Strong Arm Tactics (24 page)

Chapter 14

Harawe’s orders had been very specific: they were not to let Oscar Wingle out of their sight. They had failed in that first objective.

“Then we need to stay within sight of the park,” Daivid reasoned. “If Mr. Wingle needs us, we’ll be able to respond within moments.”

The map Daivid had been provided in Harawe’s brochure showed only the interior of the park, with every ride indicated as an interactive touch spot for further information (and appropriate sound effects). As for the perimeter of the park itself, information was provided only as it pertained to entering and leaving a vehicle. It omitted dead areas like the narrow side paths through thick shrubbery to nondescript doors the employees used, and the recycling center at the rear of the thousand-acre enclosure. Access was provided by a wide road and a very utilitarian-looking gate. All the rest of the walls were separated from the surrounding residential neighborhoods by a broad moat ten meters deep.

“And the top of the walls are electrified,” Injaru pointed out, sharing a reading from his scopes on their heads-up displays.

“Nice,” Daivid said, admiring the safety measures, as aboveground security kiosks lit up in red along the perimeter and in several places within the park. “I think Adri’Leta’s friend was right about the Wingles not wanting any nonpaying guests.”

“It looks as though there are only six ways in or out of the park, except for by air,” Borden concluded. “Only two of those entrances are obvious, and this is the other one. It seems like the best alternative to staying on site, and the old bastard won’t let us.”

“Garbage again,” D-45 grumbled. “Just when I was getting used to the fresh air.”

The air became fresher still as they set up camp. Three of the Cockroaches stayed in their armor to patrol the perimeter, but the others changed into fatigues to pitch shelters and set up the entertainment center, and noticed the change in temperature.

“Brrr!” Thielind said, emerging from the shuttle bay in his string vest and swim fins. He looked up at the steadily graying sky. “I smell snow.”

“That would suck,” Boland said.

“I noticed a bar about three blocks from here,” Jones said hopefully, unrolling another personal shelter. He kicked the valve, and the tent inflated in seconds, creating a double-walled hut two meters high. “We could get warm, have a nice drink, and get to know the locals.”

“No,” Wolfe said, picturing the platoon let loose upon a world that was accustomed only to clueless tourists and endless children. He dreaded to think what kind of trouble the Cockroaches could get into. “We’re on deployment. It’s only three weeks, people. We can entertain ourselves for that short a time.”

“I should have brought more booze,” Boland muttered.

As if on cue, the wind whipped up. No one could deny that it had the sting of ice crystals in it.

“You’re not going to make us sit out in that, sir?” Parviz asked. “Do we have to set up the field disposer or the sonic shower out here? I’m not crazy about baring my ass in this wind.”

“No,” Daivid decided. “The shuttle has plenty of capacity and power. We’ll sleep out here, but use the facilities inside. Let’s move the stuff around in the cargo bay. If we pile up the supply boxes two deep we can make a pretty good table. After we eat, we can play cards and watch threedeeo. If we can secure the unit to the wall in the seating area of the shuttle, it’ll make a very comfortable theater.”

“I can do that,” Thielind spoke up at once. “I need two volunteers to help me.”

“I will,” Ambering said. “First dibs on picking the movie.”

“I’ll help, too,” Nuu Myi grinned, showing her big square teeth. “Second dibs.”

O O O

“We’ll take care of this, lieutenant,” Boland offered, as they surveyed the heaps and stacks of code-stamped military-issue containers full of food.

“No, we’ll all help,” Daivid said. Noises coming from the forward compartment told him Thielind and his assistants were having a hard time maneuvering the heavy crystal amphitheater box onto their makeshift brackets. He scanned the room, picking out the two Dragon armed scout vehicles, the heavy artillery weapons, and other things he couldn’t recognize under tarpaulins. He thought that there was a fair amount of dead space, if they pushed most of it together toward the back of the bay. “Won’t we, Borden? The sooner we get this place rearranged, the sooner we can eat.”

“It’s okay, sir, really,” the noncom insisted. “Officers don’t have to haul ass like the grunts. It’s our job.”

“We all have to pull together, Boland,” Daivid said. He pulled one of the handlifts off the wall and shoved the lip under the edge of a stack of black crates each containing 12 boxes of caseless ammunition for the direct-fire infantry machine guns. Borden took down the other on that wall. Boland stood in the middle, looking a little helpless. “Well, don’t just stand there. Snap to it!”

“Aye, aye, sir,” the chief said. He clicked a control on the side of a tripod-mounted grenade launcher. The weapon heaved itself up five centimeters onto wheels that would allow it to be steered with a fingertip. He did the same with the slightly larger artillery weapon known as the ‘twinkie gun’ because it shot yellow brass-cased cartridges that burned off, sending a white core of depleted uranium at its target. Daivid shifted his load of boxes all the way to the wall. Boland steered the guns into the gap where the boxes had been.

“Chief, what are you doing?” Daivid asked. After two evasions and a direct road block, he definitely smelled a deceased rodent. He tried to see around the chief, who dodged the same way he did. Daivid finally feinted to the right and ducked under the big man’s arm.

As he had feared, there was a draped shape that he couldn’t identify as any kind of military vehicle at all.

“No, sir!” Boland protested, as Daivid swept off the tarpaulin.

The lieutenant stared down at the machine revealed. It took his brain a moment to slot into place what he was seeing, and the last place he had seen it. His heart sank, and he sat down on the nearest packing crate.

“Oh, no. Not the captain’s flitter!”

“I can explain, sir,” the chief said hastily. “I mean, they were going to set us here for three days without any transportation except the dragons, sir, and we were going to have all this time to kill.… Civilians don’t want us driving tanks into town, sir. Remember, we’re supposed to keep a low profile?”

Daivid regarded him bleakly. “Which we can do with a stolen flitter? What did you plan to say when Harawe noticed it was missing?”

“Oh, he won’t be using it for a long time, sir! He’s on his way to the battle zone. By the time he’s ready to go on leave, we’ll be back on board. I can … break in the engine for him,” Boland added hopefully.

“I’m sure he wanted to break it in himself,” Daivid sighed. “I’ll try to explain it when we’re back aboard, once we’ve completed the mission and everything’s gone well, but it does not leave this hold. Do you understand?”

Boland echoed the sigh. “Aye, sir.”

“Let’s clear a space,” Daivid said, looking around at the others. “What are you all doing, eavesdropping on a private conversation? Come on, I’m hungry!”

O O O

“This is pretty good,” Lin said, around a mouthful of mixed noodles, proteinoids, and vegetables. “What did the label say?”

“Chop suey,” Meyers read off the label. “Very nice.”

“The fellow in Supply said it was the newest meal in the system,” Daivid said, slurping down pleasantly salty bean sprouts and bamboo shoots. Fluffy golden and white grains provided a bed that soaked up the brown sauce.

“Millet,” Borden identified the round grains. “Rice. Barley. High protein, high lysine, and low glycemic index.”

“It’s good. I could eat this again.”

“Me, too,” Streb said. “And I don’t even like vegetables.”

Military Entrees, Rapid Deployment, had a bad name among troopers on long assignments. Whereas the square black plastic packages took only ten minutes to reconstitute, heat, cool, and serve a complex and nutritious meal suitable for lunch or dinner, the menu choices were frequently less than edible. Somewhere along the line it had become more important to the manufacturers that the MERDs packed well and kept, often for years at a time, than to make sure the end user, a month or a decade after it was made, ate it or threw it away and subsisted on local vegetation instead. Students of ancient language often brought up the similarity of the acronym to an ancient Terran swear word, and commented that it couldn’t be coincidental. A great deal of political pressure by senators whose constituents sent them samples of MERDs had caused a shakeup in the last few years, resulting in food that was not only recognizable, but tasty. Daivid was fond of the vindaloo meal, a hot and spicy entree, and teriyaki, a sweet dish. They were also great combined, a tactic troopers frequently used in the field when the available varieties began to pall.

All of the protein-heavy entrees came with a healthy serving of a low-glycemic carbohydrate that would sustain a trooper through a long day’s fighting. To satisfy a military that comprised hundreds of cultures and many different dietary needs, the proteins were vegetable-based, but still fulfilled all the nutritional needs of carnivores. An adjustment before deployment pureed the contents for the use of such creatures as corlists, who subsisted on plankton in their home environment. Aaooorru signalled his approval of the meal with eight thumbs up. Hot and cold drinks were also provided. The hot containers, which could be set to dissolve one of a variety of tablets that reconstituted as one’s choice of teas, coffees, or grain beverages, drew water from the surrounding atmosphere, purifying it if necessary. The cold beverage container did the same thing with fruit juice. A side packet featured utensils, spices, condiments, sweetener, creamer, hot sauce, nicotine and theobromine pows, and an after-dinner mint, all of which, except for the utensils, could be combined in a pinch to produce a palatable soup. Breakfast entrees were in a smaller, green plastic container.

When the MERD bowls had been scraped empty, two of the troopers hauled them outside into the recycling area. Thielind led the way with a field light. He had spotted an external access hatch that would enable them to use Wingle World’s system.

“He knows we’re here,” the ensign had reasoned. “Instead of making us pack it out, we can get rid of our trash here. Does it really matter if it’s recycled on board ship or down here?”

Daivid removed a deck of cards from his duffle and began shuffling it.

“So, who wants to try their luck?” he asked, invitingly.

“I’m on second patrol,” Ewanowski said. “I’ll watch a show. Anyone else?”

“I’m with you,” Boland said. His face still went red every time he glanced at Wolfe. “How about
Creeptown: The Ravaging?
I hear it’s got lots of blood and gore.”

“I’ll try Lady Luck,” Jones said.

“Me, too,” Lin said. “I don’t feel like sitting still, but I don’t want to go out in that snow. What’s it look like?”

Borden consulted her infopad, which was tied to the telemetry systems of the shuttle. “Over five centimeters already. The atmospheric pressure is dropping. It will probably snow all night.”

“Slag,” Vacarole spat. “My people live in a desert. I never slept in ice until I joined the service. I’m in.”

“Me, too,” Nuu Myi said, sitting down at the makeshift table. She held an amulet that hung on a string around her neck under her uniform. “Good luck to us all. Amen.”

O O O

“Do you know how much it suck being a clone?” Adri’Leta asked bitterly, as the cards went around again. She had lost her marker to Daivid in the eighth hand. With good grace, she didn’t wait to be prompted to pay it off. In fact, it seemed as though she had been dying to tell her story. “Everybody in de galaxy expect you to know everything your predecessors know. Bull. When Fifteen died, I wasn’t born yet.”

“Do you get anything for being next in line?” Lin asked. “An inheritance?”

The trooper tossed back her thick red hair and blew out her lips in disgust. “Hah! No. I’m more like a thing den a person. I’m a legacy. Dere’s a foundation to maintain the genetic pattern. It don’t matter what I look like, ‘cause I don’t look nothing like de ones who came before. Dere’s so many genes in de cells, de variations just happen, you know? When I die someone supposed to send a piece of me back to dem.
Dat someone
get a reward. Dey don’t care what I do, or what happen to me, so long as de genes of Adrian and Leta Krumbacher keep marching through de galaxy.” She appealed to the others at the table. “Do me a favor? Don’t do it. Just bury me or burn my body. I think it too stupid to go on. I always say I joined the service to die. Why didn’t dey just have children de old way?”

Daivid cleared his throat. He handed the cards over to Jones to shuffle. “Well, you know the regs, trooper. If your wishes are set down in your official records the service has to follow them. After all, the foundation’s not enlisted in the space service, you are. They will follow your instructions for the disposal of your remains, if it’s at all possible, along with any religious service you want performed.
I’ll
follow your instructions.”

The clone’s face brightened. “Really? No one ever told me dat. De brass just see de number after my name, and end of discussion. You’re de first one who say he’d do what I want. Thank you, sir. I follow you anywhere if you promise dat. Twenty bid.”

“Well,” Daivid said, with some embarrassment, “no one knows better than me, and Lin,” he included the senior chief in his nod, “about having to deal with being descended from a notable family. But the law is on your side, I’m almost certain. See and raise thirty more.”

Borden cleared her throat as she arranged her cards precisely in her long fingers. “You are correct, sir. Except for ancephalic genetic simulacra who were engendered for organ replacement, and it still happens, in spite of the penalties, the wishes of the living being supersede those of a nonliving entity, such as a corporation. Raise sixty.”

Daivid threw a hand toward Borden. “There you have it. I wouldn’t argue with her.”

“Fifty more,” Lin said.