A Space Story 52

            “So what does this mean?” asked Zemwell.

            “It means you win okay, we can be a real couple if you want,” said Therazan, “we just had real sex in a real bed and I’m willing to let you introduce yourself to people as my boyfriend from now on what more do you want?  Damn it; stop grinning at me like that.”

            “What made you change your mind?”

            “You almost got sent drifting out into space.  As soon as I heard you were being taken to the medical center… I just stopped what I was doing and ran.  I could not believe what I was doing.  But all I could think was I wanted to see you again.  And nothing else seemed to matter.”

            Zemwell was not grinning anymore.  He pulled Therazan close to him.

            “Sorry if I scared you,” he said.

            “You better be,” she replied.

            There was a call from the security force.  Therazan answered it.  It was not good news.

            “In the medical center?  When?  Oh god I was there less than an hour ago.”

            “What happened?” asked Zemwell.

            News of Felina Golumbine’s attempted suicide spread fast.  It only made everyone increasingly ill at ease.  A security guard was placed in the medical center at all times from then on.  Felina Golumbine was sedated.  Dr. Winchester Faction was almost always watching over her.

            “You should get some rest Dr. Faction,” said the security guard, “I’ll make sure she is okay.”

            “There were sixteen successful clone soldiers from our batch,” said Winchester, “we were each named after a different gun.  We all looked alike but all of my brothers were different.  I had eye for sharp shooting and sniping and I was the best medic.  My brother Kalashnikov was the only one of us that could cook worth a damn.  He was cooking one night.  I was playing cards with Magnum and Colt.  The rest of our brothers were sleeping or on watch.  Magnum was the thinker of the group.  He was always thinking.  He was always asking questions.  He asked why we were here.  Why had we been born?  Colt said we were born to tear shit up and have a good time.  Colt was always looking for a fight.  He was always ready to shoot first and screw the questions.  Magnum did not say much else that night.  He asked me what I thought.  I said we were soldiers, we follow orders.  The next morning we found Magnum hanging from a tree.  At first Colt accused the ones that had been on watch of not doing their duty, of letting an enemy get into our camp and kill our brother.  But I knew right away.  I knew no outside enemy had done this.  I had to explain it to them.  Our brother had done this to himself.  It did not make sense to us.  We already had so many enemies.  We did not understand why Magnum had wrapped vines around his own neck and throw his self out of a tree.  With accelerated growth we were teenagers by then.  But chronologically we were only six years old.”

            This was not the first time Winchester had told someone a story of his early childhood.  He recognized the look on the security guard’s face.  The man sympathized but he did not know what to do or say because he knew he could not truly understand.

            “You are right,” said Winchester, “I’ll be no good to my patients if I can not function.  She will probably stay under for a long time yet.  Just keep an eye on her for me.”