Part 3 - Part 09

I then walked over to where Enai was and said, “Nine come here and give me a kiss.”

This time Enai watched with curiosity as she walked over gently with her bulky body and tenderly kissed me on the lips.

The next thing I heard was Enai saying, “While you fool around with your girlfriend, I’m going to look for my daughter,” and he ran off.

“Wait!” I yelled, “what are you going to do when you find her? She won’t recognize or listen to you. Let’s find her together and I’ll assign her to you, if that’s possible.”

“You’re right, of course,” he said, walked away and yelled. “I’ll be inside the building on the left, first door.”

I took Nine by the hand and looked around. The sun was about to set. Almost everyone had gone inside. A convoy of trucks was heading back towards the farms. I grabbed the universal translator and handed it to Nine. I then squeezed her hand and said, “I’m squeezing your hand. If you understand what I tell you squeeze my hand back.”

She didn’t.

“Your name is Nine,” I said. “Do you understand?”

To my surprise she squeezed my hand.

“You will always stay close to me and protect me, do you understand?” I asked.

She squeezed my hand.

“Are you my girlfriend? Do you understand?” I asked.

She didn’t squeeze my hand.

“A girlfriend is a female, like yourself, who cares for me,” I said. “Do you understand?”

She squeezed my hand.

“Are you my girlfriend? Do you understand?” I asked.

She squeezed my hand.

“You are so beautiful, if only you could smile,” I said.

The crown on my head was getting heavy and despite my super strength and bulk I was getting a sore neck and a headache so I took it off and carried it in my hand.

When we got inside the building my bladder was about to burst so while Nine sat at a table with Enai, I was pointed towards a washroom.

When I got back Enai said, “You should have taken your girlfriend with you.”

“Please my friend, call her Nine from now on.”

“Okay, but please take Nine to the washroom before she bursts her bladder. And please tell her to eat and drink. She refused the food I gave her.”

“Okay, okay,” I said and took her to the washroom. She knew what to do on her own. I waited outside.

When we got back one of Enai’s associates brought us food and water and sat with us.

He said, “Reports are coming in from everywhere and a lot of people are looking for their relatives. Many will be coming here. We need to prepare for them. The farmers, staff and helpers are all staying; not that they have anywhere to go, but have shown goodwill towards our cause to save the soldiers.”

He then turned to me and said, “I’ve found quarters for you to sleep, will she be sleeping with you?”

“I guess, I hadn’t thought about it but if she’s going to be my personal guard then she might as well sleep in the same place as me.”

“Okay then, I’ll set up a cot for her as well.”

“Thank you,” I said. “And please call her Nine.”

Enai agreed with me and said, “If we want the soldiers to integrate into our society we need to treat them as our equals. Nothing that was done to them was their fault. You could have been one of them,” he said to his associate.

The man looked at me and said, “Yes Sir!” and left.

“You know, I’ve been looking at this whole thing wrong,” Enai said. “Nine attached to you the way she is, and you as her mentor will inspire others to adopt soldiers. Perhaps there is a solution to this problem after all.”

“You’re thinking of your daughter aren’t you?” I asked.

“Yes I am, yes I am,” he replied and looked down.

“Another question for you, tell me Enai how did the soldiers know to enter the building from the ground level? I didn’t tell them to do that.”

“You sure seem to ask bizarre questions at the most inappropriate moments?” he said.

“Please, my friend, there is a method to my madness.”

“I don’t know, but I think you have an answer, or suspect something. That’s why you asked me. So, what’s your explanation?”

“I think the soldiers can read my thoughts…”

“Ha, ha, ha, you think, after less then eight hours of exposure you think you can talk to the soldiers with your mind? Ha, ha, ha!” he laughed out loud.

“Yes.”

“Prove it!” he said.

I explained to him what I was going to do and what I was going to think when the soldiers arrived. I said I was going summon six soldiers and ask them to look but I was not going to tell them where to look. But while asking them to look I would think about looking up at the ceiling.

I took my crown back and put it on my head and after looking at some numbers I summoned six soldiers to come to the concourse.

When they arrived I asked them to sit at a table farthest away from us. This was so that they couldn’t hear us. I asked them to sit opposite one another, facing each other, three on each side of the table. After they had sat down I pushed the button and said, “Look!”

They all looked up at the ceiling.

“Oh, you f…en bastard,” Enai yelled. “We’ve been trying to do this for a whole year with no results. How did you f…en do it?”

“Eh, watch your language, there’s a lady present,” I said.

“I’m curious, how did you do it?” he asked me again.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe I’ve been a little more observant than you.”

“I underestimated you, I won’t anymore…” he said and looked at Nine.

Isn’t she lovely,” I said. “Look at her beautiful eyes, I could stare at them all day long… and she doesn’t mind it.”

“Watch this,” I said.

I looked into her eyes and said, “You have beautiful eyes. Beautiful is something very desirable, like the sweet dessert I gave you to eat, do you understand?”

She got up, grabbed my hand, squeezed it and sat back in her chair again.

“That means she understood,” I said to Enai.

He looked at me funny and tried to hide it.

I then touched Nine gently on her face and said, “This is a sign of affection. It means I like you very much, do you understand?”

She again got up, grabbed my hand, squeezed it and sat back in her chair.

I touched her face again and she came over and kissed me.

“See, affection paid back with affection… She must feel something,” I said to Enai.

“Perhaps her feelings will come back. I don’t know,” he said. “I’m going to bed. I’m very tired. See you tomorrow.”

“One last question, Enai. If I was given the same dose of chemicals that robbed the soldiers of their ability to speak and smile, why wasn’t I robbed of them?”

“I don’t know. I’m leaving now and going to bed,” he said and left.

Perhaps because I was under the influence of firewater, I thought to myself. Maybe! Or perhaps I hadn’t been injected with chemicals at all?

Right before he left Enai told one of his associates to bring me some clothes. He was tired of looking at me looking like an oversized hermit.

After the associate took us to our room he brought me a super soldier uniform and handed it to me.

“I’m sorry Sir, but this is all we have in your size,” and quickly left the room.

I looked at Nine and said, “I wish you could smile…”

But she didn’t.

Before going to bed she removed her uniform. She was completely naked and looked gross. I felt very sorry for her. She was a beautiful woman and had been ruined. She just didn’t understand the rage I was feeling at that moment.

The next day there was a knock on the door. I didn’t realize that I was naked when I picked up the universal translator and went to answer it. I also didn’t realize how gross I looked when I opened the door.

“Uh, please Sir put some clothes on… we’re expecting you. People are coming looking for you, please come,” said Enai’s associate.

It took us a minute to get dressed before Nine and I were outside of our room. The uniform I was wearing was made of dark leather but it was quite comfortable.

Nine grabbed the universal translator and we both bolted out and followed the man. When we reached the common room I saw Captain Orihci, his wife Amih, Ukasnek and Ireva.

With Nine holding the universal translator I was able to communicate with them without a translator.

After we hugged and kissed I said, “It’s so nice to see you, how did you find us?”

Captain Orihci, surprised to hear my voice in his language, said, “We heard the broadcast that the war was over and that we could

return to our homes so I figured you’d succeeded. I don’t know about every one else but I had no doubt that you would. I also see that you recovered my ship.”

At that very moment we were distracted by Ireva who began to cry.

“What is it dear?” asked Amih.

Ireva pointed at Nine and said, “She’s my friend, my cousin Jess from your family. Why doesn’t she recognize me and why is she so big?”

At about this time Enai showed up and after he greeted the entire family I left it to him to explain things to them. I took Ireva to the side and gave her a hug and said, your cousin is safe and sound, something has happened to her and she has lost her memory and ability to speak.”

Ireva looked at me with her beautiful green eyes and said, “I know what happened to her, I’m just sad for her. She’s my age and had a beautiful mind. It’s a real shame what happened to her,” and began to cry again.

I looked at Nine and saw tears running down her big cheeks but with no emotion on her face. I felt very sorry for her and held her in my arms. Ireva joined me.

When Ireva composed herself she looked at me and said, “What happened to you? And why are you wearing that ridiculous uniform?”

“I was zapped too but I’m lucky, they didn’t erase my memory.”

“So, what’s going to happen to my cousin Jess?”

“I’m sorry my dear, your cousin Jess has been turned into a super soldier. I named her Nine and she’s my personal bodyguard.”

“Of all the soldiers you could have picked why did you pick her?”

“Actually she picked me and after looking at her beautiful eyes she reminded me of you.”

“So you picked her because of me. I knew it. I knew you had feelings for me, every nerve in my body was telling me that but I kept telling myself what could he possibly see in me when he had the entire galaxy in his hands?”

“You underestimate your attraction to men. Or is it just me who had an obsession with green eyes and tall, skinny blond girls?” I asked.

“Stop it! We’re upsetting my cousin. Look, she’s crying.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” I said and went back to Nine, wiped her tears and kissed her all over her face.

“She can feel it you know. She just can’t express what she’s feeling emotionally; only through tears. The bastards ruined her, such a beautiful girl ruined,” I said.

At that very moment Captain Orihci came over to our table holding his face and shaking his head and asked, “Do you have any rakia? I could use some right about now.”

“I do,” I said. “But it’s in my ship quite a distance from here.”

“Let’s go get it,” he said.

When Amih and Ukasnek saw us getting up they came over. Then, just as I got up, Nine also got up to follow me. Ireva said I’m coming too. When Enai saw us going out he followed us.

As we quietly walked away I placed my arms around Nine and Ireva who had snuggled under my arm. I held the girls one on each side.

Amih was happy to see that and said to me, “I’m so glad to see you again, alive and well… We owe you a lot of gratitude for finding our niece and adopting her.”

“Mother, Jess, I mean Nine, is not a child? And obviously he loves her and she loves him too. Look at them; they’re made for each other.”

“Hey, I can hear you, you know?” I said.

Ireva squeezed my arm and said, “It’s true, isn’t it? You and Nine?”

I didn’t say anything.

After I opened the ship’s hatch I told everyone to stay here and Ireva, Nine and I went inside and got the rakia, meat jars, one each, spoons and cups and came outside.

After Ireva gave each person a meat jar and a spoon, they all sat on the grass and enjoyed the view. Nine watched what I was doing and did the same.

“Do you like the food?” I asked. “Do you understand?”

Nine grabbed my hand and squeezed it. Irena laughed a silly laugh and looked at me.

“Nine give me a kiss.”

After she did Ireva laughed a silly laugh again and said, “I’ll be damned, you are lovers!”

Enai came to my defense and said, “No they’re not. She has no feelings and only mimics what he taught her. She has no idea what a lover is.”

At that moment I grabbed Irena gave her a big hug and said, “Your cousin is in good hands and if there is any way to bring her back I’ll find it. Now give her some rakia and see how she reacts, but first I’ll take her gun.”

“She could crush you but look how tender she is around you. She must have feelings for you,” said Amih.

“I don’t know, it’s too early to tell,” I said and then turned to Enai. “Have you had rakia before or is this your first taste of it?”

“I’ve had rakia before and many other exotic drinks. Before we came to work for the brothers we were businessmen importing and exporting exotic merchandise.”

“You mean you were pirates trading in illegal merchandise?” piped up Ukasnek.

“Pirates, businessmen… what’s the difference?”

“I could swear I’d done business with you before but for some reason I’d forgotten,” said Ukasnek to Enai.

“I remembered you but I didn’t want to say anything. I was unsure on which side you stood so I kept my mouth shut,” replied Enai.

After Ireva filled our cups with rakia again I said, “To a new beginning and may peace reign in the galaxy again.”

I showed Nine how to drink the rakia. I showed her how to sip it but, with the size of her body, she would have to drink a litre or more before she was drunk. She didn’t particularly like the taste of rakia so, after she finished eating the meat, I gave her a jar of sweet jelly that Captain Orihci’s wife had given us.

Amih didn’t fail to notice that and whispered something in my ear and then smiled a big smile. Without the universal translator I didn’t know what she’d said but I suspected it had something to do with me liking Nine.

After we were done eating and drinking I took a few bottles of rakia and gave one to Captain Orihci, one to Ukasnek, one to Enai and took one for myself.

When I got the looks from Ireva I motioned for her to go back inside my ship and take what she wanted, especially the stuff for women which was useless to me now without Vel and Daf.

She came out with a bagful of stuff, one bottle of rakia and one bottle of the green stuff her father had given me.

She pointed at the bottles and said, “I’m going to share them with my mother.”

After I closed the hatch we slowly walked back to the facility where Enai’s associates were waiting for us with more people looking for their relatives

It appeared Captain Orihci knew some of them; they were his neighbours. So I asked him and his family to help them find what they were looking for.

Ireva insisted she wanted to stay with me and would serve as a translator and navigator in case I had to use my ship again. Captain Orihci agreed and he, his wife and Ukasnek left with one of Enai’s associates and went to look for people.

In the meantime Enai took me, Ireva and Nine for a tour of the underground to see the barracks, mess hall and gymnasiums where the super soldiers resided, the warehouses and whatever else existed deep underground under the buildings.

I didn’t have to wear the crown to be recognized by the soldiers. They all stood up as I passed by.

I touched their shoulders and took pride in doing that. I was one of them and felt in touch with them. There were thousands of them and I had sympathy for every single one of them. I think they could feel that.

Because the facilities weren’t big enough, they took turns eating in the mess hall and exercising in the gymnasiums. They had their routine and they followed it without me having to give them orders.

Nine followed me like a puppy dog without question or hesitation and as much as I felt sorry for her I admired her very much. I often hugged and kissed her, which somewhat annoyed Ireva because, like Enai, she thought I was taking advantage of her. But I think Nine

liked the attention. She told me so herself every time she squeezed my hand.

One thing that made me sad, that made everyone sad, was that she couldn’t smile or show any emotion. That often angered me but, outside of yelling, swearing and cursing, what could I do?

The place underground was huge. We spent many hours circling around looking at various facilities but the one thing that impressed me the most was the gold stored in the vaults. What in God’s name were these robots going to do with all that gold?

I asked around but no one could tell me. What were these robots going to do with so many super soldiers? Again no one could tell me.

What a tragedy this was. Sometimes I felt so sad I was sorry that I’d met Nine. Her beautiful green eyes and her inability to smile constantly reminded me of this massive tragedy.

After seeing the gold I asked Enai who it belonged to.

“I don’t know. I guess to whoever holds it. Today that would be you.”

“But wasn’t it stolen from someone? And shouldn’t we be returning it to them?” I asked.

“Yes it belonged to someone, to many some-ones, but they’re gone now.”

“Gone where?” I asked.

He looked at me with a sad look and said, “You’re looking at them. They’re all around you. They were all turned into zombies.”

I shook my head and said, “We should use it to pay the workers, the farmers, the staff, the volunteers and the destitute. There is enough gold to do that, right?”

“My friend, there is enough gold here to buy everything on this planet.”

Ireva agreed.

“So, get some of your associates working on it and start paying everyone retroactively from the day they started working here. Let them rebuild their lives and start over again.”

It took us several days to tour the entire facility. We all took up residence in the same building and I became accustomed to staying in the same room with Nine. She kept telling me that she was okay with it by squeezing my hand. But many times I wasn’t sure. When a person can’t show you how they feel, what are you supposed to think?

Day after day I went to the gymnasium and exercised with the soldiers, ate with them in the mess hall and touched their skin. They all began to take their gloves off to touch my hand but they couldn’t show me any emotion… which was killing me.

Enai and Ireva stuck with me and felt my pain as we went from soldier to soldier.

We kept looking for Enai’s daughter but we had no luck.

About a week later it occurred to me that Enai’s daughter would be small and short like him so I suggested we only target the short soldiers. And, instead of just looking at their cheeks, we removed their helmets and looked at their entire face.

After about a day’s search, we found her. Enai cried tears of happiness when we found her and tears of disappointment when I assigned her to his care. She understood that he was her father but she didn’t care for him at all. She often came to me to caress her emotionless face which she liked very much.

Enai finally understood why I was so angry when Nine didn’t smile for me no matter what I did for her.

I vowed one day that I would change that. My promise made Enai even sadder because a promise such as that was, to him, wishful thinking.

A couple of weeks later, on the fortieth day of their cycle, all the soldiers came outside to receive their dose of what I figured was hormones but was in fact a poisonous chemical that screwed with their brains and robbed them of their feelings.

When no one could tell me what it was that these soldiers were getting I said “no” to it. I ordered the soldiers to destroy the injection stations and line up outside in the field. I then ordered them to march and I marched along with them.

Every day after that, I armed the soldiers and took them for long marches. Every day I tried harder and harder to communicate with them without the crown.

After our third march, Enai and Ireva stopped coming. The marches were too hard for them.

I led the marches with Nine to one side of me and Enai’s daughter to the other. And the harder we marched the more I shared my happy memories from earth and Ostikon with them. My memories were becoming their memories. My joy became their joy. My desires became their desires. I constantly showed them beautiful images of smiling faces and let them feel the pleasure I felt from them.

On the eleventh day of our marches, during our assembly before going out, I removed my crown and gave it to Enai to hold. I yelled “watch this!”

I looked around. Everyone was there, Captain Orihci, his wife, Ireva, Ukasnek, Enai’s nine associates and many spectators still looking for their relatives.

I closed my eyes for a moment and concentrated hard. I thought of the parade that was performed in my honour when I first arrived at Ostikon. The beautiful women soldiers marching in perfect formation in long and wide columns looking at me and smiling… I

projected the exhilaration I had felt during that moment which surged through me. I then held that image in my mind and projected it outwards without my crown.

The soldiers began to stir and form long straight, multiple columns like never seen before. I could see them forming what was in my mind.

Minutes later the perfect formations were complete and all the soldiers saluted in unison just like the women soldiers in my mind. Nine and Enai’s daughter also saluted. I then focused strongly on the women soldiers of Ostikon smiling at me, held that image tightly and then opened my eyes. Every soldier was looking at me and smiling.

I looked to the side and saw tears in Ireva’s eyes. Some of the spectators began to clap, some began to cry.

Enai grabbed his face, looked at me and said, “You did it! It’s a miracle.”

The soldiers then put their arms down and rifles to their right side, wiped the smiles off their faces and stood at attention in perfect formation waiting for the next order.

When everyone was done clapping I looked around and yelled, “We have an army, we have weapons, we have gold, we have warships… What shall we do next!?”

I then thought to myself, “We could march on earth and free Macedonia!”