Digger]

Demazen sat on one of the featureless rocks and grappled with another of the thorns. He wondered if it would not be better to leave the damn thing in his foot,then he wouldn't have to cope with another round of cuts to his fingers. Still, pain in the fingers was one thing, but he needed to be able to walk. Only a few hours of daylight left.

As gently as his fingers would let him he grasped the huge three-barbed thorn and pulled steadily. With a yelp of agony the thorn came free with a small piece of his heel attached.

He cursed loudly and then cursed the sun, beating ceaselessly down on his head. It wasn't enough that he had to put up with constant pain from the thorns and stones along the road. He had become bald lately, and now the top of his head was always sore. No shade; nothing to make a hat from. Nothing.

Sighing, he stood again and tried putting weight onto his bleeding foot. Pain. What else was new? He was beginning to understand pain. What was it that the "TM" gurus used to say in the seventies? Pain is a state of mind. Well, he could disagree with that. Pain is a state of the body, not the mind.

Bored with philosophy and pressed by the need for haste, Demazen once again set off along the road, each step serving to harden him to the pain. "Oh to be in England, now that April's there." he laughed to himself. But, he thought sadly, it wouldn't look any different to this. The radio broadcasts from around the globe had ceased at least five years ago, but from all accounts England, in fact most of the planet closely resembled the terrain he now cursed as he stubbed his toe once again. He breathed a sigh of relief as he sighted the last hill before the village. It wouldn't be long now.

Near the top of the hill, on the downward side, he saw a familiar looking figure crouched at the side of the road. It was his friend and colleague, if that word carried any meaning any more, Ressen. He appeared to be scratching at something under the surface. "Hello Ressen!" he yelled,"What have you found? Something edible I hope?"

Ressen appeared startled by his call, but relaxed when he saw who it was. He placed his fingers to his lips and motioned to Demazen to join him. "I only wish it were food, my friend, but I fear that I have found something terrible! "He pointed to the ground and Demazen peered intently at the `dig '. All that he could see were small pieces of a metallic looking object, where Ressen had dug away some of the dirt.

It didn't seem worth whispering about, nor indeed did it seem to be worth the agitation that it caused to Ressen. "I wouldn't worry too much, old man," he said kindly, for even though his friend often appeared to be quite strange these days, Demazen felt closest to him."Its probably just the remains of someones automobile."

Ressen stared at his friend in disbelief. He pointed to a small marking on the metal. "I know I appear somewhat addle minded, Demazen, but how many automobiles came equipped with the Russian army symbol? "Now it was Demazen's turn to look startled. He scraped furiously at the metal, trying to see more.

"What do you think it is?" he asked as he sat back and rubbed his chin. Ressen shook his head slowly, rocking back and forth on his haunches. "There aren't many things that I can think of except - maybe it's a supply capsule for the troops!" said Demazen, nearly drooling at the thought of canned meat. But his colleague shook his head sadly, "I'm afraid that the WAR was over and done before anyone could deploy troops. No, I'm afraid that the only things that the Russians sent here were sent by rocket express. Which means that this thing is-"

"A bomb, mate. That's what it is." said a new voice, and they both turned to face the source. A smile greeted them from a face that only a mother could love. "G'day Gents. How are they hangin'?"

"Oh its you, Turnbull, I do wish you'd stop sneaking up on people. And do stop saying that disgusting colloquialism."

"Sorry Doc, must be the aussie in me." He grinned foolishly and continued to lean on the shovel he always carried. Turnbull had the unenviable task of keeping the toilet facilities flowing in the village latrine area.

The two learned men looked at each other and then at the bomb. They both shared the hope that the Australian would go away, but of course he wouldn't, this was far more interesting than his normal line of work.

"I wonder which class of armament it is?" said Demazen. "I'm no expert, you understand, after all my field was cryogenic suspension, although I did undertake a-"

"It's a K-124, mobile launched, laser guided and big enough to blow the tits off the moon!" said Turnbull helpfully.

"How do you know that?" asked Ressen, annoyed by the crudity but intrigued by the unexpected knowledge.

"I used ta read up on things like that when I was a little tacker .... Never thought I'd get to see one though."

"Hmm." said Demazen,"Well, what are we going to do about it?" He looked to his friend for an answer.

"This will take some thought,"said Ressen,"We shouldn't rush it, perhaps-"

They were interrupted by a flash of red hair and white teeth, "Look Gents, I don't want to be a piker, but I think you'd better adjourn your meeting 'til tomorrow. If we don't get our carcasses back to the village we'll be asking the "Technos!"

"He's right." said Demazen, "It's nearly dusk, we had better head back."

"Yes." agreed Ressen,"But do not say a word to anyone else. Agreed?"

They all nodded and began to walk the last mile or so to the village.

Neither of the scholars could eat much that night, both were far too eager to discuss the bomb. They sat at the village perimeter, away from all other ears. They had insisted that Turnbull accompany them, despite his vow of 'Fair Dinkum' silence. He lay quietly dozing while the other two tried to decide what to do about the warhead.

"This could be the chance we've been waiting for." said Demazen.

"To fight the Technos? Surely you jest. They have lasers and projectile weapons!"

"Yes. But now we have this "K-124", surely that is a weapon they do not have!"

Turnbull lay quietly and listened. He knew all about the Technos, everybody did. In the first few years after the "WAR" they had gathered together in the ruins of the cities. They had been tainted by radiation. Their flesh bubbled and oozed in places as they tried to fill in the time between now and their inevitable death from radiation sickness.

Whether the radiation had poisoned their minds or they were just warped by their bitterness, nobody knew. But the Technos had decided that if death was inescapable anyway, they had little to fear from further radiation, and so they willingly embraced all of the radioactive weapons and equipment they could lay their hands on. At night they patrolled the roads. On the ground in armoured vehicles, and in the air in helicopters armed with small calibre air to ground missiles. They took great pleasure in eliminating anyone or anything that still remained unblemished by the "WAR'S" effects.

Turnbull shivered as he began to listen to the two learned men again.

"All we have to do, Ressen, is dig it up and drag it to the Techno Base. We know where it is. Maybe Turnbull here will help us."

"But what do we do with it when we get it there?"

"Detonate it, you fool. How else can we make this place safe from those lunatics."

"But Demazen, hasn't there been enough death from those damned genocide machines already?"

"What do you think the Technos will do with it if they find it? Do you think they will debate morality issues before they make this whole area radioactive? NO! They want everyone to feel their pain, their hopelessness!"

He paused and pointed at Turnbull; "We have a responsibility to Turnbull and all the others like him. They can't defend themselves against the Technos. We must strike first, before they do it to us!"

The debate continued well into the night and the dawn found the two learned men fast asleep at the site of the debate.

After a hasty breakfast, they almost ran to the edge of the village, so that they could climb the hill and formulate a plan for removing the K-124 from the ground. Halfway up the hill they met Turnbull, who was sitting quietly on a stone, sharpening his shovel.

"Oh... er. Good Morning Turnbull." said Demazen irritably, "Been working already, I see." His nose curled at the thought of the places the shovel had been.

"My oath, I have." he replied amiably, "Been at it since before sparrow fart."

"You er.. didn't mention the er.. thing to anyone did you?" asked Ressen.

"I'd be a right galah to do that now, wouldn't I?"

"Er ... yes ... a right galah. Listen Turnbull, Demazen and I have decided what we should do with the K-124 and we need to discuss it with you before we do anything."

"No worries, mate. There's nothin' to discuss."

Demazen nudged Ressen and winked, "Let me handle this .... You misunderstand Turnbull. What Ressen means is that we have decided-"

"No Cobber, I think you misunderstand me. I said that there is nothing to discuss."

He smiled and something in that smile made Demazen sweat. Without a word he ran the rest of the way up the hill and his cursing could be heard quite clearly by Turnbull and Dressen as he came running back down.

"You... fool!" he gasped,"What have you done!"

He lunged at Turnbull only to have his legs knocked out from under him by the latter's shovel.

"Whatever is the matter, old chap?" an alarmed Dressen asked.

"It's gone!" wailed Demazen as he got shakily to his feet in preparation for another lunge at the australian.

"Right!" boomed a voice from Turnbull that neither had ever heard before, "You try that again and I'll flatten you!"

Demazen sat down, he did not know how to deal with this!. Ressen looked incredulously from one to the other as he tried to fathom what was happening.

"Would someone please tell me what is going on?"

"He's taken the bomb!" snarled Demazen.

"What!" Ressen stared at Turnbull."Where? Why?"

"I'll tell you why, mate." said the australian rubbing his chin, "I listened to you two flapping your gums for half the night about saving the world and wiping out the technos before they get us and I wondered where I'd heard that sort of stuff before. I heard it from the mouths of bozos who made those same sort of decisions before the war. I'd even read about people who justified their horrors in that very same way so they could "save us all". People like Hitler, Caesar, Amin and God knows how many others! Even in my country we had 'em. Whole groups of people were wiped out because they might be a threat one day. Ask someone about Aborigines in Tasmania and then tell me you were right!"

"I suppose you don't know what a galah was either? No? Well it was a beautiful parrot that never knew how to get along with anyone, so it had to be shot so that it wouldn't eat all the food we grew. I thought that the war had wiped out all of the galahs, but I'm lookin' at a couple right now!"

And he turned and began to walk back to the village, leaving two very stunned men behind him.

"WAIT!" yelled Demazen, "The bomb! Where have you put the bomb?"

The digger turned and raised his shovel, "Did you ever read comic books when you were a kid?" He looked from one to the other.

"Yes, but what has that got to do with the bomb?"

But Turnbull only laughed, a high pitched cackling laugh, "Who knows what evil lies in from the hearts of men? Hee Hee Hee! Only the Shovel knows! "
(c) R.G. Lee 25/8/88

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