Cygnus Expanding: Humanity Fights for Freedom (Cygnus Space Opera Book 2)

by Craig Martelle

  “What are you thinking of calling it? Something like Ship Security?” Dr. Johns asked.

  “I was thinking Cygnus Marines.” The more Cain said the words, the more they meant to him, the more he liked them.

  Dr. Johns shrugged one old shoulder. “Sounds good to me. Let me work out some things with my people while you commune with Holly, come up with a training regimen, and then we’ll come back together. There’s no hurry. You just arrived planet-side, so let’s say, tomorrow morning?”

  Cain didn’t want to wait that long, but this was Dr. Johns. His word could make the venture wildly successful or an abysmal failure. Cain smiled. “Thank you, that’s very considerate. Tomorrow morning it is. I think I’ll talk with Holly in the sunshine. It’s been a while, probably the single greatest thing I miss while in space.” The old man nodded, then waved Cain toward the elevator.

  Once outside, Cain appreciated the Cygnus sun. When he was on Concordia, he wasn’t in a position to revel in the great outdoors. All he remembered was running and fighting. Everything else about the planet was a blur.

  Lutheann was lounging on the beach. Her white fur seemed to glow in the sunshine, like the softest snow from the highest peak. ‘You are a beautiful ‘cat,’ he told her.

  She purred. ‘I’d be beautiful no matter what I was.’ Cain had to laugh at her very Hillcat-like answer.

  ‘I want the recruits to be bonded with Hillcats, but most of them won’t be when they volunteer. I need you to vet them, check the pure-heart. We can’t have any power-mad future dictators in our midst. And then arranging the ‘cats so that we can find suitable bonds. I have no idea how to even start that process,’ Cain said, sure that the recruit came first, then the ‘cat, although a recruit with a ‘cat already would have a leg up. Or would they? He was again confused, which sent his thoughts racing, not far away where he knew Aletha was.

  ‘Yes. I will help. We can go to your home. There are a number of unattached Hillcats there. They can come with us to the Space School where I expect you’ll conduct your training. May I recommend Wolfoids? They are already well-versed in the use of their lightning spears. You know they are formidable warriors, almost as good as Hillcats!’

  “My, that is high praise. I thought about that. Hillcats, Wolfoids, and humans. Maybe my first stop needs to be Livestel?” he said out loud.

  ‘Stop avoiding it. Go home to Coldstream. Who knows, you may actually find a recruit there, too. The ‘cats will know if anyone is suitable. Now stop bothering me. One of those plump wild rabbits requires my attention.’ She slunk into the underbrush and then the chaos began as small domestic rabbits ran for their lives in every direction.

  Cain found a chair by the lake and sat down. He contacted Holly and they started running through the training manuals the AI had pulled from his archives. The amount of material was staggering, but the initial boot camp training on old Earth was nearly three months long. He didn’t have that kind of time and refined the schedule to two months, with physical fitness, combat—armed and unarmed—and tactics taking precedence. He would have to learn as he went, because it was his responsibility to train the squad, as he learned it was called. Once refined and focused, the amount of written material was less, but still nearly overwhelming. He went through the titles and the tables of contents to further prioritize until he thought he was going to go blind. He minimized the window, blinking excessively to accustom himself to the waning daylight.

  He reopened his neural implant. ‘Holly, how long have I been off the ship?’

  ‘You departed the ship sixty-nine hours ago. You’ve been awake for roughly twenty-three hours relative time,’ Holly replied.

  “I’ve wasted three days already?”

  ‘Waste is a relative term. It took nearly two and a half of that to travel here. According to my projections, you are still one full day ahead of my timeline. Will you be traveling tomorrow as Lutheann suggested?’

  ‘How do you know what we talk about?’ Cain asked, suspicious of how much Holly had been in his head.

  ‘You could think of little else while we reviewed the training materials. Considering your level of distraction, you accomplished an amazing amount of work.’

  ‘Thanks, Holly, I think. Coldstream it is as soon as Dr. Johns is done with me. Then to Livestel, but on the way back, I think we’ll be carrying a bunch of ‘cats. We’ll deposit them wherever Luthie tells me to. Does this mean I get a hover car?’

  ‘A hover car has been reserved for your exclusive use. Have you driven one before?’ Holly inquired. Cain suspected the AI should have known the answer, but he humored him.

  ‘I have not, but I’ll figure it out. Don’t worry, Holly,’ Cain said as he leaned back in the chair to absorb the last of the sun’s rays. A hot shower sounded pretty good as opposed to the misting style showers on the Cygnus-12.

  ‘You most assuredly will not be allowed to figure it out as you go. Report to the motor pool immediately. We’ll run you through it and you can prove your competence in its operation, or you will walk.’

  “Right now?” Cain asked aloud in surprise.

  ‘Of course right now. You are worried about wasting time. You’re done reviewing the training materials for today, so to me, it appears that you are doing nothing. It is the perfect time. Now get going! You think you want to be a Marine? Do you have what it takes?’ Holly “yelled” through the neural implant directly into Cain’s brain.

  ‘Holly, you old dog! I like it. No rest for the weary!” Cain jumped up and started running toward the buildings that lined the eastern edge of New Sanctuary. ‘The Marines will need to be able to access more information in their implants as well as use them to talk to each other even when an AI isn’t present. Can you make that happen, Holly?’ Cain asked, thinking that many of the new recruits would not be able to mindlink, although if ‘cats were prevalent in the ranks, they could clear that up quickly and they wouldn’t need the ability to talk to each other via the neural implant. The big advantage with the mindlink was that you didn’t lose vision in one eye when it was used.

  ‘We don’t have that capability at present, as it wasn’t needed before. An AI was always present, but I understand, based on your report about Concordia. You were cut off. Mindlink and neural implants as primary and redundant means of communication. I think we’ll be able to come up with something, but it will take time. We have a little less than four months to produce an operational system.’

  ‘Exactly, Holly. We’ll train without them at first. Learn the hard way, then we’ll start finding shortcuts.’ Cain was breathing heavily. He noticed that Lutheann had not accompanied him. He expected that she would wait until he was able to demonstrate a certain amount of proficiency with the hover car before she’d go anywhere near it.

  When he arrived at the vehicle staging area, a place that the Marines would call the motor pool, he couldn’t find a human, but there was a small building that looked like a place he should go. He entered and a pleasant hologram appeared.

  “My name is Joanne and I will instruct you in the operation of the Mark 7 hover car…” Cain’s eyes glazed over as she meticulously went through the nomenclature the equipment and parts on the vehicle.

  Cain opened his neural implant. ‘Holly, you really have to do something about this training program. Nuts and bolts, Holly. Let’s get down to what’s important!’

  Electricity surged through his body and he convulsed, almost falling down. A second shock drove him to one knee. “What’s important is that you pay attention!” the hologram said in Holly’s voice. Cain stood up stiffly, happy that he didn’t pee himself. The fact that they could shock the students should have been more alarming than it was. He expected that he wasn’t the first victim of a desire to skip the training and simply jump behind the wheel.

  Cain was all ears from then on out. He passed the test with one hundred percent, before he was allowed to physically touch the vehicle. When the classroom portion of the training completed, he was sur
prised to find that the hover car had been parked immediately next to the building.

  He caressed its sleek lines before climbing in. A bot showed up next to the vehicle and continued the instruction, using a tentacle to point to the controls, running Cain through the paces of vehicle operation before it was turned on and put into gear. The bot opened the door and climbed into the passenger seat. Cain looked carefully at the tentacle and thought he saw a prod that could be used to deliver an electric shock. Any thoughts of antics went out the window as he slowly drove around the lot, maneuvering at slow speeds before the bot pointed to the exit. Cain drove out and the bot told him to drive faster and faster until they were flying at breakneck speed. Cain was concerned until he realized how well the hover car responded, although it took long sliding corners the faster it went. When he took it through the rainforest the next day, he’d be able to open it up and let it run. It had a collision detection system, so it would both inform him and automatically slow for objects in its path.

  Cain returned to the motor pool and parked the car in the space indicated by the bot. It informed Cain that he was authorized to operate the Mark 7. He walked from the compound, feeling good about himself, then he started jogging so he could get to his room before it got dark. Lutheann congratulated him on his success and said that she would now ride with him.

  “I think you and Holly are conspiring against me,” Cain told her as he jogged past and into New Sanctuary’s billeting area. Down the steps and he checked in with another hologram, who promptly informed him that there were no rooms available. Cain looked at her in confusion. Then he pointed to the awards on his chest. “Don’t you know who I am?”

  “You are scum on my boot, Marine!” the hologram said in Holly’s voice.

  “What the hell, Holly? I think you’re taking this a little too far. I want a shower. Dinner would be nice, too.”

  “The breaking down process begins. Go sleep outside. Wash yourself in the lake. Kill a rabbit for dinner. The bots will allow you to make a fire.” Cain looked shocked, but reconciled himself with the wisdom in it. He wouldn’t get to be a Marine because he read the manual. He would have to earn the title just like those he purported to lead.

  Deadly serious. The business he was about to enter was not for the weak of heart, those willing to give up, no matter how insurmountable the task may seem.

  Cain went outside, found Lutheann and told her they were going hunting. ‘Already been,’ she replied.

  “Well, we’re going again. Don’t make me throw you at the rabbits!” he growled. He was hungry, tired, and wanted a shower. If he was going to be miserable, everyone was going to be miserable with him.

  He understood the first tenet of what it meant to be a Marine. There was no better bonding experience than shared misery. Despite Lutheann’s protestations, she went with him and made the kill so he could both eat and stop bothering her while she continued digesting her earlier meal.

  Cain was like a man possessed as he built the fire, starting it with the fire-starter he always carried with him, along with numbweed and a knife. Carrying a small kit was a family trait because Braden, Micah and their descendants always seemed to find creative ways to get into tough situations.

  After eating, Cain stripped naked and jumped in the lake. It was far cooler than what he would have liked, but that was no longer relevant. He climbed out and ordered a towel from a serving bot nearby. As he dried himself, he felt that he was being decadent by using a towel. How quickly an attitude could change with proper stimulation and motivation.

  As Cain relaxed in a reclining beach chair, using a dry towel for a blanket, he opened his neural implant. ‘I get it, Holly. Well done. You must have read the manuals that you shared with me. Nothing is given, everything is earned. I’m racking out for the evening, Holly. So bugger off until morning!’

  An Attack on Peace

  Cain was surprised when he woke up as dawn approached. He expected that Holly would wake him up for one reason or another. Cain appreciated the full night’s sleep.

  A server bot had delivered a new uniform for him, complete with his awards and an odd rank, looking like a round gold leaf on the collars. He looked at it carefully. It was a dapple green, almost like the skin of a Lizard Man. He put it on, pleased with the fit and that it didn’t bind. It was almost as comfortable as the jumpsuit he wore aboard ship. It had the special power-boosted boots that he’d seen before, but never up close. He put them on and flexed with them.

  ‘Thanks for the gear, Holly. What is it all?’

  ‘You are welcome. I took some liberties as I know that you don’t have time to work through thousands of years of development. With Dr. Johns’ consent, you’ve been promoted to the rank of major in the Cygnus Marines. We’ve streamlined the ranks to privates, corporals, sergeants, lieutenants, captain, and you as the senior Marine. Now, I suggest you take a run around New Sanctuary. Ten laps should do it. Go!’

  Cain wasn’t sure he liked Holly in the role of Drill Instructor. At least a DI was still a DI, just not discipline, but drill. The end result would be the same, a disciplined Marine who instantly responded to direction. Cain stopped questioning Holly and started running. He was sore from the day prior, but that worked itself out. More than that, he discovered that he was woefully out of shape.

  When he finished, Holly informed him that there was a room for him where a shower, food, and a clean uniform waited. It wouldn’t do at all to meet Dr. Johns smelling like he’d just cleaned up an Aurochs pasture.

  He whooped in joy as he raced for billeting. He stripped as he entered his room, spending longer than he should have in the shower, but he made up for it by wolfing his breakfast. He dressed and bolted from the room, almost running over a couple workers who had the misfortune of being in the hallway at the same time as Cain. He mumbled an apology, but didn’t slow down as he ran for the exit. According to his implant, he had one minute to make it to the command center to be on time for his meeting. The elevator was waiting, descended smartly, and Cain walked in at the exact moment of their arranged meeting time.

  Dr. Johns wasn’t there. Cain’s success was short-lived. Holly yelled at him for something or other then gave him a manual to read while he waited. When Dr. Johns walked in, Cain stood up and formally greeted the older man. The doctor approved of how the new uniform looked.

  “We have some surprises in store in the armory as well. When we started researching your request a couple days ago, we discovered that the ancients had ingenious ways to inflict harm upon each other. There’s also a variety of lifesaving gear, body armor, water bladders, sensors, remote devices, and so much more. The list appears to be endless. You can look at it upon your return from Coldstream. We’ll try to organize it in a way that makes sense. I’m afraid we won’t be able to pick it out for you. That will be your call. If you don’t have anything else, I believe we’ve already wasted enough of your time. You need to get out there and start recruiting!” Dr. Johns smiled and waved Cain toward the elevator. The new major thanked him and briskly strode out.

  ‘Lutheann, meet me up top. We’re leaving for Coldstream as soon as I can get the car,’ he said over the mindlink.

  Once outside, Cain ran past the waiting ‘cat and to the motor pool. The hover car was at the gate. He didn’t hesitate as he removed the beret that Holly determined was most appropriate and climbed in, helping Lutheann over his lap and into the passenger seat. He set the destination on the automap and drove away, picking up speed as he headed toward the rainforest. He slowed to make the turn, but once on the rainforest road, he opened it up all the way. The vehicle tore into the bank of rain with a vengeance. It barely slowed, but the volume inside the vehicle increased, making it difficult for Cain to think. The map on the dash showed they were making great progress when the vehicle slowed because of an obstruction ahead.

  Cain tried to peer through the rain to see what it was, but the hover car kept slowing until it stopped. He thought the vehicle would have sugges
ted driving around whatever was in the way. Cain got out to get a better look.

  As soon as he was out of the vehicle, a sparkle in his peripheral vision made him dodge backward. The three tips of a Lizard Man trident stabbed the air where his head had just been. Cain grabbed the spear, and pulled it tightly across his body as he rolled forward. The Lizard Man refused to let go, but he wasn’t strong enough to lift the human’s entire body weight laying across the end of his trident. The Lizard Man was pulled to the ground beside Cain.

  The Marine swung his leg around and activated the booster in his boot. The accelerated toe caught the Lizard Man square in the face, splitting the creature’s head open. Cain rolled ahead, dragging the spear free from the dead Lizard Man’s hands. He came upright, crouched, and looked for the next threat.

  “Lutheann!” he yelled, but he’d shut the door behind himself and she was trapped inside. He heard her yowling, but the two Amazonians who appeared out of the rain suggested he wouldn’t get a chance to free her. He hadn’t heard of an attack on the rainforest road in over a century.

  “Why?” he asked the two, neither expecting nor receiving an answer. The Lizard Men were taller and broader than the human. They were fighting with their weapon of choice. He was fighting with a trident out of necessity. He wanted to split the two, so he could take them on one at a time. Cain feigned an attack and turned, running straight at the barricade of logs across the road. He dove over it, dropping the spear and rolling when he hit. He turned back and reached his spear just as the first Amazonian cleared the logs in pursuit.