by John Conroe
“Seen?” I asked. She just raised one eyebrow and it hit me.
“Not you too Doc. Does everybody watch that stupid show?”
“Only three quarters of the planet, Ajaya. My husband would be thrilled to know I treated you, if I could tell him. Of course, I can’t.”
“Ah, sure. Go ahead. You have my permission Doc.”
“AI did you record that?”
“Affirmative.”
“Just being thorough,” she apologized.
“No problem. No telling anyone what I look like in my underwear though. Gotta keep the mystery alive, you know.”
“No? You sure? I bet they’re gonna ask,” she said.
I jerked my head around to look at her and caught her smirk.
“Dr. Christie, I’m not sure the military would approve of a sense of humor,” I said as she pulled the IV needle. “And isn’t that something most nurses do?” I added, nodding at the used IV kit she was disposing of.
“First, as I told that young soldier, I’m not military. And second, you’re a special case. That Major Yoshida didn’t want too many people near you. That’s why you’re in a restricted area. Now that’s all done, I’ll leave you to get dressed, then we’ll get you to your family.” She smiled and pushed the door open to leave.
I peeled back the covers and looked myself over. Lots of bandages over lots of places. The closet held a set of scrubs and some slippers as well as a plastic bag with my beat-to-shit stealth suit and old boots in it. My brand new stealth suit. It was bloody and burnt and smelled like a high school boys’ locker room. My knife, pack, and ammo pouches were all in it as well, but no rifle or sidearm. I closed the bag, put on the scrubs and slippers, and turned toward the door.
It opened even as I looked its way, Major Yoshida filling the space. My .458 was slung over one shoulder and he held my Five-Seven in one hand.
“Ah, AJ. My Spider killer,” he said mildly.
“Thanks for the use of your Decimator. It kicked freaking ass,” I said.
“It did, didn’t it… right up till that CThree unit overwhelmed its processors. But your Berkut ignored it. Out-flew every attack the Spider made, lured it off the bridge and right into your gunsights.”
“Did you recover the Spider? Lotus?”
“Is that the thing’s name?” he mused. “We dragged it out of the ocean, but it was fried. Something about six heavy caliber rounds punching big holes for the seawater to flow into. My drone team is dissecting the thing, so we’ll learn something at least, but the programming is long gone.”
“So… what’s the current bounty on a Spider?”
His eyebrows went up. “You are a salty one aren’t you? The going rate is a million point two… for everyone else. For you? About two hundred and fifty thousand.”
“What?”
“Well, there’s fees for a rescue like that. Those Quads cost like crazy to fly, then there’s your medical bills, and, of course, a rental fee for the use of my drone.”
“Rental? I oughta be charging you for beta testing that thing,” I said.
He looked me in the eye for a moment, then laughed. “Be happy with a quarter million, Ajaya. And yes, you will get paid for consulting with us. I’ll give you a few days to recuperate, plus the team will be knee-deep in Spider parts for the rest of the week, so let’s see you back here on Monday.”
Corporal Jossom appeared behind him in the hall and he spun around as soon as my eyes went to her. “Ah, Corporal. Kindly escort our Mr. Gurung to his family, if you will. You can hand over his weapons at the door to the building,” he ordered, handing her my guns. He nodded at me and strolled away.
Kayla watched him till he was gone, then reached for my bag of gear.
“I can handle it,” I said. She nodded once, then proceeded to snatch it out of my hand.
“When you’re better. Plus, you’re gonna need your arms free for all the hugs I sense coming your way. Come on,” she said, leading me down the hall. She went a little fast and had to stop, as my pace was greatly reduced by the pulling of stitches, staples, and blistered tissue.
We went through a couple of halls and I started to feel winded.
“Isn’t there like a wheelchair protocol or something?”
“Nah, that’s civvy stuff. Here we march out, usually to a drill cadence.”
“Oh, I guess I should count myself lucky,” I said.
She laughed and pushed open the door in front of her. Suddenly there was a flood of Gurung women hugging me and fussing over me. Over Gabby’s shoulder, I spotted Astrid smiling at me and I held out a hand to her. She grabbed it but Gabby turned and pulled her into the group hug.
Mom looked at me, eyes wet. “Your unfinished business finished?”
“Yup, at least as far as I know,” I said, realizing I didn’t know what became of Harper or Rikki.
“Well, let’s get you home.”
Chapter 38
Aama had a huge meal ready for me and I ate as much as I could, then rested in the armchair, Dad’s old chair, in the living room. Trinity came to visit with JJ Johnson. But the real kicker was Brad Johnson and Martin walking in.
“Quite a day’s work, Ajaya,” Brad said, waving to the video playing on the wall. The military had released an edited video of me on the bridge with Rikki and the Decimator and Lotus. It cut out when Lotus fell into the East River, but there was some pretty violent footage of me and the two drones cutting through a veritable swarm of flyers, a handful of Wolves, a single Tiger, and two Leopards. I had some pretty good shots on flyers but I hadn’t even seen the ground units, as the Decimator had killed them all by itself. Those little missiles it shot were hella powerful. “You killed a Spider CThree. I know there’s bad blood between us but I gotta say… your old man would be bursting with pride right now.”
Part of me wanted to tell him to go to hell, but my mother was watching anxiously and so was Astrid, so I nodded and smiled and thanked him.
“Listen, if you want to go for any of that other drone cache, we’d be real interested,” he said.
I glanced at Mom again and saw her worried look. “You know, maybe we can work a deal. I supply the location, you take the risk, and I get a percentage.”
The shine of greed lit up in his eyes, but he just nodded. “I’m sure we can work something out.”
Brad and Martin left a little later, Martin never saying anything to me but I did get a nod as he left. Rather the snotty bastard kept his mouth shut anyway.
The building super, Lee Hudson, came in with someone behind him. He was about sixty, with deep brown skin and a short, cropped white beard and crew cut white hair. Always wore jeans, a button-up khaki shirt, and work boots. Didn’t matter if it was summer or the dead of winter. Same uniform every day.
“Ajaya, I just wanted to tell you I got your friend situated in the studio apartment downstairs,” he said, moving aside so I could see who was with him. Harper stood there, dressed in new black tights, a new button-up shirt, and flats, holding a string bag with something round inside it. She had a clear bandage on one cheek but otherwise looked fine. No prosthesis on her face though. Her skin tone was uneven.
“Oh hey, you made it,”I said.
“Yup. Piece of cake.”
“Ajaya, who is this?” Mom asked, coming up on us from the kitchen.
“Mom, this is… Harper,” I said, realizing I didn’t know if she was using her real name or not.
“Hi Mrs. Gurung, I’m Harper Leeds.”
“That’s really similar to the famous Harper,” Mom pointed out.
“Yeah, my mom had a pretty interesting sense of humor,” she said, a little flash of pain crossing her face. She wasn’t broadcasting her thoughts on her face as much, or maybe it was just that she was learning to control her expressions a bit.
“How do you two know each other?” Mom asked.
“We were in the same AI class in community college. Worked on a couple of projects together,” Harper said smoothly. “When I
told Ajaya I was moving to Brooklyn, he mentioned that this building had an unleased studio. So here I am.”
I realized that the room was very quiet and glanced around. My sisters were studying Harper with thoughtful expressions, Aama was frowning as she brought out more food, Trinity and JJ seemed mildly curious, and Astrid—Astrid had her arms crossed and a slight frown on her face as she looked the newcomer over.
“Oh, here. It’s the last of the robotics stuff from our lab. You said you could use it for something,” Harper said, handing me the bag with a familiar orb-shaped object inside.
“Hi, I’m Monique,” “I’m Gabby,” said twins one and two, inserting themselves into the conversation.
“Oh, I saw you both on the television interview. Ajaya, your sisters are so beautiful,” Harper said, shaking their hands.
The dangerous duo does like flattery, so it didn’t hurt, but they were still oddly reserved. Then Gabby spun and pointed to Trinity and JJ.
“Have you met JJ Johnson? Or Trinity Flottercot? She’s the producer of Zone War, you know?” Without hardly a pause, she spun the other way and waved a hand at Astrid. “Or AJ’s best friend… Astrid Johnson?”
They all said hello, JJ and Trinity with bemused expressions on their faces.
That was a really odd way to introduce them all, I thought, studying my sisters.
“Wow, I was just going to pop up and say hi. I didn’t realize I would be meeting so many celebrities,” Harper said. “I also didn’t realize you were all banged up like this, Ajaya. I should leave you all to get back to your gathering.” She started to back away, her eyes cutting away like she was nervous.
“Oh nonsense,” my mother said, frowning at Gabby. She smiled at Harper and led her over to the food. “You must be starving if you just moved in. Have some food.” Mom’s hostess instincts were kicking in.
“She didn’t have hardly anything to move,” Mr. Hudson said, almost to himself. “Just all those bags.”
Harper glanced at him, eyes worried, then back to my mom. “That’s very nice of you, Mrs. Gurung, but I feel like I’m intruding on family time.”
Mom gave the room a frown, then smiled at Harper. “Not at all. I for one would like to hear how my son did in class. He got good grades but he never really shared many details.”
“Well, he knew quite a bit from going into the Zone, but not as much as he thought, right, Ajaya?” Harper said, raising an eyebrow at me.
“That’s true. Got schooled more than I want to admit,” I said. The twins were kind of crowding near me, and I noticed that Astrid had moved up closer.
“AJ, you never mentioned your friend Harper?” Astrid asked.
“Well, Trid, we haven’t had a lot of catch-up time lately. The show and the Zone and all,” I said, trying to figure out what the new dynamic was. The pain meds I had swallowed weren’t helping much either.
“Trid? What a cute nickname,” Harper said, smiling, but it looked forced.
“Well, they’ve known each other forever,” Monique said, reaching out to wrap an arm around Astrid’s narrow waist.
“Yeah, that’s great. Hey, thanks for the food and all, but I really have to get things settled downstairs. Thank you so much, Mrs. Gurung. Ajaya, I’ll see you around,” Harper said, looking around for a place to set her plate.
“Take it with you, dear. You can drop it by later. You live in the same building now,” Mom said.
“Well, it’s absolutely delicious, so if it’s truly okay, I’ll take you up on that.”
“Well, Ajaya’s grandmother is an amazing cook,” Mom said, pointing out Aama, who had stayed out of the room for the introductions. “Her paneer marsala is legendary.”
“It’s the very best I’ve ever had, ma’am,” Harper said sincerely. Aama smiled at the ring of absolute truth in her words. Harper wouldn’t have had much opportunity for fine cuisine, growing up in the Zone. Probably her first Indian food of any kind.
“Take some nan too. It’s fresh out of the oven,” Aama said, putting a whole piece on Harper’s plate.
“Okay, well, I’ve stayed too long. Nice to meet you all,” Harper said, sliding out of the apartment as fast as she could. Mr. Hudson looked like he wanted to stay but ended up leaving too.
Mom had her arms folded and was staring at the twins with a dangerous frown on her face. A huge yawn hit me right then and my mother turned my way immediately, her frown changing to a worried one.
“You’re exhausted, aren’t you?”
“Yeah. I think, if it’s okay, I might go to my room and call it a night,” I said.
“Here, I’ll help you,” Astrid said, plucking the string bag from my hands before I could stop her. I said my goodbyes and then led Astrid down the little hallway to my room.
She closed the door mostly shut behind her, then looked at me as she hefted the bag gently, with both hands.
“Is this what I think it is?” she asked.
“Open it.”
She loosened the drawstrings and held them wide open. Rikki floated up, spun in place, then hovered over to my desk and the induction power station there.
“AJ, who is that girl and why did she have Rikki?”
“That’s a long, long story, Trid. I’m not sure I have the energy.”
“Give me the condensed version. You didn’t meet her in any class, did you?”
I shook my head. “Some of it’s her story and not mine to tell, but I met her in the Zone.”
“In the Zone?”
“Yeah, crazy right? Met her and her mother. Her mom didn’t make it out. She snuck out on the lower level of the bridge while I was up top, creating a big distraction.”
“Is that what you call that? Funny, I thought it was you almost getting killed a hundred times in ten minutes,” she said, frowning at me, arms crossed, one hand waving at my wounded body.
“Well, I hadn’t planned on the Spider.”
“Really? Going toe to toe with a Spider CThree wasn’t in your playbook?”
“Was it that bad to watch?”
“AJ, it was the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen. Only knowing I was seeing a replay and that Zone Defense had already announced you were alive and being treated made it watchable at all.”
“Really? I’ll have to take a look. Not right away though. Still too fresh.”
She came closer, unfolding her arms and grabbing my right hand in both of hers. “AJ… Ajaya, I saw you almost die over and over again and something almost died inside me. Don’t ever do that to me again, you hear me?”
She was very close now and I could smell strawberries again and feel the heat coming off her skin. My heart was pounding.
“I told Mom I would most likely stop going into the Zone after I finished up some business.”
“Getting that girl out was the business?”
“Yeah. Pretty much. There’s a bit more to add, but I don’t see why I’d have to go back in.”
“I’d prefer it if you didn’t.”
“But you’re still going in? Right?”