by V. St. Clair
Topher liked her. Whenever their duty rosters coincided, he knew he would be dealing with someone who was smart, capable, and wouldn’t try to engage him in annoying conversations about local gossip or whether or not he was sleeping with one of the Vicerinas. Because of her unassuming nature, Lorna was often overlooked by their peers, written off as unimportant. Topher knew what a serious mistake that was on their part.
“Yes, the theater,” Lorna explained patiently, though there was a touch of amusement in her voice. “The place where people go to watch other people pretend to be people they’re not for an exorbitant amount of money.”
“I know what the theater is,” he replied, as Darius snorted mirthfully, watching the exchange. Since Topher had spent hours making him feel like an idiot this week, he supposed he could understand why Darius enjoyed seeing him at a disadvantage. “I was merely expressing my surprise at your offer, since we haven’t been out together socially before.”
That was true enough. Topher wasn’t much of a socialite, and tended to spend his off days alone, recharging his mental batteries, so to speak. He thought Lorna was the same way, but he hadn’t paid much attention to what the others did on their time off in the past.
“This isn’t a date, Topher,” Lorna pursed her lips at him, looking like she regretted interrupting his coaching of Darius in the living room already. “Yesterday was my birthday and Shellina apparently remembered me expressing a desire to go to the theater someday, though I’m too frugal to waste that kind of money on myself. She got me two tickets and suggested I take a friend. Since you are also off-duty, and we have always gotten along fairly well, I thought to ask you. But if you would rather not attend, I’ll find someone else or go alone.”
Topher frowned thoughtfully and considered the offer. It had been several days since the voice in his head had told him not to leave the Augenspire, and it had remained quiet ever since, even though he’d left the building several times since then. He was still paranoid there was something important he was missing, but there didn’t seem to be any immediate danger he could point to right now.
He’d also taken to leaving a Talent equipped all day to prevent the voice from barging into his thoughts, so he was feeling more rested than usual.
Maybe I can just leave a Talent in at all times for the rest of my life, except while sleeping. But if anyone notices and figures out why I never remove them, they’ll strip me of my rank and quietly retire me.
There was a depressing thought. Retired at twenty-four.
“In that case, I would be pleased to see a show with you.” In truth, he had never been to the theater himself, because his family could never afford the extravagant cost. The Tetra was the only theater company in Silveria, and was only frequented by the elite members of society and those wealthy enough to rub shoulders with them.
“Good. I’ve got some shopping to do downtown, but you can meet me there at ten.” She handed him one of the tickets. “Sorry to interrupt your discussion.” She nodded at Darius and then stalked away like a giant bird of prey.
“Wow, you guys really don’t live for romance, do you?” Darius observed in amusement, tapping his pen on his knee.
“What do you mean?”
“That was the driest exchange between two human beings I’ve ever seen.” He switched over to a robotic, mocking tone and said, “Major, would you like to occupy a seat beside me at a local business? I’d like to clarify that this is not a solicitation of your company, merely a request to balance the room appropriately by providing an optimal number of people.”
Switching over to a different robotic tone, one Topher assumed was meant to mimic him, Darius said, “Why yes, Major, I will consent to sit beside you amongst the plebes. Let’s not meet beforehand for dinner, or be seen together in any way until it becomes an absolute necessity. If possible, we should avoid speaking or making eye contact for the entire duration of this event.”
Topher gave the man a flat stare and said, “Are you finished?”
“I’m not sure. I could probably keep this up for hours—”
“Contrary to popular belief, not everything is about sex, even in the government. Lorna and I appreciate each other’s company, but are not interested in pursuing a relationship, and the rumor mill of the Augenspire is more powerful than any hundred primary schools combined.”
As Darius opened his mouth to respond to this, Shellina entered the living room with Major Gareth in tow, apparently headed towards Jessamine’s side of the floor. Upon spotting Topher and Darius on the couch, she made a beeline towards them and said, “Topher! I heard you’re going to the Tetra with Lorna tonight. Be sure not to do anything I wouldn’t approve of.” She gave him a knowing look that made Gareth grin from behind her.
“Wow, that was quick,” Darius said at the same time Topher muttered, “There’s nothing to worry about, Vicerina…”
Gareth was still grinning in delight behind Shellina, and was now pretending to throw a grappling hook up the side of a steep hill and using it to pull himself upwards. Topher had heard some of the others joke about Lorna’s height, speculating as to what it would take to ‘scale that mountain,’ so unfortunately he understood the implication.
“Speaking of outings…” Topher began in annoyance, “Gareth, was that Reya I saw you with at Rickings yesterday?”
He had seen Gareth downtown while on business, but the Major had been entertaining a lady at lunch who was definitely not Reya. Even though Reya was already spoken for, he knew what kind of trouble it would cause between them if she found out Gareth was with someone else without at least telling her about it first.
Gareth promptly stopped scaling his imaginary mountain and shot Topher a pointed glance that clearly said, Well-played.
“My sister was in town yesterday for business, and we decided to get lunch together,” he replied fluidly.
You seemed awfully affectionate with your sister…Topher raised his eyebrows briefly to show he wasn’t buying it.
“Vicerina, you are going to be late for the meeting if we don’t leave now,” Gareth addressed Shellina, who glanced at her watch and said, “You’re right. Topher, have fun tonight. Darius, I’ll see you later for dinner!” and with that she was off.
When they were gone, Darius turned to him and said, “I see what you mean about the rumor mill. By the way, was Major Gareth actually out with his sister yesterday?”
Topher wasn’t one to start trouble without a good reason, so he simply said, “If he says he was then I’m sure it’s true. I’ve never met his sister, so I don’t know what she looks like.”
Darius looked like he wasn’t sure whether to believe him or not, but Topher’s communicator began buzzing at that moment, so he stood up to excuse himself. He stepped into the nearest restroom to answer the call, excited when the caller-ID popped up as Ana Crumb.
Finally!
“Hello, Ana,” he answered after the fourth ring, trying not to look too eager to speak to her.
“Ah, Major Topher…I was expecting it to go to voicemail.” As always, she looked slightly unnerved by the prospect of actually speaking to him.
“I can hang up and let you call back if you’d prefer.”
Ana pursed her lips at this and said, “No, it’s fine, I just—is that a toilet in the background?” she changed tracks immediately. “Please tell me you didn’t answer this call while you’re using the restroom.”
Topher wondered if anything was going to go right for him today, but tried not to roll his eyes too visibly.
“I just stepped in here to answer the call, since privacy seems to matter particularly to you.”
Ana looked visibly relieved at this and said, “Oh, well thank you. Also, nice bathroom.”
“Are you ready to meet?” Topher brought the subject back to business.
“Yes, I think so. Would tomorrow after my classes be alright? Maybe somewhere downtown at six?”
“One moment, while I check my calendar.” He swiped th
e display to bring up his calendar in place of Ana’s face, quickly checking to verify he had no pressing engagements he couldn’t miss tomorrow. “Yes, that should work,” he flipped back to the video call. “Choose a location and text it to me before then.”
It would be better to let her choose the place so it was somewhere she felt comfortable. It was imperative for her to feel like he wasn’t out to get her, or she wouldn’t be as forthcoming with information.
“Alright, thanks…see you tomorrow,” Ana said awkwardly, and Topher cut the call.
Well, at least I should get something useful to think about tomorrow.
He certainly hoped it wouldn’t turn out to be a waste of time, because he was fresh out of ideas for how to figure out who was targeting the Viceroy and his family, and his paranoia was growing by the day. A part of him thought he should be leaving his Talents out as much as possible, in the hope of the voice telling him something useful for a change, but since it was intruding into his thoughts so frequently and refused to give him any relevant new information, he couldn’t bring himself to endure it. Try as he might, he also couldn’t figure out what he had allegedly forgotten that was so important.
He left the bathroom and returned to coaching Darius Hamish on protocol, but his heart wasn’t in it. He was distracted and unfocused for most of the afternoon, and he continued to feel ill-at-ease until he finally called an end to their session and went down to two-ninety-five to work out.
Rigorous cardio training usually helped control his tension, so he changed out of his light armor and into a pair of dark shorts and a t-shirt in his room, before heading to the training facility reserved exclusively for the Provo-Major and the royal family.
The Viceroy and his daughters had a smaller room dedicated for their private use on two-ninety-nine, but Roald and Jessamine usually opted for the larger accommodations on two-ninety-five, and Shellina didn’t exercise any more than was required.
The training rooms took up the better part of the floor, the wide-open space punctuated by structural supports throughout the room. A quarter-mile racetrack formed an oval around the edges of the space, and the interior was filled with a variety of running equipment, climbing walls, obstacle courses, and assorted weapons areas. In one far corner of the room there was space for practicing throwing-weapons, with javelins, pikes, and knives all set up around a variety of targets. Punching bags and floor mats for hand-to-hand combat were on another end, and standard strength-building and conditioning equipment lined one wall.
Currently there were only three people using the facility, including Topher. Andro and Parl were also off duty, because they were dressed as casually as he was, and were currently in various stages of scaling the outer wall of an obstacle course using only their upper-bodies to pull themselves along.
Both Majors glanced back to see who was at the door, but after recognizing Topher they returned to their business and left him to his. He approached a set of three bars, two of them parallel and the third at a lower elevation, which gymnasts often practiced on. Topher chalked his hands to increase his grip and jumped up to grab one of the highest ones, barely able to reach it without using the springboard to boost himself.
He swung his body upwards around the bar and pulled himself up so he was resting with his stomach against the bar and his arms holding him upright above it. Slowly, he pulled his legs up into the air, arms shaking from the struggle of holding him until he was doing a handstand, viewing the world upside-down. He swung around the bar rapidly and flipped, grabbing the one at lower elevation on his way down and using his momentum to twirl around it and come up on his feet, standing on the bar and jumping back to grab the one in the middle again.
It felt good to stretch his muscles like this, and for a while he put himself through his paces on the tri-bars, feeling the burn in his arms as he pushed himself harder and harder, until he was finally forced to dismount and rest. His body was covered in chalk dust and sweat was pouring down his face, but the usual relaxation that came from pushing his body to its limit was ominously absent. He still felt as tense and worried as ever, even with his pain-muting Talent equipped.
Frowning, and considering what horrible punishment to put his body through next, he was startled by a voice right behind him that said, “I’ve always hated those things.”
He whirled around to see Andro standing behind him, staring up at the tri-bars with a faint grimace.
“I used to,” Topher admitted, “but I’ve come to appreciate them in recent years.”
Andro was also drenched in sweat, but Parl was nowhere to be seen. Andro splashed some water over his blond hair, causing it to curl at the edges and blinked it out of his dark brown eyes. Something about his face had always struck Topher as mean, though perhaps it was because Andro was quick to temper and had never seemed to care for him much. Andro came from money and prestige, and much like some of the others, he probably hated that Topher had come from nothing and gained so much trust from the Viceroy so rapidly.
Topher felt uneasy being alone with him in the training room while unarmored. He had never been in a fight with Andro, and had no reason to question his loyalty to the Viceroy, but he was feeling particularly high-strung these days and his colleagues usually didn’t go out of their way to solicit conversation with him like this.
“I heard you were going out on the town tonight,” Andro wiped his face with a towel, grinning.
“I’m thinking of getting it printed on a sandwich board and wearing it around on my chest, since it seems to be big news,” Topher responded with a groan. Andro laughed as though pleasantly surprised by the sarcasm.
“It’s only big news because you hardly ever go out and have fun,” he explained. “You and Lorna are about as serious as they come.”
Topher shrugged and said, “I’m not much of a partier, and these days I keep getting roped into business on my days off.”
Andro frowned thoughtfully and said, “So I’ve noticed. It hardly seems fair to you. Or to the rest of us.”
Not wanting to give the impression that he was complaining, Topher shrugged and said, “I serve at the Viceroy’s pleasure. I’m the sort who enjoys working grueling hours and having no social life, to the despair of my family.”
Andro chuckled and acknowledged this with a wave.
“Well, have fun tonight. Take Lorna out for something to eat afterwards; you could both stand some time away from this place.”
“I’ll try.”
Topher watched Andro walk away, wondering why he suddenly felt even more worried than before. There was nothing rational on which to base his paranoia, other than someone went out of their way to speak to him when he wasn’t expecting it. Andro hadn’t even said anything unpleasant.
Frowning, Topher removed the pain-muting Talent from his enhancer and put it back onto his belt. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, willing the voice in his head to speak to him. There was nothing but his own worried tangle of thoughts in there.
The one time I want it to talk to me and it’s silent.
Abandoning his workout and noting the setting sun, he jogged out of the training room and returned to his room on two-ninety-eight, washing up briefly in the bathroom and changing back into uniform. Just as he was about to pull on his light armor, the voice spoke to him at last. It was barely a whisper.
Zero.
“Zero?” Topher asked out loud in alarm. “But we never went through one!” He had no idea why he was arguing with something that couldn’t answer him and had never explained itself when asked. He had been wearing his Talents almost non-stop for a week; he must have missed the next part of the countdown.
You are too late, little one. It is falling.
He hesitated for a fraction of a second before pulling on his heavy armor—even the earpieces.
He turned off his amplifiers so the sound of him walking would be muffled; the Majors only turned them on when they were stomping around outside, trying to intimidate people by mak
ing their armor seem louder and heavier than it truly was.
Topher encountered no one on the way to the elevators, but the short ride to the top floor still set his nerves jangling. He hoped his luck would hold out. Most of the others would be at dinner right now, or on their various assignments, so other than a few housekeepers and attendants who looked confused by the sight of him in his full armor, he met no one on his way to Jessamine’s room.
Standing at the threshold, he didn’t bother knocking, scanning his biochip at the door and waiting for it to open.
It didn’t.
Frowning, Topher scanned his chip again, but it still told him his access was denied. He didn’t remember Jessamine revoking his security clearance to her room, but perhaps she had simply forgotten to tell him about it? Or perhaps the scanner was just dirty and wasn’t reading the ID-code correctly…it occasionally happened.
It didn’t feel right.
Growing seriously concerned now, Topher punched in the emergency override code Jessamine had given him years ago on the manual pad, a seventeen-digit number that had taken him a week of hard practice to memorize at the time. The lock clicked open and Topher exhaled in relief, stepping inside.
Maybe it was just a problem with the scanner after all…he assured himself. If she was actually trying to keep me out, she would have changed the emergency code too.