Stone?”
“Trevor will do just fine. I have a feeling an ultimatum wouldn’t do too much good, now would it?”
“And why do you suppose that?”
“Because you’re a man of principle.”
Parsons waved a finger to make a point. “It does not matter if I am or I’m not. The decision as to what we do is not mine alone.”
Trevor conceded, “It seems to me this is a city of principled people. I admire that.”
Elizabeth Doss said, “It has served us well, Mr. Stone. Over the years, we’ve watched towns and settlements across North Carolina whither and die from attack, disease, or starvation. We have weathered the storm.”
Trevor attempted to remain friendly but Shep heard a strain in his voice. “I can’t do that. I can’t watch settlements whither and die. Not if I can stop it.”
“We’re isolationists,” she explained further. “We ask nothing from our neighbors. We care not what they do as long as they leave us in peace.”
“You can’t hide from the world,” Stone told them. “You can’t hide from what is happening out there.”
Parsons led them to seats around a small table. As the four sat, he said, “Tell me, Trevor, how is it you came to be…” Parsons struggled with the title. “ Emperor of this…well, ‘Empire’ of yours. I’m sorry; I have trouble with those words.”
“It’s okay,” Trevor waved his hand gently. “I’m having a hard time with the titles myself. The word Empire… it’s an old word. And I sure don’t feel like an ‘Emperor.’ No crown and all. But we had to come up with a name and, admittedly, I wanted something that would intimidate our enemies. Maybe I miscalculated how it would sound to our friends. Perhaps we’ll change it down the road.”
Parsons nodded and rephrased his question, “So how did you go from one of the survivors to such a leader? General Shepherd tells me that you now rule a fair portion of the eastern seaboard. How did that happen?”
“It all started very small, and grew from there. I had some help…” Trevor stopped and struggled with what he wanted to say. Shepherd felt himself lean forward, perhaps hoping to hear one the secrets; secrets about the woods Trevor often disappeared into, about how he could communicate with dogs and how he carried a library of knowledge in his head.
Trevor re-worded his explanation.
“I survived the early days. From there I found one survivor, then two. Then dozens and hundreds. Then thousands. Eventually we became more than a band of survivors, we became a nation.”
“With all of these people swearing allegiance to you?” Parsons asked.
Trevor nodded. “Yes.”
Doss tried to hide the edge in her voice but failed as she asked, “What gives you the right to rule so absolutely?”
“Results.”
“Results on the battlefield?” The answer did not impress the councilwoman.
“Yes, but elsewhere, too. We have a complex system of farms and food services, healthcare including vaccines and surgeons and diagnostic equipment. We even have a couple of dozen guys playing baseball and calling themselves professionals. I’d love to take you to a game between the Yankees and the Red Sox. Of course, that’s the Newark Yankees and Erie Red Sox, but the uniforms look authentic.”
Parsons smiled and continued to listen.
“Seriously, though, everything we have is yours. Let me help you.”
“We don’t need help,” Elizabeth Doss answered, but Shep did not hear much conviction in her words.
Trevor narrowed his eyes and said, “Tell me you don’t have children who die from illness that antibiotics or a medical procedure could have cured; the type of healthcare that was common five years ago. Tell me that your life expectancy is even fifty years old here. Tell me that you don’t have monsters in that swamp that come out once in a while and grab someone.”
“We shoot em’ if they do,” a new voice entered the discussion from the chamber doorway.
Shep turned his head and spotted a big man with broad shoulders and a freckled face striding into the chamber. He fit the description Cassy Simms provided of a redneck/beatnik hybrid, but the grim, angry expression on his face leaned heavily toward redneck. Shepherd felt himself tense, as if a fight might shortly ensue.
“Billy Ray,” Robert Parsons stood and intercepted the newcomer.
“It’s okay. I’m okay,” Billy Ray-the redneck/beatnik-stopped and answered. “I’m okay now that I calmed down my kids after a couple of jets shook our house.”
Parsons introduced, “This is Billy Ray Phelps. He’s our Sergeant-at-Arms.”
Trevor stood and extended a hand but Billy Ray did not accept that. Shep remained tense. He did not feel comfortable about Billy Ray.
“Sorry about that,” Trevor apologized and returned to his seat while Billy Ray retreated a step and stood silent. “Standard procedure for us.”
“No it wasn’t,” Elizabeth Doss accused. “It was meant to intimidate us.”
“No, that’s not right, either,” Robert Parsons contradicted her. “It was meant to show us that The Empire is for real. Isn’t that right, Trevor?”
Trevor paused for a moment, and then admitted, “It was important to make a point.”
“Like I said, to intimidate us,” Doss repeated.
Once again, Parsons showed his wisdom and answered, “No. It was to show us that Trevor here could have overrun our town already if he had so chosen.”
“We can defend ourselves,” Billy Ray bragged. “Couple of ugly bastards came out here on some sort of flying bikes last year and we pasted them real good. Big ugly things with big ugly mouths.”
“Sergeant,” Parsons hit the man with reality. “If Trevor here so chooses, he will send thousands of well- armed, battle-hardened soldiers into this town. He will strafe our streets from helicopter gun ships and blast our beautiful brick walls with shells from tanks, no doubt. You and your men could not hold off such an attack with rifles, pistols, and shotguns.”
“I don’t believe it,” Phelps growled. “Why hasn’t he done it yet if he can?”
Parsons answered for Trevor yet again, “Because he’s a reasonable man. Because he doesn’t want humans to fight humans.”
Trevor added, “I look at your town here and I see the life I want for all people. Besides, I have spent the last five years fighting aliens and monsters. Why would I want to fight other people? I mean, we’re on the same side.”
“Then turn your army around,” Doss said. “March back north. Leave us in peace.”
“We want to leave you in peace,” Trevor said and Shepherd heard the tiniest sound of pleading in his voice. “But I have to march south. We are in the midst of a battle.”
Smugly, Doss told him, “We’ve never seen battle. At least not on your level.”
Shep said, “I’d call that pretty lucky, if you asked me. Most people haven’t had that kind of luck.”
Trevor spoke, “I wonder how long it took before the Native Americans in Colorado or Oregon saw any Europeans?”
Doss tilted her head and asked, “Excuse me?”
“That’s what this is like, you understand. It’s like North America in the 16 ^ th and 17 ^ th centuries. Colonists coming to our planet, first a few, then more and more. They have gateways and they are bringing in reinforcements. Time is on their side.”
“I see,” Robert Parsons responded.
“No, I don’t think you do,” Trevor corrected. “Because if you truly did, then we wouldn’t need to have this conversation.”
Doss put a firm finger on the table and argued, “You say there are thousands of these Hivvan aliens not far from here. That they have ruled all through the south the past few years. Well we have never seen them. They have never bothered us.”
Trevor told them, “The Grand Army of the Hivvan Republic is based out of Atlanta. They take control of areas by occupying large cities and turning them into fortresses. Inside those fortresses they have big transfiguration equipment, what we sometimes call ‘matter-makers’. This is the basis of their industry. Do you
