Casserine (5 page)

Jake laughed at the little play on words Adrian had picked up from the radio tapes and movies. She had been working the phrase every time he said we in conjunction with any chore. “You must be feeling a little better. When should I change those bandages?”

“Not for another day. They will knit up the damage, but I will have a lot of scarring. You probably won’t love me anymore.”

“Good point.”

Adrian gave him a slap in the back of his head.

“Have I mentioned before about the rule forbidding lieutenants from striking captains?” Jake said leaning back again in his chair to get out of range.

“Yes, but I don’t like that one, so I ignore it.”

“The chain of command around here has become a joke. If Colonel Risling knew how you treat me.”

“He would be giving me a medal,” Adrian finished.

“Right, well I better get moving.” Jake put on his outer environmental suit, including his gloves, and slung the particle beam rifle. “If I’m lucky, they won’t be monitoring the area around the storage bays, and I can get a close look at how they’re handling Casserine gravity.”

Adrian reached up and grabbed his gloved hand. “Jake, don’t do anything stupid.”

“You mean like running around unarmed while a cruiser fires atyou?”

“Well, if you have to have an example, I was thinking about the one where you try to kill them all inside the solid fuel storage area with a knife and end up with your head blasted.”

“Tonto has long memory.” Jake said ruefully.

“But seriously, just grab your launcher and take a quick peek. I know you. Don’t go trying to even up the odds by yourself.”

“I have no intention of doing that. You know, you’re lucky that cruiser didn’t just blow the whole area, instead of taking potshots. If they had known I was waiting with a MAG50 launcher, they would have made the area we were at into a big smoking crater. You used up all of our luck, so I will have to rely on skill and daring.”

“Give me a kiss before you put your helmet on over that swelled up head of yours.”

Jake knelt down in front of Adrian as she took his face in her hands and kissed him softly. She pulled away and looked into his eyes. “If you aren’t back from playing Cowboys and Indians in one hour, I will come out looking for you.”

“Great, that’s all I need, a deadline. You just keep the tea warm, and I will be back as quick as I can.”

Jake put on his helmet, and with a little wave back at Adrian, he went out into the Casserine darkness. Resetting his vision to low light, he retraced his path back to where he had left the bulky launcher. He checked the power pack on it, and then set it upright against the outcropping he had hidden behind to wait for the pirate cruiser.

Taking his time, and stopping every hundred yards or so, he traveled to within sight of the storage area. Jake switched the viewer on his helmet lens for distance. After making sure none of the pirates were wandering around outside, he closed to within fifty yards of the storage area. They had left the hatch open, and Jake could only see darkness beyond the entrance.

He then traversed the pathway leading to their living quarters. He saw the lights through the windowed structure. Jake could see the fuel thieves clearly. He smiled knowingly. Every one of them within his sight was laid out. An idea formed in his head, which he chuckled at, as he thought of what Adrian’s reaction would be to it.

Jake went back to where he had left the MAG50, and then returned to the solid fuel storage area. He went inside and buzzed the living quarters. He kept buzzing for a few minutes, as he imagined one of them crawling over to the communications counsel.

“Who is this?” A gruff voice demanded.

“Jake Matthews, Captain of Marines, and you would be?”

“Never mind who I am, wise ass. What the hell did you do to myship?”

“MAG50”

“Shit,” the man exclaimed in fury. “We’re going to cut you up into little pieces for that, you prick.”

“You couldn’t cut your fingernails in this gravity. If you have any brains at all, you will listen closely to a deal I have worked up.”

“I’m listening.”

“You and your buds there just enjoy your stay in my living quarters, and I will call down a Force Cruiser to pick you up. I’ll see if I can get you a reduced sentence if all of you cooperate.”

“No way in hell are we going to Tannengate Penal Colony. We’ll blow this planet up before we take a deal like that.”

“You couldn’t blow your nose from where you are. I’m in solid fuels right now, and I have the MAG50 with me. I can vaporize the living quarters if you all don’t come along quietly. If I see even one of you slow motion toads move towards the entrance, I’ll turn the living quarters into the same shape your ship’s in. Now, how about it, Brainiac?”

“Damn it,” the man hissed. “I know you guys from base don’t execute people. You wouldn’t fire on the living quarters.”

“I served on Omaha mining colony during the Bug war there. You little weenies would do well not to trust in my generous nature. Talk it over with your friends. I’ll call you back in fifteen minutes. Remember, I have the MAG50 trained on you.”

“I’ll tell ‘em.”

As soon as Jake heard him disconnect, he grabbed up a portable unit and headed for a position where he had a clear shot at the living quarters. He set up the MAG50 on its portable base, and zeroed in on his target. Jake saw a couple of them moving a little; but even news of going to Tannengate probably seemed preferable to Casserine’s gravity, and then death. He called at the appointed time.

“What guarantees do we have you won’t let them kill us all when the Force Cruiser gets here?”

“My word, and the fact I could kill you all right now.”

There was a lengthy pause. “Okay, what do you want us to do?”

“Stay put,” Jake ordered. “I’ll have my assistant call the base. When they get here I will need you all to come out of there with hands up or on all fours. Leave everything you have inside. Are we clear.”

‘Tea, I understand.”

“Okay then, relax until I contact you again.”

The man grunted out his acknowledgment and hung up.

Jake called the refuge. A few minutes passed there, and Jake imagined happily a hobbled Adrian hopping over to the communicator.

“Jake?” Adrian asked anxiously.

“Hi Honey”

“What have you done, you big boob?”

“Hi ho Silver, I have prisoners. Call the base and see how they’re doing. If it’s going to be very long, I should go get a portable heater.”

“How in the world did you get them to surrender?”

“I made them a deal they couldn’t refuse,” Jake intoned in the gangster voice he had heard when they watched the Godfather. He explained what had happened, and where he was.

“Don’t you dare blow up my living quarters, Jake,” Adrian ordered.

“I would never do that, Honey,” Jake said in exasperation. “I’ll just let them crawl out here and blow my head off instead. Call the base.”

“Okay, will you call me back in about fifteen minutes?”

“Sure, as long as I don’t have to die preserving your living quarters.”

He heard her laughing as the line went silent. Jake waited, watching the living quarters for any movement, but the only entrance into the building remained closed. He called Adrian back.

“Good news Jake, the ion storm ended an hour ago. They will have a ship on site in about an hour and a half. The Colonel wants to give you another medal. Colonel did not even thank wounded Tonto.”

“I guess Colonel Risling knows you better than I thought. Either that or you told him how you became wounded.”

“I thought perhaps the Lone Ranger could see his way clear to keep that information between him and his trusty sidekick Tonto.”

“Maybe, but Tonto might have to do some extra things for the Ranger, to pay for his silence.”

“Why you blackmailing son of a.”

“Ho there, Tonto, the Ranger thinks maybe a full accounting to.” “Okay, okay, I want the extortion parameters in writing though, so you can’t just add on to them as you go.” “Agreed, Ranger out.”

After the Force Cruiser had picked up their more than happy to go prisoners, Jake cleaned up the living quarters while Adrian slept. He woke her in time for sunrise. She smiled up at him, as she rolled painfully to her side and sat up. “Did you stay up all night?”

“There really wasn’t much of a night left. Feel like coming out on the porch, or would you rather sleep in. I could bring you something to eat in here if you’re hungry.”

“No, the dressings have done wonders. My ankle doesn’t bother me at all now. The Med Officer on the Force Cruiser said I’ll be good as new in short order. My side still bothers me a little, but I’d like to go out. Breakfast sounds great.”

As they sat on the porch eating the breakfast Jake had set out for them, they quietly enjoyed the Casserine sunrise light show.

“You haven’t given me the extortion list yet,” Adrian said.

“It would only have three things on it, and we really don’t need to have them in writing.”

“You pervert,” Adrian exclaimed in mock horror.

“Don’t flatter yourself, Tonto, I can have any of that I want. You will be cleaning and servicing the three storage areas by yourself for the next month.”

“Maybe I could trade something, you might want to take my turn cleaning, to get,” Adrian offered coyly.

“Sounds interesting, I will of course have to have a sample before Idecide.”

“Of course,” she smiled.

“When would you like to give me my free sample?” Adrian leaned over and brushed Jake’s lips softly with her own. “How about right now?”

Chapter 5 

Domestic Problems

“I will not play The Shadow with you again tonight,” Jake said tiredly. “I spent the whole day cleaning out the food storage area, thanks to your leaving the hatch open overnight.”

“But Jake,” Adrian whined. “You look so fine in the black hat and uniform cape I made you. Besides, I already apologized for leaving the hatch open.”

“Oh,” Jake smiled at her. “How silly of me. You said you were sorry, so hey, no problem.”

“You volunteered to clean it. I would have done it, if you didn’t.”

“Then I would have had to watch you anyway. The Colonel told us once if he had to make someone come down to Casserine, he would be an unmotivated guardian. I believe the same holds true for clean up crews.”

Adrian’s hands went right to her waist, as she leaned forward slightly. “Are you insinuating I make more work than I do?”

“Adrian, hit the rewind button a moment between those elf-like little ears of yours, and see if you can hear any of the accusation you just made coming from me.”

“I said insinuate what do you mean elf-like little ears?” She stammered, beginning to redden a little at the hairline.

“Uh oh.”

“You said you loved my…you think my ears need fixed now. Next, my butt will be too big, or maybe my waist appears too thick for your sensibilities, or what about my nose, maybe.”

“Actually,” Jake broke in as he moved away, “I can live with the body, it’s the voice.” He turned to the living quarters’ entrance fully now, as fury began to take the place of shock on Adrian’s face. “.it’s becoming a bit shrill.” Jake called over his shoulder as he made it through the entrance hatch.

Adrian arrived at the entrance in time to see Jake’s form shimmering in the sunset glow as he waved at her. “You get back here, Jake Matthews,” she yelled, pointing a finger at him warningly.

Jake threw one arm across the lower part of his face as if he were wearing his Shadow character cape. “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men, or women?” He intoned. “The Shadow knows.” Jake laughed the deep-throated mimic laugh of the radio program character they had heard.

Adrian began laughing in spite of her irritation. “You can run, Shadow, but you can’t hide. You will so pay for this. I was going to watch Romeo and Juliet with you tonight too, but now I will just watch it alone.”

Jake stopped and spun around as quickly as any human in the gravitational pull of Casserine could. He struck a pose with his head slightly bowed, one hand at his side, while the other he lifted in supplication. “If I profane with my unworthiest hand.this holy shrine, the gentle sin is this, my lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.” He quoted.

Adrian clapped with delight and quickly replied, “Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,” and paused before plucking out another quote. “My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late ! Prodigious birth of love it is to me that I must love a loathed enemy.”

Jake looked up, outlined in a red frosty border. “Maybe we should do The Taming of the Shrew?” He laughed, as Adrian started off their porch after him. She stopped and stamped her foot as she realized he would outdistance her. “Come, come you wasp,” Jake quoted from the aforementioned play, “in faith you are too angry.”

Adrian flushed again, but returned his quote in place. “If I be waspish, best beware my sting.”

“My remedy is then to pluck it out.” Jake replied as Petruchio to Adrian’s Kate.

Adrian waved him up. “Bring it on, big boy.”

Jake paused, and switched to Macbeth, while backing away with a flourish, “Why should I play the Roman fool, and die on mine own sword?”

Adrian skipped down another stair and yelled one of Macduff s lines in the same scene. “Then yield thee coward, and live to be the show and gaze o’ th’ time! We’ll have thee, as our rarer monsters are, painted upon a pole, and under writ, Here may you see the tyrant.”

This stopped Jake in his tracks. “Tyrant, tyrant?” he repeated in amazement. “Why you insufferable…little…’Oh shame, where is thy blush’” he quoted Hamlet, rather than move within the arc of her arms. “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”

“Wha…What do. are you saying I’m the tyrant?” Adrian yelled incredulously. “You’re nuts, Jake. You’ve been out in the weather too long.”

Jake chuckled as Adrian stepped within the jaws of his word trap. “I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a hand-saw.” He quoted again from Hamlet.

“You beast, I’ll show you a hand-saw,” she yelled as she forgot good sense and started after him, even as he turned and retreated in good order, laughing as she stumbled at the bottom step and went to one knee on the rock hard ground. She looked up at him, then turned slightly, placing a hand over her face, and quoting a Cressida line from Troilus and Cressida, “O heavens, you love me not.”

Jake had been waiting for this ploy. “Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” He quoted from Macbeth again, with overdone passion, consisting of arm waving at the still kneeling Adrian.

Adrian scrambled to her feet. “So now I’m an idiot. All right for you, Jake. I hope you like sleeping in the cave tonight.”

Jake’s smile disappeared in the dimming light. “Now just a minute, Gracie. We have more than one room in the living quarters. You don’t have to exile me to one of Casserine’s moons to be alone.”

“I don’t think I can stand to have you even in the same living space with me tonight.” Adrian tried to get control of the anger surging through her, but instead she just folded her arms over her chest.

Jake turned away. He walked towards the cave without another word. She took a step towards him, but could not issue forth the words to bring him back. His silent acquiescence dealt Adrian a blow she could not fight or argue against. She watched him walk into the cold still air of Casserine without a backwards glance. The only tears she had shed since being on Casserine with Jake had been tears of pain in her initial days there, while becoming used to the gravity. This night, Adrian simply cried.

She walked up and sat on the porch after putting on her helmet. Adrian looked in the direction of the cave and switched the controls to maximum distance. She saw Jake trudging carefully along in the near darkness, with only the glow from Casserine’s many moons to guide his way. A twinge of guilt made her roll her fingers into fists, as she remembered he had not had his helmet on when she decided to exile him to the cave for the night. They kept spares of everything in their cave refuge, but she took no pleasure in knowing it as she watched him.

With only a look, Jake could evoke a passionate response from her. He could make her happy, or so desirous, she could not keep her hands off of him. He could also make her so furious she could not think straight, and because of the latter fact, she would sleep alone tonight for the first time since their marriage eleven months ago. She hated Jake being right about everything, without ever taking into account the fact of his having spent four years on Casserine before she ever stepped foot on the surface. As Adrian put her feet up on one of the stools she had ordered Jake to make, she sighed, realizing he had been right once again, she was indeed both a tyrant and an idiot.

Jake made no false steps, walking carefully in only the fading sunset light without his helmet. He thought of how stupid it had been on his part not to walk past her and grab his equipment. Adrian’s anger had been so palpable, he felt like it had given off an aura almost like a force field. The two of them had dueled back and forth like tonight for months, with one or the other ending the duel with some devastating quote, which the other acknowledged with much laughter. Tonight he had somehow broken a rule he was unaware existed. Adrian’s unpredictability, confused and frustrated him to no end, but also drew him to her as helpless as a moth to a light.

Pausing as he reached their cave sanctuary, Jake turned to lean against the rock wall. He stared up into Casserine’s night sky with all of its glowing satellites, remembering his four years living on Casserine without Adrian. He remembered reveling in his mundane duties and exploring the planet’s surface. Since Adrian’s arrival, he had not considered the possibility he was smothering her with his attention. With the two of them on Casserine, Jake thought perhaps he could strike out further on his exploration junkets, and give Adrian some time alone.

The base had told him they were near to completing a land vehicle which would give them mobility and dependability. Everything they had tried during his first four years had failed. It took the power of a cruiser strength ship, or assault Drop Ship, to break free of Casserine’s gravity, which made the stores they guarded much safer from casual interest and theft. Casserine demanded a physical toll, but also caused huge power drains on any craft within her influence. Land vehicles worked for an hour at most, before becoming useless wrecks. He had learned on their last medical leave on the base from Colonel Risling of a vehicle being developed with the shielding capable to resist Casserine’s power leaching ability.

Jake pushed off from the rocky entrance and went inside their retreat. Feeling his way carefully inch by inch in the total blackness, he found by feel the portable illuminators. He had never expected to enter the cave without some lighting device, or night vision helmet, so he had never placed a light near the entrance. He smiled, thinking he would have to get used to being exiled at a moment’s notice, if he planned to continue shooting his mouth off. After turning on the heaters, Jake made himself a meal on the stove, and took it back outside to eat while the cave warmed. Later, as the temperature continued to drop, Jake went back inside to sleep. They had installed comfortable sleeping arrangements, and he fell asleep within moments of lying down.

Jake tossed and turned, dreaming of plays and characters from movies and radio shows. Some slight sensation woke him suddenly. He popped straight up on his bed inside the cave. Hands gripping the sides of the bed tightly, he gradually realized where he was, and also what had woken him up. In his dream, Jake remembered his having jumped from

Romeo and Juliet to The Taming of the Shrew. That, he decided ruefully had been his mistake, and the reason he now resided in the cave. He grinned, remembering how Adrian had reacted to his impromptu Romeo. He made a mental note to never switch quotes from loving to sarcastic in the same setting.

Staying motionless for a moment, Jake listened to a scrabbling sound getting nearer to the cave. Having been on Casserine for over five years, he knew only Adrian or an unknown party could be approaching. Because the cave incorporated relays from the living quarters, he would have been awakened if any ship even approached Casserine. He wondered what would bring Adrian out here in the middle of the night. By her looks at their last meeting, it must be something in need of repair. They had been having minor problems with their ventilation system causing an alarm. The scrabbling noise had now reached the cave entrance.

“O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?” Adrian called out at the entrance.

“Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?” Jake quoted Romeo, chuckling at her call.

“It’s awfully dark out here in the moonlight,” She hinted to him laughingly.

“Nay then you lie; it is the blessed sun.” Jake said, quoting Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew, immediately breaking his vow of a minute ago.

A pause of what seemed forever caused Jake to jump out of bed, cursing himself for a fool. Adrian’s voice brought him up short. “Then God be blest, it [is] the blessed sun, But sun it is not, when you say it is not; and the moon changes even as your mind. What you will have it nam’d even that it is.” She paused again, “I love you, Jake.”

“Fair is my love, but not so fair as fickle, mild as the dove, but neither true nor trusty,” Jake quoted from Shakespeare’s Passionate Pilgrim. He continued, deciding to ignore good sense. “She burnt with love, as straw with fire flameth, She burnt out love, as soon as straw out-burneth; She fram’d the love, and yet she foil’d the framing, She bade love last, and yet she fell a-turning. Was this a lover, or a lecher whether? Bad in the best, though excellent in neither.”

Adrian laughed, much to Jake’s relief, “Don’t push your luck, Romeo. Are you going to ask me in?”

“Come in my love,” Jake said, “but remember, I am armed in case you brought a blaster to finish me off.”

Adrian laughed again as Jake turned on a light. “Okay, but no more dueling quotes for a while.”

“Agreed.” Jake heated some tea for them as Arian sat down on the bed after removing her coat and helmet. Jake brought her a cup of tea, and sat down next to her. They sipped their tea in silence for a few moments before Jake turned to her.

“See, who said Casserine was boring?” Jake asked smiling.

Adrian took up his left hand with her right, and kissed the back of it, placing it then on her lap as she continued to hold it. “Are you getting tired of putting up with me?”

“I hope you’re joking. I might get tired of you in twenty or thirty years from now, but I am anything but tired of you now. Maybe we will have to tone done our roll playing though, and start concentrating on our jobs. I used to scout around a bit here, and I’ve been thinking you could use some time alone. With the two of us here now, I.”