Cowboy Knight Salvation is a tale of choices and directions about one of the last American generals, Alan Cally, who has to face the reality that all he has done for war against the individualist was wrong. He had a love of the Old West from movies he had only seen from childhood, but that would all change when he and his AI robotic horse, Ranger, explore the New West. They encounter a frontier teaming with giant creatures from the past. His love for adventure would lead him to a man who would help him change everything he stood for and humble his very soul. This is a story with action, adventure, tragedy, and most of all, hope. Like the New West, he would learn to become a new man.

COWBOY KNIGHT SALVATION

By CIRCLE

Trafford Publishing

Copyright © 2012 Circle
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4669-1419-3

Chapter One

The day of the American Republic had passed. The new Socialist order had taken power under a one world empire, in which all nations and tongues gave up all sovereignty for the unity of one. The rule of law and the force of government were used to subdue all under its bondage. The world had changed from the age of self to the unity of one. the individualists were declared the enemies of the state and hunted down. The elders had said the individualists had ruined the world and that all had to sacrifice to bring the world from ruin. The last days of the great rebellion of the individualists who would not conform to this new form of governance was nearing an end.

Socialists had formed a new world army, with men and women from every nation, to hunt down all who resisted. One of the famous generals throughout this campaign was Alan Cally, who was one of the last of the American generals left in the army Corps. He helped invent an iron horse for the new cavalry, and he trained personnel to use the new robotic machine. The iron horses were used to hunt down all of the resistors who had fled the cities and the closed-off detention centers. For over forty years, the great Re-Wilding Project of the old West, where no human was allowed to live, was teaming with life. The project was a giant lab for researchers to bring back animal life from the past. They called it the new West.

Alan Cally and his childhood friend, Travis E. Lee, a descendent of the great American Civil War General Robert E. Lee, were the last two American one-star generals of this one world empire's army. They were up for another star but were turned down with no explanation. They discovered through their military connections that the word was out that they were "too American" and not the right stuff for the leadership under the Supreme Council. The irony was that they loved the army Corps and were loyal to the cause. General lee accepted his fate and decided to stay with the Corps, but General Cally decided to retire. He had always wanted to see the New West but was never assigned to any patrols in that American territory. For forty years, he had watched what he could from information centers for the public and his friends in the Corps who had talked about it. The general had earned privilege and status, so he was granted permission to go see the New West. He was also allowed to keep his iron horse; he had named it "Ranger," from the old Western movies he had watched as a boy with his grandfather. All the old films were banned now. The elders of the new order said the content was too individualist and would only poison the people's minds. All the old twentieth-century material was forbidden.

General Cally and Ranger were waiting at the great gate to the West, some hundred miles from St. Louis. It was used to carry creatures in and out and was the headquarters for the researchers. The general also got to keep his suit of armor to protect him from the creatures and the elements. The suit of armor was an exoskeleton with nanotechnology devices that gave him added strength and protection.

The general said to Ranger, "Well, boy, gets yourself ready to ride."

Ranger just shot back at the general, "Doggone, general, you sure know how to put a horse in harm's way!"

The general replied, "Oh just stop you're complaining and get ready to ride!"

Ranger just mumbled, "Just ought not to do a horse like that!"

General Cally ignored Ranger's mumblings and said, "Get your riding program ready, soldier!"

"Yes sir General!" Ranger said back to Alan.

General Cally told Ranger, "We will need it out there, so be on your hooves!"

Ranger went through his checklist and gave the okay: "Ready sir!"

The great gate was a big door with three smaller doors within it. The smaller door opened into the buffer zone. Then it opened into another gate with doors within doors. Before the two rode out, one of the old researchers yelled at him, "Hey, sir! You look like some old cowboy knight with that hat on."

The general turned back and told the old man, "Had a friend make it for me from the old pictures I remembered as a boy."

The researcher said, "I remember too, sir!"

The general leaned back in his saddle and said, "Never thought I would get the chance to see it, the New West."

The man said back, "it's not the same West, sir."

"I know," said the general.

As the general moved toward the entrance, the researcher called back, "Good luck, sir!"

The general thanked him; he started feeling like a kid again. He called out at Ranger, "Head 'em up, boy, and move 'em out!"

Ranger looked back at the general in dismay and said, "Head what?" The general felt a little embarrassed, so he said, "Never mind," but Ranger shot back, "Head 'em up, huh? How about we turn around and go check out all those fillies?"

The general said, "You can't do anything about them anyway."

Ranger said he knew but the thought made him happy.

Cally got serious and told Ranger, "Ride, soldier boy!"

So the two of them headed out into the New West to see all the changes and find adventure. This dream had kept the general sane for all those years of fighting and killing for the socialists, the dream he would see the West some day. As they rode out, they passed some ruins of the old cities and towns left to decay and rot. The researchers had told him that within a hundred years, most everything would be gone or grown over with vegetation.

Food and water would be no problem to find. He could gather water himself, and there was plenty of small game to hunt. they told him not to hang around too long after the kill. Not if he didn't want to be someone else's lunch. He could find protection at the observation towers. They were located some fifty miles apart, with underground trains and communication if he needed help. While riding out, he and Ranger saw all the different animals from the past, from buffalo and deer to other animals natural to the terrain. The general saw the New West for the first time as he spotted, among them, a grazing herd of large reptilian creatures brought back from ancient times. He realized this was what the researchers were talking about. These big creatures were put there to wipe out the land and crush the remains of the past. All the predators were matched to keep the herds in check by removing the weak. Only the strong could survive.

After the two of them had been riding for a while, the general asked Ranger, "What do you think?"

Ranger's only response was a question back: "Why are we out here?"

The general answered, "To see the New West!"

"Oh!" Ranger replied.

The general decided to have some fun with Ranger and said, "Your program seems to be working fine."

But Ranger was no dummy and answered, "You should know, you wrote it!"

Cally had him now and thanked Ranger, adding, "Even if I do say so myself."

Ranger was about to blow a circuit when he heard this and responded, "Which one of us is talking now?"

So General Cally said back, "It's always me, Ranger."

Ranger hated that and started complaining, "There you go again! always bragging about you is me, or is it me that am you?"

All of a sudden, the general heard something; his mood changed on a dime and he said, "Quiet, Ranger, turn your sensors on!"

"Yes sir!" Ranger sensed that play time was over; he did what the general asked.

Cally asked Ranger, "What do you hear and see?"

Ranger was in full command mode, and his sensors picked up sounds and...