by P. S. Power
Still, he smiled and shook his head.
“Slippery! Well, we should get off to breakfast.” Micha hadn’t exactly called ahead to let him know that she was coming, but he had to think it wouldn’t be too long. Coast to coast on the loop was only a three-hour trip, if you had stops. That didn’t mean she was there yet, however. Given the snow, she might even have to wait until later, when the roads cleared. If she didn’t walk from town, in order to get to screwing with him all the sooner.
The answer was neither, and they got to find her sitting in the dining hall, at the table that the cool kids normally shared three times a day. Ben felt his blood starting to boil. It wasn’t real, but his heart raced and after a few seconds it was clear, at least to him, that his body was gearing up to fight. For real. Which wasn’t the plan for the day.
That didn’t mean he wasn’t wearing a gun however. One far more powerful than the tiny one that he’d carried off and on for the last weeks. It wasn’t meant to destroy mech armor, but the four shot weapon would go through standard ballistic armor. Ben had made certain of that. Micha had mentioned that before. If she came for him again, she’d be wearing it, so that his shooting skills wouldn’t get in the way of her killing him.
Smiling, he decided that her eyes, a nice brown in the distance, would be unshielded enough, as far as taking out the threat went. Not that he could just kill her for being. She was just as protected as always by her status as a government agent. It wouldn’t save her if she tried anything however.
Getting a nice full tray of food from the buffet line, Ben made himself walk over to the woman, his right foot cold and damp. It matched the spirit of the moment nicely, so he forced a smile.
“Micha. I heard you were coming.” That was all he said, and then settled across from her, on the far side of the long table. They could fight from that distance, but her arms were shorter than his were. A thing that she probably was prepared for, since she slowly reached under the table, for a weapon that was at her own side. The others filled in, with Lenore ending up directly next to the threat. Except that, of course, Micha wasn’t a danger to her. Mags either. She was there to protect them, not start things that would get them killed in the first few seconds of her being there. Ben thought about that, and didn’t go for his own weapon, getting that Micha would be scared.
Also that she’d be reading his mind, pretty clearly. He could have shielded, but instead dropped into a meditative theta state, and cleared his mind before thinking at her directly.
~Things have changed.~
That was all he put out, his right hand moving across the table for her to take, or not. She looked at it for a long time, wondering what the trick would be. Probably him pulling her in, and hitting her, while the others jumped her from the sides. Rather than show fear, she touched him, and relaxed, even if she didn’t mean to.
“Gah. You have no idea what it’s been like…” Except that, as she looked around, she had to know that almost everyone there did. At least a bit. Even Lenore.
There would have been files and briefing packets to explain that part of things, so he didn’t bother trying to cover it all. Instead he paused for a second, watching her too closely, or not nearly hard enough, depending on how the next moments went, and started to eat. The others followed suit, their normal banter not half as cheery that day. In fact, no one spoke for a long time, just feeling things out.
Finally, Ben stood up, and smiled.
“Meditation time! Is everyone coming?” They were all in the same gray outfit, even Micha, which got her to stand up, since it was an old habit. Ben knew that the others weren’t going let him skip, since it was his job to wrangle the wily and abusive spy in their midst. On the good side, she was trying, very hard, to stay near both Mags and Lenore, and while she couldn’t afford to ignore him, that was kept to a few thousand furtive glances.
The morning went well enough, being led by Bethany, who ignored the new, or rather old and familiar, face pretty well. Everyone did really. Even Ben.
Focusing on first clearing his mind, and then following the instructions that came in, as the hours passed. The whole thing was easier now, than it used to be, which was a mistake, of course. The idea was that everything needed to be hard, each time he did it. His mind striving for more clarity, his muscles tightening harder on command, or gently, and one at a time, with the rest of his body being even more relaxed than the day before.
Getting used to doing it, doing anything, was a sign that you were giving up and becoming lazy. It was part of the whole absolute commitment thing they had going on there. Some of the others would get used to just going through the motions, but there was more than that in life. If you could make yourself keep trying, that had to have a positive effect.
When the four hours were over, it was nearly lunch time. Micha was watching the rest of the room break up, still nervous, it looked like as everyone met near the back of the meditation hall. The cushions were left out, on the floor, since they didn’t use the space for anything else. It was just a big room, that was brown at the front and light colored through the rest of it. Like a church, a little, Ben thought. Not that he’d been in many of those in his life.
David had taken him to synagogue a few times when he was younger, but hadn’t been devoted enough to require Hebrew school for his son or anything. Religion wasn’t a big thing in their life, since it was all based on made up stories anyway. Ben hadn’t been contacted by god so far, asking him to get on his knees and worship. Not yet, anyway. Thinking about that did bring the memory up, but for once Ben was able to just keep it to being very vivid, but not fully immersive.
So instead of freezing in the middle of the room, with a dangerous Micha there, looking shifty, he was able to walk over and smile at everyone.
“We need to separate soon. Mags, you and Clark are on Swarm watch, right?” It felt like he was being bossy, to him, but the others seemed to get what he was doing, which was making sure they didn’t all die. It was really all it was, the assignments having been given to them, by Kyle, the evening before.
Mags, black eyes shining a bit, looked at her sister and then, rather deliberately at Micha.
“We had a Swarm attack here yesterday. A test probably. Only one of them came in. We think it was targeting Lissa, but Lenore was there too. So we have a watch rotation now. We put you on night shift, since everyone hates you.”
Clark made a face, and Lissa turned away a bit, as if trying not to be part of the fight that was coming.
Ben just laughed.
“Yeah. It won’t be that bad, really. Just checking for incoming attacks before bed, for you. We stopped the one that came in easily enough. I need to get off to do some work. So far we don’t know of any more terrorist attacks being planned. My guess, and it isn’t really based on anything specific, is that they need to build up their forces again.”
Interestingly, instead of making a face at the interplay, Micha just nodded. Rather professionally.
“That’s close to what we’re thinking too. The estimate is that we’ll get up to a month before anything comes in. That’s the minimum time to train someone on mech armor. It could be longer than that. Really, everyone is waiting for… Well, you, here, to find that for us. There’s a new unit being put together? Hopefully it will be enough.” She said it like she had inside information, but Ben didn’t really care.
Part of him really wanted her gone, and soon.
There was a job to do however, and even if it left a bad taste in his mouth, turning the spy wasn’t going to be done by him being a surly asshole to her.
“Anyway. Lenore is off to training; since we don’t exactly have a fun park out back. With Ali? Micha, if I could talk to you for a bit? Before you go off to a thrilling day of helping with that? It’s the new running and hiding protocols. You should get in on that, if you’re going to be there anyway.”
He had to look at the others, and smile, which he didn’t really mean, but sold as being real enough. Pro
bably a little nerve filled, but that was just because he was still sane. They all walked outside first, with Lissa headed back toward medical, and Lenore actually walking alone, toward brown seven. It was where Ali had them setting up for the time being, since it was a bit larger, and she had some new plans in mind, now that more people were working with her on things.
Kyle had made it happen, after he worked out that Ben wasn’t trying to command them to do it. A good idea was one however, and the man was old enough to have learned that one.
Micha stood near him, facing him directly, her feet spread, trying to get extra stability in the snow. For his part, Ben noted that, but didn’t mimic the action. It was probably a good idea, but if they both acted like a fight was about to break out, it probably would.
Her eyes locked with his for a moment, and finally she spoke, not sounding nearly as nervous as she really felt. Ben knew it however. It was written all over her, even if they were both still locked into a null effect field together. Meaning she was probably about as happy that way as she’d been in several months. If so, it didn’t really show very well.
She spoke then, swallowing almost imperceptibly first.
“So. Is this where you tell me that I’m going to die and better not get too comfortable, since I have to sleep sometime? That goes both ways, you know that right?” She tried to act dangerous, but for once her looks, and nerves made her seem a lot safer than she really was.
Even to Ben, who shook his head.
“Nope. We need to put that bullshit behind us. Look, you were going through a hard time, and if you think I’m not… Well, you know. The changes are getting stronger all the time. I’m still managing to stay lucid, most of the time, but I have my moments. I just wanted to say I was sorry about Frank. I tried to warn him, but it took him by surprise, someone talking in his head like that. It wasn’t enough.”
The man had died a few seconds later, and might have anyway. Micha had to know that, but the man was her coworker, and not an evil person, really. Ben had spoken to the man once even, on the phone, and found him to be more than reasonable, considering he’d just shot Micha in the ankles not an hour before that. They’d worked out a way to fix things, by having her pulled the next day, safe and sound, except for the extra bullet holes.
Which she’d healed from in about a month. Probably less than that. A lot of people there had been given genetic enhancements to let them repair faster. Even Ben had. It wasn’t that big of a thing, until you got hurt. Then it turned months of waiting around into weeks. It made a difference.
The idea that he was pulling her aside for condolences took her aback for a moment. That was clear enough that even before the changes, Ben would have gotten it.
“Um… Yeah. I know you helped me. I don’t know why. I didn’t know that about Frank. Thanks. For trying. There wasn’t a lot that anyone could do in that room. Mills was… I don’t even know what was going on. I heard your read on it, but I still don’t really understand. Some kind of multiverse time thing?”
That really was about what Ben had on the topic. Not how it worked, or even how to stop it, but a sense that a lot more than one Winston Mills had been part of the fight. Off and on.
“He seemed to need to drop that part, in order to walk away. Maybe to get out of there, the way he did, too. The man… He’s really old. At least a thousand, if not older. I’m pretty sure that he walked into a different reality, at the end. Or… Well, I’ve gone over it, several times. He had some kind of technology for it. Inside of him, however.”
It wasn’t a doohickey in his pocket or anything. The device was small, and reminded Ben of how the computer link implants that he’d noticed psychically felt. A metal or ceramic tube, a few centimeters long, under the skin.
With this particular man it had been really hard to find out anything about him, since he was slippery in time and space. Why that was, Ben couldn’t tell yet.
The government agent across from him actually relaxed a bit. Not totally, but if she was like him, her feet were getting cold. The rest of him was actually warmer now, than when he’d first walked outside, his body adapting to it, his chest and back were even toasty, now that he thought about it.
Micha shivered a bit. She was tiny though, so that made sense.
“Yeah. I… Look, I know that I fucked up with you. I didn’t mean it to be like that. We… I’ve been in counseling, since then. I worked some things out. We could talk about that, if you want? Or not. I know that I don’t deserve anything from you. Not after what I did.”
Her words stopped then, and sounded like they’d come from someone else. Probably one of those psychologists or counselors. Ben didn’t needle her on that part. After all, his job wasn’t to really fix things, just to get her to feel like the Cymeds were the good guys. Since they were, that wasn’t going to be that hard. The only thing in the way would be her years of training and the fact that she’d practiced thinking otherwise for years already.
“Maybe? You should get inside. I have to go and see if ghosts are real or not.” He was joking, though a few of the older cases that Kyle had him look into had been about supposed hauntings. “So far, the answer is no. It’s always just people getting worked up and seeing things. Or in a few cases someone with TK, who can’t really control it.”
Micha looked at him funny, her face telling him that she didn’t know why he was bothering to be kind to her. It was obvious enough to him, and he wasn’t even really going to hide it, if she asked. They were both too powerful for that, and the second that she got out of the null range, she’d be able to tell. Just to practice, he went into a gamma brainwave pattern. That turned the mainly white world several different bright and cheery colors, as lines and this time, words, explaining what he was seeing, floated in front of his eyes.
It was a lot more in-depth than he would have figured. The heat flow patterns alone showed that the world wasn’t nearly as consistent as he would have thought, the air constantly swirling with different temperatures constantly. There was a slight breeze as well, that Ben couldn’t even feel happening, that showed with directional arrows in the air.
It was impressive.
Also a sign that his abilities were still growing stronger. It was a bit scary, but one of the feeds, this time in yellow, started working on bio-data. His, if he had it right. A picture in three dimensions, which looked like a high end medical scan played in front of him, overlaying reality. It showed a lot of activity in his head, the whole thing nearly glowing red, but the words also indicated that he was safe enough.
As long as he didn’t keep pushing himself into seizures. Fighting by using his telekinesis, at too great of a distance. A few spots of damage were pointed out. They were healing, but big enough to be worrying. Those were near the back of his head, which was different than he would have thought.
“Ah. But do you have a better way of doing it?” The floating words didn’t answer that, a small counter simply appearing to the left, about the middle of his vision. It was in blue, and came with more data. Stuff that vanished as he read it.
Above the numbers, which showed that they had twenty-eight days, fourteen hours, and seven minutes, was a description of the attack to come. This time it was a lot different than before. Slated for New York City, at their big New Year’s celebration. It would be a bomb, which made sense, and big enough to take out the square where they held their big annual party. Nearly a million people were expected to be there, so it would be pretty effective, Ben had to think.
It was the same people however, from the feeling behind it, and the explosive would be coming from a different reality, so there was no way for them to stop it. Nothing they did would have any influence that way. Not if they did it there. In their world.
Since Ben hadn’t been able to look into any different realities at all, so far, going there to fight them on their own soil really didn’t sound like it was going to happen. No nifty plan came with the dataset either, and the words were gone as soon as he
walked on, heading toward the main office space, in the underground bunker complex.
Even if the rest of him was warm, his right foot got chilly, the residual damp inside of his slipper making it a bit uncomfortable, even hours later. It wasn’t frostbite level cold though, just cool, compared to the rest of him. His tunic was getting damp, since light snow was falling, and melting, as he moved. It was pretty, but he was worried enough that it was easy to simply not notice it happening. Ben needed to get some food too, he thought. He’d left from meditation, not really having a direction, but needed some space. Mentally.
There were things to work on suddenly. Reports to be made and all that.
As luck would have it, about half of the command staff was already in Kyle’s office, standing and talking, when he got in. About Michelle, the evil agent who wouldn’t stay gone. It seemed that several of them were considering kicking her out, just on general purposes, with only Kyle arguing that Ben would handle things for them. It was clear that Glenda thought that meant he’d kill the girl, which really wouldn’t work very well, long term.
She turned when he walked in, her face a bit annoyed. Not that she actually knew where he was supposed to be at the moment, but coming to whine at them about how hard things were with Micha being back would make her look bad, in front of the others. Some of them reported directly back to corporate, so what Ben said might reach the wrong ears, if they weren’t careful.
There was no good way to warn him of that fact however. On the good side his hands were blood free, so at least he hadn’t been fighting with Micha in the dining hall again. Not that he’d had blood on his hands then either, having cleverly used a chair for the beating portion of events.
Ben didn’t bother waiting, just moving over to the little table that he’d been using, and calling up a screen which he tapped on for several minutes, as everyone else turned to look at him. There was speaking, but it had changed to things that didn’t involve him directly. Mainly the snow, and the reports that they were going to get several feet, over the next few days. That was a lot, and would make some of the training harder to see to.