“I didn’t know he was coming after me,” she lied.
“He was. And now he’s not.” Sean remained motionless.
“Well, that’s good then,” she replied.
“It can be,” he agreed skeptically. “But I think this is a new skill you’ve developed.”
Molly looked up from her holoscreen, giving Sean her full attention. She continued to play dumb. “You mean, persuading douchebags not to give me a hard time? Or you mean my charisma and charm?”
“Ha!” Sean snorted. “The charisma and charm you can keep. But I think there is a realm walking thing going on too. I spoke to Arlene a—”
“You spoke to Arlene without talking to me first?”
“Yes. I did. I had to be sure I wasn’t crazy. She thinks that it might be another skill you’ve acquired since you’ve been going through those… changes.”
Molly frowned, concentrating on the new information. “You mean the ascension process?”
“Right. Changes.”
Molly raised one eyebrow at him skeptically. “I’m assuming there is a point to this conversation.”
“There is,” he agreed, speaking more swiftly now. “If you’re able to affect peoples’ decisions, then you’re a risk to the Federation. Until we figure out what this is, and how you can control it, we can’t have you anywhere near the General… or anyone else in command.”
Molly paused for a moment. “In case I change their minds?” she asked slowly.
“Yes. Exactly.” He pulled out a seat and sat down a few seats over from her.
“Shit,” she muttered under her breath.
“So,” Sean continued, “that means no more trips up to the ArchAngel. And no more missions until Arlene has had a chance to investigate further.”
Molly’s frown only deepened. “You mean you’re grounding me?”
“Yes. For your own good… as well as everyone else’s.”
“I’m not sure you have that authority.”
“I will when I talk to the General about this”, he said firmly. “And just one more thing…”
Sean paused, as if searching for the words. “Since you can almost push your will onto anyone… I’d be careful around even your team… in case you accidentally push them into doing something they don’t want.”
Molly regarded Sean carefully as she eased back in her chair, allowing one leg to slip out from underneath her and onto the floor. “So, if I’m able to push my will… what’s to stop me from changing your mind right now?”
Sean’s face dropped and the color drained from his face. “Nothing,” he said quickly, looking flustered.
Suddenly he was on his feet again.
She looked at him bewildered.
“I have to go,” he told her, then disappeared out of the door.
She listened as his footsteps hurried away down the corridor.
Was that weird, or was that just me?
I think that was weird. Want me to find out what that was all about.
Yeah… if you can. Well, hang on. How would you?
I’d ask him.
No no nooooo! Leave it. I don’t want anymore awkward conversations. It was likely nothing. Let it go.
Ok, you’re the boss, Boss. Wow - did I just agree to that because that was your will?
Shut up, Oz.
Shutting up.
Ooops. Look. Maybe you did it again…
Molly rolled her eyes and settled back into her work. Things were getting weird around here, and if there were more effects from her rebirth, then she’d just have to deal with them.
Later.
Outside Molly’s conference room
Sean stepped out of the conference room and headed back into the main safe house.
He needed to talk to the General.
Stat.
Just then, his holo blipped. He looked down. It was a message from an unknown designation.
He poked at the display and the message came up as a video. He headed down the corridor waiting for it to load. He poked a holo function making sure the audio was connected to his implant.
As the first frame appeared he glanced down at it and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.
Then he ran smack into the corridor double doors. “Fuck!” He recoiled aware of the thwack across his head and knee but completely distracted by the video.
“Hi, baby!” It was Karina’s voice. The voice he thought he’d never hear again. The lilting voice of a damsel in distress which got him tied up in all kinds of trouble back in his younger days. And the one that came to represent nothing but pain and despair.
His thoughts froze.
“I know we agreed we wouldn’t talk again, but this is serious. I don’t have anyone else I can call and I really need your help. I don’t think I have long. They’re going to find me. Hell, I just hope they can’t trace this message…”
Her voice trailed off as her eyes flicked to something off camera.
Sean squinted at the video render, trying to see where she might be and what was going on. He clocked the backdrop. She was in a room, probably on a ship, judging by the background and the life support plumbing and gubbins in the ceiling.
“Please, call me back. I know we left things badly… but… you’re my last hope.” She smiled a weak, half smile. Her lip wobbled.
And then the image was gone.
The message ended.
Sean’s heart beat hard. He felt a lump in his throat and a kind of terror that sent adrenaline through his whole artificially enhanced system. For a second he couldn’t think of where he was going or what he was doing.
And he needed to think.
He turned around and headed back down the corridor to his quarters. If Karina was calling him on this number it meant that she was in danger.
Life and death kind of danger.
After all, that was their agreement.
That was how they were both going to exist in the same galaxy… making sure their paths never crossed again.
Unless the unthinkable had happened.
And by the sounds of her message, it had.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Giles’s office, Level 3, Main Building, Skóli Uppstigs Academy
Hans Duo stood just inside the door to Giles’s office.
He wore a beat-up atmosuit that had the odd tear in it around the seals. His boots were scuffed and had smudges of oil and dirt, the kind one only picks up by being around empty warehouses and abandoned buildings these days, in these parts. Despite, that he had managed to find a clean undershirt and comb his hair, which still lay in a haphazard fashion framing his face.
“Ah, here it is,” Giles said, pointing at a screen on his desk holo. He turned a second holo frame towards Hans and pushed it forward. The boy ventured further into the office squinting to see the holoscreen. He took hold of the frame and expanded it out to read, his eyes darting quickly from side to side.
“Pop your holo number in there,” Giles instructed, wagging his finger in a downward motion indicated that Hans should scroll down.
The boy did as he was told. He shook his head in amazement, realizing that throwing a smoke bomb through the classroom window might actually result in him receiving the formal education he had previously been denied. The concept was practically mind-boggling to him.
Giles had turned his attention to transmitting the files once he had the address. He glanced up briefly as he worked. “And did you tell the police everything when you went back?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good,” he grunted, returning his eyes to his holo. “Honesty is always the best policy.”
“With respect, sir,” Hans corrected, “that’s not why you had me do it.”
“Oh?” Giles leaned idly back in his desk chair, regarding the boy skeptically.
“You had me tell the detective who hired me so that he could trace him back to his boss and put pressure on them while you took a run at them through some other angle, increasing the stakes
for them so they’ll eventually slip up.” Hans’s eyes glimmered with the cockiness of youth as he hit return on the holoscreen and passed it back to the professor.
Giles finalized the file transfer to the boy’s holo and rocked back in his chair again. “Very good,” he drawled slowly, his tone mildly impressed.
Hans grinned cheekily. “Your students aren’t the only ones who study the ways of the Sanguine Squadron.” Hans tried to keep his tone balanced and face straight. He wasn’t fooling Giles though. Giles could see he was enjoying his moment as a smart-ass.
Giles raised his chin slightly as he regarded his new student. “I’m surprised you can find enough intel on them. The Squadron, that is,” he remarked, subtly fishing.
“Oh, you’d be surprised,” Hans said, excitedly walking right into Giles’s set up. “There are a number of blogs which publish some of the stories your classes are told…”
Bingo.
Giles sat up, his face darkening. “By our own students?”
“Yes, sir.”
Giles rubbed his chin slowly as he regarded his source. “Interesting,” he mumbled, making a mental note to raise it with Molly.
The conversation lulled for a moment before Giles snapped his attention back to Hans. “Well, you have the files for the first semester now. I’ve unlocked the notes for the first five lectures. Work through them, and then complete the written assignments and send it over to me. Once I’ve had a look we’ll arrange to meet again.”
“Just like that,” Hans grinned, a hint of a question in his voice.
Giles nodded his head once. “Just like that.”
“Well, excellent. Thank you very much, sir. I’ll go home and start working on it right now.” He turned to go.
Giles had the impulse to ask where home was, but thought better of it. Didn’t want to embarrass the boy. Or find out something he would regret knowing later. “Very good,” he said, returning his gaze to his holo.
Hans started shuffling out of his office.
“Oh, and Hans?” Giles called after him.
“Yes, sir?”
“Don’t make me regret this.”
Hans nodded, “I promise you won’t, sir. You can count on me.”
“Yes,” Giles agreed with more than a dose of skepticism. “I’m sure,” he said, watching the boy wander out of his office.
Gaitune-67, Molly’s Conference Room
Molly had just got up to her conference room from a quick few minutes of talking with Brock and Crash, who were back from vacation, when Giles stepped in and updated her regarding Hans.
She stared at him a moment, “So you’ve just decided to tutor him?” she asked.
Giles couldn’t tell if Molly was mad at his rash decision or amused at his sentimentality.
“Well,” Giles explained, “I made the offer to all three of them, but only Mr. Duo took me up on the offer.”
Molly’s expression relaxed and a definite smile spread across her lips. “Well I’ll be,” she breathed. “I never pegged you as someone who would take a charge under your wing…”
Giles took his glasses off and pinched his eyes. “I keep surprising even myself,” he confessed.
“Quite,” she agreed, raising one eyebrow. “So what did they tell you?”
Realizing this was going to be longer than a two second confession, Giles sat down on the opposite side of the conference table. Not so much so he was out of reach of a slap in case this went wrong, but more so he could watch Molly’s reactions, in case she was inclined to give him a clue as to what she was really thinking.
“Well,” he started with a deep breath, “it looks like we may have a political problem brewing.”
Molly’s eyes fixed attentively on him as she settled back in her seat.
Giles continued. “Said they were hired to, and I quote, ‘disrupt the university and cause as much panic as possible.’”
He paused, scratching behind his ear, waiting for a reaction.
“And do we know who hired them?” she asked after a moment.
“Yes. Some guy called Arnold Sloth.”
Molly shook her head. “Don’t know him.”
Giles bobbed his head and clasped his hands on the table in front on him. “He’s a fixer. For some investment consortium on Ogg: the Northern Clan of Cambodian. They have some stake in maintaining the status quo of the Central Systems by the looks of their websites, but they don’t disclose any details of the organizations they support.”
Molly rubbed her chin and leaned forward, subconsciously mirroring his posture. “Interesting…” she agreed quietly.
“Anyway, we’re still trying to figure out what the connection is, but thought you should be aware that someone out there is looking to make some moves against the university.” He watched her carefully.
She reacted ever so slightly, her eyes narrowed with a hint of anxiety, despite her normally cool controlled exterior.
She was quiet, processing the information.
Or perhaps talking with Oz.
Or both.
“You’re sure it’s domestic?” she asked after a few moments.
Giles nodded and leaned back. “Pretty certain at this point. When you have armies at your control you don’t hire college kids to rough people up.”
“Of course.”
Giles got up to leave.
Molly cocked her head, realizing something. “Hey Giles, when you said we… who did you mean exactly?”
Giles stopped dead in his tracks and backed up a couple of steps. “We?”
“Yeah. You said we’re still trying to figure out…”
His face dropped. “Ah, yes,” he said sheepishly, his heart rate increasing. “There is one more thing you ought to know…”
***
From outside the room there was an eerie silence for a moment. And then all that could be heard was an onslaught of bad language in Molly’s screaming voice.
Paige and Maya’s heads snapped to the direction of the conference room.
A grin spread mischievously across Paige’s face. “That’s more like the fireworks I was expecting the other day!”
Maya, by contrast, was horrified, and immediately did the only thing any sane person would do in such a situation. She hit her holo. “Oz. What’s going on in there?”
“I probably shouldn’t say,” Oz replied through the her audio implants.
Paige started chuckling to herself. “Oh, come on, Ozzy-baby. You can’t keep all the gossip to yourself. Who’s in there with her?”
“I’m sorry… I can’t say.”
Paige could detect the wavering in his ironically artificially generated voice.
She had him.
“Come on, Oz. You always want us to report in and keep you in the loop. Remember the girls’ circle we let you in on so you could refine your heuristic algorithms. Relationships are two way streets, right?”
Maya’s expression started to turn to one of amusement. “I can’t believe you’re using our girls’ nights in to leverage an AI for intel!” she whispered to Paige. “Have you no morals?”
Paige’s eyes danced with the twinkle of a thousand watercooler moments to come. “Oz?” she pushed.
“Okay, okay,” he relented, dropping his tone to a whisper in their implants. “You didn’t hear it from me but it’s Giles,” he told them conspiratorially. “He’s using students to investigate a criminal incident at the university.”
Paige frowned. Then shrugged, exchanging glances with Maya. “Best way for them to learn, right?”
“That’s what he said,” Oz reported back.
Maya’s lips were fixed in half a smile, not really knowing how to feel about the whole thing. “And Molly doesn’t agree?” she asked.
“Duty of care seems to be her main argument at the moment.”
There was a crash and a bang from the conference room.
The shouting stopped.
Maya leaned closer to Paige, trying to see past the pillars around th
e common area through to the corridor. “I can’t believe peer pressure worked!” Maya giggled again quietly to Paige.
Paige put one finger up. “They’ve stopped shouting.” Her eyes were wide with concern. “Oz, what’s happening.”
“Erm… I’m not sure.”
Paige pressed again. “Oz…” she repeated warningly.
Maya’s eyes wrinkled in concern. Any humor she had been feeling was quickly evaporating. “Maybe we should go check on them?” she suggested.
“No. No,” Oz told them both quickly. “You should definitely not go check on them.”
The girls looked at each other, trying to fathom what might be going on. After all, Oz had direct access to what was going on through Molly’s head. And… well, everything in her neurology.
He kept talking. “The best thing you can do is pretend you’re not listening and head down to the basement. Hang out with Brock and Crash for half an hour.”
Paige eyed the corridor suspiciously. “Why?”
“Trust me on this,” Oz insisted.
Without another word, and feeling kind of stunned, Paige and Maya picked up their mochas and headed quickly over to the basement stairs.
Opening the door, they came across Joel. He was sweaty and still panting, wearing his workout gear with a towel slung over his shoulder.
“Hey!” Paige called brightly.
“Hey.” Joel responded, a little taken aback by the forced brightness of Paige’s greeting.
He looked over at Maya. She looked equally unnatural, like a elkinder caught in the headlights. “Hey,” she parroted, awkwardly.
Joel smiled. “Well, er… good talking!” he muttered as he tried to side step them and make his way through the door.
Paige glanced at Maya and then back at Joel, her eyes suddenly wide. “How about you come back downstairs with us? We’re just going to have a chat with Crash and Brock about their vacation.”
Joel pointed up into the safe house. “I was just on the way to the kitchen.”
“Ah, okay,” Paige said. “What do you need?” she asked, handing her half cup of mocha to Maya. “I was just heading there myself.”
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