IMAGINATION'S PLACE
FICTION
NOT THAT WAY!
By; Gerald A. Polley
The Ancient One and his companions were about their nightly
chores when a creature of Darkness approached. The Ancient One
maneuvered so the wind was at his back and let the foul thing
come close. "Thought I'd better let you know," the
demon remarked, "they have not followed your wishes and shut
down Operation Counterstrike. They are still gathering
personel."
The Ancient One sighed. "Thank you!" he snapped.
"You will be rewarded for your efforts."
The demon bowed and disappeared. "Do you have such a hard
time," The Ax Man asked, "keeping from whacking
them?"
"It takes all my control," The Ancient One answered,
"to keep from sending them to eternal death every time they
come near me! Come on! We've got to deal with this!"
They quickly flew to a military base out in the desert. The
Ancient One led them through corridors into a room that had a
large computer screen. The Ancient One activated it. It showed
several important senators and representatives. Each of them had
a red circle over their picture with a line drawn through it, and
there was a picture of another individual beside them.
The Ancient One shook his head. There was a noise and they turned
to see several young military officers entering the room.
"Thought you'd show up!" one of them remarked.
"It's just about ready. We'll take them all out in one
night, the whole network!"
The Ancient One shook his head. "I can't let you do that,
Jeffrey," he remarked. "I understand your frustration.
But we can't do it this way. We will find their secrets, we will
find their dirt. We will destroy them. But this will only
increase their power, only make them even more dangerous! It
can't happen. I'm ordering you to shut the program down, to
discontinue all operations. I'm not asking, I'm ordering! And you
know I won't be disobeyed! We can't make them martyrs!"
"But these men have nothing to lose!" the officer
argued. "They're all dying of things that they're
responsible for. It will solve the problems! No one would ever
dare challenge us again!"
The Ancient One again shook his head. "You will give them
the power to defeat us!" he argued. "You will make the
people sympathetic towards them. They will become even more
dangerous in death than they were alive! Now, I'm saying it
again, shut the program down, or have I lost your loyalty, as
well?"
The young officer lowered his head. "Never, sir!" he
answered. "I have sworn to give you my life if need be, a
hundred times over. But what if someone else acts? Are we to try
to stop them?"
"I see no alternative," The Ancient One answered.
"We would have to! We would have no choice. If anyone
attacks them physically it must be the work of their own kind,
but none of us. If we can we will humiliate them, we will
disgrace them, we will drive them from power! But we will do them
no physical harm. Am I understood?"
All around The Ancient One nodded.
The Ancient One went over to the computer and typed in some
instructions. The words "Programming being deleted"
appeared on the screen. Picture after picture disappeared until
the screen was empty. The Ancient One turned back to the gathered
officers. "DON'T make me come back!" he snapped.
"You don't want me coming back in a bad mood. Follow the
plan, follow the procedure. Be patient."
"Sometimes," one of the officers put in, "you're
endless patience is maddening!"
"You've got that right!" The Ax Man commented.
"But he's always right. Time and time again, he's always
right!
His patience is utterly maddening, but it is just as maddening to
his enemies as it is to his friends. Because they know he never
gives up, and just when they think they've won he finds some way
of crushing them. I hate to hear myself saying it, but follow his
instructions. Be patient! We will succeed!"
The officers all nodded. "Let's go!" The Ancient One
snapped. "Other places to be, other things to do!"
"Somebody's in for a headache tonight!" one of the
young officers remarked.
"More likely," another answered, "somebody's going
to die tonight!" The Ancient One smiled and looked to his
companions. "These young folks know us!" he joked.
"Yes," Durga answered, "they know us!" She
went over and kissed Jeffrey on the cheek. "I wish you'd
been our son this time," she remarked. "But you're
still as handsome as ever! Still in the family line!"
The young man smiled. "But my mother this time was just like
you," he answered. "She gave me everything you gave me.
Though she was never a warrior she had a warrior's heart."
"Good!" Durga sighed. She looked to The Ancient One.
"They have to pay for the fact that we weren't able to have
any children. That's something I want a reckoning for!"
"Don't worry," The Ancient One asnwered, "they
will, I guarantee you, they will. And they're going to pay the
price for every one of our foster children that came to harm,
every single one of them who was destroyed by their foulness!
Good night, gentlemen!" he continued. He and his companions
left the base not bothering to dematerialize.
"Damn!" The Ax Man moaned, "I wish we could let
them do it!"
"It would only make more trouble," The Ancient One
assured. "We want them to live long, miserable, frustrated
lives, being denied what they want, watching everybody else
succeed while they fail. And we will guarantee they fail again
and again and again, no matter how much power they think they
have! We want them to live a good long time knowing what's coming
when they finally do die, knowing we will be waiting!"
THE END