Read Online Phoenix Rising (Book Two of The Icarus Trilogy) by Kevin Kauffmann - Free Book Online Page B

soldier running in place.  She realized she didn’t hate him.  He didn’t have to die.  This artificial Jenkins was a crude man and she wouldn’t want to be around him if she could help it, but she could deal with his existence as long as the real Jenkins was back.  This soldier wasn’t the reason that Jenkins was gone and he had nothing to do with him staying gone.
    The raven-haired woman resolved to treat the soldier better.  He deserved that, at the very least.
    -
    Jenkins sighed as he walked out of the clinic.  It was a marvelously boring walk back to the barracks, but in an effort to amuse himself he looked skyward.  Jenkins could see a couple of the asteroids from his position in the blasted landscape.  He guessed one was Demeter, one of the agricultural planets.  About two-thirds of their food came from that little rock up in the sky; the other third was grown on Eris, itself.  Only about half of the landmass was devoted to war, the other half to agriculture and the towns for the support staff.  Jenkins had never seen any of it, and likely never would, but it was a strange thought to think that there was peace somewhere on the little planet.
    The orange asteroid towards the south had to be Solaria.  It was one of those resort planets that the Trade Union had made for its wealthiest members.  It was given a tropical theme and had nice balmy summer days every day.  Jenkins had heard stories that it was bathed in warm light for most of the daily cycle; night only lasted for a few hours.  Jenkins had dreamed of retiring there someday, just like every other kid in his gang.  Elysia was for those intellectual types that liked forests and grass.  Jenkins just wanted to hang out at beaches and pools and look at pretty girls all day.
    Jenkins never had a chance.  In his early twenties the young man had been caught with a massive amount of stolen tech.  The young thief had been sentenced to slave labor on the farming asteroids or to come to the games.  Jenkins chose to fight on Eris and had regretted it.
    But that choice no longer weighed on him like it had before.  He didn’t know why, but almost overnight he accepted it.  The food could be better and there could be more channels on the televisions, but it wasn’t so much harder than life on Earth.  In New Chicago, Jenkins had to fight for his daily life.  He had to steal and abuse hard-working men and women just to get by.  Here he died, but at least he was brought back.  Maybe he could end up like Carver and become a legend.  With enough cash he could make it to Solaria after all.
    After a minute of walking Jenkins was able to see the Crows’ barracks in its full glory.  It felt like home.  He felt like he had always been meant to come here.
    The young soldier walked through the doorway and continued on towards his room.  He passed by the entrance to the training yard and sighed.  He would ask Norris if he wanted to spar later when it was daylight.  He remembered it being a lot of fun, but the Englishman had started to avoid him on the topic.  Norris kept talking about how Abrams wanted to fight instead and that he was somewhat obligated.  Jenkins sneered at the thought, but he couldn’t blame the lanky bastard.  Abrams wasn’t the prettiest thing, but Norris got to have his fun with her.
    Jenkins passed by Markham’s room and shook his head.  The soldier was largely useless.  He did enough to keep himself alive and he did what he could to kill people, but Jenkins couldn’t have a conversation with the man.  The slave soldier wouldn’t say more than a few words at a time and Jenkins thought that maybe the man had a lobotomy or something.  When he passed by the window in the door Jenkins could see the man tossing and turning with sweat glistening on his face.  Jenkins sighed as he realized that this soldier, too, was suffering from the pain of resurrection.  The artificial man looked down at his hands and realized he was