by Simon Archer
“Well, obviously they’re more afraid of them than they are of us,” Malthe said sourly. “Something’s got them spooked. Otherwise, at least one of ‘em would’ve done all those things.”
“It’s just so obviously canned,” Clem said, slamming his fist down again, this time with such force that the table itself shook beneath my hands. “Anyone can see that, right? Why aren’t they talking about that on the news?”
“There were calls placed to the big media CEO’s on the burner phone map, too,” Malthe lamented. “They’ve got everyone under their control. Literally fucking everyone.”
“But how?” Lin asked. “And why?”
“That’s what we have to find out, just like we said last night,” I said, holding up my hands to signal for everyone to stop talking. “There’s no use getting all upset and complaining and throwing a fit about how everyone else should’ve figured it out by now. Trust me, I get it, I feel just the same way you all do. But it’s not going to help anything or anyone to sit around and commiserate. We have work to do.”
“So how do we do it, then?” Clem asked, throwing his arms up in the air in defeat. “What do we do? They already tried to blow us up and everything. What do we do next?”
“We go down to Parliament,” I said, making every effort to keep my voice measured since I figured someone needed to remain calm, at least. “We go down to Parliament, and we figure out how to get this all fixed. Or I do, at least. You guys should stay here. Cindra’s right, these guys don’t want to be doing this, or most of them don’t, anyway. I’ll go down there after the board meeting and try to get something, anything out of ‘em. There’s gotta be something we can do or say to make them talk. They don’t want this any more than we do.”
“And if they don’t talk?” Kinley asked bitterly. “What then?”
“Well then, then we’ll have to figure something else out,” I said. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, at least.”
“I think we have more immediate problems to worry about,” Malthe said weakly, raising a hand and pointing at the holovision screen, which was now trained on the news anchors recapping what had just happened in the Parliament chambers.
“And right now we’ll be hearing from the heads of the new binding corporation conglomerate, who will be filing the paperwork today now that it is legal to do so,” the frazzled and shocked-looking anchor rushed to say, obviously reading off of a teleprompter. The image of a man I had never seen before appeared on the screen.
“Thanks, Chuck,” he said, giving the anchor a small smile even though he was now off screen. “I’m pleased to announce that we will be taking orders for bindings starting at two o'clock this afternoon, and we will resume all binding operations, now with the full force of all but one of the world’s premier binding corps behind us, tomorrow morning.”
“Really, that soon?” the anchor asked, clearly surprised. “Will you be able to get everything up and running that quickly?”
“Well, Chuck, I think that it’s more than clear that after a three-month virtual recess, the binding community is very hungry right now. Our members' corps have been preparing for some time to resume operations in anticipation of something like this. It will take work to bring this all together, there’s no doubt, but we here at Termina’s new binding conglomerate are more than prepared to put in that work and resume service for the great citizens of Termina.”
“Who is this guy?” I asked, with such force that I was almost yelling. “Who the fuck is this guy? Why haven’t I ever seen him before?”
“I dunno,” Malthe said, uncertainty etched across his face. “I’ll see what I can do.” In one quick motion, he pulled out his watch, E-pad, and computer, and began his search, oblivious to everything else that was going on around him.
“And there you have it, folks,” the anchor said, laughing nervously. “Get your orders in now for the next big wave of binding orders, and for the first time in decades, TelCorp will not be performing them. What will Nic Joch and company have to say about all this? Only time will tell. Attempts to reach him or any of his associates at TelCorp have gone unanswered.”
I pulled out my own E-pad only to find that it was already blowing up with media requests. Typical. I looked around to see that the others all were fielding their own set of requests on their own E-pads and watches.
“No one answers them,” I instructed, an unmistakable edge in my voice. “We don’t want to feed the frenzy. Everyone, just keep your mouths shut, and we’ll deal with this as it comes.”
There was a knock at the door, and Kira nearly jumped out of her skin next to me. I squeezed her shoulder and rose to look through the peephole to see who it was.
“It’s just the service drones with the catering for the board meeting,” I said, and everyone visibly relaxed. I opened the door and let the drones file in with an impressive slate of food and drink. My stomach churned as I watched them lay it all out on the table. I wasn’t even hungry, not in the slightest.
Once the drones were safely gone and out of the cylindrical corridor, Lin spoke, her voice shaking.
“What are we going to do, Nic?” she asked, her voice uncharacteristically small, even for a soft-spoken woman like her. “I know you said that we would fight it… but that would mean…”
“Going up against all the other binding corps and the entire government and law enforcement system to boot, yes,” I finished for her, nodding solemnly. “I stand by that. We can’t let this continue. Plus, it’s something to do.”
“Something to do?” Clem repeated, incredulous. “What the fuck does that mean, Joch?”
“It means that people are wondering where we are and what we’re doing,” I said, moving over to retake my seat between Kira and Malthe, who was still absorbed by his tech and seemingly paying the conversation no attention whatsoever. “Including our own employees. If we don’t make any moves against this soon, people are going to wonder what we’re up to. And we don’t need that kind of attention right now, not while we’re trying to locate and take down a secret society that’s been controlling the city for who knows how long in who knows what way. This distracts us, frees us up to continue investigating.”
“Okay… but is a civil war between binding corps really a great distraction?” Lin asked. “Don’t get me wrong, Nic, I’m with you. I want to fight back, too. But this is going to be huge, difficult, and bloody….”
“I know,” I said solemnly. “I know. But it has to be done. And not just because it’s distracting, but because it’s right.”
“Well, you have me there,” Clem admitted. Then, seeming to decide something, “Okay, Nic, I’m with you. We all are.” He looked around at everyone else, and they nodded their agreement, and he banged his fist down on the table again, this time triumphantly.
“Alright, let’s get to work,” I said. “Malthe, keep working on finding this prick from the binding conglomerate.”
“Uh-huh,” he said, nodding vaguely.
“Clem and Lin, after the meeting, I want you back down on the south side running the foxgirls’ protection. We need to keep these people from taking them. Not to mention if we lose TelCorp, the south side will be our last line of defense.”
“Okay, Nic, I’m happy to do that,” Clem said. “But what d’you mean if we lose TelCorp? Do you think we’re gonna lose the company?”
“No, we are the company,” I clarified. “But I think we could lose this building. We’re going to try not to, but we’re in the heart of the north side’s financial district. We can’t say we’re not in a pretty vulnerable position, geographically. But we own the south side. No other corps are down there, no other north side businesses at all, really, not since we started our construction projects. That’s our failsafe.”
“Got it,” Clem said, gulping audibly.
“What about us?” Cindra asked, referring to herself, Kira, and Kinley.
“You guys are with me, at least for now,” I said. “You were right yesterday
. Because of our bond, we’re stronger together. You guys stay here after the meeting and hold up fort while I head down to Parliament. Then, we make our moves against these guys, come hell or high water.”
“Okay, Nic, but maybe one of us should go with you to Parliament…” Kira suggested.
“No,” I said, holding up my hands and shaking my head. “I need you guys here. We still don’t know we can trust everyone else at the company. I need you guys running things while I’m gone. You’ll be my eyes and ears. Plus, I think it’s more likely one of the members will talk one-on-one, they’ll feel less like we’re ganging up on them.”
“Okay…” Kira relented, though she still seemed uneasy.
“What’re we going to tell the rest of the board when they get here?” Kinley asked.
“Everything about our efforts against the conglomerate,” I said. “I don’t see any reason to keep anything about that from them. It’ll end all the questions, too. I’ve been getting messages from the others pretty much non stop since yesterday morning trying to figure out what we’re up to, and I’m sure you guys have, too.” Everyone nodded.
“It’s been hard, ignoring them and dodging them,” Cindra admitted. “These are supposed to be our friends.”
“And they are,” I said. “We just have to keep quiet about the tunnels and that stuff for now. They’re totally in the loop on everything else. Just keep tabs on everyone at all times. We still don’t know exactly what we’re up against.” The foxgirls all nodded.
There was another knock at the door, and I rose to cross over to it.
“That’ll be them,” I said. “Remember everything I said, guys. Keep a low profile. But try not to let on that we’re hiding anything.” Clem snorted.
“Easier said than done,” he said.
“I know,” I said, not unsympathetic. “But we have to. There’s no other option. Anything yet, Malthe?”
“Not a damn thing,” he said, shaking his head. “Which says something in and of itself.”
“It certainly does,” I said grimly, setting my mouth in a firm line as I reached to let the rest of the board inside.
16
“What the fuck is going on, Joch?” Semra asked, speaking before she was even inside the room. “You’re not responding to our messages, evading our calls, avoiding having a meeting, and now you’re locking doors on us? Out with it.” She stood squarely in front of me, her hands on her hips and her long blonde ponytail whipping around her face.
“Sorry about that,” I said, gesturing at the door. “We knew service drones were coming with the food and stuff, and we can’t be too careful right now, so we locked the door. Forgot to undo the code when they left.”
“And what about the rest of it?” Semra asked, unflinching as ever in her resolve.
“Well, as you can probably guess, this came as a bit of a shock to me.” I looked away from her sheepishly. “I needed some time to… process things, I guess.”
“Uh-huh.” She arched a skeptical eyebrow at me, clearly unconvinced.
I certainly couldn’t blame her.
“There was no reason to call a meeting when I had no idea what I was doing,” I continued, growing defensive. “We’d just all be sitting here dumbstruck if I’d called a meeting yesterday. I had to work through some things.”
“Excuse me if I have a hard time buying that a cocky little asshole like you would hole up for an entire day and admit to having no idea what you’re doing,” Semra pressed, looking me up and down. “No matter how true that assessment might be.”
“Well, I assure you that I’ve gathered myself and am now perfectly capable of making decisions,” I said, forcing myself to smile at her. The rest of the board was all filed up behind her by now, clearly more eager to get started than they had been since our very first day running TelCorp.
“Uh-huh,” Semra said again, continuing to eye me carefully as she took her usual seat at the board table. “Might I ask why you all are already here like you had some kind of secret meeting without us?”
“We were all down at my folks’ place last night celebrating my sister and this dumbass getting back together,” Cindra rushed to say as she punched Malthe playfully in the arm. “We came in together and decided to watch the Parliament session together this morning. I assure you there’s nothing more to it than that.”
“Uh-huh,” Semra said for the third time. “Sure. Keep your secrets. So what’re we doing, then? What’s the plan? And how the fuck did all this happen? I thought he was supposed to be keeping tabs on things in the city, so we weren’t surprised by shit like this.” She pointed in accusation at Malthe.
“I assure you that Malthe did everything he could,” I defended my good friend. “This blindsided everyone in the city.”
“Except the people who were behind it, you’d think,” Semra said, and the whole room went silent. Semra may have been a bitch at times, but she was sharp and great at her job. That’s why I’d promoted her in the first place.
“What do you mean by that?” Clem asked her, his eyes darting nervously around the room. “Do you think there’s more to this than meets the eye?”
“If you don’t, you’re stupider than you look,” she shot back at him. He looked at me for help.
“We’re looking into that, I assure you,” I told her as I took my seat again, signaling to the rest of the board that they should do the same. “So far, we haven’t found anything other than a clearly concerted effort by the members of Parliament to subvert our expectations and fool us into thinking they were on our side.”
“Look, some of you are idiots, don’t get me wrong,” Semra said, “but we’re not that stupid. And Lin certainly isn’t. You guys vetted these assholes, didn’t you? This can’t have come as a fucking surprise.”
“Well, it did,” I said flatly. “Trust me, we’re just as pissed off and confused about that as you are.”
“Fine,” she said, shaking her head, “but anyone with a brain watching those proceedings would know it was all canned.”
“That’s literally what I just said,” Clem muttered.
“It is,” I confirmed, “and you’re both right. We’re working on it, but we have more pressing matters to attend to.”
Semra nodded curtly. “The new binding conglomerate.”
“Exactly,” I said.
“So, what are we gonna do about that one?” she asked, shaking her head. “It’s just one thing after another, isn’t it?”
“It really is,” I agreed, not unkindly. “We have to stop this from happening or at least stop them from performing non-consensual bindings.”
“Good,” Semra said. “I’m glad you’re actually doing something, late as it is.”
“Doesn’t that mean…? I mean… they’re not going to take very kindly to that, are they?” another binder I’d promoted, Fizz, stammered. “I mean… they have the law on their side now, don’t they? Law enforcement’s gonna back them up.”
“Yeah, it is,” I said darkly. “I have to check in with the police chief this morning. I’ll deal with it, I promise. As for your question, Fizz, yeah, that’s very true and unfortunate, but we have to do something.” I pressed my fingers down into the table until my knuckles turned white, displaying my anxiety and anger for the whole board to see. Oh well, at least they knew I was taking this seriously now.
“I agree,” Semra said definitively. “We need to do something. We need to signal to the citizens of Termina that we’re not just going to stand by and watch as their city burns. Everyday people, they’re scared. They don’t want this any more than we do.”
“Yes, our air car driver last night said something similar.” I thought back to what Gunnar had told us about keeping his family inside. “It’s a select group of very loud, very destructive people who are happy about this.”
“I could barely sleep last night, there was so much happening on the streets,” another board member, an acquaintance of Lin’s from the non-profit sector named Eni, said.
“I’m so glad I don’t live up here,” Malthe muttered. “You north siders think your districts are so much better than ours. Now, who’s talking?”
“Yes, perhaps I should move down there,” Eni said, scrunching his brows together as he considered this. “The suburbs are nice…”
“Everything’s nice, now that we’ve brought it up to code,” Clem said defensively. “The ‘burbs are the worst place down there now.”
“Well, sort of.” I thought about the moldy, wet, rusted abandoned building above the tunnels. “We’ve still got some work to do, admittedly, but enough on that. We need a plan of action here.”
“Right, so what are we doing?” Semra asked, all business as always. “Are we just playing defense, or are we going on offense, too?”
“Good question.” I leaned back in my chair and rested a hand on my cheek as I mulled this over. “I’m not sure. First, I have to talk to the chief and go down to Parliament, try to get some answers out of ‘em.”
“Alone?” Semra asked sharply. “Would it not be better to appear as a united front?”
“We don’t want to scare them away,” I explained for the second time. “We’ve tried the united front thing. Kira, Lin, and I cold-called everyone in Parliament this morning since we’re the ones who recruited them, trying to get ‘em to talk, but they didn’t take our calls. Well, the Prime Minister answered me, but he might as well not have.”
“Really? What did he say?” Eni asked, but I just shook my head.
“Nothing,” I said. “Just that he understands that this all must be such a shock to me, and he’s sorry about that. Then he hung up on me.”
“He hung up on you?” Semra asked, shocked. “He hung up on you. You’ve got to be joking.”
“I wish I was,” I said sourly.
“And you really think there’s not some bigger force behind all this?” she asked. “If he has the gall to hang up on you, then there must be someone out there that he’s even more afraid of.”