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Earth. He was still amazed at the blackness, the total lack of
twinkling stars. Oh, he knew the twinkling was the
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atmospheric interference from a planet, but still, strange as it
was, it was just as beautiful.
Ganymede's shadow skipped across the surface of its
Jovian mother, while just in view, a plume of icy steam shot
off Io's northern hemisphere. Jack tore his gaze away from
the stellar portrait, and swirled the rum in his glass, looking
closely at it. The light amber color, much like the surface of
Io's western plains. He looked back at Edge. "Sorry, the view
is just so beautiful here."
"Yeah, but I'd rather have the blue and green of Earth," he
laughed. "I'd even take Europa's freezing ice scape over this."
He shrugged at the screen. "Tell me more." He too loved the
view, but he wanted to touch the grass of Earth again, and
smell real air. He wanted to walk in a meadow, and hear the
sounds of birds, not the incessant hum of the powerful
generators that lay in the bowels of this base.
Jack smiled. "Tell you more. It's a long story, and could
take days." He picked up his glass and tipped it into his
mouth, trying to get the last vapors of rum. He tossed the
useless glass into a disposal tube.
"We have time, Jack," Edge rolled over and got
comfortable. "Besides, we could both die and then I'd never
know." He rested his head on his crossed arms, staring at
Jack.
"Tell you what, I'll tell you all I know of the origins of the
Dark Robe Society, and when I finish," he gave Edge a
piercing stare, then gestured at him, "you'll tell me
everything about yourself."
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"Deal," Edge nodded emphatically. "But, now I want to
hear more about you."
Jack glanced away a moment, wishing he had another
bottle of rum. He looked back at Edge, trying for a moment,
to ignore his lover's desire to know more. "You'll leave
nothing out," Jack said, his tone calm, but warning, as he
locked his gaze on Edge.
"I'll leave nothing out, Jack." Edge didn't blink, nor did he
take his eyes from Jack's. You can trust me.
"Are you comfortable?" Jack asked, putting his feet up on
the small table in front of his chair. He cast a look at the
door, making sure the red light still indicated the door was
sealed and they wouldn't be interrupted. "I can tell more
about me by telling more about the Society, since I was born
at nearly the beginning of it all."
"Yes," Edge fluffed up a flattened pillow and placed it
under his head. "And this had better be good, since you are
skirting the issue again." He turned on his side and propped
himself up on an elbow. "I want to learn a lot about you and
this may be the only chance we have to talk about this ...
until our war is over, at least."
Jack closed his eyes, and waited for Edge to hush. The
silence that settled over the room was only interrupted by an
occasional 'blip' from the vid-screen. Then Jack opened his
mouth and began to speak. "The Society never started out as
a benign thing." Jack gripped the armrests and lay back
against the chair. "Ernst Venderhem never had any great
thoughts of uniting the peoples of Earth in peace, making a
world without war, disease, violence. His total plan was to
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dominate the world, with him as sole ruler, his mind intact
from the very beginning, immortal, all powerful. All that stood
in his way, well they would be fodder for his armies."
Edge sat up and just listened, trying to take it all in.
"I'm talking about his armies. I don't mean us. I don't
mean the everyday clones, or even the assassins, such as
you were. I don't mean the replacements, who are now
world leaders, Presidents, generals, special UN envoys, or
even the leaders of OPEC, which, they themselves are just a
small tool for the OIL. I mean, the hidden mutants beasts
that even now, prepare for war."
He forced a smile at Edge and closed his eyes,
remembering. "I've had dreams of them. I don't know why
this is happening, but I suspect it has to do with our like
nature, or something else. I don't know if I'll ever know some
of the things that make us what we are. But the dreams I am
having, and dreadful things I have seen..." He got up and
went to the screen and panned the camera toward a dark and
empty space. "Earth is out there in this view somewhere. On
that planet, right now, an army readies itself."
"Jack, I've never heard anything about a mutant army or
anything you're talking about." Edge silently hoped Jack had
not suddenly lost his sanity. But he felt he knew Jack very
well now, and he brushed that thought from his mind
immediately.
Jack smiled, but Edge could not see it. He turned around a
moment and caught Edge's stare. "No one has. Who are we,
that we should have even a hint of them?" He turned around
sharply and stared at the black screen. "They are there, they
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by Angela Fiddler, Jason Edding [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]