The God Mars Book Three: The Devil You Are Read Online Free PDF

hand-welded, like a Nomad’s or a Knight’s. Turn
it a hand-painted red, with lots of wear scuffs. Age my boots. I
expand my coat into a proper surface cloak. Then I find a
convenient rock pile to hide my weapons and my collapsed
helmet.
    Not enough. I turn my face skyward, focus on
generating some convincing UV and wind burn, low-pressure capillary
“rose”. And then I make sure the dust clings to me properly.
    The whole process takes perhaps half an hour.
    Then I let the sentries “see” me, and go hobbling
like an old man down the hill home.
     
    I get greeted by the batteries first, turning and
locking on me as I limp and drag for the main “gate”. I hesitate
like they can hurt me, peel back my cowl to let them see me.
Wait.
    Forty seconds. Heavy Armor starts pouring out of
Airlock Two. Jogging over the regolith. Guns on me. Stopping. I
give them a weak wave and a weaker grin, sipping air from a hose.
Hold up my hands so they can see I’m unarmed. Harmless.
    “Colonel Ram?” one of the heavy armor helmets asks
tentatively. It’s Rios.
    “Good to see you’re still alive, Captain,” I tell him
raggedly, like I’ve been sucking grit.
    “Do not approach him, Captain,” Burns cuts in quick
on their Links. “No one approaches him.”
    “It is Colonel Ram, sir,” Rios protests.
    “Is that you, Colonel Burns?” I call out ignorantly.
“When did you make planet?”
    “Last month,” he allows tensely. “And that’s enough
chatter. You will comply or you will be shot. Is that
understood?”
    “I get it,” I allow him back. “Long story. Doubt
you’ll believe it. Best check me out first.”
    “That’s the plan,” he tells me firmly.
    “Just tell me what you need me to do.”
     
    The squad of H-A troopers herds me into the airlock,
and that’s where I get my first “test”: there’s a new body scanner,
probably tuned for ETE nanotech (or nanotech based on ETE nanotech,
given what we saw the Shinkyo put in the field). But its presence
here speaks to a paranoia that could only come from Earth: they’re
afraid of some kind of infection, probably still believing the
planet is contagious. Too bad it’s wired into MAI, just like I am.
I make it tell a convincing lie.
    “He’s clean, Colonel,” I hear Horst on the other side
of the inner hatch.
    “Remains to be determined, Lieutenant,” Burns holds.
“Escort him to Medical. Doctor Halley?”
    “Iso One is ready, Colonel. We’re clearing his path.”
She sounds as tense as everybody else.
    I’m not sure what I expected. That they’d all be glad
to see me, back from the dead? Or maybe Earth’s paranoia is rubbing
off, maybe they’re afraid there could be something sneaky out
there. And it hits me: Maybe Chang’s done something while I’ve been
gone.
    Or maybe they’re just afraid Burns will order them to
kill me if they don’t do everything by his book.
    I don’t get to see Horst’s face either: he’s sealed
in his H-A can when the hatch cycles. And a dozen more red shells
are waiting for me in Staging.
    “This way, Colonel,” he prods. But then whispers:
“It’s good to have you back, sir.”
    “Remains to be seen,” I mutter. “But thank you,
Lieutenant.”
     
    I’m used to being on the other side of the
polycarbonate.
    The sealed transparent cell of the Isolation exam
room is bright and chilly—more so that my first order is to strip,
at least dropping my armor and passing it through a glove box (and
so hoping it doesn’t morph or dissolve or whatever once it’s out of
my control). Halley—just a voice so far—has me strip to the waist.
I’m probably as pleased as she is to see that I still have skin,
and skin that looks pretty much like it did when I left, scars and
gray body hair and all (and one convincingly new-pink set of scars
for where Bly ran me through).
    They keep everybody out of Medical despite the
chamber’s integrity (maybe worried I’d bust out, like Chang vapored
out when we had him in here). The