Billy Gene Brooks

Billy Gene Brooks: Primary narrator of Resurrection Day. Junior member of the Resurrection Day team. Commando, Medic, Maintenance Technician. Caught in a love triangle between himself, Enid Welch, and Tom Anderson.

I have to say that losing Parker scared me more than I let on to the others. Recovery missions had been just one big adventure, although dangerous, until now. But with Parker's death, our isolation from the future really hit me. I suppose that every Commando goes through it at some point in time, but for the entire day, I worried about my own mortality. I had come through the attack with hardly a scratch. Dixon had a deep gash in his left forearm and Wilson and Tom both had some heavy bruises. But Parker was dead. Dead. Really dead. I helped Tom and Wilson prepare his body in the Scyth way. We cut him open and stripped out his guts. We filled his body cavity with straw and herbs. Then we wrapped him in a deerskin cloak. I closed the cloak with the best golden fallen deer belt clasp that I had made. Then we strapped him to a two pole sled to haul him back to the Scyth burial ground. Dead. It really left me feeling alone.

Kurok was hiding his feelings, but I could tell that he was really hurting, too. Donsa had taken a spear deep in his side. I helped Kurok move Donsa onto a travois. I could tell that no major organs had been hit, but Donsa had lost a lot of blood. While Kurok was working with other things, I gave Donsa a shot of penicillin. I knew I shouldn't, but I was feeling very vulnerable. And I liked Kurok and Donsa. I didn't tell Tom or Wilson, I just did it.

Olina said little to us about our rescue, but it was clear that our standing among the clans had risen even more. As the warriors exulted and sang their battle songs, all acknowledged that it had been Parker's decision to break off from the main attack and his disruption of the ambush that had saved the raid. As we prepared Parker's body for the return trip, Olina stopped to express thanks to Tom and Wilson. Not much, but between soldiers and warriors it was more than words that counted. In any era.

The sun was low on the horizon as we crested the small hills surrounding the main encampment. A soft, warm, late-spring wind was blowing gently toward us from the camp. The wind carried an eerie howling. I thought it must be some end of campaign chant that started on the evening before the main camp would break and return to Scythia. But the lead riders became quite agitated. I turned to ask Kurok what was happening, but he gestured for me to remain silent. He was watching the lead riders intently. In a few moments, they began a low moaning howl and forced their tired ponies into a slow gallop toward the camp. Kurok and other warriors around them also began the low, eery howl.

We could sense a serious change in the attitude of the warriors. A moment earlier, their attitude had been one of bluster and exultation, even if forced in the case of those that had lost family members. But now there was no pretense of bluster. We weren't sure what was happening, but we did our best to mimic the howl. It was a low, guttural, almost animalistic growling noise. A noise of intense, deep pain.

Well, we had no women. Kurok, on the other hand had four daughters and a wife. He had come to view the link between the Serpent Clan and the Fallen Deer Clan as a good thing and he wanted to seal the relationship. He also attributed Donsa's recovery to my Shamanism. So he became determined that we would seal the relationship between our clans by a marriage. He offered -- no, insisted -- that I take one of his daughters as a wife. I tried to avoid it, but Tom and Wilson argued that there was no way out. We had no women, other Scyth clans would see it as unusual if we rejected this offer, and Kurok would clearly be offended. Dixon, the team ladies= man, reminded me that it might not be so bad. Less sympathetically, Tom said it was part of the job.

If you can imagine, I hadn't had a bath for a month. I'm not sure that Kurok's daughters had ever had a bath. They followed the Scyth custom of making themselves smell better and more attractive through the use of herbs and ointments. Team members were all immunized heavily against venereal diseases and I had plenty of drugs with me to keep the team pretty well protected until the recovery so this provided no excuse. I resigned myself to making the best of it. Kurok offered me a choice so I chose the second of his daughters. She was muscular and strong, well-built even by modern standards. Her name was Eleesha. Her hair was jet black as almost all Scyths but she had striking blue eyes. She was not beautiful but pleasant looking enough. I had spent some time talking with her while working with my gold and while tending Donsa and had found her to be the most amiable of Kurok's daughters.

I suppose I offended her older sister, but frankly, she was a bitch. And ugly. Kurok was so happy that we agreed to the union that he ignored all of her protests. In an effort to appease her, he did ask me if I would consider two wives. I told him that I was not sure I was experienced enough for one. He roared with laughter then remembered that we were all supposed to be in mourning for the Vozhdek and composed himself. He even threw in five ponies as a dowry. Tom looked the horses over as carefully as I had the daughters and pronounced the dowry acceptable.

We agreed that the wedding would occur on our return from the burial of Vozhdek Kinza.

The wedding was not complicated. Again, Kurok was so pleased that we had agreed to the union that he had not raised many questions when we simply explained that our clan had held no weddings for many years and had no women in what remained of our clan. He graciously and enthusiastically coached me through the wedding ceremony. I think that he may have introduced a new custom when he suggested that, at an appropriate moment during the ceremony, the groom routinely presented the father of the bride with a number of golden ornaments. At least others present at the ceremony seemed surprised when, at the designated moment, I presented Kurok with three newly crafted golden fallen deer buckles.

Following the ceremony, I introduced a new ceremony of my own when I took Eleesha on my pony and rode off. We went to two tents that Tom and Dix had helped me erect near a stream several miles away from Kurok's village. Here, I introduced Eleesha to a custom of the Fallen Deer Clan called 'bathing.' I washed her in the stream. Once she got the hang of it, she pitched in and washed me as well. We followed the bath with a steam sauna, pouring water on hot rocks in the second tent. Then we washed in the stream again. We repeated this several times until I felt that Eleesha was clean and I felt pretty good myself. I confess that both Eleesha and I were virgins. We spent the next few days learning about each other and sex in detail. Great detail. I discovered that Eleesha was quite pretty when cleaned up, and she became enthusiastic about the custom of cleanliness.

Smithsonian Launch/Recovery Center, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 2192 AD - Extract:

"But, surely, having come directly from the night of Jesus crucifixion -- surely you can tell our audience about that night -- at least your own impression." Billy felt Dennison press again.

But, what did he feel? He began to think about the implications of the question. There were probably millions of people behind the lenses of the 3D camera's that were aimed at him, people from all over America -- maybe all over the world -- people from his home town, his own family. People to whom the answer to this question was important. The enormity of the events in which he had been involved began to settle on Billy. What did he feel? How could he answer that question? What would those millions think? What would his family think? Suddenly the faces of every Sunday School teacher he had ever had flashed before his eyes. You didn't grow up in Gotebo, Oklahoma, and not go to Sunday School. Maybe he hadn't taken it seriously. But to his family and friends it was important.

He had been on a mission. To Billy it was like every other mission. Tom and Enid and Dixon were going on the mission, that's where he belonged. He had never stopped or hesitated to ask himself about the possible consequences. Until this minute, it had been just a lark, just another story to tell the folks when he got back home. Yet here he was confronted by a question he had failed to ask himself while a million people looked on waiting for his answer.

"I, uh, uh, I'm still, uh, pretty close to the event, you know. It's, uh, well, it's kind of hard for me to, uh, put it in perspective just yet." Billy knew that this wasn't coming across well. But he couldn't get it out.

"Mr. Dennison, we really have some work yet here to do. I think that this is about enough for now. As Billy said, the entire team will be back in a week and we'll have all the time you need." Martin Fitzsimmons sensed that, suddenly, Billy was struggling.

Billy was not paying any attention. He was leaning against the side of the capsule, his knees weak, trying to get control of what he was feeling.

"Mr. Brooks, Billy, just one more question, now -- quickly before we have to go. For America. Did Jesus really die? Was he dead? Could you tell?" Dennison was talking fast, trying to get the question out into the air making it difficult not to answer before the SmithOps technicians cut off the microphone.

Billy kept his head down but responded dully. "Oh, yes. He's dead. I know that Jesus is dead."

Now the entire room fell deadly quiet trying to hear Billy's words. Martin Fitzsimmons thought for a moment about shutting off the microphone, but decided that it was too late. He turned to the microphone himself and asked Billy softly, "Billy, how can you be sure?"

Billy struggled in silence for a moment and then turned toward the window hating what he was about to say. The room remained absolutely quiet. Billy felt like everyone in America had suddenly leaned forward in their seats.

"Because Dixon was there. He was one of the soldiers. He helped nail Jesus to the cross. He's the one who stabbed him in the side with a spear. He didn't want to. We all liked Jesus. But Dixon was one of the soldiers. He had to. Jesus is dead. I know! Tom and Enid were there, too. Dixon stuck the spear in his side and Tom and Enid saw it. Enid helped put him in the tomb. There is no doubt. Jesus is dead!”