I hated to have to burst their bubble.
I won’t detail all the arguments we put before the group. I’ve already written most of them earlier in this journal. Bottom line was that Gunny and I tried to impress upon them that they may have defeated the klees once, but they’d be back again. And again. More important than that, we warned them that an attack was coming that was far more threatening than anything the klees could throw at them. We warned them that an army like they had never seen was preparing to march on Black Water with the single goal of wiping out the Yanks. The gars weren’t necessarily the target, but with the kind of attack that was being planned, it would be wrong to believe the gars would be spared.
“The question isn’t if the attack will come,” I said. “It’s when. I believe it’s going to be soon.”
Both the gar leaders and the exile leaders exchanged uneasy looks. It was a lot to accept.
“What is your proposal, Pendragon?” Aron asked.
I outlined the bare bones of our plan. I knew it wouldn’t be an easy sell. It not only involved getting multiple thousands of people to jump into a flume-again-but when they reached the other side, they would be faced with a seemingly unbeatable foe. How unbeatable depended on a number of things, none of which we had control over. As I said the words out loud, and listened to myself speak, the whole idea sounded impossible. Maybe even insane. What was I thinking? The more I spoke, the more I realized that these people wouldn’t go for it in a million years. Heck, if I were in their position, I wouldn’t go for it either. It was suicide. I finished on a whimper, ready to get tossed out of there.
Before anyone had a chance to respond, Gunny stood up. “I can only imagine what you’re thinking,” he began. “Believe me, we feel the same way. The odds we face are long indeed. There is no guarantee of victory. People will die. Perhaps by the thousands. To that, I have two things to say. You are faced with a dire situation. Black Water will come under attack again. Soon. By a force much larger and more deadly than you have just defeated. Your weapons may stop some of theirs, but the numbers are not on your side. Their army is immense. They will keep coming, and attacking, until every last one of the people who came here from Second Earth is killed. That is a simple, sad fact. After they are finished, it’s anybody’s guess as to what shape you will be in when the klees decide to come calling again. Make no mistake. Whether you choose to follow our plan, or decide to stay and defend yourselves, you will have to fight this army. The choice you have is to fight them here, or take the battle to them. We wish there was a third choice. There isn’t.”
Everyone shifted in their seats uneasily.
“There’s something else,” Gunny continued. “To those who came from Earth, you must understand that this attack is going to be launched by the very same people who tore you from your home. The truth is, they wanted you dead back then. If not for the work of one woman, you would be. The Ravinians eliminated you because you posed a threat to their plans. You still pose a threat, and that is why they are coming after you. To the gars of Black Water, you are in much the same situation. You’ve seen how Ravinia changed Eelong. There was peace with the klees. I know. I helped forge it. But Ravinia has thrown out every bit of progress we made and declared you to be fair game. To be hunted as food. This is the kind of world that Ravinia has created all over Halla. In one way or another, they are eating their enemies. You gars haven’t seen these other worlds, but you Yanks have. You know about the flumes. You’ve already traveled through one. You know there are other societies out there. Other worlds. Other lives. Ravinia is controlling it all, and it began when they exiled you from your home. This is your chance to take back your lives. To stop the people who have wronged so many. This is the last chance to try and make things right.”
Gunny sat down, winded, but his eyes were clear and focused. He had made an impassioned plea that was hard to argue with. At least, I hoped it was hard to argue with.
One of the Yank leaders stood and said, “Perhaps there is a third choice. What if we Yanks picked up and left Black Water? If the Ravinians are targeting us, we shouldn’t stay and endanger the gars.”
Aron said, “That’s a noble gesture, but without the Yanks, I do not believe we will have the strength to fend off the klees again. I think I am speaking for all the gars here, who say that whatever we decide to do, we must do it together. Gars and Yanks.”
One of the gar leaders asked, “If this army you speak of is made up of creatures like the ones that attacked Black Water, we have weapons that will stop them.”
“Do you?” I asked. “How many of those radio cannons do you have? How much power do they have? Is it limitless? We’re talking about multiple thousands of dados. You could wipe out half of them and still be overrun by thousands more. Are your weapons that powerful?”
Their dark looks told me that they weren’t.
Courtney stood and said, “If I can add one thing. I haven’t seen this Ravinian army on Third Earth, but I’ve seen what their leader is capable of. We here, all of us, gars and Yanks, represent the last hurdle in his plan to conquer Halla. I believe that. And I believe that Ravinia’s leader, Saint Dane, will do everything in his power to wipe us out of his way. He is close now. He won’t back down. We’re in danger one way or the other. I say we should agree to Pendragon’s plan. If I have to die, I want it to be while I’m fighting for what is right.”
She sat back down and gave me a quick, sheepish smile.
The leaders looked at one another, not sure who should speak. It was Aron who took command.
“Do you have any idea when this attack might come?” he asked.
“The last I heard was that their army was being mobilized. I don’t know if that means an attack is imminent, or will take several days. Either way, I think we’ve got to move quickly.”
Aron nodded thoughtfully. “If you do not mind, we need to discuss this among ourselves.”
Gunny, Courtney, and I stood up to leave.
“Courtney, you should remain,” Aron said quickly. “You are one of us now.”
“Thank you,” she said, and sat back down while giving me a reassuring smile.
It was odd to think of Courtney as one of them, but if her sticking around meant a strong voice who would try to convince them to follow our plan, I was all for it.
“Whatever your decision is, we will respect it,” I said. Then added, “But please, don’t take long.”
Gunny and I were given a hut to rest and relax in. Rest and relax. Yeah, right. They brought us some food, which I was grateful for. I hadn’t eaten in centuries.
“What do you think?” I asked Gunny.
“About what? Our plan, or if they’re going to join us?”
“Both.”
“I don’t know if they’ll join us,” he answered. “I wouldn’t be surprised either way. As for our plan, well…” He finished the thought with a shrug. He didn’t want to say the words, but it was clear that his confidence wasn’t high.
I didn’t blame him for thinking that way. My confidence wasn’t exactly soaring either. We had cobbled together a plan that not only involved timing, but moving multiple thousands of people across time and space. Oh yeah, and it all hinged on our ability to create a giant flume. It was beginning to seem like fantasy. But it was the only fantasy we had. There was no Plan B.
Hours went by with no answer. I tried to sleep, but that was impossible. It was like having an alarm clock close by that you know will go off any second. You can’t sleep with that hanging over your head. There was no way to know how long it would take for them to make a decision. Worse, we didn’t know how long we had before the dados began to move from Third Earth. With each passing second, my anxiety grew.