Carbon Life

by HR Ringer

  Sam’s workouts on the heavy bag had been curtailed to facilitate her healing, so time she would have spent punching the bag was being used in strength training to build muscle and mass, particularly in her arms, shoulders and legs. Traynor hadn’t told Xiùlán, but she hoped to have her body on par with her lover’s by the time they deployed to Mars. Having nightly intimate contact with Xiùlán’s arms (particularly her forearms) and legs were a constant progress gauge for Sam.

  Unknown to Xiùlán, Sam had a secret weapon… she’d hacked the base environmental computers in early May, granting her the ability to quickly modify the artificial gravity generators for any area she happened to be working in. In order to shorten the time it would take for her to develop her muscle mass to a point equal to or in excess of Xiùlán’s, Sam had been gradually increasing the gravity correction over time in whatever area she was using, from Earth normal to 1.85 to 1.95 that of Earth. Working out in a higher-G environment had been quite tiring until she got used to it, at which point she would increase the setting another tenth. She’d almost been caught by McKenzie once recently - the lieutenant had made an unannounced entry into the exercise area she shared with Xiùlán; fortunately, Sam had been able to quickly dial the gravity back to its normal setting.

  She had just finished taking a relaxing shower after her late afternoon workout; dialing the artificial gravity up to 2.1 times that of Earth had left her totally drained. She’d have to get Xiùlán to massage her neck and shoulders once back in her quarters.

  Traynor was towel-drying her newly short cropped hair when Heather Gonzales entered the room, accompanied by several of the other recruits Sam and Xiùlán had been helping with their harassment complaints; with a smiling “Hi, Traynor!”, she selected a locker and began removing her sweaty exercise clothes. “Any more news on a hearing against Joesiar?”

  Sam walked over to stand beside her, leaned against a bank of lockers and replied, “Hearing’s scheduled nine days from today, mid-morning, fourteenth of October. Alliance is flying an adjudicator here from Vancouver. Don’t know any more than that. You ready to help us get the miserable little húndàn dropped from the program?”

  “Whatever you need us to do, Samantha,” Gonzales enthusiastically replied as she looked around at her companions. “His removal from the program has taken too long… it’ll be nice to get on with our training without being distracted by his constant insults, innuendo and abuse.”

  “Wait, what?” Sam answered in a pissed off tone as she unconsciously balled up her fists. “He actually abused you? Physically?”

  Heather, her cheeks flushing pink as she thought back on the many times she’d been the subject of Joesiar’s verbal assaults, responded quickly, “Oh, no… nothing like that. I didn’t tell you about anything much after you helped me file my report in January… thought that was all I needed to do. It was all verbal, but it still cut just as bad as anything he could have done to me or the rest of us physically.”

  Sam placed a hand on Heather’s shoulder. “Did you record any of it?”

  “Much as I could. Do you think it will help?”

  “Send me the files, Heather, and copy Yuán when you do.” Looking up at the rest of the women that had entered with Heather, she added, “Rest of you, if you have anything we haven’t previously reported, please send it to us! Anything you have on the ‘effing little pig will be a welcome addition to our arsenal.”

  “Will do, Sam… thanks.” Heather removed her sweatpants and socks, then stood to pull her sweatshirt over her head. Turning towards the bank of full-length mirrors, she noticed their reflections as she started to remove her sports bra and gasped as what she was seeing dawned on her. “¡Maldita Sea! Traynor! What have you been doing to yourself?”

  “What do you mean?” Sam queried as she studied their side-by-side reflections.

  “Your… body! Your arms and legs, your abs! I don’t remember you looking so… so… physically intimidating!” Heather made a show of looking at her own arms as a comparison to Sam’s. “I didn’t realize massive muscles were needed for being a computer and communications tech. Is there something else about you the rest of us should know?”

  Sam sighed. Looking at her reflection… comparing herself to Heather, to the other women in the room, provided visual proof she now looked more like a bulked up Marine instead of a Navy computer tech. She brought her arms up together in front of her chest, hands at neck level. “Xiùlán’s been training me in hand-to-hand combat… felt I needed a bit more muscle for what she was asking me to do.” She moved to stand beside Heather as she dropped her arms to her side. Her arms were larger, the muscles well defined; her forearms actually appeared to be larger than Heather’s upper arms.

  “Truth be known, I haven’t paid that much attention. Been seriously working out since February or so… she’s teaching me so I don’t have to worry about the likes of Joesiar and his minions.”

  “You hit Joesiar with the benefit of those arms?” Heather asked in disbelief. “Traynor, you’re lucky he survived; good thing for him as well, I guess!”

  “I suppose so,” Sam mused as she pulled on her duty uniform and gathered her supplies. “Miserable little troll wants to bring charges against me… claims I hit him and Hobe for no reason.” Traynor grinned as she turned to leave. “He’s in for one ‘ellova surprise at the hearing.”

  * * *

  * …LATER THAT EVENING… *

  As far as Xiùlán was concerned, Sam had grown tremendously as a person, physically and mentally, since they’d met less then a year ago – there was now a toughness to her demeanor that had not been apparent when they first met and her self-confidence had increased hand-in-hand with her developing physique. Xiùlán noted with quiet pride how well defined the muscles in her legs and arms had become; indeed, her entire body was most impressively sculpted. Xiùlán had just finished working the kinks out of Sam’s shoulders and neck when she innocently asked, “Have you looked at yourself in a full-length mirror lately, Sēn měi?”

  “Just an occasional glance in the shower area… why do you ask?” Sam knew full-well the reason for Xiùlán’s inquiry – she had taken a good long look at herself in comparison to Heather and some of the other women while talking to Gonzales after her shower earlier.

  Xiùlán fixed Sam with an intent look… something that usually made her uncomfortable. “You’re hiding something from me, Qíngrén,” she said in an accusatory voice as she pulled Sam towards her and hugged her tightly. “Tell me what you’ve been doing,” she added quietly as she dropped her hands with fingers spread to Sam’s butt and pressed. “Jíshǐ shì jīròu zài zhèlǐ, qīn'ài de.” [即使是肌肉在這裡，親愛的。- Even muscle here, dear.]

  Sam returned her lover’s hug, kissed her cheek and replied in a low whisper, “If it’s computer controlled…,” Sam nibbled on Xiùlán’s earlobe, “…I can hack it, Luv. Gravity generators…,” Sam nuzzled Xiùlán’s neck at her jaw line, “…can be programmed past 1-G. I’ve been working out…,” pulling back slightly to gaze into Xiùlán’s eyes, “…at 1.8 to 1.9 G’s these past two months.” She finished in an innocent schoolgirl voice, “Does it show?”

  Xiùlán’s look of surprise gave way to understanding and approval. “I would never have thought of that, Sēn měi! I just accepted that gravity inside these structures was ‘Earth normal’; never gave a second thought to us being on the moon. So, anyone else know about this?”

  Sam giggled as she recalled nearly getting caught by the lieutenant. “Walked right in on me. Fortunately, I had the gravity field set to ‘ramp up’ from the door… gave me a chance to dial the room down to normal. She never said a word about it… I think she was more focused on updating our request for a hearing.”

  “…And?”

  “Oh! Nearly forgot. Hearing’s scheduled for the fourteenth of October, mid-morning. Adjudicator’s being flown up from Earth. Hope he… or she, is a real hard-ass.”

  “That’s only nine days
away, Sammy… you think we’re ready?”

  Traynor pulled away from her friend, answering, “Ready as we’ll ever be, Luv. We’ve filed more than enough complaints, starting with yours back in January. We just have to make sure we stick to the facts… getting emotional will only work against us. Women in the Marines and Navy are always being criticized for being too emotional; personally, I think our willingness to wear our feelings on our sleeves makes us better humans.” Sam paused, then added, “Gonzales and her friends are sending us a bunch of recordings; all are proof that Joesiar places a high value on being an equal opportunity misogynistic racist and xenophobe.”

  “Let’s get back to you… let me see your arms.” Xiùlán grabbed Sam’s right forearm and gently stroked the skin from elbow to wrist. After exploring her left forearm in a similar fashion, she said, “You have done well, qíngrén. I almost feel sorry for anyone that attempts to lay a hand on you.” Dark eyes looked at Sam intently. “Do you believe me when I say what happened to you in college would be an impossibility today?”

  Sam gazed back into caring brown eyes. “There were five of them, Luv… I don’t…”

  “…I do know, Sam. You have a gift! Today, you could easily handle twice their number, and I would not be surprised to learn that one or two had died of their injuries. You have learned your lessons well, but there is still much for you to learn. You need to learn how to permanently stop batarians, turians, krogan, asari and salarians, to name the major races. Of those, knowledge of batarian and turian physiology will be most useful. Some krogan and all asari possess biotic ability… chances of getting close enough to either one would be slight, but any knowledge about them is better than none.”

  * * *

  – 2179/10/11, MONDAY AFTERNOON –

  Samantha Traynor closed her eyes and massaged her temples between thumb and fingers of her left hand. She had been compiling evidence of Joesiar’s unrelentingly hurtful put downs and abuse, all directed towards at least ten other students in her class. It appeared that virtually all of the abuse was directed at the female recruits – Joesiar was careful in choosing targets for his malicious brand of verbal cruelty; it appeared he, like most bullies, was a coward through and through, so wouldn’t criticize any of the heavily built men taking this course out of fear for his own physical safety.

  Sam returned her attention to the glowing screen of the monitor in front of her. The litany of insults Joesiar had levied at classmates was difficult to believe. Most centered on peoples’ racial heritage; the relative darkness of each woman’s skin compared to his own (pasty-faced white) increased the likelihood of being targeted. Bi-racial women (such as Heather Gonzales and herself) merited a special brand of insults. Joesiar seemed to particularly enjoy referring to Sam as a ‘kuthi’, [female dog - bitch - in Punjabi and Hindi ] or a ‘half-caste’ [generally pronounced by Joesiar as ‘half-assed’ ]. These were mild in comparison to some of the slurs he’d used to describe Gonzales and a few other women in the group. Joesiar apparently didn’t care for any woman being in the program, regardless of their racial makeup… a blonde might be referred to as a ‘ditz’; he variously referred to others as ‘WAP’, ‘maggots’, ‘hicks’, ‘snakes’, ‘Whiskey Tango’, ‘rubes’, and other, coarser names.

  She carefully arranged the audio tracks by time and date, alphabetized by last name, then copied the entire file to several data pads for the upcoming hearing. It was entirely possible they wouldn’t need to be used, but Traynor and Xiùlán wanted to be sure they had covered everything.

  * * *

  * ADMINISTRATIVE HEARING ROOM, 2179/10/14, 0930 *

  “All rise,” the guard snapped to attention as a door opened behind the long desk. “General RaeLee Park presiding.”

  Yuán Xiùlán was sitting three rows from the rear of the chamber. It appeared their reports, their complaints of Joesiar’s actions since her training mission had apparently reached the right person. Xiùlán had done a background check on this general as soon as she learned her name; General Park was Vancouver BC born of Korean ancestry and seriously disliked ethnic and racially biased people, believing the Alliance had more than enough problems dealing with turian dislike and batarian hatred of humanity. She set several data pads on the table in front of her chair, looked around the room once, then sat down.

  “You may be seated,” she said in a quiet voice; she waited until everyone had taken their seats and the room was quiet before continuing. “We are holding this hearing as a result of a number of disturbing allegations received during the past ten months regarding Serviceman 2nd Class Jason Joesiar; we need to determine if the Serviceman was incorrectly chosen for training in this Tactical Stealth Infiltration program.”

  Park addressed Serviceman 2nd Class Joesiar’s advocate. “Staff Lieutenant Brandon Steele. SC2 Joesiar has been accused by a number of female recruits of making sexist comments, calling fellow recruits hateful, mean-spirited names, and of particular interest to this hearing, racism. You have read the particulars in the reports outlining the accusations. Do you, or SC2 Joesiar, have anything to say regarding these allegations?”

  Lieutenant Steele stood and placed both hands on the table. “Serviceman 2nd Class Joesiar denies all allegations, characterizing them as vicious lies, fabricated from a desire to see him removed from this program, and ultimately discharged from the Alliance Navy. Further, he wishes to bring charges of his own against Serviceman 3rd class Samantha Traynor, service number 8256-DH-7968, for initiating an unprovoked assault on his person and that of a companion on the early afternoon of oh-one October, resulting in severe facial injuries to Mister Joesiar and said companion.”

  “First things first, Lieutenant.” She held a hand up as the lieutenant started to interrupt. “At this time, Lieutenant, motion to bring charges against Serviceman Traynor will be deferred until later.” General Park motioned to the guard behind her, who stepped forward and requested Serviceman Yuán Xiùlán come forward; Xiùlán walked to the empty table on the right side of the hearing room and came to attention.

  Park looked at Yuán and said, “For the record, Serviceman, please state your name, rank, and service number.”

  “Yuán Xiùlán, Serviceman First Class, 8257-PVG-09186, Ma’am.”

  “Have a seat, Yuán.” The general selected one of the tablets in front of her and entered several commands on the interface. “This is a recording from a training exercise completed 277 days ago on live-fire course Charlie-seven, made by SC1 Yuán’s hardsuit computer.” Looking at Steel and Joesiar, she added, “I am sure you will recognize the voice of SC2 Joesiar.”

  Park played the recording from the time Xiùlán had jumped into the space previously occupied by the sniper VI until after Xiùlán had made the repair to Joesiar’s suit and they were headed back to base. Drilling the Serviceman with her eyes, she addressed Lieutenant Steel, “Sounds to me SC2 Joesiar doesn’t like Chinese people, or did I mistakenly hear him call SC1 Yuán a ‘chink’, use the derogatory term ‘Chop stick’ in place of her name, refer to her native tongue as ‘chinee’ and the color of her skin, not once, but twice?”

  Lieutenant Steele promptly stood and replied, “SC2 Joesiar was joking in all the instances you heard, Ma’am.”

  General Park shifted her steely gaze to the lieutenant, who slowly sat down as she responded in a voice that could not only freeze water, but sublimate CO2, “If he was joking, Lieutenant, why did I not hear any laughter from the complainant?”

  “Serviceman 2nd Class Joesiar is not a racist, General. He could not have remained in the Alliance Marines this long if he…”

  “…didn’t have an uncle in the upper echelons of Alliance Command?” General Park finished for him. “Major General Bradley Joesiar has been covering for his nephew ever since he enlisted, Lieutenant. I can cite several instances of SC2 Joesiar escaping punishment for his racism and misogyny. As for this hearing, there are a number of recruits in attendance today that will testify to similarly insulting behavi
or towards them.”

  Lieutenant Steele leaned over to whisper something to Joesiar, then returned his attention to the General. “We request a ten-minute recess to confer, General.”

  “Denied, Lieutenant. We just got started… why interrupt the continuity of this proceeding, unless SC2 Joesiar is willing to concede and have me render judgment?” Hearing no objection from Steele, Park looked back over to Yuán as she asked a question of Steele. “Looking at Yuán’s face, Lieutenant, do you detect any yellow in her skin tone?”

  There was a short, uncomfortable pause as Steele studied Yuán’s face; she, in turn, had turned to face him and coolly gazed back at him, causing him to drop his eyes in embarrassment before turning back to Park and answering, “Impossible to say, as she appears to be wearing makeup, Ma’am.”

  “Seriously, Lieutenant?” Park was outraged. “I’m the product of a bi-racial marriage myself, something to which your client seems to strongly object, if all the complaints I’ve read about him are even half true.” Park took the unusual step of directly addressing Joesiar. “Serviceman, my facial features are not too dissimilar from Yuán’s, and I am not wearing makeup of any kind. Would you say my skin tone appears yellow?”

  Joesiar looked up from the table he’d been staring at for the past thirty minutes; Yuán was not surprised that his usually pasty complexion was partially colored by a large area of bluish-to-purple bruises, particularly on his mouth and chin and around both eyes, which were swollen. There was a large bandage affixed across the bridge of his nose, also bruised; Traynor had really nailed him! He fixed a look of utter contempt on the general as he grunted something through his teeth.