Watching Yute

by Joseph Picard

  It was partly made of ruins, and partly made of modern black metal enhancements. So, this would be home.

  They settled on the pad, and the ground reflected the noise of the chopper back up at them.

  “Alright!” The pilot yelled, “You’re clear!”

  Cassidy nodded at him in a way of thanking him and piled off, pulling her duffel onto her shoulder again. She scooted off the pad and waved. He waved back, and was soon off again, the chopper fading into the hues of gold, taking its boisterous fuss with it.

  Cassidy had dismissed the sand in the air as being the chopper’s fault, but it persisted after the chopper was quite clear. It seemed she was in the middle of a small natural phenomenon. It wasn’t a sandstorm by any stretch of the imagination, but even after trying to shake the sand off, she felt the need for a shower. Hopefully this kind of thing wasn’t a frequent occurrence around here.

  She saw a soldier coming from the direction of the building she’d singled out earlier.

  “Hey there!” Cassidy yelled out, waving. The approaching woman waved back without a word. Cassidy hauled herself and her duffel to meet her. Once they were closer, the woman spoke up.

  “Leftenent Cassidy Stanton, I presume?” She saluted with a warm, calm smile. Her expression reminded Cassidy a bit of Major Douglas- er, sorry, “Marcus”.

  “Yeah, that’s me. Reporting for duty.” Cassidy found herself speaking in a calmer tone, taking her cue from this woman.

  The woman saluted casually, “Corporal Wanda Morat. Nice to meet ya. Can I take your duffel?” She was obviously an Aguei, though she spoke with no trace of an accent. It stood to reason; Aguei in the service tended to be fairly ‘assimilated’, and rarely bore much of an accent, or other blatant signs of their lineage.

  “Naw, that’s fine, Corporal, thanks. Oh, ‘Marcus’ gave me the impression that things were kind of lax around here with rank and stuff. I guess you should call me ‘Cassidy’.” The two started on towards the building.

  “This girl catches on fast!” Corporal Morat said to an imaginary third person, “I guess that makes me Wanda!”

  Cassidy gave a small chuckle. “Wanda it is, then.”

  “So, Cassidy, what brings you to our humble hole in the wall?”

  “Marcus did!”

  “Well yeah, but he doesn’t tend to just snap people up. You had the option, right? Why’d you say yes?”

  Cassidy sighed, and shrugged. “Seemed like a good time for a change of pace.”

  Wanda waited for Cassidy to continue, feeling there was more to it, but she didn’t want to pry. “Yeah, every now and then, it doesn’t hurt.”

  ::: new potential colony host found.

  ::: establish monitor colony: complete.

  They neared the threshold of the 'temple base'. It was bigger than it looked from the air, and despite of, or maybe because of its age, it projected quite an air of grandeur. Of course, not nearly as much as the temple itself, looming to the north.

  The walls of the base were made of large stone blocks, pocked with age. It looked almost like you could reach out and pull a handful off, but such an effort would be scoffed at by this stonework, which had made it this far through ages of true sandstorms.

  Black metal sub-structure lined the doorway, forming a closeable doorway which was currently open, and generally stayed that way. Looking inside, she saw that similar black metal supports lined the other doorways, ceiling, and a few spots that hadn’t fared as well over the ages. Cassidy felt strangely at home, and like an interloper in an alien world at the same time.

  Passing inside, she only then realized how hard the sun had been beating down on her. Wanda spread her arm out, presenting the front room. “Welcome aboard, Leftenent Cassidy!”

  Cassidy couldn’t help giggling. That was exactly what Marcus called her. “Thank you, Corporal Wanda!”

  “She learns fast, what did I tell ya?” Wanda said to herself. “Okay, well, let’s get you settled in. Over here’s the gals' barracks.”

  Wanda led Cassidy to a room with eight bunks, four on either side. Three other women were here. Two were asleep, and one was sitting on her bunk in the far corner, seemingly meditating. She was sitting up, eyes closed, her uniform jacket across her lap like a blanket.

  Cassidy swallowed hard, and tried not to stare. She was radiant. Not that she radiated sexiness exactly, though she was beautiful. This woman exuded an aura of peace and serenity that seemed to fill the room like incense.

  Wanda noticed where Cassidy’s glance lingered. “That’s our ‘den mother’ and second in command, Captain Cipriana Reichenbach.” Since they entered the room, Wanda spoke even quieter. Was it consideration for the sleeping, or just the calm that the meditating Captain cast onto the room?

  Cassidy walked over to the Captain, and stood at attention at the foot of her bed, after putting her duffel down behind her. She took another moment to look at the Captain a little longer. Her chestnut hair flowed around her face, giving her a distinctively earthy look. Behind her on the ledge sat a small flowing plant, a large well-used candle, her hanging dog tags, and an assortment of necessities. Cassidy’s eyes were drawn to a hand-sized butterfly design painted on the wall, almost expecting the Captain’s influence to bring it fluttering to life.

  How long was she staring? Oops. Cassidy stiffened her stance of attention, and brought up her arm to salute. Drawing breath to announce herself, she was interrupted by the Captain. The Captain opened her startling green eyes, and smiled warmly and welcoming. Her voice came soft but clear.

  “At ease, Cassidy. Welcome. If it’s all the same to you, I’ve penciled you in for a watch tonight with Marcus. He’ll brief you during shift.”

  Cassidy was still a little transfixed. “I… sure….” The way the Captain said it, it almost sounded like people got to pick their shifts usually. “Let me guess, Captain, you don’t get called ‘Captain’ much…”

  “Cipriana is fine.” She nodded.

  Wanda spoke up as she slid Cassidy’s duffel under the bunk across the aisle from Cipriana. “If you really get to know her, you can just call her ‘Cip’.” Cipriana rolled her eyes, almost unnoticed.

  “I guess that’s my bunk?” Cassidy asked.

  Wanda shrugged. “I just thought cuz you dropped your duffel here… There’s only five females on staff here right now. We’re under-represented, far below average statistical gender ratio. What’s with that?” Wanda smirked at Cipriana as if it was her fault.

  “How many total personnel?” Cassidy asked.

  “Twenty eight, to ‘man’ two positions at three doorways at the temple. We operate eight hour shifts, day and night, plus extras so we get some days off and junk.” Wanda answered.

  Cassidy thought she should mention her orientation, just to be up front. Not that it was required or anything. She knew she was mature enough to deal with close quarters with other women, but she thought it might be best to lay things out on the table, for the record. “I.. thought I might let you know...”

  Cipriana interrupted gently. “No, It’s alright.”

  Cassidy shrugged. That was odd. Whatever. “I guess I’ll settle in.”

  ~~~~~

  :::C /05

  ~~~~~

  Kirison studied himself in the mirror. What was the right ‘look’ for this kind of meeting? He’d heard rumors that Mr. Book was connected, but Kirison didn’t have any exposure to them himself. He made a mental note that should pushing come to shoving, the fact that his boss was connected might be a useful bit of leverage.

  Leverage? What was he thinking? For one thing, he was in deeper than the boss was already… maybe... and for another thing, he was about to meet people who didn’t respond well to nobodies trying to wield leverage around them.

  Okay, screw the leverage. For now. Focus on the image.

  He didn’t want to priss up too much; they’d eat him alive. He didn’t want to look too tough; they’d sniff him out as a poser.

  Kirison had a
laugh at himself. As if he knew how they think. His knowledge on the topic was entirely rooted in movies. Screw it. Dress ‘business casual’, be respectful, and try not to throw around too many big words. He wouldn’t want to seem condescending.

  He was ready to go. Maybe. He had agonized earlier about how to get there. Drive, and chance his licence plate being seen there, or take a taxi, and risk disappearing, and not leaving behind a car that could help solve his murder. Of course, if they wanted to go to that length, they could make a car disappear, too. He had finally decided he was being paranoid, and that once again, his lack of knowledge about them gave him very little information with which to make smart tactical decisions.

  Of course, smart decisions weren’t what got him into this position, was it? He walked right into a rabbit hole and had been falling ever since, not even aware of it until just a few days ago. And now he was looking for a grappling hook that he might as easily lodge in his own eye.

  Clips from cheesy movies popped up in his head all the time as he was driving there. The restaurant he arrived at was nice, but not too nice. The lights were low inside, like a movie cliché. It was not a comforting thing.

  “I’m here to see him.” He said to the lounge bartender, hoping he would know what he meant. The bartender silently lifted one finger, to tell him to wait. The bartender knocked on the mirror behind him, and went on with his business. Shortly after, a very large man in a very nice suit came out from the back.

  Kirison wondered if this large man would be gentle when giving him cement shoes.

  ~~~

  Cassidy colonized her bunk and footlocker as adequately as she needed. Having a fair amount of time until her first watch, she decided to explore the base a bit. Just outside the ladies’ barrack was the ladies’ washroom and showers. Note to self- still itchy from that little sand dust-up.

  Past that was a small supply room, then the main hall. Directly across the hall was what appeared to be a section identical to the one she just left, except that it was for the guys. This was evidenced plainly by the male soldier walking out of their own supply room. He waved, and came her way.

  “Hey, either you’re the new blood, or a long way from home.” he said. As seemed to be mandatory around here, he had a cheerful calm, and spoke more softly than she was used to. Not as soft as Cipriana, mind you.

  This time, Cassidy jumped right past rank and last names. “Yeah, I’m new. Cassidy.”

  “Nice to meetcha, Cassidy. I’m Alan. Settling in alright?”

  “Yup, just having a peek around. I have a watch with Marcus tonight.”

  “Want some cookies? They should be ready...”

  “Cookies!?”

  “Heehee, come on.” Alan led her to the mess. The smell of the cookies hit her long before they got there. The mess could seat maybe fifty, on regulation tables and benches. One side wall had everything a military kitchen needed, and a few little additions of more civilian origin, for comfort’s sake. The opposite wall had a large screen on it, definitely not standard issue hardware. Several of other guys were about, watching some movie on the screen, or pecking at a meal.

  Alan bee-lined for one of the ovens, grabbed an oven mitt, and started pulling out three sheets of oatmeal raisin cookies.

  Before the last batch of oatmeal raisin was on the counter, at least half of the soldiers in the room were closing in, smiling. Alan closed that oven and moved over to the other, pulling out three sheets of chocolate chip cookies. Many hands were already claiming raisin cookies, with yelps, and cookie-blowing, while others waited for a chance to attack the chocolate chip cookies.

  “You stupid apes!” Alan said, raising his voice. “Guess what? They’re hot!” It was the loudest voice she’d heard here, and it was a little re-assuring that she wasn’t in the middle of a group of librarians in training.

  One of the cookie grabbers addressed Alan “Hey Alan! Great cookies as usual. I think. I’ll tell you when my tongue heals. This is the newbie?” he pointed his thumb towards Cassidy.

  “Yeah Karl, meet Cassidy, Cassidy? Meet Karl. Karl’s a stupid greedy ape, like the rest of these stupid greedy apes, who think that six friggin' sheets of cookies are gonna disappear before they cool! See Karl? Cassidy here isn’t a stupid greedy ape!”

  “She’s probably just on a diet or something.” Karl mumbled, grasping at straws to defend the guys.

  “No,” Cassidy said, soft and pleasantly, “I’m waiting for them to cool. I’m a greedy ape, but not stupid.”

  “Yay, female intelligence!” Cried an Aguei woman over at a table, who later introduced herself as Maxine.

  “There’s even still cookies left over from the last batch in the cupboard,” Alan said, shoving the sheets over to where he could clean them... if there weren’t stupid greedy apes in the way.

  “The ones in the cupboard aren’t warm!” one of the others perked up, mouth full.

  “They also won’t burn you! You all realize that old cookies can be warmed again, right? Just a few seconds of zap, and you’re good to go.” Alan tossed a dishrag at the guy blocking the sink. “You stupid greedy apes have all evolved thumbs, it’s time you learned how to use tools.”

  Cassidy reached over and bent one of the raisin cookies until it broke in half. She stuffed the half cookie in her mouth.

  “That’s it? Don’t trust my baking?” Alan said.

  “Cassidy chewed, holding her index finger up until she swallowed. “I’m on a diet.” She joked. “Really though, these rock. It was worth transferring here just for the cookies.” She grabbed a chocolate chip cookie, and drifted towards the door. “Thanks for the cookies, Alan! I’ll see you stupid greedy apes around, I guess!”

  She walked off nibbling, and thought she heard Maxine behind her say something like, “She’s gonna do just fine here.”

  The chocolate chip cookie was every bit as wondrous as the raisin cookie. It was tempting to go back and get more. The small but concentrated dose of camaraderie was welcome as well. It took her mind far from other bothers.

  She stepped into the supply room to grab a towel, and to her footlocker to grab a change of clothes. One of the sleeping ladies had left the barracks, though Cipriana was still there. She was in the same position, and just as stoic and lovely, but now reading, instead of deep in mediation. “Alan’s done another batch?” she asked.

  “Ah, yeah, he has.” Cassidy answered, her tone again matching Cipriana’s calm. “If I’d been thinking, I could have brought you some…..?”

  Cipriana smiled softly. “Thank you Cassidy. I’m fine. I know where he keeps them.”

  Cassidy smirked. Cip was no stupid greedy ape. Cassidy headed over to the showers, placing her fresh clothes on a counter, and her towel on a hook that would be handy from the shower stall. Her hat came off, letting her deep blonde hair flow loose. She caught a look at it in a mirror. Maybe if Cipriana can get away with her hair loose, she might try... nah. It would confuse the hat. She got in the shower stall and finished stripping, flopping her old clothes over the door. Just getting naked got most of the sand off her. She turned to use the water controls and saw a dark little creature skitter across the wall.

  “What the hell!?” She jumped back, and looked for it. There it was, stuck on the wall, contently.

  “Is everything alright?” came Cipriana's voice.

  “Uh, there’s a little lizard in here.”

  “Oh,” Cipriana’s voice was closer now. “Don’t worry about them. They’re called aeki, they’re harmless. They wander in from the desert sometimes, and usually end up in the showers. They're interested in moisture, I suppose.”

  “So… this is normal? What am I supposed to do?”

  “If he bothers you, kick him out. We take them outside if they look lost. They like the water, but they probably shouldn’t be out of their natural element for too long.”

  Cassidy looked at the little thing. It shifted its weight from foot to foot, taking little, unassuming steps across the wall, defyi
ng gravity. It was as comfortable on the wall as it would be on the floor. Certainly it was harder to get stepped on while on the wall. “Er, he’s okay I guess. If this is normal. Sorry to be a disturbance.”

  “Not to worry. Perhaps I should have warned you.” Cipriana's footsteps faded into the other room, and Cassidy turned on the water. The spray wasn’t at any risk of hitting little lizard, but it seemed to find it entertaining.

  Cassidy proceeded to clean herself. Usually the shower was where she lost herself in thought, though she knew those thoughts would end up on Brandy again. It was very hard to think gloomy thoughts with this lizard here, exploring the world of water in amazement. Thank goodness for little lizards.

  And cookies.

  ~~~

  It was still half an hour or so before her scheduled watch when Marcus came by the women's barracks, having returned to the temple base just a while ago. Cassidy’s hair was still a little bit damp, but pulled back into her ponytail and once again looped through the opening in the back of her cap.

  Marcus stood at the doorway and tapped the wall. “Knock knock? Ready for a little prep?”

  Cassidy stood up from her bed, and saluted. She almost snapped back “Yes, Sir!” at a volume that would normally be expected, but she caught herself in time. She let her posture lax a bit, and her salute end before regulation would normally dictate. “That is, uh…. Okie-dokie?”

  Marcus couldn’t help smile a bit at the newbie trying hard to get into the flow. “Alright, off to the temple…!” As they walked towards it, the temple's already imposing size seemed to grow all the more. A wide staircase went up twenty or so steps, taking up about half of the temple’s front width. They showed some signs of their age, but were in overall good shape, much like the rest of the temple.