[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
was both a joy and a torment to Musica, a lot like a kid's story he
remembered, The Little Mermaid. Funny how that just popped up; he hadn't
thought of it for decades.
Sean grabbed the shoulder of Zor's torso harness. "Hey, modulate, there,
trooper!" But Zor wrenched himself loose and strode from the nightclub.
Musica, watching him go, began to slump into a faint. Sean and Louie
were quick to catch her. As tactical withdrawals went, dropping off Musica at
her nonexistent apartment was a little thin, but it was all Dana could come up
with.
Nova watched the 15th leave, just barely having kept them from sticking
her with the check. Go ahead and play out your hand, Dana. You haven't got
much left.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Hey Billy!
You said you owed me one, and if I needed a favor, just ask.
Okay.
Things are a little tight right now, and living on deuce private's pay is
tougher than I remembered. You and I know each other, so you'll forgive me if
I call the debt in.
Things've gotten strange here, but when was it otherwise? By the way: that kid
they gave my 15th squad to? She could've been worse.
Anyway, I'm gonna need some money and I'm gonna need some favors. We've got
the Plague of Love around here.
Your old pal,
Sean Phillips
Sneaking Musica back onto the base and the barracks compound wasn't too hard.
The ATACs were a little worried about Nova, but they forgot about that when
they saw Bowie and Musica embrace.
It's a good thing we've got some vacant quarters available,
Dana thought. She was thinking more and more these days of how well Sean
adjusted to losing his commission and hoped she could be as upbeat once they
busted her. Bowie and Musica's being together seemed, against all expectation,
like something that justified that risk.
Then a commotion off to one side had the rest realizing that Zor had
wandered off and Angelo had followed. "What d'ya mean, you shoulda stayed on
the mother ship?"
Zor was leaning against a tree, eyes to the grass, arms folded. He
answered in a low voice, "It was where I belonged."
"And you'd've been killed." Angelo's fists were on his hips. He didn't
look aside as the other ATACs and Musica came up.
"That's exactly my point. Besides, then I'd merit a hero's funeral,
isn't that right? A golden opportunity for you to display those precious
emotions of yours-weeping for the fallen comrade, and all that."
Angelo felt betrayed. He had doubted Zor from the beginning, had seen
him turn traitor-then come back to his senses and fly right again. He had
Page 63
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
carried Zor over his own shoulder, saved Zor as Zor had saved him.
Zor was one of the 15th, and it wasn't something Angelo granted lightly.
And now Zor was spurning that, making a fool of the sergeant.
But worse, infinitely worse, Zor was saying that Angelo liked grieving
for dead buddies, got some kind of sick charge out of the most wrenching pain
the sergeant knew. It insulted Angelo and, more, made a sham of the deaths of
brave men and women.
One minute a red tide was rising up Angelos neck and face; the next, Zor
was flat on the ground with a split lip.
Dana knew words weren't going to do much good, so she got in Angelos way
and threw a straight right to the sergeant's sternum. It was like punching a
bus tire, but it halted him-more through shock than pain.
"Get up. You ain't hurt. Yet," Angelo told Zor.
Zor rose, rubbing his jaw. "So I'm to be happy that I'm alive to go out
and kill or be killed again tomorrow?"
Dana pushed Angelo away when he would have gone at Zor again. "Back off!
That's an order!" She could hear Musica running off, sobbing, and Bowie going
after her, but Dana had no time for that lesser crisis at the moment.
She turned to Zor. "You think it's going to make you feel better to get
us to hate you? It won't! Quit punishing yourself and quit trying to get Angie
to do it for you! Whatever's in your past is over with! And besides, you had
no control over what you did; we all know that. Zor, it's time to let all of
that go, and begin again."
He looked down at her as if seeing her for the first time: just an
uncivilized Micronian, scarcely more than a wild animal by the standards of
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]