Waiting (12 page)

'My
pleasure.'

Chapter 32

'This is the
faulty unit we built?' Staples asked.

'Keep your
voice down,' said Gunther, locking his office door. 'And no. That
is the original unit I sabotaged. As you technicians worked on it,
I would later undo your efforts so none of you could repair it. I
convinced you to build a new unit, knowing that would be
impossible, especially as I would tinker with your efforts.'

'You had me
fooled. But then I'd never suspect you were conspiring against
us.'

'Believe me. I
got no satisfaction from what I did. I hope you understand why I
did it.'

Staples said,
'I understand why you
think
you had to do
it. You think the mission and those on the Goliath are in danger
and that General Loretti not only knows about it, but for some
reason, condones it.'

'I believe so,
yes.'

'But you
haven't warned anyone on the Goliath.'

Gunther shook
his head. 'Because I feel certain somebody on the Goliath is in on
it, too. I just don't know who.'

'And you are
hoping your daughter can find out what's going on?'

Gunther said,
'She's my only hope of getting to the bottom of all this. I could
easily play into their hands if I work without solid
information.'

'From what I
know of the general, that's a big ask for Bridget. Loretti is the
ultimate control freak.'

Gunther
chuckled and nodded. 'You got that right. And that was the main
reason our...relationship was short-lived. We were young and I was
in love with her, or so I imagined. She wanted a man and I was
available, not to mention very willing. She may be a cold hearted
bitch, but man, she's beautiful. But she likes men she can dominate
and after what could only be described as an intense and volatile
few months, I ended it.'

'You ended
it?'

'I can
understand that might surprise you. Let's just say that is how I
recall it. By then it was too late to terminate the pregnancy. That
would have been her preferred option. She was an ambitious colonel
at the time and considered Bridget to be an inconvenience. One
month after the birth, Bridget was looked after by others then
private schools and finally the military academy. Trish had as
little to do with her daughter as possible.'

'Bridget could
have been adopted.'

'Trish saw
Bridget as something she owned and she's not one for giving
anything away.'

Staples said,
'That might explain Loretti, but what's your excuse? You could have
been a part of Bridget's life. Sorry. None of my business.'

'That's ok.
Loretti used her influence and connections to have a legal order
taken out against me forbidding me to have anything to do with
Bridget or even be in the same room with her. I only found that out
when I visited Bridget's state home when it was her first birthday.
It had taken me all that time to track her down. As I held her in
my arms, I was arrested and spent a week in jail before being
dragged before a judge. I was released on the understanding if I
broke the legal order again, not only would it be the end of my
career, I would spend time behind bars.'

Staples said,
'I knew the general had a ruthless streak, but I didn't realise she
was that ruthless. Are you sure this isn't about simple revenge on
her? Payback time?'

'Really? After
all these years? I felt great sadness, but that's all. Perhaps deep
down I still had feelings for Trish. She gave me the job of running
the Base, mostly as a way of keeping me well away from her and
Bridget. I'm just hoping there's a spark of real love inside
Loretti for Bridget. That would be her weakness and possibly, just
possibly, Bridget can find out something useful.'

'Sounds like a
long shot. We can but hope. And in the meantime...?'

'We wait.'

Chapter 33

'Disgusting,'
said Bridget. 'Will he live?'

Salamandra was
on a steel bed, his arms and legs chained to each corner. His body
was liberally covered in marks and bruises from the beating by
Naylor and tiny pieces of flesh had been crudely carved away from
arms and legs and blood still dripped onto the floor. A doctor, a
middle aged man with thinning grey hair, administered an injection
into Salamandra's arm and scowled at his visitors. 'General
Loretti. I have said it before and I'll say it again now. This
crude and barbaric method is totally unnecessary. We have drugs
that do the job for more efficiently.'

Loretti said,
'True, Doctor Zimmerman. But not so much fun. Now answer the
question. Will he live?'

Salamandra's
eyes rolled open and he spat out blood as he spoke. 'I intend to
live just to annoy you, Loretti. And forget your truth drugs.
That's been tried before to no avail. My spirit is too strong for
you to break.'

Loretti
shrugged. 'It is irrelevant if you talk or not. We already know
most of what we need to know. Your people have held on tenaciously
but your forces are spread too thinly and are too few in number
now. That much we know.'

'Convince
yourself of that, Loretti. We have inflicted heavy losses on your
army. But feel free to underestimate us. That will ultimately be
your downfall.'

This was true
and Loretti's bluffing wasn't working on Salamandra. 'All we need
are details, to prevent unnecessary loss of life on both
sides.'

Salamandra
worked a lose tooth free with his tongue and spat it out of his
battered lips at Loretti. 'How compassionate of you.'

'Merely
efficiency. This war is almost over. We need to rebuild everything
again. Once your people join us, of course.'

'You mean when
we become subservient to you.'

Loretti went to
a neat display rack on a wall, where shiny metallic implements were
carefully secured. She selected one with a short hook shaped
blade.

'Isn't it only
reasonable that the victorious side has dominance over the losers?
As the superior race...'

Salamandra
snarled, 'There is nothing superior about your people,
Loretti.'

Loretti
approached the defenceless prisoner and she held the tip of the
blade close to Salamandra's right eye. Salamandra didn't
flinch.

Loretti said,
'That from a man about to lose a war. Why not do yourself and your
people a huge favour and tell them to lay down their weapons.'

Salamandra
smiled painfully, showing two gaps where Naylor had pulled out
teeth with pliers. 'When will you realise it doesn't matter if I
live or die? My people will never be subjugated under your command.
Go ahead. Kill me.'

The blade
hovered over Salamandra's eyes and Bridget felt sick to her stomach
waiting for Loretti to cut out the eyeball. Loretti stood back and
began cleaning her fingernails with the blade.

'As tempting as
killing you is, it serves my purpose to keep you alive. I'm about
to dine, so I'll consider how much pain to inflict on you. Doctor
Zimmerman. How long before the painkiller wears off?'

'About
twenty-four hours. I've administered a coagulant to reduce the
blood loss. Again. He'll probably live. This time.'

Salamandra
laughed. 'See, Loretti? I'm practically indestructible. Captain
Loretti. Doesn't it make you proud to have such a woman for your
mother?'

Bridget didn't
feel much pride, but said nothing.

Salamandra
said, 'Never mind, Bridget. It doesn't matter. But I wonder what
else she's told you. About Spero.'

'Common
knowledge,' said Bridget. 'For the last ten years we've been going
there to colonise it.'

Salamandra
laughed and almost choked on his own blood. 'Is that all you know?
Loretti. Don't you even trust your own daughter enough to tell her
the truth?'

Loretti dashed
to his side, the blade held in a shaking hand close to his jugular
vein. 'Silence!'

'Really? But
you have tried so hard to make me talk.'

The blade broke
the skin on Salamandra's neck, but not enough to do real
damage.

'Twenty-four
hours, Salamandra. When you can feel pain again, I'll return.'

'I'm sure the
pleasure is all yours.'

'It will be,'
Loretti hissed. 'Come, captain. I'm hungry.'

Chapter 34

'Not long now,'
said Friar. 'Soon be back in the relative comfort of the
Goliath.'

Lee said, 'For
a moment, I thought we weren't destined to return.'

'Lucky I was
around. Captain Jacobs. How are you feeling now?'

Jacobs said,
'Like Anne. Both surprised and delighted to still be around.'

Friar said,
'Anne. As the our principal biologist, what's your opinion of
Spero?'

'Apart from
taking soil samples to analyse on the Goliath, I was unable to
ascertain much about anything. We could hardly see beyond our
noses. According to the readouts of the atmosphere, the
terraformers have a long way still to go.'

'Why did they
stop working?' Friar asked.

'There are only
two possibilities I can think of,' replied Lee. 'The unexpected
volcanic eruption blocked out the sunlight. The solar panels
couldn't recharge the power-packs and they just stopped.
Or...No.'

'What?' Jacobs
asked.

'I don't want
to voice my thoughts. Too scary.'

Clifton said,
'Then I'll do it for you. The terraformers were turned off by
Earth.'

'Ridiculous
conjecture,' snapped Jacobs.

'I'm not saying
that's actually what happened, Jay Jay. But as Anne stated, there
are only two possibilities. Not enough sunlight, or turned off
deliberately from Earth.'

'That is
possible,' said Friar. 'If that happened, it can only mean one
thing. Somebody wants the mission to fail.'

'Preposterous!'
said Jacobs. 'What would be the reason? We have every nationality,
ethnicity and gender on the Goliath. We went to great trouble to
ensure no group of people were excluded. The embryos are the same
mix. When they are born, we will have a true representative mix of
people as we do now. I would not agree to anything else.'

'Hey, Jay Jay.
Don't shoot the messenger. It
is
the only alternative
explanation of the terraformers all shutting down at the same time.
Forget I said it. Let's just go along with the solar charging
theory.'

Jacobs said,
'Oh, don't you worry, Friar,' said Jacobs. 'I intend to do just
that. Because, if the alternative is true, it means somebody wants
to kill us off. And along with us, the last hope of the human race.
No, Friar. That would be too preposterous to contemplate. Excuse
me. I need to go and lie down.'

As Jacobs left
to rest, Lee said, 'Friar!'

'What?'

'Do you really
want to shatter his dreams and hopes?'

Friar said, 'Of
course not. But if somebody's out to kill me, I'd like to find out
why and more importantly, who.'

Chapter 35

'Is the food to
your liking?'

Bridget said,
'Delicious. Sorry I couldn't do it justice. I seem to have lost my
appetite. I must say you live well here.'

Loretti left
her plate alone and picked up the crystal goblet. Savouring the
fine wine, she said, 'My life is on the line every single day. The
force field protecting this headquarters has been intensely
bombarded and cannot be relied upon. So I think a modicum of
comfort is a reasonable part of my compensation.'

'Nobody forces
you to do what you do.'

'Only destiny.
A word of advice. Never argue with destiny. She'll get you
anyway.'

Bridget sipped
her wine, knowing quality when she tasted it. 'An interesting
philosophy. It occurs to me that I don't know what to call you. At
the moment we are relaxed and off duty. Do I call you general, sir
or...mother?'

'An interesting
question. General and sir seem too formal for the occasion. But I'm
not sure I deserve you calling me mother.'

'Let's
compromise. How about I call you Patricia?'

Loretti said,
'Ok. But I'm more comfortable with Trish. Is that ok with you?'

'I can live
with it if you can. Hard to believe it took us all these years to
get to where we are now.'

'One thing life
has taught me is not to have regrets. If I pass on one thing to
you, let it be that.'

Bridget said,
'Is that how you managed to dismiss me from your life, by not
regretting not having me in your life?'

A pained look
crossed Loretti's eyes, but was gone in an instant. 'You turned out
ok. Probably a lot better than if I had been an influence on you.
And you're a damn fine captain. Now that I helped you with. I had
your instructors be particularly tough on you to put fire in your
belly. But I showed no favours when it came to your promotions. You
earned those.'

'Just doing my
duty. But we both know this war is the last one and nobody will win
it.'

'True. It does
have a certain inevitability about it. I like to think it would
have happened with or without me.'

Bridget said,
'I think you shoulder your share of the responsibility.'

'Oh? As I
recall, our enemy started this war.'

'We had imposed
so many political and economic sanctions on them they either
starved or fought. Now we are trying to beat them into submission
with the intention of creating an enslaved peoples.'

Loretti said,
'You say that as if it's a bad thing. They're inferior and always
have been. It is their fate intertwined with ours. We just happen
to be superior.'

'You really
believe that, don't you.'

'I have
experienced nothing that would ever convince me otherwise. I
started life with no privileges and literally fought my way to the
top of the military.'