They had flirted from the beginning, and the romance was quick to spark. While fraternization was normally frowned upon among Rangers, cadets were given more latitude since they needed to support one another during the training and examination periods. Velan had made it clear that should both become Rangers, they would never be assigned together, kept as far apart as practical so they could focus on the job. If that didn’t deter them, then marrying some time later might be acceptable.
Diaz blushed at the notion of marriage. Hell, he was just sixteen; his whole life was ahead of him.
“You’re doing what?”
Diaz wasn’t even sure if that was his mother or father talking. He had just come back from registering to join the United Rangers Corps on what he considered the proudest day of his life. With enthusiasm, he ran home, entered their apartment, and made the announcement before he could even say hello.
They were reading. They were always reading, stories of the days back on Earth, of peaceful solutions to difficult problems like when the populace nearly mutinied on the Asimov ark until they had the notion of resurrecting the Olympics, refocusing their energies. All his family had sought through the years was an elegant peace. Well, except for Kevin, who was bursting with enthusiasm.
Marisa, his mother, fell into a chair, her mouth open without a sound. Juan Carlos wrung his hands and then stuffed them into his pockets.
“I want to be a Ranger.”
“My son,” she began, then hesitated. “We always want what’s best for you … but in keeping with our family traditions—”
“But the family traditions mean nothing to me,” he snapped. “They never have!”
“Watch your tone,” Juan Carlos said. He was a little older than Marisa, and with steel-gray hair. He was built to fight but displayed an incredibly gentle persona. “Kevin, you’ve rejected our ways for years now. There have been fights, incidents we had hoped you’d grow out of. You need to find our family’s inner peace, the soothing of the soul that can guide you through life.”
“It’s never worked, Dad! I get into fights, I argue with people. It’s who I am!”
“But it is not who we are. Living simply, without complications, has worked for generations and we’ve prospered as a family. Look at Luis, a successful architect and never once a bloody nose.”
“Not since the fight.”
Luis was four years older; he had been apprenticed at fifteen and was living away from home. The brothers had little in common and rarely kept in touch. Whenever an argument broke out, Luis was out the door to avoid the conflict. Just as he’d been taught. Somehow those lessons were lost on Kevin.
“No, not since then,” his father agreed. “But since that day, you have ignored our lessons. Only after you have struck first did you then try to reason with people. Has it made you a better person?”
“I’m still growing up, I don’t know what sort of a person I am yet. But I know I will be a Ranger.”
With a heavy sigh, his father said, “I don’t know what sort of person you’re growing into. I’m pretty certain it’s not one I like very much at the moment, and that pains me.”
“Look, Mom, Dad, maybe being a Ranger is the best for me. There’s training and a chance to do good.”
“We trained you here,” Marisa said, gesturing around their neat, Spartan home. “It seems not to have worked. How will they do a better job?”
“I don’t know!” he shouted. “But you know it’s what I’ve always wanted.”
“And what we’ve always objected to,” Juan Carlos added. “Still, you defy us and sign up.”
“I won’t quit,” he said, gritting his teeth to avoid the tears he felt in the corners of his eyes.
“He signs up the first day he can and expects our support,” Marisa said to her husband. Her own eyes glistened.
“I won’t stop him,” Juan Carlos said. “He’s made a decision and has to live with those consequences. We taught him that, too. But Kevin, we cannot support you in this.”
“I know, Dad,” Kevin said in a strained voice. “But I want you to be proud of me.”
“I’m not so sure we can,” his father said quietly.
One by one, the cadets were paraded across the platform and given their badge of office. Cypher Raige, resplendent in his pure white uniform, without a drop of sweat despite the heat, shook hands and snapped off salutes. It was all very precisely, efficiently done.
Diaz was thrilled to watch his friends take their turns, although when Katya paused, turned her head toward her family, and flashed them a brilliant smile, he cringed. It was showy and unbecoming of an officer, but it was also a wonderful moment for her parents and siblings. He had looked for his brother, whom he hoped would at least be on hand, but failed at the task. Failing to accomplish something on graduation day was not the sort of harbinger he had hoped for.
Kevin Diaz heard his name and walked toward Raige. A nod, a handover of the badge, then a salute. And within seconds it was over. As he continued to cross, he stole a glance into the audience. Not a sign of his parents or Luis.
Anger and disappointment fought within his heart as he stepped down and resumed his seat, blinking back what he swore was sweat.
Being a Ranger was prestigious, but no one had ever told Kevin how tedious his job could be. There were routine patrols in and out of the city, always on the alert for dangers. For the last two years he’d rotated through the Ranger organization, being familiarized with how every division worked. He loved being on air patrol and hoped to gain his pilot’s certification; he disliked patrolling the city perimeter, but enjoyed maintaining the armory, practicing with cutlasses. Kevin continued to dream of earning an assignment to one of the ships making the run to the anchorage on Lycia.
On this day, he was walking through the market, where Rangers were routinely present to keep the peace. While matters could get somewhat more out of control in the outlying regions, crime was ridiculously low in the first city of Nova Prime, so he contented himself with studying the wares out for sale. The craftsmanship reminded him of the straight, smooth lines Luis drew as an architect. Since they were both older now, they had matured and spoke a bit more often. Their worldviews were still far apart but they found enough common ground to get through the occasional meal.
He missed his parents, though. Since snubbing him at the graduation ceremony, the three had barely spoken. Kevin dutifully turned up for family events from holiday meals to funeral rites, but it was cold and stiff between them. Kevin regretted that but saw a chasm he wasn’t sure how to cross. He kept hoping one of his parents would make the first move, but then got angry at himself for being a coward.
Kevin shook his head, visibly attempting to erase the sad feelings, when his comm unit squawked to life.
“All Rangers, attention. We have an Ursa sighting north-northeast of the city. Be armed and alert. Details to follow.”
“What’s armed and alert?”
Kevin looked down to see a little girl, no more than four, in a flowing purple caftan. The girl’s father was reaching for her when Kevin crouched to answer her question.
“Does your father tell you scary monster stories about the Ursa?”
She nodded, wide-eyed.
“The Ursa are the meanest, scariest monsters ever. They’re real but they haven’t been seen for a long, long time. You know why?”
She slowly shook her head.
“Because the Rangers chase them off every time they show their ugly faces. And what am I?”
“A Ranger?” She got the answer more from his prompt than any certainty.
“Yep, so now that they’re back, I will chase them away from you and the city. Being armed means we Rangers use our cutlasses to protect people and kill monsters like the Ursa.” With that, he withdrew his weapon and held it before the girl’s huge eyes.
“And being alert means we keep our eyes and ears open, being on the lookout for the Ursa so we can get you to safety and keep them away.”
Kevin thumbed his cutlass to life. He was incredibly thankful for the technology, developed centuries earlier before humankind was first threatened by the Ursa. Since the creatures preyed on civilians, ordnances like bombs, grenades, and other standard weapons could not be used. He remembered reading how a projectile incendiary device had leveled a block of homes during that deadly first infestation from space. Hence the shape-changing, powerful weapons were designed, refined, and employed to do the job with minimal danger to anything save the Ursa. He worried this was a new breed, deadlier than the last, instead of just the stragglers. The Ranger awaited detailed intelligence from command, but until then he tried to slow his pace as he made his way through the market toward the edge of the city.
“I’m scared, Mommy,” the four-year-old Kevin said from under his bed.
Marisa knelt down and just looked at him with a sleepy expression. It had been the third night in a row she had been awoken by his night terrors. “I’m right here.”
“But the monster will get you,” he whimpered.
“What a baby,” Luis muttered from underneath the pillow.
“Hush,” Marisa told him. She redirected her attention to her younger boy. “I’m right here and I am now between you and the monster.”
“Aren’t you afraid?”
“Of what?”
“Of being killed.”
“We all die sooner or later. If it is to be right here and now, protecting you, then so be it. I’d rather not die, though, especially lying here seeing where I missed cleaning.”
“Where would you rather die?”
“In bed, holding your father’s hand, when I am very, very old. Years from now.”
“Then you should go hide.”
“What, and let the monster come for you?”
“Well, I don’t hear it, so maybe you scared it off.”
“That’s good to know. It means I’ve done my job, and see? There was no fighting, no violence. We let life happen.”
She helped him back into bed, wrapped him tight in the blanket, and kissed his forehead. He slipped back into more pleasant dreams.
With every step, he had to force himself to slow down, not appear to panic despite the adrenaline coursing through his body. He’d responded to emergencies before, but nothing like this. This was why the Rangers still existed after a millennium away from Earth. They maintained the peace as the colony grew to a city, then on to multiple cities, and at last to exploration of nearby worlds. It was the Rangers who maintained the peace while the Savant and Primus—the heads of Nova Prime’s scientific and religious communities, respectively—bickered generation after generation (or at least that was what some Rangers claimed).
Now it was his turn, and he was going to make his commanders proud.
As he moved through the city, he saw that word had spread and panic was already beginning to grip the populace. Shops were closing up, people were scrambling within the mountain homes, a general sense of terror infused the city noise. He glimpsed two other Rangers, also moving, and his training kicked in. Whenever possible they worked in units, not solo.
One turned out to be Minh, who waved with his five-foot-long cutlass; the other was a man he did not know.
“Diaz.” Kevin nodded at Minh. The taller man jerked a thumb at the other Ranger and said, “Tanger.”
“What do we know?”
“Not much, Diaz. Waiting on the telemetry ourselves. Let’s hustle.”
“To where?” he asked.
“Wherever the action is,” Minh said with a smile. He actually seemed excited by this, not betraying any sense of fear. All Diaz felt was the adrenaline pumping through him and a sense of dread. Ursa had been holographic training exercises, not real flesh, blood, and metal reality.
As they walked, the streets grew emptier, the suns casting long, dark shadows, giving the place a deserted, unwanted feel. It was a few minutes later that their tablets relayed the vital information that at least a dozen Ursa had been located, scattered near and in the city. As a result, the orders were to kill on sight and patrol the perimeter until further instructions could arrive.
“Ever see one?” Minh asked.
“Just vids,” Tanger replied. Kevin nodded in agreement.
“Me, neither. But the footage is pretty wicked, worse than any vid imagined.”
The streets now had just a few people on them, and the panicky sounds had died down. In fact, Diaz wanted to hear an alien sound, something he could focus on and attack. He wanted to kill an Ursa, make a little history. Make his parents proud.
They continued to patrol through the dust-swept streets, Diaz thankful that the twin suns were finally beginning their descent. Between the tension and the heat, he was uncomfortable in his uniform.
He glanced at his screen for updates and cursed out loud.
“We lost three, west of here.”
“We get any of them?” Tanger asked.
“Not yet,” he replied grimly.
The mountains that formed the city were now behind them, and the arid expanse of the desert lay before them. They cast deepening shadows as the suns lowered themselves toward the horizon. Three hours had passed since the first alert, and Kevin was already tired. Tense and tired made a bad combination, but until orders were changed he was on duty.
The morning’s tedium was long gone as his eyes scanned for any movement. He saw some reptiles near the base of the nearest mountain, a blue bird flying out of reach. To his right were the long stretches of fabric that protected growing vegetable fields from the scorching sunlight. They appeared to be various peppers in a rainbow of colors, wave after wave. Looking at them ripening made him hungry but he knew he needed to conserve the few packaged snacks in his uniform.
“Rangers! Two Ursa at southwest entrance to the city! One Ranger down.”
“Rangers! One Ursa has entered the park and is under fire.”
“Rangers! Two Rangers down at the north entrance”
“Rangers! Ursa sighted at the south and west gates! Converge on target!”
The staccato rhythm of the voice, speaker unknown to Diaz, conveyed the urgency of the unfolding emergency. Within, he felt each Ranger death, fueling a boiling anger he tried to contain.
“The west gate is a few klicks that way,” Minh said, gesturing. “Let’s head over.”
Cutlasses at the ready, the trio went from a jog to a full-out run toward the nearest Ursa sighting. As they hustled, Kevin tried to recall every shred of data they had on the beasts. They had studied them intensively and while he knew their history cold, he was less certain about the current generation’s capabilities.
“These bastards can camouflage, right?”
“Yep,” Minh confirmed.
“They can also spit out that black ooze, the kind that can paralyze you.”
“Sounds messy,” Tanger said.
“More like deadly,” Minh said. “And once one gets a scent on you, it’ll hunt you until you’re dead.”
“They can smell your fear,” Tanger chimed in. “So stay frigid.”
“In this heat?” Kevin joked. But he knew what his comrade meant. Fear was an emotion with a scent, one some animals could sense, including the Ursa. He wasn’t afraid—but then again, he wasn’t facing one, either. Instead, he was anticipating finding one and engaging it, using the cutlass to slice it apart. Three cutlasses, one six-limbed beast—two apiece.
With every street crossed, there were fewer people in sight. Suddenly this had become a gho
st town, and that was obviously for the best. Kevin had never experienced it so empty or so quiet. He wanted to hear something, some clue as to where they should head. Instead, they walked in the general direction of the western entry into the city.
About a kilometer before they reached their destination, the radios squawked once more, reporting additional sightings far from their position. The news also came that another Ranger had fallen.
“We’ve lost, what, six, eight men so far?” Tanger said.
“And those other bastards are still out there,” Minh answered.
“At what point do the odds turn in their favor,” the older man wondered.
“It won’t get that far,” Diaz said with a certainty he wasn’t sure he felt. He took no comfort in being accompanied by two other Rangers since regs normally called for a minimum of eight. There was something to be said for strength in numbers, although he wasn’t entirely certain just how strong he was feeling. “Anyone call in for reinforcements yet?”
“I bow to my elder,” Minh said, literally bowing from the waist.
Tanger snarled while grinning and turned his back to the others to check in and see if more troops could be sent to back them.
“Colonel Green said more help is being dispatched, but there’s a lot of demand with a dozen of these suckers all over the city,” Tanger reported.
“Not a surprise since they can blend in with the scenery. Hunting them isn’t the same as target practice,” Diaz noted.
“Damn rude of them,” Minh said and then adjusted his cutlass in his hands.
As they rounded a corner, a moving shadow caught Minh’s eye. He held up his left hand, stopping the others. A gesture indicated the fleeting shadow but it had moved so quickly, Kevin couldn’t confirm whether it was human, animal, or Ursa that had cast the amorphous silhouette. A second gesture had them simultaneously lower their radio volumes so as not to attract attention.
With agonizing slowness, they approached the corner, all senses straining to find something to latch on to, some evidence a predator was nearby.
After Earth: A Perfect Beast Page 37