Sam's Winnings: Tales of the Ragoon, #1

By Stan Morris

The alien Ragoon have conquered Earth with almost no opposition. They impose strict rules concerning property management. The problem is that they have made one gender slaves of the other gender.  Guess which gender they have forced into slavery.  But Americans are not sheep; they don't accept this quietly.  And that is especially true of their teenagers.

Sam wins the girl of his dreams in a poker game.  It's just a joke, right? The Ragoon do not see it that way.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stan Morris
• Release date: Sep 1, 2009
• ISBN: 9798223526322

Stan Morris

Stan Morris was born during the Truman Adminstration in Linwood, California.  He lived in South Gate, Lakewood, and Norwalk before his family moved to Concord, California in 1964.  He was educated at a variety of community colleges before receiving a degree from Eastern New Mexico University.  He has a wonderful wife, two grown gainfully employed children, and a thirst for reading, writing, watching sports, gardening, and international travel.

Book preview

Prologue

He tensed as he watched his wife give the seat a good push, and his four year old daughter squealed as she swung outward, until the chains holding the seat to the crossbar were almost horizontal to the ground.

Watch me, Daddy, watch me! his daughter commanded.

Mentally, he knew that there was no danger of her falling, but still...

He might as well enjoy her laughter now, he reasoned, trying to convince himself.  In ten years, it would be about clothes, shoes, and boys.  Boys.  He frowned to himself.  The boys had better be very polite when they're with her.

And that thought caused his stream of consciousness to flash back to when this all began.

Chapter One  A Bad Bet

I'll bet my sister, Jack said, grinning at the group.  The other teens had various reactions.

George, a large young man in the senior class, gave a wicked laugh and flexed his huge biceps.

Theresa, a slim junior, shook her dark brown hair, and exclaimed, No way!

Lester's blue eyes widened as the junior exclaimed, Dude!

Ashley, Jack's blond sister, smacked her brother on the arm and exclaimed angrily, You jerk!

Thoroughly stunned, thirteen year old Sam stared across the wooden kitchen table at Jack, the halfback on the varsity football team at the local high school.  His eyes widened as he glanced up at fifteen year old Ashley, the girl of his dreams.  She was wearing a pair of small, worn denim shorts and a halter top that didn't quite cover her bra.  She scowled back at Sam.

Hey, she's my property according to the Ragoon, Jack said, still grinning.  They haven't made any restrictions on betting your sister in a poker game, at least none that I know of.  And she's gotta be worth almost a hundred dollars.  He ignored Ashley's next shoulder punch.

Jack and Sam were the last players still in the poker game.  Sam was the youngest person there.  He was in the eighth grade; the others were all in high school.  The older boys usually did not allow Sam to hang with them, but earlier he had been hailed by Jack Thurber, as he was riding his bicycle past the Thurber house.  Jack had explained that they needed a fourth for a poker game.  Sam was reluctant to play with the boisterous older teens, because sometimes they like to tease him and push him around, but the possibility of seeing Ashley overcame his anxiety.

Sam was surprised to find himself in this position.  He had won more money than anyone else, and then he and Jack had gotten so carried away in the spirit of the game, that by betting all the money he had won, Sam had manage to raise Jack's last bet a hundred dollars.  To Jack’s chagrin, he did not have enough money to match Sam's bet.  They were playing for table stakes, or they thought they were.  In reality, all they knew about poker had been learned from watching old movies.  Without enough money to match Sam's bet, Jack thought he was automatically the loser.  Then Jack had offered to cover Sam's bet with his sister, Ashley.

You can't be serious, Jack, Theresa cautioned him.  What if you lose?  Sam would own Ashley.

Jack showed Theresa his cards.

Oh.  She glanced at Sam, and then looked at Jack again.  It's still risky. Nervous doubt filled her eyes.

The other kids eyed Sam who fidgeted as he glanced around the table.

Well, is it a bet? Jack asked, his eyes gleaming.

He knew very well that the younger boy was in puppy love with Ashley.  Jack was positive Sam would be unable to resist the temptation.

Sam gulped.  He knew in his heart that this was not right.  You don't gamble for people.  His parents would be appalled if they knew he was considering the suggestion.  But Jack was right.  Sam could not resist the temptation.  Just the thought of owning Ashley, even if in fun, made his hormones swim.

All right, he answered in a squeaky voice.  I accept your bet.  What have you got?

Four sixes. Jack smiled confidently as he threw his cards down, and Ashley breathed a sigh of relief.

Sam stared at the cards on the table.  He looked at his hand, and he gulped again.

What do you have, Sammo, George asked, bored, suspecting Sam of trying to run a bluff.

Sam laid his cards on the table.  I've got a straight flush, jack high, he whispered.  The others stared with astonished faces at Sam's cards.

Oh, no! Theresa wailed as curses polluted the air.

Damn!

Shit!

White faced and silent, Jack and Ashley stared at the cards in morbid fascination, and then turned to stare at each other.

Jack, Ashley pleaded, not knowing what else to say.

Jack looked at Sam and cleared his throat.  Hey, Sam.  You know I was just kidding, right?

Theresa and the other two older boys echoed Jack's statement.

Yeah, he was kidding!

That's right, Sam.

Got it, Sammo? George said with a menacing frown.

Yeah, I know, Sam muttered. It was just a joke.  Can I go now?  He got up and started for the door.

Take your money, Sam, Jack ordered.

There was silence as Sam returned to the table, retrieved the pot, and left.

And that would have been the end of it except that, being ordinary teenagers, they liked to text and chat with each other, and this incident was just too delicious to keep quiet.  Someone at the game, not Sam, sent an account of the game and its outcome to someone else.  They passed the story along to several other people.  The Ragoon monitored all communications on the planet, and they had software that was trained to spot key phrases.  In a few weeks, just before spring break, the incident came to the attention of the Ragoon.

One day, three oversized vans, like those operated by car rental agencies at airports, pulled into the high school parking lot.  Similar vans were arriving at the junior high school to the east.  At the high school, a young woman and twenty of the large, hulking, gray pseudo-lizards got out of the vans.  Fifteen of the aliens blocked the exits, while the other five, escorted by the woman, entered the school, looking to interrogate the principal.  She was not on campus at that time.  No one in the town had ever seen one of the Ragoon other than on television, and the reactions of the humans who encountered them as they strode through the halls on their massive foot pads ranged from simple curiosity to terror.

They were not lizards, nor were they related in any way to the reptiles that had evolved on Earth, except that all were carbon based life forms.  But their long faces and gray scaly skins reminded people of lizards, even if their hands were wide pads with a dozen short tentacles instead of fingers, and even though they had no tails.  They averaged nine feet tall, and some had to crouch as they entered the school offices whose ceilings were lower than those in the hallways and classrooms.

The young woman, Jane Laurence, introduced one of the pseudo-lizards as the District Supervisor for Central California, and she explained to the office secretary why the Ragoon were here and what they required.  The intimidated clerk quickly gave her access to the school records.  After examining the data, the District Supervisor directed the other four aliens to the proper classrooms.

By the time the lizards located those classrooms, rumors were flying around the school.  The frightened teachers remained silent when an alien entered their classroom.  The ten foot ceilings meant that the aliens didn't even have to stoop, except to pass through the doorway.  The lizards looked enormous and dangerous.

In the classroom where George and Lester were located, the alien gestured, and George, pale and sweating, followed it from the room.  Seconds after they left, the room was abuzz with talk and speculation.  But the kids quickly quieted when one of the aliens who had been blockading an exit, strode into the classroom and stopped behind Lester.

By then, the aliens who had entered the junior high school had finished their business, and they were on their way to the high school.

In every high school classroom, monitors flickered on and displayed the principal’s conference room.  The students saw a young woman, George, four aliens standing, and another alien seated at a wide table.  In every classroom, fascinated and terrified teenagers watched as the alien at the table, with the help of the woman, began to interrogate George.

Young man, the woman began.  My name is Jane Laurence.  The Ragoon to my right is our District Supervisor.  Are you George Henderson?

Yes, ma'am, George responded with a nervous glance at the Ragoon.  Surreptitiously, he wiped his palms on his jeans.

Well, George Henderson, I'm afraid you are under arrest.

George's heart froze in his chest.  Everyone had heard the rumors that sometimes the Ragoon ate the people they arrested.

Why? the large frightened teenager stammered almost tearfully.  What did I do?

You are charged with conspiracy to circumvent the law regarding legitimate property transactions.  The District Supervisor will conduct this interrogation, and I will assist it.  Please, answer all of its questions honestly.  Telling a deliberate lie will increase your penalty.  If you don't know the answer to a question, just say so.  It’s in your best interests to do so.

George nodded as he glanced with wide eyes and trembling lips at the Ragoon.  It was wearing a face translator which covered the pseudo-lizard’s snout.  He had no idea what he had done to annoy the Ragoon.  He hoped this was all a mistake, and that he would soon be back in his classroom.  He didn't even know what conspiracy to circumvent the law regarding legitimate property transactions meant.

You are George Henderson?  The sound from the translator was metallic, and yet there seemed to be a hint of a growl within the digital voice.  George tried to calm his pounding heart.

Yes, I am, he answered politely.

You are a senior here at Woodrow Wilson High School?

Yes, that's right.

You play football?

George was mystified by the question.  Is the team in trouble?

Yes, I play right tackle.

You enjoy playing football?

Yes.

What other games do you play?  Do you play chess?  Are you in the club that plays chess?

In spite of his fear, George smiled faintly at the ridiculous notion of him joining the chess club.

I know how to play chess, but no, I'm not in the chess club.

Do you like to play other games, such as board games or maybe card games?

George shrugged. Sometimes I play cards.

He had calmed down.  Whatever they wanted, he doubted that he was a part of it.  There must be some kind of mistake.

The pseudo-lizard looked at Jane.  She took two cards laid them, face down, before George.  She placed two more cards in front of the Ragoon.  One card was face down.  The other card, the King of Diamonds was face up.

The pseudo-lizard asked, Do you know this game?

George nodded.  It looks like blackjack.

Do you like to play blackjack?

Thinking furiously, George tried to understand the purpose of the question.  Is this a trap?

Sometimes I like to play blackjack, he answered cautiously.

How often do you play blackjack?

Maybe, once a month.

Do you play with friends?

Yeah, I get together with some guys from the football team, usually.  A notion struck George. Is playing blackjack illegal?  I swear that I haven't heard anything about it being illegal.

The lizard ignored his question as it glanced at Jane.  George watched Jane pick up the cards and return them to the deck.  She shuffled the cards.

Do you play other card games?  George returned his attention to the