CHAPTER 18

It had been a long time since Lolita had kept track of her flights, particularly in C-130’s. Technically speaking, Lolita had not been in the army all that long but, it felt to her like an eternity and she kept thinking, “back when I was young these flights used to excite me.” She no longer felt young, even though she was still in her mid-twenties, and air plane rides either bored her to tears, or, they were bumpy and uncomfortable like this one. The more Lolita got to thinking about it, the more she realized that she had never been on a flight in Feyland that didn’t practically rattle the teeth out of her head. No wonder the elves didn’t have any air lines! Who would pay to be a jumping bean?

Of course, Lolita had not wanted to take this flight. That’s why she yelled out to some of her fellow passengers, all hanging on to cargo nets like she was, “hey! When we jumping out of this bitch! Stand up!”

There was laughter and then someone yelled back, “hook up!”

Lolita was starting to wish that she really was jumping. People often asked the question of why someone would want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane? The answer came right after another huge wave of turbulence slammed everyone up and down a couple of times. Lolita then answered the age old question of the airborne when she mumbled, “cause it beats the hell out of jumping in one.”

At least Katie Mack was having to go through this exact same shit! As far as Lolita was concerned, Katie was the reason for her being here in the first place. Lolita thought it rather unfair too, and she only half believed Katie’s excuse. Not long after Lolita had reported the contact with their bait mission, Katie had her standing tall in the Operations Office. Apparently Katie not only didn’t believe Lolita, she altered the report too.

What was Katie’s excuse? “You may not believe this but I am looking out for your career. Do you have any idea what would happen if I sent that up the chain.”

Lolita had called her ‘Katie’ and that earned a stern but silent reprimand that made Lolita snarl and change her word too, “Major, I know what the fuck I saw out there. We done found one dead soldier who was still alive. You don’t think we can’t find another?”

Apparently, that was Katie’s big reservation, “that’s the problem Lieutenant. The first time around you brought back the soldier. What you have now is a story that, believe me, will not be well received when it finally reaches division. They’re already shitting bricks, down there, about Sayers. Do you know what would happen if we told them about this? Add that to the fact that you mentioned the werewolf and you already know, we have a memo on that. I can’t put that in a report.”

Yeah, Lolita knew exactly what that was all about. Specifically, it was the battalion executive officer who was trying to fight his war via e-mail, “fuck Hogan. I know what I saw. They’re just going to have to deal with it.”

“It’s not that simple,” Katie had replied. Then came the kicker, “look, they’ve had some guys fall out. Apparently it’s happening all over division.”

Lolita had wondered what that meant and, now, she was wishing she had never asked. Katie told her and Lolita burst out with, “you’re sending me to get a goddamn psych eval? You think I’ve flipped out, don’t you?”

Katie softened the blow, “it’s not that. It’s a full exam. They think this environment is, well, some people are just allergic too it, or, that’s how it was explained to me. You’re not going alone so don’t take this as personal. I’ve been ordered to report too. You and I have been in country longer than anybody in this division and they want to…”

Lolita finished the sentence, “shove test tubes up our ass.”

“Something like that,’ Katie did not seem all too thrilled. In fact, she didn’t look much like it now ether. Of course, Lolita thought that the C-130 might have something to do with that. Even so, Lolita laughed at Katie and said, “how’s the service, Major?” Katie didn’t bother to answer.

Once the plane was down and parked, they were stuck inside for a while and, as far as Lolita could tell, for no particular reason. She was used too it. One could easily describe your entire career in the army as, “hurry up and wait.” Lolita usually added the word, “again.” When she finally grabbed her bag, tossed it over her shoulder, and came walking down the ramp, Lolita saw a familiar face standing in line to board the flight. She ducked out of her own line to talk to the woman, with the introduction of, “they’ve fixed up the place some since you was last here, ain’t they?”

From the look on Patty Walsh’s face, it took the woman a second to remember Lolita, and then a smile broke out, “Vega? Wow, you would be the last person I’d expect to see back. How are you?”

Lolita was not sure what to make of that but, let it go. She chit chatted with the reporter for a minute and then it finally occurred to Lolita, “you going north again? What’s up with that?”

Patty just shrugged, “just to Uea-Au this time. I wanted to see Curwin, um, I don’t know if you remember them or not, the Losmun’s?”

“I know who he is Miss Walsh,” Lolita replied, “I think everybody up there knows who that guy is.”

Patty changed the subject, “please tell me you did go home after the… you know.”

“What the battle up at Nottakay?” Lolita was surprised by that. She never had any problem talking about it. “Actually, no, I haven’t been home. I’m from Flatbush, you know in New York City. Not much to go back too really. I decided to stay on even after they sent the old battalion home. You remember Captain Mack?”

Lolita looked around to see if Katie was still here but, no she was gone already, “well, she’s a Major now. Me and her volunteered to stay behind for some extra duty. It was fun. So, I guess I been here since the day me, you, and uh…” Lolita was not going to say the girls name. Not after what had happened. Then she noticed that Patty got just as nervous and, Lolita had to wonder why. She wasn’t going to talk about it though, “nice talking to you again. I got to run.”

Once they reported and were signed in at the Bachelor’s Officers Quarters, they found there was not much to do till morning. Lolita actually liked the BOQ here at NIKA. It reminded her of a descent hotel room which was kind of even better than the place she grew up in. Katie must have thought it was adequate because she never even mentioned it. Lolita had a call to make and then, after that, she met Katie at the consolidated dining facility. The food was the usual military fare here in Feyland. It was made up of a lot of standing in line followed by some cafeteria styled food, cooked up by sub contractors, made up of a lot of local stuff that they tried to pretend was just like what you got back home. At least, they managed to make the food to the standards of every other military DFACS that Lolita had eaten at. The cooks had successfully made it all bland and tasteless.

Lolita parted company with Katie after that. The girl just wanted to sleep and Lolita was not even remotely sleepy, so, she wandered over to the rec facility to shoot some basketball and maybe find a game. What she did find, was something of a surprise. Mat Hooper was shooting free throws in the gym. He actually called Lolita over and she asked him, “how the fuck did you get in here?”

“What you mean Vega?” Hoop replied. He then stripped the net with the ball and used it as proof of his next statement, “I almost went pro. I played for Indiana State.”

“I don’t mean the B-ball jackass,” Vega pointed to his hair, “I mean they shouldn’t even have let you in here.”

“Why?” Hoop really didn’t understand, “I am a Master Sergeant in the US Army. Why wouldn’t they?”

Vega was now confused. She knew that but, why didn’t she ever think of it? Hoop was always just, well Hoop. She just deflated and in frustration she told him, “I don’t fucking know man. Like maybe the hair? You look like you belong in a rock band, not the military.”

He did not bother to talk about that. Hoop just changed the topic, “so how long you down for? If you got the time, let’s head out to Phvengs.”

“Oh no way,” Lolita replied, “I got in enough trouble the last time you guys dragged me out there.”

“Oh come on Vega,” Hoop taunted her, “maybe you can pick another fight with that Yangani. You know, practice a little GOrilla warfare? I hear tell Balfour hired him back after he went AWOL with that waitress.”

“I did not pick that fight!” Lolita exclaimed. “That hairy mother fucker pinched my ass! Have you ever had your ass pinched by a damn ape? I still got bruises on my cheeks!” Hoop did not reply. He just tossed her the ball and nodded to the basket. Lolita then smiled and told him, “I am going to so own you Hooper.” She didn’t.

What Lolita did have, the next morning, was a hangover. She had not bothered to stop with just a pick up game of basketball. Her and Hooper went for a few drinks after. For some reason, even though he was enlisted, they let him in the Officers club too, and with that long hair? How did that sorry bastard get away with all that crap? Lolita could only half think about that because not only was her head pounding but, the doctors kept sticking her with needles, lances, and a few other things that Lolita did not even know the name of. She was also stuck wearing a blue medical gown with nothing underneath. It kept coming open in the back and she was constantly having to close it.

That was how the doctor noticed and asked, “where did you get those bruises on your rump, Lieutenant?”

Lolita was half embarrassed, “do I have to tell you?”

The guy just kind of shrugged it off and then told her, “ok put your feet up on the stirrups please.”

“Wait a minute,” Lolita was alarmed, “this ain’t like no paps is it? Nobody said nothing about that!”

The Doctor looked frustrated and told her, “no I’m not doing a pap smear. It’s new orders Lieutenant, we have to do a pelvic exam on all female personnel.”

“What the f…” Lolita caught herself and then said, “I mean they didn’t say nothing about this, um, sir.” This guy was a Lieutenant Colonel but, army doctors were not like folks who had their equivalent ranks in the rest of the military. They got minted as instant captains and promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, practically overnight. If Lolita ever made it to light colonel, it would probably take her an entire career! As a result, the doctors were pretty slack when it came to the military formalities but, they were still what they were.

This guy, some balding dude with glasses, with a name tag that read, Barrow, was not too formal at the moment. He looked to be just tired, “that’s because it wasn’t scheduled Lieutenant. You’re going to have to get one sooner or later, so we figured, get you while you’re here.”

Lolita was still fuming about it when she rejoined Katie to wait for their labs. That’s when she asked, “did they….?” Katie knew exactly what she was talking about and just nodded. Lolita then sneered in reply, “see what dying your hair, fucking blond, got us?”

At least Lolita got to put her clothes back on before she reported for the psychological evaluation. She thought that she would just have to answer some questions and that would be it. She should have known better since this was the army. What it all came down too was that she was having to waste her entire day, standing in lines, sitting on benches, just to get to what amounted to a twenty minute exam and some lab work. Why should the psych-eval be any different?

At least they didn’t have her try and stick round pegs in square holes. They did, however, time her while she poked contact paper with sticks, as she worked her way down a line of circles on the paper. What the hell kind of test was that? She finally made her way into a doctor’s office. Lolita had no idea what kind of doctor he was and the guy said very little too her. He just sat across a desk from her and typed on his computer, mostly saying nothing at all.

Lolita finally broke the silence, “so am I sick?”

“I don’t know,” the major replied, “are you Lieutenant?”

“I don’t think so but, I’m wondering if I didn’t catch anything from all them needles they kept using on me,” Lolita told him. She wasn’t joking ether. When the guy didn’t reply she asked him, “aren’t you supposed to be asking me if I, like, got along with my mother and father, and all that crap?”

“Actually,” the Major really replied this time and did not seem to be giving her the brush off, “at this point, I think my colleagues are pretty sure that you aren’t suffering from IFS.”

Lolita blinked, “from what?”

“Interdimensional Fatigue Syndrome,” the doctor replied. “We’ve had people just, um, loose it, for no particular reason. You obviously aren’t, in technical terminology, nutty as a fruit cake.”

Lolita was still cautious and nervous, “that’s good, right?”

The guy did not say yes, “however, when I just checked your charts here, on my computer, you’ve been flagged.”

“Flagged?” Lolita wanted to scrunch up in a ball, “you can give me a pill to take care of that, right?”

This doctor major guy did not have much of a sense of humor. Maybe he had it surgically removed? He simply finished up his work, ran some copies off of his printer, handed them to Lolita and said, “your new orders Lieutenant. You have some additional tests tomorrow. You can report back to the labs in the morning.”

In this world, it was not a rhetorical question to ask when morning was. The elves actually used these things that looked like Native American dream catchers to tell time. Lolita had never figured out how it worked. She would just have to go by the large number of clocks, stuck up all over the base, that ran on earth time. Of course, that was the least of her concerns. What Lolita hated the most was, spending a whole other day at that damn clinic, mostly waiting. Then she hooked back up with Katie and got an even bigger shocker.

Lolita snarled at Katie when she said, “what do you mean you don’t have to go back?”

“Just what I said Lolita,” Katie replied. “Is that so hard to understand?”

“Fuck you bitch,” Lolita replied with a very disappointed edge in her voice. “I had plans tomorrow!”

“Well,” Katie snickered, “you don’t any more.” Katie reached over and snatched Lolita’s orders out of her hands. She began to read and Lolita just let her.

As they walked, and Katie read, Lolita decided that the girl would not get off free on this one, “yeah well why are you so happy? I don’t see Mike anywhere around here.”

Katie was obviously concentrating as she read but, she did manage a subdued reply, “It’s not about happy. I’m just relieved to have it over with and the rest of that is none of your business.”

“What are you so hung up about,” Lolita asked her, still frustrated, “Mike’s a good guy and, on top of that, he’s a civilian. You act like you don’t want anybody to know. Why?”

“Maybe because I don’t Lolita,” Katie told her. “Can we just leave it at that alrea…” Katie stopped walking. She began looking around at the square, mostly windowless, very generic looking, buildings that surrounded them. When Lolita noticed and stopped too, she waited in confusion as Katie read off building numbers. Then Katie told her, “Lolita, these orders aren’t for the clinic.”

Lolita snatched the papers back in a huffy manner, “what the fuck you talking about girl. That’s what the doctor said they were for. He specifically said labs.”

“No,” Katie said with some concern. She pointed to a far off building on a little rise and said, “that’s where you have to go. I don’t think the doctor was talking about the clinic’s lab. He meant the place which is an entire laboratory.”

Now Lolita was panicking, “what the hell would they do that to me for? What the fuck is that building?”

“Um,” Katie squirmed, “I think that’s the isolation labs.”