by Ricky Sides
Lisa transmitted the orders. In the APCs, three tense pilots waited anxiously as the cloud-wrapped tornado approached their location. Ten seconds into the wait, Evan visibly relaxed and said, “Tell them it passed well to our south.”
“It’s a good thing it did. I don’t think we’d have had time for the maneuvers,” Lisa observed, and then she transmitted his message.
Evan knew that Lisa was right. The storm must have been moving at an incredible rate of speed. He also doubted that they could have broken their formation and escaped from the twister. He was about to agree with her when the hail began to drum on the hull of the APC. Luckily, it was only small, dime-sized hail so their windshield remained intact. Then he saw debris begin to fall in the area. Some fell so fast that it registered as just a blur of motion, but other debris fell slower. Here and there, he saw what appeared to be small pieces of sheet metal and bits of paper.
“I think we have confirmation that what we saw was a tornado,” Evan whispered when the rain of debris tapered off as the vortex moved further away from them.
Ten minutes later, the front had passed over their location. Streaks of occasional lightning still illuminated the now darkened skies to the west, but Evan judged the conditions favorable for flight. As they broke their formation to resume their mission, Evan said, “All right, tell the guys to follow me. We’re going to try to execute a Bleakman energy refill maneuver.”
“All hands brace for a Bleakman maneuver,” Lisa shouted into the rear of the APC, and then she relayed Evan’s message.
The three APCs flew toward the largest concentration of lightning to the west. They never drew near enough to the source to recharge their batteries fully, but they did more than make up for the storm generated loses.
“Well done, husband,” Lisa said with a smile moments after they resumed their course.
“Thank you, wife,” he responded with a warm smile.
“You can thank me properly when we reach the base. By the way, I have a surprise for you. Mom said we should stay in her room. She has a larger bed and won’t be coming back to the citadel for a while.”
***
Maggie and Pol sat on a blanket on the flight deck. They were facing west, as they had been for the past hour. The storm they were watching was rapidly moving closer. At first, all that they could see were occasional flashes of lightning, which illuminated wide sections of the horizon. As the hour progressed, so did the scope of the pyrotechnics display in the western sky. Now as they maintained their vigil of the night sky, they saw the brilliant lightning displays that had awed Evan and Lisa two hours earlier.
“I’ve enjoyed your company tonight,” Maggie stated. “You don’t feel the need to fill the silence with meaningless conversation. I like that.”
“My dear, anything I had to say tonight would detract from the wondrous display the storm has given us.”
“You aren’t afraid of storms?” Maggie asked.
“Some, yes. But I think the worst of this storm front will pass to the south of us. Nevertheless, if we remain out here much longer, I fear that we will be drenched in a torrential downpour. When the deck gets wet, it’s a dangerous place to be strolling. Not to mention the danger of lightning striking the hull.”
Maggie knew that was no idle concern. Lightning had struck the huge fortress twice in the past. The gargantuan ship had absorbed the electrical discharge, but no one in their right minds would want to be standing on the flight deck when a bolt of lightning hit the ship.
“Yes, I suppose we’d better go in before the lightning gets closer,” Maggie said with a sigh.
“I’d like to see you again,” Pol said, with only a little awkwardness.
“I think I’d enjoy that. What have you got in mind?” she asked.
“They are running an old National Geographic documentary tomorrow night in the recreation room. Would you like to go see that? It’s about wildlife in Africa.”
“Oh, I saw one of those ages ago,” Maggie stated, quickly adding, “I’d love to see it again. It had some spectacular footage.”
“They were known for the superb quality of their nature documentaries. I don’t think anyone ever topped their panoramic camera work,” Pol stated as he helped Maggie to her feet. “The lightning is getting too close, my dear. I am reluctant for this evening to end, but end it must if you are to remain safe.”
Maggie kissed him lightly on the lips. “You’re such a dear man. Thank you for the wonderful company. Not many men would be willing to sit on a hard flight deck to enjoy the view that we shared.”
“The loss is theirs, for the view was spectacular and your company most sweet,” Pol said. He then drew Maggie into an embrace and kissed her tenderly.
When she backed away, Maggie smiled and said, “I see you’re not so shy, once you get started.”
A brilliant flash of lightning, followed almost instantly by a loud booming clap of thunder caused Pol to grab Maggie’s hand and rush her toward the doorway leading into the fortress. He jerked open the door and she rushed inside as the rain began to fall in a torrent.
Chapter 4
Evan carried Lisa across the threshold into Maggie’s quarters. Smiling at her, he said, “This has been the happiest day of my life. Thank you for becoming my wife.”
“Thank you for making my dreams come true. I’ve been dreaming of the day we’d marry for years, and now I’m your wife. I’ll try to be the best wife you could ever hope for, honey.”
“You’re the only wife I ever hoped for, silly,” he said with a warm smile. Then, turning serious, he asked, “Are you sure you’re ready for this? If you want to wait, I’ll understand.”
“You’d do that for me? Not many men would be that patient on their wedding night, love,” she said with a wink and a smile.
“I didn’t say I’d enjoy waiting,” he answered, matching her infectious playfulness with a bit of his own. Picking her up again, he carried her to the bed and they fell on it, locked in a long and tender kiss.
The couple made love slowly. Ever attentive to her emotional state, Evan was careful to watch for the slightest sign of any distress or other adverse reactions to their lovemaking, but Lisa was as eager to please him, as he was to safeguard her. When they both lay spent from their lovemaking, Lisa said, “That was wonderful. It almost makes me wish we hadn’t waited all these years.”
Evan tenderly brushed a strand of her sweat-dampened hair away from her left eye and replied, “I’m not sorry we waited. I think you needed the time to mentally prepare.”
Later that night, Evan awoke to a pressure in his bladder. He had neglected to go to the bathroom before retiring for the night and now he was paying the price. Beside him, the sound of Lisa’s even breathing told him that his wife was sound asleep. He carefully eased out of bed and slipped on his pants. Evan then left the room, and went down the hall to the bathroom.
When he returned minutes later, Lisa was still sound asleep. As he slipped into bed Evan, who had watched over her as she had slept after nightmares in the past, noted that she moaned softly and her breathing changed. Afraid that his nocturnal prowling was about to wake her, he lay perfectly still. A minute later, her breathing returned to normal. As Evan was drifting off to sleep, a pressure point beneath the left side of his back caused him to roll over onto his right side facing his wife. When he did so, portions of his body touched hers and he noted the smoothness of her skin.
In her sleep, Lisa’s mind registered the touch of a man and screamed in warning that it was Reggie returning to torment her as he had so often done. She struggled to wake up.
Evan awoke to the sound of his wife screaming inarticulately. Still half asleep, he made a mistake he would never have made had he been fully awake. He reached out and grabbed Lisa. This caused her to scream louder and begin to struggle to free herself from what her mind was telling her was the man who had taken her prisoner and systematically abused her.
Now fully awake, Evan jumped out of bed and
darted to the wall near the door. He flipped on the switch that turned on the lights in the cabin and calmly spoke her name as he approached Lisa who was thrashing about in terror on the bed. It took him two minutes to calm her. By then there was an insistent pounding on the door to their room. Evan made certain his wife was covered properly in the bed, and then he moved to the door and opened it.
A base security man was standing in the hall. He asked, “Is everything all right in there, Evan?”
“It is now,” Evan responded. “Lisa had a nightmare.”
The guard looked uncomfortable. Evan knew the reason. He said, “It’s okay. I know you have to confirm what I just told you. Come in and see for yourself.”
“I’m sorry for the disturbance,” Lisa said from her place in the bed. “It was just a dream.”
“It sounded like it must have been a wicked bad dream, Ma’am.”
“Lisa shuddered at the memory and said, “It was. Thank you for checking on me, but it’s all right. Evan would never harm me.”
“I never thought he would, but the regulation is there for your protection, and I have to follow it regardless of my personal opinions. Have a good night, Ma’am.”
Turning to Evan, the security man said, “I heard you two got married today. Congratulations. You make a fine couple.”
Evan thanked the guard and shut the door behind him when he left. Turning to Lisa, he said, “I’m sorry. I had to go to the bathroom, so I broke contact with you. When I returned and got back in bed my body touched you and that set off your reaction.”
“It’s not your fault. I’m just not accustomed to being touched when I’m asleep. He used to like to do that,” she said, in a rare reference to Reggie. For a moment, her eyes filled with tears.
“Well, what do we do about this?” Evan asked.
“Mom gave me some advice about this, and she said we need to make new memories,” Lisa stated firmly. “Hold me as we go to sleep. I’ll get used to sleeping with you soon. Then it shouldn’t matter if you touch me while I’m asleep. But maybe you should wake me if you have to leave the bed in the middle of the night.”
“I’ll try to avoid leaving the bed once we go to sleep, but if I have to, then yes, I’ll wake you.” Smiling, he said, “If it makes you feel better, I think you scared me as much as I scared you. I almost fell out of bed in my rush to get up.”
“Come to bed, love. Let’s start making those new memories.”
They lay close with Lisa’s head resting on Evan’s chest. He was almost asleep when she said, “I’m sorry I spoiled our wedding night.”
“You didn’t spoil anything. I thought we had a fantastic wedding night. This is something we’ll have to work through. Given time, we’ll solve the problem.”
“I hope so. I really hate it when I hurt you and it always does.”
In his sleepy state, Evan didn’t understand her, so he said, “Huh? You lost me.”
“I mean when I cringe away from you before I realize it’s you. I remember the expression on your face. You try to hide it. Sometimes you manage to hide it well, but I can still see that it hurts you. Please understand that it’s not that I don’t trust you.”
“I know. Intellectually, I understand that. It’s just that… Well, I guess it does hurt a bit,” he explained because he wanted to be honest with his wife.
Lisa raised her head to stare at her husband’s face in the meager light emitted by the night light in the room. “I know it hurts you. That’s why I feel so bad about it. You’ve always been so good to me. You’re so kind and considerate. The last thing I want to do is hurt you.”
Evan pulled her closer and kissed her lips. As he kissed her, he felt his passion start to rise. He briefly considered making love, but discarded the thought because she had just been traumatized and he didn’t want to stress her any further. Besides, they had to fly another mission in a few hours so both of them needed their rest.
As they broke their kiss, Lisa rolled over on top of her husband. “You don’t have to prove anything to me,” he said.
“I know. That’s why I love you so,” she said.
“I love you,” Evan said quietly. “But you’re gonna be sleepy during the flight tomorrow, so we’d better make this quick.”
“Not too quick,” she said breathlessly as her body began to respond to their mutual needs.
“No. Not too quick,” Evan agreed as his own body responded to her touch.
***
Evan and Lisa both felt the loss of sleep as they carried out their mission, but this time there were no emergencies to complicate matters. By the time, they arrived back at the citadel; both were so tired they showered, ate, and went to bed. They felt better the next day as they flew their mission.
Each mission lasted approximately thirteen and a half hours. The flights took roughly six hours each way. Then there was the loading and unloading time to factor into the schedule. Evan was right in the assumption that the flights would be hardest on the pilots and gunners who handled communications and helped the pilots keep a wary eye out for trouble.
Evan’s team settled into the grind of long and boring flights transporting cargo from the citadel to the battle fortress. At first those flights were made in the company of the other junior teams, but because of maintenance delays for teams two and three, team one soon found themselves flying without wingmen.
***
“Get that gear to the field hospital building,” said Captain Cliff Barnes of the California. He then pointed the truck driver toward the proper building. He was referring to one of Reager industries Quonset buildings, which was a Huxley alloy structure with a large battery system. Reager Industries had donated several such buildings to serve as field hospitals for the beleaguered peacekeepers who were dealing with the outbreak of influenza that was spreading north from Mexico. The truck driver saluted and then pulled away slowly. Cliff watched as the truck headed into the refugee camp.
“Captain, I need to have a word with you,” said one of the doctors who had volunteered to work in the field hospital.
“All right, Doctor,” Cliff responded. “What’s on your mind?”
“There’s something wrong here. These people don’t just have the flu. Some other disease is also present.”
“What do you need to help you cure them?” asked Cliff.
“That’s just it, sir. None of the patients is responding to treatment, and one just died. But before she died, open lesions appeared on her face, neck and arms. She was also vomiting blood, and… Captain, are you all right?” asked the doctor from San Francisco.
“Isolate the body. Treat her as if she is a high-risk carrier because she probably is. Decontaminate the place with standard decontamination gear. I want a list of all personnel who were exposed to any body fluids. They will need to be isolated from everyone else and tested.”
“Captain, what is going on here?” asked the bewildered doctor.
“You read the reports on the plague that the drug cartel unleashed in southern Louisiana, didn’t you?”
“Yes, but these patients do have the flu, and they aren’t dying as quickly as the Louisiana victims died. Some of these people have been sick for a week, so I don’t think we’re talking about the same illness.”
“Doctor, come with me to the California. You need to consult with Maggie Damroyal. She’s the foremost medical expert on this disease,” Cliff said, and then he turned and walked toward the ship with the doctor in tow.
***
“How bad is it?” asked Jim at the emergency meeting Maggie had called.
“I’m hoping it’s not the same disease, but we have to be certain that it’s not. If it is, then we are dealing with a worst-case scenario, because that means the plague has mutated with the flu. That means it will be an airborne threat this time, and that will make it much more deadly.”
“What do we need to do?” Jim asked.
“For the moment, we need to treat it as if it is the same disease. I need to
get to one of the camps to examine the evidence. I’ve studied the life cycle of the disease extensively. I’d recognize it, even in a mutated form.”
Jim nodded his understanding.
“There’s more,” Maggie said. “We have to stop sending more personnel into the area until we get a handle on the situation. The peacekeepers there already should follow decontamination procedures, as should the medical staff. The ships should all remain airborne, and at maximum altitude as much as possible. Landings should be upwind of the camps. Those entering should be in full protective gear and be decontaminated before entering their ships.”
“I understand and agree,” Jim said quietly.
Maggie visibly paled. For the first time since he had met the fiery doctor, Jim saw fear on her face. Pol was also pale with the comprehension of the full scope of what the mutation of the biological weapon might mean. He said, “Admiral, if she is right, then we have to consider the worst case scenario. We have to come up with a plan to save all of the people we can because this disease has the potential to wipe out the entire population. Furthermore, if it gets out of the country and spreads across the rest of the world, then we may be on the verge of an extinction event for the human race.”
“Then let’s hope it isn’t that disease,” Jim said fervently.
“What equipment will you need?” Tim asked.
“Decontamination suits, oxygen supplies, specialized medical supplies, and, if I’m right, flame throwers for cremating the bodies,” Maggie explained.
Tim’s face grew troubled. “Maggie,” he said hesitantly, “I’d rather you didn’t go to one of the camps.”
“Now look, Tim, I know we’ve clashed about some of my missions in the past, but I hope you’re not going to suggest that I send someone in my place, because if you are, then you can just forget that.”