House of Midas

by Chloe Garner

  Troy nodded, letting it go at that.

  “So what have you heard since you made it through vetting?”

  Conrad shook his head.

  “They just told me they’d be in touch. That I should do my best at my job and get comfortable with my coworkers.”

  Troy grimaced.

  “That’s awfully laid-back for people who want you to spy for them.”

  “Here’s the thing,” Conrad said. “I was expecting to take all this time getting up to speed and picking up responsibility. Your lab has one of the most mature staffs in the country, and I was going to be the new guy for at least two or three years, probably five or six. I thought this was going to be a long con, you know?”

  “What changed?” Troy asked.

  “Well, you left, for one,” Conrad said. “Olivia left a big hole, too, if you listen to Celeste, which… how does anyone ever not listen to her?”

  Troy smiled. An odd memory for that moment. He nodded, encouraging Conrad to go on.

  “But it’s more than that. I’ve been hearing from friends back at school, and it sounds like they’re hiring a bunch of people out of the next couple of graduating classes. Everyone’s all excited about the opportunities, but I’m not sure what it means.”

  Troy frowned. He hadn’t heard anything about hiring new lab staff, and he doubted the decision had happened in the few days he’d been away.

  “It’s about dilution,” he said.

  “Okay,” Conrad said. “I’ll bite.”

  Troy hadn’t missed this. The intrigue was worse than with Cassie, because with Cassie he at least trusted that the person doing the hiding had some interest in the outcome of the situation matching what Troy would have wanted. It was like there was a malicious Palta at the head of all of it, keeping secrets and manipulating people. He wrinkled his nose.

  “They’ve been doing it with the officers for months,” he said. “Replacing the turnover with officers out of the Navy or pulling them out of retirement, instead of promoting from inside. Transferring the really stiff-necked guys to other bases. There really aren’t many of us left, who have been around since the beginning.”

  Conrad nodded.

  “So now they’re going after the civilians. Looking for college students who will join whichever side makes the more exciting case, which is always the side that knows there’s a fight going on.”

  Troy couldn’t help but grin.

  “On the nose. You heard of a guy called Slav?”

  “Sure,” Conrad said. “Drives Xi nuts, and that’s with them only talking once a week or so.”

  Troy grinned wider.

  “That’s the guy. Look, he’s one of us. One of us, you know? He sabotaged a trial against Cassie last year that was supposed to make her tell us all about Jesse.”

  “The Jalnian,” Conrad said. “What’s he got to do with it?”

  Troy shook his head.

  “I don’t know yet. He knows a lot more than he ever tells me, but that’s hardly anything new. What I do know is that Slav is willing to stand up to people who are trying to tell us what to do, when it isn’t what we want to do. He’s interested in the base and the program a lot more than advancing his career.”

  “They canned him, didn’t they?” Conrad asked. Troy nodded. Conrad stretched his mouth to the side. “So you hired him as a civilian and stashed him in Seattle?”

  “Again, got it in one,” Troy said. Conrad nodded.

  “So, he’s in a non-traditional position, having already pissed everyone off, and the guy who was protecting him and keeping him in a job just got transferred to running around the universe and being out of touch all the time.”

  Troy hadn’t thought about it that way yet.

  “Yeah.”

  Conrad shook his head.

  “He isn’t going to make it very long, man. I hate to be the one to say it.”

  “Yeah,” Troy said. “I should probably talk to him.”

  Conrad shook his head.

  “I’ll get him a message to keep his head down.”

  “He won’t take that well,” Troy said. “That’s why he drives Xi nuts. He does whatever he damn well likes, and he’s just enough of a genius to get away with it.”

  “So he’s toast?” Conrad asked.

  “Might be,” Troy said. “But he’ll go down swinging.” He searched his mental list, people he trusted, people with power, people who could keep an ear to the ground and have his back when he wasn’t watching it, himself. There was no one left. Cassie was AWOL as a jumper and an analyst, with no apparent interest in ever going back to being a part of the base. Jesse was out, by his own words only minutes earlier. Troy’s CO was a good guy, but so over-worked and under-supported that there was no way he’d go to bat for a firebrand like Slav when the lab up in Seattle had no clear reason for being separate from the rest of the main lab. It had looked like a power grab on Troy’s part, and if Xi wasn’t interested in keeping it up, it would die. Conrad watched him for a minute, then straightened up, clearing his throat.

  “If you’ll let me speculate openly for a minute.”

  Troy nodded.

  “Be my guest.”

  “So, they’re trying to fill up the labs with newbies. Get rid of the old guard. It looks to me like they’re going to want to turn over the leadership as fast as they can, too.”

  Troy nodded. So far, none of that sounded like wild speculation at all. It was exactly what was happening. Conrad shrugged.

  “I’ve always been known for being a bit of a climber. I kind of take over anywhere I land. It’s just my nature. Between you and the guys who have been talking to me, I’ve got an awful lot of behind-the-scenes people who want me to do well. Maybe I just go for it.”

  “What’s the objective?” Troy asked.

  “Xi’s job,” Conrad said. Troy shook his head. “You need fifteen years in before anyone would take you seriously for that.”

  “That’s military ranking,” Conrad said. “What if they want a civilian running it?”

  “Xi is civilian,” Troy said, realizing that everyone in the lab was a civilian, now. How had that happened while he wasn’t looking? One of the reasons they left an officer in charge was to that the military members were reporting through a correct chain of command. Conrad nodded, not noticing Troy’s moment of distraction.

  “So, they’ve got their civilian. How far do you suppose they’d go to get their civilian?”

  Troy shook his head.

  “You’d have to do what they wanted you to, with personnel. If you expected them to trust you.”

  “Sure,” Conrad said. “To a point. I’m not easy to get along with, according to a lot of my evaluations. Everyone likes me, sure, but when I get an idea stuck in my head… I’m a bit of an ox.”

  Troy actually laughed.

  “Your dad tell you that?”

  “My dad called me the ox,” Conrad said. Troy nodded.

  “I can see that. It could work. You’re better than anyone else.”

  “You’re not partial to Xi?”

  “He’s a fine scientist, and he’ll treat my people well enough, but he won’t stand up for them. I wouldn’t want to see his career ended over it, but if he got a job somewhere else in the country… he’d be a lot happier in a university, between the two of us.”

  “That’s what I kind of thought,” Conrad said. He nodded sharply. “So that’s my objective. I don’t know how fast I can pull it off, but I’m going to go for it.” He paused. “Damn, though, man. I was looking forward to working for you.”

  “I know,” Troy said. “All of this came up with literally zero warning. I wish it had worked out differently, too.”

  Conrad stood, offering Troy a handshake.

  “I’ll let you get back to your unwinding. I’d love to hear about what you saw, if any of it’s not need-to-know,” he said.

  “Sometime,” Troy promised. “I don’t plan on talking about it with anyone, but I wouldn’t mind sitting
down over drinks with you sometime, and maybe some of it will come out by accident.”

  Conrad grinned at him and nodded.

  “Stay in touch,” he said. “Gonna be a bumpy ride.”

  Troy couldn’t have said it better, himself. He stood in the doorway until Conrad was on the elevator, then shook his head and closed the door. What the hell was he into?

  *********

  Troy sat at home for a couple of days, going grocery shopping and for runs, but mostly keeping to himself.

  He’d screwed up bad with Olivia, and he still couldn’t figure out how that had happened.

  And then there was Conrad, and all of the threads there were boggling. What did Jesse know, and what did the Palta expect Troy to do about all of it? He was effectively out of power, just tasked with being Cassie’s babysitter - good luck at any success with that - until someone saw fit to give him a real job again.

  And then there was the siren song of the portal.

  There was a room. On base. His badge got him in. It was a door to the rest of the universe.

  Everything.

  Just everything.

  He was supposed to be devastated and bedeviled and disempowered, and yet all he could think about was Gana. Minan Gartal. Kable Telk. Oma. Kron.

  The things he’d seen.

  The technology he’d experienced.

  The things he’d eaten.

  He bought himself a box of doughnuts Tuesday morning and ate them, an indulgence he never had time or lack of self-control for under normal circumstances, but it was so human, by comparison, it was almost like invoking the Gana meal.

  He thought of Oma and Alk on the strange technology-run planet, all by themselves with so many machines.

  He hoped they could be happy.

  He wondered often if Oma could at all be happy.

  Wednesday, he went in to the base. One of the cadets flagged him down.

  “The General has standing orders for you to report to his office when you come onto base,” the young man with very little hair said.

  “Thank you,” Troy said. “I’ll head there directly.”

  The cadet saluted him, and Troy made his way across the base, watching the people with a new sense of perspective.

  Military, civilian. Allies and enemies. Mixed up together, no knowing who was who, from this distance. And he had no idea what any blasted one of them actually wanted.

  He parked in the first parking spot he found and walked into the General’s office building, sitting down and waiting without impatience while the two assistants silently jousted with each other for authority. Finally one of them one and let him in to see General Donovan.

  “Sir,” Troy said, taking one of the seats in front of the dark desk.

  “How was your trip?” Donovan asked conversationally.

  “I came back,” Troy said. “You should talk to Cassie if you have any questions about before that.”

  “I see,” Donovan said. “Have you been in to see your lab?”

  “No, sir,” Troy said, trying not to let that particular barb hit him. Donovan smiled, curling his fingers together under his chin.

  “You should. Xi has made some very interesting improvements to how they do work, down there.”

  “Has he, sir?” Troy asked. “I’m glad he’s getting on so well.”

  Donovan gave him another greasy smile.

  “Oh, yes. You should definitely go and speak to your former coworkers.”

  Sigh. That meant something bad, Troy could just taste it.

  “I’ll do that, sir,” Troy said. Donovan nodded.

  “Odd that Miss Macon returned to work so quickly, don’t you think?” Donovan asked.

  “She’s very dedicated,” Troy said. Donovan nodded again.

  “She is. Very good prospects, professionally, don’t you think?”

  “Sir, you left orders at the gates for me to report,” Troy said. “Is this really what you wanted to discuss?”

  “No,” Donovan said. “I would love to debrief you on your mission, but you can’t do that without breaking your contract. Does that bother you?”

  “No, sir,” Troy said. “I understood that when I signed it.”

  Donovan nodded.

  “Hard to be stretched between two worlds, as it were, isn’t it? Without someone like yourself here to anchor… everything.”

  “I’ll find a way to balance my priorities,” Troy said. “You’ve taken most of my workload and given it to other very capable people.”

  “Yes,” Donovan said. “We’re very pleased with how that’s going.”

  We’re.

  There were other people who cared.

  Another big flag, put there on purpose, more akin to landmine. Troy kept his face steady.

  “I’m glad to hear that, sir.”

  “Is that all?” Donovan asked.

  “I would ask you that,” Troy said. “Will there be anything else, sir?”

  “No,” Donovan said. “You should go see how the lab is holding up, definitely. Dismissed.”

  Troy stood and left, bemused and feeling the forewarning as a sort of military ploy. They were trying to get him to do something specific, and he didn’t think it had much to do with telling them about Minan Gartal.

  He drove to the main building, badging himself in and going straight down to the labs. He and Olivia managed to walk past each other without even looking each other in the eye.

  That one hurt, but he let it go, continuing on to his lab.

  His lab.

  He’d built it from nearly nothing, now a billion-dollar lab, staffed with the best in the world.

  Celeste was the first to see him.

  She went back to what she was doing without saying a word.

  So that wasn’t really that much of a surprise.

  They’d rearranged the equipment and the furniture, and it didn’t appear anyone had a chair.

  There were also no open desk spaces. Everything was equipment.

  “Troy,” Xi said, looking up from a report. “I’d heard you were back. Did you have a pleasant journey?”

  “Yes, thank you,” Troy said. “You made a lot of big changes.”

  “I’ve been reading a lot about efficient workspaces,” Xi said. “I came to the conclusion that we would get much more work done if we were more efficient in how we arranged our space.”

  “I see,” Troy said. “Is everyone appreciating it?”

  There were a few coughs. Troy wasn’t sure if Xi caught them for what they were, but the man smiled.

  “Productivity is up a lot.”

  Troy nodded.

  “Hard to argue with productivity improvements,” he said. There was another cough and Troy put on a smile.

  “Working on anything interesting?”

  “I’ve been told you are no longer cleared,” Xi said, the happy face dimming for a moment. “I’m sorry.”

  “Ah,” Troy said. “No, I understand. Well, I just wanted to stop in and see how everyone was doing. Good luck.”

  The smile returned to Xi’s face, and he shook Troy’s hand.

  “And good luck to you on your adventures.”

  Troy took one more look around the lab, looking at the individuals who had worked for him for so long. Most of them openly ignored him. A few looked sad to see him.

  He felt bad.

  He hadn’t had a choice, not really, but he suspected they didn’t know that.

  He straightened, then forced himself to walk back out.

  It wasn’t fun. But life had decisions, and then you lived with them.

  That’s what he was doing.

  *********

  Cassie found him the next day, working at one of the temporary workstations up on the main floor, where the portal tourists could stare at you. He wasn’t allowed to do classified work here, but he could at least sit and check his e-mail and feel like less of a slouch than at home.

  “Never thought I’d see you fall this low,” Cassie commented,
sitting down across from him. He didn’t look at her.

  “They won’t stop looking at me,” he said. She frowned, looking out through the bank of windows at the families wandering past.

  “Is it summer vacation?” she asked. “I thought most of the families coming here were on vacation.”

  He had to check his calendar.

  “Must be,” he answered, refusing to look.

  There was a flash as someone took a picture.

  “I’m probably supposed to avoid public exposure like this,” she said. “Want to go someplace where we’re less interesting?”

  He looked at her, and her face turned sympathetic.

  “I heard about you and Olivia. And I’m sorry. That’s the truth.”

  “Who?” Troy asked. “Who do you know to ask who could tell you about that?”

  She rolled her eyes.

  “Fine. I can read it on you. I thought it would be easier if I just heard about it, but… it’s kind of the first thing I see when I look at you.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” he said.

  “Neither do I,” Cassie said. “It’s sticky and complicated, and I don’t think either one of us think that it’s a good idea for me to be that person for you.”

  “What?” Troy asked.

  “Never mind,” she said. “Anywhere else. Let’s go.”

  He looked at her for a moment, then logged himself out of the system.

  “You want to go run laps?” he asked. “I haven’t been to the gym in a while.”

  She grimaced then shrugged.

  “I can live with that.”

  She walked with him across the building and through the tunnel to the athletic facilities where they each changed into workout clothes. He met her out on the track.

  “You used to love this,” he said.

  “That was when I had to do it to stay in shape,” she said. “Now I have better things to do.”

  “Sure,” he said. “Rub it in.”

  She grinned.

  “I also heard that your lab might not be doing so well,” she said.

  “Xi is making changes,” Troy said. “It’s not against the rules. Just not the way I’d do it.”

  “You’ve spent most of your adult life making that lab into what it is,” Cassie said. “It’s okay to be upset when someone walks in and starts tearing it up.”