Prophet of ConFree (The Prophet of ConFree) (16 page)

After dinner we retreated back to the lounge, and I found a quiet corner with Honeyhair. We sat together in a cozy little love seat. She was so close, so incredibly attractive. The candlelight from the walls highlighted her soft hair and glowed on her skin. She had light green eyes – focused on me.

I slowly raised a hand and held it out, open. She responded by gently joining her hand to mine, watching me closely. I brought it to my chest, looking into her eyes.

"We'll be leaving day after tomorrow," I said. "Forever. I'll never see you again after tomorrow."

"Why are you telling me that?" she asked.

"It's because I can hardly believe it. I've just met you. When I first saw you – on the Dark Lady – I fell for you, hard. I've thought about you every day for six months. Every day. And now I'm actually here – touching you. It's unbelievable. But it's going to end. I realize – only now – that I love you. I want to know all about you. But it cannot be. And I shouldn't be telling you this. But it's true."

"If you're really in love, you should be happy," she said, quietly. "Not sad."

"I am happy," I said. "And sad. Both." I reached out with my free hand and touched her cheek. She drew closer to me – looking into my eyes. We kissed. As gentle as a summer dream. A faint taste of cherries. My eyes were closed. I felt like I was floating away. I didn't want the kiss to end. Will I remember this kiss? For the rest of my life? Lost and lonely, under fire in some Gulf hellhole, preparing to die? My last thought? Can I really love her?

We came up for air.

"You're crying," she said, raising a hand to my eyes.

"No, I'm not," I said. "Sorry. Got something in my eye."

And suddenly she was crying too – a river of tears. She grasped me like a life preserver. That was unexpected – but I had no plans to let go. Damn it! Why did life have to be so – damned – complex?

"Why are you crying?" She sniffled in my ear.

"Because I can see the future," I whispered. "That's why they call me the Prophet."

Δ

Graduation was in Spring Hill Coliseum. The whole Training Group consisted of 2,000 men and women, and it was quite a spectacle when we marched in by squads, platoons and companies, clad in our formal blacks and took our places standing at attention facing the center stage. When they played the national anthem, the "Black March", we all saluted the flag, and I was brimming with pride in the Legion, in myself and everyone else. We stood there at attention as a series of speakers addressed us and the attendees in the stands. There were plenty of invited guests and they included Honeyhair and Blondie. Of course we could not see them, there was such a crowd, but we had arranged the transportation, and we knew they were there. The previous evening had been a big success for both myself and Arie. Honeyhair seemed quite taken with me, and Blondie seemed fascinated by Arie. I had made sure that we returned them both, undamaged and only mildly molested, to their parents and we even met the parents briefly at Honeyhair's residence.

Now it was getting late, 1830 hours, the sky was turning blacker than normal and we were being pelted by light rain. The movable roof over the Coliseum slid closed silently just in time to avoid the deluge, and bright lights up on the roof illuminated the entire field. A dull roar reverberated throughout the coliseum as the monsoon crashed onto the roof. The Director-General of ConFree was the keynote speaker, and she was about to speak. Word was that the Director addressed every graduating Legion class. It was quite an honor. Antara Tarantos-Hannah was one scary lady from all I had heard, brilliant, dedicated, fearless, dynamic and ruthless, and in addition to all that she was exceptionally beautiful. The word was she was half Outworlder, half Assidic, a former Legion general, all warrior, and was the most effective Director ConFree had ever had.

"Greetings!" she began. "Greetings and congratulations to the Class of 379! I salute you!" And she gave a formal salute, fist to chest. A great crack shot through the arena as we all instinctively returned her salute.

"At ease!" she commanded. We snapped into the at ease position, another great crack. She was slim and lovely, in Legion black, pale brown flesh, ruddy brown hair touching her shoulders.

"Volunteers! Troopers! The people of ConFree thank you for your sacrifices. And I thank you. Without you, ConFree does not exist. Without you, the Legion does not exist. You are the children of the Outvac, descended from all those holy warriors who first raised the black flag of liberation over a galaxy of hopeless slaves, and chased the System from the Outvac, forever. Because of you, ConFree will be strong and free, and your children will be strong and free.

"Every new graduating class of the ConFree Legion has gone on to war. Do not think you will be any different. You are going to war! You can count on it. And why is that? Are we aggressors? Are we building an empire? No! We have no territorial ambitions. We want to stay in the Outvac, and protect our own, and mind our own business. But we cannot do that. It's a nasty galaxy out there, and any sign of weakness on our part will invite attacks from every foul creature that is out there.

"We are not weak. We are strong! That's our message, and you are the bearers of that message. As long as ConFree remains strong, and vigorous, our society will survive, and prosper. Once we weaken, we will perish. That's the lesson of history. Many societies have ignored that lesson, and they are no longer with us.

"All our current active war zones are in the Gulf. That's where you will be going, once you are through with Advanced Combat Training. Read up on the Gulf. Chaos, dictatorship, oppression, torture, slavery, genocide, piracy, rape and murder. You'll find all that in the Gulf. We are not there to overthrow tyranny or liberate slaves. We are there to respond to threats to our interests and to make it clear to everyone that any threat to or action against ConFree nationals will be met with instant and overwhelming force.

"Piracy is a growing problem in the Gulf. You can all expect to pull piracy patrols in the Gulf. Our action against these vermin is unilateral and final. We don't discuss this problem with any of the Gulf regimes, and we don't negotiate with pirates. We kill them, and leave their ships running red with blood, and publicize each action throughout the galaxy. We chase them down and exterminate them, like rats, without mercy. If we don't take those actions in the Gulf, then they'll be showing up in the Outvac, looking for undefended worlds.

"Soldiers of the Legion! Our enemies are terrified of us, and that is as it should be. Never retreat! Never abandon a comrade! Never surrender! Always strive for victory! Never hesitate to strike boldly at our enemies. And always do the right thing! Sometimes you will be the one to decide what is right and what is wrong. Sometimes you may have to disobey orders, to do the right thing. Deadman knows I've done that more times than I will admit. Do not fear that moment! Do what you know to be right! Deadman will be watching over you! Fear nothing! You are the slave of the future, you are the light in the dark, you are the watch on the mark at the gateway to the stars – you are a soldier of the Legion! And don't ever forget, you are at the very bottom of the chain of command, and at the top of the chain of command is the Supreme Commander. For those of you who don't know yet, the Supreme Commander is a wife and mother, and her children. And there are billions of them! We serve them all. Don't ever forget it – that's what it's all about. Women and kids!

"May Deadman bless you." And she made the sign of the Legion over us all, but just as she did so there was a tremendous peal of thunder outside and eerie blue lightning flashes briefly illuminated the coliseum and outlined the Director as well, making her look like some kind of terrifying sky goddess, wreathed in lightning. I guess Deadman was with us all right.

Δ

After the graduation ceremony was over, we marched off the field, broke ranks and took shelter in the covered halls of the coliseum. It was raining hard, a great roar, bringing a warm wave to my flesh. Arie and I were soon lost in the crowd of thousands of graduates and guests but Honeyhair and Blondie fought their way through the crowd to our sides.

"Who was that crazy woman up there?" Honeyhair asked me.

"Oh, that was the Director of ConFree. She's famous."

"Well, she'd better calm down or she's going to bust a blood vessel."

"Forget her. How are you doing?" I gently pulled her to me. The rain leaked down all around us. Arie was in a clinch with Blondie.

"I missed you," Honeyhair said, snuggling up to my chest.

"Likewise." We played kissy-face for awhile, ignoring the crowd all around us. She started crying again. I managed to avoid doing so this time, but I was overwhelmed with a deep sorrow.

"What will we do?" she sobbed.

"Well, I'll be thinking about you for the rest of my life, I guess. How about you?"

"Can't you come back and visit me some time?"

"Sorry. Can't be done."

"But I don't want you to go!" she wailed, hopelessly.

"Oh. Well in that case maybe I'll bring you to the Director of Veltros Training Command, and you can tell him you don't want me to go."

"Don't be cruel." The rain was pouring down, shooting off the covered hallway and splattering over anyone standing in the wrong place. I led Honeyhair into the shadows under a stairway, where we could stand in a puddle without getting drenched.

"I love you," I whispered in her ear. "I'll love you forever. I'll never stop loving you."

"I love you, too," she confessed, clutching my uniform blouse. "I never loved anyone like this before. I never felt like this before. I couldn't sleep last night. It's so stupid! I don't even know you."

"I don't know you, either," I said. "And maybe it’s for the best. The truth is, I'm leaving tomorrow – and that will be it. You'd better just forget me."

"Stop it! I don't want to hear it! I can't forget you. It's impossible!"

"Look – I'll write you, whenever I can get access to a starlink."

She moaned, and buried her face in my chest. "Please, please, God, help me. Please help me." She was crying like a river, gasping and shuddering.

Damn it. Now she had me going. I brushed away the first tear and held her tight. I didn't want her to see it. Damn it! What kind of a soldier am I? I glanced across to Arie and Blondie. They were wrapped around each other like a couple of snakes mating. I had never before felt so utterly helpless. We were like bacteria, caught in a cosmic typhoon, rushing onwards to certain destruction.

"Please, please, please, dear God…" she continued, sharp fingernails digging into my back. How could I leave her? She loves me, nobody has ever loved me like this before. Nobody else has ever prayed to God for me. And I have to leave her? I have to forget her?

How am I going to do that? Am I really that strong?

"Have fun, gals!" That was our new driver, Bird. We hadn't gotten to know him very well yet. Doggie leaped out and we all followed, popping out both doors. My spring boots hit spongy turf and I immediately starburst, jogging from the insertion site, following the green line that my tacmod flashed onto my visor. No commands were needed – we had done this many times before. I was in a tangled wet forest that hid the night sky and it was dead dark but I could see just fine, thanks to Honey.

The Phantom disappeared into the night. Disappeared? It was just as if it had never existed.

"All clear, Prophet," Honey said. "Cloaking is functioning at 100 percent. E is active with safety on, target systems at 100 percent. Counterpsych is active with no psych activity detected. All tacmod systems are green. Tacmap shows all friendly units, completely cloaked. No hostile activity detected." Honey was my tacmod, a calm clear feminine voice that was supposed to keep me alert and alive. She wasn't alive, but I treated her as if she was.

"Approaching Three and Four. Please follow greentracks," Honey said. I was on our left flank with Saka and Ice. The three of us were to advance on the left with Doggie, Scout and Bees further back in the center and Smiley, Nitro and the Professor on the right. We were all fairly widely separated. This was recon formation, allowing us to move forward dispersed, three fire teams in rough wedge formation , while remaining in a very flexible position to respond quickly to any sudden attack or ambush with a counterattack from the center or from left or right flanks, or all three at once.

The forest was spooky – creepy, even. We were moving carefully, brushing aside wet palm leaves and clingy vines and thorns, with evil black branches seemingly reaching out for us. The Phantom was invisible, of course, both visually and electromagnetically, so nobody could have noted the insertion. And we were invisible as well, fully cloaked by the Legion's miraculous technology. My A-suit helmet was topped by a cloaking device that projected an invisible layer of active camfax that deflected all hostile probes and reflected only images of whatever was all around us. You could walk right up to our A-suits without even seeing them. The only way I knew where the others were was because of Honey and her wonderful tacmap.