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Apol o 918 The trip of no return
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Joseph Thomas
The shot was accurate, perfectly between the eyes.
The man dropped upon impact from the bullet in his
head and the knife he held in his right hand. The rifle
barrel that soldier Neal was holding was still
smoking, the girl trapped in the hands of that mad
man, was trembling with fear, the blade of the knife
to her throat managed to break every nerve.
We had only been in outer space for two hours and
problems already began. I stood frozen in front of the
scene I had just witnessed. We were all out of danger.
I immediately gave orders to have the personal file
sent to my computer of the man that was now dead.
In the hallway of the second floor, a pool of blood
filled the bunkhouse door number 234. The girl was
trembling while on her way to the infirmary, she was
held by one of my best soldiers, the Cadet Laura o'
Hara.
Only two minutes had passed since the soldier Neal
had fired his rifle, on my right side appeared general
Pot. He appeared nervous. He asked what had
happened and I tried to answer his questions in just a
few sentences. :
- Soldier Neal radioed me reporting problems on the
second floor. He was making his usual rounds, when
he saw a man holding a girl hostage, threating to kill
her with a knife to her neck. Soldier Neal pointed his
rifle at him. When the man saw that, he tried to cut
the girl and the soldier fired. We do not know the
reasons, I just ordered the man’s record and hopefully
we can talk to the girl after she calms down, she’s
now in the infirmary.
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Apol o 918 The trip of no return
-The General frowned, he approached the dead
man’s body and checked into his pockets, he found
nothing, not a single document, no identification. He
stood up, and ordered:
- Colonel, order the evacuation of this man’s body, I
need someone to clean this place up, I do not want to
panic among civilians. You have five minutes to
come to my office. We need to talk. - And he went
thru the same where he had appeared.
I walked in five minutes the General had asked me,
after I had walked thru hallways of floors 3 and 4.
Everything was quiet. Then I came to his door. Door
was open. I stood there, firm, hoping he gave me
orders come in.
- Come in Colonel, have a seat.
The office was small; little furniture, a metal desk
coming out of the floor and was made to turn into a
bed all the way to the left side of the room. Papers on
his desk and a computer. Two metal seats of the same
color in front of the desk and a larger one behind the
desk. On the back wall a screen that reminded me of
the one that I had seen in the secret government
bunkers. I sat and waited for the general’s questions.
- What about the attacker, Colonel? – He asked the
question without facing me. His back facing me,
looking on the screen the image of planet earth. At
some point I noticed the image had him concerned.
- One of my soldiers is transferring the files from the
main control room to my PC. We could not talk with
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the girl at this moment as she is resting and asleep,
she has been sedated. The incident shook her up. His
back still facing me, his voice just told me he was not
paying very much attention to me.
- Ok Colonel, I need the report of what happened in
my hands today by 22:00 hours. We already have
enough problems. – He sounded serious and
concerned. I wanted to inquire about Planet Earth, but
it was not necessary. The General changed the
subject, and immediately said:
- This is not why I called you Colonel. I need to
reveal information about the situation on the planet. I
want you to know that the two ships that accompany
us in this mission, two ships exactly like ours, are
already here, one to our right and one to our left. To
the
right
are
the
European’s
ship
named
MARGARET, you need to make contact with
Colonel Fabien. He’s French, but speaks perfect
English. On the left are the Russians. It’s
distinguished by the red letters that adorn the ship on
the top with the name XX MOSCOW. You may
contact the colonel in charge of security is, he is Ukac
Yaroslav.
I gave orders for a communication chip be installed in
your intercom, this way you can maintain
communication with their personnel. You need to
pass by where the engineers are to be installed. You
need to be in constant communication with the
officers of the other ships. If necessary these ships
have a permit to transfer between them. Becoming
between the three ships a humongous floating city.
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Apol o 918 The trip of no return
But that’s only if it becomes necessary. So far the
situation on the planet remains the same. The threat is
growing every second and our intelligence agencies
cannot find where enemies have that nuclear arsenal.
Just thirty minutes ago Kazakhstan was defeated, ide
fiercest general, right now they are questioning him.
Hopefully we can obtain important information and
all this will be nothing more than a terrible nightmare.
You may leave, Colonel. And remember to have that
report ready by, at 22 hours.
I said nothing, I stood up, and saluted him firmly with
my right in a typical military goodbye, thus letting the
general know that his orders would be fulfilled. I
went to my room and my body collapsed on the bed. I
needed to go over what happened in the last two days.
To recount the events in my mind. I had to reorganize
my ideas.
*********
Trees on the street painted the landscape of a dark
orange, the sidewalk was barely visible through the
dry leaves that covered it. I could feel the crunch of
dry leaves under my military boots. I came to the
front entrance of a gate, as I walked. I saw my father
thru the gate, sitting in the front porch. As soon as he
saw me, he jumped for joy. He did not let me come to
him, he came to me and gave me a big hug. It was
exactly three years since I went back home to visit the
home I was born in. Since being transferred to
Virginia, I had not been able to return home, in times
of war calls are scarce, my father excited for my visit,
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Joseph Thomas
did not know what to do to show me his happiness.
We entered the house, I stopped to watch him sitting
in the kitchen. He had gotten old.
You could see in his hands that the strength of his
youth was gone. Ever since my mother had passed, he
was never the same again. From the refrigerator he
reached for two beers. The stove was on, he was
cooking a stew that now surely he would share with
me. He checked the food on the stove, before giving
me the beer, he sat next to me.
*********
- Colonel? Colonel!
Soldier O'Hara’s voice woke me up. I wished it had
not happened. So I could continue searching for fresh
memories of my father. I was surprised to have those
memories so fresh in my mind.
- Come in, soldier. Tell me. - I ran my hands over my
face, trying to finally wake up, because I was still half
asleep.
- Colonel, the records you requested of the girl and
his attacker are already on your computer.
Sitting on my bed, I thanked O 'Hara, and asked him
to leave. Again alone and quiet in my room, I opened
the files.
Lindsay Hemle, California, January 23, 1998. Just
graduated from Harvard Law School. She lived in her
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Apol o 918 The trip of no return
hometown until the age of 14, her parents separated
and she moved to New York with her mother, her
father passed away three years later of an overdose,
the separation was the reason for his depression.
Lindsay never returned to California, her mother
remarried and she decides to leave the house. She
then moves to an aunt’s house who lives in New
York, spent her years studying and earns a
scholarship to Harvard with very high grades. Her
college years passed uneventfully again outstanding
grades. Never has been arrested, never a problem in
college, one known boyfriend, a guy from Denver,
the son of a U.S. Congressman, who died in a car
accident. Finished her studies in 2019 being the
second best grade in her class. She was hired by the
firm Berner's & Asociates. An attorney there, she
worked 18 months, defending four cases, she won all
of them, the Jersey case is the most important one.
She defended Jayden Nobals, son of one of the richest
man in the country. Suspected murderer of 4 people
in Detroit, shot to death, is acquitted by Lindsay’s
great defense. In other words, young, famous
professional, no connection with crime. Clean, done,
end of story.
I closed the file and opened the girl's attacker’s, file
hoping to find some answers.
Jarod Huken, South Carolina, August 8, 1996,
graduated from Florida International University.
Doctor specializing in orthopedics. He lived until he
was six years in South Carolina. His parents moved to
Florida in September 2002. Lived in Tampa till he
was 10, his father is also a Doctor, specializing in
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Joseph Thomas
pediatrics. His mother, a renowned surgeon at
Jackson, he graduated with honors in 2020 receiving
his diploma from the hands of the state governor.
Never been involved in any crime, medical
examinations reveal that never drugged, did not
smoke, never seen drinking alcohol. When he began
medical school his parents choose to live in Miami.
Three girlfriends known, all medical students with
him. All with clean records. Before being chosen to
come aboard, he was directly working in implanting
limbs amputees. In other words, friendly, young,
prominent professional, no link to crime, nonviolent,
clean, done, end of story.
I closed the file puzzled, nothing in the file told me
what could have happened. I decided to visit Lindsay
in nursing and see if I could speak with her. Maybe
what she told me, could give me details and I could
determine what happened. I needed to find out details,
my report was due on the General’s desk before 22
hours. I had exactly six hours to do so.
*********
The hospital was in one of the upper floor of the ship,
the busy medical staff meeting with the wounded and
beaten caused by the civil stampede to board the ship
from land. Lindsay was still sleeping. A doctor with
last name of Estevez, name on her medical gown’s
badge, was determined to check the wound on my
right hand, while I waited for the girl wake up. She
took me to one of the private nursing cubicles, where
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Apol o 918 The trip of no return
she withdrew the band that hours earlier I put on to
stop the bleeding.
She was a woman of about 35 years, tall, Latino
features, black hair up to the middle of her back.
Light eyes, very beautiful. She treated me as if the
wounded arm was a small child’s. The tenderness of
her movements immediately caught my attention. She
crossed eyes with mine every time I she tried to
suture the wound, as if looking for signs of pain. She
kept looking into my eyes for signs of pain. I saw
uncertainty in her eyes. The doctor completed the
work on my arm about the same time that a nurse let
me know that Lindsay had awakened. I found the girl
on her bed, she was quiet, but her eyelids still had
signs of having cried. I sat by her side after formally
introducing myself and started to ask her questions.
- Hello, Lindsay how do you feel?
- Thank you. I feel much better. She replied getting
up from bed, waiting for my next question.
- I need you to tell me what happened, why this man
wanted to kill you?
- I was in my room. – The girl told me, and decided to
walk to one of the dining rooms looking for
something to drink. By mistake, I went towards the
right bunker and found this man trying to open with a
knife panels on the right. If you look there you will
find marks. I realized he was not a technician,
because he did not have tools with him. I asked him
what was he doing, he got scared. He took me by the
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Joseph Thomas
neck, threatening me and pointing the knife at my
throat. He started to say a few phrases in a language
unknown to me, it was like a prayer. I cried for help
before he covered my mouth. Apparently, my cry for
help was heard by the soldier. You know the rest of
the story.
- Can you remember any phrase that this man was
saying, I need you to make an effort.
- He repeated various times, something like: Rows jan
you viladi kueli join.
Upon hearing this phrase, my whole body was by
swept with shiver. I thanked her and told Lindsay I
might need to see her again.
Back in my room I kept thinking the sentence that the
girl had repeated. My experience as a soldier and
three missions in Arab territory had taught me a little
of their language. The translation of the phrase was
simple but very dangerous. For Allah is my revenge.
That was what the man repeated. Before going to my
room I decided to check again and check the panels
that what Lindsay said was true. I took a picture with
my phone and loaded them to my laptop, which the
pictures were seen clearly, I saw the marks produced
by a sharp object. Apparently the girl was right. The
scratches she mentioned were there, the question that
was spinning in my head was why the panels? What
was there that could be of interest to him?
Because of the seriousness of this matter I decided to
write the report and submitted to the General Pot
before 22:00 hours. I sent for one of the main
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Apol o 918 The trip of no return
engineers of the ship, I needed to know every detail.
It took only minutes for the engineer to arrive, in the
meantime, I went ahead and wrote a short report to
send the other two ships that accompanied us
notifying
them
of
the
incident.
It was necessary for them to be on alert, it was
alarming to even think that our enemies had
penetrated was alarming in my head. I spoke lengthy
and in detail with the engineer. I asked him to explain
to me what kind of connections were passing thru the
panels, and ordered him to review each one of them.
If Harold Hunke wanted to open that panel, it was
because something in them had caught his attention.
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Joseph Thomas