Recruit, Jonathan Brazee [which ebook reader .txt] 📗
- Author: Jonathan Brazee
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She hesitated. Ryck knew his twin, and he knew she was wondering what she could and could not tell him. He leaned forward and took her right hand in both of his.
“If I get into the Legion, I’ll be off-world. We’ll need to keep in contact. I can’t do that if you don’t tell me where you are,” he said.
“Oh, grub. Well, I’ve got a friend, and he, well, he says he wants to marry me.”
“A friend?” he asked.
He knew what kind of men her “friends” were.
“Oh, don’t get too grubbing sanctimonious on me now. Yes, Barret, my ‘friend,’ asked me over four months ago. He’s been keeping food on our table since then, so he’s your ‘friend,’ too, there, big boy. You’ve seen him. He was the guy who took me home last week when you were trying to fix the power junction.”
Ryck tried to think back. A fairly new Lexus had skimmed into the yard in a cloud of dust. He had purposely not watched directly, but in his peripheral vision, an older man had gotten out and come around to open the passenger door. Lysa had gotten out of the car, kissed the man on the cheek, then hurried into the home. Ryck had wanted the man off their property, but the guy had just stood there for a minute or so, watching Lysa, before getting back in the Lexus and driving off.
“That guy? But he’s . . .”
“Old? Unattractive? Is that what you were going to say?”
“No, I mean . . .”
“Can it, Ryck. I know you, and I know what you were going to say. But let me say this first. Yeah, he’s older. And yeah, he isn’t the most handsome guy around. But he has a good heart. He treats me like a lady, not like those other grubbing bungmen. He treats me with respect. And yeah, I know you saw his car, so yeah, he’s got money. He can give me the life I want. We both watched mom and dad scrabble in the dust of this grubbing farm, we watched it kill them. We watched the dust drive away Myke. I don’t want that. I want a nice life, where I can live comfortably, where my kids, your future nieces and nephews, little brother, can live a normal life. I wouldn’t marry any grubbing asshole just because he has money, but Barret, he’s a good man, and I think I love him.”
Ryck was taken aback. He had no idea. He generally tried not to think of Lysa’s job. He knew that she made drinks in a coyote bar, and sometimes, strangers paid her to sit and have those drinks with them. Whether she did more than join the other bartenders every hour for a choreographed dance on top of the bar or share drinks with the customers was something he didn’t know, nor did he want to know. She’d invited him to the bar more than once to check out the fun, but he’d refused. Regardless of the fact that he really didn’t know what went on there, however, he resented all the men and women whom she encountered on the job. It was a huge 180 for him to try and grasp that the men and women might not all be the perverted, despicable garbage ogling the bartenders and wait staff that he had made them out to be in his mind. But he trusted his twin. If she said this Barret guy was a good man, well, that was that. It was going to take a while for it to really sink in, but if that was what Lysa wanted, that was what he wanted, too.
“OK, I believe you. But, I don’t get it. If he asked you four months ago, why are you still here with me?”
Lysa broke out in laughter before answering, “Oh, little brother, you really are an innocent. How could I leave you here, working the farm alone? You wouldn’t have lasted a month without me. But now, if you really are going to enlist . . .”
“. . . you are free to go on with your life without having to take care of me,” he finished her sentence for her.
He got up, walked over to her, and this time, he sat in her lap. He lay his head down on her shoulder while she reached up to pat it.
“No matter what, we need to keep in touch,” he murmured into her shoulder. “I’ll be damned if I’m going to let you raise my nieces and nephews without me getting to know them.”
“And spoil them, I know,” she added.
“We’re family, you and me. You might be getting married, but we’re still blood. ‘Why?’ Because there’s no . . .”
“. . . ‘I’ in the Lysander family,” she completed the family motto, one their father had drilled into their heads. It was a philosophy so ingrained in him that he’d even kept the “i’s” out of each of his children’s first names.
For the first time in months, maybe years, Ryck felt at peace sitting on his sister’s lap. He didn’t know what his future would bring, what their futures would bring, but he was anxious to find out.
“Oof, little brother. You’re not so little anymore. How about getting your fat butt off of me and pour me another glass of that Recife. No use keeping it around, right?”
Ryck got up, poured them both another glass.
“To our futures,” he said in a toast. “Whatever may come, and may it be wonderful, we will always be family.”
Chapter 2
The maglev whispered to a stop at Jacob Station. The maglev was an exception to the planet’s infrastructure problems. It still worked perfectly despite the collapse of PCDC.
Ryck had stayed on the farm for another week, helping Lysa set up the auction of it, then selling the bulk of their personal possessions. They’d raised enough to get out of debt for the repairs and supplies to run the farm after Myke had left and even have a bit left over. They hadn’t sold everything, though. They’d kept some family heirlooms. Lysa had taken some into Barret’s home, and Ryck had rented a small storage locker for his things, paying for a year’s rent out of his share of the sales proceedings.
Barret had turned out to be a nice, if too-eager-to-please guy. Ryck was surprised to find out that he actually liked the man. He obviously adored Lysa, and that was good enough for Ryck. Ryck and Lysa had made their goodbyes after handing over the deed to the property to Mr. Choo, who’d placed the top bid on the place. Ryck had figured Lysa would take him to the station, but it was Barret who had driven him. During the ride, Barret had haltingly explained that he loved Lysa, that he would take care of her, and asked if Ryck would give them his blessing. It felt strange that a forty-year-old man was asking a 19-year-old one for a blessing, but it made Ryck feel appreciation for the man’s heart. They even had an awkward hug at the station as Ryck boarded the maglev.
The maglev ride had been smooth, and Ryck had fallen asleep during the three hours it took to arrive in Williamson. Jacob Station, as the main station for both of the western maglev lines, was packed with people moving to and fro, all locked into their own thoughts and purposes. Five young men, maybe a little older than Ryck, squatted against a wall, simply watching the people walk by. They seemed out of the flow of humanity, and their languid insolence grated on Ryck’s nerves. He refused to catch any of their eyes as he hurried past to catch a tram to Corporate Center.
The tram was not as well-kept as the maglev, and it was crammed full. Ryck couldn’t get a seat, and his country boy mindset was wary of the dangers of city life. He swung his backpack around to his front and wrapped his arms around it. He knew better than to take much with him, but other than what he’d put in storage, this was the entirety of his worldly possessions. He was sure that given the chance, someone would slit his pack and slide all his belongings out.
The tram finally pulled into Corporate Center. The name of the station had stuck despite PCDC pulling off the planet. The Federation had installed an interim governing body when PCDC folded. “Interim” had lasted eight years (so far) as the Federation tried to find a corporate backer to take over.
Ryck went up the escalator and into the sun-lit square. He’d made an appointment with the Legion recruiter for 2:30, and he had plenty of time before that, but he was anxious to get going, so he went into the Federation Building, passing through the security scan and following the directions he’d received at the information desk for the recruiting stations. The Navy Liaison Office was the first one he passed in the corridor. The Navy held the prestige in the Federation. With no official standing army, the Navy formed the bulk of the armed forces of the Federation. They were deeply involved in politics, and the current Federation chairman, like a number of his predecessors, had been a Navy admiral. The main office was all glass and metal with smartly-dressed sailors rushing about their business. There were about five separate offices lining the corridor with the recruitment station at the end. A number of blue chairs were in the small reception area of the office, each one filled with a young man or woman.
Ryck had considered the Navy, of course. It was a sure way to move up in the world, but the thought of being encased in a ship for his enlistment seemed a little claustrophobic. He realized that most Navy jobs did not entail being in space, but he didn’t want some sort of desk job. He wanted to get out and see some action. He’d considered the almost mythical SEALs, but his research revealed that only 3% of those who volunteered made it through the training, and if he washed out, he would have had
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