Free The Alejandra Variations by Paul Cook

shield his eyes from the brightness.
    A number of men entered the quiet room from the outer corridor. They all seemed to be of a military order. The man leading them was a large, husky individual, and before him rolled another of those mobile globes of light. The soldiers behind the heavy man were all dressed in metallic uniforms similar to Lexie's, but of an iridescent green. They all halted when they saw Nicholas. Some of the soldiers gasped.
    "Eridani!" one soldier, hardly more than a boy, breathed, falling back to the safety of the door.
    The big man looked over at Nicholas, naked on the table, and pointed at Lexie. "I told you to let me and the boys handle it. This is goddamn serious business!"
    The soldiers clustered like frightened sheep against the wall opposite the trays. Lexie's father stepped up to Nicholas with considerably less fear.
    Nicholas noticed that on the breast of the man's shiny green uniform was a patch of a warrior's ax. On the man's head rested a pair of thick-lensed black goggles, and at his side was a peculiar-looking gun. He also wore jodhpurs and tall boots of the same metallic green.
    Nicholas's mind raced. Whoever they were, they weren't like any Americans he had known. But they didn't seem to be Russians, either.
    The man chewed on a small cigar that glowed at its tip. The smell of the cigar seemed pleasant and familiar to Nicholas as his olfactory sense began coming alive.
    "He's mine, Daddy," the girl pouted, seeing her father's stern expression. "It's part of the Creed. I found him."
    She held onto Nicholas's right arm, nuzzling a warm breast tightly to him with a sense of divine right by conquest. Nicholas found her warmth highly desirable, and did not want to pull away.
    "You want to tell me what this is all about?" he demanded of the imposing leader. "Are you in charge?"
    "I am," he began, then turned back to his men and barked out, "Sye, make sure Jarre doesn't lose us. I don't want to have to go back for him like the last time. Tell him we found what we're looking for."
    The soldier at the door to whom he had directed this order was a young man of moderate build whose frightened pale blue eyes seemed drawn to Nicholas. His black-lensed goggles were down around his throat. Sye turned quickly, obviously glad to leave the room.
    The leader addressed the other men. "Well? We didn't come here to pick our noses!"
    The soldiers stared and did not move.
    The big man took out his cigar and yelled at them once again. "This guy's not an Eridani, so snap out of it!" He leaped at a waspish soldier and collared him. "I count to three and your goddamn head comes off! Check out the upper levels to this room! I want to find out where the ground-leads are. I want to know where the hell the energy in this place's coming from!"
    He rattled the timid soldier like a balsa-wood puppet and threw him into two others.
    "But, Captain Lazlo…" one of them whined, never once taking his eyes off Nicholas.
    "I said move! "
    A few of them began searching the room, but others lingered beside the faithful glow-globe.
    Captain Lazlo walked up to Nicholas.
    "The first thing we gotta do is get some clothes for you, before your dingus falls off," he said.
    The Captain's goggles glittered in the overhead lights. Nicholas was surprised at the difference between Lazlo's reaction to his presence on the morgue tray and that of the soldiers.
    Lazlo turned to the soldier by the door. "Titus," he ordered. A lanky, pasty-faced redheaded boy of nineteen stepped forward reluctantly.
    Lazlo said, "Titus, get on over to the Bore and find this man a uniform. Boots, too. And do it fast, before he freezes up like the rest of these puppies." He made an all-encompassing gesture to indicate the vast wall of trays.
    "But, Captain," Titus said, "he's an Eridani."
    Captain Lazlo's voice thundered in the bare chamber. "Goddamn it, Titus! Do you believe everything you read? You do as I say, or you'll stay home next time!"
    "Yes, sir," Titus said,