by Tal Turing
But she took a moment to daydream about what the owners of the eel might look like and what they might do for her in exchange for her cargo. Perhaps they might give her an eel of her very own.
Edwyrd
“She'll kill you, Eddie,” the voice echoed in his dream. He hit her over and over again, but the empty, blank look in her dark eyes returned again and again. Her body dropped to the ground only to bounce back up again like a balloon, forcing him to strike her once more.
But he was tiring, each punch seemed to sap his strength and now he wanted desperately to run away.
“Put her down, Eddie! If she gets up, it will be the end of you.”
Edwyrd Harilla woke, alone in his chamber, his skin cold and slippery, his bed-shirt wet. He wiped at his skin as he checked the time. It was still too early to rise but also too late to have any real hope of sleeping again, so he rose.
Ed splashed cold water on his face and considered his goals for the day. There was a scheduled border patrol he had insisted on leading, though now he regretted that decision. He had to go, he was the one who had raised the objections after reviewing the reports from previous missions, so he had to make sure the corrections were made.
Barrett had balked but Ed insisted, telling him 'You can't make someone Deputy Security Officer and not expect them to make changes'. In the end, Barrett agreed but with conditions. He would have to take some assets to beat up. Corporate saw it as a great way to punish performance stragglers while promoting 'job enthusiasm' for the rest. Fine. It should be a straightforward albeit long and tedious assignment; they shouldn't get too many bumps or bruises.
He dressed quietly, the phantom of the dream returning to haunt him. It was one which had visited him many times over the years, though not recently. And it should be obvious to him why it had returned, the elephant in the room. Only Steve had alluded to it the previous day: 'You'll have to deal with it. It's your monkey'.
Ed arrived early, pleased to see a couple of his men already there, eating and equipping for the assignment. Smart men, it would be a long day and nourishment was not a luxury in this case.
Stym arrived next, a hulking giant, seven feet tall and a chest as big as a tree. Steve had gone out of his way to counsel Ed not to antagonize the huge veteran but that only made Edwyrd more annoyed even though he knew that might be his older brother's intent.
Ed sighed. He knew he needed to be less pessimistic, to give them a chance to follow the damn procedures without automatically assuming they would not. But he knew they wouldn't and that was why he had to be here.
“Hey Stym,” Ed nodded.
“Deputy,” Stym smiled easily over his shoulder and opened his locker, leaving Ed to ponder the meaning behind the smirk, if there was one.
It was the ambiguous smile your buddy might flash when he saw you with a new girl. It might mean 'congratulations on doing something right', or it might be a congratulations on getting away with something. Greeting Edwyrd as 'deputy' had the same ambiguity. It might be respectful or it might mean that Stym felt the promotion had more to do with Ed's father than Ed himself.
“Okay,” Ed spoke plainly, raising his voice so that everyone could hear him. “Let's go over the assignment now so you'll know what to expect later; I wouldn't skip this meal if I were you,” he added as he stepped easily into the center of the room and looked around quickly to make sure he had their attention. “This patrol will be longer than any similar assignments in which you participated. We are going to start following the book on all of these border patrols so I want to make sure you all know what that means...”
As he spoke, he located one of the assets which Barrett had assigned. The man looked worried. Ed wondered where were the other two.
Camera F17
Cyn's eyes opened. She was lying on her back and the air was cold on her exposed legs. Her eyes found dark, hard, surfaces above her, on her right and at her feet. It was as if she had been stuffed into a shelf. As she watched, the lights brightened gradually but it was too early for her alarm.
An LED light flashed, first from one location in her quarters and then from another; she recognized that phenomena. Her AI units, the spectacles on the desk and the visor on her shelf had received an important notification and were signaling her and bringing up the lights. They would become more insistent if she did not get up.
She slipped out of the bed chamber and grabbed the more comfortable AI visor. Even as she brought it towards her head, it was communicating with sensory implants which had been placed inside her skull, wrapped around her optic nerve. It was a procedure all assets had to endure, even as a thirteen year old girl.
The unit was waking as well and, as if sure that it would soon be on her head, was already pulling her preferred data feeds although most of were blocked. She focused on the notifications.
Itinerary has changed.
AI upgrade available.
She ignored the upgrade and opened her itinerary, and frowned. She had been assigned to Transom Security for the day, the entire day. Starting in 20 minutes. But she knew hardly anything about security, what would they want with her? Then her mind flashed to her encounter with Barrett and she felt sick, was this some sort of punishment?
In a sudden leap of fantasy, she imagined sending a message to James and Carla who would assemble a team, jump on a hugger train, and retrieve her from this hell hole. It was a nice fantasy, of course she couldn’t even send a message and she was wasting time with her daydream. She could be penalized for arriving late to an assignment. She changed into a dark jumpsuit and some walking boots.
Cyn was directed to a room on the first floor of Transom House where she found a group of security officers talking among themselves. There was some breakfast, thankfully, and an equipment locker. Her AI surveyed the room and found that most were Transom Security but she also found two hospitality assets. She also noticed that only the officers were being equipped with the high tech stibnite armor, the assets were assigned only weather suits. They must be leaving the Domes.
“They get better equipment, but we'll do all the work. This is my second behavioral 'correction' assignment,” one of the hospies confided to her over a quick breakfast. So she was correct, this was some sort of punishment.
She reviewed the assignment. It was a 'Border Sweep and Repair' task and would take most of the day. The high level procedures were written by Lysander Barrett, and she was relieved to note that Barrett was not heading the effort. Then she saw who was leading it: Edwyrd Harilla, the most temperamental and mercurial of Patron's sons. Almost on cue, she heard his voice emanate from within a group of security officers. Already, he did not see pleased. But what could she do?
Cyn walked over to a locker and retrieved a weather suit. She would have to strip down to her undergarments like the other men and although she supposed she could find a private corner for that purpose, she decided that she didn't care enough. With her back to the rest, she dropped her outer clothes and began donning the weather suit. When she had finished, she placed her personal possessions into a locker keyed to her AI.
Upon turning back towards the group, she found one of the officers standing near by, watching her, eyes unblinking. She looked at him only long enough to see if he actually wanted something and turned away when she decided he did not.
Having monitored the various conversations while changing, she now decided that she needed to watch the growing argument between Edwyrd and another officer.
When they were younger and in school, Ed had been known for his volcanic temper and his persistent grudges. She already felt sorry for whoever was the target of his anger. While she watched and listened, she began to peruse the assignment procedures. While technology had failed her, her omnaudience had not.
The voices of Ed and a corper named Stym were growing louder and the other hospies were becoming apprehensive while the other officers seemed unconcerned. From what Cyn could tell, Ed had been laying out basic strategy for the mission but Sty
m was unhappy with the time it would take. Stym was a huge man; while sitting he was still almost eye to eye with the standing deputy.
“It's standard procedure, Stym. You know that. And I expect that everyone else knows it as well.” His voice was controlled but she could hear the growing menace and she imagined his eyes becoming deadly black pools.
Cyn had almost completely digested the operational procedures attached to her assignment, straightforward although a bit wordy, nothing compared to some of the tomes she had to evaluate for some ops assignments.
“No one does it that way, Ed,” Stym responded evenly, almost dismissively. “Those procedures are for the initial scouting of an unknown area, not one that has been swept like a million times.”
“Please don't tell me that we have been intentionally skipping the initial canvass, for what, years?” Ed huffed, trying to control his annoyance.
“That's the real world, Mr. Harilla,” Stym replied, his own voice growing as he looked around the room. It was clear that he was now speaking to everyone and by emphasizing Edwyrd's last name he was also making it clear that he did not care who Ed's father was.
“Well, reality is going to seem a little different today,” Ed said, also addressing the group, his eyes as dark as coal. “Can you deal with that Stym? Or am I going to have to listen to you whine the whole, long, day?”
It struck Cynnamon that she hadn't seen this person, the deputy, in ten years and yet his mannerisms were still very much the same. The Edwyrd Harilla she knew was very hard to read, unpredictable and already she was worried that the other man was on very dangerous ground. Surely he would know that...
“You da boss.” Stym said in a plaintive voice. “Of course, it's my job to provide feedback where needed so we'll see what happens. Everyone knows I call em as I see em.”
The giant man looked away but Ed did not relent.
“Then clue me in as to exactly how you see it. Under what circumstances would you do a full sector sweep?” Ed inquired.
“Well, if the area is unknown,” Stym began, pausing to emphasize the point further, “in that case we want a complete survey, first thing, and then identify initial camera and sensor locations later.”
“And if it's not unknown?” Ed countered, his voice challenging.
“Then we just fix the cameras, everyone knows that.”
“Not correct,” Ed blurted and he looked around the room. “Who knows why we have to do a full survey each time and every time...” His eyes were like death rays sweeping over each person. Mercifully, he did not even look at the assets, Cynnamon was standing behind the two male hospies.
“It is to..as he said...to survey the area.” An officer spoke up but he quickly shut up at Ed's glare.
“I already know the wrong answer,” the deputy announced, “now I'm looking for the correct one, the full reason and at least one of you better know it...”
He was shaking his head, slowly and angrily when Cyn spoke up. Her voice was firm and articulate, as if she were rattling off the most basic Techview protocol.
“The sector is supposed to be secured every time in case previous activity has attracted hostiles. If a sensor was located, it is reasonable to assume it might be under surveillance, therefore a survey sweep should be done before each and every operation.” She was reading Barrett's words almost verbatim, and why not? No one was saying anything and Ed was ready to blow a fuse. Cyn hated vacuums and besides, she needed Harilla to back off her, to not make her life a living hell.
The youngest son of Patron looked over at her, his face frozen in annoyance as he seemed to process who she was and what she had just said. Then he looked away.
“Really?” Ed huffed, some of his anger dissipating. “This lipstick wearing asset is the only fucker who knows our procedures?” He looked around at the others, staring down each of his men. Then he looked back at her and barked. “Tell me, Miss Techview, how the hell do you even know this? Does the 'Worst City' enforce their borders with hospies?”
I am not a hospie, she thought, but this was not the time to protest. He was at least giving her a chance to speak rather than just ripping into her and the choice she had made, to grab any opportunity to leave this valley.
“The protocol was attached to the assignment,” she replied, “I just assumed I should read it. Techview has similar procedures...”
“We don't care how they do things in Techview,” he snapped as he looked again at his men.
“Nobody does that.” Stym muttered.
“Exactly!” Ed sneered before turning back to Cynnamon, his eyes drifting past her as he spoke. “Miss Asset,” Ed started, his anger fading and an unpleasant smile coming to his face. “Where is your damn weapon?”
“I was not assigned one..” she replied, one eyebrow rising.
“Then we'll have to obtain one from one of those 'unschooled' in our procedures,” Ed said simply, looking over at Stym.
“What?” Stym sounded genuinely annoyed now.
“Give her your weapon and show her how to use it. You can stay here and read up on procedures.”
Stym's face flushed red with anger and he stood, towering over the rest. Ed took a stride toward him and looked straight up and into his face.
“Welcome to the real world, Stym.”
“Okay,” muttered the giant man as he finished attaching the weapon to her left wrist. “You'll see the targeting cross-hairs in your AI, lined up however you direct it. Notice that the target is gray, means it's disabled. If Harilla were to enable your weapons, and that won't happen, it would turn green, indicating that the weapon can be fired manually. If you activate auto-firing, it will turn red, at that point your AI will take every shot it gets the chance. Again, it's not going to happen but if it did, make sure you know what you are doing.
To emphasize again, it's disabled now, it cannot be fired. Let's test that out - why don't you point it at Deputy Harilla's head...”
She looked over at Ed. He was busy speaking with one of the other officers.
“I'd rather not,” she replied calmly.
“No? Too bad, you might have found a problem with the software.” Stym laughed loudly.
“You seem to have gotten over your argument with the Deputy?” she mused.
“Argument?” Stym grinned. “You might recall that I didn't want to spend the whole day doing border patrol with Harilla. So let me ask you, did I get my way?”
Cyn laughed, genuinely. “I see your point.”
Their 'transport', to Cyn's amazement, was the locomotive of an Earth Hugger train. She had never seen one up close not to mention the inside. The vehicle was one and a half stories in height and about double that in length. They entered at the bottom and climbed stairs to the second level where they found a crew compartment equipped with SkyTran Hi-G turbulence chairs.
The safety harnesses were similar to those provided to passengers but these were larger and more sophisticated. She learned the importance of these chairs the hard way. She had been speaking with one of the strapped-in officers and failing to notice that the rest were quickly activating their harnesses. Actually, she had noticed it, but the ride was smooth and she assumed they just were anxious to follow one of Edwyrd's strange little rituals. But she felt it was more important to gather additional information about the assignment and besides, the Deputy was up front, in the cockpit.
Then her world moved, suddenly, tossing her straight up in the air and the next thing she knew she had landed on the ground, her feet out in front of her, amid a roar of laughter. Then she heard Ed's voice over her AI.
“This isn't a Techview cruise, people, this trip gets bumpy. We kick off the acceleration dampers on these survey trips so that little jolt was nothing. Better get in your seat before our next reminder.” Then the audio feed cut off.
Cyn initially began to get to her feet and, thinking better, scrambled for her chair before she could receive a second demonstration.
This ride was unlike her previous two
hugger trips. The machine stayed at a lower altitude, moving nimbly among trees and avoiding obstacles. If the train rode higher, she might guess their general direction but in this case she could not, knowing only that they were leaving the valley of New Berlyn and moving into one of the many forbidden, border valleys.
Between the procedures and discussion with crew, Cyn obtained a better idea of what was going on. Both New Berlyn and its surrounding neighbor valleys were monitored with infrared and visible spectrum cameras, mounted at strategic locations throughout each valley. No one told her explicitly what the cameras were meant to see, but in a world of dangerous and evolving storms, it seemed like a good idea to her.
But the harsh wind and rain occasionally destroyed a sensor or diminished its effectiveness; they were designed to be light and easy-to-conceal rather than durable. Thus one goal for the day was to replace destroyed or malfunctioning sensors. Today, they had a list of three such cameras and it would take a couple hours just to locate and swap out these units. But the argument which Edwyrd had made, and apparently won, was that the entire valley should be scouted and surveyed first. That first step would take most of the day.
Cyn did not mind, she found the whole assignment fascinating. Having grown up high on the valley's edge, she knew it was forbidden to cross the edge, to travel to the adjoining valley. She had seen the edge from afar, but never approached. Thus to see a border land was one thing but to see it from the air was spectacular. She saw water falls of mud, tree canopies floating within giant swamps, bird colonies screeching as they somersaulted through the air, giant swirling storms of leaves and debris and low, black clouds which shimmered with lightning. It was awesome in its destructive power. It was hard to look away.
Finally, they began a scan of the target valley. As the hugger moved along a preset course, the on-board AI scanned sections of the ground below, comparing with previous scans, looking for anything out of the ordinary, and anything which might indicate a human presence. The crew, working in teams, reviewed each discrepancy.
