Doom 3™: Worlds on Fire

21

MARINE COMMAND HQ—MARS

MARIA STOOD IN THE BACK OF THE MEETINGroom in the center of Marine Headquarters. Sergeant Kelly had ordered all the grunts on duty for the next twelve hours to assemble. But so far he was just flipping through his screens.

Rodriguez leaned close. “Hey, did you hear who volunteered?”

“Let me guess. An idiot?”

Rodriguez laughed. Easily entertained, she knew.

“Yeah, well, I almost did. Did you see the deal they’re offering? Fantastic. Never have to do this shit again. No, it’s that guy Wegner. Know him? Pretty quiet SOB. And man, he’s got to be old. Maybe even thirty, thirty-five.”

“Maybe that explains why—”

Kelly looked up and said, “Okay, listen up. Here’s what’s going to happen.” He closed the screens and put his hands on his hips, facing the two dozen marines standing in the room.

“We got a bunch of new jarheads landing in the next hour, and I’ve decided the best way to get these newbies all oriented to our lovely digs here is to assign each of you…one of them to babysit.”

“Christ,” said Maria. Bad enough she had been passed over for any grade advancements. No good deed went unpunished. But now this? Babysitting someone new?Shit.

“I’ll make the assignments when they arrive. Can’t get the damn roster on my PDA. But you know the drill. Get them outfitted. Weapons, supplies. Show them their quarters, give them the quick tour. No need for any monorail rides or treks to Delta, got it? And I want them by eighteen hundred to know this place as well as any of you screwups. Good. And oh yeah—I don’t want them hearing about any stupidass rumors you guys talk about. That’s the last sort of garbage they need. Okay. Make sure your own PDAs are updated with the latest schematics.”

Maria saw a hand go up to her left.

“Right, Bloom—what the hell you want?”

“Any EVA, sir? Show them how to get to the Mars City egress points?”

Kelly paused. Something he hadn’t thought about. Not the brightest bulb in the box, Maria knew. But not a bad sarge. Talked straight and didn’t chew your ass unless you deserved it. “No. We don’t have time for that. Got to get these guys into the rotation by tonight. So they’ll have to figure that out on their own. Just—you know—show them what I told you. Okay, fall out.”

The space marines started milling out of the room. Maria looked around, then grabbed Rodriguez’s arm. “So this Wegner—he’s gone already?”

Rodriguez took a look around. “I don’t know. Maybe. I mean, he’s in our detachment so he should be here. Maybe he gets like a last meal or something.” Rodriguez leaned close. “Maybe some Martian poontang.” The last joke sent Rodriguez into a tricky combination of snort-laughs.

Guy must really do well on first dates.“Right,” Maria said.

Life on Mars—could it get any better?