Part 16 (1/2)
Billie shook his head and put a handkerchief over his nose. ”Enlisted men running a company!” he snorted. ”How in the h.e.l.l does anyone survive in this stink? Don't these people ever wash?” he asked Cazombi.
”You get used to it, sir,” Captain Walker volunteered, grinning slightly. ”We don't have enough water to drink, sir, much less wash ourselves. And the reason I have to use EM to help me run my company is because all my officers are dead, as are most of the men who came to this s.h.i.+thole with me in the first place.” Billie frowned and in that instant Walker sensed his days as a company commander were numbered.
Walker silently regarded the officers. Cazombi and Colonel Epperly, haggard, hollow-cheeked skeletons, their uniforms hanging on their bodies like rags, resembled Walker himself. Even Major General Sorca, who had thus far kept himself well out of harm's way, looked the worse for wear, but Billie stood there before him, uniform immaculate, four silver stars gleaming on his collars, a snow-white handkerchief fastidiously held to his nose. The ubiquitous Captain Woo, overweight, skin smooth and face well-shaved, nose wrinkled in disgust, stood self-importantly surveying the men, ready to take down his master's orders. Those men, badly fed, unshaven, unwashed, their uniforms in rags, interrupted by this visit during the only rest they ever got in this sewer, stood respectfully at attention. It occurred to Walker that what he was experiencing now was the height of military insanity. No fighting man deserved to be commanded by such a popinjay.
Walker glanced surrept.i.tiously over at Cazombi, who nodded slightly and in that simple gesture transmitted between them the thousand-year old wisdom of battle-hardened veterans. The age-old disdain that the frontline officer felt toward the staff officer secure in his headquarters began to coalesce into actual hatred for this new commanding general.
”Carry on, Captain,” Billie said abruptly, spinning on his heel and striding back into the communication tunnel. Captain Woo scrambled to follow right behind him.
Cazombi grinned at Walker as he turned to go, tossing him a small packet. ”Pin these on your man, Jasper.”
Walker's men continued to stand at attention, waiting for him to dismiss them. The sotto voce comments he heard about the visitors, however, were not very complimentary. ”No talking in ranks, men,” he ordered facetiously. ”Sergeant Carman, front and center.”
Carman emerged from the knot of enlisted men and stood before his commander at stiff attention. ”Normally I'd have some beer to wet these down,” Walker announced. ”You're now Second Lieutenant Carman,” Walker handed Carman the pips of his new rank. ”Your orders and pay will catch up with you, someday, maybe. All right, men, you may now come forward and kiss your new executive officer.” Later, after the handshaking and back pounding were over, Walker said, ”I need a sergeant to replace you, Herb. Who do you recommend?”
”Mesola, sir.”
Walker raised an eyebrow. ”Isn't he a bit of a, um, well, wisea.s.s, Herb?”
”Yessir, but he's very resourceful. He'll make a good junior noncom.”
”Very well, Mesola it is,” he laid a hand on Carman's shoulder. ”Herb, years from now when we tell our grandchildren we met in the women's wear department of the Fort Seymour post exchange, will they believe us?”
”Depends what we'll be wearing at the time, sir,” Carman laughed, ”but first we've got to live through this h.e.l.l.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE.
In the time Charlette Odinloc had been on Ravenette she hadn't studied the planet's geography in much detail, so she never properly gauged the full extent of the ”Ocean Sea”-it had never been given any other name-on the other side of which was Donnie Caloon's home. Likewise, a trip of a mere ten thousand kilometers on any of the settled planets in the Confederation of Worlds was a mere jaunt, at the most no more than a week or ten days even by oceangoing vessel. But not on Ravenette. On Ravenette many things had reverted to the nineteenth century.
Donnie had booked them pa.s.sage on a very very slow freighter that took slow freighter that took two months two months to cross the ocean, traveling in a huge arc from north to south to north that added thousands of kilometers to a voyage that Charlette thought would've taken them straight across the water to Cuylerville, which was one of the few settlements on a continent about the size of Africa on Earth. And it stopped at every port along the way, even the tiniest inhabited islands, discharging and embarking pa.s.sengers and cargo. As the captain explained to them on their first night at sea, his s.h.i.+p, the to cross the ocean, traveling in a huge arc from north to south to north that added thousands of kilometers to a voyage that Charlette thought would've taken them straight across the water to Cuylerville, which was one of the few settlements on a continent about the size of Africa on Earth. And it stopped at every port along the way, even the tiniest inhabited islands, discharging and embarking pa.s.sengers and cargo. As the captain explained to them on their first night at sea, his s.h.i.+p, the Figaro, Figaro, made this trip twice a year and was the only contact many people along its route had with the rest of the world. ”Ve brings dem der supplies and newses, picks up da peoples, drops off da peoples, brings evertings dey needs,” the captain, Ermelo Putten, told them in his expansive manner, pulling constantly at his huge black beard as he talked. But the made this trip twice a year and was the only contact many people along its route had with the rest of the world. ”Ve brings dem der supplies and newses, picks up da peoples, drops off da peoples, brings evertings dey needs,” the captain, Ermelo Putten, told them in his expansive manner, pulling constantly at his huge black beard as he talked. But the Fig, Fig, as everyone called the vessel, was a tightly run s.h.i.+p, the crew polite and competent, and the food plentiful and good. as everyone called the vessel, was a tightly run s.h.i.+p, the crew polite and competent, and the food plentiful and good.
”And vot you do, young lady Miz Charlette?” Captain Putten asked one night at his table. It was obvious to everyone on board that Charlette was not from Ravenette. Her Standard English was perfectly understandable to all on board, but her accent was not of their world. Neither was Captain Putten's or that of most of his crew. Putten explained airily that he came from Earth originally, a place he called ”Neederlan,” somewhere in Old Europe.
Charlette had antic.i.p.ated questions like this. She was careful not to answer too quickly. ”I was in the army, stationed at Fort Seymour, sir. I met Donnie and we became engaged. I took my discharge when my enlistment was up and now we're going to Donnie's home to get married.” As she spoke she felt a sinking feeling in her stomach, like she had stepped into quicksand and was sucked ever downward into it. G.o.dd.a.m.nit, I don't want to get married! G.o.dd.a.m.nit, I don't want to get married! she screamed to herself. Where was this adventure taking her anyway? she screamed to herself. Where was this adventure taking her anyway?
Captain Putten slammed a ma.s.sive fist on the table, causing the silverware to jump, and shouted, ”Och, marry, marry, you two you two marry marry? Wunnerful! I, as de captain of dis vessel, I can do the marriages, all legal! Why not you let ol' Ermelo do the marriages for you? Den, ven Donnie he gets himself home, aha! dere you is, married married! Hooked up for the rest of your lives! Saves a lot of money, do it on board de Fig, Fig,” he added winking. The other pa.s.sengers and the s.h.i.+p's officers at the table applauded and heartily congratulated the pair.
Captain Putten's table, Charlette discovered, always offered alcohol in plenty. By the time the talk had gotten around to her and Donnie, everyone had had a lot to drink, including Donnie, who whoop whooped loudly and slammed his mug on the table. Charlette smiled, hoping she looked enthusiastic, and thought even quicker than before. This This she had not expected. she had not expected.
”But Donnie, don't you remember?” she stammered. ”We were so much hoping your parents would be at the wedding? If we let the good captain marry us here, now, aren't we going to disappoint your folks, ain't they-aren't they?” She corrected herself automatically but she had been picking up lots of Donnie's mannerisms lately. they?” She corrected herself automatically but she had been picking up lots of Donnie's mannerisms lately.
”We were?” Donnie asked, not remembering discussing that at all and looking at the other pa.s.sengers as if for confirmation. Then he shook his head to clear it. ”Well, Captain, we don't want to disappoint my folks.”
”Och, of course not! Cap'n Ermelo, he unnerstan! But I tell you what: Vile you on my s.h.i.+p you gets de 'bridal suite',” he roared with laughter. ”I gifs you cabin wit single big bed and own head! Ahhahaha, how you likes dat, eh? Ahhahahaha! And,” he added, slamming his fist on the table again, ”you dines wit me every every evenink dis whole voyage!” evenink dis whole voyage!”
Both Donnie and Charlette admitted it was a wonderful gesture on the captain's part. When they finally excused themselves from the table everyone was so drunk n.o.body noticed the gray sickly cast to
Charlette's face.
The days pa.s.sed slowly but too quickly for Charlette. The matter of her impending marriage to someone she liked but would prefer not to spend the rest of her life wedded to boded badly for her future, but something else was worrying her even more. She could now be cla.s.sified as an army deserter! Sure, she was caught in town when the war began, not her fault. She was on a mission. That's why she was in Donnie's apartment to begin with, and the intelligence she had developed through her relations.h.i.+p with him had proved useful to the troops at the fort. And she couldn't have gotten back to the fort after the shooting started because crossing the lines would've been suicidal. And everyone was forced by government decree to evacuate the city. She dreamed vividly one night of the dialogue she'd have with the prosecutor, a major in the Judge Advocate Corps, at her trial for desertion: ”And so, Sergeant Odinloc, the thought never occurred to you to turn yourself in at the consulate, where you'd have been protected and repatriated to friendly hands? How far was it from this Donnie Caloon's apartment to the consulate?” The way he p.r.o.nounced Donnie's last name made it sound like an insult. ”Tell the panel, Sergeant! How far was it? A block? Two blocks? You broke your leg, maybe?”
”Um, ah, well, sir . . .”
”You were on an intelligence-gathering mission, Sergeant! How could you have gone into the city without knowing the landmarks? I'll tell you how far it was, Sergeant! It was five blocks five blocks! Five blocks to safety and instead, what did you do? You chose to flee on a s.h.i.+p into the boundless oceans of Ravenette and disappear like a criminal into Hicksville somewhere, and to secure your cover, you married married this, Donnie this, Donnie Caloon Caloon fellow-here he actually smirked, gesturing at Donnie, smiling like an idiot, who sat in the vast, hostile audience that had been invited to the trial, which was also being covered by all the news services-”until you were found and arrested! Gentlemen,” he said, turning to the court-martial panel, ”I think it is plain this, this fellow-here he actually smirked, gesturing at Donnie, smiling like an idiot, who sat in the vast, hostile audience that had been invited to the trial, which was also being covered by all the news services-”until you were found and arrested! Gentlemen,” he said, turning to the court-martial panel, ”I think it is plain this, this traitor traitor deliberately deserted her post and her comrades in the face of the enemy to save her own skin, and that you should find her guilty of all specifications and charges!” deliberately deserted her post and her comrades in the face of the enemy to save her own skin, and that you should find her guilty of all specifications and charges!”
”We don't need to go any farther!” the judge, a full colonel, shouted, ”Guilty, by Amphion's unstrung lyre! Sergeant Odinloc, I hereby sentence you to life imprisonment and a fine of one million credits one million credits payable to Mr. Donnie Caloon in compensation for the way you used that poor boy to facilitate your traitorous escape!” The crowd roared its approval. payable to Mr. Donnie Caloon in compensation for the way you used that poor boy to facilitate your traitorous escape!” The crowd roared its approval.
The roaring proved to be Donnie's snoring. Charlette lay there breathing heavily, a very sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. G.o.d, G.o.d, G.o.d, what have I gotten myself into? she asked. The chronometer indicated it was 3 a.m., wherever they were, somewhere at sea. The ocean was dead calm and the only noise was the subdued humming of the s.h.i.+p's reactor-powered turbines. Charlette quietly dressed, took a pack of Donnie's cigarettes, and found her way on to the fantail of the Figaro Figaro. There was no one there at this hour. She lit the cigarette and drew the thule- thule-laced nicotine into her lungs, holding it there for seconds before expelling it into the soft night breeze. Ravenette's moon was full and it cast a bright luminescence over the wake trailing behind the s.h.i.+p. Under normal circ.u.mstances this would have been a very romantic moment for a young lady like Charlette Odinloc.
The news that night had been full of war now raging around Fort Seymour where apparently survivors of the 3rd Division were successfully holding out in fortified positions that were under continuous attack and antic.i.p.ated to fall momentarily to the forces of the secessionist coalition. She discounted everything else in the report as enemy propaganda except the simple fact that her old outfit was still fighting! For a moment a hot bolt of pride lanced through her, but that was followed by despair. She really was was deserting! She was sitting here on the deck on a moonlit night smoking dope while her friends and comrades were . . . she flipped the b.u.t.t over the stern, buried her head between her knees, and let the hot tears flow. deserting! She was sitting here on the deck on a moonlit night smoking dope while her friends and comrades were . . . she flipped the b.u.t.t over the stern, buried her head between her knees, and let the hot tears flow.
”You all right, Hon?” Donnie sat beside her. ”OK?” he put his arm around her. ”I figured you'd gone for a walk out here, so I come after you,” he explained.
Without waiting to think twice, Charlette blurted out the truth about herself.
”Aw, h.e.l.l,” Donnie responded when she was done, ”I knew you was a spy all along!”
”You whaaaat whaaaat?”
”Yeah,” Donnie shrugged. He took the pack of cigarettes and lighted one. ”I mean, lookit yer hands, girl! You ain't never done no work in a laundry! And besides, I figured you was a snoop, that's why you was always so curious about the things I saw, 'n the police tol' me to-”
”The police police? Donnie you told the police police on me?” on me?”
”Yeah. You're a spy, ainja? They tol' me to lead you along.”
”You-you-Donnie! How come they didn't arrest me, then?”
”Well I guess they was goin' to, sometime. Guess when the war started they had other things to think about. Glad they did, tell the truth. Aw, Hon, don't look so, so, d.a.m.ned-”
”Stricken?”
”Yeah! I din' tell'em where we was going! n.o.body knows where we are! I just figured it was my duty, ya' know, to make a report, but h.e.l.l's bells, honeybun, I wasn't gonna let 'em get ya! Gawdam, no, I wasn't!”
Charlette had difficulty getting her breath. It was as if someone had kicked her in the chest, this revelation. It was almost funny. Here she, the sophisticated offworld army intelligence agent, was stringing this yokel along and all the time . . .