Curse of the Legion (3 page)

And there we were. I was still alive, and I didn't know why. Fate — it must be fate. I sure didn't plan to have three wives. Priestess was my first, and my eternal love. She's a Legion girl and the only reason she puts up with the other two is that I've proven to her—in blood—that she means more to me than anyone else. Also I said I'd shoot myself in the head if she left me. Moontouch is my second wife, or maybe even my first, depending on how you count it. She's a Taka princess, a stunningly lovely sorceress from Andrion 2. All she had to do was blink, and I was hers. She can see into the future and into the past, and what she sees is pretty scary. She gave me my first son, Stormdawn. I love them both, Moontouch and Stormdawn, and will love them forever. Storm is growing up now, a tall slim youth who will inherit Southmark and lift his race up from the dust. My third wife is my darling Millie, whom I met when she was a student nurse on Chudit, about a hundred thousand years in the past. I sure didn't intend to get involved with her, but she saved the galaxy from the White Death, and it didn't seem right to let her die, so I brought her back with me. She's just a normal girl—except for what happened between us. I promised I'd be there for her, and I am. I'm tied to her for life, that's for sure. And I'm an immortal. So is she, by now.

After our last mission to Eiros 4, Priestess and Millie and Stormdawn and I had returned to Andrion 2 to live happily at Stonehall with Moontouch and the Taka. Priestess and Millie and I were employed at Alpha Station. It was an idyllic time. I spent my free time with the family while filling in my journals, writing up the past for the future. It's something every citizen should do, if you've been directly involved in historical events. You can't shape the future without understanding the past. That's why the past is so damned important. I learned that from Beta One—Snow Leopard.

And then the Legion came to me and Priestess, pitching us to accept instructor positions on Veltros. It was hard to refuse an offer like that. It was important, even critical, work. Priestess didn't trust them—she urged me to quit the Legion. However it was a non-combat assignment, on a lovely, peaceful world, and it also meant that the two of us would be alone, again. I think that's what sold Priestess.

It was hard, leaving Moontouch and Stormdawn again, after all I'd been through to return to them. But Moontouch said she understood, and she didn't seem worried this time. I didn't dare ask her to read the future again. The last time what she had seen had been so horrific I didn't want any further glimpses into the future. But those events were over, the galaxy had quieted down, and from her calm reaction I was pretty sure Priestess and I would be returning, alive and intact, to Andrion 2. That's what I promised Moontouch.

Millie was by then a Legion medic assigned to the Body Shop in Alpha Station. I wasn't anxious to leave her and our lovely baby girl Andrea. Andrea was a sweet little blonde angel, with a peaches and cream complexion and sparkling blue eyes. She was an ache in my heart—I just loved her. My first daughter! It was hard, leaving them. I told myself and I told them that it wouldn't be forever—just for a few years.

When both the Pherdan Federation and the HyadFed collapsed after our attacks, the repercussions were all good. The System sued for peace, and offered concessions. ConFree agreed. We didn't need any more suicide missions into the dead heart of the Inners, and the number of active hotspots eased off. That's when they changed the rules about procreation, and people started to relax. Most of us had been fighting so long we were anxious to live a normal life. There was a population explosion among female Legion troopers. New life, for hopeful times. The biggest dragons had been slain. We deserved a little break. That was the thought.

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"All right, you're immortal!" Shorty's amplified voice crashed over the assembled troopers like an electric wave. "What does it mean?" We were in our comfortable air-conditioned arena, all hundred recruits of the 5th Company sitting at their airchairs behind the edpanels, ignoring the dark d-screens, focusing on the speaker up front. I was observing, standing against the walls with several other instructors. I'd been told Shorty was an effective speaker. He was certainly an intimidating speaker. Shorty was gigantic, the tallest man in the arena.

"You've just taken the IG," he continued. "It only took a few fracs, didn't it? But it will change your life! It will extend your life—indefinitely, as far as the lifies can tell. Your biological clock has been reset—permanently! The cycle of life and aging and death has been broken—the aging and death part is gone! Your cells will regenerate themselves, indefinitely, young cells for old—it's almost like some children's fairy tale, only it's real. It's the fountain of youth, for us all, courtesy of ConFree's unholy lifies, altering God's master plan to benefit mankind's selfish needs!"

He paused, bathing in the rapt attention of the hundred young recruits. "The Immortality Gene ensures you will remain young and strong and intelligent—until your death. Yes, until your death! You won't die of old age, of course—that's part of the history books, now. But the IG won't protect you from a laser burst in the brain, or getting blown to bits by xmax or contac, or barbecued by starmass. Dead immortals—there's an endless list of them, on the Legion Monument to the Dead.

"Of course the Legion can do a lot to help you out, if you are seriously wounded. With stem cells, our lifies can grow or regenerate tissues and entire organs. Each cell will be from your own body. We can grow you a new arm, or leg, if you lose the original. We can grow it better, and stronger, than the original. Lose your spine? No problem. Intestines blown away? We can fix that. Eyes blasted to mush? We can grow new eyes. Lose your face? Sure—we can even fix that annoying nose that you never liked, while we're at it. All we ask is that you're still alive when you arrive at triage. We can give you a new heart, a Legion heart, cold and pitiless—it will beat flawlessly for a thousand years, or more." He lowered his voice. "We can give you a new brain. That's a little tricky, but it can be done."

The arena was dead silent except for Shorty's hypnotic voice. "Some Legion troopers are almost entirely artificial by now. You can generally tell them, by the eyes, and what they say. Quite a few of your instructors have biogenned limbs and organs, but we're relatively young. Most of what we say should make sense to you. That's why we're instructors." A wave of nervous laughter rippled over the arena.

I focused on a couple of recruits in the third row, a tall lanky young Outworlder male with a buzz haircut, and a lovely slim redheaded female beside him. They were both staring at Shorty intently, almost as if hypnotized. They both appeared to be stunned and amazed at what he was saying. The girl was scribbling non-stop on a notescreen. Our recruits were normally very enthusiastic about the Legion, and were anxious to learn all they could.

"As you know, ConFree has made the IG available to all ConFree citizens and civilians, upon graduating midschool and coming of age," Shorty said. "Anyone who wants it can get it. You've all read about the political history of this decision. The ConFree authorities do what they're ordered to do—by the citizens. ConFree is the first stellar government to make the IG available to the people. The System and the gaggle of states that have succeeded it have never made that decision. Most of their people are still mortals, although the ruling classes don't seem to have any disagreement about using IG technology on themselves. We view that as a crime against humanity—but that's not our business.

"Our business is defending the people of the Confederation of Free Worlds against all enemies, foreign and domestic. And you're the ones who are going to do it. When you graduate as Legion troopers, you are going to be physically and mentally fit to do so. We'll pump your muscles up with gene therapy and build your endurance to the max. We'll fill your brains with everything you need to know all day during class and all night with sleep-ed. You'll learn everything you need to know about our people, our enemies, your mission, and all the weapons and technology available to you to accomplish the mission."

The two kids I had been watching were almost trembling with excitement. I remembered when I had gone through Basic—it seemed like a distant dream now, but I had been just as excited as these two. The redhead was a real honey, I noted. If I had been sitting next to her I'd be paying more attention to her than to Shorty. But the male just continued gaping at Shorty.

"Immortality is only one facet of this. Just remember it's a double-edged sword. One edge is immortality, the other is death. The Legion offers both…life and death. If you manage to cheat death, you'll leave the Legion as a citizen, and you'll have the respect of everyone in ConFree. You'll also have great responsibility in making decisions about the future for ConFree and all its people. Your stay-at-home civilian cousins may be immortal, but they don't know about death and they don't know about responsibility. The protected…have a comfortable life, but they don't really know about life. Only when you risk it, do you fully understand what it means. That's all! Take ten and return here on time!"

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"Blood Lotus Crush, from Guarados, sir," the little waitress said, expertly positioning the wicker-covered silvery dox gourd on my left and the little dox cup to my right. "An excellent choice." She smiled and drifted away as I activated the gourd's heating unit. An expensive choice, I thought—it had better be excellent! Priestess would never have let me spend this much on a couple of cups of dox, even Guarados Blood Lotus, but Priestess was shopping at the Fleetcom Commissary and likely spending a lot more than I was. I hate shopping, and I'll admit I'm a dox freak, and can never resist a new and exotic dox. Even if it is ridiculously expensive.

We had parked the aircar at the commissary several ringroads away and I had walked to this quiet dox shop,
Taste Test
, prepared for a long wait for Priestess. Like most females, she goes into a trance the instant she steps into the commissary. I was in camfax fatigues, completely relaxed. It was a lovely place, I had to admit, luxuriously appointed in Spartan mod, open to the hazy morning sunlight and a faint cool breeze. It had a spectacular view of midtown Providence. We didn't get into town that much. We were both busy with the training course, and Priestess was helping out at the Body Shop as well.

Providence didn't look like most towns. It was very much a Legion town, established originally to support the Legion Basic Training course. Midtown was more like a park than a city—a series of wide concentric circular pedestrian roads, lined with trees and low-rise white stone buildings, radiating outwards from an open central park with a delicately carved fountain of white marble shooting a great jet of water straight up to dissolve into mist and gently cool the park. Quite a view—it always calmed me down.

The dox was excellent, as promised, smooth and silky with a tingly, musky exotic tang and a soft buzz aftertaste. I pondered the view. The tall fountain and pool was surrounded by groves of trees, green and gold and rusty red. People strolled lazily through the park, looking up at the water jet and laughing as the mist settled down around them. It was Offday and even the Legion was at lowered alert. Offday was a new concept for the Legion, but it was well established on Veltros, and even the worst Legion hardasses welcomed a little time off.

The park was circular and fronted by many attractive low-rise stone buildings. Many of them were public buildings but others were commercial establishments, restaurants and hotels and shops. All the buildings were constructed of an artificial white stone, delicately carved, many of them open to the sunlight, and none taller than four stories. Aircars were not permitted in midtown, so a lot of people had air effects carts floating along beside them for packages and kids. The ring roads, connecting roads and individual buildings were flanked by trees and flowers. Statuary was scattered around the park, fronting many of the buildings.

Hqs was to my left, distinguishable by the bold Legion cross carved into the fake stone, and the words:

PROVIDENCE
CONFREE LEGION TRAINING COMMAND
VELTROS BASIC TRAINING.

This was the training facility for all new Legion recruits, for all of ConFree. In front of Hqs, up on an imposing pedestal, was a larger than life, full color statue of three Legion soldiers in black A-suits, hauling E's, prepared to engage the enemy. The word WAR was carved into the pedestal. I guess that said it all. I didn't really spend that much time in Hqs. The actual training facility was a few K out of town.

I took another sip of that heavenly dox. Next to the Legion Hqs was another almost identical building, quite beautiful, and I could read the inscription: COUNCIL OF CITIZENS. They had a statue too—the Goddess of Liberty, raising a flaming torch on high with her left hand while clutching a huge sword with her right. The pedestal read LIBERTY. That statue was Veltros's symbol and well known throughout ConFree. The ConFree flag flew from a tall flagpole before the pedestal.

Most of the ConFree Ministries were represented there—EDUCATION, a statue of a long-haired goddess holding a large book, an E strapped to her chest, leading a little boy and girl into the future. Barely visible through the trees was the Ministry of Science, with a statue of a gang of young techs, male and female, looking up to the sky, hands raised as if appealing to the Gods. The techs were at least not carrying E's although the fruits of their labor were a lot more deadly than any E. The inscription read SCIENCE.

The Ministry of Justice building was hidden behind the trees but I could see the statue—a fearsome Angel of Death, tearing off her blindfold and raising a gleaming silvery sword, glaring at everyone, over the inscription JUSTICE. Yes, we should all fear justice. Especially lawyers. Fortunately, they were an endangered species here in ConFree. A pair of Military Police stood in the shadow of the statue and chatted. Every once in awhile they stopped troopers in uniform to confirm that they were armed. I guess ConFree was an unusual society. Under the System it was illegal to be armed, even with a knife. Here it was mandatory. You could get into trouble for not being armed. I always carried a little vac gun in a fatigue pocket. The idea was to always be ready for an emergency, even in the most unlikely places—like Providence.