Watching Yute

by Joseph Picard

Cassidy shrugged. “I’m not an artist, and we got to have a talk, so it’s all good.”

  “Are you coming in to say hi to people?”

  Cassidy thought about it. She would just end up at the camp again. “I… I shouldn’t. I'm heading back to central as soon as we drop you off.”

  ~~~

  Nanites. Samuel gave him nanites? It was easy to dismiss what the army said as lies, except that they had so much evidence. He never knew nanites could be used in such ways.

  The evidence could be faked.

  Why was it that he felt nothing good as he broke the prayer idol in front of the statue? Why was the feel of flesh parting for blade still so strong in his mind, despite trying to forget?

  If he had managed to break some conspiracy by the government, they weren’t showing any signs of minding.

  What did Samuel have to gain from the Aguei strength being released? Horad didn’t want to accept being used like this, but the more he thought about it, the less Samuel made sense. No point in struggling with it now. He had already given his name, and helped them make a sketch.

  When the sands rose to his aide, he felt sure. So sure that great powers of the earth were on his side.

  ~~~~~

  :::C /40

  ~~~~~

  Cassidy lay back on her bunk aboard the airlimb, staring at the ceiling, and ran her thumb along her little pendant in a lazy, absent minded way.

  “Well Cheryl,” she softly spoke into the nothingness, “Did I do good? Are you sitting on some damned cloud, pleased that I got him? Or are you pissed that I didn’t kill him?”

  Nah, that wasn’t her style. Maybe she should have given him a good kick to the face or something. That would have been pretty satisfying.

  She held the pendant up a little, and looked down at it. The tiny token of Cheryl’s ash inside made for a poor companion. Her own lack of faith told her that the ash was all that remained of Cheryl, but the thought of her gentle, playful spirit still existing in some form was a pleasant idea.

  She rested the pendant on her lips and sighed.

  “Sir?” Keith’s voice came from the other side of her door, followed by a few knocks. “Are you there, Sir?”

  Cassidy sat up quickly, surprised to feel cold air on her face, where tears had flowed. She didn’t realize she was crying. The realization of it made it worse.

  “Yeah.” She forced a word out before Keith assumed she was elsewhere.. “Gimmie a sec.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  Cassidy wiped her eyes, and steadied herself as she swung her feet to the floor. Her hand bumped the handle of her gun, which was laying on the bed. When exactly did it leave her holster? She stood up and looked in the little mirror.

  Her eyes weren’t too red. And Keith’s a guy. Guys never notice things. And so what if he did? She slid open the door.

  “Keith. What’s up, are we just about there?”

  “Must have been quite a power nap, Sir, we landed at central.”

  A nap, yeah, we’ll go with that. “Ugh. Well, my compliments to the operator. What’s going on?”

  “The Colonel’s got a couple bits of news for you, but Armil wanted you to pop by his office first. His office on the base.”

  “Right.” Her mind was still in a bit of a haze. She may as well have been having a nap. “Point me in the general direction, and I’m off.”

  “Sir, I can take you there.”

  Cassidy sighed. “If you don’t mind… I kind of feel like being alone.”

  Keith looked a little concerned. “Can I do anything for you?”

  “Nah. Nah, it’s all good. I’ll be back when Armil’s done with me.” She stepped out, and started heading to the loading bay. The door was open, and a few Storms and base crew milled about. As she crossed the deck, she was glad to not get any attention this time. She was less of a spectacle without the spear, not to mention the prisoner and entourage.

  It was good to feel anonymous. It made her wish she’d just ignored Keith’s knock.

  Down the hall, a handy directory pointed her towards Armil’s office. When she rounded a corner, the two Storms guarding a door was an obvious sign.

  “Hello boys, I believe you are expecting me.”

  “Yes, Sir, go on in, Sir.”

  “Right.” She adjusted her hat’s brim, and went through the door. Inside was very similar to Armil’s office on the airlimb, except bigger. Somewhere between the traditional crafts, and the modern office trappings, there hung a sizable portrait of an Aeki sunbathing on a rock.

  “Cute lizard, Sir.” Cassidy said, pointing lazily at the painting as she walked over to were Armil was seated at the rug.

  The spear’s case sat in front of him again, so she sat down on the other side of it.

  “Cassidy. I hope you are well,” Armil smiled softly with a nod, “you look a little tired.”

  “I just woke up a bit ago. What’s up?”

  “I visited Cheryl’s parents, to offer my condolences and gratitude.” Cassidy remembered Sandy’s comment about having to clean up before Armil came over. She had to repress a giggle, imagining Sandy frantically trying to clean her living room, stuffing a day old newspaper under the sofa, scrubbing a spot on the coffee table, all while Armil stood on the front step, ringing the doorbell.

  “How are Sandy and Peter doing?” Stop imaging Armil impatiently ringing the doorbell while Sandy picked cat hair off the recliner. Stop it.

  “Well, I think. As well as one could ask at this time.”

  Cassidy wrung her hands a little, and nodded. “Yeah. They’re good people.”

  “They asked about you, as well.”

  Cassidy nodded again. “Sandy’s such a sweetie.”

  Armil reached over to a canvass bag that had been lying nearby. He set it on top of the spear case, using it as a low table. “Sandy sent this for you to have. She apologizes for not giving it to you sooner.”

  Cassidy paused for a small moment, trying to guess what was in the bag. She opened it, and couldn’t take another breath.

  It was a little black ring box.

  Tears began trying to force their way out. Her voice fumbled. “What am I supposed to do with this? Is this what I think it is? How is that supposed to make anything better?”

  She opened the box. She and the diamond stared at each other for a while. “It’s… “ It was exactly the kind of ring that would catch Cheryl’s eye. The gold flowed in a pattern that wrapped around the stone with care. All in all, a fairly simple design, but beautiful.

  After staring at it for a while, she rested it on her knee, and reached behind her neck to undo the clasp of her pendant. Armil saw what she was going to do.

  “Cassidy. Wear it on your finger.”

  Cassidy left the pendant closed, and picked up the ring again. “You think so?”

  “Would you have said yes?”

  “Of course…” Cassidy sighed and stared at it for a bit longer, then put it on. It complimented the ‘promise ring’ quite well. Odd. She’d never been much of a jewelery person. Now she had a pendant and two rings, all reminders of what she’d lost.

  While Cassidy got lost, staring at her new ring, Armil quietly opened the spear’s case. Cassidy looked up at Armil with questioning eyes.

  “I have a favour to ask.” Armil said, lifting the spear from the case, “Keep this, and continue with the Colonel, in pursuit of this ‘Samuel’.”

  “I don’t understand.” She kept her hands to herself, but stared at the spear. “I got the killer, it’s over.”

  “Yet Samuel defiled the temple with these nanites, and spun lies that led to the killings. This might be interpreted as somewhat of an abuse of the spear’s meaning, but it will speak of my concern with this matter.“

  “I guess… but why me?” She took the spear.

  “You have handled it well in the past. Besides…” Armil shrugged, “I can’t go lending it to someone else so soon. It would be unheard of. In fact, if anyone asks, I am not lending it to you
again; I am merely rejecting your returning it too early.”

  Cassidy stood the spear beside her, and wearily used it to pull herself to a standing position. “Well then. I guess that’s that.” She tapped her ring finger twice against the spear. “I have some work to do.”

  She found that the spear made her walk slower. She noticed that sometimes, very high ranking officers took their time, but this wasn’t the saunter of authority. It was almost a processional walk.

  She looked at the floor, mostly, but noticed the glances of passers by in the base hall. How many knew the meaning of the spear, and how many just saw her as some crazy broad with a spear?

  Well, spears from the temple base weren’t that unusual to see at the Yute base, but this one was decidedly different.

  A voice snapped Cassidy out of her wandering thoughts. “What the fuck is that?”

  Cassidy turned to see a brunette woman, wearing blue fatigue pants, a white halter top, and a black leather jacket with the sleeves rolled up. The blue fatigues were distinctive around here. They had been used by many of the frontline troops in the Erebus conflict. But this woman looked otherwise quite civilian. It took a moment for it to click in Cassidy's mind.

  “Frig, you're that Regan chick, aren't you?”

  “Guilty!” she chirped, happy to be recognized.

  Cassidy sighed. The world knew of her, and her girlfriend. “You still with that Major? Terone?”

  “Yupyup. I'm only here because Alisia teaches some course about zombies here. I thought when a gal retired, they stopped working. Pfft.”

  “So, you're waiting for her?” The media amused itself for some time over Regan 'converting' Major Terone to lesbianism. Some theorized that Terone had been bi all along, and just didn't want to advertize it to Regan when they first met.

  Regan paused, looking as innocent as she could. “She kicked me out of class. Said I was a disturbance.”

  Cassidy couldn't help but chuckle a little bit. “I think she'll forgive you.”

  “Yeah, I have my ways. So really, what's with the funky spear?”

  Cassidy briefly explained, although Regan seemed to lose interest half way through.

  “Yeah. I kind of got to do that. No spear, though. Bullets. And a big-”

  Cassidy chuckled again. “I know, I know. The world knows!” She sighed, and put her hand on Regan's shoulder. “Hey Regan, listen up. As a fellow 'sister', can you do me a favour?”

  Regan seemed to clue in to the keyword 'sister', and nodded.

  “That Alisia of yours?” Cassidy said, sighing again, “Treat her good. Treat her like she's your everything.”

  “I do...! She is!”

  Cassidy smiled. “Good. And make sure she knows it. Every day, alright?”

  Regan nodded again, solemnly.

  With a heavy and envious heart, Cassidy went back to the helipad, walked across to Armil’s airlimb, and climbed back onboard. As she made her way to the ops room to see Colonel Nafim, Cassidy noticed that no one spoke to her. Storms got out of the way, and sort of stood at attention until she passed. She glanced at a couple faces as she went. They looked sad to see her carrying the spear again.

  She agreed. It was heavier now, somehow. Without the rage for Horad to fuel her, it felt like an imposed duty. She should have told Armil to keep his damned spear.

  She stepped into the ops room. “Hey, Nafim.”

  Colonel Judith Nafim turned away from her workstation to face Cassidy. “Stanton. I see you’ve spoken with Armil. You’re on board then.”

  Cassidy looked at the spear and sighed. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess I am.” The damned spear seemed to be looking back at her, almost expectantly. “Hell, Colonel, I don’t know what I’m doing here. I feel like I’m done. Is it just the spear? Am I here to wave it in Samuel’s face when we find him, and hope it scares him into a big confession?”

  “That would be nice,” Nafim said, “Still gotta find him first. And as long as that spear is ‘active’, we’re running Aguei law, which has a lot less red tape than federal law. Heck, if it was federal law, Horad would probably still be in a cell waiting for charges to be officially laid.”

  “Yeah, what about him, anyway? What’s the process?”

  “Armil gets the final say on his sentence. Could still potentially be death.”

  Cassidy scoffed softly. “I wouldn’t lose much sleep.”

  “Me either, but he did supply us with a sketch of Samuel. It’s not a lot, but it’s being sent around. Checking with tech companies and A.R.A. informants. We’ll see what we get.”

  “Well, that sure sounds like work for a gal and her sacred pokey stick,” Cassidy said sarcastically, “Unless you have something useful for me to do, Colonel, I think I’ll get some things done in my quarters.”

  Nafim’s voice replied in an understanding tone. “Sure thing, Stanton. I’ll keep you posted.”

  ~~~

  Empty.

  That’s how she felt, and how her quarters looked. Nanites bad, blah blah. Whoever is abusing these nanites could be a national threat, whatever. She had caught the guy that killed Cheryl, and it didn’t fix a damned thing as far as she was concerned.

  She stuck the spear back on it’s rack, and flopped down onto the bunk with her terminal, to call Sandy Lowe. The screen went blank except for the text [Please wait, ringing.] for a few moments.

  Sandy popped up onscreen with a smile. “Cassie! So good to hear from you!”

  “Hi, Sandy. I’m sorry I didn’t call earlier. I should have. I assume you’ve seen the news?”

  Sandy’s smile dimmed a little, and she nodded. “Yeah. You got him. Thank you, Cassie. It couldn’t have been easy for you.”

  With a wry smirk, she pointed the terminal towards the spear on the wall. “The hard part was not sticking that into his throat.” She turned the terminal back to herself. “The thing is, I’m still undecided on whether I should have.”

  “Hmm. Yes, you neglected to mention at the funeral that it was an option. I had to hear that on the news.”

  “Sorry. It didn’t really seem like the time to mention my ‘licence to kill’. Do you think I should have done it?” She asked, already predicting her answer, more or less.

  “That’s not something a person should do if they don’t have to.”

  Hmm. That seemed a little oversimplified, but she’d let Sandy get away with it. “Oh yeah, and the reason I remembered to call now…” Cassidy smiled sadly, and held up her hand to show the engagement ring.

  Sandy clutched her hand in front of her mouth. “Oh! Oh Cassie. It fits?”

  “Yeah. Yeah, perfectly. She already knew my size.”

  “It came in the mail just a while ago. It had been bouncing around, being forwarded around military mail rooms or something until it finally came to the next of kin. Cassie, you have to come visit us. Soon. And then often.” Sandy’s eyes were glassy with suppressed tears. Cassidy wondered if it would be a good idea. She didn’t want to be Sandy’s replacement for Cheryl. That would be… uncomfortable. She didn’t say anything about that idea though. She wanted to visit anyway.

  “Sure.” Dammit, Sandy was going to make her cry. “Oh, let me put you on hold for a second, I have something you might like.” She put the call on hold, and went though the collection of photos she had on her terminal. She was looking for a snapshot of the art Cheryl had painted on the camp wall.

  Immediately, she knew it was a terrible mistake. To find it, she had to flip through countless other pictures. Of Cheryl, of the good times, and a couple of the explicit times. Pictures of her smile. Her eyes.

  And now, a pinch of ash that used to be part of that beauty was crammed in a little pendant.

  It was too much for her. She felt herself shake.

  She put the call with Sandy back on, audio only.

  “Sandy,” her voice trembled. “I’ll have to send the picture I was looking for later. I have to go.”

  “Cassie! Are you al-“

  Cassidy disco
nnected, and with trembling fingers, set the terminal offline. She held her trembling hands out front, and watched them tremble uncontrolled. The pictures of Cheryl bombarded in her mind, nearly knocking her over.

  She wanted to scream.

  To scream, and rip, and tear, and smash, until she passed out. The futility of the idea stopped her, and that futility infuriated her more. She crumpled into a ball on the bed, sobbing, and grabbed at the pendant tightly, hoping that the chain would somehow slice her head off.

  And she felt the holster on her hip. And with a deep breath, stopped shaking.

  ~~~~~

  :::C /41

  ~~~~~

  From: Book

  To: Jacob Kirison

  Topic: FW: Seeking assistance

  Kirison, you were the go-to man for nanites in the company ever since Coll disappeared. Does this man they’re looking for look familiar to you? I thought perhaps you might know something useful to them.

  Original message:

  From: Col. J. Nafim

  To: Undisclosed recipients

  Greetings. If you are receiving this, it is because you or your organization has in the past been linked to nanite development. It is important to note that we are not investigating you for infractions against the anti-nanite legislation, however we are in search of someone who is.

  Attached is a sketch of an Individual known only as “Samuel”. Samuel is wanted for questioning in relation to a recent violent crime, resulting in the deaths of two soldiers

  This individual apparently had access to clothing capable of hiding the wearer from infra red detection.

  I trust that you take possible nanite offenses seriously, as we all have since the Erebus incident, and hope that you can supply information to assist us in containing any possible threat to public safely.

  Col. Judith Nafim,

  Commander, Grand Elder Guard