Cross of the Legion

by Marshall S. Thomas

  "Deadman! Can't you do anything!" Dragon exclaimed. DD hit her with another sedative. It had no effect. She continued screaming, totally out of control, thrashing violently in our arms. The stuff was appearing all over her body now—arms, legs, face—it was multiplying with astonishing speed.

  "There's no cure," DD said grimly. "This is brand new. The probe can't even identify the fungus! We can't do better than zeomax for massive infection—it's extremely powerful!"

  Priestess brushed some of the stuff off the girl's arm with her armored fingers and slapped on a medgel pad—it made no difference. The fungus continued growing under the pad. All four of us held her down. The stuff sprouted all over her face. Her eyes were frantic. She shrieked, in total agony. My heart was racing.

  "Is she going to die?" Dragon asked.

  "Yes," Doctor Doom replied. "Definitely."

  "Yes," Priestess said. "I'm afraid so."

  "Stand back." We released the girl, and Dragon shot her in the head with a single round of xmin. She twitched once, and a shocked silence settled over us. We stood back. The fungus was consuming her utterly, completely covering her body. She didn't even look human any more. The fungus was thickening, building into an awful, pulpy mass, splattering as the rain hit it.

  "Scut," Dragon said. "All right, Pits, we take the school. I want everyone to be 100 percent alert!"

  "That's a ten!" I was almost in shock myself, backing away from that horrifying corpse. The damned thing was still growing, larger and larger. I moved on the school compound, 100 percent alert, my blood like ice, all sensors on max. The rain slowed to a miserable drizzle. The sky was a soupy mess.

  We assaulted the school in textbook form, blasting the doors open with vac, Trigger standing by with the manlink, Mams back there watching the perimeter, Kiss and Little Miss Miss floating somewhere off in the distance, guarding the sky. The school was a wreck but the structure was tough and most of the buildings were still standing.

  "Psycho, take a look," Tourist said. He peered around a corner, looking out at a walkway running between two buildings. Psycho moved up, and I covered them, straining to see it. A corpse—no, two corpses—fungus cases, both of them, swollen grotesquely, rotting in the drizzle. One of them was very small. It could have been a child.

  "Leave them alone," Psycho ordered. Then the largest corpse exploded violently with a dull plop, spraying fungus everywhere like shrapnel, filling the air with millions of tiny fragments of fungus, floating gently down to the gravel.

  "Deto!" Tourist exclaimed. His armor was covered with the stuff. "Get it off me!"

  "Stand by!" I raised my E and hit him with flame and a horrendous burst of burning gas exploded violently on his A-suit. When his armor began to glow red, I eased off on the trigger.

  "That'll do it," I said.

  "Thanks! Man, that was scary! What the hell did that?"

  "According to my tacmod, the Nova is in the basement," Dragon said from inside the nearest building, "and there's no life down there."

  "Do you think they're dead?" Psycho asked.

  "Don't know. Val, Dragon, sitrep."

  "Dragon, Valkyrie, all quiet out here."

  "All right, we're going down. Thinker, Flash, Sweats, on me. Psycho, secure our rear and don't let anything near the school."

  "Don't worry about your rear," Psycho said. And a little chill shot through my veins. I could see him in the Mound, one leg shot off, sitting with an E behind a pile of contac grenades. 'Don't worry about your rear,' he had said. We had almost lost him there.

  The signal led us into a basement corridor, completely blacked out. Our darklights activated and it was all bathed in cool green—a corridor littered with fungus-covered corpses, five of them. As I took it in, I realized it was a scene of considerable violence. The tile walls were smeared with blood and marred with scratches—fingernails, I realized. Two of the people had died in each other's arms, clutching each other for solace as the awful growth took hold.

  "Keep away from them," Dragon warned us.

  We stopped when we came to the sixth corpse. It was an O, just as dead as the humans. A giant, spidery frame, huge arms thrown out in front of it, all covered with rotting, pale white-green fungus.

  "Redhawk, you getting all this?" Dragon asked.

  "It's clear, Dragon. We're getting all your transmissions. Scut!"

  I kicked in a door and it was a storage room, full of supplies. The Nova was on the floor, still active.

  "That's probably them out there in the corridor," Dragon said, looking around the room.

  "Probably," I said. "I guess we just missed them." To have come all this way and to miss them, possibly by moments. What a shame. I thought briefly about Tara. She had disappeared somewhere on this world. I should have known. The chances of running into her were about a million to one. I was a fool to have even dared to hope it.

  "All right, let's go. We're here, and they're not," Dragon said. "We've done our part."

  "Alert! Alert! Intruder, Omni aircraft, as marked!"

  "Kiss is on it!"

  "Miss has it zeroed, moving to attack! It's an airtank!"

  "Ahh, scut!"

  "Zeta Unit Area Superiority Heavy Armor Shuttle in mobile fortress mode, altitude twenty two mikes." Sweety flashed a diagram of the airtank on my faceplate. It was a massive, brutal roughly saucer-shaped shuttle that was designed to roll along at low altitude, annihilating anything that moved to impose instant area superiority in the designated target zone. It was very effective. Once it targeted you, you were gone.

  "Mams has it on scope, prep to fire!"

  "I've got the bastard zeroed," Trigger said. "Lockon!"

  "Don't fire unless it goes after us, guys," Dragon gasped. We sprinted up the steps from the basement. We were up in moments, skidding along the upper corridor and bursting out the doorway into the rain. I shouldered my E and set it for canister. I knew canister wouldn't hurt a Zeta heavy airtank but if it discharged a squad of O's I was going to give them something to think about. Adrenalin pumped wildly in my veins. The Zeta was highlighted on my tacmap, a phospho pink glow.

  "It's turning, coming our way."

  "It's headed right for the school."

  "I confirm it's…"

  "Probing! It's probing the area!"

  "Kiss, Miss, Dragon. Fire," Dragon said quietly.

  There was an instant's silence, only the patter of rain on my faceplate. Then an awful, multiple shrieking erupted. It sounded like the very fabric of reality was being violently ripped open. A titanic explosion followed, a blinding flash that lit up the sky for an instant like a bolt of lightning, followed by a deafening crack and a shock wave that rattled my armor.

  "Look out!" A thunderous roar hit us and the sky was suddenly full of flaming wreckage, massive chunks of fiercely burning junk leaving long smoking phospho trails against the sky. It impacted all around us. I dived into the mud against a wall for protection. Wreckage ricocheted everywhere, crashing into the school buildings. Thank Deadman for the Phantoms! Without them, we would have been almost helpless against a Zeta unit.

  "Is everybody all right? Pits, count off!" We did a count, and everyone was there. Flames crept up the walls. The school had been hit and was starting to burn.

  "Enemy intruder eliminated," Redhawk reported. "I'd guess somebody has noticed this."

  "Kiss, evac Pits," Dragon ordered. "Miss, Mams, cover us. Then Miss evacs Mams while we cover you."

  "All right, I'm landing—on my zero!" Redhawk snapped.

  We left the school warily, heading for Kiss's zero. The beacon showed he was hovering over an open area just past a little grove of trees.

  "Legion! Legion unit, hold your evac! Nova, Nova, we're survivors from Augusta Station! We're on the way, Legion! Please pick us up!"

  "Legion armor! Transmission zeroed! Three Legion A-suits, approaching from zero nine eight." Survivors! They were suddenly on my tacmap, three red dots, moving toward the school from out of the foothills belo
w the mountains.

  "Pits, Dragon, on me, engage targets, do not fire," Dragon ordered. "Kiss, hold your position. Miss, cover us. Legion survivors—negative on pickup. Maintain your course. You come to us!"

  "We're on the way!" It sounded as if they were running. We hustled to cover Dragon. We took up positions to one side of the school. I found a fiercely burning section of wreckage from the Zeta unit and dropped prone in the energy field from the flames—comfy! It would be harder to spot me there. I acquired the targets right away. They were hustling over a grassy plain that stretched from the foothills to the school. It was totally open. I switched to xmax. A jagged bolt of lightning lit up the sky over the mountains. It was still lightly raining.

  "Pits, Miss. I've got an O Type 4 air effects car that's changed course—hold it. It's discharging…discharging O troops, armor & arms, fields on—deto! Six of them, they're starbursting, looks like…heading your way."

  "It's a setup!" Valkyrie exclaimed.

  "Fast reaction," Dragon replied. "I see them. The car is leaving?"

  "It's gone. They learn quick. Six Omni troopers, advancing on your position."

  "Pits, Mams, don't worry. They'll have to get through us first!"

  "Survivors, are those O's friends of yours?"

  "Negative, negative, please pick us up—we're not going to make it!"

  "That's a twelve, survivors. Drop your weapons."

  "But the O's are almost on us!"

  "Drop your weapons or there'll be no evac for you!" We were not a trusting bunch. Chances were high the Legion troopers were in the power of the O's. I watched all three of them toss their E's away. I knew how that must hurt, especially with a squad of O's on the way.

  "Orders?" Ten asked from the Kiss.

  "Kiss, maintain your position. Miss, hunt down those O's and blast 'em! Mams, kill any surviving O's."

  "Tenners."

  "Ten."

  "Ten."

  "Psycho, Thinker, we disarm and cuff these Legion troopers. Now!" I moved out of the flames and advanced on the three targets. They were sprinting towards us, frantic to escape.

  "Be careful, Three!" Priestess cried out to me on private.

  "Far enough!" Dragon barked. "Hands on your heads! Freeze!" The grating shriek of chainlink canister interrupted, followed by a horrifying multiple crack. A blinding series of tacstars rose from beyond the school, four swirling phospho fireballs, spraying luminous shrapnel. Little Miss Miss was going after the O's.

  "Don't move!" I was on the Legion survivors, aiming my E at the closest one. Dragon and Psycho covered all three of them as I frisked them. They kept their hands up, speechless and seemingly exhausted. I ripped off grenade paks and ampaks, flinging them away, and roughly cuffed their arms behind their backs.

  "All right, move! On us!"

  I looked up, surprised, from the ground as dirt and shrapnel rained down on me. My ears were ringing. I was on my back and a blazing tacstar was rising above us. Deto!

  "Any casualties?" Dragon was amazingly calm. I struggled to my feet—all in one piece! The O tacstar had thrown us all to the ground. It was writhing in the air above us, a glittering fireball, spraying brilliant tracers that were still hissing down into the dirt. A series of blinding flashes burst off to one side, followed by a multiple bang and a shock wave buffeting our armor— Little Miss Miss was hard at work! Psycho raised his E and fired a burst of canister. Trigger let lose a barrage of tacstars, ripping the air open, the stars shrieking wildly on their way to the targets. The three Legion survivors were up and moving with us as we headed for the Kiss. I could hear Mams, blasting away at the O's.

  "That did it!"

  "Twelve, that's a twelve, do another pass, Miss!"

  "There's two of them in the trees…"

  "Claws, go after those…"

  "They're still moving!"

  "Canisters! Pour it on!"

  "Come on, Miss!" Something whistled eerily overhead, the air rustled, then the charred forest erupted again, bursting into flames.

  "Ah, damn…" One of the Legion survivors was down, collapsing face first into a little gully, lying there stunned, arms cuffed behind his back. I straddled the gully, covering him with my E.

  "Get up, trooper! Get up or we leave you! I'm not gonna carry you!" I reached down and got a grip on one arm and pulled. A sweaty, exhausted, emaciated, and obviously female face looked up at me from behind the faceplate—pale brown skin, slanted Assidic eyes, high cheekbones over hollow cheeks, a wide mouth. I froze, stunned. Deadman's death! My skin was suddenly crawling, and I knew the Angels of the Lord were right there, hovering over us. I could hear the beating of their glorious wings, shielding us, protecting us from all harm.

  "Tara!" It was all I could say. I was stunned. She looked up with glazed eyes, too tired to talk. Then I could see the light dawning. It was beautiful to watch.

  "Wester!" she croaked. "Is it really you?"

  "Bet your ass! Get up, Tara. Get on my back, if you can't walk. I'll carry you! I'll carry you a hundred K if I have to! Let's go!"

  She got up and a gigantic O came right out of that burning forest, violet force field crackling, wreathed in flames like some kind of creature from Hell, unloosing a wild volley of X. It impacted all around us, spraying us with shrapnel. I felt a big piece bang onto my armor, and I snapped my E to my shoulder and fired a mighty barrage of canister. The evil little darts buzzed like supersonic bees, chilling my blood, lighting up his force field. The field flickered, weakening. The whole squad fired at it, an evil highway of canister darts, xmax and laser. I fired x and the force field burst open, flicking off. The O went down. It shrieked—a lovely sound! I seized Tara by one arm and we ran wildly to the evac point.

  We all arrived at the same time. It was a wide field with knee-high grass that was swirling wildly from some unearthly breeze, but the Kiss was not there. Nothing was there! I ran into the field, looking up into the sky—nothing!

  I slammed into something violently and went down hard. I looked up in a daze and the Kiss was hovering above me. I had run right into one wing. I had forgotten the damned thing was invisible until you were right on it.

  "Get in!"

  "Get up, Thinker! We'll set up a flashing arrow for you next time!"

  We leaped into the assault locks and the doors slammed shut behind us as the Kiss lifted off. If any surviving O's were watching, they were probably wondering where we had gone. I was ecstatic, collapsing against the wall bench, looking around the crowded compartment, now tangled with a whole squad of troopers and equipment, a chaotic scene. Tara was right beside me, gasping in exhaustion.

  "Priestess, it's Tara!" I shouted.

  "Kiss, cover our evac," Valkyrie ordered.

  "That's a ten, commence evac, I've got the targets, we're going after them." The car lurched as we began our firing run.

  "Is this an airlock?" One of the Legion survivors knelt before me, his hands still cuffed behind him. He was sweating and filthy and bearded but his eyes were blazing. He obviously had something to say.

  "Tenners," I replied, "This is a shuttle, we assault from the airlock."

  "Keep it closed! Don't contaminate the ship! Keep it closed! Keep the helmets on! Don't unlink! Take us into the vac and purge the airlock! If you let it loose, we all die! Do you understand?"

  "Yeah," I replied. "Yeah, I do. Redhawk, keep the inner airlock sealed. Repeat that to Miss Miss. After they board, do not open the inner door until you hear from us, keep the troops in the airlock, confirm."

  "Big ten, Thinker."

  "Dragon, Thinker," I said. "Did you hear that?"

  We were lucky—extremely lucky.

  Chapter 4

  Tracks in the Dust of Time

  We were in A-suits almost a month," Tara said. "I can't recommend it." She was in an airbed in the body shop of the Spawn, floating on a thick current of air, head supported by a large, snowy-white pillow. She was looking considerably better, although still pale and hollow-cheeked. T
he thin layer of slime was gone, and her auburn hair was clean. We were all gathered around her, everyone who had known her in Beta—Priestess and me, Dragon, Psycho, Valkyrie, Scrapper, Redhawk and Twister. Even Snow Leopard was there, leaning against the bulkhead. We all owed her our lives—some of us more than once.

  "At first we hid out down in the mines, and ditched the A-suits. We were afraid we'd be spotted. But we'd go out for recons. Then when we saw what was happening, we suited up and stayed that way." She sighed, and looked up at the overhead. A strange, fragile beauty, even now, wasted and emaciated, she still possessed that awful, unearthly beauty. It was almost as if she were a separate species, a little closer to Heaven than the rest of humanity.

  "Any idea how it started?" Valkyrie asked.

  "No idea. But we saw it spread. We saw people die. We saw O's die. We had to assume it was transmitted through the air. I thought I was going to go insane, after a week in the suit. I started to choke. I wanted to die, I wanted to rip the helmet off and take a breath. I stuck it out. Elektra Four and Six helped. We all helped each other. None of us could have survived alone."

  "You weren't afraid you'd alert the O's with your Novas?" I asked.

  "Of course we knew we'd alert them. But at that point we didn't care. We knew they had bigger problems to deal with, and we knew we couldn't take much longer in the A-suits. We figured it was worth the risk."

  "Why weren't you at the school with the Nova?"

  "Are you kidding? We wanted to see who would show up. We were afraid your rescue burst came from the O's."

  "One month in an A-suit!" Psycho laughed. "That's got to be a record!"

  "I can tell you the plumbing could be improved upon. As a matter of fact, if I ever get my hands on the retard who designed the solid waste elimination unit, I'll cheerfully strangle him!"

  "Make some suggestions," Snow Leopard said. "Input is always welcome."

  "I can solve this problem in exactly two months," Tara responded. "First, you get ahold of the slug who designed the current system. Then you seal him into an A-suit for one month and feed him e-rats. Then, when he gets out, you inform him that he gets to do it again in exactly one month; and that if he has designed a better system by then, he may use it the second month. That way, even if he fails, I'll feel good about it."