1001 Ways To Conquer a Planet, Part 2
Brendan Choi
"Retreat!", cried his friend Tyler in the distance.
"No, it's not time to retreat!", thought Victor.
Through the sizzling smoke, Victor could see his men running up
the ancient acropolis and away from the beach in panic. A thunderous
hail of rocket darts and explosions rained on them. Many of them
were blasted away by the relentless gunfire and explosives of
the approaching enemy forces. The soldiers, young and inexperienced,
fled in helter-skelter in all directions to all parts of the acropolis.
Victor knew he and his men were surrounded and defeated, and
not even the shelter of the acropolis could save them now.
The enemy blasted its way through the columns and pillers, taking
no prisoners. Victor's men retreated deep into the acropolis
and up the hill. Victor dashed and ducked his way from column
to column, picking off every approaching enemy soldier with an
old but trusty AK-47. The air was filled with gunfire and voices
of men dying and in pain. Through the smoke and flame he could
see his men far away on the hill. They were fighting terribly.
They're going to surrender, Victor thought. Victor and several
of his men continued to keep their ground in the acropolis and
fight off the advancing enemy. They were far behind, and they
could almost feel the diminishing battle in the distance.
"Vic!", cried Tyler.
Victor spun around and ducked, just in time to see a rocket dart
hurtling through the smoke toward him. The roaring dart missed
Victor, but with an explosion that sent tissue and digestive juices
flying into the air, it blasted and exploded its way into the
stomach of Tyler.
"No!", cried Victor, as he saw his friend collapse onto the marble
floor. Sadness nearly killed him as more and more grenades and
missiles closed in on him. Victor knew he was all alone in the
acropolis and surrounded. He could see enemy soldiers calmly
approaching him from all directions. His AK-47 worn out, Victor
grabbed out his Uzi, his fourth and last weapon on this mission.
"Dr. Ford! I see that you do, or did, indeed trust a mission
as valuable as this to the hands of your men."
It was Belakov's voice! Victor got his Uzi ready, ready to shoot
his arch-enemy.
"Come out Belakov! Let me have the pleasure of seeing your face
before I die at least!" Victor hollered into the columns.
"Yes...I do intend to kill you, Dr. Ford. You have been a menace
to me, and a menace to my country! But before you "leave" us,
Dr. Ford, I would like to ask you why you use such ancient weapons.
Ary they cheap? Did you purchase them at a museum, or that little
place in Venice where you..." Enough! Victor spun around and
fired into the smoke. But there was nothing.
Victor spun around and came face to face with his long-time opponent.
Like a Greek king, Belakov stood tall and calm on a marble dais.
"Ha, ha, Dr. Ford. Too bad you must leave, I have fun with you
for long time. You cannot beat a man older, Dr. Ford.", cried
the Russian.
In a rage, Victor fired his Uzi. The big Russian backed off,
and fired his wrist-rocket-darts. The darts blasted at Victor's
feet. In pain, Victor managed to scramble away. Belakov fired
his machine gun, sending several bullets into Victor's leg. Bleeding
and in pain, Victor fled off.
"Get him! Do not let him escape!", cried Belakov in Russian.
Explosions and gunfire followed Victor step by step. He was running
blindly out of the acropolis. His boots were soaking with blood.
I've got to get the hell out of here, Victor thought. Suddenly,
in the near horizon, he could see helicopters approaching. As
the helicopters flew over, he could see that they were copters
of NATO.
"Over here!! Hurry!", yelled Victor, waving his gun.
Victor ran out of the acropolis as fast as he could and onto the
beach. Running in blind panic, he ran right into a Russian soldier.
Before the soldier could raise his rifle, Victor Ford managed
to his raise his arm and fire his last wrist-rocket. The rocket-dart
cleanly sliced the soldier's head off, leaving nothing but a fountain
of blood that gushed out of the headless body and rained onto
the sand. Belakov's men were getting close. But they were too
late. The NATO copters were approaching. From out of the copters'
bellies, blasts of missiles and shells lashed out, destroying
the remains of the acropolis and Belakov's men. The copters landed,
and dozens of heavily armed NATO troops jumped and dashed out
onto the beach, ready to mop up the last of the Warsaw Pact force.
A NATO officer ran out to greet Victor, and helped him onto a
medical copter. Several medical people tended to Victor's wounds.
"You're lucky we came Dr. Ford. NATO and the CIA told us that
you would probably need our help and, anyway, you're not supposed
to be here." Victor was too faint and dazed to listen.
As the medical copter rose into the sky, an exhausted Victor Ford
glanced back at the flaming acropolis.
"Thanks for coming. I thought it was the end of it. What a mess
I made. Greece is not going to like this."
"Well, they have many of these buildings. Anyway, Dr. Ford, America
would do anything to save their favorite hero!"
"I need a vacation!", hollered Victor Ford. I'm not going to
no Uganda, Mongolia, Antarctica, or no Upper Volta, and certainly
not to Europe! I'm taking a vacation to a normal place right
now, and that's final!"
"Calm down Dr. Ford, pease! We have a lot to discuss."
"Calm down?! Nearly all my men dead, the President almost assassinated,
and you tell me to calm down?!"
Victor always hated these meetings with CIA leaders. Presently,
suggested by the National Security Council, he had to work for
them.
"Dr. Ford, we understand how you feel. Leadership may just not
be your ability. You should not have gone running off after Belakov
with expensive troops and supplies in the first place. This is
no time for a personal vendetta."
Victor understood that.
"We feel you need a rest, too. That is why you're going on a
mission that will fullfill that, too."
"Oh no you're not! Last time you said I could go skiing, and
I wound up stranded in Siberia. You're not getting away with
it this time."
"Victor, please listen. Your mission will be a vacation. A faraway
vacation, as a matter of fact."
Victor gave up. He was still too tired to argue. Anyway, they
pay much better than National Security.
"Where on Earth is it this time?"
"Well, not exactly on Earth..."
"Into space! I'm having a mission in space!", cried Victor Ford
happily. He had never been into space.
But the two old men in the dark office were not happy looking.
"Yes...in space...but more likely somewhere else."
"Where?!"
"On Mars."
"What?!? Mars?! What the hell is on Mars?!"
The old wrinkled CIA Leader pushed a lighted panel on the table.
A screen on the wall lighted The Presidential Seal of the United
States appeared.
"Probably the most important mission in your life, Dr. Ford!"
Copyright 1987 by Brendan Choi. Unauthorized duplication,
posting, or publication is strictly prohibited.
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