Story [Issue 18] The Great Comeback: Part 2 "The Prototype"

[Fjelstad1678 186]

The Great Comeback

Part 2:

 

The armored car ride was extremely long and tense, but I can’t seem to remember much of it at all. Only thing I do remember is when we trundled past the remains of a small town. I had overheard some higher ranked officers talking about scout patrols stationed there never coming back. The government assured us that the borders were still solid and no enemy activity had been spotted in the nation as of yet. I wasn’t so sure. I also remember when we ended up going through a densely wooded area about 10 minutes further down the path. My hand never left my holster the entire time.

 

When we finally did arrive, it certainly didn’t look like it. The car stopped in front of large field of wheat. My armed escort asked me to step out for a moment and assured the driver that if he dared step out, he may find himself dead a little sooner than he expected. The guard walked me about 50 meters away from the car and handed me a handwritten note, a few extra magazines for my Colt, and some flat bread. After wishing me luck, he walked off to the car.

I unfolded the note to read this:
 

 

        “Lt. Olson, if you are reading this, you have successfully arrived at the Russian development base. It is very well hidden and we have no intentions of easily letting the enemy know where it is. I can almost assure you that in some way or form, you are being watched. The only reason that you are alive right now is because of your destination. Before we can even consider letting you into this base, we must get them off you. If you walk to the Southastern corner of the field you are standing in front of, you will find a few rows of grain cut down with the tops remaining providing cover from any planes that may be flying overhead. Be careful not to touch the stalks to avoid giving away your position. The grain has been cut in a large maze. The maze itself is quite pointless in destination, but it will lose anyone following you. The correct turns are listed below. Once at the end, walk one pace out of the grain, 20 paces to the left, and 7 paces back into the grain. There is a small panel covered by grassless turf that leads to the base. Once entered, they will ask you when the crow screeches, which you MUST reply to with “Whenever it is not wanted”. Please eat this note on completion of this task, the enemy CANNOT KNOW.

 

Best of luck,

President Roosevelt

 

Below that was a large list of lefts, rights and forwards. Taking a quick bite of flat bread, I started to silently creep through the maze, pistol drawn. Sure enough after crawling 20 paces left of the exit and inching 7 paces back into the field making sure not to brush the grain stalks down, there was a very small patch of open grass, small enough to look as though the soil in that spot was just not good enough for grain to grow. After lifting the corner, I crawled under the turf into a small duct with a ladder welded to the side leading straight down with no bottom in sight, just a very dim glow from somewhere within.
 

It smelled incredibly musty inside. There was very little light and some of the ladder rungs were broken, causing the occasional panic as you fear a tragic and untimely death at the bottom. It must have been at least 50 meters down before I finally was able to make out the floor, around another 50 meters below. My aching arms were glad to make it to the bottom, only to find the welcoming crew. Before I could say anything, I found myself looking down 3 barrels that had been promptly shoved in my face.

        “When does the crow screech?” Was mumbled in a very thick Russian accent.
        “Whenever it is not wanted, sir…” I said with more than a trace of fear in my voice.
        “INCORRECT!” I closed my eyes in terror and waited for the life ending blasts, only to hear a loud snort and a huge burst of laughter.
        “Oh, we got you real good, you silly American!” the largest one gasped out between large bellows of laughter.
        “Ah! Did you see his face? That was priceless! Absolute terror!”
        “Never gets old! Can’t wait to see what a lil old Englishman thinks of it!” I began to feel my face get very red as I began to determine the best way to eat the President’s note.
        “Aha, we got a blusher! Come this way, Yank! Better introduce you to our pants-wetting Canadian friend!”
 

After a few minutes of listening to the continuous chuckling and reenacting of my terrified face, we came to a door labeled in Russian. It was a decent sized room for a bunker, with a few lockers on one side and some decent sized bunks on the other. There was a toilet in a small closet shaped room with a curtain hung in front of it. There were also some chairs and a table pushed against the wall near the door. Sitting in one of them was a tall man in uniform.
        “Oh, not you fellas again…” he murmured. “Ah, but you are new.” he said, glancing over me.
        “Lieutenant Eric Olson, sir. Pleased to meet you.”
        “Second Lieutenant Benjamin Campbell. Have the feeling we will be working together for a while, and in that case, call me Benny. Its what my friends call, or well, called me.” he replied.
        “Okay Benny, you can call me Eric. Never really had a nickname.”
        “Well, while you pretty boys talk, our tea-drinking friend should be due here any minute. Lets see if he can keep it in him, unlike Benny here.” said one of the Russians as they walked out chuckling.

 

Within 10 minutes they were already back. This time, the Russians didn’t look so clever. They told the 3 of us they would be back in about 20 minutes to bring us to the ready-to-test prototype that had been built.  
        “G’day, chaps. Lieutenant Terry Moore. Great meeting you.” said the British soldier.
        “What on God’s green Earth did you do to make them so red?” asked Benny.
        “Ah, now don’t expect me to teach you this, it’s an old secret. When they yelled to fire upon me, I managed to release the round from the chamber in 2 of the rifles while knocking all 3 of them to the ground. Kicked the loaded gun into my own hands as the third man fell and pointed it at them. Takes lots of skill and tons of practice.” He began to smirk as he said this. Me and Benny just sat there jaws dropped. He continued:
        “Or, you know, I may have just screamed like a little girl and might have come extremely close to taking one of their heads off with my knife....” We all burst out laughing. I just knew I was going to enjoy working with these guys.

The Russian soldiers eventually did come back for us, and when they did they found us mocking them by running away from Terry with his knife out while yelling “Oh no!” and “He’s gonna kill us all!”. I don’t think they really liked that very much.

 

We arrived at a large blast door with 2 well armed guards standing at the ready. One of the soldiers escorting us whispered something to them and the higher ranking one typed a code into a wall mounted keypad. With a loud hiss, the bolts locking the door pulled back and with a groan, the door slid to the side. One of the guards told the largest of our escorts something in Russian.
        “He says that you 3 are going to have to wait here for a moment, someone will be here to show you to what you need in a moment. We will leave you to it now, good luck.” and with a salute, him and the other 2 walked away.
        “Why, hello there, chaps!” someone shouted from past the doorway. We all turned and looked to find a fairly short man half-jogging towards us.  
 

       “Great to see you all in good condition! I am a scientist in this facility. Yes, before you ask, not everyone working here is Russian. My name is, well, I suppose you only need my codename. That would be Idler, as in idler gear.”
        “You use code names?” I asked
        “Yes, all people involved in the development go by code names. Otherwise, we would be some of the most wanted people ever in Germany.”
        “So, are we involved in the development doing this testing for you?” asked Benny.
        “Technically, yes, but you require no fake names as you know nothing of the technology involved.”

        “Well speaking of these machines that we seem to know absolutely nothing about… can we see them?” asked Terry, with a tone that easily described how quickly he was losing interest in the topic at hand.
        “Well, first I will show you our first prototype so you can appreciate our advancements in the past 3 years. Right this way, gents.” And with that, we were off.

We came to a hallway with a large window on the side. Upon looking in we could see a giant war machine at least twice as big as my Sherman had been.
        “Good Lord… It’s giant.” I murmured. Idler just chuckled.

        “You boys just wait. Would you like to take a look inside?” We all nodded while staring in awe.

        “The door is to your left there. Do be careful not to trip and possibly impale yourself… It is rather messy in there. Oh yes, and please do shut your mouths. Wider your jaw drops, the more possibly deadly fumes you may take in.” I don’t think he was joking. We walked into the room. He was right about it being a mess. There were large bundles of cord all over leading to different parts of the tank, power tools scattered all over the place, large chunks of some type of metal leaning on the walls and lots of rust spots everywhere.
        “She isn’t for testing, mainly for design perfections. Any questions about her?”
        “Yeah.” Terry said. “What caliber gun is that? It doesn’t look like a super weapon to me.”
        “That would be the 90 millimeter gun of our first weapon design, nicknamed the ‘Smoky’, because of the very smoke filled explosions coming from that gun. You might say, ‘Oh! Well a 90 MM gun isn’t going to do anything!’, and to answer that, at this point in development, round caliber no longer matters, as shell velocity is so incredibly high. Any more questions?”
        “What does this thing have for armor?” I asked. I didn’t really feel like getting blown up at this point in time.
        “Great question. 10 millimeters at the front, 7 at the side, and 5 at the rear. Turret has 15, 10, and 6 respectively.” My eyes grew wide and I started feeling rather nervous.
        “This is only a prototype, Eric. We are not going to waste metal on this. The final version of this model has around 100 at the front and 80 at the sides and rear. We call it the ‘Hunter’, decently well armored for one of our tanks and pretty mobile. Speaking of models, would you like to see the ones we will have you testing the next few months?” Slightly more relieved, we all nodded.
        “Right this way.” We left the room and continued down the hallway to another window looking into a much larger room. There was a simultaneous “Whoa…” and Idler smirked.

 

~To be continued~

~Fjelstad1678~

[hogree 4,179]

Fantastic. Really enjoyed reading this, Fjel. Far better than "Birth of a Tank" this issue. Love the way you've interwoven natural conversation (albeit stereotypes :P) into an interesting plot. Also, looking forward to see where this story goes!

[Fjelstad1678 186]

Fantastic. Really enjoyed reading this, Fjel. Far better than "Birth of a Tank" this issue. Love the way you've interwoven natural conversation (albeit stereotypes :P) into an interesting plot. Also, looking forward to see where this story goes!

Yeah, BoT was kinda dry this issue. Like this one quite a bit more as well. I'm really getting some great ideas of where to bring this one, so we shall see. 

[GoldRock 6,165]

Hog phrased it perfectly; a very enjoyable read.

[doduobird 315]

Interesting!

[icerugby 1,886]

Another nice story :) I also enjoy reading your other series "Birth of a Tank"

[Eragon 13,876]

i am still reading it, for now it is great!

[crackgold2 399]

where is part 1

[TankCommando33 33]

Getting awesome. :D

[Fjelstad1678 186]

where is part 1

http://en.tankiforum.com/index.php?showtopic=183165