A Medal For Mary by Rob Astor (best books to read for self improvement TXT) 📕

purple blast of energy shimmering brilliant green around the edges contacted the base of his skull, tearing it completely from his spine. Neuto’s decapitated body flounced over, arms flailing about. Blood, flesh, and bone was scattered across the floor. The stench of burnt meat filled the room. Mary’s jaw fell. She dropped the gun.
Around her, the room began to spin. Tables, furniture, dishes, and Neuto’s dead body were lifted up into the howling vortex where air, light and material meshed together. Mary closed her eyes. She felt like she was falling, tumbling through the center of the matrix. Her world went black and silent.
* * *
Lynn gave the plant one final tug. The Psionic Dreamer slipped off. Blood coated roots wiggled frantically. Lynn rolled backward, keeping the roots clear of his body, and tossed it away. He stood, gazing at Mary.
There was a laceration between her breasts. The holographic display flashed several times. Blocks in the side the pyre pulled away. Robotic arms and trays slid through the openings. Two tubes with red fluid were connected to Mary’s jugular veins. From one of the trays, a rectangle of something that looked like flesh was placed over her wound. An telescope-like instrument above lowered down, zapping a blue laser across Mary’s chest. Seconds later, it receded, as did the fluid tubes and arms.
Mary’s eyes fluttered open. She slowly looked around and focused on Lynn standing to her left.
Klexi managed to get a foot behind Leon’s leg and kicked, throwing off the black man’s balance. He fell to the floor, retaining a vice-like grip on Klexi’s arm. Klexi, straining to keep his grip on the gun, shot Leon squarely in the chest. A yelp was all the black soldier produced as energy sizzled through all his nerves. Standing over Leon’s dead body, Klexi panted. He lowered the gun and turned to see where Lynn was.
Lynn helped Mary sit up. “Take it easy,” he said.
“Where am I?” Her voice was dry and weak.
"Ufa," Lynn supplied for her.
“Thank God,” Mary whispered. “It was only a dream.” She held Lynn’s hand as she pulling herself around to sit on the edge of the stone altar. Her muscles ached, stiff from lying dormant.
Klexi came up next to the pair, fighting to catch his breath. “This worked out better than I expected. At least now we won’t have to worry about our ground transmissions being traced.” Lynn opened compartments, rifling through their contents.
Mary groaned, stepping down to the stone floor. Her legs buckled under her weight. Lynn found a spare uniform in a storage bin by the computers and helped her pull the pants and boots on. They were too large, looking awkward on Mary’s smaller frame. “I really appreciate your help,” she said.
Lynn smiled. “Dose your incision hurt?”
“No, it’s numb,” Mary said. Lynn helped her into the vest. Mary gradually moved with greater ease.
Something shuffled across the stone floor. Javen slowly advanced. His left shoulder was torn open, singed fabric exposing an abrasion half-cauterized, half-bleeding. Javen’s face was pale, physically drained. He barely managed to hold a rifle the size of a small cannon. “Fools… You thought it would be that easy to escape?” Javen growled. “And you,” he directed to Mary, “you should have stayed in whatever happy little world the Psionic Dreamer created for you.”
“Happy? You call living in hell happy?”
While Javen’s attention was focused on Mary, Klexi raised his gun and took careful aim. The energy blast struck the huge weapon. Fragments exploded in Javen’s hands and face. Javen’s arms raised as the weapon came apart in his grasp. “Let’s move!” Klexi shouted. Javen fell to the floor. He crawled a few feet, smearing blood on floor and stubbornly regained his feet.
Lynn braced Mary as he helped her run. Mary found the more she moved, the less stiff her body was. Every step came faster than the last. The groggy fog of sleep lifted. The edges of her nightmares slipped away. Klexi covered their escape from behind and tossed his weapon aside.
Heat outside slammed into them like a wall. The red sun was setting. Dust blew in from the east. They paused for a second, looking for an escape route. “The hovercar,” Lynn pointed. It was parked next to the ziggurat’s wide base.
They ran to the floating vehicle. A series of purplish-green blasts of laser fire tore apart the control panel in a brilliant array of sparks. It sank down into the sand. Javen walked in their direction.
“Run!” Klexi shouted, darting toward the field. Mary was second, Lynn third. Shots fired by Javen exploded in the sand by his feet.
Charging over the incline and down the opposite side, Klexi pulled his rope from his battered uniform, slinging it up to one of the crop irrigators. Mary tripped on one of the plants. Lynn scooped her back up. By then, Klexi began climbing, quickly reaching the top. “C’mon! Hurry!”
Mary took the rope and pulled. She couldn’t pull herself up. Lynn came up under her, helping as best he could. Klexi heaved from his end. Lynn’s arms burned. His hands slipped against the rope. At the top, he gripped the metal side, pushing Mary up with all of his strength into Klexi’s grasp. Lynn hung there, unable to get up far enough to pull himself in. Mary’s kicking legs disappeared over the side. Four hands then took Lynn by his wrists, helping him in. “Thanks,” Lynn breathed heavily. “Didn’t think I was going to make it.” They slid down into the empty vat, resting against the side of the humming machinery.
“I want to thank you guys for saving me,” Mary said, glancing between Lynn and Klexi. Lynn smiled.
* * *
When they reached the abandoned complex, Mary asked, “What do we do now?”
“We signal for a ship and hijack ourselves to Earth,” Klexi said. Inside the control center, they approached a stone slab. Klexi saw a dried red stain. He stopped.
Javen turned from behind the wall, shooting. A laser bolt seared across the flesh on Klexi's bicep. Seized by pain, he was thrown backward, teeth gritted as fiery sensations shot down his arm.
Javen’s second shot came fast. It grazed across Lynn’s rib cage. He yelled, falling in a spiral. His skin burned. Pain rippled across Lynn’s torso. He lay as still as he could, every breath more painful than the last.
Mary ran. A few quick shots hit stone around her. Javen jogged weakly, cursing to himself. Mary ducked between buildings and broken ruins. She paused behind a portion of a wall mural, trying to remain as quiet as possible. She heard Javen’s footsteps. Mary’s tightened. If only she could embed herself into the rock.
Turning the corner, Javen saw her. He raised his gun. The laser orb chipped away fragments, leaving a fresh pockmark in the stone’s cratered surface. Mary ran behind another wall as a shot drilled into rock. “Damnit,” Javen snarled. Breathing raggedly, he held a hand to his shoulder. Javen followed Mary down an alley.
Mary slipped into a doorway. She backed toward the wall, bumping into a metal rack filled with guns. She took up a rifle-like weapon and pulled the strap around her shoulder. I hope it’s charged!
Mary heard the slow footsteps. Javen was a silhouette in the doorway. He smiled at her. “Shouldn’t you use a weapon more of a woman’s size?”
“Go to hell.” She pulled the trigger. Javen reeled backward, falling in a dead heap to the ground. Mary stood over him and set the gun on a shelf. For you Jeanclair and Alexis. I hope I will make you proud by doing what has to be done. A tear slid down Mary’s.

Chapter IX

By the time Mary found her way back to Lynn and Klexi, the sun had set. Klexi’s arm was bandaged. Lynn worked with holographic computer controls. All thanks to Uxlt, you’re alive,” Klexi said. Lynn came over to her.
“You okay?” he asked. Mary nodded. “Is he dead?”
Mary took a breath. “Yes. How’s it going here?”
“We have to erase the passwords connected to this base and reconfigure them,” Klexi said. He called up information and deleted various files. Symbols and geometric patterns danced through the air in the inverted triangular projection.
“There,” Klexi said behind his holographic panel. “I have it.”
Lynn returned to his terminal and entered single numbers. “Done on this end.”
Klexi opened the communications system and beaming a message to the orbiting mothership. His projection flashed a confirmation that a ship was dispatched. “Hope everybody’s packed,” Klexi said, smiling. Mary lowered her head, chucking nervously.
Lynn embraced her, kissing her forehead. “I'm glad we got you out of there,” he said softly. “I couldn’t bear to leave you to die under that plant.”
Mary gazed up into his eyes. “Thank you.” She smiled. Thank you for taking care of me, Jeanclair.
* * *
Masquerading as New Zimlliaan soldiers, boarding the mothership wasn’t difficult. They rounded up a fresh change of clothes, ate a decent meal, and were assigned quarters where they could rest. “So, what do we do while we wait?” Mary asked.
“I don’t think there’s a lot we can do,” Klexi said. “We certainly don’t want to draw attention to ourselves. We’re lucky the commander believed our story about being hijacked by Leon’s dirigible and getting shot down. I think we should lay low.”
“I can’t wait to get back,” Mary said. “I’m going to join the resistance.”
“You?” Lynn asked.
“You don’t have to sound so surprised. My husband and a very dear friend of mine were killed the day I was taken by the New Zimlliaans and brought here.”
“I’m sorry,” Lynn offered.
“That plant fed me a lot of dreams which really made me re-evaluate myself.”
“How do you mean?” Klexi asked.
“I was too scared to fight. I didn’t want my husband to end up dead. It cost us dearly. It cost me dearly. I was this fragile little china doll, too prim and proper for her own good. After all of this, I can’t go back to pretending someone else will make everything okay. I want to do my part to help change things. I want to be able to make a difference and not depend on everyone else to do it for me.”
“Sounds like you learned a great deal,” Lynn said.
Mary nodded. “I have.”
“I was part of a group at the Upstate Observatory when I was captured.”
“You’re kidding,” Mary said. “That was the group my husband was going to join.”
“What’s his name?”
“Jeanclair Leviere.”
Lynn blew out a long sigh. “Wow.” He stumbled over words. “I convinced him to join.”
“So, you’re Lynn,” Mary said softly.
“And you're Mary, his beloved Marie. He told me Alexis couldn’t return to France.”
Mary’s eyes misted. She held a shaking hand up to her quivering