Warrior Chronicles 5: Warrior's Curse (24 page)

Melanie’s eyes widened as she looked at Cort. “Even Elizabeth has to call you General?”

“Most of the time she does. But not always.”

“I won’t be as afraid tonight.”

“Like I said,” Cort gently touched the girl’s hand, “everyone is afraid sometimes.”

"Even you?"

He nodded. "Yes. Even me."

She was suddenly concerned. "Even monsters?"

"Even monsters," Cort assured her.

Doubtfully, Melanie asked, "What are monsters afraid of?"

"Me."

Melanie looked questioningly at Liz, who nodded. “It’s true. Even monsters are afraid of him.”

“Are you afraid of him, Elizabeth?”

Liz was startled by the question. She looked at Cort for a long moment. Then, without breaking her gaze, answered, “No, Melanie. I’m not afraid of him. He is a good man.”

In that moment, something passed between Cort and Liz. She would never again question his killing of her brother and uncle, and he would never again question her loyalty. Cort stood. “I have to get back to the
Kalashnikov.
Liz, turn things over to your flag captain and show Melanie her new quarters.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you sir.”

“You do realize, you won’t be on ships anymore after this, right?” Cort asked.

“I don’t need to be, Cort. I’ve found what I was looking for.”

Fifteen

The next morning found Cort in a foul mood. He woke next to Kim, slipped out of bed, and dressed in a FALCON. Going directly to the galley, Cort grabbed a tray and put two cups of coffee on it, filling the remaining space with fried bacon and toast. Half of the bacon was missing from the tray when his comm sounded.

“Ares. What is it?”

“Blenda sir. I’m dirtside. We’ve found an underground city. We can’t scan it and we can’t get in. It’s too well guarded. At the very least we need the HAWC. We may even need orbital support.”

Cort could
n’t pinpoint how or why the sound of Quinn’s voice affec
ted him. Was he feeling guilt? That didn’t make sense. He couldn’t figure it out, so he tried to put the emotion aside. “Define
well guarded
, Colonel.”

“I’ve lost two Marines and several Jaifans. The site has elevators leading down at least one hundred meters, possibly deeper.”

“Are these elevators big enough for a HAWC?”

“One of them is.”

“What is the status on the rest of the planet?”

“I have Jaifans and Marine teams clearing out the surface cities. Other species are no longer protecting the Gryll. They seem to realize that we are the favorites now.”

“Okay, put scouts on all the entrances into the underground city.”
Why does an underground city bother me?
“Then fall back and continue clearing the surface of Gryll. I don’t have to tell you
no prisoners
Quinn. They are too dangerous.”

“Yes, sir. It’s good to have you back sir.”

“Thank you. Ares out.”
I’m missing something. Well two things. Something about Quinn, and something about the planet. What is it? Am I ready to go back into a suit?

Cort commed George.

“Yes Father?”

“George, can the new warp generators be put on a HAWC?”

“I don’t understand.”

“Before we left our universe, you designed a new engine, right?”

“Yes, Father. The
Perlmutter Schmidt Reiss particle drive.”

“Yes, that. Can it be put on a HAWC?”

“Father, I am concerned for you. You ordered Doctor Pan and me to change out HAWC power pack and add a PSR cannon system to it. It was done before we entered this universe. Don’t you remember?”

“No, I don’t remember shit. Send me a sim so I can learn how to use it.”

“Yes, sir.”

“George… you know what was in my
reeducation
videos. Clearly there are things I am still missing. Find them out and tell me what they are. I also need you separate from your core for a little while. Shield yourself as heavily as possible and scan the underground city that Colonel Faulks found.”

“It would be safer for me to use autonomous probes, Father.”

“Do that then. But find out whatever you can without risking yourself.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Thank you. Ares out.”

Cort spent two hours inside the HAWC practicing what he had in mind, then he sent the data to George and had the AI compare his plan to the scans George was taking of the underground city. After that, the plan was modified and Cort ran through the sims again. When he had completed a full day of work, Kim tapped on the outside of the suit. “Hey, baby. You in there?”

“What if I say no?”

“I’ll call George and have him lock you out of the suit.”

The hatch which formed the suit’s butt opened up and Cort flipped out of the ten-meter tall armor. “Hey.”

“I saw you cleaned the galley out of bacon and coffee.”

“So?” Cort asked defensively.

“Baby, don’t push it. Ceram hasn’t cleared you for the HAWC yet.”

“Don’t push
me
, Kim. I’m going down there tomorrow to put an end to this.”

“You’re not ready, Cort.”

“I’m ready to go home. I don’t like this place.”

“I know what you mean.” Kim’s eyes were distant, as if she was remembering something Cort couldn’t. “It’s evil here. I’ve never bought into things like that, but this universe is evil.”

“This universe is what its inhabitants make of it. Nothing more. But it’s time to go home. We have to.”

“It’s too soon for you to fight. You could order the planet evacuated, then destroy it.”

“No. George nixed that. It’s part of the planet’s natural defenses. If it goes, the two black holes will destabilize. I don’t understand the physics, but he says if we destroy it, we can’t go home.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to clear out this underground city and turn the planet over to Quinn. She wants to stay here.”

“Good.” Kim muttered so low that Cort couldn’t quite hear her.

“What?”

“Nothing. I just can’t imagine wanting to stay here. But she has nothing back there does she? Not since her moms died.”

“I suppose. I think there is something more to it though. She’s running from something. In any case, it gives us a foothold here. I’m meeting with the Jaifan queens today. I’m hoping to leave the planet with the beginning of a colony. When we get back, we can use the tachyon system to send
willing
colonists here.”

“The people who come here will live forever from our perspective. Think about it, someone could invest there, then come here, wait a few years, then go back to immeasurable wealth.”

Cort thought about what Kim said. “That’s a good point. How much more wealthy have we become since you left there?”

“Who knows? We might have gone broke.”

“Aren’t we getting updates from the other side?”

“Yes, but I’ve been a little preoccupied to pay much attention. I told George to let me know if anything important came through.” Kim sighed. “Which brings us back to it being a bad idea for you to go.”

Cort raised an eyebrow, something he couldn’t have done before suffering the original scar running down his face. “Why?”

“Ceram said so. And he’s a doctor.”

“But why?” Cort asked again. “Either I’m okay, or I’m not.”

“Baby, you know it’s not that simple. You might be more vulnerable to them now.”

“I have George working on that. Kim. I’m going. We both know that. Help me, so I don’t have to expel energy fighting you over it.
Please
.”

Kim’s eyes filled with tears. “You’re bound to kill yourself, aren’t you? What about the people who love you? The ones you are going to leave behind someday? What about me?”

Cort turned to face Kim. He took both of her hands in his and raised them to his chest. “You know I've always done what I had to do to be able to look at myself in the mirror. In both times, both universes, both of my lives.”

Kim’s tears began to fall. Cort leaned down and kissed the tears from her cheeks. “I have to do this, baby. You know it as well as I do. It’s who I am. Please help me.”

Kim looked up at the man she fought the universe to keep. He knew that she wouldn’t love him any less if he didn’t go down into the bowels of the planet below him, but he could see that she understood. She wouldn’t love him any less, but he couldn’t be that man. Anymore than he could not love her.

Her voice was shaky as she asked, “What do you need from me?”

“You think outside of the box. Do that now. Protect me from their telepathy bullshit.”

Kim wiped her tears away, took one of Cort’s hands and led him away from the HAWC. She touched her comm with her other hand. “George, it’s Mom. Send me what you know about the Gryll.”

After she disconnected from George, she stopped and turned to face her husband. “Now let’s talk about Clem.”

“Fuck him.”

“No baby. You know you can’t dismiss him. He may not be family yet, but he is blood. And he’s from another time. He has different values. Think about it… He went from dirt poor to soldier to slave. And now he’s in another universe trying to adapt to things that not even H.G. Wells could imagine in his time.”

Cort shook his head. “He’s narrow-minded. That doesn’t work now.”

“So were the Cuplans, Cort. Heroc was. She changed. She loved Dalek, Cort. She changed the galaxy for him. She died for him.”

Kim reached up to touch Cort’s face. “Clem would too. So he deserves the same chance you gave Heroc.”

“If he ever calls you a
moll
again, I’ll crush his throat.”

“What is a moll, anyway?”

“Look it up,” Cort replied as he put her hand on his crotch. “In the meantime, how soon can I have your body? I’m horny almost all the time. I can’t explain it, but the more angry I get, the harder I get.”

Kim’s eyes clouded for just a moment. Then the clouds disappeared and she smiled. “Remember our first time?”

Cort did. “You had to do all the work.”

“I’ll do all the work again.”

--

Cort left their quarters wearing a simple tunic. As they had dressed, Kim had asked why he wasn’t wearing a FALCON, but he didn’t answer. He just took her hand and led her to the galley.

Cort sat down across the table from Clem and immediately began, “My wife and son really like you, Clem. I’m trying to, but the reality is that I don’t. I
am
sorry about choking you, though.”

Clem reached up and touched the bruised skin around his neck as Cort went on. “I’m trying to accept you. I really am. But I’m not as forgiving as my wife is. If you ever call her a moll again… for that matter if you ever insult anyone I care about again, I’ll hurt you.”

Kim was too surprised by Cort’s bluntness to think about her words. “So that’s why you aren’t wearing your FALCON. To protect him.”

Clem asked, “What’s a FALCON?”

“It’s a flexible combat suit. It enhances Cort’s strength.”

“Papa’s still strong though,” Dalek said as he walked into the with his escort.

Cort ignored his family as he continued to look at Clem. “How is your history lesson coming along?”

“I’m up to your time,” Clem answered as he held up his own flexpad. “I mean before you jumped forward. This thing is neato. I read a short version of the whole thing, now I’m reading it closer. I’m up to where you found your sister in the train station.”

Cort remembered his sister’s frozen hand sticking out of the rubble in a train station in Denver. “A president died that day. But all I saw was my own loss.”

“This book thing is nice, but I’d like to hear about my family.”

Cort relaxed a little. “I can tell you what I know. Great-grandma Mary died when I was little. She taught me how to play dominoes.”

“Then you must be damned good at them. She was a real trick when it came to throwing bones.” Clem smiled at his memories.

“Papa’s teaching me too, Clemmer!”

Clem turned his smile to the boy. “Well then, maybe you and I can play some.”