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and the rest of us were busted back to Tanker Firsts!"
"He just died?"
"Hey, it happens all the time. Remember that most of the New Kashubians they drafted were pretty old,
in their seventies and eighties, a lot of them, the theory being that living in the belly of a tank, you don't
need healthy young bucks. You need seasoned brains, which us oldsters have plenty of."
"Speaking of you youngsters," Zuzanna broke in, "Where's that young bride of yours? If she's half as
smart as she was in the movie, I want to meet her."
"Kasia's the brightest girl I've ever met, but right now she's up in our room, organizing the wedding."
"All by herself? I've half a mind to go up there and lend her a hand!"
"I think she might welcome the help. Agnieshka," I said into my new communicator after I switched it on.
"Ask Kasia if she wants the cavalry to come to her rescue, with bugles blowing, banners flapping, and all
the sabers flashing bare in the sunlight!"
"I did and she does, boss." I guessed that she could hear what was going on even when the thing was
off. It figured.
"Zuzanna, I think that you may regard that as a formal invitation. Room 634," I said as she got up and
left.
"So, Quincy, where is this big pig and timber ranch of yours?"
"About eight hundred kilometers northeast of here. They haven't given me a street address, yet."
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"Agnieshka?" I said again into my communicator.
"It's about thirty kilometers east of your new place, boss. You two are almost next door neighbors."
"Ah, so you moved up into the War Zone, too."
"Hush your face, boy. That kind of talk in public can get you called up, stuffed back into a tank, and
have all future leaves canceled. Too many important people have too much riding on the present status
quo, including us. If this thing blows up wrong, we could lose our land, among other things."
"I got you. Not that anybody would believe it, anyway," I said.
"Probably not, but they're still not taking any chances."
"Right. So you've got a big, box canyon like mine."
"Smaller, if you've got the one I remember from the map. But twelve square kilometers is nothing to kick
about, and the canyon walls will keep the pigs in, with only about a kilometer of fencing needed."
"I'd been thinking of closing off my opening with a lake and a dam. I'll need a river for drainage, and I've
been thinking, why not have a lake, too."
"A fair idea. Of course, with the drip irrigation I'll be using, you use so little water that drainage won't
start to be a problem for hundreds of years. Say, do you really like this place? The bar, I mean."
"It's pleasant enough, and they gave me a free tab here."
"I think that it's dull, stuffy, and overly civilized. I also think that we can afford to drink anywhere we
want to. Since the girls are otherwise occupied, I know of a place nearby where the music is loud, the
drinks are honest, and the women are naked. Are you game?"
"Hey, I'm not married yet! Let's go!"
"That's the attitude!"
* * *
The Gold Door Lounge was as advertised, and a roaring good time was had by us.
It was about two in the morning, and we were stumbling a bit as we walked back to the hotel. It had
been a long day, and we were both tired, I suppose. We somehow managed to make a few wrong turns
on the twisty streets of Nova Split, and ended up in a dark alley.
I leaned against a wall, pulled out my communicator, pressed button number one, and said, "Not to
worry, Quincy. Agnieshka will tell us the way home."
I saw Quincy take a club in the gut a half second before a brick caught me on the side of the head.
I felt myself going down, but Quincy and I had spent a lot of time in Dream World, learning
hand-to-hand combat. Well, I did the learning and Quincy did most of the teaching.
I don't know why, but the world got very quiet, somehow, and everything was moving slowly, almost as
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if we were at combat speed, in a tank. I had plenty of time to kick one of our assailants in the groin, to
feel the flesh squash, and the tendons tear. At the same time I caught a second attacker on the knee cap
with the edge of my other foot, and heard it pop, before I hit the ground.
Someone tried to kick me in the face, but I swatted his foot aside and bounced up in time to get a hand
around his trachea. I squeezed and yanked, while looking around for the next thug.
There weren't any.
Quincy was standing in the middle of a ring of at least six bodies, some of whom were twitching, but
none very vigorously.
"Not bad, youngster, but that last one was a bit of overkill, don't you think?"
I realized that I was still holding the man in the air by his throat. Surprised, I let him go. He fell,
convulsing, to the ground. "I guess I wasn't thinking at all. But now, well, now I think they all had it
coming."
"You are doubtless correct, my general, but at the moment perhaps a bit of tracheotomy is in order."
I got the shakes about then, and leaned against a wall, watching Quincy. He opened a small pen knife,
and without taking the time to sterilize anything, he punched a vertical cut in the man's throat, low, and
just to the right of center. He twisted the blade sideways, and I could hear the air being sucked into my
assailant's lungs. Then he got out a ball point pen, unscrewed it with one hand, dumped the workings out
on the ground, and pushed the barrel of the pen into the hole while removing his knife.
"Now, you hold this thing just so," he said to his patient. "If it comes out, you will suffocate, and you will
die."
I don't know if the guy spoke any Kashubian, but he nodded his head "Yes!"
Quincy said to me, "There's no point in killing anyone now that it's over, and I, for one, would like to find
out just what this was all about."
About a dozen uniformed police arrived at that point, followed by two ambulances.
"General Derdowski? We got a call from a woman named Agnieshka who said that you needed help,
but I see that you have matters well in hand," a police lieutenant said in passable Kashubian.
Quincy said, "Nonetheless, we thank you for coming so quickly. We'll see to it that your superiors hear
of your prompt and professional behavior. But just now, I think that a few more ambulances might be in
order."
"They have been sent for. But I think that it would be wise if the two of you came along to the clinic, just
to be on the safe side."
"We will, soon. Butthat one andthat one should be hospitalized immediately," Quincy said, pointing
them out, and not referring at all to the guy who was breathing through a ball point pen.
"Yes, sir," he said, waving the ambulance crews over to the two men indicated. "Would it be convenient
if someone dropped by your hotel rooms tomorrow, to get your statements, and for you to prefer
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charges against these hooligans?"
"That would be good," I said, thinking that a foreigner who beats up a bunch of locals usually doesn't get
this sort of polite treatment from the police. Being a general and a famous war hero sure helps,
sometimes.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Recruiting a New Army
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