Waiting (13 page)

Bridget said,
'And I don't believe your ambition stops at the military.'

Loretti smiled
wryly and she averted her eyes. 'Don't you think I would be a far
greater president of the western tricor than the one we have now?
After all, he's only a man.'

Bridget had
heard enough. She stood and walked to the door, paused and looked
back at her mother. 'How unfortunate for you that as time runs out,
history will never record your rise to fame.'

'Perhaps.'

There came that
smile again that disturbed Bridget so.

'Goodnight,
Trish.'

'Goodnight,
Bridget.'

Chapter 36

Doctor Val
Cormack had her "no nonsense" look on as Jacobs, Clifton, Lee and
Friar arrived. 'All of you. My surgery now.'

'If you don't
mind Doctor Cormack,' said Jacobs, 'It has been a rather tiring
mission and I'll see you first thing in the morning.'

'You will not,
Captain Jacobs. On all things medical on this ship, my word is law.
And I expect you to lead by example and take the others with you.
Go. I'll be along shortly. Anne. I'd like a quick word with you
first, please. You three get going.'

The three men
knew it was a waste of time arguing with Cormack and set off
towards the surgery.

'Yes, Doctor
Cormack?' Lee asked.

'You were with
the captain when he passed out on Spero?'

'Yes and
no.'

Cormack said,
'Which is it? Yes or no?'

'Well. We had
carried a power-pack for thirty miles between us to the nearest
terraformer. We had swapped the power-packs over and I went inside
to get things running so we could drive it back to the shuttle. I
called for Jay Jay but he didn't answer. I went outside and found
him passed out on the ground.'

'I see. Do you
think the fall rendered him unconscious?'

Lee said, 'I've
given it plenty of thought in the meantime. His helmet was
undamaged and the ground is so covered in thick dust it would be
like falling onto a soft pillow.'

'I see. But you
had just walked thirty miles carrying a power-pack. Did that prove
too much for him at anytime on the walk?'

'We both found
it tiring. We couldn't see our hands in front of our faces. For
safeties sake we went at a steady pace. We did take several breaks
for sips of water.'

Cormack said,
'Wouldn't that mean removing your helmets?'

'Of course. But
I had analysed the air and although it wasn't good, it allowed us
to take off our helmets for a couple of minutes.'

'Clearly you
felt no ill affects from either breathing in the air or the walk.
Oh, well. I'll examine him and see what I find.'

'I'll come with
you to the surgery.' It was half a mile walk to the surgery and Lee
told Cormack about the adventure with the flights through the
atmosphere then the space-walk.

'Sounds like
quite an adventure, Anne.'

Lee chuckled
and replied, 'One to tell the grandchildren about. Which reminds
me. I happened to mention to him, just conversationally, that you
found him attractive.'

Cormack pulled
up sharply. 'You told him what?'

'Oh, come on.
Don't deny it.'

Cormack started
walking again, so fast that Lee had to practically run to keep up
with her. 'I rather think that is none of your business.'

'Agreed. But I
think you really should make it yours. Mark your territory, so to
speak.'

'Excuse me? I
am not a cat on heat.'

Lee said, 'Of
course not. You do fancy him then?'

Cormack stopped
at the surgery door before entering. 'Between you and I, yes.
Thanks for the heads up.'

Lee grinned and
said, 'You're welcome. Go get him, tiger.'

They entered
the surgery and found the three men sitting in the waiting room.
'You first, Anne.'

It took twenty
minutes to examine Lee, Friar and Clifton. Finally, Jacobs was the
last one.

'Right,' said
Cormack. 'Off with your suit and underwear. Let me have a good look
at you.'

Chapter 37

Bridget lay on
her bed fully clothed, apart from her boots, much going on in her
head. For one, her feelings for her mother. As the commander
general, she had her total respect. In the early days of the latest
war, the enemy the Futurians, had the upper hand when it came to
numbers and equipment. They had used the relative calm between the
wars to build up their capabilities, whereas the politicians led by
President Sol Maxim, president of the Western Tricor, had naively
dismissed the possibility of another uprising by the oppressed
Futurian Union and had drastically cut the budgets to the military,
in favour of spending on infrastructure.

It had only
been the fortitude of Loretti and other generals that the Tricor
had averted a disastrous defeat. By the time they had caught up
with resources, many had died and it took the brilliance of Loretti
to regain the upper hand. She was utterly ruthless and often led
from the front, her own Spider battle cruiser at the forefront of
the fighting, defeating her opponents both on the ground and in the
air. The mission to save the human race, instigated by Jarvis
Jacobs was one of the things the Western Tricor had funded at the
expense of the military, even reluctantly working with the Futurian
Union as a way of maintaining the fragile peace, unaware that the
enemy was merely using the time to build up a formidable
resistance.

When the next
war had restarted, the Goliath had set off to Spero on its ten year
mission, the terraformers sent ahead two years earlier to make the
planet habitable on their arrival. When the mission was at that
stage and the war had restarted, the politicians of the Western
Tricor began redirecting personnel, equipment and funding away from
the Base back to military use. Only a token personnel were left to
keep the mission operational, under the command of General Gunther.
The politicians had little to do with the mission now, everything
concentrated on the war effort.

It didn't
surprise Bridget that her mother still kept some of her attention
on Gunther and the mission. But what was really going on? Strange
messages about even stranger radio signals emanating apparently
from space, from an alien civilisation? When those signals had been
sent was it seemed, impossible to determine but according to her
father, something was going on between Loretti and some as yet
unidentified man. It had concerned Gunther sufficiently to sabotage
the communications between the Goliath, and shut down the
terraformers, possibly putting the mission and those on the Goliath
in danger. The terraformers had been stopped by her father as a
desperate measure to buy time for the mission by delaying the
Goliath from landing.

As all these
things were spiralling around her mind, something else demanded her
attention. The words of the tortured Salamandra.

'Is that all
you know? Loretti. Don't you even trust your own daughter enough to
tell her the truth?'

What on Earth
did that mean? It could have easily have been Salamandra's way of
needling Loretti, or he could actually have information that would
be useful for Gunther.

There was only
one way to find out. She got off the bed and pulled on her boots.
She opened her door and checked the corridor was clear, then she
got in the elevator and pressed H. As the door pinged open, a
solitary guard stood up and saluted.

'At ease,
corporal,' said Bridget. 'I want access to Salamandra's cell.'

'Of course,
Captain Loretti.' He started keying in the code to open the heavy
steel door. 'Want to try getting him to talk do you, captain?' he
said with a grin. 'I do like to hear them screaming.'

'I do want
information from him, yes,' replied Bridget.

'Lovely. Just
don't you go killing him off, hey? The general wouldn't be pleased
with you if you did.'

Bridget
detested everything about the guard, but smiled and said, 'Just a
little chat. I thought I'd try a little subtlety instead of brute
force for a change.'

The guard
shrugged. 'And good luck with that, captain. You would be in the
general's good books if you got something useful out of him.'

'You see right
through me, corporal,' whispered Bridget with a wink. 'Could be a
promotion in it for me if I'm successful. It would be a nice little
surprise for my mother, so keep this between you and I, yes? You
look after me, I'll look after you.'

The sleazy
corporal winked back at her. 'Our little secret, captain. You
scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. In you go and good luck.'

The guard
pushed the door open and Bridget stepped inside, the door closing
behind her with a clang.

Chapter 38

'Everything
seems to be in excellent working order, Captain Jacobs.'

Jacobs adjusted
his underwear, donning the dressing gown provided by the doctor.
'Hrmm. Thank you, Doctor Cormack. Good to know there's life in this
old dog yet.'

'Indeed,' said
Cormack with a grin. Once assured Jacobs' medical condition was as
it should be for a man of his mature years, she couldn't resist
nibbling his ear and kissing his neck. Pleasantly surprised at
first, he had returned her amorous advances, and mutually enjoyable
kissing and caresses ensued, and they both found difficulty in
restraining themselves from going further, but professional
propriety won the day.

'I err...should
be err...duty calls and all that,' said Jacobs, awkwardly.

Cormack found
Jacobs boyish floundering appealing, but only allowed a slight
smile to betray her thoughts, lost on a man.

'And I have my
duties, captain. But I'm off duty in an hour. Perhaps we could have
our meal together. I would love to hear more of your adventures on
Spero. Just out of scientific interest, of course.'

'Of course. I
look forward to your company. Oh. I'll take my suit for cleaning.
That dust will take some shifting.'

'It'll keep.
I'll take care of it. Run along. A shower wouldn't come amiss.'

Jacobs
instinctively raised an arm and sniffed his armpit. 'Being cooped
up in a suit for hours on end can do that to a person. I'll see you
in an hour.'

'Missing you
already.'

Jacobs gave a
slight wave of his hand and left the surgery.

'I do like you
a lot, Jay Jay,' Cormack said to herself, 'but I can smell your
suit from here.'

Cormack
gathered up the dust and grime encrusted suit, picking it up
gingerly with just her thumbs and fingertips. 'Only a man could get
this dirty. Oh my. What have we here?'

Chapter 39

'Just what I
need,' groaned Salamandra. He spoke with an awkward lisp with his
swollen mouth and two missing teeth. 'A Loretti visiting me in the
small hours. I assume it's the small hours. Difficult to keep track
of time down here.'

'I just want a
chat,' said Bridget softly so the guard outside wouldn't hear. 'I
tend to kill cleanly, not torture for hours on end.'

'You might be
doing me a favour if you did kill me.'

'We're all
living on borrowed time. There'll be nothing to fight over soon.
That rather makes your reluctance to talk even more pointless.'

Salamandra
said, 'I'm finding it hard to say anything with a mouthful of dried
blood.'

In one corner
of the cell was a tap which dripped water continuously into a
rusting bucket, left un-repaired to inflict an annoying plopping
sound around the clock. A battered ladle hung from a bent nail in
the wall by the side of it. Bridget filled the ladle and lifted
Salamandra's head to allow him to drink.

'Thanks.'

'No good to us
if you die of thirst. Have they fed you?'

'Slops the pigs
wouldn't eat. Does your mother know you are here?'

Bridget said,
'She'll find out eventually. You are second in command of the
Futurian Union.'

'That depends
on if Changah is still alive. Is he?'

'I've heard
nothing to the contrary. But things change by the hour out
there.'

'True. Why...'
He paused to lick his swollen lips and Bridget let him have more
water. 'Thank you. Why are you being nice? Just a different
approach to extracting information?'

'That's for me
to know and for you to find out. I'm not here to waste my time
about where Changah is hiding out or where your mobile laser
vehicles are. We'll destroy both eventually.'

Salamandra
wriggled on the bare steel bed, difficult to do with legs and arms
secured to each corner with chains. 'Not without severe losses on
your side. So what do you wish to talk about? The weather?'

'Earlier you
said something which intrigued me. You said, "I wonder what else
she's told you. About Spero." What did you mean by that?'

Salamandra
studied Bridget's eyes, as if boring down deep into her mind. 'It
is mankind's last hope to survive. Isn't that all there is to
know?'

'What do you
know of the radio signals? The ones not made by humans.'

Salamandra's
eyes narrowed as he studied Bridget's face, then he laughed. 'Oh,
too priceless. I really can't believe she hasn't told her own
daughter.'

Even though
Bridget wasn't the one chained to a steel bed, she felt as if she
had lost the advantage. 'I may know something you don't. The
mission is in jeopardy.'

Salamandra was
clearly shocked by that and he rolled his eyes at the mould
encrusted ceiling. 'That really is unfortunate. The mission is
really the only thing worth fighting for now. Everything else is
just garbage.'

'You believe in
the mission?'

'You said it
yourself. Our time on Earth is at an end. On the mission are the
embryos of every race on this planet, including mine and yours. If
that fails, it really is game over.'