Cross of the Legion (21 page)

When I was through, I tried one of the library vidphones in a soundproof booth, and slipped Rex's comcard into the slot. He answered immediately, peering down at the screen from above. It looked like a handcom set. There was a swirl of movement around him in a darkened room, with music in the background.

"Yeah?"

"Rex—I am West One Outfam. Do you remember me?"

"West One—well I'll be…how ya doin', buddy?" A female form slid in front of the screen and dropped out of view with a giggle. "Watch it, honey. Westo! What's doin'?"

"I wish to meet you. I have something for you."

"Something for me? You want to meet? Well, where are ya, buddy?"

"I am at the library."

"This is my new buddy from Peta Jaya," he explained to someone. "You'll love him. Well sure, Westo, you hang there at the library steps and I'll come and get you, how's that?"

"I thank you!"

***

The yellow E-car pulled up to the curb blasting music, the top still down, revealing Rex Two Lammafam in all his glory, blond locks flowing in the breeze, one girl sitting to his left, two more in back. The door slid open and I hopped into the vacant seat up front.

"Westo! Buddy! Great to see ya!" We struck palms. "Lala, Stana, Titi, this is Westo. Lala's taken, Westo; Stana and Titi are up for grabs."

"Pleased to meet you," I smiled to the girls as we took off, gliding smoothly along Park Road. The orange sun was going down, and the lake glowed like lava. It was really beautiful.

"I must talk with you," I said urgently to Rex.

"Sure, we're heading for my crash pad—Lala's place, actually. We can hoist a few and talk there."

"Good."

"You're really yummy," Titi said to me dreamily. "Where have you been hiding all my life?"

"Ah…Peta Jaya," I replied carefully.

Rex laughed. "Take your time, Titi. He's still learning the language."

***

Rex looked the diagram over carefully. We were at the kitchen table in Lala's little cube, and the girls had been cleared out of the room.

"Where did you get this?" Rex asked.

"I wrote it. It is my design. It is a magnetic lock. It is very strong. It cannot be opened, unless you use the key card. If not, you must disassemble the lock. But with the master code, you can change the number code whenever you want. Every day, if you want."

"Why are you showing this to me?"

"You are a locksmith. I told you. I met a girl, but I have no money. I want to take her to dinner. I need money. So I will sell this design to you."

"But I must check with my guildmaster first. We have to build it, we have to test it, to see if it works. Then we'll know how much it's worth."

"I need money now. You give me a small advance. You check the design later. You pay the rest when you see it works. If it does not work, I give you back the advance. But it will work." I was reading it word for word from the text that was dancing before my eyes.

"But if this works—I've never seen anything like this. It could be worth a lot!"

"I only need enough now to take a girl to dinner at a nice place. How much would that be?"

"Well…maybe fifty credits. At a really nice place."

"Give me a hundred credits advance. I sell the design to you. You decide the price and pay me later."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes."

"This must be some bunny!"

"Yes."

"Are you a locksmith?"

"I am an inventor. Will you give me an advance?"

"Yes. Yeah, sure, buddy, hell, I can spare a hundred credits from the till. Well, this sure is a surprise. I mean, I know something about locks. This design is brilliant! It sure looks like it would work. You're something. Hold on—here's a hundred." He handed me a credit card. "Must be some bunny! Titi's going to be disappointed. She was all set to take a big bite out of you."

"I thank you. We are friends!"

"How do I get ahold of you, buddy?"

"Leave a message at the library reading room. I will check it every day."

"You didn't touch your brew."

"Next time. Thanks! I must see my girl!" I was on my way out the door.

"I'd like to meet her sometime!"

"Yes—can! Goodbye!"

***

The place Millie took me was quite nice—an open-air snack bar, on a pier jutting into the lake. It was a cool night, the clear sky was full of alien stars and the city was a magical wonderland of soft lights reflected in the lake. The pier was decorated festively and the tables were full of young people. I had wanted to take her out to an expensive place. I had suggested a restaurant I had seen on the top of Memorial Tower, but she said it was too expensive. I had never actually taken a girl to an expensive restaurant, not even when I had been young and desperate, but I knew you were supposed to do it because Tara had once complained that I never took her to anyplace nice. When I had finally tried to do so, Tara had said my choice was too expensive, and she had taken me to a snack bar. And here we were again. It looked like things had not changed much, over the ages.

"You're not eating!" Millie objected.

"Ah…I am not hungry. I am happy…to look at you." Eating was a problem for a Holo-X. The holo would vaporize food or drink, but there was a limit to how much it could take before a wet little puddle appeared at your feet. Taking a girl to dinner was not the top of the line recommended recreational activity for a Holo-X, but I knew if you were going to romance a girl you had to take her to dinner. Tara had told me so.

"Stop it! You're flattering me again. Why would you want to look at me?"

"You are beautiful."

"Oh stop it! I am not!" She blushed again, but smiled in delight. She actually did look lovely. She was wearing a short sleeveless black dress that emphasized her slim arms, long legs, and shapely firm breasts. Her short dark hair was soft and full. It didn't look as ragged as before. I reached over and gently removed her glasses. She blinked. Fine, delicate facial features. Dark liquid eyes, soft full lips. Couldn't she see her own beauty? She was lovely. All girls were lovely. They were angels, fallen from above, gifts from the Gods for brutes like us, shuffling through the dark.

"I can't see."

"You should not say you are not beautiful. You are beautiful. I say so."

"I'm Millie the Mole. I'm nobody. Everyone says that."

"Then they are fools! Here—take these glasses back. When you get home, look at yourself in the mirror. Really look! There is an angel in there! How can you be so foolish, to believe those fools!" I was getting angry. She was lovely, and she couldn't see it!

"You are the strangest person I have ever met."

"Believe in yourself, Millie S-Fam! Stand up and hit the world right in the face!"

"You make it sound so easy."

"You are a princess!"

"Stop it. You're the good-looking one. My room-mates are seething with jealousy. They saw you out the window, when you were waiting under the streetlight for me to come out. They couldn't believe Millie the Mole finally had a date—and they almost fell down when they saw you!"

"They are not important."

"I told them how you destroyed Mega and Jocko. They had so many questions!"

"Do not answer them. You and I…one and one." I touched her hand. She gazed at me wordlessly. I wasn't acting. Millie S-Fam—good Lord! So long ago, impossibly long ago! I could almost feel her heartbeat. How many billions of poor, lonely Millie S-Fams had lived and died since then, crippled by their own imagined shortcomings? I wanted to rip the veil from her eyes, I wanted to worship her like a Goddess, I wanted to peel that little black dress off and cover her lovely flesh with hot kisses—but I didn't. I held back, sitting there in the cool night across from her, watching her smile. What had Tara said, before the Odura mission? Every moment's delay costs a human life. Well—maybe so. But that was God's affair. My only concern was to discover how the people on this world had whipped the White Death. If I could do that, we'd counter it too, and all the dying would stop. Millions—maybe billions—would breathe free again—and the Legion would have done it. I would have done it. But I was going to do it right. Millie S-Fam was going to help me, if she could, but it was not going to be tonight. Tonight belonged to Millie, and I was going to let nothing at all spoil it.

The bill was only 12 credits. It had been a vegetarian meal—some kind of wheat and tuber mixture. The natives had given up on meat. I don't eat animals, either. I get all the energy I need from Legion rats.

We strolled through the park along the shore and found a bench, looking out over the lake, a shimmering black lagoon shot through with liquid lights. It was quiet—not like we were even in a city. Quiet and peaceful and calm, under a velvet sky full of brilliant stars. We could hear children laughing faintly, and a hushed murmur of conversation.

"West Lake," Millie said. "They call it the lover's lake. But I've never been here with a boy. I've never had a boyfriend, did I tell you that? It's funny, I feel I can tell you anything. Nobody wanted to go out with Millie the Mole. Everyone laughs at me in school. They say I'm a bookworm. You know, I decided it doesn't matter. I decided I'm going to be a nurse. I'm going to heal the sick. That's what I'm going to do with my life. Nobody can criticize me for that. And if they do, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter at all."

I removed her glasses, again, and cupped her face in my hands and kissed her, gently. And then harder, as she responded, eagerly. We kissed like a couple of school kids just discovering each other, and soon hot tears were streaming down her cheeks and her nails were digging into my back. The Holo-X is truly remarkable, I'll say that. I could feel her heartbeat pounding against my chest, I could almost taste those salty tears and feel my tongue thrusting into her hot wet mouth. She was switching me on and I suddenly realized she had died a hundred thousand years ago, but I decided it didn't matter. It didn't matter at all.

***

We said goodnight outside her cube bloc. I did not want to go in because she said you had to register, so we said goodnight outside. One last kiss. I felt like a school kid again, lost in the wonder of a first love. Her neck was covered with love bites. Hers didn't register on my holo neck. She seemed giddy with love, trembling with emotion. So was I. I just hid it better.

"Call me!"

"Tomorrow!"

"Love you!"

I raised a hand. She went inside. I turned away.

Chapter 12
Superboy

When the image cracked off in the ES chamber and the door snapped open, I staggered out and collapsed into an airchair. Apples handed me a glass of ice water and I downed it in one gulp as she hooked me up to the medprobe. Jason came over as soon as he had shut down the system.

"You'd better get some sleep," he said.

"Yeah. Busy day tomorrow."

"You should be ashamed of yourself," Apples grinned, "taking advantage of that poor girl. 'I am lonely. You are pretty.' Ha! You haven't done this in awhile, have you?"

"I don't know. I kind of enjoyed it."

"You're fine," Apples said, unhooking the medprobe. "Get some rest."

"Tenners." She bustled away to make her report to the lab.

I sprawled in the chair, exhausted. Jason glided over in his airchair and sat there, watching me.

"What do you think of her?" he asked.

"She's a nurse. She should know something about the plague—or be able to find out."

"Yes. I suppose so."

"I didn't want to hit her with it the first day."

"No. Of course not."

"I'll ask her tomorrow."

"Good."

"I think she'll be a good source."

Jason nodded. He kept looking at me.

"So what do you think of her?" he asked again.

"She's a very nice person."

"Kind of…isolated."

"Unhappy. Obviously."

"She seems a lot happier now," he said.

"Yes. Well…yes."

"We're kind of…playing with her."

"Yes. I guess. Well, these things happen. I mean, there she was. She was the obvious target."

"Her feelings…are certainly of no consequence, considering the importance of the mission."

"Yes. Certainly. You're right," I said.

"But there's no reason to hurt her."

"No. I'm not going to hurt her."

"Promise. All right? I don't know why—but I feel kind of bad about this. She seems so—nice. And trusting."

"I feel the same way. Don't worry. We'll treat her right."

"All right. Good. Well—you'd better get some sleep. I'll prep the report."

"Keep it short and simple, all right?"

"Sure. The less you tell these people, the less they'll interfere—I know that."

***

"Want a lick?" Millie held out her iced fruit cone for me. I took a lick. It was faintly sour, according to the readout. We were hand in hand, strolling through the botanical gardens, totally relaxed. She was in shorts and a sleeveless top, her hair decorated with flowers. I had a new smock on. It was a lovely day, sharp hot sunlight, a cool breeze, an alien jungle of luxuriant trees whispering all around us, overhanging a walking trail running through endless flower beds. The Botanical Gardens was on the western outskirts of town. We had taken a public airbus. There were not too many visitors in the gardens. We practically had the place to ourselves.

"Can I take a picture?" Millie asked, pulling a little holscan from her shoulder bag.

"Sure."

"I want to take the two of us. But I need a place to put the holscan so it will take the picture on automatic."

We found an info sign telling us about the nearest tree, and set the camera on top of it. Millie set it to auto, and hurried back to get in the picture. We smiled. It cracked.

When the pix came out, it was not bad—the two of us, me cradling her protectively in my arms. She looked up at me through her big goggles, blinking, smiling, and slipped the holo into her bag.

"I feel so different since I met you," she confessed. "The whole world looks different. Do you feel the same?"

"Yes. It is…trouble."

"Trouble? It is trouble?" She was stunned. "You're married!"

I smiled. "No, I am not married," I lied. "We sit here." A wooden bench, by the side of the trail. I put an arm around her shoulder. She gazed at me through the goggles, almost pleading.

"I feel love for you," I said, looking into her eyes. She grasped my hand and squeezed. "This is trouble for me," I continued. "Big trouble."

"Why?" She whispered it.

"I am not from Peta Jaya."

"Where are you from?"

"I cannot tell you. It is very far away. Very far."

"Farther than Peta Jaya?"

"Farther."

"But Peta Jaya—that's the end of the world."

"We're beyond Peta Jaya—far beyond. I was sent here, on an important mission." I read the words in the text, mils from my eyes.

"A mission?"

"I was on my way into the college when I saw you. I was supposed to go into the research department, or the library, if there was one, to talk to someone there and get some information. But I saw you, instead. And I…walked away from the mission. I could not help it. But now I must continue the mission. It is very important."

"What is it you have to do?"

"My…community…is very isolated. We keep our existence a secret. The rest of the world does not know we are there. We chose that road many years ago. But it means we are…cut off. Now we need information, to survive. I must get that information, without revealing our existence."

"What is it you have to know?"

"About a hundred of your…uh, about a hundred years ago, a deadly plague appeared here. It was a fungus-based disease. Very deadly. Infection meant death. But it was brought under control quickly. That disease has now appeared in our community. We don't know how to fight it. We must learn how—or we will all die. And I have to do this without telling anyone about our community. We must remain hidden."

She blinked, behind her glasses. I had no idea what she was thinking. "How many of you are there?" she asked.

"Over a million."

"Over a million! Over a million, hiding from the world?"

"Yes. The disease—the plague—kills everyone who is infected."

"Your doctors?"

"We have good doctors, but—we are…alone. We have no information about this disease."

"Over a million! And you stopped, to talk with a girl?"

"Yes."

"You took me to dinner—while people were dying?"

"I am sorry. I could not help it. I…told myself I would do the research the next day."

She gripped my hands tighter. "We are sitting in the park, while this disease is raging?"

"It is wrong, I know. I wanted to tell you…and ask you not to reveal my secret."

"What is this disease? What is it called?"

"We don't know."

"You don't know? How can you not know? Why are you people hiding from the world?"

"I cannot tell you. We fear the rest of the world. We hide our community. We do not wish to mix with strangers."

A family strolled past us—husband, wife, two kids. Millie stood up.

"Why are you sitting there?" she asked me. "People are dying! Or is that just a story too, like Peta Jaya?" She jammed her glasses back to the bridge of her nose. "West One Outfam, you are more of a mystery than ever to me. But it doesn't matter. If you want to learn about a disease, I can certainly help you. That's what I do. I'm a nurse. I help people with medical problems. And I dispense medical knowledge, if anyone wants to know. Let's go. We're going to the college's research library. You can't do it by yourself. You can't even read a menu! I'll help you, West One Outfam, if that's really your name, or even if it isn't. I'll tell you everything you want to know. I'll be right by your side. And when you bring back this knowledge—when they ask where you got it, you tell them it was from Millie the Mole!" Her eyes burned with resolve behind those glasses.

I got up. I thanked the Gods.

***

"You have not heard of this disease?" I asked Millie. We were in the research library, sitting at a table piled high with massive volumes of medical lore.

"No," she said, scanning down a page. "Your information may be wrong. It could not have been significant, or I'd have heard of it. I've studied medical history. There were five great plagues: the Black Fever of years 10-12, caused by an airborne virus, the Blood Pox of 150-155, also caused by a virus, the great influenza epidemics that raged during the 3rd, 4th and 5th centuries—bacteria based. Then the Swamp Rot Fever of the 800's, caused by a mutant virus, and the immuno-virus, which devastated the homosexual community in the 11th Century. That's it. A hundred years ago would be circa 1186. I don't remember any fungus-based plagues at all, and certainly not a mere hundred years ago. But if it occurred, it will be here somewhere."

"Let us find it."

"Hand me that volume over there. We're going to go over every fungus-based disease that has ever plagued mankind. There's quite a few—but none as deadly as you've described."

***

Hours later, she closed the last book with a dull thud. "That's it. I've described them all. None of those diseases are what you're looking for?"

"No. It is not there."

"Well—perhaps you're facing something new."

"No. We know this disease was here before—about a hundred years ago."

"These histories couldn't have missed something that significant, a hundred years ago. Your information must be wrong. Perhaps we're going about this all wrong. Describe the symptoms to me—in detail. So far all you've said is it's an airborne fungal parasite and that infection causes sudden and certain death. I think our doctors would have noticed something like that!"

"Yes. The fungus spreads itself by airborne spores." I was reading from the text that Jason had prepared in Trib. "The spores are ingested orally or settle on the skin. The fungus then burrows down into the nearest blood vessel, and spreads throughout the body. It is a parasite. It requires oxygen and a host. It reproduces in the blood stream. When conditions are right it migrates back to the skin. It appears as a small pale spot on the exterior of the skin. Upon exposure to the outside air, it begins reproducing wildly. It very quickly covers the skin of the host—so fast you can see it spread. The host goes into convulsions and dies. It continues growing, covering and consuming the corpse. When conditions are right, it uses gases from the decaying body to expel its spores into the air, renewing the life cycle."

"You should have told me that before," Millie said. "I know that one. I can't remember the name but—you're right, it was about a hundred years ago. Only the hosts were animals. It didn't bother humans at all. Perfectly harmless to humans. That's why it's not listed in these books. This is all human medicine. Veterinary medicine is covered separately. Yes, I remember now. I never studied veterinary medicine but I remember reading about it somewhere."

"Perfectly harmless!"

"To humans. It was devastating to animals. It took awhile to get it under control, I believe."

"Why was it harmless to humans?" I was almost in shock. Had this variety been a strain that did not harm humans? Would the mission fail, again? I decided it did not matter. I must collect all the information available on the disease.

She pushed her glasses back to the bridge of her nose. "I remember reading there was great concern, because so many animal species were infected and dying. They launched a major scientific research project. It turned out that many humans in the concerned areas had also been infected, but the fungus did not replicate itself in humans. It died. It took a lot of detective work to find out how to fight the disease in animals. I can't remember what it was, but there was something…they found a fungicide that worked against the disease."

"What was it?" A little bell sounded twice, interrupting us.

"The library is closing," she said. "We'll continue tomorrow. I'll get what you need on this disease. Don't worry."

"Can't we stay anyway? Just an hour?"

"No, they'll toss us out. I've tried it before. They'll be open tomorrow."

"All right. Tomorrow."

"Your Trib has improved miraculously, Westo. You must be a very fast learner." I tried not to squirm under her gaze. She certainly knew there was a lot more I hadn't told her.

***

"I put our holo on my mirror," Millie said. "My roomies are so jealous." We were in a quiet little xeno house by lakeside, sitting at a little table with a candle on it. It was early evening. The room was illuminated only by candles. The place was packed, but the conversation was a low murmur. Someone was playing a double stringed instrument on a little stage, wailing away sadly. Xeno was evidently a bit like dox, a mild narcotic, consumed hot, but of course I couldn't taste it.

"They seem to treat me with a new respect," Millie continued. "I was nobody before. Now I'm somebody. They're so shallow!"

I took her hand. She really was very attractive, even with those stupid goggles and the silly haircut.

"Are they your friends?" I asked.

"No. I have no friends. Once people started to laugh at me for studying, everyone avoided me."

"You have no family?"

"No one. I am alone."

"You are not alone now." I meant it. I had vowed not to hurt her. How the hell was I going to manage that?

"You've been so direct, West-One Outfam. Perhaps I should be direct as well."

"Yes."

"I've never been happier than these last two days."

"Yes. Me, too."

"Are you going to leave me?"

"I must return to my people—with the information you give to me."

"Will you come back?"

I hesitated. Will I come back? Once I had what I needed I would be gone, across the mystical gulf of time—into the far future. But if what she gave me worked, our entire civilization would owe this girl—everything. And the Legion pays its debts. Would I be back? Billions of credits per trip. Incalculable resources dedicated to the mission. What would Tara say? I knew damned well what she'd say.

"Yes," I said. The message appeared immediately, hovering in the air before me: WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

"I promise you," I said, "I will come back to see you." She squeezed my hand. Then she broke out the tissues again.

I THOUGHT WE WEREN'T GOING TO HURT HER.

Shut down, Jason, I thought. Just shut the hell down. I was furious with myself. All right, calm down, I thought. First, we do the mission. We can worry about the consequences later.