The Wanderer

(c) R Wood 2002

62

The door opened an hour or so later and the brightness from outside was so intense that it blinded me and made my head throb. There had to be floodlights outside and I winced as I turned away and covered my eyes. K'rth and Obie came in and closed the door behind them, but I could barely see them due to the spots.

"You're looking well!" K'rth said as he came over and clasped my shoulder again. "I'm glad to see it!"

"I guess sleeping for a week or two helped," I answered. A moment later Obie came over and wrapped his arms around me, squashing me to his chest. On the good side, he was careful and didn't break anything on me this time.

"Glad you okay!" he boomed and teared up. More like I felt it, because something wet splattered onto my head and he isn't one to drool unless he's angry. I patted him on the chest to make him let go because it was getting hard to breathe.

"I'm okay," I yelled and he let go. "So who are these guys and what do they want from us?"

"We are the 'guests' of a SLA community," K'rth answered. "Although they haven't issued any demands, I have no doubt that they will want something in return for their assistance."

I didn't like the emphasis he put on "guest," but it figured that there would be some debts owed.

"That's fine, as long as we don't have to do anything too illegal," I said as I looked around. There was a stack of clothing on a chair and I went over to look through it, finding that I was the only one they'd possibly fit. The stiffness in my back and hips made it rough, but I managed to shrug out of the frock and loose pants I had been wearing and pulled on a pair of pants with a button down shirt. There were also a pair of boots and I looked at them carefully before pulling them on. I was glad that something of mine had survived, although they certainly showed a lot of wear and tear.

"So McNeil and Casper are dead. What about Bayer? Did you get him?"

"Sadly, I'm not sure," K'rth answered as he paced. "We had to evacuate the craft too hastily to confirm his death, but I used some of the explosives we confiscated rather liberally. It's possible that he may have been able to evacuate."

The idea that we may or may not have gotten the people we were after didn't make me happy, but there were other things that were more important.

"Gael. Did you find her?" I asked.

"No," he answered sadly.

"Mac? What about-"

"We weren't able to retrieve MacReady either," K'rth interrupted and I felt a spike of heat behind my eyes when he spoke. Damn it, all of this HAD happened for absolutely nothing.

"What about his Claymore?" I asked. "His sister would want it and-"

"I looked for it, but wasn't able to find it," he said and I noticed he was no longer meeting my eyes. That was fine because mine were starting to water and I wasn't able to look at any of my friends' eyes.

"Did the Ebon - Theopolus make it?" I made myself ask. By forcing myself to talk, I was holding back either choking or yelling. Frustration and grief were tightening my throat and I wasn't sure if I really wanted any answers at all.

"I don't know," Nix said. "Once he left with you, we didn't see him again."

"Damn it, we don't know much of anything do we? At best it's a damn draw," I blurted, now fully disgusted. My voice was unsteady as I spoke and what I said came out blurted and slightly incoherent. "We killed a handful of Interceptors and lost two people - two friends-for absolutely nothing."

"Yes."

"I need some air," I said as I walked out of the room to find someplace quiet.

The bright walls made me squint, but I managed to navigate to what looked like a restroom and closed the door. That was when the grief really hit me and I had to accept the fact that people I cared about were gone. It would have been easier to blame Cloak, Dark Night, or even God but that would have just been a dodge. The blame belonged entirely to me and it was something that I'd have to learn to live with.

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