Recon Marines III: The Marine's Doctor (6 page)

Molly looked closer at the scanner,
seeing the bright human shapes scattered throughout the trees.
“They’re really spread out.”

Mak nodded. “They don’t approach each
other, probably don’t have any social skills or ideas of teamwork.
Their intelligence level is unknown unless you’ve found something.
Judging by their poor physical appearances they’re not adept at
finding food. How long ago did the caged ones die?”

“
The dry air makes it
difficult to say exactly, but I would guess they’ve been dead for
almost two years. Do you think they’re considering an attack? They
can’t have any love for people like us after what happened in that
place.”

“
The one who followed us
inside didn’t act aggressively. Maybe some instinctual curiosity
drove it to investigate our presence. They haven’t moved since they
trailed us back to the ship. Sometimes one will leave for a short
while, but then it comes back to the same spot and
watches.”

“
And the mere sight of one
man holds them at bay?”

Mak clicked on a comm link built into
the control panel. “Come aboard, Pender.”

“
Yes, sir,” Kory answered
without hesitation or question.

“
We’ll see if they
approach.” Mak walked to a long cabinet on the right side of the
bridge. Molly realized it was an addition to the science vessel. He
opened it and took out a weapon. It resembled a pistol but with a
thicker, square barrel. “If one comes close, I’ll try to bring it
down with a stun. I don’t think the others will try to come to its
aide. Get your blood collection equipment ready.”

Pender climbed the steps as Molly
hastened back to the lab. Hector helped her put together a sample
kit along with a camera. She was back on the bridge with Mak within
three minutes.

“
You stay here with
Pender, doctor.” Mak added the stun pistol to his thick belt and
then took another pistol out of the cabinet. It gleamed with lethal
intent. “As soon as I have one incapacitated, I’ll call for you.
Pender will escort you to my position.”

“
You’re going out there by
yourself?” The creature was more than a head taller than Mak, and
even in its starving thinness, it outweighed Mak two times over.
“They’re too big and strong for you to take on alone.”

“
I’m not planning on
wrestling with them, doctor.”

Mak headed for the door but Molly
hurried after him. “At least take Kory with you to cover your
back.”

Mak stopped and turned so suddenly
that Molly bumped into him. It felt like she’d run into the
bulkhead. “Be ready with your instruments.” He moved soundlessly
down the steps.

Kory waited by the open door with her.
Mak had disappeared over the ridge so they saw nothing but waving
grass topped by blue sky.

“
Do you think he went in
the trees after them?” Molly’s heart took a few hard strokes as she
considered the danger her request had put Mak in. The dark shadows
would make for hazardous stalking of the large, fast
creatures.

Kory didn’t answer. He went to the
bridge and then returned with the AI unit. He tapped it a few times
and then held it so Molly could see the screen. The outside sensors
showed the bright outlines of five bodies moving slowly toward the
ship. Molly looked out the door, expecting to see them appear at
the top of the slope at any moment.

“
I think my presence kept
them at bay,” Kory said. “The lieutenant called me in so they would
leave the shelter of the trees and approach. Now he can single one
out.”

“
Why don’t I see Mak’s
image on there.” The creatures grew larger on the
screen.

“
His camouflage gear
blocks all but the best heat detection. He could be anywhere out
there.”

“
Won’t they see him, or
hear him? Or perhaps even smell him?”

“
You know more about Recon
Marines than I do, Dr. Drant.”

Molly did know more than most people
but that didn’t add up to much information. “There’s no cover out
there for him.”

Kory shushed her and pointed toward
the slope near the front of the ship. One of the creatures stood
there, tilting its head as it stared at the ship. Molly moved
outside onto the first step. The creature crouched as if to pounce
or flee but did neither.

It took a step down the slope but then
suddenly wilted to the ground as if its legs were made of string.
It thrashed about and tried to stand up, but the grass came alive
only a few feet from it. The stunner sparked in Mak’s hand, and the
creature slumped into an awkward heap. He prodded the creature with
his foot and then turned his back on it and the ship. Another gun
appeared in his hand. Loud reports rang out as he fired into the
air.

Kory’s radio chirped, carrying Mak’s
quiet words in the stillness following the gunfire. “Bring the
doctor.”

Kory insisted he go first up the
slope. Mak didn’t watch them, instead standing with his real gun in
his hands and looking toward the trees.

Molly’s hands shook as she fitted a
tube to the first needle. Kory helped her stretch out the
creature’s arm. Its skin felt dry and scaly beneath her fingers and
moved loosely across its muscles. Some vitamin deficiencies and
likely general malnutrition. Seeing it up close made its size more
intimidating than when she’d seen it from a few feet away. The arm
she poked the needle into equaled the size of her thigh and then
some. She drew four tubes of blood and then snipped a few strands
of its stringy hair and put it in another tube. If only they could
stay and observe the creatures’ habits, how they lived, slept and
what they ate. She pried open its slack mouth, seeing a full set of
teeth though many were cracked or broken.

“
Careful sticking your
fingers in there,” Mak said.

She hadn’t realized he’d turned to
watch, but she glanced up and saw his dark gaze on her. Using a
smooth metal swabbing scoop, she took a sample of saliva and
dropped the entire thing into a tube. She checked to make sure they
were all sealed and then stood up. “I have enough.” Though she
could spend months studying the creatures.

“
Pender, take Dr. Drant
back to the ship.” Mak turned his back on them again with his gun
still in his hand.

“
Aren’t you going with
us?” Molly asked.

“
I’m going to stay until
he wakes up.”

“
Why, sir?” Kory
asked.

Mak gestured with his chin toward the
trees. “The others are watching. They’ll kill him if we leave him
helpless like this.”

“
Why do you think that?”
Molly handed the bag of samples to Kory and then walked up the
slope to stand beside Mak. Nothing stirred except the grass for as
far as she could see. “How do you know they’re out
there?”

“
They’re there. I watched
them on the sensors for a few hours. They avoid getting too close
to one another. Probably they compete for food and who knows what
else. The treatments they underwent might increase aggressive
tendencies and competition between them.”

“
You think they’d tear
this one to pieces like an animal might?”

“
Pender, take the doctor’s
things back to the ship.” Mak waited until the young soldier walked
away before answering. “When men are stripped of everything but
their basic instincts, they are animals. Your DNA research surely
supports that, Dr. Drant.”

Molly looked at Mak as a scientist,
noting his perfect features, his beautiful dark eyes, and had to
wonder about the people who had designed him. Had they intended to
create a man of beauty? Had his handsomeness been purely
accidental? One thing she knew from the trial of the Recon Marines,
their handlers hadn’t expected the marine’s intelligence to lead
them to disobey orders. “Why do you care if it dies?”

The sun edged toward the
horizon, ending the long day. The sky darkened to a deep, clear
blue, matching Mak’s eyes as he turned his gaze toward her. “It?
When you study
its
DNA, you’re going to find human genes. Leaving it completely
helpless would be the same as shooting it in the head. That would
make us less human than he is.”

Molly looked down at the unconscious
creature, guilt filling her. Had she been thinking of it as nothing
but a lab specimen? Something she’d vowed never to do, put science
ahead of compassion. Yet this Recon Marine, created to be a lethal
weapon, humbled her with a view of the world that was more humane
than hers. “Do you mind if I wait with you?”

“
Don’t you need to get
back to your samples?”

She settled into the grass, finding
the seat still warm after a day of bright sunshine. After a moment,
Mak sat down beside her, his gun still in his hand.

The sky deepened to purple and then
black. Stars, bright and clear, formed a sparkling masterpiece
across the dark expanse. The grass looked more silver than gold and
green in the light, still waving in the light breeze. A low humming
and chirping from awakening night creatures added to the music of
the wild. “This is what I love about seeing new worlds. The clean
air, the endless sky, the sounds of new species of birds and
insects that no one has ever heard before. New plants, strange
animals and a completely different night sky.”

Mak made a noise that might have been
a sigh. “I’ve seen so many different skies and each one has its own
beauty.”

“
Sometimes I feel
completely inconsequential in the immensity of the universe. If
something happened, we’re completely off the beaten path here.
These outlying planets aren’t even on most star charts. No one has
mapped the entirety of this galaxy.”

Mak leaned closer to her and pointed
toward a binary star hanging low on the horizon. “That star system
is the gateway into the Pegasus Galaxy. The five stars in a line
over there are the outermost stars of the Darwin
Galaxy.”

“
How do you know
this?”

“
I’ve been to every mapped
galaxy at least once and also to a dozen more uncharted ones. Once
I see a sky, I remember it. On Old Earth, men learned to navigate
ancient seas by using nothing but the stars.”

“
Are you a student of
history then, lieutenant?”

“
The only thing I studied
the first twenty-five years of my life was war. Since I’ve had the
freedom to do so, I’ve become a student of many things.”

Molly couldn’t imagine Mak’s early
years. She remembered her father, the stern general, reading
bedtime stories to her. Though her upbringing had been odd compared
to many because of her father’s position, it had been achingly
normal compared to Mak’s. Rumors abounded of the harsh training the
Recon Marines had endured, but how many people considered the bars
placed upon the marine’s education? “What is your favorite field of
study?”

Mak looked at her, the stars reflected
in his eyes. “I like them all. I want to learn everything about
everything.” He looked away as if embarrassed.

Molly’s thoughts turned to the samples
waiting in the ship’s lab. “I know what you mean. I want to learn
everything too though I’ve narrowed it to the fields of biology and
medicine.”

“
That’s still a broad
subject.”

“
It is. The possibilities
are infinite. Somewhere out there is the cure for cancer, muscle
diseases, maybe even old age.” Molly stopped. She’d never spoken of
her dreams and passions to someone else as if they were more than
wishes. Why did she share them with this man? Perhaps because his
dream to learn everything was as fanciful as hers.

“
I think all those things
are out there, too. Don’t stop searching.” Mak stood up and offered
her his hand. He pulled her easily to her feet though she knew she
wasn’t a slim girl. “He’s waking up.”

She hadn’t heard anything but in the
starlight she saw the fingers of the creature twitching. “How did
you know?”

“
I heard the change in his
breathing. Go back to the ship. I’ll stay nearby until he can stand
up.”

Molly realized she still held onto
Mak’s hand. She let go and walked through the silvery grass to the
light of the ship’s open door. She looked back once. Mak stood as a
dark silhouette against the star-spangled sky. Why did she speak so
openly and easily of her dreams with a Recon Marine? Why did she
feel so at ease with him on such short acquaintance? What kind of
man was this genetic creation?

Chapter Four

Mak read through the messaging
addresses he’d found on the device taken from the Julian lab. He
pointed one out to Pender. “They sent regular messages during their
days of operation to the Martin space station. Set our course for
there and pull up any specs you can find on the old space
platform.”

“
Yes, sir.”

“
I’ll inform the doctors
where we’re going.” Mak took his time walking the short distance to
the lab, wondering about the interlude with Dr. Drant out on the
prairie. He hadn’t had a woman listen to him so intently…ever. Not
even when he and Acacia had spent nearly every minute together had
they talked of dreams, or what they each wanted. The beautiful,
peaceful night had led him to sharing inner thoughts he’d never
voiced out loud before. And to have a lovely, intelligent woman
like Dr. Drant speak of feelings so similar to his, for her to
think him worthy of sharing her dreams, touched him. Damn, he’d
been touched. A year ago he wouldn’t have even known the term for
that feeling of connection between two people.