Prophet of ConFree (The Prophet of ConFree) (46 page)

The dream I had was probably an outcome of my worries about Honeyhair. In my dream, I approached the door of Honeyhair's residence. Actually it was her parent's residence. I was so excited. I rang the doorbell. Then I could hear someone approaching the door. It opened. A tall, muscular young male stood there, shirtless, in shorts. He had close-cropped blond hair and he was sweating – as if he had just been engaged in…something physical.

"Yeah? Whattaya want?" he asked, impatiently. It was clear I was interrupting him. He was still breathing hard.

"I – I'm looking for Sheila Dantos," I said. And my dream ended there. I dreamt that twice, and the events were exactly the same both times. But that's crazy, I thought. Honeyhair lived with her parents. She certainly wouldn’t be shacking up with some young giant in her parents' home. No, that was crazy. I was just too focused on the trip, too worried. Honeyhair wouldn’t cheat on me – would she?

Δ

I said goodbye to Ice and Saka, cautioning them to be careful with the doctors. Ice said goodbye with a kiss on the cheek and Saka gave me a big hug. Who could want better comrades than these?

The transport
Star Turtle
was a delight. The Legion had taught me to appreciate all the simpler things in life – cold water, tasty food, conditioned air, a warm bed, and above all, dependable, loving friends.

Relaxing in the roomy main passenger cabin, sipping ice water and reading the
Legion Tacmap
newsflash on a little d-screen sprouting from the arm rest of my airchair, I thought all was well with the world, for at least a little while. The dream still bothered me, but I decided to forget it. I looked over the main story.

COMBAT CONTINUES ON GALINTA

Eden, Galinta – 382/06/14 - From our
Legion Tacmap
correspondent on Galinta. Following two major tactical victories in Eden and Demon Hill, Allied forces are continuing to pursue, engage and destroy Demon ground and space-air units that show no signs of slowing their ongoing campaign to seize and colonize the Gulf world of Galinta. Legion Hqs has characterized Demon losses as extensive, with hundreds of saucers destroyed and thousands of D soldiers killed. Legion air and ground casualties have been described as moderate. This is Hqs-speak for 'heavy.' The
Legion Tacmap
sympathizes with our gallant boots and vacheads and with our steadfast allies of the Assidic Confederation and the Biogen People's Solidarity Accord. We pray for victory and urge the home front to support our soldiers. Once our victory on Galinta is complete we urge the ConFree Council to take strong measures against the criminal regimes of the Asumara Holy Commune, the Gulf Union and the Pegal Stelcom, which have refused to take any responsibility for developments in their own sector.

I turned the device off, depressed. Still fighting! Won't they ever give up? Must we kill them all? And what if we do? What's to prevent them from striking at another world – maybe someplace in the Crista Cluster? They seem to have an inexhaustible supply of saucers and troops. They probably don't, but what do we know? They're invading from another universe, with the Brights pursuing them. It's victory or death for them – right?

Yeah, well, it’s victory or death for us too, I thought. We can't let these foul creatures establish a foothold in our galaxy, no matter where it is.

Δ

It was such an emotional experience to be back in Providence I had to continually force myself to calm down. Peace, I told my fluttering heartstrings as the aircar taxi dropped me off right next to the downtown pedestrian-only public park area. I thought I'd stroll through there and enjoy it on my way to Honeyhair's place, but the park was mostly gone. A gigantic bunker squatted there with numerous gaping entrances on all sides.
AIR RAID SHELTER
, a large sign proclaimed. Another huge sign showed a line of Legion troopers in full battle armor, advancing under a smoking sky. The sign read:

A LEGION SOLDIER

DIED FOR YOU TODAY.

SUPPORT THE WAR EFFORT.

Depressing! I was nervous about seeing Honeyhair. I was in my blacks with the combat cross on my chest, wearing a black field hat and boots. I guess I looked all right.

I paused before her door. All right, press the doorbell. Do it! I did it. I was so excited. Then I could hear someone approaching the door. It opened. A tall, muscular young male stood there, shirtless, in shorts. He had close-cropped blond hair and he was sweating – as if he had just been engaged in…something physical.

"Yeah? Whattaya want?" he asked impatiently. It was clear I was interrupting him. He was still breathing hard. This was exactly the dream I had dreamt, twice.

"I – I'm looking for Sheila Dantos," I said. I was stunned. What the hell was this? Who was this goon?

"Sheila!" he called out. "You've got a visitor."

She appeared from out of a doorway, clad in a grey uniform. My angel! My heart leaped when I saw her. She was just like an angel! When she saw me she stopped abruptly. Her face went pale and her eyes widened as if she had seen a ghost. Then her hands went up, fluttering in the air, she uttered a strangled gasp, then shrieked and threw herself at me, screaming something unintelligible. She landed in my arms, throwing her arms around me, seizing me like a tigress about to devour her prey, wailing and crying, her feet not even touching the floor, wrapping herself around me like a python. She was hysterical, spraying tears around like one of those rotary garden hoses, twitching and trembling and gasping and crying and – well, it appeared she was happy to see me.

I held her tightly, her heart thumping against my chest like a high-pressure pump. The young atlas stood there silently, faintly smiling.

'Prophet," she finally gasped. "I'm so – so – so – happy to see you! Oh my God, I can’t believe it. Thank you, God! Oh thank you! Oh thank you! Oh my God, I am so happy!" Then we kissed, and it was just like going to Heaven. My lovely angel was in my arms. All was right with the world, with the galaxy, with the universe.

"Honeyhair. I am ecstatic to be here, to see you," I said. "How about introducing me to your friend?" The bodybuilder was still standing there in his shorts.

"Oh. Oh Prophet, it's so wonderful to see you again! This is Edward, my brother. He's just enlisted in the Legion. Edward, go shower. I told you to shower after exercise. Don't be a slob."

"All right, Sis. I'm glad your lover has returned. Nice to meet you in person, sir. She's been talking about you day and night."

"Nice meeting you as well, Edward."

"I think I'm going to faint," Honeyhair said, trembling. "We'd better sit down."

"You didn't tell me you had a brother," I said as we settled into an airsofa.

"You didn’t ask – and we didn't have much time," she said.

Δ

I took her to the Top of the Town that evening for dinner. I insisted that it be just the two of us and promised that we'd get together with Blondie the following day. We had a wonderful dinner, looking out over the sunset and watching the stars come out, the great vista of Providence Town winking at us far below as the lights came on. She wore her grey Civilian Support Corps uniform, to show her support for the troops. The tailoring on that uniform was pretty spectacular.

She was the most lovely creature in the galaxy, I thought. Long silky honey hair, a perfect, flawless face, bewitching pale green eyes, slender limbs and a dazzling smile. How could this happen to me? I must be the luckiest soldier in creation.

Dinner over, we moved to the lounge. There were not too many people there. We settled into the same love chair we had sat in the last time – it seemed so long ago. It was dark and quiet. Candle light touched her lightly, and she looked just like some angelic vision.

"Miss me?" I asked.

In reply, she reached out and embraced me. We kissed for awhile. I had to pull away because I did not want to start crying. I looked at her fiercely. Incredible. She's a gift from God. And I'm nobody, a brute, a shuffling ape. But I'm going to treat her right.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing. Nothing's wrong. You know, I've got to leave in a couple of days."

"Like the last time."

"Yes, like the last time. Will you wait for me?"

"I'll wait for you forever," she choked. She was crying again.

"Here. I've got something for you." She opened the little package. It was a golden bracelet. The inscription read: Property of Prophet. ConFree Legion.

"It’s a Legion eternity bracelet," I said. "Once you put it on, it fuses and you cannot take it off. It symbolizes eternal faithfulness."

"Put it on me," she said, thrusting out one slender arm. I removed the plastic tab, slipped it onto her arm and pressed the ends together. It sealed instantly.

She looked it over, tears trickling down her cheeks. I took out another little package and opened it to reveal a diamond ring. I got down on one knee and asked, "Will you marry me?"

That's when the waterworks turned on again. She reached out for me and pulled me to her bosom. "Oh my God," she said. "Oh my God. Yes. Yes yes yes yes! Oh my God."

Applause. The other people in the lounge were all standing, clapping. My finest moment, I guess. Do the right thing, I thought. That's all I can do. I knew she couldn’t come with me, I didn't know what the future held but I did know she would be a part of it. Prophet and Honeyhair, forever.

Δ

We were officially married the next day in a simple civil ceremony at Providence City Hall. I couldn't care less whether some crap government viewed our marriage as legal or not. To me it was holy and eternal. The only reason I did the civil ceremony was that it would simplify things if anything evil ever happened to me – which, considering my profession, was pretty likely. We had a little gathering after the event in an adjacent room. Edward was there, and Blondie, and Honeyhair's parents, and Blondie's mother. I promised Honeyhair's parents that I would stand by her forever and would send for her the first chance I had for an accompanied tour. I didn’t tell them that it was not terribly likely to happen in the immediate future. Especially considering the war. But I think they knew that.

Honeyhair and I met privately with Blondie downtown in the Taste Test, a dox shop that the girls frequented. Blondie was just dynamite in her grey Civilian Support Corps uniform. Like Honeyhair, she knew how to tailor the uniform for maximum knockout power. She was certainly perfect for Arie.

Honeyhair showed off her new ring to Blondie as we sipped dox in a private booth. "Wow," Blondie said. "Where did you get that, Prophet?"

"In the ship's store of the Star Turtle," I replied. "Same place I got the bracelet. Which reminds me. Do you still think about Nitro?"

"Nitro is all I think about," she said, suddenly serious.

"It’s true, Prophet," Honeyhair said. "She is obsessed. I guess that's the word."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that because I can assure you that Nitro is still obsessed by you, Blondie."

She nodded silently.

"When I left Arie I didn't know I was coming here," I said. "But I communicated with him in the meantime and he had me get something for you." I handed her a package and she opened it to reveal another golden bracelet, just like Honeyhair's. The inscription read: Property of Nitro. ConFree Legion. I explained to her what it was and she held out her arm and I slipped it on and activated it.

"If Arie was here he'd have a ring for you," I said. "But he's not here. He just wanted me to tell you that he will love you forever and wants you to be faithful to him until he can rejoin you."

Blondie did not reply, but broke out the tissues and applied them to her eyes. I hadn't really communicated with Arie – we were still on comdown. But the girls didn't know that. And I knew he'd approve of my actions.

"Where did you come from, Prophet?" Honeyhair asked. "Are you still in the Gulf on the Wasp?"

"I may as well tell you. We’re on Galinta. We're fighting the D's every day. It's very dangerous. You should know that. I'll not lie to you any more about that. Two of our squadies were wounded badly and almost killed. That's the only reason I was able to get here. I was sent to Quaba to visit them in the Recovery Hospital."

"Oh my God! Galinta! Oh no!" Honeyhair said.

"Is Nitro all right?" Blondie asked.

"He's fine. And thinking about you every day."

"How long will you be there?" Honeyhair asked.

"We'll be there until we kill every D on the planet."

"Oh no! Oh my God!"

"I'll be leaving tomorrow," I said. "Blondie, any message for me to pass on to Nitro?"

"Yes. Please tell him that I will remain faithful to him and I will wait for him forever. Forever! And I pray he will come to me one day, and knock on my door, and say hello. Like you did with Honeyhair."

"I'll do that, Blondie."

Δ

That evening, Honeyhair and I checked into the Black Mountain Suites, which was a luxury hotel only a few stories under the Top of the Town, on the Black Mountain galactic commo tower. I had rented a honeymoon suite. It was pretty spectacular, with a big round bed surrounded with mirrors and a bubble plex ceiling where you could look up to the stars.