Dark Omega

CHAPTER 18 - AN ACCORD

"We found Mother a few hours later," Haides said. His voice was as dead as ever. "Or rather, Nik found her."

"Nik? You mean the canine?"

"Yes."

"You didn't mention him again, so I assumed he was back at the apartment or something."

Haides pointed the finger at Marcus. The gesture was accusing, but his voice told it was more chiding than rebuking. "The family dawg is not in the narrative because you're not fully committing. If you had just stuck with deep immersion, rather than bobbing in and out, you would have noticed him slinking around."

"I had some of that earlier. I think I'll save the immersion for later for when something more substantial than your canine is on the table. No offense intended," Marcus replied.

"Nik wasn't back at the apartment. He was with me the whole time. He usually was. He was also a bit shy around other people." Haides paused.

"Go on," Marcus said, "don't be shy."

Haides grinned at him. "No, that's an understatement. After Jan abandoned him, Nik became a one-person kind of canine. The Haides kind of canine. You ever had a pet, Marcus?"

"No. I find animals noisome and filthy."

Haides's smile evaporated. "He was never sufficiently socialized with other dogs or people when he was little. And of course, then the war came, and that screwed up his head even more. Jan can take the blame for the lack of socialization, and the war trauma I'll claim was out of my hands."

"So, your canine slinked away whenever you got near other people?" Marcus asked rhetorically. "Not much use as a guardian then."

"Guardian? What makes you think he was a guard dog? He was of a rather large breed, but he wouldn't attack a human unless he was cornered, hurt, and desperate. Maybe not even then."

Completely useless. A waste.

"He had followed me to the compound, waited for me to return, and then followed Luca and me at a distance. I knew he was out there; he always was. Luca had spotted him long ago, of course. Wouldn't be much of a scout-sniper if not. Didn't say anything, though. I don't think he initially realized that Nik was following me. Took him for a stray dawg hoping for scraps, I suppose."

"Could we skip a bit forward? To when you found your mother?"

"Certainly," Haides said and took a large swallow from his glass.

"We'd joined with the other GIs and had worked our way around the Forbidden Zone and were heading east into the area where most of the remaining civilian population was housed—the indig zones the Coalition soldiers called it. The Coalition is big on divvying up stuff into zones. But you knew that already." Haides reached for the decanter. "This stuff really does warm the soul. Too bad I didn't discover it before." He waved the decanter in Marcus's direction. "More?"

"No, thank you. Just proceed with the story."

"It's better if you let me show you, but very well. We were passing through a particularly devastated area, several blocks in each direction completely smashed. Only a few skeletal building frames were left standing. Enormous piles of rubble. Rows of burned-out vehicles. A seemingly endless number of shot-up Akakian defensive positions framed this snapshot of urban warfare in the Twilight Millennium."

Vivid mental images accompanied his speech, providing Marcus with all the detail than he could possibly desire. "The Coalition Army uses pulse weapons for the most part," Marcus cut in, "why didn't the Akakians? You had all this advanced technology, but you stuck with autoguns?"