[Atrocities]

A Dangerous Game
Part II

“Dr. Mentor may I come in?” Asked Dr. Ramzies as he stood outside of Dr. Mentors tent.
“Certainly Bill.” Responded Dr. Mentor.
Dr. Ramzies entered the tent which was moderately lit by a small chemical lantern. Dr. Mentor was sitting at his desk eating a mystery meal, the popular name for packaged food rations.
“What can I do for you Bill?” Asked Dr. Mentor as he ate.
“I don’t think we can wait until morning,” Said Dr. Ramzies, “to head out. We should leave now.”
“We can’t leave until the morning the Snow Marshal doesn’t arrives with fresh supplies until then.”
“Doctor, by the time that Snow Marshal arrives, this camp will be in a military lock down, and you will not be able to leave.” Said Dr. Ramzies as he took a seat in one of the camp chairs that Dr. Mentor had in his tent.
“Don’t be paranoid Bill.” Commented Dr. Mentor in a slightly irritated ton.
“I am not being paranoid Brook. I am being exactly what I should be, concerned.” Dr. Ramzies leaned forward slightly, before continuing. “I know General Green, and now that he is involved, our lives my be in serious danger.”

Dr. Mentor looked up at Dr. Ramzies and he could see that Ramzies was not drunk, crazy or otherwise adversely affected by any mind altering substance. What he was, was scared, and it showed.
“Tell me Bill, why would you say our lives are in danger?” Asked Dr. Mentor with genuine concern in his voice. One thing that Dr. Mentor had come to learn over the many years that he and Bill Ramzies have been friends was that if something was serious enough to give Bill the jitters, then it was damned serious.

“Did you ever hear about what happened at the research center in Pennington?” Asked Dr. Ramzies.
Dr. Mentor thought for a moment before answering. “I vaguely remember that the entire staff and their families were killed by a chemical agent that had accidentally escaped from containment. Something to do with fertilizer if I recall correctly. Why do you ask?”
“I was there.” Relied Ramzies simply.
“What?” Asked Dr. Mentor in surprise. “What do you mean you were there? That’s impossible, all life there was lost long before a Contamination Team could arrive. The military had even made an official report confirming that they had found all of the scientist and their families dead about two days before the contamination team arrived. So how could you have survived? Wait, you were in the military at that time. So you must have been part of the military relief group.” Dr. Mentor asked as he pored himself a hot cup of lacto berry juice and offered to pore a cup for Dr. Ramzies. “Here have a cup of lacto berry juice, it will help to calm you down.”
“Thank you but no. And yes Doctor, I was part of the relief group.” Replied Dr. Ramzies as he rubbed his hands together.
“The scientist there did die from exposure, that much of the official report is true, but what they died from and what had happened to their families is not.” Ramzies was starring off into the distant past now, his attention was fixated on another point in time. Dr. Mentor knew the look, it was the look that a person had when they had kept something secret for far to long time. “Tell me what happened Bill.” Prompted Dr. Mentor as gently as he could. “Tell me what you know about Pennington.”

A horrible look of despair had begun to creep acrossed Ramzies face as his eyes began to hardened. Obviously the memories he carried with him were ones that no man should be burdened with.
“When we arrived on site, the scientist were already dead. Many of them had escaped the research compound only to die in the arms of their loved ones hours later. It was a horrific seen strait out of hell.
My team was ordered to remain on the outskirts of the compound while a sweeper team conducted the search. They reported finding many people dead, and twice as many alive.” He paused for a second as if remembering some finer details before continuing .

“We were there about thirty minutes or so when the order came in to.” He paused for a second as if the memory were to difficult to recall. “We were order to kill every Last man, women, and child in Pennington. We were told that they had been exposed to a biological agent, and that all of the survivors were carriers of a virus that would kill every living thing on the planet in under a week if only one of them were to escaped from Pennington. Our orders were to prevent that from happening at all costs. So our commanding officer gave us the order.” He paused for just a second. “The order to kill them all.” Ramzies rubbed his forehead for a few seconds before finishing.
“However after it was all said and done, the rumor mill was alive with the news that our Commanding Officer was given counter orders to ignore Global Commands original orders to render aid .. We were later told that the rumors were untrue, and that the Colonel had acted alone.” There was a brief pause of silence before Ramzies continued. “The funny thing about rumors is that they are often true. You see, the only way to prove that a countermand order was sent was to have a log of it. Which the Com Officer would have had, however, the Com Officer died in a transport accident two days later, and with him, all digital records of incoming and out going communications.” Ramzies looked at Mentor and flashed him a knowingly suspicious look.

Dr. Mentor looked upon Dr. Ramzies in utter horror. He could not believe what he was hearing. “The wholesale slaughter of nearly a thousand people at the hands of the very military who were sworn to protect them, was an unthinkable act of betrayal.
“The military murdered those people?” He asked after several long and dark seconds. Dr. Ramzies simply nodded yes. “Oh my god Bill, tell me you did not follow that order. Tell me!” Demanded Dr. Mentor as he stood and walked over to his friend and knelt down beside him.
“My God Bill tell me you personally didn’t have anything to do with that order.” He demanded gently.

“Oh God no, I would never follow such and order. In fact several of us refused to follow it as it was an illegal order. For refusing the order, I was relieved of my command and placed under arrest. I had to sit and watch my men kill those people without any regard for the right and wrong of it.” Ramzies voice was beginning to crack a bit as he spoke. “They simply shot them down, pilled them up, and burned the bodies. They followed their orders without question.” It was apparent to Dr. Mentor that it was hard for Ramzies to have witnessed such atrocities without the power to stop them. Ramzies was looking down at his own feet now. A true sign that he carried with him the horrors of an unwanted memory.

“Bill, who would give such and order and why?” He asked as quietly and gently as he could. When Dr. Ramzies looked back up, Dr. Mentor could see the wetness and pain in his eyes.
“I refused to obey the order.” He repeated with sincere emotion. “But many men followed them. They massacred those people without mercy, and it was all covered up.”
“Who gave the order Bill?” Asked Dr. Mentor quietly once again.
“The order came from my Commanding Officer, Colonel Carl Wilhelm, who gave him his orders I only discover about three years ago.” Ramzies took in a deep breath before continuing. “ You know, They court marshal the Colonel for giving that order. And with him, all of the men who followed his orders. He was the worst commanding officer I have ever served with, and I was glad to see him go to the gulag.” Ramzie looked directly at Dr. Mentor with utter conviction in his eyes. “But many of the men who followed his orders should not have been court marshaled or sent to the gulag with him.” .

“Some orders should not be followed Bill.” Said Dr. Mentor quietly but soberly. “When they are, those who follow them must accept the consequence of having done so.”

Dr. Ramzies looked away once again before speaking. “I don’t necessarily disagree, but many of those men were just kids fresh out of training camp. They didn’t have the experience to know what orders to follow, and what orders not to. I tried to make that clear to the investigation team, but they would not listen. They slapped a silence directive on all of us with the clear understanding that we would be sent to prison for the rest of our lives if we ever discussed what had truly happened at Pennington.” Ramzies looked back at his friend. “We had to sit by and accept the official Version that everyone was found dead when we arrived.”

By now Dr. Mentor had taken a seat in one of the empty camp chairs and was now contemplating the horrible story his friend had just recounted to him.
“Bill, why were those people murdered?” He finally asked after a moment or two.
“I didn’t know who had really given the order or why until years later. It was a fluke really that I even found out.” He cleared his throat before continuing. “I was assigned to the Military Records Division after I was shot, when an order came down to purge all records dealing with the Pennington Investigation. It just so happened that I was the lucky bastard assigned to purge those records.” He cleared his throat once again as he slowly began to recover his composure.

“I took the liberty of reading those files and that’s when I came acrossed the name of the man who officially gave the order to kill those people. It was a Brigadier General by the name of Lamar Strider. The investigation team uncovered the communication he had with Colonel Wilhelm after a brief interview with the Colonels Communications Officer, Captain Victor Nezbit. The same Communications Officer who died in a transport accident while in route, with evidence, to be deposed. Oddly enough, on that same day, Brigadier General Strider was found dead by the Military Police when they showed up at his home to arrest him. Evidently the General had committed suicide rather than face the music. With Striders death, there was no one else to officially blame except Colonel Wilhelm. However, as I read further, I discovered that Brigadier General Strider while under direct interrogation by Military Intelligence, had mentioned the fact that he was himself only following orders.”

Ramzies rubbed his eyes a bit and once again cleared his throat. “You know, that lacto berry juice sound good now.” He smiled at Dr. Mentor who reached over and grabbed the pot of lacto berry juice and a cup. As he pored Dr. Ramzies a glass Ramzies continued telling his story.

“In the investigators notes, but not his official report, he mentioned that Strider gave him the name of the man who had given him the order to order Colonel Wilhelm to kill those people.” Dr. Mentor offered him the glass of hot lacto berry juice and he accepted it and took a drink. “The Brigadier General said that the order had come directly from General Green of the Military Research Division.”

“I see. So you feel that our lives are in jeopardy because of single investigators unofficial note, taken from a man under investigation for a high crime, that General Green had directly given an order to commits mass murder?” Asked Dr. Mentor skeptically.
“No Brook, I feel this way because those people were witness to the results of an accidental release of a biological weapon. Those people were killed because they survived. They were never exposed to the agent, nor were they ever carriers of any virus, they were not sick therefore not a risk to anyone except those who wanted to keep the project a secret.” Stated Ramzies as strongly as he could.

“A biological weapon? How is that possible? Biological weapons research was outlawed by the first accords of the Global Alliance over twenty years ago.” Dr. Mentor could not believe what he was hearing.
“My God, the thought that the Global Alliance was researching biological weapons against its own laws is just to horrific to contemplate. Who would authorize and run such a program?” He asked.

“The program was under the supervision of the Military Research Division of the Alliance Global Command. In other words, one Lieutenant General Green.” Dr. Ramzies just looked blankly at Dr. Mentor as he continued speaking.
“He gave the order to kill those people to cover up what it was the military was researching their. General Green couldn’t take the chance that one of the scientist may have told his spouses or kids what they were really developing at Pennington. So after the accident, he gave the order to have them all exterminated to keep the program a secret.”
“All of this was in the files you destroyed?” Asked Dr. Mentor unbelievingly.
“All of that and much more. When they sent down the files for the Pennington investigation, they sent everything they had on Pennington, including all of the top secret documents, communications, chemical lists, non official and official investigation reports, and other documentation, you name it, it was there for the reading. The whole works from day one through the cover up.”
“Why did you not go public with this information?”
“Oh I tried, but there was no way to smuggle any of the documents out of the building as we were all stripped searched each night before we left. So I did the next best thing. I placed them in another file, one only I know the name of, and re-routed it to the archives for permanent storage at the Military Archives Complex. That was about three years ago. Right afterwards I resigned my commission and joined your team.”

“Why are you telling me all of this Bill?” Asked Dr. Mentor politely.
“Because I know what kind of man General Green is. He is someone willing to kill to keep a secret, and it does not matter to him who dies so long as his orders are followed.”
“I don’t understand?”
“Damn it Brook, if that thing out there is what we think it is, then that is one hell of a military secret to keep.” Ramzies was becoming angry now.
“I don’t think that that object out there is what you think it is. In fac-” Ramzies interrupted him as he stood suddenly and spoke in an angrily razed voice.
“Cut the crap Brook, you know damn well that thing out there is a space ship. You might have Nina fooled, but I know you. Your just not willing to publicly admit your conclusions.” Ramzies was pointing now in the direction of the object under the ice.

“Bill sit down.” Said Dr. Mentor calmly. “Just take a seat and relax a moment.”
“Damn it Brook, we don’t have the time to just sit and talk. We have got to get going before the Military gets here.” Ramzies said as he bent down to look his friend in the eyes. “If we do nothing and just sit here hoping that they will let us help them, then I am certain they will kill us all.”

Dr. Mentor looked long and hard into his friends eyes, he had known Bill Ramzies for nearly twenty years, long before he ever joined his research team. He knew that his friend was right, he could not explain it, but he knew his friend was right.

“Very well.” Said Dr. Mentor as he stood and started gathering his things. “We can use one of the cross country Polaris transports to make the journey over the ice plains to the south. It will take us about four days to reach Davenport.” Dr, Mentor said as he slipped his coat on.

Ramzies simply stood there for a second thinking about there situation now that he had convinced the Doctor to go, he did not think the Doctor himself should go.

“Sir, with all do respect, you should remain here, and send Just Nina and myself.”
Looking at him in puzzlement Dr. Mentor asked. “Why?”
“When the Regional Military Commander arrives, he will be expecting to speak to you. If you are not here, he will order a search of the area, and with their Sky Prowlers, they will spot us in a second on the openness of the ice plains.” Dr. Mentor looked at him for a moment and Dr. Ramzies continued.
“They won’t get concerned about Nina and I being gone for quite sometime after they arrive. And if when they do ask, you simply tell them we were injured and sent to Helen for medical treatment before the discovery was made.”
Dr. Mentor looked at his friend for a few seconds before nodding his approval.
“Get Nina and leave as soon as you can. If what you have told me is true, then the success of your mission to Davenport my well save all of our lives.”
Dr. Ramzies smiled at Dr. Mentor and started for the tent opening.

“Bill .” Dr. Mentor said as he reached out to shake Dr. Ramzies hand. “Gods speed and good luck my friend.”
Taking Dr. Mentors hand in his, Bill Ramzies spoke. “Be careful Doc.” With that and a smile, Ramzies let Dr. Mentors tent to find Nina Smith.