Symbiosis

by R S Penney

“I don't know, Jack,” she murmured. “Our species has its faults but I wouldn't turn in my membership card.”

  “Are you sure?” he countered. “Because I filled out a form 52-J in triplicate and it'd be a shame to let all that paperwork go to waste.”

  “Alright, what is it?”

  He froze.

  Anna looked over her shoulder, a lock of hair falling over one eye. “You could tell me what's bothering you,” she said with a shrug. “Or you could insist you're fine until I drag it out of you.”

  Jack forced a tiny smile as he stared into his lap. He shook his head. “It's Leah,” he explained. “Speaking to her reminded me of all the ways I've screwed up, of all the things I should have done differently.”

  When he glanced over his shoulder, Anna was watching him with curiosity evident on her face. “You like this girl?” she asked, arching a thin eyebrow. “And you feel like you're unworthy in her eyes?”

  Scraping a knuckle across the tip of his nose, Jack winced. “Not like,” he muttered, pressing his back into the couch cushions. “Respect. Leah was somebody who was there for me when I was younger.”

  “And why would you be a disappointment to her?”

  How could he explain this? Part of the reason that he had gone into work was to get the events of this afternoon off his mind. Anna's concern was genuine, however, and now that he had started this conversation, it seemed rude to shut her down. “My grades were a mess when I was in high school,” he began. “That being the case, most universities won't even look at my application. Leah didn't quite say I told you so this afternoon but…well, the point is I turned out pretty much how everyone expected.”

  “So, everyone expected you to be a brave, kind-hearted, noble human being?” The playful grin Anna wore was almost enough to make him burst out laughing. What he wouldn't give to just hug her right then. “Because that's what I see. So, I cannot imagine why you're being so hard on yourself.”

  Squeezing his eyes shut, Jack buried his face in his hand. He let out a groan. “Oh, I don't know,” he mumbled, massaging his temples. “Maybe because it's almost impossible to find well-paid work without a degree.”

  With a growl, Anna hopped off the couch and marched across the room to stand in front of the TV. She remained there for a moment, lost in thought. Whatever was going through her head was beyond him.

  She kept her back turned, but he could tell she was clasping her chin. “I don't think it's wise to torment yourself,” she began more evenly than he would have expected. “You made some mistakes as a teenager. So what? That describes most people.”

  “Those mistakes might affect the rest of my life.”

  She turned partway around and looked over her shoulder, her face pinched in an expression of contempt. “And whose fault is that?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “If the system offers no way to remedy those mistakes?”

  Closing his eyes, Jack leaned his head against the couch cushions. He took a deep breath and then let it out again. “Oh, there's a way,” he said. “I could take a few remedial courses to improve my transcripts.”

  “Then why not do so?”

  “Well, the cost.” Giving her a lecture on the finer points of economics might prove fruitless; he wasn't aware of how Leyrians organized their society, and he hadn't taken the opportunity to ask. “Those remedial courses cost money, money that I had planned to use to pay my university tuition. It's not impossible to dig myself out of this pit, it's just very, very difficult.”

  Anna stood before him with arms crossed, frowning down at her feet. She nodded once, as if that settled matters. “I see. Well, that being the case, I suppose I stand by my original statement. If I want to go back to school, all I need to do is fill out some paperwork. Money is not a factor.”

  “Your people subsidize education?”

  “We consider it a matter of human rights,” she replied. “If you want to have a free society, you need to have an informed populace, a populace who can distinguish between information and misinformation, a populace who knows when to trust their government and why. People need to learn how to think.”

  “So how does your society organize itself?”

  “A topic for another time, I think,” she said. “It's getting late and we have a lot to do tomorrow.”

  “Speaking of which.”

  Jack nodded to the small table against the wall.

  Perhaps Anna had failed to notice the gray plastic bag that he had left behind one of the small wooden chairs before going in to work. At his cue, she turned with a puzzled expression and went over to it.

  Anna dropped to one knee in front of the table, her back turned as she inspected the contents of the bag. “What's this?” she said, lifting up a dark blue shirt. “More clothing? I thought I had everything I needed.”

  “Oh, just something I picked up this afternoon. You may not realize it, but those clothes look exactly like the uniforms the janitors wear in the Penworth building. So long as no one gets too close, they'll think you're just another member of the custodial staff, and the thing about custodians is, people tend to ignore them.”

  Anna started to laugh.

  “I suggest you get some sleep,” he said. “Because we leave bright and early in the morning.”

  The living room was lit only by the glow from a laptop monitor, soft white radiance washing over the blue sofa where Harry sat hunched over. Blinds on the window fluttered in the wind that came in from the backyard.

  Harry frowned, shaking his head. He felt his eyebrows climb higher and higher. So, where are you? he thought, sitting up straight. Don't try to hide from me, Goldilocks. I'm smarter than the average bear.

  His monitor displayed black-and-white security camera footage from the hallway outside of Jack Hunter's hospital room. People rushed up and down the corridor: nurses in scrubs, doctors in lab coats, the odd visitor who kept his eyes glued to the floor.

  A restless sleep had ended in the wee hours just before sunrise, forcing Harry to stare up at the ceiling and contemplate his predicament. After half an hour of tossing and turning, it became clear he was not going to find any rest tonight, so he chose to put his agitation to good use.

  Watching a video of security footage wasn't likely to pay off – it was entirely likely that the blonde woman had nothing but the most incidental connection to Jack Hunter – but he was out of options.

  “Dad?”

  Missy stood on the stairs that led up to the kitchen. Tall and slim in a pair of blue shorts and a white tank top, she wore her long hair loose over her shoulders. Her face was frozen in a look of disapproval.

  Craning his neck, Harry smiled up at his daughter. He blinked moisture into his eyes. “What's up, honey?” he asked. “Can't sleep? You should try opening your window for a little fresh air.”

  Missy descended the steps to pad across the carpet on bare feet. She paused just in front of him, lifted her chin to stare at him. “I could ask you the same question,” she said. “Are you still neck-deep in that case?”

  Harry bit his lip, staring down into his lap. “Yeah, it's making me crazy.” He threw himself back against the couch cushions. “But you don't have to worry about that.”

  His daughter wore a skeptical expression as she studied him, an expression that he had seen many times on his ex-wife. “I'm not so sure,” she said, pacing around the coffee table to sit down next to him. “We've had indoor recess for the last few days. Some of the parents have been calling the school.”

  “What about?”

  Missy shrugged, frowning at the computer. “They're afraid that terrorists are going to show up at our school…”

  Slapping a palm over his face, Harry let out a groan. He massaged his tired eyes to ease away a headache. “I highly doubt that,” he replied. “Your school isn't exactly a high-profile target.”

  Missy just stared at the computer screen. Moments like these were always the most difficult: moments where he had to wonder what his eldest daughter was thinking. With Cl
aire, it was easy. She was too young to really understand the situation as anything other than “Daddy is going to catch some bad men.”

  Missy, however…Missy was growing up to be a young woman. There were so many moments when he could see the wheels turning in her head, and yet he had no idea what she was thinking. “You're not in any danger, sweetheart.” That was probably true. “We'll bring these people in.”

  “What was that?”

  “What was what?” Harry turned back to the computer screen only to find himself looking at a hallway where a pair of doctors hurried by with their backs to the camera. No sign of anything out of the ordinary.

  Hunching over, Missy covered her mouth as she studied the screen. She narrowed her eyes. “Rewind it,” she said in that imperious tone preteens often used. “I could swear I saw something.”

  Harry did as she requested and watched the footage. He caught a brief glimpse of the two doctors walking backwards at twice their normal speed, then an empty hallway. Seconds later, a tiny figure appeared, also walking backwards until she entered…Jack Hunter's room. Harry let the playback resume.

  A woman emerged from Hunter's room, but just as she did, the image blurred, light refracting as though she were standing behind a window with rainwater running over its surface. She put her back to the camera and marched off with her arms folded, the image stabilizing so that Harry could only see the back of her head.

  He recognized her clothing though. That brown jacket that dropped almost to her knees was the same one he had seen in the photos from Wesley Pennfield's security feed. No doubt about it – he had found Goldilocks.

  “What was that?” Missy whispered.

  Planting his elbow on his thigh, Harry rested his chin on the knuckles of his fist. He squinted at the screen. “Trouble…” he muttered under his breath. “Go back to bed, Missy. Your dad has work to do.”

  She gave him a look, a look that said she didn't want him leaving the house in the middle of the night, and Harry felt the fire in his blood die out. So far all he had was the knowledge that Jack Hunter had lied to him. He'd seen no evidence of Goldilocks during his brief look through Hunter's front door, and he would need a warrant to perform a more extensive search. That kind of paperwork would take a few hours in any event. He could get that underway and meet with the judge once the girls were off to school. “It's okay,” he told his daughter, “I'm not going anywhere.”

  She nodded.

  Missy stood and flowed around the coffee table with hands shoved into the pockets of her shorts. She paused in front of the stairs. “Thanks, Dad,” she said without looking back. “I love you.”

  “Love you too.”

  Chapter 13

  Morning sunlight came through the windshield of the car Jack had borrowed from his sister, illuminating flecks of dust that swirled about over the dashboard. They had pulled to a stop along the curb roughly half a block away from Wesley Pennfield's tower. Now, it was Anna's turn to be brave.

  Jack sat in the driver's seat, watching her with earnest concern on his face. “You do promise to be careful, right?” he asked, deep creases lining his brow. “I'd hate to lose my newest friend so soon after meeting her.”

  It was difficult not to smile, but she covered her mouth with her fingertips. Best to remember that this was all new for Jack; he wasn't used to the idea of knowing someone who deliberately went into dangerous situations. “Yes, I promise,” she assured him. “So long as no one pulls a gun on me, I'll be fine.”

  Jack clutched the steering wheel in both hands, frowning as he stared through the windshield. “Well, if they do,” he said with a shrug, “you can just have your Nassai warp their guns to shoot sideways or something.”

  Anna flinched as if someone had slapped her. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she let out a grunt. “I forget how much you don't know sometimes,” she muttered. “I can only affect space and time within a few inches around my body. Even a bubble of accelerated time is just large enough for me to stretch my arms out.”

  For a long moment, Jack was stone silent, scowling as he considered the implications of what she had just said. She decided to give him more information. “I can erect a small Bending that will direct incoming fire away from my body, or I can put myself into a warp bubble that will give me more time to react. But I can't, say, project a Bending across a room to defend one of my teammates, and if I wanted to affect someone else with my abilities, I would essentially have to be touching him.”

  “Well, you're pretty clever,” he mumbled. “If it comes down to it, I'm sure you can get out of any situation.”

  He sounded only half convinced. It didn't take much effort for her to hear the voice of a man trying to put on a brave face. Still, there was a good chance of success. She was unsure of what else to say, so she opened the door.

  Jack squeezed her hand. “Good luck.”

  Anna felt her lips curl, a touch of heat in her cheeks. She bowed her head to stare into her lap. “I'll be alright,” she said softly. “Meet me back here in half an hour. With any luck, I'll be out by then.”

  The stairwell went up and up and up, flight after flight of tiled steps surrounded by cinderblock walls. Windows at every landing allowed daylight through, and gave Anna a view of other buildings across the way.

  Slipping into the building had been easy enough – it shocked her that she could just walk through the lobby with her head down – and now all she had to do was find her way up to the seventeenth floor. She had ducked into the first stairwell she spotted, hoping to avoid attracting attention.

  In truth, she should have been shivering, but this was not even the most dangerous assignment she had ever taken. She was a new Keeper, having earned her badge less than one year earlier, but facing down Denario's multiple attempts on her life had steeled her nerves more than she would have expected.

  So, she climbed.

  Anna pressed her lips together, staring down at the floor. Her eyes flicked back and forth. So far, this has been too easy, she thought to herself. I half expected them to swarm me the instant I walked through the door.

  Craning her neck, Anna peered through the window. She squinted. Pennfield went to a lot of trouble to capture the Nassai, she noted. With my luck, there will be a squad of people in tactical armour waiting for me.

  She started upward again. The fear that she had been so quick to dismiss suddenly gripped her chest and made her want to turn around. Funny how apprehension grew more severe the closer you came to victory. Not that she didn't have reason for concern.

  Thanks to Jack, her multi-tool had Gerald Hamilton's security pass, but there was no guarantee he had access to the places she needed to go. Oh, it was highly likely that the head of Applied Sciences would be able to access any lab in the building – that would be the most logical scenario – but human beings seldom obeyed the laws of logic. No plan was foolproof; most fell apart as a consequence of some random, insignificant detail that would have been impossible to anticipate.

  On the seventeenth landing, she found nothing more than a simple white door with a security scanner next to the handle. For a moment, she paused. Communion with her Nassai allowed her to sense the world around her, effectively giving her eyes in the back of her head, but she could not see through walls.

  Anything could be waiting on the other side. Anything! If only she had the ability to know for certain that this wasn't a trap. If only she had the ability to affect space and time at a distance of more than a few inches from her skin.

  Pressing a fist to her mouth, Anna shut her eyes tight. She exhaled, trying to remain calm. Now, we'll see if this plan works, she thought to herself. If it doesn't…well, I guess I'm breaking down the door.

  She waved her multi-tool over the scanner.

  The small LED changed from red to green, and she heard a harsh cha-chunk as the locking mechanism was released. Anna carefully took hold of the door handle and pushed it downward, opening the door to reveal…a hallway.

  Just an ord
inary hallway that stretched on for several dozen feet with doors at even intervals in its pristine white walls. Lights in the ceiling seemed to hum, and a yellow sign stood in the middle of a glistening floor. It seemed other members of the janitorial staff had been here recently.

  Anna stepped through the door.

  She started up the corridor with her head down, allowing the bill of her baseball cap to hide her face. There was no one in sight, but nobody ever regretted being careful. Halfway up the corridor, she found a metal plaque on the wall.

  A few moments of examination and she deduced that she had located a map of the seventeenth floor. What luck that she had taken the time to learn how to read this overly complicated language. According to the plaque, the main research lab was just around the next corner. That was a good place to start.

  Anna bit her lip, nodding to herself. She closed her eyes and took a deep, calming breath. Not much longer now, she told herself. If the Nassai is here, they'll be keeping it in a lab. If not…deal with that later.

  She approached the corner.

  The sound of voices in the intersecting hallway made her flinch and press her back to the wall. Anna held her breath, hoping, praying that they'd go the other way. Come on! Come on! Use the elevator! No one takes the stairs!

  A quick glance around the corner revealed the backs of two men in white lab coats as they vanished into one of the nearby rooms. She would have to move quickly. Once again, anxiety welled up.

  Anna stepped around the corner.

  She pulled the bill of her cap down over her face and started up the corridor. On the wall to her right, she found a large metal door with a scanner similar to the one she'd seen in the stairwell. A wave of her multi-tool took care of that.

  The research lab was a large room with counters on all four walls and bright lights in the ceiling that shone down on a rectangular island in the middle of the floor. There were only two exits: the one behind her and its twin on the opposite wall.

  Chairs were tucked neatly under the counter at every workstation, and shelves at shoulder height displayed microscopes, test tubes and flasks. She saw many other pieces of equipment that she didn't recognize.