A Soldier in Love (3 page)

She kneeled down and
laced her black boots up tightly before she began to make her way to the dining
hall.

The dining hall was
buzzing with voices. She silently cursed herself for not waking up earlier.

Damn, I should have got here sooner. There will be a
line.

She was pleasantly
surprised to find that along with oatmeal and protein shake that they were
having canned fruit. She eyed a can of mandarin oranges that someone had just
placed on their tray. They looked succulent, sweet, and full of flavor. She
remembered a time when such delicacies were freely given; a time before the
rationing. There was once a time when there were three meals a day, not just
two.

“It’s to prevent
scurvy,” a soft masculine voice called out behind her.

She slowly turned
around to see a tall, blonde haired, blue eyed man. He flashed a smile
revealing straight, perfectly white teeth. His blue eyes had
a
warmth
to them.

“Sit with me? We have
some time our shuttle got delayed another thirty minutes,” he said.

Michelle didn’t reply;
she only nodded in agreement. She studied his face; he was handsome with an
all-American boy look about him. His blonde hair and light blue eyes reminded
her of her parents. It also reminded her of Amy. She felt a ping of sadness hit
her. She didn’t want to think about them, she didn’t want to face that they
were gone. She didn’t want to wonder if Amy was OK or not.

“I’m Aaron, B56700,” he
stated as they sat down at an empty table towards the corner of the cafeteria.

It seemed like the spot
provided them with some sort of privacy as the busy nervous chattering from the
others masked their conversation.

“Michelle,
A3343Z,”
she replied.

“I haven’t heard of anyone having a letter at the
end of their code, only at the beginning,” he replied.

Michelle rolled up her uniform sleeve to reveal the
thick black letters and numbers on her wrist.

“Well, there it is,” she said giving a small smile.

He grinned. “I’m going
to have to nickname you, Z.”

The pair both picked
took a large gulp of their protein shakes.

“You have been very
quiet. Everyone else is trying to get to know each other,” Aaron said with a concerned
look.

“I… I know,” Michelle
replied quietly unsure of what to say.

“We might as well be
friends, were all each other
has
up here,” he said
warmly.

Michelle nodded. “I
guess
,
I’m just trying to concentrate on the task at
hand.”

“What do you mean?” he
questioned.

Michelle ran her hand
through the few strands of hair that weren’t tucked into her ponytail and then
pressed her hands together. “I mean, we are all soldiers now. We have to forget
who we used to be.”

He shook his head. “No,
I think you have it all wrong.”

“Why?” she asked.

“Remembering who we
used to be helps us to be better soldiers. Without remembering who we used to
be, what
are we
fighting for?” he replied.

“What were you on Earth?”
she said before taking another large gulp of her gritty protein shake. She
would save the oranges for last. They would be her reward for eating the rest
of her meal.

“I was a doctor. I will
still be a doctor here as well,” he stated.

She finished her drink
and opened her container of oranges. “And, you are going to Redex correct?” She
watched as he did the same.

He nodded his head. “Yes,
all thirty of us are.”

“And you say
,
I am your friend now?
Your family now?”
Michelle questioned.

He nodded again to
confirm. “Yes and I mean that. I mean I know I don’t know you well but we’re in
this together.”

“Then I have a favor to
ask,” she asked softly bringing her large green eyes to meet his pale blue
ones.
 

“What is it?” he asked
not breaking her gaze.

“If you are doctor I
believe you can do it,” she began.

“Do what?” he
interjected.

She uncovered the small
silver disc in her ear hidden by her thick auburn hair.

“I need this and I need
you to hide within me,” she said quickly covering it back up with her hair.

He grinned. “You’re a
smart one, Z.”

“I just had good advice
and a little luck is all,” she replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

“Come, we don’t have
much time,” he said setting down the empty cup of mandarin oranges.

She stood and followed
him. They made their way down a long and winding hallway. It was such a large
station and there were only thirty others; it seemed like they could get away
with their little task. Chaos always provided a cover.

“With the security
systems up and down, I think my old medic badge will work,” he said as he
swiped the card and turned the handle to a room.

He put the lights on dim
and began to wash his hands.

“Sit on the floor,” he
ordered.

“The floor?”
Michelle questioned without hiding the shock in her
voice.

“Yes,” he said in a
hushed tone.

Michelle crouched on
the cold floor.

This doesn’t seem very
sanitary,
I thought this guy was legit… Maybe I should ask what kind of doctor he was on Earth.

He began to quietly
take a tray with a disinfecting packet, a needle, and
various
other medical equipment
from the cabinet above the sink.

He lowered himself to
the floor and put on a pair of gloves.

“The floor in case
someone walks by. I don’t want them to see us through the window. You know we
could get in trouble if someone were to find us. We would probably have our
food rations revoked for two days. If they were mad enough you know they’d
slice the top part of your ear off,” he explained quietly.

She swallowed and
nodded. She knew what she was doing was against protocol, but she had to do it
anyway. She couldn’t stand to be another low ranking Earth Army soldier with no
clue as to what was going on.

“I’m
sorry,
Michelle but there is no time to get you something for the pain. Are you sure
you want to do this?” he asked.

“Yes and hurry.
I don’t want to get our food rations taken and I’d
like to keep my ear,” she said with pleading eyes.

“Michelle, this going
to be very painful without anesthesia, I can numb you a little with this cream,
but I feel as a medical professional I must warn you,” he said.

“I know, but it will be
even more painful not to know,” she replied solemnly.

“I’m going to disinfect
the area, apply a numbing cream, and then slice your upper ear and insert the
disc,” he said as he opened the disinfecting packet.

He pulled back the
auburn strands that were hiding the small grey disc and began to disinfect the
area as well as the top of her ear where he would re-implant the device to
ensure it would remain hidden.

“Who implanted this one
for you?” he whispered roughly.

Michelle took a deep
breath in trying to relax her racing heart. The numbing cream was cool and it
made her shiver since the ship was already extremely cold.

“I did,” she replied.

He unclipped the gadget
and held gauze to the open wound as small red droplets of blood began to pour
out.

“Hold this to your
ear,” he said handing her the gauze.

She held it to her ear
as he rummaged around. He gently moved her hand down as he examined the area
once more. He took the scalpel while she held the gauze below to attempt to
soak up the blood and began to slice the cartilage between the top
part
of her ear.

She winced in pain and
gritted her teeth. The pain was intense. She could feel every movement of the
knife severing through her cartilage. It cut lower, and lower, she thought the
pain would never end as it shot through her body. Each slice became more and
more painful.

“Fuck, that hurts,” she
stammered then gritted her teeth again. She wished he would have given her
something to bite down on.

“I’m sorry,” he
stammered. “I hate to hurt you.”

“It’s OK,” she barely
replied as she sucked in another deep breath of air as the sharp pain
continued. She wondered if it would ever stop.

He quickly inserted the
small silver chip into the cartilage and then began to sew a few stitches to
hold it together.

Her knuckles went white
as she balled her hands in fists to deal with the pain. She could feel every
movement he made.

“These stitches will
dissolve in your ear. They will leave no evidence that you have an IS chip.
Your cartilage will grow around the chip and it should be stable in almost any
atmosphere sheltered inside your body,” he whispered.

“Thank you,” she said
as his blue eyes met her green ones.

“I only wish we had
enough time for you to implant me with one,” he said.

She shrugged her
shoulders. “Yeah, I don’t know you might have had a Frankenstein ear if I would
have done it.”

“Maybe so.
I guess
,
it is a good
thing we are friends. I will be relying on you for information now,” he
grinned.

“We had better go,” she
whispered.

He nodded. “Yes, let me
disinfect this and apply a salve and we can go,”

“Thank you, and thank
you for being a friend. You’re the first one I’ve had in a very long time,” she
added quietly.

He smiled and slowly
made his way out the door as she followed.

Michelle and Aaron
jogged towards the launching zone and got in line with the other soldiers. They
were the last ones in line, but it didn’t seem to matter, everyone was
distracted with something.

Michelle was amazed
that the pain in her ear was almost gone. She wanted to rub over the area with
her fingertips to see what it felt like, but she didn’t want to draw attention
to herself.

“Chip, soldier,” a tall
uniformed office said as she came forward in line.

Michelle held out her
left wrist and he scanned over it. She couldn’t help but to
feet
like a cow being led to the slaughterhouse.

“On board, soldier,” he
waved her on.

Michelle scrambled
forward and got on board. She turned around to see that Aaron too was scanned
and not far behind her. She barely knew him but it gave her such a great comfort.
 
 

Michelle sat down in
the uncomfortable seat and this time Aaron sat next to her. The shuttle was
eerily quiet. She could tell that this trip was going to be a silent one. The
nervous tension filled the air. There were only 15 others on this flight. Her
stomach knotted, she could have sworn Aaron said all 30 were going to Redex. She
wanted to ask him, but knew she couldn’t even if she could have, he probably
didn’t know.

She strapped herself in
and tried to relax in her seat. She jolted slightly as the oxygen masks suddenly
deployed.

Michelle put the mask
to her face and fastened the straps securely around her head. She watched as
Aaron did the same. She took a deep breath in. This time there was no sleeping
gas, she could tell immediately with the smell. This worried her it could mean
they would have to fight upon landing.