by Susan Kelley
Mak returned and led her beneath the cargo ship. From their new position Molly could see more men than she’d thought roamed out in the grasslands. Perhaps Mak could sneak by them in his camouflaged suit but she couldn’t hide in her black attire. But her marine didn’t even look at them.
He took another gray disc from his belt as he searched beneath the ship for the right spot. Molly watched him search again for a vulnerable spot that likely led to secondary explosions. But the belly of this ship towered around fifteen feet over their heads. Mak found the spot he wanted. He bent his knees and jumped, attaching the device with ease. He landed without sound after the effortless show of power.
They returned to the rear wall and continued along it to the far end from where they’d entered. A little square room filled the corner. The control room for flights? It seemed too small. Mak went to it, gliding quickly across the open area between the ship and the room. He pulled open the solid metal door to reveal a set of steps.
“They built everything but the hangar underground,” Mak said quietly.
“How many do you think are down there?” Molly teetered on to the top step, ready to start down.
Mak took her arm and pulled her back. The door closed and hid the steps. “Doesn’t matter.” He started back along the rear wall.
She dragged her feet. “Mak, they could be destroying evidence right now.”
He took her hand and picked up the pace. The door banged open behind them but Mak kept moving along the back wall. The shadow of the cargo ship enveloped them. Mak paused and wrapped his arms around Molly, pulling her in front of him. As nice as it was to be held in his embrace she knew that he did it to cover her with his camouflaged body. They stayed in place for what felt like an hour but might have been only two minutes.
Molly could hear the voices of men, stern military men, behind them. They relayed orders to search the plains and start moving the wreckage.
Mak took her hand and started off again, heading toward the tangled mess of destroyed cruisers. He stayed close to the rear wall but Molly saw men all along the open area in front. All of the enemy dressed like soldiers and carried all manner of armaments. A few tugged at pieces of metal and dragged them away from the vicinity of the intact cargo ship.
Near the corner opposite the one that held the stairwell a particular large chuck of junk leaned against the wall. Mak ducked under a jagged side of it and pulled Molly in behind him. He urged her to climb past him to the corner. “Face the wall and cover your head.”
Remembering the little disc he’d jumped up and put on the bottom of the cargo ship, she obeyed. He wrapped himself around her and a second later an explosion rocked the ground beneath their feet. The sound smashed around the walls. Tortured metal screeched and more booms joined the cacophony. Instinct urged her to turn and watch but the sound of falling debris kept her huddled tight to the wall. Silence followed, sudden and complete.
Curses and shouts erupted. Mak did too. He pulled her up and dragged her along the wall toward the front. She didn’t dare look around as they leaped over more junk and the furrows dug by the explosion. The corner and escape looked so far away.
Mak stopped only once and pressed her back against the wall. Molly saw men running toward the other end though they moved with the caution borne of expecting an enemy encounter. Before the last one was out of sight Mak led Molly into a jog again. He let go of her hand and unslung his rifle as they finally reached the corner.
Molly’s tension eased as soon as they put the hangar opening out of sight but Mak didn’t stop running. He angled out into the plains and set a pace that soon had Molly’s legs burning.
“Mak, I have to rest.” She set her hands on her knees when he stopped. Her breath tore at her throat as she sucked in huge gulps. When she lifted her gaze to him she found him watching their back trail. She turned and noticed the hangar still hunkered like an ugly beast not so very far away. A smoking beast.
“Can you walk?” Mak’s breathing seemed completely normal.
“I’m sorry.”
“About what?” Mak still watched the hangar, not a stare but an alert scanning of the enemy.
“I’m slowing you down.” She started to walk, forcing her trembling muscles to obey her. “You would be two miles from here if not for me.”
“Probably four by now.”
“How far until we’re out of their sensor range?” Molly picked up the pace as her legs recovered a little. She couldn’t run yet but she no longer worried she would collapse.
“Depends on how much the explosions damaged their external equipment and what kind they have. They might have seen us leave and know our direction.”
“But we’re far enough ahead of them, aren’t we? They don’t have ships now to search for us.”
“We don’t know what they have below ground. They might have smaller hover craft stored there.”
“Damn.” Molly walked faster. “Was this your plan before I ruined it?”
“I wanted to disable any ship they could escape on and trap them here until your father sent reinforcements.”
“So much for his big plan to keep this all secret. What are we going to do now?”
“We’re going to hide and wait for the real army to arrive.”
Molly looked around the plains, not so much a tree in sight. The land rolled gently but not enough to define even a shallow draw let alone a valley. “Hide? How?”
Mak slung his rifle back over his shoulder and pulled a long knife from the back of his belt. He knelt on the ground and drove the blade into the sod. With a sawing motion he dug a long strip. Then he made perpendicular cuts to the first one. With a few sharp jerks on handfuls of the thick grass and more cuts with his knife, he rolled up a layer of sod. “They’ll have to step on us to find us.”
“How clever.” Molly helped him pull the turf back further. “Let’s make this bigger.”
“It’s only for you. I’m sorry it’s so dirty.”
“What do you mean, it’s only for me?”
“I have my camouflage. They won’t see me.”
Molly knew Mak’s gear was high tech but could it hide him in the short grass? Mak helped her stretch out on top of the dark, exposed dirt. “How long will we have to hide?”
“Three days. Five or six at the most.”
Molly sat up and put her arm out when Mak started to lift the heavy blanket of dirt and sod over her. “Six days buried under the grass?”
Mak put his hand on her shoulder and pressed her into a lying position. “You only need to hide until they stop searching for us. There’s a water source less than two miles from here.” He unhooked a water bag from a strap of his pack and handed it to her. “You should hydrate now after all that running.”
“I’m the doctor.” But she took the bag and enjoyed a long drink. When she tried to hand it back he shook his head.
“Keep it. I have another one.” Mak pulled his backpack around to his front and dug into it. He found a square of lightweight cloth. “To cover your face and keep the dirt out.”
She wrapped it around her head a few times, covering her hair and most of her face except her eyes and nose. Surely she looked ridiculous but Mak didn’t smile or even raise his eyebrow.
Mak pushed his pack under the sod near her feet and then rolled the heavy natural carpet overtop of her. A gap remained between the edge and the ground so she could easily breathe and see a good slice of prairie. She expected Mak to lay down beside her but she watched his boots walk a few steps back toward the hangar.
Perhaps because of the layering of dirt on top of her, Molly didn’t hear the whine of the hover craft until she saw four of them flying low and right at their position. She lifted the sod a wee bit more so she could see Mak.
He stood in their path, his rifle at his shoulder. The supersonic round drowned out the sound of hovers and her cry of alarm. One of the men tumbled from his ride. He rolled over and over as the small craft plowed into the ground.
> Molly prepared herself to leap from her hiding place and be ready to run. Why hadn’t Mak told her he intended to make a stand?
Because he wasn’t making a stand. Her Recon Marine sprinted away from her hiding spot. He moved at a speed she thought physically impossible for a human. She knew he could have probably shot the other hovers out of the air, but the vessels would have location monitors installed and perhaps real time cameras. The people back at the underground lair would see Mak as he led them away from her. They wouldn’t even know she was there in her perfect little hiding place.
Mak’s pack pressed against her legs. He’d hidden her and left her with his supplies. He’d told her where a water source was and that she had to hide for up to six days. All the while planning to lead the enemy away from her position. If not for her presence he could have escaped or hidden. And for the first time in their acquaintance, her marine had lied to her.
Another shot whistled across the plains and echoed off the hangar wall. Molly couldn’t see what was happening, only sure that Mak would lead them as far from her as possible.
She wept into the cloth he’d thought to provide her for comfort. How many times had Mak reminded her what he’d been created for? She’d never thought of his belief coming to this. And she’d never told the man sacrificing himself for her that she loved him. And now it was too late.
Chapter Fifteen
They shot him but only with small rounds. Mak had taken out the first four hovers but half dozen more followed after them. His armor prevented the shots from killing him, but they knocked him off balance. He took down two more before the other four swooped in close enough to use stunners on him.
Mak’s rifle dropped from his hands as he fell to his knees. The stunner’s shock rippled through his body, numbing his fingers and leaving them unresponsive to his needs. He fumbled at his second pistol with hands working like blocks of wood. The enemy landed and ran toward him. Four massive men. Mak struggled to his feet on wobbly legs. They tackled him and landed a few blows to his head.
Someone tore open Mak’s armor at the shoulder where it fastened. They pulled it down so nothing covered that side of his body except the tightly fitted shirt he wore beneath the protective layer. A heavy object pressed into Mak’s ribs while the large bodies held him in place. As a Recon Marine Mak he had expected to die in battle. Though he wouldn’t be taking all the enemy with him when he died, he’d led them nearly two miles from Molly’s hiding place. He hadn’t obeyed the general’s order about staying away from his daughter, but he’d followed the other more important command. Molly was safe.
“Do it,” someone ordered.
A jolt shot through Mak that took his hearing, his sight and for a short while his breath. He sensed more than felt his body being moved. His sluggish brain figured out he’d been stunned again, not shot. They’d taken him alive. He must have given away his returning consciousness. Another vicious jolt stabbed through him and sent him into a dark oblivion.
When he next woke, Mak couldn’t move his arms or legs. Cold metal pressed against his bare back. Thick loops of something strapped his wrists and ankles to immobility. Instruments buzzed and beeped around him in a brightly lit room. Sticky-backed sensors dotted his body and head.
Flexing his muscles to test his restraints reminded him of the bruises he’d received through his body armor. The excellent suit stopped bullets but it couldn’t totally prevent painful bruising. None of his ribs seemed broken and his mind cleared with each breath. As his senses sharpened he realized he wasn’t alone in the room. A room he suspected made up part of the lab lurking beneath the plains of Mossy.
Mak turned his head to the left. The room spun a bit before his vision settled. Two men and a woman, dressed in the simple clothing Molly and her colleagues usually wore, worked at the computers lining the wall. All had their backs to him. He turned his head the other direction, almost no dizziness this time, and looked through a wall of windows to a sprawling training room. It looked similar though more modern, to the other facilities they’d discovered on this damned mission.
“Good, you’re awake.”
The familiar voice confused Mak. How could the doctor be here? Pender and Box had flown them away. Mak didn’t know how long he’d been unconscious, but their ship should have been miles and miles away. They should be sending help. If they didn’t make it out Molly would be alone out in the plains with only a few days of food.
Dr. Shear strode to the side of the table Mak was strapped to. She tugged a blanket over his nakedness. “No sense in making you uncomfortable. Of all the creations I’ve worked with you’re the closest to human. There were times when I wouldn’t have guessed what you are if I hadn’t already known.”
“How are you here?” Mak’s mouth and throat felt dry.
The doctor smiled and adjusted one of the sticky leads attached to his chest. “I slipped off the ship while you gave orders to those incompetent boys on the bridge. I held cover until you flew that lovely science vessel away. Then I waited for the pickup I’ll called earlier. Arrived back here just in time to make sure my squad captured you rather than kill you.”
“Why?”
“Why not kill you?” Dr. Shear patted his head. “I’ve wanted to examine a Recon Marine for years now. Your kind had so much success that I think there is much we can learn from you. And the way you interact with people amazed me over and over again. Just like a real person.”
Mak thought of all those soldiers who’d volunteered or been tricked into being experimented on by this doctor’s crazy cabal. Those men, not matter what their motivations, had been treated like pieces of meat to be used and twisted into weapons by Shear and her comrades.
“As soon as I’m done with some tests, my psychiatrist colleague wants to speak with you. I’d really like to examine your brain but we’ll wait for that. For now, your DNA gives me many leads for further study. Your design is so interesting. And the complexities of your intellect allows me to discuss it all with you.” Shear swept her cold gaze over him. “I’m quite intrigued by the range of emotions you manage to mimic. Was that taught to you or have you learned in this past year when you lived among humans? Your early training is one of many secrets we’ve been unable to obtain.”
Mak accessed his physical and mental wellbeing. A few stings on his arm, probably from drawn blood. Should he answer her questions and delay the time until she cut into his brain? “My emotions are my own.”
“Ah.” Shear patted his shoulder. “How interesting that you believe that. Now I need to get a picture of your insides and you need to be still for that.” She plucked a syringe off a nearby table.
Mak struggled against his bonds but they held tight. The needle slid into the thick deltoid muscle that capped his shoulder.
Shear patted him again. “It will only take a few minutes and then you’ll be sleeping like a baby. Of course, you probably have no idea how a baby sleeps. When you wake up, we’ll get started on your next test.”
Even as she walked away heaviness crept through Mak’s body. He tried to keep his eyes open but between one blink and the next he failed. He fought against the darkness but it found him anyway.
****
Molly watched them fly away with Mak’s body. A sob caught in her throat. He couldn’t be gone. Not now when she knew she loved him. She hugged herself against a chill of bitter cold racking her body. The water she’d drunk gurgled in her stomach and threatened to come back up. Anger heated the tears scalding her cheek. These criminals, these monsters, had killed the most wonderful man in existence.
The hover couldn’t gain much height with the weight of the big man and Mak’s inert body dragging on it. The guard shifted the body, causing Mak’s arm to flop over the side. Mak’s fist closed, weakly but it flexed. And then again.
It took all Molly’s willpower to remain hidden. She needed to check on Mak. But the hover flew out of sight. The remaining men worked to clean up the bodies and crashed hovers. Mak had wrough
t quite a mess. She stayed in her dirty hiding spot, appreciating how far Mak had drawn them from her.
Though she could breathe again knowing that Mak lived, she worried how badly he might be injured. Or what they might be doing to him in their underground lab. Getting caught herself wouldn’t help him.
More hovercrafts and guards came out into the field and helped with the cleanup. Her sod covering grew heavier and heavier during the wait. Her limited viewing angle showed her only part of the battlefield. Hours dragged by until the last of the hovercraft returned to the hangar. Molly held her position for another estimated half an hour before carefully peeking out.
Mossy’s sun hung low on the horizon though she hadn’t familiarized herself with the planet’s light cycle. Would night soon fall or did hours remain? After scrambling from under the sod, she brushed the worst of the dirt away and looked around.
The hangar blended into the surroundings in the fading light. If she hadn’t known it was there her gaze would have skipped right over it. She needed a plan. After stowing the pistol Mak had given her behind her waistband again she pulled his pack from under the sod.
What she found inside it disappointed her. An AI device, worthless in the middle of nowhere without a connection to interstellar waves. She tapped it, surprised when it lit with a detailed geographical map of the area. Mak must have saved it. The hangar showed as an amorphous blob surrounded by prairie. A few miles away, six according to the map, some kind of forest grew. And she found the stream Mak had mentioned to her. It curled out of the trees and disappeared off the edge of the map.
She searched the rest of the things he’d left with her. One water purifying stick nestled among a few food packages. No weapons. Except for the pistol that he’d given her Mak had kept everything on him. At the very bottom of the pack was a block of substance she couldn’t identify and a radio. It was a model used for land to ship communications. He’d left it so she could contact the army when they came to help.
