“You’re not ready,” he told the wall in his room. He let Brutus into his mind to share what Holly had told him, what he heard from Mikaila. He wanted the ‘cat’s insights.
‘Why?’ Brutus asked in a gruff thought voice.
“Why what, little man?” Cain asked out loud.
‘Why do you need my insights? It appears that you’ve come to the only conclusion possible. We need to get out of here. What would happen to us if we missed our ride? That’s what I’m worried about. No home, no purpose. Would someone try to use us for something else? But they couldn’t. We have twenty-one ‘cats to keep you from using your military power against the people, no matter what they’ve done. So stop being a dumbass. There’s someone in power who is afraid of having a military and that someone remembers what the civil war was like, how terrible it was. They are so misguided that they think they can fight a war to prevent a war,’ Brutus pontificated.
‘Isn’t that what we’re doing, Bee? We are going to fight a war to prevent a war?’ Cain switched to the mindlink to avoid being overheard.
‘Not at all. We are going to start a war to free the people of Concordia. The people of Vii are already free. There is no war to be fought here, so that’s why we need to go. The ignorant believe that we are preparing to start one, when they should know better since ‘cats are involved. Which people do ‘cats have a problem with?’ Brutus asked.
Cain thought about it. His first answer was Androids, but there weren’t any of those on Vii. “Clones,” he blurted out loud, covering his mouth immediately after making his blunder.
‘Exactly. Now keep it to yourself, I’m trying to sleep.’ Brutus curled up next to Cain’s pillow. Sleeping with the ‘cat nearby, he’d never felt so comfortable and safe. He rolled to his side and put one arm around the straggly orange creature next to him.
Dr. Johns was a clone and had the ability to dig into Holly’s programming. He had the highest level of command authority, almost comparable with the president, but she didn’t have the technical knowledge to make substantive changes. The revelation did not make Cain feel better.
He couldn’t sleep that night as his mind raced, as he ran from one threat to the next. More and more creatures at the doctor’s command piled on him, weighing him down until he could no longer move. He opened his eyes to find himself covered in sweat and twisted into his blanket. He worked himself free, hoping a soothing shower would help him relax.
It didn’t.
‘Brutus. I think we need to go see big mouth. I suspect he’s still detained in medical. They have no idea what to do with him, do they?’ The ‘cat shrugged. Brutus knew a great deal, but not that. Cain dressed in his uniform, fitted his beret over his head smartly, and strolled out the door, Brutus right beside him.
Once outside, they were joined by the security bot. Cain wondered if it was keeping an eye out for him or keeping an eye on him. For the time being, it didn’t matter. He wondered how it would take his departure in a shuttle. Maybe he could park it in the rocket blast zone, destroy the evidence. He chuckled as he walked boldly to the med lab, reveling in the fact that his knee no longer hurt. He felt like his old self.
He opened the door, walked inside, then pushed past a med bot to get into the back area where recovery rooms were located. There was only one occupied. He tried the door, but it was locked. He thought about trying to kick the door in, but it was metal and magnetically secured. He wasn’t about to ask Holly for help as he wasn’t sure which one was needed to give him access.
“Your pizza is here!” he yelled at the door, trying to make his voice sound higher. He heard a muffled yell from inside. Cain belted it out again in his loudest voice, “Your. Pizza. Is. Here!”
The door opened a crack, and Cain kicked it. It hammered into the man who had been leaning around, trying to see who would be bringing him a pizza. Cain jammed the door with his shoulder, sliding the body on the floor backwards. Once inside, he closed the door behind himself, then dropped to the floor to arm block the man, twisting him onto his face where the bully had poor leverage if he decided to try to fight. With a knee in his back and an arm around his throat, Cain heaved. The man gasped in pain, trying to scream for help.
‘Brutus, if you would do the honors,’ Cain asked the ‘cat. Brutus was already in front of the man.
“Who put you up to attacking me?” Cain asked out loud so the answer would pop to the front of big mouth’s mind.
‘The director put him up to it. That’s all he knows. Time to go,’ Brutus recommended as he moved away. Cain pushed the man onto his face, leaving him gagging. Cain stood, opened the door, and walked out. A med bot approached and entered the room as he and Brutus left.
Cain picked up his pace, desiring to be out of the med lab before an alarm could be raised.
‘So, time to go see the director?’ Cain asked the ‘cat.
‘I don’t think so. If we alert the director, he’ll tell the good doctor, and where would that put us?’
The ‘cat has a point, Cain thought. ‘Good reasoning, Bee. The director is a lackey in all this anyway. He doesn’t have access to the systems like Dr. Johns. It’s not him. I think we need to join the platoon. Stinky and Pickles, too. We need to stay together from here on out, just in case we get notified that a shuttle is ready.’
Cain turned toward billeting, jogging lightly to get out of the open more quickly. Out of the open, here, in Space School where so recently it had been a refuge.
When the major showed up in billeting well before the wake-up call, the recruits expected a twist to their training schedule. Cain held out his hands for calm, found a rack in the back with a mattress on it, and laid down. A ‘cat was already there, but she moved to the side, refusing to completely vacate the bed. Brutus climbed in next to them both. Cain fell asleep quickly, despite everything else, because he felt at home.
Cover and Concealment
When the platoon awoke smartly at five, Cain was woozy, having slept a grand total of one hour. He climbed out of bed, trying to focus, and earned himself a claw in the calf because he’d knocked Brutus onto the floor.
‘Stupid human!’ the ‘cat said to no one in particular. Brutus yawned and stretched. He’d probably gotten less sleep than Cain, but he was a ‘cat and would squeeze in twenty more hours of sleep that day.
The recruits made their racks and prepared for the day. They were ready by five-fifteen.
‘How far out are you two?’ Cain asked Stinky and Pickles over the mindlink.
They didn’t answer as they strolled in through the door, waving. Cain waved back. ‘Change of plans. We need to get back to our ship. They are going to finish early and the SES intends to launch without us. Holly is working to find us a ride at least to the Traveler. Don’t say anything out loud. I’ll explain later, but we are on standby to catch a flight at any moment. Could be two minutes from now, could be two weeks. We travel with full kit at all times. We may not be able to come back here. We can’t carry blasters, so those will go in the packs. People are used to seeing lightning spears, so Wolfoids and Lizard Men, carrying at all times. It’s Dr. Johns. He’s the one who’s stirring everything up, using Holly against us.’ Cain stopped. He didn’t know what else to say.
Stinky and Pickles looked at him for a moment, then started issuing orders. Full kit. Blasters in packs. They’d eat chow standing. From this point forward, one hand on a spear at all times. Get outside and get in formation. Run to chow.
Cain watched the sergeant lead the platoon away. The major and his lieutenants ran after them. Only Cain would get the notification from Holly so Cain had to keep up. He ran, limping a little, making him wonder if it was ghost pain or if he wasn’t fully healed yet.
Cain looked forward to spending time in zero-g, letting parts of his body take a break from carrying the load. The others were put out by the security bot following close behind them. The sight of it always bothered them because they felt helpless against it. It shimmered just enough to let eve
ryone know that its shield was active. Energy attacks on it would be reflected. It carried a myriad of weapons and was the most dangerous enemy they could encounter should it choose to engage them in combat.
That was the dichotomy that Cain struggled with. The Council of Elders, the civilian leaders of Vii, were comfortable with giving direction to a security bot, but having a small force of Marines drove them into apoplectic fits. It came down to direction and control. He figured that they felt they were in control of the security bots, but not in control of Cain, who’d passed the ‘cats’ pure-heart test. It made him want to scream.
Chow was quick and tasteless. They ate faster than usual, which was saying something, then back on the road in formation. They stayed away from the normal Space School recruits.
“Set course for New Sanctuary,” Cain told Night Stalker. Without hesitation, she started jogging toward the entrance to Space School and the road that led two ways. To the right, New Sanctuary, and to the left, the space center.
‘Are you sure you want to go to New Sanctuary?’ Stinky asked. Cain looked at him, brows furled angrily. ‘We’re fully armed. If we go there like this, don’t we give him what he wants?’
Cain stopped as the platoon continued forward. “Belay my last, Sergeant!” he yelled. “To the ruins of Sanctuary where we’ll drill and train in an urban environment.” She looked confused. He pointed to the left. The platoon started running again. “At a rout march, Sergeant. Fast walk is good enough.”
A mob of ‘cats followed, too. In all, forty-five bodies trooped down the road. And one security bot followed them all.
They skirted the edge of the extensive ruins looking for an area where some remnants of structure still existed. They stopped on the plains, the space center at the edge of the horizon, a massive crater dominating the majority of the landscape before them. In the distance, one-story buildings still stood, ghosts of the mass destruction. The radiation had long since died away. It was safe, but even the modern world of Vii shunned the ruins.
The space center had been built on the edge of Sanctuary for the same reason that the ancients established the city in the first place: resources, flatland, open access to space. It had been the perfect spaceport then, and it was the perfect location now.
They ran, a slow but steady pace, to reach the standing ruins. Once there, Cain looked back. He could no longer see the space center and estimated it would take two hours running as fast as they could sustain to get back. He hoped that would be good enough in case he received the call.
“We are safe out here. I order you back to the Space School,” he told the security bot. It didn’t move. He tried the alternative. ‘Holly, I no longer need the security bot. We are now in the middle of nowhere and I have my full platoon with me, so call off the bot. It can wait for me to return to Space School later today or maybe tomorrow. You can always check where I am since I’m keeping my window open,’ he told the AI.
‘Master Cain! It is great to hear from you. I’m not sure removing the bot is prudent at this time,’ Holly said pleasantly.
‘I see your concern, Holly, but we’re going to do some live fire exercises out here. I need the bot to be someplace else, like Space School. Please make that happen.’ Cain was short with the AI.
‘If you insist,’ Holly said mechanically. The security bot immediately turned and fled back the way they’d come.
Cain had been thinking about how to work this Holly to get to the RV Traveler. He decided that he needed to lie, but a believable lie that Holly would accept. This Holly, not the behind closed doors Holly. It was giving Cain a headache.
‘Holly, we need to take our training to a higher level. We need to go to the Traveler as soon as possible. The next phase will be zero-g and working within all the levels of the core modules of the station. We’ll return to Vii for the final month of training where we’ll bring it all together, get ready to return to space. We aren’t leaving any of our new Marines here. All of them need to deploy, for everyone’s peace of mind.’ Cain added the last part to create a wedge in how Holly perceived Cain and his platoon of Marines. He was being told one thing by Dr. Johns, and another by Cain. ‘And we’ll bring all the ‘cats with us, twenty-one total. They will ensure that we stay true to our direction from the Elders and the SES.’
‘That sounds like a prudent measure and an excellent way forward. It would take four cycles to use the matter transfer system, roughly seven to eight days to get your platoon to the Traveler. I would recommend a shuttle, where you can all go at one time,’ Holly replied.
‘That sounds great, Holly. When do you think the shuttle will be ready? We just went by there and I thought I saw one on the pad.’ Cain wanted to appear normal, talk with Holly as usual. Share truth. Be open and straightforward.
‘That shuttle is already loaded with supplies, unfortunately. It launches today. It’s counterpart is currently at the station, but will be back within two days. Another week to refuel and perform maintenance. I’ve assigned it for your use ten days from now, barring any unforeseen issues. Will that work, Major Cain?’
‘Beautiful, Holly. What would I do without you, my friend? Thank you. We will step up our training and I’ll deliver a full schedule for what we’d like while aboard the Traveler in about a week, with the usual request for quarters, access, and support. The usual,’ he reiterated. He’d get with Stinky and Pickles to put something together. It would be a valid training plan, although Cain expected to execute only a part of it before meeting with the other Holly to get a ride from the Traveler to the De’atesh Shipyard before The Olive Branch headed to deep space.
With the security bot gone, he could talk freely with the others. He closed his implant.
“They renamed the Cygnus-12,” the major started. “We’re going to ride The Olive Branch into battle, if you can believe that.” Stinky chuckled, bobbing his shaggy head and making snorting sounds. Pickles didn’t get it.
“It’s from the ancients’ stories. They used to carry an olive branch, show their enemies that they didn’t want to fight anymore. It’s the sign of peace.” The Lizard Man understood, nodding to show that he got it, although his expression, as always, betrayed none of his internal thoughts.
“It looks like we need to stay busy for ten days. The shuttle on the pad is filled with supplies and will blast off today. One currently at the station is supposed to return in two days, a week for fueling and maintenance, and then we can board. Ten days before we catch our ride, so while they train, we build the training schedule, complete with all the appropriate requests.”
Cain walked to the front of the platoon. Stinky was afraid that he’d give one of his oorah speeches.
“We are going to stack weapons, then First Squad has thirty minutes to develop a defensive position over there.” Cain pointed to a structure that looked mostly intact. “Second and Third squads will attack, attempt to root out the defenders. We have to evaluate the success of each effort based on what we see. Was there sufficient fire to suppress the defenders while the attackers approached? Was there good cover to protect you, concealment to hide you? Fourth Squad will evaluate and give feedback. The lieutenants and I need to develop the training plan for the next month where we’ll be aboard the Space Station Traveler! We will fly there in a shuttle in ten days. Sergeant, you’ll observe each iteration and guide the after-action reviews until such time as we can join the exercises.”
She waved and took over. The platoon stacked spears near the major and the lieutenants as they never wanted to leave the weapons unguarded. The squads ran off to plan their tactics while Cain, Stinky, and Pickles got to work.
“First order of business is to get everyone’s neural implants installed. If we wait too long, then Holly might find our real agenda and intervene. We need them at one hundred percent. And that’s why we can’t tell the recruits our real plan. We can’t have them slip up, expose it to Holly, then Dr. Johns would find out and we’d be done,” Cain stated definitively.
/> “What I don’t understand,” Pickles started, “is why Holly is helping us train, but is trying to send the ship to deep space without us? If they wanted us gone, we’d be gone. The security bot could have finished us easily at any time. It didn’t have to leave.”
“Holly told me that the safety protocols are still in place. That is critical, and how they can’t use the security bots against us. We have to be in the system as having passed the pure-heart test, which is alive and well because it is supported by the Council of Elders. It’s been in place for one hundred and thirty-five years. No one is in a position to change that without the whole planet being notified. That’s why we’re still here. They can’t do anything to us. They used people outside the service to attack me, although big mouth was a recruit, I can’t imagine how he passed the test. Maybe he wasn’t checked, just like those other two with him. They weren’t members, just like the Lizard Men on the rainforest road. There’s something hiding in the dark, and I don’t like it,” Cain finished.
“I don’t see how Dr. Johns could be doing all this. He never leaves New Sanctuary and how would he ever have contact with the likes of big mouth’s buddies and the rainforest highwaymen?”
“Highwaymen! Good term, Pickles.” Cain laughed. It was nice to talk through their situation, a luxury they didn’t have previously. Brutus provided a unique and sage perspective, but sometimes Cain just needed to talk out loud, hearing his arguments with his own ears.
Cygnus Expanding: Humanity Fights for Freedom (Cygnus Space Opera Book 2) Page 18