No Good Deed

No Good Deed

By Daniel Haight

When I was 14, events conspired to make me dislocate my wrist and crack a couple of ribs while saving a boy named Jamie from a danjir. The events that followed helped me to understand the phrase "No good deed goes unpunished". When Jamie arrived and was put in my charge, I had no idea that he was going to be so much trouble. The fact that he was a nuisance was obvious the moment I met him. I’m getting ahead of myself a bit. I started out life as a street kid in a medium-sized city on a small planet, fairly far away from anyplace important. When you have no folks and you aren’t old enough to get a job that would pay you enough to live someplace, you have to get creative.

So I picked pockets. Picked pockets or begged, really. I wasn’t really good at the latter, never could get my "pitiful and starving" look down enough to be believable. Truth to tell, I wasn’t good at picking pockets either. I got caught often enough to be called Oliver Twist at the local precinct house, whoever he is. Finally, the local magistrate and the local force had enough of me. I was going to do a long stretch in the labor camp, except the judge had recently been notified of a program by the Rangers that helped at-risk youths. The judge, bless his rancid heart, decided they rather than his prison system would better feed my mouth. So, at age 11, I became one of the apprentice-trainees for the Arkestrian Rangers.

The Rangers aren’t soldiers, although many of them hold rank. They serve the purpose of preserving the general welfare and ensuring domestic tranquility. It goes in line with the philosophy of governments that exist on a world that isn’t yet aware of other sentient beings, I’m told. The Rangers aren’t police officers, although they can arrest you. They aren’t soldiers although we carry rifles. We also aren’t doctors, but if you’re in trouble and there’s no one else around, a Ranger is better than nothing. We live on bases that are evenly spread throughout whatever territory we are assigned. We have one commanding officer, one sergeant and a general crew of anywhere from ten to fifty. None of us are married, although the commanding officer can be. When Jamie came to us, my commanding officer was a Lieutenant Hodges whose wife lived with him on the base. We protect the local people and their livestock from the unsavory elements, the local wildlife or rustlers. Breeding livestock hasn’t changed much in the last 750 years. Mostly it’s a lot of hard work in rough territory and all the technology in the galaxy won’t civilize it.

The apprentice-trainee program is a two year course in basic skills that will prep you for the apprentice program with the Rangers. After spending your stretch as an apprentice, you can apply for full-certification as a Ranger. If you pass that, you start out as a field scout third class, and so on. After I finished my AT course, my marks were good enough to be considered as an apprentice. Unfortunately, events in the dormitory with a couple of boys who thought too much of their fighting skill nearly knocked me out of the running completely. My teachers were willing to overlook the incidents and I was accepted as a Ranger Apprentice of the 307^th, Zed Group. My base was on Arkes Dorsa Twain, the second planet of the Arkes systems’ outer ring. Dorsa Twain is a beautiful planet, with a wide variety of ecosystems. My area, near the Arianas Range is sometimes known as the Dark Country. Not because of the sun, but because there were a lot of really nasty ways to die and most of them were undetectable until you were dead. So, you had to grow up fast and be used to trouble coming in lots of unsuspecting ways.

All in all, it was a great place to grow up and I loved being in the Rangers. Of my crew, I was the only apprentice in a group of eighteen. I was treated like everybody’s kid brother. That can be good, or bad, depending on the person. I was assigned a lot of the chores around the base that everyone else hated. I was also stuck on night patrol more often than anyone else on the duty roster. Sometimes I hated it, but it beat sleeping behind a reactor vent to stay warm, I can assure you. On the flip side, most of the Rangers took it upon themselves to show me a lot of things I would have had to learn the hard way. How to clean a rifle, how to drive an AG sled, how to do the thousand and one things that you had to know to live in the Dark Country. I got to be pretty good at it, too. At least that was what Parker, my Master said. I got used to the life, learned to love being on night watch riding in the right seat with whoever was assigned to fly. I also loved watching the quietness of the land in the cool hours before the dawn, while I picked out imaginary targets with my rifle. I even grew to love the grinding hard work that sometimes went into our jobs. For the first time, I belonged to something. For the first time, I knew that if I died there would be someone to mourn. It’s surprising how much you need something like that, and how much it can be taken for granted.

The day Jamie came to us, I had pulled night watch. My favorite way to pass the watch was to do the first half flying patrol and the second on the tower, monitoring the comm channel and keeping my eyes open. It wasn’t to be this time. Parker was on watch as well, and Stepford, one of the Lance Corporals, rode with him as they flew patrol in our bases’ MH-105, a gunship we referred to as "The Hog". That meant that I was stuck having to try and stay awake, listening for a call for help that might or might not come, watching for something that might or might not be there. It’s hard to stay awake, pulling duty like that. It was also coming on to the cold season, and I hadn’t brought my parka. So, I sat in the comm chair shivering for the night, wishing for a heater and cursing because we hadn’t put up the winter screens in the tower. I was due to be relieved around seven and I was. I went through my chores and inhaled my breakfast. I was tired from last night and wanted all the sleep I could get before the Lieutenant collared me for some menial task. I was lucky this time and the Lieutenant was nowhere to be found. Everyone else was out on patrol except for Step and Parker, but they were already asleep and wouldn’t bother me. I got about six or seven hours of sleep and woke in the early afternoon. My night was free so I could count on some nice easy time before I started my next afternoon shift.

I went into the kitchen to grab some lunch. Mrs. Hodges was fixing a sandwich and a drink for a boy who was younger than I was and about the same size. He had a slightly bewildered expression, but when Mrs. Hodges turned her back, he flashed me a mischievous grin. Something told me he was trouble. I said nothing at first and began making myself a quick snack. Mrs. Hodges surprised me; she had two sandwiches ready and handed one to me without a word. I ate while I pondered this uncharacteristic charity. I had no concept of the lamb that was being fattened up for the kill.

The Lieutenant came in from the back porch with some papers in his hand. "Good afternoon, hot shot," he said to me by way of greeting. "Holmes told me to remind you not to leave crumbs on the console." He gave me a slight swat on the back of the head, since he had told me about that several times before. He sat next to me at the bar, opening a bottle of Zren from the cases we received every month. I wasn’t old enough to drink it but Parker snuck me some every once in a while. I was developing a taste for it.

He downed the bottle, burped and said, "Kenny, have you met Jamie?" He indicated the youth next to me. "Kenny, Jamie. Jamie, Kenny. He’s a friend of mine and he’ll be staying with us for a while. I want you to look after him as long as he’s here." I opened my mouth to protest but shut it when I saw the look in the Lieutenant’s eye. I could sass all I want, but when his eyes said "stop" you had better stop; and they were saying, "stop" right now. "Do you have a problem with that?" he asked mildly.

"No sir," I muttered. He beamed like nothing had ever happened. "Excellent. Jamie, you’re sharing Kenny’s chores with him." Jamie’s face fell, I instantly felt better. "Kenny’s in charge so I don’t want to hear about you giving him any grief." Lieutenant Hodges got up from his stool, carrying his empty bottle with him. "Kenny, show him around the place, be back at the table by five-thirty."

After we finished our sandwiches, I led the way out the back porch to the central yard. It was still hard packed dirt with some grass around the main house. As soon as Jamie saw the unattended base defender, he broke away and leaped up the ladder to the platform. "Oh, boy!" he cried as he threw off the tarp that covered it. The base defender was a gun with two six-barrel HRPGs. It ran on standby power constantly and only took ten seconds to turn on. In fact, it took me twelve seconds to reach Jamie, and by that time he was taking aim at a hillside over two kilometers away. "See that tree on that hill?" he asked over his shoulder. Before I could say anything he ripped it in half with a two-second burst. I opened my mouth to tell him to stop, but it was too late.

"Hey! What’re you guys doing down there?" It was Holmes in the watchtower. He was leaning out the door with the comm headset trailing back to the console. "Uhh…nothing, sir," I called back. "I was just showing Jamie our defenders."

"Come on, Kenny, you know better than that. Stand that defender down now."

Burning, I called back a "Yes, sir" and powered the defender back to standby. Jamie laughed at me and scampered down the ladder like a squirrel, making dust for the vehicle shed. I got the tarp back on and hurried after him. He ran a lot faster than I did. He disappeared into the darkness of the shed and I paused to let my eyes adjust. They adjusted in time to let me see him climb into the cockpit of the Hog. ”Hey!" I shouted and ran to the open door. "Get out of there. The Lieutenant would kill the both of us if he saw you in here." Jamie ignored me, pressing buttons. "Hey, do you hear me?" I asked. "Get out of there right now." Reluctantly, he climbed out of the Hog and started toward the door. "Listen-"

Abruptly, he picked up a tool from the bench beside the door and threw it at me. His aim was off and it sailed past my shoulder. "Listen up, dirt," he snapped. "I didn’t want to come here and I definitely am not gonna get told off by a little Ranger Apprentice like you. You mess with me, and my dad will make sure this base is closed and you’re kicked out. Just stay out of my way." He turned and left the vehicle shed while I stood there with my jaw hanging.

While the Lieutenant told me to be back at five-thirty, Jamie made me late by ignoring my warnings that we should be getting back. Everyone was eating by the time we got in. I knew I was in for a pasting and said nothing as I washed up and sat down at my place in the hall. Parker shoveled food into his mouth across from me, met my eyes and shook his head. The Lieutenant never looked in my direction. Jamie sat next to the Lieutenant, a strange honor since the seating went according to rank. Stepford, who normally sat there, gave up his seat and kicked Rodgers out of his. Everyone moved down a place. Jamie pouted at his food until the Lieutenant asked what was wrong and they had a whispered conversation. Mrs. Hodges heard it and left the hall to make what Jamie wanted in the kitchen. This floored me; if I ever tried the same thing I’d have to skip dinner and wait until the morning. I finished dinner and went out to the back porch. One of the trees that still grew in the yard had a good branch for sitting. It was my usual private place of introspection. The shadows had grown long and dusk was approaching. In a couple of hours, the night creatures would be hunting and the night watch would be on.

The back door opened and the Lieutenant was standing on the back porch. His eyes were focused on the horizon and he was quiet for a minute. "So, what happened?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the outside.

"I tried to make him come back, sir. Really, I did."

He smiled. "Jamie isn’t used to taking orders, Kenny. I should have warned you."

"He said his dad could close the base. I didn’t think anyone could do that."

The Lieutenant seemed amused at the thought. He lit his smoke and tasted it, thoughtfully. "Jamie’s father can’t close the base," he said finally. "Regardless of whatever Jamie may think. You’re still in charge, Kenny; any more trouble, you come to me."

That's how it went, for a month or so. Jamie managed to get either himself or both of us in trouble on a daily basis. I tried going to the Loot but I don’t think he or I realized just what a full-time job my charge was gonna be. Parker tried to shield me from some of the bases' wrath, but he couldn't prevent everything. Most evenings, we were sent to eat on the back porch because Jamie was causing so much trouble. I think most of the base knew what I was up against, yet for some reason, I would get most of the official wrath while Jamie remained publicly blameless. Finally, after one too many nocturnal episodes, we were both sent to bunk in the supply room. "I hope you realize what you're doing to me," I hissed as we settled down in some surplus sleepbags. Jamie ignored my warnings, cursed and threw things at me or repeated his threat to have the base shut down. This annoyed and puzzled me at the same time. He knew I had talked to the Captain about what he had said. I don't think he would've kept this up in the face of such convincing evidence unless he thought he knew something we did not.

Winter came to the Dark Country. I was reveling in the fact that I was finally old enough to rate my own cold-weather gear instead of making do with the stations' castoffs. My body armor was unstained with other people’s sweat and my parka fit me comfortably, without holes from some unremembered injury. That night was to be the first big storm of the season. Storms always mean extra work for us, but they go a long way in justifying the reason we're stationed here in the first place. Animals like to attack the ranches under cover of the storms, since they know that nobody will be out to check the animals for at least a few hours. Shifts were cut in half since we'd be doing more work in them. I was to fly with Stepford for the first shift, the dinner to midnight, in the Hog as co-pilot.

I sat down together with the rest of the station, trading jokes and feeling pretty high. Jamie pointedly sat down at the opposite end of the table ignoring everyone. He was pouting because the captain refused to let him join me on my shift. He said he preferred us together when other personnel were around. I paid him no attention; I was finally able to spend some time without Jamie following me like some evil shadow.

After dinner, I walked outside to the yard where I made some final adjustments to my uniform. The base was alive that night. All posts were manned, including the usually unused base defenders. Snow was on the wind and all indications were that we'd receive several meters of it before morning. As I stood there on the back porch, a strangely familiar whine cut through the approaching storm. I turned to see the Hog ease out of the bay and tentatively make a few hops on its lifters. At first, I thought Stepford was leaving without me, then I saw that the landing skids weren't retracted and the Hog was pranging them into the ground. There was no one else on the base that could've piloted so badly.

The back door burst open and Stepford ran out, his coat half on. "Kenny!" he shouted at the Hog. "Where're you going?"

"I'm right here!" I yelled back. "Jamie's got the Hog!" Stepford wheeled and ran inside while I pounded toward the barn. I wouldn't let him get away this time. I got there and ripped the cover off of an AG sled. The power was nearly gone since we stopped using them a week ago and wouldn't put them back in service until the following spring. I tore the cover off of an older one, nearly full charge! With no time to waste, I kicked it to life and tore out of the hanger over the base wall.

"AG-1 to base, come in," I shouted over the wind.

The lieutenant's voice came back immediately. "We're here Kenny, talk to us."

"I'm in pursuit now, I don't have visual but I'm following his tracks." Jamie was a terrible pilot, despite his boasts to the contrary. I could follow him by all the snow he plowed through and the trees he glanced off of. The radio crackled again. "We're pinned down and there isn't anyone else to help. You're on him now, sport, don't let us down."

I shouted my affirmative and eased up the speed as much as that old crate would take. Jamie's course led us higher and higher into the foothills. As the light disappeared, I was forced to use my lights, despite the attention it would draw. The falling snow made me lose the trail several times but I picked them up later. If it weren't for my IR scanners, I would've passed the Hog as another snow bank.

The first half of the Hog was buried nose-first. I parked the sled and scrambled to the dorsal hatch. Punching the code for the hatch, I lifted it up and peered inside. The cabin lights were off but the emergency lights gave the cockpit a red cast. All of a sudden, a fist swung out of the darkness and clunked against my helmet. Surprised, I reared back and unceremoniously slid off of the hull. Before I could react, Jamie’s whirling form boiled out of the hatch, at the same time throwing a medkit at me. It whistled past my ear.

"You made me crash," he screamed. "I was trying to get out of your way and I crashed…When I get back…you’re finished. You’re finished, Kenny!"

I was too surprised and angry to be polite. "Who ever told you that you were going to make it back," I shot back. Jamie started for me, swinging something. I avoided it easily, but saw that it was a shockstick. If it was on, it would’ve killed me, but Jamie must not have known that. On his next swing, I grabbed it and yanked him toward me. He swung a clumsy right, but his fist glanced of my helmet. Jamie howled and clutched his fist. I grabbed him by his parka front and pulled him off his feet. I wasn’t anywhere near as strong as Stepford or the Lieutenant, but Jamie was a lightweight. I knocked the shockstick out his hand and threw him headfirst into a snowdrift. He kicked out and caught me right behind the kneecap, sending me down, and then he picked up the shockstick and noticed for the first time the activator switch. Flicking it, he raised it over his head.

"I’m tired of the way you boss me around, the way everyone treats me," he hissed. "Now take some of your own and see how it feels." Oh, I was a goner, I knew that. The stick was on its way down. I don’t think Jamie really knew what it was for. Then, suddenly, he was gone and the stick flew to land a couple of meters away. A danjir had been listening to our fighting and had snuck up on us. A danjir is a quadruped; it comes up to my shoulders when it’s standing straight. Its forepaws have elongated claws that make it just as dextrous as a human. It can stand on its hind legs and use a fifth arm, growing from its chest to pin its victims while it slashes with both paws.

Completely ignoring me, the danjir pounced on Jamie and pinned him down. Jamie screamed, in terror or in pain, I wasn’t sure which, as the danjir reared back to strike. I had never fought or seen a danjir up close before. They are crafty animals; Step needs to track them, sometimes for a whole day before killing one. Our earlier fight was forgotten. I had no weapons, but I couldn’t let Jamie become lunch. I kicked out at it, connecting with a solid hit at his hindquarters. The danjir screamed and kicked, almost by reflex. It caught me in the armored chest of my parka, but the force was enough to send me flying. I hit the ground as it turned back to Jamie. He hadn’t moved and I suspected he was unconscious. The danjir ignored me again, probably figuring that I was dead from the kick; and by all rights I should’ve been, if not for the parka. Something fell into my hand as I sat up again. The shockstick! It was still on; fortunately, my fall missed the business end. The danjir slashed his parka several times, sending the filling inside flying. Its last slash connected because Jamie screamed in pain and his blood was visibly flying off of the danjir’s claws. It got set for another slap when I sent the shockstick into it’s back with the power turned on full. A shockstick has somewhere around a million volts in its capacitor, and, when turned on full, can carry several thousand amps. We normally used them as prods for some of the larger stock animals. When it hit, the danjir just flopped over, dead. It has always been amazing to me how fast a creature can go from live to dead; almost in the space of a heartbeat. It landed on Jamie, I had to shove and heave to get the carcass off and check on him. He was breathing, but there were some deep punctures that needed to be fixed up right away.

I keyed my headset again. "Station 463, this is AG-1," I began, but my radio was gone. I wasn’t even getting static. Either the danjir or Jamie had damaged it enough to total it. The AG sled had used up its power getting here and it was a cinch that the Hog wasn’t going anywhere. Fortunately, the Rangers are in the habit of preparing themselves for any eventuality and the medical supplies on the Hog yielded a backboard that I was able to rig up as a travois.

I got Jamie strapped in and found some snowshoes, figuring that I wouldn’t get back until at least morning. In fact, it took another day. My left arm hurt terribly and swelled up at the wrist. I stopped several times to try and sooth it with ice. Also, my side hurt whenever I breathed from the spot where the danjir had kicked me. I kept going, though, for Jamie’s sake as well as my own. He would die before the searchers would find us; we were pretty lost up here. I would never hear the end of it from the Lieutenant. I got hungry, I got tired and I got downright exhausted. I was darn near delirious by nightfall. Every time I stopped, I managed to get going again, if for nothing else, than to tell on Jamie.

I was within fifty meters of the door when Parker saw me. My legs were about to give out as he dashed through the snow minus his parka. I dropped the ropes of the travois and fell to my hands and knees. I forgot that my left hand had stopped working and yelped when I put my weight on it. I slumped over and lay in the snow, not caring anymore if I lived or died. Parker ignored me for a moment; he checked the sled and its contents. He was almost reverent in his use of invective as he turned his head and bawled toward the house: "Step! Tell the boss Kenny brought Jamie back! Hurry up, tell him and get out here! I felt a pair of vise-like hands grip me under my armpits and lift me to my feet. "How are you, kid? You okay," he asked as he peered at my face anxiously. I mumbled that I was okay and started to walk, but my legs just gave out. Before I could fall again, Parker caught me in a fireman’s carry and brought me into the house. I passed out before I got inside.

In a perfect world, I would’ve gotten care right away, but don’t get me started. Lance Corporal Stepford, who doubles as the station medic saw to Jamie first. Stepford could either patch you up or send you on a 20-minute ride upstairs to an orbiting battlewagon. As it turned out, Jamie was bad enough off to spend a week on one of those star cruisers. He sent me some pictures. I woke up complaining as the Lieutenant and Hodges were carrying me into the infirmary. They sat me on the exam table and the LC prepared some blunt shears. "Talk to me, Shorty," Stepford growled. "Can you hear me in there?"

"Yeah," I groggily replied. "Is Jamie alive?"

Step shined a penlight in my eyes, checking my pupils. "He’s in okay shape, pretty beat up. I’ve got a Medivac unit on the way to take him to some better doctors. Are your arms okay?" I nodded. "Good, that coat’s expensive. Be a shame to cut it off." He drew off my gloves and undid the straps. Then, he helped me to painfully get the coat off to my flak vest underneath. He whistled as he saw the dents and scratches. "Tell you what, Kenny boy, you are one lucky son of a gun. That armor saved your life." He paused and then looked straight at me. "You remembered your training, kiddo. That’s why you’re still alive, you and Jamie." He opened his medkit. "Let’s get you fixed up."

I had a dislocated wrist that had to be reset and a couple of cracked ribs. Step taped my ribs and set my wrist and let me bunk in the main lounge. It would be a while before everyone would get back, so I had the place to myself. I fell asleep on one of the couches Lt. Hodges forbade us to touch. The Lieutenant’s wife was fussy and I didn’t want to think about the fit that she’d throw when she saw me. As I went to sleep, a bitter thought occurred to me: After all Jamie had done, after all I did to bring us back, he was still treated better than I was. Probably always would. I fell asleep thinking that it would’ve been nice to ride in a star cruiser.

The noise of everyone coming in woke me up again. They must’ve seen me and feared the worst about Jamie. When the medivac arrived and carted him off there wasn’t much to do. They crowded around and I told the story as best I could. The Lieutenant and Stepford got a grim look on their faces as I told the story, but made no comment. "Alright," Stepford pronounced after I finished the story. "Kenny looks like he’s dead, the rest of you have been up all night. Go to bed. Kenny! You stay in here tonight. Now that we found you again, I’m keeping my eye on you." Stepford helped me up and took me into the kitchen, where he proceeded to cook me up a huge dinner. I didn’t eat much of it; I was too tired. I went back to the couch and slept for twelve hours. It must’ve been the drugs Step gave me for the pain or something, because I didn’t bat an eyelid once.

In the morning, the shifts did not begin, as I would have suspected, but the crew was busied, preparing the 463 station for the most distinguished visitor it had ever received. Not that I was aware of it, of course. I knew nothing until Parker woke me and helped me to my feet. My side was aching again and I had my dislocated wrist in a cast to my elbow. My hair was sleep-tousled and a bruise from the danjir attack had finally appeared over my right eye. All in all, I was quite a picture for my first and only audience with King Thomas the Fifth, the father of "Jamie", Prince James. A full complement of the Kings Royal Guardsmen waited in the wardroom for me. Their helmets were off but their eyes were enough to scare me. The black and red uniforms parted to show the King sitting at the wardroom table.

King Thomas wasn’t a large man. He was smaller than I guessed from watching the holos of him. His brown hair had hints of gray but his handshake was like iron and his eyes were sharp and alert. He passed me a filled mug of coffee after I wormed my way into the seat next to him. Missing an arm has surprising inconveniences. I sat still and kept my eyes to the floor, afraid of what must be waiting for me. Jamie must’ve told him everything; I wondered if I was to be executed.

"Is this your first time in the presence of royalty?" he asked politely.

I kept my eyes to the floor. "Yes, your majesty," I replied meekly.

"You know, it’s okay to look at me," he said gently. I looked up at him, nervously. He didn’t look angry, only amused with my discomfiture. "It’s even okay to drink your coffee. They wouldn’t have given it to you otherwise." Furtively, I ducked my head and took a sip. He drank his coffee in one gulp. I had only seen one other person do something like that, and it was the Lieutenant. Mrs. Hodges was at his elbow instantly and refilled his cup, disappearing again just as quickly.

He gazed out the window at the brightening morning, as if trying to make his mind up about something. I watched him, afraid to move. I still wasn’t sure what Jamie had told him. ”I had a long talk with Prince James," King Thomas said at last. "He doesn’t seem to like you much. I also had a longer talk with your Lieutenant." He looked at me; his gaze was mild but direct. "I owe you a great debt, Kenneth. The Prince would not have made it back were it not for you." He was still watching me. My chest was swelling with pride, but I was still too petrified to move. It was the moment that I realized that I had come such a long way from that back alley and the panhandling. "Your disagreement aside (my chest stopped swelling) and your marks aside (I think I was just glad he wasn’t going to shoot me at that point) the Ranger Corps is very proud to have you." He picked up a folder and started flipping through it. I realized that it was my master folder, kept from the beginning of my training in the Apprentice program.

"I’m told that you want to become a Ranger, Kenneth. Is this true?" He finished looking at the folder and looked at me.

I slowly found my voice. "Ye-yes, your majesty," I finally ground out.

"I think that this past event has proved your ability, and I’m forwarding your application with my comments to the Ranger Training Command," he said briskly. This man was discussing the rest of my life with the dull precision of someone ordering lunch. The strangeness of it all was not lost on me but I was in no position to reflect on it. I was finally getting my commission! With some luck, I would be the youngest Ranger on record.

"I’m very proud of you, son," he said. "Your command is proud and so is the rest of the Ranger Corps. I’ll be keeping my eye on you, Kenneth." He stood and helped me to my feet. He shook my hand like a man and walked outside into the morning air. A full escort of the Kings Guardsmen went with him wherever he went and it did me proud to see an entire phalanx of them in our tiny station. They boarded a shuttle and took off again, going back to orbit, or wherever it was that the King went at the time; I never really knew.

The Lieutenant joined me at the back porch as I watched the shuttle rise above the tree line. I watched until the shuttle was gone from sight. "You did yourself proud, sport," he said, not watching me. "You know something, Ken?"

"What?"

"I was never really nervous about what you could do. I was worried because if you were down then the whole game was up. But I was never worried that you wouldn’t bring him back if you could." He turned to go back into the house. "I never really worry about you."

My orders came through with blinding quickness. Two days after that, a shuttle was at the station to take me on a trip across the system to the Ranger Training Academy on Arkes Ventra Tridin. The crew had given me a send-off breakfast and a station patch to go with my newly issued cold weather parka. Stepford solemnly punched me in the shoulder and shook my hand before disappearing. Parker grinned and bear-hugged me. Mrs. Hodges was surprisingly emotional, including some cookies for the trip. The Lieutenant was last; he shook my hand and brought his arm up for a crisp salute, which I returned by cracking myself over the eyebrow with that darn cast.. 463 never looked like much as a station, but it will always be the first place I called home. As the shuttle nosed up into the clouds, I kept my face at the window, watching until I lost it among the mountains of the Dark Country.