by G. H. Holmes
"Sir, two force recon members scheduled to go to Kasaganaan would like to see you," she said. "Do you have time for them, Sir?"
"Send them in," the admiral replied. He touched the screen again and his secretary disappeared.
Von Schwarz leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers while the door opened and two women in Marine fatigues entered.
Oh boy, the admiral thought as the door was closed behind them. He sat up.
The two soldiers came and stood at attention side-by-side in front of his desk. Both appeared to be in their early twenties.
"Lieutenant Stella Halvorsen and Corporal Shanti Kumar, Sir!"
"At ease," the admiral ordered.
Both soldiers relaxed.
Oh boy, the admiral thought again. Lieutenant Halvorsen had bright blonde hair and green eyes like emeralds, both of which accented Corporal Kumar's black eyes and amber complexion. Both had admirable figures of a magnitude that the admiral was tempted to ask if they worked in public relations.
Then he realized that they were presently very much engaged in internal public relations. Because if the MARDET sent him what had to be its best-looking members, they wanted something out of him. They had to have a big request to make. Soldiers knew as well as anybody: pretty ladies sometimes had great powers of persuasion. Even with admirals.
"What can I do for you, soldiers?" Daniel von Schwarz asked, slightly amused.
"Sir! With all due respect, Sir," Lieutenant Halvorsen began, "but we find it peculiar that Ben Harrow has just perished in the attack on Harrow's Dale and now a Marine general by the same name is to lead us into action on Kasaganaan, Sir!"
"Action?" von Schwarz said. "You're not going into action. You'll be doing a little reconnoitering, nothing more. And not even on a planet. Just on its space station. I'm not sure I understand what you're worrying about."
"Beg your pardon, Sir. Request to stay on subject," Lieutenant Halvorsen said.
Von Schwarz chuckled. "Harrow is a fairly common name," he said in his most harmless tone of voice. His eyes wandered from one pretty face to the other. Those two were something else.
"Have you ever seen Ben Harrow of Harrow's Dale?" he asked. "Or the general?"
Both women shook their heads.
"No, Sir!" Corporal Kumar said.
"Then why do you think the two are the same person?"
"Sir, we have heard that he can change his appearance," Stella Halvorsen said.
The admiral sighed.
Of course.
He scratched his forehead.
"Well, General Harrow has assured me that he will not shift his shape or alter his appearance," von Schwarz said. "He says he's aware of the fact that the Marines on Terra Gemina are not familiar with him yet. But let me assure you, he's an expert in his field. If anybody is qualified to scout out the space station and the planet of Kasaganaan, it's General Harrow, and—"
"Sir, request permission to speak," Lieutenant Halvorsen said. Her hands were behind her back and her green eyes fixed on a spot on the wall above Dan von Schwarz's head.
The admiral swallowed. "Permission granted. Speak freely, Lieutenant."
"Sir, we request not to be sent on a mission with General Harrow. I fear none of us will feel safe in his presence ever. We understand that you believe that Mr. Harrow's of excellent character. But the MARDET unanimously agrees that we are not comfortable with Mr. Harrow at all. That's why we are here, Sir. We are not speaking of our own accord. We speak for the entire MARDET."
"Every single member? The whole battalion?"
Stella Halvorsen nodded. "That's correct, Sir."
"Sir, if he's indeed able to alter his form," Corporal Kumar said, "that means he's able to impersonate anybody he chooses to impersonate."
"He's never done that before," the admiral objected.
"We don't know that, Sir," Lieutenant Halvorsen replied in a tight-lipped way.
"Sir, we've also heard that he's able to vanish into thin air. Seeing that would freak some of us out. If it's true that he's able to enter even airtight rooms in his invisible form, he may choose to lurk in inappropriate locations."
Like the shower, Admiral von Schwarz thought.
"This would make some of us very self-conscious," Corporal Kumar explained.
"Are we talking about the same man? The Mr. Harrow that I know personally is a very benign and thoughtful human being. As long as I've known him, and that's about thirty years now, he's never caused trouble anywhere on the planet. On the contrary, at times there seemed to be a good spirit watching over Gemina City."
"Benevolent spirit?" Lieutenant Halvorsen said. "He's been a spiteful, willful authoritarian. Sir, we are talking about the former Emperor of Neo Babylonia."
"You are talking about Nebuchadnezzar," the admiral said. "But he is Ben Harrow now—again. That's the name that he was born with."
"Sir, all people within the entire Grand Tower galaxy had to obey him in every respect, because he always knew best," Halvorsen said.
"Or so he thought," Corporal Kumar added.
The eyes of both women were sparkling with subdued anger.
"Ben is no longer Neb," von Schwarz said. "You are overlooking something. You see, he got humbled. Pride comes before the fall. And just as Nebuchadnezzar was exceedingly proud, Ben Harrow is now… a very humble man in my estimation.
"Please consider that his pride had made him take to the pylon road in an untested vessel, when his scientists—and they were among the best in any galaxy—were afraid to have that vehicle test-driven. The emperor in his impatience jumped into a fighter that he'd designed himself in his brilliance and took it to the pylon road.
"What a foolish thing to do.
"Somewhere in the vast empty space between the galaxies, where no star ever shines, something happened that neither Mr. Harrow nor our scientists have been able to determine. Fact remains, however, that Nebuchadnezzar was at one point flung off the pylon road and was hurled into dark space.
"Imagine that, soldiers!
"One moment you're the haughty emperor of a powerful empire with everybody at your beck and call. Moments later you find yourself in solitary confinement in the biggest cell of the universe. This is like going to hell suddenly.
"In Deep Space even the powers of Nebuchadnezzar—or Mr. Harrow, if you allow—avail nothing.
"Soldiers, imagine being stuck in deep space without any hope of ever being recovered. That's what Mr. Harrow went through for forty years. For fully forty years he was stuck in space.
"Without hope. Without consolation.
"He'd lost his empire, all human contact was gone. All he had now was the silence of space. Forever.
"Mr. Harrow is convinced that a higher power prompted me to find him when I picked up his signal thirty years ago and left the road to look for its source.
"Because you see, it was I who found him.
"I was a young lieutenant then with my first command, a clunky freighter. I retrieved his vessel—and him in it. First I thought I'd discovered a corpse, a well preserved corpse, preserved by the coldness of space. Can you imagine how shocked I was, when the corpse suddenly began to stir? I can still vividly remember the nervousness of my crew. We didn't know what to make of this.
"Only then did we recognize the red-and-white uniform and the golden crown emblem on it. Of course, we all had heard the stories of Neo-Ba and its missing emperor.
"And now we found him?
"My engineer quickly checked the spacecraft to determine where it came from as it bore no markings, and then it was clear. We'd found the lost Emperor of Neo Babylonia. Well, we brought him here and he never went back. You could say, he shunned the pylon road."
A quiet moment went by before Lieutenant Halvorsen said, "Sir, Neo Babylonia has done just fine without him."
"Because they kept on building upon the societal groundwork that Nebuchadnezzar has laid. They surely were glad that he was gone. They're a democracy now. But they never su
bstantially altered the code on which he once founded his empire. Its rules are good. That he thought himself above them doesn’t take away from their quality. In years gone by, Neo-Ba has been an inspiration for many other Terra colonies."
Lieutenant Stella Halvorsen was looking at her boots.
"Sir," she finally said. "The truth remains, this being Nebuchadnezzar—or Ben Harrow—has wielded absolute power before. He behaved like a god. He was lord over the life and death of many."
"That's true," von Schwarz admitted. "But those days are over."
"Are they?" Lieutenant Halvorsen said. "Sir, our main problem with him his that it's impossible to hold him accountable. This being cannot be punished, no matter what he does. He's hundreds of years old and still looks young. Perhaps he's immortal. Sir, we are dealing with an immortal who cannot be restricted. When we are out there with him, he can let live and let die. We are utterly at his mercy."
Admiral von Schwarz spread his arms. "We already are. We're all at his mercy, can't you see that, Lieutenant? I agree, he certainly is dangerous, but he's not mean. Actually, I know for a fact that getting chastised still haunts him. He hasn't forgotten his forty years of solitude. The fear of God is in him, Lieutenant. I bet you are safer with him than with any other being in the galaxy."
The admiral smiled. "You may feel the fear of him, but Ben has Providence to reckon with. Perhaps his emotions aren't so different from yours?"
Both women stood in silence. What the admiral had said was working on them.
Daniel von Schwarz steepled his fingers again. He smiled with satisfaction. "Tomorrow you'll accompany General Harrow when he goes to explore Kasaganaan."
Both women braced to attention, saluted smartly and shouted, "Sir! Yes, Sir!"
"You may want to talk to the MARDET and share some of the things that I've told you. And now you're dismissed."
Chapter 8
She had to see this golden person again, had to see his face, sense his strength, feel his aura of calm confidence again.
Charity Jones in her hospital bed pressed her palms onto her bloodshot eyes. How they hurt.
She felt lonely again, orphan-lonely.
Lonely for Ben Harrow.
She'd been lying here for a day now and pretty much every waking moment she'd thought of the transparent figure that had appeared to her when she came to on her injection seat. She'd seen him only for a short moment and her emotions puzzled her.
Why had he left such an impression?
The seat had come down on Harrow's Dale, not the airport's alpha station. She had no idea how he did it, but he had made her come to him. He'd wanted her there, close to where he lived. Surely, there was a reason. She was desperate to see him again.
As soon as they'd let her go, as soon as she'd showered and pulled herself together, she'd drive out to Harrow's Dale. She'd find him there.
Where else would he be?
She wasn't afraid of him. There was no reason for that. Ben Harrow was a very kind being. The desire to see him again racked her slender frame. She wanted to sit down with him, to talk to him, to find out what he thought about life on Terra Gemina.
She meant to ask him about his past, too. She had heard that he was very old and wise. Perhaps he could tell her what kind of craft this bandit had been. Ben had surely seen it, too. After all, it set his forest on fire.
There was a knock on the door which pulled Cherry out of her musings.
Alone in the sterile room, she sat up and said, "Come in."
The door opened and Juggernaut and Rambler entered. Jug was tall and lanky. Rambler had bigger bones, but wasn't stout. Both were pleasant fellows.
"Hey, Cherry," Juggernaut said. "How're you doing, my wayward wing girl?"
Cherry gave him a wan smile.
"Brought you some chocolate." He waved the triangular bar in his hand before he put it on the table by the bed.
Rambler closed the door and then both x-jet pilots stood by Cherry's bedside.
"You still look pretty good for getting shot down by a Delta-class warship out of Neo Babylonia," Jug said.
Cherry's eyes widened. "Is that what it was?" Neo-Ba was known for excellent technology and innovation. They weren't known to be hostile, though.
"At least that's what we heard," Rambler said and ran his fingers through his sandy-brown hair.
"Are we at war with them?" Cherry said.
"Everybody thinks they were after the resident of Harrow's Dale only," Jug said.
Ben Harrow…
Charity felt her heart constrict.
"Pinprick action," Rambler said. "An assassination really. Mother Ally is preparing a protest note for their government. Maybe they'll deny it. Who knows? But you know that they say he ran Neo-Ba once. Must have been a real pig when he was there."
"Don't say that." Charity frowned and settled back into her pillows. Nobody should call that man a pig. What did Rambler know?
She decided to change the subject. It was painful for her to think that somebody was out to kill Ben Harrow. She wanted him to live. She needed to see him again. And she would, too. He'd whispered that he'd be back. She remembered that clearly.
"Thanks for the chocolate, guys," Cherry said.
Juggernaut looked down at his wing woman. His usually hard features turned soft when she said that.
"You look something awful," Jug said. And he was right. Cherry looked haggard with her emaciated face and black moons under her eyes. The white in both was nerved with a tight-woven red net. She would have scared little children, had they seen her. "Your eyes still hurt?"
Cherry gave him a pained smile. She nodded.
"What's new?" Cherry asked. "You guys didn't come to pity me, did you?"
"We'll be going to Kasaganaan tomorrow," Juggernaut said and seemed to grow an inch.
Charity's eyes widened with surprise. "To Kasa?"
Rambler and Juggernaut nodded in unison.
"What are you doing there?" she said.
"We'll be the fighter contingent for a reconnaissance mission. Marines go to scout out the Kasa space station."
"You're flying down the pylon road…" Cherry said, her eyes becoming unfocused.
Rambler answered. "Not directly. We'll be on a transport with a Marine battalion. We won't be flying ourselves. At least not until we're in Kasa space."
"Mother Ally pulled a Marine general out of her hat. His name happens to be Ben Harrow," Jug said.
"You got to be kidding me!" Cherry cried.
"Oh no," Juggernaut said.
"I wonder if he's the Ben Harrow," Rambler said.
Cherry's gaze went from one to the other. "You've never met him, have you?"
"The ghost in the wood?" Rambler said. "Gives me the creeps."
"Don't say that!" Cherry admonished him. "Don't pass judgment on people you've never met."
Juggernaut and Rambler exchanged a quick glance.
"So, who all is going?" Cherry asked casually.
Jug said, "Just the two of us and Gargoyle," a man from another team in their squadron.
Cherry knew him and didn't particularly care for him. His voice was always too loud and his jokes were usually an inch short of being funny.
"Just you three?" Cherry said. "But what about me? I number on this team, not Gargoyle. I want to go, too. I want to ride the pylon road. Why should you do it before I do?"
The boys smiled at her softly with pity in their eyes.
"You see to it that you get better, girl," Jug said gently.
"Tell you what," Cherry said, "I never felt better. I want to hit the road, too!" And I want to see if General Ben Harrow is my Ben Harrow, she didn't say.
"Cherry, you've got to be at the top of your game for a mission like this," Rambler said. He almost took her hand to pat it, but thought better of it. "Don't take it personal, but you need to get certified whole again before you go back into a cockpit."
"Imagine we'll run into another Delta-class. Do you want to go through
that trauma again?" That from Jug.
"It wasn't that bad," Cherry said dismissively and waved her hand.
"You were only shot down," juggernaut said and waved his hand dismissively.
Cherry closed her eyes and groaned. "I want to go."
She decided to change the subject again.
The next fifteen minutes until the doctor came and the guys had to leave were spent on amiable small talk. But Cherry listened with only half an ear to the gossip they were sharing. Her mind was working overtime. She had to find a way to get out of this hospital. She had to find a way to get onto the carrier that would hit the pylon road tomorrow.
Then she'd be close to Ben Harrow again.
"Uncle Daniel?"
Admiral von Schwarz looked at the face on the screen of his view-phone. "Charity, is that you?"
"Why, yes."
"Child, I almost didn't recognize you," her uncle said.
"Oh, but I feel fine," Cherry said, sounding deflated. She attempted a smile.
"You look like you got thrown under a steamroller."
Too bad. This was not going in the direction she'd hoped.
"Uncle Daniel," Cherry croaked and cleared her throat. "I have a request to make."
The admiral smiled at his niece. "What do you want?"
"See, I heard that my squadron unit was designated to go to Kasa tomorrow as the fighter component."
"Is that so," the admiral said.
"Jug and Rambler said they were selected for Task Force Harrow. They are totally excited. Well, I want to go, too. I've never traveled between galaxies and I'm an alpha-certified pilot, just like they are. Can't you talk to the people in charge to let me go, too?"
"Charity, that's out of the question. Look at you. Where are you now?"
"Still at the hospital," Cherry admitted.
"You're in no condition for the pylon road. Traveling on it is no piece of cake. It takes long hours and most people are nauseated for hours after they arrive at their destination."
