Buck Rogers
by AJ Marks
Part 11
Buck walked into the same room he met many council members the first time he came back to Earth, this time there were a few more people in the room sitting waiting for him to enter this time. He spotted the normal people, the Chancellor, Mark and Twiki who had brought Doctor Theopolis into the room. Taking a seat he waited to hear what it was about to this time. He had a feeling he knew it was about the attack which occurred yesterday shortly after he came back from the Draconian Empire.
“Captain Rogers, welcome back,” the Chancellor said. “We’d like to clear some things with you.”
“Has to do with the attack, I have no idea about it,” Buck said back to him, looking at the others.
“I highly doubt that,” Mark said jumping into the conversation rather quickly, something Buck was expecting.
“A week ago I was preparing for a test flight in space, testing a warp, or FTL, drive, a first for humanity,” Buck said to him. “Now, I’ve been thrust into something I have no idea about, no clue about, nor anything else. I have no idea how I was supposed to even do half the things you’re trying to accuse me of.”
He watched Mark turn a shade of red knowing that no matter what was said nothing would change the man’s mind.
“If you would captain, where all did you go when in Draconian space?” one of the robots said which looked similar to Theopolis.
“Not much to say, I guess you could say the capital, met with King William, went on a few interviews, one in a different city, then back where the king had a banquet for me, offered me a place to stay, then returned me back her,” Buck said, knowing that Mark would pick up on the offer rather quickly and wasn’t disappointed.
“An offer? I highly doubt that,” Mark stated.
“It is logical,” Theopolis answered over Mark. “Captain Rogers is not a citizen of our society, and taking him could be a moral victory over us.”
“It’s still all highly suspect,” Mark stated unwilling to back down.
“Actually, it does make a lot of sense,” another robot said.
“I have to agree,” a woman said, Buck read the name as Iris Smith and seemed to recall her from his first meeting. “There are plenty of other ways to spy on us, and this attack wasn’t a spur of the moment attack, it was calculated, to test something.”
“I have to admit, at first I was concerned, but this is overboard as well Senator Gonzalez,” another senator said.
“No one will understand the truth?” Mark said standing up to face them all.
When no one stood with him he stormed out of the room leaving them alone once more as an awkward silence hung in the air between them all.
“Ah, sorry about all of that Captain Rogers,” the Chancellor said. “Is there anything else you can bring into this conversation?”
“Only that it might have been done by one of the king’s children, a way to vie for position within his court,” Buck said.
“Interesting,” the Chancellor replied giving the idea some thought. “We’ll keep that in mind.”
“If it is, I highly doubt he would punish them,” Buck said.
“And you say this with what knowledge?” another senator said.
“Just something I picked up while eating with them, a vibe,” Buck replied. “I got the sense that while he controls them, they are free to do what they want. After all Ardala seems to have a lot of freedoms, it must be similar with his other children.”
Buck watched a few nod their heads but didn’t say anything about Ardala coming to his room the first night.
“Very well, sorry to have disturbed you this morning,” the Chancellor said. “You are dismissed captain.”
Buck stood and left the room only slightly surprised to see Wilma standing there waiting for him along with another man, he was taller, with grey hair and both seemed to be waiting for him.
“So, this is the legendary Captain Rogers,” the man said.
“Yep, Buck, this is Admiral Thomson,” Wilma said introducing him.
“Pleasure,” Buck said.
“Come, let us find a quiet spot to talk, away from large ears,” Thomson said nodding towards the council room.
*****
Buck sat down in a much friendlier environment, as they had gone to one of the military buildings nearby, surprising him a bit but said nothing.
“Ah, good coffee,” Thomson said, or to people he knew Jack.
Buck took a sip but didn’t disagree, it could use some sugar though. It seemed the admiral like his coffee black with nothing in it.
“So, Buck, I heard from Wilma you expressed an interest in being a pilot,” Thomson said.
“Yeah,” Buck said.
“Went over your service records,” Jack said, placing a pad down on the table which surprised Buck.
“Thought all of those would have been lost,” Buck replied honestly, it had been centuries and anything like that to have survived would be a tremendous achievement.
“Most were destroyed, but many survived, especially some like yours,” Jack said.
“Historians kept a record of what you did, who they thought you were,” Wilma replied.
“I see, I wonder how accurate it is,” Buck said.
“It says you are a top pilot, one of the things they expected when they drafted you for the mission,” Jack said. “You have courage as well, to take on such a mission with the knowledge it might kill you.”
Buck merely shrugged unsure what to say about that. He thought more about the success than failure of the mission.
“I have no problem with you joining, in fact after seeing your performance I think you’d make a great addition to the service,” Jack said.
“Well, there’s not much else I can do,” Buck said, thinking about everything he knew. Most of the science he knew had been passed up, and the air force was dissolved.
“I think there are some other things you can do as well,” Jack said leaning back in his chair surprising Buck.
“Not sure I understand,” Buck said.
“You are in a unique position here captain, you are not part of any nation on Earth, everyone’s trying to gain your attention, and doors are open to you which are normally closed to others,” Jack said.
“You think I should what, spy for you?” Buck said uncomfortable with that.
“No, you misunderstand, I mean you can start dialogues, travel between places, hell the EAU and other nations have already lined up asking for you,” Jack said. “A Thunderfighter could provide you with a way to move around, and unofficially help us.”
“I doubt the council would allow me to fly one of the most advanced fighters ever built by humanity,” Buck said.
“Oh, I think we can convince some of them,” Jack said looking over at Wilma.
“”Their power cells can last for over a week before needed to be charged,” Wilma said. “And I can go with you one some of those flights, and it would provide you with the knowledge you can leave at any time.”
“Are you not worried about someone trying to tamper with it?” Buck asked.
“Without the power source its virtually worthless,” Jack said. “And to get to that, they have to take it apart. The biggest problem is to take apart the power source without proper techniques and technologies it will explode”
“That’s comforting,” Buck said back to them.
“Give it some thought,” Jack said. “It would be a way to be in the defense force while still maintaining your independence.”
“You really think it would work?” Buck asked.
“Absolutely, and don’t worry about those stuck up council members, especially that Gonzalez, we’ve tangled many times in the past,” Jack said with confidence.
Buck would have liked to have seen that especially after the way the senator was acting earlier. Buck had a feeling the man would completely lose it if he knew what they were talking about right now.
“So, other nations want to see me?” Buck asked changing the conversation slightly.
“Almost all of them,” Wilma said. “Some are more dangerous than others, like the countries in the Middle East.”
“Four hundred years and they still are fighting each other,” Buck said.
“Its part of their culture, especially after Islam imploded” Wilma said. “We’ve learned no matter how much you try, their factions are too great to deal with individually. So, we let them do what they want within their borders, I’d recommend not going there.”
Buck really had no intention of going there. He had a feeling travel would be in his future.
*****
Buck maneuvered the Thunderfighter down on the runway still a bit amazed at the fact the council and military allowed him to use the fighter to move around Earth on his own despite still not being a citizen of the NAA. He had a feeling the citizens of the NAA thought of him as one of their own considering he was born there despite it being in the past.
He was visiting the other space faring nation, the UAC, or United Asia Alliance nation which was made up of many areas of old Russia, China, Japan and several other old Asian nations. Buck read up that there was generally peace between the two groups, some slightly different ideas of space, and how to deal with the Draconian Empire, but they worked well together.
Buck followed the controller’s instructions and rolled the fighter into a hanger before powering down and hopping out to be met by several people, all Asian, which did take some getting used to having been around others for much longer.
“Welcome Captain Rogers,” a young woman said walking up to him and bowing, speaking in very good English.
“Thank you,” Buck replied, giving a slight bow in return, and he wondered how much culture had changed in the past couple of centuries.
“I am Aya Lee,” she said to him, he noticed she was shorter than Wilma, and wondered if she was even five feet tall, despite that she had long black hair almost to her waist. “I am the translator for President Chin.”
He wondered if they still spoke Chinese, or mandlorian or whatever it was actually called, something he always seemed to confuse with the term from Star Wars. Returning his attention back to the woman he followed her along to a transport much like the one from the NAA, and wondered if they shared a lot of similar technologies as they got inside.
“It is very nice to meet you,” Aya said as the transport started up and they headed off away from the air field where he landed. They raced by rice patties making him think of photos he saw of the Vietnam War in history classes.
“Well, I will say, I’m meeting so many interesting people,” Buck replied. “I apologize ahead of time for anything I might do or say, I’m not familiar with your society.”
“It is expected, I think many will expect you to do something,” Aya replied confusing him, but he said nothing.
He took a look out at the window seeing the darkness, he arrived at night and wondered exactly what time it was. When he left it was daylight.
“So, what time is it?” Buck asked.
“It’s six thirty-two,” she replied back to him, just about to be morning despite he left in the afternoon from New DC, the trip had taken less than thirty minutes flying in space. Of course it would have been quicker if it wasn’t his first real solo trip in the Thunderfighter.
“What’s my first stop?” Buck asked.
“A quick stop at one of our broadcaster groups,” she replied back to him. “After that we have a scheduled meeting with a group at lunch, then a break before you’ll meet with some of our Cabinet members and the President for supper.”
“Some time for a nap,” Buck said knowing he would be tired after all of this.
“If that is your wish,” she said, “we can go back to your hotel room after lunch.”
“I think I’ll need it, don’t want to fall asleep while talking to government officials,” Buck said not sure how that would be taken, but he was sure people would be playing it all over the world on the internet. The next internet sensation.
End part 11