Land of the Blind (Chapter 20)

Land of the Blind

Chapter 20

Maria moaned, her head feeling as if it might split open and, for the third time in as many minutes, she tried to open her eyes.  She succeeded this time, blinking rapidly before squinting to shield against the harsh assault of the overhead light.  It took her a moment to realize that it was sunlight and then she remembered that she must have been in one of the newer buildings that used natural skylights to illuminate the interior.

She pushed herself up onto her backside and then, when her head stopped swirling, onto her haunches.  Just then, she felt a pair of strong hands grip her under her armpits and lift her to her feet.  She looked up at Wojonowski and then she knew that she was in Room 13.

“T-thanks, Ski,” she murmured while brushing a lock of hair out of her face.  “What the hell happened?”

Ski glanced over his shoulder and she saw Hasagawa doubled over a small disposal reservoir, retching.  Then, she looked beyond and saw Anna, still strapped into her chair.  She also saw that the machine above her head was humming, throbbing and playing a thin beam of red light back and forth over Anna’s head.  She cried out and tried to rush over to her, but was forcibly restrained by Wojonowski.

“Ski, let me go,” she protested.  “Can’t you hear her?  She’s in pain.  I’ve got to get to her.”

“That’s the emotional side of you talking, Lieutenant,” Wojonowski countered.  “Try letting the professional side out.  She was already in the middle of the procedure when I woke up.  All defense protocols had been overwritten and the cleansing program is fully activated, so let it do its job, if you really care about her.”

“Now, I remember,” Maria said, leaning against a workstation for support.  “It was that rat bastard Fox.  My God, he just came in here and blew Fuller away in cold blood.  One day, he’s going to get his, that sorry mother…”

“Hey, I’m still here.”

Maria inhaled sharply and looked to her left.  Sure enough, she saw that Fox was still in the room, sitting on top of the workstation closest to the now-closed door.  She looked at the shotgun cradled across his lap.  She then looked to the right and, though she saw no bodies, she saw the blood sprayed across the back half of the room.

“The bodies are in the hallway,” Fox explained.  “I really didn’t want to move them for fear of one of Ski’s people stumbling over them and sounding the alert.  But, I couldn’t have Miss Hasagawa throwing up all over the place.”

“Thank you, sir,” Hasagawa moaned, weakly.

“Why in the hell are you calling him sir, Corporal?” Maria snapped.

"Oh, I don't know," Fox answered instead.  "Maybe because I just saved your lives?  I should, at least, get some respect for that.  Hey, Ski, explain to her what happens to people in situations like the one Fuller had you in.  It's like a bad suspense novel."

"What the hell are you talking about Fox?" Maria demanded.  "And what the hell is a novel?"

Something chimed behind her.

“Whoops, food’s ready,” Fox flippantly remarked.  “You might want to leave Corporal Hasagawa alone and check on your boss.”

Maria spun around and saw that Anna was stirring.  The machine above her head had gone dark and had pulled back.  She rushed over to Anna, undid the straps and helped her boss sit up.

“Take it easy, Anna,” Maria comforted.  “You’ll be a little woozy from the process.”

“W-why?” Anna asked, weakly, her eyes darting wildly.

“The process Ski originally started was activated again,” Maria explained.  “I’m not sure what happened exactly.”

“N-no, M-Maria,” Anna said, pushing off softly in order to look straight ahead.  “I-I was talking to Fox.  Why?  Why did you save me?”

Fox didn’t answer. 

“Why did you save me, Fox?” Anna asked again, pushing herself to her feet and leaning on Maria’s shoulder for support.  “Feeling guilt over killing my whole family in Mexico?  Or maybe it was massacring my entire unit in Fort Worth?”

“See, I told you,” Fox said, shaking his head.  “I knew there were people from Mexico who would grow up and hunt me down.  Didn’t I tell you?”

“Yes, you did, Devereaux,” the microcomputer answered.  “Might I add that only you can hear me and everyone is looking at you like you’re crazy.  Not that they didn’t already think that.”

“Ha-ha, very funny,” Fox snorted.  “Okay, have it your way.”

“No, he isn’t talking to himself,” a stern but reassuring voice boomed out across the room, making everyone but Fox look around, confused.  “This is his microcomputer.  I’ve taken over the circuits of the AI so that you can hear me.”

“Are you the processing core of this cyborg unit?” Maria asked.

“Cyborg?’ Fox asked, incredulously.  “Holy smokes.  After all these years of analyzing me, the best you could come up with is that I’m a cyborg?  What the hell?”

“Well, you really haven’t given them much to go on, Devereaux,” the microcomputer added.

“Hey, you’re supposed to be on my side,” Fox protested.

“I’ve taken a cue from you and sided with the pretty ones,” the microcomputer retorted.  “Sorry, Mister Wojonowski.”

“Aha, I see,” Fox announced, sliding off the workstation and walking over to the door.  “Somebody’s been pilfering more stuff from Engleborg’s notes.  Weapons research and supersoldier programs weren’t enough.  You found the notes that bastard made on me when I was here off and on from 2058 to 2059.  I knew I should have blown his head off and destroyed his notes myself, and not just hidden them so that the FBI could have the credit when they arrested Engleborg for crimes against humanity.”

“You wanted to remain out of the spotlight at the time, Devereaux,” the microcomputer noted.  “You can’t second-guess yourself because of the…because of you know what.”

“Look, this is getting us nowhere,” Maria interjected.  “You can sidestep Anna's questions, but you can’t hold us here, Fox.  The Praetorians have surely been alerted and will be here shortly.  Your best chance now is to leave while you still can.”

“I’ll leave when I feel like it,” Fox shot back.  “And I don’t feel like it.”

“Maria, stop it,” Anna said, bluntly.  “That bastard isn’t leaving until he tells me why he murdered my entire family.  I know you saved me from the implants Chiang put in my head, but that doesn’t absolve you of your crimes against humanity.  Now, tell me why, Fox or so help me…”

“So help me what?” Fox retorted, acidly.  “You’ll sic the Praetorians on me?  In case you haven’t noticed, you guys haven’t been living up to your reputation.  You and Maria have been running all over the countryside on some scrub mission from Chiang – yes, I know about him sidelining you.  The Ghastly Trio – aka Paulius, Donat and Rickholts – have been flying here and there for God knows what.  Oh and we can’t forget the two Special Elites on Lake Nicaragua.  I wonder how they liked it when I gave them both fingers right before I remotely detonated the self-destruct system on the cloak vessel.  Other than that, most of your people have been sitting on their asses looking for me or sending token forces to the Panama Canal to see whose is bigger.”

Anna seethed at the stinging criticism of her unit.

“Anyway, that’s in the past,” Fox continued.  “Sorry if I spoiled the party for you and your Praetorian brown shirts…”

“How dare you?!”

Anna sprang forward so fast that Maria barely had time to corral her.  Even then it took help from Wojonowski to hold her back as she strained to get at a smug-looking Fox.  As they pushed her back into her chair, she kept her gaze fixed on her arch enemy.

“Those were good people you murdered,” she spat, venomously.  “They did nothing to you and, still, you cut them down without mercy.”

“Wait a minute,” Fox retorted.  “Are we talking about Mexico or Fort Worth?”

“Both.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Fox snorted.  “Either way, they all got what they deserved.”

Anna started to jump up again, but Maria forced her back down.

“You egotistical, murdering bastard,” Anna snapped.  “How in God’s name can you even remotely justify what you’ve done?”

“Hold it!” Fox said, heatedly.  “You’ve found all this ancient crap about me, stuff I’d hidden or, at least, thought I’d hidden very well.  And yet you haven’t seen fit to get the true stories behind Mexico and Fort Worth?  You guys are freakin’ pathetic.”

“Devereaux, please, this is not the time for shouting,” the microcomputer interrupted.  “Perhaps it’s time to tell them the truth.”

“Yeah, what can it hurt now?” Fox agreed, though with some reluctance.  “Senorita Velasquez, do you remember anything about barrels?”

“Barrels?” Anna queried.

“Yes, barrels,” Fox repeated.  “Did the procedure short-circuit your hearing?  I said barrels.  Ones with strange markings.  Something your parents might have made you stay away from?”

“Yes, yes, there were,” Anna replied, uneasily.  “The barrels were supplied by the United States agency that was helping us.  You think they were barrels of CSX gas?  That stuff was illegal.  Well, you’re wrong.  Mi madre, my…my parents did not have that.  They had EV gas.  It was not poisonous!”

“EV gas?” Wjonowski asked, as he pushed himself upright.  “My God.  It is poison, Anna.  My first job for the Federation was weeding out chemical weapons.  EV gas was just CSX with a different name and a slightly smaller dose of poison.  Black ops groups were always looking for a way around the regulations.  And, though we were all part of the Federation, the individual nations within all still had their covert groups.  Sort of a 'just in case' measure in case things went to hell in a hand basket, like with the Mexican civil war your family fought in.”

“Your parents were misled, Anna,” Fox continued.  “They used EV gas during their attack on a government-controlled town.  The casualties were horrendous.  The rebels broke off the attack almost immediately after the townspeople started dying in droves.”

“Madre Dios,” Anna gasped.  “I-I remember.  They all...came back from the attack, but they were not happy.  They were sad and many of my aunts and uncles were angry.  They were…they were fighting with each other.  Some wanted to use the EV again and others called them…monstruos.  Monsters.  I didn’t know what was wrong.  But, that still doesn’t tell me why you killed my parents?  Revenge, like in Fort Worth?”

“Tell her, Mister Wojonowski,” Fox answered.  "Tell her what happens when you fool around with crap you don't know how to handle."

“EV gas tends to eat through its containers,” Wojonowski said, in a voice tinged with sadness.  “Most likely anyone who was around the barrels for extended periods of time would have been exposed.  Given enough time, the effects would be beyond treatment.  The makers and suppliers never let anyone know about the side effects because they'd have gotten in trouble with the Federation and the United Nations."

“Your entire family was exposed to something cruder than CSX gas, Anna," Fox said.  "The concentrations may have been low-grade concentrations, but they were repeated, day after day.  Everyone in the village except children not old enough to handle a gun were taught how to handle the gas, mostly for defense against government attack.  They were all suffering the effects of it.  Wojonowski can tell you that the effects include excruciating pain and brain trauma.  They were all beyond treatment, like the villagers who got direct doses of almost 100 percent EV gas during the attack.”

“So, you were putting them out of their misery?” a visibly shocked Maria deduced, as she tried to comfort Anna, who vainly fought to hold back tears.  “All of them?”

“Some resisted,” Fox answered.  “Another symptom is an intense paranoia.  Most of the rebels who attacked the town had it.  I had no choice.  I still mark that day as one of the blackest in my long life.”

“Mercy killings,” Anna murmured as she shrank back into her chair.  “Why did no one tell me?  Madre Dios, the nightmares.  All those years lost to hate.”

“Who was going to tell the truth?” Fox remarked.  “Do you think the agency that was helping you was going to reveal that they supplied the EV gas?  Especially after they watched your people use it incorrectly, causing mass murder?  C-Y-A, Colonel. Cover your…assets.”

It was silent for far too long.

“T-that may be true, Fox,” Maria finally said.  “But, what about Fort Worth?  What did I do to you?  What did any of us there do to you?  A mistake was made and I’m sorry that Charles Bedard died.  But, he wasn’t you, Fox.  He wasn’t you.”

“He worked for me,” Fox replied, suddenly slamming his fist against the door in anger.

Hasagawa went wide-eyed as she saw the blue healing sparks racing around Fox’s hand.

“Yeah, Charles Bedard worked for me,” Fox reiterated.  “He was helping me create DNA slates.  You know those, don’t you?  They’re used to create clones of organs for transplant.  Takes up to a hundred tries to get it right.  Makes it very expensive so that only the politicians and celebrities can afford them.  They go to the head of the list while people who really need the slates wait for charity or for the rusty wheels of the Federation to grind on.  Didn’t know that, did you, Corporal?  One of the Federation’s dirtiest secrets  -- that it still won’t care for its most underprivileged.

“I paid for the DNA slates of thousands of sick children.  I created the means to keep them from being confiscated by Customs because they weren’t created by whatever lab paid the most bribes.  Charles Bedard was bringing slates for a thousand very ill children, all of whom were on their last legs and desperately needed the transplants.  Their parents just couldn’t afford the procedure.”

Wojonowski suddenly felt sick to his stomach and Hasagawa looked as if she needed another trip to the disposal reservoir.

“Your attack destroyed every single slate Bedard had with him,” Fox finished.

“But, we didn’t know,” Maria objected, weakly.  “None of us knew.”

“Bull!” Fox roared, pointing his shotgun directly at Maria and Anna.  “Don’t act like you didn’t know.  I know you did.  I hacked into your security system and accessed your internal communications, right after I neutralized your security people at your HQ.  Your technicians at the scene in Fort Worth found the remains of the slates.  They sent the information directly to Leonard Paulius and he forwarded it to Amicus Dyre.  And I know Dyre read all of it.  So, please, don’t tell me that you didn’t know.

“You knew and, yet, you celebrated.  You had real food.  You received applause.  That just burned me and I snapped.  Untreated Attention Deficit Disorder can do that, but I’m not hiding behind it.  I wanted to take care of human beings so cold-blooded as to consign a thousand children to agonizing death, just for the glory of killing me.  Just like those mercenaries who murdered all those people on the cruise ship and at the locks in the Panama Canal.  I gave them the exact same treatment that I gave you and your Praetorians in Fort Worth.  And like I gave Lee Chiang.  And the Special Elites in Nicaragua.”

"Oh, God," Hasagawa gasped right before she turned and retched.

“Devereaux, please lower your weapon,” the microcomputer asked, with compassion.  “They are unarmed and they have done nothing to you.  The ones responsible have paid.”

“No, not all of them,” Fox muttered, as he slowly lowered his gun.  “Not all of them.”

Anna reeled as the information she’d just learned threatened to overwhelm even her normal implants.  She’d found out the truth about her family, realizing that she’d lived a lie for most of her life.  She’d heard the truth about the DNA slates and Amicus Dyre’s roll in covering it up.  She’d known the general to be a father figure, but she’d also known that he’d done many horrible things during his military service, including covering up massacres and other operations gone wrong, just to let the Federation avoid culpability.

Maria didn’t care who knew of her feelings for Anna at that moment.  She hugged her commanding officer and lightly kissed the top of her head as she felt Anna sag against her.  When she heard the soft sobbing, she fought to hold back tears herself, for she had finally learned the reason behind her near death in Fort Worth.

“Fox, don’t take this the wrong way,” Wojonowski blurted out, to change the subject and break the tension.  “But, what the hell are you?”

“Mister Wojonowski, believe it or not, Devereaux Marshall Fox is human,” the microcomputer answered instead.  “Well, mostly.  He has a microcomputer in his head – that’s me, of course – and ultra fiber optic lines running to his right eye, both ears and both hands.  The operation came after the Battle of Phuket and, as you may have guessed, it was done despite the ADD and the Mesalarpa brain tumor.”

“Okay, that shattered about ten billion credits worth of research,” Hasagawa interjected, looking a little better as she sipped from a small glass of water.  “But, it doesn’t answer everything.  What about the laser?  What about those blue sparks I saw on your hand a few minutes ago?  What about the shield, which can be the only reason you weren’t blown to pieces in Panama?”

“Wow, extremely naïve and extremely intelligent at the same time,” Fox commented a blushing Hasagawa.  “Quite an enigma.  Anyway, where was I?  Oh, the shield.  That and the other stuff came from the BAB-70, an operation where I flew a special jet called the KLA-70 into space, armed with a unique missile that destroyed an asteroid that would have pulverized half the planet.  I took the mission because the Mesalarpa was going to kill me anyway.  But, as you can see, I lived. 

“The force of firing the missile actually pushed me back into the upper atmosphere.  However, I couldn’t escape the debris and my plane was shredded by the asteroid slivers.  Somehow, several of them pierced my cockpit, penetrated my helmet and skull and fused with the microcomputer who wasn’t originally supposed to talk, but now lets me know it can all the time.  The shield formed around my body as I fell to Earth, thus keeping me alive after I hit Death Valley like an H-bomb.  I also got an incredibly advanced healing factor, as evidenced by the blue streaks you just saw.”

“So, you’re saying that you can’t die,” Wojonowski deduced.

“Oh, I can die,” Fox answered.  “Someday, somehow, I’ll die.  I’ve known that for a long time.  Somebody somewhere will come up with something.  Maybe even as we speak.  The general’s brother, Lee, was hell-bent on getting Boron-352 out of the jungle.  The general has taken every piece of information he could get on Engleborg’s research.  Who knows what he’s cooking up?"

"And, yet, you still throw yourself into harm's way," Wojonowski noted.  "Even though you don't know if you'll be killed.  Day after day, you do this."

"Believe what you like or what you hear, Ski, but what I have are gifts," Fox said.  "And they do no good hiding in offices or houses and other supposedly safe and secure places.  But, when you constantly look for trouble, you'll find more than you bargained for.  So, one day, Anna, you’ll get your satisfaction because God knows I’ve lived too long.”

“Feeling some remorse?” Wojonowski asked.  “If so, why are you here?”

“I wanted to see first-hand just how much of Engleborg’s research that Chiang has appropriated.”

“Actually, I meant why not lay low and live a nice long life,” Wojonowski amended.  “You can do a lot more if you work behind the scenes.  Every time you show your face, you’re putting an even bigger target on your back.”

“Because people need help, that’s why,” Fox snapped, irritably.  “And who else is going to give it to them?  Chiang?  He only wants power.  Paulius?  Don't make me laugh.  Mavromichalis?  She can't see beyond her precious Praetorians.  And Anna?  Up until a few minutes ago, she only wanted revenge on me.

"Well, that doesn't help the rest of the world, now does it?  But, lo and behold, here I am.  I have gifts, gifts that can help people.  I’m here to level the playing field.  I can’t make people do anything, but I can give them the opportunity to be able to do it.”

“My God, that’s amazing,” Hasagawa gawked.  “I knew you weren’t the Fox we had on record.  That guy was a total ass.  Just a minute, though.  There is no history of an asteroid almost hitting the planet.  An explosion big enough to destroy an asteroid that could destroy half the planet would have been visible to billions of people on the ground and definitely in space.  Even the Federation’s best people couldn’t hide that.  Not in this lifetime and not in this universe.”

“Give the lady a star,” Fox called out. 

“What did I say?” the surprised corporal asked.

“When was I born?”

“April 25, 2012,” Hasagawa replied.

“Try 1967,” Fox corrected.

“What?” Hasagawa gasped.  “But, you mentioned that you got your operation right after the Battle of Phuket, which was in 2043.  That would mean you were seventy-six.  And that would make you almost 200 years old right now.  Life expectancy is only a maximum of 200.”

“I want my star back,” Fox quipped.

“What he means, Corporal, is that you missed the boat,” Wojonowski explained.  “His healing factor.  Age is an injury, which you’ll find out before too long.  Provided we all make it out of here.”

“Uhm, thanks, sir,” Hasagawa said, sounding unsure.  “I think.  But, Mister Fox, you still haven’t explained about the asteroid.”

“And you actually answered it, Corporal,” Fox said, rolling his eyes.  “Not in your universe.  It happened in mine.”

“Oh, now, come on,” Maria protested, looking over her should as she continued to cradle Anna in her arms.  “We already think you’re insane.  You don’t need to prove it.”

“Will you please explain it?” Fox asked in frustration as he boosted himself up onto a work station.

“Gladly, Devereaux,” the microcomputer replied.  “But, I don’t think the general will give us time.  I have been monitoring the base’s surveillance systems despite intense jamming from an outside source.  There is a rather large force of Praetorian jets, copters and land transports approaching.  I think General Chiang has realized that your trip to Medford was only a ruse.”

“Finally, the cavalry has arrived,” Wojonowski commented. 

“Look, Fox, I’m glad you told me the truth, but I think we both know how this is going to end if you continue to hold us here,” Anna said, lifting her head to show a tear-streaked face.  “Strange as it might seem, I no longer want to see you dead.  You told me the truth and now that I’m freed of the illegal implants, I can see that you were right.  My memories have come back to me.  Somehow, I know that you’ll be proven right with General Dyre.  You saved me twice, by stopping Fuller and by neutralizing what the general did to me.  You didn’t have to and I…I...”

“What my CO means to say is that she thanks you,” Maria completed as she eased a very tired Anna fully into her chair.  “But, that means nothing now.  You have to leave.  It will take time for my people to surround the base and set up a full perimeter.  You have time to escape if you leave now.”

“I don’t mean to rain on your parade, Lieutenant Red Horse, but I don’t think that will be possible,” the microcomputer countered.

“How many Praetorians are out there?” Fox asked, as he slid off the counter top and accessed the nearest computer.

“All of them, I believe,” the microcomputer responded, simply.

“Well, well, well, looks like they’ve activated the ultra secret Plan DMF,” Fox noted as he made several calculations.

“Good God, don’t they know that we’re in here?” Wojonowski commented as he rushed to another computer.

“In fact, Ski, all of your people are still here,” Fox added.  “The Praetorians jammed comms so they could approach under stealth.  The jets are already circling around for an attack run.”

“Christ almighty,” Wojonowski exclaimed.  “They’re going to kill us all just so they can finally get you, Fox.”

“I can’t believe that,” Maria objected.  “Can’t we break through the jamming and contact them?”

“You don’t get it, do you, Maria?” Anna blurted out.  “Engleborg, Fort Worth, Panama, Nicaragua, Brazil.  They’re all actions taken by people who can only see what they want to see.  They’re blind to anything else.  Just like we were blind to the truth for so long.  They only see Fox now.  They will kill us to get him, consequences be damned.”

“But, but there must be something we can do,” Hasagawa stammered, on the verge of outright panic.

“There is,” Fox said, his eye flashing and the room door unlocking.  “You can get your people out of here, Colonel.  Through the secret tunnels I used to get on the base.  Engleborg had them built under each major building without anyone else knowing it, so he could escape if needed.  He never got the chance to use them, but maybe he can actually do something good for once.”

“We’ll never have enough time,” Maria countered.  “There are more than eight hundred people on this base.”

“The secret tunnels lead to the old rail system at the underground nuclear testing facilities,” Fox said, as he manipulated his computer.  “The beginning of the system is underneath the auxiliary airfield.  The rail cars can handle up to a thousand people and will take you to a point 20 miles from the base.  Trust me.  I've scoped out this entire place.”

“Why are you doing this, Fox?” Anna asked, as she got to her feet.  “You’ve already helped us when you didn’t have to.”

“Maria loves you,” Fox stated.  “Do you love her?”

“W-what?” Anna stuttered, caught off-guard.

“I said do you love her?”

Anna looked at Maria, smiled, took a deep breath and then turned back to Fox.

“Yes, I do.”

“That’s why then,” Fox explained.  “I like to think there’s still some love in this world.  I’ve been alive for more than 1100 years and I like to think that love still exists."

"Whoa, w-what?" Hasagawa gasped.  "Did you say a thousand years, sir?"

"No, I said eleven hundred," Fox corrected, without looking up.  "Your hearing's worse than your colonel's."

"Play twenty questions later, Corporal," Wojonowski blurted out as he grabbed her by the shoulders and guided her toward the door.

"As I was trying to say, love is something I can never have again," Fox continued.  "But, you can.  Don’t ask.  It will take too long to explain.  Maybe one day, you’ll understand.”

“Fox, I-I…I want to thank you again,” Anna said, as Maria pulled her toward the door.  “But, I can’t say that I’ll be able to forgive you.  Not yet.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Fox said, curtly.  “Only God truly forgives.”

The room door opened and Cobra, Adrienne Chinedu and four armed guards rushed in, leveling machine guns at Fox.  Anna ordered them to put their weapons down.  Their confusion at the order lasted for just a few seconds, when a massive explosion rocked the base and nearly knocked them to the floor.

“Evacuate the base, Warrant,” Anna ordered.  “That’s an order!  Plan DMF has been initiated.”

Cobra inhaled sharply as the realization hit him.  He immediately pulled Adrienne to her feet and shoved her out of the door.  He did the same for the four guards, shouting orders after them.

“The evacuation routes for all the major buildings will be on every monitor,” Anna called out.  “We don’t have a moment to waste.  We’ll just have to chance it with moving Agent Nguyen.  If any of Rickholts’ people refuse to obey, leave them.”

Anna started to rush after her people only to stop and lean back into the room.

“You never answered my original question,” she said.  “Why did you save me?”

“You’re a good person, Anna Teresa Velasquez,” Fox answered, simply.  “You look out for your people.  I rarely meet people like that anymore.  Today, I’ve met three --  Maria, Ski and you.  Now, please, get going before you waste my good deed.”

Within a minute, the room was empty, as were all of the corridors leading to it.

“They’ve just destroyed the jet transports at the airfield,” Fox said.

“They will go after the underground rail system,” the microcomputer noted.

“Not if we buy some time.”

“Devereaux, I want to apologize.”

“For what?” Fox asked. 

“I understand now why you refused to leave the cruise ship,” the microcomputer responded.  “I always believed that when you did things like that, it was because of the ADD.  I’m sorry for doubting you.”

“Apology accepted,” Fox said.  “For what it’s worth, though, it looks like we might not make it out of this one."

"We both knew this day might come at any time, Devereaux," the microcomputer replied, in a genuine and caring tone.  "You and I have survived far longer than either of us has had a right to.  We have seen things and done things that should have killed us a thousand times over.  How much longer can we expect to tempt fate without paying the consequences?"

"Eloquently spoken, as usual," Fox complimented.  "For centuries, I've been dogged by a feeling of failure.  That I could have made more of an impact wherever we went.  That I left behind opportunity, but also misery, heartache and death, so much death.  And people who couldn't think of me without cursing my name to Heaven and Hell.  It took me a long time to remember what my first commanding officer said about no man being a failure who had friends. 

"We've been together through thick and thin, through better and worse.  You've gently chided me when I was wrong and congratulated me when I was right.  You comforted me when I was down and laughed with me when I was up.  If this is the end, I just wanted to say that no one could have ever had a better friend than you and I’m glad you were with me for these 1100-plus years.”

“And I, you, Devereax," the microcomputer said.  ”And I, you."

“Let’s get to work,” Fox said, his voice becoming sterner and more professional.

He grabbed his shotgun and strode purposefully out of the room.