by Ryk Brown
Nathan glanced at Telles, who discretely shook his head in opposition to her rash proposal. He looked back at Jessica. “You know I can’t do that, Jess…as much as I’d like to.”
“Such an honorable young man,” General Bacca quipped.
“Shut up,” Jessica scolded him. She focused her attention back on Nathan. “Then this is the only way.”
Nathan took a deep breath, letting it out in a long sigh.
“Time, people,” the general reminded them.
“Shut up,” Jessica snapped, more annoyed than before.
“The general is correct,” the commander pointed out. “We must move quickly.”
Jessica looked at him again. “Nathan, please.”
Nathan sighed. “Promise me… If I come out a basket case, you’ll take care of me.”
“I promise,” Jessica replied, placing her hand on Nathan’s cheek.
“Very well,” Nathan finally agreed. “What do I do?”
“Put this on and lie down,” Jessica instructed, handing him the cap.
Nathan pulled the cap on over his head. “Like this?”
Jessica reached out and adjusted the cap on Nathan’s head, making sure the marks on it were aligned according to the instructions given to her by Doctor Megel. “That’s good. Now lie down and be still.”
“How long will it take?” Nathan asked, as he lay down on his bed.
“The slower the scan, the better our chances of a complete copy,” Jessica explained. “At least ten minutes.”
“Then let’s get started,” Nathan told her.
* * *
Mister Bryant stepped into the admiral’s office. “Your shuttle is ready, Admiral.”
Admiral Dumar took one last look around his nearly barren office, then slowly rose to his feet to move out from behind his desk.
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay for the memorial service?”
“That is still several days away,” Admiral Dumar replied. “Besides, this is not our world. Let the Terrans honor him in their own way. We shall honor him in ours.”
Mister Bryant nodded his understanding. “As you wish.”
Admiral Dumar walked to the door, stopping to shake the hand of his trusted second. “We have done amazing things here. None of which I could have done without you.”
“Thank you, sir. It has been my honor.”
“I trust you will be returning home soon?”
“Within the month, yes.”
“Good, good. I’m sure your family misses you.”
“My kids, likely,” Mister Bryant agreed. “My wife…”
Admiral Dumar smiled, patted his friend on the shoulder, and headed through the door.
“Attention on deck!” one of the officers in the control room outside the admiral’s office barked.
Simultaneously, every person working in the Karuzara command center snapped to attention.
“CORINARI!” the officer bellowed.
“HUP! HUP! HUP!” the rest chorused in unison.
Admiral Dumar felt a tremendous surge of pride. Most of the officers and technicians in the control room had been members of Corinair’s elite military, but he had not. In fact, he had been in command of the secret Takaran anti-insurgency team tasked with keeping an eye on the Corinari, lest they became too ambitious in their goals. Yet, these officers, all of them volunteers, same as he, were honoring him.
Admiral Travon Dumar raised his hand in salute, a gesture meant to show his men the admiration and respect he held for them. In unison, they returned his salute.
Dumar left the control room and entered the corridor, only to find it lined with personnel of every type. Officers, enlisted, civilian contractors, volunteers: all of them had dropped what they were doing to wish their leader a fond farewell.
Admiral Dumar had to choke back the tears as he walked down the corridor. He had never served with such people. They believed in what they were doing, with their hearts and souls. And he would likely never serve with such people again.
He continued down one corridor after another, each lined with base personnel, all of them coming to attention and saluting, making a wave-like effect as the admiral passed, until finally he stepped into the transit car, and the doors closed behind him.
As the transit car began to accelerate on its journey to one of the Karuzara asteroid’s many hangar bays, one thought kept racing through Admiral Dumar’s mind.
Nathan will not live to see such honors.
* * *
General Bacca paced nervously back and forth, impatiently waiting for the scan of Nathan’s mind to be completed.
“You are expending energy unnecessarily,” Commander Telles commented.
“You have already said as much,” the general snapped. “More than once, I might add.”
“Yet your behavior does not change.”
“If the lieutenant commander is at all good at his job, he will have put a request into the pipeline to at least check on the identities of the both of you,” the general said. “I don’t suppose you bothered to assume the identities of people within our military.”
“They did not say,” the commander stated.
“At this hour, it will be difficult to get anyone to respond,” the general continued. “However, eventually, someone will respond.”
“The identities of those within your intelligence community are so easily verified?” the commander wondered.
“Normally, no. But considering the importance of the prisoner we requested to visit…” The general shook his finger at the commander. “Trust me, someone will respond. And when they do, we had best be light years away, or we will be joining your captain on the execution stage.” He turned to look at Jessica. “How much longer?”
“We’re almost done,” Jessica promised.
“You’re making it awfully hard to remain calm and relaxed,” Nathan said with his eyes closed, lying on his bed as his brain was scanned by the Nifelmian device.
“I am taking a tremendous risk on your behalf,” the general reminded them.
“Oh, please,” Jessica said dismissively. “You’re doing this on your own behalf, not ours.”
“The risk is there, nonetheless,” the general replied. “For all of us, I should remind you.”
The Nifelmian device beeped three times, and the status display changed.
“Is it done?” the general asked.
“I think so,” Jessica answered, looking over the display.
Nathan opened his eyes. “Did it work?”
Jessica examined the status display once more. “It says ‘scan complete’, so I guess that’s it.”
“I don’t suppose it tells you whether or not it was a good scan?”
“Megel said a good scan will take up at least eighty percent of the device’s storage capacity. Yours took up ninety-three percent. Must be all that history crap you’re always spouting.”
Nathan took off the wired cap and handed it back to Jessica. He took a deep breath and sighed. “I guess that’s it, then.”
Jessica placed the cap and its cabling back into the bag, followed by the device itself. “I just have to take a DNA sample.” She pulled out a small vial, opened it, and pulled out the small collector probe stored within. “Open wide.”
Nathan opened his mouth to allow her to rub the collector probe against the inside of his cheeks.
“That should do it,” Jessica said as she placed the collector probe back into the vial.
“Don’t lose it,” Nathan said. “Either one.”
“Don’t worry,” she assured him, as she placed the vial back into the device’s secret compartment.
“Then we can depart?” the general asked, eager to leave.
“Why did you tell them that?” Nathan wondered as he rose from the bed.
Jessica looked Nathan in the eyes. “Because we cannot leave you to be tortured to death, and have it broadcast to billions.” She glanced briefly to her side to ensure that the general was behind her, then mouthed trust me to Nathan. She turned and looked at Commander Telles. “We can’t leave him to be tortured.”
“This was not part of the plan,” the commander warned her.
“Fuck the plan,” she cursed. “I’m not going to let them make him suffer. I can’t.”
“Jessica,” the commander said. “How are we supposed to kill him? We have no weapons.”
“Neither of us needs weapons to kill,” Jessica reminded him.
“It would be best if his death appeared to be a suicide,” the commander told her.
“Why?” General Bacca said.
All three of them looked at the general.
“Make it look like I did it,” the general added. “For revenge, or as a traitor. Whichever they choose, it is of little difference to me, as I will be far away with the both of you.”
“I’m not letting you kill Nathan,” Jessica argued. “I’m not going to give you the satisfaction.”
“Thanks,” Nathan said.
“Better that we leave now, and let Nathan accept his fate,” the commander insisted. “It provides the highest probability of mission success.”
“I’m not gonna argue with you about this, Telles,” Jessica said stubbornly.
“No one will ever believe that General Bacca was able to kill Nathan with his bare hands,” the commander warned. “Look at him. He is old and frail.”
“Normally, I would take offense to that,” the general said.
“Shut up,” Jessica warned the general.
“He doesn’t have to,” Nathan interrupted.
“Doesn’t have to what?” Jessica asked.
“To kill me with his bare hands,” Nathan explained. “I have a knife.”
“What?”
“One of the guards felt sorry for me. He left it behind after my final meal, so I could take my own life.”
“There’s your plan, then,” the general decided. “We go about our merry way, and young Captain Scott kills himself in his cell to avoid being tortured.” The general pulled out his gloves and put them on. “Shall we?”
Jessica looked at Nathan, as he reached under the edge of his mattress and produced the knife.
“I……I don’t know if I can do it,” Nathan said quietly, looking into Jessica’s eyes. “Can…you?”
“Nathan,” Jessica whispered back, her eyes pleading him not to ask such a task of her. She glanced back at the commander, looking for support.
“Would you like me…” the commander began to offer.
“No,” Jessica objected, holding up her hand. “I’ll do it.” She took a deep breath, then turned back to Nathan. “Give me the knife,” she said hoarsely, her voice unsteady.
“Jess…”
“I can do it,” she insisted. “For you, I can do it.”
“Jess,” Nathan repeated, his eyes welling up, his own voice trembling.
Jessica took the knife from him, turned it, and pointed it at his heart. She gazed into his eyes for several seconds, then kissed him gently. “I love you, Nathan.”
Nathan was unable to speak, struggling to control his breathing and remain standing, in the face of what was about to happen.
Jessica tightened her grip on the knife, pushing the tip against his shirt, but no more. Her resolve was fading. Nathan could see it in her eyes. “I… I… I can’t,” she whispered, almost inaudible.
Nathan put both hands on her cheeks, looked in her eyes, and whispered, “I love you, too.” He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her quickly into him, causing the knife to plunge deeply into his chest. An intense pain shot through him; he could even feel the tip of the blade change direction slightly on its way in, careening off his rib. His mouth dropped open, and he gasped, just as Jessica let out a tiny, startled cry of anguish.
“Oh, God. Oh, God,” she repeated in horror, Nathan’s ghastly expression only inches from her face.
“I love you, too,” he said again, barely audible as his final breaths escaped, and his legs began to give out.
Commander Telles stood motionless, maintaining his position to prevent anyone from looking into the cell through the door window.
Jessica quickly let go of the knife, still stuck in his heart, and reached around him to keep him from falling. Crying, she lowered him gently back down onto his bed, looking him in the eyes the entire time, as the life in them faded away.
She placed him on his side, facing the wall, then slowly pulled the blanket up over him. She paused a moment, pretending to get the blanket just right, as she used it to wipe the handle of the knife, still stuck in Nathan’s chest, clean of her finger prints.
“Is he dead?” General Bacca asked.
Jessica finished covering Nathan, kissing him on the cheek before answering. “He’s gone.”
“I’m killing the anti-surveillance field,” Jessica announced, looking at each of them to ensure they were ready. She reached into the bag and deactivated the device, then placed it into the secret compartment and closed it up. Once complete, she looked at the general. “The procedure is finished, General,” she said in Jung. “All nanites within the subject’s body have been permanently disabled.”
“Guard!” the general cried out. A moment later, the door lock deactivated and the door swung open. “We have completed our task,” the general announced to the guard who appeared in the door.
The guard looked at the prisoner, apparently unconscious on the bed. “He is unharmed?” the guard asked in Jung.
“He will be unconscious for several hours,” the general explained.
“Why is he lying on his side like that?”
“His unconsciousness is deep,” Jessica clarified. “We placed him on his left lateral side to prevent him from choking, in case his stomach contents should come up while he is out.”
“See that he is not disturbed,” the general reminded the guard.
“Yes, General.”
“We are ready to depart,” the general announced.
“Of course, General,” the guard replied, turning to lead them out of the cell.
The general was the first to exit, followed by Jessica, who exchanged glances with the commander.
Commander Telles took one last look at the man he had once been programmed to protect. That task was not yet accomplished.
* * *
The shuttle smoothly touched down on the landing pad outside the general’s residence, thanks to its automated flight systems. Before the engines could finish spinning down, the boarding hatch opened, and the commander stepped out, followed by General Bacca and Jessica. They headed quickly across the dimly lit courtyard, making their way to the patio doors, into the general’s office.
Once inside, Jessica immediately removed the Nifelmian device from the Jung military-style bag, and placed it back into the civilian-style knapsack she had taken from the yacht.
General Bacca let out a sigh of relief, heading for his liquor cabinet behind his desk. “I have to admit, I did not think we would make it out of there alive,” he said as he opened the cabinet and poured himself a drink. “You two were quite impressive.” The general lifted his glass and poured the shot of red liquor down his throat in a single gulp. “Would either of you care for a drink?” he asked, helping himself to another serving.
“Our missi
on is not complete,” the commander reminded him, as he closed the patio doors.
“Yes, quite right,” the general agreed as he sat in his desk chair. “How are we going to get off of Nor-Patri?”
“We, are not,” Jessica replied as she pulled off her Jung uniform jacket.
Commander Telles locked the patio doors and then moved to his right, taking off his own uniform jacket.
“What do you mean?” the general wondered nervously. He didn’t notice that the commander was moving behind him.
Jessica grinned. “You didn’t really think we were going to honor our agreement, did you?”
“You gave me your word,” the general reminded her, as he slowly reached for the handgun under his desk.
“You butchered millions of my people,” Jessica said, seething. “And it was you who set Nathan up as a scapegoat, in the hopes of saving your own ass.”
General Bacca pulled the weapon and took aim at Jessica, only to find the commander’s strong right hand clutching his own. The general struggled to free himself from the commander’s grip, but his opponent had his other arm around his neck, pinning him to the back of his desk chair.
The commander expertly slid his hand over the general’s gun hand, and slowly forced the gun barrel up under the general’s chin.
“You bitch!” the general growled through gritted teeth.
“Damn right,” Jessica replied, nonchalantly.
The general used his last breath to scream out in rage, as the commander pressed the general’s trigger finger down. The weapon fired, sending a single red energy blast into the general’s chin, instantly burning a tunnel through his brain and out the top of his head.
Commander Telles released the general’s body, the dead man’s head and hair still sizzling from the heat of the energy blast. The general’s body went limp, his hand still clutching his weapon, as an acrid smoke rose from the smoldering wound.
“Damn, that stinks,” Jessica commented, a smile on her face.
“Yes, quite unpleasant indeed,” the commander agreed, as he stepped out from behind the general’s body and continued changing out of his Jung uniform.
