by S. E. Weir
Phina walked through the corridors, thinking about the Gleek/Baldere situation, the other students, Jace, her aunt, and her departed mentor. The thoughts swirling through her mind were causing her head to ache.
Why did people have to come along and cause problems? Most of the problems in the universe would be gone if there were no people involved.
She snorted, startling a lone Karillian walking in front of her. He jerked his eyestalks around to look behind him in alarm, which caused him to notice the human girl. He bowed an eyestalk in acknowledgment and focused ahead before she could say anything in return.
Consumed by her thoughts and barely aware of the people she walked by, both human and alien, Phina didn’t notice how far she had come until the hallways grew more crowded with foot traffic and the occasional transfer cart. Finally, she came out on the second level overlooking the Open Court. The noise level pulled her from her thoughts and she went to the balcony railing.
Her mind stopped churning and calmed as her eyes raced around the huge open shopping and community area that stood five stories high around the open court in the middle.
Various resilient and determined Yollins marched past below Phina, alone or with a friend, their exoskeletons gleaming in the overhead light. More were visible around the court. A small handful of sneaky and clever spider-like Ixtalis sat at a tiny table in front of a cafe across the courtyard on the lower level. A Shrillexian walked past their table, his scarred green skin showing his fighting history.
Over in the corner, a small group of Karillians stood together, their eyestalks waving above their purple-hued bodies. Phina could see the Karillian she had disturbed in the hallway walking over to join them. Other species of aliens known and unknown to her dotted the large open area. Threading through the aliens were humans of different heights, shapes, skin tones, and Earth ancestry.
A child laughed as she got ice cream on her nose. A couple greeted each other passionately for all to see—if they happened to look into the couple’s secluded corner. Friends chatted as they shopped in the store nearby. The ruckus of happy guests rose in All Guns Blazing across the deck as a band of Guardians and Marines entered. She absently wondered if Todd had joined them before her gaze moved on. A mother and son enjoyed time spent together for lunch at a restaurant to Phina’s right. A small girl ran to her father, and he caught her and swung her up in his arms. Many different species coexisting as one large family. The Etherian family.
It was beautiful.
This was the Empire. This peaceful coexistence was what Bethany Anne had fought so hard for long before Phina was born and still fought for now. This was what her parents had fought and died for. This scene in front of her was what she needed to remember when her mind swirled with issues and she was frustrated with the problems people generated.
Her vow on her parents’ memory had been made so a lack of communication and information never again caused the death of a loved one. Sure, it had been modified with Link’s help, and she did understand the need for that, but the essence was the same. These humans and aliens, citizens of the Empire, were those loved ones and the families of the loved ones. They all needed protection because they each provided something that would be lost forever without every single one of them.
Yes, even the arrogant and annoying ones such as Greyson Wells, diplomat spy extraordinaire.
Phina didn’t realize how anxious she had been until the feeling eased. Her mind trailed back to her earlier thought. It might be easier if no people were around, but it wouldn’t be a better universe without them. Especially one person.
And Phina knew just where to find her.
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Open Court, White House Designs
“Phina!”
Her head turned from perusing the various jackets, stylish tops, pants, skirts, and shoes that showed in the rolling viewing screen before her to see Alina bouncing down the aisle between the racks of clothes in excitement.
“What do you think?” Her friend stopped before her and spread her hands to indicate the boutique. “Pretty cool, right?”
Since Phina’s only clothing considerations had ever been whether the garments felt comfortable and would let her be adequately sneaky, she wasn’t able to share Alina’s enthusiasm. However, anything that made her friend happy was a good thing in Phina’s mind, and she said as much.
Alina looked amused but beckoned for Phina to follow her.
“Come on, you have to meet everyone!”
Alina pointed out items that caught her attention as they passed the large section of white clothing that gave the boutique its name on the left and an equally large section of black clothing on the right that Phina’s eye lingered on, then through the aisles of clothing in various colors and designs.
“Look, this flirty and fun dress is amazing! And can you believe these amazingly adorable faux leather skinnies? Oh, look at those darling boots with the amazing peep-toes! Can you believe I get to work here and learn how to make my own designs? It’s just so...so...”
“Amazing?”
“Yes!”
Alina squealed in excitement as she grabbed Phina’s arm and drew her past bemused and disgruntled customers and clerks to the back of the shop. After the girls passed through the door marked Employees Only, Phina heard several people moving around completing tasks with one strident voice directing them.
“Liz, take that box of embellishments to the back room, please. Cherise, what were those measurements again? Open the order and check, will you? Nadine, you’re cutting a little too close to the pattern. Make sure you allow enough room for the seam, or we’ll all be sorry later.”
The three women followed the directions, though Phina heard frustrated muttering from Nadine as the girl tried to fix her mistake. She was identifiable since she was the only one with a cutting implement. In the middle of the room stood a tall, slender woman, her hand flying across a screen as she rendered a design for an asymmetric dress with a metallic sheen. Hearing the girls come in, the beautiful woman turned to give them a wide smile.
“Hi, girls! Alina, who’s your friend?”
“Mal, I’d like you to meet my best friend Phina. Phina, Mal is my mentor! Isn’t this amazing?” Alina squealed softly.
Mal stopped sketching on the screen and took a step to reach Phina and give her a big hug. Phina’s eyes widened, and she felt more than a little awkward. She was not used to hugs from anyone but Alina and occasionally her aunt, yet Mal had greeted her like she was family, a situation that hadn’t happened to her before and she didn’t know how to handle it.
Mal pulled back with a warm smile. “I feel I know you already, given how much Alina has talked about you. I’m so pleased to meet you, Phina.”
“Really?” Phina’s eyes strayed to Alina, her eyebrow quirking in a question before returning to the beautiful woman in front of her. “I know Alina has been really excited to have you as her mentor.”
Mal gave Alina a quick smile. “She mentioned you are a student in the Diplomatic Institute. Perhaps you’ve met my father there. He teaches Ethics right now.”
Phina felt a jolt of interest. Mister Prez was Mal’s father? “Yes. He’s a great teacher. I find the topic surprisingly interesting.”
Mal’s pleased smile contrasted with her dusky skin. “My father would be pleased to know that. Don’t tell him I said so, but he thought he would hate teaching and only agreed because he was bored. Thankfully for everyone involved, he’s a good teacher and really enjoys it.”
Phina nodded with a small smile but didn’t know what else to say, so she fell quiet. She didn’t have to worry since Alina smoothed over Phina’s awkwardness; being friends since they were toddlers came in handy. “Oh, Mal! Could I show Phina what I’m working on?”
“Of course, Alina. Just try to remember to get some work done too.” She smiled, but Phina could tell Mal wasn’t joking about the work.
“Absolutely!” Alina pulled Phina with her toward another room on the
side. She carefully closed the door behind them and went over to the screen, where she slowed her movements toward reluctance as she brought up a few files for Phina to view
“Here they are.”
Phina looked at Alina in surprise. “Really?”
Alina bit her lip and nodded, her eyes uncertain and just short of miserable.
“I was expecting something more…more…”
“Glamorous?”
Phina shrugged and nodded. “Yeah, like that. Isn’t a lot of the clothing here made from rabbit hair the Etheric Academy figured out how to use without harming the rabbits? It just sounds more exotic than, you know…that.”
Alina slumped before throwing her arms around Phina and speaking quietly though no less emotionally. “Phina, I just don’t know what to do! Look at it. It’s awful, but it’s the first thing that Mal assigned me to design in the weeks since I’ve been here, so I have to do it. I can’t just say no! I don’t know what to do!”
Phina wrapped around her best friend, hearing the tears in her voice, as she turned her gaze to the screen to see…a pilot’s atmosuit. Definitely not what Phina had expected Alina to be working on. Her mind turned toward the dress Mal had been designing, which seemed more to Alina’s taste.
“What did she say when she asked you to design them?”
Alina sniffed and wiped her eyes as she stood straight and looked at the screen. “Not much. Just to create a functional pilot’s atmosuit.”
“Functional sounds like the only practical requirement.”
“I guess so?” Alina looked at her questioningly, knowing Phina had a reason for asking. The diplomatic recruit tapped the screen carefully as she mulled it over.
“There’s always more than one way to look at things. If you have to make an atmosuit and functional is the only requirement, there’s loads you could do with it to make it individual to the person. What if you made some in various colors or included other materials as accents? You could make the pockets have different colors inside if the atmosuit has to be all the same color on the outside. You could put on lots of kinds of sparkles, maybe? Or you could make the atmosuit reversible, one side for work and the other for fun if they don’t have time to go home and change? Perhaps some looser and some skin-tight so people have options on which they prefer?”
Alina’s eyes dropped their misery and grew more excited with each suggestion Phina gave her. “Oh! Those are all great ideas! I love it, Phina!” She threw her arms around her friend again, this time in excitement and appreciation. “Thank you so much!”
She pulled back and looked at Phina, unshed tears of relief brimming in her eyes. “Seriously, thank you. I had no idea what I was going to do. My panic and stress were overwhelming any creativity sense I have.”
“You’re welcome. Really. I’m always happy to help you, Alina; you know that. And you have much more creativity than you give yourself credit for.” Phina smiled, pleased she could encourage Alina when she had given her so much in the past.
Alina’s smile grew mischievous. “So, when I get them finished, would you be willing to try them on for me?”
Phina’s smile faltered. Alina knew trying on clothes was not her idea of fun. Still, this was Alina’s first big design project, and she wanted to support her. “If that will help you and make you happy, sure.” She gave Alina her own teasing smile. “Why not ask Maxim to try on the ones for the guys?”
Alina’s eyes widened. “Oh! Do you think he would?”
“It doesn’t hurt to ask.” Phina could already picture his face and smothered her laughter with another smile.
“Yes!” Alina danced around, showing her excitement before moving to the screen and bringing up a blank page. Her hand flew over the screen as she outlined her new creation.
Phina sighed. If only her tasks could be solved as easily.
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Waters Residence
“So, how do we do this?”
“Do what, Phina?”
“You know…” Phina’s mind blanked and she lost the words, so she gestured at herself and the ceiling as she continued to speak out loud. “Do this. I’ve never worked with you to try to find information, just looked for things on my own. So, where do we start?”
“Actually, we have worked together before. You just weren’t aware of it.” ADAM sounded apologetic as Phina frowned in confusion.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that when you were accessing the systems to find information, Meredith, Reynolds, and I all helped you learn and figure out how to bypass the security measures.”
“So, all those times I found myself blocked, it was you three doing the blocking?”
“Yes.”
“And all the times I was able to access the information, it was because you three let me do it?”
“More like we guided you into figuring it out.”
“But you still could have blocked me anyway?”
ADAM paused, wondering how she was reacting to the information he had blithely shared with her. “Yes?”
Phina felt like her feet had been swept out from under her and possibly would have fallen over if she hadn’t been sitting on her couch. Hacking systems had been one of the things she’d felt secure about and sure of herself.
“Does this mean I am not really able to hack into the systems? Were you all doing it for me?” Phina’s hands didn’t know what to do with themselves as her anxiety level grew. They fluttered and tugged her clothing and body parts.
“Oh! No, Phina, you’re one of the best in the Empire now. It’s one of the reasons why we were helping you. We saw your potential. If it were any other group of systems but one with two EIs and an AI running through it, you would be flying past their security measures.”
“What?” She lowered her hands and looked up in surprise. “I would be… I am one of the best?”
“Probably, yes. It’s hard to tell who is best without having everyone compete against each other for the same information, but you are definitely in the top level.”
Phina’s shoulders sagged in relief as she covered her face with her hands. She couldn’t wrap her head around being one of the best, but knowing that her skills were real and not a result of having help from the digital entities made her feel better.
“Phina? Are you all right?” ADAM sounded concerned.
“Just…give me a minute, please.”
ADAM was silent as Phina worked through her thoughts. Part of her wanted to feel betrayed since he hadn’t told her about it before, yet had a time to bring it up occurred since they had become friends? She had to admit that it hadn’t come up in conversation, so it might not have occurred to ADAM to mention it.
On the other hand, the three of them had taken the time to train her and help her learn. Did they need to do that? No. And how many other people could say they had been trained by an AI and two EIs? She would bet not many. Speaking of which…
“ADAM? Whose idea was it to train me?”
“It was mine. The General and Bethany Anne approved it.”
“The Gen… Bethany Anne knows?”
“And approved it.”
Her mind reeled. This situation had become more than just knowing about her. This was investing time and attention into who she was and the skills she might develop.
“Thank you, ADAM.”
“You are very welcome, Phina.”
“Please also pass on my thanks to the General and…Bethany Anne?” She swallowed hard, wondering if she would ever be comfortable with people in positions of authority.
“Of course.”
“Thank you both too, Meredith and Reynolds.” They were listening, right?
“You’re welcome, Phina.” That same woman’s light voice came through the speakers just before the voice of a deeper, gruffer gentleman.
“You’re welcome, young lady.”
Phina felt a warmth inside her chest and wondered what the odd feeling meant. Just as she started to figure it out, the door
buzzed.
Chapter Sixteen
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Waters Residence
Phina opened the door to see Link waiting with a grin on his face. She had been irritated and concerned over the last weeks since he had been gone without notifying her that he was all right and when he would be back. She furrowed her brow and pursed her lips as if in deep thought.
“I’m sorry, who are you?”
“Haha. Very funny.” He rolled his eyes dramatically.
“You look like you could be my mentor, but it’s been a while. My memory is fuzzy.”
He stared at her with his eyebrow raised. “Are you finished?”
“I don’t know. Are you going to keep running off for days or weeks at a time with no notice and no message to tell me when you will be back or even if you are alive?”
He blinked and gave her a blank look before responding. “Possibly?”
Phina shrugged. “Then you are just going to have to deal with what you get when you come back.”
He stared at her for another moment before grinning. “Fair enough. Can I come in now?”
She stepped aside to let him enter, then retraced her steps to the couch. “What are you doing here?”
He sniffed the air as he walked over to sit in the cozy chair her aunt usually occupied. “Is that a red sauce I smell? With garlic and…basil?”
“Yes, from my dinner. I made pasta.” She waved her hand at the kitchen as she pulled her feet up on the couch.
“And you didn’t save some for me?” He gave her puppy eyes.
She gave him a look. “If someone had told me they would be back tonight and that they would be coming over, then that someone might have had some pasta.”
He put his hands up. “Understood, my dear. Fine. I will try to communicate with you better as to when I will be back. Just understand I’ve been doing things the same for longer than you’ve been alive, and it’s not always easy to change a habit that long in the making. Try to give me some slack if I slip up, eh?”
His understanding and reasonable response were so uncharacteristic of what she had expected of him that Phina stopped and really looked at Link for the first time since she’d opened the door. His eyes showed strain and fatigue, his clothes were rumpled like he had slept in them at least once, and he carried himself stiffly and carefully like it hurt to move.
