Archer massaged his temples. He was famished, but Leigh didn’t seem to be getting breakfast together. She shrugged when she saw Archer’s eyes looking toward the kitchen.
“Ada told me she’d be handling your breakfast, this morning,” said Leigh, an undercurrent of disappointment in her voice.
“That’s right,” said Ada. “And we need to get going. Now.”
“Jesus, what’s the rush?” asked Archer. “After last night, I thought you’d want me to get my rest?”
“The Overseer has requested your presence,” said Ada. “He’ll be meeting you as soon as you get to the North Compound. Trust me when I say that you don’t want to fall out of his good graces.”
Archer thought back to his first meeting with the Overseer.
I don’t think I ever was in his good graces. He’s a manipulator.
“Alright, fine,” he said. “Let’s go.”
He said his goodbye to Leigh and followed after Ada as she led him out of the Prime Complex. True to her word, a crowd was waiting for him outside, ready with questions and microphones. Archer tried not to let his annoyance show, which between his unfulfilled morning and Ada’s pushiness, was already maxed out for the day.
The rail car was waiting for them, and Ada had arranged some food inside it for him. He ate a sweet, chocolate pastry as they traveled the distance to the North Compound.
“You really did do well last night,” said Ada. “You should take pride in that.”
Archer smiled a bit at her praise.
“I appreciate the sentiment,” he said. “But, I would have appreciated five more minutes in bed even more.”
Ada smiled conspiratorially at him.
“Pardon me, I forgot what young men are like,” she said. “So ready and eager all the time. I can almost smell your hormones, you know.”
She was sitting in the seat next to his, and made a show of leaning over and sniffing his neck. Archer was oddly excited by it, which he knew only proved her point.
They reached the Prime Compound and took the elevator down. True to Ada’s word, the Overseer was waiting in the armory. He was in the middle of speaking to a couple of techs, not giving a speech, but whispering with them as a group.
When the workers caught sight of Archer stepping off the elevator they broke into applause. He scratched the back of his head, feeling a little dumb under their attention. They’d only known who he was for a couple of days, and none of them had said a word to him in that time.
The Overseer joined in, and continued clapping after everyone else had stopped. He walked toward Archer and Ada slowly, a smile on his face that didn’t reach his eyes. He looked older than the first time Archer had seen him, though it might have just been a trick of the light.
“Captain Ada,” he said. “I’ll be stealing your office for a couple of minutes.”
“Overseer Tensmoth,” said Ada, giving an exaggerated salute. “Oh, but of course. Don’t mind me…”
“Don’t be smug with me,” said Tensmoth. “You were right about him. He saved the city. You have your victory.”
“Do I really seem that shallow to you, Lord Overseer?” she asked, sarcastically. “Please, use my office. Speak with my soldier. But be quick about it. He’s the only combat ready Metal Knight in the haven.”
Ada walked off before the Overseer could respond. Archer fidgeted a little and stayed silent, figuring it was the smartest course of action when two predators were in the middle of sizing each other up.
I’m going to have to be very careful about what I say, and how I say it.
Ada’s office was in a corner on the armory’s second level. It was small and austere. Overseer Tensmoth didn’t take the desk, instead he stood next to the closed door, leaning in slightly to speak.
“I’m impressed by your progress,” he said. “Last night was… not a typical situation. Certainly not anything we were expecting, or could have predicted.”
“Thank you, sir,” said Archer.
“You handled it as well as anyone could have,” he said. “Except maybe your brother, that is. Keep in mind that everyone is still making comparisons between you and him, and if they have working eyes, they’ll see from the footage of the fight that you got lucky. You aren’t anything like a peer for him in combat ability, yet.”
Archer kept his expression neutral and didn’t respond, even though he wanted to tear the comment to shreds. Trevor was dead, and he was alive. That’s all that he thought should have mattered to the people and their comparisons.
“Archer,” said the Overseer. “I need to know something.”
“Of course, sir.”
Overseer Tensmoth’s eyes burned with something desperate and fierce. He leaned in closer, beyond what would have normally been acceptable.
“What did the fabricant say before it died?” he hissed.
Archer had already been controlling his expression after the shot about Trevor, and only because of that did he manage to keep his face from betraying him. He frowned, thinking furiously.
He’s the Overseer. He should know about what I heard. But for some reason… this doesn’t feel right.
“The… fabricant?” asked Archer, shaking his head a little. “I… didn’t hear it say anything.”
The Overseer stared at him, unblinking, letting it go on for long enough to pass over awkward and into rude territory.
“Exactly,” he said. “That’s all you need to say, if anyone else asks you. You didn’t hear the fabricant say anything. It would be ridiculous, if you had…”
Archer stared back at him, his confusion too much to contain. Before he could ask, Overseer Tensmoth nodded to him, opened the office door, and started walking back toward the elevator without another word.
CHAPTER 30
Archer headed down to the floor of the armory. His armor skin was standing in position on the repair racks, and several techs were bustling about it, adjusting and fixing things he hadn’t noticed were damaged in the battle. Next to it, on one side, was Vivian’s pink and white armor skin, and Bart’s green hued skin stood on the other.
Vivian. I didn’t get a chance to talk to her much after the battle.
He crossed the armory to Karen’s office. The doctor wasn’t in, but one of the beds was occupied, with curtains drawn around it. Archer walked over slowly, stopping and clearing his throat, as there was no place to knock.
“Trevor?” The curtain was pulled back by an attendant and Vivian sat up. She was dressed in a hospital gown and her red, messy and tousled hair spilled around her shoulders. She looked as though she’d just woken up and disappointment passed across her face as her sleepy eyes focused and then recognized Archer.
“Sorry,” he said, feeling awkward. “I… didn’t realize you were sleeping.”
Vivian managed a smile and shrugged.
“It’s okay,” she said. “I’ve gotten more than enough rest. I should be getting up, anyway.”
She tried to shift over to the side of the bed, but when she moved her arm, her face contorted in pain. Archer shook his head and held up a hand.
“No, you need rest,” he said. “Can I get you anything?”
Vivian sighed and lay back down. Her thin gown pulled tight against her chest, making Archer acutely aware of how large her breasts were. He was also able to gauge just how cold the room was. She leaned her head from side to side.
“Breakfast would be nice,” she said. “Just find Karen and tell her. She’ll take care of it.”
“You got it.”
Archer crossed his arms. He felt like he should say or do something else, but wasn’t sure what. There had been several moments during the fight where he’d felt a connection with her, not as man and woman, but soldier and soldier. They both had watched each other’s backs and made it through to see another day. There was something significant about that fact, and he didn’t fully understand it.
“Ada’s going to be riding you hard, today,” said Vivian.
Archer
stared at her, his mind a bit too primed from his interrupted morning with Leigh to hear the words as they were meant to be heard.
“Uh…’ he scratched his head. Vivian blushed a little and glared at him.
“You pervert,” she said. “What I mean by that is she’ll be giving you extra duties. I’m not going to be fully rested for another day, at least, and Bart’s in the real medical center with a cracked skull.”
“Right,” said Archer. “But what about the rest of the Metal Squad? By my count, there should still be four others that I haven’t met yet.”
“They’re on wide patrol,” said Vivian. “Watching the trade route between Tempus and Syprus, or the route to the mining extractors. I’m actually surprised that none of them gave us advance warning about the fabricant, last night. They don’t travel incredibly fast on their own. It should have been pretty easy to spot.”
“Is Ada still in contact with them?” he asked. “What if…?”
“We’d have heard about it,” said Vivian. “No. It’s not possible.”
She shifted in the bed, wincing slightly as her shoulder moved to a new angle. Archer smiled, glad that she was doing okay. Vivian met his eye for a second and neither of them said anything. Another second passed, and a weird tension settled over the room.
“I should probably go find Ada,” said Archer.
“Right,” said Vivian. “And if you see Karen…”
“Tell her that you’re hungry. Got it.”
Archer nodded to her and then left the office. Ada and Karen were already heading his way, Karen pushing a small kitchen cart in front of her.
“Perfect timing,” said Archer. “She just woke up.”
Karen smiled.
“And what about you?” she asked. “Still feeling alright? Those bruised ribs aren’t too bad, are they?”
“I’ll manage,” said Archer.
Karen pushed the cart passed him and Archer turned his attention to Ada. He could tell from a glance that she was conflicted over what she was about to say.
“Archer,” she said. “We don’t have any Metal Knights on patrol around the city at the moment. Bart was on a perimeter defense assignment, but, it’s going to be a while before he’s back in fighting condition.”
“I figured,” said Archer. “I can do it. I’m ready.”
Ada nodded slowly, her expression betraying her doubts.
I thought I proved myself last night?
“It’s not a difficult assignment,” said Ada. “A very basic patrol. The Watchers on the outer wall have your communication frequency, so if they see anything, you’ll know about it immediately.”
“Got it,” said Archer. He started walking toward the locker room. Ada followed him, not stopping as he passed through the door. He turned to look at her as he pulled off his shirt, raising and eyebrow.
“What did you and Tensmoth talk about?” asked Ada. She had her arms crossed, and there was something tense about her body language, almost like she didn’t trust him.
“He congratulated me,” said Archer. “Made a couple of comments about what I should do moving forward. Told me to keep my mouth shut.”
From the way Ada nodded, it was clear that she knew he was holding back.
“Is that really it?” she asked.
Archer locked eyes with her, not bothering to concern himself with modesty as he pulled his slacks down.
I’m the one who should be asking that question.
“What was my brother doing when he died?” he asked. The question almost caught him as off guard as it did Ada. He’d been wanting to ask her for a while, but it had never seemed like the right time, until now. Ada looked away and took a slow breath.
“I don’t know,” said Ada.
“What do you mean, you don’t know?”
Ada scowled as she met his gaze.
“He wasn’t on an assignment that I gave him,” she said, flatly. “Several of the techs said that he ordered them to open the release line for him, and they did.”
Archer thought about the implications of what she was telling him.
“Do you think Overseer Tensmoth asked him to look into something?” he asked. “Or maybe… someone else?”
Who the hell else would Trevor have taken orders from?
“He might have gone out for his own reasons,” said Ada. “Or it might have been the Overseer, though if it was, he’s doing a damn good job at acting oblivious. But that isn’t the weirdest thing about it, Archer.”
“What is, then?”
“We never found his body,” she said.
“How is that possible?” he asked. “You… brought back his armor skin.”
“It was empty when we found it,” said Ada. “Not that far outside of the haven, at the intersection between here and the road that leads to Syprus. There was no sign of Trevor anywhere nearby, not even any footsteps leading away, as far as we could tell.”
Archer brought his hands to his forehead and then slowly ran them back through his hair. He closed his eyes, trying to make sense of what he was being told. He couldn’t do it. It was like a puzzle with too many missing pieces to make out the full picture.
“Will you be honest with me now?” asked Ada. “Will you tell me what you and the Overseer really talked about?”
Archer clenched his jaw and closed his eyes.
“There’s something going on with the fabricants that doesn’t fit,” he said.
“What is it?” snapped Ada. “Archer, I am your captain! Tell me what the fuck you know!”
She pushed him in the chest with surprising strength. Archer snapped back against the metal locker. Ada had a hand on either side of his head, and brought her face in close to his. He met her gaze, keeping his expression neutral.
It’s probably safe to trust her, but I can’t afford to take the chance.
“I don’t know anything,” said Archer.
Ada let out a slow sigh and took a step back.
“You are a lot like your brother,” she said. “More than you know.”
She left the locker room. Archer finished getting changed.
CHAPTER 31
After climbing into his armor skin, Archer took the elevator down to the release tunnel. The rail cycle hurtled him out an exit right by the city wall, and again, he found it to be unnerving, especially through the dark of the tunnel.
He landed on the dirty, flat wasteland, rolling and coming to his feet. Trevor was standing over him as he rose, and Archer wasn’t surprised. He’d come to expect his brother’s presence while in the armor skin. It was just a fact of his new life.
“Perfect timing,” said Archer, muting the mic as he spoke. “I was just thinking about some questions I have that I think you might be able to answer.”
“Oh, but you should take care of your patrol duty first, brother,” said Trevor. “Captain Ada is quite serious about it being performed properly. Wouldn’t want you to get into hot water over abandoning protocol.”
Archer rolled his eyes, but started walking. Ada was explaining to him what he needed to do over the speaker in more words than she probably needed to. It was basically just a simple patrol along the perimeter of Tempus, stopping at various points for a couple of minutes at a time.
It was more for show than defense, with Tempus’s outer circumference far surpassing the distance he could march in a single day, and the Watchers maintaining their own guard from the battlements.
It was only the second time that he had ever left the walls of the haven. He’d been too busy fighting the fabricant the previous night to stop and experience the perspective of being on the other side of the wall.
He felt exposed and vulnerable, and as he walked along the wall, he instinctively kept his eyes trained toward the flat, empty expanse of wasteland. He’d been up on the wall before, and had looked beyond Tempus, but this was different. The lack of buildings, people, anything, really, made his stomach feel queasy, and his heart pound.
The emptiness of it could
drive a person insane, given enough time. Probably already has, many times before.
From the inside, Tempus seemed like a massive self-contained world. It was almost a hundred miles across, a perfect circle containing a microcosm of human civilization, city, suburbs, and slums.
From the outside, Tempus seemed small and insignificant against the charred, empty expanse of dead land that lay in every direction. The vast emptiness was palpable. Tempus was exposed and vulnerable, the last dying leaf hanging from a tree in midwinter. It felt as though the city, the only home that Archer had ever known, was living on borrowed time.
He took a slow breath and forced himself to stay calm, feeling a familiar tickle of anxiety in his breast. Trevor was walking beside him, his expression empty and unreadable. Archer made sure his communication line was muted.
“What aren’t you telling me, Trevor?” he asked. “What else is going on here? How are you even here, talking to me?”
“Those are all good questions,” said Trevor.
“And why did you try to stop me from fighting last night?” asked Archer, suddenly realizing that it was probably the most important answer he needed.
Trevor smiled.
“There’s so much that I know,” he said. “And so much that I don’t. First… will you accept that I’m being honest with you, little brother? I’m not going to bother telling you anything if you aren’t going to believe me.”
Archer exhaled slowly.
If this is a hallucination, this is the moment in which I finally surrender to it.
“Fine,” he said. “I’ll do my best. But your explanations had better make enough sense on their own for me to be convinced.”
Trevor held out his arms to either side, shrugged, and then crossed his arms.
“Let’s start with the clear elephant in the room,” he said. “You were attacked last night, and almost killed by a fabricant. Why?”
Archer scowled.
Tempus Regit Page 16
