Brock cocked his head, thoughtfully. “So, instant sleepy time?” he suggested.
Joel nodded once. “Exactly.”
Brock scratched the back of his head. “Hmm, yeah. I’m sure that’s easy enough, once we have the lowdown on a Zhyn’s biochemistry… Heck, I bet this is even one that baby-Pieter could do.
Pieter’s voice hit them from across the room. “I heard that!”
Brock sniggered and Sean smiled, then walked over to Pieter and slapped him on the shoulder to show him he was one of the team. To further support that, Sean asked Pieter about what he was working on.
Meanwhile, Brock stepped a little closer to Joel and lowered his voice. “You’re worried about her, too, aren’t you?”
Joel looked off across the workshop, pretending to watch Pieter and Sean, but really his eyes were glazed over. “That obvious?” he asked in a low voice.
Brock pretended to busy himself on his holo. “Yeah… a little.” He glanced over at the others. “Not that anyone is really watching. You think she’s going to be okay?”
Joel took a deep breath, and perched on a stool that had been tucked under the bench behind him. “Yeah. I think it’s our best bet. And this woman comes recommended by ADAM, so, presumably, she’s the best the Empire has to offer to solve this problem.”
Brock looked a little skeptical. “Because the Empire has had so much experience with this particular thing?”
Joel wiped his hands over his face, then dropped them in his lap as he perched. “You have a point… but it’s still our best option.”
Brock nodded and looked up from his holo. “Well, look, if there’s anything I can do to help, you just need to ask.”
Joel looked up and Brock held his gaze, emphasizing his genuine desire to help.
Joel took another breath and stood up. “Thanks, Brock,” he said, clamping his hand on Brock’s upper arm. “You’re a good friend.”
Brock grinned. “Of course. You’re my homie. And Molly, she’s just the best.” He smiled, a little twinkle returning to his eye, and then he swung his hips playfully again, dancing to the music that only he could hear.
Joel couldn’t help but smile back, feeling a bit brighter just from being around Brock for a few minutes.
“Thanks, man,” he replied, before heading over to where Sean and Pieter were.
Joel walked up and slapped Sean on the back. “Sparring practice?” he ventured. Sean was hunched over Pieter’s screen with him, but stood straight up on hearing the request. He turned his head to look at Joel and smiled. “You betcha!” he said.
Pieter grinned. “Damn. If I didn’t have so much work to do, I’d come watch.”
Sean ruffled Pieter’s hair. “Yeah, but you do. So next time.”
Joel waved his arm above his head as he strode towards the door. “Later, guys,” he told Brock and Pieter.
Sean winked at Pieter, and leaned in to whisper something in his ear as Joel headed up the stairs. Pieter gasped and Sean left.
Brock looked at Pieter. “And what was that about?”
Pieter grinned, and then put his eyes back on his screen. “Nothing…” he said, looking as innocent as he could.
“Uh huh…” Brock muttered, waving his finger almost melodically at Pieter, and then pointed at his own eye, and then at Pieter again. “Don’t kid a kidder,” he said, turning back to his tasks.
Pieter quietly tapped a message to Oz, asking him to give him access to the gym surveillance cameras.
Gaitune-67, Wilderness
Molly and Arlene had taken Arlene’s truck from the safe house out to the far side of the asteroid. Traveling by truck was a bumpy ride over the jagged, rocky surface.
Arlene had been talking through the asteroid’s history. “There’s no one settled over this way — partly because of the gravity, and partly because the services don’t run here. Folks are used to their creature comforts, these days,” she explained wistfully. Molly found it eerie to be looking at such a young woman talking like an aged soul.
“That works for me,” Arlene continued. “Means there is space preserved for losing oneself in the blackness.” She pointed up to the sky as she pulled the truck to a stop.
Molly had been looking out over the asteroid, and at the dark sky beyond. The expanse of the place, and the way the starlight played across the rock, made things feel surreal. The familiarity of the safe house felt a long way away.
Arlene unclipped her harness and opened her door. “We can leave the truck here,” she told Molly, disappearing out of the door. Molly followed suit and hopped down, her feet meeting with the rock in an unexpected manner. One foot felt lighter than normal, and one felt heavier. In all, she felt somewhat disoriented.
She heard Arlene opening the back of the truck and then rummaging for supplies. “What did you mean about the gravity?” Molly asked, as she headed around to join her.
Arlene smiled her strange smile again. “You can feel it, can’t you?”
Molly nodded. “I feel something.”
Arlene was practically glowing with enthusiasm. “It’s the gravity. It’s uneven around here. I love it; it’s great for disrupting the mind’s patterning. It helps us let go of what we think is real.”
Molly rolled her eyes internally.
Don’t tell me you’re skeptical already?
No. No. I’m not. I’m on board.
…
It’s all going to be just fine.
It will. It’s just like anything else: struggle, relaxation, flow, consolidation.
Molly considered Oz’s analysis.
Hmm, that’s pretty smart.
Well, you know — extra processing power, and all.
Arlene had gathered her pack, and a few bits and bobs that Molly couldn’t make out in the low light. She stood away from the vehicle, waiting for Molly to drag her pack loose.
“All set?” she asked, as Molly shifted the weight of the pack onto her back.
Molly nodded and stepped away. “All sorted,” Molly confirmed.
Arlene closed the truck up and started out into the dark expanse. Molly jogged to keep up with her. “Feels weird. The gravity is all patchy, and the atmosphere feels thinner out here.”
Arlene glanced over at her. “Yes. It is. But your body should adapt to it quickly.”
Molly trod carefully, aware not only of where she was putting her feet, but also of the patchy gravity.
The lessons seemed to have already begun. “So, when you start feeling yourself drop into different realms, are you aware of what’s happening?”
Molly shook her head as she walked awkwardly, not trusting her feet to touch the ground smoothly.
“No. I have no idea what’s going on until it’s happening. And then each time, it feels the same: spacey.”
Arlene nodded. “Okay. So what’s happening is that you’re drifting through other realms, uncontrolled. Something to do with what happened to you has given you the ability to do this. Normally, it takes many decades of practice for an Estarian to be able to unhook the mind’s grip on the perceived reality in order to accomplish this.”
Molly continued to walk in silence, still watching the ground ahead of her.
Arlene continued. “What we know, when we train Estarians to drift, is that when they master the control, they are more likely to jump through realms. Without control, they have nothing.”
Molly glanced up and nodded, then turned her attention back to the terrain.
Arlene kept talking. “Now, the important premise to remember is that wanting control is the opposite of having control. And we can use this to our advantage. When we want control – or rather, when we lack control — if we let go of that lacking or wanting sensation, we fall into having control.”
Molly slowed her walking down, and then stopped as she contemplated what her mentor had just explained.
Arlene stopped and turned to look back at her. “Again?” she offer
ed.
Molly nodded, smiling shyly. “Please.” she agreed.
Arlene explained the concept another few times, using different words and talking about wanting energy as an actual thing - a substance that is present, that one can let go of.
“Got it?” she asked Molly after a few examples.
“Yeah,” Molly nodded slowly, as they continued to trudge. “Yeah, I can see how that would work.” She shrugged. “Though I can’t see how that’s going to help me with the drifting.”
Arlene looked around and then halted their march. “We can set up camp here,” she declared, wriggling her pack off her back. Molly did similarly. “As for the wanting energy,” Arlene continued, “you will. You’ll see how you have more control over where you go, as you let go of wanting to control your shifting. So I guess that’s where you start. I’m going to set up our camp, but I’d like you to head over there, and just sit and do your meditation practice.”
Molly looked at where Arlene was pointing, and then back at their two lonely packs. She hesitated.
“It’s okay,” Arlene smiled. “Your kit will be here when you get back. I’ll fix up our tents and make some food. You spend the next hour doing your practice, and letting go of wanting control.”
Molly didn’t really know what to do, other than comply. She shrugged her shoulders and wandered out about twenty feet from where they had stopped, and sat down on a rock.
It was hard, and rocky, and hurt her bottom.
Fuck this! she declared in her mind.
She got up and headed back to her pack. Arlene watched her while unpacking her own. Molly pulled out her sleeping mat, and flicked the switch that unraveled it into a long, comfortable, cushioned surface. Without uttering another word, she carried it under her arm, back to the spot where she had just come from.
She plunked it down and sat on it, lotus style, with her back to their new “camp”.
Closing her eyes, she started her breathing exercise.
Here goes nothing, she thought to herself as she centered.
Gaitune-67, Safe house, Molly’s conference room
Joel shifted in his seat as he turned to another company report. He was covered in bruises as a result of his earlier sparring session with Sean. Somehow the guy had managed to up his game. Joel wasn’t sure if it was a result of actual cyborg tweaks, or whether it was just that he didn’t have the element of surprise working against him.
Either way, it had been a pretty matched fight.
Joel squinted at the details on the new company report, and scratched the side of his head. Something wasn’t adding up.
He heard movement behind him, and the conference door handle rattled. He smelled the perfume before he heard the footsteps.
It was Maya.
“Hey,” she said, closing the door behind her.
Joel sat up straighter and turned to acknowledge her. “Hey. Everything okay?”
She nodded, taking a seat a couple of chairs down from him. “Yeah. All okay. I’ve reviewed a dozen of the companies you sent me, and I’m noticing some patterns.”
Maya had his attention. “Oh?” he asked.
She pulled up her holo screens, and arranged them carefully out in front of them both. “Yeah. It looks like there are three categories of company here. I think it’s going to make it easier to manage them, now that we’ve got the templates.”
Joel frowned and looked at her, planting his hand on his leg, his elbow in the air. “How do you mean? Templates?”
“Well,” she explained, “it looks like Andus had a system. Some of these companies are there to offset profits in the group, under the guise of research. Some are there to inflate pricing by acting as insurance companies; while the others are providing the care and delivering the service, and taking the money in from the population — under the direction of the other tiers, and the laws that Garet has had repealed.”
Joel shifted around in his chair a little more and winced.
“You okay?” Maya asked.
Joel nodded, not wanting to distract from what Maya had discovered. “So in order to fix the situation, we can leave them in place, but internally regulate certain factors — like pricing on goods sold?”
Maya nodded. “Right, and then we can look at what it actually costs to insure people per million, per, say, 100 years, and just make sure that that is covered; plus, what, 20% profit, and then set the premiums accordingly.”
She flicked to another screen. “My first estimate, based on a model Oz constructed, shows that they’re being overcharged by about 800% right now. And that’s an average — so some are being overcharged more than that.”
Joel shook his head. “It’s no wonder this sector is a fucking mess,” he sighed. “Okay, and given that we know the routine in each company, these companies we acquired will be easier to turn around.”
Maya nodded. “Yeah. Except for the shareholders. We’re just majority shareholders in most of them; they still have boards and minority shareholders, in most instances.”
Joel leaned back and put his arms behind his head, stretching out his aching muscles. “Yeah, well, I think we’re going to have to start a reeducation program for them.” He glanced over at Maya. “Don’t suppose you want to mock up a sequence of communications and talks for us to deploy?”
Maya grinned. “Would much rather do that than crunch the numbers to make all this work!”
Joel pushed out his bottom lip humorously. “I hear ya.” He leaned forward and looked at one of the screens Maya had laid out. “I think this is a job for Oz, when Molly returns.”
Maya chuckled. “I was hoping you would say that.”
Joel rubbed at his face, feeling the stubble on his cheek and chin. “Right, so that’s the company stuff handled for the most part. I’ve got two that need a visit, though. I can’t figure out what the hell is going on with them, and I don’t want to give them a chance to hide anything by giving them a call.”
Maya pursed her lips, and began closing her screens down. “What are you thinking?” she asked.
Joel smiled a tired smile. “Field trip?”
Maya brightened, remembering something. “Ooh, if you’re going down, I wonder if I could come with? Molly suggested I get in touch with the cop who was instrumental in tracking Andus down; I’d like to shake her hand. But also, Molly asked me to do something for her.”
Joel shrugged. “Sure. I guess we could head down together. You could go off and do your thing, and then perhaps come meet me, so you can see what’s going on with these other companies?”
Maya narrowed one eye. “Oh, wait. You wanted me in on your meetings?”
“Yes. I mean, no,” Joel juggled. “Well. It would be good for you to be in the mix with them; but if your meeting with Chaakwa won’t take long, I guess you could just go do that, then dive in at whichever point when you join us?”
Maya nodded. “Works for me.”
Joel folded his holos away. “Okay, great. Let’s leave here tomorrow morning – say, 8 am? – and go from there.”
“Great,” Maya agreed, getting up and starting to leave.
Joel slowly got out of his chair, groaning at his aches.
Maya heard and turned back. “Sean got you back, eh?” she asked teasingly.
Joel sighed. “Yeah. Something like that,” he admitted, turning to follow her out the door.
Maya raised her eyes to the ceiling as she trotted away. “Boys!” she muttered under her breath, smiling.
Chapter 11
Gaitune-67, Wilderness
Molly became aware of Arlene calling her back to the encampment. She opened her eyes, not feeling quite as disoriented because she had never really let go of the awareness of where she was.
Hard to do in the middle of a frikking asteroid, she justified to herself.
For what it’s worth, I concur.
Thanks, Oz.
Molly breathed deeply before jumping to he
r feet and heading back to the place where Arlene had erected a couple of tents.
She approached, and Arlene looked up from the vegetables she was warming on a tiny flame. “How did it go?” she asked.
Molly bobbed her head noncommittally. “Not bad, I guess. I found that I could move through the different realms quite easily. I think there are about four? At least, four that I can see.”
Arlene looked pleased. “That’s great.” She started serving the vegetables into a couple of bowls. “And how does it feel, not wanting to control it?”
Molly tilted her head to one side. “Well,” she considered, “it certainly felt less scary. I felt more in control… But also, I felt like there was nothing to be afraid of in the first place.”
Arlene looked up at her again, waiting for her next observation. Molly nodded a little, and took a deep breath. “Yeah, in fact,” she paused, “it’s like there isn’t even a problem. It’s just that there are these other worlds that I can tune into, if I like, and that’s okay.”
Molly felt a weight lifting from her shoulders.
Arlene’s tone was bright and she was smiling excitedly again. “That’s great!” she agreed. She stood up and handed a bowl to Molly, and then picked up a spoon from her cooking array and handed that to her, too.
During Molly’s absence, Arlene had erected two one-man tents, and set up their gear in a neat arrangement. There were mats out for them to sit on, which, like Molly’s sleeping mat, buffered them from the discomfort of the terrain.
Molly sat down and started eating with Arlene, who pushed some vegetables into her mouth and chewed.
As soon as Arlene emptied her mouth, she spoke again. “So, the next thing we’re going to work on is tuning into other people’s energies.”
Molly glanced over at her, the food in her mouth preventing her from reacting. Her frown said it all, though.
Is this woman for real?
I think so…
Arlene read Molly’s expression, but continued talking. “Yeah, so it’s not much different from what you’ve been doing. Now you have more control, you’re going to find it easier. It all works on intention. Dead easy.” She spooned some more food into her mouth and chewed while Molly contemplated what she was explaining.
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