by Alan Black
“How the hell did you shoot yourself in the butt with a rifle?”
Stone’s chuckle was interrupted by a violent sneeze. Pain washed over him, but it didn’t hurt as bad as earlier. Rather than answer her question, he asked, “Where is that mint odor coming from? It just keeps getting stronger and—”
A medic squatted down next to them. “Sorry to interrupt, but we are moving.”
Everyone around them was on their feet. Three unsuited marines and a navy petty officer, each wearing thick gloves had grabbed the poles at the four corners of the tarp. Other people grabbed at ropes and stakes. Each person tried to stay under the camouflage as much as possible.
Stone stood up and reached a hand down to help Allie up. He didn’t think he would be much help, even when he was a hundred percent, her mass was more than he could handle, even though he spent more time in the gym since meeting her. Without thinking he stretched out his wounded arm. His fingers tingled and the palm of his hand itched, but he refused to retract it, instead he reached out with his other hand as well, even though the palm of that hand was riddled with cactus-like thorns.
She shook her head. “Sorry. No.”
Two marines grabbed the corners of her blanket, lifting her off the ground, backpack, pillow, and all. Everyone shuffled along under the camouflaged tarp until it connected up to the ever-growing hospital tent. He took her hand as Allie was carried from one place to the next. He felt woozier by the moment. Even though she held his hand on the damaged arm, she steadied him.
Someone tacked up tarps as walls to prevent a low flying Hyrocanian shuttle catching sight of them. Stone sighed. For the first time since the bombing at the compound, he felt like he was inside. He was surrounded by a thin canvas covering, but even that was better than nothing.
Once back on the ground, Allie pulled her hand free from his. She stared at her own hand, wiggled her own fingers and rubbed them against her palm. “Weird. Your hand feels strange.”
Stone shrugged. It felt strange to him too, but then he felt strange all over. He smelled his own hand. Nothing too unusual, but the odor of mint was everywhere. He spotted Menendez and waved her over.
The woman looked haggard and was covered in blood, but most people in the hospital tent and those outside looked much the same. She grabbed Stone’s head and flashed a scanner at him. She grunted, her bedside manner all but gone. “How are you still on your feet, Ensign? Go sit down somewhere.” She shook the scanner. “Damn thing’s gone all wonky.” Shouting across the tent, “Baker, bring me a new scanner.” Turning her back on Stone, she crouched down next to Allie.
The two women were talking softly, yet he was close enough to hear each word as the doctor ran scan after scan over Allie’s body. He was shocked. Allie was broken here, paralyzed there, and had nerve damage to this and that.
A hand touched him on the shoulder. Spacer Dollish interrupted his thoughts, “Sir, you better come quick before someone gets killed.”
EIGHTEEN
Following resolutely behind Dollish, he spotted a small cluster of civilians gathered near Jay and Peebee. They were only roughly near his drascos, as Jay hovered over Peebee, protecting her sister, keeping everyone away. Jay was angry. Eyes flashing red, she hissed and spat if anyone got within a dozen feet of them, anyone except Corporal Tuttle who was standing between the two groups. Her suit was gilley, but her faceplate was open.
Even camouflaged from normal sight, Jay and Peebee recognized Tuttle as someone they had played games with on Lazzaroni Base, and someone who had occasionally sat with them when Stone was away for some reason or other. Stone was sure Tuttle had shared breath with his drascos on more than one occasion marking her as a friend. Anyone getting close to Jay and Peebee without blowing their breath into the drascos open mouths was in danger. Drascos had friend and foe sensors inside their mouths, sensitive smell receptors allowing them to identify and remember individuals.
If any scientists tried to get close to Jay or Peebee without a proper introduction, the drasco would treat them as an enemy. Stone wobbled forward as fast as possible. Tuttle liked his pets, but they were just animals and she would be forced to protect the humans, even if the humans were at fault.
The civilians were waving all manner of instruments and tools at Jay and Peebee, wanting to get closer. Their efforts were frustrated by Tuttle, who herded them away. Everyone was shouting and standing in the open where any passing Hyrocanian would get a clear view with or without special optics. Stone noticed Tuttle’s gilley setting was starting to fail. He wondered if some circuit was damaged when she lost her right hand to the grenade because he could see a shimmering edge to the suit. He could still see clear through it, but the outline was clear enough, though it wobbled a bit.
He stepped between the civilians and Tuttle, holding up his hand for silence. Stone stood still until the scientists quieted down. Dr. Triplett, the team’s xeno-biologist and second in command of the civilians, nodded to Stone. “We need to talk. Now.”
Stone nodded back. “Get your team members under camouflage cover.” He pointed at the sky. “We don’t want to be spotted if someone is still looking for us.” Triplett blanched and herded her team under the nearest tarp. He called after them. “I will be there shortly.”
Turning to Tuttle, he started to say something, but a sneezing fit caught him in mid breath, watering his eyes. He finally managed to croak out, “Corporal, thank you.”
“Sure thing, boss.”
Stone shook his head. The mint odor dissipated and a sweet coppery scent of flowers wafted over him. “Are you all right, Barb?”
“Well, since we are on a first name basis, Ensign, I will let you know I haven’t had sex all day and I’m getting a bit raggedy around the edges, but my suit just shot me another dose of morphine, so that kind of takes the edge off. So, if you need a little Tuttle time to take your edge off, you let me know.”
Stone wasn’t sure what to say. Normally Tuttle made him a bit tongue-tied. This time he could tell she was only being friendly, her offer for sex was real, but the friendly gesture was made without any hidden agenda.
Still, he didn’t know how to respond to it. “Thanks. Maybe later. I’ll ask Lieutenant Vedrian if it would be okay.”
Tuttle chuckled, “Not if I ask her first. Maybe she and I can make a navy sandwich.”
Stone smiled and started to step around her, then stopped in his tracks. Jay whipped her head around at him, her neck stretching as far as it could reach. Her tail spike shot over her head as she scorpioned. Peebee rolled to her stomach. Unable to put weight on all of her feet, she still managed to bring her tail spike into a defensive position over her head.
Jay hissed a warning at him. Peebee wonked weakly.
“Stop that,” Stone said. “Jay and Peebee, you settle down now.”
The drascos shared a look and then stared back at Stone. Jay again stretched her neck as far as she could sniffing the air. Stone took a deep breath and blew as hard as he could, hoping he could reach across the distance. The girls had to be confused by this morning’s activities, he was covered in male drasco blood, his own blood, and the gods knew what else. He probably smelled so weird they were having trouble identifying him. Still, it would be the first time they hadn’t recognized and identified him. He was sure they could track him by smell from a couple hundred yards away whether he had just showered, been working out in the gym, or finished scrubbing pots in the galley.
Stone inched forward. Jay sniffed and huffed at him. He moved close enough he could smell them. He wondered why he hadn’t noticed Jay smelled slightly more musky than Peebee and the odor of mint wafted from the two in waves. Peebee wonked and hobbled to him. She wrapped her arms around him, wrapping him in a blanket of vestigial wings. Neither of the girls had ever hugged him like this. He breathed deeply into her mouth. Her breath came back soft and sweet, full of mint and chocolate. She sighed, released him, rolled over onto her back, and held up her hurt leg.
Jay h
ung her head, her tail flopping back to the ground behind her. She scooted forward as if embarrassed at having hissed at him. He grabbed her head, ignoring any potential damage to his already distressed skin, and hugged her. She wrapped him in her wings and hugged him back, her breath warm and fresh, almost with the same smell as her sister Peebee, but minutely different. Stone wondered why he hadn’t noticed it before and could only imagine it had something to do with being on Allie’s World and the slight difference in the air.
He unwrapped himself from Jay and took Peebee’s hurt leg in his hands. The ragged shirt he had used back in the compound to tie up the leg was long gone. He pulled the remains of a liquid bandage can from his pocket. He hoped it had a few squirts left after using it on Allie. He played it across her leg until it emptied out. Pushing the discard button on the bottom, he tossed the can away before it disintegrated to dust. The gash in Peebee’s leg looked deeper than it had before, looking angry red, puffy and painful. He didn’t feel any broken bones.
He looked around at the forest’s edge, noting the gilley-suited marines had set up effective crossfire lanes and even managed to lay out a few mortar and big gun emplacements. He didn’t know why he looked, but something caught his attention. He felt fuzzy headed, but he stared until his vision cleared and he spotted what he looked for.
“Corporal Tuttle?” he called out.
“On your six, boss.”
“Did you check in with the Major when we got here?” he asked, without turning around.
“Yes, sir. He said I was to find you and stick with you. He said if I let you die, he would let Lieutenant Vedrian determine my punishment. So, I’m yours, sir, just so long as you don’t die.”
“I’ll try not to die on your watch, okay?”
“Fair enough. Sex now or do you need something else?”
Stone smiled and glanced back at her. Her gapped tooth smile hovered above the shimmering outline of her gilley suit. “As much as I appreciate the offer, maybe you should have your suit dial back on your morphine. I need to keep a clear head and you aren’t helping any.”
“Aye, aye, sir. Dialing back on the morphine, sir.”
He pointed across the meadow. “Do you see that tree with greenish leaves and the ring of reddish bushes around the bottom?
Tuttle shook her head. She slammed the faceplate closed and stared in the direction he pointed. Her faceplate popped back open. “Good eyes, sir. I see the one you mean.”
Stone said, “I know you’re supposed to watch my back, however, I need as much of that tree as you can drag over here.” She was gone before he could say anything else.
“Sir?” a voice called out.
Stone looked over his shoulder, “What is it, Spacer Dollish?”
“Them civilians are getting antsy to talk to you.”
“You tell them I will be there as soon as I can. Unless they want more drascos rampaging through this camp, they will have to wait until I calm these two down. And weren’t you fixing something for people to eat?”
“Sir, the fire was easy like you said. And they taught us in cook school how to cut up meat, but my knife won’t make a dent in that critter’s hide.”
Stone waved around him. “Find the closest marine. About every third one has a vibro-blade that will cut through titanium. Get the meat harvested fast and make sure any remains are hauled off to the forest. If we leave guts laying around, we’ll be swamped with carrion eaters by dusk. And, believe me, Spacer, on this planet they come at us up through the ground, through the air, and in hordes coming out of the forest from all directions.”
NINETEEN
Quicker than he thought possible, Tuttle was back. She’d recruited some suited marines to help and they’d yanked the whole tree out of the ground. She dropped it so close both drascos could reach mouthfuls of leaves without more than swiveling their heads.
Stone grimaced as he grabbed a handful of leaves. His fingers were tingling worse than earlier. In fact, his whole arm prickled and itched. He would have the doctor check the bandage as soon as he could, maybe she had it wrapped too tight. Still, he didn’t think the needle-like pins on the leaves could hurt him any worse than he already hurt. He crushed and rolled the leaves into a ball. They had a pungent odor like fried mushrooms.
“Corporal, do you have any water?”
Tuttle stepped closer to him. A stream of clear water sprouted out of the clear air, just about where her belly button would be, that is if he judged it correctly from the shimmering edge of her suit. She waved an arm and her suited helpers bounded away, their combat suits in gilley mode shimmering in the bright noon sun.
Stone held the ball of leaves under the stream of water, working the leaves into a mushy paste. He had to fight both drascos as they attempted to slurp the falling water before he could get to it. He smelled the leaves changing to a clean fragrance, soft and sweet. He patted the mush into the gash on Peebee’s leg. The red puffiness started to change color turning greener and greener.
A roll of tape dropped into his lap. He looked up.
Tuttle grinned back. “Maybe space tape will hold the goop on her for a while. I don’t think anything else we have will stick to her skin.”
“You carry duct tape with you?”
She laughed. “There ain’t a marine out here who’d be caught dead without a roll. We use it for everything from taping down loose equipment so it doesn’t rattle, to handcuffing prisoners. The stuff holds up in a vacuum so it’s even good if we get a hole in our suit in space.”
Stone wound it around Peebee’s leg, handed the roll back to Tuttle and levered himself to his feet. He still felt strange, wobbly, and fuzzy headed at the same time he also felt oddly fine. His eyes were alternately watering and clearing. His sinuses were syncopating in rhythm with his eyes. Just as his eyes cleared, his nose would plug up and clear just as his eyes watered again. His head still hurt, nevertheless he had to go talk to the civilians if only to shut them up. Their continued shouting hurt his ears.
He slipped under the camouflage tarp where the civilians were huddled. He recognized it as the first tarp he had been under when he entered the meadow. His dataport display still hovered in the air where he had left it. Since the explosion, the night stalker attacks and the male drasco had kept him so busy he’d forgotten he’d left it on. The screen was blanked as the last view was from a camera inside of the compound, a camera that was little more than a blob of plastic, glass and fused metal. He tapped on the dataport, it would still be working no matter what abuse he had suffered. The tough little unit was designed to survive situations he couldn’t. He ordered up the playback and rewound the view to just before the explosion. He unlocked the widgets and icons on the screen so anyone who wanted to review the data could. A six-pack of scientists jumped at the chance to get up close videos of the invading Hyrocanians.
Stone asked, “Where is Doctor Mohamed?”
Dr. Triplett’s voice was thin and wavered. “No one has seen him. He didn’t leave the compound. Nevertheless, that isn’t why we need to talk to you. Your pet drascos are dangerous and will kill us all.”
“Corporal Tuttle?” He looked over his shoulder at her shimmering outline.
She popped her faceplate open. “Sir?” Triplett looked startled, she hadn’t seen the marine.
Stone said, “You have my express orders to kill Jay or Peebee at any time if you perceive they are a danger to any humans. I don’t mean some scared maybe thing, but—um, you know?”
“Imminent and immediate threat. Yes, sir.”
Stone looked back at Triplett. “There. Feel better?”
“Better?” Triplett sputtered. “No. You can’t leave a decision like that to a common grunt, no offense, marine.”
Tuttle snorted, “How do you figure that ain’t offensive?”
“Ladies,” Stone said, “enough. I will not have Jay and Peebee put down on your say so. They are domesticated and not a danger to me and my friends.” He shook his head as he tried to cl
ear a sour odor from his nose. It brought tears to his eyes. He hadn’t particularly been friendly with Triplett so far, yet something about her just pissed him off. He imagined it had something to do with wanting to kill his pets for no reason. She also had the most irritating habit of talking down to anyone who wasn’t a university trained professor or scientist, like everyone else didn’t matter in her grand scheme of things.
“Please, let me explain,” Triplett said. She’d used the word please, but her tone left no doubt she was speaking a commandment. Stone nodded and she continued. “I am an xeno-biologist. I studied at the—”
“Stop,” Stone interrupted. “I have a headache, so let’s get to the point, okay?”
Triplett said, “The point is I have done extensive study on fauna from Allie’s World. That is why the Emperor assigned me to this expedition.” She emphasized emperor as if that would lend credibility to her words. “I’m the foremost expert on drascos.”
“I doubt you are even half the expert I am since I’ve lived, eaten, and slept with them for a long time and I don’t think you’ve even been close enough to touch a live one.”
“Be that as it may, I know their biology, inside and out. Did you know they always come in threes?”
Stone nodded. He clearly remembered during his first visit to Allie’s World when three female drasco’s invaded his shuttle, quickly followed by Jay and Peebee’s birth and their stillborn sister.
“It’s my belief, and that of my colleagues, that drascos change upon the death of one of them. Your two are bigger than Commander Danielle Wright’s initial videos of their birth mother. They are definitely bigger than the trio of females that passed through here after the explosion.”
“So, they’re bigger. They’ve been hand fed and exercised regularly. So what?”
“The ‘so what’ is these two mass what their birth mother and her companion’s massed as a trio. Conversely, together your two pets mass what the big male massed. My conclusion is the loss of a trio member triggers a growth spurt so the two remaining drascos can grow to a survivable size. Losing both members of a drasco’s original trio triggers a massive growth spurt and the change to male.”
