descended to his chest, and with no spotter, Tank was almost worried that his chest might be crushed by the huge weight in this max-G weight room.
Almost.
“We serve Salvation!” he shouted, using the energy of his voice and belief to slowly straighten his arms and rest the hundreds of pounds of metal on the hooks above. He grinned when the table automatically clicked the bar in place.
New personal record!
He stood slowly, knowing a misstep in a max-G weight room could damage him to the point that the Med booths couldn’t easily heal him. It happened last week to Smithy, his spotter since high school, and the effect on his old gym buddy’s knees was not pretty to watch, even though Medical was in the process of cloning him a new pair.
Still, Tank didn’t mind not having a spotter for this particular workout session.
He passed his hand over a wall console, and the ship’s normal gravity returned to the room. Another wave and the only entrance locked, keyed to open only to his voice. After taking a second look around the room, he pulled an e-card from a hidden pocket and slid it into the console.
A voice spoke from the wall almost immediately. “Matthew, chapter 5, verse 6.”
“‘In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.’”
“Perfect, Brian.”
The priest always called him by his real name. “Thank you, Father Joseph.”
“What news have you, Brian?”
`Tank took a deep breath and spoke about the events in the Bilgewater Café and how he nearly busted a few heads to save a drunken senior officer.
“It is fortunate you were there, Brian,” Father Joseph said.
“The Engineer wanted someone safe in the room, and it was my turn on the wheel.”
“Excuse me. The wheel?”
“That’s something the Chief Badge uses to assign special duties.” Tank ignored the fluttering noise at the edge of consciousness. This wasn’t the first time that he bald-faced lied to a priest, and not even the first time he lied to this priest, but Tank received orders to keep up the facade. “In any case, Father, it was a bad scene. I’ve never seen anyone that drunk.”
“Did he say why he was drunk?”
Interesting question. “No. He was too far gone. But my poppa said only two things can drive a man to that much drink—love or guilt.”
“Your father is wise.”
“Yes, he was, sir. Thank you.”
“My condolences.” Joseph paused. “How do our recruitment efforts proceed?”
“They don’t, sir. The mutiny put all the Badges on watch and had them prepare for the worst. We’re falling back into shifts now.”
“Interesting. Briefly, what were you doing on the day of the mutiny? The Badges, I mean.”
Tank closed his eyes and saw the chaos of that day during the mutiny when the teams received rapid and sometimes conflicting orders. The Engineer finally came online herself and ordered the pod stations to the axis tramway be locked down, dictating that no one could exit and enter for the duration. They were briefly opened to send the Technician team to defuse the bomb and reopened for their return when the bomb was ejected into space.
“Sir, I can’t be brief,” Tank said. “A lot happened all at once that day.”
“I understand. We can chat next time I come back there.”
“That would be best. May I ask a question, sir? Landfall. After all that happened, do you think we will do it?”
“Nothing is certain except Heaven as long as we do our Lord’s good work,” Father Joseph said, and Tank could hear the smile in his voice. “We have much to consider before then, that is true. We can risk a few more seconds. Anything else, Brian?”
“Can you hear my confession, Father?”
“We’ve discussed this, Brian. We cannot be sure who may overhear us.”
Tank heard the priest push buttons.
“A new communications card will be at the usual location at the usual time in three days,” Father Joseph said. “Don’t forget.”“I won’t, Father. Thank you.”
“Keep your ears and eyes open, and your head down. And Brian?”
“Yes, Father?”
“There will be the usual file for you on this card. This time, you will study King Solomon. What were his strengths and weaknesses? I think you will find him interesting, all things considered. Go with God, Brian.”
“Go with God, Father.”
The connection closed, the card popped out of its slot, and Tank stuck it in a hidden pocket while he mulled the priest’s words. He learned a little when he was growing up about Solomon, the last king of the United Kingdom of Israel, and everyone knew the “split the baby” story, but why Father Joseph picked Solomon as a homework assignment baffled him a little.
Noting that the day was about to begin for the rest of the Back, he cleaned the bench and weights to the best of his ability, considering the limited amount of water available for such tasks. The Back generated infinite amounts of power via the impellers to fuel whatever task or hobby was at hand, but water was a historical and scientific problem for the thousands of Burners who needed it. His teachers in high school explained that the Back contained all the water it would ever have, so preserving, capturing, and storing it was nearly the preeminent issue in every Burners’ lives. Complicating things was hydrogen was a pesky atom that was always trying to escape containment. Long-term bondage to oxygen exacerbated the problem.
Burners were constantly seeking ways to improve their preservation techniques, and from their daily efforts, no water was wasted in the Back. Almost every free drop was sent to the Back’s huge farms.
I wonder how many other Badges remember that from school.
Walking the passageways to his cabin, he was again thankful to have one to himself. Many in the Back shared cabins for both voluntary and involuntary reasons, sometimes due to whatever primary duty they were assigned. As a Badge, a member of the cadre who kept the peace in the Back, Tank’s cabin was on the other side of the wall from his station.
But he valued the privacy of his cabin not only for his “hobby,” as he called his spying for the Pope, but also for other clandestine reasons.
The light above the door was green, making Tank smile. Someone was inside, and the door was unlocked. He placed his palm in the door sensor, and it slid open.
Someone was under a blanket on his bed.
We’re playing that game.
He snapped the blanket off, making it sound like a whip. His lover was as naked as Tank expected, and he loved what he saw. The thick hair, the long and delicious limbs, and the hands over the private area.
“Don’t hurt me, kind sir!” Enrique begged. “I was lost and cannot find my way home.”
“You invaded my home and my bed, and you beg for mercy?”
“Let me stay. Protect me!”
“Then you know what you must do!”
Smiling, Enrique slid off the bed and dropped to his knees. Pulling down Tank’s trunks, he slid Tank between his lips and began sucking, moving his head back and forth.
Tank didn’t know how long he would last this time. Enrique gave the most wonderful blow jobs, and sometimes he was too spent to properly return the favor, but not this morning. No, Tank smiled at what he planned to do to Enrique over the next hour. And the cabins in Salvation were soundproofed, thankfully.
His last conscious thought before giving in all the way to the ecstasy of the younger man’s lips was wondering what Joro might say if she knew one of her partners was having an affair with a guttersnipe.