"For the last time," Fred said in a dangerous tone of voice, "Shut up, shutting up." His head pounded, and he dry swallowed another pain-killer as Daniel winced. The younger man opened his mouth and shut it again. On top of everything else he'd had to run out on a really pretty co-ed...
"You didn't have to come back for this. I could have sat here, freezing my butt off for no good reason, by myself."
"I'm just a glutton for punishment. Besides, if you've got a hunch that she'll come back for something, that's good enough for me."
Fred laughed.
"What's so funny?"
"This is mostly just an excuse to hide out from our superiors, and duck out on Dr. Sneider. He wanted to keep me in the infirmary. No doubt, he would have found a way to make me suffer for letting his prize get away before it had decently died so he could autopsy it."
Daniel shook his head, then sniffed at the air. "Do you smell smoke?'
***
The inferno was probably started by a kerosene heater. It spread so quickly that some of the people inside didn't manage to get out on their own. The Blue Book agents thought of themselves as such hard-hearted men, but they couldn't just stand by, and had made all of the difference, rescuing people until the firefighters arrived. Then they took a break, coughing, and were feeling pretty good about themselves, when they heard the child's screams, coming from a broken second-floor window.
"Crap, I'll bet she was hiding." Daniel realized that Fred wasn't paying attention, and turned to look where he was pointing.
"There she is!" Fred wondered if she had been staking out their stakeout. Most likely, she had just turned up. Now the Ranger was running towards the building. There was sort of an angle between two wings, and she ran full-tilt, up the wall, and around the inside corner, reaching and perching on the roof of a little rain-break over a side door. She wrapped her shirt around her forearm, and jumped to the window, grabbing the sill with her empty hand, and pulling herself up to break out the rest of the shards. She went up and into the window of the burning room.
"She's a bit of a show-off," Daniel groused, and Fred hit him in the chest, laughing, as she leaned, coughing, out the window, to lower a terrified infant, squirming, to the firefighters, and followed right after.
"Just showing us how it's done, maybe?"
"I take it back, she's crazy," Daniel said, but he was smiling too, now. He noted that the warmth was back in Fred's eyes, again. They went to collect her from the paramedics, who had her on oxygen. "I'm kind of relieved to find out she really isn't super-cop."
"You so sure about that?"
They stopped smiling as they realized that she was talkingto the still raging conflagration.
("You didn't get me this time, greedy flames!") Marianne saw their looks of concern and doubt, and she laughed. ("And you never got Ol' Cee, either! Touched by fire, but never consumed by anger, or despair!")
"What're we going to do with her?"
The warmth had drained away from Fred Donovan's eyes, again. Daniel Stone knew that Hell was a cold and empty place, because he could see it, from time to time, in those eyes. He shuddered. This job ate you up.
"Like I said, before, leave this one to the Air Force."
***
Marianne was sitting in the passenger seat of a black SUV, rattling her cuffs and thinking about clichés. Fred Donovan glanced at her, then back at the dark, lonely road they were on.
“Yes?’
“I’m not enjoying my stay. Earth gets only one star.” Fred laughed. “My second time in hand-cuffs, rude behavior all around…”
“It’s good that you’re keeping your spirits up. Sorry about the circumstances, but duty is a cast-iron bitch.”
“Duty is what you chose. Duty may come from outside us, but it is still our choice, whether to accept it. If you don’t want to, you don’t have to do this!” When she saw that he was going to ignore her, she screamed in pure frustration. “Gods and Ancestors, I can’t even wear my black and gold!”
Fred massaged the back of his ringing right ear. “’Black for the space between the stars, and gold for the promise of sunshine, in the valley of the Vault of Ages.’ It’s very poetic, good imagery.” He noticed her stony face. “I’m not mocking you, by the way.”
“I had wanted to see Paris, you know.” Marianne sighed, disgusted with her own weakness. “My great-grandparents came from there.”
“Good choice. Paris, itself, not the locals. Not if they know that you’re American. Of course, you’re not.”
“A citizen? Does that matter, to you?”
Fred concentrated on the road. “Hard to say.” Not really, but it was a polite lie. If she was a citizen, then that would tip things over in her favor. Sweet Jesus, he thought, I’m a long ways down, and falling fast.
“What comes next?” She asked.
“I’ve got a meeting with those aliens you came to Earth to do something about.”
Marianne stared at him. Fred couldn’t help but laugh again.
“You look so surprised. Sorry, no bullet for you!” The smile went away. “One for me, perhaps, someday. No, Marianne, I’m going to use you, and that’s a fact. You are worth more alive than dead.”
Marianne was still staring at him, considering. “But it’s not about money, is it? It’s about power. Your government is powerless to do anything, so it acquiesces to this. Trading humiliation and time for- What?”
He didn’t answer. After a time she continued, changing tack.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you remind me of my mother.”
“Really?” Fred said, smiling.
“It’s not something good.” Marianne looked out the window, into the night. “I love my mother…”
“But?”
“Yeah, but. My mother has this darkness in her. It is part of what she and my dad do for each other. He saves her, every day, just like she saved him once, and we Rangers- It never ends. Thats actually a good thing, you see. Do you understand my joy at that? It’s what I live for. Like the Ilshani proverb-“
“’It is a heroes privilege, to live and die, for his people.’”
“I think you need saving, Agent Donovan.”
“Well of all the ass-backward things I’ve ever heard!?” Fred laughed uncomfortably. “I’ve delivered that ‘Come to Jesus’ speech to many a poor SOB, but lady, you take the cake. You have got a pair.”
They drove up to a farm house and he shut off the engine.
“You know, I’ve sent three men, three good men, into the unknown. All on the slim chance that they would be able to do something, out there. It’s been over six months since the first one. Do you suppose they're dead? Don’t bother answering that.”
“I was ordered not to cooperate with you. I don’t know why, and I don’t like my orders. I’ve exceeded my authority, destroyed evidence, twisted the rules, and then I helped you with the scout, just because I knew that it was the right thing to do. This isn’t, of course…” He trailed off.
“I need names, and anything else you can give me, in the time we have left.” Marianne said quietly.
“What!” Fred was shocked. “I’m selling you into slavery for a few galactic glass beads and the chance hope that you can do something my people couldn’t, learned something and maybe survive.”
Marianne was smiling, shining, really, and Fred was struck with the thought- She might be crazy, but would to God I could be crazy like that. Was it too much to ask that he could be proud of his work and sure of some final, just, reward?
“My mother and Ol’ Cee told me this, many times. It’s traditional,” Marianne said.
“Many a recruit has fallen on the practice field, and been told, ‘There is no shame in temporary failure, and no room to wallow in self-pity. Know that your brothers and sisters love you, and live for The Work, and will die for you. Now, pick yourself up and ask yourself-‘”
"’Here I am, again. What do I do, now???
?"
“Sister, you take the cake.” Fred shook his head, sadly. “Alrightee, then.”
Fred briefed her. A little later, he glanced at his watch, and then he got her out of the car. There were strange lights in the sky.
“It’s time. Good luck.”
“Be well, Agent Donovan. The Universe is kind.”
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