by Susan Kelley
“Holy hell,” Hector cursed. “You think they released it on purpose because they lost control?”
Molly saw the conflict in Mak’s eyes so she answered the question. “We won’t know until we get in there.”
Mak nodded. “I opened all the doors to let it air out. I’ll run a scan from the ship, see if it detects any remnants of the gas in the atmosphere. Then we’ll all go in.”
****
Mak hated this lab more than any of the others. Perhaps because of all the bodies they had to step over and around. Soldiers and civilians. Pender found the lab recording vids and worked to sync it to their more modern system.
Not all the experimental soldiers had died in the training room. Two had been in the medical lab section where Mak’s group had encountered the poison gas. Molly collected data from the computers around the lab while the other doctors searched the offices. Box monitored the air quality on the portable toxin detector. Mak had insisted they all wear gloves and protective clothing. Even the scrapings from the bodies could be contaminated and required careful handling.
“I have it, sir,” Pender called.
Mak and Molly joined him as he started a vid rolling on one of the dusty screens.
“It’s a movement activated setup. I uploaded everything saved on it, but this segment is from the last hour before it stopped.” Pender adjusted the focus and added sound. He split the screen, half in the lab and half on the training room. The audio came from the lab.
Muscular men wearing only skin-tight shorts practiced hand-to-hand combat against each other in the training area. Their bodies rippled with thick muscles as they performed graceful feats of strength and agility. Their size appeared nearly uniform and though thicker in muscle mass than the Recon Marines, they could have been their cousins.
Mak forced himself to watch the lab vid where a dozen doctors or scientists worked at computer stations. Two soldiers sat on exam tables, two doctors working with each one. A cart between the tables held at least a dozen syringes. The doctors applied their contents to the soldiers, some in the biceps, others in the thigh.
One of the female doctors spoke to one of her fellows. “I think we should back off on the testosterone. They have enough muscle, and we’ve seen less emotional control during their sparing matches.”
“We need them aggressive and fearless,” the other doctor answered.
“They’re already aggressive, and there’s been three reports of defiance.”
“They’re talking as if those two soldiers aren’t right beside them and listening,” Molly whispered.
Mak remembered being treated the same, like a piece of inanimate equipment that had no feelings or investment in what was being said about him. But on the screen he saw the tension in the soldiers’ muscles. Their cold stares followed the conversation back and forth between the doctors.
“They were professional soldiers before this,” a male doctor snapped. “They’ll do what they’re ordered to do when they’re told to do it. They’re nothing more than loaded guns, and we’ll be the ones pulling the triggers.”
The soldier moved so fast that his arm made a blur on the stream. He ripped the throat of the doctor and blood spurted forth in a crimson spray. The other soldier backhanded the female doctor in a casual show of strength that threw her across the room. On the other vid feed, the soldiers in the training room attacked the scientists monitoring them.
The lab erupted in chaos, the wounded man running for the door and stumbling out of view. Mak figured him as the dead man they’d found outside. The door between the lab and the training room appeared to be locked, keeping the majority of the soldiers away from the doctors in the lab. One of the civilians working on a computer slapped on an oxygen mask and then reached for a flashing red button.
Mak pointed it out on the screen for Molly. “Fail safe. They were afraid of them.”
A few other civilians managed to put on their masks but not all of them. A fine mist sprayed from the ceiling of the training room. But the soldiers didn’t go down. Instead fury spread through their ranks in a wave. Two of them picked up a strength-training machine and tossed the heavy piece at the windows. The safety glass cracked, a web that spread across its expanse. Both sides of the screen showed different angles of the disaster.
The two soldiers in the medical room had turned on more of their handlers, throwing them about and tearing off their gas masks. More of the civilians tried to reach the door and escape, but the soldiers blocked them. Something else crashed into the glass, creating a ragged hole. The civilians without masks crumbled immediately as the poison seeped into the room from the training area. Screams cut off with gagging and coughing.
The curses from the civilians from behind their masks sounded loud and discordant compared to the quiet violence of the soldiers. But now as they tore the breathing mask off the last doctor, the soldiers seemed to slow also. Those in the training room who had been gassed first started to fall. They died hard, gasping and clutching at their throats. Some tore away their skin, blood splattering on the glass and across the floor. The two soldiers in the lab died last, making efforts toward the door. But too late.
The vid ended a minute later when the last soldier stopped his agonized thrashing. Pender shut it down, swallowing heavily. “I’ll send this to the onboard memory, sir.”
“Didn’t anyone come back to check on them?” Molly asked. “Someone was bringing them supplies and surely they stayed in contact with their cohorts.”
Mak looked at the bodies scattered about the lab, now able to put faces to the dried up corpses. “Probably someone did come. They would have known about the gas and when no one answered their hails they would have scanned for life signs.”
“But they left all this evidence behind for us to find. They’ve covered their tracks so well until now.” Molly gestured around the lab. “We have their faces and we’ll be able to pull up identifications from their files. I recognized some of their faces already though I can’t remember all their names at the moment.”
“They left it as a trap, same as the previous ones, and the most deadly of all. Anyone walking in here would have died before they could use the info they found.”
“They didn’t count on you being here.”
Mak didn’t point out how lucky they’d been. If he’d noticed the gas a half a minute slower, the rest of them would have died. “How long until you’re done here?”
She looked out into the training room. “We’ll need samples from the bodies. Probably another two hours in here. I’m not sure how long it will take to go through all the offices.”
“I’ll send Andy to help you. Tell Pender what he can do also.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to set charges.”
“Charges?”
“I found a small supply of the gas in a safe beneath the supply room.” Mak didn’t tell her what he would have to report to the general. There’d been enough to conquer a number of army outposts. “We can’t take all these computers with us either. This evidence can’t fall into the wrong hands. Once we leave the atmosphere I’m going to blow it up. I’ll ask your father to have someone do a flyover and check for residue. They might have to post a warning though I doubt anyone comes here.”
Molly nodded, looking around. “That’s better than leaving these bodies here.”
Mak left her as she used a thick needle to start taking samples from deep in the body of one of the soldiers. The arid conditions had left the bodies so dry that the skin crunched as she pushed the tool through it. He found Box and sent him to assist Molly. They couldn’t leave this place soon enough for him.
****
Molly sat in the copilot’s chair as her father listened to Mak’s report. Her father’s grim expression matched what she felt and what she sensed in Mak’s even tone.
“You destroyed everything?”
“Yes, sir,” Mak said. “But I’m requesting a flyby to do a full atmospheric
scan for gas particles. The explosion should have burned it all off, but some could have vaporized into the air.”
“I’ll see it done. Have you learned anything from what you’ve collected, Molly?”
“The facility had been in use for around fourteen years. They entered these men into the program when they were around twenty years old. Extensive training and hormonal supplements were used. At least some genetic maneuvering was attempted though we haven’t evaluated the effectiveness of it.”
“What is your evaluation of the soldiers you saw, lieutenant? Would they have made a respectable fighting force?”
“Dad!” Molly couldn’t believe he’d asked such a question. The entire enterprise was cruel and criminal. “Tell me they wouldn’t have ever been part of the army. Did you know this was going on?”
“No! Of course not! We suspected but had no proof.” Her father ran his hand over his face, looking tired. “But if we’d found them before they killed their handlers, we might have tried to use them.”
“Father, that wouldn’t have been ethical.” Molly felt Mak staring at her.
“What would you have us do, Molly?” her father asked. “Kill them? Imprison them?”
“No. No.” She reached over and took Mak’s hand. “They were victims. We might have been able to help them by reversing some of what was done to them. Psychologists could have helped them find peace.”
Her father’s expression softened though he looked even more exhausted. “Maybe we could have helped them rather than use them.”
Mak squeezed her hand. “They might not have wanted to be normal after feeling so powerful.”
Molly wondered if anyone else would recognize the grief in Mak’s eyes. Did all the Recon Marines carry such a heavy emotional burden? This mission only added to it. “Everyone wants to be normal.” Including her. As a child genius with a powerful father, she’d never been an average kid.
“Send me your data, Molly. I have people looking into the various messes you send me with each new discovery. We’ve identified the men lost in the first two labs you investigated.” Her father smiled, making an obvious effort to lift the mood. “Now you take care, girl, and obey the lieutenant. He’ll keep you save. Now let me have a few words alone with Mak.”
“I’m not a little girl, Dad.” Molly blew him a kiss. “I’ll be fine.”
Once out of her father’s view, she blew Mak a kiss too. He lifted his eyebrow at her, but his eyes glowed with warmth that sated a part of her she hadn’t know was hungry.
****
Mak looked back at the general after Molly left the bridge. “Sir, I’m worried about how dangerous this mission is proving.”
“Are you incapable of protecting my daughter, marine?”
“I’m not sure, sir.”
General Drant snorted. “If you can’t, who can? We need this done in secrecy. If these experiments are made public, people could turn against the Recon Marines.”
“We’re nothing like these men we’ve seen. Nothing like the man we saw in the vid fighting Vin.” But did he lie to himself?
“But you are, son. I know you have the highest intelligence quotient among your kind, so you’re smart enough to know that your origins are too similar to these monsters you’re hunting for people to ignore it. The best thing for everyone is for us to clean up this mess before anyone else knows about it.”
“Yes, sir.” Mak wondered if the world didn’t deserve to know of the terrible things being done by these criminals.
Drant sighed. “Do careful recon on your next objective. If you need additional troops send a message before you take the doctors in. Do you know where you’re going?
“We found communications with Mossy, a planet in the Miller quadrant.”
“Far beyond regular military patrols. How long until you arrive?”
“Seven days, sir.”
“One more thing, lieutenant. Do you find my daughter lovely?”
Mak sensed the trap in the question but he could only answer honestly. “Yes, sir.”
“All fathers believe their daughters are the most beautiful children in the world. Did you know that?”
“I have no children, sir.”
“My daughter has never had much time for men. Too busy trying to cure the world of its ills. Not many men who aren’t intimidated by her intelligence or by my position. She has little patience with dullards or cowards.”
“Yes, sir.”
“But you’re neither, are you, lieutenant? You’re bright, courageous and more handsome than a man has a right to be.”
Mak said nothing, having learned some questions weren’t meant to be answered.
“You disobeyed my order about not touching my daughter, didn’t you?”
“Yes, sir.”
Drant cursed, calling Mak a few names he was unfamiliar with. “I should have you thrown in the brig when you return.”
“Molly thought your order unlawful.”
“You son of a space dog, did you tell her what I said?”
“I couldn’t allow her to think I didn’t return her regard, sir. I couldn’t be dishonest with her.”
Drant turned away from the screen, giving Mak his back for almost a full minute. When he turned back, his visage was sterner than ever. “I’ve asked you to keep my daughter from harm.”
“Yes, sir. I promise my life before hers.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt you there, soldier. But are you aware that some serious injuries aren’t of the physical nature?”
“I believe I understand that, sir.”
“She’s never let her heart become involved with a man. Don’t hurt her. That’s an order from her father.”
“I won’t.”
Drant shook his head. “You haven’t an inkling of what you’re promising.”
The screen went blank but the general’s anger remained behind. Mak wished he had an inkling of what the general was worried about. What the hell was an inkling? A type of measurement or number? What did Drant see in Molly that told him of Mak’s disobedience? Or did he see it in Mak?
Mak mulled over it while he programed in their flight path for Mossy. The doctors would be busy on the long flight, but there was little for the soldiers to do besides fly the ship and the onboard AI did most of that. Box often made himself useful in the lab with his scientific background. Seven days and six nights to get to their destination.
The time wouldn’t be wasted. He intended to do some training with Pender and Box. If he couldn’t depend on them at their present level of ability, then it was up to him to raise their skills to a minimum competence. And those six nights?
Pender would handle most of the bridge duty during the sleeping hours. Mak had other plans. He needed to figure out what the general noticed when he saw Mak and Molly together.
Chapter Twelve
“Ease back on the gas drive at five thousand feet,” Mak instructed Box.
The corporal tensed but followed directions as the ship dropped toward the unnamed moon’s surface. They had already landed twice, not so smoothly, and practiced takeoffs. “Now?”
“Now,” Mak said.
They landed with only a small jolt this time. Box sighed and shook his head. “You and Pender make it look so easy.”
“You’ve only had three practices and this landing is more than acceptable.”
“Why do I need to know when the autopilot would do it perfectly without me?” Box went through the powering down procedures.
“Things can happen. The autopilot could be damaged any number of ways.” Though Mak hoped they wouldn’t run into pirates this far out of the main trade routes. “I advise you to always use the auto when it’s functioning. It can make adjustments for outside pressure and select a level, firm landing zone quicker than you could calculate for the readings.”
“Do you always use autopilot?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“It can’t calculate and adjust quicker than I can. Let’s go see
if Pender has everything ready.”
They found Pender leaning rifles against the wall beside the door. “Good landing, sir. I have everything.”
Mak picked up one of the vests used to practice warfare. He hadn’t worn one since he was a child. The Recon Marines had trained with harsher methods after age eight. He checked all the weapons to make sure they were fitted with the light strobe rounds. They would each have a pistol and rifle. Mak wouldn’t wear his camouflage so the exercise would be fairer.
“Where are you going?” Molly asked as she and Dr. Shear came out of their lab.
“We’re doing a little training.”
“Really, lieutenant, is that necessary? Andy and Kory are not green recruits. It’s only two more days to Mossy.” Dr. Shear shook her head. “Let’s get on with it. I’m already nauseous from all the landings.”
Molly smiled, having heard of Mak’s plans from him the night before when she joined him in his cabin. She seemed to understand his need to train his men, for their protection and hers. “How long will you be?”
“A few hours. We’ll remain here while everyone sleeps so we’re well rested. Before we leave in the morning we’ll send out the last communications. Two hours into tomorrow’s flight we’ll be out of range of any wave hubs.”
“We’ll have it ready. Hector is finishing up the last of the DNA uploads to send out.” Molly pulled Dr. Shear back toward the lab though the older woman scowled over her shoulder at Mak.
Once outside Mak set up varying targets for the two soldiers to practice on. He made minor adjustments to Box’s grip and the corporal’s aim improved to surpass Pender’s. Mak taught them a simple version of the sign language used by the Recon Marines.
“I’ll be the enemy. You’re going to prevent me from taking the ship.” Mak took a rifle and pistol. “In each facility we’ve investigated the soldiers have been more advanced than the one before. The last group could have been taught weaponry. We have to assume the worst case. Armed, skilled hostiles.”
“Shouldn’t we call for reinforcements, sir?” Pender asked. “There’re only three of us.”
