Casserine

by Bernard Lee DeLeo

  Byers laughed self-consciously. “I see your point.”

  “Besides, I never meant to add to your problems, and I probably did just that. I just don’t like getting handled.”

  “I see what you mean. It will be worth every second of whatever they come up with. Have you ever been on this base before .may I call you Jake?”

  “Of course, Ma’am, I should have said so before. I flew through to Casserine with only a pit stop here.”

  “People around here call me Addie, but I hate the sound of it.”

  “I’ll call you Adrian if you will permit me. I like your name.”

  “Thanks, is Jake short for something else?”

  “I really don’t know. My sister and I were orphaned before we could talk. We were lucky they even kept us together. A family in the farming colony on New Jericho adopted us. Their last names were Matthews. They called me Jake, and my sister, Beth.”

  “How in the world did you ever get from New Jericho to the Marines, and then to Casserine?”

  “One of the other colonists took a liking to Beth, which she didn’t return. He grabbed her at a get together, after he had been drinking homemade wine. She resisted, and stomped his foot. He punched her, and I broke a few of his ribs along with his jaw. I was seventeen, so they gave me a choice: the Marines, or seven years hard labor. The Marines were recruiting all over for troops, because of the war on the Omaha mining colony.”

  “They punished you for aiding your sister? I.”

  “Adrian,” Jake interrupted. “You cannot do those things in a community like New Jerricho. They had very few able bodied men as it was, and no tolerance for violent action. They would have punished him. Besides, Beth and I had been at hard labor already for fifteen years. I chose the Marines because I would be going somewhere else. It worked out.”

  Chapter 2

  Omaha Mining Colony

  Byers looked up after a few moments of silence.

  “You were in the war on Omaha. You won the Medal of Honor there. I read it in your file. I heard tales about the war: the stuff of nightmares.”

  “We lost over five thousand Marines on Omaha. I have no idea how many pilots and support people also were killed.” Jake’s eyes glazed over as he looked through her, and beyond. “We killed until the charge packs for our blasters melted, and still they came. The keening whine of their death cries, and the piercing shrieks as they charged us in the tens of thousands, could freeze your blood. Without the support craft flaming them from above, we would have all died.”

  “Farming probably didn’t seem so bad after Omaha.”

  Jake laughed. “You’d think so, but after Omaha, I came home for a two week leave after I healed up. I left after a week. The old saying about never being able to go home pretty much describes it. Beth had married, and her husband had plans to relocate them to Arcadia. They took the Matthews with them. They told me to come live with them whenever I get tired of the Marines, but I am afraid I will never get tired enough to join them.”

  “Don’t you miss your sister?”

  “Sure, and I miss my foster parents too sometimes, but life goeson.”

  “How did you win the Medal of Honor? It doesn’t say much in your file about it.”

  Jake started to speak, and then paused for a moment. He finally shook his head.

  “You can’t talk about it? I understand. Just forget I asked.”

  “It’s not that Adrian. I survived,” Jake replied self consciously. “It’s hard to explain. They found the nest and the Queen. They tried everything short of nuking the planet from orbit to kill her, and destroy the nest. The nest was so far down, if we had not been mining the place, we could have left them alone, and they would never have surfaced probably. We never did figure out what the heck set them off exactly, or how they could multiply like they did with the losses we inflicted on them.”

  “Fifty of us dropped into the nest. Five of us lived, and the Queen died. Thirty Marines died at the entrance. Our support ships flamed everything around the entrance after we broke through. They kept them out until we were through in the nest. Without the Queen, they had no direction, and we annihilated them. Afterwards, we poisoned everything, just to make sure. It took them three months to find the nest, three months of unrelenting day and night attacks.”

  “After I returned from leave at Jericho, I volunteered for duty at the Tarawa Jump Gate. I hooked back up with a couple of the Marines I went into the nest with: Sergeant Deke Larsen, and a PFC named Charlie Mercer. We had been together since boot camp. The four years I spent there consisted mostly of skirmishes with competing colonists, and privateers, working the jump gate. After I was wounded again, it took me a while to get back to active duty. Since I couldn’t transfer back with my friends, when Casserine came up on the duty board for a lot more money, I signed on.”

  “But you didn’t need the money,” Byers pointed out.

  “No, but I have no one telling me what to do there.”

  “Have you ever had a girlfriend, Jake?”

  “Not really, just the pleasure bars, and such.”

  “You must get lonely on Casserine.”

  “The Rock keeps me busy. I also chart and explore there. It can only be done a little bit at a time, and I can’t be away from the warehouse facility for an overly long period. An empty plain, not filled with a hundred thousand mandibled enemies, does soothe me,” Jake grinned. “The crowded conditions at the Tarawa Jump Gate never helped my sense of well-being either. I’m a loner. The knowledge not many could survive on Casserine satisfies some part of me.”

  “You certainly speak well for a taciturn loner,” Adrian remarked.

  “Who said I was taciturn,” Jake smiled. “An old buddy on the Tennyson brings me vids, old program discs, and updates my entertainment equipment when they come in to either load or off load. I have my place set to speak to me in different languages, and to recite the classics, or whatever else I order. I don’t live in silence. I just live alone.”

  “You make it sound so simple to just live without people.”

  “I didn’t say simple, just different,” Jake replied. “I’m all finished if you would like to escort me back to my room, or I could follow along with you, if I don’t get in your way.”

  “Actually, I need to take you to see the base Commander of Marines. He wanted to see you when you awoke.”

  “He’s probably worried about having to replace me,” Jake laughed. “He’ll be relieved to know I can get back down to the Rock shortly. Lead the way.”

  As they walked by the table where Peters sat, Peters jumped up, and came around to Jake’s side. “This ain’t over, Jarhead.”

  Jake looked at him as he continued walking. “It better be for your sake, Major,” Jake replied calmly, and kept walking.

  Byers led Jake through the passageways to the Officers’ quarters. She stopped in front of a hatch reading: Colonel Jackson Risling, Marine Commandant. She pushed a panel near the hatch door.

  “Yes,” a voice acknowledged through the hidden speaker.

  “Lieutenant Byers here, Sir, with Captain Matthews.”

  “Good, good, come on in.”

  Byers again led the way through the hatch door. An office, with very few luxuries beyond the door, acted as Colonel Risling’s division headquarters. A desk with computer terminal fulfilled the job of main highlight in the room. Three unpadded chairs were lined up in front of the desk. A black man with Risling on his uniform nametag stood up, and came around the desk. Matthews jumped to attention, and saluted crisply.

  “As you were, Captain,” Risling said, holding out his hand, and smiling up into Jake’s face. Risling stood a half foot shorter than Jake, but he was easily as solidly built. Jake took his hand carefully. “It is a great pleasure to meet you Matthews. No one deserved the Medal of Honor more than you. I served at Omaha. I would have died there, eaten by those things, if not for what you did.”

  “Thank you Sir, but I was not alone in that hole.�
��

  “Eaten, Colonel?” Byers asked wincing.

  Risling turned towards her, his face a mask of anguish. “Yes Lieutenant, eaten. They didn’t just kill us. The hideous things ate us alive, screaming. I lost my entire command, but for seven men. We didn’t wait for Matthews, and the rest who went down after the Queen, we prayed, prayed for a quick death for them and us. Matthews here killed the Queen with a gear knife. He climbed above her, and jumped onto what she had for shoulders. He plunged the knife into her brain until she fell, her death scream could be heard for miles. I read the details of it Captain, but I could never find the reason you didn’t blast her, or blow her up.”

  “We tried, Sir. We still had twelve men left when we found her. Seven died trying to blast her apart. She was encased in something we could not penetrate. I didn’t blast her from above, because I lost my pulse weapon when I dropped down on her. I found a spot on her head, which I could get to. Her mandibles were trying to reach me. The guys below did everything they could to get her attention. I finally got enough space to get it done. She opened my armor up like I had been wearing tissue paper; but as you say, she died. I smashed into the cave wall, while she thrashed around, without my armor. I didn’t come to for a few minutes. By the time we made it to the entrance, our support craft had the entire area cleared, because the things just wandered around. There had to have been tens of thousands, because it took another week to exterminate them.”

  “Why did you have to.”

  “Byers,” Risling broke in, “we had no idea how the things produced a Queen. We certainly were not going to wait around for another. Captain, I am happy to have met you. I tried to before I left Omaha, but you had already been transferred to a hospital ship.”

  “The Queen sliced me up pretty well. The venom she excreted to her claws kept me delirious for a long time. Her last scream nearly burst my eardrums, even with my helmet on.”

  “That question as to why you didn’t blast her would have Bugged me forever.” Risling looked at Jake for a moment as if considering his next words. “Those fuel pirates almost did for you. Everyone thought you were a goner. You can name your duty station, Captain. You’ve earned that. We will get someone else to go to Casserine.”

  “Sir, I would like to go back to Casserine.”

  “Well,” Risling smiled. “I was hoping you would say that, because frankly, I haven’t been able to even get a fill in. Did you tell him yet, Byers?”

  “No Sir,” Byers answered. “I only just had enough time to get to know him a little.”

  “Tell me what, Colonel?”

  “Byers here will be going to Casserine with you. She volunteered to do some surface tests for us.”

  “I could do any studies you want done, Sir,” Matthews said, turning to Byers with a puzzled look on his face. “Although I am a poor one to ask this, why in the world would you want to go down there. The pain may kill you, Ma’am.”

  “It didn’t kill you, Jake. Let me do this. I don’t want to cause you any trouble, but I do want to do the studies. They also want a backup person on Casserine. If you had not managed to send the message about the pirates, you would be dead.”

  “And the supplies all gone. I can understand the reason for a change in policy, but why not another marine?”

  “Your hearing may have been affected on Omaha after all, Captain,” Risling laughed. “I told you, we don’t have even one guy to fill in for you, at least not voluntarily. If you were no longer able to go down there, we would have had to put one there against his will, which makes for an unmotivated guardian.”

  “I have no objection to Lieutenant Byers billeting at Casserine, but I just wish I could make it clear what she will be subjecting herself to. I am admittedly a weirdo, and I told the Lieutenant as much; but I have been there over four years, and I still want to go back. She may not be thrilled once we get there.”

  “You would help her, would you not, Captain?” Risling asked.

  “Yes Sir, I would do everything in my power to help her get throughit.”

  “That’s all I ask,” Byers said. “I know you can’t spend every waking moment baby-sitting someone who went to Casserine against all of your warnings.”

  “Good,” Risling put in. “We have a cruiser ready to take you two whenever Captain Matthews says he can go. We will have it supplied with everything extra Lieutenant Byers will need, including supplements. The only change in policy will be to take you off Casserine every three months for a few days. When I heard they just left you there after I took command, I could not believe it.”

  “I volunteered, Sir.”

  “Forget the reasoning, Captain. We at least need to know if you start to show signs of cracking up, or some physical disability. It went against good judgment. You guard a very valuable base of supply.” Risling paused for a moment, looking pointedly at Jake. “We need to do a better job monitoring the effects of the traces of Queen’s poison still in your system, coupled with this extended time on Casserine.”

  “I understand Sir, just so I…or I mean we, do not get taken off very often, or for very long. It can be hell getting back used to the Rock.”

  “I realize the situation, Captain, but we need to track your physical condition more closely from now on.” Risling turned to Byers. “Lieutenant, how long before the Captain can return in a medical sense?”

  “We repaired the damage anatomically, Sir. The bandage can come off today. He will experience quite a bit of pain for a while I imagine.”

  “I’ll be a lot worse if I am off of the Rock any longer. I would like to leave tomorrow, if my time sense hasn’t deserted me entirely.”

  “I do not want you down on Casserine, Captain, if you can not function.”

  “Tomorrow I will know about the pain, Sir, and I can back off if I think I will have problems.”

  “Very well, Jake,” Risling shook hands with him again. “It has been a pleasure meeting you. I want you to come see me whenever you come up to get checked.”

  “I will, Sir.”

  “Good luck, Lieutenant, I hope things go well for you. We will not be sending another ship there for three months. The Tennyson is the only transport, which makes regular trips between Casserine and Genoa. We will only take you off as a life or death situation before that. Clear enough foryou?”

  “Yes Sir, I will see you in three months.”

  When they were back in the passageway, Byers turned to Jake. “Thank you for going along with this. Would you like to go somewhere for a drink?”

  “No, Ma’am, and I would advise you not to have one either. Coffee, tea, water, and soupy type foods should make up your only nourishment until we leave. You will greatly regret anything else in your stomach.”

  “Thanks for the warning,” Byers replied. “I had planned on getting a little juiced just so I could relax before we leave.”

  “You could, but you would be a lot better off being a little pumped up from lack of sleep, rather than what you had in mind. Would you take me back to my room, and take off this bandage so we can see how big my head has gotten?”

  “Sure, Jake,” she laughed, “but it won’t look as bad as you think itfeels.”

  “God, I hope not. It feels like a helium balloon with a rock inside.”

  “Follow me.” Byers led him back to his room in their infirmary. She lowered the gurney he had been strapped to, and motioned for Jake to sit down. She proceeded to take the bandage away carefully from around his skull. The special head bandage had worked in healing the skin around the furrow on the side of Jake’s head. His close-cropped brown hair outlined the white scarred furrow.

  “How’s it feel?” She asked.

  “Better actually,” Jake replied, running his hands over his scalp.

  “Want to see it in a mirror? That panel over there opens into a bathroom with shower.”

  Jake walked over to the panel, and it hissed open by way of the touch release on the side. He went in and checked out his new scar. Byers follo
wed him in, watching as a smile spread on his face in the mirror.

  “What’s funny?” She asked curiously.

  “I just thought of how much it resembles the ones on my back.” He pulled down the top of his jumpsuit, and turned to show her.

  Whitened scar mounds ran in crisscross patterns over his back. Some were larger than others, as they extended from the tops of his shoulders down past his waist. Byers ran her hand over them.

  “You received these scars on Omaha?”

  ‘Tea, like I said, she opened me up pretty good.”

  “Why did they leave the scars? You were on a hospital ship, were you not?”

  “We had thousands of casualties who didn’t die, Adrian. I looked good next to most of them. They thought the poison would do for me anyway. Now my head matches.” Jake pulled up his top again.

  “And you think that’s funny?”

  “I never claimed I was a comedian, just not taciturn.”

  Adrian laughed. “Now that was funny. What’s this about poison?”

  “Just something they monitor from time to time. I’ve been sending them blood samples periodically,” Jake said guardedly. “I’m glad they left my hair alone.”

  “It’s too short to even worry about, next to the potential scarring.”

  Jake touched Adrian’s hair admiringly. “I love your hair, but you may not want it long on Casserine. Even tied up or back, it will still feel like carrying around a weight.”

  “My hair? You’re joking, right?”

  “You’ll see Adrian. I hope your stay there will not be as bad for you as I think it will be; because, I am afraid you will blame me for not making the difficulties clear enough for you.”

  “I will never blame you, Jake,” Adrian promised.

  Chapter 3

  Casserine

  “You bastard,” Adrian grunted as she tried to get off her knees without success. She stayed braced with her arms locked in front of her. They trembled with the exertion to keep her upper body from dropping. Even holding her head in an upright position required conscious effort. She had tried for the first time in the twenty-four hours since arriving on Casserine to move from her bed without Jake’s help. Jake came in from the outer room. He walked over and knelt down beside her. He dipped down so he could look up into her sweating face.