Warrior Chronicles 1: Warrior's Scar Page 13

  “Wills and Grandfather did that while you were asleep.”

  “I have got to talk to you people about security.” Cort said. “I know you are from a different world, but my ways have kept me alive when everyone around me died. They work and I am not willing to give them up just yet. You don’t have to agree with me, but you do have to follow my rules, okay?”

  “It is daylight again. The cats are not out. We thought it would be okay. I am sorry.”

  “Where are they now?”

  “Asleep. Oh. One of the pups opened his eyes. Would you like to see him?” she walked to the other room when Cort nodded. A minute later, he was holding the pup. Sköll had followed her nervously, but when he saw her hand the pup to Cort, he smelled Cort’s hand and went back to the other pups.

  “We need to start thinking up names for them.”

  --

  Both the FALCON and CONDOR suits required very little acclimation. The FALCON was like wearing a heavy snow suit, but everything worked well. The CONDOR suit was a little more of a challenge, but not by much. It added more than six inches to Cort’s overall height, making him just under seven feet tall, as well as considerably thicker. After a few banged corners and stumbles, he was soon wearing it like a second skin. Which it was in a way. He had taken Amber’s advice and suited up from nude.

  If Clare was embarrassed, she didn’t show it. It was the first time she had seen him naked. The scar from his face did in fact line up with the one on his chest. But he had many more scars. His leg had a round dent in it. She suspected that was from a firearm. There were two long scars across his back at slightly different angles. On his stomach there was what looked like a stab wound. When he took the CONDOR off, he was covered in a light sheen of sweat. She handed him a towel and as he dried off, she traced one of her fingers down the scar on his chest. When she reached the bottom of it, just above his nipple, she followed it back up. When she reached that end of it, she turned his head with her other hand and studying the scar on his face, tucked his chin down.

  “You have so many scars.” she said.

  “They are my story. Like a living canvas. Too often, the body of a fighter becomes a chart of his life. I’m a perfect example.” Cort was fighting his need. He didn’t want her to see his desire for her.

  “This is the angle your head was when you got this scar.” His chin was now tucked to his chest and his head turned a little to the right. Her finger finished tracing the line over his cheek, his eye, and ended finally to the left of his widow’s peak. “How did you get it?” she asked.

  Cort remembered the man with the scimitar who wanted to blow up a farmer’s market. “It started out a sword fight and ended with bomb disposal. A disturbed young man decided to kill some people. When he swung his sword at me I pulled away, but not quite far enough. I took it from him and then stabbed him with it. It turned out that when I stabbed him, I also cut the power to a detonator. He had planned on killing a lot of people. I stopped him.”

  Clare wondered how he could talk about taking human life as easily as about what to name a puppy. Does he place no value on life? Was his world so different that I just cannot understand it? “How many people have you killed?”

  “Very many.” He seemed to understand her thoughts. “Once I killed when I was told to. Then I killed when I chose to. After my wife and daughter died, I only killed when I had to. Then I found Sköll. Now I kill to defend him. Had Val not tried to take him from me, that day might have ended much more peacefully.”

  “That day was my fault. I told him that Sköll was the priority. That nothing else mattered.” Clare felt as if a weight had been lifted just by sharing it with Cort. “It was my fault.” She walked back to where she had been sitting before he stepped out of the CONDOR.

  “Yes it was. I’ve studied that day a lot since then. I’ve even watched the vid that Sergeant Thoms made. That day was your fault, and be glad for it.” He saw both hurt and confusion in her eyes and went on. “If you hadn’t said that, I would have ended up killing you all. By now, they would have sent others. And I would have killed them too. By the next time, hopefully I would have found the power suits. And if I had, I would have used them to kill everyone who came near, ever again. Most importantly, even more so than your life, Sköll would still be the only wolf. So be very glad you caused so much death that day, Clare. You saved at least one species.”

  “Do you always think everything through like that?”

  “Not always in advance. If I have time to prepare I do. If I don’t have time to prepare, I act on instinct. Like Sköll. But even after those times, I go over every detail later, to try and learn from them. Let’s wake the others up. I want some bacon.” Cort was dressed now and led her out of the room.

  --

  At breakfast Dar said, “Clare should go back with the pups soon.”

  Cort surprised them with, “Agreed. In a few weeks once they are on completely solid food, she has to take them back and announce their existence.”

  Clare was shocked. “What? Why?” she asked.

  “Because of your science laws. If you fail to disclose them, you become a criminal. And I need you too much to let that happen. The wolves are almost ready, and Sköll is already teaching them to fight. So once the runt is fighting too, you need to go announce your ‘discovery’. Just promise me only to use them for breeding. No vivisections or harm is to come to them. That should also give you and the trust a lot more clout. I need that as well. I don’t expect you to be able to return for a couple of months. If the press today is like it was in my day, you’re going to be a hot commodity. Just don’t give up anything about the facility that Wills or I don’t agree to. Dar, I want you and Dr. Wills to go with her. He has some ‘artifacts’ to show off and sell. There are also some purchases we need to make. I need you both back as soon as is reasonable. Ugh. What the hell do they feed pigs now? This bacon sucks.” Cort put the meat down. “I thought the last batch might be a fluke, but this stuff is nasty.”

  “I think it is great.” Wills said, “What is wrong with it?”

  “I think I know,” Dar spoke. “This is lab pork. We grow it in a lab. It is genetically identical to pork though. You should not taste a difference.”

  “Dar, have you ever had real pork? I mean ‘from a live pig’ pork? If not, don’t talk about something you don’t know. The beef and lamb were fine, but dear God. Wills, can you get me real pork while you’re gone?”

  “Yes, but only live pigs. Processed meat is very expensive. Well, live is also expensive, but I can get it more easily. Processed is astronomical.”

  “Live is fine. The offal will serve as food for Sköll.”

  Clare asked, “What is offal?”

  Cort held up a half-eaten piece of ‘bacon’. “This is awful.”

  Seven

  Spring

  Dar was due back today. Dr. Wills had returned three weeks before. There were three pigs in a pen that occupied part of one of the two secondary tunnels. Cort had slaughtered a fourth, and its meat was in the makeshift smokehouse and the freezer. Cort was waiting until everyone was back so they could all have real bacon together. It was not an easy decision. He knew he would not be able to stop himself if it was much longer.

  Sköll seemed to have adjusted to losing the pups. The first few days he was very somber, and wouldn’t leave Cort’s side. Even when he was working in the power suits Sköll was right beside him. But by the time Wills had returned, he was his normal self. Cort had found a few more goodies among the crates that Amber and Matt had left him. There were modernized (to Cort) weapons that were well suited to the armor, including an oversized assault rifle that used ‘charged’ rounds. Intended to be used against power suits, the round fired off a 750,000 volt charge as it struck anything solid. It would disable even the most robust (for that time) powered systems before continuing its ballistic trajectory. That meant the power suit went down, and when the suit was penetrated, the man did. There were other rounds that co
uld be loaded into a dual cartridge magazine as well: Standard ballistic, explosive, rubber tipped, even tracker rounds that would allow the user to track a tagged target. The user could also switch between two styles of rounds with each clip. In addition, there were some sensor systems and environmental equipment that would have been very helpful had he not been able to exit the cavern.

  Cort tested the weapons and found they were well preserved. The electrical rounds, both charged and tracker type, did have to be charged prior to use. Both the rifle and clips could be charged by maintaining contact with either the FALCON or the CONDOR. The HAWC would charge them as well, but because of its size, standard weapons were unusable until you exited the HAWC torso. Amber and Matt (or maybe the weapon’s designers) had also thought to provide him with the adaptive equipment needed to fire his standard NATO rounds through the system.

  One day, after shucking the CONDOR, Cort asked Wills, “Can you think of any reason the powered suits would function better with me being nude?”

  “I was wondering if you would ever ask that.” Wills chuckled as he continued, “Cort, you have been had. I think Amber just liked the thought of you being naked. I am surprised she didn’t put itching powder in the suit too. She really had your number.”

  “Son of a bitch!”

  Cort hadn’t had much time in the HAWC system as yet, because it was simply too large to use in the crowded Cavern. He hoped to be able to take it outside at night soon, or possibly take it with him to the compound in California where he could test it outside. Originally, he had hoped to use it at another bunker here at what was once called White Sands. North of his location had been a much larger facility that was used to test the EM effects of nuclear weapons in the mid-twentieth century. One night he donned the FALCON suit and traveled to the area where that bunker should have been, only to find that it had been completely backfilled and turned into farmland. Not being able to do more than carefully walk around in the HAWC concerned him. He needed to know the system.

  Dr. Wills came to Cort that afternoon. “Mr. Sike has sent a message. It seems he has run into a family matter. Both he and Clare will be delayed.”

  “That means it’s probably about Clare’s mom. Do you know anything about what’s going on there?”

  “Yes. Clare had a brother once. Several years ago he committed a crime and ended up being sent to the Mars colony. It made the news because he was supposed to be neutralized.”

  Cort considered that. “Then he killed someone. How did he get out of being neutralized?”

  Wills seemed to be trying to recall the story. “Either extenuating circumstances or Dar’s influence. I’m not sure. In any case, he ended up on the Mars colony, where he was immediately put into prison. It seems while he was in transit, there had been an election that left a relative of his victim in power there. So when the ship landed, he was immediately taken into custody. At that point there was nothing anyone could do for him. So he is in prison there. I suspect that is what led to her mother’s breakdown. I am not sure though.”

  “Who did he kill?”

  “According to him, he was defending his mother against a perceived coerced mating. I believe in your era they were known as ‘rapes’. However at judgement, his mother’s testimony was not allowed based on her mental state, and his induced testimony indicated that it was premeditated and he walked in on a consensual mating.”

  “I’ve been meaning to ask about that,” Cort said. “How do they know what your intent is?”

  “What was the term your time period used to put someone into conscious sleep?”

  “Conscious sleep? Do you mean ‘hypnotism’?”

  “Yes. That’s it. Part of the synthetics’ coding is to allow for forced hypnotism. When activated, you have no secrets.”

  “What do you think? Honestly?”

  “Between you and me Cort, I think he is innocent. The person he killed was part of an influential family and had been accused of coerced mating before. I do not know about the testimony though. I do not know how they could have faked that.”

  “Get Dar on comm. I’d like to talk to him.” While Cort waited for the connection, he contemplated the term coerced mating. Humanity sucked. In the interest of being more peaceful and loving, they took the horrible act of rape and turned it into a term that would barely raise an eyebrow. Yes, humanity did indeed suck. Still.

  “Dar is bringing his daughter with him.” Cort said to Wills thirty minutes later. “She will probably be living with us from now on.”

  For the second time in relation to Clare’s family, Wills asked, “Is that wise? In her mental state, she can never leave. If she cannot take it here, you may have to, uh, neutralize her.”

  “This is a last effort to save her. She’s on the cusp of a complete breakdown. There isn’t much risk. And you’re right, she may have to die. But if so, it will happen knowing I did everything I could to prevent it. That means exposing myself and this facility to danger.” Cort watched as the little man processed what he had said. “And for the record, Wills, I would do the same thing for you. You are family to me.”

  “Thank you, Cort. Thank you very much.”

  “Dar is going to bring her here. Sköll and I will not be visible. We’re going to be in the tunnel with the pigs. You will assist Dar in showing her around. Then, once you can gauge her reaction, you will come and get me. Sköll and I will come in together. She does know about Clare’s wolves now.”

  --

  Wills ran to the tunnel where Cort was waiting. “We have a problem.” He was holding Sköll’s vest and two sidearms.

  Cort moved out of the tunnel. “What is it?”

  “Dar’s flight tripped the sensors. Right after it made visual, another flight appeared. It will land in about four minutes.”

  “Fuck. Suit Sköll up. I’m getting into the CONDOR. Lock yourself and Sköll down. I don’t want him getting in the way.” Cort stopped and looked at the archaeologist. “They do NOT get Sköll. Do you understand?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Batten down the hatches, Doctor.”

  Three minutes later, the CONDOR suit stepped into the new world for the first time. Cort had its assault rifle at the ready. The second flight was just touching down as Cort kneeled into a combat stance between it and the first flight. As he took aim and selected ballistic rounds, he realized he had never used the suit in combat. He had to will his fingers not to squeeze the trigger stud, the throbbing pulse in his finger pushing against it with every heartbeat. Taking a deep breath, he let half of it out as the control hatch opened and Clare stepped out.

  “What the fuck, Clare? God dammit!” Cort stood up. His voice sounded like a deity as it boomed out from the powered armor. “I considered shooting you down before you touched the ground! What the hell is wrong with you? You’ve got a fucking deathwish, you know that? Do you have any fucking idea how stupid that was?” He turned to Dar who had exited his flight. “Did you know she was coming? Why didn’t you tell me? Wasn’t me almost killing you the first time enough to give you pause about springing more surprises on me? What the hell, people?” Inside the suit, Cort shifted his eyes across the HUD. The Head-Up Display opened a comm line to the transport chamber. Only Wills heard him say, “All clear, Doctor. It’s just my fucking family again. Son of a bitch.”

  Behind Dar, an older and slightly shorter version of Clare stared at the giant warrior. Her eyes filled with tears. It was the first emotion she had shown in over ten years. Kay Gaines walked forward to the armored man and reached up to place the palm of her hand on the left side of his chestplate. “Is there a scar under here?”

  In a much softer tone, the warrior said, “Yes there is, Miss Gaines. Welcome home.” He caught the woman as she fainted. To Wills he said, “Doctor, please prepare some tea. We’re coming in.” He didn’t say a word to either Clare or Dar. And they knew not to try and speak to him as they followed him into the tunnel.

  To Dar, Clare whispered, “That could h
ave gone better.”

  Cort said, “Shut up, Clare.”

  --

  An hour later, Cort, Dar, and Clare were sitting in the living area talking about Clare’s success with making the wolves public. Kay Gaines was asleep in one of the three bedrooms. She had awoken when Cort laid her down on the bed. As he walked away, Wills gave her a cup of tea and introduced himself. “Does he really have the scar?” Kay asked.

  “Yes ma’am. He has the scar.” Wills sat quietly beside her as she softly wept and sipped the tea.

  In the living area Clare told the others about the pups. Wills could hear them through the open door.

  “A facility was made available to me immediately. Both the Southern Alliance and the Asianic Alliance sent zoologists and veterinarians to help. There are forty pups now. Male and female. With the old cells that had been saved from other dogs, they expect to have at least ten breeds by the end of the year. I excused myself from the work, saying I was more interested in exploring the facility with Dr. Wills. I thought that would give me more freedom to work here without raising too many eyes.” She said.