IMAGINATION'S PLACE
FICTION

BOOM!
By; Gerald A. Polley

All rights reserved.

    Captain Christopher Hall liked flying drones.  It was almost like he was back in the air again, before the anti aircraft missile in The Persian Gulf had taken both his legs.  But what was happening now was making him nervous, like everyone else in the operations room. 
    "Watch commander!" he snapped, "It's happening again!"
    The watch commander rushed over.  "Do you have any control at all?" he asked.
    "None!" Christopher answered, letting go of the joy stick and watching it move all by itself. 
   "Oh boy!" the watch commander moaned, "Where's it going?"
    "Just turning a little north," Christopher answered.  "Doesn't seem to be varying from the plotted course much at all.  I think it's headed back for that area we visited yesterday.  It seems to be zeroing in on that same road."
    "Sir!" another operator snapped, "If my readings are right they're activating all four hellfires!"
    "All four?" the commander snapped.  "What in the hell are they going after?"
    "Vehicles," another man snapped.
    Christopher looked to his screen. He could see several dots moving along the road the drone was coming over.  "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.." an officer rattled off. He finally stopped at twelve.  "Twelve vehicles and only four missiles. This is going to be interesting!  And we only have one laser guidance system."
    "If that's the case," someone called, "how come four of those vehicles just lit up?  The middle one, in each group of three."
    "Oh, these people are good!" the watch commander sighed.
    Suddenly Christopher's hand flew to the joy stick. "What the..?" he remarked.  He felt incredible power flowing through him.  Gently, surely, the joy stick moved, bringing the drone into just the right position.  "Missiles away!" another operator snapped. 
    Everyone watched.  Suddenly there were horrendous flashes where four of the vehicles had been and then the vehicles in front of them and, in back of them blew up.  Then there was a whole mess of secondary explosions everywhere.  "Whoa!"  one of the other operators cried, "They were carrying plenty of ordinance!"
    "See if we can get ahold of the locals," the watch commander ordered, "see if they'll go out and see who we got."
    Hall was looking at the screen.  "My holy God!" he remarked, "The last vehicle!  Look!  There's two figures getting out of the wreck!  Nobody could be alive in that hell!"
    He brought the drone around and increased the magnification. Sure enough, two figures were making their way away from the shattered vehicle.  One seemed to be limping.  "My God!" another officer cried, "It's children!  Looks like a boy and a girl!  That's odd, they're not headed down the road."
    "There's a settlement," Hall remarked, "about a day and a half's walk to the east.  I don't think they want people to know they survived.  Does this ship have an esp?"
    "Yes," another officer snapped.  "Enough food and water for an adult for two days.  Do you think they'll realize what it is?" 
    "I'm sure they will," Hall answered. 
    Again he brought the ship around, brought it over the children at about 100 feet and released the survival supplies.  He circled around, watched the children open the container, take the supplies out and wave. 
    "Damn, this stuff scares me!" the watch commander moaned.  "Everybody understand, understand very clearly.  None of this happened.  It never, ever happened!  There was a drone strike and apparently we got somebody.  But that's all.  Nobody ever says, ever!  Nothing unusual about it, just targeted some vehicles and got a lucky hit. Am I understood?"
    Everybody snapped "Yes, sir!"  Hall brought the drone back to base, landed it, and the next shift took over.  He went up to the commissary and the local merchant, Farsi, who got them the extra little things the commissary didn't carry, was there making deliveries.  Other people overcharged them greatly.  But Farsi was very reasonable.  His attractive daughter was there.  As Hall picked up his things he remarked "Wish I was a younger man and all there!  Your daughter's smile is so joyous!  She's not much older than my own daughters.  But I bet she'd make an excellent wife!"
    Farsi laughed and translated for his daughter.  The daughter got a look of rage on her face, walked over, and slapped Hall.  "Do not ever say," she snapped, in her very poor English, "that you are not a complete man!  You are more of a man than most I have met!  I would be honored to be your wife!  And I'm sure I could teach your daughters to be ladies.  And I think two hundred dollars would be a sufficient dowry, do you not, father?"
     Her father grinned.  "More than sufficient!" he said. 
     "Hey, Hall!" one of the other officers spoke up, "Here's fifty dollars.  Call it a wedding gift."
    In a very few minutes there was two hundred dollars laying on the counter.  Hall stared at it in bewilderment.  The young woman looked at it, then at Hall and smiled. "Well," she said, "Give it to my father!"
    Hall stared at her for a few minutes, then picked the money up and put it in her father's hand.  "I will make the arrangements!" her father laughed.  "As soon as you have your people's permission we will have the ceremony."  
   "How am I going to explain this to my daughters?" Hall remarked.  "How am I going to explain this to anyone?"
    The base chaplain appeared.  "Love," he remarked, "is never that hard to explain.  It is very unpredictable, it is a respecter of nothing, but it's' very easy to explain.  Come on!   We've got some papers to make out!"
    Hall smiled at his wife to be.  "I have the feeling," he remarked, "there's powers at work here.  I'm just not sure what they're up to."
    "Amen!" the chaplain put in, "Amen!" 

THE END

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