Chapter 14 Chapter Thirteen

"Oh, you're awake," someone said to me when I opened my eyes. "Listen, don't talk. You're in solution right now, with a breathing tube in your neck. Plus, you don't have a chin." I glanced around.I was floating in a warm, translucent viscous liquid; outside the tub, I could see a lot, but my eyes couldn't focus.As I was told, a snorkel snaked its way from the dashboard on the side of the tub to my neck; The lower half of the instrument is blocked.I tried to touch it, but my arm couldn't move.This worries me a lot. "Don't worry," said the voice, "we disabled your mobility. We'll turn it back on once you leave this tub. Wait a few more days. By the way, you can still use your BrainPal. If you want Talk, use it. We're talking to you through BrainPal right now."

I sent, "You're at Brenneman's Hospital in the Phoenix system," said the voice, "the best hospital. You are in deep therapy.I'm Dr. Fiorina, and I've been treating you since you came here.As for what happened to you, well, let me think about it.First of all, you're fine now, so don't worry.Additionally, you lost your jaw, tongue, most of the right side of your face and right ear.Your right leg is broken below the femur, your left leg is broken in multiple places, and your left foot is missing three toes and the heel - which we believe were gnawed off.Luckily, your spine was broken down to the ribcage, so you probably didn't feel much at the time.And the ribs, you had six broken ribs, one of which stabbed your gallbladder and caused you to internally bleed extensively.In addition, there are scurvy and extensive infection caused by wound exposure for many days. "

I sent, "Since you are out of danger of death, I think I can tell you that logically, you really should have died." Dr. Fiorina said, "If you hadn't been improved, you would have died. Thanks Smart blood saved your life; it clotted before your blood ran out and contained the infection. But you were still in danger. If you weren't caught in time, you probably wouldn't last long. Luckily you were found Yes, they took you aboard the Sparrowhawk, stuffed it into a treatment tank that can keep your injuries from getting worse, and brought you back. They can't rescue you on the spaceship, you need professional treatment."

I sent, "Your wife was also a colonial soldier?" "Oh," said Dr. Fiorina, "well, you're going too far. Hallucinations are not uncommon in that situation. Bright passages, dead relatives, things like that. Listen, Corporal, your body Also needs a lot of therapy. It's easier if you fall asleep. You can't do anything but float in there. I'm going to put you back to sleep. The next time you wake up, you'll be able to get out of the tub , and your jaw should grow enough to talk. Okay?" I sent, "Okay, go to sleep." Fiorina said, "We'll wait until you get out of the bathtub."

I was about to answer, to vent my anger, but was overwhelmed by a pang of exhaustion.Before I had time to think about how quickly I would fall asleep, I was unconscious. "Hey, look who came back to life." A new voice said, "The one who is too stupid to know how to die." This time, I wasn't floating in a vat of slimy liquid.I glanced around and figured out where the voice was coming from. "Harry." I said as clearly as possible within the confines of my immobile jaw. "It's me." He bowed slightly. "I'm sorry, I can't get up," I muttered, "I'm hurt."

"He said 'it hurt a little bit'!" Harry rolled his eyes, "Christ, you've lost more parts than you have left, John. I know. I watched them take your stump from Coral Star Pick it up. My jaw almost dropped to the floor when they said you were alive." "That's interesting," I said. "I'm sorry," Harry said, "I didn't mean to make a pun. But I almost didn't recognize you, John, you were just a bunch of parts. I was praying you died. Don't get me wrong , I didn’t expect them to be able to piece you back together.” "I'm glad I disappointed you," I said.

"I'm glad you let me down." He said as another entered the room. "Jessie," I said. Jessie walked to the bed and pecked me lightly on the cheek, "Welcome back to the kingdom of the living, John." She said, backing away, "Look at us, together again. Three firemen Gunner." "Two and a half musketeers, to be precise," I said. "Don't be so negative," Jessie said. "Dr. Fiorina says you'll be fine. Your jaw is due to grow back tomorrow, and your legs are a few days away. You'll be jumping around in no time. "

I reached out to touch my right leg.It's there, at least I can feel it.I pulled up the sheet to take a better look.It was there: my leg.Almost like legs.There was a green scar below the knee.The leg above the scar still looks like mine, and the leg below it looks like a prosthetic. I know what happened.One of my men had a leg blown off in a fight, and had a new one done in the same way.They attached a nutrient-rich prosthetic to the cut and injected nanoparticle machinery into the healing site.Nanomachines use your own DNA as a guide to convert nutrients and prosthetic raw materials into muscles and bones, and connect them with existing muscles, nerves, blood vessels, etc.The ring of nanomachines slowly moves down the prosthesis until it is completely transformed into bone and muscle tissue.Once their job is done, they travel through the bloodstream to your gut, where you excrete them.

It's a less ingenious solution, but it's not bad—no surgery, no waiting for cloned organs to be created, no clunky artificial organs attached to your body, and only weeks to grow limbs back, The specific situation is related to the size of the wound.That's how they regrow my jaw, and it's supposed to be the same treatment for my left heel and toes.They are all grown now and intact. "How long have I been here?" I asked. "In this room, about a day," Jessie said, "before a week in the bathtub." "It took us four days to get here, and during that time you've been in a state of stillness - you know that?" Harry asked.I nodded. "And when they found you on Coral Planet, you had been lying down for a few days. So, you were unconscious for about two weeks."

I look at them both. "Nice to see you both," I said, "but why are you here? Don't get me wrong, I mean, why aren't you on the Hampton Roads?" "The Hampton Roads was blown up, John," Jessie said. "They attacked us as soon as we came out of the jump. Our transport boat almost didn't make it out of the airport, and the engine was damaged along the way. We were the only ones who survived. We floated for almost a day and a half before being spotted by the Sparrowhawk. Nearly suffocated." I remembered seeing a cruiser wrecked by a Rye ship while leaving the jump, and I wondered if it was the Sparrowhawk. "What happened to the Modesto?" I asked. "Do you know?"

Jessie and Harry looked at each other. "The Modesto crashed too," said Harry finally. "John, all the ships were knocked out. It was a massacre." "They can't all be wrecked," I said. "You said you were picked up by the Sparrowhawk, and they came to save me." "The Sparrowhawk arrived after the crashes of the first ships," said Harry. "It jumped away from Coral Planet. The instruments the Rye used to detect our ship missed it. But the Sparrowhawk entered your The crash area was also tracked by them, and they almost didn't escape." "How many survived?" I asked. "You're the only survivor on the Modesto," Jessie said. "The other traffic boats have escaped," I said. "They're shot down," Jessie said. "The Rye's shot down everything bigger than a bread crisper. Our dropship only survived because our engine was gone. Maybe they don't want to waste missiles. " "How many people survived?" I asked. "It can't be just me and your traffic boat." Jessie and Harry were silent. "That's fucking impossible," I said. "It was an ambush, John," said Harry. "Nearly every ship was hit right after the transition into Coral space. We don't know how they did it, but they did." , and tracked all the way, sweeping away all the traffic boats they could find. In order to save you, the Sparrowhawk and the entire crew including us took great risks. Except us, you are the only survivor. Your transport was the only one to reach Coral, and they followed the lights of the transport to find you. Your pilot turned the lights on before crashing." I thought of Fiona, and Alan. "How many ships were lost?" I asked. "Sixty-two battalion-class spaceships and all their crews," Jessie said. "Ninety-five thousand people. About that number." "I want to throw up," I said. "Totally screwed up, as the old saying goes," Harry said. "Unmistakable fiasco. That's why we're still here. We've got nowhere to go." "Well, not only that, but they kept questioning us," Jessie said, "as if we knew something. When the ship was hit, we were already in the troop transport." "They've been waiting for you to recover and speak again," Harry told me. "I think you'll be visited by a Colonial investigator soon." "What kind of people are they?" I asked. "Pretty, very dull," said Harry. "We're not in the mood for joking, excuse me, Corporal Perry," Lieutenant Colonel Newman said. "When you lose sixty-odd ships and a hundred thousand men, you get serious." I just said "broken to pieces" when Newman asked me how my recovery was going.I thought there was nothing inappropriate about making a little joke about my physical condition. Obviously I was wrong. "I'm sorry," I said, "though I'm not really joking. As you probably know, a large part of my body remains on Coral Planet." "By the way, how did you get to Coral Planet?" asked Major Gauna, my other interrogator. "I think I went there by shuttle," I said. "Of course I went the last part by myself." Gauna glanced at Newman, as if to say, and started joking again, "Corporal, in the accident report, you mentioned that you ordered the traffic boat pilot Fiona to rush out of the Modesto's air port gate .”’ “Exactly.” I said.I filed that report after Harry and Jessie visited me last night. "Who authorized you to issue this order?" "Myself," I said, "the Modesto was hit by a missile, and I don't think it's a bad thing to be a little creative at the time." "Do you know how many traffic boats there are in the entire fleet of Coral Planet?" "I don't know," I said, "though it doesn't look like there are many," "Less than a hundred, including the seven on the Modesto," Newman said. "Do you know how many ships have successfully reached the surface of Coral Planet?" Jauna asked. "As far as I know, only mine made it," I said. "That's right," said Gauna. "So?" I said. "So," said Newman, "you seem lucky. You ordered the gates to open just in time for your transport to fly out in time to make it to Coral Planet alive." I stared blankly at Newman. "Are you suspicious of me, sir?" I asked. "You have to admit, it's an interesting serial coincidence," Gauna said. "Damn it, I admit it's a coincidence," I said, "I gave the order after the Modesto was hit; and my pilot, well-trained and calm, took us to Coral Planet and Close to the ground so I could survive. Also, if you guys remember, I almost died too - my body was sliced ​​off by a rock the size of Rhode Island. Only luck was found before I died .And everything else is due to the skill and intelligence of me and my pilots. I beg you to forgive me, sir, if I say we are really well-trained." Gauna and Newman looked at each other. "We just don't let go of any clues." Newman said lightly. "Jesus," I said, "come to think of it, if I was really going to betray the Colonials and survive, I'd probably try to keep my goddam jaw." I guess, in my situation, I'm totally You can yell at the officer once or twice, and you won't be held accountable. I was right. "Let's go on," Newman said. "Of course." I said. "You mentioned that you saw a cruiser of the colonial army was hit by a warship of the Rei just after it left the jump and entered the space of Coral Planet." "Yes." I said. "It's funny how you can see that," said Gauna. I sigh. "Are you going to keep talking like that throughout the interrogation?" I said. "Things will go faster if you don't keep trying to get me to admit I'm a spy." "Corporal, with regard to the missile attack," Newman said, "do you remember whether the missile was fired before or after the Colonial ship's jump into Coral space?" "I guess a split second before that," I said, "at least that's how I looked. They knew when and where the ship was going to show up." "How do you think that's possible?" Gauna asked. "I don't know," I said. "I only found out about the jump drive the day before the attack. As far as I know, there doesn't seem to be any way to predict the arrival of the jump ship." "What does 'as far as you know' mean?" Newman asked. "Alan, the monitor of the other class—"I don't want to say he's my friend, they might get suspicious—"said that the jump thruster is to transport a spaceship from one universe to another similar universe, Its appearance and disappearance are extremely unlikely phenomena. If this is true, there should be no way to predict when and where the spacecraft will appear. Spaceships will appear unexpectedly." "Then what do you think is going on?" Gauna asked. "What do you mean?" I asked. "As you said yourself, there's no way of knowing that a ship is jumping," said Gauna. "So we can only assume that the ambush was a leak to the Rye." "Here we go again," I said, "Well, even if we assume there is a traitor, how does he do it? Even if he can somehow inform the Rye that the ship is coming, he has no way of knowing that the ship is coming." Appearing somewhere in Coral space—remember, the Rhei were waiting for us. We were hit by them as soon as we were off the jump and into Coral space." "So, that's the question again," said Gauna, "what do you think it's about?" I shrugged. "Perhaps the leap is not as improbable as we imagined it to be," I said. "Don't get so angry about the interrogation," Harry said, handing me a glass of juice from the hospital cafeteria, 'they also had a 'doubtful you survived' attitude to us. " "How did you react?" I asked. "Damn it," said Harry, "I agree with them. It's fucking questionable. Funny, I don't think they'd prefer that answer. But at the end of the day, you can't blame them. It's all upside down. If you don't find out what's going on at Coral Star, you'll be in trouble." "Well, that's interesting your way of looking at it," I said. "What do you think happened?" "I don't know," said Harry. "Maybe jumps aren't as impossible as we thought." He took a sip of his juice. "Interesting, that's what I said too." "Yeah, but I really think so," said Harry. "I don't have Alan's background in theoretical physics—may God rest his soul—but there must be something wrong with the whole theoretical model of the jump as we understand it." Wrong. Apparently the Rye somehow can predict with great accuracy where our ship will jump. How do they do it?" "I don't think it's possible," I said. "Exactly. But anyway, they did it. So it's clear that our model of the transition is wrong. When it turns out that the theory is wrong, it's time to throw the theory away. Now the question is, what happened thing." "Any thoughts?" I asked. "There are some, but it's not my area of ​​expertise," Harry said. "I really don't understand that deep math." I smiled, "You know, Alan said very similar things to me not too long ago." Harry smiled and raised his glass, "To Alan." "To Alan," I said, "and to all our friends who weren't here." "Amen," Harry said, and we took a sip. "Harry, you said you were there when they took me aboard the Sparrowhawk," I said. "I was," he said, "and you were a mess. Don't take offense, I didn't mean to offend you." "It's all right," I said, "do you remember the soldiers who brought me up here?" "Remember a little," Harry said, "but not much. They kept us isolated from the rest of the ship for most of the voyage. I was in the infirmary on the ship when they brought you up. Saw you. They were doing a medical on us." "Is there a woman on the rescue team?" "Yes," Harry said, "tall, brown haired. That's all I can think of at once. To be honest, I was paying more attention to you than the person who brought you in. People I know are You, not them. What's wrong?" "Harry, one of the people who saved me was my wife. I swear it." "I remember your wife was dead," said Harry. "My wife is dead," I said, "but it was her. She wasn't the Cathy I married. She was a colonial soldier with green skin like us." Harry looked puzzled, "You are probably hallucinating, John." "Yes, but if I'm just hallucinating, then why am I fantasizing about Cathy being a colonial soldier? Why don't I remember what she looks like?" "I don't know," said Harry. "Illusions are, by definition, unreal. There are no rules for illusions. There's no reason why you shouldn't fantasize about your dead wife as a Colonial soldier." "Harry, I know I'm sounding crazy, but I did see my wife," I said. what did you see?" Harry sat in silence for a while. "You know, my class was crammed into the Sparrowhawk for days," he said, "in a rec room with nowhere to go and nothing to do—they wouldn't even let us use the ship's recreational facilities.We can only use our brains to think about things. So, we talked about the crew on the spaceship and the special forces soldiers.Funny thing: None of us knew any of the regular soldiers who joined Special Forces.That's fine, most of us have only been in the military for a few years.But still very interesting. " "Maybe it's long enough to serve," I said. "Maybe," said Harry, "but it could be something else. By the way, they call the Special Forces the 'Ghost Brigade.'" I think I'll have to look it up.If I don't come back, you avenge me. " "Depending on the situation, I'll try my best," I said. "Okay." Harry said with a grin. "Also, try to see if you can find something. You'll have to be cross-examined at least a few times. Why don't you try asking them too?" "What happened to the Sparrowhawk?" Major Gauna asked in the next round of interviews. "I want to send it a message," I said, "to thank them for saving my life." "It's not necessary," said Lieutenant Colonel Newman. "I know. But it's polite to do it anyway," I said. "Someone saved you from being chewed toe by toe by an animal in the woods. In that case, you should at least post a Small message. Actually, I want to send this message directly to whoever finds me. How do I do that?" "You can't do that," Gauna said. "Why not?" I asked innocently. "The Sparrowhawk is a Special Forces ship," Newman said, 'and they operate alone.Communication between Special Forces and the rest of the fleet is limited. " "Well, isn't that unfair?" I said. "I've been in the military for over a year and I've never had a problem sending emails to my friends on other ships. Even special forces soldiers want to receive Messages from your friends." Newman and Gauna looked at each other. "We're off topic," Newman said. "I just wanted to send a message," I said. "We'll take care of it," Gauna said, in a tone that said, "No, we won't take care of it." I sighed, and then told them why I ordered the Modesto's shuttle air port gates to be opened.It may have been the twentieth repetition of the narrative. "How's your jaw?" asked Dr. Fiorina. "Fully recovered, and I'm ready to chew something," I said. "It's not that I don't like drinking soup out of a straw, it's just that it's just too monotonous." "I feel sorry for you," Fiorina said. "Okay, let's take a look at your legs." I pulled the sheet down so he could take a look.The ring of nanomachines had already retreated halfway down the calf. "Very well," he said, "start walking like this. It's fine to support your weight in the parts that haven't been treated, and it's good to move the legs a little bit. In the next few days, I will Give you a cane to use. I noticed you had friends visiting, why don't you let them take you to lunch or something?" "If this is the case, you don't need to order it a second time." I said as I moved my new legs, "It's just like new ones." "It's better than that," said Dr. Fiorina. "After you joined the army, we made some improvements to the anatomy of the colonial army. These improvements have been incorporated into your legs, and the rest of your body will feel it." to the benefit of it." "It begs the question, why didn't the colonial army just do an all-in-one improvement," I said, "and completely replace the human body with something completely designed for war?" Fiorina, who was staring at the data book, looked up, "You already have green skin, cat-like eyes, and a computer in your brain." He said, "How much less human do you think? " "That's true," I said. "Of course," Fiorina said. "I asked the orderly to bring in the crutches." He clicked the data pad and gave the order. "By the way, doctor," I said, "did you treat anyone else on the Sparrowhawk?" "No," he said. "Honestly, Corporal, your case is already challenging." "No crew from the Sparrowhawk?" Fiorina smiled. "Oh no, they're Special Forces." "so what?" "Let's put it this way, they have special needs," Fiorina said.The orderly came in and brought my crutches. "You know what you can find out about the Ghost Brigade? I mean official information," said Harry. "I don't think it's much," I said. "Not to exaggerate too much," Harry said. "You can't find anything." Harry, Jess and I are having lunch at a restaurant in Phoenix Base.For my first outing, I recommend going as far away from Brenneman as possible.This restaurant is on the other side of the base.The scenery here is nothing special—a small shipyard is visible—but its hamburgers are famous throughout the base, and they live up to the name.Chefs here have opened dedicated hamburger restaurant chains across the globe in the past.Although this is only a small shop, it is often crowded with diners.Harry and I's hamburgers, though, were getting cold while we were talking about the ghost tour. "I asked Gauna and Newman if I could send a message to the Sparrowhawk, but it was blocked," I said. "No surprise there," said Harry. "Officially, the Sparrowhawk existed—that's all you could find. You couldn't find anything about her crew, size, armament, or location. None of the information can be found. A full search of Special Forces or 'ghost brigades' in the Colonial Army databases will also turn up nothing." "So you didn't find anything?" Jessie said. "Oh, I didn't say that." Harry smiled. "You can't find anything officially, but unofficial ways can bring you a lot." "How did you find the unofficial information?" Jessie asked. "Well, you know," said Harry, "that my sparkling personality works wonders." "Please," Jessie said, "I'm eating. Eating is more important than what you two say." "What the hell did you find?" I asked, taking a bite of my own hamburger.It tastes great. "Please note, these are all rumors," Harry said. "That said, it's very likely to be more accurate than what we can get from officials." I say. "Possibly," Harry admitted, "the big news is that they're called the 'Ghost Brigade' for a reason. You know, it's not an official name, it's just a nickname. From what I've heard According to rumors, the members of the special forces are all dead." "What?" I said.Jessie, who was eating a hamburger, also raised her head. "Not really dead people, really," said Harry, "not walking zombies. There are a lot of people who sign up for the Colonial Army who die before their seventy-fifth birthday. When that happens, the Colonial Army doesn't seem to be Will throw your DNA away. They'll use it to make special forces members." I remembered, "Jessie, do you remember Leon Dick's death? What did the doctor say? 'Volunteering with the Ghost Brigade at the last minute.' I thought it was a nasty joke. " "How could they do that?" Jessie said. "It's immoral." "Really?" said Harry. "You volunteered to enlist and agreed to let the Colonial Army take whatever procedures were necessary to increase your combat effectiveness. And if you died, you would not be combat effective. It was in the contract. Even if it’s immoral, it’s at least legal.” "That's right. But using my DNA to create a new body for me to use is not the same as using that new body out of me," Jessie said. "It's the details, the details," Harry said. "I don't like letting my body wander alone," Jessie said. "I don't think it's right for the colonial army to do that." "Well, they're doing more than that," Harry said. "You know, these new bodies of ours are heavily genetically modified. Well, apparently the Special Forces' bodies are even more modified than ours. In the new improved technology Before the area was used, the soldiers of the special forces were used as guinea pigs for experiments. It is said that some of the improvements are very radical—the human body has been improved so that it does not look like a human.” "My doctor said that Special Forces soldiers have special needs," I said, "but even though I was hallucinating, the people who saved me still looked very human." "We didn't see any genetic mutations or deformities on the Sparrowhawk," Jessie said. "But we weren't allowed to move around on the ship either," Harry pointed out. "They confined us to one area and lost contact with the outside world.We see medical rooms and entertainment areas, but that's about it. " "People can often see special forces, whether they are fighting or wandering around in normal times." Jessie said. "Of course," said Harry, "but that doesn't mean they've seen everyone." "You're cranky again, honey," Jessie said, feeding a chip into Harry's mouth. "Thank you, honey." Harry said, biting the french fries, "Leaving aside the rumors that the special forces were deeply improved, anyway, John saw his wife. This incident itself has a great reputation. Not the real Cathy, just someone who used her body." "Who?" I said. "Well, that's the problem, isn't it?" said Harry. "Your wife is dead, so they can't put her personality into that body. They're either putting a preprogrammed personality into the Special Forces." The body of the soldier..." "Either someone else stepped out of her old body into her new body," I said. Jessie shuddered. "I'm sorry, John, but this is really creepy." "John? Are you okay?" Harry asked. "What? Oh, I'm fine," I said. "It's just hard to take it for a while. It's hard to imagine that my wife could be alive—not really alive, but someone else is walking around with her body .I think, I'd rather believe it was a momentary illusion." I looked at Harry and Jessie.They were dumbfounded, their eyes widened. "Guys, what's up?" I said. "Say the ghost, here comes the ghost," said Harry. "What?" I said. "John," said Jessie, "she's in line for a hamburger." I turned away and knocked over my plate.Immediately afterwards, I felt like I fell into an ice bucket all at once. "Damn it," I said. is her.no doubt.