by Ernest Filak
All the higher officers who were listening to the conversation nodded.
“We’re not going to get to our destination without a stopover,” Colonel Ramirez said. “We don’t have enough cash.”
Admiral Black clearly prohibited leaving any traces behind. The journey had been planned in such a way that the stopovers happened in sparsely populated systems. Some of them were well known for their black market activity. Using transfers was totally banned, as no signs were to be left that would trace the transactions back to the place of the kingdom reactivation.
“We could get rid of the terrorists at the nearest stopover,” one of the officers joined in the conversation. “These pigs only eat and waste our air.”
Just before leaving the Hadesian System they stumbled across a drifting shuttle. The rescued crew turned out to be a revolutionary squad. Under a hastily signed agreement they were obliged to render assistance. The General wanted to ignore the SOS signal, but the captain of the ship decided otherwise. As a result of this, they had extra twenty-two mouths to feed.
“We can’t just shoot them,” Ramirez protested.
“Why not?”
“Too many people know about them. We are not allowed to finish them off without the consent of those above us. And we are obliged to remain silent.”
It was a weighty argument that was difficult to argue with. Steward was glad that he had managed to pull Gordon Ramirez into business soon enough. He only wished he had contacted him earlier to counteract the revolutionary movement.
“Do you have a solution to this problem?” he asked the Colonel openly.
“Why wouldn’t I have one? Of course, I do.”
“Then don’t be coy. Tell me.”
Ramirez projected the map of their itinerary on the desktop.
“We have planned to have the first stopover in six days.” The display showed a tiny system with only two planets orbiting a dying sun. “But tomorrow we will be flying close to Castor.”
“Castor? It doesn’t ring a bell,” the General seemed surprised.
“Because it’s not the name of a system but a man, Sergeant Phil Castor. He used to be a warehouseman in my regiment,” Ramirez explained. “He got fired for scams, although they didn’t manage to prove anything. Now he works as head of security in this godforsaken place.”
“And what about him?”
“I met him about a year ago. He complained about work conditions in a company that filters extracts from a gas giant. Bloody toxic materials.”
“He should set up unions then,” Bloody Steward suggested. “Do you want to give him our squad as help?”
Giggling could be heard here and there in the cabin.
“Exactly so, Sir.” Silence fell in the room. Everybody waited for the General’s explosion.
“Explain it to me,” he asked in an unusually calm tone.
“Fully safe technology hasn’t been discovered yet. High morbidity and environmental toxicity and, above all, lack of people willing to take up work there are our indisputable assets.”
“Gordon. Even if they agree to take in our revolutionaries, which I find highly doubtful, our guests will turn that station of theirs into dust in twenty-four hours. Even if those guys buy the revolutionaries from us as slaves, it doesn’t guarantee secrecy. It would be more advisable to push them out through the airlock.”
The General sat down into a leather seat, disappointed. The colonel continued talking, not discouraged by his supervisor’s remarks.
“The fact that not many people are willing to work there resulted in a few other solutions. The station possesses the best medical station in that part of the galaxy and the most renowned transplantation station….”
“And what if the terrorists refuse to leave the ship?” one of the officers asked.
“I’ve already checked our inventory,” the Colonel answered immediately. “We’ve got two cans of soporific gas CS-101 at our disposal.”
“Oh, you beast,” the General said appreciatively to his subject. “But I can see one more difficulty.”
“Yes?”
“The company that the Sergeant is working for could get a lot of information out of our donors.”
“It’s not a problem. Once we put them to sleep we could toss them into the hibernators. Officially, they will leave our unit in accordance to all the procedures. We’ll need a fine drill and a small hole in the back of the skull and nobody is going to say anything. Those guys will get young, fresh organs. I bet the profits will pay for all the necessary supplies that we need to reach our destination. Of course, once we get there we’ll have to make sure that the whole crew of HS11 remain silent. I don’t think that the Admiral will miss that loss.”
“You know what, Gordon. One day you will make a great general.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
“Or you will get hung on a very tall lantern.”
☼☼☼
Courier shuttle.
Dillins kissed the sleeping woman on the arm. He slid the satin strap of her chemise and admired the roundness of her naked breasts.
„Johnny, are you up already?” Linda asked waking.
He removed a streak of hair off her face.
“What do you say to a quickie first thing in the morning?” he suggested.
“Again? We’ve been doing nothing but fucking for the last two days,” she stretched.
“And what else can you do here?” he looked lustfully at the woman’s slender legs. “There’s nothing on this ship apart from our bedroom.”
He took a half empty bottle of champagne from the ice bucket. He tilted it and let a thin stream pour between Linda’s big breasts and trickle down her belly.
“My sweet pervert,” she moaned, but slid the chemise off her body. “Lick me.”
“Of course, my Queen.”
But they were not allowed to continue. A quiet knock could be heard on the cabin door.
“Come in!” Linda stopped the eager man’s advances.
A young woman navigator stood in the doorway. She and the pilot were the only crew on board of the courier shuttle. She stood at attention and directed her gaze at the wall opposite.
“Your Majesty, we’ve received a coded message,” she reported. She kept her cool, and only her reddened cheeks revealed that she was embarrassed with the whole situation.
Linda got up without haste. She was obviously stark naked. Moving her hips flirtatiously she walked up to the young officer and took the e-ink card from her hands. A deciphering program activated at the touch of her fingers, and after a while the coded message appeared. She scanned it quickly. Content with the news, she threw it to Dillins.
“Take a look.”
John snatched it in the air, having let go of the bed sheet. Her Highness burst out laughing seeing the man desperately trying to cover up his manly assets.
“Thank you,” she turned to the navigator. “There will be no response. You can go.”
The officer saluted and walked out.
“What do you see in her?” she turned to Dillins. “She’s a thin Ginger Beaver with no tits.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he remained focused on the text.
“Ever since we stepped into that coffin you’ve had your eyes on her,” Linda continued. “I’m starting to worry about you. Aren’t I enough anymore? You’ve been fucking the Queen and dreaming of a lieutenant, Johnny?”
“It’s good news,” he pretended not to hear. “We’re doing better that the plan. Will you finally tell me where we’re going?”
She threw herself on him. He landed on his back and the display fell to the thick carpet. She straddled him and her heavy breasts swung right in front of his eyes. Champagne droplets trickled off her nipples.
“Enough of the games,” she said. “Heart to heart now, do you have the hots for that shiksa?”
“But she’s screwing the pilot.”
“You’re dumber than a bag of hammers,” steel notes rang in
her voice. “He’s her brother. Do you fancy her or not?”
“I like her,” he admitted. “But it doesn’t mean I want to get into her pants!”
With one swift move he turned her onto her back. She embraced him with her legs.
“Your turn now. Where are we going?” he bit her neck.
“To the Rubble,” she said.
It was a name given to an area where two galaxies had once collided. Contrary to what astrophysicists believed, after the cosmic collision no new planets were created. The vast area was a total ruin, filled with asteroid fields, planetoids and other debris that came from the masses of shattered planets. The gravitationally- unstable maze was riddled with black holes and white dwarves, waiting for foolhardy daredevils. There had been a few attempts to explore the Rubble but all too often they ended in the explorers’ death. How can you probe an area of a few hundred stellar systems in which you can’t move faster than light due to widespread anomalies? It was a job for thousands of years for legions of generations of scientists.
“Do you want to get us killed?” John Dillins was appalled.
“I expect more trust from you,” she slapped his face with an open hand.
Between her breasts hung a pendant that she never parted with. It was made of noble metals and looked like a stem of a flower. It had some symbols engraved into it. When she pressed it, a memory stick extended from the stem.
“Once you insert it into the autopilot, we’re flying straight home.”
“Why are you telling me this?” John was surprised.
“Because from now you are all mine, body and soul.” She pulled him ravenously to herself. They started kissing passionately, and then broke up for a moment, panting. “I warn you: if you try to betray me, I’ll cut your balls off and serve them to you on a tray. And you’ll eat them. And then I’ll clone you and do it again. Do you understand?”
He wanted to kiss her again, but she didn’t let him.
“I’ve chosen you and I’ll never let you go.”
“I will never leave you,” he assured her ardently.
Chapter X
The Second Planet of the Hadesian System
I’m sitting in an observation capsule and monitoring the foreground in front of the camouflaged entrance to our base, dug out deep in a rock. Nothing is happening, but I guess that’s the fate of a guard. I still have five hours to go before my shift ends, and time is dragging mercilessly. I’m bored. It’s a miracle that we managed to get here in the first place. Although not all of us. No, it wasn’t the Aliens’ fault. We managed to avoid a confrontation, although they hovered over our heads a couple of times. We learnt to detect the specific sound of the Devourers’ engines among the natural sounds of the planet. Somehow this name seemed better suited to our, pah, “brothers” in space.
Together with Theodore we went through hell with the Mech. Without power steering, hacking through the natural forest was a torture. The worst thing were the roots which were snaking out of everywhere. Fortunately, the Star Troopers picked the route carefully, trying to find easier passages. They did it for us as well as for the wounded, whose numbers diminished with every stop we made. After we made camp, instead of unwinding, we would wait anxiously to discover who had made it and who had given up and would be absorbed by the green-brown madness.
On the fourth day of marching, none of the more seriously wounded managed to catch up with the squad. I was too tired to feel any emotions. Remorse? I was too concerned with the blisters on my hands and all the other parts of my body that had been in contact with the Mech. And those wounded were not the only casualties. The Second Planet was not very friendly for humankind and all sorts of surprises awaited here and there. We found the first ones in the sparsely overgrown glades bordered with a line of trees, where the forest was rather thinning. A huge tick fell on a Star Trooper walking under a tree. It weighed about eight or ten kilos. It found a gap between the helmet and the soldier’s collar, where it inserted its mouthparts. We were unable to help him.
The next day we lost a soldier to a predator. That’s the word that best describes the situation. Whether it was a feline, a canine or Mickey Mouse we couldn’t tell. The thing was six meters long, had four sturdy legs and two-feet-long fangs, which it was more than capable of using. And the worst thing was the monster’s hide was made up of thousands of pigmented spots. The creature had lurked hidden on our trail. It had so perfectly melted into the background that it remained invisible. One of the lesser wounded men walked right into it. The beast tore him apart with one smooth move, and then snatched his upper half and ran into the woods. Of course nobody dared to chase it. We didn’t even fire a single shot. What was left were boots and scraps of body hanging from the pelvis. The boots were classy, made of leather and almost new. They fit Uncle Kola perfectly.
“Hello Pavel,” the aforementioned uncle of our commander says climbing into my nest, pushing hard through the narrow vertical shaft leading fifty yards up from the lower-lying corridor. I help him reach the highest handle.
“Cheerio, Uncle,” I say using the nickname that instantly caught on with everybody and adopted a life of its own, not caring much for what the man himself thought. “Isn’t that too early to get back into service?”
“What with the Uncle? You’ve all gone mad about it,” he complains, taking his seat on the ferroconcrete shelf next to me. Side to side or, to be more precise, ass to ass. “It’s quite tight in here,” he complains.
“It is,” I try to keep up the conversation. “The sons-of-bitches had designed it so that the guardian can’t fall asleep no matter what. You can’t even stretch a leg, not to mention the heating.”
“And I thought there’s no heating to minimize the risk of detection,” he says very matter-of-factly.
“You’ll sit here for twelve hours, then you’ll see it differently.”
“Maybe you’re right,” he definitely doesn’t feel like squabbling. Me neither. It’s always better to speak to somebody than just gaze at the same points on the horizon.
“What are your comrades doing?” he changes the subject.
“And what can they do here? They fuck in every corner,” I say. Oops. Only after a while do I realize I could have put it differently. “I mean, they enjoy each other’s company.” Yes, that sounded so much better. I don’t remember that last time I actually wondered if I was putting my words in the right form.
“It’s nice that they still show each other so much affection after so many years of marriage.” I look at him like he’s an idiot. What the fuck is he talking about? Is he stoned, or what?
Fortunately, he doesn’t see my face. I move closer to the observation slit.
“Have you noticed anything?” he asks worried.
“No,” I say. I try to make my voice sound as natural as possible. It’s hard to keep a straight face. Theodore and Sunshine married? That’s a good one.
“They could attach some power. We wouldn’t have to sit in this shell.”
I agree with him fully on this. Unfortunately, motion sensors and cameras don’t work. When we first connected power generators to them, fuses on half of the switchboard blew. Apparently, the base hadn’t been finished. All our limited manpower was thrown into the necessary jobs. Although for me personally, there was more fuss about it than was worth it. Everybody put on a brave face but thing is it was more of a construction site, and rather in its early stages. Many men were happy to discover vending machines full of cigarettes and condoms. Truth be told, Theodore was the only one who could fully enjoy them. There should be enough of them to satisfy his needs until the end of this system. Unless Sunshine got bored with the monogamy, which seemed far from possible for the time being.
“Do you think we’ll ever be able to get off this planet?” Uncle asks another question, after which heavy silence falls.
In vaults, which were very austere and devoid of any spare parts, we discovered two fighter jets and one shuttle. They were all brand new products f
rom InCorp factories, still covered in fresh grease and protective foil. None of these units was equipped with a drive that would make it possible to fly to another system. Captain Nemov insisted that we get the shuttle ready for take-off. He hopes that at least one larger unit survived on the parking orbit of Hades. Unfortunately, we don’t really have a pilot in our ranks. I don’t feel capable myself. A virtual reality flying course that I had been through under Ingrid’s supervision does not seem enough.
“You didn’t have to come here,” I say, not without a touch of meanness in my voice.
“And how did you get here?” he asks me, not daunted by my mood.
“All legal, doing school practice.”
“Is that also part of the practice?” he points to my white-crossed head and the number tattooed on my forehead.
My hair began to grow back. Nobody orders us to shave our heads anymore, but the white streaks are still visible. Maybe one day I’ll be able to find dye to cover them.
“This I got as a present from Uroboros, and not for good behaviour.”
“You’re far from home.”
“Well, somehow that’s the way it is.”
Outside, the wind started rustling in the trees. We listened carefully, but it didn’t sound like the Devourers.
“Do you believe in God?” he took me completely by surprise.
I didn’t know what to say. For such a long time I didn’t have to deal with such issues, until now.
“Are you a priest, or what?”
He didn’t answer, which wasn’t surprising. All churches had been banned. There was some sort of tolerance towards them on Earth and in its closest vicinity, but huge corporations fought them more fiercely than as if they were unionists. Anyone accused of connections with any church was immediately exterminated. That’s why I wasn’t surprised when he didn’t answer me. If the Star Troopers found out about it, he would probably not live to see another tomorrow.
“Calm down,” he tried to put me at ease. “I saw you talking to yourself. I thought you were praying.”
