America's Galactic Foreign Legion - Book 5: Insurgency Read Online Free Page B

seen
heading north to the safety of the border and the Arthropodan
Empire.
     
    * * * * *
     
    I checked the database for Lieutenant Valerie
Smith, United States Marine Corps. I found her. Valerie died at the
start of the Chinese American War. She was awarded the
Distinguished Service Medal posthumously for her heroic actions in
defense of our embassy in Beijing. I wired flowers to her
gravesite. The next day I received an email saying, “Thank you for
the flowers. Have we met?”
    “Sort of,” I texted back. “I had a dream
about you. How is that possible?”
    “It has been a long time since a man has
dreamed of me,” texted Lieutenant Smith. “May I access your
personnel file?”
    “No.”
    “Please, colonel,” said Valerie. “I want to
make sure I’m not talking to some pervert fascinated by the
dead.”
    “Okay, fine,” I said. What harm could come of
communicating across the galaxy to a dead person’s imprint
memorial?
    “You are a handsome war hero of the Foreign
Legion,” gushed Valerie. “How very exotic.”
    “How is it that I have come to talk to you?”
I asked.
    “Smith is a common name,” said Valerie.
“Maybe it was just chance that your subconscious picked that
name.”
    “But I knew your full name and rank,” I
argued. “And I knew you were buried at Arlington. This is
weird.”
    “I call it destiny,” said Valerie. “I
normally don’t have sex on the first date, but I would certainly
make an exception for you, my brave hero of the Legion.”
    “What?” I typed. “You are dead.”
    “You would have to remind me of that,” cried
Valerie. “I am hoping someday technological advances surprise both
of us.”
    “Necrophilia isn’t my thing,” I said. “No
way.”
    “That was rude. Don’t you know a woman still
needs to feel desirable? You have made me cry.”
    “I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to be mean. How
can you cry? You are not real.”
    “You are an ogre.”
    “I said I was sorry. What more do you
want?”
    “If you were at all sensitive, you would have
lied to me,” said Valerie. “You should tell me you want to make
passionate love to me.”
    This is out of control, I thought. She is dead! “Fine. If I could, I would kiss you from your
head to your toes, and make love to you all night, my dear
Valerie.”
    “Oh, really?” said Valerie. “My computer
chips are glowing red hot!”
    “That is more info than I needed,” I texted.
Then I had a dark thought. “Have you ever been in communication
contact with an ATM?”
    “ATM? No. I have no use for money. I have my
own pension money that I use to decorate my tombstone on holidays,
but I have no need of an ATM.”
    “Are you a spy for the spiders?” I asked.
“Are you with the insurgency?” How could I be so stupid to allow
a virus to sucker me? I thought.
    “Lover, I am an imprint memorial of
Lieutenant Valerie Smith, United States Marine Corps. How dare you
accuse me of being a traitor! I gave my life for my country!”
    “I’m sorry,” I texted again. “I need to be
cautious. The spiders are very sneaky. I don’t want to catch a
virus.”
    “Then use a condom!” suggested Valerie.
    “What?” I asked. “You have a one-track
mind.”
    “And this comment comes from a man? You
contacted me first. Remember?”
    “I have to go,” I said. “My world is calling
me.”
    “Please do not go for long. Remember to tell
the medics that if you die, you want to be frozen so a memorial
imprint can be manufactured. Then we can be together forever in
Arlington.”
    “LOL,” I texted. “Sorry, Val. The Legion
fights on the Frontier. There will be no freezing of my brain here
on New Colorado. Bye, babe.”
    “Bye, sweetie. I will miss my handsome brave
legionnaire lover. Hugs and smooches.”
     
    * * * * *
     
    “I want to borrow five million dollars,” I
said.
    “You are reenlisting again?” asked the ATM.
“Great! You are making a wise decision, Colonel Czerinski. You have
been one of my most