Children of Steel (28 page)

"Her brain scans seem to indicate it, and my
experience is the same."

"Would you know what room a Leopard named
Mist is in? She has both legs in traction."

"Let me check," she looked at her computer
slate. "Ah, here she is room 312."

"I'm not going to get into trouble this time
am I?" I asked smiling.

"No she's in an open ward, but you should
hurry, visiting hours are almost over." She smiled back.

It didn't take me long to find her room, I
walked in and found her lying in bed with both legs in traction.
She looked up as I walked in.

"Hey Raj, nice to see you. Pull up a
chair."

"So what happened to you anyway?" I asked
sitting down.

"Took some autofire in the legs, that's all.
I heard about you while I was on the way to the hospital and to be
honest," she looked me over then, "You have looked better."

"I just got out yesterday and I'm still
recovering. When are you due to get out?"

"They finished rebuilding the bones
yesterday, but with the slightly higher gravity here, the Doc wants
to keep me in an extra day. He's afraid of stress cracks I guess,
so I'll be in 'til tomorrow afternoon."

I looked at her legs; they were up in the air
in a truly classic position. If it weren’t for the hardware from
the healing machines, it would be worth a lewd remark or two.

"So has everybody else been in to visit?" I
asked.

"Everybody who's on planet, you just missed
Balizar. He looks busier than I've ever seen him. I'm really
surprised he's still on planet." She looked really puzzled.

"Why's that?" I asked her.

"Well, usually these things are handled by
the locals afterwards."

"Well, we are going to be here a while, and I
know the Captain wishes to make a point by having an animan handle
the trials."

"Oh I know that, but why him? Aren't there
any locals of rank around?"

"I'm beginning to suspect not." I said
worriedly, "I'm also wondering if more of these folks are going to
show up here."

"Let's change the subject, I really don't
feel like worrying right now!" she replied emphatically. "So how
are you feeling?"

"Better actually, but you should see what the
Doc did to my coat, I've got bald patches everywhere." I motioned
with my right arm, which was still in a sling, "This was the only
rifle shot that hit me clean, but it was pretty far away, so my
armor took a lot off of it."

"How did you get the other wounds then? I
heard you had about ten other bullet holes in you." she gave me a
quizzical look.

"They were all shooting at the Captain and
basically I was in the way, so all those pistol rounds pretty much
tore up my armor and some did get through. The kidney shot must
have been one of the ones that hit me when I passed out though.
Probably went through the table, I saw it earlier today and I was
surprised it was still in one piece."

"Well just because they let you out of the
hospital, don't go thinking you're healed." She lowered her voice,
"If you were human, they'd keep you in a week and then send you to
physical therapy for another probably. Now with all the wounded
they undoubtedly have to make space too, so they probably pushed
you out twice as fast. But I know from experience that if you push
it too much you'll get real sick.

"These machines are real wonders," she
gestured at the healing machines in the room, both hers and the
ones attached to other patients. "But a body takes time to recover
also, and they can't speed that up."

"I have been feeling kind of funny inside," I
admitted, "But I thought that was due to all the problems I've been
having."

"I heard about your family, and I'm sorry.
But you've had some major surgery, so take it easy. When I get out
I'll keep you company so you won't get bored."

We made some more small talk then and I was
chased out by the nursing staff as dinnertime had arrived and
visiting hours were over. I walked back to the cafeteria and ran
into Katrine there. We ate dinner together and talked about things
other than the recent combat and cleanup.

By the time we had finished dinner I was
really exhausted, she helped me back to her room, put me to bed,
and then left to finish up her second shift.

"I thought I was supposed to be sharing with
Herza?" I grinned at her sleepily as she helped me undress.

"You need a little more sleep than that one
will give you." Katrine retorted.

"Oh she's not that bad!" I mumbled.

"I also wouldn't mind a warm body to sleep
with myself," she admitted quietly, "and seeing how yours almost
became a cold one, I'd like it to be you. Now go to sleep and I'll
be back later."

"They really got you working, huh?" I yawned
and closed my eyes.

"Everybody's got a lot to do right now. I'll
be back at eleven, bye." she turned out the lights and closed the
door.

I fell asleep pretty quickly and slept pretty
soundly. I did become vaguely aware of her climbing in bed sometime
later on that night. But it wasn't until morning that I woke
up.

"Good morning!" Katrine smiled at me, her
face looking up into mine as she lay against my chest.

"Good morning yourself! How late did you work
last night anyway?" I asked curious.

"Oh, about eleven like I said. You were so
far out of it, I didn't want to wake you. But now that you are
..."

We made love then, rather gently in
consideration of my condition, but still in earnest. Later after we
had satisfied each other I looked at her while she scratched my
ears.

"Satisfied that I'm still a warm body now?" I
said smiling.

"Very warm indeed, yes." she looked at the
wall clock, "Feel like breakfast? I have to go to work soon."

"I could definitely do with some food, " I
replied as my stomach growled.

"Sounds like it to me!" she laughed. "Let's
hit the showers and go."

We untangled ourselves, and made for the
shower.

"Why is everybody working so hard right now
anyway?" I asked her as we started to wash, "Aren't there any
reinforcements coming?"

"Not leaving anything up to chance, is the
official reason." she replied, "But unofficially, I suspect it's to
help everybody get their minds off of what happened." she added a
little more quietly. "War crimes are never pretty, and the Captain
doesn't want an anti-human backlash to start up I guess."

"I don't see that happening, weren't a lot of
the humans that work here killed too?"

"Yes, and not just ones working for the
company either. There were a few company retired types living in
the forest around here, people who liked the area. Some of those
got killed too."

"You mean the company allows people to settle
on its land here?" I asked incredulously.

"Sure why not? The company has already staked
any land with worthwhile mineral rights, so if people want to
settle down they don't mind. This is actually a pretty nice planet,
from what I've seen so far, and these people had small farms going
already."

"So they got messed with too huh?"

"The only thing that surprises anybody is
that they didn't try to take over any of the operations run by the
other companies here. Balizar says that the other operations formed
a defensive alliance as soon as they heard what was going on
here."

By now we had finished in the shower and were
heading for breakfast.

"So that's probably why their troops left," I
replied, "they didn't have the strength to grab anymore, so move on
to the next target."

"Probably, but the fact that they took
everything they could grab with them makes Balizar also wonder if
they weren't afraid that the other corporations might have been
thinking of attacking."

"Then why'd they leave anybody here at
all?"

"That's what I say. They did leave enough to
pretty much hold off that possibility. Fortunately we showed up
with a lot more."

"Obviously they weren't expecting that!" I
laughed.

"Not so quickly at least," she agreed, "We
were lucky. But if they were thinking of reinforcing, we had better
be ready for their arrival."

"I guess you're right about that."

We sat down and ate breakfast then and I
thought about what she had told me. If they were going to send more
occupation troops, then a lot of work was going to have to be done
fast, or else. Anybody showing up now would be able to figure out
immediately who was in charge. If we wanted to stay in charge, the
defenses would have to be repaired quickly.

Of course if the other local operations were
worried about what went on here, they'd probably all be willing to
form some kind of common defense, even if they were owned by
different corporations. I thought this last was pretty possible
considering that the vast majority of company workers were all
animen and they wouldn't want to face possible surrender to a group
of genocidal maniacs.

After all, it's one thing to surrender to
another company, they'll take care of you. Hell, they may even end
up hiring you and buying out your contract in the corporate
maneuvering. But people who are going to kill you regardless?
Fights to the death without surrender? I could see morale being a
real problem here.

I left Katrine then to go visit my sister at
the hospital, I was quite surprised to find her sitting up and
conscious.

"Kali!" I gasped, moving to her side, "You're
awake!"

"Hi Raj," she said quietly, a slight smile on
her lips. "I came out of it this morning. I really look a mess
don't I?"

"Don't worry about that, you'll look fine in
a few months. Just relax and get better, everything's going to be
fine now."

"I hear Lisa's here too."

"Yeah she is, I'm sure she'll stop by too.
How are you feeling anyway?" I asked cautiously.

"Lousy, even with the pain inhibitors I can
still feel a lot of pain in my legs. The doctor said that would
disappear in a few days, but as I don't have any legs at the moment
there really wasn't a lot they could do about it." She glanced
wistfully at where the sheet went flat on the bed.

"Don't worry about it," I said reading her
thoughts, "You’ll have them back in a few months."

"But what will they look like? How will they
feel?" she said nervously.

"They'll be fine, don't worry. No one will
even know unless you tell them."

"You sound just like the doctor!" She gently
chided me.

"Well you just lay back and relax and let me
do all the worrying for now!" I smiled at her, and she settled back
down.

We talked for a while then; or rather I
talked mostly as she was pretty weak. I told her most of what
happened, leaving out my part; I didn't want her to get to upset. I
found out that she knew about Nepal. That had happened before she
was injured. After about a half an hour, she started to go to
sleep, so I said goodbye and left.

I went and found out what time Mist was going
to be released, and then just spent the day doing light exercises
until then. I met Mist at the hospital when she was discharged
later and we both went and saw Kali again. That pretty much set the
pace for the rest of the week, with me and Mist mostly spending our
days together recuperating, though I did get to see Fran once
during this time.

It was pretty dull though, there wasn't much
to do and we were restricted to the main complex vicinity by a lack
of transportation. Everybody was pretty busy, except for those who
were recovering like us. Mist and I did keep ourselves occupied
however, hiking into the nearby forest, having picnics, and making
good use of some of the secluded areas we found.

After my follow up examination, I was cleared
for normal duty but not for any assault flying. The doctor didn't
want me to be subjected to any large G forces for at least another
week. I was immediately assigned to help rebuild the local
defenses, and spent the next two weeks installing weapons and
sensor grids.

The feared enemy reinforcements never showed
up, or if they did they left before they were close enough to be
detected. Our reinforcements showed up just as I was put to work on
the defenses. They dumped some troops and several tons of
equipment; we had already stripped the Astra of a lot of her
equipment to replace what was either destroyed or missing. Twelve
days later another ship showed up with some heavy armament for our
ground emplacements.

By the end of the third week I was cleared
for full duty, and felt pretty good, even the bald spots where I
had been shaved in the hospital were almost gone. Kali was doing
well, and had undergone two operations to repair some of the damage
done to her. I was still seeing her twice a day and Lisa was doing
the same.

I finally got to make a trip up to the ship
at the end of the third week, I had been summoned to see the
Captain. I was pretty nervous but I didn't think I was in any
trouble, so I walked to his Day room and knocked on the door.

"Enter Warrant Rakir." He called from inside,
so I walked in and closed the door behind me.

"Warrant Third Class Rakir reporting as
ordered, Sir!" I saluted briskly and stood at attention.

"At ease Mister Rakir, have a seat." He
gestured to the chair across from his desk. I sat down, but didn't
relax too much, after all he was the Captain and I'm just a Warrant
Third.

"I want to thank you for doing an outstanding
job in protecting me," he continued, "Especially in light of what
you went through earlier that day."

"Thank you sir, I am sorry about the loss of
the shuttle sir, but as for the rest, I was just doing my duty and
the company did do an outstanding job of designing me. Sir." I was
really worried about the shuttle, if it was judged my fault I'd
have to pay for it and the lost cargo too.