by Elin Wyn
I fought the feeling, realizing the eager smile on her face seemed very out of place for someone that was ‘nervous.’
“How can I help you, Miss March?” I asked in my most professional voice, not really caring what her response was going to be as I ran my gaze up and down her form.
She was voluptuous and curvy and in my mind one of the prettiest humans I had ever laid eyes upon. Annoyed at myself for being distracted, I refocused on the datapad before me.
She fairly bounced across the room and into one of the chairs across from me. She seemed to be far too happy to be here.
“Hi. I was wondering if you could tell me about the Puppet Master.”
My head snapped up from my perusal of my paperwork. She sat there, smiling at me.
“I’m sorry,” I said trying to focus. “I was under the impression that you were here to discuss your nervousness about the city.”
“Yeah, I know,” she replied, her voice far too energetic and peppy. “I lied. I’m really here to get more information about whatever that thing is that’s responsible for the plants.”
This was entirely too disconcerting. She wasn’t afraid. She was interested.
About something she shouldn’t know anything about.
I needed to know how much she knew already, so I asked her.
That was possibly a mistake.
She talked, and talked, and talked. Sometimes her sentences were about what she knew, but most of the time they were about what her thoughts were of it and what she thought those thoughts meant. It was like listening to Axtin go on and on about one of his battles.
As of Axtin’s latest telling of how he saved Leena from the Xathi ship, he destroyed nearly a hundred Xathi with his bare hands and that infernal hammer of his.
Daphne finally stopped talking. “So?” she asked, proving me a liar on the ‘stopped talking’ part. “What can you tell me?”
“I can tell you that we’re doing the best we can to contain the situation and determine a proper course of action,” I answered.
“But what course of action are you taking? Do you know if the Puppet Master is intelligent? Can it talk? Have you tried communicating with it? What if we can’t fix things?” She threw out so many questions, I lost track of what she was saying.
“Why did you lie about your concerns?” I asked as a way of stopping her.
She shrugged and smiled at me. “I didn’t think you’d tell me anything if I just asked outright.”
“I see. Well, in regard to the Puppet Master, it is a creature that we are currently studying and determining the best course of action on how to deal with it,” I explained. “We are looking into new ways to save the vegetation that we all use.” I held up my hand to stop her from talking any more. “I will pass on your concerns to the city leaders in an attempt to find more information. Thank you for expressing your concerns and I hope your day improves.”
“But, what about…”
“Ma’am, I must apologize, but I have other people that I need to speak with. It’s time to go,” I said as I stood up and made my way to the door. I held it open for her as she left. She opened her mouth to say something, but I closed the door and returned to the desk.
I wondered who she had talked to before me.
And when I’d get the chance to talk to her again.
Daphne
Who knew?
Apparently, the guy in charge of communicating with the humans decided not to communicate. I hadn’t known what to expect when I sat across that Skotan, but I sure as hell hadn’t thought I’d leave the inquiry office in a state of pure annoyance.
He had fed me nothing but bullshit answers, all of them designed to placate me. Sure, I had come out swinging, but that approach had never failed me before. I had even turned up my charm and used my ‘pretty-please’ smile.
“Stupid Skotan,” I grumbled, feeling completely deflated. Annie had teased me with what was one of the biggest scientific mysteries in the planet, and I had met a brick wall the moment I decided to learn more.
Sure, a handsome-as-all-hell brick wall. Even if he was grumpy.
Fantastic.
“Did you just call me stupid?” Bale muttered from his corner of the lab, even though he didn’t look away from his computer screen. Smart and competent, he was a lanky man in his thirties whose dream life seemed to involve nothing but a basket of snacks and a computer screen. That didn’t bother me at all, especially since I needed him in front of a computer whenever he was around.
“No, sorry,” I chuckled nervously. “I was just thinking out loud.”
“Thinking of stupid people?” he continued, the sound of his fingers hitting the keyboard over and over again echoing throughout the lab. Even though he was what some would call socially awkward, I had always gotten along with him. On paper, he was my assistant, but our relationship was one of equals.
“Actually, yeah,” I sighed, looking away from my computer. I had been going through some neurological holoscans for the past couple of hours, but it was hard to concentrate with the Puppet Master firmly occupying all of my thoughts. “I was just at that inquiry office the government set up and—”
“You went there?” He cut me short, finally looking away from his computer. He had his eyebrows arched, almost as if I had just said something terribly stupid. “You know that’s just a PR stunt, don’t you? As if government would ever be transparent.”
“Don’t tell me you’ve been listening to that anti-alien propaganda.”
“Me?” he laughed. “Please, Daphne. I couldn’t care less about the aliens. I just think that it doesn’t matter who’s in charge. Aliens, humans…at the end of the day, it’s all the same.”
“Didn’t know you were so anti-system,” I said.
“How do you think I ended up as your assistant?” He smirked, folding his arms over his chest and swiveling around in his chair so that he could face me. “Because I can tell you, my childhood dream wasn’t to be some glorified IT guy.”
“You’re not an IT guy,” I frowned. “You’re helping me with important neurological research, and your tech savvy is essential. I wouldn’t be able to code all the equipment by myself.”
“And that’s why I’m here,” he nodded. “Your faithful sidekick.”
“But if you don’t like it…what exactly are you doing here?” I had to admit I was confused. I didn’t know much about Bale’s personal life, and had always assumed his studies had led him to a position in the hospital.
“It’s not that I don’t like it,” he shrugged. “I actually do. But when I first started out in here…let’s just say I had no other option. At least, according to the judge.”
“The judge?”
“Yeah,” he smiled sardonically. “Community service, if you can believe it. One entire month of unpaid work here at the hospital. I restructured all the network and updated the IT systems in my first week, and by then nobody really knew what to do with me. And since you needed an assistant, I guess they just decided to send me your way.”
“But you’ve been with me for more than a month,” I said, frowning. “You’ve been here for a lot longer than that.”
“I guess I enjoy working with you,” he said casually, already turning his attention back to the screen. When I realized he wasn’t going to tell me anything else, my curious side immediately came alive.
“Hang on,” I said, pushing my chair back and getting to my feet. “You can’t just hit me with that and then not tell the rest of the story. What’s up with you doing community service?”
“Is it that hard to guess?” He laughed, jutting his chin to point at the computer screen in front of him. “Let’s just say I have a way with computers, and that some people are willing to pay for information…the kind of information I can easily get.”
“You’re a hacker?” I asked him, not sure of what to make of it. I knew he was somewhat reclusive and had a quirky personality, but had never guessed he could be a criminal.
“You make it sound like I’m some super-villain,” he laughed once more. “Mostly I was hired by people that weren’t sure if their spouses were being faithful. They needed to know what their better half was doing whenever they weren’t around. Spoiler: most people didn’t like the information I uncovered. They all paid, though, so I’m not complaining. Well, most of them.”
“You got caught doing that?”
“Eh, well,” he hesitated, scratching his chin. “More or less. It was before the Xathi invasion, and I was working for some guy that thought his wife was cheating on him. She wasn’t, actually, but the guy didn’t believe me…and he went straight to the authorities and told them I was some sort of super-hacker. Just so he wouldn’t have to pay me, if you can believe it. Two Nyheim city guards showed up on my doorstep, and they dragged my ass to the courthouse. One week later and I had a new desk, right in the hospital’s basement. That’s when the Xathi attack happened and I’ve been here ever since.”
“That’s quite a story,” I told him, not knowing what else to say. I didn’t exactly approve of his previous career, but it wasn’t as if he had been a hardened criminal. Besides, it seemed he had a special set of skills that could be very useful…
“Well, maybe one day I’ll write a book,” he smiled, his eyes already focused on the lines of code that littered his computer screen. His fingers flew over his keyboard as he worked, and I started formulating a plan.
“Why hasn’t the government grabbed you to help with the rebuilding process,” I wondered. “Reassigned you somewhere else?”
He shrugged, eyes still on the screen. “It’s possible I removed a bit of my past from my files, when everything was messed up after the attack. It’s possible no one knows I’m here.”
Interesting.
And possibly useful.
All I needed was for Bale to cooperate.
“What if I told you I need some information?” I blurted out, and held my breath as his fingers stopped. With one eyebrow cocked, he swiveled his chair around once more.
“I’m not sure if I feel comfortable snooping on your boyfriend,” he said, and I could tell he was surprised I had made such a request.
“I don’t have a boyfriend,” I blushed, wetting my lips with the tip of my tongue. “All I want is some information about the vines.”
“The vines?” he repeated, his expression one of confusion. “Was that why you went to the inquiry office? Did you think anyone there would share their research with you?”
“Well…”
“God, Daphne,” he smiled. “These guys would cut an arm off before they revealed what’s on the menu in the officers’ dining hall. Something like the vines…yeah, that information would be as confidential as it gets.”
“And would confidential be a problem for you?” I asked, biting on the corner of my lip. I didn’t like it that I was asking Bale to break the law on my behalf, but if he was any good…well, this was an opportunity that was simply too good for me to pass up.
If it was possible I could help with this puzzle, I wanted to. But first, I needed to know what they knew.
If I had to be a rebel, then so be it.
“Let’s be clear…are you asking me to hack into the government’s servers?”
“Yeah?”
“Shit,” he laughed, running one hand through his hair. He drummed his fingers against his thigh, an expression that I could only describe as a blend of focus and excitement showing on his face. “I didn’t think you were the kind of person to ignore the rules. I’m impressed.”
“All in the name of science,” I beamed, excited that Bale seemed to be playing along with me. “Only in the name of science, really. So, do you think you can do it? I don’t know if it helps, but they’re calling the vines…the Puppet Master.”
“That’s ominous,” he said. “But it helps me to know what to look for.” He hesitated for a moment, weighing his options, and then gave me a serious nod. “Alright, I’ll do it for you. Just, uh, don’t tell anyone.”
“My lips are sealed,” I told him, my stomach tightening a bit when I remembered I’d promised Annie the same thing. But she was a scientist, too. She’d understand the need to dig into this.
Maybe.
Pushing my chair across the lab, I then sat beside Bale, my heart racing at a hundred miles an hour.
“Alright,” he grunted and started minimizing the windows on his screen and opening a new one. He tapped a few keys, and then hesitated, his lips pursed as he looked at the weird characters that had filled up the screen. “Seems like some of the information is written in Skotan. I might get into the servers, but I don’t know if we’ll be able to translate the information.”
“Most of that should be a direct translation of the reports submitted by the human scientists,” I whispered, thinking feverishly. “What if, instead of grabbing the information the aliens are using…you grab the original reports the scientists have submitted?”
“That might work,” he nodded, his fingers working fast. I don’t think he even blinked as lines of code ran across the screen, his eyes burning with excitement. After almost an hour, he leaned back in his chair and turned to me. “Done. I redirected most of the reports toward us but…”
“But?”
“Well, apparently no one knows that much about this Puppet Master. There are a lot of written reports, but the information there doesn’t seem to be that conclusive. They’re in the dark.”
“That’s odd,” I muttered, even though I grabbed my datapad from my lab coat all the same. “Can you transfer whatever information you got to my ’pad?”
“Done,” he grinned, tapping his keyboard just once.
“And make sure there’s no trace of us in their servers.”
“Please, Daphne,” he laughed. “You didn’t even need to ask.”
“You’re the best.” Jumping up to my feet, I placed my datapad inside my lab coat once more. Wrapping my arms around Bale, I hugged him tightly. “I owe you one.”
“You sure do.”
“I’m going to take the rest of the afternoon off,” I continued, already anxious to dig deeper into the Puppet Master. Even if the information we had stolen wasn’t much, it was a start, all the same.
“There’s someone I need to talk to.”
Takar
As much as I would have loved it for Daphne to have been my last visitor of the morning, she wasn’t. To be fair, I would not be complaining as much if Daphne had come in again, even to ask about classified matters.
Especially with the tight clothes she had been wearing. I don’t know if I’d listen to her complaints any more, but I’d have an appealing sight to behold.
Unfortunately, there was still a line outside. One that I had forgotten about in interacting with the lovely Daphne.
“Tobias?” I called over the desk-to-desk comm.
“How can I help you, Takar?” came the answer.
“What time is it?” I asked.
I knew the time, I just hoped that somehow all my instruments were wrong.
Surely my shift was over…
“Since you worked through lunch, your brother has left a message for you to take a break and meet him at the range instead.,” he told me.
“Very well,” I said. Leave it to Rokul to make lunch about training instead of lunch. I didn’t remember how many times I had explained to him that, for people like him and me, with our body size and types, food was a requirement. There were few times that we would be able to bypass a meal before we began to feel the negative effects. “Please tell the people outside that I am going to lunch.”
“They won’t be happy,” he said back, his tone low. There must have been people inside the building waiting to see me.
“Not my issue,” I said matter-of-factly. “If they want to voice a complaint, they can either wait until I return or come back tomorrow.” With that, I turned the comm off and left the office. I walked right out the front, right past all the people waiting in line—not n
early as many as this morning, but still an annoying number—and ignored their glares as I left the building.
When I walked out the door, I turned to my right, walked one block down the road, then turned right again. At the end of the street was the barracks, and at the back of the barracks was the target range.
And there was Rokul, massive smile on his face, waiting for me. “Ho, Takar!” he called out to me, waving at me. He was a walking tree trunk, a little like some of the strange trees grown on this world actually, yet he was a bit smaller than me.
We were the same height, and he was the older by a year, but I had the bigger muscle mass, and the bigger cranial capacity. Where Rokul was the more social of the two of us, I was the more intellectual, even if I didn’t come across as a pretentious prick like Sylor.
“Ho, brother,” I called back. “How many times do I have to explain to you that food is a necessity?”
He winked at me. “Yeah, yeah, and how many times do I need to tell you that we can deal without food once in a while. We need to keep up our training.”
“There are few that are better shots than us, brother,” I said, hopping the short fence that separated the walkway from the range and walking up to him.
He shrugged.
I rolled my eyes. “Basically, you’re using this as an excuse to shoot a gun and try to make fun of me for the duty that I pulled.”
“You know me so well,” he laughed as he tossed me a blaster and three clips.
I couldn’t help but join in the laughter as we walked over to our firing bays. “So, best of three?” he asked as he set his weapon down and reached for the protective eyewear.
“Accuracy or speed?” I asked. I actually felt good at the moment, even if I didn’t show it.
“Both?” he smiled as he handed me my target.
I smirked. “Ah, you’re in the mood to lose today.”
“Whatever,” he waved me off. “Are you ready?”
“In a moment,” I answered. I put on my eyewear, placed my weapon and clips on the small counter, and took four deep breaths. I then walked back to the fence with Rokul. “On three, or on your usual two-and-a-half?”