Whenever I opened my eyes in the body shop, Priestess was by my side. We had been admitted the same day, evak’d to Atom to treat our wounds. Her wounds were minor but she stayed on to look after me. I had a few broken bones from where the exo had whacked me, and several nasty shrapnel wounds. Nothing that couldn’t be repaired in a few days. Priestess the seductress, in hospital whites. When I awoke, she reached out and touched my hand. Who could ask for more? She had survived. I thanked the Gods of War.
Priestess and I had uncovered the secret of Andrion 2. Snow Leopard and the others had captured the Scaler-a boy savage armed with a spear and a slingshot, covered with filth, all wild eyes and animal screams. They had to zap him with blues to calm him down. He had evidently taken out the probes with his slingshot. They didn’t get any info from him at first.
We knew something was very wrong.
The giant exoseg we’d run into was one of the more aggressive species from Andrion 3: Exoseg Gigantic Soldier, the techs had labeled them. The dominant species on Andrion 3 used them as enforcers. It did not belong on Andrion 2. Their presence must have something to do with the Systies.
Command rearranged our defenses immediately, covering Zero Alpha with geodetic sensors and preparing for a planetary attack. We clearly needed more information. We launched our CATs into the wilderness while the lifies went to work on the Scaler.
Priestess briefed me regularly on the captured boy. He was just a kid, but his fine features brought me back immediately to those two defiant stone figures carved into the cold heart of the underworld.
Then, without warning, Valkyrie came. She appeared suddenly in the doorway to the recovery room. My heart raced when I saw her. She always had that effect on me. She was a green-eyed blonde, a princess carved from ice, a true child of the Legion-a baby, a genius, a killer. All the wisdom of the ages, behind those lovely eyes. It’s easy to fill a Legionnaire with info. Atom gave us more every night in our sleep, but all that knowledge was dangerous. It took a while to get it all under control. Valkyrie was still working on it.
She posed in the doorway dramatically, her face cold and distant, her golden hair carelessly tangled. A chill shot through my body. She wore her camfax litesuit, all covered with red dust. Her perfume was the scent of Andrion 2. Gamma patrolled the far West, a cold desert of dust.
I floated on a warm cushion of air in the tank while Priestess stood beside me. She had been cleaning my face with a medpad, checking the wounds. She paled when she saw Valkyrie, and drew away from me, almost guiltily.
“Hello, Thinker.” Valkyrie acted casual, as if she had just dropped by on her way to class.
“Hello, Valkyrie. I’ve missed you.” Damn, she looks good!
“You look a little tired, Thinker. You really should be more careful.” Her voice was quiet. Almost a whisper. She approached the tank slowly and ran her slender fingers along the rail-so erotic! How does she do that?
Priestess stood rigid, silent, the medpad still in one hand.
Valkyrie looked into my eyes. That faint, confident smile was there now. God, she could eat me alive whenever she wanted, just like before.
She turned to Priestess. “You must be Priestess. My, so much trouble for such a little girl. You really should thank me, you know, for saving your life. You see, I taught Thinker everything he knows.”
Valkyrie could be very nasty with competition. And she had just declared war on Priestess.
“Yes, Sister.” Priestess bowed her head and said the right words. She knew Valkyrie by reputation as a third level Sister of the dark arts, deadlier than many of her male colleagues, and very dangerous when she grew angry. I had seen her in ice-cold fury on Planet Hell, killing without remorse, splattered with blood as we’d fought side-by-side for our lives. I did not want to see that again.
Valkyrie turned away from Priestess in contempt and ran a fingernail along my upper arm, smiling faintly. It sent a surge right through my body. She was pure bitch, but I wasn’t about to complain.
“I can only stay a few fracs, Thinker. Can you ask your friend to leave?” She had a cruel streak that I did not like.
“I am leaving, Sister. Goodbye, Thinker.” Priestess looked ready to cry. I really felt for her.
“Goodbye, Priestess. Thank you.” I knew Valkyrie would not like my thanking Priestess, but there were limits to my cowardice.
“Try to hold on to your E next time,” Valkyrie hurled after her as she left.
“Valkyrie, did you have to do that?”
“Close your mouth, Thinker.” She gently touched a finger to my lips. “I just want to look at you.” A quiet, dreamy voice. “I’ve missed you. Missed you for ages. We’re in the desert now. It’s incredible. I love it, Thinker. I only wish you could come with me.”
“We’ll get together. I’ll be out in no time.”
“And back in Beta. Nice, personalized service you get here. What’s she doing here?”
“She was injured. She just got out of the tank.”
“Then she should be back with Beta downside, not playing wet-nurse to my man. You stay away from her, Thinker.”
“Oh, come on…”
“Don’t you ‘Oh, come on’ me. I know you perfectly well. And I know her type too. ‘Yes, Sister.’ Such a sweet little girl. Sugary little drip! She does whatever you say, doesn’t she?”
“Valkyrie…stop it, will you? Just stop it. Forget about her.”
“You stay away from her! She almost got you killed, just because of her stupidity. She didn’t get a single shot in, did she? What was she doing, anyway?”
“It happened very quickly, Valkyrie.” She was right. But it wasn’t just Priestess. We’d both been stupid and slow.
“People like that shouldn’t be in the Legion. How’d she get through Hell? Was she everybody’s hot little dolly? I’ll bet Beta carried her all the way! You just stay away from her, you hear?”
“Yeah. Yeah, sure. Stay away from her. Tenners.”
“You remember that! You belong to me, and if she comes after you, there’s going to be trouble!”
“Right.” I looked into her cool green eyes. She smiled. I laughed. She knew me so well, it was scary. But it was good to see her again. Damn, she looks good!
###
Valkyrie knew me better than I knew myself. She also had a habit of showing up periodically to reinforce her claim on me. The visits were always intense and memorable. It occurred to me that there were other occasions when I’d been hurt worse and I’d never heard from her. It was as though she had some kind of radar that detected…
After she left, I thought about what she had said about Priestess. It wasn’t fair. I picked up my tacmod and called Priestess on private.
She answered, “Priestess.”
“Priestess, Thinker. Can you come by?”
“I’m sorry…I can’t. I have to stay here.”
“She’s gone. I want to see you. It’s important.”
“All right.”
She agreed! My heart leaped.
When she came, she hung her head. I reached out of the tank and took her hand. A warm rush shot up my arm. It was a bit scary.
“I’m sorry, Priestess. That’s the way she is.”
“It’s not your fault. I’m such an earther.” She sounded very depressed.
“No, you did right. I’m sorry she’s such a pain. I’m grateful for your help, Priestess. I’m sorry she gave you such a bad time. It was wrong. She’s just jealous.”
“Jealous? She’s jealous of me? Ha!” Priestess still hung her head, but she had not let go of my hand. Have I ever really looked closely at her before?
Priestess was dangerously attractive. Although a few years younger than Valkyrie, she was a Legion immortal like all of us, and nobody could call her a baby.
We were all immortals, of course. It was easy, with ConFree’s science, to keep people alive and young indefinitely-aging was a horror from the past. But getting shot through the head was just as fatal to an immortal as to a mortal-and our job description ensured we’d have plenty of opportunity to discover that.
We all held the knowledge of the Legion. She hid it well. She had delicate, very fine features. Warm smouldering brown eyes, a small mouth with ripe lips, and thick, gleaming black hair, almost covering her eyes. She called up the demons from the dark side of my soul, without even looking at me. It was hard to believe she had fought through Planet Hell with the rest of us.
It would be easy, so easy. I did not want trouble. Not between Valkyrie and Priestess. I owed Valkyrie a lot and I would never hurt her. I still loved her. Priestess remained silent and I held her hand and closed my eyes. I was in deep, deep trouble.
###
I woke up the next day, floating in the tank, with Priestess close by. My wounds were healing fast. Our lifies could regenerate entire limbs and organs, so broken bones and shrapnel wounds were easy. Priestess had somehow arranged a duty slot in the body shop to be with me. I didn’t ask how. Beta awaited us both.
I slept and dreamed. I was deep underground, in my armor. I could not move and I was burning alive in a lake of fire. Just as I was about to die, I awoke with a start, drenched with sweat.
Priestess was shaking me. I sat up and discovered that I was out of the tank and in a bed. The sheets were soaked but the bed was already drying them for me, soundlessly drawing the moisture away from my clammy skin. Priestess didn’t ask about my dream. Atom spied on our dreams and that was enough. We had enough demons of our own without worrying too much about anyone else’s.
I blinked hard and rubbed my eyes. “Anything on the Systies?”
She paused before answering. She seemed to have to force herself to return from some distant place. “Completely negative,” Priestess replied. “Not a sign.”
I scooted back on the bed and propped myself up on a pillow. “They’re out there…waiting. Blink once and we die. That’s what I think.”
She bit her lip. “You could be right.”
“How about the exosegs?”
“Nothing. The lifies worked on the remains of the one that…the one you killed, but they bitched that you didn’t leave much for them.”
I rubbed the back of my neck and snorted, “Oh yeah? I’ll try to be more careful next time. Next you’re going to tell me that Psycho wanted me to save him a mandible for his bulkhead.”
She didn’t laugh and she wouldn’t look at me. It was starting to get to me. “Snow Leopard asked how you’re doing.”
“When are they letting me out of here?”
Her voice was small. Distant. “Tomorrow. We’ll go together.”
“Hey, you don’t have to wait for me, you know. If I’m boring you…”
That brought her back. She closed her eyes for a moment, then wet her lips and looked me in the eyes for the first time. “I know.” She tossed her hair back, revealing her lovely, perfect face. Her dark eyes were burning, and the rest of the universe simply ceased to exist.
There was nothing else that mattered. My heart…I don’t know what it did but I know that it was something serious. The tech would be here in fracs, to check on my heart attack. It was as though I’d never seen her before and I suddenly realized that I would never see her the same way again.
“Priestess…” What could I say? I wanted to tell her that we were sworn, Valkyrie and me. I wanted to tell her all about it, to explain that I could not possibly have another lover. Not after Valkyrie, not after Hell, not after all that we had meant to each other. I wanted to say it. But I could not find the words. All I could do was look into her eyes and realize that this was different.
“I don’t care, Thinker. I don’t care.”
Lord, such beauty. “Care? About what?” I could hardly breathe. Surely the tech would come soon, to rescue me.
“About her! I don’t care!”
I had never seen her like this. “What do you mean…”
“You know what I mean! I mean Valkyrie!”
I fell right into those bottomless eyes. Trapped. I wanted to tear my gaze away, but I could not. She would not release me and I began to pray that she never would. I loved Valkyrie-cherished her. We’d been through so much together and…
“I’m yours, Thinker, if you want me.” She stood up abruptly, tossing her hair back again, defiantly. I could only sit there in total amazement, gaping at her.
“Body and soul, Thinker. Body and soul!” Her eyes flashed and a bleak vision seemed to pass over them. She backed toward the door, still holding me with her eyes. I knew she meant it. “Tomorrow, Thinker. Together.” She slipped out the door.
I knew that something had changed in both of us. Suddenly I knew that I would never be a possession to her. Never a convenience when the mood struck or green jealousy reared its ugly head. I would die without hesitation for Valkyrie, but I wanted to live with sweet Priestess.
We went back the next day, dropping into the atmosphere in an assault craft. We sat next to each other, but an uneasy tension lingered between us. We’d crossed a line. A big one. It scared me more than the exosegs. Would we feel the same after we returned to Beta and our dance with death?
The ship bounced wildly, its skin glowing cherry-red and Andrion 2 coming at us like a heavenly vision. Great silver oceans glittered molten sunlight, soft white clouds streaked by far below, endless green forests rolled by, bursting into every color of the spectrum as we approached.
Zero Alpha had been transformed into Alpha Base, our first foothold. With countless tons of equipment and cargo flowing down from Atom, it was Andrion 2’s first starport and a growing military base. Around the raw, dusty red earth, endless rows of ugly building modules dominated a bleak landscape scarred by hastily excavated storage bunkers and pitted with construction sites, aircar parks and other Legion installations. The whole base was ringed with a heavily fortified defensive perimeter.
That night, I visited a small chapel at Alpha Base, open to the stars and the soft breezes of the night. A simple Godmod, as we called it, with Deadman and the cross of the Legion on the wall. A chapel, for soldiers without souls.
Several other troopers from CAT 24 had arrived, suited up with helmets off. As I knelt before Deadman, I was surprised when Priestess slipped in beside me, kneeling by my side. She set her helmet before her.
I only knew one prayer, the battle chant of the Legion. I whispered it, and Priestess joined her words to mine.
“I am a Soldier of the Legion.
I believe in Evil-
The survival of the strong-
And the death of the weak.
I am the guardian.
I am the sword of light
In the dark of the night.
I will deliver us from Evil.
“I accept life everlasting
And the death of my past.
I will trust no Earther worm
Nor any mortal man,
But only the mark of the Legion.
I have burnt the book of laws
To serve the Deadman’s cause
As a soldier of the Legion.”
Priestess gazed into the distance, innocent and vulnerable. Her lips formed the words, but I could barely hear her.
“I am the slave of the Future
At the gateway to the stars,
Where I can see-Eternity.
For I walk in the shadow of death
And yet I fear no Evil
For I am the light in the dark
I am the watch on the mark
I am a soldier of the Legion.
“I will have no talk with Evil.
The arts of death are the tools of life
And in the end I will send
A maxburst to advise
The Omnis come by surprise
And though we kill them where they stand,
We know it’s death’s dark land
For a soldier of the Legion.”
We had taken the same pledge on joining the Legion. It was the creed of the Outworlder race, and a reaffirmation of our faith. It always calmed me down.
I glanced at Priestess. Her eyes glistened. I reached over and took her hand. Yes, we might die this very day.
We went outside where we could taste the still before the dawn, under a sky full of icy stars. Her eyes seemed to glow in the dark.
“I believe in Evil,” she said abruptly. “That thing was Evil, pure and simple. And you killed it where it stood! You lifted me right out of the grave.”
I drew her to me silently, and she rested her head on my armored shoulder. Her hair smelled like morning rain. “It’s all right,” I said. “You would have done the same for me. I was lucky. We both got lucky.” Priestess would not let go, but I didn’t really mind.
Finally she spoke. “Thinker, I want you to be extra careful on this op. Please don’t leave me.”
“I won’t leave you, Priestess.”
“I want to be close to you. I think…something may happen. And I’m afraid. I’m afraid I’ll lose you.”
“We’ll stay as close as they’ll let us.” She knew it wasn’t really up to us.
She looked up at me, a new light in her eyes. She tried a smile, and it worked.
“No worries…Priestess.” Nothing mattered, I thought. I did not want to resist. We kissed, and a meteor shower flashed through the quiet sky, just before the dawn. And for the moment, the future did not matter.
A kiss in morning starlight. The start of the Scaler Campaign. We had only the vaguest glimmering of the horrors that awaited us all. As a newborn warrior from Planet Hell, a Soldier of the Legion, I thought I understood Evil. But I was a child without the slightest concept of the real fabric of terror. I had not yet tasted of Evil. Exosegs weren’t evil, they were mindless. Evil awaited us all, holding its breath in the dark.
The Inners never understood Evil. Their worlds had been purchased in blood by the Legion, generations in the past. It’s easy to lose track of reality if nothing has ever tried to eat you alive.
We faced the cold wind of the stars; we reached out and touched the sworn enemies of humanity, and killed them where they stood. We faced the Systies, the slavemasters, and held their corrupt empire at bay, allowing ConFree to prosper. At the gateway to infinity, the Omnis writhed, an alien scourge. Facing the O’s was like facing God. Our fathers had died like bacteria in the Plague War, but the Legion had finally shattered the Omni fleets. It had been a total war, a war of extermination, wherever they appeared. Grim, fantastic battles fought far, far away in the Outvac, in the empty spaces between ConFree and infinity. The Inners never knew or cared, not about Legion blood. They would never know, not unless the Legion died. Only then would the Inners learn about Evil. But it would be written in the heavens for them all to see, long before it happened to them. They would have time to think. They would look up from their fat, safe, happy little worlds, and see the stars burning brightly in the night, a new universe of supernovas. For we would go down fighting.