by Justin Sloan
“Hey, at least you don’t have to worry about him and your sister,” Bloodhound said to Pete, chuckling. “Now him and Bennie over there, that’s a different question.”
The man nodded over to one of the guys, a tall man who looked to be from the southern hemisphere of Earth, with a shaved head. He smiled at their attention, then was back with his buddies.
“I… I didn’t mean that,” Stealth protested. “Just need some rest, after a shower.”
“All right, big guy,” Pete said, clasping his shoulder. “Just remember our little talk. And today, by the way… good to go, my man. Good to go.”
“Thanks?” Stealth didn’t know what to make of these two. He shook his head as he walked off to his room, finding a uniform like the others had and a towel and shower supplies laid out in his footlocker. He stepped out of his exoskeleton and put it on the rack, then did the same with his body armor.
For a moment, he stood there looking at the armor, rubbing his hand across the smooth, black surface. This right here would save his life many times over. This, and the enhancements. He wondered when those would start, honestly not sure he was ready for them. It seemed that every time they upgraded his body, his mind became that much foggier. The last thing he wanted was to lose himself, to be some mindless soldier with nothing from his past.
He remembered certain pieces of his Marine Corps days, so why not the people? Why not the moments outside of the uniform? That woman… for instance. He closed his eyes, trying to search every corner of his brain for more on her, but nothing came. Nothing but that form dancing, and then the woman he had seen downstairs. The target.
The other soldiers didn’t seem so different in this regard. Always focused on the here and now, never on where they’d come from. Maybe it was for the best, in a soldierly sense.
But he hated losing his humanity, the moments that made him who he was.
Grabbing his supplies, he made for the showers.
He entered as the last few others were leaving. One woman was drying herself on the far side, but he made sure not to look. As much as he was a man and enjoyed the thought of a nude woman, it wasn’t anything new at this point. He was a soldier first, but that didn’t stop others. In his old unit, there had been plenty of men gawking at women and women sneaking glances at men, even the occasional playful jokes made. He had always blamed his lack of interest in this on their immaturity, nothing else. But now that the image of that woman was returning, now that he had a face to put to her, even if that wasn’t actually the same woman, he began to wonder.
Maybe it wasn’t that he was more mature, or sexually mute, as Red had liked to joke. Could it be that his subconscious knew he belonged to a woman already? The image of that woman he could still see dancing now, or that woman downstairs who had triggered something in him… Was triggering a reaction in him now, actually.
“Whoa there, cowboy,” a voice said, and he turned to see Trish, Pete’s sister, removing her bra and panties then making her way over to the shower. “Keep it down in here, nobody needs to see that.”
He turned away from her, confused, disoriented. Grabbing the soap, he quickly lathered up and began rinsing, wanting to get out of there as soon as possible.
“I didn’t mean to make it awkward,” Trish said.
“Huh?” He glanced up again, then away.
“There were two options for me. Walk away and skip the shower, or make an inappropriate comment. Apparently, I chose the latter.” She was rinsing now too, three shower stations away. Not looking at him, but not not looking either. “It’s weird, right? I mean, if a guy sees a guy standing at attention in the showers, does he make a joke about it?”
“You know, I’ve never been in that situation. I wouldn’t know.”
“Never?”
He thought about it, then chuckled. “Well, okay, but we tend to either not notice or do our best to not notice.”
“Ah, a third option.” She laughed. “Pretend nothing’s going on, shower, and be on my way. Why didn’t I think of that? Sorry, I generally try to shower up while everyone’s out, or after the rest. I figured you’d all be done by now.”
“Yeah, well…” He turned off his water and made for the towel, keenly aware of her dark, curved form out of the corner of his eye. “I lingered, I guess.”
“Fitting in fine? I hear great things about how you were out there today. Way to make an impression.”
“Out there?”
She laughed. “Yes. Making impressions all over the place. Don’t worry, this one I’ll wipe from my memory immediately. Already gone.”
He wrapped his towel around his waist, then half turned back. “You know, most soldiers are used to this. It doesn’t have to be awkward, doesn’t need a commentary.”
“Ah, I see. My brother had a chat. Well, two things… my brother doesn’t get to say a damn thing about me and my love life—not that you are part of that, of course. And two, pardon me for being old school when it comes to walking in on a man like this. Maybe I’m not the weird one, maybe it’s everyone else.”
“You have a point there,” he agreed, turning back to his new uniform and starting to dress.
“Which one?”
“Both, but for the record, I was thinking about someone from before, I think.”
“Before?” She turned off the water, so that it was eerily quiet aside from a drip, drip, drip. She walked over, taking her towel and drying off. When he glanced at her, she was staring at him. He felt very relieved to be fully dressed now, under that gaze.
“What?”
“You have memories from before?” she asked, eyes wide.
“It’s confusing,” he admitted. “But there are bits and pieces. Images, blurred… not enough.”
“Ah.” Her eyes turned to the bench, where she dropped the towel and started dressing.
He quickly looked away. “I wish there were more, and sometimes, like just now, before you walked in, there starts to be.”
She nodded, finally slipping into her uniform and making it less awkward. “The new recruits coming in, I envy them… and am terrified for them. They have so many memories still, they get to remember why they’re doing this in the first place. Loved ones, all of that. And then… then we yank that away. Or someone does, anyway. At least I have my brother.”
“We have a new batch coming?” he asked, annoyed that he hadn’t been aware. They didn’t come often, but when a new batch of recruits arrived for PD training, New Origins usually made a pretty big deal out of it.
“Yeah, they’ll be hitting the docks tomorrow morning, I think. Get with the program, newb.” She chuckled and threw her towel over his head, into the bin beside him.
“Come on now,” he said, wiping off a drop of water that hit his cheek.
She shrugged, grabbing her toiletry bag and walking out. “Keep your head up.”
He frowned, watching her go, then lingered for a moment in case Pete was out there. That guy definitely wouldn’t like the idea of his sister leaving the showers with Stealth, especially not right after their little talk.
A glance at the water still dripping, and he walked over to shut it off, lingering there as his mind wandered back to the images he’d been experiencing before being interrupted. A woman in a bar… Earth, by the looks of the walls and moonlight behind her. It was a different feel from up here, where walls were always metallic, never wood with large beams. He breathed in, imagining a scent of incense that had been there, instead of the soap smell around him at the moment. He rested his head against the metal water pipe, trying hard to remember that face.
Could it really have been this same woman?
The chances were slim. More likely, she had triggered the memory in him, brought it further to the foreground of his mind. If anyone around here was likely to know, or be willing to talk about it, at least, that would be Trish.
He sighed and turned to head out, passing Breaker on his way. She eyed him with suspicion and said, “She’s just there, c
hatting with Pete.”
That put a stop to his jog, which he realized instantly gave him away. Damn.
“You know,” she added, “Pete can get a tad protective. If he knew you and her were in the showers together….”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“Uh-huh.” She shook her head, sizing him up. “You’ve got your secrets, I get it. I get it. You really want to chat with her? Hit up the training room, get your stats. Then say what needs to be said. But just a warning, she’s not really into your type.”
He frowned, confused. He’d heard rumors that people once gave a crap about skin color, but up here? In Project Destiny?
“What do you mean?” he asked, not sure he wanted to hear it.
“You know, soldiers. Marines. All you gung-ho types.”
“Oh.” He laughed. “Again, it’s not like that, but thanks.”
She nodded, then waved him off as she continued down the hall. Stealth headed for the room where the rest were partying, lingered there for a moment, and then made his way back out toward the training room.
“Don’t tell me you’re taking a nap,” Pete said, his sister nowhere in sight.
“Actually, I was thinking I’d put in some extra training time. You know, let the boss see I’m dedicated.”
Pete nodded. “Sure, sure. But hey, I gotta warn you—first day on the job? Be ready for your enhancements tonight. You’re badass, but you’ll be even more badass soon enough.”
“Tonight?” He had hoped to put it off a bit longer, not sure what effect the changes would have on his brain.
“Yup, higher-ups want everyone up to date before the new recruits arrive, so we can give them a show.” Pete smiled, wide. “Guess what, big guy? You’ll be front and center in the show, just like us. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.”
“Wonderful,” Stealth replied, doing his best to hide his sarcasm, but failing.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Pete tipped an imaginary hat, heading back in with the others. “You know where to find me—most likely, throwing up under the table, after I’ve had a couple glasses of the homebrew. That stuff will put hair on even Breaker’s chest.”
“Something I don’t want to imagine,” Stealth replied with a chuckle, glad to see the door close behind his new teammate.
He headed off for training, even though he’d just showered, excited to stretch his muscles. Hey, it was always more fun training clean than having grimy or bloody sweat drip into your eyes. The only problem was the station’s limits on showers, due to the water supply. Since that rule was generally ignored for PD officers, he didn’t have to worry about it, but he always felt a little guilty taking more than his share.
He’d do what needed to be done to get the answers he needed. And he hadn’t been lying. He was looking forward to showing Nightshade what he was capable of, and seeing more of her in action.
14
Alice: Titanian Hideout
Pacing in front of her new team of technical assassins, Alice wasn’t sure what to think. While they had all of the necessary pieces, this wasn’t a team she was used to. She hadn’t been much for trusting the zealots before this, and now she had a Titanian priestess, along with two thieves’ guild kids. Then there was Intrepid, a man she thought she could trust until she’d found out he’d been making moves to join the thieves’ guild behind her back.
It was just another gang, but one that happened to have much looser morals than she was okay with. Yet, she had just finished laying out the plan. She felt so exposed. At least she had Swinger here to keep her sane.
“You can’t be serious,” the teenage girl said. She had been introduced as Juanita, Oliver’s girlfriend. “Nobody goes into the dome.”
“I’ve been in,” Intrepid pointed out.
“Okay, sure. Trust the man who led them right to us. The man who is essentially responsible for…” She stopped there, cheeks flushed, jaw clenched.
“For my brother’s death?” Intrepid stood as he slammed his teacup down on the table, tea sloshing over the side and onto the orange cloth. “You think I haven’t hated myself every breath since that happened to Mike? Why the hell do you think I’m so committed here? It sure as hell isn’t because I like the tea!”
Everyone was silent, and finally he turned to Yerbuna and bowed his head. “Sorry, it’s nothing against the tea. I’m just… more of a coffee guy. I remember that much. And I remember how they tried to mess with us when I arrived to be a PD soldier, how my brain started to feel like mush after the tests began. You all have something against New Origins. Well, I have more of a right than any of you to want to see them stumble, maybe even fall. They took part of me, they took my friend.”
Alice shared a look of compassion with him, knowing he referred to Marick. “We don’t doubt Intrepid one bit,” she said, leaning toward Juanita. “And that’s the plan. You don’t like it, walk.”
Juanita glared, then shrugged. “I just don’t like the part where Oliver and I get in there and you all sit behind your pretty computers.”
“You misunderstand. While your job is to get us in, I’m the one who will actually be entering. Find me an entry point, my team takes down sensors and surveillance, and we’re in.” When nobody else protested, Alice continued, “This isn’t the big hit. We need answers, like what’s up with this activity at the docks. If we find the exact timing, we can plan a bigger hit. Then we can really get in there and take them out. Consider this our practice run. Test their defense points and penetrate the hell out of their network so that we can come back tomorrow and cripple the damn thing. Got it?”
“And if we can just kill it tonight?” Yerbuna asked. “Why wouldn’t we?”
Because Alice wanted answers first. She needed to know the truth about her husband, before making the company pay for what they were doing.
Instead, she said, “Because we need to ensure they don’t leech us like last time. We need to set up our own countermeasures so that we’re fully protected when we go all in. This is the prisoners digging the tunnel, so that tomorrow the prisoners can grab their belongings and make a run for it. You don’t try to build the tunnel and make the run in the same night. It’s too much.”
“That’s the worst analogy I’ve ever heard,” Swinger said with a laugh. “And I’ve heard a lot of crappy ones.”
“Shut up,” Alice said. “We need to see what we’re up against, is the point.”
“Agreed,” Swinger said. “We always test the subject before going all in. Nothing new there.”
“Except it’s all new to some of us,” Yerbuna added with a nod to the teens. “You’re sure about all of this?”
Oliver glared and Juanita rolled her eyes.
“We’re all we’ve got,” Alice countered. “These two say they know how to find a way in. Let’s get them on it.” She made eye contact with everyone in the room, waiting for another argument but glad to see none came. “Right, earpieces everyone?”
Juanita inserted hers, but everyone else was ready. Alice could hear herself in her own as she said, “Right, confirm they work?”
“Confirmed,” the rest of the group responded.
“Oliver, Juanita, stay safe.” Alice waited as the two ran off. They had their job to do—get over to the dome and find weaknesses. Meanwhile, the rest of the group had to start working around the security protocols. Luckily for them, Alice had played an instrumental role in building the foundation of the New Origins system, back when they were first starting out and had required help from the top penetration testers in the world. Alice certainly fit the bill, and when they had failed the tests, she was on the front line of seeing that they didn’t fail so easily again. That meant they’d be tough to crack, but that her team also had the best person for the job.
“Where can we plug in?” Alice asked.
Yerbuna stood and motioned them to follow. “It might not be as fancy as what you’re used to, but it’s the best we could do to prepare ourselves for separation from N
ew Origins.” She opened the door to a back room, complete with screens along the walls and a holographic display of the dome.
“Damn,” Intrepid said, nodding.
“This’ll do just fine,” Alice said, stepping up to the hologram. “Something tells me I don’t know half of what I should about you.”
“You know enough to know that I’m dangerous,” Yerbuna replied with a hint of a smile.
“That much is for sure.”
For the next hour or so, the group got set up, working through their various channels, setting up routines and sub-routines, and paying special attention to areas where a bit of leech coding could come back to bite them.
Alice guided the newcomers and then observed for a bit, but her job now wasn’t going to be here. The majority of her role had already been accomplished—setting up the covert attack infrastructure that made this all possible. That was more than one day’s worth of work, and they were all damn lucky she’d taken them this far.
Now she was waiting for the signal from the teens. When it came, she would move out. In the meantime, she found a spot at the side of the room and leaned back against the wall, eyes closed, and focused on finding her calm. They would need her in there if they were going to get the answers they wanted, which meant she had a very big chance of being caught.
Listening to the clacking of the keyboards, the whirs of powerful servers that made her suspect who Yerbuna had once been, Alice found peace. It was her zone, her moment. Her calm before the storm.
The first blasts of wind came in the form of her earpiece buzzing and Juanita’s voice coming through.