No matter how angry The Ancient One was, no matter how upset Those he served
were, there were some things They could not permit, and The Ancient One was
now in one of those situations. As he and his travelling companion materialized
outside a military base near his nation's capital he took on human form,
and the uniform of an Air Force General. His companion appeared in the uniforms
of an Air Force General. He looked down at himself nervously. The Ancient
One stared for a moment, then grinned.
"You did fine!" he assured. His companion shrugged A moment later a great
War Dog joined them, and shrunk down to a Doberman. "Well! All here! The
Ancient One muttered. "I suppose we've got to get this over with!"
He walked off briskly towards the gate. The young Corporal there stared at
him, bewildered, as he approached.
"Good evening, son!" The Ancient One began after the exchange of salutes.
"Would you be so kind as to call your commanding officer, tell him the man
who moved the mountain is here, and that he needs the Alpha Interception
Team here with forty vehicles in ten minutes."
The young man stared, bewildered.
"PHONE!" The Ancient One snapped.
The young man finally snapped out of it, picked up the phone, and began to
speak hurriedly. After a moment he turned back to The Ancient One. "He's
wearing an Air Force uniform, sir, one star, more decorations than I've ever
seen. His name tag says Starr with two rr's. Yes sir, I'll tell him. They're
contacting headquarters, sir, " the young man remarked, "for verification."
"Tell him to roll the team while they're waiting," The Ancient One snapped.
The young man listened for a moment then answered. "They heard, sir. Team
is being rolled out." Suddenly two humvees roared to a stop by the gate.
Five men poured out of each, surrounded The Ancient One, and his companions,
their rifles pointing at them menacingly.
"Lieutenant!" The Ancient One snapped, "Neither my companion nor I appreciate
having weapons pointed at us. Have your men back off five paces, and bring
their weapons to the carry, not the ready! If I had intended any hostility
this base would be a disaster area by now. Show this uniform the respect
it is due!"
The young officer stared at The Ancient One for a moment, then nodded, snapped
a sharp "YES SIR! You heard the order men!" he continued, "Back off! Weapons
at the carry!"
"Sir!" The Coporal snapped, "they have headquarters. Their response is 'Glad
the mountain is here. What does he carry?'"
"Thunder and Lightning," The Ancient One answered, "Death and destruction."
"YES SIR!" the Corporal answered, "Yes sir! I understand!" He hung up the
phone. "Your identity is confirmed, sir!" he snapped. Turning to the Lieutenant
he continued, "Sir, they order you to stand down."
"Stand down!" the Lieutenant snapped. "At ease!"
The weaons were uncorked and swung over the soldiers' backs, and everyone
just stood around nervously.
The Ancient One walked over to one young soldier. "Stand steady, son!" he
remarked. He put his hand up to the side of the young man's face. The lieutenant
came over.
"Problem, sir?" he asked.
"Yes," The Ancient One answered. "As soon as you are dismissed get this young
man to the hospital. Tell them to do a full head scan, setting thirty-six.
When they get the results tell them I recommended the Mondale Procedure.
It would be the most effective. Don't worry, son," The Ancient One concluded,
"you'll be a little uncomfortable for a while, but you'll be fine."
"Sir?" the young soldier asked.
"It's all right, Private," the Lieutenant answered.
Dozens of vehicles began to roll towards the gate, the lead one pulled over
by The Ancient One, it's driver jumped out, and saluted.
"Commander, Alpha Team," he snapped..
"You're in civilian clothes," The Ancient One snapped back. "You should not
salute, mister! Half of the unit with me, the other half with this gentleman.
They are to obey him, explicitly."
"Understood, sir!" the man answered. "But shouldn't you be in..."
When he turned back to The Ancient One he was no longer wearing a General's
uniform, but was in civilian clothes. The man swallowed, snapped, "Let's
roll!" jumped back in his car and The Ancient One joined him.
"What have we got, sir?" he asked, as they rolled towards the main highway.
"Two five megaton devices," The Ancient One answered, "With fusion detection
detonators! If one goes off, the other one will also detonate. So both interceptions
must take place simultaneously."
"Whoa!" the younger man cried. He tapped the information into a computer
board by his right hand as he continued to drive. In a moment a green light
lit. "They got it!" he sighed. "Damn! No margin for error, sir?"
"NONE!" The Ancient One answered.
"Damn!" the younger man cried again, "Damn!" As they reached the main road
The Ancient One's convoy went left, the other went right. They drove for
many minutes, changing from one freeway to another. Finally The Ancient One
told his driver to pull over. All along the road behind them the other vehicles
followed suit. "What now, sir?" the young man asked. "We wait!" The Ancient
One answered. An eternity seemed to pass, then The Ancient One remarked,
"Let's roll! Signal capture pattern Delta! The lead cars take up position
ahead of us. There's an emergency U turn just ahead. All vehicles take it."
The convoy again rolled out. They were headed in the opposite direction they'd
been going. "Pattern secure sir! Ten unidentified vehicles in the formation.
Any idea where our target is?" The Ancient One smiled. "Gray van," he answered,
"right beside us; Capitol Plumbing & Heating." "Oh, shit!" the driver
cursed. His hand quickly played over his computer terminal. "Beginning to
exclude vehicles from the pattern," he remarked, watching the screen. "Isolating
target vehicle." After many anxious minutes he remarked, "Target vehicle
isolated, sir! Do you wish us to commence operation?" The Ancient One closed
his eyes. In a moment he opened them. "Other unit ready!" he snapped. "Let's
DO it, gentlemen!" "Yes, sir!" his driver answered. Suddenly all the cars
began to slow as one. Carefully, surely, they worked into position boxing
in their target, one big truck given plenty of room behind it. "Ready!" The
Ancient One's driver remarked. "DO IT!" The Ancient One snapped. Suddenly
men rushed to the front of the big truck. They attached cables to it, the
other ends had steel jaws which they attached to the back doors of the van.
They slapped the activates and the jaws bit in. The truck roared backwards
and the van's doors flew away. Men with rifles at the ready rushed the front,
screaming "Freeze! Freeze!" The men in the front did so, but in the back
of the van a man was fumbling with the wire of a hand-held detonator that
he was trying to feed into a socket. Two men at the back of the van didn't
hesitate. They began to fire, but their bullets bounced off a transparent
shield outside the van. "Blow it!" The Ancient One's driver screamed. "Blow
it up, now!" "NO!" The Ancient One screamed, "Stand by!" A sudden silver
flash descended from the sky. A woman in silver armor seemed to appear out
of nowhere. She seized the transparent shield and ripped it away. The man
inside had finally gotten the plug into the bomb, but before he could bring
his thumb down on the detonator the woman's thumb was over it. The man tried
to force it down, to no avail. "Sorry, child of Islam," the woman remarked,
"this isn't your Day Of Glory! Your God isn't ready to welcome you to Paradise
yet. He has quite a bit intended for you, and massacring millions of innocents
doesn't fit in those plans. Now sit down, behave! Don't give these nice men
any trouble, and they'll treat you very well." The man released the detonator.
The side door of the van was pried open and he was grabbed and hauled out.
"Gently, gentlemen," the woman snapped, "he's no longer a danger now. Let
him remember the kindness of his captors, not their cruelty." "Yes, ma'am!"
those handling the prisoner snapped. Experts climbed in the van and quickly
had the bomb disabled. "Let's get out of here!" The Ancient One snapped.
"There's a news helicoptor coming. We don't want a lot of embarrassing pictures."
In a few moments they were speeding back to the base. The silver-haired woman
climbed iinto the back of The Ancient One's vehicle. "My God!" the driver
sighed, "Is she Aphrodite? I've never sen any woman so beautiful!" The Ancient
One and the woman roared with laughter! "No!" The Ancient One managed, "She
is Durga Bhagwaati" "Oh!" the driver sighed. "I'm no religous expert," he
commented, "who in the heck is that?"
"The Hindu equivalent of Aphrodite," The Ancient One explained. "She was
a warrior Goddess, one of Krshna's consorts. Legend says she bore Him 200
sons! It is also said she was so beautiful that men would willingly follow
her to certain death."
"WOW!" the driver managed. "I can see why! Very pleased to meet you, ma'am!"
"Likewise, I'm sure!" the woman giggled. "Two-hundred sons, ma'am?"
"Actually," the woman answered, "twenty. That was quite sufficient. But you
know how these things get carried away. Kill one-hundred men in battle, it
becomes ten-thousand, capture one city, it becomes a whole nation!"
The driver nodded and was silent for the rest of the trip. After they entered
the base the vehicles hurried off in all directions. The Ancient One's other
companion rejoined him.
"What's SHE doing here?" he asked.
"Kept complaining about us having all the fun," The Ancient One answered,
"so decided to take a little go at this job. She did pretty damned good!"
The big dog rushed up to the woman and began to receive some serious hugs
and patting.
"Well," The Ancient One sighed, "looks like our job's done here! Might's
well head for home!"
The Ancient One's driver rushed up holding a cell phone. "Sir," he remarked,
"we have the President. He'd like to express his gratitude for what you and
your companions have done. Just a moment of your time, sir?"
Another man held out a second cell phone to The Ancient One. The Ancient
One spat on it. It immediately began to crackle and spark. The man threw
it to the ground. "WOW!" the man cried, as the phone burst into flames and
was quickly consumed.
The Ancient One took on his true form, spread his wings, and rose skyward,
those around him watching in awe. His companions quickly followed him. The
woman took something from her side, which she flipped open. It became a round
shield. She spun it with her free hand and it lifted her skyward, as she
picked up the dog.
"I'm sorry, Mr. President," The Ancient One's driver remarked into his cell
phone, "apparently he does not wish to speak with you, sir. Yes, sir, thank
you sir! I will tell my men, sir! good-bye, sir!"
He put away his cell phone and his associate came over. "I don't get it!"
he remarked "A little while ago they nearly blew us off the face of the Earth!
Today they save our butts! Are they our friends, or are they our enemies?"
The Ancient One's driver stared at his associate for some time. "They have
always been, and will always BE," he remarked, "our friends. All they have
ever asked is that we not threaten them, that we do not interfere with them."
"Then why in the hell do we DO it?" the other man asked. His associate shrugged.
"Come on!" he remarked. "They can go home. We gotta do the paperwork!"
His associate stared into the sky. "Thanks!" he remarked. He, too, then shrugged
and headed after his superior, shaking his head in frustration.