The Lost Patrol by Vaughn Heppner Read Free Book Online

hunting for a launcher.
    “Are you awake?” he shouted into Shu’s right ear. He heard a faint reply and felt movement in his grip. “Turn around,” he told her, “and grab me.”
    Shu twisted in his grip, clutching his torso with manic strength, pressing her body against his.
    Here it was then, the decisive moment. Maddox tore his right arm free from her.
    Shu whimpered, and as impossible as it seemed, tightened her hold.
    Maddox found the deployment handle, and pulled. Nothing happened.
    We’re dead, I guess .
    Then the parachute blossomed, the silk bursting free as the lines followed. A moment later, a clap of noise and a jerk told Maddox the shrapnel hadn’t destroyed their salvation. The two of them began to float to Earth.
    Shu buried her face against Maddox’s chest, shuddering as she began to sob.
    Maddox readied himself for impact as the ground rushed up. He’d almost rescued them both.
     

-7-
     
    For the second time that day, Maddox climbed out of parachute silk draped over him. This time, he assisted Shu 15 to do the same.
    He slithered free of the harness and looked around. A barn and a two-story house stood a kilometer away. Closer by were a pair of rolling hills covered with grape vines, and a dirt road.
    “I’m alive,” Shu said.
    “And more grateful for life because of it,” Maddox said, as he scanned the sky.
    “Yes,” she said, a moment later. “That’s true. It’s glorious to breathe, to see and smell the lovely air. Captain, is this why you skydive from space?”
    “One of the reasons,” he said.
    “I believe I understand. This is incredible. Who would have believed it?”
    “The Visionary, possibly,” Maddox said.
    The captain looked at Shu to see her reaction. As he did, two interceptors roared overhead. One of the pilots waggled his wings from side-to-side. There was no sign of the Spacer airship.
    The Provost Marshal stared at Maddox through her goggles. She appeared thoughtful. “I wonder if the Visionary did foresee this. Why wouldn’t she have told me, then?”
    “That might have changed the future,” Maddox said.
    “Of course,” Shu said breathlessly. “I must—” The intensity of her stare increased, or it must have, because her body language indicated that. The dark goggles hid her eyes.
    “You’ve just seen the future?” Maddox asked.
    “One particle of it,” she said in all seriousness. “I’m to join your expedition.”
    “What expedition would that be?”
    “You’re always traveling into the Beyond. It’s why you’re the captain of Victory . Truly, I don’t have to have the Visionary’s bloodline to have foreseen that.”
    “No. I suppose not.”
    She stepped closer, saying breathlessly. “Thank you for what you did.”
    He nodded.
    “You saved my life.” Before he could respond, Shu stepped closer still, stretched up onto her tiptoes and kissed him. Then, she backed away, looking shocked.
    “I don’t know why I just did that,” she said.
    “Perhaps it was a natural outflow of survival,” he said, “the exuberance of life exhibiting itself in the warmest manner possible.”
    She looked at him, and said archly, “That wasn’t the warmest possible response.”
    Maddox smiled. Her words made him curious. This wasn’t like the Provost Marshal in the Lin Ru Hotel, not in the least. She had been stark and serious then. Today…she acted contrary. Was the kiss a true reaction, a ploy or maybe a combination of both?
    She turned away suddenly, as if flustered, shaking her head. “I’m normally not like this.”
    “I won’t tell anyone,” he said.
    “Don’t make fun of me, please.”
    “Provost Marshal—”
    “Please, call me Shu. We’re…we’re friends now, aren’t we?”
    “Of course,” he said.
    “Do you mind if I sit down? I’m finding it difficult to keep standing. My knees—” Shu almost collapsed as she sat on the grass.
    Maddox looked away. She had almost died falling out of the airship. This could be a reaction