Jethro Goes to War (Wandering Engineer Jethro's tale) (6 page)

...*...*...*...*...

The janitor looked
up from his closet and turned to see the troops filing down the
hallway. He grimaced and then moaned. “You’re kidding me.
I'm going to be picking fur and crap out of the trap for weeks!”
he said, hands over his face.

Jethro snorted as he
passed the man. He shared a small smirk with Hurranna as they passed.
Three weeks and they were doing new things almost every day. This for
instance was new, they were in a section they hadn't been to before.
He didn't bother wondering why, he'd learn soon enough.

“
All right,
line up on the line move it, move it!” Schultz snarled pausing
at one side of the open door. They filed out to stand along a yellow
faded line in front of a large pool.

A few people were
eying the pool with a little trepidation. That was a lot of wet
stuff. As people living in a space colony they were all familiar with
null gravity situations. But swimming in water? That wasn't something
many had tried.

“
All right,
listen up maggots! You’re going to learn how to swim. Or at
least get by when you’re in over your neck.”

“
Crap,”
the Naga behind Jethro muttered. He couldn't blame him, Naga were
desert dwellers from what he'd heard. They liked it hot and dry.
Jethro grimaced. He wasn't at all keen about getting wet either.
Grooming wet fur wasn't fun.

“
If you
haven't noticed by now, you’re still in uniform. There is a
reason for that. When you go in the drink you may not have the time
to change into a nice fashionable bathing suit. So you need to learn
to make do with that you've got. We're starting out slow, but expect
to do this with your full ruck tomorrow,” the DI said walking
up and down the ranks.

“
Remember.
Keep calm. Keep your head and you'll do fine. Thrash about and panic
and you're dead. You need to keep that firmly in your head,” he
said matter of factly. The DI paced back and forth.

“
Some of you
may be wondering in those pretty little pin heads of your why we're
bothering with this chicken shit. It's not,” he turned snarling
the words. “Someday you may be dropped on a planet. You may
fall in this wet stuff. Knowing what to do is key to staying alive.”

“
I'm going to
tell you a story. Back in the days of the early twentieth century on
Earth there was this big war. Actually, the one I'm talking about is
world war two.”

He paced back and
forth, crop tucked up under his armpit. “See the allies decided
to invade Europe to free it from the Axis. But to do that they had to
storm the beaches of a place called Normandy.”

“
They did.
Hundreds of thousands of humans rushed the beaches on D day. Now the
Germans knew they were coming so they put up some nasty defenses and
one hell of a fight. But you know what did a lot of people in?”
he looked around.

“
Not knowing
how to swim!” he yelled. A lot of people flinched at that. He
glared for a moment, catching a few people by eye.

“
Yeah stupid
huh? Fall into water waist deep and drown. So after that the armed
forces made sure it never happened again. Which is why we are here.
Got it?”

“
YES GUNNERY
SERGEANT SIR!”

“
Some of you
have a natural gift for swimming. Recruit Déjà step
forward!” he ordered. He walked over to the recruit and pulled
his hat off. Jethro grimaced. In the corps it's called a cover; he
thought. He watched as the DI shook out an instructor cover and stuck
it on the bald selkie's head and then handed him a whistle. “For
this training recruit Déjà is hereby elevated to
assistant instructor. He tells you to jump you ask how high on the
way UP just like you would for one of us. Got it?”

“
YES GUNNERY
SERGEANT SIR!” the group bellowed in unison.

“
Good good.
I'm glad to see such enthusiasm. All right get your asses wet. Last
man or woman in the pool does fifty pushups.”

The group charged
for the pool. Jethro aimed for a clear spot and went in feet first.
He sank in a ripple of bubbles and waves and then came up gasping. He
instinctively kicked with his legs and moved his arms.

“
Quit
thrashing about!” Déjà snarled eeling in and out
of the mass of people. He'd grab someone and tell them to relax and
keep calm. He didn't have his prosthetic legs. Jethro kicked and
noticed his legs were sitting there by the side of the pool. Cheater.
Then again the selkie sucked at running with those screwed up legs of
his so maybe this was poetic justice. Jethro felt the selkie pass him
and then concentrated on keeping his head above water.

The Gahsg was having
a ball. Of course they were swamp dwellers, and they spent most of
their lives submersed in water and sludge right up to their eye
stalks at the top of their two meter tall frame. That is, those that
lived on a planet. The ones with them seemed to adapt relatively
quickly though, he thought sourly.

“
This is fun!”
the Tauren Ox said, snorting. His head with its clipped horns was out
of water. He shook it and water sprayed all over the group. His eyes
danced in laughter as he easily touched the bottom of the deep end
with his cloven hooves.

Hurranna grimaced.
Jethro tried not to laugh. She looked like a wet rat. “Speak
for yourself,” she yowled. She shook her head, spraying water
around.

 ...*...*...*...*...

“
Deja, no
offense man, but wow,” Jethro said trying to knock water out of
one ear. He watched the selkie putting his artificial legs back on
over his real ones.

Selkies apparently
had stubby almost useless leg flippers. To compensate on dry land
someone had come up with C shaped metal legs that fitted over their
normal legs and let them walk and use tech at almost standard height.
He tried not to snort.

“
What?”
the selkie asked putting the last leg on.

“
Couldn't help
thinking you're a fish out of water. Sorry man...”

“
I'm not a
fish I'm a mammal like you,” the selkie growled. He looked up
to meet the cat's eyes with his own. His whiskers twitched in
annoyance.

“
No offense.”

“
Fine sure,
what ever,” the selkie said looking away. He awkwardly got up
and stretched. “Hate these damn things,” he muttered. He
looked longingly back to the water.

“
That why you
joined? Thought that marines meant water?” Valenko asked giving
the seal an amused look.

“
Shove it,”
the selkie snarled.

“
Easy there
pup, no offense meant. You sure are prickly. I'd think you'd have
enjoyed your envelope and showing us landies up for once,” the
bear said.

The seal stared at
him for a moment then snorted.

“
That's not it
is it?” Hurranna asked softly. He looked over to her. “You
get a taste of what you've been missing and then back to the cruel
dry world.”

He looked away but
Jethro and the bear realized she hadn't been far off the mark.

“
Well, if you
want to do the bathroom duty and take your time I'm all for it. As
long as it's clean when you're done,” the bear said with a nod.

“
Don't do me
any favors. I can handle my own,” the seal ground out as they
began to form up.

“
What was
that?” the bear growled.

“
Nothing.”

“
Thought not.
Loose the attitude kid. We're all in this together, capisci?”

“
Yeah, I hear
you,” the selkie said as they began to move out at a jog.

“
Good. Just
keep your head up kid, maybe you'll be on a planet someday soon,”
the bear said softly.

“
In your
dreams,” the seal sighed.

“
No,
seriously, we're marines, anything is possible,” Jethro said
nodding to the others. “We'll be on the sharp end. Boarding
actions, and stuff, planetary drops.”

“
Or you could
drop out and do something else,” Hurranna suggested.

“
Like what?
There isn't a lot of calls for me,” the selkie said.

“
Oh I dunno,
you could scrub the inside of tanks, or that aquarium that I saw in
that restaurant in the rich level of Anvil, the mermaid's tail I
think it was called...” she said.

“
Neptune's
Pearl, you're thinking of that big tank,” Valenko said with a
wince. “I saw it, they should shut it down, it was nasty when I
ate there last. All green and sludgy.”

“
Ouch,”

“
You could
work as a space hand, you know, since you're good with zero g,”
someone behind them suggested.

“
Trying to get
rid of me?” the selkie asked and then laughed as the bear look
affronted. “Never mind, you can't get rid of me that easy,”
he said.

“
That's the
spirit.”

 ...*...*...*...*...

Jethro sighed as he
rubbed his boots clean. They were spit polished, just as the marine
corp manual specified. He checked his reflection in the boot toe and
then carefully set them down.

“
All done?”
the ursine platoon leader growled, coming over to check. Hurranna
looked up from her cleaning and shook her head.

“
Why do we...”

“
Again with
the stupid questions? There is the right way, the wrong way, and the
Navy way. Get used to it,” the bear growled. He shrugged his
huge shoulders. “Believe me; I am not too keen about wearing
shoes either.” He looked down to his boots.

Jethro glanced down
and then nodded looking up. “Did you wear them on the planet
you are from?”

“
How'd you
know I was a dirtsider?” the bear said, looking the panther
over.

“
A body like
yours would suck calories like a fusion reactor,” Jethro said
shaking his head. “Besides, you've got a Russian accent.”

“
That's
because I'm from a Russian colony. I was a cub when we left,”
he shook his head. “Damn Horath bigots chased us out of the
mountains.”

“
You've fought
them?” Hurranna asked, sitting up and looking at him with wide
eyes. She was tiny, barely a meter tall compared to the three meter
tall bear.

“
No, but the
writing was on the wall,” the bear shook his head. “Pirates
raided our colony. Then the Horath moved in. We came to town for
supplies and heard the news. Next time we came people we'd known for
decades were hostile,” he shook his great head. “Sad,
real sad.”

“
So you left?”

“
Ma was killed
by a poacher. Da went off to kill the bastards but the townsfolk
didn't see it that way. He was run down by Dilgarth and a posse. The
rest of my clan packed up and headed higher into the mountains. I
took the family stash and took the long way to the space port.”

“
How...”

“
Another
story. Let’s just say it's hard to say no to a bear,” he
said. He wrinkled his nose and then raised his lips as he yawned. The
lynx flinched at the sight of the massive jaws and teeth.

“
Yeah. I think
we get your point,” Jethro chuckled.

The giant mouth
closed with a clomp. He licked his lips and then rubbed the side of
his muzzle. “Glad you do. We've got an inspection in ten, let’s
get this one right.”

“
Yeah,”
Jethro breathed. “That'll be the day. Chicken shit. That's what
they're dinging us on.”

“
Chickenshit
it may seem, but they want a zero defect, zero excuse mentality. In
combat you don't get a second chance,” the bear pointed out
eying the panther. “Something tells me you knew that already
though.”

“
I thought it
was you don't get a second chance to make a first impression?”
the Gahsg Zebo said turning an eye stalk their way.

“
You’re
mixing your human metaphors up again,” Jethro snorted. He
checked his rack, making sure the sheets were tight and wrinkle free.
Valenko took a credit coin out and bounced it off the rack. He
grunted as he caught it and then moved on.

...*...*...*...*...

Jethro didn't look
right or left as they jogged the corridors between the barrack
modules and the park deck. He was used to the sidelong looks
pedestrians gave them after five weeks of this. He rolled his
shoulders, feeling the weight of the ruck sack on his back.