tunnel to go help with disaster relief in Sparkle City. Surely the quake must have quite devastated the city.

Capt. Harry and his troops made good time, taking with them their wounded. He hated to leave behind the bodies of those still buried in the rubble, but his team had to help the living in the city now.

They observed with satisfaction that not many boulders had been shaken loose in the tunnel and they easily got past those which did..

When Capt. Harry reached the beginning of the tunnel, he unsurprisingly found that the remains of Gov. Bright's mansion had fallen and now covered the way out of the tunnel. Capt. Harry and

his company made short work of that mess and soon were in the open air, back in what had at one time been the mansion's basement. They scrambled up the sides and stood atop the Governor's Hill,

looking down toward Sparkle City. They gaped in astonishment, not even noticing a fire engine speeding down the road from the hill toward the fallen city, carrying Osmo Martin, who weakly clung to life.

Whisked Away

When Gen. Schnell ended his talk with Capt. Harry, he turned from the comm console to Sgt. Heinz, who had operated the console and had been the one able to contact the captain on his walkie. Under better circumstances I'd be impressed with Gov. Bright's communications console, Sgt. Heinz. I hear long range communication usually doesn't work very reliably on this world.

Yessir, Sgt. Heinz agreed.

The general of the army from Earth surveyed the former Hope Governor's command bunker from his chair. Gov. Xavier Bright had planned to continue his campaign against the forces of Earth from

this very bunker- and now the bunker, like the whole World of Hope, was in the hands of those forces of Earth. And so many people packed this place- A large number of Earth troops, Mr. and Mrs. McCleer (Nina and George, and George was a miner), that other miner who had come with Sgt. Heinz' team- Billy Boy, Earth Leader Bigges (who had insisted on coming), Gov. Bright's young Security Leader Mita Morgan, and the governor's equally young niece Sheila Bright. Such a large number of folks packed in the bunker actually made it extremely difficult for Gen. Schnell to survey the place from his chair in front of the console.

Mita Morgan looked wonderful for someone who was almost dead less than ten minutes ago. That experimental drug Gov. Bright had injected into her left her with a strange grey color, like that of

the miners... or of somebody dead- but now she looked healthy and alive, in spite of that. And in those few minutes, it seemed now her even grey complexion began to splotch up... Curious. Mita and Sheila Bright still hung onto each other, sniffling back tears over the fate of Gov. Bright.

The four tall robots of Gov. Bright followed the governor's final orders and stood by the sides of the two young women, guarding and protecting them. Gen. Schnell chuckled to himself. Will these robots be able to protect their charges against so many soldiers, not to mention the two ex-miners, George McCleer and Billy Boy, as well? Doubtful- even though this new robot type far exceeded the more

familiar but simpler type back on Earth.

Earth Leader Bigges suddenly spoke. All eyes fixed on the leader. "Since the wormhole is closed, we can't get processed fuel from Earth. We need Gov. Bright's secret ore processor to make our own

power fuel, as it now stands. I hope it's not damaged from the quake. And his miners must continue to dig and process the ore, as before- but this time for us instead of for the governor."

Sgt. Heinz pointed out, But, sir, they were devoted to Gov. Bright- They won't feel the same way about us.

Ldr. Bigges nodded. I know. He addressed Billy Boy, formerly Miner No. 248. Earlier, when the army had come to subdue the miners and to take over the mines, Billy Boy had come with the Earth Army so he might reason with the Diggers. That attempt failed, however. But maybe Billy Boy could still talk to the miners for Ldr. Bigges. Mr. Billy Boy, you are one of them, a Digger. You must speak to them, tell them Gov. Bright is no longer in command. Convince them to dig for us now, because we need that fuel ore.

Billy Boy appeared skeptical. I will try, Sir.

Security Leader Morgan let out a mocking laugh. Save your breath, No. 248. The miners will never dig for the invaders from Earth!

Oh? challenged Ldr. Bigges. We'll see. I think Billy Boy can persuade them. They were brainwashed to be compliant, remember? Their minds must be very malleable.

You're mistaken if you believe you can turn them, she replied. And, should that be even remotely possible, I shall first remind them Hope Leader Xavier Bright would never approve.

Sheila Bright and Mita Morgan no longer clung to each other. and the Security Leader defied the Invaders, her eyes blazing. Sheila, in contrast, stared with dull, unfocused eyes which every time and again shed some tears for her Uncle Xavier.

Mita promised Ldr. Bigges, What you think you can do will never happen!

Oh, really? scoffed the Earth Leader. General, take them into custody- both Sec. Ldr. Morgan and the governor's niece Sheila Bright!

Gen. Schnell said to Sgt. Heinz, You heard Earth Ldr. Bigges; do it.

Mysteriously, momentarily distracting the sergeant, the underground bunker's communications console began to buzz with static, as if a message were coming. It buzzed, then stopped, then buzzed again, and kept doing it intermittently, but no message came. Sgt. Heinz decided to ignore it, while Gen. Schnell wondered out loud, Can that be our troops seeking to contact us from the moons? Is some new problem in space causing interference with the comm console?

But Sgt. Heinz snapped to some nearby privates, Don't just stand there- You heard the order! Arrest those two!

However, the ex-miner George McCleer stood protectively in front of Sheila and insisted, Ldr. Bigges, Gen. Schnell, this must not be- You cannot arrest Xavier's niece-

Surprised, Gen. Schnell asked, Why not? What are you talking about, Mr. McCleer? You saw with your own eyes- At one point she led Hope's army against us!

But Gen. Schnell, George protested, consider the circumstances- Xavier Bright was her uncle. He raised her to be like him, to fight for her home, even against Earth. She doesn't know any better-

I know well enough what I need to know, Mr. McCleer, Sheila interrupted, at last looking as alive and as passionate as Mita Morgan. "I know my uncle was a good man, a great man, and most of

what he did, he did for Hope, and he was usually right! He gave much of himself to this world! I don't need you to protect me, Mr. McCleer- I regard it as an honor if I must bear the consequences for opposing you Invaders!"

George McCleer reminded her, Sheila, you heard your uncle's last wish. He wanted me to watch over you. Despite our differences, I suppose I was the closest thing he had to a friend.

Hotly, she answered, "Don't worry, I am releasing you from that commitment, Mr. McCleer! What am I to you? I am nothing to you- and you are nothing to me, either! You betrayed my uncle! So, please

don't worry about me! You certainly aren't my father- No, my father was a noble man, one whom my uncle admired-"

As did I, George admitted. But he's gone, lost while valiantly serving in the military before you were even born, and so-

The comm console buzzed yet more, and now more loudly...

Nina took her husband's large miner's hand in both of hers. George, Hon, let it go. We'll do what we can for her, but now's not the time-

Gen. Schnell nodded. Quite right, Mrs. McCleer. Sgt. Heinz, I told you to take those two into custody!

Sgt. Heinz growled at the privates, Pvt. Freud, I though I told you and the others to take them-

However, before any soldier could lay a hand on either of the young women, the four giant robots- who had been standing stationery by the two young women- fanned out in a protective ring around the two.

Intent on carrying out the order, the privates reached for their blasters. The robots were quicker. The mechanical quartet raised their own blasters and aimed- The soldiers were not the targets.

Instead, each robot selected his own target, each chose a strategic target, and they acted simultaneously, as if they had co-ordinated their movements. All four fired away in rapid succession toward the

ceiling, shooting out the lights in a half second at most.

The bunker became very dark instantly.

There were sounds of scuffling, of people being shoved or tossed out of the way, of robot feet running. Someone- whether Sheila or Mita Morgan, nobody knew- someone yelled, Hey, put me down-

Grunts and complaints of bumping into each other, trying to catch the two young women in the dark. Bewilderment reined supreme for a few moments.

And the communications console finally stopped its annoying buzzing.