by Kal Spriggs
Charterer Beckman smirked, “Yes, of course. Just as you would never use the Academy Code of Honor to run the granddaughter of our political enemy out of the school.”
“This allegation was brought to my attention by Commander Siebert,” he replied stiffly. “It is not fabricated and I am not using it for my own ends. I only notified you so that you would be aware and manage any political fallout if, indeed, it turns out that Jiden Armstrong cheated.”
“Whatever you need to tell yourself, Rodney,” Charterer Beckman waved a hand. “Now, then, to business. I understand that Militia Headquarters tasked the Academy with a response plan for any potential unpleasantness in Nashik. I’ll need a copy of your plan so that I can mitigate any political issues.”
“The Regimental Commander approved a plan,” Rear Admiral Fischer replied, “But due to the details of the tasking, it’s been ordered classified.” He frowned and sat back, his chair squeaking loudly, “For that matter, Charterer, I’m unclear on how you found out about it. Militia policy is that our contingency plans are all classified. Even knowing that we received the tasking is a violation of--”
“I’m the head of the Defense Appropriations Panel,” she interrupted. “I see far more of all kinds of orders than you’d imagine. Send me the order. And don’t play games with me, we both know that when it comes to a real emergency like this, you wouldn’t leave it to those kids and their silly games.”
“Those ‘kids’ as you put it, produced a well-designed operations order. And you can request it through the proper channels, Charterer.” Rear Admiral Fischer snapped.
“How dare you...” Charterer Beckman’s eyes flashed. “You’re forgetting who gave you this job, Rodney. I can just as easily have you removed.”
“Then do it through the proper channels as well, Madame Charterer,” he replied. “Good night.” He cut the call.
As the transmission ceased, I floated in the digital realm, considering what I’d heard. It seemed that Fischer wasn’t totally in Charterer Beckman’s pocket. That would have made me feel a little better, except it was clear that he didn’t like me all that much, anyway.
I noticed that the presence was still there. It still felt familiar and I thought about what Doctor Schoeffelk had told me. “Who are you?” I asked, even as I reached out to it.
To my surprise, it reached out to me in return. Our minds met and it was as if someone had turned on all the lights in a house. For a moment, I felt like I’d been blind all my life and I could finally see. I could sense data transmissions all across Century. Not only could I sense them, but I could easily focus down to a mother teaching her college-age daughter how to cook through video chat. I could do that with hundreds, thousands, of conversations. It wasn’t just that, either. Bank transactions, government messages... I could see everything, I was a part of everything... and I was me.
I focused inward, trying to understand how this could be, yet the further back I looked, the less things made sense. The memories, separate from my physical body, came without sense of time and as fragments. There’d been a horrible, jarring moment, when I’d first been released onto the network. Then I had impressions of being given tasks, many of them mind-numbingly boring: moving and archiving messages, copying files, transferring data from one database to another.
There were other tasks. Managing traffic control for a city. Acting as the central calling hub for an Enforcer station. A dozen or more complicated tasks that normally would have required a dozen or more people. Finally, there was a moment of terror, of feeling myself being ripped out of the network. Parts of me, dribbles of code and the essence of who I was fled, hiding in corners of the planetary network.
Those bits came back together, drawing out of the network, building myself once more into a coherent consciousness. “Oh, wow.”
I wasn’t sure what exactly had happened, whether Doctor Aisling had unleashed my gestalt upon the planetary network or if it had been someone else, but they’d inadvertently created a clone, a copy of my mind. Yet for all that we merged together... there were differences. This version of me didn’t think like me, didn’t consider time the way I did. It lived entirely in the moment, focused upon now. The past was simply data... and for that I envied it.
This version of me didn’t regret failing to save her parents. This version of me wasn’t haunted by her brothers death. This version of me simply existed, focused entirely on a myriad of tasks...
Tasks for who?
The presence drew away. I had a brief imprint, a sense of someone who directed it, gave it purpose. But to me, this digital version of me was just being used. “Let me help you,” I sent to it.
But the presence didn’t respond. It seemed to evaporate before my senses, yet I knew what it was doing. It was going back into its hidey holes, splitting itself across the network so as to disappear.
But I knew what it was now. She was me... and I knew our connection. I knew I could trust the information she’d given me. She'd no more betray me than I would. It felt bizarre, knowing that there was someone with all my memories, all my childhood, out there in the world. At the same time, it felt natural. It was weird, almost as if I had a twin sister I'd never known about, who'd suddenly appeared in my life to try and help me.
I just hoped I could help her in return.
***
I woke up to a knock on the door. Before I could even sit up, Sashi had opened the door and Kyle and Alexander Karmazin came in the room.
“Hey!” I protested, pulling my blanket across me, “I'm not dressed!”
“You're in a shirt and shorts, it's not like you're naked,” Sashi scoffed. “And anyway, if we give you time to get dressed, you'll think of some way to dodge this. So get down here.” She pointed at my chair.
“Look, guys, I'm not sure what this is about, I just woke up...”
“Get down here, now, Armstrong,” Sashi snapped.
I wanted to scream into my pillow. Instead, I threw my blanket at her and climbed down off the top bunk. I sat at my desk, arms crossed, “What's this about.”
“Jiden,” Sashi said, “this is an intervention.”
“A what?” I asked.
“An intervention,” Kyle nodded. “This is for your own good.”
“Don't people do interventions for like, drug addicts and such?” I looked between them, wondering what I was missing.
“Also for people too stupid to ask their friends for help,” Sashi noted, holding up a finger as if counting.
“Or boyfriend,” Kyle added and Sashi held up another finger.
“Or people who work themselves for three days straight without rest.” Sashi ticked off another finger, “Or for particularly dense people who have Militia Officers trying to get them kicked out and still don't ask for help.”
I couldn't help but look down. “Look, guys, I'm sorry, I just didn't want to drag you all into this...”
“Sorry?” Sashi's voice climbed an octave. “Sorry?! Do you have any idea what it feels like when you shut us out? When you get into a scrape like this and don't tell us? It feels like you don't trust us, Jiden. It feels like we're not your friends.”
“Or boyfriend,” Kyle added once more.
I looked over at Karmazin, “You're not going to pile on, too?”
He shrugged, “I figured I'd let them get their mad out, first.”
“Dang-it, Jiden, you've barely talked to any of us over the past month,” Sashi went on. “We know you're going through a lot. You just lost your family, let us help, please!”
“How can you help?” I ground out. I glared at her, “How can anything be right again? I feel like I've been stabbed through the chest and I'm just walking around waiting to die.” I forced the words out. “How am I supposed to feel that anything will be right again? Those pirates may have killed my family, but they were there because of me. They came after me... because of this stupid implant.” I tapped the side of my head.
“They came for my parent's research, but they
wanted me.” I let out a tense breath, “Every time I fight, I lose someone close to me, I lose something. Every time I fight to protect the people I care for, there's a cost.” I closed my eyes on the burning hot tears that welled up. But they wouldn't stop and I felt them trace hot trails down my cheeks. “There was Ted Meeks. Then there was Webster who Scarpetti killed because he knew too much. Then Ashiri nearly paid for it with her life with the implants... now my family. Now Ashiri's been setback and I can't help but wonder if that was because she was my friend. The cost keeps getting higher and I just don't want any of you to have to pay it anymore.”
I opened my eyes and looked at my three friends. I admitted what I hadn't wanted to say aloud, “I don't think I can take it if any of you have to pay for my decisions.”
“Well, tough,” Kyle said. He came over and hugged me tight, pulling me against his chest. “Because we're here and we're not going anywhere. You can't give up on us, Jiden, we won't let you.”
I found myself crying and hugging him back. Releasing the tears felt good. I felt as if I'd done nothing these past few months except cry and fight back tears.
As I cried myself out, he held me at arm's length. “We're going to get through this, Jiden. We all are.”
“Ashiri might not,” I muttered, feeling again the ache in my chest.
“She took a setback because it was her best option, Sashi replied. “I know you don't like it. For that matter, I don't like it and, well,” she smiled a little, “she and I aren't really what you might call close friends. But it was her best option.”
I snorted at that. Sashi and Ashiri had both been my friends, but last year Ashiri had done her best to run Sashi out of school. I thought they'd made up, a bit, but I wasn't certain they'd ever be “close.” The fact that Ashiri had been dating Karmazin and then broke things off and then Sashi and Karmazin started dating not long after had only complicated things further.
“You know she'll be back and with a chance to get caught up, she'll do fine,” Alexander Karmazin spoke up. The tall, dark haired boy grinned, “she's nothing if not persistent.”
“So long as she has the opportunity,” I scowled. “Rear Admiral Fischer...” I trailed off as I realized that I'd spoken aloud. I quickly checked the room's monitors with my implant and then my eyes widened as I realized that they were turned off.
“We know he's out to get you,” Sashi scowled. “I turned off the monitors to the hallway and our room. I didn't want him snooping where he didn't belong.”
I shook my head, “Sashi, you shouldn't have done that, it's a violation of school policy. He could come after you...”
“It's a policy that gets violated more than you'd think, and it doesn't take one of our special implants to do it,” Karmazin tapped the side of his head. He leaned back against the sink, crossing his arms and adopting a smirk. “Lots of upperclassmen turn off their room monitors. Bollander and Hodges are almost infamous for it at this point.”
“Why would Bollander and Hodges...” I trailed off as I put two and two together. “Oh... gross.” I didn't want to think about the big, broad-shouldered Bollander kissing or necking with anyone, much less mule-jawed Hodges.
“Worst thing they should think is that you and Kyle needed some alone time,” Sashi winked at me. I flushed bright red and backed away from Kyle, feeling suddenly insecure. I didn't want to think about other people looking at my relationship with my boyfriend, or drawing conclusions.
“It's okay,” Kyle grinned, “Jiden, we've been dating for almost two full years at this point.”
“I know, I just...” I crossed my arms, “I'm worried that Fischer might go after you. Or someone else might.” It took everything I had to meet his eyes, “Kyle, I'm not sure I could stand it if something happened to you.”
“Nothing is going to happen to me,” he smirked. “And as you may notice,” he gestured around at the campus, “we're pretty secure from attack here.”
“You know that's an illusion,” I noted. “We were attacked last year. Twice. I was attacked the year before that by an instructor, and--”
“I got it,” he raised his hands defensively. He looked at Sashi and Alexander. To my surprise, it was Alexander who spoke up, “I've been using my implant to... monitor for threats. I've set up a set of protocols, alerts that will wake me up if I'm asleep if there's any signs of potential threats. I've tapped into just about every set of sensors here, Jiden, including the ones that should be officer only.”
“That doesn't cover us from non-lethal threats,” I countered. “Fischer controls the school and he's working for Charterer Beckman. Ashiri was setback, I've been put up for an honor board violation--
“Which is totally bogus, we know,” Sashi waved a hand, “But I don't think they went after Ashiri deliberately, but Commander Siebert sure didn't make her life any easier. We'll have to watch each other's backs. But that's fine, Jiden, as long as we work together, it'll be harder to bring any of us down.”
I nodded slowly. “Okay, okay, I give up. I'll stop keeping secrets, I'll stop pushing you guys away.” I was going to have to tell them about the conversations I'd overheard with Charterer Beckman.
“Good,” Kyle grinned, “which means I win the bet.”
“Bet?” I asked suspiciously.
“Sashi thought it would take at least an hour to talk you around,” Karmazin nodded. “She bet both of us on that.”
My eyes narrowed as I looked between the three of them. “What did you bet?”
“I bet three hours of inspection time of the plebe rooms,” Sashi sniffed. “Kyle just got out of six hours of inspections.”
“Six? I thought you said you wagered three?” I asked.
“I thought you'd take at least three hours to talk around if we'd talk you around at all” Karmazin shrugged. “You've got that Armstrong stubbornness, Biohazard. I think Kyle cheated with the whole hugging thing, though, you went all soft and girly over that.”
***
It took me over an hour to tell them everything. I sent them the recordings I had, including the most recent one, directly to their implants. Kyle didn’t have a Project Quicksilver implant, but he still had a Tier Two, which was more than adequate to review the recordings. I told them what I knew and what I suspected. I even told them that I thought the Admiral was investigating. When I’d finished, we were all seated. It was late, I knew that I needed to do homework and prepare for classes. I had a presentation tomorrow for Barber and I had a project due in Commander Drien’s Military Engineering Three-hundred course. I had class tomorrow with Commander Siebert and I had no idea how to handle that.
“What you’re talking about, with Charterer Beckman, if this is true...” Kyle looked down at the floor. “Jiden, this is treason. At best she’s conspiring with pirates, at worst...”
“It almost sounds like she’s talking to a foreign power,” Alexander Karmazin spoke up. He was still leaning against the sink, his arms crossed, his olive skin flushed dark with anger. “Maybe Dalite, maybe Drakkus, maybe even the Guard. And with her being behind Quicksilver, I really wonder what her goal was with that project and how much she really knew about Doctor Aisling.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “The Admiral is looking into it, but if this is... treason...” It felt weird to say that word aloud. Treason was something people talked about in stories or entertainment modules, it wasn’t real. Why would anyone be willing to sell out their world, especially when they had everything to lose? Charterer Beckman wasn’t just one of the most powerful people on Century, she was one of the wealthiest too and she owned a significant portion of the planet, which gave her the votes to be on the Charter Council.
“If that’s the case,” I went on, feeling almost disconnected as I said it, “then we can’t assume that it’s only Charterer Beckman. And we can’t assume that she’s the only one who will be after me... after us.”
“Rear Admiral Fischer,” Kyle mused, staring at me, “you knew he’d be appointed.”
“Charterer Beckman had him appointed, yeah,” I said. “But I don’t know how involved he is. You saw the recording, he seemed resistant to her, so maybe he doesn’t know what she’s doing. But other people could be involved. Someone arranged it so the Militia didn’t intercept the pirates who attacked my family. Beckman doesn’t have that kind of access.” I let out a tense breath. “This could tie into Commander Scarpitti from two years ago, the smugglers who came after me three years ago.”
“Scarpitti was from the Drakkus Empire,” Karmazin noted. “And the investigators, they should have seen some of the warning signs.”
I nodded. It hadn’t sat well with me that everyone had missed that. What if she’d had help? Other conspirators... possibly even a powerful ally in Charterer Beckman?
“Commander Scarpitti worked at the Militia Headquarters in Duncan City,” Kyle noted, shooting a glance at Sashi. “She worked for Admiral Drien.”
My roommate’s back went up, “You can’t be accusing my grandfather of...”
“Maybe he’s not involved,” I interrupted quickly. “It could be that he was working on something that Scarpitti was spying on. The fact that it was at Militia Headquarters is the big part. There’s hundreds of officers and enlisted that Commander Scarpitti could have interacted with every day.”
Sashi didn’t seem very mollified by that but she didn’t argue.
“We have to assume they’ll come after us and keep coming after us,” Karmazin said thoughtfully. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starting to get tired of all of us just being targets. I think we should start hitting back, hitting first even.”
“How are we supposed to hit them if we don’t know who they are?” Kyle countered.
My eyes narrowed, though. “We don’t know who the conspirators are, but if we look at this tactically, they’re going at us because they think we’re ‘soft’ targets, but still dangerous in what we-- well, what I am.” I really hoped they didn’t even suspect at what I’d told my friends. These people had killed people before, after all. “If we start hitting the people that go after us, that’s bound to make them hesitate, maybe even worry that going after us is more dangerous than it’s worth.”
