“I need it to protect my modesty.”
He goggled, and she laughed at his expression. “You can take it off when it’s your turn again.”
She unbuttoned his shirt in the same fashion as she’d done his uniform jacket. Then she slipped her hands inside to touch his chest. Like all the pilots, he kept in very good shape, and her fingers traced over his muscles.
She looked down, to see that he had already removed his shoes at some point during the procedure. Stealing a march, she supposed she might call it.
“Do I please?” he asked.
“Yes – but I knew that already.”
“You did?”
“I have seen you swim in the ocean, Herr Major Müller,” she said, eyes twinkling. “And do I please?”
He reached around and undid her bra, removing it gently. “Yes – but then I also already knew that.”
“You watched me swimming?”
“I could be blind, and you would still please.” He paused for a few seconds while she thought that one through. “But I’m very happy that I am not.”
It did not take long for their pants to follow the rest of their clothes to the chair.
“Come to bed, Herr Major,” Erika said.
“As you order, Frau Major.”
They both laughed. Then the laughter turned into gasps of pleasure. She ran her fingers so lightly over his skin that he groaned. Then Karl returned the favour, causing her skin to tingle. Within moments she caught fire and pulled him to her. “Now, my love,” she said.
His eyes widened slightly at the endearment which she hadn’t really meant to say aloud. Pleasure would have sufficed; she had no need to use that word, to perhaps spoil the mood.
But Karl merely lowered himself to her, causing her to gasp. “I obey, my love,” he replied, once their bodies had come together.
She wondered, just before passion carried them away and scrambled all thought, if he meant what he had said. She hoped so.
* * *
AZORES
Tuesday, August 3rd
Their relationship now established – and not officially disapproved of – Karl Müller found that his time with Erika evened out his life in a way he had not expected. The peaks and valleys had not diminished, but the entire waveform had risen. On the whole, he found himself much more happy than he had ever felt before.
“Hello, Erika,” he said, smiling.
“My Karl.”
She reached out a hand, and he took it, drawing her close. She raised her lips, and he lowered his head to kiss her. Afterwards, they sat and looked out the window to a wind-blown ocean.
“It’s coming,” she finally said. “One sees it everywhere. Politicians in India believe that the new influenza virus running rampant in their north came from Pakistan. The fact that the Pakistanis suffer equally from the outbreak means nothing to the Indian nationalists.”
Karl squeezed her hand. “Let us go outside.” He handed her her coat, for dark clouds covered the sky, and the evening had turned cold. At least the chances of being bugged decreased. And with the wind blowing as it did, that chance fell even further. They stepped out onto the deck. Erika pulled her coat more tightly around her.
“The North Americans accused us of a virus of another type,” Karl said.
“I heard. They have locked themselves out of the ’Net. All international searches, by private and public users alike, now have to proceed through filters.”
“Not a good omen. They isolate to protect themselves, but the Chinese – and perhaps we, too – see it as a fortress from which they intend to make an attack of their own. If all countries go behind shields, the flow of information will decrease – perhaps even cease altogether.”
Erika nodded, and moved closer. She put her arm around Karl’s waist, and he his around her shoulders. The wind blew her hair back from her face and he looked at it with a pleasure that had increased over the days.
“The less we know of each other, the easier it makes it to kill.” She tightened her arm about him and he turned until they stood face to face. “And the death rate will exceed anything that has gone before – or so my father tells me.”
Müller stood stock-still. Her father had rank. And such a pronouncement meant that some nations – perhaps all nations – had retained some of their nuclear stockpiles. He shuddered. Her eyes gave mute confirmation.
“We repeat the errors of the past,” he said. He could do nothing about what the governments had planned. However, he could do one thing. He bent to kiss her, and she responded.
“Come, let us go to my quarters.”
He nodded. “I’d like that. To do something life-affirming in the face of what comes.”
They had just re-entered the building when the alarms rang. They released each other, and began running for the assembly room.
Karl kept his ear out for the words ‘This is not a drill,’ but they didn’t come. That didn’t keep his heart from beating more rapidly.
They almost collided with Erich Schmidt at the assembly room’s door. A quick nod to each other, then they entered. Müller looked with shock to see Oberst Dreschler there.
“Sir?”
“To your shuttles. The Pakistanis and Indians have mobilized. If they go to war they might drag the rest of us in, as well.”
He and Schmidt walked quickly to the dispersement area, where a land cruiser picked them up, and took them to their flight.
“We’re third away,” Schmidt said, unnecessarily.
“True. We don’t have to hurry.” His words deflected Schmidt’s meaning, and he had done so purposefully. No need worrying about whether they would make it off the rock. The cruiser deposited them at their shuttle. They climbed aboard with the rest of their crew, put all boards to standby, and waited.
“We need not all stay alert,” Müller said after they had received no new information from Command in an hour. “I’ll take first watch. The rest of you: get some sleep, read a book, whatever. We’re as ready as we’re going to get.”
Müller kept in contact with Command, who fed him signals from the news service.
“With tension mounting here in the Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani troops have begun skirmishes,” the announcer said, the vid feed showing an armoured column moving towards green hills in the background. “Both sides blame the other for starting this. Neither side seems likely to back down. We now go to Horst Kohlner in Switzerland. Horst, how are things at the United Nations?”
Müller watched, interest piqued, as Kohlner came on the screen.
“Everyone here, Max – and around the world, no doubt – is waiting to see what China will do. Will she take advantage of the situation to propel her own desires forward, or will she sit back and do nothing. If China moves, will the United States of North America take countermeasures? No thinking person wants that.
“And, further complicating the situation is the South American Union, which has long resented the USNA for their actions twenty-five years ago. If you remember, Max, the USNA accused the SAU of just such a biological attack as we’re hearing about now. They retaliated economically, putting the SAU’s plans back years. The SAU has neither forgiven nor forgotten.”
Müller nodded. And because of that, the European Treaty Organization might find itself at war in minutes or hours. If the SAU moved against the North Americans, the Americans would likely send a preemptive strike against the ETO to protect their backs while they dealt with the SAU and China.
It reminded him of what he had read of the beginnings of World War I. Nationalism, alliances, and train-timetables had ended up with millions dead and empires lost. That had taken four years; this would likely take only weeks or days if Erika’s information had merit.
He turned off the feed. Better to think of something else. Erika. She had the right of it. Better to get off Earth, to go to the colony and start again. Better to farm than to engage in Earth’s Last Battle. Before Erika had made her comment, he had felt that it fortunate that the g
reat powers – pressured by the Trans-National Corporations (which had become the Trans-Planetary Corporations) – had eschewed the use of nuclear weapons and dismantled their stockpiles.
He frowned. Or so they said. Previously, he had wondered if he believed it, now he merely hoped that they did not lie – but put no faith in that hope. Nonetheless, a bacteriological strike could prove just as devastating. After all, the Spanish Influenza outbreak of the early 20th Century had caused millions of deaths.
He needed to think of something else.
Erika.
He contemplated her face, the smile that lit it, and the eyes that seemed to look into his soul. He could well imagine waking up to it every morning for the rest of his life. Was that what it took to achieve happiness?
Time passed.
“Herr Major?”
“Yes, Hauptmann?”
“My shift. Any word?”
“Everyone seems to be waiting on China – or for the skirmishes in the Kashmir to become more than skirmishes. Command has sent over vid feed if you want to watch it. I decided that I didn’t need the aggravation.”
Schmidt grinned. “Horst Kohlner?”
Müller had to laugh. “You know me too well. I’m going to try to get some sleep.”
He turned over command of the shuttle-fighter to Schmidt and went to lie down. It felt like only minutes later that a hand shook him awake. He blinked twice, then rolled out of the cot, moving towards the hatch even before he caught his balance.
“No hurry,” Schmidt told him, as he stumbled into the cockpit. “Command just stood us down. China decided to let India and Pakistan fight it out. They say they don’t need the aggravation.”
Müller sighed. “And the Americans?”
“Everyone’s relaxing, Herr Major.” Schmidt gave a rueful smile. “I’m ready for a real sleep, now, but our rotation has come up.”
Müller looked at his watch. “Right. Let us move to the ready room.” He looked at the relief on the faces of his crew, and wondered if he looked the same to them. They lived another day. But he felt he could see into the future, and soon the words ‘this is not a drill’ would ring out through the halls.
SEVENTEEN
DENVER
Wednesday, August 4th
“Arch, did you check this box?” Christy Burnett asked, pointing to a crate sitting in the hall.
“Does it have a label on it?”
“Yes.”
“Then I checked it.” He rose from his position on the floor, where he had placed two small packages. “I don’t understand why you–”
She put up her hand, stopping him. “Not now, Arch.”
Motioning him with a crooked finger, she led the way outside, and to the edge of the fountain. The rushing water would help, were the military to have any listening devices out there.
“I think that you would find your time better used going back to the Institute,” she said, giving him a look that he should have known quite well.
Arch shook his head and smiled at her. “I’m not stupid, you know. So, I think I’ll just volunteer, and see to it that this big contract doesn’t lead you astray.” He grinned. “Keep you grounded.”
She laughed at that. “How can you keep me grounded in space?”
He sat down on the ledge of the fountain, the mist from the water blowing gently his way. His face told the tale.
“What is it, Arch?”
“I don’t like having to play these games. Get out of the contract, Dr Burnett. These people worry me.”
She pressed her lips together. “I can’t. I signed on the line. It’s a great chance for me. When I get back, I’ll have…” her voice drifted off as he waved her down.
“You won’t be coming back, Dr Burnett.” He took her hand in his, quite surprising her, but his words had stunned her even more, so she didn’t take it back. “I just finished telling you that I wasn’t stupid. I may be just your assistant, but I have eyes.”
“Not even here, Arch,” she said. “Go back to the Institute.”
But he wouldn’t take the out she offered. “You’re going to need me.”
She would, she realized, and she felt like someone, somewhere, had granted her a reprieve of sorts. Colonel Westorn frightened her, and the thought of going it alone, with no back-up she could trust, had made everything all the more difficult.
So, Arch had seen something that worried him. She would have to get him somewhere they could talk. No wonder that government scientists looked so harried all the time.
Christy spent the rest of the day checking boxes.
The phone rang.
“Hello. Dr Burnett,” she answered.
“Ah, Doctor, Colonel Westorn here. How goes it? Did you receive confirmation of your deck-plan layout?”
“Yes, sir. Thank you. As for my work, I’m packing boxes and labeling them. If your people deliver my boxes to me in the proper order, we’ll get set up and ready to proceed to the meat of our work in only a few shifts.” ‘Our work.’ Let him believe so. Let him think that she thought of him as a partner.
She could almost hear him smile at the other end. “Yes, five extra minutes on this end gains an hour on the other end? If you need any more help, just let your liaison know. You’ll get it immediately.”
She believed him. Despite his laid-back-sounding voice, she felt he had time constraints of which he told her nothing. “I’ll do that, sir, but I think I’m just about finished. I understand that the shipping container goes up as a single unit. Is that correct?”
“Correct, Doctor.”
“Excellent.” She looked around the lab which she would soon leave for the last time, and breathed a sigh of relief. “I also understand that your people will bring it onto Topside One unopened – in other words, without shifting the contents. And, of course, then only we will have access to it – in order to unpack it.”
“Also correct.”
“Excellent. Then as long as they pack it in the correct order, we’ll be able to start setting up immediately we get there. I’ll tell my liaison that I’ll be ready to supervise packing within the hour.”
And that gave him his chance to use their word of the day once more. “Excellent, Doctor. We’ll have it out on an aircraft in the morning. Now, are you ready for your first flight?”
Only the very, very rich, or very, very important travelled by air. “Ready and excited, sir.”
He laughed. “We’ll make a soldier of you yet.”
The last time she had heard that, it came from the guard at the gate, and it had prefaced her return to the lion’s den. Hopefully, this did not presage ill.
“Well,” she laughed in return, “you can keep trying, but I don’t think I’d make a good one.”
“You never know,” he replied. “See you tomorrow, Doctor.”
Actually, she did know. She had responded to his perversion of her program. Yes, he could make a soldier of her, might even want to. But she determined that he would not improve on his methods, and that she would save those she had endangered by taking the contract in the first place – against her better judgment.
Whether or not she would come out of the action whole, free – or even alive – seemed less important at the moment. She shifted her thoughts to Topside One. How would it feel when the reality of being trapped in a space station hit her in the face?
She didn’t want to think about that. Let it happen when it happened. Dr Christy Burnett checked the last label on the last box, and then went out in search of her liaison.
* * *
FLIGHT DENVER – NEW YORK
Thursday, August 5th
“Dr Burnett, you’ve been holding out on me,” Arch said after the airliner reached cruising altitude, and the roar from the engines died away to the point they didn’t have to shout to make themselves heard.
“Have I?” Her eyebrows arched.
“Yes, you have. You’ve made a break-through, and you won’t tell me how you did it. I’ve worked with you
for five years now. I’ve proved my loyalty. Don’t you trust that I would never give away your secret?”
“Even under torture, Arch?”
He stared at her. Then his face cleared. “What, exactly, have they done?”
Well, she’d hired him for his intelligence. What should she expect? She looked at him closely, wondering if she should just fire him immediately upon landing. The thought of then carrying her knowledge, everything, all alone frightened her. Jensen had asked too much, and she feared she would fail him – and that was something she could not allow.
Arch waited for her in silence, allowing her time to think. Could she reward this man, a loyal employee, the closest thing she had to a friend, with a virtual death-sentence, a loss of his place in this world, exile, and possibly death? No.
“You need to find another job, Arch. You’re right; I don’t trust you. What I figured out is big – and I think you’ll sell out to the highest bidder. So, you’re fired.” She saw his look of blank astonishment at her accusation with a pain inside her she could barely stand. “Look, the contract is over. This one, I’ll handle alone – it’s not much of a contract, really, and doesn’t need two researchers. I’ll give you a nice letter of reference, but I just want you gone; I don’t trust you any longer. Is that so hard to understand?”
He sat back, and turned his head to the front, real hurt on his face. Then it cleared, and she could see him concentrating, trying to understand. She cursed to herself. She should have waited until after they had landed.
An hour later, he touched her shoulder. She opened her eyes.
“What is it now?” she snapped.
But he merely smiled at her. “They perverted your program, didn’t they? They used it for something vile. And you’re afraid that if they get their hands on your breakthrough, they’ll make it worse.” He stopped for a moment, and her stomach sank. If he had guessed all this, what more might he learn – and where would that leave him? “And you want to protect me. I’m a big boy, now, Christy, and I don’t need protection.”
Not With A Whimper: Destroyers Page 12