Marine Cadet (The Human Legion Book 1) (19 page)

“I get it. If I want us to stick together, I’ve got to make the right choice. Is that what you’re telling me?”

“No.” A faraway look took her. Despite the situation, Arun felt a tingle of excitement as he stared at his only remaining friend. Was he seeing a vision as it possessed her?

The violet color didn’t come to her eyes. Instead she sighed and glanced up at him through old eyes that looked as if they’d seen a thousand years pass by.

“Depending on your choices,” she said, “I might love you, despise you or tolerate you. But our destiny lies together. I’m certain of that. Good or bad, our futures are entwined. I’ve seen this many times before.”

Arun groaned. Since turning cadet, he’d been threatened, manipulated, had the crap kicked out of him, and had made himself the most hated guy in the 8th battalion. All of that he could deal with, but this talk of destiny was freaking him out.

He never wanted to be a hero.

If Springer’s violet visions were right, then that choice wasn’t his to make.

Translation of Annotated Nest Archive

Date: 9519-244

Subject: Interrogation of Human McEwan

Key scents: Conditioning~Marines~drugs~betrayal

Filter Applied: High-value information only

CONTEXT: The human, Arun McEwan, was asked to describe small unit organization and tactics. His answers were of little value. More interesting were his attempts to steer the conversation onto the topic of his relationship with his human nest comrades. The nest scribe decided to permit this deviation, realizing it could provide valuable insights to the suspected brain-altering drug regime secretly imposed at that time on humans entering the ‘cadet’ phase of their lifecycle.

==INTERROGATION FRAGMENT BEGINS==

HUMAN McEWAN: Don’t you think it’s an overreaction? All I did was switch teams. I mean, I could understand them getting frakked off, but that was three weeks ago now. That’s all! Three frakking weeks and they still act as if… Well, it’s as if you’d bitten off your queen’s legs and danced on her head.

SCRIBE: You mean the Great Leader.

HUMAN McEWAN: That guy, yeah.

SCRIBE: I understand. You feel your offense is minor but your human nest comrades judge you and your acts as repugnant. Are there other examples where the value that you place on things is very different from your comrades?

HUMAN McEWAN: [Pauses to think while consulting wetware memories. He nods his head.
Interpretation: (93% certainty): indicates agreement.
] No one has fun anymore. Goofing around, joking – it’s an important part of human bonding but the only time I’ve seen my buddies loosen up recently was for Scendence Day. [
Shakes head, looking at floor (91% certainty): indicates sadness]
Even that didn’t last long. I asked to keep playing for Moscow Express but Madge wouldn’t let me. Last match day, they were knocked out of the competition but I won for Xin’s bunch: Team Ultimate Victory.
Team Ultimate Disaster
, more like. Other than Springer, my friends hate me more than ever now.

SCRIBE: Has this been a slow and steady change or a sudden one?

HUMAN MCEWAN: It’s grown, but real fast. Everything changed about the same time we made cadet. Maybe a little before.

SCRIBE: And you feel unaffected?

HUMAN McEWAN: [Rolls eyes.
Interpretation: meaning unclear
]. No, it’s doing my head in too. I get wildly angry sometimes or feel so low that I whimper in my sleep. I think I’m cracking up. Oh, frakk! Frakk, frakk, frakk! I’m so flekked.

SCRIBE: Is something wrong?

HUMAN McEWAN: Wrong? I’ve just told you I’m cracking up. That’s practically an admission that I’m not fit to be a Marine. I’ll be working the mines this time tomorrow.

SCRIBE: You need not fear. The internal security systems monitor for signs of insurrection, not individual performance. We have tested this extensively. You may speak freely to me about your medical concerns.

HUMAN McEWAN: Even if you’re wrong about the security stuff… [Sighs.
Interpretation: (97% certainty): indicates acceptance of an unwanted situation].
I guess I can’t make things worse.

SCRIBE: Correct. If I am wrong about the drenting security systems, then you are utterly vulleyed whatever you do.

HUMAN McEWAN: [Sets mouth into ‘brittle smile’.
Interpretation: (86% certainty): acknowledgement of humor, comradeship, reasserting anxious state.
]. Good one, Pedro. A little more work on the accent and we’ll be able to sneak you into the chow hall and no one will realize you aren’t one of us.

SCRIBE: [spirals antennae, indicating acknowledgement of humor] Why don’t you tell your medical staff or your human leaders about your concerns?

HUMAN McEWAN: [Shakes head.
Interpretation: (96% certainty) disagreement. Possibly (32% certainty) mild contempt too.
] You don’t know much about humans, do you?

SCRIBE: Correct.

HUMAN McEWAN: I know. I know. It’s why you want us to have these little chats. I’ll try to explain. When your squad goes into danger, knowing your buddies around you are strong helps to keep you strong too. A Marine who wobbles under pressure has the opposite effect. The Corps has no use for a Marine who’s going to sit down and start crying because someone is shooting at him. I can’t admit my weakness. Majanita and Del-Marie already think I don’t fit in anymore.

SCRIBE: If you are truly different, can you really keep this deception for three years until graduation? And beyond, as a Marine?

HUMAN McEWAN: [Shrugs.
Interpretation: (96% certainty)
showing
disdain for challenges faced
.]. That’s something I’ll have to find out the hard way. I’m not quitting. Never. That’s not an option. Not me at all.

SCRIBE: Is that why you originally agreed to join your comrades’ Scendence team, Moscow Express? Did you do this to regain the respect of your comrades?

HUMAN McEWAN: [Shakes head and sighs (
resignation
)] Am I that transparent? Even to an overgrown ant? [Shrugs (
resignation)
] Yes, that’s why I agreed to join in. I’m pretty good at playing Deception. Gunnery too, though Madge always wants to take that – I mean, Cadet Corporal Majanita. If I did well, then everyone sees me winning for the team. It worked too, for about ten minutes after I won my first Moscow Express match. Then the madness took me and I joined Xin’s team.

SCRIBE: I am concerned for you, friend McEwan. Your wild mood swings are still unexplained. Are you worried that they will affect your Scendence performance?

HUMAN McEWAN: Not enough to stop me playing.

SCRIBE: [Pauses. Scent signal indicates exasperation that human is failing to connect the probable causes of mental state]. When I first met you, you were singing. Was that an example of your strange mental state?

HUMAN McEWAN: No, that was the… the combat drugs. [Words slowed temporarily during previous sentence.
Interpretation: (82% certainty) intense mental activity limiting speech capability. Conclusion: human has linked combat drugs with continuing mood changes.
]
Combat drugs!
That’s it! They’ve been pumping combat drugs into us continuously. Low dose. They’re meant to keep you focused on fighting, a robot killer. Heightens your sense of loyalty. Everything else in your head is put on standby. That would explain everything. Why I’ve gone wild and everyone else is a robot. And… [Makes stabbing motion with finger at scribe.
Interpretation: (81% certainty) threat display
]. You knew, didn’t you? Go on, deny it!

SCRIBE: I cannot answer that.

HUMAN McEWAN: [Shakes head.] That’s not good enough. If you want our talks to continue, it’s got to be a two-way thing. I share. You share. We both learn from each other. The colonel will skin me alive if I don’t learn anything from you.

SCRIBE: What do you wish to learn, Arun?

HUMAN McEWAN: Did you know I was being drugged?

SCRIBE: [Hesitates. Emits
deliberate falsehood
scent.] No.

HUMAN McEWAN: [Tenses jaw muscles. Narrows eyes. Adopts aggressive stance.
Interpretation: (92% certainty):
dominance challenge.
Scribe shows no reaction. Human soon abandons challenge.] Answer me this, then: do you think I’m being drugged by the Corps?

SCRIBE: This topic cannot be discussed.

HUMAN McEWAN: Figures. Thanks, pal. Okay, try this. Suppose, hypothetically, the Corps were giving us combat drugs. Speculate why they might do that.

SCRIBE: This topic cannot be discussed.

HUMAN McEWAN: [Growls.
Interpretation: (99% certainty):
threat display
.] Forget everything I’ve just said. Let’s play pretend instead. Suppose traitors wanted to disable the human Marines defending the base through a non-lethal drug. As a cadet faithful to my White Knight masters and their officers, I would want to know how to protect against such an attack. How would I protect myself from being drugged without arousing the suspicions of the traitors?

SCRIBE: You humans have extremely weak natural defenses. I cannot see what you could do. A drug or toxin could be administered through the air, drink, skin contact, food, nanobots. You could be hypnotized to self-administer every night and then forget what you had done.

HUMAN McEWAN: How about you take my blood sample and use what you find to develop an antidote?

SCRIBE: [Twists antennae to indicate moral conflict.] Although I cannot discuss this topic, Arun, I make a solemn vow on the sanctity of the nest – may I be cast beyond the boundary if I break my word. I shall do whatever is in my power to aid you. Even though you might not understand nor like what I shall do, yet shall I aid you.

==INTERROGATION FRAGMENT ENDS==

[Archivist note: Subsequent events tell us that the scribe was faithful to its promise, and correct in its prediction that the human would hate the scribe for what it would do.]

“This afternoon you’re going to learn a little history.”

Arun groaned inwardly. With his recent frontline experience, Blue Squad had expected their new veteran sergeant to give an insight to their future as Marines, not backward to someone else’s past. Gold Squad were at the lecture too – the two squads often trained together – and looked like they felt the same. What was it to be? Famous battles of the Seventh Frontier War? Dropboat development over the centuries? Camo pants stitching patterns of the ancients?

From behind his lectern, Gupta grinned wolfishly. “I know what you’re thinking. Why aren’t we sweating in our battlesuits, and shooting the crap out of each other in a training environment? There will be plenty of time for that, but to win, a Marine needs more than equipment and tactics.” Gupta tapped his head. “The ultimate key to victory is up here. And it’s in your mental attitude that you stink the most. Until I’m satisfied with the way you think, I’m going to share examples from our forebears of what it means to be a good Marine. If any of you feels your time would be better spent capturing flags and laying ambushes for your comrades, please feel free to share your opinion with me. I hear the Aux welcomes volunteers to work the fields or clean out the head. Does anyone want to hear my history lesson?”

All the cadets rose from their desks and came to attention. “Yes, sergeant.”

Gupta ignored them for several seconds before acknowledging. “Sit down, shut up, and listen good. Location: Earth. Date: Common Era 1917 through 1921. Subject: The Czech Legion.”

There was a noise, a disturbance in the rigid order of the lecture. Arun followed Gupta’s glare to Springer. She was writhing on her seat and screwing her face as if someone had rammed a stun rod up her backside.

Gupta ignored her. “Earth was in the grip of a major war,” he said. “World War One. Total combatants approximately 70 million. Casualties: 29 million killed, wounded, and missing – and that’s ignoring the civilians. Major political groupings – countries and empires – would collapse during this conflict. This was not a clash of ideology, culture or religion, but really a civil war that raged throughout the continent of Europe, although the fighting spread around the planet. Soldiers were sucked into the European battlefields from major nations on other continents, such as India and the United States.

“I’ve mentioned civil wars in an earlier lecture. You might think me obsessed. Well, you could be right.”

Gupta smiled, which brought hesitant laughter from a few brave cadets. They were still learning the sergeant’s ways. Compared to the instructors, he seemed just as strict but more informal, even outspoken.

“Brother shoots brother and bombs mother,” continued Gupta. “Civil wars are just about the ugliest episodes in the human story. But that isn’t what fascinates me. Civil war usually ends in the destruction of the old certainties and the emergence of something new. Even if the incumbent political authority wins on the battlefield, it is forever changed by the war.”

Gupta fixed Arun with a stare. “In your orientation speech I told you Marines sometimes have to suck up the pain and survive for as long as it takes to fight back and win. That wait could last for generations. For those seeking change to the old order, civil wars
are
that chance to strike back, the one opportunity that must be seized with all six limbs.”

What was this? Gupta’s gaze still wouldn’t release Arun.

Gupta spoke slowly and clearly. “The White Knights, for example, are an immensely powerful race, but they are no more a single unified entity than the human race. In fact the opposite is the case. Their fascination with change and mutation makes our masters particularly prone to civil wars.”

The sergeant’s gaze kept Arun prisoner for another few seconds before turning back to the rest of the cadets.

“Back in our Earth example, two great empires were about to disintegrate in this European civil war: the Hapsburg and the Russian Empires. Just as we humans are one of the many subservient species in the White Knight Empire, so the Hapsburg emperor ruled many distinct cultural and ethnic groupings. His empire had 27 official languages. One of these groups was called the Czechs.”