Unwilling From Earth

by Andrew Maclure

  “You both OK?” Orange called out as they approached.

  “Both fine, thanks.” Mike answered. “What about you two?”

  “We have both escaped injury.” Ti’rrk answered. “Although Orange is lucky his armour held up, considering that he wouldn’t stop firing and take cover.”

  “Look Orange,” Mark said, wanting to get his defence in early, “I’m sorry I ignored your order, but for a moment I thought we were in trouble and it just seemed the right thing to do.”

  “No problem Mark. You’re not a signed up soldier, I hold no rank in this army and you used your initiative to neutralise what could have a been a problem. You did well. Apart from risking your life. Sally would have had my gonads if you’d got yourself killed while you were with me.”

  “That’s all very well for you to say, Orange,” Mike said. “you didn’t have him laying on top of you. These mammals will try to shag anything.”

  “That’s true, they will,” Orange responded. “but you reptiles are no better.”

  “If you’ve finished,” Ti’rrk interrupted, “I suggest that Mark and I meet up with Sally and Simon while you two go and blow up everything that’s still standing.”

  “Sounds like a good plan.” Orange answered. “Come on Mike, let’s use up these demolition charges.”

  “Orange - I have more here if it would make you happy to play with them.” Ti’rrk said bending round and taking a satchel off of her harness.

  “Thanks.” Orange said, taking the satchel. “We may be some time.”

  “Come on you big freak.” Mike said, punching Orange’s arm, “Bet I can beat you to the buildings!” she shouted over her shoulder as she broke into a run.

  “I’ll soon catch you, you skinny little lizard!” Orange called out as he ran after her.

  “Sometimes I think that that they don’t need a commander, they need a nanny.” Said Ti’rrk.

  “Wasn’t the plan to withdraw on Sally’s order and rendezvous back in the forest?” Mark asked.

  “There’s nothing to withdraw from, the base seems to be deserted now.”

  “I thought there would be a lot more of the enemy here.” Mark said. “There weren’t that many of them and to be honest, I was expecting them to be a bit more determined.”

  “It would appear that most of them were evacuated and they just left a few here as a token defence. There were a few ground vehicles at the transport centre but no aircraft. I would guess they have gone to reinforce their army on the southern continent. That means they are either desperate enough to pretty much abandon what was a key asset here, or they are so confident they will win on the southern continent that this has become almost irrelevant to them.”

  “What happens now?” Mark asked.

  “Normally we would stay on and clear up, but we need to get back to a command centre for Sally and Orange to assess the situation and decide how to progress with our assault. We’ll leave the clearing up to the locals, although by the time Mike and Orange get through those charges there won’t be much in this base apart from rubble.”

  “Are we going back to Mother?” Mark asked.

  “That’s up to Sally. She may prefer to go back to her command ship.”

  “I didn’t know she had one.” Mark said.

  “How do you she operates when Alan isn’t around?” Ti’rrk said, slightly patronisingly.

  “Er, yeah, OK. Shall we go?” Mark said.

  They heard an explosion from a demolition charge behind them.

  “That didn’t take them long.” Mark said.

  Ti’rrk set off and Mark ran a few steps to catch up and walk beside her head.

  “That was brave of you to join Mike to take down the grenade thrower when your armour was almost down.” Ti’rrk said as they walked.

  “Not really. And anyway, I’ve always thought that being brave is synonymous with being recklessly stupid. I didn’t stop to think about it, I realised that if I didn’t help Mike, we could all get killed by the bastard.”

  “You have changed Mark. You are beginning to think about the welfare of your team, not just yourself.”

  “It’s a bit more complicated than that. You - and the others, you’re not just a team I’m in, you’ve become friends, and I’ve never really had any before.”

  “Comrades in arms?” Mark's AI asked.

  “I guess so.” Mark sub vocalised back.

  “My AI has just suggested an expression we have on Earth.” Mark said to Ti’rrk. “Comrades in arms. It is used about groups of soldiers who fight together and become close to each other.”

  “The bonds of friendship forged in common adversity are strong.” Ti’rrk stated. “When you were first brought into the team, none of us were happy, but Sally gave us no choice or voice in the matter. You have now proved yourself to be reliable in battle, and shown that Sally made a good choice. She saw something in you that wasn’t obvious to the rest of us. It helps that you are somehow very likeable. I’m not sure why, maybe it’s your naivete. You sometimes seem like you’ve only recently pupated, or in your terms, childlike.”

  “Huh!” Mark snorted. He was a bit embarrassed by what Ti’rrk had said and thought she had also misjudged him. He really didn’t want to be involved in a war and wasn’t convinced that he had done anything useful in the fighting they had just gone through. He thought he was going to be killed by that big bastard with the sword, and he would have been if his AI hadn’t told him to throw the grenades that weakened its armour so much that it collapsed under his fire before it killed him. And when he was still angry about it and rushed into the building, instead of being heroic he tripped over and dropped his grenade, leaving Orange to do the real fighting.

  After walking for ten minutes in silence, Mark said “Why did you and Mike come over to Orange and me? Shouldn’t you have gone over to Sally and Simon - she must come higher up your priorities to protect than us?”

  “Sally seems to live a charmed life. I have never known her to get injured, even when her body armour has been shot up. Simon has been injured several times, but he is pretty reckless, a trait that you seem to share with him from what I saw of your actions just now. I can understand it from him but you surprised me.”

  “Why can you understand it from Simon?”

  “I can only share so much with you, if you want to know more you must ask him. Simon had a troubled childhood. Despite all the treatment that is available, he still suffers from the legacy of it. He is only happy when he is in action. He suffers from deep depression when he is not on active service and has outbursts of uncontrollable anger. It seems that unless he is risking his life protecting others, he feels worthless and unworthy. Sally has tried everything to cure him of this but nothing has worked. I believe he has a death wish, but as long as he has Sally to protect he has an incentive to carry on living.”

  “Wow. Poor Simon. So, is he in love with Sally?”

  Ti’rrk chuckled. “Not in the way that you mean by your question. Their species are too far apart for any kind of romantic attachment, but he is totally devoted to her and she to him.”

  “Oh. I see.”

  There was silence for a few minutes as they walked.

  “So where do I fit into this?” Mark asked at last.

  “Sally is very fond of you. She is lonely. Being in command is very lonely. You can have comrades, but you can’t be friends with those under your command. You may have to send them on a mission that you, and they, know will lead to certain death. You can’t do that to a friend. Mammals need friends and Sally doesn’t have any.”

  “But, but that doesn’t make sense. She and Simon are devoted to each other, doesn’t that make them friends? And anyway, I’m under her command, so we can’t be friends.”

  “Haven’t you noticed she has always put you with another of the team when we are going into action? She keeps well away from you so that you are not under her direct command. Orange made it clear that in battle you are not under his command either
. When he tells you what to do, it is more like a suggested course of action than an order. Sally and Simon’s relationship is more like the devotion a human and a dog might have - though they both have the role of pet and owner. They are not friends.”

  “Yes but...”

  Ti’rrk interrupted him. “I can only say to you what I know, what I understand. You are very different to Ant’s. We don’t have the same sense of self that sentient mammals do. We are trained for our role from the moment we pupate. I was trained to become a warrior and Alien Liaison. To do this I need to be able to understand the psychology of any species I may have to work with, and I am trained to do that. I have studied the human psychology from the Earth archive that Alan gathered, so I have some insight into the way your mind works.”

  “Huh!” Snorted Mark. “I wish I did!”

  “Self-knowledge is a difficult thing to acquire, particularly for humans. There are common threads in the psychology of intelligent mammals, also in many species of intelligent reptiles. Your and Sally’s psyches are similar, even though your species origins are completely different. That might explain why you are attracted to each other.”

  “Who said I am attracted to Sally!” Mark demanded. “She’s a psychopathic killer control freak! And she’s got those weird teeth and eyes.”

  “You aren’t fooling yourself Mark and you’re not fooling me, so let’s not have any more of that.”

  “God Ti’rrk, you are like a cross between a nanny and Yoda!”

  “And do you consider that a good or a bad thing Mark?”

  Mark laughed. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. And by the way, I consider you to be a friend as well as a comrade.”

  “I am honoured Mark. There are many that respect and fear Ant’s, but vanishingly few who like us.”

  “Maybe I can see something in you that others can’t.” Said Mark, with a grin.

  “There are many that see something in you that you can’t Mark. Listen to them and believe them. You will live with yourself more comfortably and you will become a better person.”

  Mark said nothing but thought that people just see what they want to see, and what they thought they saw in him, was what they wanted to see, not what was there.

  A few minutes later Sally and Simon came into view. Simon was laying on the ground on his side watching Ti’rrk and Mark walk toward them, Sally was sitting on her backpack facing them with her chin resting in her hands.

  As Ti’rrk and Mark came to a halt in front of them, Sally looked up and Mark saw she had a worried look on her face.

  “There’s a lander on the way. They’ll pick us up from here, then hop over to get Orange and Mike. We’re going back to see Alan on Mother. I’ve got a bad feeling and we may need him.”

  “What have you got a bad feeling about?” Mark asked.

  “I need to debrief you all, get a full update from all the field commanders and review it with the strategy AI and Orange before I discuss that. I’ll speak to Ti’rrk first, then Mike, Orange and finally you Mark. Come and walk with me while we wait for the lander.”

  Sally stood and walked away from Ti’rrk and Simon. There was silence from the others, the only sounds were muted bird and animal calls from the forest and distant explosions coming from the direction Ti’rrk and Mark had come from.

  Mark caught up with Sally and walked beside her. Sally was walking with her head down.

  “How did you get on back there?” Sally asked.

  “OK thanks. We managed to avoid getting killed and met our objectives.”

  “I was worried about you. I shouldn’t have put you into this engagement. You have had nowhere near enough training or experience and I know you don’t want to be here.”

  Mark caught her arm and she turned to him. He smiled down at her and said “Don’t worry about me. I may not have had the training, but I think I can look after myself.” He said this with a lot more confidence than he felt, but he didn’t want Sally distracted by worrying about him. Actually, he didn’t want her worrying about anything.

  Sally stopped, turned to him, put her arms round him and hugged him tightly to her, pressing the side of her face into his chest. Mark was taken aback by this and for a moment just stood with his arms by his side. Then, he put his arms round her and hugged her into him. They stood like this in silence for several minutes. They released each other and stepped back. Without a word, Sally turned to walk back to the others.

  Mark didn’t know what he should do in a situation like this as he hadn’t had a girlfriend before. He broke into a jog to catch up with her and walked by her side in silence.

  When they got back to the others, Simon jumped up and said: “So, have you two made friends?” Mark felt himself blushing. Sally was saved from having to say anything by the arrival of the lander that came down with a thud as the landing legs hit the ground. The boarding ramp slid out and they ran up inside the lander. As soon as they were aboard, the ramp slid back inside, the door closed and they took off to collect Orange and Mike, and then back to Mother.

  Interspecies Nudity

  Sally reviewed her team as the lander took off from Gnn’Ath. They had come through the assault on the enemy headquarters by the skin of their teeth, and that was with Mark performing much better than expected. The enemy also had fewer soldiers than expected. She worried that her judgement was being affected by the presence of Mark in the team and that the deployment plan was flawed. That was particularly worrying with the uncertainty over events driving the enemy on the Southern Continent. She realised that she would have to take a back seat on directing the assault and depend on the tactical AI and Orange completely for this. She was determined that she would control Alan’s involvement though. She didn’t trust him not to just sit back while all hell broke loose around him.

  Back on board Mother Sally led them off the lander and called them into a group.

  “Internal transport, to our quarters.” She said, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

  “Are you ready?” Mark's AI asked.

  “Ready.” Mark replied and blinked into the team quarters in time for the others to come in through the door.

  “How did you get in here?” Asked Mike. “You were still standing in the landing bay when I left.”

  “I came straight here.” Mark said. “I guess Mother’s main AI considers me to be crew, not a visitor.”

  Mike didn’t seem too pleased with the explanation. “As you were first in, you can get the drinks.” She said, shrugging off her backpack. It still had her old Mark Seven clipped to it and she dumped it with her Mark Eight on her bunk. She took off her helmet and tossed it onto the bunk too. ”I’m going for a shower.” She announced and walked through to the bathroom.

  “Me too.” Said Simon. He dropped his KE rifle and Mark Seven on his bed and put his backpack on the floor by it. He pulled off his helmet, body armour and jumpsuit, threw his jumpsuit into the synthesiser for recycling, dropped the rest onto the floor and followed Mike into the bathroom.

  Ti’rrk went to her platform and twisted round to release the harness the held her weapons and equipment and slid it off onto the floor. “I’ll tidy up later.” She said. “I’m going to see Sally.” She left Orange and Mark together in the quarters.

  Without speaking. Orange took his backpack and stowed it in a locker in the wall and put his helmet in with it. He put his KE rifle and Mark Seven in another larger locker, stripped out of his body armour and jumpsuit and threw them both into the synthesiser. Mark noticed that the left arm of Orange’s body armour was pretty torn up from the grenade that had knocked him out during their first firefight. Orange waited a moment, pulled a fresh jumpsuit out of the synthesiser and put it on.

  Mark ordered up a drink for Orange and a mug of tea for himself from the synthesiser. He took the drinks and sat at the table.

  Orange came and sat at the table with Mark.

  “Why don’t you get out of your kit Mark. When those two have finished throwing wate
r around in there a shower might make you feel better too. You mammals seem to like them.”

  “Yeah, that sounds good. I’ll finish my tea first.”

  They sat quietly for a couple of minutes in a companionable silence.

  Orange broke the silence. “How are you feeling after your first action?”

  “Better than I thought I would. The sleep suppressor still seems to be working, but when it wears off, I’ll sleep for a fortnight.”

  “Not much chance of that.” Orange said. “We’ll probably be down on the ground again before long, but you can never tell with Sally. She’ll do what’s best though.”

  “It’s funny.” Mark said. “A few days ago I would have been crapping myself at the idea of going back into action, but now, I just want to see this finished.”

  “You did well down there Mark. Better than you have any right to. I am beginning to see what Sally sees in you. You have the makings of an elite soldier in you.”

  “I don’t think so Orange. I muddled my way through that and got lucky, but at least I know what to expect next time.”

  “Yeah, whatever. If we get time, I want to do some training with you and I guess the others will too. Put your weapons in the locker where I put mine. Your AI will tell you which is yours when you want them back. Pick a locker and put your backpack and helmet in there. Dump your jumpsuit and your body armour - it took some damage when your field armour collapsed back there so you’ll need a new set. When those two have finished in the bathroom and it’s safe to go in there, freshen up before you see Sally, you’ll need to be sharp for the debriefing.”

  Mike burst out of the bathroom carrying her body armour and jumpsuit, went over to the synthesiser and threw them in. Mark averted his eyes from her naked body. Mike noticed this and chirped a few times.

  “It’s OK Mark, I’m not shy. I’m sure you’ve seen reptiles without clothes back on Earth!” Mike said and chirped again. Noticing there was no drink for her, she said “What’s a girl got to do to get a drink around here?” She paused a moment, opened the synthesiser, got a drink out and came and sat with Orange and Mark.