Recon Marines III: The Marine's Doctor (11 page)

Molly wanted to kiss him again. Kiss
him a lot. Though he didn’t understand the reasons, the kiss was a
bad idea. They had miles and miles to fly yet on their mission
together. She’d never become physically involved with a member of
her team before. It could interfere if she did that now, even if
Mak was irresistible. Even if they were having the oddest, cutest
conversation she’d ever had with a man. “I’ll explain later. Maybe
when we’re done working together.”

She stood up and Mak did too. His
tight uniform didn’t hide his body’s reaction to their kiss. A
shiver of arousal warmed her. But now wasn’t the time though the
temptation of the big soft bed sat only steps away. “I should get
some sleep while we’re in port. And you need to catch up on your
rest too.”

Mak looked mystified as she guided him
to the door. He paused before stepping out into the hall. “I know I
sometimes miss the subtleties of human conversation, but did you
like kissing me or not?”

She pushed him out into the hallway.
“I liked it. Way too much.” Then she closed the door in his
face.

Chapter Six

Mak saw little of Molly on the first
two days of the trip to Dewell. Though he couldn’t forget the kiss
they’d shared, what he really wanted was to talk to her again. She
had a way of listening that drew more words from him than he knew
he had. With Pender healthy enough to take a turn as pilot, Mak
found himself with more free time than he had work to
fill.

He researched military and civilian
info dumps on Dewell. Unlike the first two lab locations they’d
visited, Dewell was currently occupied. A small village, Welling,
did a bit of trading, exporting small quantities of rare herbs in
exchange for some basic survival needs. With a population of less
than four hundred, Mak expected to find a primitive farming
settlement at best.

Maybe he should report his findings to
Molly. Though she could easily discover such information on her
own. It would be a reason to search her out though the subterfuge
didn’t suit him. Why should he need a reason to speak with her?
Though he was better at civilian interactions than his brothers,
casual conversation eluded him. Did one practice it or were
civilians born knowing how to speak of nothing? The comm unit on
the bridge console chirped. Molly’s voice sounded good even over
the waves.

“
Lieutenant, could you
join us in the lab. We’re ready to share our results taken from the
space lab.”

Mak nodded at Pender, pleased that
Molly had provided the reason for them to speak. But when he
arrived in the lab, the other two doctors and Box waited also. They
had the large screen on the wall lit up with a picture of gene
strands. Molly smiled at Mak but the others looked unhappy. With
him or what they had to tell him?

“
Thanks for joining us,
Mak.” Molly tapped the unit in her hand and changed the picture on
the screen. Two columns of figures popped up on the
screen.

Mak took a seat beside Box facing the
doctors.

“
Why don’t you start,
Helen?” Molly leaned back, her smile gone.

“
The blood contained DNA
and other markers from twenty-seven different male
subjects.”

“
Men,” Mak corrected
her.

Dr. Shear nodded. “They were at one
time just regular men. Some alterations in their genetic makeup
occurred in adulthood. The scientists recombined the genes
associated with growth and strength, eliciting physical changes in
their body types. We can’t know how much it changed or enhanced
them without bodies to examine. They also stimulated genes that
would invigorate the production of certain hormones from the
pituitary glands and testes.”

“
Also in the blood we
found the elevated levels of those hormones as well as artificial
testosterone,” Dr. Loren said. “Unusual amounts of protein in the
samples indicate a radical diet, probably to support the increased
muscle density. But along with it were indicators of kidney stress,
high levels of cortisol and dangerous cholesterol levels not seen
since Old Earth.”

“
What does that
mean?”

“
Cholesterol is a lipid
that circulates in the blood if a person consumes a poor diet. The
genetic predisposition for it was one of the first diseases
defeated generations ago. People only suffer from it in the modern
world by consuming a diet high in certain foods.” Molly grimaced
and then went on with her explanation. “Cortisol is sometimes
referred to as a stress hormone. The high levels indicate the men
involved in this testing were likely angry or very tense at the
time of their deaths.”

“
Or terrified?” Mak asked.
“Fright is a form of stress, is it not?”

No one spoke for a moment but then Dr.
Loren cleared his throat and spoke. “Their mean age at time of
death was forty years old. They showed antibodies as we might see
in people vaccinated for travel to off-worlds. Like soldiers
routinely get. We’ve entered their DNA into the military data
searches, but we’re cut off from the main entry points out
here.”

“
We’ll be in range for
about five hours later today,” Mak said. “I was going to contact
General Drant to update him on our progress and make sure he
received my request to destroy the space station.”

“
Though we found no
bodies, we found overdose amounts of synthetic narcotics.” Molly’s
eyes took on that dark, sad expression. “We believe the men were
killed in that manner.”

“
Then why all the blood?”
Box asked.

Molly swallowed. “We’re only guessing,
but we believe the subjects were autopsied and their remains tossed
in the trash.”

Dr. Shear snorted. “They butchered
them quickly, probably in a hurry to move onto the next lab that
was already up and running. Then they threw them out like meat
scraps.”

Mak stood up. “You’re speculating.
Please report only facts.”

“
We’re making educated
guesses,” Dr. Shear said.

“
No. Mak is right,” Molly
said. “We can’t let our personal feelings lead us to guesses. Only
the results we can prove with scientific testing will go in our
reports.”

Mak nodded to them, not sure if he was
to thank them for doing their job or not. What they had done was
add another layer to his own perceptions of what kind of things
went on that were connected to his own creation. Another horrific
scene to visit his nightmares. He returned to the bridge and sent
Pender to rest. The young soldier still favored his arm and wore a
thick bandage on it. Mak wanted the time alone to mull over the
doctors’ report.

Pender’s footsteps still clopped in
the hallway when Molly’s light footsteps skipped up the two steps
to the bridge level. She slipped into Pender’s seat. “I’m sorry,
Mak.”

“
That you kissed
me?”

She gave him an odd look that
transformed into a smile. “I believe you kissed me.”

“
It seemed mutual.” Though
he wasn’t completely sure how it had happened.

“
I meant I was sorry about
those poor men who died on the space station.”

He looked out the viewing screen, not
quite able to interpret her apology. “You had nothing to do with
what happened there.”

“
And neither did
you.”

“
How much of what they
learned from their inhuman experiments was used to create the Recon
Marines?”

“
I told you that the
branch of the military science that worked in the Recon Marine
program branched off from the one we’re following years before you
were born. Nothing gleaned from this cruelty was used by your
creators. From everything I’ve been permitted to look at, your
genetic material was carefully selected before fertilization. All
manipulation of DNA occurred during the embryonic
stage.”

“
None of that is as
comforting as you seem to think it is.” Mak touched the AI unit and
asked it to make a connection to the secure link General Drant had
provided to him. The time differential told him it was early
morning for the general.

Seconds later, the general’s image
came up on the screen. His austere office filled the background.
“Finally, lieutenant. What did you find on Julian?”

Mak gave him a summation of the
events, leaving out his watch over the unconscious lab victim. He
tapped in coordinates of the space station, explaining the booby
traps filling the operations level.

“
Where are you heading
now?” Drant asked, a darker than his usual scowl on his
face.

“
Dewell, sir. The space
station communicated with it and had transports between it and the
planet during the last year of operations. Maybe longer but only
the last five hundred days were recorded.”

“
I wanted you along to
protect the scientists, but I never expected dangers like you’ve
encountered. Maybe I should send more soldiers to join
you.”

“
Dewell appears to have a
small farming village in the quadrant where I expect to find the
next lab, sir, so I doubt the risk is more than we can
handle.”

“
Makes some sense, but
you’ll report to me immediately after you complete your
investigations there.”

“
Yes, sir. We’ll arrive in
sixty-five hours and thirty-three minutes.”

Drant shook his head and smiled. “Now
let me talk to my daughter.”

“
Molly? Why do you want to
talk to her?”

“
Because she’s my
daughter,” Drant roared. “Go get her! Wait! Why did you call her
Molly?”

Molly nudged the AI so it faced her.
“I’m here, Dad.”

Mak couldn’t see the general anymore,
but his voice changed from its customary growl to something softer.
“You’re well out there in the black?”

“
You know I love it out
here.”

“
I know. You have your
mother’s wandering spirit. Have you found anything to further your
research?”

“
Not really. Mostly we’ve
found disturbing examples of criminal cruelties.”

“
I wish you didn’t have to
see it. It shames the military that these studies sprang from our
midst.”

“
You ended them,
Dad.”

“
I did but too late for a
lot of people.” Drant cleared his throat. “Now tell me why my Recon
Marine is calling you by your first name.”

Molly looked over at Mak with a grin.
“I ordered him to. It’s only the way we could work together after
you put him in command behind my back.”

“
Well, now, I wanted a
military man in charge in case you ran into trouble. I thought you
wouldn’t be able to bully a Recon Marine into letting you overlook
caution in the name of science.”

“
I haven’t been able to
bully him yet.” Molly’s smile widened. “But I’m working on
it.”

“
I love you, girl, but you
listen to the lieutenant. Go easy on him. He’s not accustomed to
dealing with the likes of you. Now go back to your lab and let me
speak with my marine in private.”

“
I love you too, Dad.”
Molly blew him a kiss and then turned the AI back to face Mak. She
winked at him and then left.

“
I have one more order for
you, lieutenant.”

Mak wondered what the wink meant.
“Sir?”

“
Dr. Drant is my daughter,
more precious to me than the rest of the universe all
together.”

“
Yes, sir.” Mak couldn’t
imagine one person being more important than the entirety of
mankind but he’d learned in the past year that men would do crazy
things to protect those they loved.

“
Do you understand,
soldier, that you answer to me?”

“
Yes, sir. I’ve answered
all your questions.”

“
If something happens to
my daughter, are you going to be able to answer why you didn’t
protect her?”

“
No, sir.”

Drant moved closer to the screen,
managing to loom from more than a million miles away. “What do you
mean by that no, lieutenant?”

“
Sir, if something happens
to Molly, it will only be because I’m dead and unable to answer
questions.”

Drant moved back, shaking his head.
“Good answer. Your discovery of live subjects on Julian raises my
concerns that you’ll run into similar troubles as you follow this
evil trail. You make sure you’re first through every door. Protect
my daughter.”

“
Yes, sir.”

“
And keep your hands off
of her.”

“
Sir?” Mak tried to think
of the few times he’d touched Molly. Except for that one
kiss.

“
Every father thinks his
daughter is beautiful, and I’m no different. Even after
thirty-three years of watching her grow, she’s still my little
girl. She’s brilliant and kind-hearted like her mother. She’s not
meant for a soldier, and certainly not for a Recon
Marine.”

“
I don’t understand,
sir.”

“
I’m just a soldier,
lieutenant, but being in command of men has made me pretty good at
reading a man’s face. I see what is in your expression when you say
her name. My daughter is not for you. I’m ordering you to have no
relationship with her beyond your professional duties. Now do you
understand?”