00117





The camo-wrap hung on the ex-miners' limbs in tatters. They had been running almost nonstop since their escape. At first it was disconcerting to not have that miners' digging "music" noise constantly bombarding their eardrums. Now the harsh, howling wind replaced it. A welcome relief.

The injuries suffered during the gladiator match had healed within the first few hours. None of them complained about those aches and pains anymore, or even the cold. The three had run long and hard and covered much distance. The only times they stopped was to take a two hour rest period- thrice only since they started running. Also, the trio paused to eat from the bag of rations Clyden had brought with him. And also, when the hunting aircars would pass overhead, they became motionless, like rocks on the landscape. But since the time they had reached the polar zone, with its constant blizzard, no more skycars flew by.

What was left of the camo-wrap on each of them turned greenish to reflect the snowy background. The snow reached their hips but still they pushed on as fast as they could. The deepening snow, however, bogged them down. But they forced themselves onward. Ice clung to them.

"Amazing!" Tretl Clyden marveled. "It's gotta be sub-zero, and I can see it's cold, but I hardly mind the temperature! These bodies we got, they're great!"

"Yeah, sure, if you say so," George McCleer replied, raising his voice to be heard over the gale. “I feel so lucky!”

"Yeah, boy," agreed Billy Boy, "you sure did us a favor sending us to the mines so we can get these outstanding new bodies!- Hmph, mine makes me feel like an ape!"

Clyden shook his head."Ah, shut up. I think I like it better when you guys stay silent and we just concentrate on our running!"

But George McCleer ignored his wishes. "Okay, we've been jogging for two whole days now. Are you ever going to tell us where we are heading, or what we are going to do? It would be nice to know, you know."

"I guess it won't hurt to let you two in on it now. I know the way, and you don't, and I am the one who can pilot an aircar, and I doubt either of you can, so I don't have to worry you guys are gonna run off on me and leave me behind."

They jogged along in silence.

"Well?" pressed Billy Boy. "So, tell us already, Mr. Clyden."

"We're heading to the Research and Development Lab up here in the middle of nowhere. There's something I want there," Clyden told them.

"What?" asked George. "Some new weapon or something?"

"Well, yeah, whatever we can find in that category, sure. But I am going up there to snag that new prototype aircar that is up there, just waiting for someone to take it out for a spin. It's very fast. I want it. We can, if it lives up to my expectations and the rumors, outrace the sentries Gov. Xavier has posted at the wormhole. We're going to Earth in it, boys."

"Why?" wondered Billy Boy.

"I want to show the Leaders what Gov. Xavier is up to, Billy Boob. I want them to see firsthand how he took McCleer and made him a miner. They sent McCleer here as a representative. It should bother them to know the contempt Gov. Xavier showed them by the way he treated McCleer. And then they will have no face-saving excuse for not stopping him. The Leaders then can no longer rationalize and say it must not be true about Gov. Xavier putting McCleer in the mines- not once they see the proof of George right before their eyes, now made into a miner!"

"Then what?" George inquired.

"Well, then, while the Earth Leaders sit on their buns for a few weeks wringing their hands and trying to decide what to do, I intend to return to Hope, and, if I  find any good gadgets at the Lab, to use those to try and take down Gov. Xavier on my own. I know the last time I tried, I got stuck in the mines. But this time, if I fail, at least I am pretty sure that sooner or later Earth will decide to kick Gov. Xavier out of his post because of seeing you, McCleer."

"What if the people at the Lab don't let you just take what you want?" Billy Boy wanted to know. "The Lab people might not be so friendly to escaped miners that the Governor wants brought back to the mines."

George said, “I know for a fact that my old college prof, Dr. Kitchen, is there. Do you really think she will give a hoot about helping us dethrone the king? Ha! Not her."

Clyden smiled condescendingly at them. "First off, we are miners, like you said. Even if they were to refuse us, we are miners, and we will just take what we want. Sure, if they were able, they could try and take us with their blasters, but there's at least three of us, and we are hard to stop. Secondly, nobody's gonna do anything to stop us. You see, everybody up there is dead. Even Dr. Ktichen is gone, McCleer."

"What?? Dr. Kitchen? But how?" asked George McCleer. "And, how do you know this?"

The three proceeded through a bank of drifted snow.

Clyden said, "Trust me, McCleer, they're all gone. Dr. Kitchen had some stupid big dog-lion thing called Fuzzy and he killed them all. All of them. I saw it. I had gone to the R and D to get some things from the Doctor to use against Gov. Xavier, to take him down. A good idea of mine, but you can see how it turned out."

Billy Boy asked, "But then, if that is so, that they are all dead, would not Gov. Xavier know and have already sent somebody there to take care of all that top secret stuff? He won't simply leave his research stuff lying about for anyone to take."

"I hope he didn't send a team there. In fact, I rather doubt it. Ya see, I have devised a scheme to keep him away from being able to reach the Lab," Clyden proudly answered. "This is it, this perpetual bad weather. I made sure this weather stays in place, and nobody can get through this storm- except for miners, of course."

"I guess that's impressive," said Billy Boy. "You seem to plan for everything."

"Ya got that right!"

"So tell me, Mr. Clyden, have you also planned for your death? And for what comes next?" asked Billy Boy matter-of-factly.

Clyden scowled. "Oh no, here we go again! No wonder I happily tossed you into the mines, Billy Boob."

George McCleer told Clyden, "I think Billy Boy makes sense. You should give it some thought. No one lives forever. Hey, in the mines you could have easily been tossed to the Eaters. Or blown up from accidentally hitting pure fuel while you were digging. And then what? What would you tell God when you stood before Him and He reviewed your life?"

Clyden guffawed and waved aside Billy Boy's and George's concerns. "Ha ha ha, don't worry about that. I am not there in the mines now, am I? And I have a miner body. I think I don't have to worry about dying for a good, long time! Besides, I don't have time to think about all that stuff until after I see Gov. Xavier get his!"

Billy Boy the former preacher tried to tell Clyden about Jesus, and how the Bible says everyone must one day meet Him, whether he wants to or not. Those who have not accepted His sacrifice for forgiveness of sins, then must face Jesus not as Savior, but as Judge. If such a person had neglected the salvation offered to him from the penalty of his sins, it would not be good for that person to face Him as Judge..

Clyden grumbled and put his fingers in his ears. He picked up his pace, trying to outrun Billy Boy and his message.

Billy Boy called to him, earnest for his spiritual welfare, but when Clyden kept going on with his fingers still plugging his ears, acting as if he could not hear Billy Boy (and maybe he could not hear him over the howling of the wind), Billy Boy sighed and shook his head in exasperation. He looked over to George McCleer, who merely shrugged.

Billy Boy talked with George about how much he appreciated God's protection of him in the mines, and said he wondered if that church that he used to pastor was still going or not.

"Billy Boy, I was never at your house church- but I think I heard about it while I was human, that it was still going on illegally in the city after you were taken to the mines. Anyway, I can certainly understand why your people felt the need to go to a state-unapproved church. Once I attended services at the state church. The Religion Board's approved church- HA! It's nothing but a feelgood motivational lecture to inspire you to obey Gov. Bright!"

Billy Boy nodded. "Yes, I went to that church a few times. Not so good. -George, it does my heart, and my mind, good to talk about these spiritual things. The ID Wipe may have caused me to forget myself, who I am, but it could not keep me from remembering about God. That's the most important thing for a person to remember, after all."

By now Clyden had taken his fingers back out his ears, and George and Billy Boy had caught up to him. Clyden could not help but overhear them, despite the whining wind. Clyden snickered. "Okay, c'mon, we don't have time to stop for church services on the way, folks."

"Besides that, our type of church service is not state-approved," George pointed out. "You might not like that. Maybe you'll try to toss us in the mines again. Then again, you might learn from a church service with us, how to have eternal life, if you would only listen! You might even like the sermon."

Clyden shook his head. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. As if your church service is anything special compared to the state church. Big deal. What's the difference, really? What's the point? One's as good as another. It boils down to do good, obey the rules. Who cares, anyway? Do you honestly think God does?"

"I should say it matters," answered Billy Boy. "He wants sincere seekers and sincere worshipers."

"Oh, please! If it's so important to God for us to worship Him a certain way, to believe a certain way, to live a certain way, then why didn't He tell us?"

George took this one. "He did. In the Bible."

George McCleer wiped snow from his face and eyes and saw Clyden snickering. "McCleer, the Bible's written by men. A bunch of 'em!"

"Yes, and God guided them. Some parts are directly from God, with directions to the prophets to record His words."

"Mm-hmm. Sure. That's what they all say," Clyden smugly said.

Billy Boy agreed with Clyden. "Right, they do. But how many religions have their founder rise from the dead? And how many have so many prophecies fulfilled- with more to be fulfilled, I guarantee it. And not only do the gospel accounts in the Bible show Jesus rose from the dead, but there is also indirect historic evidence, too, not just in the Bible. Not only that, look how some miners didn't fall under the spell of suddenly loving the Governor, even though we did not have memory pills to take, like you did, to protect our identities. We may have amnesia, but we still did not suddenly become loyal sychophants of Gov. Bright. As the former Security Leader, you know that there were a handful of us which the brainwashing did not work on."

"Bah. All that probably means is that you guys had such a strong commitment that the brainwashing could not override it and make you abandon some deeply held beliefs. It'd probably be the same if you were an intent car salesman."

"Or," George interjected, "it could mean the Bible is true, where it says God will keep your mind for you. How many of the miners who had attended the illegal house church were able to resist the mind control?"

"Well, McCleer, I never did a survey on it. Shall we go back and take a show of hands?"

Billy Boy asked Clyden, "Who came up with this idea, brainwashing the miners to love the Governor so much? It shamefully borders on idol worship."

The ex-Security Leader chuckled. "Heh heh, it's not worship. It's merely that the miners deeply appreciate him very much. And it works, too. They're so motivated- Look at their production! They don't realize what a weasel Gov. Xavier is!" He spat in the snow.

"So, then, this brainwashing thing was your idea?" guessed George.

"Kinda. When I applied for the job as his Security Leader, he mentioned the problem of getting the miners to want to work hard. Since I knew the process pretty much destroyed their minds and identities, but usually only temporarily, I suggested the ID Wipe. That way, they wouldn't be going back to their old, criminal ways. I had heard of the ID Wipe before. My mother used to work for some secret government agency, so I heard about it. I researched it for Gov. Xavier and helped him to get the stuff. He took all the credit for it, but I figured, So what? He's the boss. A lot of this happened even before I actually got here on the World of Hope- we managed to do a few face-to-face calls from Earth to Hope- but that's what clinched the deal for me, that he picked me as his Security Leader."

The ex-Diggers' path took them toward a snow-covered hill ahead of them. George and Billy Boy turned to jog around it, but Clyden stuck his hand out, signaling for the other two to slow down or stop. "Whoa, hold on there. What's this?"

"What's what?" George asked, puzzled. All he saw was that snow-covered hill in front of them.

Clyden stared at the oddly shaped snowed-over "hill" before them. His face brightened. "I don't believe this! Very interesting..." He moved closer to the hill. The hill's slope ascended sharply to the zenith , and then the hill flattened to a summit about fifteen or so feet off the ground. Clyden wiped some of the snow from the mysterious bluff, revealing a metal surface beneath the jade flakes.

"Well, what do you know..." Billy Boy dashed to Clyden's side and wiped off more snow.

"Look at the shape, Billy Boob. You recognize it, right?" asked Clyden. "A large Security Agency aircar!"

George joined them in removing the snow. "It crashed here, eh?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't look too damaged, not so far. The snow cushioned its crashlanding. Still in one piece. The hatch should be over this way. Clear off the snow in that section. Yeah, like that."

"Were they hunting us when they crashed?" worried Billy Boy. He felt a twinge of concern, in case he was partly responsible for their accident.

"I doubt that Gov. Xavier would risk sending Security Agents here in this storm to catch us. But he would send them to the R and D Lab, to see what was going on, since he could not contact the technicians on the comm-unit. The blizzard I helped aggravate killed these poor saps in this skycar. If the fall didn't, then if they went through the snow for help, the cold did. Too bad. But, wow, when you think about it, it's kinda great to know that my plan to keep Gov. Xavier away from the R and D Lab by means of this blizzard, which, like I said, I helped aggravate, worked so well!"

George McCleer made a face. "You're a sick man, Clyden. I think of all the dead inside there, but it makes you proud of yourself for making the bad weather that killed them."

Clyden ignored him. He cleared ice off the keypad aside the door and punched in the security code. "Let's see if the ice gummed up the works or not." The hatch slid open. "I still remember the shortcut, even if the codes are changed or not," he bragged.

Inside, they found that the lights on the instrument panels still blinked, and the cockpit lights still shined. "Good, it still has power," Clyden observed. "But look at these dopes. How stupid. They should've turned back! Of course, they were going there in this mess for their beloved Gov. Xavier, so no wonder they risked their lives. Jerks. What a waste of lives."

Billy Boy looked at the crew. Bodies of Security Agents lay here and there in the cabin.

"This aircar, if it still goes, will make our trip a lot shorter," Clyden promised. "I can fly it. But why didn't they use the radio? At least, from what I can see, the vehicle is in pretty good shape."

Clyden hoisted a cadaver and took it to a corner storage bin. He put the body inside. "C'mon, guys, give me a hand. Get the others. We'll leave them in here after we reach the R and D and we'll take that faster aircar in the garage. We'll be sure to lock this skycar up so Fuzzy can't get them for a snack, and after we are done with our business on Earth, we can eventually see they get a proper burial for Security Agents dying in the line of duty. They won't be going anywhere if we leave them at the Lab for awhile."

George McCleer and Billy Boy followed his example of gathering the dead. Billy Boy inquired, "If you say this blizzard is so dangerous to fly in, and if it made them crash, then why are we taking this aircar?"

"Because I am a miner, and a lot stronger than they were. I will fly on manual. It's been awhile, but I am sure I can still fly a craft this big. Hey, don't put their blasters in there with the bodies. We might need all the blasters we got for Fuzzy!"

Billy Boy grimaced. "Yikes. The more I hear about this Fuzzy, the more I don't want to meet him."

When the bodies were stored, Clyden plopped down in the pilot's seat. He glanced at the radio. "Figgers. Looks like the crash knocked it out of commission. See how it wiggles in its place? That's a serious loose connection."

George harbored some skepticism. "I hope you can handle this aircar like you say. You know it's so windy. A lot of turbulence."

"Bah, don't be a wimp," Clyden scolded. "Are you game or not?"

While George considered the choices, Billy Boy said, without hesitation, "I went with you this far, I may as well see it through to the end."

Clyden didn't wait for George's answer. "Okay, then, it's all set. Find a seat and strap in. Don't be like those guys in the storage bin. Here we go!" He fired up the engines.

At first it appeared Clyden's optimism might stall out before it got off the ground. The heavy snow kept the skycar stuck down on the ground. Clyden gave the engine full power, and suddenly, the aircar shot up into the clouds above, wobbling and swaying from the fierce crosscurrents.

"This bird don't go high enough to soar over the clouds." Clyden struggled to keep the flying vehicle under control, and when he finally gained mastery of it, he grinned, proud of himself. "Okay, next stop- the R and D Lab, or die trying!'

George McCleer muttered, "Now I know what Nina felt, when she worried about going through the wormhole."

Clyden laughed. "Hahaha, where's your faith, McCleer? Maybe you and Billy Boob can hold a prayer meeting for us while we zoom off. I just hope I don't accidentally snap these controls on manual, since I don't yet know my own strength! Or, worse, that the winds don't tear us apart in midair! Oh, McCleer, don't look like that. Sit back and enjoy the ride!"

(c) drk 2012