He rushed up the hill a fifth time. Sweat ran down his body in tiny rivers, muscles he"d forgotten ached after days of training and the soles of his feet barely stayed whole. Heinrich didn"t care. Running on his own was a luxury. This was for real, not the controlled lumbering of a body walker. This was freedom.He threw a backwards glance. Four. Panopilis ahead of him, and Chang of course. n.o.body beat Chang in a footrace.
Heinrich struggled the last meters to the crest and fell exhausted to the ground. He rolled over on his back and stared into the sky. Last time he wouldn"t have been able to, but all trees had been felled since to give way to the new windmills feeding the port. He counted clouds. Five, six, no seven of them. As many as the cabins built from the logs. Not much in the way of hotels, but there had been none half a year ago.
He turned back onto his stomach and gazed east. A real port now, not just a landing pad and a walled concrete shed.
"Have you seen this?"
Heinrich searched for the voice. "Seen what, Liz?"
"The flowers. I love spring!"
And she loved making an issue of being female as well, and of being by far the best soldier in his command. Ran faster and farther than the rest, drove any vehicle he had encountered, made body walking look like dancing and scared the living h.e.l.l out of their weapons trainer whenever they took those tests. Carried less, of course—she was female after all.
"Miner, remember?"
"Yeah, yeah. Hard as rock. No seasons in the belt. You eat what you grow and all that. Dammit Major, can"t you enjoy yourself for once?"
Heinrich barked a laugh. He enjoyed the h.e.l.l out of himself right now, and she knew it. He was the one frantic to get planet side whenever they went past Earth. He was in love with the wilderness, the sheer open s.p.a.ce available, and this was a spring day as gorgeous as any he could remember. And he enjoyed watching her.
"You thinking?" she purred, and stretched like a cat. Now there was beauty in motion.
"I"m thinking I could rest here for a while longer," he answered. He travelled her body with his eyes. Watching was fine. She had bedded him a few times, never the other way around. She made the invitations. He could refuse and had done so twice. She never sulked about that.
Heavy panting announced another arrival, and soon all seven of them sat in a semicircle looking at the launch port.
They were in horrible shape. Strange, considering that they"d been in the field since they arrived here. Not much in the way of physical training though. Body walkers required coordination. They were built to do the job instead of the TADAT strapped inside.
"How much more of this?" Mohammad wheezed.
Heinrich grinned. "Two more runs?"
"Show some heart!"
"Heart? Overrated!" Heinrich growled in his deepest voice. He drew air. "Eyes are always black as night, with soulless heart as cold as s.p.a.ce. An evil smile that gives you fright, beats you once and shoots you twice. That"s our TAAAAADAT commander!" he howled. They laughed and joined him. The song quickly turned incredibly ugly, describing most possible and quite a few impossible attributes of an officer in the Federation"s finest.
The almost ordered march along the crest came to an abrupt halt when they turned east and down. Marching downhill on uneven ground was impossible of course and it soon turned into a race which broke up the singing. He fell, came back up with the help of a trunk he pa.s.sed, made it halfway down the hill and fell again. This time he just rolled before getting his balance again.
When he reached the gravel road at the base he was laughing so hard tears ran from his eyes. Above and around him he heard laughs and shrieks as the rest signalled their success, or rather lack thereof.
We"re TADAT, the scariest of the scary. And he bellowed again.
He gathered his dirty unit around him and began the march back to the port.
"Tidy up!"
"Yes Major!" came the chorus.
He watched his sorry command in their torn and dishevelled jumpsuits. "Oh h.e.l.l, just fall in line."
"As you say, Major!"
"And try to look like troopers!"
"But of course, Major!"
He laughed again. It was a wonderful day, and it was good to be in command of the best unit this side of Gatekeeper.
What remained of it. That thought soured an otherwise perfect moment, but he had to accept that. Joseph would never whine and laugh with them again. Ulfsdotir"s thugs got him with a grenade in Belgera. Well, they"d sent that b.i.t.c.h back into s.p.a.ce now.
A lot had come down from there as well. He looked at the inflatables where most of them lived. Were forced to live. They"d been evacuated from Orbit One soon after he reported back. And they had swelled with most everyone who could get out of Verd as well. Things were getting ugly there from what he heard.
A few days more and we"re back in the fray. d.a.m.n, we deserved a day off, we did! He glanced over his shoulder, but he never had to give an order. They had all straightened up before they came into sight of the refugees. They were TADAT, the scariest of the scary.