by Pam Uphoff
"Not according to my orders. They are pulling all of us out." The General glanced away, at his now blank screen. "Now, what else do we need to do in eight days?"
They started talking about specifics, scheduling units. Jaime took notes. The General switched a few groups. The injured first, then his three new companies. He set the long timers to come through last.
One last insult. I'm surprised we weren't removed months ago . . . unless, of course, they want to get rid of us.
I wonder if they want to get rid of this whole world.
As soon as Jaime was off duty, he headed for the stables. Trying to look casual.
Where he found Captain Orobona already saddling up.
"Grab a horse, Felis. I suspect we're both heading down the same road to perdition."
"Yes sir." And I hope he doesn't mean a brothel.
Orobona headed northwest out of town, but rode past the gate to the camp. "I always rather thought the hills to the northwest of the gate camp would be an excellent spot for an observation point. And I suspect they came right back, after we mashed their tent." He looked around at the empty rocks. "I need to talk to someone from the Kingdom of the West."
"Damn, have we been that obvious?" Male voice, still nothing but empty rock to the eye.
"No. The geography just made this spot likely. We have received orders to return to Earth. A . . . rather nasty thought has occurred to some of us. An armageddon device, a weapon to destroy an entire world. I don't know that they are going to do something of that nature, but you need to make a gate to a Toxic world and throw everything we leave behind through it and never open a gate to that world again."
Silence for a long moment.
"I will pass on your advice."
***
"General . . . you can't trust those people. They have no honor. They don't think of you as real people."
General Rufi Negue leaned back and studied the upset man in front of him. "They are your people, Mr. Malder. Didn't you enjoy your trip home?"
"Yes, it was lovely to see my sister again. But god help me, I understand them. They said to leave town and isolate ourselves . . . that sounds like a biological weapon. Something to kill most if not all of the people on this world. Something we might have been inoculated against, decades ago and might not catch. Please. I need to get down there, to search their camp once they are gone."
Rufi looked up at voices from the hall.
" . . . not care if he's busy, he really does want to talk to us. We have to warn him."
Across the desk, Damien Malder straightened and gawped as two people tried to get past Rufi's butler.
"Let them in, Kel." Rufi steepled his fingers as the other two Earther moles stopped dead and stared at Malder.
"Well! I might have known you'd be the first one here." Captain Andrai Andrews switched her attention to Rufi. "Has he already convinced you to let us search? We're going to need help, it's a huge camp."
Rufi nodded. "Stick around. I'll call up the troops."
Chapter Thirty-seven
9 December 3512 ce
Late Fall 1395 px
Fascia, Auralia, Comet Fall
Jaime looked over the list.
Over fifty bachelors whooping it up at the prospect of getting home. Jaime assigned them to the first eight trucks, followed by the five all-Earther families.
The thirty-two men with native wives and families he'd put in the last dozen vehicles, the twenty year old gyps.
In between, he'd placed the people he was unsure of.
Lieutenant Tripp came in and looked over his shoulder briefly, then walked out.
When she came back she made a few suggestions to shift people around. A bit to his surprise, she wanted to be in the rear. "People change." She shrugged. "I just hope they don't change again." She knows what I'm doing. Or . . . thinking about doing. And approves.
Indeed. The Earth had sent plenty of transportation, moving the wounded early, while the rest of them shut down operations and removed all the equipment they didn't want falling into the hands of either the Natives or this . . . Disco thing.
There were four lines of vehicles, en echelon, all ready to stream around the corner into the helicopter hanger and through the gate as efficiently as possible. No tangles or stoppage allowed. Apart from the periodic checks.
The old hands were most of the last line, trailing around the corner of the helipad clearing and down the street.
Jaime tailed Orobona, clipboard in hand. Watching the thoughtful narrowing of the man's eyes as he studied the order of the line.
The captain sighed. Muttered something under his breath. Turned and crossed to the last vehicle in the first line. Fancy staff car.
General Soeder climbed out and nodded stiffly. "I expect your men will be glad to get home." His fingers dipped into his jacket pocket, jerked back out. A guilty flash, more impression than expression.
"Indeed sir. I suspect there will be quite a party tonight, well, given the time difference, tomorrow."
Soeder turned to a lieutenant as he trotted up, screen in hand, and four flags, three green and one red. Green for the end of a line, and a pause to check for problems. Red for last vehicle, to signal the controllers to close the gate.
"It's all ready, sir." He handed a green flag to a trailing private who circled the officers to clip the flag to the rear of the general's car.
Another private took two green flags and headed for the end of the second line, and then the third.
The third private had taken the red flag and trotted on to the end of the fourth line. A new gyp swung around and took the final position. Captain Furnace stepped out and motioned to the private to place the red flag on his vehicle.
"They said they'd like to join the troops they'd worked so closely with for the last crossing." Soeder's expression went blank. His hand twitched toward his pocket, and away.
"Yes, sir. Good man, sir." Orobona looked like he was thinking hard.
The gate alarm blared. Engines started across the lines. Jaime stepped to where he could see the gate, see the first vehicles moving into the departure lane. Which put him in the right position.
"See you across, Captain."
"Sir!" Snappy salutes, then Jaime turned to follow Orobona, his left hand brushing Soeder's jacket as he turned . . . He walked back to the last of their gyps. Didn't glance at his hand. He could feel that it was a key, a single unlabeled key. So why the guilt?
He glanced at the other lines of vehicles. Soeder's car turned the corner, out of sight, and the second line started moving.
Orobona opened the back door, Jaime open the front.
Looked at the seat. Looked at Corporal Harbin behind the wheel, who was staring blankly ahead, jaw clenched. He closed the door. Straightened.
"I'm not going."
There was a long silence. Orobona froze halfway into his seat.
Harbin's head jolted around.
Orobona slowly stood back up. "Me neither."
Jaime looked at them all. Expressions were unfreezing. "Does anyone want to go?"
"That's desertion." Captain Furnace's voice from over his shoulder.
Damn, Soeder put him there to prevent this.
"We talked it over . . . " Furnace looked away.
Rose Goodwin was right behind him. "Part of the time I wish this whole world would just die. But not today. They've left some sort of doomsday device behind, and I think we'd better find it fast. I will not be a part of a genocidal attack."
Behind her Lieutenant Marquis shrugged. "I sorta like the ladies around here."
Jaime cleared his throat. "Well, let's just see how far up we need to move that flag."
Further than he'd thought. Even half the "pure" families stayed.
The red flagged gyp closed in on the gate. Then it drove through and vanished. The view down the Gate Complex Approach faded into bright fog and drained away.
"Well, that's it." Jaime looked around, to where people were popping out
of nowhere. "And It looks like the Western Army has shown up."
"Captain Orobona, I'm Xen Wolfson. Can some of your people come look at two machines and give us your opinion?"
"Certainly. We were about to start searching the camp ourselves." Orobona turned to the remaining troops. "Spread out. Search for anything that might be a bomb, possibly a biowarfare device. Hamza, you're in charge. Make it fast, but thorough." They all followed the tall man.
Tripp trotted up beside Wolfson.
"How long have you been hanging around, invisible, Xen?" Devvy asked.
"Oh, I've been rotating through, umm, has it only been nine months since we had to start keeping an eye on you lot?"
"Seems like longer." Devvy jerked to a stop at the sight of the truck in the small garage. "What's this?"
"This seems to be what General Soeder couldn't get off his mind, with lots of guilt, denial, horror and, well a whole bag of emotional content." Xen let them look it over.
"It pressures up these tanks and then sprays. Set to automatically start in umm, four hours." Jaime looked over at Orobona. "Weaponized bacteria of some sort, I suspect."
"Soeder was thinking bio weapon." A tall man with light brown hair walked up. "This is the only thing even close to what he was picturing, Xen."
"Excellent. Now, this thing in the next room . . . " Wolfson led them through to the mechanic's station.
Orobona choked faintly.
"That's a Peacemaker!" Furnace sounded shocked too.
"Going to destroy the evidence." Orobona looked at the counter. "One week. It'll go off in one week." He looked at the curious Westerners. "It's a small nuclear device." How to explain it?
Xen eyed it. "Pity it's too big to get onto the truck. We'll deal with it later." He walked back to the truck. "Q? Ready?" Xen paused for a moment, did something that involved smacking the wall in front of the truck in four places, opening a view of more desert. "Now, to get this thing running. First are there any traps?"
The intel guys climbed all over it, and declared it clean.
"We ought to be able to hotwire the truck, drive wherever you want to dispose of it." Furnace muttered.
Jaime shook his head and pulled out a key. "I suspect this will work. Soeder kept touching it."
Xen took it and jumped up in the front seat. "Okay. Brake, power, gear shift. Get out of the way, I'm not a very good driver. Captain, please get your people out of here, go search the Palace for any added surprises, we'll be magically removing this whole base, and scraping up the ground below. I'll find you in a couple of hours."
He started the truck and drove it forward into the wall, where it drove out of sight to the right and the square suddenly disappeared.
"What the . . . " Jaime walked forward and felt the wall. "One of those corridor things, or a gate?"
"Corridor. The gates take more time to set up, sir." The man was maybe thirty, brown hair, brown eyes. Calm, with the same air of unobtrusive confidence he'd seen in martial arts experts. Magical arts, in this case, he rather suspected.
With a slight whiff of displaced air a group of people popped out of nowhere. A collection of tall men, one familiar from twenty years ago.
"Jek, get everyone off the premises." This couldn't be the same damn man who'd claimed to be the God of War so many years before. A bit over two meters, brown hair and beard. "Captain, leave, take your people with you, preferably up to the Palace, start searching. We'll talk in a couple of hours."
Orobona rounded his people up with a glance and led them out. He waved down Hamza. "We've got it. Now, hit the motor pool for all the spare parts they brought in for our old gyps then get back to the palace."
Jaime looked around. "You know, the City Fathers are going to be pissed. Once they stop being relieved."
Orobona started laughing and wound up sitting on the ground wheezing and holding his chest. Sharp pains, reaching down his left arm . . . not good.
"Drink this." A young woman was forcing something into his mouth.
He nearly choked on it, swallowed. The pain faded.
"More."
He took another sip. A third. "Damn, what is that stuff?"
Tripp eyed the hip flask the girl was holding, and blushed furiously. "A magic healing potion?"
"Think nanos, if you like the idea better. These are general purpose, I'll send something specifically for cleaning and repairing the circulatory system to you." She flashed a grin at Tripp. "You may find your commander pretty frisky the next few days, an active sex drive is part of good health. Just tell him no. This doesn't compel action. Just sit still for a while and give it time to work."
He sat while the gyps were loaded with great haste and unfortunately not much. Then they all piled on top and they drove off, through the empty camp and up to the Palace, where happy reunions quickly became the order of the day.
Chapter Thirty-eight
9 December 3512 ce
Late Fall 1395 px
Comet Fall and Earth
Once out of sight of the Earthers, Xen stopped the truck and swooped a bubble around it.
Q turned away from collapsing the corridor that led from this desolate spot back to the army base. "So . . . how many people do you want to kill?"
Xen rubbed his legs. "None. Well, there are a couple . . . Why did I ever want to make Ambassador Time so bloody short?"
"Because you're so tall?"
"I suppose. Anyhow, King Leano is pissed, but not insane. He suggested the Council chambers, and seal the doors."
"They probably have an off switch. And there's not enough clear space in the council chamber." Q walked around the truck, then stared at the tank. Glowing. Throwing spells.
"Death spells for bacteria? And here I thought you were so cold blooded and emotionless."
"Ha! No, I simply evoke no sexual urges in men. Dammit. I have plenty of emotions, mostly suppressed so I don't kill the next man who pats me on the head and thinks of me as a daughter."
"I've got some wine that will cure that." Ouch, ouch, damned leg bones don't like being fat and short.
"No you don't. I've tried it." She nodded in satisfaction. "There. Bacteria, Virii, fungii . . . there's nothing alive in that tank. I broke down all the complex organics. Now we can scare the crap out of them, and not risk killing billions of people. Let's go. You talk, I'll seal the doors and bash the guards." She swooped a bubble over the tank truck.
"Oooo, you are feeling a bit grudgy aren't you? Do I need to beat someone up for you?"
"What? For not acting improperly toward your sister?"
Xen pulled his ears out to points, darkened his hair and reddened his complexion. "Well, have you considered a business transaction? Surely one of the guys out in Rip Crossing . . . "
She gave him a rude gesture, and turned her back on him when he pulled his "elf costume" out of a bubble.
"Right. Let's go." He warped light, and grabbed the bubble full of bioweapon.
The truck fit perfectly between the elevated rostrum and the first row of desks facing it.
By the time he'd maneuvered it into place, Q had melded the doors and their frames together and drained the power packs on the guards' lasers. The security cameras and the public broadcast cameras were left on.
Xen climbed the steps to the rostrum, reached out mentally and popped the bubble. The sprayer truck dropped an inch and rocked on its suspension, thumping the furniture it crowded. Xen climbed over the dais and dropped to the top of the truck as he let his light warp go.
"So. You decided to leave Comet Fall alone. You have no idea how glad I was to hear that." He ignored the guards attempts to shoot him with the drained lasers. The man who pulled an old fashioned chemically propelled pistol fell over, stunned, and the pistol disappeared.
"But you left a few things behind, in your haste to depart." He tapped his foot on the main tank, the bong echoing around the chamber. "I see from your expressions that you know what this is. Well, it wasn't the sort of thing you ought to leave s
itting around." He let a nasty grin show. "I do hope it comes with an off switch. Now, I've left your communications channels open, so you can talk to the Army people and get instructions."
Uncouth, standing on their own Armageddon device, but it did rivet their attention.
"Is this enough of a threat?" He turned around looking at all the Councilmen. "Will you leave that world alone now?" He stared at the senior Councilman, or whatever they called him, as he backed away from the dais.
The man stopped and glared. "Listen you subhuman pervert. We bow to no one. We will destroy that world just to show you what happens when you cross us."
Which left only one thing to do.
He travelled to the recognition point next to the corridor back to Nowhereistan. And waited for Q . . . :: Q? ::
:: Relax. I'm just cleaning up a few details. Can you imagine? Some spoilsport was ordering the techs to cut the broadcasts from the chambers. I'm isolating them from interference. ::
Xen snickered. :: Yes. Let everyone see their Councilmen shitting their pants. ::
She stepped out of nowhere, and they walked through the corridor to Nowhereistan.
Quicksilver followed him through the corridor to his perch above the gate mechanism. She eyed it and then him. "You'd better remember how to duck and how to shield, this time. If you mess up, I suspect you'll be yond all possibility of saving." She turned and stepped back to the desert.
Xen felt for the kinetic energy of the rotating rings . . . And stepped into the corridor, holding himself in place while he closed the opening down the smallest opening he could draw power through. And pulled the power. Flinched and shut the hole altogether. Whatever had flown through had been too fast to duck.
At least I had the sense to not stand in front of the opening.
He choked and leaped back to the desert.
Q was standing, next to the corridor, looking worried.
He huffed out his breath in relief. "I had sense enough to not be in the line of fire, but I was worried about you . . . "