by O E Tearmann
"Eaglecorp sells security to all the other Corporations and owns all security stuff, only they lease it out to other Corps. They run the Safety Net with all the patrolling drones and satellites and stuff, and they run the emergency services and the Civilian and the Military Peacekeepers. They react bad to non-conformity, to weapons not registered with them and slick tech. And people who act scared. They react good to people who act chill and don't argue."
As he spoke, the little boy watched his elder's faces for signs that he was succeeding with his recitation. On the griddle, the pancakes began to sizzle.
"TechoCo owns all tech, all the social feeds and trains all the reporting services for all the Corps. They own all the bandwidth except the Greynet 'cause it's got ISP's out of other countries.
"Cavanaugh runs all the medical stuff and trains all the doctors and people who make meds, and they make all the meds and implants and stuff.
"ArgusCo builds all the cities and makes all the electricity for them and runs all the Go systems and leases people all the cars and trucks and houses and stuff.
"And American AgCo plants all the crops and owns all the farms and does the stuff that turns plants and animals into food and can I have some pancakes?" he finished in a rush.
Andrea gave him a fishy look. "You skipped over a whole lot there at the end, hon."
"Pleeease, can I have pancakes?" Tommy appealed. "I'll do it again later! Pleeease?"
Andrea smirked and poured batter on for her son as Kevin took his plate and dug in.
"Glad Hen could cheer you up. I heard Tweak yelling at you in the hall," Andrea remarked as he ate.
Kevin rolled his eyes as he dropped to sit cross-legged where the little girl could play with him, pitching his voice into a friendly singsong as Henrietta crawled into his lap and holding his plate out of her reach. "Yes, I may have to throttle that rapacious little starling at some point."
He glanced up with a smile at Andrea's snort. "What? It's apt, you have to admit it's apt."
"Just the way you say it," Andrea chuckled. "Rapacious starling. What's a starling anyway? Watch it, she's going for your glasses."
"Well spotted," Kevin remarked wryly as the little girl tried to climb him, reaching for his shiny glasses. He tipped his head back out of reach and gently yanked the back of the little girl's shirt to flop her back onto her bottom. "And to answer your question, the obnoxious black birds that nest in abandoned buildings are starlings."
Andrea tipped her head, considering, then returned her attention to getting her experiment into storage canisters. "Yeah, I guess it does fit. But you could cut her a little slack."
"She's a little beast," Kevin stated, biting off the words as he distracted Henrietta with a toy.
"Beast!" Henrietta repeated, giggling.
At her work station, Billie bowed her head.
"She's a little kid," Andrea corrected gently as she wiped down surfaces and herself. "And she's scared, Kev. I mean we don't know how long she was in holding or what happened. Give her some time, and quit letting her get to you."
"Quit letting her get to me?" Kevin repeated in annoyed tones. "Andrea, everything she says is a barb or a rebuff. She's loud, utterly disrespectful, she doesn't give a dam-excuse me, I mean she doesn't give a curse about why we're doing this work, and God help me, it's like having Suzanna back. I'm sorry Billie, I know she's your friend, but still- "
"It's not that bad," Andrea disagreed.
Kevin sighed. "Well, no. Tweak is vexatious rather than actively malignant, but still. On top of it she would insist on calling me CES at every opportunity."
"Kev, hon, you're doing the words thing again. That's why she's calling you CES. She thinks you're showing off." Turning, Andrea smiled at the teenager slumped in the corner. "Billie? Can you run and get the floors swept?"
“Yeah,” Billie whispered, turning away.
Kevin sighed. “Billie? Sorry.”
The girl gave him a slow, wide-eyed look. Then she bobbed her head.
“Yeah.”
She slipped from the room like a shadow.
"C'mere, baby." Andrea murmured, kneeling to pull Henrietta into her arms. Andrea studied her friend as she gently joggled the little girl.
"You're really getting pissed." Andrea remarked eventually.
"Yes," Kevin agreed wearily. Then he glanced up and chuckled as Tommy gave him a hug.
"Kev," the little boy observed solemnly. "You look tired. You need a nap."
"He's got a point," Andrea agreed, watching him.
"Yes, well," Kevin agreed quietly. "I'm all right Tommy. This shoulder I gamma'd last week is still playing up, and that five-day extraction run on the Grid for the folks we sent on their merry way to Europe wasn't exactly a picnic. But I'm home and fresh as a daisy today," he finished with an attempt at putting some pep in his voice.
Andrea's soft brown eyes didn't waver. "You aren't on StayWake, are you?"
Kevin rolled his eyes. "Why does everyone around here assume I'm high when I say I'm fine?" he asked in the general direction of the ceiling.
"'Cause you did kind of overdo it for a while there, hon," Andrea replied with gentle candor.
Kevin gave her a sheepish smile. "I did, didn't I? Touché." Sighing, he stroked Henrietta's fuzzy hair gently. "I'm not on anything, Scout's honor. I'm just-"
The shrill of the proximity alarm cut him off mid sentence. Tommy whimpered as Kevin grabbed Henrietta up.
"I've got her. In here," he murmured, squeezing into the pantry carefully so as to leave room for Andrea and Tommy to squeeze in beside him. Henrietta started to fuss.
"Sssh, honey, sssh," Andrea whispered, but the little girl started a thin wailing as the lights clunked into blackness and the canteen outside filled with the sound of rustling as everyone else took cover.
Henrietta began to cry in earnest.
"Kev," Andrea whispered, "you know that song you did for her a while back? Do it again okay?"
"Worth a try." Kevin agreed, fumbling for and finding Andrea's hand in a dark so deep it felt like black velvet pressed to his eyes.
Kevin cuddled Henrietta close, rocking her as she bawled. He drew a slow breath.
Hush-a-bye, don't you cry,
Go to sleep my little baby.
He crooned the words in a breathy tenor as the rotors buzzed overhead.
Way down yonder
In the meadow
Poor little baby is crying
Birds and butterflies
Flutter 'round her eyes
Poor little baby is crying…
He sang to the little girl as death hovered over them, buzzing like flies.
Slowly, Henrietta's wail eased into sniffles, and Kevin eased from one whispered lullaby into another.
When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom
Let it be…
The sound of rotors overhead eased as Kevin whispered the song in the dark.
And when the broken-hearted people
Living in the world agree
There will be an answer
Let it be…
Slowly, the rotor buzz began to fade. Kevin felt his gut unclench. That hadn't been so-
BANG
The sound was loud enough for a bomb, but the rolling metallic noises, the yowl of someone in pain and the torrent of hissed curse words and scuffles didn't match the initial impression. And, of course, there was the fact that he was still in one piece and breathing.
Breathing extremely fast. Damn, his heart was racing. Had someone run into something in the dark?
"YOU DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME!" Tweak's voice screeched, the sound bouncing off walls and ricocheting from metal. "NEVER! NEVER T-TOUCH ME! YOU DON'T T-t-t-t…"
There was a weird, whooping noise that Kevin could only compare to the remembered
sound of a little Fringer girl he'd met with a breathing problem he couldn't remember the name of.
He squeezed his eyes closed. God Almighty, damn the little bitch to the ninth circle of Hell! If he'd had it in his power, he would have stood up and gagged her, but stumbling around in the dark would only make more noise. Noise that the drone could use to pinpoint them as targets.
And fucking Tweak had already made plenty of that.
Overhead, the noise of rotors returned in full. Oh wonderful, Kevin thought to himself, stewing in his anger. Just great. At least someone must have gotten a hold of the little harridan. She'd gone quiet.
Kevin's tab buzzed in his pocket, but he had his hands full of frightened little girl. Cuddling Henrietta close, he stroked her curling hair, closed his eyes and waited.
Ten minutes.
Twenty.
Half an hour.
Kevin rocked Henrietta and prayed in silence.
Event File 28
File Tag: Corrective Measures
Timestamp:12:30- 8-7-2155
After an hour, the sound of drone rotors receded.
Faded.
The lights flickered on.
Kevin put Henrietta down beside Andrea and was out into the canteen in two economical movements, eyes narrowed. When he got a hold of Tweak this time, he wasn't going to stop at snark. He was going to…
He froze.
There was the prep table on its side, pots and everything else that had been stored in it spilled out across the floor. There was Topher in the middle of it, blood crusted down his face and blackening the front of his shirt, giving tiny grunts as Damian and Dozer knelt over him.
And there was Tweak curled into the furthest corner she'd been able to find, hiding in a cupboard with her head hidden in her bandaged arms. Liza stood in the middle of the mess.
Beside the cupboard, Billie huddled in place, arms wrapped around herself.
"She didn't mean it," the gawky girl whispered frantically as Kevin drew even with the little tableau. "She didn't mean it. She didn't mean… She just gets freaked. We didn't know what was going on. She didn't- She's… Is he okay? We're sorry. I'm sorry. We're so-"
"Enough." Liza rapped out. When she spoke again, her voice shook. "You two are done here. I'm writing the decommission paperwork. Pack."
Then she spun on her heel. "Commander? Where's the Commander?"
"Over here," Aidan's voice called across the room.
Kevin let them deal with that part of the problem, and knelt beside Topher instead.
"How is he?" he asked Damian quietly.
"My effing nows is bwoken," Topher groaned, sounding like a man with the head cold from hell.
Damian glanced up at Kevin with a patient expression.
"Let's get him into the med bay," Dozer muttered, reaching out to lift his junior specialist like a child.
Topher groaned. "Aw, fuck. But me dawn, man, I can walk!"
"What exactly did you say to her?" Kevin asked as Dozer set the young man on his feet, steadying Topher when he swayed.
The boy's eyes were already beginning to close with incipient swelling. "I towd her it'd be owkay abd twied to put by arm around her shoulders. I was twying to help her chill. That's it, man. Shit. Ow."
"White Knight syndrome getting to you, too?" Kevin joked gently, focusing on the friend who needed help instead of the enemy he would have liked to go after. Fucking Tweak.
He never should have brought the little monster's talents to anyone's attention. He never should have encouraged them to bring this little viper home.
But she was the command division's problem. Let Liza and Aidan deal with her. She'd be gone soon enough. In the meantime, his friend was hurting.
"Come on, Sir Bedevere. Just hang on to us."
"Man, dawn't get weird on be right bow. I can't take it," Topher groaned in reply as Kevin and Dozer steered him down the hall and into the medical bay, Damian walking ahead like the drum marshal of a macabre parade.
"What the hell happened?" Alice asked, glancing from the logistics officer to her superior.
"Tweak," Dozer explained tightly as they settled the boy on the bed.
"Alice, swab and Eze while I prep," Damian called to his assistant medic as he pulled a few things out of drawers.
"Can I help?" Kevin asked, hands still on Topher's shoulders
"You okay swabbing him down while Alice and I get prepped for procedure?" Damian asked as casually as he would ask for Kevin to grab him a plate at dinner, and Kevin agreed with the same calm for Topher's benefit.
"No problem."
Grabbing swabs from the wall dispenser, he helped Topher out of his cooling jacket and carefully, meticulously began to sponge away blood and snot. Dozer hovered beside the bed, wide brow creased.
"Get this on him," Alice added, passing over a bottle of Eze.
"Thanks," Kevin agreed, cracking the bottle at its midpoint, giving it a good shake and taking off the lid. He used the roll-on applicator to apply the inflammatory suppressant under Topher's eyes. Topher sat still for it, but he did switch into Arabic to curse a few times, especially when the applicator was run along either side of the bridge of his nose.
"Hey, easy," Dozer muttered.
Kevin nodded. "I'm being as careful as I can. This is what you get for going after pretty girls in the dark, Toph," he added gently.
Topher groaned. "Seriously man, go fuck yowself."
"Afraid it's not allowed while I'm on duty. Later I'll think about it."
Topher cracked a tiny smirk as his bruises, slowly, started to recede.
Damian stepped in with gloved hands, his imaging screen and his efficiency.
"Right. Kevin, out of the way. Alice, hold the screen." He moved with perfect rhythm, spraying the area with a fast-acting anesthetic. "Close your eyes, Topher."
The boy did as he was told, and Alice held the imaging screen at the right angle over Topher's face, letting it show Damian the interior of Topher's nose. The tool projected the hologram of a straight line onto the boy's skin.
Damian nodded. "Looks like it's your lucky day. All we need to do is a closed reduction."
"What's a closed-"
"Hold still."
The cartilage in Topher's nose made a wet, squelching noise as it was slid back into place. He spit something long in Arabic this time, interspersed with a few rude words in French. Dozer and Kevin both winced.
"Shit, Doc," Dozer grumbled.
"He's fine," the doctor informed him as he worked, grabbing a thin sheet and peeling the medicated panel away from its plastic backing. Kevin's stomach gave its usual small lurch at the logo of two cupped hands and the words on the plastic: 'Cavanaugh, The Caring Company'.
The thin filaments melted into Topher's skin. Slowly, he blinked.
"How's the pain now?" Alice asked.
Topher glanced at her, smiled, and nodded. "I'm good. Can I work today?" he asked, glancing from Damian to Dozer.
The doctor gave a scarecrow shrug. "Take another half an hour and let the rest of the swelling go down. After that, as long as nothing touches that nose, yeah, you can work. Come back if you need a second numb patch."
"Got it." the junior transport specialist slid off his seat on the medical table, wobbled, but kept his feet.
"Um, Damian?"
Kevin turned at the sound of Aidan's voice. The commander stood awkwardly in the doorway.
"How's Topher?" Aidan asked with a small smile.
"I'm good!" Topher waved a hand, trying for a grin.
Dozer cleared his throat. "You throw the bitch out already, Com-"
Tweak stepped into the room. For a moment, nobody moved. Then Tweak shuffled a boot. "S-s-s-sorry," the girl muttered, staring at the floor. "Got s-s-s-…" She swallowed hard. "Got s-scared. Freaked. S-s-s-sorry."
"Tweak needs to start carrying anti-anxiety meds, Da
mian," Aidan added after a moment. "Something fast-acting for times like this. Can you get a prescription workup for her?"
"Sure," the tall man agreed slowly. "And maybe a psych interview for-"
"Not. Crazy. Just. Freaked," Tweak snapped out, rapid-fire. Turning her head, she glanced up at Aidan, who was watching her. "Not crazy," she repeated more softly.
"But, if you're staying, you're going to fix this," Aidan said, and a note in his voice told Kevin he was repeating himself too.
Slowly, Tweak nodded.
"Yeah. Fix."
She glanced at Topher, glanced away. "S-sorry."
"And Tweak is going to put in ten hours of work on any project you got outside her duties, Topher," Aidan added. "To prove it and pay you back."
Tweak nodded in agreement.
Kevin watched the girl in utter astonishment. How had Aidan talked this evil little snipe into a contrite girl willing to work and asking for forgiveness?
Then her black eyes flicked to his. For a moment, they narrowed. "You. You ever shoot down-" She pointed upwards.
"The drones?" Kevin asked, adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose, "Not personally, no, but it's been known to happen."
"Want a dead one," Tweak snapped. "You get stuff. Get one."
"You didn't say the magic-" Kevin began sourly, but Aidan caught his eye and shook his head. Mastering himself with some effort, Kevin rephrased. "I can look around. Do you need an intact specimen?"
"Huh?"
"Do you need a whole one?" Kevin rephrased wearily.
"Yeah," Tweak agreed, coldly. "If I see how it works, I can take it down. Maybe take them all down. We'll see. Figure something out. That sucked balls. Fix it."
For a moment, Kevin couldn't figure out what to say. Fix it? Did she actually mean she thought she could put an end to drone pass-overs? Take down the drones? Unbelievable. Impossible.
"Let me get breakfast," he managed eventually. "Then I'll get on it."
Event File 29
File Tag: Private Discussion
Timestamp:19:15-8-8-2155
Aidan checked his tab again outside the rec-room. Seven-fifteen. Tuesday night.