The Second appeared proud, head up, supremely confident. “For those of you who do not yet understand, I’ll make it clear. Our mission is to die, for the Legion. And we’re going to accomplish this mission, in the tradition of the Black 12th, in exemplary fashion. I am proud to be serving with every one of you. The CAT team leaders will now brief their units.”
With the briefings over, we filed out of the room, numb and dizzy. I found myself next to Warhound, in the corridor.
“You know,” Warhound reflected, “I just realized. Cubes didn’t say if we were at war with the System or not.”
“He probably didn’t think it was important.”
“He didn’t think a galactic war was important?”
“Right. What’s important is that we’re at war with the O’s, again. The rest is all nonsense. It’s just trivia.”
“Trivia. A galactic war.”
“Right. Trivia. What’s important is whether or not humanity survives. That’s what’s at stake with the O’s. If we survive the O’s, we can resume our silly little squabbles with the Systies.”
“Yeah? Well, Cubes didn’t sound too confident we were going to survive.”
“Maybe that’s why he wasn’t worried about a galactic war with the Systies. Let’s hit the lounge.”
###
I tapped at Priestess’s door. It slid open. She was lovely, innocent big brown eyes and a small, vulnerable mouth and fresh, gleaming silky black hair. She wore loose camfax fatigues, a souvenir from Planet Hell.
“Thinker here.”
“Hello, Thinker.” She smiled, faintly. “You’re always so formal. Take five, Trooper.”
“Tenners, Priestess. Actually, I was hoping for a little medical care.” I closed the door behind me and unfolded a chair from the bulkhead. She sat opposite me on the bunk. The cube was so small we almost touched.
“How are your hands? Can I do anything?”
“It’s not my hands. It’s my heart. I’m lovesick. It’s serious…maybe critical.”
“A common ailment, Trooper. I think we can fix you up.”
“What is that weird smell?”
Another faint smile. “I’m cooking some Korkush flanpies. For you and me.” She took my hands, and looked into my eyes. “We can pretend we’re back in Korkush.”
“But I’ve never been on Korkush.” Korkush was Priestess’s home planet, a Legion world.
“Yes…I know. But we can pretend. It’s a beautiful place. It’s so peaceful. If you get up early, you can see the mist rolling in from the forests. There’s no pollution at all. I used to get up before sunrise, and go out into the fields and look up at the stars, clear and cold and lovely…billions of stars, glittering in the silence. Sometimes there would be a meteor shower. My skin would crawl, it was so beautiful.”
Strange, I thought, how she always tries to make a home. Even in her little cube on the Spawn, she had put a miniature Legion cross on one wall, and a solid of her bioparents in the corner. Light, emotionless music played in the background.
“You still listening to that stuff, Priestess?”
“I listen to your music, too, Thinker. The stars. It’s kind of lonely, and scary. But it grows on you. I see why you like it.”
“I brought you something,” I said.
“Oh? What’s that?”
I handed her a small package, the size of a minicard, wrapped in bright plastic. She opened it slowly and found a miniature certificate, topped with the Legion cross. She read the text. “Where did you get this?” she asked.
“I reserved it-for us. For you.” The certificate guaranteed that our names would be together, on the Legion Monument to the Dead. Side by side, forever, upon our deaths.
“You did this for me?”
“Yes. Don’t you like it? It means…”
“I know what it means. You’re saying we’ll be together forever.” She was blinking back the tears.
“Yes.”
“Hold me.” We embraced, cheek to cheek. “Oh, no!” She pulled away from me.
“What?”
“The flanpie! I’m overcooking it!” She lunged for the cooker and popped it open. A rich odor filled the cube. “Oh, no! It’s burnt! I’m such an earther!” She pulled out two steaming cookpacks.
“It looks all right to me,” I ventured.
“No, no. It has to be just right. Oh, this is awful!” She dabbed at her eyes with one hand and peeled back the foil with the other. “I’m sorry, Thinker. I wanted this to be perfect.”
“It is perfect, Priestess.”
“No it isn’t…it’s overdone!”
“It’s perfect, Priestess. Perfect! It doesn’t matter if it’s overdone or not. Did you make this for me?”
“Yes. Yes, for you.”
“Then it’s perfect, Priestess. Now open the wine.”
We drank Veltros wine and ate Korkush flanpie on a little table that folded down from the wall. The flanpie was not so bad. I don’t really like Korkush food, but I knew Priestess liked it.
“Those are the last two flanpies I had. Is it good?”
“It’s wonderful, Priestess.”
“Not too burnt?”
“It’s fine.”
“I was saving them for a special occasion. I know I’ll never taste Korkush food again.”
“Well, you can never tell.”
“You know I never will. It’s a shame. It was a wonderful world.”
“Perhaps you shouldn’t have left.”
“Then I’d not have met you. No, I have no regrets. Thanks for the certificate, Thinker. Do you think we’re all going to die?”
I took another sip of wine. Veltros wine is vastly under-rated. I really thought it the best I’d ever tasted.
“Priestess, I think whatever happens is going to happen to both of us. We’ll be together, no matter what.”
“Do you believe in life after death?”
“I don’t know, Priestess…I don’t know.”
“Do you believe in God? Do you think Deadman is really watching over us?”
“I believe in love. Give me your hands.”
Hand in hand, I could feel her soul. I closed my eyes, and waves of love overwhelmed me. It felt as if we were one person. I opened my eyes.
“Do you feel it, Priestess?”
“Yes. It’s like…something magnetic.”
“It’s love. I didn’t used to believe in it.”
“Is it God?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t used to believe in Him, either.”
“Is He real? Will He protect the Legion?”
“I don’t know if His Area of Responsibility includes the Legion. But I think He’s real. Can’t you feel Him? He’s right here, right in this cube. He’s all around us. I think we make Him ourselves. I think He’s a God of Love. That’s what He is. A God of Love. And if we love each other, He’ll be with us, always.”
“I’ll never stop loving you, Thinker. It’s a shame we have to fight the Omnis. I wanted to live with you somewhere, like Korkush, and have your baby. Do you remember that baby on Coldmark?”
“You changed his life, Priestess.”
“I’d like to have a baby like that. Your baby.”
“I’m not sure the Legion would approve.”
“No, I suppose not…but I can dream.”
I pulled her to me. Sweet silky hair, her warm body close to mine.
“Dream on, Priestess. I promise I’ll be beside you, whatever happens. I’ll be there.”
“I love you, Thinker.”
“I love you, Priestess. Forever.”
Andrion 3, I thought. Every frac brought us closer to Andrion 3. I knew what a hellhole it was. And that’s where we were bound. The mission wasn’t complex. We were going to kill the O’s, or the O’s were going to kill us. But there was one big problem-nobody had ever killed an O before. Your mission is to die for the Legion, the Second had said. Well, that wasn’t my plan. My plan was survival. I wanted to get through this, with Priestess, and live with her forever. I squeezed her hand. She squeezed back.
I prayed to Deadman. What else could I do? I knew there was no turning back.
GLOSSARIES
Veltros Training Command – Basic – Intro – Science.