The slim, trimly muscled woman who wore only a green leotard pulled her javelin off her back and inspected its needle point. “Your grandpa taught you too well! I recall him using just that phrase.”
“Thought you might.” Jack grinned. Then realized his neck felt better not looking up. He glanced around the hundreds of co-celebrators of the impending ship launch.
The leaders of China and India, who represented three-fifths of humanity’s people, were two elderly, white-haired men. They were engaged in intense private chatter, judging by the way their heads tilted toward each other. The Autarch of Brazil was hanging with the Autarch of the Moon, which made sense given their common Portugese-Hispanic heritage. Gov. McDonough was grinning at some joke told by Australia’s Prime Minister, while leaders of thirty other Earth nations who had declared independence after his destruction of the Unity Assembly in Geneva were also present. Each with one or more personal guards. Circulating among them all were white-suited drink servors from every race of humanity, all of them hailing from Vesta’s personal entertainment industry. Rockrats who spent months alone finding and setting claim buoys on mineral-rich asteroids returned to Vesta’s Registry Hall with three things on their mine. Registering their finds, getting drunk and having lots of sex. Which included solo women as well as men. Which might explain the several young men of South Asian heritage circulating with squeeze-drink bottles on magplate trays, looking eager to earn some golden tips from the topsuck women and men gathered for this party. Several had the thick black mustaches, wavy black hair and dark-brown skin suggestive of India and nearby nations. Which made sense. Citizens of China and India made up the majority of colonists in Cold Sleep capsules, since they were the majority of humanity. Forty other nations on Earth had people among the colonists. There were also people from Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt, Europa, Ganymede, Enceladus, Titan and Charon among the colonists. Half the crew were from the Belt, given that only Belters knew how to work the grav-pull and Alcubierre ship drives. Around him people moved, bumped into each other, walked stiffly on magboots for the first time, looked around with confused expressions, seemed intent on—
“Die!” screamed a dark-skinned man who lunged at Jack with a machete aimed straight for his heart.
Shock froze him for a moment. Then the need to protect Nikola and the baby overtook him. He twisted to present his right side as he covered his lifemate. Pain filled his side.
“Fucker!” screamed Maureen. “Eat this!”
The pain became intense. But it only accentuated his awareness of all around him. He looked back toward the swarthy, black-mustached man with wavy black hair who just moments before had been carrying a large magplate tray filled with squeeze drinks. Under which, no doubt, he had carried the machete. Which had cut into his right side above his hip. The man now had eyes wide open as he choked on the javelin spear that Maureen had driven up through his bearded jaw and out through the top of his head. The man had let go of the machete, which projected from Jack’s side and grabbed the steel shaft under his jaw. As if to pull it out. Only before he could do that Maureen’s short Roman sword was thrust through his heart. Jack’s hyper-senses thought he heard the sound of bone breaking as the sword penetrated the man’s sternum and exited through his spinal column. Red blood spouted from the man’s brown lips. His eyes rolled up as he tottered, then fell backward slowly, ever so slowly in the tiny gravity of Vesta.
“Jack!” screamed Nikola. “Damn it Maureen! Get that machete out of him!”
He swung his eyes to his lifemate. Her pale blue eyes had tears in them. Her sandy brown cheeks were twisted. Her beige lips were wide open as she yelled. Her right hand now pulled on his left arm. Oh, yes. They had had their arms entwined as they watched the wonder of the colony ship. Weariness came over him. Tiredness also. He felt his knees begin to buckle. Sharp new pain came from his right side as someone, likely Maureen, pulled out the machete that was embedded deep in his right side, below his ribs. Was his right kidney dead? Was—
He felt the touch of something cold being slapped onto his right side just before his vision went dark.
♦ ♦ ♦
“Jack? Jack! Oh, Jack, wake up. Wake up!”
The voice sounded familiar. As did the pain in his right side. He opened his eyes. Above him crouched Nikola, her eyes red and her cheeks wet. Far above her was the clear quartz glass of the dome. All around Nikola were gathered faces of people he knew. Hideyoshi. Max. Ignacio. Denise. Minna. Blodwen. Archibald. Júlia. Maureen. And Elaine, his sister who, besides being a Pilot, was also a trained medoc. She leaned closer.
“Jack, I’ve put a Block patch on your side where the sword went in,” she said hurriedly. “It’s stopping the bleeding. The nanobots in the inner fiber are working to seal off the cut blood vessels. There’s morphine also going in for the pain. Can you move?”
He winced as he realized he had fallen on his back on the metal floor of the dome but his two magboots had stayed locked to the floor. Which caused his ankles to hurt like the dickens. With a gasp he pulled the boots free, stopping the ankle strain. Above him Maureen had turned away and was yelling loudly.
“Mabry! Get a protective cordon around us now! And put a vacsack around that body. I want Cassie to track down his ID and how the fuck he got into this place with a machete!”
The faces of his crew, his fleet allies, a few friendly topsucks, they all were looking down at him. With expressions of worry, anger and concern. It reminded him of who he was. Who his grandpa had raised him to be. Putting hands down against the cold metal floor, he levered himself up to a half-sitting position. Elaine reached out to push him back down.
“No! Sis, no. Let me, uh, help me stand up. It’s just blood. And maybe a dead kidney. I’ve got a second one still working.” He gave her what he hoped was an upbeat smile.
Her amber eyes went wide. “Brother! No. You need to stay flat with elevated legs. The maglev gurney is coming through the airlock from the Lander outside. It’s got a fluorscope on it. With it we can see—”
“I said let me stand up!”
She grimaced. Then grabbed his right arm. Nikola grabbed his left. Behind him Max and Ignacio pulled on his shoulders. With their help, and the super low gravity normal to Vesta, he stood up. His magboots went Click! loudly. He looked down at the formal white and black leotard he had worn for the occasion. Red blood showed on his right side. In the middle of the blood was the round silvery patch of the First Aid Block. Something carried by all space-going ships and crews for more than fifty years. It was guaranteed to stabilize even the most severe lacerations and deep wounds. He looked up and around. Near him were gathered the topsuck politicos he had noticed just moments earlier. All of them looked concerned, some worried. Guards in black leotards buffered each politico from any one nearby. They were not armed. Only the Mars Marines coming up under Mabry’s command were armed. But the topsuck guards looked ready to bite any opponent in half. He grinned at Elaine. “Thank you sis. Now, before your gurney takes me off to the hospital in Aricia Tholus, help me walk to that podium there. Where all the speeches and live AV stuff is going to happen.”
She gave him a rebellious look. He knew he could not physically resist his tall, slim and tough sister. But she and Cassie, who was hurrying up from where she had been standing with Ensign Hopkinson, had grown up with him. They both owed him. She nodded slowly. “Okay. But just for a few minutes! Then we haul you off to ER surgery and some Fake Skin!”
“Thank you.” He nodded to Nikola, who was wiping away her tears. Her expression was concerned. But supportive. Part of why he had fallen in love with her back on Charon. “Dearest, I have to talk to everyone here. And in the system. Give me a few minutes up there. Then you and Elaine can haul me off to the robots and medocs. Okay?”
She bit her pale lips. Then nodded sharply. “Okay. But if I see fresh blood coming out of you, you go onto that gurney and we haul ass for Aricia Tholus.”
“Understood.” He made to walk f
orward. His legs moved normally. The hands of the four people who surrounded him were not really needed. As he moved forward the crowd parted. Some of them had tears in their eyes. A small boy and a girl a little older looked up at him as their parents stood behind them.
“Mister Jack, you gonna be okay?” cried the blond-haired girl.
“I wanna help you!” the boy yelled.
He waved a hand at them. A bit shakily. “I’m gonna be okay. The medocs do wonders these days. And hey, you know what your parents have told you. If you got air, fuel, food and working Tech, you can do anything in the Belt!”
Around him came scattered cheers. No doubt from the several hundred Vesta and Belter natives who had come to the send-off ceremony. He noticed now that his fellow captains were preceding him, clearing the way and standing to either side as a protective guard. In between them were a few dozen Mars Marines dressed in red and white-striped battle outfits. He stood straighter. With a nod here and a nod there, he passed by Aashman, Kasun, Júlia, Akemi, Minna, Gareth, Zhāng, Amitar and, finally, Hideyoshi. The man stood ramrod straight just below the elevated podium. Which had a ramp leading up to it. Dressed in his formal Mars red jumpsuit, the man was holding a sharp salute.
“Attention!” Hideyoshi said in Belter English. “Fleet Captain Jack Munroe will address all gathered here. And throughout Sol system!”
When his magboots met the start of the ramp, he gave a shrug. “Max, Ignacio, Elaine, that’s enough. I can walk up on my own. With Nikola’s help no doubt.
Rebellious looks came from all three. Then, when they saw the imperious expression of Hideyoshi, a man who always had about him a command air, they nodded and let go.
He walked up the ramp, with Nikola holding his left arm. Step by step he climbed the ramp until he got to the flat platform at the top. Turning, he stood before an AV livecast podium. Which, like the lecterns of old, had holo screens flickering to the right and left for the text of formal speech-making. Which he had never done in his entire life. Guess I’ll have to do this on the fly. Looking around at the gathered people, the topsucks and the regular folks who had filled the Belt with their hopes, yearnings and willingness to take a chance for a life of choice and freedom, they all fixed on him. Likely so did billions of other humans gathered at home, work, in space and in offices.
“People of Sol system, I am Jack Munroe, Fleet Captain of the combined space fleets of Mars, the Moon and the Asteroid Belt. We’ve been to the stars three times. We’ve met wonderful Aliens who share much of what matters to you.” He grimaced. “We’ve also battled social carnivore predators who believe their galactic system is how things should run from star to star! Which is that only apex predators like . . . like us humans have the right to explore the universe. Everyone else is either a juvenile species still growing up, or a subject people species that must serve their predator masters. Which service includes annual donations of living young people to be eaten by these Hunters of the Great Dark!” Looks of disgust filled most of the faces below. Only some topsuck politicos who understood how policy sometimes had to override simple decency did not look disgusted. They did look sympathetic. Perhaps for what he and his had faced in the Great Dark. “Just now someone tried to kill me. Maybe because everyone knows that I and my fleet allies hope to defy this terrible system. We want to set free more juvenile species and bring them the chance of freedom without domination. Our efforts could bring about the isolation of Sol system if we cannot defeat the Arbitors who enforce this terrible system.” He paused, looked up at the five hovering AV balls that were carrying his talk live to all parts of the system. “Some of you may think, why not accept this system? After all, humanity is an accepted Hunter thanks to our defeat of the Aliens who tried to take over Sol system. Let’s just go along and the future will be bright. Perhaps the man who tried to kill me represented a group or nation that thinks this way. Well, I have a simple answer for you.” Shivering hit him. His lips felt dry. But he knew he could not drink anything until his innards had been checked for leaks. He took a deep breath, put both hands on the podium and leaned forward. “Well, my answer to Why Not is simple. It’s not right!” Loud cheers sounded from the people in the dome. Including the parents of the boy and girl who had been worried for him. “We fight for a principle, not for power or possessions, though they may happen as a result of our fight. In short, we fight against the Hunters system because we believe in the right of all peoples to personal freedom, free choice and the right to explore to their hearts’ desire!”
Loud clapping, cheers and foot stomping sounded from most of the people gathered below. The leaders of Brazil, China, India, the Moon, Mars, Mathilde, Ceres, Vesta and elsewhere nodded slowly, their faces saying they understood the principle for which he and his fleet risked their lives.
“Now, above us floats Humanity, the first human colony ship,” Jack said, his voice croaking from dryness. “It will leave shortly for an unoccupied star system far, far away. We will plant our first colony there. We will plant other colonies in other star systems, but we will not dominate other peoples!”
Dizziness hit him. He blinked. His vision cleared. Amidst the smiles and cheers he leaned on Nikola and began walking down the ramp. At the bottom Elaine met him with raised eyebrows. The maglev gurney floated behind her. As did six red-and-white uniformed medocs. “Jack?”
“Give me a shot of adrenaline. Then put me on the gurney. I want . . . I want to stay alert for the ship’s departure.”
Elaine smiled quickly. “Will do.” She touched his left shoulder with an air hypo. “You’ll feel better soon. More energy. And we’ll get you to the Aricia Tholus hospital ASAP in that ship outside!”
Hands on his shoulders and legs lifted him up effortlessly and laid him atop the gurney. Monitoring straps wrapped around his wrists and ankles automatically. Someone pulled the clear flexible cover up from his feet toward his face, getting ready to inflate it for passage through the vacuum outside. He looked up and to the side. Nikola.
“Lifemate, I’m tough. All Belters are. This is just a stumble on our journey to universal freedom.”
Tears filled her eyes. Then the gurney cover came over his face and latched to the rim behind his head. “I’ll be there when you wake up,” she said.
He heard her voice over the internal comlink of the gurney. Wake up? Tiredness hit him along with soft sleepiness. He realized suddenly that his sister had tricked him. No adrenaline that hypo! It was a knock-out drug often used to sedate people fresh from trauma.
His eyes closed against his wishes. His breathing slowed. His heart beat easily. And in his mind he saw their Garden habitat in all its green beauty. He saw Nikola sitting at the edge of a red and white-checked tablecloth, their picnic basket beside her feet, as she looked up at his entry and said “Hello, my love. We’re pregnant.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Jack dreamed and knew he dreamed. After all, it was not normal to fly through the sky like a bird, swooping and diving and circling above a herd of elephants on the plains below. Although they resembled Doomat elephants, he knew they couldn’t be. He’d returned home to Sol system. To grab someone’s particle accelerator. And to see off the colony ship that Zhāng Dingbang had insisted humans create as a last chance option in case his Arbitor challenge failed. The colony ship had resembled a red cigar, pointed at both ends. He’d been watching it and celebrating and—
“Wake up Mr. Munroe,” said an authoritative male voice.
The dream vanished and he became aware he was lying down somewhere. Oh. The machete. The talk. The gurney. His sneaky sister Elaine. Squinting against the brightness of light that lay on the other side of his eyelids, Jack opened his eyes. Above him, leaning over, was a white-haired medoc who resembled an ancient AV vid drama actor. He couldn’t place the actor’s name. Anyway, this man’s expression was impatient.
“Hey doc. I wasn’t sleeping. Just checking my eyelids for leakage.”
The man’s white handlebar mustache quiver
ed slightly. His dark brown eyes blinked. The man pursed his rad-tanned lips. “That’s one I haven’t heard. Some Alien tell it to you?”
As his vision sharpened Jack could see he lay in a white-walled room adorned with a variety of Sensor screens, beeping Tech stuff, a bag of IV fluid suspended above him with an auto-pump pushing something into his arm and, at the foot of the bed on which he lay, Nikola stood next to a nurse with the epaulets of Surgery-General. His lifemate looked tired and worn out. But the redness in her blue eyes was gone. Which said time had passed. He fixed on the medoc leaning over him. “How long has it been since I was stabbed? Quickly now!”
The medoc showed surprise at hearing Jack’s command tone. “Two days, give or take a few hours. Why?”
Disappointment filled him. The colony ship Humanity had departed by now for the distant yellow star that lay in the Horologium constellation. Or so he recalled from snatches of words he’d heard while working with Zhāng, Hideyoshi, Max and Gareth on the status of their fleet ships. “Damn! I really wanted to see it leave!”
The white-haired, mustached medoc gave a quick glance to Nikola, then came back to him. His expression turned officious professional. “Captain Munroe, your parents are waiting outside to see you. Against my better judgment I allowed your lifemate to remain with you after surgery was done. But I have things to cover with you before your sisters, parents and a few dozen other people make a mess of my surgical recovery suite. Understood?”
“Understood. Fire away.”
The man lifted one white eyebrow. “Such quick cooperation. My, oh my.” The man winked at Nikola, then fixed a generic smile on him. “Good. Tell me how your side feels? Any sharp pain? Any pulsing pain?”
He’d been aware of the dull ache in his right side ever since waking up. And the fact his right arm had an IV tube’s needle inserted into his inner elbow vein. “It feels fine. A dull ache. Nope and nope on the last two questions.”
Aliens Vs. Humans (Aliens Series Book 4) Page 19