Back in his office, General Kern was ready to face another day and commanded his Adjutant to enter and give his daily report, known as a sit-rep; and read the agenda from Kern's calendar for that day. With no patience, waiting always caused him to look over at his certificates and photographs of himself receiving awards and medals, hung on the wall for display; as if looking for an explanation why he had to tolerate subordinates who could not deliver information without first being prompted. The Adjutant marched into Kern's office, stamped to attention as he halted, swung a salute and asked for permission to continue. As soon as Kern gave him the requested permission, the Adjutant was just starting when Kern stopped him.
The General, being in a mood of perfection looked at the Adjutant's tie; and said “As an officer of the Word Administration Force, and my personal assistant, I expect that uniform to be immaculate. Do you understand me Adjutant?”
Waking from a dream, in which he was in a relaxing working environment; the Adjutant stood to attention. He saw that the General stared at his loosened tie, adjusted it to fit exact and said “Yes, General Kern, I understand. It will not happen again.”
Kern said “Good. Go ahead. I have not got time to spare!”
As many times before, the Adjutant cursed the General under his breath. But this time created a scenario in his mind, although without fine details, that highlighted a clip in which Kern had to beg for mercy and the Adjutant...
“Wake up man!” the General shouted, which pulled the Adjutant back to reality again.
Embarrassed that his employer Kern had caught him day-dreaming, the Adjutant decided to begin with his report; as attempting to defend himself with an excuse was not worth the effort.
“General, reports have come in from other hospital domes of patients arriving with the same symptoms as those in Hospital Dome Ninety Seven. And we have received reports of networks near that dome being destroyed by the purple virus as it spreads. The count of civilians deaths increased as a direct result – the main cause of death being by suffocation.” he said.
As he pondered on the speed at which the virus was spreading, Kern pointed with an open hand to a chair off to a side of his desk. The Adjutant followed the gesture, sat but did not slouch.
Kern, now speaking in a more casual tone said “Adjutant, pour yourself a drink and one for me too. I think that it wise to make evacuation precautions in case this virus continues to spread – for the safety of our citizens course. Have the Media Director report today to discuss the warning banners we need to show on the advertising screens. And make arrangements for Force officers to be transported to the Administration Control Dome. We will follow as soon we have completed the tasks.”
The Adjutant finished his drink and returned to standing to attention, whereupon he saluted the General, turned and left Kern's office. Back in his own office he made calls to the Media Director and to the Force Vehicle Depot Commander. Later that morning the Media Director reported to the General. As he got called into the office, his bright red business suit gave the effect of lighting up the whole room. Kern detested this eccentric dresser.
Kern put on a civilian-friendly face and said “Thank you for coming at such short notice Director. I need expert advice in resolving a global emergency.”
The Director seated without invitation in one of the leather imitation chairs and said “Pleasure to help, General.”
Kern, wishing he was wearing sunglasses to reduce the tone of this man's suit, proceeded “Director we need to prepare an evacuation. And splash warning banners and instructions for citizens to follow, on the advertising screens in the dome network. So I need help from you. I need you to create the banners with the evacuation warnings. The banners are to be on permanent display from tomorrow onwards – citizens are to travel to the nearest hospital dome. They are to stay put and await collection from external planes. I am sure you are the best person for this task and I can count on you.”
The Director, dumb-struck for a change, asked out of interest “Evacuation, General? Why? What is the threat?”
Kern said “You know I am bound by military law and cannot give any details. I can assure you just a precaution though as we have addressed the problem. On the warning banners explain it as a precautionary safety measure, that we discovered erosion areas; and for health reasons we want to be on the safe side while we carry out repairs.”
The Media Director confirmed “Yes, I can manage that. I will have the banners on the screens from tomorrow morning and will remove them when I receive the instruction.” As an after-thought he asked “Which evacuation instructions should I follow, General?”
Kern considered the question before replying, and decided that although despicable, the creep could be of use; and said “Sorry Director, I forgot to mention we have made separate evacuation arrangements for the senior management level; please forgive me. Our Vehicle Depot Commander will reserve a seat for you. He will let you know the departure schedule for the next twenty-four hours.”
For Kern the day went well, and he had even impressed himself. Although his Adjutant was behaving odd during the last few weeks, which put Kern in a temporary negative mood whenever that man was in his presence. Kern had no tolerance for weak people and always hoped his officers reached the same calibre as himself, but that still had yet to happen. While the Adjutant and the Media Director carried out the tasks, Kern intended to pack his kit bag and secure document case – ready to move.
He intended to leave the dome network by that evening. First though he called his Adjutant and instructed him to brief the Vehicle Depot Commander, that the Media Director was to board one of the vehicles; which was to transport officers to the Administration Control Dome.
The Vehicle Depot Commander reported to the Adjutant's office as requested and waited outside until called. The red metal chairs lining the wall outside the Adjutant's office looked miniature in ratio to the beefy build of the man waiting. So he opted to stand instead of attempting to sit.
Being a born and bred mechanic, he never wore any oil-stain-free clothing. And so it was rare that he sat on anyone else's furniture other than his own. As a lower rank, upon hearing the call to enter the Commander marched. But to the Adjutant, the Commander reminded him of a charging bull, and hoped the man stopped before ramming through the desk. The Adjutant, relieved that the Commander stopped his momentum by driving his boot to the floor, and satisfied that he had paid his respect with a salute; began with the delegation.
“Commander, I have a task for you which needs to be completed this morning still. It has priority over other tasks you had planned. You are to make sure every vehicle is operational and ready for use as evacuation transport for Force officers, who need to be taken to the Administration Control Dome; within the next twenty-four hours. One more thing – General Kern gave the order for you to reserve a seat on a vehicle for the Media Director. Contact the Media Director and give him a copy of the vehicle departure schedule for the next twenty-four hours. You may go now, Commander.”
The Commander, imagining one of his shovel-sized hands wrapped around the Adjutant's throat, and crushing the wimp's airway, confirmed “I will make arrangements now.”
'I wonder from what that lot are running?' The Commander thought to himself as he left the Adjutant's office.
By mid-afternoon the platform deck of the W.A.F was full with vehicles, with other vehicles parked at-the-ready nearby. Officers who's duties did not need them to stay, received orders to be ready-to- move; which meant they had to have kit packed and with them on parade. After producing warning banners, citizen evacuation instructions, and instructing staff for the screens' 'on air' time; the Media Director deemed it best to get on the next available vehicle.
Once on board one of shuttles with his belongings, he reported to the vehicle Loading Supervisor. Still wearing his red suit, the Media Director stuck out among the rows of Force officers dressed in combat suits. He soon noticed that the officers had issued packed meals with them, and even though the quality of the meals was low; his mouth watered as those men got stuck in to the rations. It was the Loading Supervisor who took pity on him and threw him one of the spare meal packs.
Opening the white plastic box, with excitement he inspected the contents label: 1 x Sachet of Apple sauce. 2 x Sealed Sandwiches. 1 x Tin of Orange Soda. Quiet sneers came from the officers as they watched the civilian passenger approach his ration pack as if it was a gourmet meal. After the passengers finished the ration pack meals, within a short time the Loading Supervisor informed them via the intercom; that the vehicle was landing soon on the Administration Control Dome platform. Around the Administration Control Dome hovering traffic moved in every direction.
The Administration Control Dome platform was the place for action – if you belonged to the elite and wealthy. As the vehicle landed, the platform magnetic field clamped the machine in place, allowing the passengers to depart. Escort staff had been at hand to show the passengers to the accommodation, brief them on the facilities available and how to navigate around this secluded over-dimensional city; built upon a multi-level platform within a gigantic dome. Kern and his Adjutant arrived later. Kern scheduled to meet with the World Administration Board the next morning – he intended to give them a sit-rep they would not forget.
Now though he retired to his new quarters. Once in his quarters, which for one person was extravagant in size and quality but was the suite to which which his rank entitled him; he used the time alone to send a message to that creature Larsst. Years before, Kern had a computer screen developed which had touch-screen message buttons – this he gave to Larsst so that Kern could communicate with him via email. Larsst was happy with the communication gift as typical device keyboards had not been reptilian claw-friendly. With this screen he could tap the buttons on it. The default buttons read 'Yes', 'No', 'Hello', 'Goodbye', and a display menu provided a list of common words.
Kern sat at his workstation and using his computer mouse cursor clicked on an empty email. With the grey keyboard he typed:
'Dear Larsst,
I thank you for the help at the hospital dome.
We appreciate the efficient work accomplished and now seek consent to renew the current contract for the other World Administration hospital domes. The cleaning work can start in forty-eight hours.
Yours Sincerely, General Kern'
Happy with the draft he typed, Kern clicked on the button 'Send'. Now the problem with the citizens who now travelled to the nearest hospital dome, was off his desk he could now prepare his speech; which he intended to give at the World Administration Board meeting tomorrow. He hoped to sell them a different global network, blaming the pandemic on those old breed members who underwent trade training during the cleansing period.
A few things which still hassled Kern was first the fact that the virus continued to spread. And he found it strange that the reptilians had no concerns with regards entering the contaminated domes. Both must be connected. He needed to find a method of stopping the virus even if the current dome network was beyond repair; and he was sure the answer was within the reptilians' realm. Kern poured himself a drink and pondered over how he might investigate. Then the idea came to him – he just needed to be at one of the hospital domes to watch how the reptilians coped with the contaminated areas. Kern drafted another message for Larsst – but this time he needed to be clever with his wording:
'Dear Larsst,
If possible please begin with Hospital Dome 98. I think it makes sense to do the hospital domes in order. It may interest you to know that is one of the larger hospital platforms. So I am sure you agree that it be optimal for business operations if the larger ones are attended to first, enabling you thereafter to see which stock needs to be replenished before proceeding; as supplies may not be that plentiful during the winter months.
Yours Sincerely, General Kern'
Knowing that Larsst understood what 'stock' meant, he sent off the message. He hoped Larsst might jump at the chance to top up the reptilians' winter supply of human organs early. Tomorrow, after his meeting with the Board, Kern planned to take his private shuttle to the Hospital Dome 98 to watch the reptilians. The Board always met on the highest floor of the Administration Control Dome. The meeting room had twelve doors – one for each Board member. Each Board member had a suite from which they could enter the meeting room. In the meeting room itself a large light blue oval table was in the centre, and twelve chrome thrones.
Kern always ensured that the Board members had individual entertainment preferences catered for – with discretion. So he always counted on them favouring suggestions he made. 'Now they have stuffed guts from lunch they'll be more drowsy.' Kern thought as he entered the meeting room. And as the General entered the chattering ceased.
“Gentleman, I am grateful that a slot for my report was possible in such a busy agenda today. Due to the seriousness of the matter, I will begin with the details. Upon my visit to Hospital Dome Ninety Seven, I discovered that the virus was more destructive as first thought. The victims had not been recovering and the fluid ejecting from the wrist skin pores a growing mass which eats on most material matter. The wave of death and destruction spread so fast, that to delay it somewhat we sealed off that dome from the rest of the network. We need to accept the fact that the virus will destroy the whole of our dome network soon.” Kern reported.
A bearded red-robed Board member asked “General, is a cure available? What action can we take?”
Glad they had taken the bait which now lead into his solution to the problem, Kern said “No, I am afraid a cure is not available. I have a proposal though which will guarantee the survival of our race.”
Another member of the Board, showing the fear on his face, burst out “Well? Well? Tell us of the proposal!”
Kern continued “We identified that the first intake of infected patients was old breed, who as you may recall had gone through the Administration Centres and given trade training. As our dome network will cease to exist, I propose that a different network be constructed; this time though higher above the ground.”
He switched on the projector which beamed a 3D section plan of part of the network, onto the surface of the oval table.
“As I mentioned earlier, this solution is just for the survival of the pure newer breed; so is vital we control those citizens evacuated to the network once built. For this I intend to use the statistics pulled from the wrist chip data – the newer breed citizens receive then an update to the implanted chips.” Kern explained.
Another Board member asked “But what will happen to those citizens classified as old breed?”
Kern was ready to reply but attended to his mobile telephone as it peeped. He apologised and explained, holding up the device, that if he was correct a message just came in which gave the answer the last question. He looked at the telephone display after clicking a button to view the email and saw it was from Larsst and it contained one word 'Yes'.
The General looked up and with confidence announced “The message I just received is from a contractor, who confirmed that his organisation will coordinate the evacuation. And liaise with the old breed citizens at the hospital domes for evacuation. Many of the newer breed, who will evacuate to the network, attend education centres. And are as we classify them: The Youth.”
Kern now waited for the Board to decide. The Board stood and retired to another room to the rear of the oval table, to discuss the decision. After ten minutes the Board returned to the meeting room and seated again – apart from the Head of the Board, who now stood.
The Head of the Board, remaining seated as a mark of authority, confirmed “General Kern, the Board has reached a decision on the current state of affairs and your proposal. The Board accepts the proposed solution. This project has an unlimited budget. You are to head the project. You will have full command of required resources and services. Evacuation is to be just for those citizens born in a hospital dome, and World Administration staff above security clearance Alpha, which includes security forces. Building is to start now and evacuation as soon as the first accommodation platforms are ready. The official public explanation for this project is that selected citizens are invited to test an improved network. We assume that those we leave behind will join the old breed settlement beyond our network.”
With a nod of his head and stamping of his boot heels, Kern confirmed he accepted and understood the task; turned and left the Board meeting room. He had plans for a task force to replace current key military positions. After finishing distributing emails, which sent sets of blue–prints to the contractors required for building the network. Kern then instructed his Adjutant to prepare the private shuttle and report dressed in full combat suit, ready to move; in thirty minutes time.
The Adjutant, glad he did not have to go through the procedure of logging a vehicle out from the depot, donned his black combat trousers, shirt, pullover and jacket. After slipping his socked feet into the high-leg black combat boots, he pulled the trouser strings tight so the trouser bottoms stayed above the leather boot tops. Now ready for deployment, the Adjutant went to Kern's shuttle dock; which could either be accessed from within the General's suite or an external door for which the Adjutant had a key.
Once through the steel door he locked it from within as the General was arriving at the dock via his suite entrance. The dock was in the form of the letter 'U' and held the shuttle in place by a pair of large magnets on the inside of the dock. The shuttle itself was naval blue in colour, had the shape of a wasp with a round window on each side to the front. As the Adjutant entered the shuttle, he seated himself and adjusted the driver seat for a comfortable position. He carried out a series of checks on the dashboards in front of him and above his head. Happy that the vehicle was ready for use, the Adjutant notified the General via email. He and the vehicle awaited further instructions.
Kern, looking forward to the covert viewing at the hospital dome, upon reading the email from his Adjutant moved with haste to the awaiting shuttle. Although a small vehicle there was plenty of room available. A man of Kern's height could walk around without risk of banging his head. Before sitting in the passenger seat, Kern gave the order for the Adjutant to take course for Hospital Dome 98. Although looking puzzled, the Adjutant raised no questions; and instead relayed the route order to the navigation console.
“Let's pull out” said the General in a non-formal manner.
The Adjutant pressed the 'Dock Release' button to deactivate the docking magnets, and afterwards took control of the shuttle's electric motor. He then followed the course coordinated by the navigation software. Watching his frail personal assistant command the shuttle, Kern was glad that the navigation software was in-sync with the auto- pilot. If many manual steering variations caused the vehicle to leave the set navigation course then the software activated the auto-pilot. Kern considered many-a-time to write a letter to the officers academy on recruiting standards as they needed to be tightened.
The shuttle's navigation console instructed the vehicle to approach the hospital dome via one of the network tunnels. Once in the tunnel, Kern instructed his assistant to switch off communication systems and bring the shuttle to a halt just before the dome entrance. Kern and his Adjutant left the parked vehicle.
But before entering the dome, Kern turned to his assistant and said “Adjutant, what you will witness is top secret and not for the public eye. Other species exist on this planet, of which you do not yet know. When we enter the dome stay by me and do not make any unnecessary moves as these may be misunderstood as an attack. Our visit today has a confidential purpose and so we need to make use of the moment of surprise, so please sharpen your tactical awareness for any sounds you make.”
The Adjutant, overwhelmed by fright, prepared himself for confronting an unknown nightmare – but not by preparing for attack, instead to cower just behind the General. As the pair of W.A.F officers entered the dome and little light was available, they still needed a few minutes for their eyes to adjust to the dark. The Adjutant followed his employer further into the dome. Kern headed towards the sounds of terrifying loud screams and the chopping of flesh, which both the men now heard.
At first, the Adjutant thought he saw a crocodile's tail, but he noted that the tail did not follow flat along the ground to the rest of the body. Instead it reached up past a pair of solid-muscled green scaled legs, to the back of a giant creature. The creature's spine was an external body part as hard as horn; and each section from the sides met at a raised point in the middle. 'Please don't turn around and face me' the Adjutant thought to himself.
Unusual for Kern, a confident man with an aura of power; he first stood still as stone. He did not want to startle the reptilian soldier because the creature's reflexes controlled the bodily functions; and could fight Kern off as an attacker before he opened his mouth. Kern let out a loud hissing sound so that the soldier knew of his presence. The Adjutant looked at the General not believing what he was witnessing. The reptilian's tail propelled its body, which pivoted on the heels of its taloned feet for swift movement to either side. They could tell that the discovery of the hiss coming from a non-reptilian species, surprised it.
Kern addressed the soldier “Mighty soldier, I must first give you my compliments on the exemplary alertness. When I liaise with Larsst, the Commander, I must make sure you are rewarded. I am General Kern from the human World Administration Force and this man is my assistant.”
“Humanss!” shouted the reptilian as it went into a defence position and raised a wooden club in the air.
As it took reptilians longer to respond in oral communication, due to the brain processing incoming information at a slower speed to that of humans; this soldier did not at first realise that it had received a compliment on his guard duty. Reptilians held every given duty as an honour and deemed the personal family clan's reputation to be at risk if rendered work standards dropped. Kern registered that the reptilian had understood when it stood rigid, lowered the wooden club and lifted a scaled chin.
“I wanted to pay my respect to Larsst, and value being escorted by expert soldiers.” Kern said as he looked at the reptilian.
The soldier waved to show they should follow him. Kern and the Adjutant followed the green battle veteran. Larsst had been overseeing the loading of sacks of human organs onto a vehicle when the soldier informed him that Kern and his assistant had arrived to pay him respect. Larsst knew Kern well enough to know that when reptilians collected human organ stock he did not visit. He thanked the soldier for its brave confrontation with these humans and recommended as a security measure the soldier called in a reptilian support team under his command.
“Kern, a pleassure to ssee you again sso ssoon – what iss the reasson for your vissit?” said Larsst.
Everywhere people panicked and ran. With loud gargling, screaming, shouting and the sound of chopping flesh and bone throughout the dome.
The General recalled a text script he had prepared and said “We had another meeting close by today. I remembered in my email to you, that I forgot to mention that the dome could be contaminated with the virus. So I thought we should visit you to point out this hazard. And I notice that your solders are not wearing protective clothing.”
Larsst commented “My dearesst General, we apprecciate the conccern but we need not fear the viruss.”
“How come?” asked Kern.
By now the escort reptilian's support team arrived and now surrounded the humans. The Adjutant noticed the blood and bits of body organs dripping and sliding off of the reptilians' scales.
Larsst explained “Firsstly Kern, the chip viruss iss not dangerouss for our racce – becausse it wass dessigned in our laboratory. Ssecondly, the viruss wass dessigned to desstroy mosst materialss but not earth – sso it will desstroy almosst everything above the ssurface. The viruss iss dessigned to sself-dessintigrate after ssix monthss.”
Even though Larsst's explanation was what Kern expected, it alarmed him. And now he was eager to learn why the reptilians wanted to destroy everything above ground.
Kern asked “But why, Larsst? Why destroy everything? And why now?”
“We have an agenda – and now the time hass come for uss to take back what iss ourss by galactic law - the ssurfacce of thiss planet! While you are vissiting, I can perssonally thank you for the previouss bussinesss relationsship we had – which hass now ended.”
Larsst gave an order to the soldiers in reptilian language, which could not be understood by the men. Translated, the order was “Kill the humans and take the body organs – which I want to have served.”
Kern and the Adjutant did not have time to react before the club blows from behind rendered them unconscious. Within minutes just the remains of the hollowed bodies was on the floor and the human organs in a sack in transit to Larsst's personal lair.