March of the Legion

O's found me. With every passing instant, the danger grew—movement, heat, metal, energy—even in this hellhole, the O's would find me. I knew it.

Stunned and despairing, I staggered along the beach; the pumice crackled underneath my boots. Thunder rattled my bones. Lava rain hissed down from the skies—fire in the heavens, rolling overhead. A distant volcano was erupting. A geyser of lava boomed out of the lake near the far shore, lighting up the scene. There was no life except for the deathbirds wheeling and croaking in the sky. Even the exosegs did not venture this far—this was a planetary graveyard, fit only for deathbirds and Legionnaires.

Past a steep rock wall, I found the falls—a golden, glittering torrent of molten lava shooting over the caldera's face, falling almost straight down to the lake, awesomely beautiful, hitting the surface with a continual thunder. How could anyone survive such a fall? How had I?

'Thinker.' It was a whisper. I stopped, confused. I could see nothing, only tortured rocks, black sands and a white-hot lava lake.

'Thinker.' Were the Gods mocking me? My faceplate filled with information and Sweety, my Persist, blinked the designation—Beta Nine. A form stepped forward from the rocks, an A-suited Legionnaire—Priestess! She ran into my arms and we met in a clash of armor, two prehistoric warbeasts in the kitchen of the Gods. She smiled behind the faceplate, but her cheeks were streaked with tears.

'Priestess! I can hardly believe it!' She was so real that my legs weakened. A lovely, enchanting girl with black, silky hair and hypnotic dark eyes.

'Thinker! God, I'm so glad! I'm so glad!' We stood there together, swaying in each other's arms. 'Hold me, Thinker! Hold me! Deadman, I thank you! I'll never leave the Legion, Thinker—never! I promised Deadman.'

Movement in the rocks. My adrenalin exploded. 'Beta Ten,' Sweety informed me immediately. My heart was in my throat. Priestess pulled away from me.

'It's Redhawk,' she informed me. 'He's all right, Thinker—he saved me! He pulled me from the lake. He saved my life, Thinker!'

We approached Beta Ten—Redhawk. He was lying on his back in the rocks, almost invisible in his camfax. I leaned over him. He grinned at me weakly. Sweat covered his forehead, but there was still fire in his eyes. Strands of sticky long hair were plastered over a pale splotchy face with a scraggly red beard.

'You earthers can't even pilot a raft,' he declared. 'Should have let me do it—you'd have had a soft landing.'

'How ya doin', Redhawk!' I could scarcely contain my joy. Redhawk had serious multiple injuries—but he was alive.

'The doll took good care of me—think I'll keep her.'

'She says you saved her, Redhawk.'

'Ha! Funny. I was just hanging on 'cause I didn't want to lose my mag supply.'

'We'll get you out of here, man, don't you worry—nothing's going to stop us!'

'Where's the rest of the guys?'

I did not answer him. I stole a glance over to Priestess, and she shook her head glumly. I looked around. Primeval chaos—lightning flickered in the distance. Fire in the sky.

'I suggest you get under cover quickly, Thinker,' Sweety said. 'This is an extremely dangerous area.'

'Where do you suggest we go?' Sweety usually had good ideas. She had been programmed to do my thinking for me.

'We are in the vicinity of the starport. Search the shoreline and the cliffs for an entrance.'

'It's good advice. Priestess?' I turned to her.

'What about Redhawk?' she asked me.

'Can you walk, Redhawk?'

'I can fly, Thinker. As high as the sky. But I can't walk. Not any more.' He sighed, and looked up at the dark sky.

'I have to stay with him, Thinker,' Priestess informed me.

'Tenners, Nine,' I replied. 'I'm going to recon the shore. Sweety's right, we've got to get under cover. Stay there in the rocks and don't move. I'll be back, I promise—I'll be back!' I reached out and touched her, hand to hand, one last time, and then I turned and crunched away along the pumice shoreline. It was hard to leave her behind like that.

###

I could see it from the beach and it turned my blood cold. I waded out into the molten lava and got a grip on a jagged shard of metal and pulled it to shore. There was no mistaking it—it was cenite planking from the deck of the Beyond. I had found a tiny fragment of our raft. It had been ripped and torn by tremendous forces. I released my grip and let it fall to the black sands. It was an evil omen, I knew.

'Alert! Lifeform! Muffled signals! Legion camfax! Beta One and Five ahead!' Sweety was on top of it this time. She highlighted their location on my faceplate.

'One! It's Three,' I whispered. 'Hold your fire!' I scrambled off the narrow beach and up a steep slope of loose rocks. Snow Leopard and Psycho were barely visible, two lumpy volcanic rocks, blending in perfectly with their surroundings. The A-suit camfax is excellent. A lightning flash lit up their faceplates. There was lunacy in Psycho's eyes and a raging fire in Snow Leopard's.

'Go to ground, Trooper,' Snow Leopard ordered. 'Don't move.' I dropped, and froze.

'Good to see you, guys!' I ventured.

'Likewise,' Snow Leopard replied. 'Report!'

'Nine and Ten survived. They're hiding on the shore, waiting for my return. Ten can't walk.'

'What about Six?' Snow Leopard demanded. I could see his face behind the faceplate—deathly pale flesh, a lock of white-blond hair, and hot pink eyes that glowed like coals.

'I haven't seen him.'

'Damn. Neither have we. Any equipment saved from the boat?'

'I found a torn-up piece of the deck—that's all.'

'We've located a way out. It may be an entrance to the base,' Snow Leopard said. 'It may be undefended. We've got to get in there quick.'

'You have! What about Six?'

'Yeah. What direction did you come from?'

'Uhh…Northeast from here, along the shoreline; the lavafall is back there.'

'No sign of Warhound?'

'Nothing from the falls to here.'

'I'm not leaving Warhound.' It was Psycho. He had been silent up to that point. I don't know why, but his voice brought a chill to my flesh. Psycho was a little guy, but he carried a great big gun. He had short blond hair and pale blue eyes that never seemed to be quite with us.

'You'll do what you're told,' Snow Leopard replied. 'Nobody's leaving anybody. Three, we've been two K up the shore to the southwest—he's not there.'

'Deadman.' I tried to deal with the thought. Beta Six—Warhound—was dead. I could hardly comprehend it. He had been with us so long, he was a part of us.

'I'm not leaving Warhound.' Psycho just sat there, a child of chaos, clutching his Manlink. I was glad I did not have to deal with Psycho—he was Beta One's headache. A sharp triple explosion boomed overhead. Dark volcanic skies, blotting out the sun.

'Aircraft,' Sweety informed me. 'Readings unclear.'

'Death,' Psycho commented. It was so instinctive he probably did not even realize he had said it.

'All right, Thinker,' Snow Leopard said. 'Let's get Priestess and Redhawk over here.'

'I'll need some help with Redhawk.'

'We go together. Psycho, get off your ass. Maybe we can spot Warhound on the way. Let's go.'

Chapter 3: