Edge of Solace (A Star Too Far) (9 page)

“Why are they here? We can defend ourselves. Well, the Maronites can,” Abdul said as he nudged Abraham in the ribs.

“Hey, not fair, my father—”

“Your father
? What about you? Gonna take it?”

Abraham’s face grew red, but he knew better than to wrestle with Abdul. At least not here. He’d toss Abdul a beating somewhere else.

His father walked away with the elders in tow. Abraham tried to make himself hidden by staring at something else.

“Abraham,” Thomas’s voice boomed.

“See ya Abdul,” Abraham said as he ran to his father’s side.

“I said to stay away.”

“Why are they here?”

Thomas said nothing.

“What do they want?” Abraham asked. He could feel the looks from the elders behind him.

“I don’t know.”

Abraham looked at the Elders and saw stern faces. They looked even angrier than normal.

“Stay away from them.”

“Yes, Father,” Abraham said, but only because the Elders were around him.

The two walked in silence. Abraham sens
ed that his father was thinking.

“Go on now Abraham, I must meet with the Elders,” Thomas said.

Abraham stopped and watched as the Elders followed behind his father. When they were out of sight, he turned and ran.

Abdul sat on the edge of a rust
-stained container with his legs bouncing off the sheet metal. “I was wondering when you’d come back.”

Abraham scrambled up the side and took a good grasp on the flaking insulation. “Anything happen yet?”

“Nah. They’re waiting for the next car. See?” Abdul pointed to a cargo elevator descending.

Abraham squinted at the elevator and back down at the soldiers. They didn’t look all that interesting. Nothing like the vids that Abdul showed him on his tablet. He glanced over at Abdul and saw that he was fiddling with the tablet once again.

“Gonna record this,” Abdul mumbled. He flexed the tablet and found the perfect focus point.

The cargo car dropped down into the center of the complex. A wide arm sailed across the yard and settled above the opening. One by one dull looking containers were offloaded. Each was tucked tightly onto the concrete apron.

“What’s in ‘em?” Abarham asked.

“Guns.” Abdul grunted.

The soldiers popped open one of the containers and began tossing out olive drab backpacks. They stacked them into a rough pile before opening the doors wide. A soldier with wide shoulders disappeared into the darkness.

A four legged drone walked out with the soldier directly behind. It was graceful like a cow running through a pasture.

“Oh hey!” Abdul cried out. “That’s a Chimera drone!”

“What is it?” Abraham asked, curious.

“So they can follow behind it and send it around corners and stuff. Plus it can drop down armored panels so they can shoot behind it.”

Abraham squinted. “Where’s the gun?”

“I don’t know,” Abdul adjusted the tablet for a better view.

The soldiers began heaping backpacks onto the drone until nearly all were loaded. The pile looked ready to topple into the mud. One soldier tossed a slender packet over and a net exploded
, securing them all tightly.

“Oh that was wicked, see?” Abdul said as he replayed the net splaying out.

The two young men watched as containers were grappled and towed onto low cargo trucks. The soldiers climbed on like a pack of vagabonds and bounced towards the Maronite sector. A final oversized container was towed by a bulldozer out towards the pines. They split the last of the cask and tossed it aside.

“That’s it
.” Abdul rolled up the tablet and stuck it into his pocket.

“What do you think?” Abraham asked.

Abdul shrugged. “My old man thinks they’re here in case aliens come.”

Abraham kept quiet and nodded. Aliens weren’t a topic to be spoken of in his house. There was a theological debate about where aliens fit into the canon of creation.

“Don’t much matter, you ain’t gonna see soldiers anyways.” Abdul stood and walked to the edge of the crate.

“Why not?” Abraham asked as he followed.

“There’s no booze with the Anabaptists.”

Abraham smiled and nodded. There was definitely no booze with the Anabaptists. “You thirsty?”

Abdul smiled and nodded. “I thought you’d never ask.”

The two scrambled away from the complex and set off in search of another cask of cider.

*

The hull pulsed and shivered just enough to wake Archie. He sighed and sat up slowly. The cell felt smaller when he first woke. The walks with the Commandant became welcome if only to stretch himself out.

The days passed in silence. He spent it in moments of reflection and regret. When the opportunities for self-loathing disappeared he thought of the past: wrestling, Marine training, university, especially his sons. Details caught on the edge of his memory like old moss. He could never quite remember everything no matter how hard he tried.

Physically his muscles rebelled. His greatest urge was to exercise. To stretch out his legs and fly. To run like he’d only run after he stole a wooden Indian at a bar in Tennessee. He liked that memory. The damn wooden Indian was heavy
, though.

After every memory he worried about who was watching, if they were. Was it a ruse? They hadn’t acknowledged anything he thought of, not yet, but were they waiting? Paranoia came in waves that ebbed in between the memories.

He rolled over and pushed himself up and down. Each day started with the exercises. Arms. Legs. Pushups. Crunches. Planks. The contortion required to fit in the cell worked muscles he normally didn’t. He had no doubt he was losing muscle mass. His only goal was to prevent the worst of the atrophy.

The first scratch on the wall was but a simple smear. His fingernail wasn’t hard enough to do much but slightly deform the plastic. Time became an odd concept. Sleep came, and sleep went. The food came at intervals that he thought were regular, but he wasn’t sure.

The door opened. He kept his eyes on the floor and finished the push-up.

“Move.” The voice was new, different, female.

Archie debated doing another set. He stood slowly and crouched slightly. “Out? Or jump up and down a bit?”

The woman in the hall had a face that was plump and round, but without being fat. Her hair was sheared down to brown stubble. Carbon pads broke the lines of her temples and shone slightly. She didn’t look happy.

He walked in silence down the same path as he had followed before. The first meeting was easy, he simply hated the man. Now he found himself not becoming fond, but at least starting to like him. That made Archie even angrier. But the Commandant was a charismatic leader. Had times been different, Archie could have served under him and felt proud.

Always in the back of his mind was the nanites the Commandant had put in his skull.

“Hello, Major. Please, sit.” Nefoussi sat at the same table with a single strider behind him. He looked warmly at Archie before returning his gaze to a tablet. “One moment if you would, please.”

Archie sat on the same stool and waited.

The woman turned and began to walk out.

“Captain. Stay.” Nefoussi called out with his face intent on the tablet.

The woman paused as if unsure before taking position near the strider. She regarded the creature like a sleeping dog.

Nefoussi looked up from the tablet and smiled a grandfather
’s warm smile. “I’m afraid I’ll be departing shortly, Major. I expect that we’ll meet again quite soon.”

“Off to butcher another station?”

Nefoussi smiled slightly. “No, Major, there are many facets to this operation. I’ll be in command in another system.” He set the tablet down and placed his hands on his lap. “Though once the Canaan system is pacified, we’ll have an opportunity to speak again.”

Archie ran the starmap through his head. The single name provided a frame of reference. They hadn’t taken the most direct route back
—in fact, it was an odd tangent away from Earth.

Nefoussi’s eyes smiled as he watched Archie think. “A bread crumb
, yes?” He leaned forward. “You wonder why not Earth? Move in with the pincer and hammer it home yes?”

Archie shifted in his seat.

“Simply we can’t beat you. We know it.” He rubbed his hands together and looked down at the tablet. “We need the stability of having three equals, not just one giant.”

Archie snapped his eyes from Nefoussi to the woman. “We never attacked you.”

“No,” Nefoussi said. “But you would have eventually.”

“Now we definitely will,” Archie said. “We’ll come here and smash you with so many troops that any technical advantage won’t matter.”

“The UC will crumble. They are not a military institution. The member states will balk, Earth will pay the price to keep the colonies secure. For what? They have everything to lose.” Nefoussi leaned back and spread his arms apart. “All we have to do is make the price high enough that it isn’t worth dealing with a few colonies.”

Archie wanted to argue, but a part of him knew Nefoussi was right. The colonies already weren’t regarded fondly. Only the hidden Redmond colonies generated any enthusiasm. The more mundane colonies were seen as a dumping ground for those without countries of economic mobility.

“Captain Asa will be your companion, until we meet again.” Nefoussi nodded to the Captain and rattled off a short command in French. “You also have new quarters, Major. I apologize for the conditions these past weeks.” He looked genuinely sorry.

“They will still come for you. This attack won’t go unpunished.”

Nefoussi stood in unison with the strider behind him. “I’m sure it won’t. But the fuel costs alone will become prohibitive.”

Archie could sense that Nefoussi was holding something back. The man had a flair for the dramatic. Fuel costs would be the least of the fleet
’s worries.

“You see Major, as long as the border is so close there can only be tension. So we’re going to lengthen it a bit,” Nefoussi said.

Archie stared at Nefoussi. “How?”

“Ahh mon ami! I won’t ruin the surprise!” Nefoussi walked to the door and turned. “Think of the lives that will be saved. This can only be for the better.” He walked out with the gentle clanking of the strider behind.

“Move,” Captain Asa said.

“We’re going to have to work on your vocabulary darling,”Archie said as he stood and stretched.

“English is not my first language,” she said. The phrase came out slowly, carefully. “Major. Move.”

Archie nodded and walked out. “Lead the way.”

She shook her head slowly and pointed. “Non.”

He nodded and walked slowly where she pointed. The ship was different now, tenser, the air was tight. People moved around him with a purpose. He knew the feeling, combat was close. Archie pondered, just for a moment, whether he could wrestle the Captain.

*

The
Malta
powered away from the docking station even before the cargo doors closed. The bulky station receded as one half reflected the bluish green light from Canaan below. Before them lay nothing but the carbon black of space.

The ping summoned William away from his quarters. He glanced down at his tablet and saw the staff meeting was early. The ping offered no explanation but every officer on the ship was listed, technical staff included. The smell was back
, too—it was musty and completely out of place in a starship.

When he entered the briefing room the engineering officers were
huddled, almost head to head. The high-pitched twang echoed as each spoke. Mars offered the best Engineers, and they knew it. Though they tended to stand too close, the personal space on Mars was as tight as the air.

“Hello
, gentlemen,” William said as he sat on the bench. The moldy smell was a bit lighter but it still tickled his nose.

The pair broke conversation a moment to give a nod.

“It’s not aft, I already looked near the reclaimer.” Huron ran his hands through his hair.

“Storage leak? Can’t be, the alarms would ping.” Reed tapped his chin.

“Are you talking about the smell?” William asked.

The two
Engineers exchanged glances.

“You can smell it too?” The looks on their faces showed true worry.

William nodded and smiled slightly. “Yes. Everyone can. It’s like an old sock in my quarters.”

The pair looked at each other.

“The humidity has been rising. We may have, um, mold.” Huron cleared his throat.

“A leak?” William asked.

Reed sighed and nodded. “Maybe.”

Captain Khan walked in with Midshipman Lebeau and Lieutenant Zinkov behind. The three men stood until the Captain waved them down.