Lord of Janissaries Read Online Free Page A

were all shouting at once. Sergeant McCleve went over with his medical kit.
    “At ease!” Rick shouted. Sergeant Elliot repeated the order more loudly. There were mutters, but the shouting stopped.
    Rick joined Mason and McCleve. “What happened?”
    “Jesus, Captain, we’re on the Moon,” Mason said. “The bastards brought us to the moon!”
    “Yes,” Rick said.
    “I saw it all,” Mason said. The troops crowded around to listen.
    Rick nodded to himself. It was time the men found out what had happened. He thought he should have told them before.
    “Those screen things,” Mason was saying. “It was like TV. We lifted off, straight up, it seemed like, and the world kept getting further and further away until I could see all of it, just like on TV during a space mission.”
    “What happened to your arm?” McCleve asked. He slit Mason’s field-jacket sleeve and examined the wound. It looked like a neat round hole, thinner than a pencil, and it went through the jacket, the arm, and out the sleeve on the other side. There was no blood.
    “They wouldn’t talk to me,” Mason said.
    “Who?” “Who wouldn’t talk?” the troops demanded. Elliot glared at them, but he didn’t try to keep them quiet. He wanted to know too.
    “Those critters,” Mason said. “The—Captain, you saw ’em. I don’t know what they are. Not men. Look something like men, but they’re not.”
    Now there was a lot of excited babble. “Shut up,” Rick said. “Let Mason tell his story.”
    “They wouldn’t talk to me. We kept getting further and further away from the Earth, until I could see it—all of it—up to where I could see daylight and clouds over the ocean, just like on TV from Skylab. And they wouldn’t talk. So I took out my pistol and pointed it at one—the one in the grey suit—and told him if he didn’t tell me where we were going, I’d shoot him.”
    “Stupid,” Lieutenant Parsons muttered.
    “Yes, sir, it was stupid,” Mason said. “The critter didn’t do anything. Just waved his hand, kind of, and some kind of beam, like a laser beam, came out of the wall. Right out of the wall. I never saw any opening. Just this green light and it burned a hole right through. I dropped the gun and the critter came around and picked it up, and he said I should sit there and I should tell him if I needed medical attention—he talked that way, like a professor. Then he gave me a pill. I thought about it and then I took it, and after that it stopped hurting. And then we came on straight to the Moon. I saw us land. We’re on the back side, Captain. The back side of the Moon. There’s a big cave, and two other ships like this one.”
    When Mason stopped talking, the men began again. “You didn’t tell us it was a goddamn flying saucer!” Gengrich shouted. His voice was hostile and accusing. “You said it was a CIA ship!”
    “They were in a hurry,” Rick said. “Would you rather be back on the hill waiting for the Cubans? Would any of you?”
    They didn’t know what to make of that. Nobody spoke of going back.
    “We can always die,” Rick said. “At least we can find out what these—people—want with us.”
    “Good advice.” The voice came from everywhere and nowhere. “You will know very soon. The exit port will open and you will please carry all your equipment and weapons out of the ship. You will be told what to do after that. Please be careful. You are, as you have been told, on your planet’s Moon. The air pressure will be lower than you are accustomed to, but there is more than enough air and oxygen for your species if you do nothing violent. Now please gather your equipment.”
    Rick felt totally drained of emotion. “Let’s get with it,” he said.
    Elliot stood a moment in indecision, then evidently made up his mind. “Get that gear together. Move!” he shouted.
    There was a cave beyond the door. Heavy material that looked like thick rubber sealed the door to the cave. The seal, which