Cross of the Legion by Marshall S. Thomas Page B

could say. I was stunned. She looked up with glazed eyes, too tired to talk. Then I could see the light dawning. It was beautiful to watch.
    "Wester!" she croaked. "Is it really you?"
    "Bet your ass! Get up, Tara. Get on my back, if you can't walk. I'll carry you! I'll carry you a hundred K if I have to! Let's go!"
    She got up and a gigantic O came right out of that burning forest, violet force field crackling, wreathed in flames like some kind of creature from Hell, unloosing a wild volley of X. It impacted all around us, spraying us with shrapnel. I felt a big piece bang onto my armor, and I snapped my E to my shoulder and fired a mighty barrage of canister. The evil little darts buzzed like supersonic bees, chilling my blood, lighting up his force field. The field flickered, weakening. The whole squad fired at it, an evil highway of canister darts, xmax and laser. I fired x and the force field burst open, flicking off. The O went down. It shrieked—a lovely sound! I seized Tara by one arm and we ran wildly to the evac point.
    We all arrived at the same time. It was a wide field with knee-high grass that was swirling wildly from some unearthly breeze, but the Kiss was not there. Nothing was there! I ran into the field, looking up into the sky—nothing!
    I slammed into something violently and went down hard. I looked up in a daze and the Kiss was hovering above me. I had run right into one wing. I had forgotten the damned thing was invisible until you were right on it.
    "Get in!"
    "Get up, Thinker! We'll set up a flashing arrow for you next time!"
    We leaped into the assault locks and the doors slammed shut behind us as the Kiss lifted off. If any surviving O's were watching, they were probably wondering where we had gone. I was ecstatic, collapsing against the wall bench, looking around the crowded compartment, now tangled with a whole squad of troopers and equipment, a chaotic scene. Tara was right beside me, gasping in exhaustion.
    "Priestess, it's Tara!" I shouted.
    "Kiss, cover our evac," Valkyrie ordered.
    "That's a ten, commence evac, I've got the targets, we're going after them." The car lurched as we began our firing run.
    "Is this an airlock?" One of the Legion survivors knelt before me, his hands still cuffed behind him. He was sweating and filthy and bearded but his eyes were blazing. He obviously had something to say.
    "Tenners," I replied, "This is a shuttle, we assault from the airlock."
    "Keep it closed! Don't contaminate the ship! Keep it closed! Keep the helmets on! Don't unlink! Take us into the vac and purge the airlock! If you let it loose, we all die! Do you understand?"
    "Yeah," I replied. "Yeah, I do. Redhawk, keep the inner airlock sealed. Repeat that to Miss Miss. After they board, do not open the inner door until you hear from us, keep the troops in the airlock, confirm."
    "Big ten, Thinker."
    "Dragon, Thinker," I said. "Did you hear that?"
    We were lucky—extremely lucky.

Chapter 4
Tracks in the Dust of Time

    "We were in A-suits almost a month," Tara said. "I can't recommend it." She was in an airbed in the body shop of the Spawn , floating on a thick current of air, head supported by a large, snowy-white pillow. She was looking considerably better, although still pale and hollow-cheeked. The thin layer of slime was gone, and her auburn hair was clean. We were all gathered around her, everyone who had known her in Beta—Priestess and me, Dragon, Psycho, Valkyrie, Scrapper, Redhawk and Twister. Even Snow Leopard was there, leaning against the bulkhead. We all owed her our lives—some of us more than once.
    "At first we hid out down in the mines, and ditched the A-suits. We were afraid we'd be spotted. But we'd go out for recons. Then when we saw what was happening, we suited up and stayed that way." She sighed, and looked up at the overhead. A strange, fragile beauty, even now, wasted and emaciated, she still possessed that awful, unearthly beauty. It was almost as if she were a separate