#39: Ooops.

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The Trolls.

The Trolls were big brutes and were no more native to this planet than were the humans. They were the pitifully few remnants of a Sepoy Species that the Demons had enslaved in another Universe. They hadn’t made terribly good slaves and consequently the Demons were “using them up.”

The Trolls were an unhappy people and deservedly so. Yet they did not go silently into the dark. They bitched. They bitched among themselves and to anyone who would listen. The Army loved to bitch, so the Trolls fit right in. Bitching was a favorite pastime.

However much of what the Trolls were saying was alarming.

Eventually word reached the ears of the right people. The Command Group convened with the apparent leader of the Trolls as their guest. They had questions. Hopefully he had answers.

It was Bergelmir again. Bergelmir always seemed to be breaking trail for the Trolls. Bergelmir was a Chief and he was big guy even for the Trolls. He made Lamar look Petite. He was eight foot tall if he was an inch and perhaps taller if he didn't stoop. He stooped. His arms were long enough so that he could knuckle walk like a gorilla on occasion. He usually didn't do that, unless he was in a hurry. It got his hands all dirty and he didn’t like dirty hands.

Bergelmir stood before the command group and answered questions. He wasn't very comfortable talking before a group. He had stage fright, a stress headache and his nose was running. Kara had given him a beach towel to use as a hankie.
"So tell us a little bit about yourself there Berg" asked Lamar.

Bergelmir looked like a deer in a bright light. His eyes went big and he became very still. What if he screwed up the answer? What would happen? He really didn't want to be here. He knew that he had to be, no one else left alive among the Trolls could do the job as well as he could. But he hated it. He'd rather be digging or fighting or something.

One of the human women, Sharon Gillespie by name, was serving coffee for the group. They went through coffee like it was pumped through a firehose. She took one look at Bergelmir and her heart melted. She turned and glared at the command group, especially Lamar.

"The poor thing! Can't you see he’s half scared to death? This isn't going to work". she said.

Lamar felt a little embarrassed. He too had realized that the Troll was stressed out. Who would have thought that a rampaging killer would be afraid to speak in front of a group. The idea that Trolls were afraid of anything was……….comforting actually.
"You've got a point Sharon" said Lamar. "what do you suggest?"

"Well he doesn't need to be just standing there. Not with everyone else sitting and looking at him. He could at least sit down. He needs a chair." she said.

"Hmmmmmm...good idea." said the Texan "The question rears it's ugly head and asks it's vile self , do we have anything big enough and strong enough to hold him?"

"I got an idea, by your leave sir." said Sgt. Hobbs as he left the room at a fast walk. He was was back in a few minutes with the Troop wainwright and two helpers. They were carrying some small oak barrels, some boards, some tools and other supplies in small carts. Sgt Hobbs had told the wainwright what needed to be done. The workers went into emergency overdrive construction mode.

Mere minutes later they draped an untanned Bullhide over their creation. A little bit of tying of rawhide into place, and suddenly there sat a huge chair.

Hobbs looked at it and nodded his appreciation to the men.

“Good Job Corporal...dismissed” and they left taking everything but the chair with them They’d even swept up the sawdust.

"There you go Berg. It’s even your size. Don't get too rambunctious and it'll most likely hold your weight'

Bergelmir was dumbfounded. He just stood there and stared. This was so far outside his experience that he had no clue how to act. Sharon took pity. She approached the huge biped and took him by the hand. His hand was so relatively large that all she could easily grasp was one of his fingers. Pulling him gently over to the impromptu seating arrangement she coaxed him to sit down.

He did. He was in awe. He’d never before sat in a chair. He’d never, ever, dreamed that someone would make something so magnificent just for his use.

"There you go big boy" she cooed. " now what would you like to drink? How bout some coffee? You’ve been drinking coffee with the command group in the morning haven’t you? I bet I can find your cup. These guys are the same people you have coffee with every morning. Just relax. They won’t bite. If they do I’ll slap em."

She whistled, never releasing his finger, she wasn’t going to let him bolt. He was quivering like a nervous horse and damn near as big. Members of her crew must have been paying attention because it was only seconds before a perky redhead brought Berg a large mug of coffee.

Sharon handed him a mug that ordinarily would do duty as pitcher.

" Guess we couldn’t find your bowl after all...this should be even better. Careful honey. It's hot"

Bergelmir just started at Sharon. He was dumbfounded. He repeated what she said in him mind. He imagined her slapping a bear. That was funny. He started to smile and giggled a little.

The command group gasped in horror. Something about an eight foot tall Troll...giggling...was just …...wrong.

Berg carefully took the large mug and raised it too his lips, then paused as was his custom. Holding the steaming mug before his face he inhaled deeply. The smell! The aroma. Berg had a much more sensitive sense of smell than humans. This was always the best part of drinking coffee. He sat there and just smelled the coffee for a bit.

Lamar and the command group traded smiles. There's nothing much better than the smell of a good strong coffee in the morning. The poor boy had been deprived all his life. No wonder he was grumpy.

Troll-boy took a sip of coffee...and another and relaxed even more. Sharon looked at Lamar and the others and raised an eyebrow. They nodded. She began to talk to the huge man.

"So tell me big boy..." she spoke in a conversational tone to the Troll as if there were no one around but he and she.
" What brought you to these parts"

"A chariot"... muttered the big biped, answering the question in an entirely literal manner. He looked around self consciously as a few people laughed. Berg was Not Subtle . Nuance flew right past him like an arrow. He was, however, becoming calmer.

Lamar frowned...and started to say something...was this guy being a smart ass?

" How cute! " praised the women, frowning at Lamar such that the Texan shut his mouth with an almost audible snap. " that was very funny"

"It was?" said the Troll in a puzzled voice.

"Yes it was, " she said " I thought it was brilliant. Why were you in the Chariot? Why did you decide to come out here? It must have been very difficult and dangerous".

"Oh yes ma'am it was" said the troll unconsciously reverting to speech patterns that he would have used when talking to him mother, "It was very dangerous. A lot of us died. The mean Demons hurt a lot of my friends….”

He loosened up and continued to talk.

Sharon Gillespie had been a schoolmarm back on earth before great misfortunes had forced her into a whorehouse. She'd endured a lot but she still retained knowledge and skill for dealing with abused children. Bergelmir's life defined abuse. He was a textbook example of an abused child. Responding to her coaxing he talked for hours, apparently held nothing back,and divulged a tremendous amount of useful information about the enemy…..and went through an enormous amount of coffee.
The command group was at first enthralled then they settled in for the long haul. They rarely said anything. They just listened...intently. Occasionally Sharon was prompted by Lamar, Sgt. Halsey or even on one occasions by Sgt. Hobbs. She asked the questions though.

The guileless Troll answered her. Sharon had him wrapped completely around her finger. She was in total control. Eventually it was over. Sharon led the big creature out of the room. The big guy found his own way back to his quarters.

Lamar looked around at the stunned group.

"Oooops" he said quietly.

Next Episode
#40: How may I help you?”…
Previous Episode
#38: Coffeeee…
First Episode
# 1 : In the beginning…

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