by O E Tearmann
Now that righteous courage was laid bare, and it blazed in Aidan's eyes.
In the silence, the sound of a chair scraping was like a gunshot. Walking around the table, Tweak stood in front of the man and raked Aidan with her eyes.
"So. We work for you?"
Aidan looked her up and down in return, perplexed. "Yeah, technically."
Tweak tipped her head. Then she held up one hand. "Rules. Rule one. Nobody touches me." She tucked a finger down, and repeated the gesture. "Two. Nobody fucks with me. Nobody fucks with Billie. Three. We eat good. Four. We get paid. Five. I code. Don't scrub toilets, don't do laundry. I code. Not a maid. Fuck that." She held up her other hand, "Six. Coffee. Real. Got it?"
Kevin watched as Aidan considered the girl for a long moment before shrugging one shoulder. "I can agree to some of those. Nobody will fuck with you. The rest… We all eat the same thing and rotate base chores. I'll see what my requisitions team can do about real coffee, but no promises. Stuff's hard to get."
"Quite," Kevin agreed distantly, watching Tweak.
She shot a look over her shoulder at Billie. Then she turned curious eyes on Aidan. "Hunh. Okay. Eat good, means…" She shrugged, shoulders thin as a bird's. "Eat twice a day? Deal?"
Aidan smiled and nodded. "Three times a day. As long as we've got the rations."
Tweak studied him, eyes narrowed into black slits. She glanced over her shoulder. "Billie?"
Slowly, Billie nodded. Tweak mirrored the gesture. Then she turned back to glare at Aidan. "Okay. Pay. On time. No three month back pay shit. Imp-por-por-ack." she grimaced, swallowing hard. "Need it," she croaked out.
Aidan studied her for another long moment, then glanced at Kevin. He nodded and held up two fingers. They had the funds for base pay at least. Aidan smiled. "How's two months upfront?"
The woman's black eyes narrowed. "You lie, I fuck you over."
Aidan held Tweak's gaze as he nodded. "I understand. But you have to understand that a lot of your requests depend on the success of our base, a success that you'll need to help us with. The better we work, the better we eat, the more we can pay you. Got it?"
Tweak stood stiff a long moment, taunt. Then she glanced at Kevin, made a moue of distaste, and turned her eyes back to Aidan. "So. When do we go?"
Event File 24
File Tag: Induction
Timestamp: 7-24-2155/ 7-25-2155
"I only wish it hadn't taken three days to get a hold of the fellow with the false-bottomed truck," Kevin remarked, sitting forward until the chair beneath him creaked to point at the main screen, "but now that he's onboard this should go off without a hitch. As long as I've got your approval."
"Yeah. This looks good." Aidan glanced up from the procedural plan Kevin had laid out for the extraction of their new coder and smiled. "This looks really good."
Kevin smiled a small, professional smile.
"I know sending Sarah along for the pickup as well might be overkill, but I thought someone with her facility for munitions at the drop point might be a good idea, just in case. I only hope the girls take better to Jim and Sarah than they do to myself. I'd love to know what I did to offend Tweak."
Aidan raised a brow, a crooked smile creasing his face. "Um, Kevin, you don't exactly have to do anything. I mean, you're kinda…" He gestured at Kevin in a vague, all encompassing way.
"Kind of what?" Kevin asked, not quite sure if he was being teased.
Aidan shrugged. "Kinda… high class? You know. You look nice, you talk nice. She probably thought you were a Corps plant."
Elation curled in the pit of Kevin's belly. He looked nice, did he?
Enough of that, he warned himself, sitting up straight. "I'll get the codes together for their cards and Synth then. Jim can leave in the morning."
Aidan blinked in surprise. "Wait. Tomorrow? Isn't this a couple day's worth of work?"
Kevin crossed his arms, allowing himself a cavalier smile. "Only if you're inefficient. And I'm very good at what I do."
Aidan glanced away, smiling, one hand rubbing the back of his neck. "Um, okay, great. While you're here, let's run through the requisitions list for next month and I can approve it now."
"Sounds good," Kevin agreed, watching as Aidan brought up a new holographic window and detached it from his other screens. His console's whir kicked up a notch, and Kevin sighed. Leaning in, he pulled over the keyboard and typed in "replacement cooling module, Model ZTZX."
"We can't print one?" Aidan asked, and Kevin shook his head absently.
"Mm, not effectively. Topher's tried eight times and- Oh, damn it all, Lazarus."
"What?" Aidan asked, sitting forward.
Kevin let out a sigh of frustration and underlined a line of text under the 'medical requirements' section. Aidan squinted.
"Sterile- Wait."
"No, you read it right," Kevin agreed wearily. "Sterile fallopian tubes. Ha-ha, very funny." He deleted the line. "He probably put in a few more Easter eggs too. Yes, here's another, under 'morale-related.'"
"Inflatable donkey," Aidan read. He re-read them, sounding as if he couldn't believe the words. "Inflatable…" Slowly, he started to grin. "I need to give that guy more work to do."
"Please," Kevin agreed with feeling. "He's been doing this since we were kids. Taylor used to burst out laughing every time, I think it just encouraged him. The only time Taylor ever yelled at him for it was…" Glancing up at Aidan, he shut his mouth as the pit opened in his gut.
Taylor had encouraged him and Lazarus both. He'd encouraged them all. Taylor had trusted Kevin, even after Sector had given him a rundown of exactly what was in his genome, how much he had been genetically improved and what that meant. Taylor had trusted him even after the debacle Kevin had nearly committed in his first week on base. Taylor had trusted Kevin enough to make him an officer.
And Kevin had repaid that trust by letting him die.
"Sorry," he remarked, eyes on the screen. "You must be getting rather tired of the reminders concerning your predecessor."
The room was very quiet.
"He meant a lot to you guys." Aidan's voice was soft. "I'm okay hearing about that."
Kevin stood so quickly that his chair squeaked against the pre-fab floor. "If you'll look through the rest of that, I should probably get started on the extraction work. Like you said. Lots to do. Thank you for your time, sir."
He was out the door and down the hall before a voice could catch up with him. As he walked, he scolded himself. Idiot. He didn't have the mental resources to waste on this. He had a job to do. And when he made mistakes, people died. That was the lesson he'd learned. He got things right or people died.
He worked until dinner and ate with the crew to reassure everyone. If he didn't, Damian or Blake would only come and scold him. He headed in the direction of his quarters with the general flow, but only to wait for half an hour and open the black-topped bottle.
By the time three in the morning came around, Kevin was well along in his prep work, and stood watching the 3D rig print out sheets of the new Synth. Music pumped in his ears.
He'd done a new card for Jim for this run to protect the man's favorite Grid personae, but that had been easy once Topher taught him. He had Jim's genome and very little had to be falsified. Since he had nothing on the two new recruits he'd had to do a little creative genome fabrication based on their appearances, code it into two cards and sets of Synth, and hope to God above that nobody looked too closely at them on their way from their squat in Commerce City to the Go Depot and the smuggling rig that would move them out to meet Sarah and come on base.
Don't rattle the cage if you wanna come out
Don't rattle the cage if you wanna come out
His 'buds filled his ears with late pre-Dissolution music. His dad wouldn't have liked it. He had preferred music that said something good about humanity. But it fit K
evin's mood. The drumbeat of it kept him focused, the words keeping the fire in him stoked. It was inattention that killed.
If he'd been more attentive to his work five months ago he wouldn't have botched the run that should have gotten them the medicines Commander Taylor had needed.
If he'd been more attentive he would have noticed Commander Taylor's increasing illness before it had advanced so far. If he'd been more attentive, Commander Taylor would be alive.
Flobots' music pounded in his ears as he worked and thought, the words about fire in the sky and masses at the border beating in time with his blood.
If he hadn't been such a daydreamer, maybe he would have seen the signs of trouble as a boy. Maybe his parents wouldn't be dead, either.
These were the thoughts of three in the morning, and he knew it. They were only the scraps and old ghosts come to haunt him. He didn't have time for regret either, but he'd learned well from those failures.
He had to get this right.
He jumped reflexively at the sound behind him, whipping around. Janice raised her hand in a casual wave where she leaned against the doorjamb. Heart thundering in his ears, Kevin forced his shoulders to relax and pulled out his 'buds.
"Just get in?" he asked, forcing cheer into his voice. "I thought you were still mentoring the new hydraulics trainees out at Regional for a day yet."
"If that's what you call teachin' 'em to tell their ass from an Abramson's lever, sure." Janice yawned hugely as she sauntered into the room, leaning against the rig. The light from its screens outlined the wrinkles around her eyes.
"Saw Suzanna down there. Pissy as ever, even on a base she asked to be assigned to. Said she wasn't surprised Taylor was dead. Asked if you was dead yet."
"And what did you tell her?" Kevin asked with mild interest. Considering how little Janice liked their former basemate, whatever scurrility she had come up with should be amusing.
"Told her to go fuck a frag grenade without lube an' pull the pin while she was at it. How come you're still up?"
"We've a rather important extraction coming up. I wanted to make sure we were prepared as thoroughly as possible," Kevin replied lightly, watching the liquid nutrient as it sprayed from the nozzles.
He yelped when strong fingers grabbed his chin and forced his head to turn. Janice studied his eyes and sighed. "Aw for fuck's sake Kev, you're high again. Where the good goat fuckin' god did you get the stuff?"
"I've got a lot to get done, Janice," he retorted, rubbing his jaw as he took a step back.
The engineer snorted. "Yeah, well, join the fuckin' club. You don't see me hopped up. I thought you were done with that shit."
Kevin crossed his arms. "I've seen you take a dose in your time."
"Yeah, when we only have one day of water left and I gotta drill and run algorithms for thirty hours straight. The shit is for bein' on top of the game in emergencies, boy, not for whenever you're not feelin' like thinkin' 'bout anything," Janice drawled scathingly.
"Yes, well, I know when I need to be on top of my game, and that's when someone's life is on the line." The words were brittle on Kevin's tongue. "I already let one person die this year. I'd rather not repeat that performance. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm working."
Turning on his heel, he checked the printing rig.
The floor creaked. A calloused hand rested on Kevin's shoulder.
"Kev, quit doin' this."
Kevin stood stiffly, refusing to look at the older woman. "Go to bed, Janice."
"You try tellin' me what to do again an' I'll stick my boot so far up your ass you'll go deaf," the older woman replied with quiet affection. "I mean it. You an' Laz an' Yve gotta stop this. Wasn't my fault or yours he didn't tell us for so long, wasn't your fault he died, an' you three ain't doin' no good actin' like it was."
"Janice." When Kevin's voice came out, it was a whisper. "That's my responsibility. To supply what's needed. I failed. If I'd been on top of things, he would have lived. If I'd found this girl six months ago, or someone like her, or… something, he'd be alive." He swallowed hard. "I can't fail again."
Janice let out a long, slow sigh. "You lil' dumbass." Her fist punched his shoulder gently. "You ain't failin' nobody, but you ain't helpin' by hoppin' up on that shit. I catch you on it again an' I swear I'll stick a pipe scrubber up your ass to get your head out, you got me?"
"I'll make sure you don't catch me then," Kevin replied quietly.
He made a point of keeping an eye on the tracker in Jim's tab across the Grid that morning, sucking down cups of the synthetic trash they passed off as coffee so that he could pretend that was the reason for the shaking in his hands. But it was worth it to be standing at the door of the motor pool beside his commander and his personnel officer to welcome the newcomers.
"This's it?" Tweak asked as they climbed from the truck Sarah had been driving. She gave the dusty garage a jaundiced look. "Lame."
"Tweak." Billie murmured, and Tweak rolled her eyes.
"It is lame. Looks like a dump."
Kevin felt a twinge of irritation. As if they'd been living much better on Grid. He'd seen good. They hadn't had it.
But Aidan chuckled and shrugged as Sarah shut the truck door. "It's home. I don't think we're doing too bad. How was it coming in?"
"Easy," Sarah replied as she shoved black spikes of hair back from her eyes. "I didn't even have to use my gun."
"That's a relief," Aidan remarked, glancing at where the transport specialist was checking the truck over now that it was parked. "Hey, Dozer. Meet the new recruits: Tweak and Billie."
The big man glanced up from plugging the truck in and held out his hand. "Dozer. Nice to meetcha."
Tweak looked at the hand, then at Aidan. Her leather-clad arms crossed over her chest. "Rule. One."
Aidan just smiled, though Kevin noted that the expression had taken on a forced quality. "Um, sorry, Dozer, no touching. Not even handshakes, apparently. I'm going to say she means 'nice to meet you.'"
Dozer blinked, lowering his hand. "Yeah, right."
Behind Aidan's back, Liza caught Kevin's eye and made a writing-on-pad gesture. He winced internally. Yes, he did need to fill her in, didn't he?
"How about we show you your rooms?" Aidan asked. "After that Liza will give you the tour, okay?"
"Yeah," Tweak replied distractedly, her eyes taking in every detail.
Tweak dropped her bag in her new room with a thunk and began prowling the perimeter like a cat.
"And your room is over here, Billie-" Liza began, but Tweak cut her off. "Nope. This. Ours. No split." tapping the walls.
"She means we'd like to have the same room." Billie explained in a whisper, staring at the floor.
"Okay. Uh, what're you doing?" Liza asked, watching Tweak stand on the bed to tap the ceiling.
"Bugs," Tweak stated shortly.
"Sorry," Billie murmured behind Aidan. "We always checked when we were in the…" She cleared her throat. "Before. Sorry."
Aidan nodded. "I understand. Can't trust folks you don't know."
Kevin was amazed he had the patience. He was getting sick of the girl's disrespect himself, which was saying something considering his standards for disrespect.
Tweak glanced over her shoulder. "We look stupid? Not. Lock on door? Who has the key?"
"Me and Liza have masters. You'll get a key soon as we're sure this is going to work," Aidan replied calmly.
Tweak turned to eye him up and down. "People come in here, fuck with us, they're dead. Nobody's fuck toy."
Kevin felt his body stiffen in anger. What kind of people did this girl think they were?!
"Tweak…" Billie began, but trailed off when Aidan glanced her way, hanging her head.
Kevin felt a little knot of sympathy as he watched her. Something had made a real mess of that poor waif. Detention? CPS life? Impossible to tell, but she was a mou
se.
The other one, however…
Aidan nodded. "I understand. We only have masters in case of emergency. We're not in the habit of getting into other people's quarters when they haven't invited us."
Kevin drew in a breath. Best foot forward, at least try to be a gentleman. "Can I get you two anything before I head back to my duties for the day?"
"The door," Tweak retorted, flopping on the bed and kicking off her heavy boots. "Shut it. Call us for dinner."
Billie gave the strangers an apologetic smile. "Thank you?"
"Sure," Liza managed with a careful smile. "I'll get you on the work rosters tomorrow. If there's anything you need, come to me or Aidan."
Neither girl responded.
Quietly, the three officers shut the door. Liza glanced from her old friend to her commander. "Briefing real quick?"
They sat in the canteen with more cups of the bitter stuff they called coffee. Liza swirled hers gently. "I read the file. I get she's got baggage, but… Wow."
"No arguments," Kevin agreed, polishing his glasses. "She was quite the little spitfire on-Grid, but that's rather to be expected. I thought she'd relax once she arrived in friendlier surroundings. If anything, she's… worse."
Slowly, Liza glanced at Aidan. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm kind of wondering what the hell you just brought home."
"Yeah," Aidan agreed quietly, "you're not the only one."
Event File 25
File Tag: Field Test
Timestamp:11:00-7-29-2155
"So. This coder."
Aidan rocked back and forth on his feet, waiting, his hands clasped behind his back. He hated waiting.
At his desk, Sector Commander Magnum sat with ten holographic windows splayed out around him and slowly, slowly scanned Aidan's report. His fingers fumbled over the analog pages. The more he read, the higher his eyebrows rose.
"Tell me again why you gave me an analog copy."
"She's hacked our files three times in four days, sir," Aidan explained. "She got in to delete the medical file we started for her, she did that twice. And then she didn't like the fonts we used, so she changed them in the system."