Secret of the Legion (10 page)

A Legion trooper was standing before the first man in line. He placed the muzzle of an E up against the forehead of the frozen prisoner. The shot echoed harshly through the night, and a muffled moan escaped the crowd. The pirate collapsed onto his back, his legs all askew. It was difficult to see more in the glaring spotlight and deep shadows. The Legion trooper moved to the next man in line, and a pitiful cry arose from the prisoners.

"Skinhead, alias Stonehead, Legion file 330013811, crew member of the privateer
Vampire
, charged with galactic piracy, evidence on record…" They were going to kill them all, I realized, as the harsh voice continued reading the verdicts. The Legion was going to kill them all, right there, and leave the stadium soaked in blood. I could hardly believe it. I leaned over to Dragon, speaking slowly and carefully.

"Dragon, some of those guys appear to be bleeding from the crotch. What's that all about?"

"Oh, they were castrated," Dragon replied. "That has to be done on the spot if a rapist is caught in the act by the Legion. It's just to get their attention before we execute them." He was smiling. He looked like he was thoroughly enjoying the evening. Another shot echoed around the stadium. It was going to be a long night, I thought, but when it ended there was not going to be any further piracy problem on Tanami 4. It's justice, I thought. Not law—but justice. Tanami was getting justice, whether they wanted it or not. No wonder Dragon was enjoying himself.

***

We rushed on into the hole, leaving Tanami behind, but life on board had changed. Now the
Stardust
was crowded to capacity, full of traumatized refugees who had given up on the Temple of Man and the philosophy that man was by nature good. The pirate raid had very rapidly destroyed Tanami's happy communal society in the simplest possible way. There were over a million people on the planet, but no weapons of any kind. To the few hundred heavily armed pirates from the
Vampire
, it was a paradise. The young girls did not even know enough to run, and the adults who approached to negotiate were simply shot.

Everything on the planet was available to the looters, with zero risk. The capital seemed the likeliest target, and it proved a good choice. When they had taken all they wanted, the pirates set the city afire, but they stayed a little too long, tracking down the last of the girls—just a little too long.

The Legion snatched their ship effortlessly and swept through the city like a great scythe, firing vac, cutting the pirates down like grain. Not one escaped.

"Legion doctrine requires that sentencing and punishment has to be public, if at all possible," Dragon told me. "Had the Tanami authorities known what was going to happen in that stadium, nobody would have come. The Legion had promised a resolution of the problem. The authorities thought that meant there was going to be a negotiated settlement with the pirates. They had been horrified with the violence." We were in my cube, just the two of us, sipping dox. It was one of the few places we could avoid the refugees. Dragon seemed no more interested in mixing with the citizens of Tanami than I was. They were indeed a strange bunch.

"Well, I guess you could say there was a settlement, couldn't you?"

"A rather decisive settlement," Dragon smiled dreamily. I suppose he was the perfect Legion trooper.

"What do you think that LC cruiser was doing out here in the first place? They're practically in the Loyalists' back yard."

"No sense in wondering and no sense in asking. That'll be classified."

"What do you think about those refugees?" I asked.

"Fools. But they're smarter than the ones who stayed. They at least realize that the religion of the Temple of Man has failed."

"So they're to be moved on from Dindabai to other worlds?"

"The LC doesn't want them. Dindabai is the last port of call for anyone who ventures this far out on the edge, but it's a major starport. There'll be other ships, heading elsewhere."

"I feel kind of sorry for the kids." The
Stardust
was full of children, stunned and quiet, sticking close to their designated guardians. They had been raised communally—a lot of adults had been killed. A lot of children had been killed, too.

"Don't feel sorry for them. They're more fortunate than their parents. They'll remember the pirates. They won't grow up to be Goodlibs. They'll probably join the Legion."

I saw the stadium again, a brilliant field of twitching bodies, awash in blood, the audience fleeing the scene. And I thought back to Nimbos. There had been plenty of laws on Nimbos. We had been strangled by laws, but there had been no justice. The laws only seemed to apply to the law-abiding, but never to violent crims. It was different with the Legion. It appeared there were some rather serious penalties for criminal behavior. I wondered how I should react to what I had seen in the stadium. As a Goodlib Systie, I knew how I was supposed to react, of course—with disgust and horror. But I had felt neither disgust nor horror. I had been shocked, and astounded, when I had first realized that the Legion was going to execute them all, immediately, but as the executions proceeded and the bodies began to pile up, I had felt something else. Satisfaction. A deep, dark satisfaction, so fierce it was almost like a kind of rage. And each shot, echoing around the stadium, had made me feel just a little better. Justice. I was watching justice at work. Justice, at last! It felt so good it was like a drug, rushing through my veins. Yes—I had felt a deep sense of satisfaction—and admiration, almost reverence, for the Legion. I realized then that there was a lot more to the Legion than what the System had told us.

Chapter 5
Dindabai

We dropped onto Dindabai in the shuttle, falling into the night side of a gigantic planet completely covered in clouds. The refugees from Tanami remained aboard the
Stardust
, which was still in orbit. Legion officials had already boarded to process them on to other worlds.

It was quiet as we entered the at. Dragon and I were up front in the cockpit with Whit and Nelson—Whit was piloting. The shuttle shook slightly as we encountered air. The wings started glowing. Nobody said a word. It was completely dark down there. I wondered what Dindabai would be like. This was truly out on the edge, at the furthest reaches of the Outvac. There weren't any human settlements past Dindabai—this was it. The System had told me the Lost Command consisted of insane, genocidal barbarians and Dindabai was their last refuge, a wild lawless land, inhabited by galactic pirates and convicted war criminals. I was more than a little tense as we approached.

Deeper into the atmosphere, thin gossamer clouds flashed past us. It was dark and still, and the sky was full of cold stars. Down below the world was covered with a thick blanket of puffy, faintly luminous white clouds. The ship groaned and creaked as we hit thicker air. Soon the clouds were whipping past us. It was only then that I felt that we had truly entered Dindabai, when we hit that ocean of clouds. My heart was thumping. We were hurtling into the dark on a strange world, a world of wondrous white clouds. Rain pattered at the plex, briefly, then left us. I wondered how the air would taste.

When we broke through the clouds, it was dark below. Whit and Nelson were calm. The sit was fine, as we rode the air. A silvery river passed us below, cutting through dark forested hills. I saw no sign of human habitation.

"
Stardust
Shuttle, Dinda Port, you're on course."

"Dinda,
Stardust
Shuttle, confirm."

A single light below—a tiny structure perched on a hill, pale white light illuminating a neat, microscopic lawn. Darkness. Then a string of lights, glowing softly in the night. A road? A pipeline? Darkness, again. A silver aircar far below cruised like a tiny toy over black forests. Life! I wondered who was in it, where they were going. It seemed so lonely, so vulnerable, a little chip of life skimming over a hostile wilderness.

"We're over the city," Whit said. A few more lights floated past below. I caught a quick glimpse of several low-rise buildings, faintly illuminated. It seemed very calm, very rural—not at all what I was expecting. Then we tilted to one side and the starport was coming at us, glittering like a frozen volcano of light. Dinda Port—it was the end of my personal odyssey. All my questions would soon be answered.

***

That first night I went out to the little balcony of my cube and breathed in the sweet air of Dindabai. It was a soft, velvet night charged with a musky perfume—a thick, wet odor, the scent of the forest. I could see dark trees, fading into the night. It was profoundly silent, but it was a peaceful, warm silence. There was another low-rise building nearby, strange construction, three separate cone-like structures joined together, softly lit. The grav was good and the atmix tasted perfect. Worlds like this were precious beyond words. Most planets did not even fall into the life zone of their stars, and most of those in the zone were totally unsuitable. Of the one in a million with a gaseous atmosphere and reasonable gravity, only one in a million had an atmix that humans could breathe. And yet the universe was so vast that there were still uncounted, uncountable millions of such worlds, waiting to be discovered. It was a cosmic miracle. And here I was, breathing it in.

Whit had shown us to our quarters after a fast aircar ride in from the port. She said we were in the heart of Dinda City, but from the little I saw it didn't look like a city to me. She advised me to get some sleep, but I was much too excited to sleep. My cube was a sterile wonder of compact, functional design. Dindabai! My heart was thumping. How was I going to sleep? Tomorrow I was to meet Cinta. She had all the answers. She would unlock my past, I was convinced. I had decided not to fight it any more. Just go with it, let it happen—surrender, to the future. Yes, that was it. Just close your eyes and let it happen.

I slept a dreamless sleep.

***

"Beta Three? Welcome to Dindabai! Come on in!" He appeared to be very young, but I knew it was hard to tell in the Legion. He was tall and lanky with a lock of sun-bleached blond hair hanging over one eye. He had a good tan and looked like some kid you'd find on a beach, but he was wearing a white coat. My defenses went up immediately. Why did they always have to wear those damned white coats? System or ConFree, it was the same. It was like some ancient cult, some arcane, secret badge of office. I hated them.

"Please, have a seat. Relax. Did you have a good trip?" Whit and I settled into a couple of airchairs, and he joined us. It was a nice spacious office. One entire wall was polarized plex, and it offered a great view of Dinda—an invisible city, hidden in a forest.

Whit was silent and dreamy. She had spent the night with Dragon, and had probably not gotten a lot of sleep. She was so mellow and generally pleased with herself that I figured she would be completely worthless the rest of the day.

"It was a fine trip," I replied. "We got to watch a whole shipload of pirates die. Then we rode with their victims, all the way here. Fun stuff."

"Good, good." The long-haired witch doctor nodded and grinned. It was just as if he hadn't heard me. Whit was dreaming—useless! "Well, we're glad you're here, Beta Three. I'm Doctor Jan Varna. I'm a specialist in applied psychic sciences and neuro-engineering."

"Yes, I know," I said. "I was kind of hoping to have a talk with Cinta Tamaling before we started working on my psychic problems."

"Oh, you don't understand," he smiled pleasantly. "You're not here as a patient. Oh, I will probably be consulted about your case, but that will be later. No, I wanted to see you before you spoke with Tara. It's very important that I see you before she does."

"Really. Why's that?" My nerve endings were on full alert. I didn't like this at all.

"Well, you see…" he was no longer smiling. "Tara is a great resource, for us—for the Lost Command, for us all, here on Dindabai. She is what allows us to survive—and to stay one step ahead of the opposition."

"Is that so."

"Yes—she's very special. Her mental capabilities…well, they can be described as supernatural. Perhaps supernormal would be a better word. Ever since her return from Uldo, she has been exploiting her new capabilities, exploring her full potential with guidance from our most brilliant scientists and theoreticians—specialists in every field. And she's taken them all along on a wild ride over brand-new roads, places they've never been before. Places they never even knew existed. The things she's discovered so far are going to transform human civilization. And it's all been discovered by chance, by accident, during those wild mental rushes of pure energy into unknown worlds. Alien worlds. You see, we don't even know what it is, or how it works. We only know it's in her. But it's dangerous, for Tara. It's draining, mentally and physically. Exhausting. Strange things happen to her body, when she's in it. Her temperature rises to dangerous levels. Her nervous system starts…well, short-circuiting is the best way to put it. Her heart speeds up, her blood pressure rises. And we don't really know what happens in her mind. We can't monitor it. It's very, very worrying to us."

"Why don't you tell her to stop?"

"We did. She refused. She said she'd do it on her own if we didn't help. She would, too. She is…driven. The Legion is her life. Nobody can stop her—or it. All we can do is try to keep her alive."

"I see."

"We'd like you to help."

"Me? What can I do?"

"She's in a state of nervous exhaustion right now. She's promised to relax for five days. Then we re-evaluate. She's very interested in your story—in what happened to you, and why. All I ask is that you urge her to wait—not to take any personal mental action to resolve your problems, until we re-evaluate her condition."

"All right. That sounds reasonable."

"We're going to do all we can to solve your personal psychic problems, Beta Three. I can assure you of that. But please help us with Tara first. Please don't get her excited. She must stay calm."

"Can I see her now?"

"Of course. Whit will show you the way. Nice meeting you. We'll see you again. And here's hoping you enjoy your stay on Dindabai."

"Thank you." He escorted us out.

I wasn't expecting this at all. I thought I was the patient, not Cinta. We were wandering along a corridor, and Whit was silent.

"So, are we going to see Cinta now?" I asked.

"Yes, dear." Her hand slipped into mine automatically. She hadn't the slightest idea where we were, and she obviously thought I was Dragon. I wondered briefly if I could get her panties off before she recovered, but then she snatched her hand away, blushed scarlet, and mumbled an apology. Dragon really had a way with the ladies. I'd have to ask him his secret.

***

She was sitting in the morning sun behind a little white table on the terrace, as still as a statue. She had a black shawl around her shoulders and one hand clutched a plastic cup. As we approached, I thought I had never before seen anything quite so fragile or beautiful. Her features were flawless—dreamy Assidic eyes, lost in the dawn. Silky auburn hair touching satin skin tinted a faint gold by the sunlight. She was like some kind of exotic delegate from another world.

"Mornin', Cinta!" Whit chirped.

Cinta came out of her trance, blinked, and looked up, silent. Then a hesitant smile arose. "Hello, Whit. Hello, Wester. It's been a long time, Wester. Too long."

"Good morning," I said. So this was her—Cinta, alias Tara, the girl from my dreams, the girl from my past life. She was exquisitely beautiful, but she looked very, very tired.

"Thanks, Whit," she said. "We'll need some time alone. Perhaps it could show Beta Eight around."

"Good idea," Whit smirked. "Have fun, guys. We're off."

Whit left us alone on the terrace. It was a still, soft morning. The sky was white, with a distant, brilliant sun burning through a high dome of clouds. A very faint stirring of air brought the cool, wet scent of the forest. We had a spectacular view from the terrace. A great still lake glittered like a sheet of molten gold in the new day. Thickly-forested hills rose from the lakeside. Here and there I could see oddly shaped buildings, hidden in the trees. This was Dindabai, the lost Command's sinister hide-out. It was peaceful, quiet and sleepy.

"Nice view," I said, pulling up a chair and joining Cinta at the table.

"You've changed," she observed in a husky voice.

"You told me on that starlink that I looked terrible. Aside from my looks, is there any other way I've changed?" She was the girl with all the answers, for me. Her face was pale and drained.

"I'll tell you later," she replied. "What do you think of Dindabai?" She turned her gaze away from me, out to the lake.

"It's beautiful. It seems…peaceful."

"It is. It's perfect. We made it. It's our home, a home for Outworlders, a home for the Legion."

"It seems a long way from everything."

"It is. And we like it that way. Nobody bothers us here."

"The atmix seems nice."

"It's close to perfect! It's a beautiful world, in every way. And we're going to keep it that way!"

"All right! I believe you. Take it easy. Your doctor told me you were not to get excited."

She smiled easily, lazily, a flash of white. "I'm not excited. I'm too tired to get excited."

"Would it be all right for me to ask you a few questions?"

"Sure—shoot. Would you like some dox?" She pushed aside her cup.

"No, thanks. Look, I know all about our mission to the Mound on Uldo. Dragon told me the mission was to seize a V…that is, an Omni starship, which appeared to be disabled in the Mound. But the story only went up to the point where Dragon turned on us and we tangled with that ConFree squad. After that, I have no idea what happened. Dragon doesn't know, and all Whit will tell me is that you and I next appeared on Andrion Two. She won't even tell me how we got there—or anything else. And I know she knows more than she's telling me."

"Whit doesn't know everything, but she does know more than she told you. I told her I'd brief you myself on certain things."

"How did I…how did we get to Andrion Two from Uldo?"

"We got to Andrion Two because you're a tough son of a bitch."

"Is that so."

"Yes. It is. You know…we did midschool on the same world, Wester. Galgos. I was your girlfriend. Oh, we weren't lovers. We were both innocents, then. I left you for the Legion. At the time I thought you were hopelessly soft."

"Yeah?"

"I'm a fanatic, Wester. I might as well tell you. I am the Legion. They cut the cross right into my heart. I'm a psycher—a solitary, brooding bitch. I have no soul, I've never loved anybody. I'm as cold as an E. And I'm not scared of anything. But you scared me, on that Ship."

"That ship?"

"We boarded that alien ship, Wester. You, me, and Gildron. Then the damned thing launched. We were like dogs to the O's. We were just animals—they could kill us just by thinking about it. We survived it, Wester. We got out of it, and brought that ship back to Andrion Two. It was almost impossible, but we did it. We did it together, you and me and Gildron and Willard. But I'll tell you, Wester, there were several times when I was ready to give up, when I thought the situation was hopeless and I wanted to stop trying. You kept me going, Wester. You wouldn't stop. You wouldn't give up. You actually horrified me. I thought you had gone insane. We had screaming arguments about it, about everything, but in the end we did it your way, and we came home to Andrion Two. It was a terrible journey but we did it. We survived, because you were a tough, fanatic soldier of the Legion and you refused to quit."

"Gildron…he was your bodyguard. That giant, retarded humanoid."