Prophet of ConFree (The Prophet of ConFree) (47 page)

I won't even attempt to describe our ecstasy and joy, discovering ourselves for the first time, entering into another entire dimension of intimacy and love. It was like a cosmic tsunami of eternal love. In its wake, we lay there gasping under those brilliant stars, and Honeyhair seemed stunned in wet-eyed adoration of me and of our love, speechless, open mouthed, amazed and exhausted, little beads of sweat trickling down her adorable temples.

"I just realized something," I said, quietly. "This is the fourth day we've been together. I mean, not counting those few moments in that corridor of the Dark Lady. Day One was when Arie and I hit on you and Blondie in Providence and took you both to dinner at the Top of the Town. Day Two was graduation and we left you the next day. Day Three was yesterday, when I knocked on your door and took you again to the Top of the Town, and proposed. And this is Day Four when we were married. Four days! I hardly know you, Honeyhair."

"It certainly was a whirlwind courtship, sir. But I love the ending!"

"This isn't the ending, Sweety Pie. It's only the beginning."

"You'll be leaving me tomorrow – right?"

"Right, but we're married now. If you want you can rent your own quarters – courtesy of the ConFree Legion."

"No, I think I'll just stay with Mom and Dad – until you come back permanently, or send for me."

"That may be best. Well, now that we're married, why don't you tell me something about yourself?"

"You haven’t done this marriage thing before, have you? I think you're supposed to find out about the girl first, and then marry her. If she's your type."

"I know. You are my type. But I'm curious about one thing. When we first encountered each other, in the corridors of the Bold Lady, you struck me as – well, spectacularly beautiful. But, other than that, I instantly noted that you appeared to be haughty, arrogant, snarky, sarcastic, disinterested in me or anything else, and tremendously bored by the prospect of further interactions with Arie and I. And that's the last time I saw that girl. After that, you seemed to be an entirely different person. Why's that?"

"Lots of practice," she smiled. "That was my public face. I was posing as an Innie. I was very good at that."

"What's an Innie?"

"Ah. Good question. An Innie is a self-centered, insecure, stupid young girl who exists solely to show herself off to her peers, to seek their approval, and to remain within the Innie community without being cast off for any subversive tendencies."

"I see."

"I doubt that
.
Here's the story. Trina and I were both in Highlands Middle School, located on Guarados. My mom and dad and Trina's mom were officials of the Ministry of Education, and they were being transferred to Veltros. That's why we were on the Dark Lady. Anyway, in Highlands midschool, girl society consisted of two main cults, the Innies and the Dwerbs. The Innies are strikingly attractive girls clad in the latest high-fashion youth attire, focused entirely on their social life and their status as spoiled rotten lazy Innie princesses. Innies spend much of the night cavorting with boys, drinking heavily, copulating like alley cats, and telling their peers about their experiences. The more sex you have, the higher your status. Dwerb girls are everyone else. Especially those who study, have any moral scruples or, horrors, believe in God. The merest hint of religious beliefs will get you expelled from the Innie cult."

"It sounds pretty horrible. Being an Innie, I mean."

"I wasn't really an Innie, but I passed. I guess I could write an interesting sociological study called 'I Passed for Innie'. As a brainless subteen, I was fixated on becoming an Innie. As I grew taller and more – well, Innie-like, I entered the cult. I watched my girl friends puking their guts out into the nearest toilets, and I fought off several clumsy rape attempts by drunken boys. I concluded this was not for me. However, I was too cowardly to flee the cult. I developed my haughty persona to repel any approaches and told everyone that my lover was a Legion trooper who was very secretive and jealous and violent and highly unstable. That explained why I did not join my fellow idiots in their nightly orgies. And they really admired me because my arrogant attitude was so perfectly offensive to everyone.

"But I started to have some doubts. Once I showed up at school with a self-inflicted bruise on my cheek and I told my Innie peers that my crazy boy friend slapped me because I wouldn't do some unspeakable sexual thing, but I did it after he hit me. They loved that. I was disgusted when the other Innie girls expressed so much admiration for me for submitting to my lunatic boyfriend's sicko demands. Was this really what I wanted to be when I grew up? This is crazy, I thought. Why am I doing this? I was still a virgin."

"Was," I said, proudly.

"Right. But truth was, I was not an Innie. I was a Dwerb. It took awhile before I admitted that to myself. I studied hard, but tried not to let it show. My parents were educators, and I knew the value of education. And I had other subversive tendencies as well. One day a Dwerb girl asked me if she could inherit one of my textbooks for a course I had finished but she was just beginning. The book they had given her had a faulty d-screen. I said sure, but I asked her to come over to my residence because the book was there somewhere, I said, although I claimed I had never bothered to read it. Innies didn't read, or study. The reason I asked her to come over was that I was curious about her. She was a little blonde, quite beautiful, devastatingly funny, and fearlessly outspoken in mocking the Innie cult. She had everyone rolling in the aisles once in mimicking one of our leading Innies. So she came by my parents' home. Of course it was Trina.

"In my bedroom as we talked and while I pretended to hunt for the book, she spotted a little novelette that I had stupidly left in sight. It was one of the Guiding Star series. Those were wonderful stories, very well written, targeted to subteen and teen girl readers. The author was a lady, and I thought of her as a saint. Each story was about a different girl, presented in very realistic and exciting scenarios, and written so you could feel yourself going through the events in the book. And there were always choices, life choices that were entirely up to you. She showed the result of good choices, and bad choices. I loved the series, I read every book she wrote, and I lost count after awhile. There were forty or fifty of them, and they were all good. She would move me to tears. It was like a guide for the lost. I knew she was a religious person because sometimes the characters would pray to God, asking what they should do. But there was no preaching. It was very low key. She was a genius. The only hint of a religious tie was some tiny print on the rear cover, Christian Faith Ministries."

"'What’s this?' Trina asked me, holding up the book. I almost fainted. If this got around, my cover would be blown and I would be tossed out of the Innies in a heartbeat.

"'Oh, some Dwerb girl left that there. I thought I tossed that out,' I said, unconvincingly. Trina told me later that I had turned pale, as if I had seen a ghost. She started looking around the room.

"'Why is your room so neat?' she asked. 'This doesn't look like an Innie's room. They told me you're an Innie. This looks like a Dwerb's room.'

"She opened the closet. She looked up to the top interior shelf, which had a whole lot of books on it.

"'What are you doing?' I asked.

"She pulled down a few books and uncovered a whole slew of Guiding Star books. She pulled down more cover books and exposed the lot. A subversive library of forbidden books.

"She turned to me in triumph. 'You're not an Innie. You're a Dwerb!' she exclaimed, happily. I was crushed and speechless.

"'I love Guiding Star,' she said. 'I've got every book there is. Isn’t she a wonderful writer?'

"I was so shaken I had to sit down on the bed. I couldn’t say a word.

"'I knew there was something different about you,' she said. 'I know you don’t go out with the other Innies. And I don't believe that story about your imaginary boyfriend either. You don't have a boyfriend, do you?'

"'No,' I admitted shakily.

"'Don’t worry, I won't tell. Why do you pretend to be an Innie? They're sluts! They're morons! And you’re not an Innie. You're a Dwerb. Anyone who reads Guiding Star is a Dwerb. You must like the series, you have them all.'

"'Yes, I do. I love them.'

"'That's wonderful!' she exclaimed, with a brilliant smile. 'I'm so happy I discovered you, Sheila. You can call me Trina. Welcome to the real world!' And she reached out and embraced me, squeezing me tightly. 'Let's be friends!' she said. 'I'm so glad I found you! Let's terrorize those stupid Innies!'"

"That's a wonderful story," I said to Honeyhair, drawing her closer to me in the bed.

"It’s true! Of course I wasn't confident enough to join Trina in terrorizing the Innies, but she kept my secrets and we became very close friends. As we became closer, I drew away from those Innies. By the time we left the planet, I believe I had been excommunicated by the Innie politburo or whoever made decisions about insincere girls. And I didn't miss them at all. Trina and I became inseparable. I admired her so much. She taught me so much! She was always courageous and forthright and direct. All those things I never was."

"She's quite a girl, all right."

"Is Nitro really serious about marrying her?"

"He's never been more serious about anything in his life."

"Oh! That's wonderful!"

We lay there in holy silence, looking up at the stars.

"I've got a secret," she said.

"What's that?"

"When I first saw you on the Bold Lady, I was utterly stunned. Of course, I went into my Innie act right away, but I was so startled that I almost fell down. It was like a bolt of lightning, right through my heart. I had never seen anything more wonderful than you. And it wasn't just visual. There was something physical that emanated from your body to mine, a physical force. I could feel it, tingling on my skin. I had never felt anything else like that before. And when you never showed up at the pool, I was devastated. I thought my nasty Innie act had scared you away. I blamed myself. Forgetting about you was the hardest thing I ever had to do – but of course, I never thought I'd see you again. And then when Nitro and you showed up in Providence in your uniforms, and I realized it really was you, it happened again. A physical force. I can feel it now," she said, touching my chest with a hand.

"I feel that every time I touch you, Honeyhair. I want to ensure you understand. I married you because I love you and I don't want to lose you. You're mine now, and I'm yours. Forever. But we're both facing years of loneliness. I'm a Legion trooper, a grunt, in the front lines. I am not authorized to have my wife join me in a combat zone. And combat zones are all I'm likely to be seeing – for years. Once I can land an accompanied tour, anywhere, I'll send for you. But if I ever have a chance to request an accompanied tour, I'm going to request Veltros. Is that all right with you?"

"Anywhere we can be together is all right with me, Prophet. Anywhere."

"Good. Good. We'll just have to be patient. And don't lose faith in me."

"Never!"

"How is life here, for you, in Providence?"

"I am very busy – and I am very satisfied with what I am doing. The Civilian Support Corps takes up almost all my time. And Trina is there, too. We help each other. When I'm down, she cheers me up. And when she's down, I cheer her up. We're both preparing for Armageddon. We know how important the work is. I'm not a stupid Innie anymore. I'm a CSC emergency nurse, and I help people. That's what I do. Your girl's mission is to save lives and help the helpless. I'm part of ConFree now, an important part. We are all united to prepare for the coming attack. You know we’ve all been issued E's? I'm becoming a damned good shot. Any Demons that aim to attack the women and kids in our air raid shelter are going to have to get past me to get to them. And I'm not going to move from my post – no matter what!" Her green eyes blazed defiance.

"I'm sorry, Honeyhair. I'm so sorry about the war. I'm sorry you have to experience it."

"It's not your fault. It's nobody's fault. It's just history. And the strong are going to survive. Isn’t that right?"

"That's exactly right."

Δ

I returned to Quaba the following day, Space-A on the star carrier
Infinity
, after a tearful goodbye with Honeyhair. Sitting motionless in the ship's main passenger cabin, I closed my eyes and thought about the dream. All right, I had seen into the future, again. Twice. With astounding accuracy. But this time it had nothing to do with the Demons, or the war. What did it all mean? First, it was certain that whatever the Brights had done to my brain allowed me to see that little glimpse into the future. No doubt about that. But why did it happen? The Brights were certainly not interested in my personal life. It was certainly not a message of any kind from the Brights. All right, but it was a capability they had given me, whether deliberate or accidentally. It was a capability to see into the future that had flown into my body when I touched that dying Bright soldier. And now I was doing it. I'm not a messenger from the Brights. But I can see into the future, from time to time, because of whatever had happened to my brain. I can't control it. But I can evidently do it.

Should I tell Doctor Well and the gang? Good lord, they'd make me their prize specimen. I'd never get back to Delta. But they'd probably keep me in some fat rear-echelon place – like Quaba - where I could get an accompanied tour. Don't I owe that to Honeyhair? But the squad – that's my squad! I've got to get back there, into the mud. Or it'll never happen. I belong with them. But I belong with Honeyhair, too! Good lord!