Inchoate: (Short Stories Volume I)

by Lazlo Ferran

  ***

  We didn’t have to wait long for the attack. On the third day - night on Io, a single SU 401 was picked up on the radar, coming in high and fast. He didn’t wait to be shot at and probably took a few nice photos of empty ground around the mine.

  As Khan called out the intruder over the intercom, the men jumped into action. Plates and dice were dropped as men reached for their weapons but it was a false alarm.

  “Only reconnaissance!” Khan’s voice crackled through the speakers.

  Moans of frustration from the men filled the fetid air in the ship.

  “Don’t get complaisant!” I told them. “They are coming... soon!”

  I was more accurate than I had expected.

  Thirty minutes later there was a sudden flash from somewhere outside and then the MCS shook.

  Khan’s voice, calm but urgent announced the obvious, “Incoming!” and then the not so obvious, “I think they’ve spotted us!”

  “Khan! What’s happening?” I shouted as I reached the flight-deck hatch.

  In the red light, Osei’s mouth was open, saying something to me but another explosion drowned out his words.

  “What?”

  Both Osei and Khan together shouted, “MCS Bravo is hit!”

  “How?”

  “Dunno. Infra-red? They know where we are! Look”

  I looked to where Khan, sitting in the driving seat, was pointing. The radar screen showed seven blips, SU 401s, and smaller blips streaking from them towards all three positions of the MCSs.

  Somebody has ratted on us. But who...

  “Coming at us!” shouted Khan.

  This was it. My worst nightmare had come at last. I didn’t hesitate. I reached for the red Evac. button and punched it. The Evac. button bi-passed all other safety procedures so there was no question of any time to prepare. Instantly the hot air in the MCS started rushing out through the open hatch.

  “Lids!” I screamed pointlessly. Every man would have already taken a deep breath and be closing his visor. The escape hatch was just inside the mess and I could already see men lunging up the ladder.

  “Come on!” I shouted to Osei and Khan but I already knew we would be too late. I waited for the stream of men to escape and as the seconds ticked by, each like an eternity, my heart beats grew louder and my breaths fewer.

  Crash! Everything went mad as the missile hit. My helmet hit the rim of the mess hatch and, for a moment, I couldn’t see. Instinct kicked in and I groped for something so that I could pull myself towards the ladder. Somebody grabbed my arms and then I saw Stone’s face, blurry but distinct, grinning at me.

  “Hit the rear!” came over my intercom. Within moments I was out and standing on the roof of the MCS. Multiple explosions lit the night sky with white flashes, which cooled to red and yellow, eerily silent.

  As I jumped up onto some slag to quickly survey the battlefield I saw troops of IM snaking over the ridge of the volcano and laser fire streaked out towards some of the PODs near us.

  Laser fire hit a lump of slag near Stone’s head and he dived for cover. The lump glowed reddish black with the heat.

  Our position had been under a bluff just above the main approach track to the mine entrance. This sloped up from the south along the side of the volcano before turning ninety degrees into the mine entrance. Most of the terrain was harsh and slag-strewn but the track offered a chance of escape.

  “To the track, men.” I said over the intercom calmly. “Regroup near POD 5 - half way between here and the mine entrance. Stone. Where is Osei?”

  “I saw him with a group of men taking up defensive position the other side of the MCS Cap!”

  “Osei. Get onto S.5 now. We need air-cover and we need it now.”

  “Osei’s voice crackled through the interference from the battle.”

  “Sir!”

  “Then get your men to the rendezvous. We are going to launch a counter attack. Where is Khan?”

  “Don’t know sir. I think he stayed in the MCS.”

  “What? Stone, I want to know what our status is and that of the other MCSs. Okay?”

  “Yessir!”

  “But stay with me. Use one of the other frequencies if you have to.”

  I looked at the front corner of our MCS and could see the far-side turret moving, Khan seeking targets for the laser cannons.

  Idiot.

  “Khan! Khan get out of there. Now! That is an order!”

  “Will do sir. Just one more incoming. Everyone clear of the MCS!”

  “Khan!”

  I saw the whitish streak of the missile’s liquid hydrogen exhaust streaking straight towards the MCS from the south. An SU 401 banked after releasing it and climbed for cover of height. There would be no time for Khan now.

  The laser cannons moved to aim at the missile and it grew in my visor until it was too big and too close. I closed my eyes. There was an enormous flash of white which lit up the inside of my eyelids and I was thrown to the ground. Pieces of MCS flew over our heads until again there was silence.

  I could see helmets shaking in disbelief.

  We moved quickly, using short hops to POD 5 where at least there would be a few weapons.

  The voice of DeTunne came over the intercom from the POD. “Nice to see you, Cap. POD 3 has bought it. And I think one of those warehouses with our tanks in, has been hit.”

  “Losses?”

  “Still assessing sir. Help yourself to lasers.”

  “Tell the other PODs to start clearing a path between us and the southern ridge of the volcano. That’s where we’re going because that’s where their troops are coming from. That’s where they’ll be attempting to get into the mine.”

  “Yessir!”

  “Osei? Where is the air-cover?”

  “On its way sir.”

  “How long?”

  “Twelve minutes.”

  Shit! What was the point of all this secrecy if they knew we were here anyway?

  “Osei. Anything from the other MCSs?”

  “Nothing sir. POD 1 and 4 say all comms have stopped. Probably gone sir and all in them, God rest their souls.”

  All remaining men regrouped by POD 5 and then we started over the small ridge above the road and on, eastwards towards the ridge of Ruwa Patera. It was only half way to the ridge that we came across the first concentration of IM that the remaining PODs had not yet cleared.

  Stone came on the line. “Status reports sir.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “Our MCS - five dead. Other MCS gone sir, far as we can tell. Some good news though.”

  “Yes?”

  “Look to your left Cap, about three o’clock.”

  I looked and surrounded by sulphurous dust came a glorious sight; eight of our own tanks.

  “Where are you Stone? I need you here.”

  “With you in a moment, Cap.”

  “You!” I tapped a grunt on the shoulder. “Break out the lasers from the POD.”

  The panel fell open on the side of the POD, released from inside, revealing five X.50s. It was a start. The grunt handed one to me, kept one himself and handed out the other three.

  Stone came up from the column behind me just as a line of IM militia stood up on a ridge to our right. Twenty of them opened fire on our double-column, now of only forty-five men, loosely spread out and with flankers. I knew our flankers would soon have this covered. While we lay behind rocks for cover I tried to think through my strategy.

  Don’t know how many men they have but since they must have come the last five or ten miles on foot they would have had the chance to spread themselves very wide and we could easily be walking into a trap. Do we have a choice? No. We have too few men to split up.

  “Air-cover?”

  “Four minutes sir.”

  “Okay. We wait here men.”

  The flashes of laser fire grew less frequent and then stopped. Stone tapped me on the shoulder. I looked to where he was pointing. Walsh was waving from the ri
dge where the IM had been.

  “Get over here Walsh and take cover.”

  We waited for our air-cover and when it came, it was not a moment too soon. The SUs had concentrated on destroying the remaining tanks and had hit three. Our three FA 217s struggled to cope with the outdated but still fast, SU 401s. Left over from the age of the first conflicts between what was once Russia and USAC, on Mars, the SUs were built for speed. Even though their avionics and weapons systems were completely obsolete, their speed still made them dangerous. 3 We watched as the little white fighters fought each other. Within seconds an SU was caught by a missile and exploded in a galaxy of light motes.

  “That’s evened the odds up a bit!” I said over the intercom.

  I stood up.

  “To your feet men!”

  All remaining men stood up and I beckoned them to follow. We had covered more than three of the four miles to the ridge. I couldn’t see any IM this side of it and we made good progress over the next twenty minutes. Passing near some of the PODs we picked up more X.50s until every man was armed.

  Passing over onto the other side or Ruwa and towards the dawn as it rushed over Io’s surface towards us, we could see what all the fuss was about.

  An IM Fortriss digger was vertical in its cradle after having just exited a shaft in the surface below it about four-hundred yards in front of us. It would be right over the position of one of the shallowest tunnels in the mine if the IM ground-radar was accurate enough.

  “Osei? I want you to organise the vehicles. I want the tanks and PODs to go around the back of the IM and give us covering fire from there. Keep them well out - their longer range should keep them safe. Once they’re in position and covering us we will go in, in small groups. The ground’s rough down there and I can’t see how many men they have.”

  “Stone. I’ve seen more than one shot come from that ridge on our right. Draw their fire while we circle around them.

  After we eliminated them Stone joined us. All the while the tanks and PODs circled around behind the Fortiss and moved into position.

  “Sir. Look!” A Grunt called Dunne in front of me was pointing way to the right, ahead of the digger and I just caught a bright flash of orange light from the corner of my eye. We were only about fifty yards from the digger and under heavy fire as we moved. For a moment we had taken shelter behind a large lump of slag on the lip of a shallow gully.

  “What the fu...!”

  “Laser sir?”

  “I dunno but whatever it is, it’s big and just took out one of our tanks. The IM shouldn’t have equipment like that... not that they can carry around. I haven’t seen any vehi-...”

  That was when I realised my big mistake.

  Looking to the right of the field of battle I saw more IM only a few yards away coming in on the opposite side to that of the first attack. They were all armed with laser-knives. We were caught between two lines. They had laser-knives because they didn’t want to hit each other. But more significant was the fact that they knew, and we knew, they couldn’t win. It was just a delaying tactic.

  In the instant the real situation registered in my over-busy mind, I stood still, watching another orange explosion beyond the digger.

  Another tank or POD.

  There are always moments like this in any battle for a leader: the moment when you perceive the deepest strategy of your opponent and have to take stock of what you have left and what’s achievable. It is a moment of complete silence and clarity. That is, your mind becomes silent and, if you are a good leader, you find you have plenty of time to work out a strategy that has a chance of winning. The moment came and went and I acted:

  “Stone!” I shouted into the intercom. “Watch the rear. Keep it open!”

  “You think I didn’t know that?” Stone always became angry in the heat of battle.

  I knew now that we were surrounded. Seeing it as their last chance to trap us, they had delayed us and now we were probably seconds away from slaughter. I weighed the distance to the digger and wondered what forces were between us and it.

  “Sir! Osei here. Sir. Something’s wrong!”

  “Yes I know. We’re in trouble. What is it Osei? Quick!”

  “The digger sir. It’s stopped digging. Also, we’re too close. If they still needed it, would they pick an ambush point this close?”

  “Yes.” It was irrelevant now. We had to get out of the ambush or lose our lives and the mine. The digger had been down since we’d first seen it but now it was motionless in its cradle. That meant that they already had broken through to a shaft and it was most likely they already had a squad on their way down.

  So near yet so far.

  “Back! Retreat!”

  The second wave of laser-knife armed IM had reached us and it was a question of survival for now. I aimed my laser at a grunt and pulled the trigger. There was a senselessness to it but I just kept picking them off while slowly shuffling along the gully with my column of men. When the last of the disposable IM grunts was down, the real attack started. Incoming green laser-fire forced us to the ground. I found myself looking at a lump of slag next to a piece of silicate, coated in fine sulphur powder an inch from my visor. For a moment I thought how beautiful the yellow of the powder was against the red flecked black of the slag and the variegated, speckled silicate.

  “Stone? I spoke into the intercom almost in a whisper.”

  “Here Cap. Things are bad aren’t they?”

  “Yes. How is it back there? Is there a way out?”

  “Er. Let me see sir. Won’t be a moment.” I heard the muffled sound of heavy fire in the intercom a moment later than I heard the same sound through my helmet and it sounded curiously like I was in an echo-chamber.

  “Only one way sir.”

  “Yes?”

  “We need a precision hit from one of the tanks. Osei can do it sir.”

  “Osei? Can we do it?”

  “Er, maybe sir. It’s risky. Very risky.”

  “This, is risky Rick.”

  “Yessir.”

  “Tank 14. Do you read me?” I heard Osei call.

  Laser fire scorched just above our heads and I heard a few screams over the intercom as Osei waited for an answer.

  “Not sure if any of the tanks are still operational...”

  “Tank 14. We’re here! Just. We been hit. We can barely move.”

  “We need a hit. I am gonna give you a map reading. But it’s a guess. If your navigator thinks I am wrong let me know. Map reading 21, 61, 42 North, 90, 01, 52 West. Aim about one hundred yards west of the digger tip. You got that?”

  “Yessir. Wait a moment. Incoming!” There was a sound of an explosion over the intercom and coughing.

  “You there 14?”

  A few more coughs were followed by, “We’re still here but not for much longer. Wait a moment.”

  “Jesus!” muttered Osei to himself.

  The sound of laser-fire from Stone’s end of the column increased.

  “Make it quick guys!” said Stone.

  The suited body of a grunt fell across my knees. I shook him but he was dead There was a rent in his suit about a foot long.

  “Okay we got you. Nav. thinks you are off by fifty yards. Says the digger is at 90, 00, 02 west. Which makes your spot about 01, 44.”

  Osei looked at me. The intercom was silent.

  “It’s yours Rick. Don’t worry, if you are wrong, most of us won’t feel a thing.”

  A weak smile creased his lips. “Okay I am with your Nav... Take the shot.”

  “Okay. Fire in the hole. Three, two, one. Charge away!”

  “Incoming!” Osei shouted as loud as he could down the intercom. Heads ducked even further, all around us.

  A mountain of slag and dirt lifted from behind a slight rise and I watched for body parts. There were plenty of them.

  “Stone? Was that a hit? Are you alright?”

  Silence for a moment was followed by, “Phewee! That was mighty cool! Bang on target! R
emind me to buy that Navigator any drink he likes! And all night long too! We got a way out of here now! Come on Cap. Let’s go!”

  “Not that easy Stone. With you in a moment. Okay men. You around me at the front of the column. As far as I can tell there are about twenty of us left. There is at least one hundred of them. Our only chance is to run for it. That rise to our rear is home and dry for you. Get there and you will be okay. When I say, go. We stand, and give them everything you got! Okay, ready... go!”

  Every man stood up, firing at anything and nothing. Most of us couldn’t see much because of the blinding wall of laser-fire slicing into bodies all around us. Those that could, ran and those that couldn’t, crawled. Some dragged their companions but only ten of us made it over the rise. Beyond it there was no time to stop. Stone was standing there, directing us down the line to another shallow gully which offered good protection from incoming fire and once in it, we all had a chance. We moved in hops as fast as we could back over the ridge towards the mine entrance. Only twenty men were left as we approached the mine entrance. The remaining PODs, slower moving than the tanks, had been taken out trying to defend our flank and only two tanks were left. Tank 14 was not one of them. As we had reached the top of the ridge, I had turned for a moment to look at the battlefield. I could see an ant’s nest of at least one hundred and fifty - perhaps two hundred IM milling about on the field.

  Lucky to get out of that one. Very lucky.

  “Back the tanks up against the entrance Osei. I don’t want anything getting in behind our backs. Okay, let’s go.”

  I punched the code and the great mine-gates, big enough for coal-trucks, opened and we entered. As they shut behind us, the air pressurised in the air-lock and we raised our visors. The inner doors opened and a portly man was standing there in the gloom, on his own. I recognised him as the Mine Manager.

  “Sir, what is the status... I mean what can you tell us?” I asked, approaching him. He looked deathly pale and was clearly very shaken.

  “They are already in Tunnel M. But there is a short-cut. You have to move fast. Follow me.”

  As we followed him down the long tunnel, he told me all I needed to know.

  “The others are all in the shelters - except two. The IM caught them trying to create a barricade. We blocked the main entrance to Tunnel M from the central access shaft yesterday but they must have found out how to get in from my two men. But you can still beat them I think.”

  After about four-hundred yards we came to a small door labeled ‘Fire Exit’ on the left. Here the Manager stopped.

  “Go in there, follow the tunnel to the lift and take the cage down to the thirteenth level. Out of the lift, and the tunnel behind you is Tunnel M. You know your way from there. Good luck.”

  “You are a brave man. Thanks!” I slapped him on the shoulders and opened the door.

  We moved at a fast trot down the long, sloping corridor to the lift-shaft and all twenty of us managed to fit into the cage. I pressed the button for the thirteenth level.

  “He could be lying sir,” said Dunne.

  “Yes.” I looked at him grimly.

  “Why the hell don’t we have backup?” shouted Stone behind me. “Anderstown is only a few miles away and S.5 should have something there. And their own troops can get here in twenty minutes. I don’t understand it!”

  “Me neither Stone.” I answered.

  The cage rattled to a stop and everything was ominously quiet.

  “Weapons!” Every man raised his weapon and I stepped out of the cage. We were at a tunnel junction. Here a side tunnel crossed Tunnel M but I guessed we were about one third of the way along, from its entrance at the centre of the mine. The IM could be ahead of us or behind us. I peered around the lift shaft corner into Tunnel M. The dimly lit tunnel was clear as far as my eyes could see.

  “Let’s go. Fast as we can.” If we were behind them, we had to catch them.

  “Sir! I saw something! Behind us.” It was a man at the back.

  “Where!”

  “Behind us!”

  I raised my hand and we all stopped. I ran to the back of the squad and peered into the tunnel on the opposite side of the lift-shaft. After a moment I saw them: little lights bobbing up and down.

  “They are coming! Fast as you can!”

  I broke into a full run, hoping we were all fit enough to stay ahead of the IM. We had a long way to go. We had gone perhaps nearly a mile when the same grunt shouted that they were gaining on us. My men were almost exhausted. Clearly the IM weren’t carrying so much weight.

  “Come on! Come on! We have practiced this!”

  “Not for a few years Cap?” added Stone wryly.

  “Come on! Come on! Just another half mile to go.”

  A few flashes from behind and a seribdenum beam above my head glowed red. Men started to drop. One, then two and then I couldn’t look any more. We had to keep going. Sweat streamed down my face and I struggled for every last gasp of breath. The men around me weren’t doing much better.

  I glanced at the sides of the shaft-props but couldn’t find what I was looking for.

  “Keep going!”

  I glanced again at a prop and saw number 573 marked on it. I knew from my visit, days before, that we needed to get to prop 613.

  “Nearly there! Another one hundred yards!”

  I think!

  I counted down the props. 600, 601, 602 and 603.

  “Stop! Help me!”

  Every mine shaft has spare props in case of collapse and I had known there were some at prop 603. I pulled the spare props, about eight feet long, out from the wall and laid them across the tunnel between two vertical props each side of the tunnel. In less than thirty seconds we had ten props, overlapping each other, forming a low barricade right across the tunnel.

  “Okay. We will make our stand here! The charges are about another one hundred yards down the tunnel. Osei. Get five men together. You will blow the charges. I want ten men on the ground behind the props five men each side, crouching and standing. We have the advantage here as there are too many of them to all fire at once. Militarily, it’s called a bottleneck!” I said calmly, hoping to sooth the men’s nerves.

  The IM halted in the distance and took up positions as they opened fire.

  “How many do you think Stone and Osei?”

  “Forty!” Stone replied, from the right wall.

  “More like fifty.” said Osei, whose eyesight was keener.

  “Osei. Get going!”

  “Ahhh!” It was Stone. He had been hit in the leg. The shot had almost taken his leg clean off. It hung by the material of his fatigues and a thin sliver of muscle. He stayed on his one good leg but leaned against the wall, panting.

  “Stone! Your laser! Do it!” I shouted.

  He nodded. He pointed his laser at the exposed femoral artery of his stump and fired a short burst, to cauterize the wound and seal the artery. In shock, and with such an unwieldy instrument, his aim was haphazard and he burned quite a bit of flesh as well. He gasped in agony and dropped the laser, grasping his leg and slumping to the floor.

  Remembering Osei, I watched him tap five good men on the shoulders and break into a run but just as he reached the first prop he was hit and went down.

  “Osei!”

  One of the men with him shook his head.

  Shit!

  “Stone! Are you okay? Can you move with assistance?”

  “Are you kidding? I am fucked. Look for crissake!” he shouted

  “Take him!” I beckoned to two of the men Osei had chosen.

  “Leave me here! I can still fire a laser!” he shouted through gritted teeth.

  “Don’t argue.”

  The two men returned, took an arm each and hauled Stone off, up the tunnel.

  “Prop 613 Stone! You know what to do. Don’t fail! And you lot - defend him to the last man!” I watched them them grow smaller as they struggled down the tunnel with Stone.

  A laser shot whizzed by m
y ear and the air sizzled. I smelled burned hair - my own.

  The shoot-out that followed was long, with many twists and turns. I was right: even though we were outnumbered, we lost men at about the same rate as the IM, until their leader, with more men, decided to risk a trick. Nobody ever throws grenades in a mine unless they want to bring the roof down or die. But the IM were desperate. A grenade landed right in front of the barricade, skipped across the dirt and came to rest against the props.

  I dived away from the blast, down the tunnel and a man landed on top of me just as hell came down around us. When there was silence and I found I was still breathing. I pushed the man from on top of me. He was still breathing and didn’t look too badly hurt. One other looked alive. The rest of my men were dead. Through the cloud of dust I saw that the joist of the tunnel was split and bent out of shape, as were the vertical props. Somehow the tunnel was still intact.

  There was a great cry of, “Charge!” from the IM and then they were running towards us.

  I stood up, found a laser that looked like it might fire and aimed it at them. Thinking this was it, I decided to go out on a high so I started walking to meet the IM. A laser shot fizzed past me from behind and I knew that it was one of my men, one of the other two survivors.

  I kept walking as laser-fire ripped into my right leg. There was no question of feeling any pain or reacting to it. My blood was high; I couldn’t feel the pain and I didn’t care. I felt my leg hit a number of times but the IM were using single shots now and my leg still held me up. Another shot hit my arm as I took down two IM with a single sweep of fire from my laser. Coming at me in two columns I had no trouble picking off as many as wanted the mortal bite of fire. They fell as if they had practiced it, each being replaced by a man who, with the dust and debris in the air, took too long to pick out his target and fire. I had taken down nearly thirty before I was hit in the chest and fell to the ground, face down in the dust. My head swam, as I tried to force my body to move one last time. At first it wouldn’t and to my surprise I felt, rather than heard, the sound of IM boots passing over and around me. Then I heard the high-pitched squeal of two shots.

  I tried again to move and, drawing on all my reserves, managed to turn myself over. Seeing my laser near my hand I grabbed it and fired at the back of the last IM as they ran up the tunnel. He went down and something rolled away from his hand.

  Grenade! Oh no, not again!

  But it didn’t go off. Frantically I dragged myself, with my good arm, towards the grenade and picking it up. I pressed the firing button with the usual IM combination: two long presses, followed by a pause and then three long presses. The red warning light flashed and I smiled. Getting to my knees, nearly passing out from the pain which swept over me, I threw the grenade as far as I could, just catching some of the rearmost IM in its blast. Then I leaned against the tunnel to wait for whatever would come. I smiled again at the IM sense of humour. The IM firing combination was the Morse code for ‘M-O,’ the first two letters for the name of the Greek god of sleep, Morpheus.

  “Come on Stone! Blow it!”

  Becoming delirious, I laughed at my own pun and then it came. A huge explosion jolted me and then a huge plume of dust came snaking down the tunnel.

  Yes Stone! Yes!

  I waited and as the jolting subsided the tunnel became as silent as a tomb. But there was one more surprise for me. I heard voices. IM voices.

  Shit!

  If I wanted to live I would have to think fast. The stomach wound was bleeding badly and would be fatal if I didn’t get help soon.

  The IM took their time returning, no doubt contemplating their failure and whether there was any more that they could do.

  Eventually they came sauntering down the tunnel, chatting and looking surprisingly relaxed. The IM grunt with the grenade had one more hanging from his belt. The only place to hide, so that I could be sure to hit all of the IM, was a shallow alcove that had been created when the first explosion had taken out some loose rock. It might not conceal my legs properly but the lights above the scene of the explosion were mostly out, a few still blinking sporadically. I took up position, balancing my weight on my good leg, and when they were close enough I threw the grenade into their midst.

  They seemed very surprised. The leader, weapon slung casually over his shoulder, had just enough time to stare angrily at me before his head exploded and the IM squad became a chaotic cloud of blood and flesh. It didn’t matter to me now if the tunnel collapsed but it still held.

  No good these IM grenades!

  As the cloud of dust rolled past me, so too did the sound of feet, as some of the grubs, no doubt fed up with the sight of death, made their escape. I didn’t care, I had no more energy left so I let them go.

  The next thing I remembered was waking up in the USAC hospital on S.5.

  “It is with great honour that I award the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross, with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds to Major Jake Nanden, the most highly decorated field officer on Io. A brief description of the action on Io at Ruwa Patera mine, in which the award was won, will now follow.”

  A slight, wry smile creased my mouth involuntarily at the inclusion of Io; a small and reluctant nod to K-Company I thought. I looked up to the roof of the vast amphitheatre of S.4, the Mars station of USAC and at the crowd of twenty thousand, largely military faces, watching me. I smiled for them and the large monitors picked up my grin, displaying it magnified thousands of times.

  A voice started reading out a brief description of the action. “On the second of March, 2101, eleven jets of the IM attacked the mine at Ruwa Patera which was only protected by a single...”

  As he read, I saw the events in my own mind, the deaths of Osei and Khan, and wondered what the action had really been about. Why had there been no backup? How had the IM known where the MCSs were? These questions burned holes in my mind but for now, I just had to smile.

  The Voice concluded, “However, the remaining enemy fled and later, the badly wounded and unconscious Major was retrieved by a small rescue force from a nearby outpost.” The reader looked up, prompting the beginning of a long, standing ovation from the audience of perhaps seven minutes. I was relieved to get away.

  My new, mech leg was still a little stiff and I hobbled slightly as I reached Sergeant Stone, waiting back stage. We both headed for the expressway that led to the Terminal. Our suitcases had been sent ahead. Stone hardly glanced at my new medal.

  “I heard the mention of Io, the subtle reference to the repo-battalion.” Stone laughed hoarsely. “Is that all they can do? Us replicants will get recognition one day. They can’t ignore us forever!”

  I smiled wryly at him.

  “Naah!” he cried. “You gonna see your lady?”

  “Sure am. Haven’t seen her for nearly twelve months. You seeing Martha?”

  “Yep. And the kids.”

  “How old are they now?”

  “Naylor is five and Don, two.” He paused. “Sir, why do you stay in this business? I mean you could do anything. You have a degree in engineering. Why do you go on taking such risks all the time? It can’t be the medals.”

  I pulled his cap down over his face. “You worry about yourself and let me worry about me.”

  “Well this is where I get off. See you in six weeks-time. They have gone soft on you. Just ‘cos you got a slight scrape on the tummy.”

  “Rules is rules. Six weeks for stomach wounds, especially when it’s a winner of the Iron Cross.”

  He laughed at that and stepped off the conveyor onto a slower, side-conveyor which would take him to the gate for Mars. I stayed on until the gate for Earth.

  During the seven days of my journey to Earth’s orbit, I hired a blanker. Blank-Replicant’s were not cheap and in the Army, only officers of my rank or above could afford even the cheapest, Sensels. The name even sounded cheap and sexual to me but I wanted to spend as much time with Jena as I could so shortly after boarding I used my credit scan to pay for one a
nd then went to the booth indicated on my heads-up. One enters a drug-induced coma while using a blanker, which is why they are forbidden while on duty and why I had not spent any time at all with Jena since last May. During the hour it took for the drug to take effect, I reclined on the comfortable lounger and thought about Jena.

  She had requested a vid-link with me the day before the attack and I had accepted for late in the evening.

  The link activated and I was looking at Chloe, blue-eyed and staring at me.

  “Hi Chloe!”

  Her eyes widened and she crouched, ready to make her escape. Her long white feline ears pricked up and then a pair of hands stroked her long white fur once, before lifting her out of view, to be replaced by Jena.

  “Hi Jake!” She sounded upbeat.

  I laughed “Hi! How’s Chloe?”

  “As you can see, she is exquisitely adorable; doing what cats do. She misses looking into your green eyes and extracting as many of your inner thoughts as possible so that she can pass them on to me.”

  “Well, she’s not a fool like you. She knows there are no thoughts there.”

  “According to Hansegger, only replicants who are blanks or study Buddhism have no thoughts.”

  “Well Hansegger has got it wrong.”

  There was a long silence while we both weighed each other up, like two opponents trying to assess each other’s general combat readiness.

  “How’s it going with the deal?” I asked.

  “Oh that!” She looked embarrassed. “I hope you didn’t mind. I just had to tell you baby.”

  I laughed. “It’s fine. So?”

  “Yes. Going fine. Tell you a little more but not too much, when it happens.” She indicated how much with a pinch of her thumb and first finger.

  Jena looked great. She reclined and hooked her legs over the arm of her favourite leather chair. She was wrapped in a white cotton bath-robe and her blonde hair was newly washed and brushed back over her ears. Her inquisitive blue eyes tried, as usual, to penetrate my expressions for a quick advantage, speaking of her own insecurity I thought.

  “So in answer to your question, yes women do like to be ‘claimed’ sometimes.”

  She looked slightly uncomfortable revealing this. I hadn’t expected her to talk about it, especially since she had already answered me in message a few days before. I felt a small sense of triumph. I didn’t say anything, hoping she would go on.

  “Satisfied?” she said.

  “Not really,” I said “But that’s another matter.” As if wanting something in return for her intimacy she asked, “So what has your god been saying to you?”

  “My god?” I stalled while I thought of which defense to try. Jena had one weakness that I knew of; she was impatient and so she became vulnerable if I didn’t respond to her messages or vid-link requests. However, she knew my weakness too and mentioning God was like cracking a walnut with a sledgehammer.

  I tried my best defense. “I don’t have a god Jena. You know that. I never have had.”

  “But I don’t believe that. How do you stay sane?”

  “Who says I am?” I smiled at my facetious joke. She didn’t smile.

  “How do you get through... you know... what do you do?”

  I straightened up. “I live for one thing; getting back at Enquine. I don’t need God.”

  “You have Enquine?” She smiled ruefully. “Not that again. I think it’s a defense. I don’t think that’s a real answer and I don’t think you’re being honest with me!” She looked affronted and her tone was acerbic.

  I tried the little boy approach. “But it is true Jena.”

  “And I suppose you really were too busy to respond to my messages for the last two weeks?”

  “Yes. Things have been pretty busy.” I was cautious. She had changed tack.

  “Yeah, yeah. Pull the other one. I am on to you Jake.”

  I laughed. “Oh Jena. I miss you!”

  “Yeah? Prove it Jake. Let me see.”

  “See?”

  “Yes. Let me see you. Unless there is someone else in the room with you. Katie perhaps?”

  I laughed. “No.”

  “Well then..?”

  “Jena. Not tonight. I am really not in the mood.”

  “She became silent and seemed to be brooding, her face smouldering, her mouth fixed closed.”

  “Good night Jena.” I said, “End transmission,” and the comms centre blanked the screen. I brooded myself for a minute. I didn’t like falling out with Jena and I wondered whether she was now sitting in that chair sulking or laughing.

  When I had heard of the Iron Cross ceremony on Mars, I had immediately left a message for Jena telling her when I would be in and that I wanted to visit her. Later I received her reply. “Love to. Any time and stay. xx”