(IWWC) Memoirs

USS Penelope

En route to Sol.

Year 2320.

After the engagement with the NI ships hell-bent on destroying the Penelope, Luder had a chance to finally relax alone in his quarters. The ship was patched back together thanks to Slayer and his valiant crews and she seemed to be doing well. Theresa was asleep in their shared bedding area, so he didn't want to disturb her.

Luder walked over to a trunk near the den area of his quarters and opened it up. He reached inside and produced a small, leather-bound book which seemed to have aged with many years. Taking the book, he closed the trunk and pulled his boots off. He climbed up onto the viewport lounger and leaned against the bulkhead, the swirl of the wormhole visible through the window.

The book was a gift from Luder's great grandfather before he passed away. It was said to have been passed down through the generations from one Luder to the next until it finally reached the hands of Theodorus Luder III, mf_luder's great grandfather. There wasn't much to the small journal, just the aged brown leather, soft to the touch and a small, black strap made of cloth to hold it shut. The book had a word etched in black leather-mark on the cover: Memoirs.

Luder opened the volume and began to read:



Memoirs

Being a First Hand Account of the Indigo Involvement in the Energy Wars

World War III


PFC John M. Luder

June 17, 2098
(Tuesday)

I write here in this journal to tell anyone who may find it of what actually occurred. Myself and only a few others know the real reasons for why everything spiraled out of control, but we're in the minority.

I am what they call a 'grunt'. I was assigned to the US Embassy in New Baghdad, Iraq. We were there for about 15 months, pulling random duties from guard shifts on the gates, to patrolling the sectors for possible hostilities, usual infantry stuff. My mom constantly sent us goody boxes with cookies and socks and the like, but things could have been so much faster with the new military transport tech that was in the works earlier on. I digress.

It was about 0300 hours on Saturday morning when they showed up. I was nearing the end of a 12 hour shift on front area guard (basically a guard where we were made to screen everyone coming on and off the embassy) when this black sedan rolled up with its windows completely tinted out. I nearly pulled my OSI 20 up to the ready position, but the driver flashed a badge out the window and motioned me over. I told PVT Wallace to stay put while I checked 'em out.

The guy driving the car was CIA and he was carrying about ten people in the back with him. I explained to him that we had to have everyone visually id'ed before they came into the embassy. He got a little upset, but we've come to expect that kind of behavior from the civvies with suits. He rolled down the windows in the back and I shone my light in.

There they were.

The indigos.

No one would call 'em that directly to anyone's face, but I knew Wallace knew, and I knew and we'd even talked about them before. Dressed in their psuedo-goth attire with their eyeliner and dark bags under their eyes. Some people said they had "abilities" but when I was in high school, we called em "emos." Emo was actually a really old term I think - been around a loong time. Oh well. Anyhoo, back to business. These indigos all look at me with absolutely blank stares on their faces, six females and four males and I matched 'em, stare for stare. After verifying their id, I radioed in and was told to let them through. I didn't think nothing of it that night, but some serious crap has gone down..... will write later, have to go.


June 18, 2098
(Wednesday)

The indigos.

They showed up on Saturday night and disappeared off into the embassy. No one saw them in there and no one has seen them leave. Plus, that car they showed up in is still parked out near the edge of the embassy. When I asked around about them, SSG Morris told me to "Shut yer damned trap." So, I haven't asked about them since. Rumor has it there's something going on deep underground below this place, but I've only heard it mentioned in conspiracy circles. Unruly lot they are.

Something crazy was announced yesterday as well.

The headlines read: America Cuts Ties with OPEC!

This is perhaps the biggest bit of controversy I think I've heard in my entire life. Well, I'm only 19, so what do I know, but a lot of the senior staff were in a bustle about it. Essentially, we got rid of our need for oil or gas. Pretty hefty stuff considering we've been using it for nearly 300 years or more. I think a lot of the middle easterners are up in arms about it. Anyway, after it was announced, we were put on high alert and told to arm ourselves near the gates.

We were out there for about six hours today and nothing happened, not a damned thing. Getting sick of the dust...


June 19 2098
(Thursday)

I saw one of them today, she came outside for a smoke. She had long, black hair running down the middle of her back, purple eyes and a pale complexion. She was extremely beautiful. Well, either that or I'm getting the "deployment urges" they always talk about. Whatever. She was wearing a tight black leather skirt and a long-sleeved dark blue button down shirt with a white t shirt under it. Accompanying her was the CIA man. He didn't look too thrilled to be up there with here in the light and heat, but she didn't seem to care too much about him or what he thought.

She caught me looking at her more than once while we were out there and I couldn't help but smile. During the times when I'd smile, she'd take a long drag off of those cigs and blow out a puff of smoke in my general direction. Too bad I was about 50 meters away. I would have given a guard shift to breath that smoke.

She finished that cig and flicked the butt on the ground, grinding it out with her black, knee-length boot. She looked up at me and I swear to God she winked and headed back inside. Wallace thinks I'm imagining things, but I know what's what and that girl winked at me.


June 20, 2098
(Friday)

Finally, my day off and what a day it was. Where do I begin?

Okay. Well, I guess the beginning would be the best place.

I woke up this morning about 0530 and went for a four miler around the compound, just to blow some steam off and also because there's no organized PT program here to speak of. Since the sun was still down, there were hardly any others out moving about to speak of.

Except for one.

Her.

I ran past the barracks the second go around and thought I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye. I glanced over and saw her lingering near our sitting area, watching me as I ran. When she saw that I'd made eye contact I saw her smile and she motioned me over. I ran over and stopped, not quite sure what to do.

Well, we talked for nearly 2 hours out there in the sitting area. I found out that her name was Tess and she was from Texas. Being from there myself, I was surprised to learn that we grew up not 20 miles or so from each other. About damned near went to the same schools together even. Once we were finished talking, she invited me to have breakfast with her in the embassy's five-star restaurant. I was shocked but agreed, wanting to see where this would go.

0800 hours, I was standing outside the entry to "Gilgamesh's Quarter", the finest eatery this side of the Tigris, waiting on Tess. She appeared on the stairs, dressed in the same outfit I'd seen her in the day before. Gorgeous. Amazing even. Wallace laughed when I shook him awake to tell him.

Well, aside from my ranting about this woman, the conversation we had was insane. I mentioned a couple of days ago my interest in the conspiracy circles I'd stumbled across. Well, talking to this girl was like visiting those network sites all over again. Except, things were making sense. I'll try to relate what she said as best I can here, I really need to go shower before guard tomorrow.

1) The energy crisis. For anyone who may read this in the future, we were experiencing a major energy crisis in which the OPEC was causing prices to dance around in the states. A bunch of scientists lobbied to have us officially switch over to another source of energy. What the people didn't know, according to Tess, was that these "scientists" were Indigos. All of them.

2) Tess explained to me that Indigos have the ability to make people believes whatever they want them to, whenever they want them to. I scoffed at this at first, then looked down at my plate to see roaches!!! There were fifty roaches where my eggs had been. I nearly came out of the chair. She, of course, thought this was hilarious. Proved her point, I'd say.

3) The Indigos were focusing on stopping the hate throughout the globe and were trying to first create world-wide free an clean energy to do so. She said measures were taken to ensure this project would go on unhindered and that drastic steps were in the works if they ever met opposition. When I asked what she meant by drastic steps, she got real quiet and wouldn't talk about it. Not wanting to lose her intoxicating company, I shrugged it off.

4) Indigos had been responsible for a lot of major changes in technology and the way things were done in the United States. She pointed out our new particle energy rifles were created due to Indigo research perverted by the military. They originally wanted us to use our weapons only to stun, never to kill.

When I asked her about the CIA guy, she blushed a bit and told me she'd fooled him into thinking she was still in her bed. She wouldn't tell me where exactly her bed was.... but.... hehe.

After our breakfast, she checked her watch and cursed a bit. I asked her what her deal was and she told me she was late for work. I told her I was sorry for holding her up and she did something unexpected. She pulled me close to her and gave me what was possibly the most passionate kiss I've ever had. I still wonder as I sit here tonight whether she did something with her mind. She pulled away and wiped some of her black lipstick off my mouth with her thumb. I was speechless. She told me she'd see me later and hurried off down the hallway.

I think I probably stood there for about 20 minutes in the hallway, motionless.

Wallace didn't believe a word of this when I told him, but I can't wait to see his face when she shows up tonight....


June 21, 2098
(Saturday)

Today was crazy. I woke up late as hell and nearly missed my guard shift. I don't remember much of what happened last night. She was there for most of whatever did happen. I hope that she didn't do some voodoo on me. We had fun doing whatever it was......

The commander said today that stuff was getting heated over the whole alternate energy deal with the US. Apparently we were feeding a lot of rich little Saudi kids' mouths and our sudden decision to stop using that filthy black gunk called oil upset a lot of people.

I still can't remember what it was we did last night....... Tess told me she'd see me again today.

-

We talked for a long time today, alone. Tess told me she was scared at what was going on in her work area. She wouldn't tell me exactly where it was she was working at but apparently they were doing some type of major experiment or test down there and weren't sure what the outcome was going to be. Tess told me she hates her abilities. I wanted to know why, being able to control people's minds sounded like a pretty good thing to do. She told me that sometimes it could backfire and the result you wanted could be radically different than what actually occurred. Still no luck in getting her to tell me what was going on. I held her in my arms for a while it seemed. Then she had to go.


June 22, 2098
(Sunday)

We were put on alert again today. There were apparently a lot of people over here angry with the US for our decision to change our energy sources. Word was that riots were taking place in Iran and Syria as well as Saudi Arabia. Funny that Iraq was calm as a fish pond in July.

My guard shift was uneventful again, even with the heightened state of alert. A couple of cars rolled by with some people yelling in them, but nothing more than that. Hell, that happened more times on a normal day than it did on a day with an alert. Tess came out to my shack and smoked her cigs there about four times today. That was nice.

-

It's nearly midnight and I just wanted to write that I'm not sleeping alone tonight in the first time for a very very long time. God, she's nice....


June 23, 2098
(Monday)

Today was the last day of my sane life as I knew it.

It started as any other day did, but this one was odd from the get go. First, a massive sand plume reaching as high as nearly 9000 feet AGL blew in and blanketed everything in an eerie brownish hue for nearly 30 minutes before subsiding. Completely unexpected and not tracked by any of our guys in the weather cell.

Next, the base alerts started to sound and I could see a flurry of activity in the embassy, people packing things up and moving out. SSG Morris ran out and pointed at me. He said, "We're mobilizing, get your # and get back here in 10." I nodded and went to move, when I felt a hand on my shoulder. She was there. She focused on him and made a copy of me appear. She pulled me into the same black car they'd arrived in and they were all sitting there, looking at me again, this time I was scrunched in between three of them as the car proceeded at a high rate of giddy up out of the embassy compound.

When I asked what was going on, I could only get the answer, "War."

The car ride was long and bumpy and the whole time Tess held my hand and stared at me. The feeling was good, but eerie. We got to an airstrip about 3 hours after leaving the embassy and were ushered into a plane. Once on board, Tess and I were seated together in a private area while the rest of them moved to other parts of the plane.

This is where it gets crazy.

Tess leaned over next to my ear and I could see tears in her eyes. She closed her eyes and put her head on my shoulder. She said, "This is my fault." I was still clueless as to what was going on. I wiped a tear from her eye and she placed her hand on my cheek and in that brief instant, I saw.

I saw what happened.

The indigos had come to the middle east with the mission to sway the minds of everyone there. To make them forget completely that the US ever used their oil in the first place. The scale of the operation was so large, no one was sure it could even be done. All the indigos on the plane had opposed it from the beginning, but were under orders from the government.

Their attempts had caused the "unexpected reactions" Tess told me about earlier. The populace grew extremely agitated and angry with America, instead of forgetting like they were supposed to. It was so bad, the Iranians had blown up the USS Enterprise II out in the Persian Gulf. We were at war because of them and their mind games.

As the plane took off, I thought I could see bright flashes of light in the far distance, but I think my mind was playing tricks on me.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luder heard a constant beeping coming from the speaker near his door and it yanked him from his reverie. He blinked a couple of times and walked over to the intercom.

"What is it?"

"Captain, we're nearing the Sol system and should be reverting to realspace in approximately five minutes."

"I'll be up there shortly." Luder turned from the intercom and placed the leather-bound volume back in the trunk. He stared out the window and thought about how the best of intentions could lead to the worst of results.

Luder pulled his boots back on and headed toward the command center...

reply to post by mf_luder


Great story mf_luder! I know the term emo's too. The kids let me in on that one and you're right. That is kind of like the Indigo thing. Strange subject and tough write but you've done a wonderful job!

reply to post by jackflap


Thanks man - I honestly didn't know how well this would go over, writing the journal of a Soldier during the 3rd World War....

I'm glad you liked it.

Excellent read!

It leaves the reader wanting more, as in further development. More in the works?

Also good to know the Captain's family background. He evidently comes from a long line of military Luders who happen to be in the thick of things when stuff starts blowing up.

Is that why Penelope can't leave port without something exploding? A DNA issue perhaps?

reply to post by nenothtu


LOL, seems that way, doesn't it?

Hey Captain, long time no see lol.

I hope the engine room is still in one piece. lol..

I loved this, very clever and well written (as always)

A star and flag from me.

See ya,

JQ.

Now that was a very good story. It held me captivated from the beginning to the end. Your writing style is both fresh and awesome. You should be writing for a living.

I hope you do well in the contest,

wupy

reply to post by mrwupy


Thanks!

I am actually working on a lengthy sci-fi story.

great story but we really will never cut ties with OPEC thanks for sharing it was a great read. snf

reply to post by phi1618


Thanks

No doubt you know I appreciate the connections in this story.

The memoirs, the information they reveal about the war itself and how it started, surely make a fine point about weapons, human or otherwise, and how control is often difficult. There's a saying about knowledge being one thing and the wisdom of its application being quite another.

Thoroughly enjoyable read, well-structured and simply stated. I liked both Tess and John M. Luder, but not so much their invisible (mis)handlers.

Is very good! there are a couple of "empty spaces", ie the car appears from nowhere during the escape, it should either "arrive" or they should run to "it". However you should keep writing the story, it's good stuff..