by B. V. Larson
Turov put a gentle hand on my chest.
“Don’t worry, James,” she said soothingly. “You’re alive again, and that’s all that matters. You know, I missed you. I didn’t think I would—but I did. Strange, isn’t it? It’s like missing a favorite pair of boots even though they always hurt your feet.”
“You have to tell me what happened,” I said, sucking in deep breaths and coughing. “I can’t believe I’ve been dead six months.”
“Actually, it was more like a year… or so.”
“A frigging year? Are you kidding me? Why’d you bring me back at all?”
“It’s complicated. After the Cephalopod Kingdom surrendered—”
“Hold on! What do you mean they surrendered?”
“It was the second bomb that did the trick,” she said. “We had eleven teleport suits left, you see, but only one functioning bomb. I sent that gift to them with a volunteer in one of the suits.”
“A volunteer? Who?”
“His name was Ferguson, I believe. A dedicated member of Hegemony. One of our best.”
“Poor bastard…” I said thoughtfully. “So, you air-mailed another bomb to the squids after you agreed to surrender?”
I started grinning. I couldn’t help it. After all, the squids had already tortured one version of James McGill to death by this point of her story.
She shrugged and pursed her lips.
“Their surrender was a technicality,” she said. “I never personally agreed to the terms. The Ruling Council negotiated the whole thing without my approval. History will call it an unfortunate miscommunication.”
“But… okay, whatever. How did you pull it off?”
“Natasha knew how to program the suit for another target. With the key I was able to get from that tech you liked so much—”
“Lisa, right… I have to look her up.”
Her mouth twitched, but she didn’t say anything about that.
“Anyway,” she continued, “it wasn’t difficult for us to get the bomb. Even easier, probably, because I knew which lockers contained working weapons.”
“Right,” I said, thinking hard. “So, you lit up another of their cities, and you threatened to keep doing it.”
“Yes. That part was a bluff because we were out of small antimatter weapons, but they didn’t know that. All they knew was they were losing billions of citizens.”
“I can see how they would sue for peace, but how could you possibly get them to surrender?”
She gave me a calculating smile. “I hit the Wur enclave the second time. The highest concentration of those vicious plants on Throne World. Once their masters were gone, we threatened to exterminate all their queens. They had to surrender or face genocide.”
“Wow, I’m floored. You’re one ruthless bitch, Galina. I really mean that.”
“Thank you, James,” she said.
“Two more questions,” I said as I clawed my way into a fresh uniform. “Why are you the only one here? Did you do this revive by yourself?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Hmm…” I said thoughtfully. “Then you must have brought me back for a reason. What do you want from me?”
“There have been… problems. New problems which fit your special talents.”
“My talents?” I laughed. “All I’m good for is tearing things up.”
“Exactly,” she said. “We’ll talk tomorrow. Go get cleaned up and rest.”
“I rested long enough in the grave,” I said, “I’m going out to find a steak and a beer.”
-63-
The events that had come to pass during my long rest in the void were a mixed bag. Sure, we’d defeated the squids. Further, they’d sworn allegiance to us the only way they knew how—by becoming our slaves, our subjects.
The situation seemed kind of weird to me, but in squid psychology, there were only two possible stations any group or individual could hold with regard to any other. You were either the master or the slave. I guess the third state was death, but usually no one opted for that.
It was strange because I’d figured I’d pretty much consigned my species to total destruction after bombing the squids. Instead, my rash move had been imitated and ratcheted up a notch by Turov. She’d always been an opportunist and a fast-learner.
From the point of view of Earth’s citizens, all this was old news now. Earth was rich but still licking her wounds. Much of the New York Sector had been devastated. The squids had been ordered to supply us with money, labor and equipment to help clean it up, but the capital was still full of blackened hulks where great buildings had once stood.
Millions of our people had been permed during the war. Nagata was among them, as his data was never recovered. I thought of others we’d lost, too, such as Primus Rossi and Veteran Weber. Everyone had lost someone they knew.
Many of the others in the hog brass had suffered the same fate. I was suspicious of Galina Turov in that regard, but as they were talking about promoting her again to the three-star rank of Equestrian, I decided to keep quiet—besides I was on her good side right now.
After I’d cleaned up and left Central to have a look around the city, I found myself feeling oddly out of place. Everything looked both the same and different all at once. There was plenty of visible damage from the war, but some things had been repaired. These details served to remind me just how long I’d been dead. It looked like I’d been gone for years.
Contacting Graves and a few others, I learned Legion Varus had long since been demobilized. We were without assignment for now, and that meant I could head home to Georgia Sector if I wanted to. I considered going down there, but I knew Turov wanted to talk to me in the morning.
Sucking in a beer at a local bar, I took a deep breath and called my folks.
“Hey… Dad? Guess who!”
What followed was a very weird conversation. He cried and carried on for quite a while at first. I tried not to let it get to me, but it did a little.
They’d thought I was dead and gone, permed by Central or the squids. No one had ever told them what had happened, other than that I’d been lost in defense of planet Earth. My actions had been deemed highly classified, and they hadn’t even pretended to deliver my remains home. The casket was empty, and the funeral had been brief.
“I’m sorry, Dad,” I said. “I guess the hogs lost my file for a long time. They are bureaucrats, after all, and there was a war on. But listen, I’m back! Soon, I’ll come home to see you all. Maybe we can go out to Dust World together like we planned. I’ve got about a year’s back pay coming, and… what—?”
“She’s already out there, James,” he said. “Your mother saved everything we had and left with a one-way ticket. I’m supposed to sell the house and follow her next month.”
I felt a little sick. Things really had changed. Somehow, as a military man, it had always been good to have a steady place to go back to. Home had been a place I could rely on. Now, that was falling apart.
“When did she go?” I asked him.
“A few months ago. She’s already met Etta. After you fell in battle, meeting Etta was all she could think of.”
“I understand, Dad. I’m sorry, I really am.”
“It’s all right. Come home when you can. We’ll talk about what we should do next.”
The channel closed, and I sat in shock. Looking up friends in the local area, I got Carlos to come join me.
We didn’t leave the bar until they kicked us out, and when I woke up at his place in the morning, I didn’t remember how I’d gotten there.
“Hey tiger,” Carlos said, slapping at me. “Time to go shake your butt for Turov. You should demand a conjugal visit for all the shit she’s put you through.”
Groaning, I rolled off his couch and staggered to the shower. An hour later, I was in Turov’s office. She looked prim and serious.
“James McGill,” she said, “I’m reactivating you.”
“What? Hold on. I only just got revived after a year’
s sleep. I don’t feel like dying again quite yet.”
“There will be benefits,” she said. “First of all, I’m promoting you to Centurion—Graves is a Primus now, did he tell you that?”
“Uh… no sir. At least if he did, I didn’t listen.”
“Of course not… Are you listening to me now, Centurion?”
I wasn’t. I was gazing outside the window. The city was alive again. Damaged, but alive. I tried to feel the part of the hero, but somehow I didn’t. Maybe the price had been too great. My mom had skipped off the planet. My life had skipped a year. I barely knew who I was.
“Centurion?” she repeated.
“Yes, sir?”
“Listen to me… we have problems—new, unforeseen problems.”
“Like what? We beat the squids fair and square. They’re kissing our butts. Hell, technically, Earth controls three hundred worlds now.”
She pointed a finger at me and nodded.
“You’ve hit upon the source of the conflict. You were researching the political situation last night, weren’t you?”
“Uh…” I thought about the bar and Carlos’ nasty couch. I shook my head. “I can, in all honestly, assure you I don’t know what our political situation is, sir.”
“What do you remember about Galactic Law?”
“Just what they taught us in school.”
“That’s good enough,” she said. “What do the Galactics think about provincial powers colonizing or conquering new worlds?”
“It’s not allowed. We were almost burned when they found out about Dust World. Oh…”
She nodded. “Now you understand. The Mogwa are upset. They’ve decided things have gotten out of hand here on the fringe of the fringe. They’ve released Battle Fleet 921 from service among the Core Worlds.”
“You mean the fleet is finally coming home?”
“That’s right.”
“Have the civil wars in the middle of the galaxy finally ended?”
She got up from her desk and struck a languid pose at the window. She was still occupying Nagata’s office, and I could tell she took a perverse pleasure in that fact.
“We don’t know,” she admitted. “All we know is that more than twenty thousand worlds were scorched to ash in the center of our galaxy.”
“Twenty thousand worlds? Holy… that’s crazy!”
She nodded quietly. “It makes our dramatic strides forward as a civilization seem ridiculous, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, I guess it does. Well sir, what do you want from me?”
She looked at me. “I need a jump-troop commander. I need the very best.”
“What for?”
“That’s none of your concern right now. If you don’t accept the mission, you won’t get the promotion, and you won’t ever learn of our plans. What do you say?”
I thought that over. “How about one more thing?”
She rolled her eyes then finally asked, “What?”
When I told her what I wanted, I thought she was going to have what my grandma would have called a conniption.
She argued and waved her arms around a lot, but in the end, she grudgingly agreed.
-64-
The next day, I jumped out to Dust World.
That was what I’d wanted from Turov, access to a jump-suit for personal use. That was a tall order, despite the fact that Earth had hundreds of them now. We’d confiscated them from the squids as part of our terms of surrender.
When I arrived on Dust World, it was as hot and unpleasant as I’d ever seen it. There was a sandstorm blasting by just a few kilometers up on the surface, high above the shadowy hole in the ground where Della’s people lived.
I kept my faceplate closed, and all the other folks I met up with had their heads wrapped in cloth. They wore goggles so crusty with dust I couldn’t make out their eyes.
After talking to a few of the locals, I managed to get to the Investigator this time without being shot in the back. That was no mean feat on Dust World, where Earth’s laws were considered only suggestions for polite conduct.
The Investigator was a year older, but he looked a bit less curmudgeonly than he had the last time I’d seen him.
“James McGill,” he said, eyeing me in surprise. “You do show up at the oddest times. How could you know that I was thinking of you this very morning?”
“Uh… I don’t think I did know that, sir.”
“An honest statement from the most dishonest of men. That, in itself, is a sort of revelation.”
These seemingly random statements were the norm from the Investigator. He wasn’t what I’d call a regular guy. He was a thinker, a philosopher and a scientist. His greatest flaw was he tended to overthink things. He saw secrets and patterns where there most likely weren’t any.
“Let me think,” he said, “first of all, I get a message over the deep-link from Central about the Battle Fleet returning to our humble Province 921. Suddenly, Earth is interested in the Empire again. And do you know what I thought of?”
“Me, sir? For some reason?”
“Yes. You were the man who first told me of the Galactics. Years ago, you educated me briefly on the topic. You were quite detailed. Since then, I’ve spoken with countless officials from your planet, but they’ve never managed to shed light on the true nature of the political situation in the Galaxy as well as you did.”
“Well, sir, that might be because they’re all circumspect. Most people talk about the Empire and the Galactics who run it with the reverence people used to reserve for the Almighty himself.”
He nodded his head slowly. “Yes. That must be it. You, however, hold the Empire in relative contempt, don’t you?”
“I don’t know about that. I think it’s more that I hold just about all authority figures in some kind of contempt.”
He laughed then. It was a rare sound I could hardly recall ever having heard before. He ended the laugh with a brief coughing fit, after which he spat on the floor and sighed deeply.
“These dust storms,” he said, “we’ve been plagued by them since the very beginning. Did you know that I once held out fantasies of leaving this world? After we were reunited with Earth, I thought I’d get the chance.”
“Well, why not just do it?” I asked him. “You must have the means now.”
“Yes,” he said, “but I’m your opposite. I’m too fixed in my ways. Too full of responsibility. Dark days are ahead—and I’m not just talking about the angle of our local stars.”
“Hmm, okay. On another topic, Mr. Investigator, I was wondering if I could—”
“See Natasha?” he asked.
“No, Etta,” I said, “your granddaughter. My daughter.”
He nodded. “Of course you can. You don’t need my permission for that. You have the right as the father.”
“Yes, well… Natasha seemed upset by the idea last time I tried to see Etta. She thought I would abduct her and take her back to Earth.”
The man seemed bemused.
“Why would anyone want to do that?” he asked. “The girl doesn’t listen, and she’s much too stubborn. I find her to be the most irritating child I’ve ever met.”
“Oh...” I said, figuring that I probably knew why that might be. “Well sir, if you could direct me out to her place of residence, I’d like to see her now—how old is she, by the way?”
“She’s in her ninth standard year of life.”
“Really? That’s a shocker.”
“Let time slip by, did you?”
“I guess that I did, sir. I guess that I did.”
Following the Investigator’s directions, I traveled the stark valley floor. The rocks were loose under my boots. The drifting sands from the dark skies above quickly erased my footsteps.
I found the place at last, high up in the region known as the Jambles. I saw a hut with a fabric dome. The hut was lit by a yellow glow from inside. There was a figure standing just outside. She was wrapped up to keep out the blowing dust. I eyed her careful
ly as I approached.
As I got closer, I could see the figure was holding a weapon.
“Natasha?” I called out to her.
The figure shifted uncertainly on her feet and then dashed away into the rocks. I walked forward warily. Dust Worlders were ornery people. My back tingled, expecting a stab of pain to come any minute.
When I got to the dome, the flap was pulled aside.
“Come in, James,” Natasha said.
My eyes widened, and I looked around behind me. I didn’t see anything of the girl who’d been standing right there earlier.
“She’s shy, James,” Natasha said. “Surely you can understand that?”
“That was Etta?” I asked. “She was as tall as you are—and mean-looking.”
Natasha smirked. “She’s your daughter after all—and Della’s daughter too. What kind of child were you expecting?”
“I don’t know… Maybe one that wasn’t half-wild.”
I walked inside, and my mother jumped up to embrace me. We hugged, and she cried. When she had the crying under control, she slapped me for being dead for so long and scaring her. Then she cried all over again and hugged me some more.
When all this was finally done with, I took a seat and drank some weak tea with the two of them. There was a tiny fire in the center of the dome, and a pot bubbled above it.
“Seems like you’ve changed your mind about me,” I told Natasha. “Last time I was out here, you treated me like some kind of bandit.”
“I’m sorry about that. I guess meeting your mother in person made me believe in your good intentions. No one would send their own mother out to Dust World if they didn’t sincerely care about Etta.”
“Um… yeah. Speaking of the girl, isn’t it kind of dark and dusty out there?”
“That doesn’t bother her. She’s a native. She’s as comfortable on a dry stone as a spine-rat in the summertime.”
“Right... Can you call her in so I can meet her properly?”
The two women exchanged tight glances.
“She’ll come in when she wants to,” Natasha said. “Have another mug of tea.”
I stood up, becoming annoyed. They called after me, but I walked outside and stood tall.