by Brian Dorsey
“Since you seem to be doing much better, I believe you should carry it back to the hut.”
“I made the kill so you should do the lifting,” said Stone, only half-joking.
“Really. What about the last two weeks while you were napping in the hut?”
“I guess I should do the heavy lifting, being the man.”
Mori stopped dead in her tracks. “The man?! You know what, I’ll get it myself.”
“Damn. I was just kidding,” said Stone. “I figured we would both share the load.”
“Whatever, Colonel,” snapped back Mori. “I have not relied on a man since my father and have no plans of starting now.”
“Well,” replied an irritated Stone. “Your father must have done a number on you…”
“Shut your mouth, Humani!” snapped Mori as she turned back toward Stone.
Stone could see her piercing green eyes burn with anger as she struggled to hold back her
rage. “You have no right to speak of him. You and your…You know what, never mind. Let’s just get the damn deer and get it back to the hut.”
“No problem,” said Stone, shocked by her response.
“Fine.”
Mori moved ahead of Stone by several meters as the two made their way down the hill and into the valley below without a word. Stone was the first to break the silence.
“I think it’s over there,” he said, pointing to the location where the deer had fallen.
“If it’s not too much trouble,” said Mori, “why don’t you dress it out while I get some wood down by that stream to carry the meat back to camp?”
“What the hell is your problem, Captain?” asked Stone.
“How about a little gratitude, you Xen pig? Thawatchin tata husteyA hitunkasan,” she cursed in her native tongue.
“What the hell did you say?” asked Stone, even more irritated now that she was speaking Terillian gibberish. “If you want gratitude,” replied Stone, “how about I show you just how grateful I am…I am grateful to the Terillians for starting this war, grateful for destroying my unit, for…” As he spoke he slid his hand to the knife on his waistbelt.
“So, Colonel,” replied Mori as she gripped the handle of her sword, “I was wondering how long it would take you to break our agreement.”
“I will keep my word, Terillian,” he said coldly, “until a passage off the world is found. Then you will see my gratitude.”
“I will be ready, Xen slave,” spat Mori. “But until then, we need to get the damn meat back to our camp.”
Mori stared at Stone for a moment then turned toward the small stream. “Xen asshole,” she mumbled as she walked away.
“Terillian bitch,” said Stone under his breath as he pulled out his knife and began to gut the deer.
***
Stone had just begun his last cuts on the carcass when a thundering crash came from the woods to his right. As he turned toward the noise, a massive bear rushed from the dense undergrowth only feet from Stone’s position. Before he could react, a swat from a massive paw sent Stone flying. Crashing to the ground, Stone grabbed the only weapon within reach—a large stick lying on the ground.
Within seconds the massive animal was on top of him. Stone raised the club to fend off the beast but it snapped like a twig in the animal’s powerful jaws. Suddenly Stone heard a dull thud, and the bear looked away from him. Then another. This time the beast let out a loud roar before turning away from him and lunging toward the stream. Stone rolled over to see Mori, about fifty meters away, firing at the charging beast with her sidearm.
“Hoka Hay! I’m over here!” she shouted as the bear rushed toward her.
Knowing the pistol would do little but irritate the monster, Stone scrambled to his feet and grabbed the rifle laying nearby. Looking down the sights, the bear and Mori were lined up exactly with one another. He would have to be perfect or he would hit her.
Wounded and enraged, the massive bear roared as it quickly closed the ground between itself and Mori.
Stone saw Mori drop her empty pistol and draw her sword.
***
Standing with her sword by her side, she mumbled a prayer. “Great Spirit, give me the strength to overcome the spirit of my bear brother.”
The animal eclipsed the landscape in Mori’s view as it rushed her. Focused on Mori, his giant paws pounded into the ground and threw up large clumps of dirt as he launched himself closer to her with each leap.
“Let me show strength and courage and—”
Her prayer was interrupted by three loud percussions from Stone’s rifle. The bear stumbled and fell to the ground less than a meter from Mori’s feet.
She dropped her sword and fell to her knees, trying to regain her breath.
***
“Captain, are you okay?” shouted Stone as he rushed to her.
“Thank you, Great Spirit,” said Mori as Stone finally reached her.
“What?” he asked.
“Oh,” she replied, regaining her composure. “Thank you, Colonel.”
“No, Captain, it’s I who should thank you. That bear would have killed me for sure if you had not drawn its attention.”
“Well,” smiled Mori, “I was counting on your marksmanship. You don’t miss, right?”
“All the same, thank you.”
“And to think, we were ready to kill each other ten minutes ago,” said Mori. “It’s this way that the Great Spirit directs us in the sacred loop…enemies do not have to always be enemies. We live in a cyclic, fluid universe don’t we?”
“I apologize, Captain,” replied Stone, confused by Mori’s comments but not wanting to start another fight. “I should not pretend to know anything of your culture.”
“What do you say we get all this meat back to the hut before it goes bad?”
“Sure. But I’m gonna need a little help. That is if you don’t mind helping a man out.”
“You men always need help,” replied Mori with a big smile. “Let’s get to work.”
***
That evening they sat beside the fire eating meat from their kill. The light flickered, and the small fire crackled and popped.
“I’m sorry about earlier,” said Stone, still feeling he had let things get out of control. “I meant no disrespect toward your father.”
“It’s okay. And I want to say again that I am sorry for the loss of your subordinate Martin. She was a brave blotahonka…that means war leader.”
“Thank you. She was.”
Mori rose slightly from her seat to pull another piece of flesh from the roasting meat. As she did, Stone couldn’t help notice that the bottom of her shirt rose enough to show her thin, toned waistline. As she turned to sit again, she caught him looking.
“You should be careful, Colonel,” she smiled. “We wouldn’t want your leg to start acting up again.”
Stone was sure his face was redder than the fire in front of him. He needed to change the subject…fast. “I think you can drop the rank stuff. You can call me Tyler.”
“What did you say?” asked Mori.
“Tyler.”
“Tyler. What does that mean?”
“What does what mean?” asked a still confused Stone. “My name…it means my uncle’s name was Tyler and my parents liked it.”
“But what is the meaning?”
“I guess there isn’t one,” replied Stone. “I guess Mori means something?”
“Of course—well, sort of. We’re given a Confederation name when we come of age. Part of our education beyond our own language is the Confederation language. It designates me as warrior and means ‘stands alone.’ My Akota name is…” She paused. “I shouldn’t’.”
“You shouldn’t what?”
“It is bad form to share our Akota names with…uh…non-Akota.”
“What’s an Akota?”
“It’s what I am…my people.”
“Who am I going to tell?” asked Stone.
Mori sighed. “I…its Ino’ka�
��my people’s native tongue for badger.”
“Ino’ka,” repeated Stone. “How many languages to you speak?” he Stone, feeling linguistically inadequate. He could speak a little of what he now understood to be the Confederation language, but that was it.
“I speak the Confederation Normative Language, Akota, Iroqua, and obviously Hanman…I mean, Humana.”
“A warrior and a scholar,” declared Stone.
“Shut up,” smiled Mori.
Stone could see she had taken the compliment well. “How did you get your Akota name?” he asked.
“My father gave it to me when I was six. Some boys at the research station we were living on were teasing me and I fought them.”
“How many?”
“Three.”
“Did you win?” asked Stone.
“Sent them all running and crying to their mothers,” she replied with a smile on her face. “My father got a little flak for giving me a warrior name but I guess he had me pegged from the start. Luckily, my nation is one of the few that allows women to be warriors.”
“So you’re Mori Ino’ka Skye?”
“No,” sighed Mori, showing frustration at Stone’s lack of knowledge about her culture. “One is a Confederation name and the other is Akota. My nation calls me Ino’ka and anyone outside calls me Mori.”
“Your culture seems complicated…and interesting. Without giving up any military secrets, why don’t you tell me about your people?”
“Are you trying to start another argument? You don’t want to hear truth. Everything I say you will refute as some sinister plot against the Xen Empire.”
‘That’s because it is,’ Stone thought, but he didn’t really care. Not only had he been caught peeking, but now he couldn’t get the thought out of his head. Better to let her tell some lies to get things back to normal.
“I seriously want to know,” pleaded Stone.
“Only if you agree not to challenge everything I say.”
“Agreed.”
“The people you call Terillians,” she said, “are a confederation of free planets, all humanoid, that provide support to one another economically, culturally, and militarily. There is not one ‘Terillian’ culture but several nations, bands, and clans that share similar, but different, cultures. We also have similar spiritual beliefs as well.”
“Spiritual? I have always been fascinated with your civilization’s need to hold to archaic beliefs of spirits and an afterlife.”
“Yes, spiritual,” she replied. “I don’t think this is a good…”
“Please, Captain…Ino’ka, continue?” asked Stone.
Mori’s eyes opened wide and her jaw dropped slightly. “You can’t call me that,” she said, an octave higher than her normal voice. “It’s not…you’re not Akota. I knew I shouldn’t have…”
“I’m sorry, Mori,” said Stone stressing her name, “I did not mean to offend you. Please continue.”
Mori paused. Stone could tell she was trying to decide if this conversation was a huge mistake. “Very well,” she continued after a moment. “Most of us believe there is a Spirit that created everything and if we live good lives and honor the Spirit, as well as its manifestations in nature, we will be rewarded in the afterlife.”
“Good life…what is a good life? Invading…” He stopped himself. “Sorry, continue with your story.”
“I think we had better stop.”
“No, continue,” he requested. “I will keep quiet. I promise.”
“Okay,” she said hesitatingly. “In the afterlife, if you are worthy, the Spirit will let you take on the form of whatever manifestation you choose, such as sable tiger, raven hawk, or that big son-of-a-bitch bear that attacked us today. If you are unworthy, your soul remains in the ether—never finding rest.”
“Unworthy? What makes you unworthy?”
“It’s easier to explain what makes you worthy. Bravery, endurance, generosity, and wisdom…”
“Part of that sounds a lot like Humani social code to me,” replied Stone.
“What is that?”
“It’s the basis for our social structure. All Humani are part of the greater society. Depending on your social status, you are required to perform certain tasks.”
“Tasks?”
“Yes. If you are from an appropriate family, your duty is to lead and govern. For mid-level families, it’s their place to manage and direct commerce and act as junior officers when required. The lower classes provide the labor to support our society and fill the ranks of our military. This provides order and structure to our civilization and has allowed us to flourish.”
“That sounds great if you are not in the lower levels of your society. What happens if someone from an inferior family wants to be a leader?”
“Why would they? It’s not their duty.”
“What about talent, intelligence, motivation?”
“If they are talented they will reflect that talent in the type of service they perform. If they are intelligent they can advise others of higher status. As for motivation, maintaining the natural order and playing their role in supporting the society should be enough.”
Stone was surprising even himself. Hearing that from someone else would have made him laugh.
“We’re allowed to be judged on our merit, not our family’s status,” replied Mori. “Obviously the wealthy and influential will always be…well…wealthy and influential, but in our society one can stand on their own accomplishments. Although some of our nations place some importance on inheritance, the majority of our leaders must earn their honors.”
“Some of your nations, the majority of your leaders,” asked a puzzled Stone. “Does your society have no structure? How does your government and military provide leadership?”
“We have structure, our war council…um, I don’t think I’m going to tell you how our military decisions are made, Colonel.”
“Of course,” he replied. Stone hadn’t even realized the question had military implications—he was simply fascinated with the complexity and apparent fluidity of her civilization.
At the same time, Stone was surprised at how much he felt the need to defend his own society. He had started the conversation, though, so he guessed he had brought it on himself.
“Humani can rise in standing,” he said, again trying to defend his stance. “A family, over generations, can move up in status if they serve the society well, if their members stay away from scandal, and if they marry accordingly. They will never be a Senator or become the ProConsul, but they will slowly become an acceptable family if their legacy is maintained.”
“Generations? What about the individual?”
“The individual does not matter. It’s their support of the society that matters. Individual ambition, if not checked by the family or the society, will lead to destruction.”
‘Did I just say that?’ he thought, realizing the First Families thrived on ambition, and it was ambition that drove everyone in his society to move up the ladder.
“Destruction? Your institutions and caste structure will only lead to stagnation. In our society, a person can rise from obscurity to the highest levels of government, commerce, and the military. It’s this avenue for opportunity that stimulates a society to reach its potential. It does not lead to destruction; it leads to advancement. Advancement based on merit.”
“Merit?”
“Merit is the measure of a Terillian, not whether you are from a poor family, have a good name, or even if you were an orphan.”
“Orphan?” he asked inquisitively. No wonder she had reacted so harshly to Stone’s comment about her father. Mori was apparently telling more about herself than he had expected.
“Yes. Orphans.”
“What does that have to do with anything? Were you an orphan?” he asked, hoping to get her to open up more but instantly regretting he had dug that deep.
Mori stared blankly into the fire for a moment. “Yes. I was. My father was a doctor and my mother
a musician. When I was eight, my family was onboard the research vessel Mendelev where my father was working on a cure for the H3 Virus. He was using microscopic specimens from an asteroid belt near the Neutral Quadrant as hosts for his experiments. Apparently we were close enough for the slavers to attack. When they boarded our ship, my father told me and my sister to hide in one of the specimen cabinets. Through the slit in the door I saw everything.”
Stone was so drawn in that it took him a second to notice a tear running down her cheek. Mori continued her story, still staring blankly into the crackling fire. He could sense the pain in her voice as she continued.
“My father tried to stop them but they killed him and left him on the floor like some discarded piece of rubbish. When he fell, my older sister—she was twelve—screamed and gave away her hiding place. The slavers then took my mother and my twelve-year-old sister and they…” She paused for a second that felt like an eternity as Stone saw the agony in her eyes. “When they were done they dragged them away and loaded them onto their ship. I lay there and watched my father’s blood drain onto the floor for an hour before other survivors found me. When we reached the nearest Terillian planet, I was sent to my band where my aunt adopted me. My new mother and father, knowing the meaning in the name my father gave me, raised me to be a warrior. When I turned eleven, I joined one of our band’s military societies. At fifteen, I was accepted into my nation’s military academy and was selected for the Ino’ka or Badger society of the Scout Rangers when I was commissioned.”
“That explains why you volunteered for the mission on Sierra 7,” said Stone.
The sound of Stone’s voice caused Mori to look up quickly and take in a deep, slow breath. She quickly wiped at the track left by the tear that had fallen down her cheek. She looked back up from the fire with same determination in her eyes he had seen that night they first met.
“Yes. I will kill every slaver I see. I will not stop until there are no more. They are not human. They break families apart, commit atrocities against the innocent, and deserve to have their spirits roam forever, never finding comfort.”
Stone did not know what to say. He felt for Mori. Furthermore, he somehow felt responsible. He knew there was nothing he had done himself but knew that it was a damning indictment of the complacent manner his society took toward everything that happened in the Dark Zone.
