Journey to Year 1,000,000,000 Ch. 09

"No, my abilities don't stretch that far," said Stone. "Although Audrey has developed her abilities more than I have. I can only sense general emotions. But what I was going to say was, I don't need to be a telepath to notice something going on when the large man ahead of us keeps looking back at you."

"That's Obongo, Obongo Babangida," said Jennifer. "He and I... he and I are..." For some reason, she felt shy about telling this to Alex Stone. She didn't precisely know why.

"How marvelous for the both of you," said Stone.

Jennifer frowned, as if that wasn't the answer she was expecting. "How did they give you telepathic powers?"

"That is a very long and complicated story," said Alex Stone. "We would need more time than we have now to tell it."

"Well, maybe we can make time later."

"Maybe we can," said Stone, giving a small smile.

Taylor, who was walking a few steps behind Stone and Jennifer, observed but said nothing.

********

"Mushy?"

"No, Mushi," the young woman laughed.

Doctor McCrae eyed the young dark haired woman. She had been tagging along with him ever since they had started walking. She was very gregarious, very flirtatious... and in Doctor McCrae's mind, also very suspicious. He had learned not to trust overfriendly aliens.

"You are a doctor of medicine."

"Yes, that's what we call a real doctor," said McCrae.

"There are not-real doctors?" Mushi asked.

"Go to any university and you'll find a ton of them," said McCrae. "Actually, you can also find many of them in doctor's offices, wearing white coats."

Mushi laughed. "You are funny, William McCrae."

"How did you know my first name?" McCrae asked.

"We are telepathic," said Mushi.

"Telepathic with no manners, it seems."

"Manners?"

"Something you lost in the evolutionary cycle, millions of years ago," said McCrae. "It means you don't peek into people's minds unless you're invited." He raised an eyebrow.

"Oh," said Mushi. "Have I offended you?"

"Not yet. But the day is young," said McCrae, looking around at the others. Many of Tammad's people seemed to have paired off with the Survey Service crew, and were talking to them as well.

Mushi laughed again. "You are a healer. You must enjoy healing people very much."

"I like it better than hurting them. Usually," said McCrae.

She laughed again. "Tell me, William McCrae. Tell me of your passion for healing others."

McCrae was about to give an ironic answer, when he looked into Mushi's eyes. There was something dark and mysterious in them. He decided to give her the real answer instead.

"When I was seven years old my older brother got very sick. We thought he might die. We took him to the hospital. A man in a white coat looked at him and said, 'This boy is very sick.' I went up to the man and asked him to save my brother because he was the only brother I had. The man in the white coat looked down at me and said, "Everything's going to be all right. I won't let anything happen to your big brother."

"That made a big impression on me," said McCrae. "I went into medicine."

"Did you also save people's lives?" Mushi asked.

"Sometimes," said McCrae. "But most times I just made people feel better. I began to enjoy it, making people feel better. And sometimes, I didn't even have to give them any medicine to do it."

Mushi looked up at him with thick eyes. "Yes... yes... I can feel your joy for healing others."

McCrae shifted about, embarrassed to have his feelings probed like that. He wanted to say something, to tell her to stop, but he felt almost hypnotized by those eyes, found himself falling into them in a certain way-

"Mushi!" Tammad called.

McCrae jerked back into awareness.

"Excuse me for a moment," said Mushi. She bounded rapidly over to Tammad.

"You should be with the one called Ensign Clay Raleigh," said Tammad, in a low voice.

"But the one called Doctor William McCrae has a passion for healing others! I felt it!"

"You are meant for Ensign Clay Raleigh," said Tammad.

Mushi's face went blank. "I am meant for Ensign Clay Raleigh."

"Go about your assigned task."

Mushi nodded and turned away.

********

They walked for several hours before they encountered their first signs of opposition. There was a building of some sort, on a ridge line.

And there were large six foot tall one-eyed squids scattered all over the place.

"Humans!" one of them boomed. They didn't seem to be actually speaking. They could all hear the voice in their minds.

"Welcome!" said the voice. "Show us your aggression!"

"We just want to get past you," said Taylor. "Step aside, and there is no need for violence."

"No need for violence?" said the telepathic voice. "On the contrary, we welcome it! Show us your anger! Show us your aggression!"

And then one of the squids released a bolt of energy, which exploded near them.

"Take cover!" Taylor cried.

And then the firefight began.

They traded blasts the with the enemy. The squids didn't seem to have distinct weapons of their own--they fired energy blasts from their tentacles. Taylor fired his compression rifle and hit one, and it blew to pieces.

To pieces?

Tammad had assured them that they needed to set their weapons to their highest settings to be effective against the United. Taylor wasn't sure if that was true or not.

Obongo Babangida and two men started to climb the ridgeline, to try to flank the squids. But they got cut down by enemy fire. More squids advanced, and one of them started to drag Babangida away.

"Obongo!" Jennifer cried, starting to get up.

Taylor pulled her back down. "Morgan! Tesla! With me!" He charged up the ridge, his compression rifle a live tool in his hands that was firing nearly continuously. He cleared a path to Obongo, but Morgan and then Tesla were hit by enemy fire. Taylor shot the squid who was towing Obongo, and it blew to pieces. He was just kneeling down to feel for Obongo's pulse when an energy bolt hit him and he fell to the ground.

More squids appeared over the top of the ridgeline. One of them started to drag Taylor's inert body.

"Men, with me!" cried Colonel Alex Stone. He ran up the embankment, seemingly unafraid of the energy blasts all around him. Three squids turned to face him; he shot one, did a side roll to avoid a blast while shooting the second and a third, and then wheeled to shoot a fourth which was sneaking up behind him.

And then, suddenly, it was over.

Jennifer ran over to Colonel Stone. "Are they all right?" she said anxiously, looking down at Obongo and Taylor.

"They are just stunned. They will recover momentarily," said Stone.

Jennifer looked at Stone. "You were incredible, Alex! You were every bit as good as the history holos say you were." She exhaled, causing her breasts to momentary thrust forward.

"Thank you," said Stone.

Taylor started to stir. The world above him was murky and cloudy. As it solidified, he saw Jennifer above him looking adoringly at Stone. "Thank you," she said, batting her eyelashes at him. "Thank you so much for saving Michael."

Taylor felt a deep plume of shame. He struggled to speak. "Wha...."

"Help him up," said Stone.

Two men helped Taylor get up.

"What happened?"

"You got a little ahead of yourself," said Stone. "You were ambushed by a squid backup team. That's a typical trick; they take down one of our own, and use him as bait to lure a second one in."

"I... I didn't know," said Taylor, as he recovered his wits.

"Of course you couldn't have known," said Stone. "We're just glad you're all right. Aren't we, Jennifer?"

"Yes," she smiled at him, before she turned to tend to Obongo.

But as she turned away Taylor thought he saw something in Jennifer's smile. No, in her eyes. Was it a trace of... pity?

It was something he didn't like to see, not from Jennifer Hale.

********

They went into the structure that the squids had been guarding. It contained containers of metal ingots of some kind.

"What are these?" said Taylor, looking at the shiny metal.

"Platinum rubes," said Tammad, holding one up.

"Rubes?"

"Used to power kirsten reactors," said Tammad. "Useless for our purposes."

"Not for ours," said Ensign Raleigh. "Do you realize, with just one of these, I'd be rich!"

"Ensign, what use is platinum going to do you in the year 500,000,000?" Jennifer asked.

"Here? Maybe none. But if we get back home, I'll be a wealthy man! One of these is worth forty years of Survey Service salaries!"

"Leave it," said Taylor.

"Ten of these and I'll be the wealthiest man in North America!" He started to stuff his pockets with pieces of platinum.

"Ensign, I said, leave it," said Taylor. "This isn't our mission."

"Yes, sir," said Raleigh. But the minute Taylor turned his back, he stuffed his pockets with a few of the platinum ingots.

Mushi immediately sided up to him. "What do you plan to do with that?" she whispered.

"When I get back home, I'm going to buy a giant mansion, maybe on the moon," said Raleigh.

"Really? Those little things can buy you that?"

"That and much more," said Raleigh. "I'll be set for life. Fabulously wealthy. I'll have my own space yacht, and servants, yes, real human servants, not the robot kind-" he proceeded to tell Mushi details of his fantastic future. Her eyes were aglow as she immersed herself in Raleigh's enthusiasm. She wrapped her hand tightly in his and smiled.

********

There was no conventional day and night on this planetoid, but after walking nearly ten miles they decided to take a break for some sleep. They set up tents, as well as a rotating schedule of guards, so at least everyone would get a few hours.

Captain Audrey Spaulding collared Taylor after dinner. "That was incredibly audacious of you to charge the front lines like that to rescue your man," she said.

"Thanks," said Taylor.

"But also incredibly foolish," said Audrey. "You're the Captain. You're the most invaluable man on this mission. You can't risk yourself like that."

"If I don't take risks for my men, how can I expect them to do the same for me?" said Taylor.

"That's the words of a hero. I think there's something else going on. Something between you, and Lieutenants Hale and Babangida." She searched him with her eyes. "Michael, you can't afford to let emotion cloud your judgment. If a man is down, think about sending another man to retrieve him. You're the king in a game of chess. Don't risk your most important piece."

Taylor nodded. What she was saying was making sense. But as he stared at her in the dim lights of the encampment, he wondered if she had any other reasons for showing such concern. Captain Spaulding was only a few years older than him, but she was showing a protective concern for him that an older sister would for a younger brother. It was nice, but at the same time made Taylor feel a little uncomfortable.

And then there was Colonel Stone. Taylor had been made to look weak and impotent in front of Jennifer. He didn't blame Stone, not exactly; after all, Stone had actually rescued him. But somehow, in the way it all happened, he felt like he had been... marginalized, even emasculated... but he wasn't exactly sure who the culprit was.