| From: | Jeffrey Mach <mach@****.CALTECH.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | On Sunday morning... |
| Date: | Mon, 17 Nov 1997 14:45:55 -0800 |
>>>>>[Sorry about Draper, looks like the Army got to him before you could.
I picked this off the satellite feed:
+++++include: arrest.trid
[A woman stands in the morning gloom of an Autumn New England day. A
generic suburban middle-class neighborhood is behind her. She holds an
umbrella against the drizzling rain, and would be hard to distinguish her
from the background in her grey raincoat if not for the trid-camera's
floodlights. Her voice and mannerisms are a bit hurried, as though they
have just started filming and are going in live to the network.
"This is Diane Jenson from TNN affiliate WTED, Boston."
The footer scrolls out her name and location of Pawtuxet, Rhode Island.
"The peace of this family neighborhood outside of Providence was
broken this morning by the rumble of military might. As families were
preparing to go to church or spend a quiet morning at home, UCAS military
police arrived at the home of David and Susan Stockton."
She steps aside and the trid camera zooms in on an oppressive looking
CityMaster in UCAS MP markings. Two men in UCAS MP uniforms are leading a
man in civilian clothes out of the house hand-cuffed, but providing no
resistance. A couple of hardsuit armored troopers stand passively at ease
with their rifles at the ready. One of them looks over in their
direction, nods at some sort of internal communication and begins walking
in their direction. The camera holds on the man being led into the
waiting hatch of the urbanized troop carrier.
"Sources indicate that this man being led away from the Stockton home is
one Corporal Aaron Draper, of the UCAS Army, and brother of Susan
Stockton. Those same sources also indicate that Cpl. Draper is being
arrested on charges of desertion...of going AWOL on his comrades who were
part of the Chicago Containment Zone operation."
The armored trooper's blurred body suddenly blocks the view and washes out
the picture for a second. Having finally reached the reporter--his
faceplate darkened against the glare of the cameras lights, or to protect
his identity, it would be impossible to say--he provides enough of a
distraction and his body is large enough to obscure what other drama is
going on behind him.
"I'm sorry ma'am, I am going to have to ask him to turn of the camera and
for you both to leave. This is official UCAS military business."
Looking at the bars on the man's shoulder armor, and his "immovable
object" stance Ms. Jenson takes a new tack with her live report.
"Sergeant, is it? Sergeant, what can you tell us of the arrest of Cpl.
Draper? Is it true that he was 'absent without leave' from his post in
the CZ? How many more such arrests have you made in conjunction with CZ
runaways?"
"Ma'am, I have been ordered to escort you out of the area, for safety
reasons."
"Sergeant, how do you feel about one of your fellow soldiers running away
from his post? Were the conditions of the containment so terrible that
you feel he was justified in his actions?"
"I'm sorry ma'am, but I have to ask you to turn off your camera and leave
the area."
In the background, the CityMaster rumbles to life. The soldier nods to
another unheard order and simply turns his back on the reporter, and walks
away. There is nothing else to be seen other than watching him head
toward the waiting vehicle.
The view compresses to an inset behind the TNN "News Update" desk the
genericly good-looking anchor chimes in. "That was the scene this morning
in the sleepy New-England town of Pawtuxet. We go now, live, to an
exclusive interview with Susan Stockton, who has just been released from
questioning by Providence PD, by Diane Jenson who was there to break the
story this morning."
The inset has since switched to the ominously floating header "Breaking
News" and then expands to fill the viewing area before the view of what
you can only assume is the Stockton living room dissolves into view. Ms.
Jenson has had a chance to get out of her wet overcoat and freshen up
since last we saw her, and again the inset of her name and location
redundantly scroll across the bottom of view. She is sitting upright in
an easy chair facing the couch where a common enough looking woman sits,
her husband next to her with his arm around her shoulder consoling her.
The woman seems to have been crying for quite some time, her eyes red and
puffy.
"I'm here with Susan and David Stockton who have so graciously invited me
into their home to share with you the story of their heartbreak. Earlier
today, Susan's brother, Corporal Aaron Draper was arrested at their home
by UCAS military police. The charge, desertion in the line of duty.
Susan and David were also taken in, and then handed over for questioning
by the Providence Police Department."
The reporter turns to the couple and puts on her best "I feel your pain"
expression.
"Susan, is what is being said about your brother true? Did he desert his
post?"
"Yes...but my brother is a good man...[sniffle] he had his reasons..." the
woman manages to say.
An inset view appears and expands to show Cpl. Draper and his service
record. It includes four commendations received while serving in and
around the Containment Zone, remarkable for such a short time. The final
entry though, declares in bold: "absent without leave."
"Your brother was a decorated soldier, noted for his valor on more than
one occasion, what would make him leave his post?"
The husband now appears angered. "Damn it!, you don't get it, do you? He
hated those medals almost as much as he hated the bugs. I doubt you were
able to find out why he got them.... He told us when the bugs slaughtered
his platoon like so much sheep, he and another guy dragged what was left
of their CO out to the LZ, and so they gave him a medal. When they
ordered him to fire on civilians rioting because they were faced with
either starving to death or being killed by the bugs or killed by the
human monsters in the CZ, he did what they told him to. Not because he
wanted to, not because he was ordered, but because he was scared for his
life, he and his platoon gunned down civilians trapped in the CZ, and they
gave him a medal....
"The mindless slaughter, the senseless violence, Generals writing off his
friends as 'acceptable losses,' he just couldn't take it anymore. And now
those bastards are going to convict him for not wanting to be part of the
butchery? It's obscene." The man's outburst, unfortunately, only causes
his wife to fall into a fit of sobbing, and he stops to comfort her.
Looking back to the camera, Ms. Jensen fills in the pause. "According to
unnamed officials in the Providence Police, due to the circumstances, no
charges for harboring a fugitive are being considered for the Stocktons at
this time." With a whole-heartedly sympathetic glance at David and Susan,
who is in no condition to continue the interview, Ms. Jensen fills in the
pause: "We here at WTED plan to follow this story as far as possible, in
the hopes that justice, in the end, will prevail."]
+++++end include
There's a little more, but most of what Diane says is garbled up in
hysterics. Her hubbie mostly said it all, right there. You can request
the full version and keep up on the latest direct from Turner Network
News matrix edition, but I have a feeling this is going to be a
non-story faster than you can say "Oliver Stone Memorial Center for
Advanced Conspiracy Theory." The UCAS military doesn't take well to
having its dirty laundry aired in public.
Well, like I said, if he's a bug, then I'm a woolly mammoth. I figure the
G-men will want to sweep this one under the rug ASAP. "We won't put him
in front of a firing squad, if you and all your relatives and descendants
to the tenth degree accept a gag order that expires three seconds before
the earth plummets into the sun." You want me to still keep an eye on
this?]<<<<<
-- NewzJunkie <14:46:03/11-17-58 PST>
