Blue War by Thomas Jeffrey

Author:Thomas, Jeffrey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Forma Street Press
Published: 2016-08-14T16:00:00+00:00

FIFTEEN: THE BENEATH

Before their party left for Bluetown, Stake asked for a suit of camouflage like the soldiers wore so he wouldn’t ruin his clothes. He was given one without any problems. Good; he’d been hoping to come by a uniform by some means or other. One never knew when it might come in handy. Seeing this, David Bright asked for a uniform, too. In his case, his concern for his expensive five-piece suit was more reasonable.

Seeing the two civilians in their camouflage, Colonel Dominic Gale said to Henderson, “What the blast, Rick? Is this a tourist outing or what?”

Bright spoke up edgily before Henderson could. “This situation concerns me, colonel, in case you hadn’t seen the effigies of me they’re parading through the streets of two nations.”

“I’m talking more about the snoop.” Gale jutted his goateed chin toward Stake.

“We’ve been through that, Dom,” Henderson said. “There’s no harm in using every available resource, is there?”

“Resource,” Gale snorted. He switched his hot gaze to Bright’s bodyguard. The seven-foot KeeZee just glowered right back at him. He was the only one in the party not wearing camouflage, his natty black suit and black turtleneck an odd match for his monkey wrench head and amber-beaded dreadlocks. The alien’s sharp-cornered jacket was unfastened and Stake had glimpsed the holster of a sidearm in there, besides the pump-action shotgun he carried in his hands. Gale broke their eye contact first, turning away to board the troop transport craft that would fly them out to Bluetown.

The last person to board, running to catch up, was the outpost’s science chief Ami Pattaya. Stake would have expected her to wear a short skirt and heels on even a mountain climbing expedition, but she was in camouflage herself. Still, she managed to make a fashion statement of it, her pants tight across her rear, of course, and a ponytail hanging out the back of the camouflage cap she wore. It made her look adorable, and Stake decided he needed a cap, too. He took note that Henderson and Gale were wearing them as well.

Ami wedged herself in beside Stake. Gale was up front, and glanced back at them, but the man seemed to be perpetually boiling inside his own skin and so it was hard for Stake to judge if he were any more angry to see them sitting together. When Gale turned forward again, Ami gave Stake’s thigh a quick squeeze.

The flier touched down on Jin Haa land, though one wouldn’t know it anymore from the way it had been transmogrified. Specifically, this was the spot upon which Bright’s Simulacrum Systems team had thought to grow the condominium complex that had instead developed into Bluetown. The epicenter of the runaway process. It was also the center from which a new, secondary development was spreading.

Looking out the windows as those up front began to file out, Ami said, “You can see it’s a good thing this village project was so remote. If it had been closer to Di Noon, Bluetown would already be flattening it.

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