The moonlight peeked out from another point on the horizon, casting the landscape in a cold blue hue, and bathing the small gathering in white, like some ghostly remnants of a long forgotten war.
"Is that so?" Came another voice from the foot of the slightly elevated mound on which they stood.
Josh realised that he had finally done it... He had let people get to know him so well they had a fair idea of what came next. He chuckled internally.
"Yes, it is so."
The small crowd that had gathered very nearly brought a tear to his eye. And it was growing.
"You understand what I just said, right?" He said looking around increduously. "People don't have a habit of returning from the east."
"He would have gone that far for us" Said one of the young men. He was dark haired; in the dark he looked like a grim spectre, the moonlight that now shone forth upon his countenance marked out his beard and reflected in his eyes like cold pinpricks of his perception. This man, Josh remembered had known Jeeves longer than the rest of them here.
"Besides which..." "...you need some techies" another pair of voices spoke up. A bald, muscular figure with a beard that shone golden in the moonlight identified one as another of Jeeve's old friends, the other belonged to Jeeves's father.
"And if you think we're leaving the wee scotsman behind again you've got another thing coming" A taller figure spoke in a clearly put on Scot's accent.
The crowd laughed nervously and then murmured gently, sensing Josh's distaste for this illogical little display.
He turned to Jenna slightly, allowing a slight sigh to slip out from under his heavy shoulders. He did not think this was a good idea, he had watched too many people die.
She smiled at him. He covered his ears, and closed his eyes gently, relenting to what he knew would surely come next.
"RIGHT YOU HORRIBLE LOT! IF YOU'RE GOING TO INSIST ON COMING WITH US YOU BETTER GET YOURSELVES IN AN ORDERLY, ORGANISED AND PREPARED FASHION OR I WILL PERSONALLY KICK EVERY HOMO-SAPIENIC BUTTOCK I SEE BEFORE MY EYE!"
The gathering paused a moment to absorb this information. Upon deciding that the above description probably referred to them, set about the sprawled encampment; gathering supplies, weaponry, equipment and generally preparing for what was destined to be an arduous task.
"Us?" Asked Josh
"What, you thought you were leaving without me?" Said Jenna, mock sadness and hurt rendered across her features.
A few remained. This was the command crew. The people that Mac, Jeeves and Josh had chosen because they knew they were able to trust them. Granted they had preferred democracy, on the whole, but at the time they needed people they could work with quickly.. Together, they moved into the command tent, at the foot of the hillock.
The warm glow of a Levitt Lamp filled the gloom, casting orange about it like a log fire, its small cylindrical coil of tubes sat in the middle of the room. The light reflected strangely from the metallic tent poles, producing a strange criss-cross pattern across the canvast. A copper wire trailed from the lamp to a small blue flashing orb the corner. "Say what you like about the Righmen" Thought Josh, "They sure knew a thing or two about power supply."
The small space was amass with charts and navigation grids. On the maps were marked black regions where the foes had arrived. Josh took a chart and laid it out before his friends on an old, motheaten desk they had found in one of the local emptied buildings.
"So, do we have a plan?" Intoned the bald youth chirpily.
"Well, I did, Stuart," Replied Josh, "but it involved me being one person and you being here." He grinned. Josh liked sarcasm. It flowed easily and didn't really involve changing the truth any, just how it was delivered.
"So we need a new plan" Said the voice of the Spectre. In this light, however, the warm light showed him as he was. Given his strong appearance even through his black combat jacket and trousers, someone meeting him for the first time would have expected a deeper voice, but it was light and musical. His long dark hair lay down to his shoulders, giving him the appearance of the "unkempt warrior".
Jenna looked at him, eyebrow raised. "Any ideas, David?"
"Well we aren't exactly sure what's out there, but we do know whatever Jeeves, Mac and Pogo did to them, they stopped just beyond our perimeter detectors."
"The Chinese Wall?" Jenna pulled a quizzical face. That great greystone landmark, whilst holding great symbolic importance to humanity, lent no logical tactical advantage to their antagonists, nor had it provided any real halt against their march forwards in the first days. It simply stood, a bastion in the soft earth of a time when Humans had ruled, and the stupidity of such a concept in light of the new situation in which humanity had found itself.
"Indeed."
"Then I guess we head there." Rumbled Josh quietly.
Jenna nodded, but remained frowning. He only spoke like that when he was chewing over a thought that didn't quite make sense.
The small group rested on the floor, in various states of sprawl and mulled over the meaning of the information. Josh looked around, smiling a little in spite of himself at this little council of wisdom. Appropriately, the smell of incense hung gently in the air
Staring at the maps was Jenna. The commander. The Soldier. The officer.
On the floor next to her sat Stuart, the technologist. He lay on his back staring up at his silvery handheld datapad, his somewhat scruffy combats ending in a pair of large heavy boots. His muscular torso somehow contained by his dirty white vest. The reflection in his glasses told Josh that he was reviewing readouts from the outposts. "I remember when he was fat." Thought Josh momentarily.
Next to him, sat in quiet contemplation sat David. Next to him was Jeeves's father, Felix. He was bald, and his beard had greyed slightly, but he had this spark about him, like those brown eyes would never give up the fire of life within anyone's lifetime. And he was inventive.
To Josh's right sat his own brother...
Before he had time to ponder any further, however, Josh felt a sudden chill travel down the length of his spine. His eyes narrowed and he looked at the others, who had all suddenly poised. "Impossible" he whispered under his breath. The warm light of the Lamp ceased suddenly, and ice travelled like vines carved from crystal up the tentpoles, and the sheets stiffened. The blue flashing from the orb continued, pulsing its regular heartbeat. Sure enough, the tannoy beat out the word: "HAIKEN!"
Stuart was up, finger holding his earpiece. "Where?" He asked with the steadiness of a bolder in the wind.
"Heading west from the east" came Bob's voice crackling through the hiss of the radio.
The group stared at each other for a moment, dumbfounded.
