STERLING

 

Tuesday January 7 - 0830 MST

 

 

"I thought this used to be a mechanical shop?" Adam scratched his head in confusion. "Am I just remembering it wrong?"

"No, Adam." I answered. "This was Sergeant Madarasz's old workshop. His people are up with me at the airfield now."

Adam just stared through the open doors at the array of stationary bikes, treadmills, and racks of dumbbells. The walls were lined with seven foot tall mirrors which is how I could see his surprised expression.

The gymnasium had been General Basser's idea. Part of the expanded budget that had been granted by Congress went to this boondoggle of his. As the newly appointed DO, director of operations, I reviewed the budget and oversaw all the outgoing contract money. This particular project by itself was two and a half million dollars. The refit and install of Madarasz's workshop in the hangar topside was another half million. That was money I would rather have spent on training for the new folks. Shadow Team was top notch but needed to spend time shifting mentally to the task of killing exos instead of terrorists. The same could be said for the three new special arrivals. They needed to be in training like Adam had been, but that wasn't in the general's budget.

"Why?" he asked me, still staring dumbfounded at the array of flat screen monitors that lined the walls just above the mirrors. Each one had a different channel playing. Those monitors and the accompanying wireless headsets had accounted for about half of the cost of the gym.

"The general believes in physical fitness." I left out the part where he likes to stroke his own ego. The glass doors to the gymnasium slid shut cutting off the Britney Spears song that had been blaring within. Engraved in frosted white on the panes of the sliding glass were the words Douglas J. Basser Tactical Fitness Center. Those same words were written above the door and woven into the carpet of the gym itself. General Basser didn't want anyone to forget who renovated the place.

Inside I could see the airman behind the reception counter fixated on Adam. He looked like he'd seen a ghost. That same look was on everyone's face. We'd all accepted Adam's loss and moved on with life. To see him up and walking around again was akin to seeing a ghost. And he seemed to not even notice. Did he not realize that his story had spread like wildfire? Like most stories it got wilder each time someone told it.

"Adam, I wanted you to see this." I pointed at the monument on the wall across from the gym's entryway.

"I've seen a gymnasiu—" he stopped when his gaze tracked to what I was talking about.

The monument was a rectangle of black granite as tall as a grown man. At the top was an Air Force style unit crest containing the image of an armored gauntlet wielding a sword that seemed to be held aloft by angelic wings. A caption underneath read Malum Superate. Overcome Evil.

It was the symbol General Basser had adopted for us, resurrecting the old insignia of the organization that preceded my arrival here. But that wasn't the purpose of the monument. It was a memorial for those that had lost their lives in the fight against otherworldy forces. In simple gold block letters engraved near the top it read IN HONOR OF THOSE WHO GAVE EVERYTHING FOR THEIR COUNTRY AND THEIR WORLD .

"That's a lot of names." Adam was scanning through the almost twenty names carved into the darkened stone. "I don't recognize any of them. Did they all die while I was gone?"

"Not exactly." He had enough on his mind with what he had been through. I didn't want to compound it by explaining that these included names of the men from Captain Grider's team who had died before Adam's arrival. Or the dozen names from the disaster at Port Moreau. That talk could wait for another day. Adam's face went sullen when he got to the last name.

"That's my name." Then he read the caption beneath it aloud. "I got this. Get everyone home. What's that about?"

"Those were your…" I stopped myself before I said last words. "You said those words to Alpha. That was the last we'd heard from you in seven months."

"That's funny. I don't remember saying that."

This is what always amazed me about Adam. Granted most people would talk about his height or incredible strength or that his body could put out electricity like a power plant. Given that kind of transformation, it would be easy for anyone to believe themselves to be better than everyone else. Adam never did. Even after everything he'd been through he still had that sense of innocence and humility about him.

That was why he needed to hear this next part from me.

"Adam, we had a memorial ceremony for you. People said a lot of nice things about you."

"It was all really touching" Rick Arden added.

"You did some really brave things at Canyon Diablo, Adam. And not to diminish the value of what you did, but those stories spread. And each time they were told they got a little bigger. You've become somewhat of a legend in these halls."

I gave him a moment to let all that sink in.

"So that's why everybody's been looking at me that way." It wasn't a question. He had seen it too. "Those must have been some really wild stories."

"You've got some really big shoes to fill now, Adam" Rick added. "Ironic that they are your own shoes."

Rick was absolutely right. The grapevine and water cooler talk had transformed Adam's acts of courage into something superhuman. But I couldn't see anyone that had a better shot of successfully wearing Superman's cape than Adam.

With a mission as critical as the one we had to protect the planet against exo threats, we needed someone to rally behind. Though I could never say it publicly, General Basser wasn't it. Adam needed to be that symbol we could stand behind.

With the lull in transient activity we'd been seeing, I was worried that the general would let our operation become complacent. When the next big event hit, and it was certainly a when and not an if, we needed to be firing on all cylinders. Though our facility was shinier and prettier than ever, I wasn't at all happy about our state of readiness. But fixing that was now in the hands of someone above my pay grade.

I would do everything in my power to get Adam ready for that responsibility.

Adam looked me in the eye. The innocence of youth was gone, in its place was determination. He shifted his gaze to Arden before speaking.

"You're right, doctor. Those are big shoes. And I'm gonna fill them."