Chains of Freedom Read online

  "Uh, I really hate it when you do that, RJ." David got out of bed and stormed to the bathroom. Once inside, he held his head in the hope that it would stop that rocking motion. He closed the door and screamed at her. "I hate it when you get technical about shit like that!" A few minutes later, he walked out of the bathroom looking fairly relieved. "One thing's for damn sure, the Reliance can sure as hell tromp our butts. And if you're going to run around telling them right where to find us . . ."

  "Relax already, David," RJ said lightly. "The man was a midget."

  "So?" David obviously saw no significance in this."What's a mij-jet?" He fumbled over the unfamiliar word.

  RJ looked at him in disbelief. "Are all civilians so ignorant? A midget is a little person."

  "So. It's a little person," he shrugged. He didn't believe in fairy stories.

  "Why do you think you don't know what a midget is? Can't you ever just put two and two together?"

  "A work unit's ability to think is not overly important to a Reliance overlord. I think I do pretty well considering that I didn't have anywhere near the education that you had. I didn't get the breaks that you did . . ."

  "Excuse me, ass-bite, but in my job I got shot at . . ."

  "Just tell me the significance of this man being a midget."

  RJ nodded. He was right. The key to the Reliance's power was ignorance. They gave the people just enough knowledge to do the jobs the Reliance wanted them to do—no more and no less.

  "All people with what the Reliance has classified as 'defects' are hunted out and killed. Being a midget is a birth defect. Usually such 'defective' persons are convicted of rape, theft, or murder, and then executed. If they are allowed to reach adulthood at all, that is. Obviously, defective babies are usually stillborn. The people just stand back and let them do it, because they don't trust anyone that's different. That's human nature."

  David nodded slowly in reluctant agreement. He remembered how the villagers had reacted to his new ideas.

  "This Reliance policy will help us out quite a bit here in Alsterase," RJ announced. Clearly, David was lost again. RJ sighed. For an intelligent man, he could sure be dense at times. "If the Reliance is out to exterminate anyone who's different, then those who are different aren't going to feel very charitable towards the Reliance, now are they?" She sighed.

  Light dawned, and David nodded. "So they'll be more likely to join us."

  "Well, at least we can trust them not to hurt us." Suddenly, RJ's head jerked towards the door. She tensed. David noticed that the arm started to jerk more, and suddenly she was on her feet.

  "What's wrong?" he asked, puzzled.

  RJ pulled her blaster.

  "What's wrong?" Alarmed, David climbed out of the bed.

  "Quick!" RJ ordered. The door flew into splinters, and the biggest man David had ever seen stepped into the room. He dwarfed the man they had encountered in the bar last night. The giant threw a piece of the door at RJ, and her blaster went flying.

  David had never seen a GSH, but he knew instinctively that this was one. He'd heard stories about them most of his life, but he hadn't really believed them. The stories were of manufactured beings capable of great feats of strength. Stories told by the same people who talked about gnomes and fairies. Yet here it was, the monster behind the stories. David was terrified. He knew his life was over. Then he realized that the man wasn't paying the slightest attention to him; he was after RJ.

  RJ went for the second blaster, but before she could free it from the loops of chain, the giant was upon her. He bashed her head with his fist, the blood flew, and RJ fell to the floor. He lifted the still dazed woman up by a loop in her chain, and threw her against the wall, and still he paid no attention to David.

  David saw only one hope for them. He started across the room for the bike. The GSH pounced on RJ once again. David had no idea how much punishment RJ could take, but it couldn't be this much. She had to be unconscious, maybe even dead. He was, therefore, stunned to see the GSH fly across the room and land at his feet, effectively blocking the way to the bike.

  RJ ran at the man.

  "Are you nuts!" David yelled, jumping smartly out of her way. "He's going to kill you!"

  RJ wasn't listening. She hurled herself headlong into the monster's stomach.

  "He's going to kill you, and then he's going to kill me," David mumbled as he resumed his trek towards the bike.

  All mumbling stopped as David was thrown to the ground by the impact of an incredible weight. He lay where he'd landed, and dazedly watched as RJ jumped up off him, quickly disengaging the chain from her body. She whipped it out at the GSH. It hit the monster's head with a thud. David heard the thing fall, although he didn't really see it, and he was sure it wouldn't be down long.

  David crawled the short distance remaining to the bike, where he fumbled to free the rocket launcher. Apparently, RJ had been more worried about losing the damn thing than about having to actually use it. He wasn't having much luck getting it off. She had the chain around the monster's neck, pulling on it for all she was worth. David fumbled with the strings holding the weapon, and the next time he looked, RJ was being choked with her own chain. David pulled frantically at the launcher, and it came loose with a jerk that set him on his butt. He aimed, but RJ was in the way. Then the giant made a fatal mistake; he threw RJ across the room. David fired. The kick sent him crashing into the front wall of the apartment. He saw the rocket hit the monster square in the chest and propel him through the exterior wall before it detonated. When the smoke cleared, there was a gaping hole in the wall, and no GSH.

  David tossed aside the launcher and crawled to where RJ lay, the chain still around her throat and blood running from her nose and mouth.

  "Don't be dead," David prayed. He poked at her to see if she would move."Are you OK?" he asked.

  RJ opened her eyes and stared at him in disbelief as he unwrapped the chain from her neck. "Oh, yes, I'm fine," she croaked out."Never felt better. In fact, think I'll go dancing!" By the end of her speech, she was screaming at him.

  David sighed with relief. She'd be fine. David got unsteadily to his feet and reached down to RJ. After a moment, she let him help her up and tilted her head back to slow the nosebleed.

  The fat manager finally managed to shove his way through the small crowd that had gathered at the now door-less doorway. Shaking his head and clicking his tongue in obvious disapproval, he surveyed the room.

  "The use of rocket launchers in the rooms is strictly against the rules—ten unit penalty." He crossed to the hole in the wall, and looked out. "As for that," apparently indicating the remains of the GSH which were on the street below, "it will cost you fifteen units to be paid immediately. After all, we can't have a corpse plastered all over our doorstep. I'm trying to run a classy place here, you know."

  "Why you . . ." David raised his fist threateningly.

  "Get the man his money, David," RJ ordered.

  David lowered his fist reluctantly, and dug the money out of the pack on the back of the bike. He walked over and counted out the coins.

  "And two units for dripping blood all over the room," the fat man said, his hand still extended.

  "I ought to . . ." David started to raise his fist again.

  "Take your money, and these people, and get out," RJ said as she took the two units out of David's hand and handed them to the manager.

  Satisfied, the manager scurried out, herding the crowd out as he went.

  "Come on, people! Party's over for now," he urged.

  "We're going to have to leave Alsterase for a while," RJ said almost conversationally as she disappeared into the bathroom.

  "Why not leave it for good?" David asked. "Last night I almost got killed; today you almost got killed. I think we should take the hint and get the hell out while we still can." He followed RJ as he spoke, but she shut the door in his face, and the lock clicked. "RJ, you need help."

  RJ's voice floated out the door. "The last thing I
need, my friend, is an amateur trying to help me."

  David looked around the room helplessly. The devastation was complete. The bed, dresser, and footstool were broken, the door was gone, the walls were busted at irregular intervals, and a big chunk of the back wall was missing. They, especially RJ, were damned lucky to be alive.

  RJ didn't feel very lucky. She looked in the mirror. Her nose was set to one side, and the angle was all wrong. She checked to be sure that the door was locked because she would never be able to explain this to David. She grabbed her nose between her thumb and forefingers, and with a twist, re-broke it. Ignoring the fresh gush of blood, she forced it into place and held it several seconds.

  The bleeding stopped, and when she removed her hand a moment later, her nose was as good as new. Grimly ignoring the pain, she moved on to her other injuries. She took the two teeth she held clenched in her left fist and forced the roots back into the already-healed gum. When the bleeding stopped and the teeth were firmly rooted, she moved to the cracked ribs—six at least by the feel of it. Fortunately, they seemed to be in place, or close enough, and were already healing, so she left them alone. Her injuries cared for, she started to wash off the blood, but thought better of it. It was going to be tough enough to explain her miraculous recovery. She left most of the blood.

  Satisfied, RJ pulled a black wallet out of her hip pocket and opened it. Inside were three tubes, each four inches long and filled with small white pills. On the other side were a small knife and a syringe. She took one of the tubes out and dumped a pill into the palm of her hand, then threw it down her throat. She took meticulous care to return the wallet to her pocket precisely as she had found it.

  She hurt more than she would ever admit, and her damn arm felt like it was about to jerk out of its socket. By morning, though, she would be fine; all thanks to that little white pill.

  When RJ came out of the bathroom, she flopped straight down onto the broken bed.

  David gave her a worried look.

  "Ask me if I'm OK again, and I'll split you," she said. She covered her face with her hands, as if still warding off blows.

  Silently, David pulled her boots off and covered her with a blanket. It was dark now, and the temperature was dropping. It was going to be a cold night, especially since they were practically sleeping outside.

  "RJ, that was . . . was that a GSH?" David asked hesitantly.

  RJ started to make a flip remark, but decided it would take too much energy. "Yes, David, that was a Genetically Superior Humanoid—a GSH."

  David sat heavily on the end of the fallen bed. "I always thought they were made up. You know, old wives' tales. Like the little people, but you said there are little people, too."

  "Take my word for it, they're real enough." She spoke through her hands, the warmth felt good on the new tissue.

  "They say that they don't feel heat or cold as we do," David said.

  "They don't," RJ agreed.

  "They say their bones are as strong as steel, their skin impervious to almost anything."

  "Except rockets." Her small attempt at humor fell flat."True."

  "They say that they never get sick, that they don't age."

  "They don't."

  "Why are they after us?" David asked in a frightened whisper.

  RJ thought that was a very good question. Why had the GSH come after them? It was a sure bet that it hadn't just happened to single them out for abusive treatment. They didn't have the emotions necessary to carry out free thought. Then she realized her error. The dead Elite. Elites had wrist coms. All Reliance enforcement personnel did. He was in pursuit, so his would have been on—SOP. Naturally, he would have been linked to someone in Alsterase. Of course, that other person would be another Elite. GSHs were classed as Elites, and while they very rarely wasted a GSHs talents on Earth assignments, it would probably seem necessary in Alsterase to have a backup that could handle almost every situation. The dead Elite would have given his backup a complete description of her. The com would have provided a complete blow-by-blow of the action, and RJ knew the conclusion the GSH would have drawn. Even the Secondary had known, just before he died. That's why the GSH had ignored David; RJ was the target, the problem. And she wouldn't have been hard to find.

  Impatient, David asked again, "RJ, why did that thing come after us?"

  "I . . . I made a mistake. I was careless. I should have known he'd be linked. I . . . was . . . careless. I . . . made . . . a . . . . mistake." She repeated herself in a tone of total amazement. It was as if she had made an impossible discovery.

  "You sound surprised," David laughed. "You aren't infallible. No one is."

  "I have to be." RJ took her hands from her face. Her expression was grim. "I just don't make that kind of stupid mistake."

  David could have understood it if she was mad at herself. She wasn't. She seemed confused, as if she just really couldn't accept that she could have made a mistake at all, much less a stupid one.

  "Oh, come on, RJ," David laughed in disbelief. "I don't know what this mistake was, but I'm sure you've made mistakes before, and I'm sure you'll make them again."

  This enraged RJ. "What makes you so damned sure of that?" She demanded hotly. "People like you make mistakes, not me!"

  "You know, I haven't said this before, RJ, but you are, without a doubt, the most pompous, egotistical jackass I have ever known." David stood up from the bed.

  "I love you, too," RJ said, and blew him a kiss.

  David ignored her and started to pace. "You made a mistake anyone could have made . . ."

  "Well, I don't think just anyone could have made it," RJ said with a grin.

  "That's exactly the kind of shit I'm talking about!" David steamed. "God, don't you ever listen to yourself? Have you always been this arrogant, or did you have to work at it? That . . . thing . . . almost killed you tonight." He stopped pacing suddenly, obviously struck by inspiration. After a moment, he continued, "I saved your life tonight!"

  "You saved yourself," RJ said flatly.

  "Yes, all right. But, by saving myself, I also saved you," he repeated smugly.

  "OK," RJ conceded. "I admit that things looked pretty bad." She shrugged and rolled on her side, trying unsuccessfully to get comfortable.

  "Bad!" David repeated in disbelief.

  "I still had a trick or two up my sleeve," RJ stated calmly.

  "I can't believe you! The thing was strangling you with your own chain. You were bleeding out of every opening in your skull. How were you going to get out of that? This I want to hear!"

  She didn't answer. She was asleep, or at least pretending to be. "Bitch," David swore. He dug through the rubble till he found the sack of food RJ had brought him. In spite of the way it looked and smelled, it tasted pretty good. After eating, he threw the sack across the room, shut off the light, and slid into the bed beside RJ.

  "Thanks for maybe saving my life," RJ mumbled.

  "Bitch," David swore again.

  She just laughed and went back to sleep.

  He wondered just how badly she was hurt. RJ tossed and turned and moaned in her sleep, and David felt helpless. He didn't know what to do for her, and wasn't sure she would let him do it if he did. She was such an insufferable hardhead.

  In her tossing, RJ rolled against David, reminding him again that she was female. Still, David felt nothing even close to desire. It wasn't that he was a gentleman, or at least no more than any other red-blooded man of his age and health. If she were any other woman, he would have done everything in his power to seduce her. But she was RJ, and he had no urge to possess her. To him, RJ was just a guy with an extremely attractive body and a great set of tits. For David, sleeping with RJ was like sleeping with your dog. It was warmer than sleeping by yourself, and gave you someone to turn to if you had a nightmare.

  What they had was far more important to David than sex, even more important than love. He made a silent vow to whatever powers might be listening that he would never let anything com
e between them. That he would not let friend or foe, man or woman, or even their cause, separate them.

  When David woke up he heard the shower going. He was freezing cold, and that damned woman was taking a shower! He knew from experience that there was no hot water.

  "You're insane!" David screamed at her.

  The man in the apartment next to theirs apparently didn't appreciate the noise.

  "Keep it down, you assholes!" he yelled, throwing something solid against the wall.

  "Bite me!" RJ screamed back. She walked out of the bathroom drying herself. Modesty was not one of RJ's strong suits. But then, having been in the military all of her life, she was used to showering in communal, coed showers.