Sunlight. Lord! Andrion 2’s star blazed overhead, nuclear light, a soundless explosion lighting up our world. What a day! The sunlight glared off crystal white sands from a cobalt blue sky, and a shallow calm green sea lapped gently at the beach. I lay flat on my back in the sand, stripped to my shorts, soaking up the heat. With my eyes closed, I could see a red haze, with brilliant white spots burning in the center. A burst of laughter broke the silence. Beta was taking a break.
They’d switched us from hunting Cultists to exoseg duty. We had been hunting exosegs in our aircar over the badlands, and had spotted seven of them crossing a dry lakebed. All they could do was run over the salt flat. We left charred, dismembered corpses littering the landscape, and then continued our patrol across endless stretches of glaring white sands bordered by dark jumbled patches of tortured earth and dead brown hills. We reached the edge of an inland salt sea and parked our aircar on the beach near the languid green waves.
“Suck it up!” Psycho shouted.
“On deck, trooper! Yummies!” Coolhand kicked sand all over me, stinging my skin. I opened my eyes. A can of bitter tumbled end over end in the air, glittering, heading right for my head. I caught it, snapped it open, and drank. Ice, exploding. What a day!
Swimming, sunbathing and succumbing to the all-too-human joy of warm sand between our toes, we gathered around a dropbox covered with hot comrats and cold drinks. Brown soldier ants, I thought, all skin and muscle and desire and nerves. I could not be happier, here, at the end of the journey, with the sunlight of a lost star warming my flesh.
Priestess wore tight panties and a sleeveless top. It did not leave much to the imagination. She was all legs and arms, toasting in the sun, a vision of incredible beauty completely at ease, surrounded by a gang of death-weary, sex-starved professional killers. It was probably the safest spot on the planet. Every single one of us would have died to protect her, and we knew she would do the same for us. Anyone who even laid an uninvited finger on her would have to answer to the rest of the squad. Chances are, the squad would need a replacement soldier while the offender took on a new career as worm food.
The gentle green waves lapped at the shore with a faint hiss. Tiny creatures darted about in the foam. I got up and ambled over to the eats.
“You should take a look at Ironman, Priestess.” Dragon sounded concerned. “He’s having trouble sleeping when we’re on duty at the squadmod. Guy just can’t sleep anymore. Keeps going out for air at night. He must walk all night, he’s so pale and exhausted when he gets back. I think he’s sick.”
It got a laugh, and Dragon took a long drink of iced juice. Ironman’s relationship with the native girl made him a good target for jibes. He was so quiet and good-natured that it never seemed to bother him. He just sat there faintly smiling, brushing his long hair back with one hand. Come to think of it, he had been spending a lot of time with Morning Light.
“Have a drink, Ironman. Don’t listen to these guys.” Snow Leopard smiled. His skin was turning red. By late afternoon it would be purple.
Coolhand got up and waded into the water with Warhound. Coolhand was a good soul. He seemed happy with the Legion and with himself. I knew he had come from an unhappy world and perhaps that explained him.
Redhawk was taking a rare break away from his beloved aircar. He made a show of splashing out to join the others, clowning around and flapping his arms like some great bird. His long, shaggy hair and scraggly beard made him look like some primitive hominid attacking modern human perfection.
“Universal Biotics,” Psycho was saying. “They’re the ones! If you get a biogen from UB, you’re set for life.” He laughed and took another swig of bitter. We sat in the shade of the aircar. Psycho held forth on his favorite subject.
“They will do absolutely anything you want! And you can set them for whatever you want-pick a personality, pick a fetish, pick a vice-you got it!”
“Are we gonna hear this again?” Dragon was not impressed.
“May Deadman walk if I’m lying! I swear on the cross this is true! It was just before I joined the Legion. I was a…well, kind of a security guard for this extremely wealthy sub who owned most of what was worth owning in those parts. Well, one day he…”
“The last time you were an arms salesman,” Dragon objected.
“That was a different story,” Psycho explained. “Anyway, he went away. He did that a lot. And he left me in charge of the interior of the…well, I suppose you lowlifes would call it a palace.” Psycho paused to take a sip.
“So he had this biogen girl. She was something! They are fanatics at Universal Biotics. I swear, they must give free units to the techs, because those techs really put their hearts into their work.”
“Not only their hearts,” Merlin observed.
“Yeah, well, they have to test the units, right? Anyway, I did a little research in the owner’s manual. If you should ever be fortunate enough to own a biogen, don’t leave the manual lying around under maglocks. Anybody can get into those things.”
Psycho’s eyes got misty as he spoke. “He always turned her off when he left. You’re not supposed to, it’s very bad for the units. But I told you he was a sub. He didn’t care, he just didn’t want her wandering around. Anyway, I did the door and there she was on the bed, out like a stone. I did my adjustments-and believe me, it wasn’t easy-and then I turned her on.”
“So what happened?” Ironman had an innocent streak that surfaced from time to time.
“Well, I tell you,” Psycho reminisced, and the tired, familiar story took on epic, if crude, proportions.
###
“That’s really disgusting,” Priestess observed quietly when he was through.
Psycho ignored her. “Of course, it was one chance in a lifetime. Those babies are expensive. Not for the likes of the Legion! But I dream that one of these days we’ll be busting our way into some place and there she’ll be-my biogen!” He took a long drink and looked up to the sun, completely happy. Psycho was crazy. He probably did dream about biogens.
I wished I could relax, like the others, but I couldn’t. Nasty rumors circulated in the Second about intercepted fragments of Systie conversation. Mysterious voices, whispering to each other. Nobody would confirm it.
An island a short distance from shore beckoned, baking in the sun, pale weathered stone and glittering sands covered with twisted stunted dead trees, burnt white by the elements. Priestess and I went swimming. I strapped my E to my back, just in case, and Priestess had a hot knife at her waist. Some of the guys had gone to sleep in the shade of the aircar.
Warm silky water burnt at my lips and stung my eyes. Sunlight exploded off the surface, glittering like a sea of diamonds. We swam lazily through the warmth to the island. Psycho’s voice floated after us, hanging in the air. “Don’t stay out too late, kiddies, or I’ll tell Valkyrie!”
A white crystal beach, tingling our feet. Priestess was lovely, slim and bronze, tossing her dark, wet hair back. Her sleeveless top clung to her. Her long legs dazzled me. We explored the island slowly, taking our time. The heat was like a great oven. A forest of grotesque dead trees surrounded us, and soon we lost sight of the aircar.
Trees bleached like skulls, bone white, all twisted and torn, rising from the grainy sands.
We had never been alone, really alone, except in the body shop, and I had not even kissed her there. We were pledged to each other now, and we tried to keep it a secret but it wasn’t easy. Thou shalt not mate within thine own squad. This unwritten commandment was frequently broken, and often resulted in transfers. We did not want to be separated, so we were being very careful. The cubes in the squadmod were simply out of the question. The squadmod had no privacy.
I put a hand on Priestess’s shoulder and dropped the E to the sand. She stopped and turned around, her skin wet and glittery from the sand. She came to me gently, with a faint gasp. I was almost in a trance. I don’t think any biogen could have improved on what followed.
The ear-splitting shriek of our aircar’s perimeter defense alarm shattered our bliss. Naked, Priestess and I leapt off the sand and scrambled for our weapons. My E in hand, I found a berm where I could lie prone and cover the aircar. Priestess clung close to my side with her hot knife.
I zoomed in with my sight and saw that the rest of the squad had already sprung into action. Ironman stood on the roof of the aircar with his E, sweeping the southwest horizon with his sight. Dragon lay prone with his E behind a nearby dune. Redhawk had been caught in the water and frantically threshed for shore. The rest quickly took up defensive positions.
“TWO FOUR GAMMA, IDENTIFY YOURSELF AND STATE YOUR INTENTIONS! YOU HAVE TARGETED A FRIENDLY UNIT! YOU ARE ENTERING OUR DZ! AIRCAR TWO FOUR GAMMA ON FULL COMBAT PREP!”
Then it hit me. Gamma! I glanced at Priestess. Her eyes were clenched shut and her lips had become a thin white line.
“IGNITION! WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!” Our aircar boomed out the warning.
The squad starburst away from the aircar, Ironman diving off the roof, the others scattering. Warhound and Coolhand snatched up weapons and ran for cover. Redhawk exploded out of the water and dived onto the sand.
A white contrail came streaking out of the southwest and exploded ahead, it must have been right over the aircar, a tremendous crack, splitting the air. A harmless, bright pink phosphorous cloudburst erupted, turning the sky a hellish cast. The Legion aircar shot overhead at max speed, minimum altitude, a silver flash, the sand exploding into the air with the shock of its passing. The aircar wheeled on the horizon, came around for another pass.
I cursed aloud and saw that virtually the entire squad was standing, shouting and shaking their fists at Gamma.
Snow Leopard shouted a quick command and Psycho answered Gamma’s challenge with a smoke round from his Manlink. It streaked after the aircar and exploded right on target with a bright white flash and a tremendous yellow cloud.
The aircar rocked and shook and settled slowly, regaining control, coming right back, sliding over the sands toward Beta, closer and closer. Then it slowed and whined to a stop next to our own aircar. The car discharged a jeering, laughing Gamma Squad. I pulled back from the berm. Priestess was gone. I pounded the sand with the butt of my E and proceeded to recite every Legion curse I’d learned since Basic. I was still warming up when I found Priestess back at the beach, pulling her top on. She refused to look at me.
Feeling like a schoolboy, I found my jox, shook the sand out and pulled them on.
I returned to the berm and sighted in the scene at the aircars again.
Snow Leopard was visibly upset, his face already purple. He waved his arms about in front of a smirking, freckle-faced girl with flame red hair who I immediately recognized as Gamma One, Boudicca. She had a Legion cross burned right onto her forehead. I’d always thought she was dangerously unstable, though the Legion evidently didn’t agree. I knew that Snow Leopard didn’t think so either. They’d been close ever since Basic. Fire and Ice.
There were three girls in Gamma, I remembered. Then I saw Valkyrie. She stood at the edge of the beach, hands on hips, her sun-whitened blonde hair flowing in the wind. She looked right at the island. Right at me.
I slid back down the berm on my back and closed my eyes against the brilliant sun. It didn’t help. I got up and trudged back to the beach.
This time, Priestess did look at me, waiting for my report.
“She’s here.”
Priestess shut her eyes and nodded sharply.
I hesitated. “Do you think we should go back?”
Priestess didn’t answer. She sank to her knees in defeat.
I closed my eyes for an instant. Sin, and ye shall be punished.
The pink smoke had finally made it this far and drifted listlessly through the stark bony trees, settling slowly over the island. What a mess! I felt like a kid, caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
I don’t know how long I just stood there like an idiot. Helpless, while Priestess seemed to have collapsed into a hopeless trance.
A splash interrupted our reverie. Valkyrie rose from the water, resplendent in wet, streaming blonde-white hair, ruddy bronze skin, and a dripping t-top and panties. Her E was balanced on one hip and I truly didn’t know what she planned to do with it. She had never looked better.
Her voice was high and forced. “Hi, guys.”
I felt dead. Empty. Flat. I looked at Priestess for inspiration. She met my gaze then turned away, arms crossed. I suddenly remembered to breathe, then I drew my lips tight and turned to our visitor. “Hello, Valkyrie.”
She was right on the edge. The water was warm and the sun was hot but I swear she shivered. “Are you two having fun?”
“Well, we were just…”
She snapped, “Let’s skip the clinical details, if you don’t mind. Can I talk with you for a frac? Thinker? If you’re not too busy?”
I looked at Priestess again but she’d turned her back to me. “Yeah, sure. Uhh…it’s nice to see you.” I’m not too good in a personal crisis. Valkyrie should have just shot me, but she held off.
Back on Hell we had been stranded, alone, fighting for our lives, back to back. I never understood why, but Valkyrie had claimed me as hers when we were on the ragged edge of survival. After we’d finally emerged alive, I took it for granted that she would wipe me off like dust on her boots but she didn’t. She made it clear to everyone that I was hers until the stars froze. Was that it? Was I just a battle scar she wore proudly? It didn’t matter. No matter what happened, I knew that we would die for each other without a second thought. Even now…though it occurred to me that I might be the first to die.
“What’s that on your finger, Thinker?” she asked. I looked down at my hand and blinked. I wore her Legion ring.
“It’s my ring, isn’t it?” Valkyrie asked.
“Uhh…yes.”
“So what’s the little slut doing here?”
“Now look, Valkyrie…”
“Don’t tell me to look! I’ve seen enough! You told me you loved me, and now you’re with her. Is this purely a commercial transaction, or are you going to tell me you love her, too?”
Priestess’s anguish suddenly flashed into something darker. She whirled around and leaped between Valkyrie and me, facing her in a fighting stance. “I don’t have to listen to this!”
“Priestess, Valkyrie-calm down!” Nobody listened to me.
“Shut up, brat, or I’ll rearrange your ugly little face!” Valkyrie snarled at Priestess. “You’ll listen to everything I say!”
Priestess swung at her with a right, convulsed with rage. I jumped between them just as Valkyrie snapped a hard kick. I intercepted it with my chest. They ignored me and came together like two bloodcats fighting over a mate, spitting hatred, clawing and punching and kicking. I didn’t mind so much absorbing their punches-what really hurt was that I realized that I really did love them both.
“Priestess! Valkyrie! Stop it! Stop, all right? Deadman!” We rolled in the sand. I had caught a few really good hits from Valkyrie and my head spun, but I finally had Priestess in a headlock, and I had Valkyrie by her hair. What a mess!
“No more fighting! All right?”
“Yes,” Priestess gasped.
“Agreed,” Valkyrie hissed.
“Let’s get up now,” I said. “No more fighting!” I released them, and we all sank back onto the sand on our knees.
“Brat!”
“Bitch!”
“Stop it!” I shouted. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, this is my fault! Don’t blame Priestess. I’m to blame, not her!” Priestess had a bloody nose and the beginnings of a black eye. Valkyrie had a split lip and some nasty cuts and scratches. Blood was dribbling down her chin and then she did what I never, ever expected. She started to cry, and it hurt me worse than I could have ever believed.
“I loved you so much, Thinker,” she sobbed. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”
“Oh, Deadman. Please don’t cry, Valkyrie.” I didn’t know what to do. I knew how to fight but never could handle tears.
Valkyrie sniffled and turned her bloodshot eyes to Priestess. “You all right?”
“I’m fine,” Priestess replied tensely. I think she was almost as confused as I was.
Valkyrie wiped her nose with the back of her hand and sniffled again, gathering her self-control. “Good. You’re lucky I didn’t lose my temper-or you’d be dead.” Valkyrie raised her chin proudly. “I’m leaving now.” She turned to me. “I just wanted you to know that you hurt me.” Then she rose and regarded Priestess. “You stole my man, Priestess. That was wrong. And I’m not going to forget it. Goodbye, Thinker. We’ll meet again.”
She found her E, slung it over her back, and started into the surf. Then she turned sharply. “Thinker, if I call you-anytime-you must come. We are pledged. Forever. Don’t you forget that!” Tough as a biogen, she wiped the blood from her lips and shot daggers from her eyes at Priestess. “You can have your brat. But I’m going to keep your ring. And you keep mine. We don’t break our vows in the Legion. When we meet again I want to see that ring on your finger.” Then she whirled and dove into the briny water and she was gone.