Above the wasteland

?A fiction story about tanks, wasteland and hope

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Chapter 1

“Hey Adolf, do you like this surprise?”

A long time later, in another timeline........

A man was standing in front of a big screen, staring it with his blue, weary eyes. He was thin, but strong, wearing a black, German-style uniform.

“How’s the satellite working sergeant?”?“It’s working......but not very well, Admiral Varsio, after all that satellite is not an omnipotent tool isn’t it?”?“Indeed, serge, indeed.”?Admiral Varsio replied, while kept staring at the big screen in front of him.

“Interesting. Pretty interesting.”?Varsio said, while trying to identify the picture on the screen. On the screen it showed a desert. A large desert. The only recognizable nuances between different parts of the picture are small fragments of buildings which scattered around the desert.

“The time have come at last.”?Admiral Varsio said in a relief, “Time to find out more information about.........Earth.”

“Should we send another more advanced satellite to replace that obsolete one in the Earth’s orbit sir?”?The officer beside Varsio asked. “No, no, no. That would be superfluous.”?“Sir I understand your military savvy but isn’t it a good idea to send a more advanced probe to gather more information?”?“Ah, sergeant, come and see this.”?Varsio typed something on the keyboard and soon, a set of data appeared on the screen.

“This is a more specific abstract of the components of the Earth’s atmosphere,”?Varsio said, he typed something again. “and this, is the temperature.”?Surprised about the data, the officer asked: “So your plan is....?”?“I’m thinking about a more conventional method. I’m going to send a squad to Earth, find out more information, and search for survivors, if possible.”?“Sir, are you sure it’s viable? I think the risk is still high.”?“Don’t worry serge, it will be all right. And I already know who will be able to go on this mission. Contact the 501st?legion. Tell Adolf I’ve got a surprise for him.”

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Chapter 2

“Destination: Earth”

“Hard left! Hard left! Target sighted! Range: 1700 meters! Merkel! Load Armor Piercing shell! Stein! Prepare to brake! On my mark: Three! Two! One! Brake!”?The tank fired just at the moment when it fully stopped. A heavy 128mm shell flew towards the target, blowing it into pieces. “Whoooo! Nice shot, Hans, nice shot!”?“Thanks Adolf,”?Hans replied, “I didn’t even spot the target before you told me there is one on the left. You know, red is ubiquitous in the place.”?“There?was?one Hans,”?Adolf laughed. “You blew it into pieces don’t you? Just practice more and you’ll be OK.”?“Hahaha yes.”?“Alright crew, I think that’s all for today. Let’s go back to the camp and have a rest.”?“Sir yes sir!”?The crew answered. The tank turned around and roved back to the base. “Hey Stein! Wanna have dinner together?”?“Of course Hans, of course.”?“Humm wait......I’m feeling strange about something. Did we accidentally break something in our tank?”

Adolf picked some beef stew into his plate.?Delicacy. He thought, grandpa told me they used to eat these when they were still on Earth. Then he suddenly realized a person in black just walked towards him and sat beside him. “Admiral Varsio!”?Adolf stood up and saluted. “Greetings captain,”?Varsio said, “just sit down, it’s OK to be relaxed during supper.”?“Thanks admiral.”?Adolf replied.

“So I was a little worried about you,”?Varsio talked, after a long period of embarrassment. “since you didn’t answer the call of the Headquarters.”?“Ahh....that was a problem I was just about to report.”?Adolf said with a little bit shame. “We accidentally broke our radio when we were doing our training, and we didn’t figure that out until we were on our way back to the base.”?“Ahh well, that explained.”?“So can I ask why did the headquarters contact us?”?“Well actually it wasn’t the headquarters, it was me. Adolf, I have a surprise for you.”?“A surprise? For me?”?Adolf couldn’t believe his ears. Yes, Admiral Varsio is a benevolent person. Yes, Admiral Varsio cares a lot about every soldier under his command, but Adolf still couldn’t believe his admiral would bring a surprise to him, personally. Especially this kind of surprise that meant so much to him.

“Humm.....Adolf? Are you OK?”?Varsio asked, “You seems to be kind of shocked.”?“Yes sir, I’m OK. C-can you repeat that again?”?“It’s all right. You and your crew, one of the most eminent squads here on Mars, are going on a mission to Earth.”

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Chapter 3

“I’ve seen a worse landing, but I haven’t seen a worse situation.”

Adolf couldn’t sleep.

What Varsio said a few hours ago was perpetually spinning in his mind.

Earth.

He sat up from his bed and opened his shelf. Deep in the bottom of the shelf, there lied a quartz watch. Adolf carefully took it out and wiped the dust away from it. It once belonged to Adolf’s grandfather, and it’s still working accurately now.

Grandpa. Adolf thought. You always said you wanted to go back to Earth since the Great War. Now, I will fulfill your wish. You always say: “No matter what, spring will come at last.”?when you were still here. Well, it did come at last.

Adolf put the watch beside his bed and forced himself to sleep. Admiral Varsio said that the briefing of the mission will be at 6:40 A.M.?He thought. Soon, he fell asleep, with great excitement.

“So you’ll go one a scout mission to Earth.”?Admiral Varsio said, pointing at the screen. “You will go to Earth on the C.S.C. Dawn of Dust, the fastest light cruiser here on Mars. Unfortunately the cruiser will not be able to enter Earth’s upper atmosphere because of the weather condition, so we will be using the drop pod to get you down to the surface. Your mission is very simple. Collect data about Earth and try to find and communicate with survivors down there----if you can find any. Do you understand?”?“Sir, yes sir!”?Adolf and his squad answered with courage. Grandpa must be proud of me.?

The cruiser entered the Earth’s orbit. “This isn’t good.”?Admiral Varsio seemed to be worried after the captain of the ship said something to him. He called Adolf and his squad in. “Bad news captain.”?Varsio said, “The upper atmosphere is worse than we thought. It’s blocking all of our low frequency transmission. So you’ll be on your own on the surface. Consequently, we won’t be able to offer any immediate help if you’re in trouble. Luckily, there’s a beacon which can send high-frequency signal to the orbit in the drop pod. We will drop some supplies every week towards the coordinates of the beacon to help you. But after all, your mission is going to be tough, you can quit now if you want, nobody will blame you.”?Adolf and his team looked at each other. Nobody wanted to quit. They were like brothers. But no one spoke, they all knew this mission could be very dangerous.

“Just do it Admiral, I’m in.”?Hans broke the silence. “Me too.”?Said Merkel. “Count me in.”?Stein added. “I guess I don’t have a choice, we’re a team aren’t we? Add me too, Admiral.”?Adolf smiled. “Very well.”?Varsio said, “Farewell soldiers, farewell.”

The drop pod flew through the atmosphere like a meteor and crashed on the surface. Adolf and his crew climbed out of the pod and looked outside. In front of them, is a endless desert. “I thought we were going to land in Europe, not Africa......”?Stein said. “Well this is Europe.”?Hans said, “Or at least it was before the Great War. Now? Almost the whole planet is covered with sand.”?Stein was shocked when Hans told him about the history of the Great War, until Adolf spoke. “Alright crew,”?Adolf said to his squad, let’s check our equipment and get started.”

The first week passed quickly. Everyday was like the same: walking around, collecting data and searching for possible survivors. Until the eighth day.

“It’s already eight days after we landed, why didn’t the supplies come?”?Merkel asked that night. “Yea it’s so strange, let’s go check the beacon.”?Adolf replied, and they walked towards the drop pod.

The beacon was completely destroyed while landing.

“Don’t tell me,”?Merkel said with a little bit of frustration. “we broke our communication equipment again.”?“Your humor is still here,”?Adolf sighed. “that’s good, but we won’t be able to fix the beacon, it was too heavily damaged. I think our priority now is to get out of here and find a better place, where we can get more supplies. Luckily I already know how can we do so.”

Adolf took out of his telescope and stared at a black spot in the desert.

There lied an old tank, half-buried in the sand.

“No matter what, spring will come at last.”?Adolf said to his crew.

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Chapter 4

“Go spotting does not mean go get spotted”

Stein was driving the tank down an old, stone road.

“Bonk!”?Merkel’s head crashed onto the tank’s roof. “Ow!”?He yelled. “Can’t you drive this thing smoothly, Stein?”?Merkel complained, while rubbing his head. Stein was a little annoyed. “Driving a tank at night is not easy!”?He yelled back. “Especially when only half of our headlights are working! Besides, this thing is probably more than 200 years old! So what do you expect?”?“More than 200 years old?!”?Merkel couldn’t believe his ears. “Yes.”?Hans replied. “This tank is a Panzerkampfwagen III Ausf.M, or just Panzer III M for short. It was used by the German forces during the second world war in the 20th?century----that was over 200 years before. Honestly I was really surprised that it didn’t rust into ashes.”?“Hehehe, German industry.”?Adolf added. Everyone in the tank laughed, until Stein pushed down the brake.

“Bonk! Bonk! Bonk!”?Everyone’s (except Stein’s) head crashed onto the tank’s cabin wall. “Stein!!!”?Everyone yelled at the same time. “What!?”?Stein yelled back. “This thing’s brake is not working well! Besides, there are two roads in front of us, which one should we choose?”?Adolf opened the tank’s hatch and popped his head out of the turret. He took out his telescope and tried to look outside. But soon, he realized the problem. “Stein I understand you now!”?He yelled inside. “I can’t see anything out there!”?“So which one do we choose?”?Stein asked. “Well.....left?”?“OK then, let’s go left.”?The tank roared forward and disappeared in the darkness.

Up on the Earth’s orbit, Admiral Varsio wasn’t happy.

“We still can’t pick up the signal of their beacon.”?An officer said. “It’s might because of the weather condition, or their beacon is damaged.”?Varsio frowned and asked: “Are we able to send a rescue squad down there?”?“Not possible sir,”?the officer shook his head. “Even our cruiser couldn’t fly into the upper atmosphere, let alone the shuttle. Our only chance is to wait until the weather turns good, but I’m not sure how long we’re going to wait.”?Varsio sighed after hearing all these.

Where are you Adolf?

Down below, on the planet’s surface, the lonely Panzer III was roving on the desert which was once the European Plains.

Adolf noticed something. But he was unsure about it. “Hey Hans, did you hear that?”?“Hear what?”?Hans was confused. “Nothing. Uhh, it was like some kind of......engine sound? Or it’s just because I was too nervous......”?“Hummm.......it’s probably your own feeling.....ow! Stein! Next time warn us before you brake, OK?!”?“OK, OK.”?Stein said. “But Adolf was right, there is something in front of us.”

In front of them are two armored cars, all equipped with dual large-caliber machine guns. A person stepped out of one of the armored cars and stood in front of the tank.

“Turn back! Whoever you are! You’re about to enter the Berlin City and that is a restricted area. Leave immediately or we will open fire!”?The man said.

Merkel felt a little bit funny. “We have a tank!”?He yelled. “Can you stop us if we really want to go in?”?The man didn’t seem to be afraid. “Don’t be too complacent sir. Do you think we don’t?”?He said something in his radio and soon a shadow appeared in his back.

Adolf gasped when he realized what it was. It was a tank, but more like a battleship. It doesn’t have a rotatable turret, but there are four cannons--two on each side--mounted on its hull. The tank stopped in front of the Panzer III and pointed two of its guns towards it.

“K-GrossKampfwagen, or K-Wagen in short.”?Hans’?voice came from below. “World War One German super heavy tank. That, is a real land cruiser.”?“World War One huh?”?Stein asked. “Does that mean it won’t be able to do too much damage to our tank?”?“Theoretically?yes.”?Hans answered. “The original K-Wagen was equipped with four Krupp 77mm field guns, but this one......”?Hans opened the hatch and took a closer look at the behemoth in front of him. “Not good.”?He gasped when he came back to the cabin. “British 17 pounder cannon. This is a modified tank and that cannon-”?Hans took a deep breath and continued, “its shell can punch in from our front and punch out from our back.”

The man’s voice came from outside.

“I was benevolent enough to give you time to consider your situation. Now I want you to answer this imminent question. Will you leave or not?”

Staring at the gigantic machine which is almost twice as large as the his Panzer III, Adolf knew he didn’t have a choice.

“Fine. Stein, get us out of here.”

The tank turned around and left. The man stood there and stared at the tank’s shadow. Something made him feel strange.

That was an interesting piece of information for the Rebellion.?He thought.

Outside Berlin City, Adolf felt anxious. “Well the good news is that we found out there are survivors.”?Merkel tried to make him feel better. “Yea, but the bad news is that they’re not very friendly.”?Adolf said. “Honestly I wonder what’s inside Berlin City. Besides, our supplies and fuel are running low.”?“So your plan is...?”?Stein knew his old friend was going to take action. “I’m going to take a look about what’s inside.”?“You can’t be serious. They’ll shoot us into pieces when we try to go in.”?Said Hans. “No, I said?I?am going to take a look. Just me. The rest of you just find a place to hide our tank. It’s too large.”?“Are you sure about that? We can’t help you if you’re in trouble.”?Stein was still worried. “Trust me Stein. We’re the 501st?legion!”

Hans stared at Adolf’s silhouette when he walked away.

“I have a bad feeling about this.”?He said.

Adolf lied on a big bedrock and took out his telescope. He was shocked when he saw what was inside the city.

“Tanks, Anti-tank guns, hangers, troops..........What is this place used for?”

“You will soon find out when we take you in for interrogation.”?A voice came from behind. “But you won’t be able to deliver that to anyone, spy! Now put your hands up and stand up!”

Adolf slowly put up his hands and stood up. He turned around and saw two soldiers-both armed to the teeth-pointing their gun towards him. “What are you talking about? I’m no spy!”?Adolf claimed. “Then what are you doing here?”?The other soldier said. “I......I was......”?Adolf had nothing to say.

“Let’s take him in.”?The second soldier said. “No, wait.”?the first one stopped him. “He was right. He doesn’t look like a spy, I think we won’t be able to get much information from him.”?“See! I’m not a spy gentlemen......”?“Shut up, we didn’t allow you to talk.”?the second soldier interrupted him. “Go on.”?He said to the first one. “So for this kind of valueless person,”?the first one continued, “I suggest an immediate execution.”?“Affirmative.”?The second soldier replied.

Adolf was in a panic now. “Uh....sir? We might be having a serious mistake with each other......”

“Shut up and turn around.”?One of the soldiers spoke.

Adolf was desperate. Without weapon he couldn’t fight with any soldier.

It should not end like this.......?he thought and closed his eyes.

He heard the sound of the two soldiers pulling their gun bolts.

“Ready!”

“Aim!”

He heard the sound of gunshots.