Recon Marines III: The Marine's Doctor (25 page)

“
Why not kill you?” Dr.
Shear patted his head. “I’ve wanted to examine a Recon Marine for
years now. Your kind had so much success that I think there is much
we can learn from you. And the way you interact with people amazed
me over and over again. Just like a real person.”

Mak thought of all those soldiers
who’d volunteered or been tricked into being experimented on by
this doctor’s crazy cabal. Those men, not matter what their
motivations, had been treated like pieces of meat to be used and
twisted into weapons by Shear and her comrades.

“
As soon as I’m done with
some tests, my psychiatrist colleague wants to speak with you. I’d
really like to examine your brain but we’ll wait for that. For now,
your DNA gives me many leads for further study. Your design is so
interesting. And the complexities of your intellect allows me to
discuss it all with you.” Shear swept her cold gaze over him. “I’m
quite intrigued by the range of emotions you manage to mimic. Was
that taught to you or have you learned in this past year when you
lived among humans? Your early training is one of many secrets
we’ve been unable to obtain.”

Mak accessed his physical and mental
wellbeing. A few stings on his arm, probably from drawn blood.
Should he answer her questions and delay the time until she cut
into his brain? “My emotions are my own.”

“
Ah.” Shear patted his
shoulder. “How interesting that you believe that. Now I need to get
a picture of your insides and you need to be still for that.” She
plucked a syringe off a nearby table.

Mak struggled against his bonds but
they held tight. The needle slid into the thick deltoid muscle that
capped his shoulder.

Shear patted him again. “It will only
take a few minutes and then you’ll be sleeping like a baby. Of
course, you probably have no idea how a baby sleeps. When you wake
up, we’ll get started on your next test.”

Even as she walked away heaviness
crept through Mak’s body. He tried to keep his eyes open but
between one blink and the next he failed. He fought against the
darkness but it found him anyway.

****

Molly watched them fly away with Mak’s
body. A sob caught in her throat. He couldn’t be gone. Not now when
she knew she loved him. She hugged herself against a chill of
bitter cold racking her body. The water she’d drunk gurgled in her
stomach and threatened to come back up. Anger heated the tears
scalding her cheek. These criminals, these monsters, had killed the
most wonderful man in existence.

The hover couldn’t gain much height
with the weight of the big man and Mak’s inert body dragging on it.
The guard shifted the body, causing Mak’s arm to flop over the
side. Mak’s fist closed, weakly but it flexed. And then
again.

It took all Molly’s willpower to
remain hidden. She needed to check on Mak. But the hover flew out
of sight. The remaining men worked to clean up the bodies and
crashed hovers. Mak had wrought quite a mess. She stayed in her
dirty hiding spot, appreciating how far Mak had drawn them from
her.

Though she could breathe again knowing
that Mak lived, she worried how badly he might be injured. Or what
they might be doing to him in their underground lab. Getting caught
herself wouldn’t help him.

More hovercrafts and guards came out
into the field and helped with the cleanup. Her sod covering grew
heavier and heavier during the wait. Her limited viewing angle
showed her only part of the battlefield. Hours dragged by until the
last of the hovercraft returned to the hangar. Molly held her
position for another estimated half an hour before carefully
peeking out.

Mossy’s sun hung low on the horizon
though she hadn’t familiarized herself with the planet’s light
cycle. Would night soon fall or did hours remain? After scrambling
from under the sod, she brushed the worst of the dirt away and
looked around.

The hangar blended into the
surroundings in the fading light. If she hadn’t known it was there
her gaze would have skipped right over it. She needed a plan. After
stowing the pistol Mak had given her behind her waistband again she
pulled his pack from under the sod.

What she found inside it disappointed
her. An AI device, worthless in the middle of nowhere without a
connection to interstellar waves. She tapped it, surprised when it
lit with a detailed geographical map of the area. Mak must have
saved it. The hangar showed as an amorphous blob surrounded by
prairie. A few miles away, six according to the map, some kind of
forest grew. And she found the stream Mak had mentioned to her. It
curled out of the trees and disappeared off the edge of the
map.

She searched the rest of the things
he’d left with her. One water purifying stick nestled among a few
food packages. No weapons. Except for the pistol that he’d given
her Mak had kept everything on him. At the very bottom of the pack
was a block of substance she couldn’t identify and a radio. It was
a model used for land to ship communications. He’d left it so she
could contact the army when they came to help.

Fighting back tears of fear for Mak
and anger at him for sacrificing himself, she closed up the pack
and stuffed it back under the sod. It would only get in her way if
she had to move quickly.

The hours laying on top of the hard,
lumpy dirt had made her stiff and awkward. Not that she was a study
in grace at any time. But she ran toward the hangar, chasing her
shadow stretching out long in front of her. Hopefully, Mak’s
earlier attacks had disabled the outward looking sensors. She
reached the side of the building and leaned on it to catch her
breath. She walked as fast as she could along the side of the
building. It took all her courage and her love for Mak to take the
last step so she could spy around the corner.

They’d cleaned a good bit of the
debris from the destroyed ships and piled it at the back of the
hangar. Humming and buzzing sounds drew Molly’s gaze upward. Men
used hover crafts to work at repairing the damaged ceiling. Mak had
reined a lot of destruction on them. The building appeared
structurally sound but the more she watched the men the more she
thought they worked as if pressed for time. Did they fix the
sensors or perhaps something to do with the cloaking system? More
men continued the job of cleaning up the wreckage. Making room for
replacement vessels?

Molly moved back around the corner.
She’d never get past all those men working across that open space.
But if she went around the entire hangar and entered from the far
corner she might sneak by the very busy men. If they hadn’t
repaired their sensors. She had no camouflaged clothing or
experience being stealthy. But she was smart. Smarter than any of
them.

****

Mak woke on a cot in a cell, covered
by a sheet. Though naked beneath it a full set of military regular
duty uniform sat on the floor inside the bars. Similar cells had
housed the Recon Marines when they’d suffered their trial more than
a year ago. Along the back wall beside his cot was an open shower
with a curb worked into the flooring to funnel water down the
drain.

He stood and rubbed at the sticky
spots left on his body by the monitoring and measuring electrodes.
The shower worked with an easy swipe panel. He made the water as
hot as he could stand it and scrubbed at the adhesive residue. Five
minutes after rising from his cot he’d dressed in the provided
clothing. The boots sitting with the clothing were his
own.

A quick tour gave him the dimensions
of the cell and its security features. The right tools could force
the lock but he had none. Two cameras watched him from outside the
bars.

Mak returned to his cot and lay back
to rest while he could. When Shear had given him that last
infusion, he hadn’t know if he would wake up from it. Or if he
might wake up damaged. But he felt whole if a bit sluggish from the
drugs still circulating through his body. How much time had passed
since he’d been captured? The drugs had taken time from him. Hours?
Days? He hoped Molly had found the stream and would stay out of
sight until reinforcements arrived. Peace filled his thoughts.
Molly was safe. The criminals running this operation couldn’t leave
and would soon be in custody. His mission was complete.

Approaching footsteps woke Mak from a
light sleep. He sat in bed, hoping someone brought food. Soon he
distinguished four pairs of heavy boots stomping toward him. The
big men stopped at the bars and stared at him. An eerie
identicalness to the man he’d watched fight Vin in the vid back at
the start of this mission struck him. Tall, at least seven feet,
and thick with bulging muscles.

Mak searched for hints of all the
earlier models of fighting men they’d come across on this mission
in these final products. The giants had tall, thick foreheads, thin
hair and a graceful way of carrying themselves. Beneath their thick
brows lurked eyes filled with cold cruelty. Three had light, empty
blue eyes and one had eyes so dark and feral Mak thought of the
huge rats sometimes found around large cargo exchanges.

“
Come with us.” One of the
men tapped a code into the lock, and the cell door slid
open.

Mak obeyed. Fighting them here,
unarmed and hemmed in, would gain him nothing. And if Vin couldn’t
beat one of these kind how could Mak beat four?

They led him around one turn and
continued down a long hallway that stretched all the way to a
distant set of stairs and a cargo lift. The way out. One way likely
among a few more. Doors lined the hallway, more than any of the
other labs they’d investigated. The humming of a generator, felt
through his boots, came from behind a door on the right. One of the
big men opened a door on their left.

Mak hid his reaction when he saw seven
more of the giant men waiting in the expansive training room. He
hoped General Drant sent a lot of help. Dr. Shear waited near a
data station. She turned her cold smile on him. A walkway, fifteen
feet off the ground, ran around the entire room. Guards, regular
men, stood there. Each held short, powerful guns and maintained a
fifteen-foot interval between each other. They also had gas masks
hanging from their necks leading Mak to assume they’d outfitted
this lab with a safety feature similar to that on Arid Four. So
they didn’t trust their newest creations any more than they had
those in the past.

“
You appear well-rested
and recovered,” Shear said. “Even with all the highly placed
military officers helping our cause we’ve never been able to pierce
the secrecy surrounding the Recon Marines. I have ten different
analyses running on your blood samples right now. It will take a
few days and I don’t have all the equipment I need here. There are
things in your DNA that I’ve never seen. I could use Molly Drant to
help me figure them out. Too bad she’s dead.”

“
What?” Mak’s muscles lost
their strength. He locked his knees to stay upright. Then something
hot rose through his body. The fury didn’t cloud his thoughts but
brought all his surroundings into perfect focus. He selected the
guard he would target as he leaped up to the balcony and which men
he would shoot first. They could kill him but he might take half of
them down, including Dr. Shear.

Shear turned back to her screen. “Did
you think we didn’t have a ship watching all approaches to our
hideaway? That ship you stole for them to escape on has been blown
to space dust by now. They’re all dead.”

“
By now?” Mak hid his
relief as he had his anger. “You don’t know that your sniper ship
caught them.”

The cold smile again. “I know the two
men you had flying that vessel. The corporal had a few hours of
instruction from you and not a minute of fighter craft experience.
Pender is a boy playing at being a soldier. He did one tour as a
combat pilot, probably flying guard for some politician’s flotilla,
and now has become nothing more than a ferry driver. I doubt they
even made it through the minefield.”

But she didn’t know. Her ships would
surely have sent a message if they’d killed Mak’s men. And Shear
didn’t suspect that Molly roamed free on the planet. Keeping the
doctor talking would buy time, even if only minutes. “Why am I
here? I expected you would cut my body up like those we found on
Julian. Was that your work?”

Shear spun her little work chair
around so she faced him. “You’re much more fun to have as a study
subject than any of these guys.” She made a sweeping gesture with
her hand to include the big men surrounding Mak. “My soldiers are
physically superior to you and more obedient than any Recon Marine
ever has been. But they don’t have the ability to mimic intelligent
conversation the way you do. One of the pieces of information we
squeezed out of the dark military files was the intelligence
quotients designed into your lot.”

“
Your
lot
doesn’t have that designed into
them?” Mak looked as the massive men, but none met his gaze. They
watched Shear though Mak expected they would react quickly if he
moved. He sensed their tension and their readiness to
engage.

“
You mistake their stoic
demeanors for lack of intelligence. It took a few failures but we
found the right switches to trip and make our men obedient but
still have enough free will left to make combat decisions. They
take orders but don’t need to have every action dictated to
them.”