|
Ilyan got his way of course, despite Maiga's
protests and we spent the rest of the journey in secret meetings and
gatherings. Never a large group, just a select few. And, just in
case, we kept an eye on a planet hopper in one of the hangers. Vim
and Jia could both fly it and Maiga reckoned she could override the
systems to get the hanger bay doors open.
We didn't need the escape plan though. Sixteen Earth days after
leaving Muaan Qacia, we docked with a space station orbiting
Ayokidishi and disembarked with the rest of the crowd. Still using
our fake ID info, we hitched a ride on a troop transport to the
surface. After landing, we found a bar to hole up for a while and
work out our next move.
We were followed.
We'd not been in the bar five minutes when a young fella walked up
to our table. For a second I took him for the waiter, then I spotted
his uniform and I recognised him from the ship. He'd been to a
couple of the meetings. The second time he'd sat right up front and
asked lots of questions.
I tensed and glanced around, fearing he was here to point us out to
someone. But he seemed to be alone. He wore Marine uniform, the
insignia of a second lieutenant and a medic patch on his sleeve.
"Ilyan," he said. "Sir, do you remember me from the transport ship?
My name --"
"Is Diliph," Ilyan finished for him, making me stare. How the hell
did he remember the name of one man out of the hundreds he'd talked
to? Mind you, young Diliph here had been especially enthusiastic.
"Diliph," Ilyan said again, smiling at him. "Yes, I remember. What
can I do for you?"
"I want to join you," Diliph said. His face flushed as we all stared
back at him.
"Diliph, I --" Ilyan began. Before he could finish I stood up,
grabbed a chair and pushed Diliph into it. He didn't resist, but
looked back at me with a scowl.
"You're drawing attention," I growled.
"Don't mind him," Ilyan said. "He's security conscious. Diliph, I'm
not really looking to, well, gather disciples. What I want is for
those who believe me to spread the word." He glanced around at the
group. "Yes, I have some followers who accompany me, but because
they have roles to play -"
"I'm a medic," Diliph said. "I can --"
"We've got a doctor," Maiga said.
"I'm a field medic, that's different."
Well he had a point there. A surgeon isn't always what you want out
on the battlefield. But the more people we had the trickier it got
to keep an eye on them all. Not to mention feed them. Ilyan looked
at him for a while, and then got up. He put a hand on Maiga's
shoulder and she stood too. Diliph rose as Ilyan approached him.
"Come over here," Ilyan said. "Let's talk." The three of them took
another table, out of earshot of the rest of us. They started to
talk pretty intensely. The rest of us watched for a while.
"I suppose I could use an assistant," Tanashi remarked.
"A second medic would be useful," Tesla put in. I assume he meant as
someone else for him to moan at about his aches and pains.
"A Marine," Rin said, without expanding, but making Rish nod in
agreement.
"And if we run out of food on a hike we can always eat him."
I smirked around at their mostly disgusted faces. Shit, grow a sense
of humour. Bloody stick up the arse officers.
Ten minutes later Ilyan, Maiga and Diliph returned to the table and
it was a done deal. Diliph had joined up. Well the interchangeable
Marines could take care of this guy, until he proved trustworthy.
I'd concentrate on Ilyan. ~/~/~ I didn't just
concentrate on Ilyan I started to dream about him. We stuck around
town all day, gathering supplies. Maiga went off to secure us some
transport to the combat zones. The sun beat down fierce and by the
time we hit a hotel in the evening I went out like a light soon as I
put my head down.
I guess all the exercise and the hand-to-hand training meant I had
Ilyan on my mind. I dreamt of us walking together in a field. Long
grass. Blue sky above us. And both of us boys, no more than seven or
eight, walking holding hands. He walked slightly ahead, leading me,
telling me all about the prophecy. How strange it sounded in a high,
unbroken, child's voice. Like a fairy tale.
A dark speck circled lazily far above us in the blue. The smell of
flowers filled my mind as a soft breeze stirred the meadow's long
grass. Insects buzzed and clicked. A cool breeze blew down from the
mountain. No, the prophecy couldn't be true. Death and destruction
could never touch this place. Could never destroy this beauty and
peace.
The eagle screamed. It screamed with Ilyan's voice.
"No!"
I woke to hot, dry darkness. Hotel room. Ayok. Get a grip, soldier.
"Jadeth?" A voice came out of the dark, unfamiliar for a second.
Then I recognised it as Diliph, the new lad, who I shared the room
with tonight.
"I'm okay." I gulped a couple of times. Damn heat. How can anyone
sleep here? Whole damn planet feels like a pile of kindling ready to
go whumph.
"Bad dream?" Diliph asked in a quiet voice.
"Yeah." Don't switch on the light. Don't switch on the light.
He didn't switch on the light and I sighed with relief. He didn't
ask about the dream either. He's young, but not so young he's not
learnt you don't ask a soldier about his nightmares.
"You need anything?"
Just for you to shut up, I didn't say. Kid sounded sincere though.
Maybe he already had enough bad memories of his own to know about
nightmares.
"No. I'm okay." Like fuck. Need to stop shaking.
"Hotter than a damn furnace in here," he observed, in an attempt to
get promoted to Captain Obvious attached to the No shit, Sherlock
division.
"Yeah. Sorry I woke you, kid."
"I wasn't sleeping."
"No? Something on your mind? Having second thoughts? Not too late to
get back to your unit." Yeah, if you pissed off back to the Marines
I could get some peace here.
"No, just… can I ask you some things, Sergeant? About the group and
about the Prophet?"
The Prophet? He's seriously calling Ilyan that? I sighed. An
idealist.
"Ask away."
"Um, the Prophet and the marine captain, Maiga, they're… ah…"
"They're shacked up, yeah."
"Oh."
"And the doc and Rish. Vim and Jia are heading that way too. So
basically all the women are taken, if you're after any action."
"Oh no, nothing like that!" He protested. "Just want to know, you
know --"
"Who's shagging who? Yeah."
"About the captain. I don't quite understand. She seems to give the
orders but surely the Prophet is in charge?"
"Think of her like an X.O.," I said. "Ilyan says what he wants to
happen she makes it happen."
"She's very impressive."
"Yeah, she's something all right." But what? Only the darkness saw
me grin.
"So how long have you been with the Prophet?"
Okay, that 'prophet' thing had really started to bug me.
"Let me give you some advice, Diliph. If you keep calling him 'the
Prophet' you'll just piss him off." Him and me, I didn't add. "Did
he say to call him Ilyan?"
"Yes, but --"
"Then be a good lad and do what he says."
He went silent for a while. I shifted on the bed, trying to find a
bit where the sheets weren't heavy with sweat.
"You didn't answer me," he said after a moment, just when I thought
he'd dozed off. "How long have you been with him?"
"About…" I started and paused. The answer seemed ridiculous.
Trivial. "Three… just over… ah, just under a month." What the hell's
that about? It's a shade over three weeks why try to inflate it?
"Oh, is that all?"
Oh there we go. That's why.
"A lot's happened in that time." So defensive I embarrassed myself.
"Of course," he said quickly. Silence again for a while and I hoped
it meant he really had gone to sleep this time. But no, he started
making his mouth go again. A tone of deep admiration crept into his
voice.
"He's so charismatic, isn't he? The Prophet, sorry, I mean Ilyan.
When he addressed the meeting I couldn't take my eyes off him."
Oh great. I'd have to keep an eye on this one. Didn't want him
bothering Ilyan with his hero-worshipping crush. Crush? Like a girl?
Hmm, worth enquiring about that, just for the sake of the wind up if
nothing else.
"You fancy him?"
"What?" Diliph sounded flustered. "Of course not!" He made me
snigger a bit at the vehement denial.
"Well just watch it. The captain's not inclined to share." I could
imagine her face if she caught out Diliph making a move on Ilyan.
"I don't --"
"Shut the fuck up now, there's a good lad. I need my beauty sleep."
I listened hard, but if he said something on the lines of "more than
most" it must have been in his head. Finally, he shut up and I
closed my eyes, blocking out the darkness outside with the darkness
inside.
Chapter 10
To my vast lack of surprise, the next day proved hot as hell. Even
first thing in the morning heat haze shimmered off the road outside
and the eggs we had at the hotel tasted like they'd in fact been
fried on said roads.
Eggs though, still a treat. This place must have a hen house to have
fresh eggs available. This far from Earth a humble chicken could
change hands for silly money.
After that, we packed up all our gear and headed out. Maiga had
outdone herself and rustled us up a vehicle. A small troop carrier
with a retractable roof.
"Someone's gonna be missing that," I said as we looked it over.
"Well they can whistle for it," she said, sounding cheerful and
triumphant. "Everybody aboard. Rin, you're driving."
We set off and I found myself seated next to Tesla. Ilyan sat on
Tesla's other side, but snuggled in talking to Maiga, all quiet and
intimate like, leaving me stuck listening to Tesla's waffle. He
regaled me with tales about his days at spook central. Sounded like
he'd stuck close to Ilyan from day one, eager for reflected glory no
doubt. To be fair though, he'd gone on sticking by Ilyan even when
it meant going on the run, had to give him that.
I stifled a yawn and he frowned.
"Am I boring you, sergeant?"
"It's the heat. And I didn't get much sleep last night." I yawned
again. "And to be honest, a soldier gets on a transport for a long
journey, he goes to sleep." I grinned. "It's kind of a reflex,
'cause you don't know when you'll get the chance again." I nodded
around, and he followed my gaze to see that most of the other
soldiers had their heads down already.
"Oh. Well don't let me stop you resting."
"You should do the same," I said. "We're going into harsh
conditions. You'll need all your strength. You're stronger than
before, but you're still not fighting fit."
"You think I'm stronger?" He smiled.
"You're doing okay." I yawned again and settled down. "If I lean on
your shoulder just push me away." I knew he wouldn't dare. So he
shut up and a few minutes later I fell asleep.
We had lunch in the transport and pushed on, deep into the combat
zone. Two factions of Okis were fussing about mineral rights or some
such thing and humans fought on one side and sold weapons to both.
Selling what else? I wouldn't put it past High Command to trade
intel to both sides.
Maiga had faked up similar orders to the ones that got us on the
troop ship. A 'Safe passage, do not interfere with' order. So
checkpoints waved us through with no more than a cursory glance. Why
not after all? We're all humans. We're all on the same side. ~/~/~
We drove for two days solid before we found any front line troops.
By then we all felt ready to chuck a grenade into the transport so
we didn't ever have to see it again.
The evening of that second day, we rested up. But I didn't let
anyone get lazy. Ilyan and Tesla needed to keep up their training,
so I had them doing push ups and squat thrusts before dinner.
"Give you an appetite," I told them. For my blood, going by the
glares the two of them directed at me. After dinner, I strolled up
to where they now sat relaxing.
"Nice dinner?" I asked, as if I'd not had the exact same dinner as
them. They glanced at each other and then at me. Tesla looked
nervous, but Ilyan grinned, playing along.
"Very, nice, thank you, Sergeant."
"Good, so you're ready for some more work."
Tesla moaned. "I'm too tired!"
"Don't worry, no more PT." I drew my pistol and slapped in a clip,
with a satisfying thunk. "On your feet. Weapons training."
I lined up some empty food packs on a nearby LFR and we pointed the
lights from the transport at the makeshift range. Maiga came to help
out, but Ilyan made her coach Tesla, doubtless worried again about
distraction, when I showed him the best way to help a beginner get
the stance and hold right is to stand real close behind them,
pressed up against their back.
"Get this off your face." I pulled his hair back with one hand and
he sighed in a long-suffering way and took a band out of his pocket.
"You do it." He handed the band to me. He couldn't do it of course
with the pistol in his hand. I gathered his long hair into a tail
and put the band around it.
"Okay," I said, once I'd done that. "Firing it is easy. Hitting
anything is the hard part." I moved in closer to him. His body
against mine already felt harder, tauter than it had two weeks ago.
He'd been working hard.
"Turn sideways to the target." I half guided and half pulled him
around. "Feet apart. How's the gun feel?"
"Heavy," he said. His back felt hot against my chest and sweat
showed through his clothes. The unbearably dry air burned my throat.
"Don't grip it too tight, or you'll shake too much. Firm, but
flexible. Now..." I cupped his elbow and lifted his arm, slowly
raising and straightening it. "Slow, bring it up to shoulder height,
nice and straight. Sight down the barrel."
"Can't I use the laser sight?"
"Not yet. Have to learn without it. Sometimes you can't use the
sight. If you risk warning the target. Or if the battery in the
sight runs out."
"Good point."
"Are you right or left eye dominant?"
"What?"
I sighed. Back to the nursery.
"Sight on the target and then close each eye in turn. See how the
target jumps? Whichever open eye makes it jump least, that's your
dominant eye. It's usually the same as your dominant hand."
"Oh, how fascinating." He paused a moment, still sighting.
"Right," he said eventually. "I mean my right eye."
I glanced over to Maiga going through the same routine with Tesla.
Like me with Ilyan, she stood close behind him.
"Am I ever going to fire this thing?" Ilyan asked impatiently. I
turned my attention back to him.
"You think you've got it sighted?"
"Yes, yes."
"Okay, the trigger needs a gentle squeeze that's all, don't yank
it."
He fired. The kick startled him and I thought he would drop the
weapon, but he kept hold of it. The rest of the gang cheered, but in
a teasing tone as the round skimmed the rock, wide of the target,
and spat stone chips into the air. Ilyan scowled.
"Damn."
"Don't worry, and ignore the audience." I glared at them. "You
weren't that far off. Bring the gun up again, arm nice and
straight," I guided his arm again, running my hand along the
underside of it. Tesla fired and he got closer than Ilyan, so close
that his target actually wobbled.
"Well done," Maiga said, grinning at me, a tad triumphantly. Oh,
thinks she's a better coach than I am, eh?
"Nice, Tes," Ilyan said, then turned back to his target. "The recoil
was stronger than I expected."
"That's nothing." I grinned. "Just wait until you get your hands on
the rifle."
He sighted the pistol and loosed off another round. The target leapt
off the rock and the audience cheered sincerely this time. He
glanced back over his shoulder at me and grinned.
"I can't wait." ~/~/~ In the morning, we drove on
and that afternoon found our first company of Marines. Ilyan gave
them his speech. It had started to change, I noticed. Sharper. Less
likely to send them to sleep.
After that, the days started to become routine, almost rhythmic. We
drove through the near desert terrain and tracked down companies of
Marines, who occupied this whole area. We picked up food, fuel and
intel from them. Usually we passed on a message from the last unit
we'd met. The message being: "listen to this Ilyan guy. He may be on
to something."
And in-between we kept on training Ilyan and Tesla, kept on pushing
them with the PT and the weapons. Ilyan loved the rifle, just loved
every mode of it. Armour piercing rounds, manual, semi automatic or
full rock and roll, plasma pulse, plasma beam, the mini grenade
launcher. He would finish a session of target practice with a big
cheesy grin on his face, drag his hair out of the band he'd tied it
back with, and just laugh.
I can remember that same feeling when I first got my hands on a
serious rifle, not just a training piece. You're sixteen years old
when the standard infantry rifle first kicks back against your
shoulder. Sixteen and suddenly you're strutting around like the cock
of the walk because you know you can handle this big weapon.
Tesla did okay, but he didn't enjoy it like Ilyan. The rifle
frightened him. Probably scared of shooting his foot off. ~/~/~
After nearly a month of this, the routine changed. We reached a
mountainous region and knew our little transport couldn't go much
further.
"There's Marines in them there hills," Ilyan joked as we stood
beside the transport and contemplated the foothills and the
mountains beyond.
"There's Oki too," Maiga warned.
"So we'll have to be careful." Ilyan said. He looked at the rest of
the group. All of us looked beaten down and worn out by the heat.
"We have to go up there. The vehicle can take us a short distance
farther on, but then we're on foot. I want to get right to the most
inaccessible areas, where the soldiers are living and fighting right
on the edge. I know it will be hard, but if I can manage it I know
all of you can." He glanced at Tesla, as if not sure that applied to
him. "You can all help me, as you have so well up to now. I'd never
have come this far without you." His gaze rested on Maiga and then
briefly on me.
I looked at the others, the youngsters all busting with pride. I
felt proud too. Proud I'd helped bring him this far, proud that he
was letting me train him and protect him. And proud of him. Six
weeks or a month ago I know him or Tesla wouldn't have had a chance
of hiking though these mountains, under sun hot enough to fry your
brain. Now both of them looked hard and sleek. Their faces and hands
tanned, their hair lightened from hours under the sun in the
transport with the retractable roof peeled back. They'd worked, even
when it hurt, and Tesla made sure we all knew about it when it hurt.
But they'd worked and we could all see the results. Another six
months of work and they could even be called soldiers.
"Tomorrow," Ilyan said. "Tomorrow we climb."
Chapter 11
Late the next morning we found a place to stash the transport behind
some rocks, under the cover of a couple of stunted tree things. We
ate some lunch while we prepared our packs and gear, making as much
room for water as we could and leaving behind whatever we dared.
I wanted Ilyan carrying one additional bit of weight though. I
approached him, undoing my pistol belt.
"Here," I said, standing over him. "You take this. I've got the
rifle."
He looked up at me. He'd been doing well at the weapons training,
but hadn't actually started carrying a gun around all the time yet.
Time he did. We had a spare one lying around somewhere. Tesla could
have that.
Ilyan stood up and took the pistol belt from me, strapped it on so
the holster sat on his right hip. He touched the pistol grip,
fingers brushing it lightly, his face nervous.
"Do you expect us to run into trouble here?"
"It's possible," I said.
He shivered despite the heat.
"If it happens you and Tes should just stay low and let the rest of
us handle it. But you've got the gun, just in case."
"I suspect I will just close my eyes and -"
"Fire into the green?" I finished. But I knew what both of us really
feared wasn't the aliens but other humans, sent by High Command. I
wondered if Ilyan could shoot a human, should it come down to it.
I've never done that. Never even fragged an officer.
"Well," he said, slowly. "Well, I'm sure you'll keep us all safe,
Jadeth."
"Do my best."
We set out, and I soon moved this experience to the bottom of the
list of most fun things I'd ever done. The dry heat left us all with
parched throats. The vicious sun battered our aching heads, despite
the hats and scarves we wore. I kept my helmet visor down and shaded
to block the painful glare off the pale rock. The barren terrain
offered minimal cover and uneven, treacherous ground made it
impossible to get into a stride.
I took rearguard at Maiga's orders, while she took point and
navigated. We trooped miserably through the grim landscape. Tesla
treated us to a running commentary. Partly about how hot it was,
which I knew. The rest of the time he told us how much his head and
back and feet hurt, which I didn't want to know.
"Why the hell would anyone fight over this territory?" Ilyan sounded
testier than usual. He probably had a headache, despite his hat and
the scarf covering the back of his neck.
"Who the hell cares?" I muttered. Not really in answer, I don't
think he expected one. But he did glance back at me, his eyes hidden
behind sunglasses, and then turned away again.
"Stupid," he said quietly. "Damn stupid waste of time and
resources."
We walked in silence for a while. Well we kept silent, but the
buzzing of insects filled the air. What the hell did the bugs eat?
Rock? I ignored them. It's not worth getting aerated over a few
bugs, not worth the sweat. But some of the others found them
troublesome, waving at the air to keep them off.
"Ugh!" Tesla cried suddenly, sounding disgusted. "I swallowed one!"
Maiga looked back at him for a second, but then continued. Ilyan,
walking behind Tesla caught up to him. "I swallowed one of the damn
bugs!"
"Think of it as extra protein," I growled, earning a dirty look from
nearly everyone.
"What if it's poisonous?" Tesla demanded, coming to a halt.
"Then it'll soon be a lot quieter around here."
"Shut up, Jadeth!" Maiga called from up ahead. Then her voice
sounded right in my ear over the comms line. I saw she had her radio
lifted to her mouth. "Leave him alone or I'll come back there and
beat the crap out of you."
"Yeah? I'm shaking." I sneered back at her, not even taking the
trouble to keep it quiet. Her glare sizzled across to me. I'd been
restraining myself from strutting around like a colonel and hadn't
been challenging her as much lately. The novelty of having an
officer I could talk back to without being tossed in the brig had
almost worn off. But I couldn't resist a dig now and again.
Especially not when she jumped on me for teasing Tesla. Not that I
maybe didn't deserve slapping down for that. But she never did the
same if I said anything similar to Ilyan. Even he whined sometimes
and since he wanted me to toughen him up, I gave him a hard time
about it. But Maiga never snapped at me for that the way she did if
I needled Tesla.
Bitch. Couldn't she try to make her game a bit less obvious? I
thought about talking to Ilyan about it. He's a bright bloke, but
the most intelligent fella can be blind to certain things. But I
decided against saying anything. Never interfere between a man and
his woman. Basic rule.
I stood there waiting as Tesla drank water and spat (stupid, stupid,
stupid) to get rid of the taste of the miniscule bug he'd swallowed.
I tapped my foot against a rock, making no secret of my impatience.
Vim and Diliph, standing nearby, frowned at me. I glared back, not
feeling like getting the hairy eyeball from a couple of cubs like
that.
"We moving?" I shouted. My eyes locked on Maiga's again. She dropped
back from point.
"Break, ten minutes," she called. "Keep your packs on. Sergeant,
watch the back trail."
I sighed theatrically and moved into position, sat propped up
against a rock that gave me a good view down the trail we'd just
walked up. I drank some water.
"Jadeth."
I glanced back to see Ilyan approaching me. He took off his
sunglasses and I flipped up my visor. "Here, you want half of this?"
He snapped a protein bar in half and handed a piece to me. I nodded
and took it.
"Thanks." I polished it off in a couple of bites. Some kind of
fruity flavour, nice.
"Are you okay?"
I glanced at him, surprised at the question and the concerned tone.
Well I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, he's a sensitive bloke.
"Just tired."
"Right," he said. He took a small bite of his half of the protein
bar.
"Are you having regrets, Jadeth?"
"Regrets?"
"Do you wish you hadn't joined up with me?"
I stared at him. How the hell could he think that?
"I think Tesla is," Ilyan went on, not really waiting for my answer,
his eyes far off.
"What, just because he complains a lot? Nah, I know plenty of fellas
who just complain same as they breathe. They're awake they're
moaning."
"He's not adapted for this."
"Well, neither are you. But don't worry about him, he's coping."
"Is he?" Ilyan looked back at me. "Is he really?" This time he
expected an answer.
"Yeah," I said, giving my professional opinion. "It's a battle, but
he's getting there."
"He doesn't like it."
"He doesn't have to like it. He just has to get on with it."
"Right." Ilyan went silent for a while and slowly ate the rest of
the food bar. "Jadeth, I am glad you are here."
I wanted to flip my visor back down to stop him seeing the goofy
smile on my face.
"But I wish you'd make more of an effort to get along with Maiga."
The goofy smile vanished.
"She doesn't make much effort to get along with me," I said, trying
not to let my tone get too harsh.
"I know." He let out a heavy sigh. "I know."
I guess he's not used to people who just spit their dislike into
each other's faces. Back at spook central I'll bet it was all
diplomatic snark and metaphorical knives in the back.
Dislike. That's a diplomatic word too. My 'dislike' for Maiga chewed
at the edges of my soul.
"Let's go!" Maiga called. ~/~/~ In the afternoon we
tracked down a company of Marines who looked like they'd been
totally fucked over in their last engagement. They were waiting for
a med-evac transport and just sitting tight with their wounded until
then. Maybe their weariness made them more inclined to listen to
Ilyan, because they ate it up with a spoon and I got the feeling
half of 'em would have joined us right there and then, but Ilyan
convinced them they'd do more good by spreading the word when they
were evacuated back to base.
They gave us some supplies and asked us to stay with them overnight,
but Maiga preferred us to get away on our own. I guess she didn't
trust them. Paranoid.
So we hiked until dark and then set up camp among the rocks. We had
no tents, this place stayed hot all night. After dinner, I laid out
my bedroll, ready to get my head down right away. I checked where
Ilyan had his bedroll and saw he was already lying down too. All
that walking in the hot sun had left us all wiped out. I'd be up
later for a watch, but until then I slept, dead to the world,
dreaming of sweet grass, a meadow, flowers, my bloodied hands
digging in the earth. ~/~/~ Did instinct wake me?
Or did I hear a strange footfall that even in my sleep I knew didn't
belong to any of us?
I opened my eyes to see a booted foot right by my head. The two big
Ayok moons made more than enough light to see. Three intruders. All
black clad. Two moved around the sleeping group, checking everyone's
faces. One of them stood keeping watch.
My hand moved to the rifle lying beside me. Slow, slow, slow.
One signalled his mate with a thumbs up and I saw he was standing
over Ilyan. He drew a knife.
Too late for slowness now. I came up to one knee with the rifle and
fired at the one about to slit Ilyan's throat. Down he went and up
everyone else came. The other two intruders turned to me as I surged
up to my feet. One fired and I felt heat along my side. Must have
been a pulse round. I took the bastard out with my second shot. The
third fell down with very little head left before I could fire
again. Maiga rose up behind him, holding her pistol, as he crumpled.
Rin ran back into the camp, weapon pointed, looking for someone to
kill.
"Where the fuck were you?" Maiga demanded.
"I had to --" He stared shocked at the three downed intruders. "What
the hell happened?"
I didn't care about what happened. I just wanted to make sure of one
thing.
"Ilyan?" I called. He stood up slowly. Maiga had been kneeling on
his back to keep him down. I ran over and grabbed his arm. Maiga
moved away and started checking the bodies.
"We should move!" I said. "They could have backup."
"Jadeth?" Ilyan stared at me, his face pale. "Sit down!"
"You want to sit down? Are you hurt?"
"No, Jadeth." He put his hand to my side and I gasped at the sudden
pain. He lifted his hand and I stared at the blood. That hadn't been
a pulse round. That wasn't heat I'd felt.
"Oh fuck."
Chapter 12
I hit the ground and saw nothing but blackness. I heard Ilyan
shouting.
"He's hit! He's hit! Tanashi! Diliph! Maiga!"
Medic's voices babbled. Pain clawed at me as they started touching
me.
I realised why I could see only darkness. Had my eyes closed. I
tried to open them. Not easy, but did it. Tanashi and Diliph's heads
bobbed over me. And standing over them, outlined against sunny blue
sky…
"Ilyan." I reached for him. No, I didn't. I thought I did, I wanted
to. But my arm didn't actually move.
"I'm here, Jadeth. Hang on, you'll be okay."
He looked so scared. The eagle circled in the sky high over his
head.
Darkness again.
Pain. I wasn't strong enough not to cry out. Rish and Rin, or it
might have been Rin and Rish, lifted me, arms over shoulders. Eyes
opened again to see the doc right in front of me. Face all scrunched
up with worry and splashed with blood. Blood in her hair. Hands
covered in it. Blood red. You're dead. I'm dead. No, hurts too much
for dead. Rish and Rin started lifting my legs then, getting me into
a chair carry. Still hurts. Gasped, sweat pouring.
"Jadeth," Tanashi said, face close to mine. "I've given you pain
meds they'll kick in any second." She turned away to Rish or Rin, on
my left. "Try not to jar him too much. That seal won't hold if you
do."
Yeah, try not, that'd be good.
"Come on!" Maiga's voice. Urgent, Hurry up. Hurry up. What's she got
a bee in her bonnet about now?
Then the pain meds hit and bang! There I was, gone.
"Jadeth, keep still, damn it."
On my back again, Maiga leaning over me. Sky all light and burned
white. Made me squint. My right side was a big slab of numb. Tanashi
must have filched some hot stuff from the troop ship. I couldn't
feel much of anything.
"How's he doing?" Ilyan. Knelt beside me. This time I did manage to
move my arm. Lifted my hand up to him and he took it. "Hey, Jadeth."
He smiled down at me, but couldn't hide the fear in his eyes. He had
blood in his hair and dark stains on his clothes. Blood everywhere.
Red. Dead.
"Where?" I gasped.
"With the Marines. The ones waiting for med-evac, we're getting you
out of here."
"No, too dangerous," I whispered. Couldn't let Ilyan get on a
military transport, even med-evac. Too risky.
Seemed my opinion of the plan didn't count for much right now
though. He just smiled down and shushed me, stroked my face with his
free hand.
"You'll be okay."
My eyes closed again. I just concentrated on the touch of Ilyan's
hands as I drifted back down into the dark. Hand in mine. Fingers
curled around. Hand on my face. Soft hands. Spook's hands. Stroked
my hair all gentle like. Soothed me. Whisper of his voice was like a
rope for my mind to hang onto in the swirling darkness that sucked
me deeper and deeper. Deader and deader.
Noise. A lot of noise. Choppers and yelling and moving and hurting
and I yelled out for the bastards to just leave me the fuck alone
and let me die.
Up, up into the sky. I wondered how we'd swung it. Made me an
honorary Marine for a day? Not good, but better than dead and fried
on a mountainside on Ayokidishi. Okis. Liked the Okis. Cold drink
kings. A beer would go down sweet now. Throat so dry I could only
make a rasping sound when I tried to speak. A shadow fell across me
and then Ilyan's face in the middle of it. He still held my hand.
"What was that?" He bent close, ear close to my mouth. What had I
said? I couldn't remember now. The grey mist closed again. So tired.
Oh, yes. I remembered. Something very important.
"Want… cold… beer."
He laughed, and sat up, pushing his hair off his face.
"Okay, Jadeth. Soon as we land, I'll take you out for a nice cold
beer."
The curtain of darkness fell again.
When it lifted, I knew I was in a field hospital. Knew it from the
smell of blood, and the shouts and screams. Not getting a beer here.
Flurrying and hurrying then glare of bright lights I felt too tired
to turn away from. Somebody tried to put an oxygen mask over my
face. I saw Tanashi stood there waiting, hands held up awkwardly.
Saw other people I didn't know.
"Ilyan," I said, trying to pull away the mask. Tanashi bent over me,
didn't touch me. Scrubbed up already.
"He's outside. Just relax."
"Safe?"
"Yes, you're safe."
Not what I meant.
"Ilyan. Safe?"
"Yes. He's safe. Relax, Jadeth."
I felt the prick of a needle in my arm. Oblivion. ~/~/~
I knew Ilyan would be there when I woke. He sat on the end of my
cot, wearing fresh clothes, my blood cleaned off his skin and hair.
He held his Snapper, reading something, but looked up and smiled
when I moved and croaked out his name.
"Jadeth, how do you feel?" He spoke quietly, and I looked around to
see lots more cots lining the darkened ward. Casualties rested in
most of them. A couple of nurses pottered around.
"Sort of numb," I said. And vague and dopey. I looked down at
myself, at the grey blanket covering me and pulled it up till my
feet stuck out of the end. I never liked my feet covered up. I had
on a pair of warm, fluffy socks. Not my socks, but on my feet so
mine now. Shiny kit, fluffy socks, if it's not nailed down... I
wriggled my toes in my new socks.
"Where's my boots," I said, suddenly, alarmed. Panic must have come
through in my voice, because Ilyan smiled indulgently.
"Don't worry, they're right here." He pointed to the side of the
cot. "Under your bed." He grinned. "The surgeons managed to remove
them. A couple of people were standing too close and needed smelling
salts, but the boots are unharmed."
"Funny guy," I whispered, voice going.
"Oh." He grabbed for a cup and poured water into it from a bottle by
the bed. "Here. Slowly, sip it." He helped me, holding my head up so
I could sip the water.
"Help me sit up," I said when he took the cup away.
"No," he said. "You're meant to be resting. And it's no use giving
me the 'scary grunt' scowl either."
"How long have I been out?"
"Nearly thirty-six hours. You're still heavily drugged."
"No shit," I said weakly. "Ilyan, we can't stay here too long."
They'd come after him again, we had to keep moving.
"The faked IDs and orders are still fooling them." He bent close,
said it quietly.
"Can't take a chance on that. Someone checks them out too close --"
"As soon as you're strong enough we'll move." He dabbed my forehead
with a cloth.
"Don't wait." I insisted. "Go without me." He stared at me, at first
astonished and then angry. His voice became a soft hiss.
"What kind of man do you think I am, Jadeth?"
"What?"
"Shut up. You're supposed to be resting." He scowled at me, his face
flushed. "I will not leave you, Jadeth." He put his hand over mine,
stroked it gently with his thumb. "I will not leave you."
Then he sat up, the heat burning off his face like morning mist. A
small smile reappeared.
"It feels quite enjoyable to boss you around for a change." I didn't
feel like responding to the teasing in his tone.
"You're important." I said. Dead serious. "You have to survive."
"And my best chance of surviving is sticking close to you."
I couldn't answer that. Just lay looking back at him.
"So," Ilyan said after a moment, letting go of my hand and bending
close, to dab the cloth around my face again. "The three intruders
had no ID, but from their equipment Maiga has concluded they were a
Special Ops squad."
"Yeah?" I wanted to ask if she had any other hot news from the
department of the bleeding obvious, but refrained.
"They could have been tracking us for some time. As soon as you are
well enough to move we plan to get off this world."
"And go where?"
"Kitsnujitar."
I gasped and hissed, "That's hostile territory!"
"Jadeth, you just had an armour piercing round taken out of your
abdomen. Everywhere is hostile territory. And…" He looked around at
the beds and the medics moving around. He didn't speak, but I
guessed his thoughts. Any man or woman not part of our group could
be an enemy.
It hit me then. I'd been so focused on Ilyan back there, on keeping
him safe. So what I'd done hadn't really made a dent on my
consciousness until now.
I killed a man.
Two of them. Humans. I never killed another human before, never
needed to. Humans are all on the same side. We don't kill each
other. That's stupid.
They were assassins, murderers. Not real soldiers. They came to kill
Ilyan. And then Tesla would have been next and the rest of us one by
one.
"Jadeth? Are you all right?"
I dragged my attention back to Ilyan and his concerned face.
"Sorry. Drifted off. Guess it's the dope, making me dopey." I
summoned a faint smile. "Better get some sleep."
"That's the best thing." He tucked the edges of the blanket in as I
settled back. "When you wake up again we'll see if you're ready for
some food. I'm afraid they won't let you have any nice cold beer."
He smiled as he said the last part.
"Huh?" I didn't get what he meant about the beer for a second, and
then I remembered. Delirious raving about beer. What other stupid
crap had I said? "Oh, right. Well I can wait."
I closed my eyes and heard the shot. I shivered as the darkness
oozed up around me and took me down.
Chapter 13
I spent two more days in the field hospital, in a blissful doped up
haze. The others all visited me.
Rin came along full of apologies, blaming himself, trying to
explain. No worries, I told him, a man has to go piss sometime.
They'd probably been watching and waiting for that.
Jia and Vimal visited together, but I only paid attention to her and
blamed the drugs for making me too dozy to listen to Vim.
When Tesla stopped by I barely needed the drugs to make me doze off.
Rish didn't say much. He just wanted to know what it felt like to
kill another human.
Maiga didn't say much either. She just frowned down at me with her
arms folded, a sort of 'what are we going to do with you' look on
her face. I didn't mind. I just smiled goofily up at her. She only
came the once.
Ilyan came several times. Too often. Though I liked to see him, it
worried me too, fearing he'd bring too much attention.
Tanashi and Diliph were always around of course. They'd volunteered
to help out at the hospital, so they could keep an eye on me. Though
I'm sure both of them would have volunteered anyway, whatever reason
kept us there. ~/~/~ On the third day, at oh-silly
hundred hours in the morning, Diliph shook me awake gently, with a
hand on my shoulder. He spoke quietly.
"We're getting you out now, Sergeant. I have a wheelchair here. I
know you still feel bad but --"
"'s okay," I said groggily. "Gotta get out… here."
He unhooked me from the monitors and IVs and, glancing nervously
around the darkened ward, he helped me into the wheelchair. Despite
the meds, I had to bite down to get through the pain. Tanashi showed
up, ran her scanner over me and nodded at Diliph.
"Boots," I muttered as Diliph started to manoeuvre the chair.
"Oh, sorry." He picked them up from under the cot. "We've got the
rest of your things already outside."
"Good." I took the boots off him and put them on my lap. Some people
might think it looked odd, but most soldiers would understand. You
don't let a good pair of boots out of your sight.
Diliph wheeled me off, Tanashi walking beside us. As we passed
through the doors, another doc came in the other way. He frowned and
glanced down at me, but didn't question us. Docs tend to get snippy
if you question them, I've noticed and throw the words "my patient"
around a lot. So we passed by and Tanashi gave the other doc a
haughty little nod and swept past. She's a cool-headed one.
The hospital was small, one of those prefab mobile units the med
support teams chuck up in an afternoon, and in only a moment we
rolled out of a back door into the darkness. I heard familiar voices
and dark figures surrounded me, lifted me out of the chair and into
the back of a troop transport. Had the others managed to retrieve
the one we hid? But the pain started asserting itself a bit too much
for me to waste my breath asking silly questions about what they'd
all been doing to pass the time while my guts mended.
I sank into a seat, biting down a groan. Sweat broke out across my
forehead. I'd been okay lying down, but all this moving about did
not feel good. Not good at all.
"He should be lying down." Tanashi echoed my thought. Sure honey,
nice idea, I'll lie in the aisle and you can all step on my face.
"No option." Maiga's voice.
Someone slipped into the seat beside me and I opened my eyes as
Ilyan reached over me and secured my seatbelt. He smiled at me,
though he looked worried.
"Where we heading?" I gritted out, while he shook out a blanket and
draped it around me.
"You'll see. Just relax." He put his arm around my shoulders, held
me to keep me from being jolted around too much. I closed my eyes
and leaned against him.
"Crashed in one of these once," I said. Maybe shouldn't have said
that. Jinx.
"Sergeant." I looked up to see Tanashi leaning over the back of my
seat. "I'm right here. Tell me if you need more pain meds."
"Right, doc," I said, grateful. I could have used some pain meds
right then, but the squad all seemed to be seeing me as big brave
Jadeth, super grunt. I liked that. So I just gritted my teeth,
squared my jaw, and tried to look tougher than I felt.
The transport filled up and a moment later we set off. I groaned a
bit as we drove over bumpy ground and Ilyan rubbed my arm
comfortingly, looking at me concerned.
"Are we nearly there yet?" I summoned up enough of a smile to
reassure him.
"We're heading for the space port at Handather," Ilyan said, smiling
back, still worried. "It will take at least five hours. You should
try to rest."
"Yeah. I… I think the doc can maybe help me out there." I almost
whispered it. Ilyan turned and spoke to Tanashi. A second later she
stuck me with a needle she must have had ready. Ilyan adjusted the
blanket, which had started to slide off my shoulder and put his arm
around me again and...
I drifted into a dreamland of sweet long grass and honeysuckle and
blood. ~/~/~ The ride passed quickly. For me
anyway, knocked out most of the way. When we got to Handathar,
Maiga, Rish, and Rin nipped off to meet someone they'd contacted
earlier and the rest of us ate and waited for them.
They came back with spoils.
"Do we have this much luggage?" I asked, sitting in the doorway of
the transport, getting some fresh air. Two big travelling trunks
stood behind the vehicle in the alley where we'd parked up. And I
mean big, a couple of meters long, at least a meter wide and deep.
Maiga frowned at me. "We are booked onto a commercial transport, but
I'm not taking the chance that spies are watching the port for Ilyan
and Tesla."
"You're not suggesting…" Tesla stared at the boxes horrified as he
twigged on to her plan. Must be claustrophobic. I can sympathise. I
don't much like tight places myself.
"These aren't just ordinary trunks," Maiga explained. "They're
'smuggle boxes'. They're not only shielded from scanners, they also
reflect back a fake signal to make it appear that they contain
something innocuous."
"How clever," Ilyan said, sounding fascinated.
"And how do they breath?" I asked, not sure I liked this plan.
"We'll seal the boxes at the last possible moment. There's a porous
membrane to allow some air in and we'll put in oxygen tanks." She
looked at me and grinned. "Oh and it's not just 'they', Jadeth, it's
also 'you'."
"What?" Now I really didn't like the plan.
"A wounded man would draw too much attention," Maiga said. She
shrugged. "Sorry."
"Hey, no-one has to know I'm wounded." I stood up and dizziness
struck, instantly. Black spots and bursting lights. I would have
fallen but Rish and Diliph grabbed my arms and sat me down again.
"Yeah, real convincing." Maiga snarked. Bitch.
"I… I don't think I can do it," Tesla said. He'd been staring down
at the boxes this whole time, white as a sheet.
"I can give you all something to relax you," Tanashi said. "It will
stop you panicking and also slow your breathing, so you need less
oxygen."
"Just see it as a chance to get some peace and quiet and time to
yourself," Ilyan said to Tesla.
"My… myself?" Tesla gulped. "There are two boxes and three of us to
go in." His voice took on a whining tone. "Can't we share, Ilyan?"
"Sorry, Tes. I need to share with Jadeth. To make sure he's okay."
I looked up at him slightly surprised. Hard to say what I felt about
that. Would having someone sharing with me make the close quarters
better or worse?
"Let's discuss this on the way," Maiga said. "We need to get to the
port. I've hired us a private shuttle to take us to the liner."
"Spending a lot of money today, aren't we?" Ilyan said with perhaps
a tiny hint of reproof. He had a point. Those boxes must have cost a
pretty penny.
"Sorry." She shrugged. She sounded unrepentant.
They loaded the boxes onto our transport and we headed out to the
shuttle terminal. We would have to get in the boxes before we got on
the shuttle, to keep the paperwork straight. The pilot could be a
tad suspicious if three people who boarded apparently didn't
disembark with the rest.
They packed blankets, tents and other soft stuff into the smuggle
boxes, to make beds and keep us from rolling about too much. Vim
ripped seat cushions out of the transport too. Smart lad. The
weapons went into the boxes. Then the tanks of oxygen and masks to
help keep us alive. The rest of the luggage went into some perfectly
ordinary trunks. Everyone changed into civilian clothes the better
to look like they were on leave, to match the new fake IDs Maiga had
obtained. More of Ilyan's cash.
The moment came for us to be packed away. Tanashi gave us the
relaxation shots and I soon decided that travelling in a nice box on
a comfy nest of bedrolls and towels sounded like the most fun thing
to do ever and I couldn't wait to get in there. Ilyan had a soppy
grin on his face that suggested he thought the same.
Didn't work on Tesla though. He was pale and sweating and looked
ready to start crying.
"It's time," Maiga said quite gently to him.
"I can't." He stared at her wide-eyed. "It's like a coffin. Please,
I can't." His voice rose, high and cracked.
"Tes, it's only for a couple of hours," Ilyan said. "Be over before
you know it. You can use your snapper in there. Read something,
listen to some music."
"We'll take the lid off while we're on the shuttle," Tanashi
promised.
But despite their reassurance, he just shook his head, arms folded.
The others stood around looking variously helpless, impatient or
embarrassed.
"Can't you just knock him out totally, doc?" I suggested. "Let him
sleep through it?"
Tesla looked terrified then. He shook his head.
"He can't be knocked out and left unsupervised," Tanashi said
shaking her head too.
"Ilyan, you share with him," I said, "I'll be fine." Nobody bought
that, not even Ilyan, who looked as spacey as I felt. Something
about the way I trembled and sweated as I said it might have been a
giveaway.
"You definitely need supervised," Tanashi said.
"Right," Maiga said, in her shortest tone. Her 'no more nonsense'
tone. "We're out of time. Tesla, in the box, now."
"But --"
"I'll share with you." She glanced over at Ilyan, who nodded at her.
"Come on." She grabbed Tesla's arm and pulled him over to the trunk.
"In," she ordered and Tesla obeyed finally. He stepped into the box
and lay down. Maiga got in after him. "Doc, you're in charge," she
said as she lay down. "Okay, put the lid on." As Rish and Rin closed
the lid on them Tesla whimpered and she snapped: "Shut up."
"Our turn, Jad," Ilyan said, helping me up. Between him and Diliph
they helped me into the box and got me lying down as comfortable as
possible. The euphoria from the shot had started wearing off a bit.
It still took the edge off the old nerves though. Ilyan climbed in
and squeezed down on my right, lying on his side. He grinned at me.
"Is there a bar aboard this boat?" He didn't stop grinning. Clearly,
the euphoric effect of drug hadn't worn off for him yet.
I laughed and held my side. "Don't make me laugh, please!" I begged.
"Ready?" Rin asked above us
"Is it too late to ask to use the toilet?" Ilyan said. I laughed
again and groaned. Rin frowned for a moment, and then rolled his
eyes at Ilyan's teasing smile.
"Good luck."
They lowered the lid and sealed us into the darkness.
Chapter 14
I started to breathe fast even before they moved the box. When they
did start to manhandle it out of the transport I let out a tiny
moan. Not fun, not fun at all. Blood roared in my ears as my
heartbeat started to speed up.
"Jadeth?" Ilyan's voice sounded, close to my ear. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," I lied. "Just the bumping around's a bit painful."
"Of course."
We felt the box touch the ground and then a small jerk as they
started to pull us along on the wheels, thankfully over even ground.
"Jadeth," Ilyan said after a moment. "Are you claustrophobic?"
"Me, nah." I'd never win any medals for my acting ability. My voice
shook.
"Um, I am a little," Ilyan said, his acting no better than mine. I
knew he just wanted to make me feel better. "In fact, I'd appreciate
it if you held my hand," he went on. "It would make me feel less
frightened."
He sounded about as frightened as I would if faced with a squad of
charging kittens, but I pretended to believe him. I felt around in
the dark and laughed again, feeling his hand roaming about too.
"Be careful what you grab," I said, making him laugh too. Finally,
our hands found each other and grabbed on. I felt more relaxed at
once.
"Jadeth," he said after a while, his voice quiet and serious. "I
never really had a chance to say this properly, but thank you, for
saving my life. I'm so sorry you were injured."
"I've had worse."
"When I thought you would die." His voice went very small. "That
frightened me very much."
"Take more than that to finish an old sweat like me." I assured him.
"I've made a habit of staying alive." He didn't answer. His thumb
stroked my hand. I went quiet too.
I had made an art of staying alive, which had included getting gone
when the going was good. Not that I ran from battle, but I've never
been prepared to be canon fodder. If I can see that something's
hopeless, I'm gone.
Then what about this hopeless cause? The pain in my side reminded me
how close High Command had come. They'd soon try again. Next time we
might not be so lucky. Why hadn't my survival instinct started
sounding the evacuation alarm?
The reason lay beside me in the dark, smelling of soap and nerves. I
had to be here, protecting this man, making sure he lived to get his
message out.
I don't know if I dozed off or just got so deep in thought that I
missed the time passing, but suddenly I heard the trunk being
unlocked and in a second light flooded in making us both squint and
turn away. When we looked back, we saw Jia smiled in at us.
"Hey. You both okay? We're on the shuttle, so just stay there. We
can't risk the pilot seeing you."
"Tesla and Maiga?" Ilyan asked. He unwrapped his hand from mine as
he spoke. I could hear Tesla's voice, high and scared, Maiga's
comforting him, Tanashi's joining in. After a moment, the doc looked
into our box. She ran a scanner over me.
"Jadeth, you need more pain meds?"
"No." I honestly didn't, I felt fine.
"Right. We've got about two hours on here. Just try to stay
relaxed."
"Oh no problem," Ilyan said. "We love it in here, don't we, Jad? So
cosy. I'm thinking of putting in a sauna." Tanashi rolled her eyes
the way Rin had done.
"Well you certainly don't need another relaxer shot. Here." She
passed a couple of candy bars down to us. "Keep your blood sugar
up."
"How about a nice brew to wash these down?" I suggested.
"Not a good idea. Best wait till we're on the liner."
"Good point." I ate the candy, relishing the sweetness of the
chocolate and lay back with my eyes closed, just enjoying breathing
the air after the stuffiness of the box. I drifted halfway between
asleep and awake.
All too soon the time came to put the lid back on. As we plunged
back into darkness Ilyan's hand found mine again. I'd got over the
claustrophobia by now, felt quite calm about that. On the other
hand I'd started to worry about the customs inspection. The boxes
might fool the scanners, but that didn't help if a customs official
said those three little words: "Open it up."
Could our squad manage to stroll through looking innocent? Maiga had
put Tanashi in charge and though most of the time she's mild
mannered and quiet, the doc could give orders like the best of 'em
and like I said before, she had a cool head. I just hoped the rest
of the kids could follow her example.
We rolled along short distances and kept stopping. Must be in a
queue. Muffled voices came from outside and we both lay frozen in
place, barely breathing, worried any movement or sound would give us
away. Ilyan's hand gripped mine tighter and I gripped back.
Then we were manhandled some more, lifted up and put down on
something. We heard a rumbling sound of machinery and the box
started moving along, shaking a bit. I guessed we must be on a belt,
going through the scanner. Moment of truth. Had Maiga been ripped
off? Or would these things actually work? The scanner made a loud
thrumming sound as we passed through.
Work, I thought, my eyes squeezed closed. Work. Work.
Then the thrumming sound stopped, the rumbling died away and we
stopped moving. In a few seconds we were being manhandled again, off
the belt and dumped back on our wheels with little ceremony. With my
free hand I reached for the pistol that lay at my side. I might be
in no condition to fight, but if I had to…
Instead we felt that small jerk again and started to roll. I heard
Ilyan sigh hugely in the dark. We made it. Relief pasted a big grin
on my face.
My relief soon turned to impatience. I knew we must be heading for
our quarters and I just wanted to be there already and get out of
this damn box. So I fretted as rolled along, hearing muffled voices,
stopping sometimes. At one point we rolled over something uneven and
stopped for a longer time. We could feel a slight juddering.
"Elevator?" Ilyan whispered. I agreed. We rode the elevator for
several minutes. Big ship. The air in the box had started to get
very stuffy now and Ilyan must have felt the same because I heard a
slight squeaking noise and a hiss. Cool air breezed over my face.
"Oh yeah," I whispered softly. "That's good. Thanks."
Ilyan shifted against my side. "Sorry. Cramp."
"Can't be much longer now I think," I said as we rolled off the
elevator.
"Good, I, um, need to use the facilities."
I smiled at how refined and polite that sounded. I'd have said I'm
busting for a piss.
"Me too."
A few minutes later, we suffered the last bit of manhandling, which
I reckoned was to manoeuvre us over a doorsill into a room. The
sound of the locks made me tense up; still not ready to relax until
I saw a friendly face looking in.
My fingers slid around the grip of the pistol again, as the lid
lifted, but I let go when Vimal looked into the box, grinning. I
could have kissed his friendly young face.
"Terminus! Everybody off the bus!" He ordered cheerfully.
Ilyan jumped up and out quickly, said, "excuse me" to the others and
hurried off to a door marked 'bathroom'. Vim and Rish helped me up
and out of the box. I could hold it for a few minutes before I
needed to use that bathroom too. Tanashi came over and ran her
scanner over me as I sat down heavily on a bed. I smiled at her.
"I'm fine, doc. Nice work on getting us aboard." She smiled back at
me and nodded.
The others turned their attention to the second trunk, unlocked it
and lifted the lid. Tesla shot out like a bullet from a gun. Maiga
stood up more slowly.
"Oh, fuck!" Tesla cried. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I never want to go
through anything like that again! That scanner! I was so sure we
were going to be found!"
Maiga looked around frowning as she stepped out of the trunk.
"Where's Ilyan?"
"Bathroom," I said. I looked at her and Tesla. They both looked hot
and bothered and dishevelled. Now what could they have been up to in
there?
Ilyan came out of the bathroom, straightening up his clothes and
combing his mussed hair with his fingers. He made a beeline for
Maiga.
"My dear," he put his arms around her and kissed her cheek. "As
usual a superb plan, beautifully executed."
"I wasn't executing anything in there," she said, moving away from
him and smoothing down her hair and clothes.
"Everyone did very well," Ilyan said, looking around at them.
"Tesla, how are you, my friend? I know how you dislike closed
places. You were very brave to go in there. And Maiga, thank you for
staying with him."
How did he do it? Suddenly he had Tesla smiling, he had Maiga
smiling and the others all beaming with pride.
"Right," Ilyan went on, clapping his hands together. "Let's get
organised."
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