by John Bluck
"The GPS tracker on my watch tells me that one of you is sending a signal to the rebels," Yarnell said, and he brought his rifle to his shoulder. "Drop your weapons."
"Why would you get this signal only now?" Wilson asked, as he tossed his new ray gun onto the ground. He still had his old ray pistol in his holster.
"I smashed my watch on something when we were getting away. Two minutes ago, I pushed the battery back in place, and the GPS tracker flashed. It got stronger as you came near."
Lena shoved Wilson to her right, rolled away, fired her ray pistol, and hit Yarnell in the forehead. A fraction of a second before Yarnell was hit, he had fired. His ray bounced off the antique pistol strapped over Wilson's heart.
Raven struggled to unsling his rifle from his shoulder, but the sling caught on his backpack strap. Wilson drew his old ray gun from his holster, fired, and hit Raven. Afraid of killing a rebel ally if surprised, Wilson had set his weapon to "shock."
"Yarnell's dead," Lena said. Tears dripped down her face. "I thought my pistol was on shock." She fell to her knees, wrapped her arms around her head, and sobbed. High-pitched whistles came from several directions, and Lena looked up. She wiped tears from her face.
"That's the signal Terac used when he broke me out of jail," she said.
From behind the undergrowth, rebel fighters stepped out, their ray rifles aimed at Wilson and Lena. A man with blond hair appeared from behind a bush. "It's Lena Lavelle and Dr. Wilson, men. It's okay. They're on our side," said Art Terac, the clone rebel.
The rebels lowered their weapons, and Lena stood up. Her ray gun dangled in her left hand as she trotted to Terac and then hugged him.
"I'm glad you found us," she said. "A cyborg squad chased us."
"They were the National Guard," Terac said. "Word about you didn't get to them. They're dead now, destroyed by an MFB explosion. Did Raven's people set it off?"
"Yes," Wilson said, as he walked closer to Terac and Lena, who still clung to each other.
Lena released the blond rebel from her embrace, and her face flushed under a film of dirt that coated her skin. "Bill and I pulled our shots off target, even though we finally realized the National Guard troops had no idea who we were," she said.
Terac pointed to Yarnell's corpse and Raven's crumpled body. "Looks like you took care of them. We should blow them to bits to make sure they won't be after you again."
"No, Art." Lena said. "We want them alive. I didn't mean to kill Yarnell. I just wanted to shock him."
"Raven's only stunned," Wilson said, and he pointed to the "shock" setting on his pistol.
"He'll die anyway, and Yarnell can't come back, even with the help of the best nano meds the Great Leader's people may have," said Terac.
"What do you mean?" Lena asked.
"The war will be over in hours, and we're going to win," Terac said.
"What happened?" Wilson asked.
"Do you remember the last dose of nano meds we gave you that had anti truth serum chemicals and some other stuff in it?"
"Sure," Wilson said.
Terac slung his rifle over his shoulder. "The other stuff included a dose of something that protects us from the lethal virus we dropped all over Sunev a few days ago. The virus not only attacks people who are unprotected from it, but it destroys the protective nano chemicals in their bodies."
"That's genocide," Lena said. "Did our forces release the virus here, too?"
"No, but my squad's bodies carry it," Terac said. "If we breathe close enough to Raven and Yarnell, it will spread to them. But don't worry. All of us have an antidote to the virus in our systems. Everyone on this planet has been vaccinated, except these two guys." Terac pointed at Yarnell's body and the unconscious Raven.
"Do you have some emergency doses of the antidote?" asked Lena.
"Yeah," said Terac, "I've got a few extra doses."
"Give one to me," Lena said.
"Why?"
"What do you think, Art?" she said. "I'll give it to Raven to save his life. Almost everyone else on Sunev, except those who got the antidote, will die, right? So what's the problem? He's one man. Give it to me, now!"
"Okay," said Terac, and he placed his pack on the ground next to Wilson. Then Terac took out a small olive drab plastic case, and he unsnapped its cover. He grabbed a hypodermic needle with an ampoule of the antidote, and handed it to Wilson. "You're the doctor."
Wilson prepared the shot, stuck the needle into Raven's arm, and pushed the plunger that drove the life-saving dose into his body.
Lena and Raven had been friends, maybe even lovers. She had admired Gandhi and Martin Luther King, who believed in nonviolence. But she had aided those who had killed most of the crew of The Ghost Liner when the bombs exploded on the ship. Then she had sent a lethal ray into Yarnell's head, even if by mistake.
Her body was shaking, and she said, "What about all the innocent civilians, clones, and cyborgs on Sunev? How many are dead or will die because they didn't get the antidote? Are we any better than the Great Leader and his bunch?"
"It was total war," said Terac. "If we hadn't let loose the virus, they might well have destroyed us all."
"We don't know that," said Lena. "But we may just have killed every man, woman, child, clone, and cyborg on Sunev except for a few we chose to save. Our people have played God. We've wiped out the civilization that created us."
"They created us in their image," said Terac.
"You said it," said Lena. "We did a ghastly thing."
"But the war is won. It's over," said Terac.
"Yes, and I'm sick of it," said Lena. She sat next to Raven and looked at his thin face and his gray, stringy hair.
"I'll use some smelling salts to wake him," Wilson said.
"Better disarm him first," said Terac.
Wilson picked up Raven's rifle and tossed it to a rebel fighter and then removed Raven's pack that contained a mini-fusion bomb. Finally, he searched Raven and took his pistol and a knife strapped to his ankle.
"Okay, here goes," Wilson said. He crushed an ampoule of smelling salts under Raven's nose, and he stirred. Then his eyes opened.
"What happened?" Raven asked.
"You're a prisoner of the rebels," Wilson said.
"Why did Rachel fire at us?"
"She's not Rachel. She's Lena," Wilson said.
"Oh, so they switched places," said Raven. "What about you, Bill?"
"I'm a rebel, too," he said. Wilson looked down at the ground for a second, and then looked back at Raven.
"I thought so, but I was in denial," Raven said. "And I thought 'Rachel' was a little less lively and acted a lot like Lena."
"What will we do with the other one?" asked a skinny rebel soldier. He pointed to Yarnell's body.
"When we leave, we'll blow him apart with a grenade," Terac said.
"We might be able to bring him back to life with nano meds if we act fast enough," said Lena. "We could restore his memories from Central Computer Storage. The war's over."
"The war is over?" Raven mumbled.
"Yes, for all practical purposes it is, and most Sunevians are dead or dying from germ warfare," said Lena. "The rebels spread a killer virus that Sunevian nano medicine can't stop."
"Won't that kill everyone, if it gets loose on Triod?" Raven slurred.
"There's an antidote," Wilson said. "I gave you a shot of it when you were out. Lena insisted."
"What are you going to do with me?" asked Raven.
"Just let him go," said Lena as she turned to Terac. "There aren't many Sunevians left, except those who got the antidote."
"He's a prisoner of war, Lena," said Terac.
Lena walked to Terac and put her hands on top of his shoulders. As the rebel team stared at the two of them, she turned Terac aside. "Art, I don't want you to act like the enemy. Let's start now to heal the wounds of war."
While Terac and the rest of his squad were distracted, Wilson stealthily reached into Terac's pack and took out a bott
le of rebel nano meds as well as the plastic case of antidote doses. Then he prepared another shot.
Terac looked into Lena's eyes. He hesitated.
Out of Terac's sight Wilson moved to Yarnell's body and stuck the hypodermic needle into his arm.
"Art, we ought to give Raven his weapon," Lena said. "Let him go. Just keep the mini-fusion bomb."
"I don't know," Terac said. He shook his head.
Wilson worked fast, pouring rebel nano medicine into Yarnell's wound, and then taping a pen-sized device to the wounded man's chest to send electric pulses to his heart. Not sure the antidote would circulate, Wilson pushed down on Yarnell's chest over and over again. Wilson touched Yarnell's neck and felt a weak pulse.
"The war's over! Let Raven go," Lena screamed. "Let's just be done with it, Art."
If I can save Yarnell, it'll take a couple of weeks to regrow his damaged skull and get him out of danger. Lena told me bone can grow as fast as deer antlers do on Earth, about a quarter inch a day, about the fastest any mammal can produce tissue, Wilson recalled. Nano medicine makes brain cells grow even faster. But the rebels need to get Yarnell's memories from computer backup, and copy them to his brain. It's a good thing his last thoughts are gone. He won't remember dying.
Terac turned away from Lena and glanced at Wilson. "What have you done?"
"I gave him nano meds and a shot of the antidote," Wilson said. "He's one of a few Sunevian people left. You can debrief him in a few weeks when he's well. Why not keep him as a prisoner, and let Raven go?"
Terac glanced at Lena. He looked back at Wilson. Terac paused.
"Come on, Art, do what Bill says," said Lena. She nodded.
Terac looked at Lena and frowned. "Wilson, keep that guy alive. And Raven, get your weapons," Terac snapped. "Smith, take the bomb out of that backpack, and toss the pack to Raven. Get out of here, Raven, before I change my mind."
"You're letting me go?"
"Yeah, but don't use your weapons against us," shouted Terac. "I'll hunt you down if you cross us!"
"Don't worry," Raven said. He got his weapons, and he waved farewell to Lena and Wilson. "I'm glad you listened to your Inner Ones. Thank you, and I'm sorry we became enemies," he said. He backed away from them, turned, and trotted into the jungle. Wilson felt good.
He told himself, the fact that Lena helped save Raven and Yarnell might stop her from having a mental breakdown. Wilson poured more nano medicine into Yarnell's head wound, attached a battlefield IV catheter to Yarnell's arm, and started the IV. The IV bottle was loaded with glucose and other nutrients. In a few minutes, Yarnell stirred. The glucose, nutrients, and the nano medicine were bringing him back from the dead.
Lena stared at Terac. "What's next?" she asked.
"General Black is flying his ship, The Black Widow, here to pick us up along with two companies of our regular soldiers." Wilson heard a low hum in the sky to the east.
Chapter 35 – Death's Smell
About 500 feet above them a black dimension ship loomed over the big jungle clearing. Wilson thought the oval rebel ship must be two football fields in across. As the craft began to ease downward, he clearly saw a red hour-glass icon on its side.
"Your ship is bigger than I imagined it might be," Wilson said to Terac. Lena stood by them, staring at the warship, a solemn look on her face.
"It's our biggest ship," said Terac.
Lena looked away from the mammoth ship. "It's different inside from the Sunevian exploration ships," she said. "I like Sunev's ships better because they're like luxury cruisers."
Terac shook his head. In half a minute the big warship came to rest in the vast grassy field that was hemmed in by the thick Triodian jungle. A large door opened, and a motorized ramp unfolded to the ground.
"Her name is The Black Widow," said Terac. "We name our ships so as to give courage to our warriors."
"How many do you have?" Wilson asked.
"Hundreds," said Terac. "That was a secret until Sunev surrendered at 1 p.m."
"That's a lot of ships," said Wilson. "Raven said each side had just a few."
Terac walked to the ramp as he spoke, "Both sides lied. We just learned that Sunev has more than 300 ships. We'll use them to ferry more soldiers to Sunev."
Wilson and Lena followed Terac. His boots made imprints on the grass as he trudged to the ramp.
"I don't look forward to the trip to Sunev," Lena said. "I imagine that lots of tragic events are underway there, even though most of the dying is done." She clutched a handkerchief and wiped a few tears away.
"We plan to send most of our ships to survey the planet, transport troops, and to oversee recovery," said Terac. "I heard about the plans on radio news when we were trying to find Raven's raiders. We'll make thousands of runs between Triod and Sunev for weeks, probably much longer. Medical teams are giving the antidote to the Sunevian population as fast as they can. But hundreds of millions have died, and probably many more."
"It will take years to get a handle on it," Wilson said. "When most of the people of a planet die, it may never recover." The three walked up the metal ramp into the ship.
"First reports tell us a lot more people survived the virus than we had thought possible," said Terac, as he led them into the dim interior. "The reporter on the radio broadcast said that more than ten percent of the people had a natural immunity to the disease."
"That still leaves nine-tenths of the population dead," said Wilson. He glanced around. Everything was an olive drab shade inside the ship. "There's no way to dispose of all the bodies."
"Yeah," said Terac. He walked through a short corridor to a large hall with hundreds of flight chairs, just frames covered with olive drab webbing. "Our troops on Sunev have seized all the bulldozers they can find, and they have begun to dig mass graves. Pickup trucks, box trucks, semis, cattle cars, railroad cars, and other kinds of vehicles will take bodies to the graves."
"It must be chaos," Lena said, as they stopped in the middle of the big hall.
"That's why we need to go," said Terac. "Sit down. We'll leave for Sunev once troops fill the flight hall. Two companies will join us that were on maneuver in the jungle. You're lucky you didn't run into them."
We won't have enough soldiers to get a grip on the situation, even if we fill all the available ships, Wilson reckoned. He, Lena, and Terac sat and waited.
More rebel soldiers from the two companies streamed into the hall and found seats. Some were silent. Others chatted, even smiled. They don't know what they're in for, Wilson forecast.
"Listen up," said an officer who stood in front of the troops. "I'm Captain Gray. The ship will leave in five minutes for Sunev. Our mission is to bury the dead, to take out any pockets of resistance, and to establish order. Your squad leaders will give you detailed instructions. Thank you." He sat and strapped in.
A voice from a loudspeaker boomed throughout the room, "One minute before jump. Fasten seatbelts."
Wilson pulled his seatbelt tight. The Black Widow began to shake more than he ever felt The Ghost Liner vibrate. "Is there something wrong?" Wilson asked.
"That's normal, Bill," Lena said. "These ships aren't as smooth as the Sunevian ones."
"Okay," Wilson said, and he settled back to rest. Still, he dreaded what lay ahead on Sunev.
After two hours the ship uncloaked at the First City Spaceport on Sunev. Wilson looked at the big screen TV in the front of the room, which showed the view outside The Black Widow. Big earth movers dug in a nearby field.
Captain Gray, who had given the briefing before the jump, arose again. "Please stay in your chairs," he said. "I've been told we'll go airborne to make an aerial survey before we disembark. Also, Colonels Terac, Lavelle, and Wilson, please come forward."
Lena looked at Terac, "What do they need us for?"
"I don't know," Terac answered as he stood and walked towards Captain Gray. Wilson and Lena followed.
"Greetings, officers," said Gray. "I've been told to lead you to the ob
servation deck."
"Thank you, Captain," said Terac.
They followed Gray to a double set of doors, which opened to the observation deck. Wilson saw the top rebel leader, General of the Armies Ramon Black. He was looking out of the window, and then he turned to see them approach.
"Art, Lena, Bill, I'm glad you are on The Black Widow," said the general. He looked relaxed and was clean shaven. He wore a starched olive drab uniform and five stars on his shoulders.
"General Black, let me congratulate you for leading The Alliance to victory," said Terac. He smartly saluted Black, and so did Lena. Wilson followed suit.
Black returned their salute. "You don't have to be formal," he said. "We're comrades-in-arms and friends. Please just call me Ramon like always. I'm going to put this uniform in the closet pretty soon."
"It's good to see you, Ramon," said Lena. "I wondered where you were and if you were safe."
"You were very brave, as was Bill, to aid in the destruction of the enemy ship and to help defeat the attack to obliterate the capital's water supply and its people," Black said. "Prepare yourselves to receive medals. Art, you, too, will receive a medal for bravery in battle and for your rescue of Lena and Bill. But first sit with me as we fly over Sunev to look over the postwar situation." He motioned for the trio to sit alongside him near big observation windows. But Lena stared at the floor and shook her head very slightly.
Wilson sat in a lavish flight armchair, which was much more comfortable than the webbed seats in the big room where the troops were sitting. The Black Widow took off and began to fly patterns over First City at about a thousand feet.
Lena pointed at a caravan of large dump trucks below. "What's that white stuff they carry?" she asked.
"It's lime," said Black. "In a couple of days bodies will begin to rot. We'll need a lot of lime to throw on the corpses before we cover them with dirt. It will reduce the smell."
"With that many dead, the stench will be unbearable," Wilson said. And bacteria could mutate and form new strains that could overwhelm health care workers even if they have nano meds, Wilson thought. Farms, factories, sewage treatment, power and transportation systems must have collapsed. This is a logistical nightmare.
