Angry Ghosts
Page 23
Agitated, and frustrated at how difficult it is to express what she is thinking and feeling, she suddenly looks up, going for broke.
“You both know me. I don’t know why that means so much to me, but it does. And I don’t know how to let that go!”
Anger flares in her.
“Forget what the cadre thinks! Do your job, get all the data, blast those blueskins to oblivion, just bring yourselves back. Do you understand me? All of you.” The wave recedes, washing her face of all emotion, leaving her hauntingly desolate. “You’re all I have...”
Sobering suddenly, she squares her shoulders with the screen. “Bring yourselves home. I’ll be waiting to welcome you.” Her face brightens as she imagines that happy homecoming. Taking a step back, she salutes with a big grin. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. I’ll see you soon.”
The video ends, and the two operators soak in the emotional aftermath. Argo lets out a long sigh while Thompson closes and deletes the file.
“Team Forestall,” the radio blurts, “bay equalized, you are cleared for departure.”
“Understood, Cadre One,” Beckert replies.
The broad outer bay doors separate, and the cabin swaying resumes as Beckert walks the craft out onto the crater floor. Each step carries them farther from the gravitational enhancement.
“Prepare for ascent,” the Geek announces.
Hunkering down on its struts, the craft leaps explosively upward. Beckert triggers a key, and the undercarriage falls away as a complete assembly. Small plates slide closed over the attachment points, and Beckert ignites the thrusting engines. The craft soars high above the crater rim, gravity’s effect dissipating dramatically.
Off to starboard, the Europa glints large and impressive; and it triggers a bewildering range of thoughts, strangely pertaining to duty and loyalty.
“Major,” Beckert shouts above the thruster’s roaring crackle, “incoming message from Captain Keller!”
“Put it through,” Thompson orders, and on all three of their displays, Keller’s lined face appears. Behind him is a crowd of colonists, packed together in the cramped shuttle, enjoying their bottled drinks and cheering one another with noisy clinks.
“Thompson, Argo, and Beckert...it’s hard to say everything we’re thinking right now. We hate to see you go. But we're glad you found us. If you hadn’t, we’d still be wandering the cosmos, hope dying a little more until...well. And we know you still carry guilt for the deaths of our people. We've said it before, and we want to say it again to make sure you know that it was an accident, and we forgive you.”
Keller pauses thoughtfully.
“I realize you Cadre lads aren’t much for parties, but what the hell. Gregor has something he wanted to say.”
Keller steps aside and Sharon, Javier, Gregor, and the counselor unfurl a hastily painted banner, which reads:
FUCK THOSE LIZARDS UP!
From off-screen, Keller’s voice shouts, “Jesus, Gregor! No, the other thing!” He walks into view and collects the contraband, trying not to laugh.
Gregor grins and pulls out another furled banner. The others help stretch out the new one, painted in fine calligraphy:
We’ll tell our children about you.
Keller smiles and takes a long swig from his glass. “Hey, anybody got somethin’ to say to these guys?”
All eyes turn toward the screen; and cheers erupt in thunderous outpourings of elation and gratitude, arms raised in the air, swishing drinks, and clapping. Keller lets the shouting go on for a while and then steps in front of the screen. He is about to speak when several random hoots start the cheering all over. Keller gets a super-sized grin, grabbing his temples and laughing along until, at last, it is quiet enough for him to be heard.
“This is all for you and in your honors.” Keller’s smile straightens, and he leans forward with sincerity. “Everything you've done, and especially what you're doing for us now, gives us hope... As captain of this crew, I can’t tell you how much of a gift that is. Hell, you Ya-hoos keep your heads out there, we may even see you again. Europa, out.”
Thompson nods heavily. Pushing all other thoughts aside, his focus turns to the mission.
“Geek.”
“Sir?”
“Execute.”
Beckert’s goggles flash with complex code, and the ship surges into the void with a flash.
**THE END**
Continued in Black Hawks from a Blue Sun
Author’s Biography
A child of the Space Age, F Allen Farnham always held a passionate interest in the future of high technology. Impatient to live in that future world, he eagerly consumed any scientific article or Science Fiction novel that promised a glimpse. Herbert, Heinlein, and Huxley are three of his greatest influences.
When not working he loves to travel, enjoying the variety of people as much as the landscapes. He now resides in Milford, NH with his dog, Hamlet.
Farnham'sfirst novel,Angry Ghosts,was acquired by Eirelander Publishing in 2009 and re-released on e-book in 2013. The sequel, Black Hawks From A Blue Sun, was released in 2010. His latest book, The Exhausted Dead, was released in 2012.
www.CadreOnePublishing.com
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[1] Lamentations 2:14
Table of Contents
Copyright
Prologue
Part One
An Ordinary Day
Seeking Answers
Bitter Harvest
Coming Home
Hard Times
Securing a Future
The Beckoning Abyss
The Arms of Somnus
Friend or Foe
Nature of the Beasts
“My Beautiful... My Beautiful...”
The Rest of Us
Scratching the Surface
Understanding Loss
Part Two
Prodigal Return
Getting Acquainted
The Misery of Being
Home...
Specialist Beckert
Lieutenant Colonel Anders
All as One?
Author’s Biography