BLUE GENDER
"Children of the Blue"
9. Purge
The condemned prisoner offered her last words with a glaring stare into the eyes of her executioner.
"My name is Marlene Angel."
The cold steel of the gun pressed against the victim's forehead.
Amick Hendar pulled the trigger.
Click.
The executioner was not surprised. Instead, sadness overcame Amick Hendar as she spoke in a calm tone that was lost in memories.
"I have had my revenge today by beating you. But I do not have to kill you," she held the gun aloft and peered at it, as if it were the first time she had ever seen such a weapon.
Marlene collapsed onto the floor. Her breath came in heaves.
"I know what it feels like," Hendar went on, "to fight for something you believe in. As if it is the only reason why you live; your only purpose. I had that taken away from me. I have chosen not to take that away from you. I have had my vengeance, but I do not need to spill your blood."
Yuji clenched his eyes and fists. Marlene raised her head from the floor.
"Where…is…my…son," she asked and while her voice faltered there was still strength there. Amick couldn't fail to be impressed.
"I told you; I had nothing to do with the disappearance of your child. But while I didn't take your son, I do know who did."
Marlene volunteered: "Someone named General Deeves."
Amick was amused: "Deeves was an average soldier who knitted a uniform and calls himself a General. No, he is not responsible. The person you are looking for is Dr. Ivan Gorski. Better known as Professor Gorski."
Marlene was confused and stated, "I never heard of him."
"No reason you should have," Amick told her.
As she spoke, two of her men brought chairs and helped Yuji and Marlene sit. A third gave Marlene a glass of water. She drank it greedily with both hands, spilling drops to the floor.
"However, Yuji Kaido might have heard of him."
"Not me" Yuji mumbled. He was struggling with the rage inside.
Amick explained: "Gorski worked at a medical university. He was one of the first to discover the b-cells and the genetic abnormalities that accompany them. He persuaded the World Health Organization track patients so diagnosed.
"He convinced people the b-cells were a threat. When he developed cryogenic technology he pushed the sleeper program as a containment method."
Yuji spoke through clenched teeth: "They told me…all of us…that it was a way to delay the development of disease; temporary while they found a cure."
The Colonel offered. "How does one cure their genetic code? The sleeper program was meant to contain you until science understood what you were."
Amick spoke. "Sleeper facilities were built around the world then filled with patients who were scared into believing they would die if they didn't participate."
Yuji realized: "Like…like prisons. They took away our lives..."
Marlene remembered what Seno Miyagi had told her about the b-cells and the Blue. She relayed: "Then those same scientists unleashed the Blue through their laboratory tests. Lab animals infected with b-cells escaped into the wild and bred with ordinary animals leading to mutations."
Yuji broke in: "And this man, this Professor has…my son? Where? Why?"
"He didn't go to Second Earth. He felt it was it was wrong to run," Amick told them. "Very admirable of him, I'd say. He built a facility in Manitoba."
"That's a big area," Marlene noted. Her voice was still shaky.
"I can not narrow it more than that," Amick said. "Still, I can help you find the location and help you find the truth."
"The…truth?" Yuji asked while tapping his fingers nervously.
Amick replied. "Gorski hired mercenaries, sent them around the world to steal your son...you don't think there's a bigger truth here? If you want to find that truth you'll need to go home. You'll need to go home to Second Earth.
"The High Council had dealings with Gorski. They sometimes sent him supplies and he assisted operations in his region. We had no contact with him since we began the sleeper program. I believe Gorski was against it.
"Still, if you can get into orbit and onto the Training Station you can find detailed data in my old office. I can give you access codes. If I remember correctly, Gorski was associated with a project named 'Second Son'."
The Colonel: "The reactor is probably operational but the last reports five years ago indicated a leak. Take precautions, like a supply of potassium iodide."
"Gee," Yuji said, sardonically. "Happen to have a shuttle we can borrow?"
"This area is full of spaceports, isn't it?" Marlene hoped.
"Most of those shuttles went to Second Earth," said Amick. "However, we had dealings a few weeks ago with a man who has access to at least one shuttle. He controls a lot of resources south of Corpus Christi--the area around Kingsville, about 250 miles from here. You might be able to bargain with him for it."
Amick looked the two over. Yuji was struggling with the demons unleashed by the Double Edge; Marlene was still shaking, if just a little.
Amick sighed and told them: "You can stay the night here. It might give you a chance to learn about the world outside of your secluded village."
Amick threw a thumb toward Yuji: "He needs rest. Yuji Kaido isn't going to be any good to you until he purges his addiction to the Double Edge."
Yuji started to speak but Marlene interrupted him: "Thank you."
***
The red headed officer was named Sherri Dunner and she became the tour guide for Marlene's group as they stayed the evening at the tent city.
The first thing Dr. Gamble said when he was free from confinement was that they should return to the depot to repair Yuji's shrike. It took a lot of convincing before Gamble accepted the facts.
Those facts dictated that 1) the best place for them was at the camp for the night and 2) the equipment they had brought was gone—part of Amick's vengeance yet a cheaper price than they had nearly paid.
The second order of business was Yuji.
Sherri Dunner showed Marlene and Yuji to quarters inside the terminal building. There she helped get Yuji into a cot under warm blankets. The camp's medical officer gave Yuji a tranquilizer.
After Yuji fell asleep Marlene joined Dunner on a walk around the area as the sun set. Marlene was impressed with what she saw. These weren't just survivors living day to day; they were people finding community and family.
She saw a group gathered around a fire singing old folk songs accompanied by an acoustic guitar. Darren Moss and Denise Karr had found their way to this group and were in on the singing and dancing.
Marlene saw a makeshift puppet show that held the attention of a horde of giggling children, the sound of which made Marlene miss Takashi's laugh.
She witnessed two elderly men playing dominoes; a young couple strolling hand in hand; and a woman obedience training a striking black and gray dog.
She also noticed that, in all of these scenes, rifles or handguns or armor shrikes were never too far away. But they didn't dominate the scene.
"This is amazing," she commented to her guide. "Everyone seems so…well they seem so happy."
Sherri Dunner—little more than a teenager—explained: "It ain't all rosy, but people find a way. It's better than living in those tin cans."
"How do you survive? Do you just keeping moving around?"
Sherri nodded, "Even now we have scouts looking for the next spot. They'll look for food supplies, water, fuel—that type of thing. Sometimes we go back to the same places twice if there was good hunting or fishing."
"We didn't move much, in the village," Marlene told her. "We had everything we needed there. We also thought we were safe."
Sherri was kind but blunt: "You can't hide from the world."
"What's the world like?" She asked Dunner.
"Now that's a tall question. I haven't seen it all. Not yet. Some places people are coming back. Most places are nothing but dead space."
"And the Blue?"
Sherri shrugged: "No big nests. Rumor has it your man did something that sent them packing. They're out there, the way bears and wolves are out there. But Yuji was right; the Blue war is over. Now the war is on famine and disease."
"And each other."
"Yep, sometimes that, too," Sherri agreed.
A familiar voice drew Marlene's attention. It was Captain Junker. He had an audience that ranged from old women to young kids.
"…Between me and the dropship there be two springworms. Ever see a springworm? Ugly as my ex-mother-in-law. So, I grab my pistol and…"
After moving on Marlene asked: "Are you ever going to settle in one spot?"
Dunner answered, "That'll be up to Amick. I'm sure we will, someday. But I hope not too soon. I'd like to see more of the world.
"I used to sit in my quarters on Second Earth and look out the portal at this big blue ball. I dreamed about what might be down there—not just the bad things, but things like waterfalls and trees and big long beaches by the ocean."
"Have you found those things, yet?" Marlene asked as they stopped near a large tent where food was cooking.
Sherri considered, "Some of them, yes. But there's more I want to see. More I want to do before we 'grow roots,' as Amick says."
There was silence for a moment, then Sherri said, "I was told to tell you that we're going to give your team a carrier truck and armor shrikes. They won't be our best stuff, but it'll be enough to get you to Corpus Christi. For now, you should grab some chow and get some rest."
"Rest? I can't see how."
But Marlene did find rest. She found it after gorging on roast pig and potatoes and a few swigs from a keg of wine.
She found it after spending time with young Sherri Dunner and seeing an echo of herself from long ago. But unlike the young Marlene Angel of years past, Sherri knew how to smile and laugh—but could put a bullet between your eyes.
She wasn't two people; she was one person who had found a way to make both sides of her coin live together. Marlene envied her.
Later Marlene returned to Yuji's side. At first Yuji tossed and turned as he drained the influence of the Double Edge. After a while the two slept peacefully through the night, side by side, feeling safe but knowing it was temporary.
Like being in the eye of the Hurricane.
***
The carrier truck was old—plenty of dents. Yet it also had plenty of weapons on board as well as two armor shrikes.
One was a beaten old Bullseye almost identical to the one Marlene had piloted on the day she had pulled Yuji Kaido from the treatment center in Japan.
The second was a two-seat Grapple modified to carry a main gun. It was in better condition but the usefulness of a Grapple—particularly in a post-Blue environment—was questionable at best.
Grapples were built for literally wrestling with Blue, usually in an effort to expose the core to sharp shooters. They also were great for cargo loading or delivering ordinance to front line troops. Nonetheless, it wasn't as useful as better armed shrikes and that was probably why the Orphans parted with it.
They paraded out of the Houston Airport to a few cheers and waves—some of which came from Sherri Dunner who saw them off. Then they followed route 59 until they came to Houston, which they circumvented on old I-610.
Houston was a site none of them wanted to see.
As they drove the beltway around Houston they spied the remains of nests high in the few skyscrapers which were intact. They saw toppled apartment complexes and sports arenas torn to bits by either blue rampages or artillery fire.
Junker could almost see the ghosts of battle; could almost smell the stench of the dead; could almost hear the relentless rush of the Blue or the frantic orders from officers as the lines broke, reformed, then broke again.
He had not fought in Houston but he had fought in cities like it: cities of terrified civilians who looked to their military to save them but found broken soldiers and confused commanders who could not believe that bugs were crashing through their smart weapons and battle plans and defensive perimeters.
Leaving Houston behind wasn't much better. The names on the exit signs changed but the site was essentially the same.
Wharton? A pile of rubble. El Campo? Burned, maybe from ignited gas lines. Edna? Victoria? Sinton? Blue nests—now apparently empty but once, long ago, they had thrived on top of the bones of their human victims.
Long stretches between the cities were dotted with refineries and supply depots. They saw two launch catapults, both damaged to the point that even if they had had shuttles (which they didn't) they would be useless.
It took them almost nine hours to reach Kingsville: dodging the wreckage of civilian cars, flattened Abrams tanks, and skeletal Blue carcasses (by the thousands) slowed them considerably.
Marlene thought about how Amick's Orphans were cutting a life out of all this. And they were happy about doing it. Yet they had no illusions about being safe—the illusion that Marlene had lived under in the village.
Meanwhile, Yuji seemed to have beaten the influence of the Double Edge. The rest and the forced separation from that shrike had done the trick. Yuji looked a fatigued, but his body had been exorcised.
***
"Well let's see if this junk works," Darren Moss said glibly as he sat in the tactical seat in the carrier truck.
They were just hitting the outskirts of Kingsville. Gunther was behind the wheel with Marlene and Yuji in front—Denise Karr was doing a systems check on the shrikes (for the third time) and the others were resting.
The computer screen buzzed to life.
"Let's see here…" he punched in commands on the keyboard.
"What…what the…" Moss stammered for words.
"What's wrong, Moss?"
"Boss, you gotta look at this. Look at the bio-magnetic sensor."
Blue gave out bio-magnetic energy. It was one advantage the humans had—they could usually get a good read on the Blue from a short distance which meant that Blue attacks were seldom a tactical surprise.
Most sets of Second Earth battle armor included bio-magnetic sensors on their forearm-mounted computers. These would offer a beep and a flashing light when blue approached. More sophisticated scanners—like on shrikes or in the carrier truck—could actually show dots indicating the position of individual Blue.
Marlene walked to the console. As she did, the sound of everyone's battle armor "beeping" echoed through the truck.
"Holy shit, boss," Moss was at a loss for words.
The screen was filled with Blue dots—hundreds of them.
Then the screams filtered into the truck—human screams.
"Where? Where are they?" Marlene tried to read the display as she spoke.
"Every-friggin' where!" Moss cried out.
They had just entered Kingsville—a quaint tourist town built on the Wild Horse Desert of southern Texas. The main drag had old antique shops, souvenir places and restaurants. All closed for a very long off-season.
"Problem?" Yuji asked.
"Problem?" Moss was in shock. "We got one big fu—"
Marlene cut him off: "Blue. Lots of them."
A mother and two kids ran around a corner fleeing an unseen attacker.
Marlene acted, she didn't think. She grabbed a rifle and exited.
Yuji did think. He headed to the cargo area of the carrier truck.
***
The fleeing people saw Marlene and headed toward her. A second later a Blue—a chopper—followed them around the corner.
Marlene fired. Her shots bounced off the chopper's shell like pebbles. But she was an expert marksman and she was patient.
Finally a round found the exposed core and the monster dropped.
"Come on!" Marlene shouted at the humans. "Get in the truck!"
The woman said: "Can you kill the other one? It's attacking our people!"
Marlene was confused: "The other…one? There are only two?"
A side panel of the carrier truck swung to the ground becoming a ramp. Yuji and Captain Junker came out inside the Grapple.
Marlene pushed the woman and the kids to Gunther Gerhardt who helped them into the truck. Marlene got in the Bullseye and joined Yuji.
"She says there's only one," Marlene relayed but, as she powered up her shrike, her own scanner showed a horde of Blue all around them.
"Scanners show more," came Yuji's voice.
Junker joked: "Must be a bug in the system."
Yuji led them around the corner. There they saw the makings of a community: Shelters, barrels for burning fires, supplies, and more. It was apparent that a fair amount of people called this street home.
A Chopper was rampaging through the middle of it all. The two shrikes moved in.
"Hey—hey," Junker got their attention. "Who is that?"
Yuji saw what the Captain was talking about. In the distance, on top of a motel, was an armored shrike. Nothing fancy, just a heavy duty model, the type that had been the workhorse during the last months of the Blue wars.
It stood there, watching but doing nothing.
The Blue regained their attention by charging. Both the grapple—with its customized gun—and the Bullseye engaged. Their rounds tore the creature apart piece by piece until one shot found the core.
It slumped to the pavement.
No other Blue were around, despite the scanners screaming that they were in the midst of hundreds.
The stranger jumped to the pavement below then sped toward them.
Yuji, Marlene, and Junker braced for combat while the carrier truck arrived on the scene.
The armor shrike stopped in front of them. The pilot was not in full body armor nor masked. He was a strong looking man; black and well built but not big—he appearing solid more than anything else.
The newcomer looked at the dead Blue then at his opposites.
"And who do we have here?" The man asked.
"My name is Yuji and this—"
"Yuji Kaido? That's it, isn't it? Things just got interesting around here."
"You know me?" Yuji asked.
The man in the shrike answered: "My mother named me Farrow. It seems we have something in common, Yuji Kaido."
"What's that?"
"We're both sleepers."
NEXT FACTOR:
10. Overlord
Captain Junker: "There's something wrong with this place. The scanners show hundreds of Blue that aren't there…that Sleeper guy and how he looks at Yuji…wait a second…are those Blue eggs? What are they doing—oh my God… What is going on here?!"