by Chloe Garner
“I have no home,” Violet said. “I didn’t even have a name, until Cassie gave me one.”
He looked over at her.
“You picked Violet? Out of all the languages you speak?”
“I like it,” Cassie defended. “And she’s right, she can’t go home. We can try to find a new safe place for her, on another planet, but for now, she’s staying here.”
Troy shook his head.
“I need to think about it, Cass. I’ve got more things to worry about than individual foreign terrestrials, as much better off as they would be here, rather than somewhere else.”
Cassie frowned.
“What are you talking about?”
“The reason that I didn’t want you to put my spirit back in. We’re extraditing a bunch of people next week. Foreign terrestrials who would much rather be here, but who can’t prove that there is a clear risk to their lives if we send them home. So we’re just going to poke them through the portal and wash our hands of them.”
“How?” Cassie asked. “That’s not how the program works. We have to establish credible contact, create a base of operations, create a viable path of open and credible communication…” She paused, and he watched the realization hit her. “You aren’t doing any of those things because you don’t have the resources and the presence of undocumented foreign terrestrials from the base is a threat to the program itself.”
He nodded.
For a moment, the dogma had held her, but the pragmatism would always win.
The budget would always win.
She swallowed.
“And you were just going to stand by and let it happen.”
He shrugged.
“Didn’t have a choice. Now I get to stand by and watch it happen while feeling awful about it.”
“I can fix it,” she said, and he shook his head.
“Don’t. There are unknown foreign terrestrials with completely undocumented capacity running around the planet for reasons we don’t understand. That has to come first.”
She pursed her lips, glancing at Violet.
“Not completely undocumented,” she said. “And I’m not human. I don’t have to follow your priority scheme.”
“There are billions of people on this planet,” Troy said. “You can’t turn your back on them to save a dozen individual foreign terrestrials, some of whom might be security threats.”
“Did Jesse look at the interviews?” she asked. Of course she knew there would be interviews.
“No,” he said. “I sent him looking for the Lumps.”
“And he just went along?” Cassie asked.
“I barely had to ask,” Troy told her. “He knows what they are.”
“And so do I,” Violet said. “You have to find them.”
Troy nodded.
“And meanwhile, the rest of the foreign terrestrials we’ve got here, as well as the rogue shipments, any of them could turn out to be security threats.”
“Like Violet,” Cassie said belligerently. Troy couldn’t say she was wrong, so he said nothing.
Cassie shook her head.
“I brought her here expecting asylum. If she isn’t going to get it, I’ll hide her away somewhere else.”
“Cassie,” Troy said. “You know I’d do anything I could to take care of her.”
“Right,” Cassie said. “But if your masters decide that she’s inconvenient and you don’t have a cutthroat contract protecting her, you just drop her somewhere else and let her be someone else’s problem.”
Troy swallowed.
“Cassie,” he said. She shook her head.
“I’m not being irrational, Troy,” she said. “And I know that you’re doing your best. But I told your predecessor the same thing I’m going to tell you. I’m not human anymore. I don’t report to you. But I am American, and I do intend to make sure that nothing bad happens here. I love this place and these people, and that does go a long way, as far as the whole planet is concerned. I went and got her as a favor to you because I knew how bad it was going to be, reunifying, but that’s over now. I call my own shots.”
She stood and Troy rose, searching for something to say.
There was nothing.
She was Cassie. So very, very Cassie. And at the same time, she was something else entirely.
“Violet,” Cassie said. “You’ve heard what you’ve heard. It’s up to you. I’m walking out that door. You can stay with him or you can stay with me, or you can choose a third option.”
Cassie gave Troy a hard look.
“You remember they taught us that if you don’t like either option well enough to choose it, it probably means that you haven’t found all of the options yet,” she said.
“I only have so many hands and so many hours,” Troy answered. She pressed her mouth, then she turned and walked out. Violet sat for just a moment before sliding out of her seat and following.
Troy could have ordered someone to stop them, but there was no way that was going to help anyone.
He sat back down in his chair feeling like he lost the war.
*********
Olivia answered the phone at her desk, taking notes with her other hand and trying to finish her thought before she got the phone to her ear. She was a few words short, so she greeted the phone without listening to it for another moment, still writing.
“What?” she asked, trying to remember what she hadn’t heard.
“Put down your pen,” Cassie said. Olivia put down her pen. She thought better with one in her hand, even if everyone else was one hundred percent digital these days.
“Okay,” she said.
“I asked how loyal you are to Troy.”
“We aren’t even together,” Olivia said. “How… Why…?”
“I don’t mean are you cheating on him with someone else. I asked how loyal you are.”
“What does that even mean?” Olivia asked.
“If I asked you to lie to him for maybe as much as a month, would you do it?”
“No,” Olivia said. “No. About what? No.”
“Is he coming home with you tonight?” Cassie asked. Olivia shook out her hand.
“I don’t know,” she said. “We… I don’t know.”
“You’re going to work late, tonight. After everyone else goes home. Waiting to see if he calls you.”
That stung.
“Maybe.”
“I’ll be in touch.”
*********
The gamer’s team was in the middle of a major fight when Cassie blew up the house. He’d only waited a couple of hours to get back online. Jesse was willing to bet that he’d gone somewhere with much reduced security in order to get back to his war more quickly.
Jesse traced the IP address through the security the Lump had been able to put on it - laughable by most standards, but it was the best the human technology had to offer - and he went back to the main road where he could summon a taxi.
*********
Olivia worked past dinner, the lab emptying around her, work lamps turning off, the motion-sensing overheads shutting down around the lab, sometimes giving a warning flicker when she’d been sitting still for too long. She waved her arm at them and kept working.
It was easy enough to do. She did this often. Didn’t have anything waiting for her at home and didn’t go out at night unless Celeste dragged her. She had the best job in the world, and she didn’t take it for granted. It wasn’t that she feared for her employment, but that she worried she’d miss something by taking more time away from her desk than she needed.
Someone else would make the big discovery that she could have made.
Those magical, electric connections that came between two thoughts and made a powerful, unprecedented new thought.
She lived for those.
She didn’t know how long Cassie had been standing there when the Palta cleared her throat.
“Olivia Macon, may I introduce Violet the Caladais?”
“The what…?” Olivi
a asked, raising her head and cutting herself off when she saw the purple woman. “What?”
“Violet, this is Olivia. She’s Troy’s on-again-off-again girlfriend, and one of the sharpest technical minds I know.”
Olivia blushed.
“I am not,” she said.
“Which part?” Cassie asked, and Olivia blushed harder.
“It’s very nice to meet you,” the purple woman said, stepping forward to offer Olivia her hand. Olivia paused, not wanting to try to shake hands if that wasn’t what the woman had intended - did she have something interesting on her desk she was supposed to hand her? - then shook her hand after an awkward interval.
“You’re…” Olivia said, then smiling. “I’m sorry. Hello. It’s nice to meet you.”
“She’s foreign terrestrial,” Cassie said. “And Troy knows she’s here. Well. Not right here, but this is the woman that he sent me down to Brazil to get.”
“Oh,” Olivia said. “Oh, of course. Yes. I’m so sorry.”
Violet looked at Cassie, but Cassie was trained on Olivia.
“He wants to send her off-planet,” Cassie said.
“What?” Olivia asked. “Where? Home, surely?”
Cassie shook her head.
“No. She doesn’t have a home. She was born into slavery. And it’s not fair to say that he wants to send her away, but the math is clear, and he’s just not ready to face it.”
“I worked for the foreign terrestrials who hurt him,” Violet said. “I made the trap that did it.”
“Oh,” Olivia said, at a loss.
“She’s a threat,” Cassie said. “No one can prove that she didn’t do it voluntarily or that she isn’t a sleeper agent ready to do it again if we give her agency. They’ll either try to cage her or they’ll show some sense and just shop her across the universe somewhere and be done with her.”
“That’s awfully callous,” Olivia said. “Troy wouldn’t stand for it.”
“He’s already doing it with lesser threats,” Cassie said.
“What threats?” Olivia asked.
“Do you really want me to tell you?” Cassie asked. Olivia paused, considering. Need to know was a strong, strong rule around here, but Cassie and Jesse had put a big dent in it ever since they’d started wandering around, and things had gotten muddled. Olivia didn’t like how muddled they’d gotten.
“No,” she said. “I…” She paused. She’d been about to say that she believed her, but she couldn’t bring herself to. Troy wouldn’t do that.
“He would, if it was that or risk the safety of the planet,” Cassie said. “And he wouldn’t fight it if he were investing all of his energy fighting for the portal program.”
Olivia paused, looking at the purple woman.
Would Troy send her, defenseless out into the universe to save the portal program and eliminate a threat to humans?
The Troy of two days ago would have, without blinking an eye.
“He’s still going to do it,” she said softly, and Cassie nodded.
“It’s possible he never would have considered it, if he’d been himself the whole time, but he remembers the reasons he was going to do it, and he’s standing by them. He might even be right, if you assume that his resources really are as limited as he thinks they are.”
“Aren’t they?” Olivia asked slowly.
“Doesn’t matter,” Cassie said. “You believe me that Troy is an imminent threat to her life?”
“You want me to lie about her,” Olivia said, then drew her head back. “Why? Why would I even be involved?”
“Because I need to go to Jesse,” Cassie said. “He’s doing something important, and I need to be there when he does it.”
“This is the woman you told him I would connect with,” Violet said. Cassie nodded.
“Yup.”
“You told him…” Olivia said, trying to catch up.
“Told him that I would assign her to you, for you to watch over her, while I was gone.”
“Then why would I have to lie?” Olivia asked.
“That was before I realized that if we do that through the front channels, he’s going to have to push her through the portal, or she’s going to have to flee on her own. And she could. She’s amazing, O. I’ve never seen anyone like her.”
Olivia frowned.
“So… you’re still asking me to take care of her…?”
“It’s a quadruple fake,” Cassie said. “Putting her exactly where I said I would, when that’s obviously the last thing I’d do with her, now.”
“You’re talking about her like luggage,” Olivia said.
“Sorry,” Cassie said. “You tell her that, after I go. Remind her that she’s a person.”
“You don’t know that?” Olivia asked, addressing Violet intentionally.
“I was born a slave,” Violet said. “I don’t remember my mother. I didn’t ever expect to be outside of a master’s control.”
Olivia shivered.
“I’ll do it,” she said. “I’ll lie to Troy.”
Cassie nodded.
“You’re going to have to be sneaky.”
Olivia blinked at her, feeling the corner of her mouth drift up just a fraction.
“No one pays any attention to what I do,” she said. “I’m too predictable.”
Cassie nodded again, grinning at her.
“That’s the girl I met. I knew you’d be an adventure, if I could talk you into sticking around.”
“I’m a terrible liar,” Olivia said. “I mean, I’ll try, but…”
Suddenly she felt cold. Was she actually considering this? Would she actually do it?
Cassie shook her head slowly, stepping forward.
“The trick to lying is telling the truth,” she said. “Don’t be evasive, but tell the truth when someone asks you a question. Just don’t answer the part you don’t want to answer.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Ask me where I’ve been,” Cassie said.
“I know where you’ve been,” Olivia said.
“Do you?” Cassie asked.
“Brazil.”
“Where? Doing what? How did I find her? How did I get her out?”
Olivia shrugged, bewildered.
“Okay. Where were you?”
“I was with Jesse,” Cassie said.
Fast.
Like it was nothing.
“Where’s Jesse now?” Olivia asked.
“I have no clue,” Cassie said. “That’s where I’m going.”
“To do what?” Olivia asked.
“To do the right thing, when he won’t,” Cassie said.
“What’s that?” Olivia asked.
“End this,” Cassie said, with a firm nod. “But you’ll note that you still don’t know where I was.”
Olivia frowned.
“Where were you?”
“Getting her out,” Cassie said. “They kept her in a cage.”
“Did they really?” Olivia asked Violet. The purple woman smiled.
“You’re very distractible,” Violet said.
“She got out on her own,” Cassie said. “Chose freedom.”
Olivia looked at her.
Cassie wiggled her eyebrows and Olivia nodded.
“I can’t do that,” she said. “But I get it.”
“You can,” Cassie said. “Find a coffee shop or a restaurant on the way to Violet’s apartment and stop there. Every day. Someone asks where you’ve been, tell them that you’re going there to get some time to think on your own. Then do it. Sit on your own and take some time. Think about things. Have things to talk about from your time sitting on your own. And then make sure she’s okay and she has what she needs.”
“How are you going to hide her?” Olivia asked.
“This is temporary. A month at most. If she’s going to go out during that time, you’re going to have to get creative about makeup.”
Olivia looked at Violet, still bothered.
“It’s just a
nother cage,” she said.
“It’s not locked,” Violet said. “Once I get some tools, I can do whatever I want.”
Cassie pulled her shoulders up to her ears, grinning.
“I cannot wait to see what that looks like,” she said, then looked at Olivia again. “I’ll leave the address on a piece of paper in your glove box. I’ll fill up her fridge and get her cable and internet turned on. She can order stuff online. You’ll just need to bring in the boxes and keep her company. Talk with her. She needs someone to talk to who doesn’t think they own her.”
“You’re doing a great job,” Olivia said and Cassie shrugged.
“I’m Palta. Means I’m bossy. Well… Nevermind. It’s true enough. It’s why I asked you.” She paused. “Thank you. This means more than I can say.”
Olivia nodded.
“I understand.”
Violet touched her brow as Cassie turned.
“I’ll see you soon,” Olivia said and Violet smiled, turning to follow Cassie back out of the lab.
*********
Jesse sat in the lobby of an upscale hotel in the middle of Buenos Aires, logged into the game and watching the progress of the war. LeopardStud1436 was a foul-mouthed walking temper-tantrum, but he was good at bullying people into doing what he wanted and rewarding the ones most willing to do what he said.
And it was exactly what the game rewarded.
His crew was largely male, largely in their twenties and thirties, and largely under-employed, but they were ruthlessly effective within the constraints of the game. The Lump had found a few exploits that they were running under, as well, and Jesse found a few places where other teams were complaining about his tactics and his attitudes, but the guys who followed him gleefully said that the ends justified the means and they kept after it. People were flocking to him, and his inner circle was intensely competitive and back-stabbing.
Cassie sat down next to him.
“That was quick,” Jesse said. “You let Troy ship her out, then?”
“Talked Olivia into being a custodian,” Cassie said. Jesse nodded without looking up from his computer.
“They’ll have tracked your jump,” he said.
“They’ve got trackers in my blood anyway,” she said. “Violet put them there.”
“I waited for you,” he said.
“I see that. Where are they?”
Jesse sighed.
“You didn’t leave me much to look at. I wanted to see what Violet had been up to.”