Green World

by B. V. Larson

  “You think they’re going to contact security?” I asked.

  Galina laughed. “They’re probably contacting their stock brokers. Those two have cleaned me out of a lot of cash over the years.”

  I nodded, believing her.

  Awhile later, I found myself nodding off. My head was resting against the wall and my heels were making a scuff on the floor as my butt almost slid off the couch.

  Galina slapped my thigh, and I snorted awake. “Stop snoring. Go in there and see what the hold-up is.”

  “Hold-up?”

  Getting to my feet, I looked at my tapper. It had been thirty-five minutes… no, almost forty. That didn’t sound like a priority revive to me.

  I got up and walked to the door. Galina was behind me, complaining and yapping about a deduction to their usual fee. I didn’t listen. Instead, I drew my pistol and peered into the triangular porthole in the door.

  I spotted the revival machine. It was yawning open. The lower jaw dripped goop slowly—but there was no sign of Armel.

  Then I tilted my head and stretched my neck. Being a tall man, I was able to see the deck despite the angle. Was that…? Yes. A pair of blue coveralls were sprawled on the stained floor—and there was a body inside them.

  “He killed the bio-people,” I told Galina in a whisper.

  “What?”

  “You heard me. He killed them. Armel is tricky that way, you know.”

  She backed away from the door in alarm, but I waved her closer.

  “Open this—you must have the clearance.”

  She did as I asked, then she hopped away when the door swung wide.

  A crazed figure rushed us. It was Armel all right, wild-eyed and buck-naked. He had a scalpel in one hand and what looked like a bloody scalp in the other.

  -25-

  Galina squealed and stumbled back, but I set myself and aimed my pistol at his head. His charge faltered. He stopped. His sides were heaving and his freshly revived eyes squinted at me.

  “McGill?”

  “That’s right, you ungrateful prick. Why’d you kill our bio-techs?”

  He glanced over his shoulder, then cast aside the scalpel. “I… I must apologize.”

  “He’s a bad grow, McGill,” Turov said from behind my elbow. “Put him down.”

  “Is that…? Ah, yes. Of course. I almost didn’t recognize your characteristic squeak, Tribune Turov.”

  Galina stepped half-way out from behind me. Her tail was already swishing. Armel could piss people off faster than anyone—with the possible exception of myself. He had a knack for it.

  “I was an idiot to let you talk me into reviving him, James. Now those bios will demand extra cash for dying.”

  I glanced down at Turov. “Really? It was pretty expensive already. Way more than this Frenchman is worth. You shouldn’t give them a tip or anything.”

  Armel was frowning now, looking for clothes. I kept my pistol trained on his mustache, but he didn’t even seem to notice or care. “So, this revive is off the books? Excellent. I commend you, McGill. When I awoke to find myself in the hands of two hogs inside Central, I assumed the worst. You have surprised me yet again.”

  “How so?”

  Armel shrugged into the clothes he’d found—it looked like something a bio orderly would wear—then he stood tall. The clothes stretched to fit his frame, and he sighed comfortably. “If you had meant to torment me in the depths of Central, you would hardly have paid for an expensive illegal revive.”

  “Oh… yeah, right.” I thought, of course, of Galina’s ideas. Off the books or no, she didn’t have nice intentions toward Armel. There was no point in telling him that, however. A man tended to clam-up if you told him torture might be coming his way. “I told you I’d bring you home, and here you are.”

  “How do you wish to proceed?” he asked, gazing at us.

  “Huh?”

  “I mean, am I to pretend I’m your prisoner? Or a guest? Or perhaps a bio orderly who happens to be heading to lunch with two Varus officers?”

  “You’re a prisoner,” Galina said, and she tossed him a pair of gravity-cuffs.

  Armel made clucking sounds of disappointment, but he put them on without a fuss. After all, he knew we had all the cards now that he was on our turf. We could kill him and tell any tale we wanted. Everyone would believe us.

  Galina led the way, with Armel in the middle and me bringing up the rear with my pistol aimed at his spine. Once he had the cuffs on, Galina was all brassy and swaggering.

  “I’ve got half a mind to turn you in to Hegemony. That alone would be worth the credits I wasted on you.”

  “Ah, but then how would you explain the illegal revive? Or the dead bio people?”

  Galina gave him a bitter glance over her shoulder. “I’d think of something.”

  Armel laughed. “I bet you would. There’s no act of deceit I’d put past you, Tribune. But if you did that, you’d never hear my offer.”

  “What offer?”

  “I wish to help you with a small problem you’ve been having.”

  Galina stopped and faced him, putting her hands on her hips. “Seriously? You think after an expensive ship blows up, you can waltz back to Earth with some lame explanation about the sabotage?”

  “I wouldn’t put it quite that way, but yes, I can explain it, and I can help you exact your revenge. Better yet, I can help you ensure worse things don’t happen very soon.”

  She wagged a finger in his face. “Oh no, you don’t. You caused that explosion—or at the very least, you were in on it. Getting back into Earth’s good graces will not be so easy.”

  “Hmm… I reject your premise out of hand, of course. I didn’t blow up the Sea Empress. McGill did that by exposing the smuggling system. Once that happened, the rebels felt they had to erase all evidence so that Earth wouldn’t suspect the great danger they’re in.”

  “If these rebels are so powerful, why aren’t you working for them still?”

  Galina had my attention now. That was exactly what I was wondering.

  “As I told McGill, I think they will lose their gambit. I don’t wish to be on the losing side. It is a weak position for any mercenary to be in.”

  She huffed and spun back around on her heel. We boarded an elevator and she talked to the panel. “Detention level minus five.”

  The elevator began a quick descent, and Armel looked kind of glum. “McGill? Aren’t you even going to object to this? We had a deal, man.”

  I shrugged. “I told you I’d get a revive, and I did. The rest of this game is up to you. I’m not in charge around here, you know.”

  “One would never suspect this truth.” He turned back to Galina, who wasn’t looking at him. He looked speculative. “It would seem I need to make a tempting offer. As I said before, I can solve your current problem for you.”

  “I doubt you even know what we want.”

  “Not true!”

  The door swished open, and guards turned to regard us. They eyed Armel and the rest of us warily.

  “What’s this about, Tribune?”

  “This is a Legion Varus matter. This prisoner has performed unacceptably. We’re here to punish him.”

  “Ah-ha! Flogging, shocking or…?”

  “We’ll flog him.”

  The hog looked kind of excited. He got out a leather whip with three tails on it. Each tail was weighted and barbed.

  “They used to go with a nine-tailed whip, you know,” he said as he smoothed out the straps in a loving fashion. “But we’ve advanced in our techniques over the years. This tool will do the job, and I prefer the weight of it in my hand to a true cat-o-nine.”

  Galina looked at the whip with mild curiosity. “That will do. McGill? Take the whip.”

  I reached for it, but the hog looked surprised and disappointed. He didn’t hand it over right off.

  “Uh… Tribune? I’m a trained professional with this device. If you want an amateur to swing it, well… I wouldn’t do it, if
I were you. It’s liable to get messy.”

  “I don’t care. McGill has a good arm. Hand it over, please, and give us a private room to work in.”

  With his eyebrows riding high in resigned surprise, he handed me the whip and signed us into a room. As we walked away, I overheard the hog talk to his partner. “That gorilla is going to take the guy’s head off.”

  “Suits me,” said the second man. “Varus people deserve each other.”

  We stepped into a sterile white room at the end of the hall. Everything was stainless steel or white-painted brick in here.

  “Looky here,” I said, pointing. “There’s even a steel drain in the floor, and a spritzer thoughtfully racked on that wall for clean-up. They thought of everything.”

  “Everything except my reaction,” Armel said with a hint of bitterness. “You’ll get nothing from me this way, Turov. I—”

  Crack!

  I’d positioned myself behind him, and the first blow laid his shirt open almost down to his waist.

  “Gah!” Armel pitched forward on his knees. He almost fell on his face, what with the gravity cuff keeping him from using his hands and all.

  “That hog was right. This thing works great.”

  Galina’s hand went high. “Hold on, McGill. You’re as over-eager as that pig of man outside. I haven’t even asked him any questions yet.”

  “Okay, okay. So ask. My wrist is getting itchy, here.”

  Experimentally, I slashed the air with the whip. It made all kinds of cool slashing sounds.

  “This is pointless, Turov,” Armel gasped from the deck.

  “On the contrary. I’m enjoying myself immensely. This is worthwhile, if only for the entertainment value.”

  He glared up at us. “Animals. This is why I left Earth.”

  “Oh really?” Galina stooped down. “I thought you got paid better. Did the bears really treat you with kindness and consideration?”

  “They were at least predictable and rational to deal with.”

  That seemed to sting Galina a little. She didn’t like being called crazy. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about crazy ladies, it’s this: never call them crazy.

  “Can I hit him again?”

  “No. I’m going to ask my first question.”

  “Don’t bother,” Armel said. “I know what it is. You want to know how to get to Green World.”

  “Wrong. McGill?”

  Crack!

  I did a side-swipe this time. “Damn if that did draw lines!”

  “Bastard!”

  “We already know how to get to Green World, Armel. We’ve pin-pointed it. What we want to know is—”

  “Yes, stupid woman! I know what you want! You want to know how to get across the Skay province safely, without tripping any alarms. I can tell you that, if you would only listen. I can give you our friend-or-foe codes. I was, after all, the chief enforcer of Province 926.”

  “Hmm… so you were. What’s more, you’re right. That is exactly what I wanted to know. Unfortunately, I don’t like being called stupid.”

  She signaled me again, and one more time the whip rose and fell.

  Crack!

  -26-

  We exited the detention center, collected a copy of the video, and moved toward the elevators. On the way, the sadist hog tapped my arm.

  “The whip, please, Centurion?”

  I handed it over. He looked at it, then up at me. “You know Varus, I was wrong about you. That was good work. If you ever need to do some moonlighting… well, we could us a man like you.”

  Shaking my head, I tried to explain. I jerked my thumb over my shoulder at Armel. “That man is a traitor. He and I—we’ve killed each other more than once. I wouldn’t feel right about beating on a stranger who might not deserve it.”

  “I see. But just remember you’ve got a talent in that arm of yours. Don’t waste it.”

  Shaking my head, I hurried after Galina, half-dragging Armel behind me. He wasn’t in mint condition anymore. I thought that was a rather weak showing on his part. After all, I’d taken thirty lashes before and still walked out with my head held high. Of course, the blows might not have been delivered with quite so much force…

  When we were in the elevator again, we starting going up. We went a long ways, and finally even Armel became curious about our destination.

  “What next? Are we going to the very top?”

  “Almost,” Galina told him. “We’re going to meet Drusus.”

  “Really? Is that a good idea? His instinct will be to perm me.”

  Galina shrugged. “Possibly. That’s why we beat you. This capture has to look convincing.”

  Armel stared at the floor. His eyes were a little glassy, and sweat mixed with blood dripped onto the floor. After about ten seconds of that, he straightened suddenly.

  “No! That’s a lie! You beat me so that no one would suspect you and I are in a conspiracy together. Well, rest assured, your secrets are safe with me. I have nothing to gain by bringing you down with me.”

  Galina looked at him like he was a dog turd. Armel dared to smile back. I will say one thing for the man: he had a brass pair on him. He always had.

  “I’ve got half a mind to call this off and recycle you,” she said.

  “Yes, of course. But you need the friend-or-foe codes, don’t you? How else will you get past the Skay to your target?”

  Growling, Galina led the way back to Drusus’ offices. Once we were there, the staffers fussed and carried on. They didn’t like stains on their couches and floors.

  I took the nu-skin spray they offered and blew the entire can onto Armel’s back. That fixed him and got the prissy hogs to shut up as a bonus.

  After a dull half an hour, whatever boring-ass meeting Drusus had been involved in broke up. He chased about fifty uniforms out of his office, then finally noticed us.

  “This is an unlikely trio,” he said.

  “Praetor? Sir?” said a man off to one side.

  It was Primus Bob again, and he was almost hopping from foot-to-foot. “I know you said McGill could pester you within reason. That’s why we allowed him to wait here. But I feel I must remind you of your lunch appointment with Wurtenburger.”

  “That’s an online weekly meeting. Postpone it.”

  Primus Bob gaped while Drusus beckoned us into his office and closed the door.

  Once inside, the praetor turned to me, shaking his head. “McGill, you’re always surprising me. I sent you to look into Green World this morning, so you return with a traitor in tow a few hours later? What did you do? Port out there and capture this renegade?”

  “Uh… what? No, no, no, sir. He came to us… sort of. I had him in my tapper, see. He was still recognized as a legionnaire by my local grid, so it caught his engram when I killed him back at Rigel.”

  Drusus blinked, thinking that over. “I suppose that’s possible… How did you get the body-scan?”

  I shrugged. “Easy as pie. He was in the data-core here at Central. Sure, the body was a few years younger… but that doesn’t really matter, does it?”

  Drusus thought it over, and he walked to his giant table computer. We followed him apprehensively. Drusus ran his fingers over the black glass surface.

  “Should I check out your story? I can, you know. I can look into what you had for dinner last night, if I need to.”

  Deciding to bluff all the way, I grinned and slapped a big palm on the table. “Burger and fries, sir. Check away!”

  “That’s what I thought. But, as the Greeks used to say, it isn’t a good idea to look a gift-horse in the mouth.”

  “Heh. Good advice.”

  Drusus looked at Turov next. “McGill says your prisoner was recently revived—and he appears to have been abused. Did you approve both these actions?”

  “I did, sir.”

  He nodded, and he fondled his computer some more. I could tell he was thinking about checking the revival records—naturally, there would be no record of Armel b
eing brought back to life. If we’d even tried to get permission to do that, he would probably have been alerted.

  Finally, he shook his head and sighed. “No, I’m going to have to take your word on this today. That’s what Legion Varus is all about, after all, doing unpleasant things that need doing.”

  “Damned straight, sir! We’re frigging heroes, one and all. You used to say that all time, remember?”

  He nodded. “Okay, so what can this man do for us?”

  We all looked at Armel. Mind you, he seemed a little surly and ungrateful. I thought that was sour grapes on his part. After all, he was the traitor. Had he really expected a homecoming parade and a box of chocolates?

  For a minute, Armel looked like he was going to whine about his flogging—but he didn’t. Instead, he straightened himself and addressed Drusus. “You have a problem, sir. You need to get to Green World before the rebel forces launch their invasion of Earth.”

  Drusus tilted his head. “Invasion?”

  “Oh? Did these two forget to mention this detail? An oversight, I’m sure.”

  “All right, we’ll come back to that. Please continue. Tell me how you’ll solve our problem in getting to Green World.”

  Armel proceeded to explain how he could provide the codes needed to guide a ship through Province 926 without being detected as unusual traffic. When he was done, Drusus frowned at him.

  “Surely, your people will change those codes after your disappearance.”

  “Ah, sadly, this is true. We must move with urgency. If possible, we should all board Dominus and fly out of here tonight.”

  “Impossible!” Turov squawked.

  Armel ignored her outburst. He was studying Drusus carefully.

  “We’ll do it,” Drusus said after spending about ninety seconds tapping on his giant desk. “I’ll join you when you get there to command the expedition personally. Turov, you’ll fly in—six hours.”

  “Sir?” she sputtered. “There’s simply no way we can gather a full legion in that much time!”

  “I know. We’ll use the gateway posts. As your troops report to the Mustering Hall for duty over the next several days, we’ll transmit them to the ship in a steady stream. It’s not optimal, but it will work.”