The Infinity Brigade #1 Stone Cold Read Free

I knew it would be important someday.
    The card had two words on it… written in Latin: Semper Fidelis . Below these two words was link code that connected the caller with a Marine recruiter. I knew this, because I called it from the judge’s office.
    He had asked me one final question. “Well son? Are you ready to make something more of your life?”
    I thought of my sister. I thought of Mars. I thought of the Gunny who had risked his life to make sure I was safe. I thought of the judge waiting to see if the sacrifice he had already made had been worth it. I thought about how I was tired of being a loser and a victim. I thought about how much my shoulder hurt.
    “Good night, Chesty, wherever you are.”
    Gunnery Sergeant Grimes, turned lawyer, turned judge... paused for the briefest of moments… and then broke out laughing.
    ***
    Three days later I was on a shuttle to New Parris Island on the dark side of the moon. I had a duffle bag filled with everything the Marines felt I would need. I knew this because the bag and its contents had been issued at the MEPS. The only thing of our own we were allowed to take with us was the air in our lungs.
    The Marine Corps Recruit Depot would be my home for the better part of a year. My shoulder was feeling much better. Medical nanites were one of the miracles we had picked up from the Heshe. Who the Heshe were… well that’s another story. Bottom line, they were leaving this galaxy and all the ones near it.
    Before they left, they dumped a whole bunch of high-tech ‘how-to’ stuff on our Internet. The eggheads were still figuring it all out. The marines had made use of a lot of what the Heshe had gifted us with. The medical nanites were one small example.
    Judge Grimes had personally driven me to the recruiting station. I don’t know if he did it to make sure I actually went – to be clear, I would have – or if it was because he wanted to visit old friends. We walked through the front door of the recruiting station. The place was smaller than I thought it would be and oddly plain.
    I had expected all sorts of recruiting posters, complete with smartly dressed guys and gals carrying their weapons and smiling back at me with perfectly white teeth. There was very little of that. I saw one poster that simply said “Oohrah!” Below it was the Marine emblem… an eagle standing on the globe with an anchor and a starship crossed behind it.
    The single wooden desk was simple and too clean for my tastes. There wasn’t a piece of paper or pen that wasn’t placed with obvious precision. There were two folding metal chairs in the room. One sat behind the desk and one sat in front of the desk. The only other things in the room were a Galactic Coalition of Planets flag and a computer terminal next to the desk on an adjustable stand.
    The Marine who was at the desk stood sharply as we entered the small office. I’d learn later how to read ranks. For the moment he was just another Marine. The judge walked up to him and shook his hand.
    “Master Gunny, it’s good to see you,” the younger man said.
    “And it’s good to see you too Willy. How are the wife and kids?”
    “Sarah’s doing fine Gunny. You should think about coming by for the Packer game on Sunday. She’s boiling some brats in beer. The kids, well they take too much after me for their own good. Danny broke his arm three days ago and little Sarah just got expelled for decking a bully in school.”
    “You must be proud of them.”
    “That I am Gunny. That I am…” The Staff Sergeant looked over at me. The judge must have taken this as a hint to introduce me.
    “Son, I’d like you to meet Staff Sergeant William Anderson.   Sergeant Anderson, this is AG Stone. Treat him well. I expect he will be your commanding officer someday. In the meantime, we need to take some rough edges off of him.”
    “Good news Gunny! The dark side of the moon is a great place to take the rough edges off!”
    And with that I was walked