Human Legion: Marine Cadet Part 32

Arun took a moment to understand Springer's slurred speech. He remembered now. He looked up at the fake fire in the roof and frowned. He didn't remember anyone applying the smoking gel for a long while.

"Getting dark," said Springer. "D'ya think they're getting worried 'bout us?"

She and Arun looked into each other's eyes, trying to keep a straight face. They erupted into giggles.

Arun retrieved the communicator from where Adrienne had last left it. With a flourish, he activated the device.

There was the briefest of pauses before Tawfiq's voice screamed through the speaker. "Report. Report. Report!"

"Tawfiq. How're you, my fine, furry friend?"

"Who is this?"

"197. 222?" Arun scratched his head. "I don't recall. I never forget a name but with numbers... I'm hopeless."

"What occurs? Report!"

"Keep yer fur on. What're we doing, eh?" He looked around at the buzzing party. The dance floor was heaving to the percussive rhythms struck from upturned metal drums. "Umm, we're busy, I guess."

"What is that noise I hear?"

"People. People doing stuff."

"Stunted imbecile. Where is 87?"

"87? Oh, you mean Adrienne? Let me see..." Arun scanned the warehouse and spied Adrienne on the dance floor, grinding out some raunchy moves in front of an eager young buck with his s.h.i.+rt off.

"87 is engaged in an encounter with an Agri-worker."

Springer stifled a laugh.

"I think," said Arun. "Think she's trying to go undercover to discover his secrets."

Springer exploded into laughter, bringing Arun with her in fits of giggles.

"Give it here. Silly veck-ek-eks." Arun looked up to see Madge standing over him with an open palm thrust in his face. She was bathed in sweat having just returned from an expedition to the dance floor herself, bringing back a gaggle of male admirers with her.

Arun handed over the comm.

"Corporal Majajazazaa here, ma'am." Madge's words were slurred worse than Springer's. "Firefighting party will return to home to you"

"Do so, immediately."

"as soon as conditions permit. Mazazeeta out."

Madge cut off the sound of Hardit protest, took aim, and threw the device 10 meters into a pan of warm stew.

Madge was so drunk she could barely stand or talk. But she could dance and it seemed she could throw. The communicator landed dead center in the pan and disappeared to contribute its favors to the stew.

Springer whistled in admiration. "Your targeting skills are impressive, corporal."

Arun was impressed too, but was relieved to see Madge return to the dance floor. Her hostility to him had reduced, but only by a hair's breadth.

He pulled Springer closer to him. She fitted so perfectly, snuggled under his shoulder, as if they had been engineered to complement each other.

Basking in the warmth of her embrace, he took a gulp of beer and recorded onto his implants the sights and sounds of the party, from the clumps of strangers in conversation to the pounding beat from the ever-changing lineup of drummers. He tried to memorize the scents too, though he had no means of digitally recording them: the smell of fresh perspiration, freshly-baked bread, and sticky beer spills. He nuzzled Springer's neck, drawing in her scent, the most precious of them all.

Then he settled into the simple pleasure of watching everyone else have fun.

Other than a few of the male Agri-Aux who had stripped to the waist to show off muscled torsos, everyone there was dressed alike in loose white underclothes. Arun looked from one happy human face to another, and whether they worked the tunnels and pa.s.sageways of Detroit or the fields of Alabama he could not tell.

They were all of them human And just for a little while longer. Being human was all that mattered.

* Chapter 46 *

It was Adrienne who eventually rounded up Team Beta and herded them back into the dung trucks for the trip back to Detroit. She even managed to bully them back into the Aux overalls they'd left behind in the cargo pod.

After a few hours of blissful cleanliness, persuading the drunken Aux to don their stinking rags took such impressive leaders.h.i.+p that even Arun noticed.

She's the one with the keenest eye on the future, he thought, but he kept his a.s.sessment to himself. Thoughts of what awaited them on their return pressed everyone into a somber silence as the trucks drove through the night.

Madge had driven them here but she was in no fit state now, so Adrienne took the wheel of one truck, with Springer driving the other. Arun kept Springer company in the cab while Madge slept with their pa.s.sengers in their dung pod.

The drive back was b.u.mpy and the track somehow seemed narrower because the drivers continually slipped down the bank, raising groans from their pa.s.sengers.

Eventually they gave up and drove through the fields, paralleling the track.

At the topside vehicle park back at Detroit, they found a detachment of Marines waiting for them, accompanied by Sergeant Gupta, their guns leveled at the cabs of the dung trucks.

No one said a thing. There was no need. The Marines grabbed Arun, Springer and Madge and propelled them down the main ramp of Gate Three and down into the tunnels of Detroit.

"Take these," said Gupta, handing them each a capsule.

Arun swallowed his and immediately felt a blinding flash of agony followed by terrifying clarity. All the comforting fuzziness brought on by the Agri-Aux beer vanished, to be replaced by a crystal clear understanding of just how utterly flekked they all were.

As they were marched down to the battalion administrative section on Level 4, they encountered cadets, novices, Marines, Aux and Hardits. The Hardits paid them no attention, the military humans gave them wary acknowledgment, but some of the Aux recognized them. There were tears in the eyes of some Aux onlookers, despair in their hearts.

That was the hardest thing for Arun to bear, that the hope he'd encouraged in the slave workers had unraveled so rapidly. Before the day was out, the whole of Detroit would know his fate.

To give false hope to the hopeless is the cruelest deed of all.

What have I done?

Gupta deposited them back where their Aux escapade had begun: at attention in front of Staff Sergeant Bryant's desk.

He glowered, making them sweat for a long while before he spoke.

"I have a request from your Hardit hosts. No, not a request. It is a demand, barbed with the most hideous threats. Do you worms realize how dirty it makes me feel to be ordered about by those flea-bitten monkey-vecks? They demand your termination. I thought it advisable to have you escorted here directly upon your return. At least that way I'm spared the further indignity of our monkey colleagues implementing the termination of human cadets themselves."

Arun fought against the temptation to slump. He succeeded in keeping himself absolutely still, not even breathing until the shock eased. Not that he'd expected anything different, but to hear the death sentence pa.s.sed... it wasn't easy.

Bryant watched with interest as Arun's dismay played out over his face.

"Staff sergeant," said Arun. "This cadet begs permission to speak."

"Go ahead." Bryant's words were filled with subtle poison, as if inviting Arun into a trap.

"I found something out there I need to report."

Madge gave a warning growl, deep in her throat, but that only steeled Arun to his purpose. He would tell about the drugs and the guns. It was a h.e.l.l of a risk for everyone, but sometimes you had to take a chance. Arun didn't expect to get another one.

Then Springer gave an identical growl, and Arun's resolve melted away.

"Stop that at once," boomed Bryant. He slammed the table and then shot to his feet, his muscular bulk towering over the cadets. "It's bad enough that you stink like Hardits. To growl like them too is an insult to the Corps. Six days you've been away. Six f.u.c.king days, and you've already lost every shred of dignity." He took his seat, his face still livid with contempt. "I pity you, Gupta, to have such sniveling cowards in your squad."

Arun didn't dare to glance over at Madge, but he knew dismay would be etched into her face. Being called a coward would have hurt her more than any Hardit shock torture. To have growled like that, she must be utterly convinced that they shouldn't be talking about gun-running.

Bryant turned his stare onto Arun. "Continue."

This was Arun's big moment.

He took a deep breath... and then danced away from the truth. "I reckon my time has been up for a little while now, staff sergeant. Been dodging incoming drent so much it feels like I've cheated death a dozen times. What I mean is that it's all my fault, not the other two."

Bryant's eyebrows shot up. Arun's did too. The staff sergeant had sent them off to the Aux with a lesson about justice ringing in their ears. Arun added quickly: "I don't mean it isn't fair, staff sergeant. Justice and fairness are irrelevant. Please let me take all the blame and spare the others. That's not justice, it's efficiency because these other two have shown through their initiative that they could make good Marines one day. It would be a waste to throw them away now."

"You're wrong," said Bryant. Arun had given the most impa.s.sioned speech of his life, and Bryant had instantly crushed it with two crisp words.

But then Arun noticed a twinkle in Bryant's eye... the staff sergeant was laughing at him! "You're wrong," repeated Bryant, "because there is a place in the Corps for justice, even compa.s.sion. Though they are luxuries that are not often possible, we should never forget them or we will cease to be human."

Arun's heart beat faster.

"Nonetheless, request denied."

Arun couldn't keep it up any longer. He slumped, physically and mentally. This was the end.

"Unlike the Hardit request," continued Bryant. "That we cannot refuse, whether we like it or not." Why was he grinning? "They request termination and I agree. You three were sentenced to serve one week as Aux because your overactive sense of justice caused you to make grave errors of judgment. I believe you have learned your lesson. I am therefore terminating your Aux sabbatical with immediate effect. Report to the medical facility ASAP for anti-radiation treatment. You restart cadet training tomorrow."

Arun couldn't keep the smile from his face.

"We all turned a blind eye to your little adventures," said Bryant, "but no more escapades that might draw the attention of our betters. On the other hand, if I were to fish through the communal laundry shelf one morning and my fingers happened upon a packet of biscuits hidden amongst the s.h.i.+rts, I might put that down to one of life's little mysteries. I might. But don't push it too far. Understood?"

"Yes, staff sergeant," answered the cadets.

"This cadet begs permission to speak, staff sergeant," requested Madge.

"h.e.l.l no. Of all your sorry little band you are the one who should keep your mouth most firmly shut, cadet corporal. As senior cadet, your task was to keep the other two out of mischief. You failed."

It was Arun's turn to ask. He wanted to ask permission to contact the Aux, to let them know they hadn't been executed, to prevent their morale from shattering. Madge had probably been trying to ask the same thing. But as Arun's mouth moved to speak, Bryant stopped him dead with a flinty glare.

Bryant's face colored red. "You cadets have far too much to say for yourselves." He pointed an accusing finger at Arun. "You most of all."

Arun kept his eyes front as the staff sergeant's scrutiny played over him. He hated that having lifted Aux morale it would be crushed by rumors of his death. But he was too scared of Bryant to even think of crossing him.

"You're trouble, hero," said Bryant. "And you other two are only one step behind him. If you study your military history you will learn that sometimes the awkward few win finely balanced battles with their different ways of seeing things. But this is a Marine Corps unit. I do not tolerate dissent. I can maybe afford to give a few nanometers of leeway to a handful of exceptional Marines, to pander to their unconventional thinking, because one day they might make the difference between victory and death. However..." Bryant's face went as hard as poly-ceramalloy armor. "You are not exceptional! All I can see in front of me are three silly little teenagers. Nothing more. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, staff sergeant," they all replied.

"I hope so because you'd better pray to whatever G.o.ds you hold dear that you are never brought before me again. Now get the h.e.l.l out of my sight!"

The cadets gave a crisp salute, turned and marched away.

Fifty paces down the pa.s.sageway they stopped, looked each other in the eye and whooped with delight.

Level 4 echoed with the sounds of gleeful high fives.

* PART III *

The Prophecy.

Human Legion.

* INFOPEDIA *

Military Concepts.

Introduction to s.h.i.+ps, boats & platforms.

Marines will encounter a wide range of s.h.i.+p and boat types while on active service, as well as...o...b..tal platforms and other void-based facilities. The term 's.h.i.+p' is widely use in a generic sense in the Human Legion Infopedia, but a stricter nomenclature differentiates between s.h.i.+ps as vessels that have interstellar range, boats as vessels designed for maneuver but are not capable of interstellar travel, and platforms to mean s.p.a.ce stations and other essentially static facilities.