Authors: R. Bruce Sundrud
He shook his head.
“No.”
“
Can you disable the key?”
He pulled the cylindrical key out of his pocket and examined it. He struck it against the boulder where she had cut off his earrings, and she screamed and fell to the ground.
“Don’t do that again!” She cradled her numb hand with her good arm, tears of pain in her eyes. “I guess you can’t. Ow. Okay. You need to take me to whatever that place is.”
“
If you wish. It’s a training center. I’m not happy about taking you, though. As I said, I don’t want the bounty anymore.”
“
You can send the money to your parents.”
“
Our parents have passed away, but I’ll hold the money for you.”
A
fat
lot
of
good
money
would
do
me
as
a
soldier
.
It was hard to tell, though. She knew nothing about what was going to happen. Maybe a bit of money would be useful to buy her something needful. Earplugs for the battlefield, or something.
She wasn’t anxious to reach the training center, but she was tired of the uncertainty. She scattered the lazy fire and tossed the ropes and blankets in the back of the van. “Let’s go, then.”
He held the keys at her.
“Do you want to drive your van?”
She laughed ruefully.
“I’ve never driven anything. The only thing mechanical I know how to use is a methane stove and a washing machine. I’m just a country girl.”
“
Do you want me to drive?”
“
Sure. I wouldn’t even know where to go.”
As they climbed into the van, he pointed at the city.
“It’s near the spaceport. The spaceport belongs to the Planetary Union, but Sorine’s government offices are built next to it. That’s where you get turned in.” He frowned. “I’m sorry.”
“
Yes, well, that makes two of us.”
The turbine whined and they pulled out of the clearing, traveling down a narrow trail until they got to the mountain road, a series of paved switchbacks that
gave access to the highlands where Cosette’s family and others raised fruit.
They weaved down the road and past the Lucky Lady, which had a sign in the window saying CLOSED. The streets became regular, a mix of apartments, manufacturing blocks, store fronts, and fenced-off empty blocks. Toulouse had its prosperous sections and its poor sections; the spaceport lay in the middle of a depressed industrial area. Wealthy people did not want to live near the thunder of departing ships, but the poor had little choice.
Rasora pulled over and opened a compartment next to the steering wheel. He pulled out an official-looking rectangular pin which he fastened on his shirt just above the pocket. They drove on, turned a corner, and arrived at a guardhouse where the guard examined the sticker on the windshield of the van, the pin on Rasora’s chest, and then waved them on. Rasora parked the van next to a long, low building painted yellow and gray. “In here,” he said.
With sinking heart,
Cosette grabbed her bag and descended from the van. She walked slowly to the door of the building like a condemned woman walking her last mile before execution.
Rasora walked beside her, and she felt a hesitant squeeze of her shoulder.
“You’ll be okay,” he said. “You’re too little for them to put on the front lines.”
Small
comfort
.
Rasora opened the door for her, and they walked into a small office. Behind the counter sat a hefty man with close-cut hair and a bent nose. He stood when they entered, and said loudly,
“Rasora! Back again, eh?” He walked up to the counter and leaned on it, examining Cosette. “What’s this? You’ve finally found a girl that would go with you?”
Rasora didn’t smile.
“This is Cosette, Raimy. She’s a new recruit. You gave us her draft papers last week.” He pulled a folded paper from his pocket and laid it on the counter, and laid the key to her bracelet on top of the paper.
Raimy’s smile shrank.
“She’s a new recruit? Well, I’ll be.” He turned his attention to Rasora. “Where’s Imsami? He never trusted you to collect the bounty.”
“
Imsami’s dead.”
Raimy’s smile vanished.
“Oh, I am sorry to hear that. Some father gave you trouble?”
“
No,” said Rasora. “A knife fight in a tavern. Someone had a gun. It was only two days ago, so I’d rather not talk about it.”
“
Oh, sure, I’m sorry. No problem.” He picked up the paper. “Cosette, eh? The government insists on surnames. Who was your father?”
“
Auguste,” said Cosette. “No. Nicholas. My real father.”
The clerk took a pen and scratched on the paper.
“Cosette…de…Nicholas. Got it.” He slipped the paper in his shirt pocket, dropped the key in a bin, and bent down under the counter. After some tapping and the sounds of a metal door opening and closing, he rose with an envelope in his hand. He tore it open and shook two gold coins into his hand. “Just as before. One recruit, one gold coin for each….” He paused and cleared his throat. “Here you go,” he said, holding out the gold coins to Rasora.
Rasora looked at the coins with distaste and didn’t move.
“Take them,” said Cosette.
He took them from Raimy’s hand
and stared at them.
Cosette pursed her lips.
“Put them in your pocket. For me.” He slipped them into his pocket.
“
That’s it, then,” said Raimy. He pulled a small metallic disk from under the counter and turned to Cosette. “Your arm, please?”
She extended the arm with the bracelet, and Raimy laid the disk on it. The bracelet popped open, and he tossed the bracelet in the same bin as the key.
“Come with me, young lady, and we’ll put you into your quarters. We’ll start your training tomorrow morning.” He grabbed a clipboard from the desk, pressed a buzzer, and beckoned her past the counter.
She walked around the counter, and Rasora followed.
“Not you,” said Raimy. “Just her.”
“
I’m coming along,” said Rasora in a firm voice. “I promised to keep her safe.”
Raimy paused at the back door, his face confused.
“Really? You’re kidding, right?”
“
I’m not joking,” said Rasora, tapping the pin on his chest. “See this? It opens every door on this base except the commandant’s. We’ve brought in half of the new recruits for the past year, and the commandant’s a friend of ours. Of mine. I go where Cosette goes until I’m satisfied.”
Raimy shrugged.
“I’m not going to argue. Do what you want.”
As they walked down the gray-painted hallway,
Cosette spoke quietly to Rasora. “You promised to keep me safe?”
Rasora nodded, his face serious.
“You were there. I know your father was insincere, but he asked us, if you remember, and I said yes. I didn’t mean it at the time, either, but I did say yes.” They turned a corner, and he continued. “I own nothing, I care for nothing, but life still needs to have a purpose, and fulfilling a promise is a purpose.” He looked down at her with a wry smile. “Besides, annoying Raimy is a guilty pleasure of mine.” The smile faded. “I’ll have to think about that later.”
“
Here you go,” said Raimy, ignoring their conversation. He held open the door to a room as big as Cosette’s entire house. “We don’t have any other female trainees at the moment, so you can pick which bunk you want. Pick a dresser, pick a trunk, pick a closet. Showers through that door, bathrooms through the other.”
The size of the room impressed her, but not the colors. It was all painted a dull gray and yellow, the same as the exterior. She dropped her bag on a bunk and looked into the shower room. There were six stalls with polymer piping, handles, and showerheads.
“Do the showers have hot water?” she asked.
“
Oh, please.” Raimy hung the clipboard on a hook.
As if connected to the hook, a thin old man in a white shirt and black pants stuck his head in th
e door. “You buzzed?”
Raimy
pointed to Cosette with his thumb. “New recruit, Harn.”
“
Ah, yes.” Harn extracted a device from a pouch on his hip and extended two plastic arms from it, and then pulled a long string from the bottom. “Hold this,” he said, handing the tip of the string to her. “Hold the end of the string right over your navel, please. Tight against you. Stand up straight and hold still.”
Laser lights shimmered from the two arms of the device and swept from the crown of her head to the floor and back again.
“Let the string go and turn sideways. Hold still.” Again the laser shimmered over her, and then he repeated the process with her back to him. “Done.” The string slid back into the device; he closed the two arms, tucked the instrument back into his pouch and left the room without comment.
“
Didn’t your home have hot water?” asked Rasora, as Cosette looked into the cavernous closet.
“
Warm water, sometimes. Our water storage was solar blanketed, but in winter I usually…no, we didn’t have hot water.”
Raimy cleared his throat.
“There aren’t many people stationed here at the moment. They’re mostly out dealing with the rebellion. The mess hall has food, but don’t expect much. I’ll let the training officer know you’re coming tomorrow morning at ten. If it were up to me you’d start training at seven, but he’s a bit…eccentric…and won’t take anyone before ten.”
“
What kind of training?” asked Cosette, trying not to appear nervous.
“
For you? Probably maintenance and clerking. They won’t put you in any action.”
“
I’ll be in school, then?”
“
No, it's a teaching machine. Technology we captured from the Alliance. Cap on your head, a few sessions, you’re an expert if all goes well. You’ll be working right away. We don’t waste time.”
A
teaching
machine
!
She had read about one of those in a novel once, about how some forsaken woman at the last moment learned how to translate alien languages and joined her beloved in the expedition to some exotic planet. If she remembered right,
the woman’s beloved got eaten by a plant or something.
In the dark moments of the night before, she had pictured herself marching in ranks, doing pushups, getting beaten by the drill sergeant just like her stepfather had
whipped her when she hadn’t pruned the vines properly.
They
won’t
put
you
in
any
action
.
What a relief! She had heard the gunfire
and the explosions. She might actually survive her stint in the military. She might eventually get to return home.
“
Here you go” Harn bustled back into the room, his arms full. “One dress uniform, two work uniforms, one casual outfit, one nightclothes, and five sets of underclothing. One new set of shoes, indoor grade, and five sets of socks.” He tossed the pile on the bunk beside her cloth bag. “Now, young lady, you throw all the clothes you brought with you into one of the disposable bags in the showers, tie it off, and leave it outside of your door. Use the yellow soap in the shower and scrub, and I mean scrub, every square inch of you. It will kill anything you brought in with you.”
“
Throw away everything?”
“
Underclothing and everything.”
Rasora coughed politely.
“Excuse me; I happen to be wearing some of her underclothing. Should I throw it away also?”
Harn gaped, started to speak, turned red, and fled the room.
Raimy snorted. “Don’t upset the staff like that! Good help is hard to find.”
“
I was being sincere,” said Rasora self-righteously.
Cosette
picked up one of the uniforms and held it against herself, impressed by the accuracy of the tailoring. “How did he get these so fast? Do they carry that many sizes of uniforms in stock?”
“
Robotic sewing machines,” snapped Raimy. “They probably had them sewn and folded by the time he walked back to his shop. Any more questions?”
Cosette
shook her head.
“
Good.” Raimy stalked out of the room.
Rasora took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh.
“Cosette, if you’re okay, I’m going to take your van and go to a small sanctuary not far from the base. Imsami wasn’t religious, but I need to pray for him. I’ll check on you tonight.”
“
Don’t you consider me safe yet?”