Conquistadora

Chapter 5

At York Field, the Conquistadora's starcruiser made a landing in a vacant area of the park. Maria Consuela Diaz de Montejo disembarked and walked over to the tables where Narcisa and her holograms were conducting the last business of the day.

"You've done really good," said Maria, "Well, it's Friday, and I launch my neutrino dissimilator cannons into orbit tonight, and I just wanted to let you know that you have really caught my attention."

"How so?" Narcisa asked.

"A lot of my other Amazon troopers are sympathetic to people who don't possess enough Latino ancestry. You've turned down more people for a full-size transponder card than any of my other Amazons! I'm trying to think of how to reward you!"

"I can think of a few ways," said Narcisa.

"Really?" said Maria. "Tell me."

"Make me second in command of your empire! If you ever leave Earth, put me in charge here! In charge of the whole planet!"

"That sounds reasonable," said Maria. "Especially since I'm a college student back on my world. I have to leave here eventually, so it was my original plan to find a replacement for me at some point."

"So have you made a decision as to who you're going to choose?" Narcisa asked.

"You're definitely a runner-up," Maria replied. "But I want to give some of the other girls a chance at winning the title."

Later that day, Sharky unloaded his car with several cases of Corona beer. Soledad helped him unload the beer.

"I thought you bought a keg!" said Soledad.

"It doesn't hurt to have some extra beer around!" said Sharky.

"I'm taking off with some friends," said Soledad, "I'll be back in a few hours."

"Just try to be here before 9:00 so we can watch those fools shrink!" said Sharky.

"I wouldn't miss that for the world!" said Soledad, as she took off in her car.

Right after she left, Nacho showed up with a rose in his hand.

"Is Soledad home?" Nacho asked.

"No, she just took off," said Sharky. "Is that rose for her?"

"Of course!" said Nacho. "Red roses mean true love!"

"You'd better get rid of that rose before Soledad gets back! You're just going to make a fool out of yourself if you try to give it to her! Do you want her to tell you off publicly, or dismiss you privately?"

"You just don't know Soledad!" said Nacho. "She'll come around!"

"I do know Soledad, she's my little sister! I remember when my parents brought her home from the hospital the day she was born! I was five years old! You're my home-boy and everything, and I want what's best for you, but she's my family, and I want what's best for her, too! If I had to choose between her and you, I'd choose her every time, you got that?"

"Maybe I am what's best for her!" said Nacho.

"Maybe you are, and maybe you aren't!" said Sharky. "But ever since my parents died in a car accident three years ago, I told the rest of the family when I inherited this house that I would look after her since I was over eighteen. Do you have a job lined up? How do you plan on supporting her?"

"I could join the military!" said Nacho.

"After tonight the United States government is going to be in a temporary state of anarchy, until the Latino military officers can pull it back together. That could take a whole year or even more!" said Sharky. "Same with college! All the colleges in America are going to be shut down until qualified Latinos with teaching degrees can open them back up! That Conquistadora might have changed the world for the better in some ways by making Mexicans the master race, but she sure managed to screw a lot of other things up in the process!"

"I can figure something out, Sharky!" said Nacho.

"And don't let me hear you talk about knocking her up!" said Sharky as he grabbed Nacho by the scruff of his shirt. "At my parent's funeral I promised them that Soledad would have a proper Catholic marriage to a guy who could love her and support her!"

"Calm down!" said Nacho. "I already decided that I'm going to wait until we're married before I have sex with Soledad! How would you feel to have one of your best friends married to your little sister? Wouldn't that be better than having her married to a stranger?"

"Yeah, I guess," said Sharky as he let go of Nacho's shirt. "Personally, I don't see why she doesn't like you, but she just doesn't. You know, I'm curious about something, Nacho."

"What's that?" Nacho asked.

"You've been my friend since we were kids, and you've known Soledad for years! So why did you fall in love with her within the last six months?"

"I guess she just grew on me!" said Nacho, as a group of people arrived.

"Is this where the party is?" one of the white guys asked.

"Yeah," said Sharky, "the beer is in the dining room. Nacho will show you where it is!"

Meanwhile, back at Nick and Flora's house, Nick was trying in vain to convince Flora to talk to to Narcisa on his behalf.

"You might as well give up, Nick!" said Flora. "Narcisa isn't going to give you a transponder card! Just accept your fate!"

"I didn't want it to come down to this," said Nick, "but I went to my bank today and took out everything I have except for two dollars!" Nick reached into his pocket and pulled out a thick wad of bills folded in half. "Here's five hundred dollars in twenty dollar bills, and it's all yours if you talk to her for me!" Nick slammed the money down on the table that was nearby.

"Okay, that's all you needed to do!" said Flora as she took the money.

Flora got in her car and took off toward York Field. The crowds of people had dispersed, but luckily, Narcisa was still there sitting at a table with her laptop. Flora approached her.

"What are you up to, Narcisa?" Flora asked.

"Oh, hi Flora!" said Narcisa with a smile on her face. "I'm just filing my daily report to the Conquistadora. She says the Amazon troopers are going to be extra busy tomorrow dealing with people who got shrunk who should've gotten transponder cards, and people who had cards but weren't wearing them when the neutrino dissimilators go off tonight at 9:00."

"I came to talk to you about my cousin Nick," said Flora. "He's a quarter Mexican, and he thinks it's unfair that he's getting shrunk tonight. I was wondering if you could do me a personal favor and make an exception for him-"

Narcisa cut her off: "I've already spoken to Nick, and the answer is still no. It's nothing personal, but the Amazon troopers are all in competition to take the Conquistadora's place when she leaves Earth to return to her own reality. She might never come back, and whoever is left in charge will rule this world!"

"Do you think she might choose you as her replacement?" Flora asked.

"She already told me that she's thinking of me, but she wants to wait and see if any other Amazon troopers make the cut. See, she wants someone who is merciless. If I wasn't hard on Nick, that would ruin my chances of being chosen as leader of the Amazon troopers."

"I understand," said Flora, "I wasn't even going to come over here and talk to you, but my cousin paid me a lot of money to speak to you on his behalf."

"I understand," said Narcisa.

"Hey, there's a party at Sharky's house tonight," said Flora. "Do you know where that is?"

"Yeah," said Narcisa. "I've been to a party there before. He throws a lot of parties, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, and we're gonna watch a lot of non-Latinos shrink tonight!"

"I'll probably show up a little after 9:00" said Narcisa.

"I have your phone number in case you forget," said Flora.

Later that night, after the sun set in California, Maria Consuela Diaz de Montejo sat in her starcruiser and piloted it into the upper atmosphere.

"Computer, replicate ten million neutrino disimilator cannons and launch them into orbit at geosynchronous level an equal distance from one another."

Less than a second later, a stream of matter shot from all sides of the starcruiser. The mass of metal and plastic solidified and formed as each individual device took up position where Maria had commanded. In a matter of minutes, the satellites each had a Mexican flag on them with an eagle that had a snake in its claws.

"Now it's just a matter of time!" said Maria.

Back in Whittier, in Irene and Roland's, Nick had his telescope out. His cousin Flora approached.

"There's lights in the sky that weren't there last night," said Nick. "I think the Conquistadora launched her neutrino dissimilators into orbit!

"Can you see them in your telescope?" Flora asked.

"I can see the pinpoints of light, but I can't make out anything on the satellites themselves."

Flora tried to look. "You're right, I just see a light."

Meanwhile, at Sharky's Nacho was taking a lot of heat for carrying a red rose around.

"Are you sure Soledad is going to be here?" Nacho asked Sharky.

"She said she'd be here before 9:00 so she could watch people shrink," said Sharky.

A group of people sitting at the dining room table laughed at Nacho.

"They're all laughing at you," said Sharky. "Why don't you get rid of that rose before you make a complete fool out of yourself?"

"Love is something I'm willing to suffer for," said Nacho.

Gordo entered the party with his girlfriend Flaca, and Chuy soon arrived.

"A rose?" Gordo asked.

"A red rose!" said Flaca.

"Could it get any worse?" Gordo asked. "Our buddy Nacho has it bad!" Gordo sat down at Sharky's computer desk. "I'm going online to find Nacho a real girlfriend!"

"Don't waste your time," said Sharky. "After tonight, any Internet sites that don't originate in Mexico or Latin America aren't going to be online for very long!"

"It can't hurt to try!" said Gordo. "Maybe I can find him a heina here in Whittier before nine o'clock tonight!"

"Go ahead," said Sharky, "I just wanted you to know the risks."

Cameron, Sharky's girlfriend, looked around and said, "There sure are a lot of white people at this party tonight!"

"They don't believe they're gonna get shrunk!" said Sharky.

"I don't either!" said Cameron. "I got my transponder card just in case, but I'll believe it when I see it!"

"I feel the same way!" said Gordo's girlfriend Flaca. "But wouldn't it be weird if it really happened? If this goes down, it won't exactly be a dream come true for me, but there's some bitches that are getting off on all this! How about you, Cameron?"

"I don't get off on this whole shrinking thing either, but I know what you mean. Anastasia Alvarez, Flora's friend Rica Luna, and Sharky's sister Soledad have always fantasized about conquering shrunken people even before the Conquistadora arrived, so this is like a wet dream come true for them!"

Nacho snapped to attention when he heard Soledad's name. "What about Soledad?"

"Nothing," said Flaca. "I was just pointing out something she has in common with Anastasia and Rica."

"Are you saying Soledad is cruel?" said Nacho. "Because I don't believe it! She doesn't have a cruel bone in her body!"

"Forget I mentioned her, Nacho!" said Flaca.

Just then, some more white people arrived, then some Asians and some black dudes. They were all students at Rio Hondo community college where Nacho, Gordo and the rest of them went to school.

"Do we have enough beer?" Gordo asked.

"We're almost through all the Corona's," said Sharky, "But I haven't tapped the keg yet. There should be plenty."

"I'm looking forward to seeing what Anastasia and Rica will do with their shrunken captives after the shrink-rays in orbit go off!" said Chuy. "Cameron, do you know if they're coming tonight?"

"As far as I know they're supposed to come here tonight." said Cameron.

"I feel sorry for those shrunken fools when those two are around tonight!" said Chuy. "Cameron and Flaca, what will you two do with shrunken people after nine o'clock tonight?"

"I'll boss some of them around," said Cameron, "but I won't hurt any of them."

"Me too!" said Flaca. "I can be pretty bossy, but I'm not a killer."

To Be Continued!