FICTION
THE ANCIENT ONE WINGED SOUTH FROM HIS HOME. He had received a message that one of his agents had news for him and was anxious to make contact. He settled by the fence of a small factory. A large guard dog walked up to the other side of the fence and sat down, lifting a paw, scraping it on the curving.
"I wish people wouldn't leave this stuff all over everywhere, Batty."
"They are rather inconsiderate," The Ancient One answered, "Where they leave chewing gum. And I've told you before, don't call me Batty!"
The dog looked non-concerned. "Well, that's what you are, aren't you?" he finally answered, "In the best sense of the word, as humans use it."
The Ancient One shook his head. "You said you had something for me?"
"I did," the dog answered, "I did. I've gotta think a minute. Our memories aren't as good as yours. Oh, yes! You sent out a thought transmission of a truck and trailer. It didn't get passed around here until a couple of days ago. Then I remembered I'd seen it. They put me in a warehouse down in the valley, the one by the transmitter tower. Well, across the road, real late at night this truck came in, like the one you wanted. People got out. They were very angry. Something had missed, best chance they'd had in years. That's all I could hear. Is that anything you'll pay for?"
"If it's who I'm looking for," The Ancient One answered. "What do you want?"
"I'm gettin' tired of runnin' around these buildings all night!" the dog answered. "I want a house job, a family position, some kids to pull my ears, and that kind of thing. Maybe even; well, a family of my own."
The Ancient One laughed. "Come around to the gate," he ordered. When the dog was there The Ancient One broke the lock and let him out, then ripped off the dog's collar.
"Head down into the development," he ordered, "lay low until the school buses come home in the afternoon. You'll see a little girl get off in a red dress. Some older girls Nill start to pick on her. Drive them off, and follow her home."
"Now, how did YOU know?" the dog asked.
"The girl's grandmother is here," The Ancient One answered. "Somebody told her you were looking for a family."
The dog smiled "Missed that one!" he thought loudly.
"Gotta go," The Ancient One muttered. "Good luck!"
It didn't take The Ancient One long to find the factory. He was thinking this would be easy when he suddenly felt the vibrations of elaborate sensors. He began to circle the building curiously.
"This is real sophisticated stuff!" he muttered, "not civilian junk. It's what government agencies use."
He saw the system had one weakness. All the sensors were connected to a relay whose antenna sent what they were picking up to a receiving station. The Ancient One landed quickly, tipped up the antenna, and jammed it with a stone so it couldn't realign. The system kept trying to
bring it down, but the stone held it.
"Burn yourself out!" The Ancient One encouraged.
Opening a skylight he descended into the building. In its very center he found the truck and trailer. Though freshly repainted they were the same ones. The missile launcher had been reloaded. The Ancient One went inside and primed the warhead. He found several other missiles, primed their warheads, then unscrewed one. When he was ready to
leave he'd drop this one from the skylight and detonate the rest. But he wanted to look around first.
The building held a lot of things; shops for making bombs, communications equipment, printing apparatus. He went over to some leaflets being prepared for shipment. One
was entitled 'The Bell Curve; Proof At Last.' "Sure!" The Ancient One mumbled.
The next one read 'The Diary Of Anne Frank; A Jewish Fairy Tale.'
"Who'll believe THAT one?" The Ancient One asked himself.
The last one read 'Homosexuality; America's Shame.'
"Well," The Ancient One muttered, "Even nit wits get one right once and a while. The law of averages!"
He suddenly heard noise and rushed back out into the warehouse. Several men were emerging from a further door.
"Why in the hell did you have to get us ALL up?" one man was saying. "Could'nt you have gone up on the damned roof and fixed the system?"
"They want us to check the place out," another man answered. "Shut up and spread out! Check all the shops."
The Ancient One went over and picked up his warhead. "Sorry, gentlemen!" he cried out, "Time go bye-bye!"
He lifted off the floor, headed for the skylight.
"Oh God! Oh God!" the mens' leader cried, "It's one of them! Get to hell out of here! Run!"
The Ancient One cleared the skylight and dropped the warhead. A few moments later the center of the building beneath him blew sky ward and what was left became a raging inferno.
"They won't even find the pieces," The Ancient One muttered. "Told ya I'd get you' next time! Told ya!"