Strange Company Nick Cole (best classic novels TXT) 📖

was all a lie. Everything I wanted to be true was just a lie I’d made up about someone who never ever knew me.”

Gains just sat there, eyes closed, telling me all this.

“Then he really gave it to me.”

“You’ll never be nothin’.”

“Couldn’t make Ultra Boot even if your real dad were the Master of Battle himself’s brood spring, kid.”

“I started crying right there and the worst part is I didn’t want to, Orion. But I couldn’t help myself. I knew I was tougher than that but once it started, he had me dead to rights and he just stayed there for a long time, throwing words at me like they were haymakers. I couldn’t block. Didn’t protect. Didn’t get my fists up. Just sat there crying and took it. Why? Because it was all true.

“So, I bet you can guess where this is going, Sar’nt. I’m eighteen and he had me all set up for the docks along the port for the big haulers coming out of Titan on the tech run. Good job. I remember him saying one night, after he’d complained about the Monarchs and their stranglehold, y’know, the usual jabber, he said that once I was in with the Union, I’d be just like him. Job. Wife. A place in the galaxy. He said it with pride. Like he’d made it all happen for me.

“I didn’t mind that. Job is a job. Working docks, or in an office, same as being a soldier to me, Orion. Y’know how it is. Nah, that’s not what made me try to get off-world and go for the Ultras. It was him sayin’ I’d be just like him. That’s what did it.

“So that night I swear to you, I got out of there. Went to the recruiting station at four a.m. and it was open because that’s how them Ultras are. I got my place set. Take the test and tell ’em I’m ready to go to their basic training world immediate-like. I’d heard they do that. All you gotta do is pass the eval.

“And you know what… my big plans to become a big bad Ultra and show that man I was good enough to be what my imaginary dead dad had been… busted. As in I busted the test right there. Failed psych. Get this… my compassion index was too high to be an Ultra Marine. They gotta be ruthless. Apparently.

“I remember the big Ultra sergeant came out and handed me my score. Didn’t even look at me, like I wasn’t there. Because to him I wasn’t. I didn’t count if I wasn’t an Ultra to him. Or maybe he did see me, and instead the look he gave me was like I was… wrong. Like I wasn’t him. And therefore, beyond his noble obligations to war and duty to understand. Guy had a huge scar that ran right down the side of his face. His dress uniform was sharp. Blue and tan. Swollen chest full of medals. Ultra haircut and ramrod straight. He was a real killer, I tell you that.

“And the message, the look or whatever, was… I wasn’t. He was good enough. And as far as he was concerned, I wasn’t even there. So just blow, kid.

“I’d heard about the Strange Company. I was still busted up, but I scrapped enough to get off-world and hook up with the company at Este Nuevo. You were here but you weren’t in Reaper, were you, Orion?”

I wasn’t. I said nothing and just shook my head, listening.

“The platoon sergeant that ran Reaper, he taught me. Taught me a soldier’s greatest skill is attitude. Even when things look real bad. Find the right attitude for all situations. And there was that guy who got killed in Turio. He got me into weights. Working out. Fitness. And… well, I just started seeing what you could do when you spoke life to people, and taught them how to be healthy, and what it felt like to feel good, instead of cutting them down. I could take a guy and help him develop a better self-image through fitness. Take a drug addict like Junkboy and get him clean. Yeah, it’s sweat and effort, but it’s also something the guy who insisted he was my father never did. It’s also encouragement. And I’ve learned this, Orion, a kind word goes a long way. A real long way. Even in the killing business.

“Out there in the jungle this week, I saw the look in guys’ eyes as they started to go mad from the flying snake bites. They knew it. They knew we were deep behind lines and now was not the time to let the negative emotions start. But they couldn’t help it. That toxin was a demon. A real whispering demon, Sar’nt. But you knew that. Saw you barely keeping it together. Wanna know something? Me too, Orion. That old demon who made me call him Dad and wasn’t, he was right there talkin’ the whole time. The entire time. I was seeing him for real.”

“You can’t help this guy. Hell, you can’t even help yourself, kid.”

“C’mon, just quit. You know you’re done. Everyone knows it.”

“He was like a real live living nightmare inside my head. He was screaming so loud in my ears at times I couldn’t barely think as we crawled up another muddy jungle hill in thin air, humping two and three weapons at a time, plus as much gear as I could handle. But I just kept gettin’ guys sorted, taking their gear, humping it and sweating like all the workouts I’d ever done were for this right now that we were all in. I kept draggin’ everyone upwards because, and I’ll tell you this, Sergeant, I know we fight with each other sometimes, but I know they would have done the same for me. I know it for a fact. So I just kept speaking life, dragging as many as I could, and ignoring the demon who made