"I'll take first watch," I said.
"No, I'll take it, Prophet," Bees said.
"I'll take first watch," I repeated. "That's an order."
"Don't be silly," she said. "Anyway let's finish our rats first."
"Fine with me," I said, popping open a citro beef stew.
"Oh! Can I have that? I'll trade you a drunken duck."
"Bees, you can have anything you want from me. And we don’t have to trade." I handed over the citro beef stew – it was bubbly hot and smelled delicious. The drunken duck was roast lemon duck, a highly desirable trade item. She forced it on me.
"Thanks, Prophet. What do you think happened to the Brights?"
"I don't know, Bees. But their intervention sure turned the tide of that battle."
"They're angels, you know."
"Angels, huh?"
"That's right. They're from Heaven. Both Ice and Saka were dead. Ice had a shattered skull and Saka's head was almost severed from his body. And that Bright healed them both. He brought them back to life, and he healed their wounds – by touching them! Their wounds were still critical, very bad, life-threatening, when he left them. But he restored life to their bodies, and sealed Ice's shattered skull, and restored Saka's head and neck and spine to his body – that's what it looked like to me, when we evaced them. It was miraculous. It was two miracles."
I was enjoying the drunken duck. Eating in an A-suit is done by sliding the visor up. But I left it far enough down so I could continue scanning our surroundings. "Any word from triage?" I asked.
"Not yet. The triage folks are too busy to send out messages. Pray for them, Prophet."
"I will. I do."
"You don't believe they are angels, do you?"
"I don't know, Bees."
"Did you see the sign he made over Ice and Saka when he was through healing them?"
"I couldn't make out what it was."
"It was the sign of the cross, Prophet. The sign of the cross." She drew it in the air, before my face. "They're angels."
"Tell me, Bees. How did you become so religious?"
"I had a difficult life. My mom told me about God. She made sure I went to church. It was a comfort. A wonderful comfort. It's all I had – my mom and the church."
"What about your dad?" The rain continued, cold and miserable.
She glared at her beef stew. "I have no dad."
"Well – what happened to him? I mean, everyone has a father."
"Do you really want to know?"
"Bees, I really like you and admire you. Yes, I'd like to know, but only if you want to tell." That brought a sad smile to her lips.
"You know, most Cyrillian families don't have fathers. The family consists of a mother and her kids. Cyrillian males think pregnancy is an amusing consequence of copulation. But it doesn't concern them in the slightest. I remember I told you once about Cyrillian family values – no family, no values."
"Yes, I remember."
"And I told you my family was different."
"Yes."
"Well it was. But like most Cyrillian families it consisted of a mother and a child. No father."
"I see."
"But we were very different. For one thing, my mother was an ethnic Outworlder. So she raised me with Outworlder values. And with God. We rejected the Cyrillian world entirely – and they rejected us."
"What about your father?"
"My mother lied about him. She wanted me to have good thoughts about him. She said he was a good man but he was a doctor and he was busy on other worlds healing the sick. I used to have fantasies about his finally returning home, and a joyous reunion. After awhile, I stopped believing that. She didn't even have a pix of him. I decided she did not even know who he was. So in that sense we were a typical Cyrillian family. Father unknown."
"How can that be – in this modern world?"
"He's nobody. He doesn’t even know I exist. He probably doesn't even know my mom's name either. She was probably just a random victim. When ConFree decided to crack down on crime on Mica 3, they arrested maybe half the Cyrillian male population and executed everyone involved in violent crime. I remember praying they would execute my father, whoever he was. I cursed him for bringing me into the world."
"Your mother must have been a saint."
"She was. She taught me to be a good girl, to believe in God, to study hard and improve myself. That's why I joined the Legion. I wanted to be a citizen!"
"Is she still on Mica 3?"
"She died a few years ago. An accident."
"I'm sorry to hear it."
"Before, she was all I had. Then I joined the Legion and met Ice. I loved her so much I could hardly believe it. We were made for each other. She was my soulmate. We shared all our secrets. I hated men – all of them – and so did she. And she was all I had, after I lost my mom. I was so happy for her when she found Kwan. And when I saw her dead, my first thought was I would have to kill myself. Then I thought about you, Prophet. When you carried me off Mount Sweat, it was the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to me. I was astounded. No male had ever done anything like that for me before. I was crying the whole time you were carrying me. At first it was because of the pain, but later they were tears of joy. Did you know that?"
"I guess it was raining so hard I never noticed."
"Thank you, Prophet. Thank you for being you. Thank you so much!"
It was more than I ever wanted to know about Bees. But it sure explained a lot.
Δ
"Bees. Wake up. Sorry, but I'm starting to fall asleep. It's your watch."
"Oh. All right. Anything happening?" Bees was a little way off, but I could see her moving. It was cold and dark. The rain had stopped and it was deathly quiet. Low fires flickered on the horizon, a faint vision of Hell.
"No, it’s quiet. Thanks, I've got to catch some z's. You'd best turn your cloaking on."
"All right. Get some sleep."
At that point I collapsed and drifted off, but it was a very uneasy sleep. Wild visions shot through my brain. Glowing Brights were reaching out for me, silvery armored hands touching me. I tried to avoid them. Then a slice of moonlight fell down through the dark night and illuminated a long line of sinister Demons, clad in flickering green A-suits. They were marching along in the dark, snarling at each other. They dragged a bedraggled group of captive human females with them. The children, I thought. I flew through the night sky like an eagle, silent, looking for prey. Below me, a silvery river twisted its way through the dark. Fields of silver grass. Not far from the river, the land rose in a series of hills. The top of one of the hills transformed into a giant cavern. A whole fleet of saucer craft arose from the hole, filling the sky. Then they started to move through the sky, in formation – hundreds of them, all out for blood. Below them, that endless line of Demons, marching along beside the river, headed for trouble. There were thousands of them. I swooped down and followed the column to its source – the same hill from which the saucers were rising. A camfaxed exit, disgorging more and more A-suited Demons, green shielding crackling, a secret march, a secret attack, to confound their foes, to cleanse this new world and secure it for the race.
I woke abruptly, stunned and exhausted. It was very cold. The images had been so real! The tacmap, the tacmap. "Honey," I whispered. "Show me the nearest river." She did so. A silvery river, calmly twisting through fields of silver grass. I followed it south. No – not south. Not south. I followed it north. There – high ground. There, the hills. There. There. There. That one. Wasn't that the forested hill I had seen? That was it. I was certain. I had never been more certain of anything in my life. That hill was the gateway to Hell. It was full of Demons and saucers.
I was wide awake by then. What do I do? It was a dream, brought on by exhaustion and fatigue. Just a dream. Just nonsense. Go back to sleep.
Impossible! They were going to attack from that hill. And nobody knew. Except me. I knew it was real. It was not a dream. It was a glimpse
of the future.
"Bees? Keep alert. I'm going to see Doggie."
Δ
"You're completely out of your mind, Prophet," Doggie said. "When's the last time you slept?"
"Look. I saw it when I was sleeping. Then I checked the tacmap and it was identical – the same place I had seen in my sleep."
"That's off to the north. There's nothing out there. The action is all in the southeast. That's where the Demons are."
"They’re in that unnamed hill. I know they are. And they will be attacking soon." Blackie was sniffing at me.
"How do you know that? Because you saw it in a dream?"
"You remember when I touched that Bright? Something happened when I held his hand. Something – came into me. I could feel it. It was real. I think this information came from the Brights. Through me. That's what I think. It’s a warning. And it's real. And it's important."
"Nonsense," Doggie said. "If it's so important and it's from the Brights, why don't they attack it themselves? The tacmap shows the hill is deserted."
"Let me do a recon. It's not that far. Nobody is looking at that hill. If they attack from there, we'll be cooked. They'll be hitting us from the rear. Let me do a recon."
"Our orders are to hold here until notified. I need every man."
"It won't take that long. You can spare me. I swear they will be there, Doggie. We've got to know."
"What do you think, Blackie?" he asked. Blackie sniffed me, licked at my faceplate, and barked, wagging his tail madly. Doggie looked at me for a long time, then spoke.
"All right, you can take Nitro. But if you're wrong about this, Prophet, you're going to be cleaning latrines for months."
"If we ever return safely to anyplace that has latrines, I'll gladly clean them up. Thanks, Doggie! I won't fail you!"
Δ
"All right, Arie, this is our walk in the park," I said. "I promise you we're going to a party – a real big party." We were heading roughly northeast, under a dark sky. It was freezing. We were armored and cloaked and all hyped up, heading for a dark line of hills, through wild tall grass, the river to our left and a tree line to our right. There were a few flickers of what might have been lightning on the horizon behind us, but no further hints that a war was on.
"Are you sure about this, Rich?"
"There is no Rich. He's long gone. You're speaking with Prophet. Yeah. I'm sure."
"What's that?" We froze.
"What's what?"
"Never mind. It was nothing, I guess."
"All right, full alert and let's keep on marching. Disperse a bit. It's not that far." We dispersed and kept marching.
"Rich. Do you think we’ll ever get home?"
"Do you mean Eugarat?"
"No, I mean Providence. I mean Blondie and Honeyhair."
"I don’t know, Arie. I wish I knew. What does Blondie say?"
"She wants me to come home. And so do I."
"Yeah, me too. But I haven’t killed a thousand D's yet. So we've got to wait a bit. Did Blondie say anything about Honeyhair?"
"Yes she did. She said Honeyhair is getting nervous and short-tempered. And over-emotional. She's spending most of her time working long hours at the Civilian Support Corps. Waiting for the war, I guess. She carries a vac gun at all times."
"Really. I guess I'd better write her again. Calm her down. Promise I'll be back. Or something like that."
"If I lose Blondie, I don't know what I'll do."
"Why do you say that? Are there any signs Blondie – or Honeyhair – are losing interest in us?"
"No. But I'm worried. How many light years are we from Veltros? How many rear-echelon weenies do you think are hitting on them every single day?"
"Don't think that way! Pray to Deadman! Pray to Deadman for victory! Then we can go home."
"Man, you've been listening to Bees, haven't you?"
"Bees is wiser than you think. All right, let's head into the forest now."
Δ
We found our way close to the summit of a forested hill that was not far from the suspect target hill. By that time I was thinking of the target as Demon Hill. Arie and I separated but we both found great views and good cover as well. I told Arie how the hill would open up to release the saucers, and showed him where the camfaxed exit should have been located at the bottom of the hill. It was still bitterly cold outside but we were fine inside our A-suits. I looked past the treetops and the sky was clearing – a twinkling panorama of stars slowly emerged. So beautiful.
I was worried, because I had thought the installation would post outlying sentries to warn of any ground incursion. We had approached very carefully but hadn't found any sentries. It was dead quiet. Demon Hill looked perfectly normal. Could I have been wrong? Was it all just a fevered dream?
We scoped the hill carefully, looking over the suspect camfaxed area. Nothing. The top of the hill appeared normal too.
"I don't see anything," Arie said.
My tacmap lit up. Something was approaching us, moving through the forest and up our hill. My adrenalin activated. Imminent murder always did that to me.
"Use darts, Arie," I said. What was it? Why hadn’t Honey alerted us? It was coming closer. Blackie trotted out of the trees, sniffing around my position. He knew I was there, although he couldn't see me.
"Arie, it's Blackie!" I said. Blackie was panting before me. I laid my hands on him. It didn't scare him. He was used to dealing with us when we were cloaked. It didn't fool him at all. "Good boy, Blackie! Good boy!" He was wagging his tail, happy to find me, even if he couldn’t see me.
"Blackie! How did he get loose?" Arie asked. "Shouldn't we tell Doggie?"
"No. It'll wait." Blackie was looking around curiously, looking over at Demon Hill, sniffing the air. Then he got very still. Frozen – his clear grey eyes fixated on Demon Hill.
"What's the matter, Blackie?" I asked.
"Rich, won't he give us away? I mean, if there's anybody there like you think. He's not cloaked."
Blackie took off, scrambling through the trees and down the slope, eyes still fixated on Demon Hill.
"Blackie, come back! Oh damn! Arie, he's heading for the target!"
"What the hell? Oh no!"
There was nothing we could do, except watch our own pet wolf leave the tree line and head for Demon Hill, a black shadow on a dark night.
"It there's any Demons in there, they'll kill him," Arie said.
"Let's see what happens," I said. Blackie was approaching the hill through tall grass with caution. Then he stood there, seemingly frozen, pointing his nose right at the hill. I put the scope on him and he was bristling. I could even see his teeth – he was snarling.
"He's alerting," I said. "There's something in or on that hill, and he doesn't like it."
"Shall we inform Doggie?"
"No no, we can't call in an air strike because our wolf alerts on a squirrel or something. Wait for the Demons to show up. If they do."
"They're going to spot him. If they're there."
"Yes. You're right. I'll get him."
"What? No! They'll spot you!"
"I'm invisible, remember?"
"We don't know for sure what the D's capabilities are. If they're in that hill like you think, they will be watching outside very carefully. And watching Blackie every frac, and suspecting he's a spy because of his doggie armor. And wondering if they should go ahead and shoot him, or stay hidden."
"I'm off, Arie. Cover me." I started down the hill.
"Damn it! All right, I'm coming."
"No need. I'll get Blackie, then return."
"I'll be dispersed close enough to support you effectively. Now don't drag him by the leash or they'll know what's up."
It took awhile for me to make my way down the slope past all the trees and undergrowth. The stars were brilliant overhead – it was a spectacular night. One part of me was warning that it was stupid to die for a wolf. The other part of me was saying that Blackie wasn't just a wolf – he was my
squadie. He was faithful and strong and loving – the same as Ice and Saka.
In order to get to Blackie, I had to wade into a great field of tall wild grass. It was about waist-high. I worried that the D's might observe that grass moving in my wake, but there was not much I could do about that. The grass was high – was it possible that they didn't see Blackie? But their night vision and heat sensors would surely spot him!
Blackie knew I was coming. He turned and glanced at me, then went back to his alert, glaring and growling at the hill.
"Good Blackie! Let's go. Come with me." I reached out and held onto his leash collar, which activated the leash cloaking. He growled at the hill, barked once, then came with me, trotting along by my side.
"All right, I'm on the way back," I said.
"Oh scut! Movement at the base of the hill! Drop, Prophet. Freeze!" I dropped into the tall grass, hugging Blackie to me.
"Oh scut! They're marching out of the hill. Oh damn! Don't move, Prophet!" I lay down gently on top of Blackie. My cloaking would cover us both.
"Easy, Blackie. Stay. Stay." He was bristling, snarling, struggling to poke his head up and take a look at the D's.
"Alert. Alert. Doggie, it's Nitro. Prophet and I report that a column of Demons are marching out of the target hill – see the tacmap, we've labeled it Demon Hill. They're armored and armed, shielding not yet activated. Headed southeast, roughly paralleling the river. See the transmissions, site as marked."
I could see them clearly now. A very long column of Demons, marching silently out of the hill, out of a camfaxed entrance that was now gaping open. They marched with a brutal, urgent rhythm, a fast pace, dirty dark armor, bristling with weaponry. The cloaking was down, to avoid alerting our air assets and overhead imagery. By the time anyone noticed, they would probably be on the target.
But somebody had noticed. Squad Delta had noticed. Blackie, Arie and me.
"Count is over three hundred and more every frac. Doggie, do you read?"
"Arie!" I exclaimed. "Look at the summit."
It appeared as if the trees up there were shuddering, and collapsing. Then the first saucer appeared, a dull silver in starlight, a very faint rainbow sheen. It hovered over the hill. Then another one arose from the hill. And another.
Prophet of ConFree (The Prophet of ConFree) Page 29