Argonauts 2: You Are Prey

by Isaac Hooke

  Rade sighed. But he still couldn’t say anything.

  “Is it because we’re not married, is that it?” Shaw said.

  “Not at all,” Rade said.

  “Then what is it, then?”

  Rade gazed at his hands. He realized his fingers were still squeezed into tight fists, and he relaxed them.

  Shaw’s hand found his. “Tell me. Please. I need to know.”

  Her touch relaxed him further and reminded him who she was. He could trust her with all of his secrets. No matter how dark, and how ashamed of them he was.

  “Honestly?” Rade said. “I’m selfish. I want to be the center of your life. Your world. If we have a kid, I won’t have that any more. I’ll have to compete for your attention.”

  Shaw pursed her lips. “Well, that’s probably true. You will have to compete for my attention, at least for the first ten years or so. Until we have our next kid.”

  Rade almost rolled his eyes. “She wants more than one... this woman is going to be the end of me.”

  “Rade, if I could have my way, I’d have ten kids with you,” Shaw said.

  He pulled his hand away from hers and folded his arms over his chest. “I’m not sure you understand what a commitment kids are, even with VR and babysitting robots...”

  “Oh I do,” she said. “I truly do. We won’t have more than one or two while we’re aboard the Argonaut. But I’d like to have a few more when we retire from consulting. Before I’m a hundred.”

  “Yeah, I don’t know about that,” Rade said. “Tell you what. When we’re done catching the Phant in this system, I’ll think about it.”

  “All right,” Shaw said. “But just so you know, I’m not going to let this go. I feel like now is the time.”

  “Okay,” Rade said.

  She got up, kissed him on the forehead, and departed.

  Rade heaved a huge sigh of relief when she was gone.

  Well that was a can of worms I didn’t want opened.

  two

  The next day Rade scheduled an early workout in the Argonaut’s onboard gym, taking only Tahoe with him. The telemetry drones had so far discovered nothing of note on the dwarf planet, though there were still another three days before the drones completed their LIDAR scan of the dark side.

  Rade and the big Navajo were taking turns doing weighted pull-ups. Rade finished his set, removed the belt from around his waist and lowered the weights hanging from it.

  “How did Tepin convince you to have your first child?” Rade said. “While we were still in the military?”

  “She didn’t have to convince me,” Tahoe said.

  “You mean you wanted it?” Rade said.

  “Not exactly,” Tahoe replied. “It happened accidentally.”

  “She stopped taking her contraceptives?”

  “We thought she didn’t need them,” Tahoe said. “She never had any periods. And where we were from in those days, there was no access to medical treatments, so we just shrugged it off. Anyway, later we found out she was just a late bloomer, at least in that department, according to the Weaver who helped deliver the girl.”

  Tahoe accepted the belt and did his sets.

  “What about the second and third kids?” Rade said when Tahoe was done. “You would have known by then that she wasn’t infertile. So why didn’t you start on the contraceptives?”

  “We did know, yes,” Tahoe said. “But we didn’t want to risk infertility, not after all those years of shooting blanks on my part. Besides, I didn’t mind populating the world with a few more miniature Tahoes and Tepins.”

  Rade accepted the weight belt, but didn’t put on the thing immediately. “It didn’t scare you, knowing that you might die at any time while on a deployment, leaving your kids back home without a father?”

  “It terrified me,” Tahoe said. “But it also helped me, believe it or not. Gave me something to fight for. I can’t tell you how many times I was on a mission, and the only thing that got me through, and prevented me from giving up, was the thought that I wouldn’t see my kids ever again if I died. I had to see them one last time. Just once more. And that’s what spurred me on when things got really bad. That and the fear of leaving them fatherless, like you said.

  “Those were my two big fears, my brother. And I still haven’t overcome them. Even today, with my kids being older, and given all the time I’ve spent with them, and all the messages we exchange daily, I still fear those things, especially when we have a drop coming up. It’s why a part of me kind of hopes we never find that Phant we’re hunting.”

  “You know you don’t have to do this, right?” Rade said. “You can resign any time. I’ll buy out your shares, give you a bonus, and you can go your merry way.”

  Tahoe chuckled. “When I said a part of me hopes we never find the Phant, I meant it. But another part wants to hunt that bitch down and bag it more than anything. I live for this, bro. I can’t go back to living an ordinary life. I love my kids, but I love my work just as much. What am I supposed to do? Go back to Earth and live on veteran’s and basic pay, bored out of my ass? Before you came to recruit me to the Argonauts, I sat at home all day, drinking, shouting at Tepin and the kids when they bothered me. I’d load up VR and drunkenly engage in online war games, looking for something, anything to shoot. I was literally driving my wife crazy. And then you came along and offered me a chance to put that all behind me, and return once more to the only brotherhood that has ever truly meant anything to me. You saved me. Family is one thing, yes. But good work, with brothers you would die for, well, all I can say is my place is right here at your side. As it always will be.”

  Rade rested a hand on his shoulder. “Thanks, Tahoe.” Rade did his set, then gave the belt to Tahoe.

  “Why do you ask, by the way?” Tahoe said.

  “Ask what?” Rade said.

  “About Tepin and me,” Tahoe said. “And how she got pregnant.”

  “Oh,” Rade said. “No reason.”

  Tahoe looked him squarely in the eye. “Shaw wants a baby, doesn’t she?”

  “No. Not at all.”

  Tahoe cracked a wide grin. “Yeah yeah. Shaw wants a baby and you don’t. That’s it, isn’t it?” He lowered his voice as if trying to sound like a dumber version of Rade. “Hey Tahoe, how did you knock up Tepin? Oh, I’m asking cuz I wanna know if I should knock up Shaw, but I’m kinda afraid to. Maybe my cock won’t work.”

  Rade looked at his friend. “I can’t hide anything from you, can I?”

  “Seriously man,” Tahoe said. “Does Shaw want a baby or not?”

  “Yes,” Rade said.

  “And what did you tell her?” Tahoe pressed.

  “That I’m not ready.”

  Tahoe nodded. “Sounds about right. I wouldn’t want to have a baby on this ship, either. So what did she say?”

  “She agreed to hold off until we’re done our latest mission at least,” Rade said. “Then she plans to bug me again.”

  “Yeah, I can’t see you raising a kid on this ship,” Tahoe said. “It’s far too cramped. And there’s way too much testosterone.”

  “Maybe I should get you to talk some sense into her,” Rade said.

  Tahoe raised his palms in surrender. “Don’t involve me. She’ll bite my head off.”

  “Why not try?” Rade said.

  “This is something you have to handle,” Tahoe said. “But at least she gave you some time to plan your next defensive. Better start strategizing, bro.” He patted Rade commiseratively on the shoulder.

  “Unfortunately, I don’t think there are any strategies left to me,” Rade said. “Once Shaw sets her mind on something, nothing can stop her.”

  “That’s true,” Tahoe said. “Look at her relentless pursuit of you.” He smiled profusely, then did his set.

  THE NEXT MORNING Rade took his place at the bridge. He had trouble sleeping the night before and he felt extremely tired. Shaw had sensed his tossing and turning, and she made love to him hoping to settle his mind
and body; it had helped a little. Even so, he definitely wasn’t in the mood for command.

  He barely listened to Lui’s status report before excusing himself to his office, and once he had plunked himself down at his desk, it was all he could do to resist the urge to lower his head and take a nap. He opened up one of the drawers, found a sonic injector, and applied a stimulant. That was better.

  He was about to go to the bridge, but something stopped him. He didn’t feel quite ready to surround himself with people again. The thought was suffocating. Instead, he found himself staring at the hatch, unable to will his body to rise. His mind began to drift.

  The sounds of explosions and missile launchers going off filled his hearing. He fought in a desert. His mech was buried to the knees. He was hidden behind a transport carrier.

  “Rage!” someone said, using his wartime moniker. “Can you get your team around to the right? See if you can outflank them?”

  “I’ll see what we can do,” Rade returned.

  The incoming missiles intensified. The dunes around the transport carrier began to shift and writhe, with black tentacles rising from the surface.

  “They’re all around us!” someone sent.

  Rade swung his weapon toward the sand and began to open fire.

  He snapped to attention when a call indicator lit up in the lower right of his HUD. It was Lui.

  Rade glanced at the time. An hour had passed.

  He shook his head and answered. “What’s up, Lui?”

  “We received a LIDAR ping,” Lui said. “One of the telemetry drones detected what looks like the entrance to an unnatural cave system.”

  “All right, thanks Lui,” Rade said. He tapped in Surus, who had yet to report to the bridge. “We found something.”

  “Roger that,” she replied. “I’ll be right there.”

  When she arrived at the bridge, Lui shared the three-dimensional rendering of the cave entrance with their Implants.

  “It looks fairly deep,” Lui said. “Preliminary scans report an initial depth of at least thirty meters. Do you want me to schedule a Dragonfly launch and dispatch some robots and HS3s?”

  “Hmm.” Rade rubbed his chin. He glanced at Surus. “If our prey is present, he could easily possess one of those. Considering that we haven’t fitted the suits with anti-Phant measures yet.”

  “Yes,” Lui said. “And HS3s can’t even wear suits.”

  “If he’s inside those caves, our best bet is to get down there ourselves,” Surus agreed. “If we send in the HS3 scouts, there’s a good chance he’ll run. We have no idea how deep these caves are, or if they surface again.”

  “Which is why it might be better to send in the HS3s first,” Lui said.

  Rade considered for a few more moments, then made up his mind. “I agree with Surus. I think we’re better off deploying directly.”

  “Should we bring the mechs?” Surus asked.

  “Yes,” Rade said. It was an easy decision, considering that she was paying for it. “The best option is to send down the Hoplites, with a few robots to provide extra ground support and carry the containment device.”

  “I’ll meet you in the mech bay for deployment,” Surus said, and departed.

  There was a good chance the team might not need the mechs down there. The cave might be empty—they had encountered their share of false alarms in the system so far. In leaner times, Rade would have been tempted not to deploy the units at all: it wasn’t cheap to dispatch mechs to a planetary surface after all, even if that planet was a dwarf. But again, since Surus was covering the deployment costs, it was better to bring the Hoplites along.

  Rade activated the main circuit: “All right Argonauts, it’s time to get busy. Surus, Manic, Fret, Harlequin, report to the hangar bay for shuttle departure. Everyone else meet me at the mech bay.”

  “Everyone else” included Bender, Lui, TJ, Tahoe, Shaw and Rade. The four career mercenaries Surus had originally hired were no longer present: she had handed them off to another Green engaged in a hunt in a different system.

  Rade deactivated the main circuit. “Bax, have six Centurions join Surus and the others in the hangar bay. I want them suited up like everyone else on foot—let’s keep any watchers from picking out our humans from our robots. The remaining Centurions are to remain aboard to protect the ship. The Argonaut is yours.”

  “Understood, boss,” Bax said.

  By the time he had finished giving all his orders, everyone had already deserted the Sphinx. He squeezed past the curved stations to the exit hatch, and made his way through the passageways and down the scuttles toward the mech bay deck.

  He entered the bay and the airlock sealed behind him. Inside, the six Hoplites were spaced close together. The team had retrieved the two and a half meter tall battle suits from the colony of Lang after the completion of the last mission. It had been tricky, considering that the colony was still populated by four fearsome bioweapons at the time. The team had to sneak inside the city, retrieve the mechs, and then kill the bioweapons. The extract was complicated by the swarm of killer drones they had to deal with: Perdix models, laser-enabled and vacuum-capable.

  TJ had captured one of the drones during the fighting and used it to remotely reprogram the others. Rade ended up using the reconfigured swarm to terminate the last bioweapon. Now if only his team had been able to do all that the first time they were on that despicable planet.

  The Persians had paid Rade and his team a bonus for clearing the colony of the bioweapons, and Rade used the money to pay a lump sum against the Argonaut’s loan. He asked Surus if she was willing to help with the remainder, and the alien said sure, as long as she became part owner of the company. Rade declined.

  He would have liked to have more than six mechs, but first of all he didn’t have the holding space aboard. And second of all he didn’t have the funds. He tried to convince Surus to finance an expansion to the mech hangar, as well as procure a couple more mechs, perhaps more advanced models, but once again the alien refused to bite. In typical Surus fashion, the alien said: “Six Hoplites should be more than sufficient for our purposes. And if not, then ten certainly won’t be. Let alone upgrading to models such as the Zeus or Titan.”

  Rade went to his locker and removed the fatigues he wore while on duty, replacing them with the cooling and ventilation undergarments necessary for a jumpsuit. Shaw’s locker was beside his own, and it was the closest to the bulkhead, allowing her to change behind her open locker door without anyone watching her—except Bax of course. Manic and Fret had tried to take a peek, once, when Rade wasn’t there; after the black eyes Shaw gave them, they never tried again.

  “Hey sexy,” Shaw said quietly, peeking past the rim of her locker at him.

  “Hey,” Rade said. He was feeling good about his body. He had kept in good shape since the end of the last mission. Though he didn’t train as hard as he had after Shaw was taken, he had maintained his diet and exercise regime, and still had one of the flattest bellies he’d ever had. When he got up in the morning, he could see the veins and striations on his abs.

  “I almost wish you walked around like that all day,” Shaw said.

  “I could say the same about you.” Rade nodded toward her bra.

  Shaw realized she had stepped too far out from behind the cover of her locker door, allowing Rade, and potentially the others, to see her half undressed. She reddened and quickly vanished from view.

  Rade shook his head, smiling slightly. He was glad he had decided to let her come along. After what had happened the last time he had kept her aboard, he decided that the safest place for her was at his side. Always.

  He finished donning the undergarment and began attaching the jumpsuit pieces. He clipped the internal strength-enhancing exoskeleton to the hardpoints that protruded from his skin at the joints of his body—wrists, elbows, shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles. Those hardpoints improved the interface between his neurons and the suit, giving him a faster movement speed. It wasn’
t enough to match, say, a robot or Artificial, but it was a definite improvement. And Rade was all about eking every last ounce of performance from his gear, because he knew that even the smallest gains could make the biggest differences when it came time to fight. Even if those gains required him to augment his body with a few metallic protrusions.

  He attached the final piece, the helmet, and the suit pressurized. At the same time, an accelerant injected into the dorsal venous network of his right hand, shortening his acclimation time to the new environment from an hour to a few seconds.

  When he bent his arms and legs, the suit fabric felt slightly stiffer: because of their target’s presumed psychic abilities, Surus had prepared a special anti-psi coating for the jumpsuits. She had placed it throughout the lining, and covered the inside of the glass with the molecular spray. No one else in the United Systems, civilian or military, had anything like it. And if the upgrade gave them all slightly less resilient suits, well, that was a small price to pay for protection from mind blasts.

  Rade approached the mech named Electron. Surus had upgraded the Hoplites themselves, designing and fitting special EM-emitters around the AI cores, which would protect the units from physical Phant possession by repelling them. A similar emitter protected the Argonaut’s AI. Unfortunately, the jumpsuits the team members wore didn’t currently offer similar protection. While those suits would prevent remote psi attacks from their targets, if a Phant actually touched them, they were screwed. Surus’ advice had been: don’t leave the mechs.

  “Lui, what’s the status on the holographic generators?” Rade asked as he opened the Hoplite’s storage compartment.

  “Already loaded into the storage compartments of the mechs,” Lui said.

  Rade saw the devices in question. “You’re two steps ahead of me.”

  He closed the compartment and climbed the rungs to the cockpit.