Chapter 32

The ship was now almost a million kilometres astern, when we saw the first strike. It must have been a length of pipe, for debris was scattered out the far side of the ship. The screen flickered, and the ship continued till another length knocked out the shield completely. Small pieces now peppered the surface, making large holes, bodies and parts of the ship were scattered into space.

The tractor vanished, and we accelerated at max, to get out of the path of any further pieces ourselves. Five minutes later, all pieces of metal would have gone by, and we reversed course, to see how much fight was left in the light destroyer. An automatic distress signal, in Tandra, asked for help. The help we were going to give, was not what they wanted.

We matched course, and looked at the damage we had done. Gaping holes went through the ship in many places. The hangar door was open, and I saw a fighter broken up. The shield over the opening was inoperable, debris was still scattering from the stricken bay, and drifting out into space. We pulled into the boat bay, probably what the enemy wanted all the time. Carlton was safer here than he would be in front of the weapons. His thirty metre length fitting easily, into the large bay.

The AI powered suits left first, but drew no fire. Now that we knew the type of ship, we knew the layout. We were going to attack the real captain of the ship. We went through access hatches, and into the inner portion of the ship, before we met any of the present complement.

It had no shield on, and the uniform covered a body about two metres tall and looked to weigh about a hundred and ninety kilos. They did not seem the type to arm wrestle with. A large hole on one side of the body, attested that it would not be getting up. The fact that the body was in a vacuum made it even more reassuring.

We went a dozen at a time through an airlock. Three decks from the centre, we encountered our first hostile. This section held air, and I could see smoke drifting to a grill. An AI battle suit, ran him through, just like in pirate days. There was no energy discharge, to give us away. Turning the corner this changed. The AIs sped ahead, and the weapons told me that there was only minor opposition.

Turning around, I saw a door open, and one of the dog faces came out with something resembling a rifle. I stepped close, and with a backhand slash and the mechanical muscles of the suit, let its head rolled free.

"You were always a pig. For once, I want to get one first," Carl stated.

"Be my guest, the next one that comes close, is yours." There was much more opposition as we got towards the core. We stopped a floor above, and searched through the area, looking for the circuits I knew to be there.

It took a few minutes till I remembered to ask Carlton for directions. The deck was pulled back and I went in now. I did not use too much finesse, but I did not want to damage the ship too much, if we could take it. I came out to find two of the AI suits in this group down.

"You certainly took your time. This is not as much a picnic, as I thought," Carl said.

"You did want your chance," I said, as we cut a hole through the floor and dropped on the surprised soldiers below. Carl seemed to have a lot of fun cutting them up, till they started using their own shields. We had to use the heavy disintegrators at a distance, and then the edged weapons at close range.

By the time we gained the computer room hatch, the corridor was aflame with plasma. Our unit split up, and went each way, while I tackled the computer alone. I didn't have the beacon, but I did have Susan's rope. The suit's display led me to the correct place much quicker. I left the Bo and the sword on the floor, because they would be clumsy to carry in the tight places. I yanked the processor, removed the memory crystals, and started the repair sequence. The computer would be out of commission for many hours. The crystals went in a cloth bag, and after looking around, opened my suit and hung them around my neck. The suit closed, and adjusted itself to the new dimensions.

I pulled on the rope and within seconds, I was out, only to see one of the dog faces take aim at me. The sudden application of gravity outside the computer room, saved me from the bolt. I fired the disintegrator at him, momentarily blinding him, as I ran in his direction. The continuous fire from my suit kept the target from seeing my approach. I put my weapon directly on his shield over the generator, and fired. The gun blew up and pushed me back. My suit corrected, and I saw a big hole in the blackened corpse.

I picked up its weapon and found I could make it work, but it was difficult in the gauntlets. I retrieved the Bo and sword, and ran to the rest of my unit, that was without Human supervision.

"Carl, are you getting your quota?"

"About time. Did you have a nap?"

"Yes, I am fully rested now."

The weapons in my suit were largely ineffectual against the new battle suit, that came at us. Their weapons were no better though. Our mechanical augmentation was better, for they relied more on their own strength, I thought. I had been questing in all the opposition minds, and found that they were completely blocked. I felt nothing on my own mind, so they were not attacking this way either.

We had been fighting for hours. We used the controllers to manoeuvre around the opposition, and hit them from the rear with heavier weapons.

I came to a large door, and pried it open. There was no opposition, so I went in, to look for some resistance, that would attack my rear. The rest of the squad guarded the entrance. A red light came on and a conveyor started. I turned quickly and fired. A long row, of what looked like pork, disappeared. I recognized the projectors on the wall. This was a large stasis chamber, for storing their food. Bending down I scanned the floor under the continuously revolving meat, looking for any of the enemy, that would be hiding in the back. All I saw, was portions of the meat, that I had not destroyed, with my initial blast.

The hooks of meat caught my attention. The racks of ribs and haunches were small and somehow looked familiar. The conveyor continued to turn, and I examined many portions. I looked to the right, and found a Tandra girl, her legs and arms removed, and the torso hanging from a hook. Turning to the other hooks, I found many sections of Tandra flesh, hanging from them.

I was stunned at what I saw, the girl looked about the same age as Sandy or Star and the rest looked even smaller. How could this be? A haze came over me, they had killed Tuyen, and I remembered revenge.

My head violently went back and forth. Carl's voice, rose and fell, pain on my cheek, dead; all dead; they killed my girls. I felt so much pain. Let me die.

"Wake up, you son of a bitch." More pain to my cheek. I felt myself being dragged. I closed my eyes for just a second. I opened my eyes and saw a pretty sphere. I wanted to touch it, but it moved. Tired so tired.

"Henry wake up."

"Yes Mom. Just a minute."

"Henry wake up now!"

I stretched. Aah my back is so sore. My arms hurt. What is that thing on my leg? A warm bundle of hair is on my left. Black hair, and a face with big eyes.

"Roger, How ar'..."

Roger flung himself on my chest. His upper arms wrapping tightly around my neck, and his lower, my chest. "I lub you. Don' go way." My arms went around him, and I felt discomfort in each of my limbs.

Star came into the room, and I noticed for the first time, that I was back in my house. In her hands was a tray, with a single flower. She laid it beside the bed and I smelt bacon, eggs and toast.

"Good morning, sweetheart. Why are you so worried?" I had only caught a glimpse before her mind, closed to me.

"You... you were hurt, and I was worried that you wouldn't come back to us the way you left."

"How do you mean?"

Susan and Secric came into the room. Susan wiping her hands on a damp cloth. "It is about time you woke up. We have all been worrying about you. Mom said you would be alright, but most of us had our reservations."

"Mom; she's back?"

"Yes, as good as new, or maybe even better. She has some choice words for you. If she had a knee, I would be worried for my bottom, if I were you."

"What did I do?"

"Ran off half cocked, with an antique ship, armed with even more antique weapons, with half-baked plans to take on a destroyer. Mom was so mad, I thought she would kill you, if you had not almost done the job yourself."

I remembered some of the fight now. It was as if my mind wanted to hide the entire affair from me. "I feel fine. I don't remember getting hurt. I am a little sore though."

"Carl brought you back. He lost a portion of his leg, and he was carrying you."

"Oh God, Carl. How is he?"

"He was in a lot better shape than you. You ran around that ship killing everything. Your AI gathered the other battle suits with you, and the whole lot of you took the ship. Not one of the crew lived, and you even killed the little parts, that you found again and again."

"I don't remember too much of that."

"Well you did. You were burnt over much of your body. You lost both legs and an arm. The anti-gravity and the AI kept you going long enough, to finish all of them off. Mom sent Carl and Carlton back out to nudge the ship into a stable orbit. It is around one of the Langrage points, I think L2. Earth has gone on a war footing. They have footage of Mom's hull on the moon, and recordings of your escape from the moon. They now see the mangled destroyer, parked over their heads, and wonder if they are going to be invaded next."

"Mom?"

"Didn't you hear a thing I said? You were to all intents and purposes, dead. If it were not for the autodoc, you would be, and all of us would have to carry on without you. You are so inconsiderate sometimes, I forget why I put up with you. My sisters wanted to leave you in the tank. That way, we will know you are safe. Do you know what we went through, worrying about you before you went away, and then how we worried we were, when you came back more dead than alive? We have..."

I interrupted, there would only be more of the same. "Mom is alive?"

"Yes, she is doing a lot of housework. All the things she felt were done wrong before, are getting changed. The fabricating unit is working. The food synthesiser has been given a low priority, and everything is going into armaments. While you were peacefully sleeping, Carl had installed a matter transmitter to take all the sewage, and duct into our septic system."

I had to pry hard to get around her block. Behind it, I found that she had almost gone crazy, over worrying about me, when she saw the way I came back in. I just opened my arms and said, "Come here, Honey."

She ran around to the other side of me from Roger, and cried as she let all the anguish she felt, flow out. Great racking sobs followed, and all I could do is hold her, and whisper how much I loved, and missed her.

"I was so afraid. Don't ever do that to me, again."

"I love you, but I can't promise that. The base is still not secure, and neither is the system now." Secric looked at us while she wrung her hands. I could see her desperate need for love and security. "Come here, on top."

Secric raced like a little girl, climbed on top of me, and held tight. It was her turn to cry, and cry she did. Susan and I held her, and eventually a small black arm reached out and held her too. Star was still beside the bed, wanting to feed me my breakfast, and suffering her own brand grief at the way I came back.

When Secric got over the worst of her crying I got her to trade places with Roger. I kissed the child, and held him tight. "Thank you for watching me, Roger, and thank you for telling the rest, where I was. I needed the help, or I would still be in there."

I moved him over and beckoned Star. She came cautiously into the bed, and hugged me fiercely, trying to keep me from ever leaving her again. I looked into her mind, and found a blocked portion.

"Star, what is the matter. I would never be angry at you. What are you hiding?" Her block became total and her crying got louder. He body quaking with, 'her shame', or what?

Roger, I could see was feeling jealous. I could see a baby, and he would not be able to give me one. "Star are you going to have my baby?" The crying intensified, and the women held her tight. They sympathized with the girl's feelings. Secric wanted one of her own, and Susan wanted to be first.

"Susan are you going to have one too?"

"I have been off the pill for a while, but I think my lactation has kept me from getting pregnant."

"You know, I want you to bear, some of my children." Then looking at Star. "I want you to have my baby too." Star cried again, but out of happiness. Children were a Tandra woman's prerogative, but she wanted me to love the child the way she would. She had her feet in two worlds and didn't know how I would react.

I heard the front door open, and a heavy tread, come up the steps. Carl poked his head in, and walked to the bed. He said, "Just as I figured. You get singed a little. The women all flock to you, while Doris was pissed off, that I left to go on a business trip. There is no justice at all."

I had my own big smile, and said, "I heard you hurt your leg. I am sorry to hear that, but I see you are getting around fairly well. I didn't even see your old limp."

"The company medical plan is great. The old leg had a bit too much shrapnel, and would set off the airport detectors. The new one does not have any arthritis either. I had to hide it from Doris for a while, because it was so pink. The old leg was good for some parts, and got me healed quicker than you. They cleaned up all the other stuff that was going to give me problems, later. My love life has got a lot better recently, but it will never get as good as yours."

"If you only knew, how back-breaking the labour is, you would be very happy with Doris." Susan elbowed me, then the other two, to make sure I got the point. The girls got up, and gave me room to talk to Carl. Roger was not relinquishing his position at all.

"What happened Carl? I don't remember much."

You ran around killing Dogfaces. You picked up a heavy gun, and used it to cut up anything that was alive or dead. For a while you reminded me of the terminator with his minigun. After it took too many hits, you used other weapons. I had a rough time keeping up to you, and taking out the flankers. There weren't too many after you passed. You got one leg shot off, and the AI did first aid, and kept you up. You got an arm shot off, and then the other leg later. Again the AI kept you going. You were so crazy, that the suits all went crazy too, they all felt the same way. I will always remember you with no legs, floating forward, with only one arm, and a gun in it, killing the Dogfaces. Your suit was smoking, and the other suits took the hits for you. Even after killing them all, you would not quit. If the suit hadn't failed, then you would probably still be up there, cutting the parts smaller and smaller."

"Thanks for saving me. If you remember, I went that way before. You were the one then, to save me as well."

"Well it wasn't only me. Frank, John and Johnny 2 did as much as I did."

"How did you get your leg shot up?"

"I wasn't as particular as you, about killing them. I thought that once was enough. I put a big hole through one guy. When I turned to say hello to his brother, the first one saws into my leg. Mom actually was able to repair it, and removed all the old problems."

"I am sorry for putting you through that, Carl."

"Hell, it was fun, just like the old days. I got a better leg out of the deal, and got all my other ailments fixed. How many other people besides you, can say that they stopped an invasion from the stars, and I got to fly the ship home?"

"The old days were not that fun, but we had our moments. What has been happening in the world?"

"I have been busy here. Since Charlie knew something about us, I gave him the job of making a report. I can drive to the Bay and get it, if you want? I don't think you want it over the phone."

"You're right, but we can leave it for now. Susan and I have to make the trip anyway. Her parents, and the staff have been watching the dojo long enough. I would like to tell them about, how I am finally taking her off their hands."

"You are such an asshole sometimes." Susan retorted, "My parents knew long ago that I was going to get you one way or another. This just means that they will know a date. Besides, you are not getting out of that bed. Your legs, arms and the rest of your body, are not ready yet."

"Let's find out. Carl, come over here, and help me get up."

"Roger, you will have to let go sweetheart, so that I can get up."

He reluctantly let go, and Carl helped me get to my feet. My new appendages were as Carl said, pink. There was little or no hair. My pubic hair was gone, and I looked at my dick, and noticed that I had grown while in the tank. I took faltering steps, till Secric came over and supported my other side. I guided us to the mirror, and looked at my face. The scar I had since I was a kid, was gone, as well as the gold tooth. A real one looked back at me. There were no whiskers, so somebody had to have been shaving me, or the hair was discouraged from growing. My bushy eyebrows were not as bushy any more, and my hair was very short in places, and longer in others. It would all grow-in, in time.

Secric, then Carl, left me as I tried my new legs. They felt as good as the old ones. The dark veins were not visible. The arm felt just a little slow, lucky it was not the right, even though I seldom used a pen for a signature anymore. The paunch I was trying to get rid of, was gone, and hard muscle had taken its place, when I pinched.

I could use a trip to the barber, but Susan could do a good enough job.

Well, there was one more person to thank. "Mom, I have greeted the rest. I have missed you, and I am glad you are back."

"Hello Henry. When I woke up, after integrating with all this equipment, I found that you had already gone. If you had stayed, we could have found a way to defeat Carl's Dogfaces. You took an unnecessary risk, in what you did."

"Mom, I love you, but you are full of shit. There was no way to get them in time, and you know it. Besides, it was not that bad. The Dogfaces are not used to people fighting on their ship."

"Not that bad... I saw the images from your recorder, and know everything that you saw on the ship, and the way you acted later. Who is full of shit now?"

"We... you could be right. By the way. Why did you park the ship where Earth will see it?"

"They already know of your escapades, in getting away from the other base. My hull is still in plain view. They will not know any more, by seeing a damaged ship in orbit. When the other ships, come to find out about what happened, then Earth will have had some warning."

"Did you interrogate the AI from the ship? When will they be coming?"

"I have built a device, to allow us to force it to tell us all it knows. The 'when' is just standard procedure, for a military ship."

"Mom, the uniforms were different. They could have been a clan, or even raiders of some sort."

"True, but we can't take that chance, until I find out, all I can, about the AI."

Mom told me that she had taken control of system security. She was pleased with ships getting repaired again on the moon. The moon base was shaken up, but little damaged in my escape. The ship AIs were working hard to get the boys turned into cadets.

I asked her in a private way, "What do you think of the Tandra bodies on the ship? They looked like they were being eaten, along with some others. What if they come here? I have to protect my family."

"I have done some studies. The Tandra bodies I examined, are slightly different. Their brains indicate, that they no longer use their mental powers. This may only be an isolated colony. The other bodies are of two races that I am familiar with. One is not too different from the Dogfaces themselves. From stomach contents, I know that the bodies you found, were indeed being eaten. There were three Tandra on the ship, that did have proper brain functions. They appeared to be helping the dogfaces, probably under duress. They were all dead in the first strikes."

"The Dogfaces have to die. Nobody should eat intelligent beings. They have the technology to eat anything they want, synthetically."

"I am not programmed for genocide, but over the years my own programming has changed. I tend to somewhat agree with you."

"Good. Have you done anything in designing a missile housed in a galvanized shell?"

"Yes Henry, I am ahead of you."

"There is one more thing, I am going to be a daddy soon, and would like to know, what you thought of being a grandmother." I got no reply, so I think she is still working on it.

Susan did cut my hair, and we travelled in the van to see her parents. I now wore the command suit, inactivated, under my clothes. Susan didn't want to, but wore one as well, for me. I took two small communicators with me. They were intended to be used by primitive beings, and as such, were very large, almost two centimetres square and a millimetre thick. A series of small holes were just inside the perimeter.

The van handled the same as it did in the summer. When I came to ice or snow though, it continued on as if it were a train on tracks. I knew its abilities now, and restrained myself from going faster. I didn't want to have the OPP clock me around the speed of sound. A lot of people would get even more interested, in this area, all of a sudden.