our Son

5

Chapter 2. Captain Wilberforce

"The crowd is really becoming excited now… we can see the Pioneer's train. It's racing toward the station. It should be pulling in within a minute or two… we're going to land very shortly so we can be on hand to greet the brave members of this history-making train crew. Until then, this is Red Banner for KOAS-TV."

The world is Changing! The use of nano tech has handicapped the influence and response of police and soldiers in times of need. The society cries for a new world order. One that's gonna be devoid of nano tech to preserve and avert punishment from errant individuals.

This time Banner remembered to turn off his mike before growling at his pilot.

"Get this damn thing down," he yelled. "Fast!"

In his haste to return to solid ground, Banner failed to spot something that many of the people lining the tracks had already noticed as the train shot past them on its way to the station. They had expected to be able to catch at least a glimpse of the crew members waving triumphantly from the train windows Yet no faces appeared at those windows. As the train approached the Amtrak terminal, an even greater concern began to grow in the crowd. Although it now was only a few hundred yards from the platform, the train was still rocketing along the tracks at an incredible speed. With growing horror, the crowd realized that this train,

careening along at nearly one hundred thirty miles an

wasn't going to stop. All along the tracks, people tried to flee. Only moments before, the air had been filled with the sounds of celebra tion; now it was filled with screams of terror and panic. Hundreds were trampled as the crowd quickly turned into a desperate, howling mob, scrambling for survival.

Under the feet of the unlucky ones, the ground began shaking. But this was no earthquake tremor. Like a giant metal monster relentlessly tracking its victim, the train charged into the mouth of the station.

The loading platforms inside the terminal were filled with dignitaries ready to welcome the heroic crew members. Although they had heard the shouts of panic from outside, there was no time for them to escape. The speeding train roared into the building, past the loading platform and, with a horrible, deafening crash, continued on into the back wall of the station.

As the wall collapsed, the roof of the building caved in ward, raining tons of steel and concrete onto the crowd. The impact did little to slow the train, however. It ram paged on for several hundred yards, smashing out of the far end of the station and onto the crowded street before fi nally coming to rest in the middle of an abandoned department store. The resulting impact and explosion sent this three-story building toppling to the ground.

Behind the engine, the train's twenty cars were tossed in all directions. The crash sent some of the cars catapulting high into the air. Others shot off the tracks and into the path of the fleeing mob, crushing bodies underneath. In seconds, death and debris were everywhere.

The veteran pilot of Red Banner's helicopter had realized just in time that the train was going to crash. He managed to dodge the whirlwind of flying debris, rocketing the chopper back up to a safe altitude at the last possible second. Now the aircraft was slowly circling the devastation, the video cameraman hanging halfway out the window, capturing the horror below.

Yet Banner's viewers were deprived of hearing his golden tones describe this scene of c*****e and panic. He was too busy vomiting.

It would take almost a week for workers and volunteers to sort through the tons of wreckage surrounding what was left of the train and the station.

For days, the smell of seared wreckage and burned diesel fuel permeated downtown LA. The death toll finally was established at 502, many of the bodies burned or crushed beyond recognition.

The extent of the destruction made it virtually impossible for investigators to determine the cause of the crash. The locomotive was totally destroyed, so tracing any mechanical or electronic failure was out of the question.

But after dozens of hours of probing through the demolition, however, the city's Civil Guard investigators were able to come up with one indisputable, haunting fact: When the death train roared into the LA station, no one had been on board.

North Koreans Capital

"So what in hell happened to those guys?" The speaker was Captain Wilberforce, the Commander

in Chief of the United American Army. He and his top advisors were meeting in the conference room of his Washington headquarters in the mostly deserted Pentagon Building.

"And what does it mean?"

These were the two questions on just about everyone's mind this morning.

Although the United Americans were now in control of the major cities on both coasts, they had long considered the Badlands a double threat: first, as a too-perfect spawn ing ground for new terrorist groups that might eventually arise and challenge the security of the newly united Ameri can nation, and second, as a refuge where once-defeated enemies of America could gather to regroup and plot their revenge.

It was obvious that the American continent would never be completely secure and free again until the Badlands were tamed.

So the high command of the United Americans Jones and his most-trusted colleagues-had watched with more than a passing interest as the adventurous Modern Pioneers attempted to make the first train journey through that section of the country since the war. Then came the disaster in LA.

Jones repeated his question. "The guys on the train. What could have happened to them? Any ideas?" He turned to the man seated to his right.

Major Sebastian.

Windel was tall, handsome and widely regarded as the best fighter pilot who ever lived. Better known to his admirers and his enemies as the Wingman, Windel was probably more responsible than any other person for keeping alive the struggle against oppression and tyranny in the dark days following World War III. From the cockpit of his highly advanced F-16XL fighter jet, it was Windel who had led the forces of freedom to victory after victory over a series of brutal, power-mad enemies.

Now he turned to his Commander in Chief and friend, Captain Wilberforce.