My gun happened to point at him. "We haven't."
"I'm legit man. If I was an intruder, would I be in my boxers?"
I let out a little chuckle. Hell, I was in my boxers, too.
"What's the gate password?" I asked.
He shook his head. "What day is today's date?"
"Twenty-fifth."
"The gate password is 23."
I holstered my pistol.
"That is the dumbest code sequence ever," he said.
"There are more intruders," I said.
"Three stories up is a terminal library. Could be they're trying to access the main computer from there."
I knew of the library he meant, and it was a good assumption. We took off in a run. We approached the facility, and two men stepped out of the room. They both had pistols drawn and shot Cat Nine in the chest. I drew my pistol and gunned both of them down. I didn't miss the heart. If they had divided up their fire, or if I'd been slower, it would be me on the ground bleeding to death instead of Cat Nine.
He coughed up some blood. I held his hand. He stopped moving. I took off in a run. There was one more terminal library, and I wanted to investigate it. If I hadn't hated Centurian before, I definitely hated him now. A man darted out of the library. I shot him in the leg. He went down. He squeezed off rounds in my general direction, and I shot the gun out of his hands. I'm not kidding. I aimed for the gun and hit my mark. My heart wanted answers, and this fucker had answers.
Chapter Three
I kept the intruder secured while help arrived. A couple of teachers were able to restore the main computer to an operable state, and Nancy issued a stand down command from the intercom system. I stowed my weapon back in my inbox. It disappeared.
I curled up in a ball in bed and wished Ussilla was there. Lately she had seemed distant. I was trying to learn her language, but it appeared that our relationship was nothing more than physical. My emotions told me I'd fallen for her, but with my training schedule, I hardly saw her outside of meals and sex, and while gratifying, I knew her heart wasn't in it.
I thought about the men I killed that night. Were they truly bad men, or had Centurian promised them something nobody else could deliver? And Henry? I would have trusted him with my life. Was Nancy still awake? I had to know. Plugging away on the terminal, I emailed her a list of questions I had. She didn't reply.
I tossed and turned all night. Finally I got out of bed and started doing homework. Around sunup, I did have one window in my room, and it faced east, my email pinged. It was from Nancy, and I opened it. "Assembly after breakfast." Was all it said.
I went to the showers. None of the other cadets said anything to me or even looked me in the eye. Henry was well liked, and all they knew was that I killed him. He was a traitor, damnit. Stepping through the food line, I saw Ussilla and smiled. She nodded at me, and I sat with her.
"You killed three men last night," she said between bites. She was a carnivore, and ate her meals raw. It took some getting used to.
I didn't say anything. I poured something over my fruit flavored nutritionally balanced cereal. It wasn't exactly milk. I mean we called it milk, but I think it was almond or rice milk.
Ussilla reached over and patted my hand. "You did good. You know that, right? You saved lives?"
It was hard for me to tell. I guess when I signed up I never considered the fact that I'd be killing people. Did I believe they were judged after I executed them? I didn't know.
Nancy stepped through the food line and strangely enough, sat right next to me, across from Ussilla. I let her eat in peace. I wanted to know what was going on, but I would show her enough respect to let her have breakfast in peace.
She finished eating and stood up, taking her coffee cup with her. There was a podium in the cafeteria with speakers set up in corners of the room. Now I knew what they were for.
Nancy stood behind the podium. All eyes were on her. Nobody was eating. In total there were maybe ten teachers and one hundred or so students. The teachers weren't in uniform, but the students all wore the same tan slacks, white shirts, and brown shoes. Nancy pushed a button and tapped the microphone. The tapping sounded through the speakers.
"There's a new drug. Centurian learned how to make it from the Razdorans. The Chor'Tans don't know how to make it. All we know is it's called MindBender, and it'll corrupt the strongest people. People who you would never expect to betray us, will betray their own families for an unlimited supply of MindBender. It makes the narcotics invented by mankind looks like simple children's trinkets in comparison."
One of the teachers, I think his name was Frank, waved his hand. "How do we know all this?"
"Bear was able to capture an intruder, and he spilled his guts. He's addicted to the drug, and the withdrawal is killing him. We have him in an intensive care unit, but the doctors say he's not going to make it."
People started looking around.
"Who is this Bear?" Frank asked.
Nancy pointed at me. "Stand up."
I stood up and looked the crowd over.
Nancy said, "Come here."
I assumed she meant me, and I went and stood next to her.
One of the students shouted, "Why were our doors locked!"
Another student shouted, "Why are there no guards!"
Nancy motioned with her hands to try and quiet them. "We don't have guards, because it's not in the budget. Each of you is being trained far more than any guard could be. Your doors were locked, because Professor Henry hacked all the way into the core of the main computer."
"Schools should have guards," one student said.
I leaned over into the mic. "We're the guards. We're more than students. We can take care of ourselves."
Ussilla started clapping, and soon everybody was clapping. Nancy whispered in my ear, "Thank you."
Nancy cleared her throat into the microphone. "The clothes you're already wearing, serve as lightweight armor. The pants will slow a bullet by between 70-80%, and they'll stop a knife for sure. Your shoes are bulletproof. If you're not wearing a belt, you should be, there's an advanced blade hidden in it. Your shirts will slow a knife. Each of you will be issued a jacket which will pass for civilian clothes but stop most bullets."
I felt my shirt, as did most everybody else. Nancy was saying exactly what I wanted to hear. I hoped she had more.
"If you're interested in it, you can start training with grenades. We usually save that for after graduation, but grenades can make a big difference. The grenades we have will fit in the jacket pockets."
It never occurred to me before, but I wanted grenades, bad. Things were starting to look up.
Chapter Four
I went back to my constant training. Months passed. One Sunday morning, Ussilla woke me up with a friendly nudge. "I'm breaking up with you."
"No."
"Yes."
I leaned in and kissed her on the neck. "Why?"
"You're going to be in one of my classes next semester, and it would be… Inappropriate."
"I'll take a different class."
She reached down and started fondling my manly parts. "One more time, and that's it."
I made that last time last a long time. We missed breakfast, and I had to get food out of a vending machine. She kissed me goodbye and left. Damn aliens. No, damn women.
An email waited on my terminal when I got back to my room. Registration for advanced tactical training. It included instructions. I registered. The training wouldn't start for a few weeks. In fact, spring break was coming up, and I was looking forward to a week of no classes, no training.
Jim wanted to play video games all week long, but I preferred lying in the sun on the roof of the building and playing in the pool. Day one of spring break arrived. They served us spicy tomato juice for breakfast, and I was kind of surprised to notice it had a bite of alcohol to it. I had three of them. Nancy was sitting with some teachers. I took a sip of the drink and approached her table.
Sh
e looked up at me. "Yes, Bear, there's alcohol in the Bloody Marys this morning."
"I'm not 21."
"Interstellar law. You're fine."
I smiled and went back to my table. Lunch meant Pina Coladas. Dinner time arrived. Jim sat down next to me with a shaker of salt, a bowl of lemons and limes, and a big bottle of tequila. We started doing shots, and we didn't stop. I woke up in a hallway with a Chor'Tan female intertwined in my legs, and it wasn't Ussilla. She stirred awake and climbed on top of me. I had a terrible headache and wanted to puke in the worst way. She rubbed on me with her hand, and damn if I didn't get hard. We did it right there in the hallway. I didn't even ask her name.
As she was leaving, she said, "Hangover cure in your inbox. Drink a lot of water."
I took the two white pills and got a glass of water. I researched Chro'Tan transmittable sexual diseases. Apparently, since they were essentially reptilian, none of their diseases or human diseases were transmittable. Then my mouth dropped open, and I howled in anguish. There was a very rare chance of a child being born. The child would be like a mule, unable to reproduce, but it would share traits from both parents. Bitches could have warned me.
The hangover pill worked wonders, but I missed breakfast. The vending machines weren't that bad. I made sure to get a hot lunch though. As I went through the food line, Jim put two ice cold beers on my tray. I grabbed them both and put them on his tray, making a quartet of bottles. "You have to drink," he said.
"I do not."
He took one of the bottles and set it on my tray. "Spring break tradition. You've earned some down time."
"Did you sign up for advanced tactical training?"
"That I did."
"Cool."
Jim started chugging a beer. I bit into a cheeseburger and took a sip of beer. Ice cold beer tasted kind of nice. I didn't mind it at all.
Jim let out this monstrous burp. "Problem is, I think everybody signed up for it, and they're having trouble scheduling the danger room."
"They don't really call it the danger room."
"Do you really want to go around calling it the Advanced Tactical Reality Simulation Den of Destruction?"
"They don't call it a den of destruction either. It's just A.T.R.S.R." I had been doing my research.
Jim stopped drinking for a moment. "Pronounce that?"
I said, "Danger room."
"Exactly."
It was all padded and safe anyhow. Calling it a danger room just wasn't realistic. Still, it was exciting. All of the rest of spring break the cafeteria forced alcohol on us. I didn't want to drink so much, but Nancy made it clear they'd boot me if I didn't. No, but it was a tradition of the school I guess. Monday morning rolled around, and I started class with Ussilla as the instructor. It was definitely weird, but it was the past, and nobody can change the past.
At the end of the day, I had an email. ATRSR scheduled for ten pm. There were instructions on how to find the facility. The structure was dome shaped and set apart from the other buildings. It was maybe the size of two football fields side by side. I showed up ten minutes early. There was a guy there, muscular build, older, and he said, "Bear?"
"Yes."
"I'm Mathew. I'll be your coach. Have you researched the ATRSR?"
I nodded and smiled.
He pointed to a door. I stepped inside. The lights were dim. An inbox not unlike the inbox in my quarters was the main light source in the room. I grabbed the waiting pistol, and made sure it was loaded with blanks. It was. A blank round would have the top crimped, whereas a live round would have a hollow point bullet. I belted the holster on. My jacket was already on. There were two fake grenades. I put the white phosphorous grenade in my left pocket and the fragmentation grenade in my right pocket.
I stepped through a portal. A man materialized and shot me. The computer chirped. "First life expended."
I said, "Spawn."
This time, as the man appeared, I drew my pistol and shot him. I was in a kind of passageway with doors lining each side. A man stepped into the hallway from an open door ahead and let loose with a full auto machine gun. The computer chirped, "Second life expended."
"Spawn."
I shot the man with the machine gun and didn't bother to holster my gun. Another man approached. I shot that fucker, too. Nobody likes losing at video games. Then I moved past an open door and somebody shot me from inside the room. The computer let out this little laugh. "Game over."
No, the computer didn't laugh. I exited the danger room. Mathew was smiling wide. "You got one!"
I sighed. "They're so fast."
"One is good for your first time."
I didn't know. I wondered if the smiling idiot named Mathew was trying to be a good coach or what.
He got a serious look on his face. All squinty eyed. "You've got to be quicker though."
Chapter Five
Jim and I were sitting in Interstellar Law class, and our instructor, Ussilla, said, form into groups of three. Naturally, Jim and I teamed up together, pushing our desks so they faced each other. One girl ended up being the odd-man out. I didn't remember her name, but I should have, I'd heard it before.
She pushed her desk next to ours. She was large for a female, but fit and trim around all the edges. She had the same clothes as the rest of us, but you could tell she wore a custom fit. Her hips were just too perfect in her shirt and pants to not be tailored. She didn't even smile at us as she sat down: she just turned her attention on our instructor.
"Introduce yourselves to each other if you don't know one another," Ussilla said.
People across the room started talking. Jim held out his hand to the odd girl. "I'm RedCat, but everybody calls me Jim."
"Which is it? Your true name should be secret," the girl said.
He winked at her. "Jim is one of my secret names."
"I'm Zen," she said. "You're Bear."
She was good looking enough, and my thoughts began to wander. How long would we be assigned to this group? Could I get to know her better? She had deep green eyes like a navy blue except in green.
She clenched her right fist. "Don't even think about it."
Jim let out a bright chuckle. "Are you part of the new psi-corps?"
"We don't have a psi-corps."
"I'll admit it. I was thinking about it," I said, "but I'm male, and it's all we think about."
"Think about something else," Zen said.
Ussilla let out this guttural kind of choking sound which I guess for a Chor'Tan was clearing her throat. "This is your new research group. You'll meet for three hours a week, and study together, sharing ideas, and bouncing things off each other. Dismissed."
Jim and I went to lunch. It was a Monday, and I was expecting to visit the danger room. Zen sat down to eat with us, and Jim and I didn't say a word. When a beautiful woman sits to eat with you, a wise man doesn't protest.
The day passed, and I found myself in the danger room. Mathew was waiting on me. "The targets will be the same. This is a timed exercise. The clock is ticking."
I armed myself out of the slot. Shot the first three targets, but then I was surprised by a group of three men. I ducked behind a wall and said, "Spawn."
I grabbed my fragmentation grenade and tossed it underhanded down the hallway. It detonated with a loud boom, and the computer chirped. "Damage from grenade incapacitating. Life lost."
"There was a wall in between," I said.
Mathew spoke through the computer. "You didn't throw the grenade far enough. You need to throw it at least ten meters or more to avoid damage. Walls won't help, not in the danger room."
I walked down the hallway again. A man stepped out in front of me, and I shot first. Right to the heart. Then a guy shot me from inside a room I didn't sweep well enough. I went to the start of the danger room.
"You made it farther," Mathew said.
"Not far enough. They're too quick."
"But they're the same every time. You can learn to get past them."
I went back to my room and slept. Jim and I were eating breakfast, mostly fresh fruit and grains. Zen sat with us again. She had nice boobs, too. Chor'Tan women were very beautiful in the face, hips, and legs, but they had no boobs, so I missed a nice set of boobs.
"Have you guys made it through the danger room yet?" Zen asked.
Jim didn't say anything.
"I've only tried it twice. The bots are too fast," I said.
"You just have to be faster," she said.
"You've made it through?" Jim asked.
"Not within the time parameter yet, but I've killed all the bots."
"Hell, no."
She rolled her head around in a little circle.
At lunch, Zen was seated by herself when Jim and I went through the food line. It was clearly my idea, but we sat with her. She gave us her first ever smile when we sat down. I figured I'd earn more in the future, but one was enough for now.
We researched interstellar law together. I exercised and studied as was my regular routine. It was nice having two friends instead of just Jim. Not that Jim was a bad friend, but having two was nice. Zen seemed like the kind of person that if somebody crossed any of the three of us, she'd spill their guts on the pavement.
Danger Room night was upon me. Mathew was grinning wide when I got there. I made my way through the beginning of the course. I threw the grenade as far as I could to reach the three guys in the hallway. Entered new territory once again. Looking in every room, I paid attention. I shot a target, then another, then two came at me from two sides, and I only got one of them.
"Be quicker to use a grenade," Mathew said.
Be quicker. Go faster. Easy for him to say. I moved cautiously down the simulated hallway. Targets appeared in my view, and I shot them. I was getting good. That's when I tripped over a wire and a cluster of explosives detonated on my right. I said, "Spawn."
I watched where I stepped, plus watched for new opponents. A corner in the hallway was up ahead, and I pulled my wp grenade out of my left pocket. I poked my head around the corner and threw the grenade as hard as I could. Three simulated targets died. I stepped into this new corridor, and I was being cocky. Another target showed up, but I was too slow. I headed back to the entrance.
Codename: Bear: Secret Agent (Codename Universe Book 1) Page 2