Fledge

by JA Huss

  "Is now. We inducted you as our ninth warrior back on the shuttle while you were out."

  "I thought you guys didn't want me to morph? You were all outside the door when Tier and Layla were putting me under."

  "Not us. That was the fucking crew and the other two teams that were hitching a ride after the clusterfuck in the MR. We were always on board. Tier would never make a decision like that without us. Just isn't done."

  "Oh." I frown.

  "What," he says as he studies my reaction, "is the problem?"

  But I'm not sure, so I can't say. I shrug instead, thinking about being part of a team. So much has happened in two days it's hard to get my head around it. But this isn't stuff I want to share, so I exhale and push it down for later. "Nothing, just – unexpected, right?"

  "It's good?"

  I nod. "Yeah. Maybe."

  He laughs. "Jasus, Junco, you're so hard to fucking please, ya know that?"

  I watch the words come from Braun's mouth but I see Tier's face in my mind. I smile up at Braun, shake off those feelings, and then hug him. "Thanks, though. You have no idea how much I appreciate what you're doing right now."

  He lifts his hands high up in the air, pretending to not want to touch me. "What? What did I do? I'm gonna get ya drunk, Junco, and probably take advantage of ya right here in the lab." He winks as I look up at him.

  "You wish," I say into his chest.

  "Oh, shit, do I ever!" Then he pushes me away and goes to set up the game. "But don't go blabbing it to the rest of the guys, Junco. They all have to feel like they have a shot with ya or they'll mope about all night."

  "Where's Layla and Ash?"

  He nods his head towards the door. "Talking to Lucan."

  "Am I allowed to walk out that door?" I say it before I can stop myself, then get nervous with his silent look and scratch my neck and wince.

  He shakes his head. "Not yet, Junco. But it won't last forever. So try not to think of it that way."

  I sit down and he deals me in, sliding me a stack of high-value chips since we're only fucking around. "Did you really cheat yesterday?"

  He doesn't look up from his hand. "Course I did, Junco." His eyes peer over the cards. "Do I look like an honest guy to you?" Then he winks. "No really, I did cheat. I always cheat, which is why I always win."

  I raise my eyebrows at him.

  "But I get caught a lot too." He laughs. "Plus everyone knows I cheat so they never pay me anyway. Did you really think I would make you buy me a house with 2x2 gauze?"

  I laugh. "All's fair in cards and war?"

  "Precisely! Holy fuck, that's poetry, Junco. You should publish that shit."

  Ash and Layla walk in just as he's finishing. "What the hell is going on here, Braun? She's got shit to do, it's not poker time."

  "Ash, you are such a straight-backed piker. Get the hell out, party's not until later. We're just having some fun, right, Junco?"

  Layla interrupts as she walks into the lab. "He can stay if you want him to, Junco. But it's a little personal."

  Braun gets up and squeezes my arm. "Just knock on the door when you want me to come back in, be right outside."

  When he's gone Ash scowls at me as I walk into the lab with Layla.

  "What?"

  "I told you, Junco. Braun isn't the kind of guy you want to be hanging around with."

  I make a face at Layla and we do the girlfriend laugh. "She's not dating him, Ashur, fuck. Calm down. He's keeping her mind off the serious stuff. You seem incapable of playing that part, so leave them alone."

  Ash leaves, presumably to give Braun the same warning. Layla just shakes her head and lets out a deep breath. "Damn, he's so fucking wound up about Tier."

  I change the subject. "So what's this then?" I ask, pointing to the screen she's looking at.

  "DNA profile. You definitely have the genetics of Gyr. Did Tier explain that to you?"

  I nod. "Yeah, some avian who was down in the MR and was taken out to the Camp a long time ago."

  "Right. But you also have the genetics of a human and not from your parents or anyone else from the Stag Camp or the RR."

  "How do you know? There's no database to check."

  She smiles. "Well, actually, Junco, the RR has many databases you probably never knew about. There's no match for anyone in the RR. So we don't know who gave you the other half of your code."

  "Is that important?"

  She shrugs. "Might be, might not be. Hard to tell at this point. Anyway, the most interesting thing about you isn't the avian or the human genetics, it's the AI code we found."

  My heart skips and I suddenly feel dizzy. "What?"

  She gives me a look that says, sorry for the message, but someone has to deliver it. "Uh, yeah. You have code in those electronic circuits that was created for an AI."

  "Like my HOUSE on Earth?" I know it's true before it comes out but the full meaning of it remains just under the surface.

  She pouts her lip ready to say no, but another second of thought changes her mind. I watch her expression change in real time as the idea grows on her. "Maybe. Never thought of that. Good instincts, Juncs."

  "So what does that mean? To me?"

  "Nothing, it's inert. Not even activated, just no connections whatsoever. So it's a big nothing. We think it might have been a future project that was never started or at the very least never completed."

  Yeah, right. I wait for her to say something else but she's moved on to other things. One thing you can definitely say about Layla, she's got a certain detachment for things of a personal nature – it's all science all the time.

  Good for her.

  Braun tells dirty jokes to me like I'm just one of the guys as we play a few fake hands of poker. It makes me laugh so hard I want to pee my pants, even though Ashur's scowl tells me he thinks it's inappropriate. I'm wiping the tears out of my eyes and fanning my face to make the heat go away when the door chimes.

  "Enter at your own risk," Braun calls to the smart security. The door opens and two more guys come in, neither of them familiar to me.

  Ashur does the introductions. "Juncs, this is Mish." He points to a tall slender guy with the same black hair and wings as Tier, but with the bluest eyes I've ever seen. "And Goldilocks here is Rikan."

  Rikan is the first blue-eyed blond avian I've seen besides Lucan, but since he doesn't have wings he doesn't count. Rikan's wings are a honey cream color and my eyes linger on him a little longer than they should. Braun catches it. "Yes, Junco, we all know he's beautiful, but if ya keep looking at him that way, we'll have to beat the shit out of him to dampen down the ego."

  I look away, embarrassed.

  Mish takes a seat at the table, but Rikan comes up to me and squeezes my shoulder. "It's nice to see you smile, Junco."

  Braun looks up from the deck he's shuffling. "Yeah, I think you've smiled more in the past few hours than you did in six months back on Earth." His eyes go back to his task, but I'm stuck on his words.

  "Did all of you watch me?" I glance around the room. Oops. Everyone looks a little uncomfortable. "I mean, I don't care if you did. I just didn't realize my life was such an open book."

  The door chimes again and Braun calls out, "Enter at your own risk," then winks at me as three more guys come in. Ashur stands up this time and claps a guy in a formal uniform on the shoulder, leaning in to have a private joke. The four of them chat for a few seconds before turning towards me as he motions to another guy. "Junco, this is Arel." Arel is the shortest of them all, darker than either Tier or Ashur, and he moves toward me to shake my hand like a prairie lion stalking grouse at dawn. I shudder to think of him hunting me. "Isten, who is your new counterpart by the way."

  I look hard at Isten who, I notice, has hazel eyes just like mine. His wings aren't as mottled, but they are the closest thing I've seen to white so far. "Cold-bore kill-shot in one?" I ask.

  He shoots me with his finger. "You must read minds or something," he says as he pulls a chair next to
me.

  "And Ryse here," Ashur gestures to a guy who could be Braun's brother and who is wearing the formals, "just passed his qualifiers for officer promotion. Here's hoping you make it, buddy, but if you don't you'll always have a spot flying our asses around."

  I smile at him as he takes his coat off and settles into a chair between Ashur and Braun. My eyes travel from one guy to the next, watching them joke and talk with each other in a way only a true military team can. The only two missing are Layla and Tier.

  We start the game and Braun is caught cheating on the first hand and is relegated to bartender. He beckons me to join him in the kitchen as he goes to get some beer.

  "What's up?" I ask.

  He's rooting through the fridge collecting bottles from various brands of alcohol that I don't recognize. "Here, take these. That's for Rikan and those three are for Ashur, Ryse, and Isten."

  I take the bottles and turn to leave. "Hey, Juncs?" he asks, still fishing around for a few more beers. "We weren't spying on you, OK?" He looks up then, serious. "I know it might feel that way, but really, only Tier was on the ground most of the time."

  I smile. "It doesn't. Feel that way, I mean. It's sort of a relief," I let out a deep breath, "not to have to hide things, actually."

  He lets out his own long breath and I wonder if he was really that worried about how I might react. "You don't have to hide anything from us, Junco. We're a team now, you're official, no matter what happens from this point on. You're one of us. It was a done deal back on the transport when we took the vote."

  I look down. "But why?" Then I look back up to see what his eyes say. "Why would you guys risk so much for me? You don't even know me."

  He shakes his head. "You're wrong, Junco. We know you better than you know yourself. We've watched it all go down in real time."

  I turn to leave, but he stops me again. "Wait, here," he says, handing me another bottle that I can barely manage to hold on to, "this one's for you."

  I pass out the beers and take my seat again. Isten reaches over and removes the top on mine after I struggle for a few seconds, then hands it back. "That's good brew, you'll like it." Then he smiles and lights a stogie, his attention diverted by a play on the table. I turn the bottle around to see the label and my stomach feels funny. It's called Little Sister.

  Braun watches me as he's coming out of the kitchen. He drops off his load of beers and then comes over and pulls a chair up next to mine and immediately starts peeking at Isten's cards. Isten punches him in the arm and scoots over next to Arel, leaving Braun to bother me.

  "Here's the million-rill question for you, Junco." Braun leans back in the chair and flashes a grin around his stogie, then snags my shirt between his fingertips. "Who the hell did you steal this shirt from?"

  My face heats up as I watch the guys start shouting out guesses. I smile at all the names they know, none of whom have ever gotten that close to me."You're all wrong," I say, looking down at it. The memory floods back in from somewhere and I recall the night with perfect clarity. "Mikah Mesner."

  "No!"

  "Shit, that loser–"

  "Say it ain't so, Junco–"

  I look up. "Oh yeah, boys. It is so. Mikah fucking Mesner. He was – a lot of fun." I think I make myself blush.

  Isten looks at me with a serious expression. "Hey, Junco, I've got a shirt you might like, too." Every one of them spits beer at that one and I feel the heat overtake my face which makes them laugh even more.

  I look around the table and find Ashur, a little more serious than he should be, and challenge him with my eyebrows. "Something on your mind, Ash?"

  He accepts my challenge without delay. "You had Tier's shirt for a while there, Junco."

  The guys take my side.

  "Oh, shit–"

  "Ash, why the fuck–"

  "You piker, leave it alone–"

  My hand goes up as I look calmly around the table. "Since I have been informed that we are all in this together, you might as well know the truth." I pause to straighten up my face and look down. They all lean in, waiting for me to give the details. "I did not sleep with your captain." Braun is so pleased he kisses me. Everyone else seems pleasantly surprised and one by one they lift their bottles in the air and toast me.

  Ashur salutes with his beer and I nod and flash him a crooked smile.

  We spend the rest of the night talking about each other, and since they know so much about me already, they tell stories even I had misplaced.

  Right before I pass out on the bed between Arel and Isten I make a note to myself. Best day ever.

  Chapter Five

  I roll over on the bed, bump into another body, and force my eyelids open a fraction. Isten's arms wrap around me and pull me in and I fall back into a dreamless sleep only to be woken up in seconds when the door chimes. I hear Layla shout, "Officer up!"

  Bodies scramble all around me and I feel Isten pick me up and throw my feet onto the floor. Before I even have my eyes open I am standing at attention, my right hand forming an Earth salute that may or may not be appropriate. The eight of us are lined up in a column, four to a side, in front of the screen. Layla walks through our pattern and stands at the center on the other end.

  I keep my eyes trained upward like everyone else, but steal a peek over towards the commanding officer who stands just to my left.

  "At ease, Aves."

  Everyone relaxes and I study them quickly to see how I should stand. Feet apart, shoulder width, hands behind my back, eyes to the officer. Some things never change.

  He begins with a sigh. "I don't expect you to be happy about this and I don't really care. I have my own team, which you are all aware of. Except the lady here–"

  "Junco Coot, sir."

  "Junco, then. Tier is out and it looks extremely doubtful that he will be back. So, for the time being I'm your captain, but Ashur remains XO until more permanent arrangements can be made. Are we clear?"

  "Yes, sir," we all shout.

  "All right then, we'll have a morning meeting every–"

  "Why the fuck is Junco on the screen?" Braun's cursing interrupts the captain and we all crane our necks to see the news on the far wall.

  "Holy shit, it's Selia! Where is this?" I look around. "How do they have this footage?" I have a lot of eyes looking at me, but only Layla responds.

  Layla comes over and takes my arm until I'm sitting on the bed. "A lot has happened on Earth, Junco. It's a huge mess and this" – she points to Selia on the screen, her face burned and dirty, dressed in a military uniform that I don't recognize; every once in a while she cowers from an explosion in the background – "woman has been blasting some video of you all over the fucking sphere. She's got a tape of your mother threatening the governments of no less than four of the Republics, your mother's in–"

  "Invaded the MR, yeah, I know that. I gave Selia that shit and sent her out right before I went into the meeting to kill Aren."

  Everyone looks at me now, but only the captain speaks. "You started this war?"

  I sneer at him, instant dislike for his baseless accusation. "Of course not, I needed to get a message out of my compound, so I gave Selia there the video Slag gave me of my mother in exchange for a favor. Looks like she did her job and then some, which is good, otherwise I'd have to go back and kill her on principle."

  Mish and Rikan snigger on the other side of the line and Ashur hisses at them to shut up.

  The captain directs the guys to take a seat at the table. "Perhaps you should start at the beginning, Junco. This was not in any of the reports."

  "Well, it wouldn't be, would it? No one knew but me and I wasn't debriefed." I stare up at him innocently and he draws a large breath in.

  "Yeah, OK. Start at the beginning, please."

  I run it down in simple terms: the memory dump with Tier, the envelope in the Goat, the trip back to my room, the secret room, the call from HOUSE to see Slag, the discharge – everyone groans at this part, but I move on quickly – then
the video message on the cube Slag gave me.

  "She set them up?" Ashur's tone says he's doubtful.

  I shrug with my hands. "This is all I know, Ash."

  "And that part about your childhood, Junco?" Layla asks. "Is it true?"

  "You mean the part where I assassinated my first target at six? Or the part where my mother wanted to steal me away and my father had her deported?"

  She swallows and nods.

  "I found the memories of both," I say, looking from face to face. "We were on vacation, some fancy European ski resort. They went up the on the lift in front of me, I pretended to be adjusting my sock in my boot. The targets got on the lift, then I followed. When we got to the top my parents were already halfway down the mountain. I followed the couple until my parents came out from the trees, then they killed the man and I slit the woman's throat with the SEAR. It was the first time I ever used it – for real, anyway."

  All eight of my new teammates stare at me in disbelief and the silence makes me continue. "We changed to cross-country skis in the woods, trekked a few miles down to a road, and were picked up in a long silver car by an older man with white hair." They continue to stare. "That's it. You can close your mouths now."

  "And you were six?" It's Isten's question this time.

  I look to him and nod. "Six – but if it makes you feel any better, Isten, I hurled my guts out afterward. So anyway, like I said, I knew the reporters were out there beyond the gate at my house, and this girl, Selia," I point to the screen where she is still talking, "got the golden ticket if she would just deliver Charlie's cubes to someone in his family. I'm glad she's telling everyone, that was the purpose of me giving her the evidence."

  Ash throws me a little gray cigar box and I breathe a mumbling thank-you as I slide it out and strike it up.