"And how's our lady?" Dragon asked.
"She's hot," Redhawk replied. "Hot and heavy—we're loaded. All set." The Kiss was to be our only hope if anything went wrong. The Die Young would launch us in the Kiss, somewhere outside the Odura System, and then would set off on the long return star-run to ConFree vac. We would not see her again for close to a month. We were to be on our own, on the far side of the galaxy, just us and the Kiss. Tara had given us one month to accomplish our mission. Every starship was vital to Fleetcom. They could not spare a tacship to orbit the Odura system for a month, waiting for us. Tacships were needed elsewhere.
We were going in live this time. We were not expecting any opposition, and the Legion had to save the Holo-x units for more dangerous projects.
"All right, you've all read the mission orders and the tacplan," Dragon said. "What it amounts to is, we're going to make it up as we go along. But the bottom line mission is, we are to uncover information that will lead the Legion to the location of the planet Chudit. And any way we do that is fine." He glared at everybody. He was certainly the finest squad leader in the galaxy—I had no doubts at all about that.
I knew the future of ConFree could well depend on the success of our mission.
***
Talk about lonely—we were all together, all ten of us, in the Kiss, approaching Odura, but I'd never felt lonelier. The Die Young had spit us out like an unwanted grape seed, leaving us all alone, out in Sagitta, on the far side of the galaxy, uncountable light years from everything we had ever known. Even the stars were different here—very different. As we sat there in our A-suits on the long ride in, I watched the screens and thought I could hear the mournful howl of distant stars, the sound of infinity, echoing inside the Kiss, crawling over my skin.
"What do you think happened to them, Psycho?" DD asked.
"Don't know. We'll find out soon enough," Psycho replied. The planet was ringed with orbiting debris—old satellites, weird dead space stations, bizarre derelict ships. Not one was inhabited or functional. We had already probed. Redhawk was going to look them over later. We did not really care what had happened to Odura. They had evidently given up star travel. We figured the secret of Chudit was downside, hidden in the historical records of the distant past, if any were left. Supposedly history had been important in this world. Surely something would be left!
"Here's your new home, girls! Comin' at ya!" The Kiss turned smoothly toward our target, and Odura glided into view on the d-screens, a ruddy, dull, mottled orb, streaked with white. It glowed like a poisonous fruit against a black velvet sky. I could see the thin film of atmosphere against the vac. Another magical world, another miraculous gift from God. Mankind had taken a different road here. This branch of humanity had nothing whatever to do with us, except perhaps for the same remote ancestors. But some things remained the same. I could still remember those wonderful children, kicking that ball through a beautiful green field. I got a thrill whenever I thought about it. Children, running through a field. Stormdawn! The future of the galaxy!
And soon Odura filled the vac, a terrifying presence looming before us, dwarfing us, overpowering us like an awesome God. We fell into the future, into the maw of that awful orb, my blood frozen in fear. We were such a tiny, insignificant presence—like intruding bacteria. I did not think it would take much effort at all for that mighty planet to snuff us out of existence in a blinding flash.
I prayed to Deadman. I prayed for the strength to persevere, and triumph. Only victory would be acceptable, I knew—only success. If we failed, the desert winds would bleach our bones and that fine red sand would quietly erase all evidence of our existence, and the Die Young would return and orbit a few times, calling out for us, and then leave.
We fell into the at. The wings of the Kiss began to glow. I was determined to accomplish the mission—succeed or die! Moontouch and Stormdawn gazed at me, their images burnt onto my armor. Psycho snapped on the Drop Song, max volume, and it reverberated through the cabin.
"The past is dead and gone,
The scent of flowers in a tomb
A half remembered tune,
From a half-remembered time.
Open your eyes, cast off old dreams!
A new world awaits you—
A new world to love you—
Drop, drop, drop!
The past is dead and gone!"
***
"All clear, Redhawk. Launch the E-sled." I stood in a swirling cloud of dust as the Kiss hovered behind me. We were ringing the Phantom, A & A, armored & armed. Our ZA was out in the middle of nowhere, a vast desert of rocks and sand and scrub. Our sensors told us there was no life in the vicinity. That's the kind of ZA you want.
The E-sled hissed out of the belly of the Kiss, raising more dust. It was late afternoon. We stirred up quite a cloud, but there was nobody there to see it except us. Sweats piloted the sled and Trigger set up his Manlink in front next to the driver. E-sleds were neat. They were really E-cars—air effects cars—but the Legion called them E-sleds. The Kiss couldn't carry an aircar, but the cargo hold had just enough room for a fully loaded sled, and that was all we needed for transportation on Odura. E-sleds don't get any altitude, they just skim over the surface like an E-car, but this one could transport the whole squad and all our equipment.
"How's the at, Priestess?" Dragon asked.
"Nothing nasty," Priestess replied, reading her instruments. "Breathable. No White Death spores, no fungus—no bacteria we can't handle."
The E-sled glided past me gently in a hazy swirl of sand and dust. Sweats whooped with enthusiasm. Trigger grinned through his faceplate. E-sleds were fun. I moved my limbs. The grav was not bad. A small but brilliant sun shone white-hot in the faint blue sky. A tiny blue sun hung on the other side of the sky, sparkling like a jewel but not generating much light.
"All right, board the sled," Dragon ordered. "Redhawk, back to the vac and hang there. If we need you, we'll call."
"Don't hesitate. I'll drop right in. Nothing I like better than a party!" The Kiss faded in and out of visibility, even at this close range. Her cloaking was truly miraculous. However, we were so far from home we had no intention of risking the Kiss downside any longer than necessary. She was going back into orbit where she'd be safe, and ready to evac us if we needed it. Whatever was to happen, Redhawk was to miss most of it.
"Get outta here," Psycho said, "and stay alert!"
"You need any butts kicked, just call. Be careful, guys!"
"Tenners! See ya, Redhawk!" The Kiss glided away in a huge cloud of dust and instantly vanished, tearing up through the at, bound for the vac.
The E-sled floated past me and I grabbed a handhold and leaped aboard. The top was open, giving us all a free field of fire. I settled into my seat. Everyone clambered on. Everything we needed was in that sled—supplies for a whole month.
We slithered away from the Kiss's lingering dust cloud at a leisurely speed, heading away from the white sun, over a frightening, barren landscape of red sands and faded yellow rocks and shrunken, dying shrubs. Dragon and Psycho consulted a colored fold-out tacmap. The breeze rushed past my helmet, keening in my ears. The E-sled's ride was silky smooth.
"I got to go wee-wee."
"Shut down, will ya?"
"All we need is a public library, right?"
"Wonder what the local dollies are like?"
"Bet they got hair under their arms."
"Am I the only one who's hungry?"
"Eat this."
"You wish!"
***
"They're moving in on those shacks." We were all flat on our armored bellies in a dune drift under camfax cloaks, peering through field spotters and E-scopes at the activity on the horizon. Past a blinding white salt plain, a ragged line of scruffy vegetation grew along the bottom of a series of jagged, dry hills. Several crude shacks were strung out through the greenery.
"They're armed. Looks like x-guns." I zoomed in. A small, deeply tanned man with long
greasy hair and filthy leather clothing was advancing on the shacks, carrying what looked like a long-barreled firearm.
"What's with those…look outside the huts."
I panned past several advancing men—tough grizzled characters, burnt by the sun, dressed in ragged clothing, all carrying weapons. One of the shacks appeared. A shelter seemingly made out of wooden trash, totally sealed. Not a single window was visible. Out front, a long-legged, wild-eyed girl knelt in the dirt, looking fearfully at the approaching intruders. She was quite young, I realized. As she shifted position, she revealed a chain around one ankle. It led to a large, rusted metal structure that appeared to be an abandoned farm implement.
"There's more of them. Each shack has got a girl chained in front."
"Well I'll be damned. What do you…"
"Yeah, that's a G-car. They came in a groundcar. There's a couple of guys around the car. They don't appear to have any other security out." I shifted my scope to the ground car, a bombed-out wreck fluttering with flags and pennants.
"No worries for them."
"He's going to rape her."
"What?"
"He's stripping her—see?" I snapped back to the first girl. The intruder in leather was ripping her clothes off, laughing. He had dropped his weapon to the ground. She was crying, thrashing around in the dirt, helpless. He placed a knee on her back and started tearing at her panties.
"Kill him," Dragon said.
"Dibs," Priestess said. She slapped the E snugly against her shoulder and faceplate and caressed the trigger. I watched through the scope. His head exploded, spraying blood and brains, and he toppled over onto his victim.
"Kill them all," Dragon ordered. We all fired—just one shot each. They moved fast, once they realized something was wrong, but they weren't fast enough. I tracked a long-limbed kid and hit him in the head with x-min. He was dead before he hit the ground.
"Nine dead," Psycho reported. "Survivors heading for the G-car. Three, four…" A volley of shots snapped over our heads. "Believe they've spotted us. Sounds like x."`
The sands erupted around us.
"Autofire. Hmm—ground car moving. They're attacking!"
"That's not too smart."
"They may not be used to opposition," Dragon said. "Trigger, do the car. Tacstar."
I watched as the groundcar bounced wildly over the rocky plain, coming right at us. Looked like five of them in the car, shouting and firing. X impacted all around us. Then Trigger's Manlink shrieked, freezing my blood, and the car erupted in a blinding flash, phospho tracers arcing up, a dazzling nuclear blossom. A whole sky full of flaming junk rained down. A smoking tire bounced past us, wobbling.
"That's the last time he exceeds the speed limit."
***
We walked through the settlement. There were twelve shacks, built along a little stream. Trash and garbage littered the site. The girls were still chained outside. I pulled the dead rapist off the first girl. She was twitching with terror. Priestess kneeled beside her, trying to calm her, but our A-suits probably scared her more than the rapists. I kicked in the door to the shack and stuck in my E and flicked on the spotlight to max and crept in. A man, a woman, cringing under furniture and blankets. I looked at them, then backed out.
"What's in there?" Priestess asked. She had burnt the girl's chains off.
"Parents," I said. "The girls are put out there so the gang doesn't loot the shack, I'd guess. Nice, huh?"
"You'd think they'd resist," Tourist said.
"Probably goodlibs. Disarmed and helpless. People like that deserve to be slaves."
"Take the girl," Dragon ordered. "First step is to learn the language. She owes us. Priestess, she's yours."
"Fine. All right, Legs, get up. You're not hurt. Dragon, she's filthy. When we camp, I'm going to give her a bath—and drown about a million of those creepy little worms."
"Feel free."
"Can I help?" Psycho asked.
"I knew you were going to say that," Priestess said wearily.
***
"Her name is Kesan," Priestess said. It was sunset on Odura. The white sun was fading fast, leaving only the tiny blue. Night fell fast on Odura. The horizon would glow blood red for awhile in the wake of the white, and then the sky would flicker, and glow an eerie violet, almost like blacklight, with that far-off blue star sparking in the cold. The temperature would drop too, right through the scales.
We camped around the E-sled. We had popped three sleepmods. They slept three each, although we kept two troopers on watch at all times.
"Kesan, huh? What have we got so far on the language?" Dragon asked. He was in a litesuit. Only the watch wore armor, in camp. We were all tired after a day's patrolling.
"The scanner is still working on the data," Priestess replied. "Don't worry. It takes awhile, but it works. It's amazing. I've seen it." We had slipped a psyscan over Kesan's head, after winning her trust. The thing was programmed to construct her language from what it found in her memory circuits. We would have been lost without it. We had no idea about the language, and no time to take the long course. Right then the psyscan was in the E-sled, deciphering what it had seen, and Kesan was chewing on E-rats, gobbling down everything we offered. She was famished.
She was a nice looking girl, dark eyes blinking, gazing curiously at the squad as she wolfed down our rations. The guys had gathered around her, grinning. She was snuggled up in one of our spare coldcoats. It was bitter cold.
"She's fallen for me already," Tourist said confidently. "Can't you see the way she's looking at me? Stop bothering the lady, all right?"
"You're hallucinating, Tourist," Flash said. "I told you, this is true love. I'm finally in love! Look at that angelic smile. She loves me!"
"It's the E-rats she loves, kid," Trigger said. "And she's been making goo-goo eyes at me, not you. I was just about to make my move when you clowns came crowding around. Disperse, will you? Respect our privacy. Kesan wants to be alone with a real man, not a buncha school kids."
"You rejects keep your clammy hands off my girl!" Sweats called out from his sentry position.
"Stop breathing on her!" Psycho objected. "This prize of war belongs to your Second, so don't get grabby."
"Give her a little space, guys," Priestess said.
"I love you, Kesan!"
"Gimme a kiss. Priestess, how do you say 'kiss' in Oduran?"
"We'll know that in several hours, with luck."
"Leave her alone with me for five marks and I'll find out that and a lot more as well."
"You think this language thing is going to work?" I asked Dragon. He gazed out into the dark, a faint violet glow from that strange blue star. His deep set eyes glittered, cold and hard.
"It's supposed to." He was not happy, I could tell. It was so cold we could see our breath in the air.
"What's next?" I asked.
"Redhawk's scanned the planet. The whole civilization has collapsed. It's all armed gangs, fighting each other, and helpless civilians, living like pigs, running like rats. There doesn't appear to be a single surviving center of civilization left. The cities are all looted and abandoned."
"And this was supposed to be a center of culture and learning and history."
"Things change."
"Right. What do you think?"
"The language is critical. Once we get that, we move. We pick people at random, if we must."
"Somebody must know something," I said.
"Yes. You'd think so." There was a burst of laughter from the vicinity of the sled. Kesan was teasing the troops.
"I told you she loved me!"
"She's laughing at you, dummy! Can't you…"
"Stand back—I'm going to show her some muscles."
"What a show off! Who'd fall for a goon like you?"
"Isn't it past your bedtime?"
"We won't need the A-suits any more," I said quietly. "Tell everybody to stow them in the storage bins. We'll go with litesuits and A-vests and comtops. Th
at's all we need, for these people."
"Fine. Glad to hear it."
"We've got to do this, Dragon."
"Yes. I agree."
"I'm not leaving here without Chudit."
"Neither am I."
"If we have to dig, with our bare hands, into these temples, we'll do it."
"That's a ten."
"Chudit. It's like a curse."
"Chudit. We're going to find it."
"That's affirmative."
***
"Scope this out." Sweats was driving the E-sled. He dropped it into a sudden stop and we hovered there in a swirling cloud of dust, looking down to the drama unfolding in a dry rock-strewn gully. There was a man down there, an Oduran, dressed in ragged skins, surrounded by a pack of hungry repwolves—about ten of them. These nasty scaled carnivores hunted in packs. They were fast and deadly, with powerful legs, long tails, long necks and sharp teeth. We had run into them a few times already. They were set to make a meal of this fellow, but he was not making it easy. Two of the creatures were already writhing in the dust, and some of the others had turned on them. They were making a tremendous racket, baying and squealing and yelping. I was out of the car, shouldering my E. A few more of the repwolves darted in to attack the Oduran. He slashed at them with what looked like a knife, and they yelped, dancing around him.
"Kill a few of the lizards," Dragon said. I took down one big repwolf with a round of xmin. Four others were hit as well, as the rest of the squad opened up. They went down with agonized squeals and for a frac it looked as if the others were going to attack them. Then the survivors broke and ran, leaving seven dead behind.
We approached him on foot. He had collapsed to the sands, but as we drew closer he staggered to his feet, wielding a bloody knife. His brown hair was long and ragged, and piercing dark slit eyes looked out at us from a haggard face. He was small-framed but tough. His skin was smooth but dirty and he had a sparse mustache and beard. He was covered with bleeding wounds. He kept his free hand pressed to his ribs but the blood was oozing out through his fingers. He glared at us and kept his knife raised.
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