The Rogue Wolf

by KT Belt

  You and me both, kid, Carmen thought. She considered saying as much but thought better of it. “I think it’s something we have to practice, just like anything else,” she said instead as she moved her own piece. “At least, I hope it works that way,” she muttered under her breath. Phaethon heard her and nodded.

  His next move lacked the hesitant caution of his previous few. He could never keep to that for long. Despite that, it completely changed the landscape. Carmen paused for a moment as she worked out what her response would be. Nothing immediately came to mind, but what did come were the first elements of anxiety.

  Phaethon stared at her, and though there was no clock, she felt pressed to act. She moved her piece and then winced as soon as she was finished. Phaethon, in turn, smiled, and capitalized on her mistake. Mercy never even entered the equation. After his move, he stared at her again, ready and waiting. Carmen, however, looked at the board.

  The shadows of Haven City and all contained therein muted her features. There was anxiety and maybe even fear; either way, her Dark let itself be known. She leaned back for a moment. Her next manipulation of the chessboard was simple, direct. It wasn’t a very good play, though. Phaethon captured the piece, and the strategic situation changed again, for the worse.

  Carmen considered the new layout for a few seconds and then made her move. It was just as bad as the previous one. Phaethon didn’t capture another piece, but he did greatly enhance his position. She frowned. She thought about how he always overturned the board when things weren’t going well. It was tempting, but just then she saw an opportunity, though a small one.

  At first, Phaethon didn’t realize what had just happened. He smiled as he took another piece. But he and elation parted ways soon after. With each move, he became more unsure and more frantic. His actions took a sporadic quality in contrast to his handler’s calm focus. Till, at last, boxed in a corner, he heard the word he couldn’t stand to hear.

  “Check,” Carmen said simply.

  Her charge stared at the board. His face fell and his body slackened. At first, she worried he’d overturn the board again or worse. But no, he’d given up trying. There were other moves he could have taken, other options, but he took none of them. Instead, Phaethon knocked his own king over and sat back in his chair.

  “You always win,” he muttered softly.

  Carmen glanced at him. “I wish that were the case,” she said under her breath.

  He didn’t hear her as she began rearranging the board. “I’m tired of this game,” he said.

  She glanced at him again. That wasn’t an unusual complaint. They wouldn’t play for days and he’d still say it as soon as she broke out the board. But maybe he had really had enough for the day. Her eyes turned to Haven City and then back to him.

  “We could take a field trip?”

  Phaethon turned his head slowly to look at that great metropolis. It had been one of the main tourist centers of New Earth before the war. While Carmen had never done it, one could get lost for weeks sampling its vistas, cuisine, and unique entertainment. Phaethon swallowed hard.

  “I’d rather not,” he said meekly. Carmen couldn’t help raising an eyebrow. “What of it?” he spat, noticing his handler’s wayward eyebrow.

  That’s the Phaethon I know, she thought. “Don’t worry about it,” she said simply. “We’ll go another time.”

  He nodded, then leaned toward her and rested his foot on top of the board. He knocked the pieces to the ground again, which made Carmen frown, but she otherwise kept her composure.

  “We should spar.” His voice carried steel-like confidence.

  She shook her head. “I don’t want to fight you.”

  Phaethon laughed and rested his arm on his knee. “Come on, we don’t have to fight to the death. My handler said Clairvoyants fight to the death, but we don’t always have to.”

  So did mine, Carmen thought. “I don’t want to do that either.”

  Her charge gave an annoyed groan and sat back in his chair again. “You’re no fun. Me and the other assets spar all the time—” Carmen looked at him hard. They weren’t supposed to do that. “No one gets hurt,” he said quickly. “Too badly,” he added under his breath. “But why not?”

  She took a few seconds to think about it. She doubted simply saying she didn’t want to would satisfy him, despite all his lessons on Darks.

  “I’m you’re handler—”

  “So?” he interrupted.

  Carmen raised a hand to hold him off. It had become a reflex by the second day of knowing him. “That means I’m responsible for your wellbeing. I don’t think beating you up falls in line with that.”

  “Beating me up?” Phaethon mused. “What makes you think you’d win? People say you’re pretty strong, but I always win. That’s what I’m good at, not this stupid game,” he added, glancing at the board. “I’ll prove it to you.”

  “No,” Carmen said firmly. She was about to respond to what he said till she realized they had both missed the point. She took a second to gather herself before she spoke again. “I said I’m responsible for your wellbeing. And really, your wellbeing is about this game,” she said, motioning her head toward the city. “And that fight. Not about…not about showing off.”

  “Is that another message from Kali?”

  “No,” Carmen replied. “She only tells me every other thing to say,” she added, chancing a joke. It didn’t work, although she wasn’t surprised. She didn’t have much practice in making jokes.

  “Well, that’s bullshit,” he said. Carmen looked at him hard again. Almost everyone knew not to curse around her. “That’s stupid,” he corrected himself.

  “Why?”

  “’Cause I don’t need any of that,” he said. Carmen looked at him hard for about the tenth time today before she shook her head. He continued anyway. “We don’t need to play that stupid game. And it’s not showing off. We’re practicing. You know as well as I do that we’re all going to become mercenaries, soldiers, or something like that. Why’d they spend so much time training us to fight if we were supposed to play chess?”

  “I don’t know,” Carmen said. “But why am I here if all you’re supposed to do is fight?”

  “…Stop confusing everything.”

  She shook her head again and sat back in her chair. She said nothing, however. Perhaps she was being confusing? Either way, this conversation wasn’t going anywhere. Carmen glanced at the other assets and then looked at Phaethon.

  “Maybe we should take a little break?”

  He glanced at them as well and knew exactly what she meant. “That would be good,” he said as he stood.

  He added nothing else and began to walk off. “I’ll find you later,” Carmen said before he was out of ear shot. She saw him nod in response, and then she was alone.

  Her first thought was to go to the bluff. It had been a while since she last visited. But she didn’t really have the time for it, so instead, with a sigh, she pulled out her PDD. She hated trying to find a job, despite her extensive practice at it. Things were worse now that she needed something that paid a lot very quickly.

  She’d long since assigned a hot key to the local job listings. The first pulled were, of course, offers to join various mercenary bands. The occupation was on the extralegal side, but the authorities tended to look the other way, especially with the war, since they were the prime clients. For years, some of the larger mercenary groups had even been trying to set up recruitment centers at the facility. Clairvoyants were always in high demand.

  Although the job search engine was smart enough to sort by her personal skills and aptitude, it wasn’t as good in responding to her tastes. The listings were projected out in front of her in a large hologram. She studied the image, hoping to find something that didn’t fit her best skill. She found nothing on the current page, so she went to the next. It was filled with recruitment ads for Space Force and various planetary self-defense forces. Carmen had seen them so many times that they may a
s well have been tattooed on the back of her eyelids. The signing bonuses were tempting, though. She went to the next page before her willpower could completely fail. Then she grabbed a clump of her hair and pulled in frustration.

  “This is impossible,” she muttered to herself.

  After leaning back in her chair, Carmen took a deep breath and then let it go in an annoyed huff. If she gave both her arms and legs, she still wouldn’t have enough money. Just then, she smiled. She turned and saw her old handler walking toward her. She waved so fast that it was a wonder her arm didn’t fly off; she just couldn’t help herself. Kali smiled modestly and waved back in the same fashion. Carmen ensnared her in a hug when she was close enough.

  “And how is my favorite former charge?” Kali asked after taking a step back.

  Carmen paused for a moment. She could practically feel the small spurt of elation drain from her body. “Battered,” she muttered.

  Kali nodded slowly and then took a seat, which prompted Carmen to do the same. “No luck on the job hunt then?”

  Carmen’s PDD started randomly scrolling through the listings. She didn’t really care enough by this point to stop it or even check them. “Luck…” she said, rolling her eyes. “I think it’s a bit beyond luck. I need a miracle.”

  “Well, I’d be happy to—”

  “No,” Carmen said sharply. “I said I don’t want to do that. How many times do I have to tell you?”

  Kali raised an eyebrow at her former charge and let the look simmer. Carmen wilted much as Phaethon had with her. Although Kali held no formal power over her now, the effort to even look at her old handler could break infinium.

  “Edge, why do you always make things so difficult for yourself?” Kali asked, though it sounded rhetorical.

  “I’m not,” Carmen said anyway. “Everything was fine before the hospital needed more money.”

  “Everything was fine? Lie to yourself, but don’t lie to me, please. Actually, don’t even lie to yourself. You should know better.”

  “I guess you’re right,” she muttered. “But I don’t want to fight anymore.”

  Kali studied her former charge for a moment. “I’m only trying to help you,” she said softly.

  “I know,” Carmen replied.

  “Edge…my Edge,” she went on, slowly shaking her head. “If he did anything, Janus named you well. So, what do you plan to do?”

  Carmen couldn’t help a small shudder. She thought about her answer and simply shrugged when nothing good came to mind. Kali opened her mouth but closed it just as quickly. She glanced at the chessboard.

  “How’s your play?” she asked.

  “Terrible,” Carmen admitted.

  Kali gave an amused smirk at that then waved at the board. Carmen’s PDD rested on the board and was still on. It continued to flip through the job listings, but Kali said nothing about it. Carmen didn’t think it would get in the way, so she didn’t move it. The board was set in moments, and Kali made the first move. Carmen took a deep breath before she made hers. They’d played each other only a few times, and even then it had just been to teach Carmen how to play. Carmen knew she had no hope whatsoever in winning, but it would help take her mind off things.

  “How are you handling your charge?” Kali asked.

  “I don’t even know,” Carmen said. “I wish it was just like…you and me,” she added, glancing at her.

  “And how are you and I?”

  Carmen looked at her through the job listings. “Well, for one thing, he doesn’t get up and hug me when he sees me.”

  “I see your point,” Kali said after a quick nod. “But that really shouldn’t matter.”

  Carmen frowned as one of her bishops was captured. She was already doing badly enough before she lost it. “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “A handler is not a parent or even a teacher,” Kali explained. “Our chief concern is the wellbeing of our charge. It doesn’t make much difference if they actually like us or not.”

  “It certainly makes things easier, though,” Carmen said with a groan.

  Kali made no reply other than a smile. Their game continued, though Carmen would say it was more of a rout. When it was finished, inevitably with her defeat, they started again. Their play was different from hers with Phaethon. Kali was almost toying with her, teasing her into action before closing an unseen trap. The second match ended much like the first.

  “Have you heard the latest news?” her old handler asked casually, changing the subject.

  “About the admiral, yeah. What of it?”

  Kali glanced at her and slowly shook her head. “No, I don’t mean him.”

  “Then what are you talking about?”

  “Earth was attacked.”

  Carmen paused as she considered her first move. Her hand hovered over almost every piece in turn. “Everybody heard about that. News talks about it all the time. They said a lot of people were killed.”

  “A lot of people killed?” Kali mused with a shrug. Then she looked at the city in the distance, at the courtyard, and lastly at Carmen. “You’d never know,” she said simply. “Everything is so calm here. It’s hard to tell that everything has its price.”

  Carmen’s hand hovered over the board for a few brief seconds. “Price? Since when are people currency?” she asked casually.

  “Everyone has a value, especially in war,” Kali said, her tone vastly more serious than Carmen’s.

  “So what is being bought?” Carmen asked, only half paying attention to the conversation. The game required most of her focus.

  “Hmm… I don’t know,” Kali said. “I don’t think anyone really knows.”

  “So, then what’s the point?” Carmen asked, glancing at her.

  She glanced back. “Edge, do you remember what you told me after your first flight? That the people in the town seemed disjointed?”

  “I remember.” It was obvious that she was going to lose this game as well.

  Kali nodded slowly. “Individual people aren’t rational, let alone billions of them committed to an effort. They’re scared now, more like frightened beasts than anything civilized. The reason is easy to figure out. They don’t want to be killed. But why? Life is more than just fear of death. It has a point—everything has a point—but I don’t think anyone can know what it is,” she said. “You’ve been out there for a couple of years now,” she began again, motioning toward the city. “Do you really understand any of it?”

  “No,” Carmen admitted.

  “No one does. It can probably never be understood. There are benefits to that, though.”

  “How does anyone benefit from that?”

  “Hmm.” Kali smiled broadly. “Terrans are as much a wildfire as anything—uncontrollable and utterly destructive. And if the sortens are dumb enough to throw away their worthless lives fighting it, we’re all better off.”

  It wasn’t the first time Kali had said something like that since the war started. Her words, as always, flowed so smoothly that they may as well have been dipped in honey. The words, just as the style in which they were said, were not unusual. Most of the Clairvoyants of her generation detested sortens. Carmen had never met any.

  “I don’t pay much attention to the war. I have enough to worry about as it is. I just wish I knew what to do,” she said after a sigh.

  “You don’t need to make things so hard on yourself. You do have options,” Kali said.

  “Doesn’t mean I have to choose them,” Carmen said back.

  She then slumped in her chair and stared at the chessboard. In retrospect, she couldn’t really blame Phaethon for never wanting to play. It wasn’t very fun when you always lost.

  “So, what will you do?”

  Carmen looked at her old handler through the image projected by the PDD. Kali’s face was mixture of concern with a touch of impatience. She had seen the expression more than once. But just when she was about to respond, Carmen stopped short. Her focus changed from Kali to the image itself. She
smiled.

  “Well, there’s an option I can live with.”

  4

  Long Shot

  A dab here, a dab there. The effort drew Carmen’s full focus, as the precision required in this sphere of life was beyond her normally deft hand. She was progressing slowly, but progress was still progress. That was, until she looked at her reflection, frowned, and decided to start over. This had to be the third or fourth attempt; she’d lost count. Makeup wasn’t a weapon she had all too much experience with, nor was it one of those skills she just knew. Kali had tried to give her some practical lessons with it when she was younger, but her handler had been just as hopeless. The guides Carmen found with her PDD were helpful, though. Now she looked like a circus clown only when you squinted.

  She shook her head and then continued with the construction of her new face. Everything would have to be perfect for a change. She’d been on countless job interviews and thought nothing of them, but this time she swore she’d see a guillotine hanging over her head if she looked up. If not over her head, it was certainly over Michael’s.

  She found it a bit hard to optimistically gauge her chances. Her clothes, unfortunately, were rather modest, though that was due more to lack of funds than bad taste or meager skill in dressing herself. She styled her hair to the best of her ability, which meant it was in a ponytail. Considering her hair, clothes, and haphazard makeup, it would come down to her charming personality to make a good impression.

  “This is impossible,” Carmen said after a groan.

  She checked her watch and noted the time. She needed to catch her bus. It would be improper to be late to a fruitless job interview. She could be there in a matter of minutes if she flew, and in fact she had recently abstained from public transportation to save a little money. Every credit helped. Today, though, she would take the bus. It was too tiring to fly, and she wanted to be at her sharpest. Furthermore, flying fast had an annoying tendency to turn her hair into a frizzed mess, which wouldn’t do at all.