Uncommon Loyalty

by Toby Neighbors

  “It’s like being in a swamp, but there isn’t much standing water,” Jules said.

  Nick brought up the GPS guidance system on his helmet’s HUD. It showed the evac zone where they had landed in the forest. A light green line showed how far they had come. They were halfway through the forest, and Nick was already sick of it.

  “This mist is creepy,” Ember said.

  “Not enough sunlight to dry it out,” Ty said. “The canopy’s pretty thick.”

  “Issip Minor gets most of its light reflected from Issip Major,” Gunny Tveit explained. “It’s bright enough to see clearly, but not to dry things out.”

  “I’m glad we’re not staying long,” Kal said.

  “Who says we aren’t?” Ember asked.

  A strange, undulating roar shook the trees and made the ground vibrate beneath them.

  “What the hell was that?” Nick asked.

  “Something big,” Kal said.

  “Let’s not find out,” Ember suggested.

  “Time to move, people,” Gunny Tveit said. “The sooner we’re out of the woods, the better.”

  No one could argue with her assessment, least of all Nick, who felt goose bumps springing up on his skin beneath his BIO-suit. They marched for ten more minutes before they heard another roar. The second bellowing cry sounded even closer. The group of space marines stopped moving as if an order to halt had been given, even though it hadn’t.

  “Sergeant?” Nick said.

  “Keep moving,” Gunny Tveit said. “But stay alert. Safeties off and remember your training. I don’t want any accidents from friendly fire because you lose your nerve.”

  “No kidding,” Kal said. “I’m too young and too pretty to go out in this mud hole.”

  “Zip it, Phillips,” Tveit ordered. “Nichols, get moving.”

  Nick felt as though he was being pushed into a haunted house. Every fiber of his being told him to go in the opposite direction. The mist didn’t help things. He couldn’t see what lay ahead, but he forced himself to keep moving, even though he was suddenly very jealous of the boring mission they had been promised.

  “Nick, can you see anything?” Ember asked.

  “No,” Nick said. “The fog is too thick.”

  “It’s like we’ve been sent back in time to a primordial Earth with dinosaurs,” Ty said. “Who would have thought it?”

  Nick was about to reply, when Ty cursed and the report of his trident plasma cannon echoed along the trail. Another monstrous roar shook the jungle, then everything was silent.

  “Private Ormond?” Tveit said. “Report.”

  “Something came out of the trees,” he said in a shaky voice. “Some kind of monster.”

  “Are you alright?” Jules asked.

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m okay,” he said. “Just a little shook up, that’s all.”

  “Did you hit it?” Kal asked.

  “All three rounds,” Ty explained. “The beast ran off with blue fire leaping up around its neck.”

  “Good work, Private,” Gunny Tveit said. “Let’s stay alert, Team. Nichols, get us moving again.”

  Nick started walking again, but it wasn’t long before a high-pitched screech echoed down the trail. There was something in front of them. Nick lifted his ballistic rifle to his shoulder and moved more slowly. He heard the thump of heavy feet drumming the moist ground. What came out of the mist was a nightmare come true.

  The beast was on four legs, with a thick, heavy body. The head was pointed and long like a swordfish. It charged straight at Nick, who fired a single shot from his ballistic rifle before diving into the shrubs beside the path. The bullet hit the creature in its left shoulder, the diamond-tipped round penetrated deep through the flesh and into the bone. The beast fell to the ground, but it wasn’t dead. It squealed and swung its head to the side, slashing at Nick with its sword nose. The bony protrusion was flat and serrated, but not strong enough to cut through Nick’s armor. The blow knocked him back as he was getting to his feet. Nick landed hard on a knot of tree roots and nearly lost his hold on his rifle.

  The creature was grunting in pain, the sounds were piscine in nature. Nick could see large teeth in the beast’s maw, and the small eyes were filled with rage as it crawled toward Nick.

  Out of the mist came two more sword-faced animals, both were slimmer than the first, with shorter horns. Nick rolled onto one knee and fired quickly. Three rounds ripped into the nearest of the creatures and knocked it onto its side. From behind him, more shots rang out. Ember and Gunny Tveit had emerged from the fog and taken out the other creature. The first was still on the ground, trying to get close enough to hurt Nick.

  He steadied his aiming reticle on the creature’s eye and pulled the trigger. The eye disappeared in a cloud of dark blood as the beast jerked suddenly and then slumped to the ground. Its head rolled to the side, and a long, thick tongue flopped out.

  The jungle was suddenly silent, and Nick feared that perhaps firing their weapons had ruined their cover. The reports would have sounded for kilometers, and any Issip in that range could have heard them.

  “Nick, you okay?” Ember asked.

  “Fine,” he replied.

  “Well, now we know why the Issip don’t hang out in the jungles,” Kal said as he and Jules approached with the repulser sleds.

  “Let’s get the equipment around these creatures,” Gunny Tveit ordered. “The blood is sure to attract more animals.”

  “That’s a cheery thought,” Jules said.

  It took several minutes to maneuver the sleds around the slain creatures. Insects were already buzzing around the bodies, and Nick felt a sense of urgency to get as far away from the creatures as possible.

  Back on the trail, they made good time. The fog didn’t lift, but they decided to throw caution to the wind in favor of getting out of the jungle. A couple of hours later Nick noticed that the foliage wasn’t as dense around him. The fog still made his vision limited, but he could see that the trees and bushes were not as thick. The trail widened as well.

  They finally stopped at the edge of the forest. One moment they were in the trees, and the next there was nothing but open country ahead. The fog was less dense on the rolling hills that were covered with golden stalks of some type of grain. Nick was no botanist, nor had he ever set foot on a farm, but he had seen fields of grain on television and movies. The grain on the rolling hills was similar, waist high, and waving slightly in the breeze, but a brilliant golden color that was completely different from anything Nick had seen in nature before.

  “We’ll stop here and get some rest,” Gunny Tveit said. They had been on the planet for only eight hours, but the group had been awake twice that long. “I want two people on watch at all times. Take two-hour shifts. Then we move on. We still have a long way to go to reach the coast.”

  No one argued. Nick and Ember took the first watch, and the others settled on the edges of the repulser sleds just to stay off the wet ground. For a while, the camp was silent. The fog slowly dissipated and Nick could see for miles across the rolling hills. The sky was a light pink color, and to his right was the glowing half of Issip Major, a brilliant red world that was almost too bright to look at. It easily filled a quarter of the sky and disappeared below the horizon.

  “It’s amazing,” Ember said, an hour into their two-hour shift on watch.

  “What is?” Nick asked.

  “Everything about this place,” she replied. “We’re on another world. An alien planet. I still can’t believe it.”

  “I still can’t believe we almost settled for working in the ULU for a hundred years.”

  “God, that life seems like a century ago,” Ember said. “What were we thinking?”

  “We believed what people told us,” Nick said sadly. “I’m still kicking myself for that.”

  “Who knew the PMC could be this incredible?”

  “Even if it wasn’t half as good, it would still be much better than the ULU. I mean I get it, there are danger
s to this life, but the rewards are worth it.”

  “We wouldn’t be here if not for you,” she said.

  “That’s not true,” he replied.

  “Of course, it is. You were the one willing to try it. I saw flyers about the PMC so often growing up they were like part of the scenery. They just blended in, and I was oblivious to them after a while.”

  “Yeah, I get it. I never took one seriously until we got paid that first time. I still can’t believe it’s legal to take that much of a person’s hard-earned money.”

  “Taxes, deductions, union dues, and service fees. All that’s behind us.” She threw her arm up in a wide arc toward the red planet above them. “This is our future.”

  “So the mission doesn’t bother you?” Nick asked.

  “No, not really,” Ember said. “From the Proxy’s viewpoint, it makes sense.”

  “Even if it isn’t fair?”

  “What in the galaxy is fair? Certainly not the conditions on Earth. The Proxy pay us, they feed us real food, they don’t charge us outlandish fees for housing, or force us to pay dues to be in the Corps. I can’t say I relate to the Proxy, but I do feel an allegiance to them that is equal to what I feel for Earth.”

  “It takes courage to change things, but we don’t have to live the way our teachers told us,” Nick said. “We don’t have to settle for the status quo.”

  “No, and I’m glad we didn’t,” she agreed. “Although when I saw those creatures in the forest, I almost froze up.”

  “They were terrifying,” Nick said.

  “I wasn’t scared of the creatures, Nick. I was scared that we had lost you. I could see the animals, but you were hidden by the mist.”

  “Yeah, I get that,” Nick said, thinking of Dex’Orr ordering them to leave Ember behind on the Quazak Exchange station.

  “We haven’t really talked about things,” she said.

  Nick knew she wanted to, and in truth he did as well, but he was afraid. Not that she felt differently, but that in talking it would make their connection even more real. He could handle the danger to himself, but he was having trouble trusting Ember to take chances and risk her life. He couldn’t hold on to her any more tightly, or let his feelings grow stronger.

  “I think that’s for the best,” he said.

  “You do?”

  “It’s not what I want,” Nick admitted. “But it’s necessary. If we’re going to live this life, we need to remain friends.”

  “I disagree,” Ember said with a note of sadness in her voice. “But I won’t push you.”

  “It’s just, I know me, Em. If I let myself, I’ll become overprotective of you.”

  “I don’t need that, Nick,” she said. “I can handle myself. Surely you see that.”

  “I do,” he replied. “It isn’t about your ability, it’s about my heart.”

  Another roar echoed from deep in the jungle. Nick shivered, but felt reasonably sure they weren’t in danger at the edge of the tree line.

  “So we just pretend,” Ember finally broke the silence again.

  “We wait,” Nick said. “That’s all. Just a few years. We can do that, right?”

  She didn’t answer, and he didn’t push her. It had been a stressful day, they were both tired, and neither of them liked the way their relationship was turning out. Nick truly believed he was doing the right thing. But he couldn’t deny that it was killing him.

  “Shift’s over,” Gunny Tveit said.

  “I wish I could rub my face,” Ty grumbled from behind them. “What’s the air like here?”

  “Breathable,” Tveit said. “But if you take your helmet off, you’ll be held in quarantine for at least six weeks. If you survive and aren’t still contagious, you’ll be shipped off to the infantry. Still need to rub your face?”

  “No, Sergeant,” Ty said.

  “You two get some rest,” Tveit ordered. “We’ll move out in four hours.”

  “Roger that,” Nick said.

  Ember didn’t reply, she just went to an empty spot on the repulser sled and lay down. Nick wanted to talk to her, but he knew it was just because he wanted her to make him feel better about his choice to put their romantic feelings on hold. He went to his own spot and tried to get comfortable. The equipment took up most of the space, but the ground was saturated and he didn’t want to soil his armor.

  The temptation to open a private channel to Ember on his com-link was strong, but he forced himself not to bother her. For all he knew, she was already asleep. He had made up his mind, after all, and he knew that talking to her wouldn’t change anything.

  Chapter 10

  The journey across the rolling wheat fields was completely different from being in the jungle. The ground was still soft underfoot, and their helmet GPS programs ensured that they were moving in the right direction. Even their heavy packs seemed to weigh less as they hiked through the oceans of golden grain.

  It took two more days of travel to come within range of the city on the coast. They left their supplies in the valley of three hills and erected a golden-colored dome tent over the repulser sleds. Nick, Gunny Tveit, and Kal scouted ahead. They selected a short hill with a taller hill behind it to be their listening post. A long-range audio receiver was set up. Large solar cells were arranged to soak up the light reflected from Issip Major that would power the recording device. They also used powerful telephoto viewers that could pick up heat signatures and ultraviolet frequencies to help them isolate the work being done.

  Three more days of constant work was carried out by the team, working in shifts day and night, before the work in the propulsion laboratory was located. Everyone was busy, either using the equipment or standing watch. Occasionally, an aircraft passed over their position, but they were well camouflaged. Unlike the jungles, nothing but tiny rodents made their homes in the grain fields. And, just like their reports had said, the Issip never seemed to venture out of their city.

  The only real threat was drones that occasionally passed over the wheat fields inspecting the grain. Fortunately, none came close enough to discover the Dragon Team spying on the Issip engineers working on their interstellar drive.

  The audio picked up had to be run through a universal translator. If the feed wasn’t good for some reason, the translator failed, but Gunny Tveit insisted that they record everything. According to her, the Proxy might pick up things that the Recon team missed.

  After two days of constant spying on the drive engine project, Nick and Kal were sent to find water. They walked for nearly eight hours before coming across a hydro station. It was, like the rest of the agriculture work being done on the planet, run by artificial intelligence drones. Where the water came from, Nick had no idea, but he was able to disconnect a hose, fill their water containers, and reassemble everything without being detected.

  “Man, these sleds are a lifesaver,” Kal said. “Can you imagine carrying water back to camp?”

  “No,” Nick said. “I don’t want to imagine it.”

  “I dig the energy drinks and protein synthesis, but who wants to carry water for eight hours? That’s insane.”

  “How much longer do think we’ll be stationed here?” Nick asked.

  “You anxious to get back?” Kal said.

  “It’s just not an ideal situation,” he said.

  “Because of Ember?”

  Nick didn’t respond. Ember was angry with him and refused to talk to him other than to carry out their work. Everyone knew there was tension, but no one was sure how to resolve it.

  “You finally going to tell me what’s going on?” Kal asked.

  “Nothing,” Nick said.

  “Oh, it’s something,” Kal replied. “She’s mad at you, bro.”

  “I know that,” Nick said.

  “Why is she mad at you? That’s the question.”

  “Look, we’ve been friends for a long time,” Nick said. “I didn’t say anything when she dated in high school.”

  “You said plenty,” Kal said.
“You hated every guy who asked her out.”

  “They were all bottom-feeders, that’s not my fault,” Nick replied. “All I’m saying is that with things the way they are, maybe it’s better if we all just stay friends.”

  “As opposed to enemies?” Kal asked.

  “You know what I’m talking about, man. I like her, okay. I always have, I guess. It just took me a while to realize it.”

  “I’ve known since the eighth grade, bro,” Kal teased.

  “But I don’t think we should act on our feelings. Not while we’re Recon specialists. It’s too dangerous.”

  “I don’t know. The space marines on the ship that took us to the Foundry were pretty friendly.”

  “They were infantry. We’re Recon,” Nick insisted.

  “And you think that makes a difference?”

  “I know it does. How can I order her into danger if I’m in love with her?”

  “So this is more than just a fling?”

  “It’s not anything,” Nick said. “I told her we should wait. That’s why she’s mad.”

  “I don’t think that’s it, man. You should talk to her.”

  “It won’t help,” Nick said.

  “It can’t hurt,” Kal insisted.

  They pushed on in silence as the light from the enormous red planet faded to just a sliver. It was bright enough to see by, much like a night with a full moon on Earth. As they walked, Nick couldn’t help but think about what his friend had said. He knew he needed to speak to Ember, and normally he would have jumped at the chance, but he was afraid. The last thing he wanted was to start a fight, especially one that would spill over to his friends and affect their mission.

  By the time Nick and Kal made it back to camp, they were both exhausted and went immediately to sleep while the others continued their watch of the Issip city. When Nick was awakened four hours later, he found Ember putting water purification tablets into the water gathered from the Issip agriculture station.

  “Hey,” he said, trying to sound casual. “How’s it going?”

  “Fine,” Ember said. “You’re on watch soon.”

  “I know,” Nick said. “I just wanted to see how you are.”