Running Toward Home

by M B Panichi

  Kathryn Leer strode into the cafeteria, pausing at the entrance to scan the room. Seeing the two women, she joined them with a smile. “Hello, ladies.”

  Friday smiled. Morgan said, “Hi, Kathryn.”

  “Looks like the crew has things well in hand,” she commented. She leaned against the wall beside them and crossed her arms over her chest. Morgan thought she was the epitome of a woman very comfortable in her body and her place in the world. A couple months ago, Morgan could have said the same about herself. She felt like was finally returning to that equilibrium and accepting all the changes in her life, but she still hadn’t quite gotten a handle on where exactly she was going.

  “Guess I didn’t realize how much goes into an interview on the back end,” Morgan commented.

  Kathryn chuckled. “I’ve been around it so long, I don’t think about it too much. I got a chance earlier to walk around with Del.” She shook her head. “I think it would be very difficult to be trapped inside all the time. Even when you go outside, you’re trapped in a vacuum suit. Del got me all suited up, and we walked over to the construction-site. I have to say, it was exciting and awing to be out on the planet’s surface, seeing the sun from here, and the barren beauty of the landscape. But it was also a little scary and claustrophobic. I’ve been in a vac suit before, but I don’t find it comfortable.”

  Morgan said, “The colors are interesting here. It’s different than on the Moon. Brighter. More dynamic.”

  Kathryn turned her gaze on Friday. “How do you feel about living out here, Friday?”

  The teen shoved her hands into her pockets. “It’s okay. I miss Earth, though. Too many rules here. Too trapped in.”

  “You still annoyed with me for yesterday?” Morgan asked.

  Friday scowled. “Yeah, I am still annoyed with you from yesterday. I would have been fine out there, you know.”

  Kathryn raised a questioning brow. Morgan grinned. “Fri’s pissed ’cause I wouldn’t let her suit up with me when I went out to the construction-site. She’d been up half the night working on her pad, and was yawning and tired and not concentrating. Rule is, if you’re not at a hundred percent, you don’t suit up. Period.”

  Friday said, “There is no such rule.”

  “I said that was the rule, so that’s the rule,” Morgan said flatly. “You don’t screw around with your safety or the safety of your crewmates.”

  Friday swallowed and looked away. Morgan took a breath and let go of the surge of anger flowing through her. She was aware of Kathryn watching the exchange. Morgan said quietly, “Careless mistakes kill people. I’ve seen it. I would rather not see it again, and I would rather not see you go through it, Fri.”

  Friday simply nodded, staring at her feet.

  Kathryn commented, “We tend to forget that the work you do is dangerous.”

  “Most of the time it’s not so bad. But it’s easy to get careless. That’s when the stupid stuff happens. On Moon Base we have a lot of safety regs and a two-strike safety policy. First time you screw up, you get a warning. Second time you screw up the same thing, you’re fired on the spot.”

  “Harsh,” Kathryn commented.

  Morgan shook her head. “Necessary.” She lifted a hand to point to Kathryn’s assistant, who was fussing over the hair and makeup station. “That makeup stuff, is that just for you, or do we all have to do it?” she asked.

  Kathryn grinned. “We’ll all do a little. It’ll keep you from having shiny faces in the lights, or from being so washed out you look sickly. I promise not to let Howard overdo it, okay?”

  Morgan laughed and flushed. “Okay.”

  * * *

  Shaine observed the room from the side of the stage area. She was out of the way of the stagehands, but able to see the whole room. She was also close enough that she felt she could be a bodyguard for the women onstage.

  By the time Metlend decided they were ready to start taping, the cafeteria had filled with personnel. Most were just there to watch. A few were grabbing a meal or snacks. Shaine scanned the room. Everyone appeared interested and calm. She didn’t notice anybody loud or overzealous.

  She shifted her focus to Morgan, who sat stiffly in Howard’s makeup chair. Morgan looked very typically Morgan—no glitz, nothing different from her usual style. She wore gray cargo pants, her favorite work boots and a faded forest-green tunic with a zippered, high-collared neck, which she left open. Howard fussed with Morgan’s short dark hair, much to her chagrin. Shaine could hear Howard grumbling that he could make her look like a princess if she’d just let him. Morgan smiled sweetly and offered to rearrange his face if he tried, while Friday stood near the chair giggling.

  Shaine shook her head, glad as hell she wasn’t going to be in front of the cameras, and a little guilty that she found Morgan’s discomfort amusing.

  She scanned the room again, noting her people within the crowd and around the edges. Three sat in the front row. She still didn’t approve of the decision for an open taping. But Rog Metlend wanted a realistic setting and to include the workers. He called it artistic license. He wanted to be able to show personnel doing what they did, eating, hanging out, demonstrating to the outside world what it was like to work on Mars. He insisted that it would make Morgan more accessible to the masses, knowing she was living in the same conditions that they did.

  Shaine had to admit that other than being paranoid, she didn’t have a solid reason to close the taping. After all, Morgan and Friday were with these folks on a daily basis. Kathryn and her crew had been wandering around the halls for the past day without any problems. There would have been ample opportunity for anyone who wanted to cause trouble to have done so already. Garren thought it would be great for morale if the staff got to see Kathryn Leer doing an interview, especially since the camera crew had been wandering around getting random film of the workers.

  But she was still spooked by the thought of McKillan sabotaging the crane. And Friday continued to insist that Andy Lenz was from the colony. She had people watching him round the clock, but he hadn’t done anything untoward. She told security at the door that she didn’t want him at the taping, and that if he showed up, they needed to have someone with him at arm’s length every second.

  It drove her crazy that even Kyle hadn’t found any more than what she and her people had found. She’d been sorely tempted to have Friday reconnect the remote connection into the colony network. But that was a lesson she didn’t want Friday to learn—that it was okay to ignore the law just because they wanted to. It was bad enough they’d let her get away with stealing the comp pad. Probably worse that Friday knew they had underhanded ways of getting information through her friend Kyle.

  A few years ago, she wouldn’t have thought twice about playing fast and loose with the law. Now she felt like she needed to be a good role model. She felt the need to follow the law instead of avoiding it. Well, most of the time, anyway.

  Metlend and Kathryn stopped to talk to Morgan and Friday. Metlend pointed to the side of the stage near where Shaine stood then went to talk to one of the camera operators. Morgan slipped out of Howard’s chair.

  Morgan shot Shaine a nervous grin as she and Friday approached. Shaine smiled back. “How are you doing?” she asked.

  Friday said, “Morgan’s nervous.”

  Morgan scowled at her. “I’m not nervous,” she returned flatly. “Rog says we’re going to get started in a few minutes.”

  Shaine wrapped her arm around Morgan’s shoulders. “Seems like they have everything in hand.”

  Metlend walked to the front of the crowd, motioning for quiet. “Okay. Can I have your attention, people? We’re ready to get started. Everyone see the green light there?” He pointed to a green light on a pole off to the far left. “If the green light is on, you’re free to talk. When the light turns red,” he paused, and the light turned to red, “that means we’re rolling, and we need you to be quiet. You can move around quietly, but please, no talking, and no loud noises.”


  He waited until there were nods and general sounds of agreement, then smiled. “Great. Thanks, everyone.” He turned and went to stand behind the woman who was controlling the camera feeds on the small monitors.

  The three camera operators positioned themselves.

  Metlend said, “Okay, let’s do the intro segment. Kathryn, I need a casual walk onto the set. Do the intro standing.”

  One of the assistants with a clip pad took her place at the center of the set. “Red set, please.” The light turned red and the audience hushed. She held up a digital board with several numbers on it. “Take one. Roll.” She strode quickly off the stage.

  Shaine could still hear the light clinking of silverware on dishes, the rustle of clothing and the benches squeaking as people shifted. She watched Kathryn take a deep breath, put on her game face and walk confidently onto the set, beginning her opening monologue as she did so.

  Shaine divided her attention between the stage and the audience. Kathryn stopped and started the monologue a handful of times before Metlend called it a take. The green light came back on, and the audience breathed and clapped a little bit. Kathryn smiled at them and walked over to the left side of the stage to talk to Metlend.

  After a few moments, he said, “Let’s do the initial introduction and bring Morgan on.” He looked to Morgan. “You ready?”

  Shaine grinned encouragingly at her. Morgan returned a rather tight smile before she nodded at Metlend. “Sure.”

  “Kathryn will introduce you, then you’ll walk onto the stage, greet her, and you’ll both sit down. Remember, this is casual, so be yourself. It’s not live, so there are do-overs, okay?”

  Morgan nodded. “Okay.”

  The assistant with the clipboard took Morgan by the elbow and positioned her just to the edge of the camera’s view. “Wait here until Kathryn invites you over.”

  Morgan nodded again. Kathryn gave her a warm smile. “You’ll do just fine, Morgan,” she said.

  The assistant called for the red light, announced the take number, and they were rolling.

  After the introduction they moved into the interview itself. Filming continued to go smoothly. The audience continued to behave. Shaine forced herself to watch the room rather than focusing only on Morgan. At one point, filming had to stop because both Kathryn and Morgan broke into hysterical giggles over a phrase that Kathryn butchered into being incredibly crude. The whole audience laughed with them.

  Eventually, Kathryn introduced Friday and she joined the interview. Shaine couldn’t help but smile at Friday’s youthful enthusiasm. Friday seemed to enjoy her moment in the sun. The tall blond teenager grinned at Kathryn as they talked, then would become serious while making a point. She was animated, but not in an obnoxious way.

  Sitting on the other side of Friday, Morgan leaned back with her elbows on the table, hands hanging loose. Morgan’s expression was one of amused affection toward Friday most of the time, though Shaine noticed the anger simmering behind Morgan’s eyes when Friday talked about her treatment at the colony. Morgan didn’t cover her emotions well, and in this case it was probably a good thing.

  Metlend called a couple of breaks for everyone to stretch and relax between groups of questions so that he and his techs could review the footage.

  Shaine rocked back on her heels. It was becoming a long day. Her people still seemed alert, watching the crowd. The faces in the audience had changed as workers came and left, though the majority stayed for the duration, enjoying a novelty in a place that had a great deal of sameness.

  Shaine returned her focus to the interview. Kathryn addressed a question to both Morgan and Friday, eliciting an excited grin and animated talk from Friday and more complacent input from Morgan as she described teaching Friday about being a mechanic and some of the things they did during the day.

  While Morgan was talking, Shaine saw a movement at the entrance. She looked across the room to see Andy Lenz storm into the cafeteria. As he cleared the doorway he screamed, “Kill the heretics!” and fired toward the stage.

  Morgan grabbed Friday and rolled them both off the bench and onto the floor.

  A stream of laser beams seared the air where the women had been a split second ago. Shaine dove past Morgan and Friday and tackled Kathryn to the floor. Stage lighting exploded, showering them all with glass shards.

  The room erupted into chaos.

  Someone shouted, “Clear! All clear! We got him!”

  Shaine rolled off Kathryn with an apologetic grimace. “You okay?” she asked.

  Kathryn nodded, wide-eyed. “I think so, yes.”

  “Morgan!” Friday shouted.

  Shaine spun around on her knees, crawling to Morgan’s side, ignoring the glass on the floor. “Oh, God, Morgan.” Fear made her chest hurt. She snapped at the security guard that rushed toward them, “Get a medic in here, now!” She touched Morgan’s cheek. “Baby, talk to me,” she whispered.

  Morgan swallowed and blinked. “Hurts,” she rasped. Her shirt was charred where a hole was burnt through her upper bicep. Shaine could see the reddened, blistered and blackened wound through the hole in the fabric.

  “I swear, I’ll kill him myself,” Shaine muttered.

  Morgan managed a watery smile. “My hero.”

  Shaine leaned down and kissed her forehead.

  Another surge of movement and noise came from the entrance. Shaine looked over her shoulder to see three of her people drag the handcuffed gunman to his feet and lead him, stumbling, toward the door. A splash of blood ran down his back from his upper right shoulder where his shirt was ripped. Shaine looked away and brushed a light kiss on Morgan’s lips. “Relax. Medical is on the way, okay?”

  Morgan nodded.

  Shaine turned to Friday. “Are you okay, Fri?”

  Friday nodded, wide-eyed. “Scared shitless but fine.”

  “Stay with Morgan, okay?”

  “Sure.”

  Shaine pushed to her feet.

  “Move people! Excitement is over!” Josef and two other men started to break up the crowd and move them out of the cafeteria.

  “Josef!” He paused as Shaine caught up to them. “What the fuck, man? How’d he get past our people? And who took him down?”

  Josef frowned. “They stopped him at the door and told him he needed to wait to go in because they were filming. Lee said he complied, and was turning away, like he was going to leave or wait off to the side. Lee looked back to the room, and next thing he knew, Lenz was firing. Laney Chrisse was leaning against the back wall. She threw a knife into his back when he ran in and started shooting.” He tried hard not to grin. “A steak knife. She was waiting for a break to get rid of her food tray.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Shaine muttered.

  “Is Morgan okay?”

  “She will be.” She glanced over to where Friday sat on the floor with Morgan. “I’ll meet you down in security.”

  “Right.” He started to join the other two security officers moving people toward the doors.

  Shaine caught his arm and added, “And tell Lee he’s officially fired.” Shaine returned to the stage area.

  Kathryn’s crew crowded around her, all talking at once.

  Shaine strode up to Metlend. “I think we’re done here for the day,” she said.

  He ran his hands through his hair. “Uh, yeah. Jesus. Maybe we can pick up tomorrow. There isn’t much left to do. We’ve got to clean up those lights and everything anyway. Holy hell.”

  Kathryn stepped toward Shaine, looking a bit shaky. “Does this happen often?” she asked uneasily.

  “No. It doesn’t. Are you sure you’re okay, Kathryn?”

  “Yes, I’m fine. Just a bit shaken up. For all the interviews and reporting I’ve done, I’ve never been shot at.”

  Shaine said quietly, “I don’t think you were the target.”

  Friday looked stricken. “He was one of Abraham’s wasn’t he?” she asked.

  Shaine frowned. “I don’t know.”


  The medics entered the cafeteria at a run with a hover-gurney floating between them and Lei Nguyen in the lead. They stopped at Morgan’s side and started taking her vitals and examining the burns on her arm. Dr. Lei shook her head. “You cause me too much work, Morgan Rahn,” she said, then to her assistants, “lift her onto the gurney.”

  Morgan winced as they lifted her. Shaine stepped to the gurney. “I’ll be there as soon as I can,” she said. She kissed Morgan’s forehead again. “Love you,” she whispered.

  Morgan managed a smile. “Love you too.”

  The medics started pushing the gurney toward the door, with Friday a step behind them. Shaine put a hand on Friday’s arm, stopping her for a moment. “You were right, Fri. I’m sorry.”

  Friday swallowed. “Just nail the bastard.”

  “We will.”

  Friday hurried after Morgan and the medics.

  Shaine watched them leave. She turned again to Kathryn. “You’re sure you’re okay?”

  The woman nodded and managed a wan smile. “I’m fine, thank you. Though I think I’d like to go back to my quarters and decompress a bit.”

  Shaine lifted a hand toward one of the security guards directing people from the cafeteria. “Ben! Come and escort Ms. Leer to her quarters.”

  He hurried over. “Yes, ma’am.” He offered a gallant arm to Kathryn, which she took with a grateful smile. He led her away.

  Shaine looked around the room, making sure that things were in hand. Lukas and Whippet rushed in and she motioned to them. “Keep an eye on things here. If anyone needs anything, send others to take care of it. Josef will probably send Keegan down to document and photograph the crime scene. The whole thing should be on video anyway, between the cameras we have in here and what they shot onstage.”

  “Will do.”

  “I’m going to ops. If it’s an emergency, com me. Otherwise, don’t.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Shaine left the room, jogging down the halls to ops. When she strode through the doors, Josef and two others had Andy Lenz sitting in a chair in front of one of the jail cells. His shirt was off and his hands were cuffed to the arms of the chair. He leaned forward as a medic attended to the cut on his back. Two armed guards stood at either side of him, guns ready. Josef stood in front of him.