Prophet of ConFree (The Prophet of ConFree) (8 page)

We were forced into another room, a latrine, with urinals lining one wall.

"Right face! Open the container with your name on it, pee into it, then close the container and place it on the upper shelf. Do
NOT
piss on the floor!
NOW
, bodies!" Pee on command, fine, it was the first chance they'd given us this morning so it wasn't a problem. My bottle was right there before me. I guess that meant their program was well thought out.

Δ

"Sit down. Don't move!" It was haircut time. We plopped down into a long line of barber chairs and the barbers poised over us with their instruments.

"How would you like your cut, sir?" my barber asked.

"Could you make it a bit longer on top, please?" I said.

"It will be my pleasure, sir." He whisked over my head with an airlaser and quickly annihilated what little hair I had left.

"Is that satisfactory, sir?" He showed me the result in a mirror – completely bald.

"Excellent, thank you," I replied.

"Move it, bodies! Quit screwing around!" I was hustled into the corridor with a gang of other victims.

Δ

"One moment please. Open your mouth." In the next room an anonymous medic in white, a female, poked something into my mouth while a second medic, a male, snipped a little tuft of my arm hair.

"Go in there!" A blackie commanded. It was a small office. A youngish medical type sat relaxed behind a desk, his white smock open, looking up from a d-screen.

"Rains?" he asked.

"Sir yes sir." I responded.

"Sit down." He gestured at an airchair. "Want some dox?" He was a clean-shaven Outworlder with carelessly combed sandy hair and dark brown eyes.

"Sir yes sir! Thank you sir." What a break! I could hardly believe it. He ordered a fresh dox from a brewer by his desk and handed me the cup as I settled into the chair. Breakfast!

"Well, let's see," he said, looking over his d-screen. "Oh, I'm Doctor Waverly. Just forget my name, you probably won't see me again. Anyway…it looks pretty good. Your vision and hearing are both close to perfect, as they should be at your age. If they deteriorate over time, both can easily be restored. Your general health is excellent. Oh, what happened with your front teeth?"

"Somebody knocked them out, sir."

"Ah. And the nose?"

"Same guy."

"Hmm. Well, the artificial teeth are fine. And the nose is mending well. Aside from that, there were a few minor internal problem areas the scans revealed but nothing major. Those problems are now under repair and you don’t have to worry about them. We've given you reds and whites – that is, nanoreds and nanowhites, to build up your body and counter anything nasty that gets in. How's the dox?"

"Superb, sir."

"Good. Among other things, you're drownproofed now. And invulnerable to all those diseases that used to plague mankind for centuries."

"Drownproofed, sir?"

"Yes – that's the nanoreds, artificial red blood cells, respirocytes – nanoparticles. We just flooded you with them. You can now sit at the bottom of a swimming pool for a couple of hours without breathing, or run for hours without tiring. Lots of oxygen in your system. You'll get guidance on that during Basic. The nanowhites, on the other hand, nanoparticles of white blood cells or leucocytes, will protect your system from all unwanted invaders. Well, let's see what else we have. Blood fine, urine fine, we've got your DNA now and it will follow you wherever you go. If you lose any limbs or organs they will be regrown from your own DNA. We can even grow a whole duplicate of you if we want to."

"You mean, you could produce a whole squad of Richard Rainses? Sir?"

"A whole platoon, if we wanted. We've also got a full memory scan – just took it from you, in there. So if you have brain trauma, and lose your memory, we can restore it – up until today's date. We do these scans periodically for combat soldiers – just in case. It's awkward to build new memories from zero."

"That's amazing. Sir."

"Yep. I did notice your muscles are kind of flabby. Oh, it's all there, and all healthy. Just civilian slack, that's all. Basic will slap you into shape, along with the supplements you'll be eating with your meals. By the time we're through with you, you'll be a superman. Like all Legion troopers."

"Does that include the Immortality Gene, sir?"

"You'll get that a little later in the course. Now, your brain probe revealed quite a bit. Nothing abnormal. Your
IQ
is fairly high. Not exceptionally high, but fairly high. You have all sorts of potential there. Our
IQ
results show potential but it's up to you to reach that potential. Have you thought about
OCS
– officer candidate school?"

"I've been focused on basic training, sir."

"Well, that's a good attitude. Just keep it in mind for the future. Your
IQ
qualifies you for consideration."

"Thank you, sir."

"Don't thank me. Thank your mom and dad. One last thing, you've now got a Legion c-cell injected under your skin. It will show your medical history and, later, all Legion assignments. It will be autoupdated for the rest of your career. Well, bottom line is you've passed your medical and qualify for unrestricted service. Congratulations."

"Thank you sir."

"Next stop. Out that door. The instructors will toss you into the right room."

"Yes sir. Thank you sir."

Δ

"Don't stand there like a dummy! Open the door and go in!" the black uniform shouted at me. The little light over the door had just blinked from red to green and my reaction was evidently not fast enough to suit my latest tormentor. I pushed the door open and let it close behind me. I stood at attention before a black-uniformed official sitting behind a desk. I suspected he was an officer, but I was so new I didn't even know how to tell. He looked up at me. He looked quite young, black hair, a little black mustache.

"Rains?"

"Sir yes sir."

"Why did you want to join the Legion?"

"Sir. I wanted to help, sir, to do my duty and defend ConFree."

"Well said. Now tell me why you really joined the Legion." His gaze shifted to his d-screen. I knew he had my whole history there.

"I got in trouble and was facing exile from my home planet. A Legion recruiter suggested that I volunteer. "

"I see. So you volunteered."

"Yes sir."

"A reluctant volunteer."

"No sir! I am not reluctant."

"You had no choice. Right?"

"I did have a choice, sir. I could have chosen exile. But I chose the Legion."

"How can we trust you?"

"I'm here, sir. I'm fascinated by what I've seen so far. I'm going to make a good trooper."

"Oh really."

"Yes sir."

"Tell you what, Rains. We don't want people who don't want to be here. If you want, you can stop this process right now. I'll invalidate your enlistment, we'll put you back on the ship and send you back to Eugarat, and you take your chances with the courts. Exile may not be so bad. At least, nobody will be shooting at you. Just sign at the bottom." He slid a portascreen across his desk to face me. I looked at it, and it looked at me.

"Sir no sir. I don't want to go back to Eugarat."

"Are you certain? This is a one-time offer. Your only chance."

"I don't want it, sir."

"Good. Good. In that case, proceed through that door and continue your processing. And congratulations on your choice, trooper."

Trooper, I thought as I walked out the door. He called me trooper. It felt good.

Δ

"Find your name, take your bin, and proceed outside. Now, bodies. Now!" The bins were the same ones where we had abandoned our clothing earlier. Now they were lined up on a beltway along the corridor, overflowing with clothing packs, hats, new boots, belts, field manuals and miscellaneous equipment. I found mine labeled Rains, Richard, and hauled it outside into a disorganized mob of recruits clad only in shorts and sleeveless tops. It was a clear day but getting warmer. The girls were back with us, and they all looked good in their khaki panties and near transparent khaki tops. No bras, I noticed. They hadn't been scalped, but their hair was considerably shorter. They didn't look happy, but I suppose we didn’t either.

"
SILENCE!
Form into squads, facing front. Listen for your squad assignments!" There was such a babble of voices from the blackies that it was hard to hear. However, I heard my name from the nearest blackshirt and headed for him. Surprisingly, most of the people in my immediate vicinity were assigned to him, too. Perhaps there was method in their madness.

Three black Legion fighters shot past us close overhead just like a trio of massive darts, and the shock wave almost deafened me. Providence was a noisy place.

"Delta squad, pay attention now! Sound off when I call your name!" Our leader was a muscular Assidic who looked kind of like a human airtank. "Oswego, Kakatarn; Surinto, Jarleman; Rains, Richard…" We sounded off. Arie was not there. Too much to hope for, Richard, I thought. Who were these people? Males, females, I just had confusing glimpses as we lined up in formation behind our bins.

"All present! Good. Follow me at double time and don't drop your bins." He took off at a trot and some of the other squads were breaking away, too. It wasn't easy jogging barefoot while carrying that big heavy damned bin full of weighty junk.

We wound up at a squadmod, as I later learned it was called – a portable white plastic modular building built specifically to house one Legion squad. The designation was printed over the doorway: 1/4 Delta. We were all gasping from the exertion, but our Assidic primitive urged us inside. We stumbled in and stood there in confusion looking around as he barked orders. The interior was also white, spotless, seemingly brand new and well designed – a transparent roof let in the sunlight. Five bunks lined each wall to the left and to the right. A small central area featured a circular table and plastic benches and a kitchen mod. To the rear were heads separately designated for males and females, and a small separate room with a closed door marked Training Instructor.

"All right, let's
MOVE
– we don't have much time," our leader exclaimed. "Choose a bunk, drop your bin by the foot of the bed, open the clothes packs, put on khaki fatigue trousers long and khaki blouse long. Put on black socks and brown leather boots and green web belt
NOW
, bodies.
NOW!
"

Another confusing dance ensued. He hadn’t said to strip off anything so we wore our undies and sleeveless top under the new clothing and were ready in record time. At least it seemed to me that it was record time.

"Field hats –
NOW!
" We scrambled, donned the hats and stood there, gasping. I sneaked a look around at my companions. One, two Outworlder males – three, counting me. A male Assidic. A male, olive skin, unknown ethnicity. Two females, a blonde Outworlder angel and a black Cyrillian girl. That's seven. Squads are supposed to have ten.
WTH
, over.

"Attention! Stand at attention before your bunks! Just don't move a muscle." He re-opened the main door and a trooper in black strolled in.

"Sir!" our leader said. "Your squad is ready for inspection." Our visitor took his time looking us over. He was medium height, slim and wiry, close cut brown hair, piercing grey eyes – oh no. No! It was Doggie.

Doggie! Our new squad leader. Oh no – this was not going to work out at all.

"I see seven bodies, trooper," Doggie said. "Please explain."

"We have two body holds, sir. Our aircar driver has not yet been designated – word is all air assets are to be assigned later. The other body is also on hold. No details yet, sir."

Doggie slowly took us all in. He paused briefly before me, then moved on, looking over every recruit.

"Thank you, trooper," Doggie said, "I take command of this squad. You are relieved." The big Assidic saluted Doggie and left the squadmod.

Doggie glanced at his chron, then spoke. "Welcome to Training Squad Delta of the First Training Platoon, Fourth Training Company, First Training Battalion. I am your training instructor and squad leader. My name is William Tregon and my designation is Delta One. You will address me as 'sir'. My mission is to make you into Legion soldiers. I aim to accomplish that, but you are all going to have to cooperate for that to happen. If I sense any resistance, I'll toss you out of the squad instantly, and if that happens, your future will be dark. Basic is not going to be easy but millions of Legion recruits have done it, and graduated. I advise you to obey orders, keep your eyes and ears open and your mouths shut. And no whining! I am going to get to know all of you, intimately, but we'll do the introductions later. Right now we all have an important appointment. Outside! On me!"

We lined up facing the squadmod at his direction. "Dress right!" he shouted. "Right arm out, touch the shoulder of the man to your right. Straighten the line. I will give this command again when we arrive. When we get there you will stand at attention until notified otherwise. There will be no talk and no movement. All right, follow me, double time."