Recon Marines III: The Marine's Doctor (12 page)

“
Yes, sir.” What could his
expression expose when he looked at Molly? Of course, there was his
yearning to spend time with her, talk to her, listen to her speak
of her discoveries and what she still searched for.

“
Fine. Send those DNA
samples you recovered from the space station and we’ll see if we
can identify the men. I know you can’t communicate with me again
until you leave Dewell. Be careful.”

“
Yes, sir.” Mak forwarded
the DNA information and the summary files the doctors had prepared.
After that, he studied the star maps for the region of space where
Dewell’s solar system circled. Dewell had no moons and more
landmass than many similar-sized planets. The sparse facts listed
on the planet in the military’s survey files indicated only the
lands nearest the midsection of Dewell had enough water to support
life. The village of Welling had grown up in that area. It wouldn’t
be difficult to spot once they broke atmosphere.

The research only took up an hour of
Mak’s time, and then he had nothing to do. And despite the
general’s order, he wanted to seek out Molly. Instead he used the
AI to read about her. She’d been a child prodigy in medical school,
graduating when only sixteen. From there she’d spent the next five
years working in disease research facilities and treating patients
with newly discovered illnesses. For the last twelve years, she’d
headed up her own search for cures outside the laboratory. One of
her main areas of interest was the immune system and the variations
from human to human.

Mak lost track of time as he read
Molly’s story told and retold in medical journals. She’d already
found numerous cures for odd diseases. She was amazing. And
special. Anyone with her knowledge of medicine and genetics could
only have a scientific interest in a Recon Marine. Was that why
she’d ended the kiss?

His only previous relationship had
been with Acacia, another scientist. She’d called him interesting,
like a rare find to study. When she’d decided to teach at a
university, he’d had no desire to follow her there. She’d been
disappointed but not heartbroken. He’d been relieved.

Now he was drawn to another scientific
type. Did she also see him as an interesting specimen to study? Mak
turned back to the star charts, determined to avoid Molly as the
general ordered. It was best for both of them.

****

Molly paced up and down the short hall
between the lab and the bridge. Helen and Hector watched her each
time she strode past the lab. They had their packs ready and only
awaited word to start out. Andy and Kory hid from her wrath by
staying on the bridge.

Mak had put down the ship in a small
clearing a good mile from the village. He’d then ordered everyone
to stay on board until he returned. That was over an hour ago.
Those were the first words they’d exchanged since the day they’d
both spoken to her father. She suspected what had
happened.

Her father hadn’t liked that Mak had
addressed her by her first name. He’d probably ordered Mak to keep
his distance from his baby girl. Men and their damned old fashion
attitudes.

On her next loop, she went up to the
bridge and again looked at the map Mak had made before landing. The
ship’s outboard cameras had created a detailed picture of the
village and research facility. There had been no obvious landing
areas near the facility as the villagers had built their homes on
what might have once been a landing pad. Everything else around
them was forest. She wanted to explore the flora surrounding the
ship, always eager to categorize new trees. But Mak forbade
it.

“
Can you see where Mak is
right now?” Molly asked.

Andy shrugged and pointed at another
display that showed bright figures of people and a few animals in
the center of the village. “I assume he’s where those people are
gathered but his camouflaged suit renders him invisible to our
sensors.”

“
So if something happened
to him, we wouldn’t be able to find him?”

“
Actually, sir, we could
pinpoint his radio signal if he has it on,” Kory said.

“
Does he have it
on?”

“
No, sir.” Kory flushed as
if she’d reprimanded him. “The lieutenant wanted radio silence
until he contacted us or returned.”

A chirp form the control panel
captured their attention. Andy tapped a button. “Yes,
sir?”

Mak’s deep voice filled the tiny
bridge. “Full alert. Box take point and Pender take rearguard.
Bring the doctors to the village and no side trips to examine
anything off the trail.”

Molly answered before Andy could.
“We’ll be right there.”

A long moment passed before Mak said
anything else. “Corporal Box, make sure the doctors follow your
orders. Full armament and keep a tight formation.”

Molly stomped down the two steps to
the hall and then into the lab to snatch up her pack. “Let’s go
before that hard-headed marine decides it’s not safe for
us.”

After Julian and the space station,
Molly understood that Mak’s security precautions were necessary and
might have saved their lives already. But he didn’t have to coddle
them. She and the other two doctors had spent many years on
wilderness planets in pursuit of their research.

Once they set out through a narrow
trail that wound around the wide trunks of the black-barked trees,
the surroundings distracted Molly from her irritation. Leaves the
size of her head crunched beneath their feet. Only a few scraggly
bushes managed to survive among the trunks of the towering trees.
She looked up and through bare branches to the canopy two hundred
feet or more over her head. The massive trees only sprouted leaves
near their tops and blocked the sunlight so that underneath the day
passed in an endless twilight. The cool dimness should have felt
pleasant after the scorching sunlight, but after a few minutes
beneath the trees the hushed fall of their footsteps echoed through
the trees with a haunted sound.

The others must have felt the same
way. Andy set a fair pace and Molly stayed right on his heels.
Hector and Helen panted with the effort to keep up but no one asked
to slow down. A glance over her shoulder showed her that Kory
walked only two steps behind Hector. Both of the soldiers held
their long guns in both hands, looking alert or nervous. Something
about the dark trunks stretching into dimness around them touched
on a primal instinct.

The feeling didn’t lift until the path
brightened in front of them. Mak waited in the sunlight, his long
gun slung across his back. A small crowd of people, over thirty of
them, stood behind him. They held back while Mak walked to join
Molly and the others.

“
No problems?” Mak asked
Box.

“
No, sir, but those woods
felt unfriendly.”

Mak nodded and looked at Molly. “We’ll
go look at the research building though these people claim it was
cleaned out nearly two years ago. The villagers salvaged anything
they could use for themselves over the years so I’m not sure you’ll
find anything.”

“
So we have no leads on
where to go next?”

“
Maybe. Most of these
people worked to support the facility though they were never
permitted inside when the army was still here. Some of them might
know.” Mak’s mouth quirked though he didn’t quite smile. “They
won’t tell me, but one of you might be able to find
out.”

“
This was a long trip for
nothing,” Helen muttered.

Mak took a deep breath and left it out
with a sigh. “Maybe not, Dr. Shear. The villagers were actually
thrilled to see a soldier. Seems that since the army and scientists
left, it’s not safe to go out at night. They’ve lost most of their
goats and all of their guard dogs. They’re afraid to go into the
trees even during the day. It seems there’s a monster terrorizing
them.”

Chapter Seven

Mak barely listened while the headman
of the village, Charles, talked to Molly and the others. The man
launched into his strange tale of their thriving community while
the lab was working. Once the scientists packed up and left, the
settlers had helped themselves to anything left behind in the large
building. Things had seemed fine at first, with civilian supply
ships stopping by at least once every month. Then about ten months
ago, the problems had started. First small animals disappeared,
always after the visit of a supply ship. A woman and a young man
had been the latest victims, taken from the paths in the woodland
that led to the scattered clearings where the village planted
crops. Three days ago a man had gone missing from the village
itself.

“
We stay inside at night
now and no one is permitted to go about alone. We found large
tracks, prints of a big man, on the trails a few times but none of
us have seen him. It’s like he’s got some supernatural powers or
such,” Charles continued. “When the lieutenant showed up here, we
hoped the army had returned and could rid us of this
demon.”

“
We’ll look into your
problem,” Molly said.

Mak watched the surrounding forests.
The villagers thought the monster’s visits coincided with the
arrival of ships, attracted by it in some way. Though lately it had
become bolder. It or them?

“
Let me consult with the
lieutenant,” Molly said.

Mak sent Pender and Box to the other
end of the single, narrow street while he watched the trail that
connected the village to the clearing where he’d set down the ship.
The deep shadows beneath the tree defeated even his superior
vision. But he’d sensed a watcher when he’d approached the village
though sensors had shown no heat signatures lurking in the dense
forest. He didn’t turn when Molly came to stand by his
side.

“
What do you think is out
there?” Molly stood close enough to him that her arm brushed
against his.

“
The same thing you do.
They left some of their victims behind again.”

“
That’s rather bold, to
leave them behind on an occupied planet.”

“
Maybe it was part of an
experiment.” The thought sickened him. Had they wanted to see if
their latest creation could exist with other humans?

“
Do you think there’s more
than one out there?”

“
Could be.” Mak tapped his
radio. “Corporal, join me. Pender, stay where you are. Move back
from the trees a little so you have a bigger killing field.
Remember how fast the…the enemy was on Julian. A few steps may be
the difference between you having time to fire or not.”

“
What is the plan?” Molly
asked.

“
I’m going back to the
ship to pick up a few things.”

“
By yourself?” She looked
toward the dark wood.

Mak’s mood lightened. She sounded
worried about him, though it was probably only that kind heart her
father spoke about. “Yes.”

“
Take your men with
you.”

“
They’ll stay here.” Mak
waved Charles over. “Are all of your houses made of baked
clay?”

“
Actually, sir, we
imported some cementing agents so the walls are sturdier than
clay.”

Mak looked at the squat buildings,
seeing the structural weakness in the doors and roofs. It would
take him about ten seconds to tear his way inside with only his
bare hands. “What kind of weapons do you have?”

“
We’ve never had weapons.
The army was here and there wasn’t any trouble.”

Mak unslung his rifle from his back.
“Do you or anyone else know how to use this?”

Charles reached for it but hesitated
before taking it. “I haven’t fired a rifle since I was a boy, and
it wasn’t anything like this one.”

“
Corporal Box, show the
man how to use it.” Mak took his pistol from its holder and handed
it to Molly. “Keep this with you.”

Molly wrapped her arms around herself
and stepped back. “I’m not taking your weapon and leaving you
defenseless in the woods.”

Mak pried her hand away from her waist
and set the pistol in it. “I’m sure you know how to use this. And I
wouldn’t be defenseless even if I went into the woods
naked.”

Her lips tilted into a smile. “I would
like to see that.”

Mak’s face heated, a totally
inappropriate vision of him and Molly unclothed filled his
thoughts. He turned away before his thoughts appeared in his
expression or elsewhere on his body. “Corporal, keep the village
secure until I return. Everyone inside except for you and Pender.
I’ll be back in less than thirty minutes.”

“
Why do you have to go to
the ship?” Molly asked. “Why are you going alone? I could go with
you.”

“
You would only slow me
down. If I leave now, we should still have enough daylight to
examine the deserted lab.” Mak nodded to the corporal and then
entered the woods.

He ran without sound through the
silent trees. The malevolent stare no longer touched his instincts
but a hostile atmosphere hung in the gloom. It took him only a few
minutes to return to the ship.

The first thing he did was check the
sensors on the bridge. They showed only the life signs in the
village. With a few taps, he expanded the range. With the wider
view it didn’t differentiate individuals as clearly. He set it for
a three mile radius around the ship and then took the AI from the
control panel. The ship would broadcast the information to it. Then
he collected a small generator, hoping they could restore power to
the lab facility. He stuffed it into a large pack, adding a few
chemical light sticks and a larger portable lantern.