"Whatever happened to the wolf girl?" inquired Illyan after a long, fascinated silence.
"Ah. She"s doing well, I"m glad to say. She made sergeant not long ago. My Dendarii fleet surgeon has her on some meds to slow her metabolism down a bit. Somewhat experimental."
"Will they increase her life-span, then?"
Miles shrugged. "I wish we knew. Maybe. We"re hoping."
"Well." Illyan shifted. "That leaves Dagoola, about which, I might remind you, the only report I had from you before the other operatives took over was that, er, excessively succinct one you filed from Mahata Solaris."
"That was only meant to be preliminary. I thought I"d be reporting home sooner than this."
"That"s not a problem-or at any rate, not a problem for Count Vorvolk. Dagoola, Miles. Cough it up, and then you can get some sleep."
Miles frowned wearily. "It started out so simply. Almost as simple as the Jackson"s Whole job. Then things went wrong. Then things went very wrong. . . ."
"So begin at the beginning."
"The beginning. G.o.d. Well . . ."
The Borders of Infinity How could I have died and gone to h.e.l.l without noticing the transition?
The opalescent force dome capped a surreal and alien landscape, frozen for a moment by Miles"s disorientation and dismay. The dome defined a perfect circle, half a kilometer in diameter. Miles stood just inside its edge, where the glowing concave surface dove into the hard-packed dirt and disappeared. His imagination followed the arc buried beneath his feet to the far side, where it erupted again to complete the sphere. It was like being trapped inside an eggsh.e.l.l. An unbreakable eggsh.e.l.l.
Within was a scene from an ancient limbo. Dispirited men and women sat, or stood, or mostly lay down, singly or in scattered irregular groups, across the breadth of the arena. Miles"s eye searched anxiously for some remnant of order or military grouping, but the inhabitants seemed splashed randomly as a liquid across the ground.
Perhaps he had been killed just now, just entering this prison camp. Perhaps his captors had betrayed him to his death, like those ancient Earth soldiers who had lured their victims sheeplike into poisoned showers, diverting and soothing their suspicions with stone soap, until their final enlightenment burst upon them in a choking cloud. Perhaps the annihilation of his body had been so swift, his neurons had not had time to carry the information to his brain. Why else did so many antique myths agree that h.e.l.l was a circular place?
Dagoola IV Top Security Prison Camp #3. This was it? This naked . . . dinner plate? Miles had vaguely visioned barracks, marching guards, daily head counts, secret tunnels, escape committees.
It was the dome that made it all so simple, Miles realized. What need for barracks to shelter prisoners from the elements? The dome did it. What need for guards? The dome was generated from without. Nothing inside could breach it. No need for guards, or head counts. Tunnels were a futility, escape committees an absurdity. The dome did it all.
The only structures were what appeared to be big grey plastic mushrooms evenly placed about every hundred meters around the perimeter of the dome. What little activity there was seemed cl.u.s.tered around them. Latrines, Miles recognized.
Miles and his three fellow prisoners had entered through a temporary portal, which had closed behind them before the brief bulge of force dome containing their entry vanished in front of them. The nearest inhabitant of the dome, a man, lay a few meters away upon a sleeping mat identical to the one Miles now clutched. He turned his head slightly to stare at the little party of newcomers, smiled sourly, and rolled over on his side with his back to them. n.o.body else nearby even bothered to look up.
"Holy s.h.i.t," muttered one of Miles"s companions. He and his two buddies drew together unconsciously. The three had been from the same unit once, they"d said. Miles had met them bare minutes ago, in their final stages of processing, where they had all been issued their total supply of worldly goods for life in Dagoola #3.
A single pair of loose grey trousers. A matching short-sleeved grey tunic. A rectangular sleeping mat, rolled up. A plastic cup. That was all. That, and the new numbers encoded upon their skins. It bothered Miles intensely that their captors had chosen to locate the numbers in the middle of their backs, where they couldn"t see them. He resisted a futile urge to twist and crane his neck anyway, though his hand snaked up under his shirt to scratch a purely psychosomatic itch. You couldn"t feel the encode either.
Some motion appeared in the tableau. A group of four or five men approaching. The welcoming committee at last? Miles was desperate for information. Where among all these countless grey men and women-no, not countless, Miles told himself firmly. They were all accounted for here.
The battered remnants of the 3rd and 4th Armored All-Terrain Rangers. The ingenious and tenacious civilian defenders of Garson Transfer Station. Winoweh"s 2nd Battalion had been captured almost intact. And the 14th Commandos, survivors of the high-tech fortress at Fallow Core. Particularly the survivors of Fallow Core. Ten thousand, two hundred fourteen exactly. The plant Marilac"s finest. Ten thousand, two hundred fifteen, counting himself. Ought he to count himself?
The welcoming committee drew up in a ragged bunch a few meters away. They looked tough and tall and muscular and not noticeably friendly. Dull, sullen eyes, full of a deadly boredom that even their present calculation did not lighten.
The two groups, the five and the three, sized each other up. The three turned, and started walking stiffly and prudently away. Miles realized belatedly that he, not a part of either group, was thus left alone.
Alone and immensely conspicuous. Self-consciousness, body-consciousness, normally held at bay by the simple fact that he didn"t have time to waste on it, returned to him with a rush. Too short, too odd-looking-his legs were even in length now, after the last operation, but surely not long enough to outrun these five. And where did one run to, in this place? He crossed off flight as an option.
Fight? Get serious.
This isn"t going to work, he realized sadly, even as he started walking toward them. But it was more dignified than being chased down with the same result. he realized sadly, even as he started walking toward them. But it was more dignified than being chased down with the same result.
He tried to make his smile austere rather than foolish. No telling whether he succeeded. "Hi, there. Can you tell me where to find Colonel Guy Tremont"s 14th Commando Division?"
One of the five snorted sardonically. Two moved behind Miles.
Well, a snort was almost speech. Expression, anyway. A start, a toehold. Miles focused on that one. "What"s your name and rank and company, soldier?"
"No ranks in here, mutant. No companies. No soldiers. No nothing."
Miles glanced around. Surrounded, of course. Naturally. "You got some friends, anyway."
The talker almost smiled. "You don"t."
Miles wondered if perhaps he had been premature in crossing off flight as an option. "I wouldn"t count on that if I were-unh!" The kick to his kidneys, from behind, cut him off-he d.a.m.n near bit his tongue-he fell, dropping bedroll and cup and landing in a tangle. A barefoot kick, no combat boots this time, thank G.o.d-by the rules of Newtonian physics, his attackers" foot ought to hurt just as much as his back. Fine. Jolly. Maybe they"d bruise their knuckles, punching him out. . . ." The kick to his kidneys, from behind, cut him off-he d.a.m.n near bit his tongue-he fell, dropping bedroll and cup and landing in a tangle. A barefoot kick, no combat boots this time, thank G.o.d-by the rules of Newtonian physics, his attackers" foot ought to hurt just as much as his back. Fine. Jolly. Maybe they"d bruise their knuckles, punching him out. . . ."
One of the gang gathered up Miles"s late wealth, cup and bedroll. "Want his clothes? They"re too little for me."
"Naw."
"Yeah," said the talker. "Take "em anyway. Maybe bribe one of the women."
The tunic was jerked off over Miles"s head, the pants over his feet. Miles was too busy protecting his head from random kicks to fight much for his clothes, trying obliquely to take as many hits as possible on his belly or ribcage, not arms or legs or jaw. A cracked rib was surely the most injury he could afford right now, here, at the beginning. A broken jaw would be the worst.
His a.s.sailants desisted only a little before they discovered by experimentation the secret weakness of his bones.
"That"s how it is in here, mutant," said the talker, slightly winded. how it is in here, mutant," said the talker, slightly winded.
"I was born naked," Miles panted from the dirt. "Didn"t stop me."
"c.o.c.ky little s.h.i.t," said the talker.
"Slow learner," remarked another.
The second beating was worse than the first. Two cracked ribs at least-his jaw barely escaped being smashed, at the cost of something painfully wrong in his left wrist, flung up as a shield. This time Miles resisted the impulse to offer any verbal parting shots. He lay in the dirt and wished he could pa.s.s out.
He lay a long time, cradled in pain. He was not sure how long. The illumination from the force dome was even and shadowless, unchanging. Timeless, like eternity. h.e.l.l was eternal, was it not? This place had too d.a.m.n many congruencies with h.e.l.l, that was certain.
And here came another demon. . . . Miles blinked the approaching figure into focus. A man, as bruised and naked as Miles himself, gaunt-ribbed, starveling, knelt in the dirt a few meters away. His face was bony, aged by stress-he might have been forty, or fifty-or twenty-five.
His eyes were unnaturally prominent, due to the shrinking of his flesh. Their whites seemed to gleam feverishly against the dirt darkening his skin. Dirt, not beard stubble-every prisoner in here, male and female, had their hair cut short and the air follicles stunned to prevent re-growth. Perpetually clean-shaven and crew-cut. Miles had undergone the same process bare hours ago. But whoever had processed this fellow must have been in a hurry. The hair stunner had missed a line of his cheek and a few dozen hairs grew there like a stripe on a badly-mown lawn. Even curled as they were, Miles could see they were several centimeters long, draggling down past the man"s jaw. If only he knew how fast hair grew, he could calculate how long this fellow had been here. Too long, whatever the numbers, Too long, whatever the numbers, Miles thought with an inward sigh. Miles thought with an inward sigh.
The man had the broken-off bottom half of a plastic cup, which he pushed cautiously toward Miles. His breath whistled raggedly past his yellowish teeth, from exertion or excitement or disease-probably not disease, they were all well immunized here. Escape, even through death, was not that easy. Miles rolled over and propped himself stiffly on his elbow, regarding his visitor through the thinning haze of his aches and pains.
The man scrabbled back slightly, smiled nervously. He nodded toward the cup. "Water. Better drink. The cup"s cracked, and it all leaks out if you wait too long."
"Thanks," croaked Miles. A week ago, or in a previous lifetime, depending on how you counted time, Miles had dawdled over a selection of wines, dissatisfied with this or that nuance of flavor. His lips cracked as he grinned in memory. He drank. It was perfectly ordinary water, lukewarm, faintly redolent of chlorine and sulfur. A refined body, but the bouquet is a bit presumptuous. . . . A refined body, but the bouquet is a bit presumptuous. . . .
The man squatted in studied politeness until Miles finished drinking, then leaned forward on his knuckles in restrained urgency. "Are you the One?"
Miles blinked. "Am I the what?"
"The One. The other other one, I should say. The scripture says there has to be two." one, I should say. The scripture says there has to be two."
"Uh," Miles hesitated cautiously, "what exactly does the scripture say?"
The man"s right hand wrapped over his k.n.o.bby left wrist, around which was tied a rag screwed into a sort of rope. He closed his eyes; his lips moved a moment, and then he recited aloud, ". . . but the pilgrims went up that hill with ease, because they had these two men to lead them by the arms; also they had left their garments behind them, for though they went in with them, they came out without them." His eyes popped back open to stare hopefully at Miles.
So, now we begin to see why this guy seems to be all by himself. . . . "Are you, perchance, the other One?" Miles shot at a venture. "Are you, perchance, the other One?" Miles shot at a venture.
The man nodded, shyly.
"I see. Um . . ." How was it that he always attracted the nut cases? He licked the last drops of water from his lips. The fellow might have some screws loose, but he was certainly an improvement over the last lot, always presuming he didn"t have another personality or two of the homicidal loonie variety tucked away in his head. No, in that case he"d be introducing himself as the Chosen Two, and not be looking for outside a.s.sistance. "Um . . . what"s your name?"
"Suegar."
"Suegar. Right, all right. My name is Miles, by the way."
"Huh." Suegar grimaced in a sort of pleased irony. "Your name means "soldier," did you know?"
"Uh, yeah, so I"ve been told."
"But you"re not a soldier . . . ?"
No subtle expensive trick of clothing line or uniform style here to hide from himself, if no one else, the peculiarities of his body. Miles flushed. "They were taking anything, toward the end. They made me a recruiting clerk. I never did get to fire my gun. Listen, Suegar- how did you come to know you were the One, or at any rate one of the Ones? Is it something you"ve always known?"
"It came on me gradually," confessed Suegar, shifting to sit cross-legged. "I"m the only one in here with the words, y"see." He caressed his rag rope again. "I"ve hunted all up and down the camp, but they only mock me. It was a kind of process of elimination, y"see, when they all gave up but me."
"Ah." Miles too sat up, only gasping a little in pain. Those ribs were going to be murder for the next few days. He nodded toward the rope bracelet. "Is that where you keep your scripture? Can I see it?" And how the h.e.l.l had Suegar ever gotten a plastic flimsy, or loose piece of paper or whatever, in here?
Suegar clutched his arms protectively to his chest and shook his head. "They"ve been trying to take them from me for months, y"see. I can"t be too careful. Until you prove you"re the One. The devil can quote scripture, y"know."
Yes, that was rather what I had in mind. . . . Who knew what opportunities Suegar"s "scripture" might contain? Well, maybe later. For now, keep dancing. "Are there any other signs?" asked Miles. "You see, I don"t know that I"m your One, but on the other hand I don"t know I"m not, either. I just got here, after all." Who knew what opportunities Suegar"s "scripture" might contain? Well, maybe later. For now, keep dancing. "Are there any other signs?" asked Miles. "You see, I don"t know that I"m your One, but on the other hand I don"t know I"m not, either. I just got here, after all."
Suegar shook his head again. "It"s only five or six sentences, y"see. You have to interpolate a lot."
I"ll bet. Miles did not voice the comment aloud. "However did you come by it? Or get it in here?" Miles did not voice the comment aloud. "However did you come by it? Or get it in here?"
"It was at Port Lisma, y"see, just before we were captured," said Suegar. "House-to-house fighting. One of my boot heels had come a bit loose, and it clicked when I walked. Funny, with all that barrage coming down around our ears, how a little thing like that can get under your skin. There was this bookcase with a gla.s.s front, real antique books made of paper-I smashed it open with my gun b.u.t.t and tore out part of a page from one, and folded it up to stick in my boot heel, to make a sort of shim, y"see, and stop the clicking. Didn"t look at the book. Didn"t even know it was scripture till later. At least, I think it"s scripture. It sounds like scripture, anyway. It must be scripture."
Suegar twisted his beard hairs nervously around his finger. "When we were waiting to be processed, I"d pulled it out of my boot, just idle-like, y"know. I had it in my hand-the processing guard saw it, but he just didn"t take it away from me. Probably thought it was just a harmless piece of paper. Didn"t know it was scripture. I still had it in my hand when we were dumped in here. D"you know, it"s the only piece of writing in this whole camp?" he added rather proudly. "It must be scripture."
"Well . . . you take good care of it, then," advised Miles kindly. "If you"ve preserved it this long, it was obviously meant to be your job."
"Yeah . . ." Suegar blinked. Tears? "I"m the only one in here with a job, aren"t I? So I must be one of the Ones."
"Sounds good to me," said Miles agreeably. "Say, ah," he glanced around the vast featureless dome, "how do you find your way around in here, anyway?" The place was decidedly undersupplied with landmarks. It reminded Miles of nothing so much as a penguin rookery. Yet penguins seemed able to find their rocky nests. He was going to have to start thinking like a penguin-or get a penguin to direct him. He studied his guide bird, who had gone absent and was doodling in the dirt. Circles, naturally.
"Where"s the mess hall?" Miles asked more loudly. "Where did you get that water?"
"Water taps are on the outside of the latrines," said Suegar, "but they only work part of the time. No mess hall. We just get rat bars. Sometimes."
"Sometimes?" said Miles angrily. He could count Suegar"s ribs. "Dammit, the Cetagandans are claiming loudly to be treating their POW"s by Interstellar Judiciary Commission rules. So many square meters of s.p.a.ce per person, 3,000 calories a day, at least fifty grams of protein, two liters of drinking water-you should be getting at least two IJC standard ration bars a day. Are they starving you?"
"After a while," Suegar sighed, "you don"t really care if you get yours or not." The animation that his interest in Miles as a new and hopeful object in his world had lent Suegar seemed to be falling away. His breathing had slowed, his posture slumped. He seemed about to lie down in the dirt. Miles wondered if Suegar"s sleeping mat had suffered the same fate as his own. Quite some time ago, probably.
"Look, Suegar-I think I may have a relative in this camp somewhere. A cousin of my mother"s. D"you think you could help me find him?"
"It might be good for you, to have a relative," Suegar agreed. "It"s not good to be by yourself, here."
"Yeah, I found that out. But how can you find anyone? It doesn"t look too organized."
"Oh, there"s-there"s groups and groups. Everyone pretty much stays in the same place after a while."
"He was in the 14th Commandos. Where are they?"
"None of the old old groups are left, much." groups are left, much."
"He was Colonel Tremont. Colonel Guy Tremont."
"Oh, an officer." Suegar"s forehead wrinkled in worry. "That makes it harder. You weren"t an officer, were you? Better not let on, if you were-"
"I was a clerk," repeated Miles.
"-because there"s groups here who don"t like officers. A clerk. You"re probably OK, then."
"Were you an officer, Suegar?" asked Miles curiously.
Suegar frowned at him, twisted his beard hairs. "Marilac Army"s gone. If there"s no army, it can"t have officers, can it?"
Miles wondered briefly if he might get farther faster by just walking away from Suegar and trying to strike up a conversation with the next random prisoner he came across. Groups and groups. And, presumably, groups, like the five burly surly brothers. He decided to stick with Suegar for a while longer. For one thing, he wouldn"t feel quite so naked if he wasn"t naked by himself.
"Can you take me to anybody who used to be in the 14th?" Miles urged Suegar anew. "Anybody, who might know Tremont by sight."
"You don"t know him?"
"We"d never met in person. I"ve seen vids of him. But I"m afraid his appearance may be ... changed, by now."
Suegar touched his own face pensively. "Yeah, probably."
Miles clambered painfully to his feet. The temperature in the dome was just a little cool, without clothes. A voiceless draft raised the hairs on his arms. If he could just get one garment back, would he prefer his pants, to cover his genitals, or his shirt, to disguise his crooked back? Screw it. No time. He held out a hand to help Suegar up. "Come on."