Forging Zero (71 page)

Bagkhal
seemingly shook himself.  “Never mind,” he said abruptly.  “My fight with
Knaaren left me exhausted and rambling.  Go tend to your tasks.  I’ll send an
Ooreiki to deal with your friend.”

Joe
hesitated.  “Thanks.  And…I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t have insulted you.”

“You’re
right,” Bagkhal said, sounding amused.  “But I accept your apology.”

#

Bagkhal
was as good as his word.

The
next day, Libby was seated with Scott and Maggie in the chow hall, tentatively
scooping green slime into her mouth and moving it around with her new tongue.  Just
back from the medics, she was the only one in the entire cafeteria not wearing white
from their last hunt against Second Battalion.  Joe, having only then finished
writing and delivering a post-hunt report for prince Bagkhal, grabbed some food
and sat down across from her.

“How is
it?” he asked.

“Ith a
lithle thore,” she admitted.

“You
sound like you just got back from the dentist,” Joe laughed.  “My dad sounded
like that when he got a root canal.”

“You
should hear her say jenfurgling,” Maggie giggled.

“Thuth
up.”

“Tell
him about how you were chewing and you thought you had your mouth closed but
you didn’t.  See her vest?”

“I will
beath you thilly.”

“How
long until you can talk normally?” Joe asked.

“Docthor
thaid three or four dayth.”  She hesitated.  “Thank you, Thoe.”

He
blushed and looked at his food.  It resembled runny baby crap.  “You’re
welcome.”

“Maggie
thayth you’re working for thath Dhatha.  Thath how you paithe for ith.”

Joe
shot Maggie an irritated glance, then shrugged.  “It’s nothing.  I said I was
going to help and I meant it.”

Libby
glanced at the table.  Her cheeks flushed.  Then, to his amazement, she began
to cry.

Joe
reached out and touched her hand.  “Libby?  You okay?”

Libby jerked
and her eyes found him, looking startled.  To his surprise, she stood up
suddenly.  Without another word, she left.

“What’d
I do?” Joe asked, glancing at Maggie and Scott.

Scott
shrugged, but Maggie was staring after Libby.  Sighing, Joe went back to
eating.  Maggie turned to him after a moment.  “Do you like her, Joe?”

The
question caught him mid-spoonful and a spray of baby-crap brown spewed across
the table in front of him.  “What?  What kind of question is that?  I like all
of you.  You’re my friends.”  He felt himself blushing so hard his head felt
like it would pop.

“You
know,” Maggie said.  “Like a girlfriend.  A lover.  You think she’s sexy,
right?  Don’t you know she wants to get you in bed?”

All
around them, conversation had stopped, and Joe could feel the attention of a
hundred nearby recruits, waiting for his answer.  Joe’s mouth opened and
closed, to no effect.  He made a little strangled noise in the back of his
throat.  Finally, with a little whimper, he stood up and said, “I have to go to
the bathroom.”

“You just
went,” Maggie pointed out.

“I
think there’s something wrong with my food.”

“It’s
the same exact stuff we’re eating.”

“I have
to go.”

“Just
answer the question, Joe.  Why’s it so hard?  You’re the oldest person here and
you act like you’re just a shy little kid.  If you want to bang her, just say
so.”

“It’s
none of your damn business!”
  At the sudden
silence in the hall, Joe realized he had shouted the last loud enough to be
heard back on Earth.  Every gaze in the place was on him, and he heard several
kids snicker.  Feeling like he was about to throw up, Joe turned and left.

By the
time he’d taken three steps, he was running.  Behind him, he heard half the
cafeteria break out in laughter.  He hit the doors at full tilt, barreling into
an Ooreiki Battlemaster on his way inside.  He caught the startled Ooreiki by
surprise and they went down together in a heap, to more laughter.

His
cheeks flushing crimson, Joe thought he was going to die.

Then he
saw the look on Battlemaster Nebil’s face.

“Zero,
what the burning ashes was that?  And why the burning hells are you jenfurglings
laughing?  You think this is burning funny?  Get your furgling asses up.  All
of you!  Burning giggling Takki ashpiles!  Push-ups!  Three hundred!  Let’s
go!  You, too, Zero, you charhead.  Everyone! 
One!  Two!
 
GET YOUR
STOMACHS OFF THE GROUND!
 Three…”

More
kids laughed, and by the time Nebil was finished with them, Joe was ready to
die.  He quickly escaped to Bagkhal’s tower to ‘lend further assistance,’ then
just sat outside the Dhasha’s front door, trying to sort through the Takkiscrew
that was his life.

A sound
from within the Dhasha’s chambers startled him.  “Zero,” Bagkhal grunted. 
“Thought I smelled you.  What the hell are you doing sitting out here?  I
dismissed you for the day.”

Joe
swallowed hard, the shame still leaving him sick.  “Girls,” he managed.

Bagkhal
made a clicking laugh.  “Come inside.  Let’s talk.”

CHAPTER
33: 
New Rules

“Rule
One,” Battlemaster Nebil said, holding the electronic device Joe had given
him.  “You self-molesting furgs had better keep your burning dicks in your
pants, cause if a girl so much as whispers a suggestion of rape, Bagkhal’ll cut
them off.  Got me?”

Several
of the boys suddenly went pale.

“Rule
Two,” the battlemaster continued.  “Females, with one examination, medical can
determine who you copulated with, how many times, and when…
and
whether
or not you were distressed at the time.  Bagkhal has ordered that any false accusers
will be locked in a room for a day with their accused.  Inside, normal Rules
will no longer apply.  Do
you
get me?”

This
time, it was the girls who went white.

“Rule
Three,” the battlemaster said, “One you’re already familiar with.  There will
be
no
killing.  Congress values you as fighters, not as corpses.  Any
murderers will spend a day with Prince Bagkhal.  Any repeat offenders will be
executed.”

“What
if we kill two at one time?” a boy asked stupidly.

The boy
shrank back from the battlemaster’s slitted gaze.  “Rule Four,” Battlemaster
Nebil said pointedly.  “No more infighting between battalions.  That means
you,
Zero.  Bagkhal’s sons will patrol the city every night.  Anyone they catch
outside the barracks after curfew will be considered a troublemaker and will be
punished—since they don’t seem to enjoy their sleep, they can spend the next
week running instead of sleeping.”

“That’s
not possible,” someone snorted.

Battlemaster
Nebil gave the boy a long, hard look. 

The kid
swallowed, hard.

“Rule Five,”
Nebil continued.  “No lying.  Lying seems to be an unfortunate trait you Humans
share with the Huouyt.  For each offense, you will spend a day emptying chamber
pots and scrubbing the baths.

“Six. 
No stealing.  Another trait you and the Huouyt have in common.  The next time
one of you is caught taking something that doesn’t belong to you, you’ll be
stripped naked and marched at the front of the battalion for a week.

“That’s
all for now,” Nebil said.  “Battlemasters, resume biosuit training.”

Fourth
Platoon’s new battlemaster, Battlemaster Aneeir, stepped forward, looking much
younger and more nervous than anyone else.  Even his voice sounded jittery.  “Fourth
Platoon!  Grab your biosuits and meet back here!”

While
the other recruits had already unpacked their biosuits from the tight black
bricks they had come in, Joe had to start from scratch.  He fumbled with the
odd alien clasp that released the lid of the lightweight chest, then struggled
to pull the heavy black bundle from inside. 

Instead
of being a single piece, like a wetsuit, the biosuit came in two parts; one for
the front of his body, one for the back.  Joe just stared at it dumbly. 

“You
have to take your stuff off first,” Maggie said.  “It won’t seal if you’re
wearing anything.”

Joe
sighed.  He supposed being naked wasn’t a big deal anymore.  Aliens, it seemed,
did not put much stock in modesty.  He stripped.

“Now
put it on like this,” Maggie said.  She spread one half of her suit out on the
ground, laid down, and, starting at the feet, she touched the edges of the two
halves of the suit together.  They sealed immediately, molding to her body as
tightly as some weird sort of living spandex.  As soon as the feet sealed, the
rest of the suit followed in a wave, like an invertebrate convulsing.  Maggie
didn’t even have to have her arms arranged perfectly for the suit to grab them
and swallow them whole.  The suit stretched over her skin like glossy black
glue.  Underneath, Joe could see the outlines of her body as clearly as if she
were wearing nothing at all.  Joe winced, trying to avoid recognizing how good
she looked.  Then he wondered what would happen to him if he did the same
thing.  The way the suit contracted hadn’t looked very gentle.

“So how
do you get it off?” Joe asked, tapping Maggie on the shoulder.  He yanked his
hand back when his finger hit solid, rocklike rigidity.  Tentatively, he
touched it again, and found himself touching a piece of stone.  Cold stone.

“You
can still move?” Joe asked, marveling at the suit.  “It’s like you turned into
some sort of statue.”

Maggie
giggled.  “Isn’t it cool?” She turned around to show him her back.  Along her
back a long, wrist-thick bulge followed the indentation of her spine from the
top of her buttocks all the way to the base of her skull.  Two more ran on the
outside of either leg and, when he looked closely, along the backs of her arms,
as well.

“Now
you try,” Maggie ordered.

Joe
hesitated, giving the two halves of his suit a nervous look.  “How do you get
it off?”

 “All
you’ve got to do is
want
it to come off.”  Maggie saw his look and
laughed.  “Don’t worry, Joe.  It feels great.  I bet you could sleep in this
thing.”

“We’re
probably going to,” Joe muttered.  Sighing, he followed her lead.  The key to
getting inside, he learned, was to make sure the seam at the toes was in the
right place.  As soon as Joe touched the seams together at his feet, the entire
suit convulsed on him, catching him still half-seated.  It did not crush his
balls, as he half-expected, but it still delivered a brief jolt of panic,
especially as it closed around his mouth and nose.  Even as Joe was reaching up
to claw at his face, the passageways opened and he sucked in a startled breath
of air.  He touched his face, stunned at the metallic
tap
when the suit
came into contact with itself.  Blinking felt odd—a layer of the suit actually
melted to the surface of his eyelids.

Still,
the comfort of the thing was amazing.  It was heavy and made him have to
exaggerate his motions, but as a whole, it actually felt a part of his body. 
It was also the perfect temperature…at least on the inside.  On the outside, it
felt like he was made of refrigerated steel.  Glancing down at his hands, Joe
was further amazed to see that, despite his fingers being covered with a thin
layer of the black substance, he could still feel everything that his hands
came into contact with.  For that matter, his whole body continued to have
sensation.  He could feel the sharp gravel under his feet despite the fact that
the suit was rock-hard on his soles. 

The
suit was, Joe realized, delivering normal sensations to the wearer without the
normal consequences.  Standing there, feeling yet not feeling the air around
him, he felt awed and a little frightened of Congressional technology.

“This
is the Human Biocasing I,” their new Battlemaster Aneeir told them once they
were all fitted and standing back in formation like sleek black ants. 
“Obviously, since this is the first model, there will be improvements as
Congressional engineers come to understand your body structure more
completely.  Until then, this is what you’ve got.  You can eat, sleep, piss,
and shit in this thing.  Some of you furgs will probably even try to mate in
it.”

Joe
winced at the thought of that, but some of the other recruits gave Battlemaster
Aneeir looks of fascination.

“Though
the suit feels heavy to you, it is not.  In fact, you will find that you are
approximately eighty-one percent stronger.  It feels clumsy because the suit is
still adjusting to your body.  Once you have spent three days in it, the suit’s
biomechanisms will be fixed and, like your helmets, it will be so well adapted
to your body that only you will be able to wear it.”

“Now,”
Battlemaster Aneeir said, “As you can probably tell, these suits are very
complex.  What you
don’t
know is how complex they really are.  For
instance, to stop feeling the gravel beneath you, all you have to do is decide
that you no longer wish to feel those stones and the suit will pick up your
thoughts and desist.  Try it right now.”