Pavo caressed her neck, sliding his hand up to her jawline, and pulling her into another kiss. Risa couldn’t find a voice, so she called him.
A smaller virtual Pavo appeared in front of her as the real one moved to the counter, where he opened a plastic milk-carton full of liquid syn-eggs. 「You’re calling me and I’m right here. Guess you wanna talk about stuff not meant for little ears.」
Kree grabbed the edge of the table and leaned close, whispering, “He’s gonna make us breakfast.”
Risa glanced at the window, waiting to see a sniper. She closed her eyes, cringing at Shiro’s imagined voice telling her how she would always be looking over her shoulder. 「She’s not obsessing about those boots anymore. It’s like she’s healing. I can’t really talk right now. My voice doesn’t want to work.」
Pavo poured the egg fluid into a pan and set it on the stove. 「Strange things turn into security blankets. You wouldn’t believe some of the items we find kids clinging to out there. She probably feels safe now. Doesn’t worry one of the other kids is going to steal them from her.」
「What are we doing?」 Risa leaned an elbow on the table, head in her hand, and smiled at Kree. 「I mean as a society? So many orphans. If the war doesn’t make them, the gangs do.」
He crossed to the small window over the sink to retrieve a loaf of bread from an arriving delivery bot. 「Yeah. We should be spending money on our people, not on funding a shadow military to run false flag bombings.」
Risa shivered. 「Wait a second; is that real bread? You did not just spend a hundred credits on toast.」
“It is, and it’s fine.” Pavo spoke aloud, and dropped the call. “So, how are you liking Arcadia?” He winked at Kree before using the reassembler to produce bacon.
“It’s pretty!” She bounced in her seat. “I did a painting of the sky, an’ Miss Garr said it was good.”
“She’s in school,” said Risa. “Started three days ago. Damn, how is it that bacon smells so good out of a ’sem, but everything else smells like melting plastic?”
“Bacon was the major selling point for the first gen assemblers when they first came out. No matter what you make in one, it’s still no-animal-had-to-die OmniSoy. People could have their bacon with none of the downsides. Billions of credits were spent on R&D to get it right.” Pavo raised an eyebrow. “School?”
“Virtual.” Risa chuckled. “I was expecting more of a fight.”
Kree rambled on about her classes. Granted, being in Grade 0, the ‘work’ wasn’t too complicated. Pavo set a plate of scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon in front of her and Risa, grabbed one for himself, and sat close.
“You okay?” he whispered.
Risa held his hand under the table. “Sometimes I wish I was half as resilient as that kid.”
“You are. Most people who had your life wouldn’t leave their bedroom closet.” He set his fork down to pick up a strip of ‘bacon.’ “Oh, Gen decided to move in with Aurelia. They’re going to take my old place. Lease is up in a few months.”
“Because you’re paying for it doesn’t mean you have to live there.” Risa half-closed her eyes.
He stooped closer. “True.”
Their lips touched.
“Eww,” said Kree. “I’m eating. No mushy stuff.”
Risa laughed, and looked down. “You shouldn’t be late for your review board.”
Pavo kissed her again despite a long wail of ‘eww’ from across the table. “We can figure things out later, over dinner.”
“Okay.” Risa glanced at the wall clock. “Kree, time to go log in. Your first class starts in four minutes.”
The girl hopped out of the chair and went to the living room. Risa walked Pavo to the door, got a proper kiss, and returned to help Kree with the Senshelmet. The round, grey disc at the other end of the wire amounted to a ‘toy’ version of a cyberspace deck, about one-hundredth of the power of the one she’d used to help Tamashī. It had been cheap though, barely five-hundred credits. Not a big deal if a kid broke it. Risa patted her atop the helmet and headed back to the kitchen long enough to print a cup of coffee before melting into the sofa. She sipped, made a ‘blech’ face at the reassembled java, and watched Kree act as though in a room full of students. Months ago, she’d been sure the girl would grow up like her, if she even got the chance to grow up.
Risa gazed around at the apartment, trying not to listen to the little voice telling her it wouldn’t last. At what point did civilian life strike her as intimidating? What deal with what devil am I going to have to make to hang on to this life?
She scratched at the top of her foot, unsure if she should be thrilled or terrified.
21
A Hidden War
At 12:10 p.m., Kree started a one-hour ‘lunch’ period. With school being virtual, she logged out to eat. Engineers hadn’t quite figured out how to provide nutrients over the net… yet. Risa decided to get some air and exercise. In matching black shift dresses over violet leggings―she embraced the cheese factor of dressing the same as Kree―they walked two blocks to an open-air shopping area with a food court. Risa splurged on an Ahi tuna salad.
Kree pointed at ‘chicken fingers’ with fries on the holographic menu. “Can I have that?”
“I didn’t think chickens had such big fingers.” Risa made a goofy face and pantomimed an ungainly wing flap. “Must make it hard to fly.”
Kree giggled.
A twenty-something woman in tight black pants and a green apron walked over. She had features like Tamashī, but the same Marsborn white skin and black hair as Risa. “Hi, I’m Chloe. I’ll be taking care of you today. Can I get you started with anything to drink?” She offered a conspiratorial wink to Kree. “You look like you’re in the mood for a purple unicorn.”
“Okay,” said Kree.
Chloe let off a nervous laugh and glanced at Risa. The awkwardness grew at the cluelessness radiating from her. A thought, and four seconds later, MarsNet wiki appeared and explained a ‘purple unicorn’ was a somewhat harsh mixed drink, a favorite of those who wanted to forget the previous eight or ten hours spent in a cube.
“Oh.” Risa shook her head. “Not for her. Sorry, I’m still only on my first cup of coffee.”
“Aww,” whined Kree. “I wanna unicorn.”
“She didn’t mean an actual unicorn, sweetie. It’s an adult drink.”
Kree blinked. “Oh.”
“Can we get two green teas, iced, please?” Asked Risa.
“Right away.” Relieved, Chloe smiled. “Do you know what you want?”
Risa ordered. While her exposure to school learning had been limited, she’d read enough to talk with Kree about how the ‘chicken’ she ate was meat grown in a hydroponic tank. The already-open wiki page helped her sound like she knew what she was talking about.
“They used to keep real chickens in tiny little cages. In 2239, so many people protested the use of live animals for food that they made it against the law. Instead of raising animals, companies poured money into biotech and grew only the meat.”
The article mentioned that live animals had become too expensive, and synthetically grown meat resulted in higher profit margins, so the food industry likely had a part to play in the ‘social movement’ necessary to convince a hesitant population to consume ‘mystery meat.’ That part, she left out. A six-year-old didn’t need the cynicism.
Kree made a face, considered for a moment, and shrugged. “I like them not to kill animals.”
Risa stared at the image of a real chicken; it looked nothing like what she imagined it would.
“It’s bad to kill animals. Why were they made out of food?” Kree tilted her head.
“Animals are made out of animal.” She bit her lip. Too juvenile. “Animals are made of different parts. Meat, bones, blood… other squishy bits.”
Kree giggled.
“Meat is a food. Many animals eat other animals. They didn’t make animals out of food, we figured out we could eat them a long, long
, long time ago.”
“Oh.” Kree seemed satisfied, and gnawed on a piece of chicken.
Risa scanned the article about the ‘food revolution,’ which mentioned bombings at processing plants and murders of industry executives by a fringe group calling for animal rights. Toward the bottom, one of the ‘benefits’ of vat-growing the meat the article mentioned included formerly controversial food sources like dog or cat could be synthesized without guilt.
Oh. Ugh. She closed the article, trying to force that thought out of her head.
After paying, they headed back home.
“What are you looking for?” asked Kree.
Risa hesitated, not wanting to lie, but also not wanting to damage the girl’s newfound lack of fear. “I’m staying alert.”
“Are there bad men here?” Kree glanced sideways up at her, a hint of worry in her eyes.
“Not in this part of the city.” Risa assumed Kree meant gangs. “Even if there were, they are less interested in someone aware of their surroundings.”
“Okay.” Kree smiled, and twisted to watch a flashing advert bot bearing holograms of plush toys sail overhead.
“We’re going to be late.” Risa tugged her along, moving up to a brisk walk.
They made it to the apartment with two minutes to spare before Kree was due back in the virtual classroom. As soon as Risa helped her put the helmet on, her headware beeped with an incoming call.
Major General Donald Everett.
Shit. Ice filled her veins.
She backed up, sat on the sofa, and answered, covering her mouth with both hands as the image of the grandfatherly dark-skinned man appeared. His short afro seemed more grey than before. Not a great sign.
「Lieutenant,」 said Everett. 「I’m sure you’ve not exactly been looking forward to my call.」
Ahi tuna swam circles in her stomach. 「Yeah. I hope the anticipation is worse than the reality.」
He chuckled. 「The problem with C-Branch is too many chiefs. In theory, I’m in command of the whole mess from a military perspective. However, I’ve got to deal with a cabinet of sub-commanders each responsible for different areas of operation. Surveillance, cyberspace, international operations, internal affairs, Mars… And if that wasn’t enough of a clusterfuck, there’s a bunch of civilians directing policy at a level over my head.」
「How is that possible?」 Risa hugged a small throw pillow to her chest.
「Politicians, Miss Black. Politicians. Most of the cabinet wants to pull the plug on the MLF and disband it. Only a handful of personnel have the requisite training to be absorbed into official intelligence operations. The shiniest idea on the table right now would be to quietly shut things down, give everyone a chance to reorganize and disperse, and then claim ‘victory’ over a known terrorist organization.」
Risa shivered. 「I… don’t really like the sound of that.」
「Relax. No one is going to face actual charges or any nonsense like that. The world will forget who you were in a matter of months.」
「Are you sure that’s a good idea?」 Confidence infiltrated her voice. 「The Front has a major intelligence network established throughout individual cells of ACC resistance. Maris once said we know stuff before the UCF did. If that’s true, why waste that capability?」
General Everett scratched at his chin. 「Don’t think I hadn’t considered that. We’re looking at a nuclear option here… proverbially speaking. I’ve been trying to maneuver things in such a way as to protect our people.」
「You mean PVM.」 She fidgeted with the blue satin pillow. 「What about the others?」
「Disbanding the MLF and scrapping the project is the only thing I can order and implement fast enough to possibly avoid problems. Even with that, some of the ‘lower-value’ personnel may be scapegoated by the political fallout.」
Kree raised her hand and waved it around.
Risa glared. 「You’re dancing around something I won’t like.」
He pursed his lips. 「Observant. Fair enough. I’ll give it to you straight. I’m sure you are quite sick of all the smoke and mirrors. General Maris has, as you know, refused several missions against internal assets.」
「Quite sick.」 Risa grumbled. 「Yeah, I heard. He didn’t like the idea of false flag ops, especially when they killed civilians. That’s not what the Front was about.」
「The Front was never about anything but enabling us to strike at the ACC in ways that would minimize worsening an already disastrous war. Some damage was necessary on both sides to keep the Corporates from figuring out the MLF dangled on puppet strings.」
「Dustblow, General. No offense, but that’s not true. The guy who almost killed me at Arden told me exactly what this was about. Money. The Senators weren’t scared of the MLF anymore and we needed to stir the shit pot so they could keep their defense contract kickbacks.」
「Maybe you won’t dislike what I’m about to ask you to do as much as I thought you would.」
Risa set the pillow aside so she didn’t shred it.
「Our problem has a name.」 General Everett’s virtual avatar shrank and slid to the side, allowing room for a silver-haired woman with caramel skin to appear next to him. Nothing about her seemed military in the least; a little heavy, a lot pampered, and she had cruel eyes. 「Senator Marta Nur, age fifty-three. Her family has been involved in politics for six generations. Her father was a Senator, as was his mother. The rest of them are up to their elbows in a firehose of credits flowing through the entire military-industrial complex. Everything from weapons to cyberware to starship construction.」
Risa looked down at her shoes, basic black flats that left most of the tops of her feet exposed. 「You want me to assassinate her, don’t you?」
「Senator Nur is the driving force behind this forty-ton ball of shit rolling downhill. She is the one responsible for Shiro’s team being sent to Mars. She is the one who greenlighted the operation at Arden, as well as others you aren’t aware of. As long as she’s in power, there is a real danger to everyone who’s ever touched the MLF project. She will burn everyone she can to keep her hands clean. Without her, we can continue. And I assure you, no more false flags.」
「I’m out of the game, General. I’ve come too damn close to dying too many times. I’ve got a chance at a stable life now.」
General Everett’s grandfatherly charm morphed into the sort of quiet drill sergeant demeanor capable of getting a private to wet his pants. 「What chance do you think you’d have if Nur gets her way? You, Pavo, Garrison… everyone involved in the MLF would be trotted out to the public as a spectacle. She is that vindictive. Your face isn’t unknown on the NewsNet, though our people have kept it distorted enough. We do have real data, and she would use it.」
“Fourteen!” yelled Kree. A second later, she clapped, and whispered, “I got it right!”
Risa grasped the front of her throat, envisioning Military Police kicking in her door, taking Kree away, arresting her, and then being forced to stare out at a quad full of angry citizens while some holographic judge pronounces a death sentence for treason. I’m not an assassin…
She stared at the little girl on the rug ten feet in front of her.
「You’re the military director of C-Branch. Why are you coming to me for this? Don’t you have people?」
Everett shook his head. 「I’m too close. With the pissing contest I’ve started in boardrooms, if an assassination gets traced back to the agency, they’re going to come right to my door. If Senator Nur doesn’t get her way, and by that I mean Maris dead and replaced by someone who doesn’t care who he blows up, you and the rest of the MLF are going to get swept up in a shitstorm of interplanetary proportions, and either killed or treated as the ‘terrorists’ you pretended to be.」
Risa flattened her hands on her thighs, white fingers stark over violet leggings. The calm eeriness of her voice reminded her of the old Risa, the woman everyone thought to be Cat-6. 「I suppose I don’t have much choice then
, do I?」
Grandpa Everett returned as his affect softened. 「I’m sorry to have to put it to you like that. If out is what you really want, I’ll do everything I can to give it to you. But there are asses that need to be covered before that can happen. I have reports here that tell me your attitude aligns well with certain groups. You do not derive pleasure from the taking of life. As much as I agree with you, sometimes the removal of certain individuals proves necessary. Far more precise than bombs.」
Kree leaned forward and waved her arm back and forth as if coloring or painting.
「General… are you sure that killing Nur is going to have the effect you’re hoping for? You said it would cause blowback if they traced it, and you also said my face is out there. If her death is linked to the MLF, wouldn’t that be the same as pointing to you? Assassinating her is too messy. I have a better idea.」
Everett’s eyebrows drew close, twitched, and returned to neutral. 「Alright, let’s hear it.」
「A corpse is a hornets’ nest of problems. Too many people asking too many questions. Someone up to their tits in corporate money, even UCF corporations, is going to have dirt. If we can find anything proving her connection to Arden… or anything similar, we can engineer political death. Better to have everyone looking at what she did rather than who did what to her.」
「Hmm. I’m not sure we have the time to engineer something like that.」 Everett glanced to the side, pondering. 「If there is anything to find, it would be on the ‘shadow net.’ The Senate and the highest reaches of government keep most of their secrets on an isolated network that has no physical connection to the GlobeNet on Earth or the MarsNet.」
「Can’t C-Branch jockeys get in there?」
「No. When I said there’s no physical connections from outside, I meant it. We’d have to put an operator in the facility, and all our people are in the system already. I could authorize a wipe and turn someone into a ghost. I’d have to make it look related to something going on in Europe, and slip it past eight pairs of eyes. That would take longer than we have.」 He tilted his head down a half inch, and leaned forward. 「We’d need someone who already doesn’t exist.」
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