Operation: Pacifica, Enjoy Yourself
by J. FoxGlov (foxglov@ksu.edu)




"Enjoy yourself / It's later than you think / Enjoy yourself / While
  you're still in the pink / The years go by / As quickly as you wink / Enjoy
  yourself, enjoy yourself / It's later than you think."  - The Specials




 A bit more contemplation on the lone blue dot slowly vanishing from
  view, and J became aware of his surroundings. He immediately wished he
  hadn't.


 Standing near the southern edge of Pacifica's wastelands, J was
  seized by a few dozen realizations. One, that he was alone.


 He checked around slowly. At the moment, anyway, he was alone. This
  was unfamiliar territory, liable to be crawling with baddies at any time.
  _Almost wish I hadn't moved so fast,_ he thought.


 Far behind him, to the southwest, the rest of the Jihad ground
  forces that had been transported via the Doberman fleet crept slowly
  northward, through the city, the forest, then to the desert. Regrouping was
  under way once the jungle barrier was passed, so stragglers wouldn't be at
  the mercy of the elements. No one was sure what to expect, especially not at
  the sight of a bizarre track of melted sand stretching across the desert.


 Those people behind J accounted for most of the remainder of what
  was on his mind. The Jihad was supposed to be a united effort, and here he
  was, miles away from anyone else on the island, alone with his thoughts.


 He trudged along, kicking at bits and pieces littering the lands.
  _This was first and foremost a rescue mission. Hamster didn't say anything
  about other prisoners, but some still may be here._


 High among gray mists loomed the spires of the Lyran fortress among
  the mountains. _The most obvious place to look,_ J thought. _There's no
  reason to go in alone when everyone else is so far behind. I'm not the only
  one who has a stake in this. 'sides, I'm less likely to get squished
  underneath some roundhead's boot if there's an army behind me._


 "Oh, succulent! Let us sup, brothers!"


 J whirled at the sound, just loud enough to penetrate his wall of
  self-beration. Bullets began to whiz by his head, impatient for his
  reaction.


 He couldn't count them all -- a rumbling, dust-kicking mass of loud
  magenta and screeching green ... things, like cutouts from an old children's
  learning book about dinosaurs with bad camouflage, slapped onto the
  scrapbook of reality with a good amount of library paste.  Carrying Uzis.


 It was a simile he couldn't bear. His instincts took over, the ones
  for flight, not fight. He ran. The M.E.N.S.A.ns followed, ever into the
  hunt. Their gentlemanly cries of "Tora! Tora! Tora!" clashed badly with
  their gaudy hulks and spray of nonsporting machine gun fire.


 "Awp!" J's foot suddenly gave way around a narrow rift in the
  ground.  Down he went, falling nine feet to the floor of a cave, damp and
  stinking hot. He scrambled underneath an overhang and looked around. _I have
  to get away from that hole, before..._


 More bullets rained into the crevice to follow J into a far darker
  cranny in the earth. He strained his eyes to see the hole, but knew if he
  could, the ones up top could see him.


 The MENSAns, panting as they reached the hole, were slightly
  peeved.  "Drat! Foiled us, the blighter!" A few tried stomping around the
  hole or shoving their oversize heads inside, but only managed to dislodge a
  few rocks. J snarled from his hiding place, but stayed put.


 _This is good a place to wait for everyone else,_ he thought. _They
  can't get in, so what's the difference?_


 "Well, brethren," piped a voice from above, "Leave us disregard our
  wily prey for the time being. What say we enrich our intellectual union with
  our readings!"


 _What the hell?_ J thought. _Is this for real?_


 A chanting began from above. "Bring the books! Bring the books!"


 J fumbled around in his pocket. _Something tells me I don't wanna
  hear what they'll be reading._ Pulling out a mini-deck of cards, he began
  laying them out in Klondike fashion, flattening his ears to shut out most of
  the sound.


 He couldn't keep it up the whole time. Scattered fragments of
  poetry and prose filtered through his mental wall:


 "...a good hanging now and then, that entertains folk in the
  provinces and robs death of its glamour..."


 "...that the concept 'arm' cannot enter into association with those
  other ideas that make up the ego, of which the body of the individual is an
  important part..."


 "Abandon plainsong / learn the guitar / leave the Gregorian /
  chants where they are..."


 "War therefore open or concealed, alike my voice dissuades..."


 "...and weren't allowed to scratch 'em / because of etiquette / but
  we can grab and catch 'em / and kill the little pet."


 "Why did the ghost cry: 'It is time! It is the highest time!' For
  what is it then, the highest time?"


 "Wie Kenige, die schlieDFlich nur noch schreiten fast ohne Ziel..."


 "How do you feel, Mrs. Taggart?"


 Right after, another voice: "I... I'm very happy." Then laughter.


 On and on, timeless and tireless. Sleep was impossible, even though
  J didn't need any physically. It would've been a nice distraction. Day
  turned into night, and the sun rose again. J couldn't see. His cards were
  getting bent and scarred from errant claws.


 The voices eventually stopped, replaced by more gunfire and
  tremendous shrieks of doom. It made no difference to the one below.


 "Hold it!" Rear Admiral Matt Korth held up his hand, slowing the
  flank of armored personnel vehicles he had led into the wastelands to
  investigate the crowd of MENSAns. He jumped from his TARAV and walked over
  to the crack in the ground, carefully walking around the lizard bodies.


 He peered inside. "Cover me. I'll go see what's down there." He
  braced himself against the lip of the crevice and let himself drop.


 Dusting himself off, he turned to the glowing form in the corner,
  who at first paid him no mind. He removed his cap and scratched his head.
  "Sir? Is that you?"


 J slowly raised his head, and looked Korth dead in the face, then
  dropped to a crouch. And pounced.


 Korth landed flat on his back against the rock underneath J, who
  blithely slurped the hapless human upside the face, tails wagging and eyes
  wide, grinning. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou... I thought I was gonna go *nuts*
  down here!"


 Korth made no comment other than to respectfully shove the fox off
  and wipe slobber off his cheek, climbing out of the crevice. J floated up
  after, chuckling a bit nervously. "Hey, I'm just glad you came!  Seriously!"


 The former waved his hand again, and the flank moved on to catch up
  with the rest of the wave, leaving J standing in the wake.


 "Feh," J muttered to himself as he grabbed hold of a passing
  transport. "It's not like there's a shortage of humor in the world..."



-tbc