The Lord of the Plains (52 page)

Jeris heeded Mr Geiba’s call and trotted
back.

‘Yes, sir, what’s wrong? And please, call me
Jeri, everyone does.’

‘I will
not
! Submariner
Jeris,
I want to know what all these things are!’

‘Oh, well, ok then.’ He walked over to the
nearest stall, apparently unoffended by Mr Geiba’s reaction. He
looked down at the mess on the counter. ‘I dunno what this is,
sir.’

‘Surely the owner will know.’

‘Yes, but I wouldn’t trust him.’

Without waiting for a reply he continued
onto the next stall. He zig-zagged from stall to stall, sometimes
he’d point and say something. Mostly he’d just look and say, ‘No
idea, sir.’

Finally though, they came to a stall he
knew. He had a big smile on his face.

He pointed at the table full of powders and
liquids. ‘I know what this is!’

‘Well, what is it?!’

‘You don’t know?’ Jeris asked,
surprised.

‘Of course I don’t! What is it?’ It looked
no different from any other table to him.

‘Well, it stops a girl getting
pregnant!’

He pointed at one half of the table, ‘girls
take these,’ he pointed to the other half, ‘guys use these.’

‘What?’ Mr Geiba’s face went slack.

Jeris gave him a funny look. ‘You know, sir,
so they don’t have babies.’

‘B-but…’

Jeris frowned at him.

‘Why,’ he finally managed, ‘is it
necessary?’

Jeris looked at him blankly. ‘I don’t
understand, sir.’

‘Why,’ he said, clipping out each word
sharply, ‘would you engage in child producing activities if you
didn’t want a child?’

It was now Jeris’s turn for his face to go
slack.

Suddenly he turned to the table and gathered
nearly everything on it into his arms. He held his contraceptive
filled arms out to Mr Geiba.

‘Please, sir, it’s on me. I think you need
it.’

Mr Geiba left for Astar that night.

Jeris was called to the Commander’s office.
Commander Reista wanted to know what he’d done to Mr Geiba.

When Jeris was done explaining he was very
surprised and pleased to get his lightning rod back.

Sometime after Jeris left, laughter could be
heard coming from the Commander’s office.

Chapter 38

When Riley was called to Colonel Hamnar’s
office she was wary.

The drakilis had been dealt with two weeks
ago. Though her injuries had felt like more at the time, they were
nothing more than grazes. They hadn’t even needed to be bandaged.
Jann was back on duty- and getting special training to deal with
his particular problem. Nearly everything was ready for Riley and
Aerlid to leave Astar- secretly of course. She certainly didn’t
want something messing that up now.

‘Sir, you asked for me.’ she said as she
entered his office.

A grey-eyed young man with brown hair and a
square jaw was standing by the Colonel’s desk. Riley spared him a
glance before turning her attention back to the Colonel.

‘Ah, Captain Riley Meilis, this is Captain
Alann Turis.’ The Colonel said.

He watched them shake hands. Riley was
surprised at the sudden annoyance she felt at the use of her fake
name. She was ready to leave Astar behind, and that meant all the
fakery as well. She hid her feelings well though, she didn’t want
to make the Colonel suspicious.

‘You’ll be serving under him on his upcoming
mission. I’m afraid the duration is uncertain, so you’ll have to
assign one of your unit members to lead in your absence.’

‘S-sir?’ her eyes widened. ‘What mission,
sir?’

He smiled. ‘Coastside.’

‘What?’
Coastside?!
Riley calmed
herself. Surely she could convince him to send someone else.

‘The recent report on Coastside was very
troubling. The representative sent there described them as
depraved, wasteful and careless. A team is being sent to rectify
the situation. Captain Turis’ squad will be one part of that team.
Captain Turis, why don’t you tell her your part?’

Alann nodded curtly. ‘Our mission will be to
show the Coastsiders the proper behaviour for members of the
military. As part of our squad, your duty will be to teach them to
fear gemengs.’

‘I’m… sir, I don’t believe I’m suitable for
such a mission.’ She said, her gaze on Colonel Hamnar.

He smiled grimly. ‘If the Coastsiders had a
proper fear of gemengs then they would not be so wasteful or…
depraved, so the thinking goes. You are one of the more… let us
say,
fearsome
gemengs in Astar at the moment. Further,
you’re from outside Astar. You were chosen.’

‘Fearsome.’ She said, stunned.

‘You’ve proven yourself highly capable in
combat situations. Your unit has had more combat experience than
most. You’ve learnt how to evade the SIGPEWs.’ he raised an eyebrow
at her.

Riley swallowed thickly. Dread settled in.
Garis…

’Not to mention some find your appearance
quite troubling.’

‘My appearance too, sir?’ Though her voice
was weak, there was a tinge of annoyance in it.

‘On occasion I myself find you rather…
disconcerting. Other times you seem human to me.’

‘When does the mission start?’ she asked. If
they just had a few days maybe it would be enough…

‘Tonight. You have two hours to get ready
and be at the Coastside tunnel entrance. I’m afraid its short
notice, however we only discovered the urgency of the situation
when the representative returned last night.’

She closed her eyes in defeat.

Not enough time. Then she opened them.

‘Yes, sir.’ She replied.

She’d finish this mission as quickly as
possible. Then she and Aerlid were leaving Astar.

Chapter 39

When they reached Coastside it was early
morning. She met the two other members of the squad at the
Coastside tunnel entrance. There was a woman, Leili Artis, from the
Astar Internal Defence Forces and a man from the Internal Order
Forces, Gepis Ugen. Captain Turis was from the Astar Home Defence
Patrol, like Riley.

Other people were with them too. Some were
coming to Coastside for routine reasons. A surprising number were
there as part of the Coastside mission.

Riley was no longer a Captain. Unit 16 was
now led by Batar Krope.

Coastside was spread out before her. The bay
was covered in morning mist. The city was still asleep, only a few
people were about.

The first stop was a place called the
Square. Looking at it was rather jarring. It looked like a piece of
Astar had been dropped on top of Coastside.

They went inside.

There were desks, mostly empty.

Riley spotted a vase full of flowers.
Something within her lightened at that.

They were led upstairs to an office with a
window.

Talking, talking, talking.

They were told they would be staying in the
Blocks, but not in the submariners’ dormitories. There were rooms
at the Blocks for guests. Gepis and Alann would share a room, and
Leili would share with Riley.

She felt a moment of curiosity. She wondered
what the submariners did, what the subs were like. Then she
dampened it. She didn’t want to be here.

A surprising length of time had passed while
they’d been in the office.

The desks on the lower levels were all
filled. The mist burnt off the bay and the day looked like it was
going to be beautiful and sunny. The wide, warm streets were filled
with people. They were all very tanned.

The Square was at the top of the hill,
everything went down from there towards the bay. She glanced around
disinterestedly as they walked down the hill towards the Blocks.
Her mind was filled with thoughts of the Plains.

Then something caught her eye. A flash, like
light striking off something shiny. She turned.

A man, ash blonde hair. Golden tan. A sling.
He was walking up the hill.

She studied him, not aware the rest of the
squad had gone on.

He had a sure stride, like he knew who he
was and was fine with that.

Before Peitar, Riley had never really
noticed how human men looked. After though she had found herself
bitterly, and against her will, noticing that sort of thing. She
had thought of various men, ah, I see, he has nice eyes, smile,
hair, whatever. But all together, she hadn’t found them attractive.
Perhaps that was Peitar’s fault. She thought of him whenever those
thoughts came.

The man’s back was to her now. She turned to
follow him with her eyes.

She didn’t think of Peitar as she stared at
the receding back of the blonde haired man.

‘
Meilis!
’

Startled, she turned. Captain Turis was
giving her a hard look. Or perhaps all his looks were just like
that.

Without a word, Riley caught up with the
squad.

Food was available in the Blocks. There were
set meal times, but as patrols went in and out at irregular times
something was always available.

There was a long counter with food displayed
on it. Servers stood behind in, refilling trays of food and
chatting with the submariners. The hall was filled with long tables
and backless seats that ran the length of the tables.

When they entered to get some breakfast the
hall was mostly empty. Why that was, Riley didn’t know or care. She
didn’t want to be here.

But at least cave mould wasn’t offered.
Mostly it was seafood.

Riley was actually enjoying the fish she was
eating when a man came up to their table. Riley took no notice. She
had discovered sharp little bones in the fish.

‘Hey, there. I haven’t seen you guys around
before.’

‘We’re from Astar.’ Captain Turis
answered.

‘Well, welcome to Coastside. I’m Ketar.’

Alann introduced himself and they shook
hands. Then Leili, then Gepis.