The Lord of the Plains (29 page)

‘Yes.’ she said, a trifle uneasily.

‘Do you think that’s something we should
learn? You know, hide our tiredness from the gemengs?’

She was saved from answering by Colonel
Hamnar approaching. He often chatted with the people who finished
the run early while they waited for the others.

‘Colonel, sir,’ Geilar said eagerly, ‘do you
know the gemengs learn how to hide their tiredness really well
outside Astar?’

‘Hmm? Do they?’ he asked mildly, an eyebrow
rising.

‘Do you think that’s something we should
know? You know, for when we fight them?’

‘Hmm… so you’re from outside Astar.’ he said
to Riley. ‘Yes, I remember. So you hide your tiredness well?’ he
asked.

Riley just nodded. She was rather wishing
she could go back to running slowly behind Geilar.

‘So you went through the testing.’

It wasn’t a question. Riley nodded
anyway.

‘Do you have any difficulty moving your arm?
I haven’t noticed you struggling.’

‘I healed well.’ She replied.

‘Hmm, when did you come through the
testing?’

‘Seven years ago.’

‘I see, well, carry on.’

When Riley returned home that night she
practiced her panting. Clearly she needed to work on looking tired
when she wasn’t if she didn’t want to arouse suspicion. She was a
little vague on what she was hiding and why, but she didn’t think
of that.

When Aerlid came in he gave her a
I’m-not-sure-what’s-going-on-here-and-I’m-not-sure-I-want-to-know
kind of look. Gathering himself he asked, ‘what are you doing?’

‘Practicing looking tired.’

‘Oh.’

‘Do I look tired.’

‘…No.’ Then, ‘why?’

‘I did as you said and let the other gemengs
beat me, but they think I lose on purpose.’

‘I see, well… don’t do that.’ he said firmly
and waited til she nodded before continuing. ‘I think perhaps you
should start running in the morning as well as the evening.’

She thought about it for a moment before
nodding. ‘All right.’

‘And let me know if they say anything more
about it.’ Aerlid added.

Patrolling with the Internal Order Forces
wasn’t quite as bad as patrolling with the Internal Defence Force.
The job of the order forces was not so much to defend important
sites within Astar, but to make sure the citizens were behaving
themselves. This mainly involved walking around Astar with an
Order-1 loaded with a low grade charge and looking menacing when
the situation required it.

‘I think I should have joined the air
force.’ Jann grumbled as he joined the rest of his unit who were
waiting for him outside the IOF station. It was a cool night, and
their third in a row on duty.

‘Don’t tell Gasann that.’ he added quickly
as Geilar looked like he was going to say something.

‘Wouldn’t dream of it.’ Geilar replied with
a smirk. ‘Here’s your radio.’ he added, and handed Jann the
rectangular device.

‘Is Jaff not coming tonight?’ Jann asked as
he looked around.

‘No, it’s just us tonight.’ Leili replied.
‘They think we’re ready.’

‘As long as you don’t shoot any more trees.’
Geilar added with an evil grin.

The other night while patrolling near the
park, Jann had mistaken a tree for a gemeng attacking and shot it.
Before they could get into an argument about the gemeng-like
qualities of that particular species of tree, Riley cut them
off.

‘We’re splitting into two groups. Geilar,
Leili and you are going together around the east section.’ she said
to Jann, ‘Batar and I will do the west. We’re to meet back here in
two hours.’

Jann stopped, his mouth open, then he got
his mind in gear for the conversational switch. ‘Alright. Then we
do north and south?’

Riley nodded.

The IOF split the city up into sections and
each command was responsible for its own section.

‘TU-5 and another IOF unit are also in our
section tonight, so don’t mistake them for trees…’ Geilar said, a
smile in his voice.

As Jann began a spluttering defence Riley
wondered whether she should switch Jann and Geilar for tonight. She
caught Leili’s eye. Leili shrugged. ‘I think they’ll be fine.’

With that Riley turned and with a word to
Batar they set out on their patrol. They would be out here for four
hours tonight. It didn’t bother Riley so much because she usually
spent the evening and early morning running in the park (and
avoiding patrols like these). It was hard to tell with Batar
whether he was tired or not, and Geilar would never let himself
appear weaker than a human. Jann and Leili were getting used to it,
but next week they’d be off again and next time they were on night
duty they’d have to get used to it all over again.

Chapter 20

Often the members of the unit socialized
outside of training, Riley with them.

Today they were visiting Gasann over where
the pilots trained. This was always exciting because there was the
chance of spotting a Predator. Or any aircraft. Any aircraft at all
would have been great.

They hadn’t spotted one yet.

‘The infantry defends Astar, what does the
air force do? I’ve never seen you do anything. Have you?’ Jann
looked at Geilar for support, who gave it.

Gasann rolled his eyes. ‘First of all, you
can’t
see
Predators. Second of all, the air force keeps
gemengs from getting anywhere
near
Astar, that’s why it’s
always so quiet around here.’

Every time they visited Gasann they had this
same argument.

Riley, feeling she rather knew what she was
supposed to say now if anyone asked her which field was more
important, infantry, air force or submariners, turned her attention
to Leili, who was rather deep in conversation with a pilot in
training Riley was given to understand was attractive to human
females. It was a human thing, she noted, for the male and females
to pair off. It involved lots of blushing. As it was a human thing,
and not something Riley felt she would have to take part in- she
was different after all- she turned her attention to Batar. He was
calmly chatting with another boy.

‘Ok, yeah, sure. At least you’re more
important than the submariners.’ Jann was saying. Riley knew this
meant the conversation was winding down.

‘Agreed.’ Gasann said, ‘what do the
submariners ever do? Nothing.’

‘You know Aleitar transferred to
Coastside?’

‘Well he was always lazy.’ Gasann shrugged.
‘Maybe I should have transferred too.’

Batar, who noticed Riley taking mental notes
of his conversation with the other boy invited her to join them.
They were having a rather technical conversation about the weapons
mounted on the Predators and comparing them to the MEWs. Riley
found it fascinating.

Unnoticed to her, Gasann stood up stiffly.
‘Hey, let’s go.’ he was saying to Jann. ‘We’ve been sitting for too
long.’

‘What? I don’t know about you but I spend
all day running around.’ Jann said without getting up.

‘Let’s go.’ Gasann said with more force as
he glanced towards one of the doors. A group of higher level
pilots-in-training were coming in.

Jann looked too. ‘O-oh. Fine, fine. Hey, you
guys, we’re going, you want to come?’

They didn’t. Jann and Gasann left alone.

It was perhaps fifteen minutes later when
someone joined them at their table. The conversation stopped and
Batar and the other boy, Kenis, glanced at their new companion.

‘Don’t let me bother you boys,’ the newcomer
said, ‘I’m not here for you.’

‘Hi, Peitar.’ Kenis said in a melancholy
voice while Batar simply observed the newcomer quietly.

‘Well hello to you too.’ He turned his
attention to Riley and held out his hand. ‘Hi there, I’m Peitar, I
don’t think we’ve met.’

Riley was about to respond when she noticed
Kenis shaking his head at her. Surprised, she looked back at
Peitar, who was smiling widely at her and at Kenis. Then she looked
at Batar.

‘Don’t mind him,’ Peitar said and shook her
hand. ‘I haven’t seen you around here before, what’s your
name?’

Kenis stopped shaking his head. As he wasn’t
offering any explanation Riley went ahead and replied, ‘Riley
Meilis.’

‘Well, hello.’ he laughed. ‘What a lovely
name. Are you in the air force?’

‘No, the infantry.’ Riley said with a
smile.

‘Oh, are you enjoying it?’

Riley was about to answer- she
could
answer these questions now, when Peitar continued talking. She
wasn’t particularly bothered though as she was used to this sort of
behaviour from Razra.

‘Would you like to come see my plane?’

‘A Predator?’ she asked, a touch of
eagerness in her voice.

‘No, not yet.’ he said modestly. ‘I’m still
in training after all. Come, I’ll show you.’ he stood and offered
her his hand.

Riley, not realizing the hand was for her,
stood and ignored it.

Peitar withdrew his hand discreetly and led
her to the hangar.

Behind them Kenis gave a melancholy
sigh.

Riley arrived at the opinion that Peitar and
Razra shared some similar qualities. Like Razra, Peitar often kept
talking without waiting for her response. When Razra whispered, he
often got too close to her ear, and Peitar suffered from the same
problem. Sometimes, not even in the context of whispering, he would
start getting too close to her.

Riley dealt with this by calmly moving away,
as she did with Razra.

After that first day he asked to see her
again. She replied by telling him she often came to the air force
training centre with her unit. So while Gasannn, Geilar and Jann
disappeared whenever Peitar appeared, Leili and her attractive male
chatted intimately and Batar and Kenis discussed various technical
things, Peitar showed Riley around the base.