Serial: Bodyguard of Lies, episode 10: Harvest Time

[eimarra]

Bodyguard of Lies is a serialized science-fiction novel updating once a week on Tuesdays. If you missed last week’s episode, Calm Before the Storm, it can be found here. You can catch up on the entire serial on this page with a description of the story and links to all published episodes.

Bodyguard of Lies
Episode 10
Harvest Time

Gareth’s squad hit the ground first, just like the plan said. They wore light armor and breathing masks — just enough to get them through the airlock and into the farm. No training required. Bots in hand, they cycled the airlock.

The smoke grenade hit them before the inner door finished irising open. Gareth dove through the opening, scraping his armor against the sides. The strap on his breathing mask popped loose. One of his squad grabbed at his leg, but the weight fell off with the explosion.

Gareth landed on the packed dirt inside the dome and rolled over. Three Vuest guards pointed guns at him. One of them nudged him with his foot.

“Get up. How many more are coming?”

Gareth stood slowly. It had been a trap. Damn Tam and Cole and Vuest anyway. His team was a sacrifice. He turned his head to the airlock. Two of his squad of eight were moaning. Shrapnel had pierced their armor; even with reconstructive surgery, they were going to be a long time healing. He couldn’t make out the others through the smoke, but it was clear they were down for the duration.

He glared at the guards. “You already know.”

One of them hit him in the gut with her gun. Gareth exhaled hard, then breathed in shakily. The air in here, once he got beyond the smell of the grenade, was sweet with hints of orange and something else he couldn’t quite place, familiar as it was.

He put his hands on his knees to steady himself, still bent over, and looked up at the leader. “Look, it’s obvious you knew we were coming. So you know how many we are. If you’re going to kill me, just get it over with.”

The guard shook his head. “We only know we were sent for extra duty just in case. Tell us what’s going on, and we don’t even have to drop you. Might be able to find a place for you in our organization.”

Right. Like anyone wanted someone who would rat under pressure. They must think he was incredibly dumb.

He had just walked his squad into an ambush. Maybe he was dumb, at that, trusting Tam. His gaze filmed over; the air irritated him. He rubbed at his face with his hand, and shook his head to clear it.

“We’re it,” he said. He’d cover for Tam’s squad, if only to protect Sheil. “My squad was supposed to come in and get the stuff. We were only expecting one guard, which shouldn’t have been too bad to face.”

“It only took one of us to throw that grenade,” one of them said.

Gareth shook his head again. “Is there enough oxygen in this place? I’m feeling kind of dizzy without my mask on.”

“The air’s fine.” The leader stepped up to him and shoved the gun under his chin. “Now stop playing us. We know there have to be more of you. If not, we just take you out and we’re done.”

Tempting to let them shoot him, then have Tam come in and surprise them. But then he’d be out of it and the looey would have all the glory, as usual. Gareth took a deep breath, grabbed the gun and shoved it to the side. The guard pulled the trigger, but it was too late. It fired a bolt into the face of one of the other guards, who went down immediately.

The remaining guard brought her gun into firing position, but Gareth held the leader as a shield in front of him while tugging on the gun in her hand. The guard’s fingers cracked as joints popped and broke under pressure. The gun wound up in Gareth’s hands. He shoved the leader at the remaining guard, toggled the gun to wide spray, and watched both guards go down. They should’ve worn non-conducting armor.

He rolled his shoulders. One objective out of the way. He popped the bots off his back. One of them had cracked when he fell. He set the other one to harvesting. He’d check the remains of his squad for salvageable bots in a minute. First he had to signal the ship.

“All clear. Repeat, all clear. Guards eliminated.” No one acknowledged his signal, so he repeated it at thirty second intervals while he checked his squad for injuries and usable equipment.

Six bots were usable. He set them to work, pulled the two burned mercs into the farm, and cycled the lock. He hated leaving his friends outside, but he didn’t have time to get them all in. Then, too, he wasn’t sure why they were down. Let someone with med training deal with them.

Panting heavily now, Gareth tried to remember what other objectives he had. Right. The gun emplacement at the other end of the farm. If there were extra guards here, there were probably some there. No point continuing with the mission if the miner was going to be blown up as they left.

He staggered through the rows of plants. This many plants, there should be lots of oxygen. What was wrong with him? So dizzy, and the smell didn’t help. This reminded him of the one time he’d tried glass. Sheil had found him collapsed on the kitchen floor, vomiting and ranting about the blue in his blood.

He stopped. That was it. The plants. His metabolism had reacted to them, same as it did to any drugs. He was well on the way to an overdose. He turned back toward the airlock; he had to get out of here, see if there was another mask somewhere. Something. His vision swirled.

Gareth hit the ground.

~~

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Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.