It would be easy, so easy. I did not want trouble. Not between Valkyrie and Priestess. I owed Valkyrie a lot and I would never hurt her. I still loved her. Priestess remained silent and I held her hand and closed my eyes. I was in deep, deep trouble.
###
I woke up the next day, floating in the tank, with Priestess close by. My wounds were healing fast. Our lifies could regenerate entire limbs and organs, so broken bones and shrapnel wounds were easy. Priestess had somehow arranged a duty slot in the body shop to be with me. I didn’t ask how. Beta awaited us both.
I slept and dreamed. I was deep underground, in my armor. I could not move and I was burning alive in a lake of fire. Just as I was about to die, I awoke with a start, drenched with sweat.
Priestess was shaking me. I sat up and discovered that I was out of the tank and in a bed. The sheets were soaked but the bed was already drying them for me, soundlessly drawing the moisture away from my clammy skin. Priestess didn’t ask about my dream. Atom spied on our dreams and that was enough. We had enough demons of our own without worrying too much about anyone else’s.
I blinked hard and rubbed my eyes. “Anything on the Systies?”
She paused before answering. She seemed to have to force herself to return from some distant place. “Completely negative,” Priestess replied. “Not a sign.”
I scooted back on the bed and propped myself up on a pillow. “They’re out there…waiting. Blink once and we die. That’s what I think.”
She bit her lip. “You could be right.”
“How about the exosegs?”
“Nothing. The lifies worked on the remains of the one that…the one you killed, but they bitched that you didn’t leave much for them.”
I rubbed the back of my neck and snorted, “Oh yeah? I’ll try to be more careful next time. Next you’re going to tell me that Psycho wanted me to save him a mandible for his bulkhead.”
She didn’t laugh and she wouldn’t look at me. It was starting to get to me. “Snow Leopard asked how you’re doing.”
“When are they letting me out of here?”
Her voice was small. Distant. “Tomorrow. We’ll go together.”
“Hey, you don’t have to wait for me, you know. If I’m boring you…”
That brought her back. She closed her eyes for a moment, then wet her lips and looked me in the eyes for the first time. “I know.” She tossed her hair back, revealing her lovely, perfect face. Her dark eyes were burning, and the rest of the universe simply ceased to exist.
There was nothing else that mattered. My heart…I don’t know what it did but I know that it was something serious. The tech would be here in fracs, to check on my heart attack. It was as though I’d never seen her before and I suddenly realized that I would never see her the same way again.
“Priestess…” What could I say? I wanted to tell her that we were sworn, Valkyrie and me. I wanted to tell her all about it, to explain that I could not possibly have another lover. Not after Valkyrie, not after Hell, not after all that we had meant to each other. I wanted to say it. But I could not find the words. All I could do was look into her eyes and realize that this was different.
“I don’t care, Thinker. I don’t care.”
Lord, such beauty. “Care? About what?” I could hardly breathe. Surely the tech would come soon, to rescue me.
“About her! I don’t care!”
I had never seen her like this. “What do you mean…”
“You know what I mean! I mean Valkyrie!”
I fell right into those bottomless eyes. Trapped. I wanted to tear my gaze away, but I could not. She would not release me and I began to pray that she never would. I loved Valkyrie-cherished her. We’d been through so much together and…
“I’m yours, Thinker, if you want me.” She stood up abruptly, tossing her hair back again, defiantly. I could only sit there in total amazement, gaping at her.
“Body and soul, Thinker. Body and soul!” Her eyes flashed and a bleak vision seemed to pass over them. She backed toward the door, still holding me with her eyes. I knew she meant it. “Tomorrow, Thinker. Together.” She slipped out the door.
I knew that something had changed in both of us. Suddenly I knew that I would never be a possession to her. Never a convenience when the mood struck or green jealousy reared its ugly head. I would die without hesitation for Valkyrie, but I wanted to live with sweet Priestess.
We went back the next day, dropping into the atmosphere in an assault craft. We sat next to each other, but an uneasy tension lingered between us. We’d crossed a line. A big one. It scared me more than the exosegs. Would we feel the same after we returned to Beta and our dance with death?
The ship bounced wildly, its skin glowing cherry-red and Andrion 2 coming at us like a heavenly vision. Great silver oceans glittered molten sunlight, soft white clouds streaked by far below, endless green forests rolled by, bursting into every color of the spectrum as we approached.
Zero Alpha had been transformed into Alpha Base, our first foothold. With countless tons of equipment and cargo flowing down from Atom, it was Andrion 2’s first starport and a growing military base. Around the raw, dusty red earth, endless rows of ugly building modules dominated a bleak landscape scarred by hastily excavated storage bunkers and pitted with construction sites, aircar parks and other Legion installations. The whole base was ringed with a heavily fortified defensive perimeter.
That night, I visited a small chapel at Alpha Base, open to the stars and the soft breezes of the night. A simple Godmod, as we called it, with Deadman and the cross of the Legion on the wall. A chapel, for soldiers without souls.
Several other troopers from CAT 24 had arrived, suited up with helmets off. As I knelt before Deadman, I was surprised when Priestess slipped in beside me, kneeling by my side. She set her helmet before her.
I only knew one prayer, the battle chant of the Legion. I whispered it, and Priestess joined her words to mine.
“I am a Soldier of the Legion.
I believe in Evil-
The survival of the strong-
And the death of the weak.
I am the guardian.
I am the sword of light
In the dark of the night.
I will deliver us from Evil.
“I accept life everlasting
And the death of my past.
I will trust no Earther worm
Nor any mortal man,
But only the mark of the Legion.
I have burnt the book of laws
To serve the Deadman’s cause
As a soldier of the Legion.”
Priestess gazed into the distance, innocent and vulnerable. Her lips formed the words, but I could barely hear her.
“I am the slave of the Future
At the gateway to the stars,
Where I can see-Eternity.
For I walk in the shadow of death
And yet I fear no Evil
For I am the light in the dark
I am the watch on the mark
I am a soldier of the Legion.
“I will have no talk with Evil.
The arts of death are the tools of life
And in the end I will send
A maxburst to advise
The Omnis come by surprise
And though we kill them where they stand,
We know it’s death’s dark land
For a soldier of the Legion.”
We had taken the same pledge on joining the Legion. It was the creed of the Outworlder race, and a reaffirmation of our faith. It always calmed me down.
I glanced at Priestess. Her eyes glistened. I reached over and took her hand. Yes, we might die this very day.
We went outside where we could taste the still before the dawn, under a sky full of icy stars. Her eyes seemed to glow in the dark.
“I believe in Evil,” she said abruptly. “That thing was Evil, pure and simple. And you killed it where it stood! You lifted me right out of the grave.”