The Soldier: Final Odyssey

by Vaughn Heppner

  “The Patrol is hunting for me,” Cade said.

  “Why?”

  “Because they think I work for Group Six.”

  “You mean Earth Intelligence?” asked Jed Ra.

  The question took Cade by surprise. He must have shown it.

  “Do you think the Yun People are stupid? That we don’t understand the outer world?”

  “I did think that,” Cade admitted. “They call you mutants upstairs.”

  “You mean in the space station?”

  “How do you know so much?”

  “We are not the same as our ancestors,” Jed Ra said. “We are bigger, stronger and much tougher. I don’t know if we’re smarter than before, but we know many things. The smugglers speak to us, giving us weapons for old cyborg trash we dig out of the dirt.”

  At that point, Cade changed his opinion of the mutants. They looked hideous, like animals or zombie creatures of the apocalypse. They were mutated humans, a relic of the Cyborg War, he supposed, of ancient hell-burners. With Cade’s change of opinion came a new possibility.

  “Do you know about the ancient Cyborg War fought against the Old Federation?”

  “The legends,” Jed Ra said. “Yes, we know.”

  “I’m an Ultra, an early Ultra.”

  Jed Ra squinted at Cade. “The legends say the Ultras were fierce soldiers, unbeatable in battle. You look too puny to be an Ultra. Besides, you must take us for fools. The Ultras were long ago and thus long dead.”

  “I’ve slept for a thousand years in a stasis tube. I’m from that era.”

  Jed Ra examined him again, critically. Finally, the mutant chief shook his beastly head. “You’re a liar. I could crush you, pulp the life out of you with my bare hands. You cannot possibly be an Ultra.”

  The Yun Jed Ra was taller, wider and likely heavier than Cade. The mutant would not be faster, although he might conceivably be stronger.

  “Fear has silenced you,” Jed Ra boasted.

  “I’m an Ultra,” Cade said.

  “Prove it.”

  “How?”

  “Fight me.” Jed Ra slapped his massive chest.

  “With guns, knives or—?”

  “Hand to hand,” Jed Ra said.

  “Once I set down my pistols, you’ll rush me. This is just a trick to get me to disarm.”

  The other three mutants hissed angrily at Cade.

  “Silence,” Jed Ra thundered at them.

  The three fell instantly silent.

  “Observe,” Jed Ra said, as he set his big rifle onto the ground.

  “What are the rules to the fight?” Cade asked.

  “No rules,” Jed Ra said, moving his huge fingers. “Defeat me if you can, liar, because I’m going to kill you.”

  Cade debated hard with himself. He could start firing and likely kill these four. But if Jed Ra really was the chief of the mutant horde, gaining his respect would be much more valuable in the long run.

  “Let’s do it,” Cade said, setting his pistols on the ground.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Cade straightened. Jed Ra roared like a beast and charged. The three watchers shouted approval, pumping their fists into the air.

  Cade evaded Jed Ra’s rush by ducking under the heavy but rather slow swing. He interlaced his fingers and hammered the mutant from behind, hitting where the chief’s kidneys ought to be. Striking Jed Ra was like hitting a medicine ball, but with less effect.

  Jed Ra roared again, turning. Cade jumped back to give himself room, realizing the mutant could take massive punishment.

  Jed Ra barked an ugly laugh, crouching and holding out his huge arms. “Once I get a grip on you, I will crush you, breaking your bones as you howl for mercy.”

  Cade did not respond. Instead, he analyzed his opponent. The mutant was massive and beastly, at least in strength and maybe in stamina. Fighting him would be like fighting a bear. He should have insisted on knives. It would have given him a better chance.

  “Are you afraid?” Jed Ra sneered.

  Cade didn’t look back to see if the others would interfere. He was going to have to trust their word. The rules were anything goes between Jed Ra and him, but the others were supposed to—

  Jed Ra roared like a beast and rushed him, but not quite as fast as before. He tried to grapple with Cade. Cade sidestepped and jabbed, striking the side of Jed Ra’s head. Jed Ra turned fully toward him. Cade struck again, jabbing at the mutant’s face. For a second, Jed Ra clutched Cade’s forearm. Cade ripped his arm free and jumped back to give himself more room.

  “Fast,” the mutant said. “You’re fast, and stronger than you look.”

  Cade stepped in, throwing punches and evading the mutant’s attempt to grapple him. That must have frustrated Jed Ra. He roared louder than ever, lowered his head and charged. Cade evaded as before, raining blows against the back of the mutant’s head as he passed. The soldier was beginning to feel like a matador against an enraged bull. Jed Ra crashed against a tree trunk. Cade refrained from rushing in. It could be a trick. If Jed Ra was the chief—

  The mutant turned and stood tall, his eyes red-rimmed and his nostrils flaring as he breathed heavily. “You’re tricky, Ultra. But now—” Jed Ra roared once more, charging.

  Cade readied himself.

  Jed Ra did not lower his head. Instead, at the last second, he skidded to a halt and flung his hands at Cade. From them, crushed tree bark flew at Cade’s face. The mutant must have scraped the bark from the tree with his claw-like fingernails while panting against it.

  Cade closed his eyes, but a particle entered one.

  Jed Ra laughed with savage delight. He rushed again. Cade threw blows, hitting, but Jed Ra grabbed him. Even though blood poured from the wide, flat nostrils, Jed Ra held Cade in a bear hug and started to crush the Ultra. Cade could feel his bones shift under the tremendous pressure.

  Bracing himself, Cade began to hammer Jed Ra’s face with his forehead. He tore his arms free and clapped his hands three times against the mutant’s ears—

  Jed Ra bellowed in pain, flinging Cade from him. The mutant shook his head, shook it again and grinded his teeth in frustrated rage.

  “Off-world tricks,” one of the watching mutants said.

  “I’m an Ultra,” Cade said, his torso a mass of bruises, making each breath painful. “I’m not your enemy, Jed Ra.”

  “You claim to be of my tribe?” Jed Ra shouted.

  “No. I’m an off-worlder. The Patrol is my enemy, at least here it is. Let’s work together and help each other.”

  “We’re fighting.”

  “We have been fighting,” Cade said. “Maybe we should stop and rethink things.”

  “You’re admitting defeat?” Jed Ra asked in surprise.

  “No. I’m saying…” Cade paused, thinking fast. “Jed Ra—Chief Jed Ra, I have a proposal for you.”

  “He talks like a smuggler,” one of the others said.

  “I’m a soldier,” Cade said, “and you’re leading an army, a horde. Maybe I can help you make a war-plan that will defeat the Patrol.”

  “You can get us shuttles?” asked Jed Ra.

  “More than that,” Cade said. “I can help you storm the space station. This is your planet. Show the Patrol you’re not going to let them dig unless they give you what you want.”

  Jed Ra blinked at Cade with his red-rimmed eyes.

  “Don’t listen to him,” one of the others said. “Kill him, Jed Ra. Let us roast and eat him.”

  Cade shuddered. Maybe helping them was the wrong thing to do.

  Jed Ra cocked his ugly, bleeding head. “I am one chief,” he said. “I want to be High Chief of the Horde. Can you teach me to fight like you?”

  “I can,” Cade said.

  “The other chiefs would never listen to you,” Jed Ra said. “But I might if your ways helped me to be First Chief.”

  “I’ll do that, if you’ll agree to help me leave the planet when the time comes.”

  Jed Ra eyed him hard a
nd critically. “You must be an Ultra. Otherwise, you could not have…have done so well against me. Yes. I will agree. Will you exchange blood with me to seal the bargain?”

  “To become blood brothers?” asked Cade.

  “Yes.”

  “I will.”

  “Get your knife.”

  Cade went to his belongings. He hoped they didn’t really eat people. If they did—he’d have to cross that bridge when he came to it.

  He stepped up to the massive mutant, Jed Ra of the Yun People, and held his knife. The mutant chief pulled out a huge knife. The creature cut his palm. Cade did likewise to his own. They clasped hands; Jed Ra’s was bigger and with claws like a dog, but the hand did not grip any harder than Cade’s.

  “We are blood brothers of war,” Jed Ra intoned.

  Cade repeated that.

  Jed Ra let go. So did Cade.

  “Now come,” Jed Ra said. “We hunt the searching shuttle. While we do, we can talk about your ideas. They are interesting to me. More than anything, I yearn to be the High Chief of the Horde.”

  Cade nodded, wondering what he’d gotten himself into this time.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Cade soon discovered that although the Yun People were big like bears, they had the endurance of wolves.

  Jed Ra left the dead mutant where he lay. The other three stripped the corpse of the weapons: a knife, a crude revolver and an old-style grenade, splitting the items among themselves. They also split the food and water. One of them muttered while they did so.

  “Did you speak?” asked Jed Ra.

  “No, chief,” the mutant said.

  The small party set out, using the game trail, heading in the opposite direction Cade had been going. He soon wondered about something.

  “Jed Ra, I have a question.”

  The party halted, with Jed Ra in the lead. He came back, his hands making grasping motions. “Are you challenging my leadership?”

  “No,” Cade said. “Remember, I’m an off-worlder. I do not know Yun ways.”

  The other three did not speak, although they watched Jed Ra keenly.

  “On the trail—it is a challenge when one questions the chief during a hunt as you have just done,” Jed Ra said.

  “Now that I know, I won’t do that again,” Cade said.

  Jed Ra kept staring at him.

  “We are blood brothers,” Cade said. “You are helping me learn Yun ways, while I will help you learn Ultra ways.”

  “This is true,” Jed Ra said slowly. “Back in the War, could one of your…?” The mutant cocked his head.

  “A soldier,” Cade said, “do you mean one of my soldiers?”

  Jed Ra nodded. “Could one of your soldiers have spoken out as you just did?”

  “Yes.”

  “That would not have been a challenge for leadership?”

  “No.”

  Jed Ra shook his head. “Ultra ways are strange.” He turned back to the other three. “I am teaching him.”

  “Yes, chief,” one of the others said.

  “He will teach us old ways, soldier ways to defeat the Patrol.” Jed Ra glared at the others. “Do any of you have a question for the soldier?”

  One of them peered up at the leafy canopy before regarding Cade. “How can you reach into the air to bring down spaceships?”

  It took a moment for Cade to understand what the other asked. When he did, Cade said, “I’ll use missiles.”

  “Where do you keep these missiles?”

  “I don’t,” Cade said, “but the Spaceport does.”

  The speaker frowned, his brow furrowed.

  “I’ll take the Spaceport’s missiles,” Cade said.

  “I do not understand how,” the other said. “It is known that two-legged machines guard the Spaceport perimeter. Even the bullets from Jed Ra’s heavy rifle would bounce off their hides.”

  Cade grinned. “The two-legged machines are battlesuits. Humans put them on as you put on your boots.”

  “That is a lie,” the mutant said. “We have heard that the—”

  Jed Ra growled menacingly.

  The mutant glanced at the chief, bobbed his hideous head as if understanding a warning and looked at Cade again. “Others have killed one of the metal guards and torn it apart. There was no puny warrior inside to eat.”

  Cade turned to Jed Ra. “Is this true?”

  “Chief!” the mutant said, outraged.

  Jed Ra glowered, seeming to think. “Do you call Drogo a liar?”

  “What?” asked Cade. “No. I was asking you for confirmation.”

  Jed Ra spoke slowly. “It is said the guards aren’t all machine. There are pieces of stringy meat inside, making it part machine and part flesh.”

  Cade went cold inside. “You’re talking about a cyborg.”

  “The evil spirits of long ago?” asked Jed Ra. “No. I am talking about the two-legged machines.”

  “What do you think cyborgs—?” Cade stopped himself, thinking this through. “Chief, I fought cyborgs in the past. They were not evil spirits but machine-men, an evil mix of the two.”

  “He lies,” Drogo shouted. “We know the legends. The off-worlder calls the witch doctors liars and fools by speaking as he does.”

  Jed Ra appeared troubled, glancing at Cade sidelong. “How can a man live a thousand years? This I do not understand.”

  “The Ultras used a sleeper ship,” Cade said. “In such spaceships were stasis tubes. A man or woman went into one and fell into a deeper than deep sleep. Their bodily functions slowed down until they were frozen.”

  “You speak strangely,” Jed Ra said.

  “The off-worlder calls our witch doctors fools and liars,” Drogo insisted.

  Jed Ra stared expectantly at Cade.

  The soldier believed he understood. He turned to Drogo. “You’re a liar and fool to call me one. Do you wish for me to break your back?”

  “You challenge me?” Drogo asked in surprise.

  “Do not say I say this or that unless you hear the words come out of my mouth,” Cade said. “I’ve never met your witch doctors. I don’t know your legends. I just know what I did during the War. I killed cyborgs, and what you described to me was a cyborg.”

  Drogo scowled thunderously, finally looking to his two friends. “The off-worlder blasphemes our ways. He says he knows more about our legends than the witch doctors. He is pink-skinned and smooth, a weakling, I say.”

  “All right, let’s fight,” Cade said, as he dropped his pack and plucked the pistols from his waistband, letting them fall onto his pack.

  “Chief?” asked Drogo.

  “I did not fight during the War,” Jed Ra said. “The witch doctors did not fight in the War. If you think Cade is a liar, make him eat his words.”

  Drogo shed his water-skin and weapons.

  Cade inhaled deeply, wondering if he was going to have to fight every few hours. That would wear him down until the last fight ended with his death. He needed to make an example of Drogo so others would be too frightened to face him. The harder and faster he did it, the better.

  “Are you ready?” Cade asked grimly.

  Drogo expanded his massive chest, bellowing at the top of his voice. Much as Jed Ra had done, Drogo lowered his head and charged like a rampaging bull.

  Cade muttered an obscenity, faked a move at Drogo, saw the mutant shift his attack and moved the other way, sticking out a leg. Drogo crashed against it, making Cade’s shin hurt like a son-of-a-bitch. The mutant went flying, striking the path with a thud. Drogo whirled onto his back and scrambled onto his feet. Cade struck with a flying mule kick, a boot bottom connecting with Drogo’s face. That slammed the back of the warrior’s head hard against the trail.

  Cade landed, rolled and scrambled back up, and he realized with sick understanding what he needed to do. The mutants, the Yun People, were too huge and primitive for him to survive for any length of time if he had to face them even once a day. The time for a harsh example was this in
stant.

  He rushed the groggy Drogo and grabbed a tusk as he loomed over the warrior. Then, he pushed a stiffened thumb against the creature’s left eye-socket. Drogo screamed and struggled—and Cade realized that some actions were too grisly even in such a situation as this. He wasn’t going to blind the mutant as an example. He wasn’t a monster, but a soldier. So instead of digging out the eye with his thumb, Cade made a fist. He hit Drogo’s wide face, mashing the nose so it spurted blood. He struck again and once more. Then he stepped back, sucking on his bruised knuckles.

  Drogo moaned with blood smeared on his face. Feebly, he put his huge hands over his bruised left eye. “He maimed me,” he wept. “He maimed me. My eye, my eye, he tore out one of my eyes.”

  “I didn’t,” Cade said. “I could have. I was thinking about it, and I still can.”

  Drogo ceased moaning as he listened from on the ground.

  “I’m an Ultra. I’m a soldier. I fought in the War against the cyborgs. Does Drogo still say I lie when I speak about them?”

  Drogo said nothing, although he turned his head to peer at Cade with his good eye.

  An impatient Jed Ra stepped up to Drogo, kicking him in the side. “Do you still call Cade a liar?”

  “No,” Drogo said after a half-beat.

  “Does Cade know about cyborgs?” Jed Ra asked.

  “I…I think so,” Drogo said.

  Jed Ra kicked Drogo again. “Cade will kill you if you claim he is a liar. Tell us what you think.”

  “Cade knows cyborgs,” Drogo said in an empty voice.

  “What about you two?” Jed Ra demanded. “Do either of you speak against Cade?”

  Those two shook their heads.

  “Cyborgs guard the Spaceport,” Jed Ra said. “Cyborgs are not spirits as the witch doctors have said but a mix of machine and man.”

  Drogo sucked in his breath.

  “Am I wrong?” Jed Ra demanded.

  “I do not know,” Drogo said. “I was not there.”

  “Is that enough?” Jed Ra asked Cade.

  “As long as he doesn’t call me a liar, I will let him keep his eyes,” Cade said.

  “Then it is finished,” Jed Ra said. “Now get up, Drogo. We’re hunting the shuttle, and I have yet to get a good shot at it.”