by Isaac Hooke
“If you thought that, you don’t know much about communism,” Lui said. “She’s dirt poor. For the longest time, I couldn’t figure out why she moved back. I mean, she had it good in America. Real good. I only found out later she was pregnant out of wedlock and didn’t want my parents to know. We’re a traditional family, and they would have been furious. She would have rather ostracized herself than face their wrath. So, she moved to Pyongyang, and lived with our relatives there. The relatives told our parents when she had her child, and they were furious as expected. However, to her—and my—surprise, they didn’t disown her, and instead begged her to come home. But she always had a stubborn streak, and wanted to prove she could raise the child on her own. That she could be independent, I guess, even if she was living with relatives. So, she stuck it out. We always thought she’d never last more than a few months. But months soon became years…”
“She’s still out there?” Manic asked.
“Yeah, she never returned,” Lui replied.
“Maybe if you stopped funding her lifestyle…” Tahoe said. “Her independent streak would come to a sudden end.”
“Probably would,” Lui agreed. “But I don’t have the heart. It’s what she wants. I talk to her often via vidlink. She seems happy. As does her son.” He paused. “I’ve thought of visiting her in person, but I don’t know. It seems like an intrusion somehow.”
“An intrusion?” Tahoe said. “You’re the one paying her rent!”
“Yeah, but still,” Lui said. “You know how you feel when relatives show up? Like you have to show them around, take them out, entertain them. I don’t want her to have to do that for me. Plus, I’m not sure how well it will go over with the local government. As an active duty special operator from a country they’re unofficially at war with, I know they’d spy on me. Maybe even capture and interrogate me. I’d awaken in my sister’s house with no memory of how I got there.”
“Sounds like what happened to us in Vegas last year,” Manic quipped.
“Unofficially at war…” Tahoe told Lui. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
“We’re constantly engaged in cyberattacks against one another,” Lui said. “And look at what we’re doing now, clandestinely invading their territory to apprehend a government official. I’d say that’s unofficially at war.”
“When real war comes, you’ll know,” Tahoe said. “These cyber skirmishes aren’t war. And what we’re doing here certainly isn’t.”
Lui nodded. “I guess.”
That ended the conversation, at least until Manic picked it up again a few minutes later.
“Do you ever wonder what would happen if America was attacked while we were on mission somewhere?” Manic said. “And we returned to find the country occupied by a foreign nation. Or even aliens?”
“All the time,” Tahoe said. “I’ve even stockpiled a bunch of weapons against that very possibility. And taught Tepin how to use them.”
“I should do that,” Manic said. “By the way, how’s your Anus Ho?”
Tahoe scowled at him. “Aniidastehdo.”
“Sorry,” Manic said. “I can never pronounce it right.”
“And she’s fine,” Tahoe said.
“She was very beautiful at her wedding,” Manic said.
“Thank you,” Tahoe said. “I’m just glad I finally made it to one of her life’s important events. She was beautiful, wasn’t she?”
“Compared to your wife, yeah,” Manic said.
Tahoe’s scowl deepened.
“Hey, no offense,” Manic said. “When your daughter is in the room, it makes every other woman present look ugly. For a while there, from the way Bender was slobbering all over her, I thought he was going to try to bring her into a back room and have his way with her.”
“If Bender had laid a finger on her,” Tahoe commented. “Just one, he would have lost the hand that touched her. Maybe the arm, too.”
“And his dick?” Lui quipped.
“That goes without saying,” Tahoe replied.
Manic chuckled. “I’d do the same for any man that touched my daughter. Even if she’s only a month old now.”
“This the kid you had with that stripper?” Tahoe asked.
“Uh huh,” Manic said.
Tahoe nodded sagely. “I’d never want my baby momma to be a stripper. Can you imagine what kind of a child she’ll raise? Especially with you never there? You’re going to be screwed when she’s older.”
“Hey, that’s stereotyping,” Manic said. “Just because she’s a stripper, doesn’t mean she’s not a good woman. She doesn’t do drugs. Doesn’t sleep around.”
“Doesn’t sleep around, huh?” Tahoe said. “Then why’d you break up?”
“That was a misunderstanding,” Manic said.
Lui jerked a thumb Manic’s way. “He was the one who cheated on her.”
“Like I said, a misunderstanding,” Manic claimed.
“She walked in on you kissing her best friend,” Lui said. “I wouldn’t call that a misunderstanding.”
“We were just kissing,” Manic said. “That’s not cheating.”
“It is in my books,” Lui said.
Rade chuckled softly.
“What’s so funny, chief?” Lui said.
Rade shook his head. “The things we talk about when we’re on mission, and stuck several klicks behind enemy lines.”
Manic nodded at Tan. “You think he knows we’re having a conversation now? From our gestures alone?” They were all still communicating via their Implants, which meant their lips weren’t moving, and no sounds came from their throats.
“Probably,” Rade said. “Not that it matters. Even if we spoke aloud, it wouldn’t make much of a difference.”
“He’s already seen our faces,” Tahoe commented.
“Yep,” Rade said.
“Won’t the military scramble his memories before they return him?” Lui asked. “And delete his Implant?”
“Depends on the deal his government can arrange with ours,” Rade said. “But I suppose there’s a good likelihood the United Systems will blank out what happened here.”
“Even if not, our IDs are obfuscated,” Manic said. “With different names and addresses assigned to the public profiles.”
“That’s what the military tells us, at least,” Lui said.
“I’m not afraid of retaliations,” Tahoe said. “Like I said, my family is armed.”
The conversation fizzled out for a second time, but no one resumed it, and they lay in silence beneath the shade of the wall. They kept an eye on their surroundings at all times.
More drones and jets flew past in the distance. Finally, after several hours, the sun set, and darkness spread across the land.
Rade slid down the night vision visor that was part of his helmet, and then looked at his three companions, who had likewise deployed their visors.
“Well, my friends,” Rade said. “It’s time to start making our way to the coast.”
5
Rade and Tahoe dragged Tan to his feet. They cut the binds on his legs so that he could walk, but kept his wrists firmly tied in front of him. They also left him gagged.
“Cyclone, send the HS3 forward,” Rade ordered.
The scout arose from the grass where it had remained hidden on the original property, and then slowly made its way toward the team’s current location. It passed them shortly, and assumed a position fifty meters ahead on point, hovering at about eye level from the ground.
The five of them made their way along the perimeters of those different farms, following the fence lines. Once again, they used the IDs the farming robots transmitted to avoid them. Some of the camera systems also broadcast IDs, which also allowed Rade and his team to give them a wide berth, or to low crawl past unnoticed. Not every camera did that, however, so they often low crawled across the more exposed areas anyway.
After four hours of that, the farms began to thin out, replaced instead by villages. The team rounded the
building perimeters at first, at least until the towns began to abut one another. Sticking to alleyways, or close to walls, Rade and the others did their best to keep to the shadows as they advanced. Lamps lit the streets and byways, making it difficult. The lamps also forced Rade and the others to remove their night vision visors more than a few times.
They continued to use transmitted IDs to their advantage, avoiding cameras and robots along the way. However, like on the farms, not all machines broadcast, particularly the group of military mechs and tanks camped out on the outskirts of one particularly town.
A series of Jersey barriers cordoned-off the intersection next to the mechs, forming a roadblock of sorts that denied traffic from the adjacent town. It was the only real place Rade and the others could cross to the eastern side, not without backtracking a few klicks, or getting even closer to the machines than he felt comfortable doing.
He glanced at the clock overlaying the lower right of his vision. The team was already slightly behind. If they didn’t pick up the pace, the submersibles would be long gone from the exfil site by the time the team arrived…
So, no backtracking.
“We cross here,” Rade said. “Stay low.”
Rade and the team crouched beneath the Jersey barriers, and began to cross the street beneath the light of the street lamps. Rade was on drag; he kept a hand firmly looped through Tan’s elbow as he pulled him along.
Suddenly Tan tried to stand up.
Rade immediately yanked him down, pulling the man on top of himself. Tan struggled, and managed to swivel off of Rade, who promptly slid on top and pinned him.
Tan tried to shout, but his cries came out as muted shrieks behind the gag. Rade gave him two none-too-gentle punches in the face and Tan ceased his struggles and shut up.
The whir of servomotors, along with the crunch of asphalt as it buckled beneath heavy metal feet, told Rade the enemy mechs had been alerted. From the way the sound seemed to echo, he estimated two mechs were approaching.
He glanced at his companions, who were several meters ahead of Rade by then. They had dropped to the asphalt behind the Jersey barriers when they heard the mechs powering up.
“Get to the other side of the street!” he sent his companions. “Crawl!”
“What about you?” Tahoe transmitted through his Implant.
“I’m right behind you. Switch to radio silence.” Rade turned off his Implant’s weak comm node, and crawled toward his companions, dragging Tan behind him. The man tried to get up again, and once more Rade was forced to subdue him, this time planting one leg across his chest and pushing down hard. He punched Tan in the head again, and the man ceased struggling.
As the footfalls of the incoming mechs increased in volume, Rade knew he wasn’t going to make it. His companions were well on their way to the far side of the street however, so he didn’t have to worry about them, and that was a relief.
There was a manhole cover in the road beside him. Rade upped the power output of his exoskeleton’s wrist and finger servos, and shoved his thumb into the slot in the cover. He yanked the circular disk upward and slid it to the side.
Grimacing at the smell, he lowered Tan into the hole. With one hand gripping the man, he lowered himself into the manhole, finding the rungs with his feet, and then his free hand. When his head was at street level, he let go of Tan and caught him with the toe region of one boot, hooking his tied wrists. With his newly freed hand, he reached up and slid the manhole cover back over the hole, plunging himself into darkness.
As the cover settled into place, Rade spotted a red light through the slot. It belonged to one of the enemy mechs, which was peering over the Jersey barrier.
Rade had a sudden fear the mech was going to open the manhole and look inside.
He reached down, and found Tan’s binds, and gripped them with one hand. Then he began to lower himself down the rungs once more. The terrible sewage stench seemed to grow stronger as he descended, if that was possible.
He heard a subtle splash below, and realized Tan had hit the bottom, where a layer of sludge resided. He considered releasing Tan, but wasn’t sure how deep that layer was. He might be swept away by the current, if it was too deep.
He heard a clang above; the mech was opening the manhole.
There was nothing for it. Rade had to let go. And now.
He released Tan, and then leaped off the rungs on the manhole wall. He plunged a meter and a half, and hit the waiting sludge below, landing beside Tan. He sank up to his navel before his boots touched the bottom.
As light flooded in from above, he immediately wrapped his arms around Tan’s torso and pulled him under the sludge with himself. He held his breath in that disgusting liquid, and felt the slime on his skin, pressing in from all sides. His servomotors wouldn’t be harmed by the sewage, as they were waterproof, but he’d still have to get a few medical shots when this was done.
He waded forward two paces, wanting to pull himself and Tan out of the line of fire, and then waited, remaining motionless for several moments. Tan struggled in his grip, but Rade held him tight, not letting him go.
As oxygen began to run out, he reached up, confirming that the ceiling of the tunnel was above his head. His hand felt cold: there was a small gap there he could use to breath. He shoved Tan’s head upward, toward that gap, and himself raised his head. When he reached the top, his mouth and nostrils emerged from the liquid and he inhaled softly. The stench was back, but his need for oxygen overruled any disgust he felt so that he hardly noticed it. Meanwhile, Tan respired loudly through his nostrils, causing Rade to cringe. If the mech heard…
Two cones of light scanned the sewage at the bottom of the manhole tunnel nearby. They roved to and fro, and when nothing was discovered, the illumination ceased.
Tan once again tried to break away from Rade, who was forced to pull him back and hug him to his body. He shoved the man’s head beneath the sewage to preclude him from shrieking through his gag.
Rade heard a clang as the mech replaced the manhole cover, and the tunnel descended into blackness once more.
He allowed Tan to resurface, and then panted through his nostrils.
Rade listened to the muted sound of metal feet upon asphalt. Two pairs of feet, slightly out of sync. The noises dropped in volume with every passing moment, so he knew the mechs were retreating.
He waited until the sound ceased. Then he stayed there another five minutes, and when he was satisfied that the mechs weren’t coming back, he slid back underneath the manhole tunnel, and began to the climb the rungs toward the surface. He found Tan’s wrists by touch, and then dragged him with one hand, gripping the cord that bound those wrists.
He reached the top, and paused to deliver a warning to Tan.
“You make a sound, I’m going to drop you into the sewage and we’ll start this process all over again,” he whispered into Tan’s ears. At least, he assumed that was his ear. Could have been his mouth, for all Rade could see in the darkness.
Once more he hooked Tan’s wrists over one boot, and then he slowly, carefully, slid the manhole cover aside by touch. Light flooded in through the ever-widening crack.
When it was eighty percent of the way off, Rade hauled himself through the opening, and sat down next to the edge. He lifted his feet out, and lay back, hauling Tan out beside him. He pulled the man low when his torso emerged, and then dragged him out the rest of the way, keeping both of them hidden behind the Jersey barrier. He considered leaving the manhole cover open in case Tan decided to make Rade live up to his threat of dumping him back into the sewage, but decided it was better to seal it: the less evidence of their presence here, the better.
When the manhole cover was replaced, he crawled along the Jersey barriers once more. No further sounds came from the direction of the mechs, and when he reached the far side of the barriers, he slid himself and Tan behind the cover of the nearby house, where Manic, Tahoe and Lui waited.
Leaving his crawl position, he stood
on his feet and switched to a crouching posture.
He kept his comm node off for the time being, and flashed the others the hand signal to keep going. His soles felt squishy as the sewage sloshed about inside his boots, between his toes. He began to notice the stench again, which was coming from his body.
When they had placed three buildings between themselves and the mechs, he turned his comm node back on, setting the maximum range to three meters. He signaled the others to likewise activated their nodes.
“Maximum range three meters,” he whispered.
Lui and Manic led the way, with Rade in the middle, guiding Tan, and Tahoe following on the rear.
Rade’s boots made a slight squeaking sound with each step, courtesy of the sewage trapped inside.
“You smell good, Chief,” Tahoe transmitted.
“If you think he smells good, I have some serious doubts about your sexuality,” Manic added.
“I was being sarcastic,” Tahoe told him. “No, my marriage to Tepin is a front. I’ve secretly been in love with the Chief all these years, waiting for an opportunity to tell him how I feel. And now that he’s willingly dipped himself in the shit of a thousand men, I’ve realized the time has finally come. He understands me!”
“I knew it!” Manic said.
The team continued making their way through the different villages under the cover of darkness. A little after midnight, they finally reached the coastal villages, and they made their way to the closest dock. Rade glanced at the clock overlaying his HUD: they’d arrived just in time.
Rade and the others immediately slid underneath that dock, and onto the beach below, which was littered with trash. They waded through it and into the frigid water, staying underneath the dock for cover.
Though the water was polluted, Rade was relieved for the chance to wash off the dried sewage that caked his skin. He dunked his head and upper body into the ocean, and did the same to Tan beside him. He tasted salt as the liquid washed over his lips. Salt and feces.
He submerged his head a few more times until only the salt flavor remained.