Lord Banshee- Fugitive

by Russell O Redman

  “They were harvesting trees near the top of Burnaby Mountain and we could just see the ruins of Simon Fraser University. It was sad to see the loss of all those hopes and dreams, and no one even knows why it happened. At the base of the mountain, they were forming the tree trunks into great booms, ready to be pulled up the coast to the old mine at Britannia Beach where they are packing blocks of carbon from the trunks into the deep shafts to remove it permanently from the atmosphere.

  “The whole time we held hands and felt warm in the cool breeze. We kissed and ignored everyone around us, like we were the only people on the boat. That far north they do not see many spacers, and neither of us wanted to wear wigs or disguises on a date, so we ruffled each other’s furry hair and laughed about what hairstyles we would grow when we got out of the service. That was the first day we talked about Hawaii and the small towns upslope on the Big Island where the weather is always beautiful.

  “We got back, changed into exercise clothes in the restaurant bathroom and went for a run along the beach. It was a short run, because the tide was rising and we did not want to have to wade through the cold water. In the end, it did not matter because I pushed him into the waves and he pulled me in after him, so we had to fetch our stuff, go to the hotel we had booked for the next two nights, and beg for early access to the room. We rinsed our clothes, took a long warm shower in each other’s arms, and foolishly decided to go for lunch before we made love.

  “At the restaurant, they told us the most romantic place in all of Vancouver for dinner was the restaurant on Grouse Mountain. There had been a ski lodge there with a great view from the on-site restaurant before the Final War. It was abandoned along with the rest of the city, of course, but a big tour company had rounded up enough money, rebuilt the cable car to the summit and ran a five-star hotel and restaurant overlooking the valley. We are both former spacers with tons of money in our investments, so we bought some tickets and went up Grouse Mountain.

  “The climate is drier and warmer now than it was before the War. We did not see many of the Douglas fir and cedar that they showed in the classical pictures, but the forest was deep and rich with sequoia, pine and a few maples. There were birds everywhere, chipmunks and squirrels, rabbits, and even a coyote who was not the least bit afraid of us. We spent the afternoon wandering the forest trails, from one fabulous view to the next, talking and dreaming and planning without a care in the world. We decided that when we got back to work we would hold a coming-out party where we announced ourselves as a couple and applied for suitable reassignment.

  “We did not get to do much kissing, though. There were families with kids all along the trails, and we had to stop every five minutes for pictures as they all gathered around the exotic spacer people from another world. They all wanted to know what it was like in zero-G and whether we had been to the Moon. So, we laughed and told them all about dancing without gravity, about the brightly lit hallways of the Lunar cities, and about the few space battles that Brian had seen and thankfully I had not. And we managed to refrain from any mention of nudity, drugs or wild parties, although that was hard. I think we recruited twenty new members to the TDF and the Spacers Guild that afternoon.

  “The restaurant was everything promised. The food was divine. I had smoked salmon with a kelp salad that was to die for. Brian had steak so tender I could hardly believe it was meat. We splurged for a bottle of expensive wine and had a small glass each, something I rarely do even on long assignments of the ground. We did not dare to finish the rest, because we would be back at work in a couple of days, so we gave the rest of the bottle to a young couple on their honeymoon – Brian’s idea because he had noticed they could not afford anything on the menu.

  “The view got better and better as the sun set and the stars came out. We almost never get to see stars with our own eyes in space, so it was like natural magic as the red faded from the few streaks of cloud and the Milky Way became a pale glow above our heads. I can still feel his warmth from that evening as we cuddled over our last sips of wine in the darkness.

  “We were halfway down the cable car when it all came crashing down. Not the car, just our world. Stupid mistake, a rookie mistake. Vishnuram would have made us dye one of our fingers blue to remind ourselves never to repeat such foolishness.

  “We had brought our phones and left them on. We both got the call at the same time, from our superiors demanding to know where we were and why we were not at our expected locations.

  “Law Enforcement had gone in with a large contingent of police and agents to raid the resort, and five of them had died in the attempt. The regional militia refused to come to their support, and the nearest TDF battalion would not arrive for another hour. It was all-hands-on-deck, and we had to get back to help contain the disaster immediately.

  “It took two weeks and two more battalions of the TDF to bring the site under control, and by then it was clear that we had discovered only the part of the operation that was currently active on the surface. It was another month before the whole area was secure, and we are pretty sure that most of the criminals escaped capture.”

  Sergei breathed out, “Shit, what had you stumbled into?”

  I found my voice again, back on a topic that did not threaten Leilani so directly. “At the time, we suspected the regional militia was preparing for a major revolt, but after more investigation than CI could manage on its own, it looked like they were taking orders from somewhere else, probably filtered through the corporations. It even looked like the corporations themselves were innocent dupes who were providing cover for another organization without knowing what was really happening. They thought it was a top-secret operation for the TDF.

  “By the time the investigation was complete, it was being handled almost entirely by MI. They never reached a conclusion about the real culprits, but I think in retrospect it is obvious. This was a branch of the Martian invasion force, hidden in an underground base with access through the surface buildings. The regional militia knew they were there but were either in cahoots or too frightened by their power to do anything, not even to report their presence. Their officer corps was interrogated and purged but the final reports were so far outside our field that I never learned what they found.

  “Even then, it was obvious that everything pointed skywards, to Mars as the source of the trouble. Before that day I had admired the Martian people, disapproved of their methods, pitied their plight, and feared their revenge. Afterwards, I knew that the governors were failing. A defeated enemy could not and would not maintain such a complex and expensive operation, years after their armies had been killed and their surviving leaders arrested.

  “Somehow, somewhere, the movement survived, wealthy, well organized and dangerous. Mars would again rise in revolt. They would come to the Earth to prevent us from subjecting Mars to another round of governors. They would come for me, because I was the worst war criminal in Martian history, condemned by everyone through the Fatwa. They would kill anyone close to me. With absolute certainty, they would kill Leilani.”

  Leilani interrupted, “After that he became too frightened to touch me. I could see he still loved me. He would never explain what had changed, only told me my life would be longer and happier if I never needed to know. Now I understand and I wish I did not need to.”

  I continued, “After that I saw the pirates and the gun smuggling in an entirely different light. After that my fear of the Martians grew into hate. I did not dare to love Leilani openly, but could not tear myself away. We never had our coming-out party, because I knew the Martians would kill her if we married. I tried time after time to pass her off to better men, but she would not take any bait. I worked as hard as I could to ensure she got the promotions she deserved, but she would not leave. And now she is here in this trap, hunted by the Martians just for the mistake of loving me, the Ghost! I hate myself.”

  Through the screaming, I heard her cry out, “No, Brian, you are not the Ghost! Whoever you might have been in
the past, you are a better man now. I love you and I will not leave you to face them alone.”

  And then we were both wailing with tears, hopeless and helpless to stop.

  I felt Toyami leave, but she came back almost immediately, took my hand and dragged me over far enough that she could grasp Leilani’s outstretched hand as well.

  “Brian,” she commanded, “Leilani loves you and you love her. Stop this nonsense and give her what she needs. You will both think more clearly after you do.”

  “NO,” I cried, “You do not know what you are asking!”

  I saw Raul try to jerk Leilani back, and heard Sergei echo, “No”, but it was too late. She had injected both of us with heavy sex stims and I could feel the lust rising uncontrollably.

  I surged forward and wrapped my arms around her, sending, “Forgive me, my Love.”

  But all she asked as she pulled off my pajamas was, “Why? I need you.”

  Her eyes were huge and dark and filled with love. In the back of my head, the golden Path went black and the Hellgate at its end expanded to match her eyes. With a last flicker of self-control, I looked away. The Ghost and the Assassin fled, their plans in ruins. With a last desperate cry for help, the Cap started broadcasting everything I saw, heard, tasted, smelled and felt, to the whole team, flagging the transmission as urgent, as a warning of the onrushing disaster. Then he too faded and I was in the grip of adolescent lust, guided only by the Spacer, the Student and the Kid. I looked back at Leilani, stripping her own pajamas off with a practiced, seductive ease. She started broadcasting herself, and I saw myself through her eyes, felt the cloth sliding over her nipples, was overwhelmed with her passion. We came together and I could just see Raul, drawing back towards the exercise room in confusion. Then Sergei and Toyami joined the broadcast and it was no longer clear whether I was looking through my own eyes or theirs, whether the caress I felt was on my body or one of theirs.

  The door to the hall opened, with a clarity that stood out because all of us looked at Begum, framed in the door. She cried out, “Raul, what are you doing here?” Then she slammed the door shut in the faces of the astonished guards and launched herself across the room, ripping off her clothes in the heated frenzy of our broadcast passion. Raul managed to pull Begum into the exercise room before being overwhelmed himself, but at one point he had shown her how to join the broadcast, or more likely she figured it out herself, because for a while she was with the rest of us.

  I retained a small measure of control, in occasional flashes. I pushed Leilani into Sergei’s arms and she accepted the intimacy as any good spacer would but came back hungrier than before. I spun her around, took her from behind and pulled Toyami in from the front before releasing both of them. They played for a few minutes before she came back, biting and raking her nails over my back in annoyance at my subterfuge. We were like two bright stars in a death spiral, heating each other as we drew closer, but with planets orbiting us who would die when we destroyed ourselves.

  It was two hours before we could stop, before the stims ran down and the pain of excessive sex started to penetrate our minds. The small supply of lubricants that Toyami had brought ran out after the first hour. I had not been gentle or considerate in my lust and fear, nor had anyone else. One by one we dropped out of the mutual broadcast until finally it was just Leilani and I, locked in each other’s arms and minds. I would do anything to please her, anything at all.

  Except leave. I could not abandon her, not ever again.

  The golden Path was gone and I was hiding in an isolated bubble of love, surrounded by the cold darkness of a space filled with death, a universal hellgate. All who entered this life would die. There was no salvation, no hope. It was impossible.

  I could not leave. I had to protect her. But it was impossible.

  I could not stay. The Martians would find us together and would kill her. It was impossible.

  I could not die, because then they would all be defenceless against what was coming. I was a weapon, but I could not tell them where I was aimed. I knew so little and my ignorance would kill everyone. Once, that morning, I had known how to save them, but it was gone. I could not get to the place I needed to be. It was impossible.

  I had no plan, no map, no hope, no path. It was impossible.

  I could not stop loving her and my love left me paralyzed. Everything I thought of was impossible.

  2357-03-09 11:00

  Nightmare Wars

  I was exhausted. The others sensed my hopeless lethargy. Toyami slid me into my armour, tried to fit on the opaque helmet, and let me drift into a wracked and anxious sleep, filled with dreams.

  The dream started as we fled together to a pocket of dense jungle in Soam, deep in the Amazon lowlands. We could live off the land, passing as locals in the forest. But of course, we were obviously not locals, and from time to time we needed to enter a town for meds or tools like knives. Reports reached Martian Intelligence of two strangers hiding in the forest.

  They organized the local militia to drive us out of the jungle and across the grasslands that had replaced much of the old rainforest. As we fled, they flanked us on each side and drove us east. At each village we passed, they noted whether the people had reported our passing. Those villages that failed to report us were massacred. Those who filed false reports were massacred. Only those were spared who correctly reported our presence and movements. The militia took their time about closing in, making a sport of the pursuit, until we were finally captured by Martian Intelligence itself.

  I could not be tortured into revealing secrets, being protected by my original medical monitor that was hidden behind the newer one, but Leilani had no such protection. I would do anything to spare her the agony they inflicted, and one by one we revealed the locations of our safe houses and pass codes. One by one the team was arrested and dragged in to be tortured in front of us.

  When they were all in custody, the executions of the Ghost Followers began. Evgenia was raped to death. They paused every fifteen minutes to let her recover enough that her agony could be prolonged, and to give her time to curse us for our betrayal.

  Raul was dismembered, and the executioner marvelled at the quality of the Earth’s medical technology. He could keep a body alive, aware, and screaming, without a stomach or intestines, arms or legs, hair, eyes, tongue or skin. Raul died after two days, but the executioner was confident that with practice he could prolong the execution for a week.

  From Sergei, they learned about our ability to broadcast our sensations. They found a skilled programmer who rewrote our tokens to permit emojis again, to lift the limits on sensation, and to give them control of the broadcast. They began Sergei’s execution by slowly crushing his testicles in a vice while broadcasting his pain to us all.

  The Ghost Followers were executed in the prison for the private entertainment of the Martian elite, but the Ghost and his Ghost Wife were executed in a public square with the full pride of Martian Justice in demonstrating that these arch-criminals had received everything due for their offences. The whole proceeding was broadcast live to the Earth, to the Moon and to Mars, and each day’s highlights on the news were made compulsory viewing by every citizen regardless of age.

  The execution began with parades and public speeches detailing our crimes, including the false rumours of the Incursion and the unmotivated Genocide that was sometimes called the Counterstrike. We were dragged out and fastened to metal frames facing each other, stripped and forced to make public confession of our crimes, of my crimes since her only offence was to stay with me when she should have left. We were forced to curse each other.

  I knew what was coming next, but she did not. Every member of her family to the third degree of relationship was dragged into the square between us and beheaded. The few remaining members of my family, people I never even knew were related, met the same fate, with all their heads heaped into a pile on one side. They cursed us as they died, and after their execution she cursed me as well, this time a
heartfelt damnation for dragging her into this horror.

  Then our own executions began. The Ghost Wife was deemed less guilty and was allowed to expire after two days of torment. The Ghost lasted for the full, promised week, but my soul was dead after she died and I no longer cared.

  The Earth and Moon had not realized that such horror could happen. Segments of every regional militia joined the TDF in rebellion, forming the Terran Resistance. The TDF fleet in space stood by helplessly as every TDF base on Earth was bombed out of existence. Most of the troops had already left, but the losses could never be rebuilt.

  The Martian factions competed to destroy the Terran Resistance, and then fought with each other for the spoils. The winners demanded that the Emperor abdicate in favour of a stronger leader. The war to control the Imperium had begun.

  It was fought with weapons only the Earth could build. Wonderful weapons, whole classes of weapons that had never even been conceived as possible on Mars. Rifles that fired precision armour-piercing ammunition that exploded when it entered human flesh. Missiles that could change targets in flight when their original target had been destroyed. Flying mechanical bugs that could release toxins into shipments of food, or disease-causing bacteria and viruses.

  Such amazing diseases. They could be tailored to kill people in specific age groups, or genders, or carrying specific genetic markers. In principle, you could exterminate an entire clan with a single disease while leaving your own people unharmed. You could create a unique disease for which the only antidote was controlled by the manufacturer.

  Epidemics raged across the regions. Some of them were suppressed when the victims surrendered to the humiliating terms demanded by the aggressors. Sometimes, if the disease was a punishment rather than an extortion, it was left to run its course. Occasionally, the disease would mutate as it spread, or the manufacturer would fall victim to a raid, or it would be discovered too late that the treatment was ineffective for most people, and the epidemic would spread without restraint.