THE GUARDSMAN: Book 2: Blood Debts – Chapters 58

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The Guardsman, Book 2: Blood Debts:

Chapter 58)

While the tide of people receded from his office Phyllip slumped into his chair, covering his eyes with his hand. His Guardsmen orbited the room and cleared the last of the visitors, while Jonas sat quietly next to the reclining Major who silently watched the last of them filter out the door.

Thomys stood with his folders in his left hand and lifted the chair with the other. He carried the two around to the window side of the desk, sat, and opened the top folder on the corner of the desk.

Phyllip grumbled as Thomys settled by the side of the desk in his transplanted chair, “Did you have fun playing with those bureaucratic pinheads?”

Thomys shrugged easily, “The Terraforming Commission is about as much fun as you’re having today.”

Phyllip spoke from behind his hand, “What a day, I can’t believe it is not even ten in the morning yet.”

Thomys teased, “Don’t worry Phyllip, lots of hours left in the day for more things to go wrong still.”

Phyllip sighed, “Thanks. I can’t believe I just let that reprehensible human being walk out of my office like that. Tell me some good news, please. You are back early so we are either going to war or we are doing pretty well.”

Thomys smiled before replying, “Don’t worry about letting him go. You just hurt him worse than any other way you could imagine. People like that are more hurt by losing what they consider theirs than any other punishment. And that fellow is not only going to lose it, but he is going to be forced to do it himself and help you. You just slapped him with the worst kind of double torture for that guy. And he still has the headsman’s sword hanging over him.”

After a sigh, Phyllip agreed, “I guess you’re right…”

Thomys teased, “And it was very Machiavellian of you,” Phyllip looked up from his discontent, “You diverted blame from ‘The Prince’ to corrupt subordinates. Where it belongs in this case by the way, and promised swift public vengeance and judicious compensation for those wronged. Actually, I think that was a rather artful touch. You butchered the guilty and came off smelling like roses. The unwashed masses will love you for it.”

A father’s frustration shining through, Phyllip groaned, “Thank you. Persephone just keeps finding these little pet projects of hers,” his tone changed to a cheerfully theatrical sarcasm, “‘Making the world a better place one interview at a time’ and dropping them into my lap to clean up. She has already committed us to rework the Hegemony’s safety regulations as ‘activist shareholders’ with her little smelter stunt a few months ago. So we need to figure out how to work all that out! And that was back before that infernal reporter started following her around and broadcasting everything. So now we’re under time and public relations constraints to boot! And I just found out the other day she did surprise inspections on several of our reactors in between, isn’t that fun.” Phyllip sighed, changing subjects, “So that den of thieves and liars saw the light of our reason and will not judge against us?”

Thomys shrugged noncommittally, “Partly, I settled the border issue with the Terraforming Commission. The pricks from the Celestas League are still whining about the border from that whooping we handed them over the last few years. The new worlds will fall into our sphere. I give war a one-in-three chance.”

Jonas realized they were not only talking about Earth when they referenced a ‘den of thieves and liars’, but they were parceling out whole solar systems like they were playing checkers or pick-up sticks.

Thomys continued, “Your friend on the Captain’s couch made a chip for you and handed it to me before I left his ship. He told me ‘It is for High Commander Lord Chroynos’ eyes only’; He was very mysterious about the whole thing and said, ‘It can’t even be known the chip is in existence’.”

Phyllip droned, “Interesting. I’ll look at the chip later.” Thomys tossed the chip to slide along the desk and Phillip palmed it into his pocket. Phyllip perked up, “Well the rest of that’s good news, an improvement at least from the three-in-three odds of war we were looking at before you left. Make sure the ready division…”

Phyllip was interrupted by the loud and forced clearing of the Major’s throat, next to Jonas. Phyllip and Thomys had both forgotten that Jonas was quietly sitting in the room as they started talking about troop movements. Thomys spoke to Phyllip first, “Who’s your new friend?”

Phyllip diverted, “Persephone’s new friend actually … well ‘project’ is a better word I suppose.” Phyllip looked back at Thomys and quickly reviewed dinner the evening before.

Looking perplexed, Thomys offered, “Well I did stop at home and had breakfast with the girls but none of them mentioned anything about it. I guess they didn’t want to upset me.”

Phyllip brought Thomys up to speed, “Could be. Or the girls are colluding again and wanted to make sure you got to enjoy the show this morning. Either way,” Phyllip pointed at Jonas, “The bastards gave him a concussion and were getting ready to send him to the indent-corp, based on a flimsy confession they beat out of him. Persephone’s personal reporter ran down the story and did a live piece on it after this young man broke up the recorded interview by accident. The whole planet is in an uproar about it. We are close to riots over the fully despicable nature of judicial corruption coming to light. None of us had any idea that things were as bad as they were. Even other stations were running the related interviews once they realized it was the story of the decade, maybe the last hundred years. This thing had my finger over the ‘Martial-Law’ button all night. The horror stories coming out of nowhere are enough to turn your stomach. It seems like every rock we turn over someone has a friend or relative who is serving or has served indent on equally flimsy charges as Jonas.”

Thomys was amused when he spoke, “April and Persephone are still shaking things up then? How many interviews have I missed since I left for Earth?”

Phyllip agreed, “You can say that and yes they are. I think you missed two interviews, including last night’s. I guess they took a little break for a while, fortunately, the other one didn’t kick up the same firestorm as this one last night. The interview notifications always arrive anonymously and randomly at either April’s or her cameraman’s so until they start to move, they are impossible to track, once they do, they run insanely complicated meeting routines. They keep shaking surveillance. Oh, and Kazimir was a bad boy at dinner again a week or so ago and got another suspension while you were gone.”

Thomys shook his head, “His mouth will get him in trouble someday.”

Phyllip offered, “Agreed. Thomys can you do me a favor and take Jonas here to the medics downstairs. They get all jumpy when I show up and he has a concussion. There was some mention of a Speedball match in the recorded interview. Something about that match is set for today. And I just remembered that he was picked up on the practice field with his team.”

Jonas sat upright with a start when he realized he had completely forgotten about the game. He sat up so fast that the Major snatched his weapon out of his lap looking for a target.

The tall man that CEO Chroynos kept calling Thomys, stood his full height and asked, “What time is your game, son?”

Jonas informed them, “Two this afternoon Sir.”

Both men said together, “Not much time.”

Thomys waved at the door, “Come on, Major, bring your new friend, and let’s get him fixed.”

The Major pointed with his left hand across Jonas’ nose at the door, and Jonas wandered to the door, far from the mess on the carpet.

Thomys deftly stepped between the clumps of mess.

Outside the door waited two more Guardsmen who fell immediately into step with Thomys as he took the lead. With his head still throbbing Jonas followed silently behind with the Major to his right. They made a sharp detour to the right once they were into the office area, and walked directly at a wall, in the corner of the office, opposite Thomys’ still closed and locked office.

Jonas thought he was going crazy as Thomys walked straight into the wall and only shimmered before being sucked into the wall.

He slammed to a stop in fright.

The firm left hand of the Major closed around the back of his neck propelling him forward, “Colored force barrier kid. We’re the only ones that’ve got ’em. It’s all the newest rage, it won’t bite.” Once he was forced through the wall a whole new room opened before him. It jumped suddenly into sight, as Thomys thumbed the elevator button. The three other doors remained closed as only the one in front of Thomys opened.

Jonas was prodded inside first followed by the Major who turned to the front of the elevator as the two other Guardsman and Thomys entered before the door shut. Jonas looked around at the walls and floor and marveled that there wasn’t a single scuff or fingerprint anywhere in the car. While looking up he was drawn to the scar on the Major’s face. It looked folded over on itself and pressed back together again.

The Guardsman Major suddenly looked down at him and barked, “What?”

Jonas squeaked, “Sorry, Sir, I was just wondering how you got such a big scar.”

The Major snapped, “Well stop. It comes from being a curious little child staring at adults.”

The Guardsman to Thomys’ left quipped, “No, it doesn’t.” He ignored the Major’s growl at his back, “It comes from too much time at the midget fire juggling shows in the seedy parts of town.”

The Major growled, “I’m gonna crack your skull if you don’t keep your mouth shut, Captain.”

The Guardsman in front of Jonas spoke before his companion could rebut, “They’re both liars, kid. He got it on his last date when she spilled coffee on him.”

Thomys sighed, which cut off the Major’s angry response as he looked up at the floor readout. Thomys droned simply, “Jonas, don’t pay any attention to these three. Everyone knows he got it saving kittens from a burning tree.”

The door pinged and Thomys stepped out with his Guardsmen, “Sir! You know I’m allergic to cats!” protested the Guardsmen Major.

Jonas decided it was best to follow and stay silent.

The room he was in was something between a science lab and an infirmary. But this one was a lot cleaner than the infirmary he normally attended, and the cots had white hospital sheets instead of the rubberized mats he was used to. A few technicians looked oddly at the grumbling Guardsman, which was something they had seen before, and the rest of their attention fell to the visitor which was something they never saw in the Citadel’s private medical facility.

A smartly dressed white uniformed middle-aged technician approached while the other junior technicians cleared their work to the sides or found reason to be busy elsewhere. “Good morning, Sir. Good to see you back from your trip. I see we have a guest.”

Thomys offered warmly, “Hello Sean, it is good to be back home. I have a challenge for you.”

The man Sean accepted, “This sounds interesting, Sir. Is it a difficult or an impossible challenge?”

Thomys speculated, “Only difficult, I think. This is Jonas.”

Sean nodded to Jonas, “Well those we can handle pretty easily, Sir. What is this challenge?”

Thomys started, “Our guest here.” Thomys turned briefly to wave Jonas forward, “Was the subject of the news last night. Apparently, he was ill-treated and left confined until this morning. I need him checked out and fixed so we can return him to his school for a competition at two this afternoon.”

Knowingly Sean nodded, pursing his lips, and shedding his own anger before speaking, “Ah, bad business that interview last night. April showed some steel in her spine going after those miserable bastards all night long. I typically get roped into watching the ‘Persephone Series’ when I’m home with the family but last night I was glued to the screen, waiting on April’s next segment to cut into the prerecorded action.”

Thomys grinned at what he already suspected, “I suppose I need to watch it and catch up on my missed drama vids.”

The doctor agreed, “Yes, Sir.” Sean stepped forward and surprised Jonas by suddenly flashing a light in his eyes. He blinked several times as the light flicked back and forth across his vision and shot pain into his skull, “The pre-recorded interview was a bit of a snoozer, the administrators were pretty irritating. I don’t know how Lady Persephone put up with them for that long. You should watch that first in its entirety then watch the investigative reporting sequentially. Otherwise, you will be fast-forwarding the interview to catch the investigation, but the tedious interview sets the stage for everything else. So if you skip the junk you’ll need to go back and watch more of the boring bits again and again for context.”

Thomys nodded again while Sean took Jonas’ shoulder and guided him to a cot. He instructed, “Sit down at the end please.” Sean pocketed the light and placed his hands over Jonas’ head with one finger on each temple, “That blood in your eye looks worse than it is, there doesn’t appear to be any damage to the eyes themselves.”

Blood in his eye was news to Jonas, “Blood?” The Guardsmen found a corner out of the way, while the doctor examined their guest.

Sean confirmed, “Yes. You have blood in the white of your right eye, but it appears as if your cornea and vision are functioning normally. Your balance is off. Lay back please.” Jonas did as he was told, “Were you struck on the head?”

Thinking back Jonas confirmed, “Yes, Sir, twice with batons that I remember, and I think I was tossed into a room and landed pretty hard.”

The calm sure doctor offered, “‘Doctor Sean’ is fine, Jonas. I’m going to do a quick scan of your body and take a blood sample.”

Jonas hated blood samples. They always stuck him with huge needles and drained him dry. He went to class sick rather than the infirmary most times. The doctor laid him into position on the cot and moved along his left side to the sleek-looking medical equipment attached to the walls. Once in place, wrists up, and looking straight up from the wonderfully soft pillow Jonas was told to stay still and watched some lit device travel over his body and silently pass back to the wall. Sean laid something in his palm on Jonas’ arm while looking at the wall above Jonas’ head.

Jonas asked, “Are you going to take blood Doctor?” Jonas had never seen a real doctor before; all they had were medics and people with basic medical training.

Sean informed him, “I already did. I took your pulse and a dozen other readings too.” He held up his hand and showed the sensor to Jonas. The doctor was silent for a while playing with buttons Jonas couldn’t see, “This is interesting.” Thomys and the Major both stepped forward from what they had been occupying themselves with during the scan. “You have half a dozen fresh head injuries, slight swelling of the brain, a definite concussion.” Speaking more to himself the doctor asked, “I wonder how many times they hit you while you were unconscious?” The doctor leaned back before flipping his thumb over the screen again, “This is interesting. It looks like you have over two dozen moderate injuries and broken bones that were allowed to heal on their own without any medical treatment. Did you know it looks like you fractured your collarbone in the same place three times?” The doctor looked away from his screen for the first time.

Jonas mumbled, “No, Sir.”

The doctor looked at Thomys who was shaking his head. “Can you fix him, Doc?”

The Major silently migrated away from the other two Guardsmen who were quietly speaking among themselves in the corner.

Sean shrugged easily, “Of course, I can fix him. I just can’t believe he’s not a cripple and no one has taken the time to fix such simple ailments before.”

The Major rolled his head viciously, cracking his neck, before returning to the other Guardsmen.

Jonas whispered to Thomys, “Sir, did I upset the Major?”

Thomys sighed while standing behind the doctor who was returning his attention to his instruments. “The Major is an orphan like you. He remembers the creche system and hates it with everything he has.”

Jonas thought back to the smirking security sergeant that the Major struck with his rifle, “Is that why he hit the sergeant and broke his neck when he called me ‘orphan scum’?”

Thomys shared a quick look with the doctor, “Probably. I wasn’t there. But from what I was briefed on the way up that was only a personal edge to that slaving security man’s disregard for orders.”

Confused Jonas asked, “Sir, how do you know that?”

Thomys smiled wryly, “Jonas, you don’t actually think something as serious as a security breach that results in the death of a man in CEO Chroynos’ office goes without my notice, do you?”

Jonas paused before answering, “No, I guess not.” The doctor fiddled with something and placed a pad on Jonas’s upper arm, and another on his neck.

Thomys shared, “The orphan Guardsman, from the creche system, have a very high graduation rate. It is almost thirty percent for those that make it into the program. Since each class cuts about four thousand students for everyone who graduated, that is an extremely high number of successful orphans. It makes me wish we had more orphans applying to the program every year. Creche orphan graduation rates and the quality of the soldiers they become is astounding.” Thomys lamented a second time, “I wish we had more creche applicants pass the entrance exam every year.”

Jonas thought back to the monstrous aptitude test that was given in the summer he turned five.

Thomys wondered and spoke out loud, “Penny for your thoughts, Jonas?”

Jonas came back to reality, “Sorry, Sir. I was just thinking I should have spent more time on the test and not listened to them.”

Thomys paused him, and the doctor sat back from his instruments to look at Jonas. Thomys sunk his teeth in and demanded, “Excuse me? Could you please explain that a little better? Not listened to who?”

Suddenly self-conscious, Jonas began, “Well, that summer we took the test we were told that the sooner we finished the sooner we could go to extra playtime. We never got extra play time, so we all rushed through the test and went out to play ball with the girls. They let us play on the big Speedball field, so we all ran all over the field and bleachers and had fun. That was when I decided I wanted to play on the team.”

The Major sounded like rocks shaken in a wooden box, “Who told you to rush through the exam?”

Jonas looked at him like he was stupid, “Our year group instructors. Before we got into the testing room where the other people were set up, they reminded us while we were in line that the sooner we finished the sooner we could go play.”

While the Major inhaled to speak, Thomys held up his left hand to silence him, “But Sir! …”

Thomys halted him, “I know Major.” Thomys rubbed his eyes as the parts of his new project swirled around in his head. “It’s not right. They violated the impartiality of the test. Compromised and corrupted the system by tampering with the students, for personal gain. It is at the top of my list. And I’m sure you will remind me if it falls off my ‘to-do’ list. Along with hunting down and destroying the perpetrators of this slavery ring that has grown under our very noses.”

The Major’s grumbling grunts fell silent as he stalked back over to the other Guardsmen in the corner.

Thomys knew he would constantly be reminded by the Major of his promise to hunt down creche corruption. The doctor leaned to his right rolled a short distance away to a set of secure shelves and lifted a blue vial from the counter. Thomys interrupted, “Sean, why don’t you use the green for Jonas here.”

All three Guardsmen straightened and closed the distance to the foot of the cot at the same time as the doctor turned to ask, “Are you sure you want to use those nanobots? They’re…”

Thomys interrupted again before the doctor could finish his protest and add the information Thomys wanted to obscure. “No, use the green please.”

Concern in the Major’s voice, “Sir, are you sure you want to give him our booster? That will tickle something awful,” promised the Major.

Before Thomys could respond Jonas joined his own protest, “Sir, I can’t afford nano-care of any kind.”

Thomys smiled and lied smoothly, “Don’t worry, Jonas, once the process is set up nano solutions are really cheap to produce, it just costs so much because of set-up costs. Once they are formed the solution is inexpensive.” What he left out was that the bots themselves were ruinously expensive but the ‘solution’ he was referring to was nothing more than purified water with glucose and harmless color-coding sugars. So, the solution was inexpensive, he just intentionally neglected the other parts that went into the mix as the set-up costs.

One of Thomys’ Guardsmen grumbled, “He’ll need something to keep his mind occupied, Sir.”

Thomys looked at the Major who shrugged noncommittally. Jonas felt the doctor place something cool over the crook of his left arm where the veins were easily reached. He felt nothing but a slight tingle and his own pulse somehow exaggerated under the device and tubes. Thomys looked back at Jonas and started talking, “Once upon a time there was a young Captain in the Imperial Guard Quick Reaction Companies.”

Jonas felt his body start to tingle and warm as Thomys continued, “They were dropped to stop a Celestas League assault in a heavily wooded world that was under dispute between our two empires. The Celestas League was pushing up a ridge line and the Guardsmen were moving down along its spine to turn their attack away from our defenders across the saddle. What they didn’t know was that the Celestas League were pushing up their direction too.”

The doctor quietly asked, “You should feel warm now, any pain?” Jonas shook his head ‘no’ while his body heated up and he felt his blood on fire.

Thomys continued, “On their way down the Captain’s squad was in the back of their platoon.” The doctor waved a small version of the sensor that had passed him earlier, closer to Jonas’ face and around his head. “The lead elements of the platoon ran into contact with the side of what turned out to be a second enemy battalion early. The fight that followed was close and brutal. The Celestas League light infantry forces had to get close and move fast to penetrate Guardsman’s armor with their lighter weapons. The Guard had to withdraw under fire higher up the ridge line to separate the two enemy battalions and take some pressure off the defenders on the opposite side of the ridge.”

Jonas’s headache suddenly became ten times worse and felt like his eyes were squeezed into the sand as they dried and were squeezed out his tear ducts. The doctor started speaking calmly and clearly, “I’m sorry about the surprise Jonas. Your new little friends are swarming the damage in your head, it should only last a moment,” as he said it the pressure eased dramatically. “There we go, you should feel a few warm spots at the back of your skull where you were hit, that’s the Nanos repairing the damage.” The probe waved over his head a few more times as the tingling heat softened. “What I’m doing now is pulling the Nanos around the inside of your head to the remaining areas I want them to work on. They will do it all on their own eventually, but this stimulation speeds up their efforts. But it can be more painful. Think of this as a magnet pulling metal shavings. I’m shaping them around your body like I’m drawing a picture in the metal shavings on a paper board, with a magnet.”

Thomys continued as the discomfort waned, “As the platoon withdrew across the Captain’s squad, which was set up to cover the retreat, before themselves bounding back under the cover of another squad, the Captain started fighting. They counted every member of the platoon through the squad and held firm against the advancing Celestas League troops. The Celestas League got frustrated trying to get past the squad and called an artillery barrage of mixed high explosive and burning plasma to light the trees on fire.”

Jonas considered the sanity of the idea of lighting the forest on fire that you were about to run through, as the probe passed over his right eye. The tingling from the base of his skull migrated to his eye. He couldn’t see it but imagined it turning back to a normal color from ruptured red. “The Captain ordered his squad to pull back while they were fighting, in order to pull more of the Celestas League troops into the barrage. His trick worked. They charged the fleeing Guardsmen, as the second wave of the barrage began to land on his old position. So, when he suddenly turned to fight them they were disorganized and surprised. He was in heavy armor and they were in light, so during the heat and fury, he had a distinct advantage which he pressed.”

There was a tingling in the shoulder where the probe moved over Jonas’ badly healed collar bone. The tingling turned to heat.

Thomys continued, “He made a sweep into their lines and caused all manner of havoc. When he returned to his squad his armor was roasted and covered in ash and plasma burns. He had multiple holes burnt into his abdomen and leg armor but got lucky in both of those areas and was sealed by the inner liner of the suit. He wasn’t so lucky elsewhere. His helmet was stuck by a blob of burning plasma that destroyed his helmet recording and data systems. Since he dropped off the net the platoon assumed the worst. When he returned alive, he realized everyone was looking at him funny.”

Thomys pointed back at the Major, “This ugly fool tried to talk for the first time when he got back and that was when he realized that the plasma had burnt away the lower right quarter of his helmet, half his ear, and down his neck because he couldn’t form a word with half his face burnt off.”

Jonas looked horrified. The Major shrugged, “I was trying to tell them that I couldn’t see anything because the plasma had fogged my vision plate. I wanted to go back after them, and I needed them to clean me up so I could.”

Thomys finished, “He was credited with twenty-seven kills that day before his data link was damaged.”

The Major shrugged again, “I got about a company’s worth.”

One of Thomys’ Guardsman quipped, “Shut up, you big liar, you said you got two platoons last time.”

The Major made a rude noise that questioned the other’s brains, “Stupid, two platoons plus ‘twenty-seven’ is about a company, which is just what I said. Wise-ass.”

The probe was heating several of Jonas’s ribs, sending flares of heated pain, while the doctor looked at the display over Jonas’s shoulder. Jonas asked, “If you all have the same nano injection that Doctor Sean put into me why do you have a scar when he is erasing all of my old injuries with his metal shaving magic wand?”

The three Guardsmen just smiled and looked proud. The doctor shook his head, “Stupid Guardsmen. The whole lot of them are as crazy as the day is long. Simple answer, Jonas, they won’t let me.”

Jonas asked, “What do you mean doctor?”

The doctor checked his monitor, and the position of his probe, before rolling a short distance to look into Jonas’ eyes, “The body’s placement of proteins for healing is what takes time. Once the proteins are in place, recovery and correction is a fairly easy process. We can rebuild limbs and large chunks of a body if we have enough time and protein, and the body is capable of directing the natural healing process. The reason Guardsmen who lose limbs don’t have many visible scars is that during most of the process, they are sedated, the tissue is rebuilt over and over again and they can’t yell at us poor doctors for taking away their precious scars. But when they heal naturally, like he did, with their accelerated rate, the bandages and skin grafts coupled with their nano injections; he was back in the field and ready for duty in a week and a half.”

Jonas asked, “And you wouldn’t let the doctor fix the scar?”

The probe moved to Jonas’ right knee, the whole knee tingled and warmed into insanely hot pain-filled fire, while the probe hovered, and the debate raged around him. The Major corrected, “Chicks dig scars, Doc.”

The doctor pointed with his chin while the probe slipped up and down over Jonas’ knee, “This particular piece of tech is only a few years old, but it’s an offshoot from the limb replacement tech we’ve been developing for centuries. We have a really strong basis there and this is just an additional tool in that arsenal. Think of it as if we can make clay, and now we have learned how to shape it. I could have him fixed as good as new in under five minutes, but he just likes scaring children and visitors.”

Thomys sighed and shook his head, “In addition to his facial improvements, we gave him the ‘Hegemony Cross for Insanity’.”

The Major corrected, “‘Valor’ Sir, not ‘insanity’. I didn’t get the ‘insanity’ one until I started working for your boss.”

When the doctor reached Jonas’ toes the probe slowly passed along his whole body concentrating the Nanos on any small miscellaneous injuries that the doctor hadn’t concentrated on when he dealt with the major ones that had healed or were healing on their own. He passed the probe very slowly over Jonas’ skull and was pleased that there were no complications from the nanos working on his brain and skull. He plugged the probe back into the wall, “You’re done, Jonas.”

The Major reached across his chest with his left hand and pulled Jonas to his feet at the base of the cot. He spoke with his hard tone, informing Jonas, “You will crave protein for a few days, and you’re gonna be really irritable if you don’t get it.”

Thomas handed him the softest white cotton cloth Jonas had ever felt, and stated cryptically, “You’ll need it. Major, feed him, water him, and get him to his game. It is almost lunchtime, and the match starts at two, I would imagine he has warm-ups to attend and still needs to get changed out of his practice uniform. I’m going to start dropping anvils on people’s heads.” Turning to Jonas, “Good luck, Jonas, try and take things slowly, what you got is a booster today and not a full multi-layered but slowly delivered Guardsman nanocomposite. As your new Nanos and your body become accustomed to each other, they will let you know what they need to help you. It will be a learning process for you. Just listen to your body.”

Jonas was starving and lost everything Thomys said after ‘feed him’ and didn’t even notice when the man and his two Guardsmen left. The Guardsman Major was talking to him, but Jonas didn’t hear any of that or remember the trip to the dining facility. He did think once there, that he had never seen such an opulent collection of foods. He didn’t know he was taken to the community dining room, and not a special fancy room.

After Jonas finished his second tray of food the Major stood him up with some cryptic comment, “Don’t eat too much. Your body will want to shut down and hibernate to work off the repairs the Nanos made.”

At some point, he made it to a vehicle where he passed out and slept the whole trip back to his creche. The Major had a discussion with a very pliant assistant, acting head, and administrator while Jonas slept on the landing pad.

He didn’t know if he dressed himself for the match or if someone else dressed him. Jonas remembered crushing a double tackle in the second quarter, two opponents tried to take him down and he hit both so hard that they went down instead and he scored.

The first thing he remembered clearly was shoveling food into his mouth after the match and a female voice, “Jonas! What’s gotten into you? I thought you were dead Friday night when I heard they dragged you away and thought I was next. Then you mysteriously show up for the game, and you were an animal the whole match. You knocked three of the other team’s players out of the match. And you hit those tacklers! And you scored half our team’s points. And now we can all of a sudden get seconds on food and you’re on your third plate. And you are in some kind of daze like you don’t know where you are … Talk to me, you big stupid head!”

When Melina poked him in the shoulder, he interrupted his eating.

He blinked and reset his head, “Sorry, it’s been a busy day.” He looked around and realized he had an audience for the first time. And asked, “What?”

Infuriated, Melina snapped, “What do you mean ‘what’? Not only did we crush the top-ranked team in the league, but you knocked out three of their best, and scored twenty-one points on your own, but you haven’t said a word to anyone. Speak up, tell us what happened!”

Jonas swallowed another mouthful of food, looked from Melina to the stacks of others around him, and shrugged. He started talking between mouthfuls of food. When he finished the third plate and started to stand for his next someone pressed him down into the seat, replaced his tray with a new full one, and handed off the empty to people behind. Jonas shrugged again and kept talking while eating.

When he finished recounting his whole adventure over the last twenty-four hours the dining room was silent. One of the class bravos shouted first, “Oh shut the hell up, you big liar! You can’t prove a damn thing you just said. You’re just making all that up to look good because you played one good game this season.”

Jonas shrugged, “No, I guess I can’t prove it.” He knew better than to argue with stupidity.

Instead, he noticed his eyes started itching, which overshadowed any other response he was considering at the moment. He forced them closed and ran his eyes all around the moist insides of his eyelids, which helped some. He tried to open his eyes again and felt a sticky gum around the edges and between the lashes.

Unknown to Jonas the swarms of nanobots were slaughtering the bacteria and viruses the throngs of onlookers were exhaling in his direction. Now that the repairs on the physical structures were well underway, the Nanos could allocate some effort to protecting their host.

Frustrated, he pulled the cloth from his pocket, the clean one that Thomys had given him, and swiped his left then right eyes and blinked them clear again.

He felt much better as he blinked his eyes clear of the gunk that had collected. With a clean corner of the cloth under his finger, he cleaned his eyes a second time. And when he finished, he looked at the brown gunk that had collected on the pristine cloth, “He said I’d need it. I guess he was right.” Before Jonas could put it away the cloth was plucked from his hand.

Melina turned it over in her hands several times, wondering jealously if she had competition for his affection that she didn’t know about. She accused, “Who is ‘T.P.’!”

Several wisecrackers blithered the age-old joke at the same time, “Toilet paper.”

Jonas just answered, “Thomys Promethean gave it to me.” Jonas held out his hand and she folded it in quarters with a questioning look, before placing it in his palm.

Melina asked, “Who’s that?”

Jonas shrugged and answered easily, knowing nobody was believing him anyway, “Thomys Promethean is Hegemony Lord Chroynos’ Vice President. He just got back from Earth this morning. I think they sent him there to stop a war or something. The Major stopped the the big-bosses from talking when they started getting to the interesting stuff in front of me. That was after they did some live press conference with the CEO guy above our school.”

Jonas stopped. He put down his fork, looked around, and stated, “I’m exhausted. I’m going to take a nap.” Jonas stood and pocketed the handkerchief before wandering back to the dormitory and collapsing into his bunk to sleep as his new nanobots seized his system, shut down his consciousness, and used the proteins and nutrients in the food to begin improving and rebuilding his muscular-skeletal system.

Thank You!

Thank you for reading this chapter!

Your next chapter is HERE.

If you liked what you read and you are interested in the full book the links are HERE on the Blood Debts book page…

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Enjoy!