Boots on the Ground - Part 2
If you’ve just jumped in, head here for Part 1
Part 2
The door slammed against a wall, and bright light in the space beyond blinded her. At first, there were human voices, then silence; no one verbally challenged her. She pulled herself up into a defensive stance as she waited for her eyes to adjust. Slowly, form to her visual world materialized.
She now stood in a wider corridor, similar to the one she’d been in when the floor gave way. A few paces ahead, it made a 90-degree bend. No one remained in sight.
“Hello?” Baker asked, wincing at how weak she sounded without her suit’s amplification.
“Who are you?” a female voice asked from behind the corner. The unseen woman’s voice rang out strong, like she was used to issuing orders.
“Corporal Baker. I need to get back to my unit.”
A matronly woman stepped into view. Her black hair was streaked with white, yet she held herself up tall. But it was the woman’s green skin tone that struck Baker the most. Before her stood the first greenie she’d ever seen in person.
“The only way out is through our habitat.” The woman’s black eyes bore into Baker like she knew Baker was hiding things.
Baker licked her lips to hide her discomfort. “Okay. Show me the way.”
Even though she stood a head shorter than Baker, the woman seemed to look down her nose at the soldier. “Your presence is a risk to my people.”
“If I don’t report in on time, my superiors will send others to look for me.” Baker’s mouth went dry. She didn’t know if her words were true or not, and if they came and she didn’t have her armour, she’d been in deep shit.
“Fine. I’ll take you to the exit,” the woman said. “Call me Sun. This way.”
Sun turned and walked back around the corner she’d appeared from. Baker swallowed, wishing for her drinking tube of water and electrolytes. She was supposed to be on a routine mission; Lieutenant Oswiu would have her head if she failed. And she didn’t have her armour—the tech inside it was top secret.
“Are you coming?” Sun asked.
Baker followed Sun through a maze of intersecting corridors, none of which were on the map she’d received from Army Intelligence.
Around a final bend, the passageway opened up into a large cavern. How a group of greenies had excavated such a large space unseen baffled her. A series of smaller buildings filled the space illuminated by full spectrum lights overhead. Groups of near naked greenies basked under the lights, as though they were visiting a resort.
“What is this place?” Baker tried to map the space with only her organic mind. It was rare Intelligence got things so wrong—they’d be grilling her for details as soon as she got back.
“Home,” Sun said.
Baker surveyed the space, noticing there was no section devoted to food production. “Are there other caverns?”
“This is all the space we have.” Sun walked into the cavern. “You see we are no threat to your people.”
“But what about supplies?” Baker raced to catch up. “What do you guys eat?”
A group of shrieking children ran in front of them wearing only underpants. Each had a mop of black hair and skin so bright green, it would make an algae tank’s colour look washed out.
Sun laughed out loud and continued forward. Dodging the playing kids, Baker followed. She realized then that the greenies wouldn’t need food. Back when the generation ships arrived in the system, and before genetic tweaking became illegal, their ancestors had put chlorophyll into their skin. Instead of eating, the greenies just needed bright light for photosynthesis. All the greenies needed to survive was sunlight or a good enough power source to fake it.
Baker stepped ahead of Sun and turned to face her tour guide. She pulled herself up tall and stared down at the much shorter woman. “We went through so many corridors, there had to be a way to get out without bringing me to your home. So why am I here?”
“I want you to see that we are no threat.” Sun looked up at her, unintimidated.
“My orders are to investigate a subspace signal emanating from the former colony,” Baker said, unsatisfied with Sun’s answer. “The fact that you are here is irrelevant.”
“It’s important that you see.” Sun stepped around Baker and kept walking.
Baker frowned, glancing back the way she’d come. The group of kids were now playing their game in the tunnel’s mouth. Despite their greenness, the kids looked like any group of kids having fun. She turned and studied the adults. Some basked, some worked on their homes, others tended flower gardens. The entire scene was very domestic. Sun was right, these people posed no danger to anyone.
By the time Baker turned back towards Sun, the matron was already far ahead. Baker ran to catch up.
“Welcome to my home,” Sun said as she stepped through the open doorway of a round, free-standing hut. It appeared the same as every other one, with circular walls formed out of mud.
Baker followed Sun inside. A cosy interior welcomed her. Vining plants hung from hooks in the ceiling as bright light from outside filtered through their leaves just like real sunlight would. Hand-woven rugs covered the floor while pillows provided a seating area.
Sun gestured for Baker to sit down. “I’ll make us some tea.”
Baker settled with her back against the wall while Sun filled a kettle and put it on the simple burner inset into a counter. The front door remained open, giving a clear view of ‘outside.’
The pack of kids had moved their game into a central courtyard between homes. They shrieked and played as adults continued with their daily routine. It was pleasant to watch—but Baker wasn’t here for a holiday.
“Why bring me here?”
“There is still time.” Sun smiled. “And don’t worry, you’ll be going home soon.” The kettle boiled, and Sun turned to fix the tea.
Baker continued to gaze out the open door at the scene beyond. For the first time since the war began, Baker felt her body relax. Although these people had been altered, their little enclave felt peaceful and welcoming. She wished she’d grown up in a place like this.
A loud crash sounded from outside. Somewhere, a child screamed, and the crash sound morphed to the sound of motors.
“Shit!” Baker sprang to her feet and raced out of the hut.
The wall surrounding the corridor they’d entered the cavern through had collapsed. Spewed rubble littered the ground inside the habitat, but that wasn’t what Baker focused on. Instead, her eyes fixated on the machine pushing through the wall. She knew exactly what it was—one of her company’s tanks, the kind that would proceed a platoon of armoured soldiers.
“You need to run,” Baker shouted back to Sun. “Soldiers will be here soon to clear out your village. Tell me you have an escape plan.”
Sun ran out of the house, stopping beside Baker. “Yes.” Her words were steady, but her earlier confidence was gone. “We can hide in the network of corridors.”
With a roar of its engines, the tank rolled out of the hole and sped up over the nearest hut. The mud structure was no match; it disintegrated into a pile of dirt and scattered belongings. Baker hoped no one had been inside.
“Get your people out of here!” Baker shouted before she took off in a sprint towards the tank, staying out of sight by dodging behind huts as she went.
After rotating on the spot, the tank changed direction, filling the air with the sound of squealing metal. The metal monster lurched forward and through a flower garden as it aimed towards another home. Baker pictured the three-person crew laughing at the destruction they were causing, maybe even drawing a chalk outline of a hut on the inside of the hull. Counting someone’s home as a kill, as if it had been a fair fight.
A wave of regret washed over her; she’d done exactly that. On her missing armour, she’d etched a tally of kills. She was just as much of a monster as her peers.
“It can’t always be like this on the other side,” she said to herself as she waved panicked greenies towards where Sun was gathering them together.
Deep down, she knew it was always like this on the other side, whenever her cohort went down to a colony. Her briefings always included notes on how each colony was acting as spies for the other side or harbouring criminals or engaging in illegal human modifications. In that moment, she doubted any reason they had given her was really the truth. She was just a grunt, trained to follow orders—and she’d always followed those orders without question.
to be continued…
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