Roy 9.odt



CHAPTER 9



ROY



Much had happened today, first the agonizing hours at school, waiting for the inevitable meeting with his parents, then the actual events at Ma Swanson's boathouse and him making good on his threat to run away.

Now he found himself near the White Head Mountain range, which no one had really explored so far, without having any idea how he had ended up here.

The mountains before him were a breathtaking sight. Most of the planet's other mountains were not as high and were completely covered with Jungle growth, but the White Head Mountains reached well past the growing zone. Mount Tradiderias was named after the Saresii expedition leader who had died here after he and his crew discovered Green Hell and landed here many thousands of years ago. It was the highest of this range and reached over 7000 meters into the sky.

He had heard that this wasn't very high for a real mountain and that there were Planets out there with much higher ones, but he had never seen any of them.

"That white stuff up there is a substance called snow. After we have figured out how we got here, Partner, we'll go up there and check it out. I've always wanted to touch snow."

Again there was this surging feeling and the next thing he knew was being thrown off Partner's back, landing face first in a blinding white soft mass.

It was cold! It was frikking cold.

Roy jumped to his feet like a steel coil and found himself knee deep in this cold white stuff, on the very top of Mount Tradiderias.

The vista was so unbelievably beautiful that he forgot everything else. The air was thin and as cold as the snow, steamy puffs of condensation created by his breath were ripped from his lips by a stiff breeze. Maxwell, the GIIIa type Yellow sun of the System, begun to settle at the horizon, bathing the mountains in a golden wash of light. He could see Green Jungles all the way to the curving horizon in every direction, only interrupted by the shimmering surfaces of rivers and huge lakes.

Partner stood right next to him and through Roy's eyes and feeling of amazement enjoyed the view as well.

The truth dawned to Roy. The Animal was telepathically gifted and he knew about teleportation. Could it be? "Partner, did you bring us here?"

<p lang="en-US">The Animal sneezed happily and it was clear that it was proud of itself.

<p lang="en-US">"So you can teleport! I wonder what other surprises you hide." He patted the thick neck and grinned, "Sure beats walking and they'll never find me now for sure. But from now on, my black pelted friend, don't teleport with me unless I really say so. Otherwise I might end up in the Senior Cheerleader's locker room or scare the living daylights out of Ma Swanson."

<p lang="en-US">Partner sneezed again.

<p lang="en-US">Roy knelt down and touched the snow with curiosity, "Father once said how he misses the seasons and snow in the winter. I wonder why anyone would miss this cold stuff!"

<p lang="en-US">Thinking of his father made him think of his situation and his throat restricted as if something hard was stuck in his wind pipe.

<p lang="en-US">He wiped the tears away and said, "No use feeling sorry for myself, they sure don't. I bet they are glad I am gone. I was just in the way."

<p lang="en-US">Partner nudged him in the side with his head and then tenderly licked him.

<p lang="en-US">

It was almost dark when Roy found a cave. At first he wondered why the first visitors to this world did not land on the mountains, as it seemed there was nothing really dangerous there. But then his sense of danger made him aware of patches with violent ice worms in the snow and he found that not all boulders were just inanimate objects, but cleverly disguised huge relatives to the Blister crabs. Green Hell was what it was even here in the mountain region.

The idea to make a cave his home was a good one at first, but now as he stood before the dark crack that appeared to be the entrance of a cave, even he didn't feel brave enough to actually find out what Green Hell life forms lurked in there.

To Partner he said, "Well Uncle Sam was right, there are caves but I didn't even bring a light and I don't think it is a good idea to go in there."

Partner snorted and with two fast strides disappeared inside. Roy pulled his blaster and went after his friend. As tough as he knew his friend was, there could always be something that was tougher and more dangerous. His four legged friend surprised him with his abilities all the time and now was no difference. The short tubby horns on Partners skull were glowing with a bright white light and illuminated a cavern of about twenty meters in diameter. It smelled dry and musky.

Pieces of something pelted and bloody stuck between Partners wide chops, streaks of dark blood down the animal's chest proved that Partner had encountered something in this cave. Whatever it was didn't have a chance so it became apparent. Partner was neither distressed nor wounded or upset. He sat there on his hind legs and looked as pleased with himself as ever.

After an inspection of the cavern his instincts told him it was reasonably safe. He didn't find any passage way deeper into the mountain, so he bedded down next to Partner who now was settling down as well, between him and the cave entrance. He had spent a few nights outside before, but never to bed down and sleep. This was the first time he had actually closed his eyes to sleep while outside. He was more tired than he wanted to admit to himself. More emotionally drained than physically and soon sleep came to him and he slept, with a big black paw gently placed over his side and dark red eyes glowing watchfully towards the cave entrance.

Ranger Salomon, Martha and Paul Steward arrived at Sam Brown's Farm as the local sun was just about to slip behind the horizon. Martha had never seen the place and now she looked over the neat rows of cultivated fields, surrounded by only a twelve meter high energy fence and not a complete energy dome. The most unusual sight to her was the log home in the center. Not an Ultronit construct but a house, a genuine house made of wooden logs, with a smoking chimney. Paul was all excited as it looked like something out of his Pre Astro books.

The tall black man stood on his porch and waved his raised finger, "Not a step further!" Martha and Paul wore full gear as usual and stomped their armor suits from the landed armor floater across the packed dirt path.

The black man said, "Not a step further, folks. My home isn't an Ultronit shell you know. It isn't built for Off World Geeks in 8,000 pound monkey suits." He eyed them with open contempt, "If it isn't the Masters, Roy's parents. I am the bad influence. Used to be a dumb brute, as you call us Marines, ain't that right? I am the one who pulled you out of the wreckage too, if you recall." Sam Brown raised his massive arms, "Oh right, you are too busy to call your son or me to say anything."

Martha showed she was much braver than Paul and opened her Suit, and stepped down from it and onto the reddish dirt. Wearing just a Bio Seal suit like Sam Brown did. Paul almost fainted as he saw his wife completely exposed. There was no force field above them and Martha was breathing the real air of the planet for the first time since she had landed here seventeen years ago. The fresh breeze of natural wind and a sweet flowery scent felt strangely invigorating.

"Mr. Brown, we know we have acted like social recluses and we have used words and did things we are not proud of. Things that only became apparent to me as I was forced to look into the mirror and see our own reflection. Whatever we have been can't be changed and we will try to remedy our behavior in the future, but right now our son Roy is missing. We know he thinks the world of you." She continued without taking a breath, "I begin to realize now that you have been a better adult influence in his life than we have been."

Sam completely ignored Paul and the Ranger and said, stepping to the side, "Come on in Ms. Masters. I think it is time you and I have a long talk about Roy. I have fresh Hell-aide, or something stronger if you wish, and we can sit on the veranda."

She watched with horror as an arm long centipede slithered over the path and into the low green plants she recognized as Fire Nettle Bushes, neatly planted in rows and obviously cultivated. Sam had seen it too and said, "No worries Ms. Masters this is Lockjaw, one of a few thousand living around here, hunting for Vamp Fly larvae and Suck-Painers. Not interested in you at all."

With cramped fists, and to the amazement of her husband, Martha walked the eight meters and climbed the short steps.

The Ranger turned, "It seems I am not needed here. I will be in town in case you need me."

Paul Masters finally found words, "What about me?"

Sam said, "Why would a grown man ask such a question, with a voice that sounded as if he was close to tears? You can go with the Ranger, stay where you are as long as you want or come in, like your wife did. Without the suit of course."

Paul Masters thought about it and decided that he was not ready yet to leave the comfort and safety of his suit, but standing there seemed foolish. Martha said with a strong edge in her tone, "I have been out of my suit for less than five minutes but I begin to see us the way the locals see us." Then she sighed and said, "Go home Paul. I'll call you when I am done here or get out of that suit and come up here! I have not been harmed as you can see."

Paul Masters had never thought of himself as a coward or a wimp, but the fear that knotted his throat told him otherwise. All he had to do was to release the suits seals and walk a distance of six or seven meters. He could not do it. So he did what Martha said and followed the Ranger. He wondered if he could ever look into her eyes again without feeling shame, and for the first time, science was no longer on his mind at all.

Martha watched her husband climb into the Ranger's floater and Sam said, "No worries about Roy, he will survive. There is no sense in searching for him tonight, but you and I can look for him tomorrow. I have a feeling he is headed for the White Head Mountains and we should be able to pick him up somewhere along the Shore of Vast Lake."

The floater disappeared over the top of the Jungle and into the incredibly beautiful dark red painted sky. Martha was still very tense. Her suit had closed itself and stood like a deactivated robot out there. To get to it she would have to cross the same distance again. The black man wore his bio suit with the sleeves rolled up. His suit had the exact same camouflage pattern as she had seen Roy wearing. He produced a glass pitcher and two glasses, filled them with ice cubes and a dark red clear liquid. He pointed at it and said, "Drink!" His voice left no room for doubt, it was an order. In the lab and in her field she was quite accustomed to giving orders, but not here in the presence of this towering man that oozed an almost primeval flair of true Terran aggressive, male readiness from his very being. She took a sip and then eagerly drained most of the glass, it was that good. A tarty fresh taste that was somewhere between Cherry and Cranberry with a hint of lime but the overall taste was something completely new and absolutely delicious.

"This is delicious! What is it?"

Sam Brown flashed his white teeth, "It is called Hell-aide and is something your son came up with. Made from Hell Berries."

She choked, "You're saying this is from a local plant? Everything here is poisonous!"

"Silly arrogant scientist! You and your kind haven't even begun to analyze one tenth of what is out there and you already claim to know that everything is poisonous. What kind of generalization is that?"

She swallowed at that logical irrefutable critique and said meekly, "Roy made this?"

"The Hell Stinger bushes have deadly stingers, deadly roots, leaves filled with nettle hairs that make a Terran Jellyfish sting feel like a relief. Yet the berries it produces are perfectly eatable and, as you found out, delicious." He replenished her glass and said, "Roy came up with the idea, pressed the juice, and blended it with water and 'Hey Presto'."

"I do not know what to say..."

He snorted, "And that from a woman who claims to know everything about Green Hell."

"I never claimed..." She stopped and said, "Well it appears the Ivory tower we built for ourselves seems quite real and becomes only apparent if you look at it from the outside." She looked at the glass and almost whispered, "I forgot my own son, but it wasn't always like that, back when I made the decision to have a child the traditional way and only now I remember how much I loved that little thing that came out of me."

The man sitting across the table said nothing and he had almost melted into the long shadows of the impeding night. She simply kept talking. But she still was a scientist and that what defined her and she said, "How come you can survive out here? In a house made of wood?"

"It's wood of the Tantalus oaks; the Ants hate it and stay away from it. The beasts of the Jungle have accepted the fence and only occasionally something runs into it." Just then something flew towards the porch and with a bright flash burned to nothing and he laughed, "That doesn't mean this is a harmless place free of danger. I just learned to live with it and those open windows of mine are guarded with effective force fields as you just saw." He made a gesture in the dark, moving his hand across the cleared land, "I am not a Greenie like Roy, but I too have learned to live with the planet and not against it."

"You think he will be alright?" she asked, "He isn't really a Greenie you know."

"Have you not seen him, being outside? Your son is the quintessential Greenie, Fiercely proud of his world; instinctively he knows what is dangerous and what is not. I was a Marine and I have visited 1000 different worlds, fought in Jungles with beasts, men and other sentient beings; there is no world like Green Hell anywhere."

She nodded. "I know that, that is why we are here researching what we call the 'Green Hell Question'. Not even after all these years of research can we explain the conditions of this world."

"Because you're looking at it with a Micro viewer and don't see the big picture. It's like looking at a jig saw puzzle piece by piece and trying to guess what the whole thing might look like instead of taking a step back and looking at it from a distance."

She was glad it was dark, so he black man across her could not see her face. This man she always dismissed as being just another mindless soldier, had a keen mind and maybe he was right. Maybe it was time someone took a step back and correlated all the data and all the research and filtered it for a true common denominator and went on from there.

She had never known Green Hell had red dirt, before she had seen the exposed ground. She had no idea that parts of certain plants could be consumed, or that the unstoppable ants could be kept at bay with the smell of a certain wood. Maybe Saresii experts would need to look into this Sense of Danger Greenies claimed they had. Martha, who knew her son did not have the necessary HPI to manifest Psionic talents, must indeed have this sense. How else could he survive out there? If he was indeed alive.

Sam reached for her hand and patted it, "I see what you are thinking. I simply know he is alive and tomorrow we'll find him."

She believed him but said, "How can you be sure and how will you find him, where Marines and the Ranger have failed?"

"Lady, I know because I know Roy and I know in my heart he is alive. As for the Ranger and the Marines. These are Privates of the Expeditionary Marine Division." There was a gentle tone of amusement in his tone, "Good boys they are indeed, but they are not United Stars Marines, to you all the same I know. Yet there is a world of difference. Besides I've got a secret weapon."

She actually knew there was a difference, Expeditionary Marines were trained for the Explorer Fleet of the Science Corps and received similar but not the same training as Combat Marines attached to the Fleet. She said, "What secret weapon?"

"Charles of course."

"The robot you supposedly gave him?"

"Oh I did give Charles to Roy. He's got the owner license and everything to prove it too. You do know what Charles is, right? He and Henry saved your live just very recently."

"Yes I remember and I should have thanked you too! Charles is a Fight robot, right?"

"Charles is a Cerberus IV Main Battle Robot with all the weapons except the TL Cannon."

"So he is a weapon of destruction what good will that do to find Roy?"

"It found you and your husband. Charles is not just a weapon. It is the finest piece of equipment SII ever came up with in its time. What good is a weapon without a brain or good eyes? Charles is at least as smart as your Lab Computronic and has the finest sensors. If he has the correct life form data, he could find a single ant on this planet, eventually of course and after weeks of scanning."

She didn't believe him, "We've got the best Life form detectors and could not determine a human life form past 100 meters in those Jungles."

"What is the budget of the entire Science Council, Corps and all?"

"I happen to know it is 90 Trillion Credits annually," Her voice sounded proud and confident. "We are well-funded as the Assembly considers Science paramount!"

"True that, Lady. The Fleet alone however gets almost 40 percent of the Union GDP. The Cerberus program alone is worth more than the Science Council budget. Only very few people are licensed to own a real Cerberus no matter how old. You probably could equip your lab with the newest and latest hardware, buy a few flyers and run the entire Green Hell Institute budget for a year for the price you had to pay for an IV."

She was speechless but could simply not accept the facts the facts the old Marine had told her and so she checked it on her GalNet PDD right there in front of him. Her GalNet search confirmed every bit and as she saw the going price for a Cerberus IV, she gasped. "You gave my son a present worth 5 Million Credits?"

"No Ma'am I made your son an equal partner in Sam Brown's Farms LTD and the Robot was part of his share, your husband signed the permission." Sam giggled," I bet he didn't read it, when Roy handed it to him."

Martha knew this was most likely true and didn't get into this any further. "So Charles will find Roy?"

"As I said the machine found you and there is no machine more dedicated to its owner than Charles."

"It is a robot is it not?"

Sam sighed, "You civilians truly have no clue what a Cerberus is or can do. These machines were designed to fight the Y'All. Charles fought with me against the Pertharians before they became Union members. A Cerberus is capable of reacting to new situations, and adjusting its own programming, directing its repair Nanites to adjust and remanufacture its equipment to fit the situation if necessary and it is smart, very smart. Charles has over eighty percent of his program and loyalty routines dedicated to Roy. Henry who has been my IV for over 20 years now has dedicated 40 percent to me and that is way beyond the 20 percent Factory setting."

This was way beyond Martha's expertise, but she understood that Roy was special to the robot and that gave her hope, "Why can't we send out the machines right now?"

"Because we don't want to scare or spook anything around Roy at night. This is still Green Hell and if he found a place to sleep, he can't react fast enough before the robots reach him. Besides I want to know what you will do once we find him. Until now I have had a good mind to leave Roy out there where he is happy."

"We will change many things. Paul and I are going to leave but I think we can leave him behind on Green Hell and let him make his own decisions. I believe I have even changed my mind in terms of his career choice and perhaps he would be a good Ranger or a Marine.

Sam's white teeth seemed to glow in the dark, "If Roy enrolls in the Corps, I am certain he will make a damn fine Marine one day, Ms. Masters. Someone you can be proud of even if he never joins you at the Hive of Minds." He then got up, "Call your cowardly husband and tell him you will have dinner here and then we will search for Roy after the Sun's up."

Again there was nothing for Martha to do other than to obey. Martha didn't know it but there were few who ever argued with former Gunnery Sergeant Samuel Ironside Brown of the United Stars Marine Corps.