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

auto systems run deep scans, take
blood and tissue (I’m already telling the machines what to say—I
hope I’m convincing as an old man recovering from a stab wound to
the liver).
    “You can get dressed, now, Colonel,” Halley
eventually tells me, sounding honestly relieved. I pull on the
plain insulated work tunic that used to be the padded jerkin for my
armor, lean back against the exam table.
    Halley is the first one to come in, a flood of
emotion dancing across her face. The second is Lisa.
    “Hey,” I start lamely. She’s chewing her lip to keep
from crying. She probably thought I was dead. She’s visibly
shaking. “I am so sorry…”
    “What happened to you?” she snaps right to it.
    “I got a bit stabbed,” I try lightening.
    “We know that,” she manages to get out, trying to
keep it remotely professional. “Captain Rios gave his report.” She
almost doesn’t finish the sentence.
    “And I apparently got rescued,” I fill in. “I’m not
sure. I was pretty out of it.”
    “Who was that?” she keeps pushing forward.
“Who took you?”
    “Ra. Same one we saw watching our first battle with
Chang,” I use truth. “Another hybrid. Told the same story Chang
did, about coming from a bad future. Except Ra came to stop him.
Didn’t do a terribly good job of it.”
    “Why you? Why did it save you?”
    “I’m not sure. Apparently Chang thinks I’m a personal
threat to him, someone who can give him a run for his money. Might
explain his need to monologue to me like he does. I think me not
being dead keeps him scared. Like I said: I was pretty out of
it.”
    “How did Ra heal you?” Halley takes it. I raise my
tunic, show off the scars, front and back, entry and exit.
    “I’m not sure you could call it ‘healing’, Doctor.
There was a lot of cutting. And burning. And fusing. Ra had tools,
maybe like the ETE, something. I was out of it, as I said. Which is
good, because I don’t think there was anesthetic involved. I heard
something about a bleed, a laceration to my liver, and my colon got
grazed. Thankfully Bly’s weapon went through pretty clean.”
    Lie. Bly’s blade made ribbons out of my insides.
    “You’ve been gone eleven weeks,” Lisa almost accuses.
“Where were you?”
    “Shelter in an abandoned Zodangan cave.” Mostly true.
“Too weak to move for awhile. Just got my legs back.” Sort of. “Got
left with supplies, survival gear for the hike. What I’m assuming
is Knight or Nomad armor and clothing, maybe taken after the
battle. Ra left sometime while I was out of it, no idea when or
where.” The salting of truths keep the tale convincing.
    “You don’t have any provisions with you, just water
and O2,” Halley confronts the biological details.
    “Ran out days ago. It took me five days to get back
here. Thankfully I had a rebreather. I didn’t have any of my gear
when I woke up, not even my L-As. And I didn’t see a single soul
the whole hike—probably a good thing, since I also didn’t have a
weapon.”
    “And this ‘Ra’ didn’t use any nanotechnology or
biotechnology to heal you?”
    The question comes from Burns, who lets himself in to
the observation space on the other side of the transparency. It’s
the first time I’ve seen him in the flesh, the first time I’ve been
able to speak with him without a long transmission delay. He
immediately strikes me as an officious prick, possibly a dangerous
idiot. (And I remember: none of the so-called warriors from this
new Earth has supposedly ever seen war, unless there are things
they’re hiding from us.)
    “Nice to see you in the flesh, Colonel Burns,” I play
polite.
    “I’m assuming that’s what you are, Colonel Ram. And
who you are.”
    “Everything checks,” Halley insists. “Scans. Blood.
Tissue. DNA. This is Colonel Ram. And that’s all.”
    “I’m not buying the story,” he lays it out.
    “ I wouldn’t buy the story,” I go with it, play
along with his fears. “I don’t, frankly. I