I just grinned at her. She sat back down.
"That is such Bravo Sierra," I said, grinning broadly.
"It sells better than the truth," she responded, somewhat subdued. "My family was from New York. I joined up as soon as I was old enough."
"Revenge, then?"
"That, and patriotism."
"Really?"
She looked at me a moment. "Yeah, really." There was some degree of anger in her voice. "I can trace my family's history all the way back through World War One."
"So because you had relatives in the military going back to the Stone Age you think you—"
"Shut up, Matt. I want you to understand something. I am truly a patriot. My grandfather died in the War for the Constitution during the defense of Helena, Montana. That kind of patriotism still runs strong in my family. The quickest way in the world to piss me off is to talk shit about being a patriot or this country. Got it?"
"Yeah, Susan, I got it," I replied calmly. "Now, I want you to understand something. I may be an adrenaline junkie, but I've not watched my friends die, and killed people for the thrill. I love my country, too, and I lost people on the side of freedom in the War for the Constitution as well. Anyone who's in this fight for reasons other than to defend the US is in it for the wrong reason, and I don't want to share a foxhole with 'em. If I said anything to make you think I felt otherwise, it was certainly not my intention."
"Okay, Matt. We've cleared that up. I just want to ensure any man I might look at twice is using the same ammo I am."
"Wait, what?"
She stood up and turned to look at me over her shoulder. "Keep your temper, Matt. I want to see you on the Moon," and she started to walk away. For the first time, I noticed her as she walked. Oh, I knew she was exaggerating that walk, but I watched, anyway.
"Great!" I shouted after her. "Just how am I to concentrate on my studies now?"
Chapter 4
"Do You Want To Live?"
I was only a few days in the simulator when my instructor passed me back to my stick. I didn't have to play much catch up, as they were still driving the same course.
I suited up in my simulated Ess-CEPS and was driven out to join my team. I was told I'd find my stick gathered in the holding area next to the line of departure. When I arrived, I only saw two suited individuals, and they were looking out toward the track and monitoring the progress of a vehicle on the computer screen set up under the solar barrier. Susan and Walker were the two waiting. This was not hard to deduce; Walker was a giant in an XXL Ess-CEPS and Susan was easy to identify as the suits are rather snug.
I knew I was well within range of their COMdes so I blurted out "Hi ya, guys!" Just as they turned looking for me, a voice came over the coms, "Alpha Charlie one niner this is Control, no unnecessary chatter on this freq, acknowledge. Over."
"Control this is one niner, Roger, out."
Susan's face displayed mild amusement, but what struck me was the look on Walker's face, he seemed genuinely happy to see me. As I approached, Walker pointed to the screen. The vehicle displayed on it was being driven by Dolph and co-driven by Barney. I walked up to Susan, coming up behind Walker who was watching the screen. Susan grabbed me and pressed her helmet to mine, inside I could see her smiling an impish smile and her lips form the words, "Kiss my—" then she let go of me, spun around and slapped herself on the fanny. She instantly grabbed me and again pressed her helmet to mine and mouthed, "And I mean that."
Just then, Walker turned around and seeing Susan had grabbed the supports to my Eco-pack and obviously was holding me, he leapt forward and yanked us apart. "Hey, you two, knock that off!" It was apparent he thought we were fighting.
Again, Control came up on our coms, "Alpha Charlie elements, do I need to send someone down there?"
"Control this is one eight," Walker replied. "Negative, everything is under control," he gave the two of us harsh looks then pointed at the ground. He squatted and in the dirt wrote "Winchester," we switched our freqs to 30.30. "What the hell is a matter with you two?" he was clearly upset, "we're 'posed to be on the same damn team!"
Susan looked up at him and said in a slow, deep voice, unusual for her, "It's not that way, Walker." Her eyelids were at half-staff, and there was a coy smile on her lips.
"Well just what the hell kinda way is it? You two are going to get us in—" It hit him like an RPG round. "Oh, it's that way, is it?"
"Hey, listen," I said, "don't read too much into that look, we're just friends!"
She bumped me hard with her hip and said with that devilish grin, "Yeah, really good friends."
Walker squinted. "Are you two…fraternizing?"
"No!" I shouted.
"Hey, we're both consenting NCOs," Susan replied with a wink.
Walker placed his hands on his hips. "But you're an E-6. He ain't but an E-5."
"That's right!" Susan's eyes lit up. "I outrank you!"
I looked angrily at Walker. "Oh, now you've done it!" I exclaimed. He just smiled back at me.
Thankfully, before this could go any farther, the LPC rounded the bend and was heading our way.
○O○
My next stint behind the wheel came off much better than previously. I negotiated the entire course without damaging the vehicle or getting stuck. I was still not as good as Susan, but I was light years ahead of what I'd done the first time.
Over the next two weeks, all our driving skills improved dramatically, as did my relationship with Susan.
Next, we were advanced to Phase II, a more dangerous driving course. My relationship with Susan became more dangerous, as well.
It was a Friday night, and Walker and I were in our cubicle dressing for an evening run. As usual, the competition began with getting dressed in our PT suits and seeing who could be the first out the door—and, as usual, Walker was way ahead of me. As I was fumbling to pull up my shorts, he grabbed a towel and popped me on the butt. Then he blasted out the door laughing just as I fell over, landing behind my bunk.
As I lay there pulling my shorts up, I noticed the door had not closed all the way and Walker's laugh had been replaced with a feminine laugh. I sat up on an elbow and looked over the side of the bed. There stood Susan in the door to my cubicle.
"Are you happy to see me?" she asked, "or do you pull your pants off for every woman that comes in here?"
"I'm just getting ready to go for a run with Walker," I explained.
She pushed the door closed behind her and I heard it lock. She started walking slowly toward me, and then in that low voice she said, "Why don't you run with me instead?"
"You're not dressed for a run."
She unzipped her flight suit and stepped out of it. "I am now."
○O○
After that night, everything changed. I had never in my life been with a woman because she wanted to be with me. It was always...well, to be honest, I'd only been with septum girls.
Susan didn't just lay with me. She dove into me! Her every movement and caress spoke to me. Her touch, her eyes, everything spoke to me in a language I'd never heard before. She took me to a place I'd never been and started a feeling inside me I'd never known. I lost a bit of myself to her, but I also gained something of her, in return.
After that night, I found I thought of her all the time. I missed seeing her when she was not around. I lost my appetite, and my studies were suffering.
One night as Walker and I were reviewing xenon/fluoride battery design, inspection, and maintenance procedures, he noticed I was not paying attention.
"Hey, Matt, look at that, man, if you reroute a coupling like that you'll melt the battery. What the hell's the matter with you?"
"Just tired, I think," I said, rubbing my face.
"Listen Jasper, you better get your head back in the game or you'll get your first wish and find your ass back in the Barisan Mountains!"
"Yeah." That thought really jogged me.
"It's Susan, ain't it?" Walker asked.
"What?"
"Damn, man, don't play stupid with me!"
"Okay, okay. Yeah, it's Susan."
"Okay my ass. If they find out you two are f-fraternizing you'll both get kicked out of here. And if you don't pull your head out of your duffel bag, you ain't gonna make it. Either way, you two will end up separated by 384,000 clicks. The only shot you have of staying near her is to zip that fly and pay attention to what's important."
"I know. You're right."
"You're damn right I'm right. Listen, you talked me into making friends with these people and now you're gonna screw it up, and I'll be on the Moon with Dolph and Goldman without you two. I'll end up crazy and it'll be your damn fault!"
○O○
The next morning as the five of us sat at breakfast, Susan started rubbing my leg with her combat boot. I shook my leg, looked at her, frowned, and shook my head. She only smiled back, squinted and started rubbing my leg again.
Walker was the only one at the table that knew about Susan and me, so he was watching us closely. He could see something was happening. "Susan," he asked, "do you think you and Matt will both make it to the Moon?"
The question startled her. "Yes, Walker, I think we'll all make it. What makes you ask that?"
"Nothing. Matt was a little concerned, is all."
She turned and looked at me. "Matt?"
"Uhm, it's complicated," I mumbled under my breath.
"Matt," Dolph said, "if you are having concerns, I think you should tell us all, ja?"
"That's right," Barney chimed in, "do you know something we don't?"
"I think Matt does know something he's not telling us about," Walker said smiling at me. Of course, when Susan saw his big toothy grin, she grabbed me and pulled me outside.
"You told Walker?" She was flaming mad but controlling herself.
"No, no. Walker's a smart guy, he saw I was messed up and figured it out."
Susan stopped, her face changed and she smiled broadly. "You're messed up?"
"Well, yeah, I was. I am!"
"That's so sweet."
"It won't be sweet if we get caught!"
"What do you suggest?"
"I suggest we keep at arm's length until…later."
"How much later?"
"Till we're both on the Moon."
"I won't have any problem keeping my hands off you. How do you think you'll…handle it?" she asked with a smile.
I smiled back at her. "I'll do just fine, thank you."
She leaned in real close, laid a fingertip gently on my right cheek, and slowly drew a line down to the corner of my mouth. "Really? You're only human, you know."
She spun around and walked away. She was exaggerating the movement of her hips again. I shouted after her, "Tease!"
She turned slowly, put a finger to her pursed lips and shushed me. I never thought it possible that a 'shush' could be so erotic.
○O○
Driving training has now being conducted over increasingly difficult terrain. And Control was throwing in complications such as systems malfunctions, breakdowns, and dangerously close meteorite impacts, all controlled from base operations, which maintained secure communications with the computers on all vehicles.
Today, we were instructed to load and secure a cargo on our LPC, and then we were to all board and transport the cargo safely to a spot identified by a selenographic coordinates. Of course, once we were Oscar Mike—on the move—our LPS, Lunar Positioning System went down, courtesy of Control. This meant we had to break out our charts of the training area, which were drawn to mimic lunar maps, and navigate the old fashioned way. A compass won't work on the Moon, as it doesn't possess a dipolar magnetic field. That leaves two methods by which to navigate if your LPS is inoperable; CN—Celestial Navigation, or TAN—Terrain Association Navigation.
CN can only be trained in a simulator, because on Earth, the stars rotate noticeably throughout the night, the stars in the lunar sky appear to move more slowly; by the terrestrial day, not by the hour.
So, we were practicing TAN—to my mind, much more difficult because, well, if ya seen one crater ya seen 'em all.
Dolph and Walker were great at navigation so I left them to direct Barney, who was driving. I took on the task of running the diagnostic for the LPS, Susan of course was assisting me, so we laid down side-by-side on the floor under the console looking up into the heart of the LPS.
"Hey, Goldman, see those three mounds on your right?" Walker said. "Well, turn to your left about twenty degrees and pass between the first two."
Just then, our on-board COMs cracked to life, "Lima Papa two seven this is Control, there are several meteors inbound to your location, take evasive action, impact in approximately twenty seconds."
Our on-board early warning scanners fired their alarms as computer generated telemetry began to report the position and trajectory of the imaginary meteors.
What Control had done to simulate the impact of meteorites was to plant explosive charges in the ground set to go off when a vehicle got to within a given proximity. As safety was the major issue, these explosives were placed in locations where no driving was supposed to take place, and were clearly marked.
The psych eval of Barney Goldman must have missed his latent PTSD. Barney was no fool; he realized that should he be diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder he would be out of the program. He knew just what he needed to do and say to throw the shrinks off.
The meek, and usually quiet, Barney Goldman had, in fact, seen far more combat than the rest of us combined. Symptoms or not, the shrinks should have sent him packing based solely on the content of his combat record, alone.
The instant we were cleared to take evasive action, Barney turned the vehicle hard to the right then back to the left. Only Barney and Walker were secured in their seats. Dolph, Susan, and I were bouncing all over the inside of the LPC. Of course, we all started screaming at Barney, but he just charged on, laughing. "You guys better buckle up!" he shouted.
When the first explosion erupted to our right front, Barney changed. Explosion after explosion now erupted all around us. Everyone heard Barney shout, "Hold on! Those green, grinning bastards ain't gonna get us today!" A group of well-trained fanatical fighters in Oceania were called the grinning green guys because of the symbol they wore. Barney was having a flashback. He thought we were actually under fire.
Walker released his seat's restraints and tried to get to Barney, but Walker was thrown backward when Barney turned hard left and started to drive diagonally up the steep side of a crater rim, well off the designated path.
The LPC was at a dangerous angle when an explosive charge detonated directly under us fracturing the hull. The LPC was lifted two or three meters into the air, and as it fell back, it started rolling violently sideways down the rim, over and over, ultimately landing on its right side on the valley floor.
As we came to a stop, on the vehicle’s right side, I looked about. There was an awful lot of blood splattered all over. I could see Walker heading toward me from the front of the LPC. He had blood all over his shirt. He looked up and saw me looking at him. "Matt, look at me!" he shouted. "Just keep looking at me!" He scrambled over all the equipment and components that had come loose and was quickly at my side. I could feel he was doing something to me but I couldn't tell what. "You're all right, buddy," he kept saying. "You're gonna make it, you're all right," I knew what this was about. We were trained to reassure a wounded soldier to prevent him going into shock. I must have been in bad shape. I tried to speak, but it hurt.
"No, no," Walker said, "don't talk."
I managed to eke out one question, "Susan?"
I saw his eyes flash behind me quickly then he just said, "It's okay, it's okay," I tried to turn my head, but Walker put his hand against the side of my face to stop me. I looked up at him. He was frowning deeply, and slowly shaking his head. I watched his eyes as they filled with tears, and then I slipped from consciousness and slid into the arms of some unseen angel who, with her
touch, removed all pain from my body and from my heart.
○O○
When my eyes opened, everything was blurred. I didn't know where I was, but my world was all pain. I could hear an odd sound, a clicking and a noise like air being forced from a beach ball. There was also an occasional electrical beeping. I heard a voice. "Doctor, it's working, look!" Above me I saw the face of a man in surgical mask with odd glasses looking down at me. "Sergeant, can you nod your head?"
I did.
"Dr. Peller, note the affirmative response. Sergeant, quickly, I have one question, do you want to live?"
I nodded again.
"That's an affirmative response at 22:40 hours Zulu."
At that, my world of pain mercifully went black again.
I don't recall dreaming at all. I do remember sort of waking. I say sort of because I did not awaken as one does in the morning. My eyes didn't pop open. I didn't sit up and scratch. Rather, I just became aware. I was aware of me, but not aware of anything around me. It was just me, alone, in total darkness. At first I thought I was in a dream, but it didn't have that feel of a dream. I tried to lift my head or my arm, anything, but nothing responded. It was as if there was nothing there to respond. I tried to speak, but had no voice. I tried to inhale in order that I might shout, but there seemed to be no lungs to breathe; yet, I was not starved for breath.
I thought to myself, What the hell is going on? In response, I heard a muffled voice. "Yes, sir, we have positive verification."
"Initiate Cryo."
With that, I was tossed back into oblivion.
○O○
I actually awoke the next time. My eyes opened. I was lying on a couch in a small living room, buck naked. I pulled myself up to a sitting position. I didn't feel groggy, but I did feel some disorientation and what I'll have to describe as dizziness. This soon passed. I stood, and as I did, I came completely off the floor several centimeters, then settled back down. That was weird.
I staggered over to the chair at the desk where a robe had been conveniently placed. I then started looking at my surroundings. It was typical quarters for a non-commissioned officer, a small living space set up as an office with a small bedroom. First thing I noticed, however, was that there was no kitchenette and no bathroom. I thought I must be in a European-type hotel where they have a communal bathroom at the end of the hall. Yeah, a European hotel decorated with US government furniture in Arizona. Sure.
The Battle of Broken Moon Page 5