by J P Waters
Olie didn’t want to leave. It had taken everything she had to channel her pain into pursuing the killer, and now she had to abandon that too. With security on the scene, though, there was no way they’d let a technician stay, even a technician who was former military.
The thin security guard took Olie gently by the arm, guiding her back into the complex. “This way.”
Less than 10 minutes later Olie found herself on the fifth floor of Corporate, overlooking the main desalination buildings. Her anger had simmered down to a stunned grief, and she could hardly remember the walk over. It was as if her head—and heart—had been put on autopilot.
She was sitting at a long boat-shaped table. In the center, a telesphere played a commercial for SeaCrest Corp. It was promoting recent major initiatives at the desalination plant as well as SeaCrest’s clean water program that served communities with underserved access to water.
An HR droid entered the room. The droid stared blankly at Olie and asked if she needed anything. They couldn’t even send a human in?
“What I need is my friend back,” Olie muttered.
“I’m not sure I can help you with that,” the droid replied. “But I do want to know that detectives are on their way. I would also like to apologize for your loss and offer you seven additional paid days off.”
“Fuck your time off! What the hell is happening?”
“I’m sorry you are upset. I’m afraid I do not have additional details on the events that transpired today, but—”
“I need to know what’s happening! That was my friend who died back there, and there are still workers in other buildings! What if the killer moved down to another line? People – my friends – are in danger!” shouted Olie, rising from her seat.
“I’d like to remind you that the SeaCrest Corporation offers its employees psychological counseling after a traumatic—”
“I want to talk to a human,” Olie said, hot tears escaping from her eyes. “I want to talk to a damn human!”
“Allow me to see if that can be arranged.” The droid stepped away from the table, looking back one more time once it reached the door.
“Are you sure I can’t get you anything, Ms. Manning? A glass of water perhaps or hot tea?”
Olie refused to respond. Turning her back to the droid, she moved toward the large windows overlooking the facilities. The floor would never be the same without Dim. She closed her eyes and tried to hold herself together. She heard someone enter the room and quickly wiped her eyes.
“Olivia Manning?”
A SeaCrest HR representative entered the room. He was wearing a two-piece bodysuit and was looking up from a smartglass in his hands.
“Olie. No one calls me Olivia.”
“Olie, then. Would you like to have a seat?” The middle-aged man was thin with short, wavy brown hair that was graying on the sides.
“Do you need anything? Water?”
“The droid already asked. I’m okay.”
He sat down, nodding. “My name is Colin Matthews, your Human Resources representative. I’m terribly sorry for your loss. I just learned that you were also the one who discovered the night shift worker, Leon Grossman.”
Olie shook her head. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I want to talk to someone who actually knows what’s going on. A friend of mine just died.”
“You were friends with Mr. Reardon?”
“Yes.”
Colin nodded and tapped a few notes on this smartglass. “I’m so very sorry. We’re happy to offer additional bereavement PTO—”
“I don’t want additional PTO! I want assurance that we’re safe out here! That you’re doing everything you can to catch Dim’s killer!”
Colin looked down at his glass. “We don’t know what’s going on, Olie. I’m afraid the police don’t know, either.”
“What about the security vids? They must have a suspect by now. What happened to Leon?”
Colin shook his head. “I’m sorry, we don’t have any of that information. Look, Ms. Manning… Even if someone does know what’s going on, they are not telling us in HR. I’m sorry, but I just don’t have much in the way of information to offer you.”
There was a knock at the door, and two detectives entered the room—the same pair who had questioned Olie in the aftermath of Leon’s death. A grim recognition flashed across their faces as well, followed quickly by pity.
Now that the police were there, Olie knew she wouldn’t get any further with her questioning. They’d been even more tight-lipped than HR was the first time around.
“I’ll leave you all to it,” Colin said, rising from his chair. “Think about my offer, Ms. Manning. Take whatever time you need. SeaCrest is here for you.”
He whispered something inaudible to one of the detectives before walking out of the room, turning his attention back to his smartglass emails before even reaching the door.
Chapter Fifteen
After her initial hesitations, Olie finally decided to take time off from work. The thought of going back to the place where Dim had died filled her with dread. She also knew she needed to cooperate with the legal investigation surrounding his death. Anything to catch the monster that had done this to her friend. Aside from taking care of Gerry, Olie’s world came to a halt following the attack. It didn’t seem real that Dim could have been murdered… And in such a horrifying way.
Practically everything reminded Olie of Dim. Losing him, in so many ways, was like losing Ursula all over again. Sitting at home and watching adnews, Olie never managed to make it more than five minutes into hearing news of the attack before she had to stand up and leave the room.
However, on the third day of her leave, Olie forced herself to cast her vote in support of the workers’ strike. She knew it was what Dim would have wanted, and that thought alone propelled her to hurry into the main facility. Band messages from Marguerite, Dim’s wife, had also encouraged her to vote. Marguerite had said she needed Olie to be strong for Dim and requested her attendance at Dim’s upcoming funeral service.
Olie decided to send a brief band message apologizing to Jayson and alerting him of the funeral. He may be mad at her, but she knew he’d want to hear about Dim. Jayson knew how important the man had been in her life and, no matter how mad he was, he’d surely want to be there.
Jayson eventually messaged her back later in the day. While Olie felt bad for using the situation to her advantage, it at least opened the door for her apology which Jayson accepted. Still, Olie couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being distant. She couldn’t blame him for that.
Dim’s funeral took place a week after the attack. There was no officiant, just a collection of friends, coworkers, and family in black monosuits gathered at a small recreational park that overlooked the sea. Olie arrived and couldn’t help but smile to herself – the gathering was simple and filled with the people Dim loved most.
As the final attendees arrived at the park, Olie took a seat by herself in one of the many folding chairs provided for the guests. The warm sun shone down on her shoulders. The weather was spectacular, as if it had been planned just for Dim. Olie sat and looked at the water, thinking back on what she had loved most about her friend. He had always known how to get her to smile.
Suddenly, two warm hands softly grasped Olie’s shoulders. She startled and whipped around to find Jayson standing over her. He offered her a slight smile.
“Hey, Ol. Mind if I join you?”
Olie nodded quickly up at Jayson. She pointed at the chair next to her and struggled to find her voice. “Please,” she managed. He took a seat and wrapped one arm around her.
The funeral service started with Dim’s wife, Marguerite, walking to the front of the chairs. Tears poured down her face as she strode towards the stone balustrade that connected the park to the ocean.
Marguerite didn’t bother to say anything more than “Goodbye, Dim,” as she poured her husband’s ashes into the waves of the Pacific. After this, Marguerite turned
to the audience and solemnly nodded. Dim and Marguerite’s two children emerged from the group and the family collapsed into a tearful hug.
Almost at once, the crowd stood up to form somewhat of a receiving line leading up to the heartbroken family. Standing together, Jayson grasped Olie’s hand as she looked at him.
“Jay, I’m sorry,” Olie started.
Jayson shook his head. “I know. We can talk about it later.”
The two joined the receiving line and Olie noticed her coworkers, Jeni and Aaron, standing together. After eventually having moved to the front of the line, Olie embraced Marguerite. Dim’s two children stood next to their mother, and Olie bent down to give each of them a hug, too.
Turning back to Marguerite, Olie looked at her and noticed the woman’s deep frown. “I’m so sorry,” Olie said. “I wish I could have done more.”
Marguerite shook her head sadly as a tear ran down her cheek. “There was nothing you could have done.”
In her heart Olie knew that was true. If she’d arrived any sooner, she would have been killed, too. Whoever the killer was, they were attacking indiscriminately. Still, she couldn’t escape the guilt.
Jayson grabbed Olie’s hand and escorted her away from the family.
On their way out, Aaron and Jeni rushed over to Olie and greeted her with warm hugs.
“Did you vote, Olie?”
“Yes, it was the least I could do for Dim.”
“That’s what we thought, too,” said Aaron.
“Are you going to join the strike?” asked Jeni in a whisper.
“Of course. For us and for Dim.”
Olie stacked a few chicken rolls into the corner of the new, larger terrarium she’d bought for Gerry. He deserved a better living space while they decided what to do with him. A light shone down on the creature, who was balled up in a pool of water as per usual. Olie had carried some sand up from the shore to create a little habitat.
With all that had been going on, she’d forgotten about the strange water she’d found in the bottom of Gerry’s jar after Dim’s visit. If he was actually secreting clean water, it simply went into the brackish pool at the end of the terrarium or disappeared into the dark sand. But when Olie looked into the corner and saw the small plastic container—still full—she remembered. She looked at Gerry and shook her head.
“Don’t you drink anything, buddy?”
Olie reached into the terrarium and stroked the animal. When she pulled her hand away, he opened like a flower and stared straight into the light of the heating lamp. What a strange little creature, she thought.
Jayson was on his way over, visiting for the first time since Dim’s funeral. But before he arrived, Olie needed to speak with Lane. Her neighbor had sent a few kindhearted messages suggesting she was available if Olie needed anything, as well as a small flower arrangement with condolences attached. Olie wanted to thank her.
The door down the hall slid open, and Olie found Raquel running to greet her.
“Olie! Olie!”
Olie hugged the young girl and looked briefly inside the apartment. The windows looked out onto a scorched forest floor that had been repopulated here and there with drought-resistant plants.
“Lane?” Olie inquired, searching for Raquel’s mother.
“Just a second,” came her voice from one of the two bedrooms.
“Olie,” said Raquel. “Do you know what NOVA means?”
Olie bent down. “Why don’t you tell me?”
Raquel nodded excited. “Okay, okay. It means Nominal-Nomi… nally Omni-Om—”
“Omniscient,” said Olie.
“Variable Algorithms!” shouted Raquel before jumping up and down. When she stopped, she asked, “What does omnisci—om—”
Olie smiled. “Omniscient means that NOVA knows everything. It doesn’t actually know everything, but it has all the facts and history that we have in one place. It doesn’t know how to draw pictures, or give hugs, but it can tell you everything you want to know about plants or space travel or things like that. Make sense?”
Raquel nodded, but Olie could see that the little girl was still contemplating Olie’s explanation.
“Speaking of knowing everything,” Lane added, emerging from the bedroom, “Raquel is learning all kinds of things with her new band.”
Lane moved across the living room floor in bare feet and a jumpsuit. After hugging Olie, she whispered, “How are you?”
Olie nodded and tried to smile.
“NOVA knows everything?” asked Raquel.
“It contains all human knowledge,” said Lane. “But there are also some things we don’t know yet.”
“Is that true, Olie?” asked Raquel, frowning.
“It’s true.”
Lane rolled her eyes. “I’m obviously not the authority.”
Raquel ignored her mother and moved back to the rug, where she continued to punch messages into her band.
“Come in, have a seat,” said Lane.
“Thanks, but I can’t stay. Jayson’s on his way over.”
“Oh. I see. That’s good, right?”
Olie shrugged a bit but nodded yes. She was happy Jayson was coming over, but it was so complicated. Lane had been a confidant since Jayson and Olie had started dating and Olie appreciated her friendship.
“I just wanted to thank you for the beautiful orchid,” Olie said, “You really didn’t have to spend that kind of money. I know how hard it is to get a real flower.”
“Nonsense, I knew you would like it, and the underground plant markets are one of my favorite places to go. I know it doesn’t really help, but—”
“No – thank you, Lane. It helps.”
Olie looked down at Raquel who was crunched up on the floor immersed in her band. “Do you regret giving it to her yet?”
Raquel looked up from her band for a moment. “Are you talking about me?”
“Yes, we’re talking about you,” said Lane. “How many times have I had to take your band away from you because you’re playing with it instead of sleeping?”
Raquel made a face, then spun herself around to continue fiddling with the device.
Lane looked to her friend. “It was going to happen sooner or later.”
Olie glanced down at her own band. “I should get going. He’s pulling into the parking lot.”
Lane nodded. “You’ll tell me what happens?”
“Nothing is going to happen,” said Olie as the front door slid open.
“Of course not… but if something does happen you’ll let me know?”
Olie couldn’t help but smile. Losing Dim hurt, but it helped to be reminded she had friends at home, too.
As she walked out into the hallway, Olie decided to go to the elevator to wait for Jayson to come up. She found herself fidgeting nervously as she waited for him to arrive.
Chapter Sixteen
When the glass elevator rose into view, Jayson was watching a vid on his band. He looked up sympathetically and stepped off the elevator to give Olie a hug. Jayson was the first to let go, but Olie lingered for a moment, squeezing tighter. After the emotional funeral for Dim, she was happy to see him.
“I’m glad you’re here,” she said as she backed away.
“Me too, Ol,” Jayson said.
They moved together down the hallway and into her apartment. The lights turned on and the telesphere welcomed them.
“Did you just get in?”
“I’ve been over at Lane’s,” Olie said, shaking her head. “It’s set on a pretty short absence setting. I just haven’t changed it.”
“You’ll get around to it,” he joked, although Olie still read a little bite in the comment.
“Maybe, but probably not. Drink?”
“Water.”
“Hard?”
“Soft,” Jayson replied, moving over to the terrarium to look at Gerry.
A moment later, Olie approached with a water tube. Jayson snapped it open and took a sip.
“It’s get
ting bigger.”
“You can tell?”
“A little. It’s been a while since I’ve seen it.”
“Yeah, he’s a big guy.”
Jayson took another sip. “So, I heard you stopped by my place and spoke to Janie?”
Olie’s face went hot, and she turned her head down. “Yeah, I did.”
“You’re pretty terrible at giving someone space.”
Olie paused and looked at Jayson. “I’ve spent a lot of time thinking after the funeral. I don’t think I want space between the two of us right now, Jay.”
“Right now, sure. But if you had it your way, you’d have all of space between us. You’d go to the other side of the galaxy if you could.”
“Maybe, but you could come with me.”
Jayson shook his head and sat down on the loveseat. “We’ve talked about this.”
Olie sat across from him. “We have, but I still don’t understand why you want to stay here.”
“Olie, my first year on Mars, I—” Jayson stopped mid-thought, running a hand through his bleached hair before exhaling heavily.
“You what?”
“I never told you, but on one of my first patrols our O2 systems malfunctioned and we started spewing oxygen into the Martian atmosphere. We got into our suits, but we were too far out for the reserves. You know they train us for situations like that—not to panic?”
Olie nodded.
“Well, I panicked.”
“What do you mean?” Olie had a hard time imagining Jayson panicking. He had been a great soldier.
“I passed out before going into flash freeze—someone else had to jack me in. Now I can’t even think about open space without that fear creeping in.”
“Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
“It isn’t exactly my favorite topic, Ol, and on Mars, nobody talks about stuff like that. They coach you not to share those stories, so the other soldiers don’t develop the fear. I guess I just got good at hiding it.”
“But we’re not on Mars now.”