She smiled. “It was almost comical. I was in the student union studying my notes when Ed came charging up. He was out of breath and in a hurry. He asked me to tutor him but didn’t have time to stick around for my answer. I barely heard his name before he was gone.”
She looked at him. “How did you meet your wife?”
“We were high school sweethearts. We met in history class.” Colt grinned broadly. “To this day I think she arranged it because my girlfriend at the time somehow ended up in the other history class.”
They strolled the rest of the way to the trees that surrounded the lake, talking about whatever came to mind but deliberately avoiding the rebellion. When they came out of the trees, a short, grassy verge ran down to the edge of the lake. Lindsay sat down in the grass and patted the ground beside her. Colt carefully lowered himself next to her.
“It’s been so long since I’ve had someone I could really talk to.” Lindsay was looking out across the lake. “I’ve missed it.”
Colt drank in the cool evening air before responding. “So have I,” he said. “Of course, I’ve never been a great conversationalist, but Rachel seemed to draw me out. You do too.” He lay back in the grass with his arms behind his head.
Lindsay picked a rock out of the grass and flipped it toward the lake. It skipped twice before digging into the water. “This lake is named after one in western North America: Flathead Lake. I understand the name came from a misinterpretation of the name of a tribe in the area.”
She nattered on for a while, and her voice faded from Colt’s consciousness.
###
The next morning Colt woke to sounds from the kitchen. “He what?” Lois’ voice broke into laughter.
Lindsay’s voice answered. “He went to sleep. At least he doesn’t snore loudly.”
Colt hurriedly dressed while the conversation continued. He made his way to the kitchen.
“Well, here’s sleeping beauty,” Lois said with a smile. “Lindsay pours her heart out and you sleep through it.”
Colt’s eyebrows went up. He looked at Lindsay. “My gosh, I’m sorry.”
“She made that part up,” Lindsay cut in. “But it was funny.”
“I can imagine.” Colt gave her a weak grin. “I guess I was more tired than I realized. At least I was able to walk back here.”
Lindsay handed him a plate. “Lois is here to give you a final checkup so I invited her to breakfast. We’ll be in the dining room.”
Colt helped himself to a farmer’s breakfast and carried his plate into the next room.
Lois sized him up. “You don’t look all that bad,” she commented. “You couldn’t handle a walk to the lake?”
“I over did it yesterday,” Colt admitted, “but I feel pretty good.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.” She grinned. “After breakfast.”
###
Colt tucked his shirt back in. “So what’s the verdict?”
“Your red blood count is almost normal so you don’t need this anymore.” Lois removed the monitor from his forearm. “After last night – yesterday – I do think you should take it easy the next few days. At least, don’t go repairing anymore irrigation canals.”
She looked at him for a moment.
“What?” Colt blurted.
“So what do you think of Lindsay?”
“What kind of question is that?” He frowned.
“I saw the looks you were giving her.” She closed up her bag. “Don’t get me wrong. I approve.” She looked up at him. “You do realize what you have here, don’t you? Lindsay’s beautiful, intelligent, and one of the sweetest people you’ll ever meet. I knew as soon as you were conscious and talking that you and she were perfect together.”
“I’ve noticed her, believe me, but she’s still grieving over Ed.”
“And you’re still grieving over Rachel. Lindsay told me about your loss.” She paused. “I suppose the hurt will always be there, but sharing your life with someone helps. I don’t know where I’d be without Andrew.”
“Andrew?”
“My husband. He’s down at the south pole, taking core samples of the ice. Atmospheric study.”
“You said you don’t know where you would be …” Colt trailed off.
“We lost our son,” she said matter-of-factly. “Andrew kept me from becoming a basket case.”
Colt nodded. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It was thirty Earth years ago. Right after we settled here. It’s still hurts a little when I think about it, but I’ve moved on. You need to do that to. You and Lindsay could do it together.”
Colt turned serious. “I definitely like what I see in Lindsay. Unfortunately, since the accident every time I’ve tried to have a relationship with another woman, I start feeling guilty about what happened.”
“Why would you feel guilty?”
“It’s a long story.” Colt looked at his hands. “I have this unshakable feeling that I’m responsible for Rachel and Caitlin dying. If I hadn’t been out pursuing a promotion, I would have been there. Things would have been different.”
“How would that have helped? Would the transport not have crashed if you had been aboard?” Lois questioned.
“Well, no.”
“Did anyone survive the crash?” She persisted.
“No.”
“So, in other words, if you had been there, things would have been different because you would have either died with them or been at home when they died.”
She looked him in the eye. “What would that have gained anybody? I guess if you had been with them, you, at least, wouldn’t be alive to feel guilty. No, I shouldn’t be flip. But you can hardly blame yourself for what took place.”
“I know, and there’s something special about Lindsay. Still, I don’t want to push her — or me for that matter.”
“Well, if it counts for anything, you have my blessing.”
###
Lindsay stood up, her face radiant, when Lois and Colt walked into the kitchen. “I gather he’s going to live,” she said to Lois.
“Yep, he can leave any time — if you want him to.”
Lindsay’s smile faded. “That’s good,” she said quietly. “But he’s welcome to stay as long as he needs to.”
Lois winked at Colt.
###
Colt spent the rest of the day helping out where he could and resting often. He walked the perimeter of the farm, lost in thought. For a while he sat by the lake skipping stones. He knew he’d have to face his personal demons sooner or later, and Lindsay looked to be the person to help him. He hoped he wouldn’t hurt her in the process. Finally, he got up and slowly walked back to the house.
Lindsay met him on the porch. Her smile made his pulse race. “I’m tied up right now,” she said. “Can you meet Brady at the bus?”
“Sure. See you shortly.” He turned and headed toward the bus landing.
As he and Brady were walking back to the house, Brady looked up at him and said, “Do you love my mom?”
For a second Colt smiled. “I’m not sure, partner, but I like her a lot.”
“Good,” Brady spoke with the directness of childhood. “I think she likes you too, but she’s afraid you’re leaving.”
“I’ll be here a few more days for sure, but after that it depends on my job.”
“What’s your job?”
“To keep people from being hurt by stopping all this fighting.”
“That would be a good thing.” Brady nodded. “But will you come back after you’re through? I don’t want you to leave either.”
For a moment Colt paused, trying to control the catch in his voice. I want to be this boy’s dad, he realized.
Chapter 18
After dinner the web had a coded message for Colt. When he had decrypted it, it read, “I hope you don’t mind, but I have two jobs for you. Give me a call as soon as you get this.”
Colt brought up his link with Fitzhugh and waited. A few minutes later Fitzh
ugh was online with him in his Dennis O’Toole persona.
“Good to see you again, Gus. How can I help you?” Dennis asked.
“I believe I’ll be fully recovered by tomorrow, so your offer of work came at the right time. I’m need to get back to business. Technically, I should report in to the governor general, but if you have a priority job, I don’t see why it shouldn’t take precedence. I figure I can accomplish more if I keep my head down and work with you.” Colt measured his words carefully even though the feed was encrypted.
Fitzhugh dropped his Dennis accent. “As I mentioned in my message, I have two jobs. The bad guys got wind of my subspace transmitter and were pounding on my door before I could logoff. I had to destroy it to keep them from getting access to the special equipment in it. I barely was able to get away. I thought I had another transmitter hidden away, but the separatists have control of the city it’s in, and one of my contacts said they had found and gutted it. I need some way of contacting my people back on Earth. I was wondering if you could help with that.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“I want you to find an operational transceiver, if you can, and send a message out for me.”
“That lines up with one of the things I need to do. Can you authorize me to work as a company representative while I’m looking into it?”
“Well, as a matter of fact, I’ve already put you on the company payroll.”
Fitzhugh looked at a display in his hand. “The other job has to do with your friends. I’ve started looking into what’s happened to them, but I don’t have any reliable information. This rebellion is playing havoc with communicating with my operatives. I believe your crew is still alive and being held by the separatists. I have operatives looking for them, and when we do find them, we’ll probably need to move fast, but I don’t have the manpower to pick them up myself. I’ll help as much as I can, but you’ll probably have to arrange everything yourself.”
“I can handle that.”
“I understand you’re staying with a certain beautiful farmer lady. Anything I should know about?” Dennis quizzed.
“It’s complicated. I honestly don’t know where I stand or how I want to deal with it.”
“That sounds like love, me boy. Good luck to the both of you.” Fitzhugh switched his accent back on as he broke the connection.
###
The next day Brady followed Colt in to check the early news webcast. Though it was doubtful Brady really understood the war, Colt could see he was fascinated by it. Lindsay went along to make sure he didn’t watch too much. As they entered the room, the reporter was saying, “―skirmishes around Kyoto, the separatists apparently detonated a nuclear device in the heart of the city.” The image switched to an aerial view. The crater appeared to be half a kilometer in diameter. Outside it, none of the major buildings were left, and most of the residences around the city were either flattened or burning. The reporter continued, “Sensor readings indicate that the weapon was probably a low yield, primary fusion device. There appears to be very little residual radiation, and the dust cloud is not radioactive.” She put her hand over her ear for a second. “We’re getting a feed from the separatist headquarters.”
The image shifted to a weary looking Billy Hargety, “This wasn’t supposed to be a fight, and nuclear weapons were definitely not an option. The men who were responsible have been arrested and are en route to the jail in Pretoria. They will be severely dealt with when this crisis is over.” The reporter reappeared. She looked badly shaken.
Colt turned to Lindsay. “This keeps getting worse. I feel like I ought to be doing something. I’ve rested enough.”
“What can you do? You don’t have a ship, and you don’t have a crew.”
He nodded, “Obviously, if I’m going to get anything accomplished, I’ll need to do it on my own.” He stopped, “Or with help I can recruit here.” He looked at her meaningfully but she didn’t respond.
He continued, “I have two immediate goals, getting the word to the Admiralty so they can send another peace keeping force out here, and finding out what happened to my crew. Fitz has people working on finding my crew, and I figure he’s in a better position to do that, so for now I can leave it up to him. That means my first task is to try to find a working subspace transceiver.”
Lindsay shook her head. “I don’t see how you can do that. From what I hear, all the remaining subspace transmitters are in separatist hands,” she said. “You couldn’t get near one.”
“I’ve thought of another possibility,” Colt answered, smiling grimly. “The shuttle I was on had a subspace transmitter. We were too busy trying to get down in one piece to use it. If the rebels haven’t pulled it or used it for target practice, I can have the transmitter up and running in less than twenty minutes. Do you have a flyer?”
“Of course. I gather you want to use it to check out your shuttle?”
“Right now that’s the best idea I have.”
“I’m going with you,” Lindsay announced.
“I don’t know,” Colt replied. “I can use your help, but the rebels are probably guarding it. Are you sure you want to help me?”
“You’re still not completely healed. If I can help you, I want to. But I have to admit, I have mixed feelings about you getting orders.” She touched his arm. “I’m in no hurry for you to leave, but I do want to help.”
Colt looked down at his arm, and put his hand over hers. He was glad she was willing to help, but he wasn’t anxious to leave either.
“What about Brady?” he asked.
“Lois watches him for me.”
“Okay, let’s call her up. This is probably a wild goose chase, but I’m tired of sitting around.”
Interlude
McKillip rubbed her hand down her face in exasperation. “What’s going to go wrong next?”
Quan shrugged. “It doesn’t look that bad to me. Hargety took the blame for it, or at least one of his people took the blame. That should pretty well wipe him out, credibility-wise. That’s one less problem for us to worry about.”
“Until someone starts thinking.” She looked at the view of Kyoto on the screen. “That was a military weapon, not something cooked up in someone’s basement. The missile that flew it in was sophisticated enough to disguise its trail. The only people on the planet who have access to nukes are Home Guard and mercenaries. Not even the Home Guard has that kind of delivery system. Did someone else hire mercenaries? Or do we have a loose cannon working for us?”
“We’d know if someone else had hired mercenaries,” Quan answered. He realized what he had said and for a split second his eyes went wide before he gained control of his expression.
McKillip didn’t notice. “Exactly,” she said. “Find out who could have been so heartless and stupid and drag him in here. We’ll have a serious complaint for his company. Hell, I’d like to try him and execute him in public if we could.”
“I think we’d be better off covering this up. If we go public with it, we’ll be exposing our involvement.”
“That’s another thing. I’m not happy with being this hush-hush. I want people to know I’m involved with freeing the planet from Republic tyranny.”
“I’m not sure the public would understand hiring mercenaries to conduct a revolution,” Quan countered. “Right now your hands are clean, but as soon as you admit to hiring mercs, if any of them overstep their contract like whoever this was, you become responsible. No matter how harsh a punishment this guy gets, you’ll be stigmatized. You won’t be able wash your hands and expect to be exonerated.”
McKillip buried her face in her hands again.
Quan continued, “In fact, you’re better off never exposing this guy because he can probably be traced back to you.”
McKillip sighed. “I suppose you’re right.” She slapped her hand down on the desk. “Well, at least we can take him out of circulation and make sure nothing like this happens again. Let me know as soon as you’ve found him.”
In the corridor a moment later, Quan pulled out his communicator. “That did not go well. I had to improvise to keep her from figuring out what is going on.”
Chapter 19
By the next morning, Colt had had time to think about his comment that this was a wild goose chase, and he began to wonder if it wasn’t a total waste of energy. Still, he needed to do something. There was a slim chance that he could get a message to navy command this way. He joined Lindsay in preparing for the day’s activities.
Lindsay had put together a picnic lunch, which they carried, along with a heavy blanket, to the garage. The flyer was a typical family van, room for seven passengers and a small load of equipment in back. As Colt stowed the picnic supplies in the back of the flyer, he said, “I still don’t understand the purpose of the lunch. This isn’t a real picnic we’re on.”
Lindsay smiled, “Always be prepared. Suppose there are guards. What could be more innocuous than two lovebirds on a picnic?”
Colt grunted.
When they had stowed the supplies, Colt said, “I’d better drive since I know where we’re going.”
Lindsay nodded in agreement. “In that case let me introduce you to Amelia.”
As soon as Lindsay had introduced Colt to the van’s AI, Colt took the controls. He eased the van out the garage door in ground mode. Lifting the van, he applied forward thrust, accelerating toward the canyon that the Lodaanii had taken to bring him to Lindsay’s. As the van gathered speed, the terrain lock engaged and raised it to five meters above the terrain. It quickly steadied at 200 kph.
Lindsay placed her hand on Colt’s forearm. He glanced at her, welcoming her touch but concerned she might disturb the controls. “If you want this to look like a picnic trip,” she said, “you probably should take it a little easier – unless you’re really in a hurry to get me alone.”
Colt felt a brief electric shock. Did she want him? He immediately eased back on the controller, dropping the speed to 100 kph. “You’re right. I guess I was rushing because of the uncertainty. I can’t imagine the rebels leaving something behind I can work with, but I’m hoping.”
Peacemaker: The Corona Rebellion 2564 AD Page 14