by P. S. Power
Doing anything else would probably end up with most of them dying, after all. It still might.
Inside the dining hall, no one letched out badly enough to actually openly stare at the new people. There were some covert glances, but that was about the worst of it. They were at Cindy’s normal table, which meant that a rather shy seeming Olga, came to sit by them. She was a bit worried though, since everyone else was so nice looking there suddenly.
Cindy waved at her.
“Hey! You know Lauren? This is her other shape. You’re up on that, but just in case you missed it? This young lady is, Sara. She learned a new shape today. On her own. Not like…” She glanced over as Tobin saw them, smiled and waved. He did pay a bit more attention to Sara than was exactly proper, but to him it seemed like she was about sixteen, and he was just turning twenty. Too old to do anything with her, maybe, but looking good now, like a real person, if tiny still, his confidence was going way up.
Kerry got that too, but didn’t say anything about it, even as she watched it all happening. As Goblin, Tobin had been sought after enough. Now, in a few years, he’d leave her, she didn’t doubt. He was actually good looking, and once he was tall, famous and confident, she couldn’t hold him.
Reading about it all, Cindy had to think it was probably true. The two were together, but they weren’t in love or anything. The new face he had was good enough already that some of the women in the place had turned to watch him pass. The size thing was an issue, but nothing that would keep him from having new friends, if he wanted.
After they settled, but before anyone could speak, Georgia came over with a tray, and settled in next to Karen. She was too close to the woman, their legs touching under the table. Normally that wouldn’t have been noticed, but seeing the setup, Bridget came over as well, which had a camera team and not one, but two reporters follow along with her, hoping to catch her doing something insane and inhuman. What they were going to get was her devouring a tray filled with food, but hope was, it seemed, springing eternal.
“Hey peeps! What’s up?”
Rudely, the man who had the most facial hair that Cindy had seen on a media figure, ever, stuck a microphone forward, which nearly had Bridget ripping it from his hand and taking a bite from the thing. She prevented that from happening, the words over her head switching to say that she was meditating. The page under that told about how the man was about to have a microphone inserted in his behind.
The thing wasn’t that big, and she had butter on her tray, in a small white ceramic dish, which she could use as lubricant.
What she didn’t know, was that the man probably would have been into that kind of thing. He wasn’t gay, just kinky and willing to experiment. Also, he thought that Bridget was cute. Too young for him, but he could make an exception. Several of the faces at the table were new to him, which meant that he could possibly use them being there to drive Karen and her secret girlfriend, Georgia, into the open.
It had been rumored for years, but no one had ever gotten confirmation. Doing that would be a big score for him. Right now he noticed how close the women were sitting, for instance. That didn’t mean anything in particular, however. Some people were close that way, without it being about sex. The problem there was that Pixie was pretty much always about lust. Standing there he was getting wood, just from being within five feet of her. Given that he normally had to pop a Viagra first for that, the affect was kind of telling. It poured off of her, a side effect of her powers.
“Lady Glory! Pixie! I thought you always ate in the restaurant over there. That they kept the lower class people out?” It wasn’t a thing that pleased him, but he honestly thought that it was the case. It used to be, in the old facility. Segregation at its finest.
Cindy shook her head and smiled at him.
“Nope. We can eat over there when we want to, now. You just have to dress nicely and have makeup on, so most of us don’t bother, day to day. The food on this side is pretty good. Especially if you need to eat a lot. We can just go through the line and get anything we want. Over there you have to have someone else do it for you, which is kind of…” She paused, and let Bridget giggle, as if they’d planned it out.
“Embarrassing? A girl doesn’t really want everyone realizing just how much she eats, all the time.”
Tobin nodded then, taking a bite of his Salisbury steak. After he swallowed, he looked over at the camera. His expression was freaking suave.
“Plus, this is where my friends sit, so it only makes sense to come over here, right?” He smiled, and it was big. Happy seeming, which got the reporter to do the same.
“That makes sense to me. Sorry, I didn’t get your names?” He was looking at Tobin, but glanced around the table, seeing several new faces.
Interestingly, she was the one that had all the names for people there. Lauren did too, but the rest missed at least one person each.
“I’m Cindy. Mableton. Admin here at the base. Next to me is Lauren… You know her as Level, or maybe Bug? The big armored one? This is her other form. She’s in admin too, now. Setting up educational systems for the base. You know Tobin Peterson… He had some work done? Total vanity there, don’t you think? Good work though, and real. I mean, it isn’t an illusion or anything. Next to me here is, Sara.” Doing a bit of rapid cross checking, it turned out that the girl didn’t have a code name at all.
She was seven, and not an operative, though people had seen her around, during open training sessions. As a green orc woman. Cindy smiled then, and shrugged. Then she lied, since that would be more interesting. Safer, too.
“She isn’t Infected. Rachel Chamber’s adopted daughter? Before anyone asks, no, she isn’t allowed to date. Not yet.” She grinned, and everyone, thankfully, kept their mouths shut on everything she was saying.
Except the reporter.
“Oh? I hadn’t heard about that. How do you like it here so far, Sara? Have you picked up any dirt that I can put on the air?”
It was complicated enough that Cindy was trying to come up with a way to cover for the kid, when the words on her page, floating in the air, suddenly changed. The notation to the side said that it was Christian Poures taking over. That was circled in a friendly red color. Hand written, as well.
The cute girl smiled and sat up, her expression a bit wry suddenly.
“Oh, I know a thing or two. I could trade you information if you want? For instance, I hear that Proxy and Lady Glory are dating again? Before you ask, Pixie is dating them both, too. She kind of has to have a lot of friends that way. Kerry, she’s dating you and Tobin as well, isn’t she?”
The slightly troll doll looking girl turned red, but was clever enough to work out that her sleeping with anyone other than her brother, Denis, was a positive thing as far as the press went. Plus, it was true.
“Yeah. Cindy, are you doing anything with her?” She was only a little desperate to turn the topic away from herself. That was simple embarrassment though, nothing else.
“Me? No. Not yet. She offered, but I’ve been so busy lately. Plus, I’m kind of straight. Not so much I can’t think about it. I mean, she’s incredible, after all. Maybe we should take a poll and see what the people at home want me to do?” She was joking, and everyone, including a slightly baffled Sara got that part.
She hadn’t meant to say what she had, and while no one was glaring at her, she knew that she was in trouble for saying those things. It had sounded really grown up though, and not like her at all.
Karen sighed, and then shrugged.
“Georgia is a unique case, and we’ve been together for a while, more or less. Brian and I… That’s new. Again. More real this time than before, since my sister isn’t living in his head now. My dead sister’s ghost… It made getting close really hard.”
Who showed up then, smiling and waving.
“That’s my cue. I won’t show up on camera though, so someone needs to translate for me. Anyway, I came to hang with the cool kids. I have gossip, too! I heard
that Marcia Turner is seeing Continuity? That’s neat, right? They’re both great, so…”
The reporter seemed excited. Mainly by the fact that, even if they were playing with him, a lot of dirt had suddenly been caught on camera. Even if they all took it back later, he already had it. Even better they weren’t playing. Not that he could tell.
“I don’t suppose I could get interviews with some of you, after dinner, of course?”
Cindy nodded, since that seemed to be Chris Poures plan. At least the words flashed inside her own head, with the same notation as before.
“We can give you Karen and Georgia for that? Tobin, you and Kerry need to get to work on the cooking show. Sara is with me, and no, you can’t actually get an exclusive with her. Rachel would put me through a wall if I let that happen. Lauren, you have that date with Dave, right? David Wilson, he’s sort of a bigwig here at the IPB. It’s kind of a catch for Lauren, landing him. He’s incredibly exotic, after all.”
That was the polite way to say it, but the long face woman nodded, recalling that part.
“I do! I need to eat first. I’m starving. This chicken is really good, isn’t it?” She took a bite and then closed her eyes for a bit, enjoying it.
For years all her food had come through a straw, so having something with texture was probably nice.
Then the reporter, being pushed at by Christian Poures more than a little, actually backed up and let them eat. When that happened, Karen started to breathe hard.
“I… What are we going to do? Georgia and I are supposed to be a secret.” She was afraid that Charlot would be mad at her over the whole thing coming out, even if she had seemed confident and cool about it.
Cindy shrugged.
“Tell them that you’re all dating, at least in groups? The groundwork was already set there, and really, this isn’t the fifties anymore. If you want a boyfriend and a girlfriend and Brian is getting his in the situation, who cares? Certainly not Georgia, and she’s the only other one that counts in that group.”
Pixie looked at her blankly for a bit and then smiled. It was a huge and radiant thing. One that spoke of happiness, rather than sex.
“Exactly what I’ve been telling everyone! I don’t know if it will be fine or not, but... We can milk this for ratings, I bet.”
She really wasn’t wrong, Cindy knew.
Chapter nine
The next morning, after she had meditation with Hobbs and Denis, the others being called away, even if it was too early for that kind of thing, the shit hit the fan. It was almost silly seeming to Cin, as she walked into the IPB headquarters office. Mainly because of who was worried about things, and what was being said.
Or, to be more exact, screamed. Almost incoherently.
The main voice was Charlot Chambers, and the woman could project when she wanted to. It was a thing that would have been self-evident, if Cindy had ever stopped to consider the idea before. She was strident, loud, and so angry that her words were showing up as being both blood red, and dripping, like something off of a bad Halloween movie poster. There were clever little sketches as well. Things that showed her rather heroically shoving people’s heads up other people’s asses. They looked like line drawings though, not actual photo’s, and changed fast enough it was kind of clear that she wasn’t actually planning real violence.
Worse, on the next page down, she was calmer and had long paragraphs about what would be needed to manage the press. To hide what had come out. As if the truth was that big of a deal.
As a saving grace, the woman wasn’t upset with her for it. She wasn’t even mad at Sara, though the words had come from her originally. No, she had Christian Poures, Georgia and Proxy in the conference room, along with Marcia. Screaming at them, for their failures.
“I cannot believe this! How… Chris, I know this was you. You used that little girl to spread your gossip, and now… Ooooh! I’m left to clean this crap up again! And you! Slut Queen. You promised me that you were going to be better behaved. I saw the footage you know! On the news. You were practically dry humping Karen in the dining hall! I have more than half a mind to just quit. How am I supposed to manage this kind of thing?” Then she spun and glared at Brian.
Who, as far as Cin knew, wasn’t involved in anything that had happened, other than his name being used. Thankfully the angry woman didn’t lay into him, just gave him a frustrated moan. Which sort of made sense. After all, to her mind the guy was having sex with Karen and Georgia, and she wanted him for herself. So it was a bit of a slap to the face that way. Even if she was already married. To the man’s adult son, as it turned out.
Her hormones weren’t being reasonable however, so Proxy was being blamed for it, even if his power wasn’t doing anything to make it all happen. For once.
Marcia listened, and wasn’t yelled at, but was about to suggest that Charlot go to medical to be drugged until she shut up. Given that they were all actually friends, that might have worked. On any other day. The PR lady was actually worried that they were going to tarnish the IPB brand, being wanton and sexually deviant like they obviously were. That sense actually hit Chris Poures hard enough that she winced several times, holding her ground, but only because it was her job as Team Leader.
Cindy shrugged, and went to her own office. There was nothing specific on her desk that day, since Marcia had been side tracked before she had a chance to get anything like that going. So instead, Cin read what Charlot was most concerned about, as far as the press went, and then found the key people that were involved in things. The main worry was the hate channel, which was actually just the conservative network. Interestingly enough, most of the people there didn’t truly hate the Infected. They were a bit scared of them, but that was all. They did want to milk the sex scandal for all it was worth, and knew that their particular demographic would find the whole thing both titillating and shocking.
Most of the world… Didn’t care at all.
Oh, it was interesting to them, since sex sold, and most of the people involved seemed to be famous or good looking. Oddly, most everyone agreed that Pixie was hot enough to sleep with, and didn’t blame the others for taking a turn, if they could without getting into trouble for it. So the focus was really on riling up about ten percent of people who had mental issues when it came to sex. They weren’t evil really, but not liking it that much, they couldn’t understand what others were going on about. Then they tried to force their ways onto the rest of the world, not getting that biology would always win in the end.
On the great side, most of those people already hated the IPB. Meaning they lost nothing by being open about things. Cindy wrote all of that down, got the specific data point logged, from different people’s heads, and an hour later, with Charlot still fuming and literally pulling at her hair, had a compiled set of data for everyone.
As if to add to the upset, Karen had joined them and was holding hands with her new boyfriend, in solidarity. Worry as well. It poured from her so strongly that Cin could actually see it coming off of her book in waves.
She walked into the conference room with copies for each of them. Not that she got to pass them out before Marcia, trying to escape the room, addressed her.
“Ms. Mableton. Is there an emergency?” The tone was dry, but the hope underneath it was nearly palpable, if you were looking.
“Nope. I have information on the situation at hand. What different people in the news industry are thinking about this? I also laid out a strategy for handling things.” That was mainly ripped off from a studio head, rather directly. The man had a habit of daydreaming about what he’d do in different situations, and most of the time he managed to work out fairly good plans that way.
So it was detailed, and probably hard to pull off. She didn’t know how to get the people on the list to help them, at any rate. The thing there was that Charlot, upset or not, looked at what she handed over, tensed, and then read it all again. Her first impulse was nearly always to crumple things up and throw them in people
’s faces, but professionalism meant holding back on that kind of thing.
Especially when you were handed words that might as well have been printed on sheets of gold. Her mind filled that in clearly, and she actually managed a watery smile for Cindy.
“This… Is brilliant. I’d stab someone just for the first bit of information. The plan is… I think we can use it. Parts of it. I don’t suppose you could get blackmail information on some people for me? I keep asking Christian, but she’s actually a bit too ethical for that.”
Which wasn’t a bad thing. Cindy just shrugged, then smiled.
“Ethics. I’ve been working on that one… But haven’t really mastered the idea yet. Get me the names and I’ll see if there’s anything to find?” She meant it, which Charlot didn’t get yet. She figured it was a joke.
Marcia understood that it wasn’t, but in her books blackmail was fair game, most of the time. Brian thought it was all just kidding around, and smiled, and Karen both looked and felt concerned that she’d ruined everything. As if it had been her fault. Even sleeping with Georgia hadn’t really been her choice. Her first mode didn’t leave her much wiggle room there. She’d rationalized it though, and had made the idea her own.
As it was, the only thing that had kept her from sleeping with half the people on the base was that other people kept diving in front of her, and the men told her no, even if they weren’t going to get anything else for a long time. If at all. With some of them that was even a relief, to Karen’s inner self. For the most part, she still would have done it, even if they didn’t ask. Their need pulled at her. Georgia’s did too, of course. Everything about her screamed that she needed sex. All the time.
So Karen had made a point of helping her out, even if the woman had been careful not to ask. At first. Now she showed up several times a week, looking for a bit of extra alone time. Which was fine, but Karen was supposed to have controlled herself, and Pixie, so that no one ever found out.