Commander by Phil Geusz Read Free Book Online Page A

an expert in all of these fields. But as their commanding officer it was ultimately my responsibility to see that they were provided with decent places to live and work on a planet desperately short of both.  In the end it was Fremont who suggested what should’ve been obvious all along. Yes, the traditional office facilities on Marcus Prime were overcrowded to the breaking point. But Rabbit Town’s population remained far below its peak; while many of the buildings were damaged from all of the looting it wouldn’t take all that much to render them at least weatherproof again. Soon we shifted our headquarters to the former Sweetgrass Hay Market, which also had plenty of room in back to billet new arrivals until something better could be found for them. This not only shortened my commute but also gave us the opportunity to hire some local Rabbits and Dogs for wages, as the House treasury advisers were always begging us to do as a way to help restart the economy. So what if we were the only human-staffed enterprise in Rabbit Town? Soon we were taking perverse pride in the fact—Jean even wore fake bunny-ears on the first day. No one else in the navy had it half as good as we did, facility-wise. One day a local Rabbit-entrepreneur even showed up with vending machines! No one else anywhere had those yet, or at least not that I knew of. Clearly, it paid to have friends in low places. Sergeant Piper was instrumental in getting all of this set up and relieving me of the burden of dealing with the day-to-day problems, and I was grateful indeed for his help.
     
    So, it was a long busy time before Uncle Robert and I could make an opportunity to sit down for a long talk together. But one afternoon we finally met at the old family residence. “David!” he greeted me as I entered his clean but still-unrefurbished office. All the marblework had been ripped away, leaving ugly scars. So had the mahogany bookshelves and most of the ornate, Old Earth floor tiles. His desk was almost as much a mess as the office was—it was supported by four stacks of books instead of proper legs. But Uncle Robert looked better than I’d seen him in years; this was his home, and it showed. “How are you, son? Please, sit down and have some tea!”
     
    I smiled—it was Nestor’s blend, the one he’d created back on Zombie Station out of whatever had been left lying around. Someone had troubled themselves to find out what I liked. We made small talk for a time and exchanged polite inquiries about how each other’s projects were progressing. Then, when the time was finally right, I came to the point.
     
    “Uncle,” I said softly, setting my empty cup down on the desk. “We both know that I’m gengineered. Illegally, in fact.”
     
    “Yes. You were part of a long-term project that’s been short-circuited by the wars.” He sipped at his tea. “Even today, now that the project’s been shut down by the war, we guard that information very closely indeed.”
     
    I nodded. “Of course; I’m grateful that you do.” Then I met his eyes. “But… Uncle, has it ever occurred to you that for me the project can never be truly shut down?”
     
    He pressed his lips together and shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “I know that you’ve shown little interest in seeking a mate,” he said at length.
     
    “Heh!” I replied, wincing at his choice of words. “From your point of view, I suppose it must seem that way.” I looked at my feet again. “Did you know that I’m preprogrammed for a specific doe?”
     
    He blinked. “I’d rather you hadn’t found that out, David. Not that I begrudge you the knowledge, mind you. But I’d hoped that if you never were told, well… It might open up your horizons some. For your own good, you see. Now that the program’s irretrievably ruined.”
     
    Suddenly it was difficult to find the proper words—I sat in silence for a very long time before continuing. “Trust me. If I’d never met Frieda and