Unawakened

by R. J. Blain

  “Why would someone from the lower commons require a carry permit?”

  “I’m one of Dean Lewis’s student assistants, ma’am. After—”

  “You’re her.” The woman turned her attention back to my identification cards. “You’re the unawakened.”

  So much for hiding what I was. I opened my mouth, but before I could say a word, a hand tapped my shoulder from behind. A shriek burst out of me, and before I realized what I was doing, I spun, yanking my Beretta from its holster, setting my stance as Rob had taunt me, ready to evaluate the situation and squeeze the trigger if necessary.

  Kenneth’s dae smirked at me. Without flinching, he set his hand on the barrel of my gun and gave a gentle push so the barrel no longer pointed at him. “Forgive my partner, ma’am. She’s quite independent. I’m Jacob, and I’ll be interviewing with her.”

  My terror at being so close to Kenneth’s dae froze me in place. What he said registered, and my eyes widened. Had Kenneth’s dae just implied he was my dae?

  I didn’t want anything to do with him, but I didn’t dare make a scene, either. My throat tightened at the thought of being anywhere near Jacob for any extended period of time. If I made a scene, however, I’d be in hot water—and lose my chance to infiltrate the police.

  I swallowed back the curses I wanted to spew, fixed my best smile in place, and returned my gun to its holster. “You scared the liver out of me, Jacob.”

  “I couldn’t let such a good opportunity go to waste, dear,” Jacob replied, his fake smile a perfect match for mine.

  “Third floor, take a right from the elevator and go to the end of the hall,” the cop ordered, returning my cards to me.

  Jacob arched a brow at me and nodded in the direction of the elevators across the lobby. Sighing my resignation, I returned my cards to my purse and fell in step with Kenneth’s dae.

  After entering the elevator and jabbing the button for the third floor, I hissed, “What are you doing here?”

  “Gaining you better access to the system.” Jacob shoved his hands in his pockets and relaxed. The suit he wore marked him with his elite origins. “Just play along.”

  I didn’t really have a choice in the matter, which annoyed me almost as much as the fact Jacob was Kenneth’s dae. “Have a nice night last night?”

  Jacob’s smile slipped to a scowl before he recovered. “You taught Kenneth a few important lessons.”

  “Good. Fuck with me again and it won’t be a fun night.” It was a lot easier to smile at the thought of the two suffering when Rob and I had had access to the drug’s counter. “I’m tired of being pushed around.”

  “He noticed. I noticed. He considers us even. You play straight, and he will, too.”

  A truce, however temporary, would give me the time to make plans—and deal with the tangled weave surrounding Dean Lewis without having to worry about Kenneth stabbing me in the back. I’d still worry. People lied all the time. “I have a bigger fish to fry right now.”

  “As does he, and he could use your help.”

  It was as close to acknowledgment as I’d likely get from either one of them. I nodded my acceptance of it. The elevator dinged open, and I headed to the right. “Two rules, Jacob.”

  “What are they?”

  “Rule one: neither of you or anyone you hire will target me or Rob—or anyone close to us. Rule two: don’t touch me.”

  “Understood. I’ll let Kenneth know.”

  I had doubts it would work, but at least I could pull the plug on them if they violated my terms. We trudged down the hallway in silence. The office we were directed to had the eagle-in-flight logo of the police emblazoned on the door. I pushed through, leaving Jacob to follow in my wake. I headed to the reception desk. “I have an eight o’clock appointment with Sergeant Gildroy.”

  Instead of acknowledging or answering me, the woman lifted her watch to her mouth, tapped a button on the side, and said, “Your eight o’clock is here, sir.”

  It wasn’t until the woman canted her head to the side as though listening I realized she had an implant. One day, scientists would probably unlock the secrets behind mental communication. Those with the truly advanced units could already receive messages from others, as long as they could record their voice using some device or another.

  “Is this gentleman your dae?” the receptionist asked.

  “I am at her service.” Jacob stood at my side, his posture relaxed.

  Despite my dislike for the dae, Jacob was slick; he didn’t lie, but he also didn’t give away the fact he was Kenneth’s dae instead of mine.

  The woman pointed at a glass door to the side and behind her desk. “Go through that door. Sergeant Gildroy will meet you.”

  I obeyed, hoping I wasn’t about to make one of the biggest mistakes of my life. The cop downstairs was right to be wary of me.

  I was everything the cops hated about fringe rats. If they learned the truth, there would be hell to pay. If they discovered why I was interested in joining the force, the best I could hope for was a swift execution.

  Why had I applied? The dead didn’t care what happened to the living. They couldn’t. Terry Moore was gone, too. Dean Lewis’s innocence or guilt remained shrouded in mystery, but if he was involved with Kenneth’s plans, he could find someone else to handle his dirty work.

  It was too late to back out. If I fell, I’d just make sure I took Jacob down with me.

  The door led to an intersection of hallways, and no sooner had I passed over the threshold, I heard the click of a gun cocking. I recognized it was an older pistol; newer models didn’t have hammers, nor were they so loud.

  Months of jumping at shadows and learning to pull my Beretta kicked in, and I had my gun out and turned before I remembered where I was and that shooting a cop would be a very quick way to end my life.

  Jacob sighed, placed the tip of a finger on the end of my Beretta, and pushed until it pointed at the wall. “My apologies, sir. She’s a bit jumpy today.”

  My face heated up as the ramifications of pulling a gun on a cop sank in. Thumbing the safety to on, I holstered my weapon and mumbled an apology.

  Laughter answered my embarrassment. “I was aware you would likely be armed, Miss Daegberht, but my curiosity got the better of me. I wanted to find out if you had been making good use of your time with your carry permit. I see that you have. I’m Sergeant Gildroy. I’m pleased to meet you. It’s not every day we find someone from the lower commons who can carry her weight so well.”

  I wasn’t sure how tall Sergeant Gildroy was, but he towered over me, and the instant my gun was safely stowed, he likewise holstered his. He wore the blue of the police, but his uniform was accented in silver with the insignia of his rank displayed on his shoulders and chest.

  The eagle-in-flight logo of the police was embroidered over his heart, and I wondered if he realized he was providing opponents with a nice target.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir,” I replied, my face still burning over having pulled my gun on a cop.

  The interview hadn’t even started and I was making a mess of it, even if Sergeant Gildroy seemed pleased with my reaction.

  “When you said you had partnered with an unawakened, I had not realized it was Miss Daegberht, Jacob. Will you two officially bond?”

  It took every bit of my willpower to keep my expression neutral when I really wanted to yank out my handgun, shove it up Jacob’s ass, and fire several times. I smiled until it hurt and let the dae lead the dance, hoping I didn’t step on his plans.

  “Undecided. I rather like how rare women like her are.” Jacob grinned at me. “Perhaps in time, if we prove compatible.”

  “Interesting. Well, you’re not the first such pairing to walk through my doors. Of course, we will have to work under the restrictions of the unawakened, Miss Daegberht, but having a free dae on the force would be a strong boon to us. Most dae dislike separation from their bonded humans, and the ability of the free dae to partner with anyone is
useful in our line of work.” While Sergeant Gildroy smiled, I got the feeling it was more for Jacob’s benefit than mine. I nodded and forced a smile

  When I made it back to Rob’s apartment, I’d be asking him a lot more questions about the dae, including what a free dae was and what their talk of bonding was about. I had been under the impression the dae got one human—their progenitor—and once their human was gone, that was it.

  Not to be outdone by Jacob, I said, “Thank you for agreeing to interview me, sir.”

  “Thank you for applying. It’s difficult to get access to the merit-based students, as most view our work as beneath them. Even if your tenure with us is only until you finish your schooling, it’s a boon to us. Perhaps we can make arrangements after you have completed your Bach to continue working with the force. We have positions for the middle and upper commons available. There are posts also for the elite, should you strive to reach such an elevation.”

  Once, my entire life had revolved around the lofty goal of numbering among the elite. I wasn’t sure what my exact goal was anymore.

  All I knew was that surviving day to day ranked near the top.

  “I’ll have to juggle my schedule and work as my classes allow,” I said, deciding an upfront approach would benefit me the most. While I hadn’t put a lot of thought into what I would say during the interview, I did have one goal, and to bring Dean Lewis down, I needed access to the police’s criminal databases.

  Bach students could select primary focuses in the second year, and one such field included the study, manipulation, and creation of information systems. “I have been considering working in information sciences, and from my understanding, the police force utilizes a lot of the more modern systems during everyday law enforcement. Seeing the systems in day-to-day use would help me structure my studies better.”

  In application, information sciences covered a staggering assortment of fields from secretarial to database management.

  Sergeant Gildroy’s grin widened. “If information sciences is of interest to you, you have come to the right place. We’ll start you on the smaller systems, of course, but if you like working with data, I think we can find work appealing to you. I’ve already seen a copy of what you created at the college during the initial registration. It’s been useful. We’ve used your basic layout to begin development of the new system. It would be beneficial to us all if you continued your work on that project.”

  While I had known the dean had been gathering information on behalf of the police, I hadn’t realized I had actually been credited with any of the work. “Has categorization been completed?”

  Sergeant Gildroy snorted. “It’s been started, but we’re still learning a lot about new types of dae. That’ll be part of your job. I’m in charge of the dae registration for our region, and while we have a list of names and general abilities, we haven’t been able to organize them in a way that makes sense—or converts well to groups. Apparently, Washington thinks it’s a good idea for all major cities to handle their own registration databases. I don’t envy the bastard who has to take all of that data and turn it into something useful.”

  A researcher’s paradise of servers, tablets, desktops, and laptops waited through a doorway, and Sergeant Gildroy gestured me inside. “This is our current workroom for categorizing the registration databases. Your interview will be simple. For the next hour, see what you can do with this mess. I’ll observe you.”

  Jacob leaned against the wall, crossed his arms over his chest, and he smiled. His smug expression challenged me. Smiling made every muscle in my face ache, but I sat down at one of the stations, leaning away from the keyboard long enough for the sergeant to give me access to the system.

  If the police wanted to see some magic, I’d show it to them. Some of the elite, like Kenneth and Rob, were smart. I couldn’t deny that, but I had seen the kids at the college.

  Maybe they were smart enough under the egos of their upbringing, but they wasted their potential. How many people had?

  Most of the world, if the existence of the dae was any indication. Rob’s explanation was starting to make sense to me. It wasn’t just the wishes and dreams of humanity that had gone up in flames, but their potential, too.

  Maybe I couldn’t fart fire like most dae, but I hadn’t lost anything, either. Maybe some of them could fly, maybe others could grant wishes, and maybe they were all the dying dreams of humans, ripped away from their bonded humans, but they needed people like me to make sense of the mess they had made of the world.

  The dae confused me, but I understood the rigid structure of elite society, and I knew what the government wanted. All I had to do was prove to Sergeant Gildroy I was as capable as I thought I was.

  One way or another, I’d manage.

  11

  “Explain your choices.”

  From the outside looking in, the elite had it all. Wealth, intellect, and good fortune were theirs for the taking. All of my ambitions had been focused on becoming one of them.

  My first—and last—day of classes at the college had educated me about the lack of critical thinking and education among the elite, but I hadn’t realized just how inane those in charge were until I got a look at the dae registration database.

  Working for Kenneth had made knowing how to access and use databases a necessity, and my secondary education had refined my skills. Under the guise of reorganizing the data groups, I scanned through the types of identified dae, marveling at the variety of them.

  Knowing they represented the hopes and dreams of their creators both horrified and awed me. Many dae had wings, ranging from feathered werewolves to avian shape shifters, vampires, and even winged unicorns. Fire breathers dominated the ranks.

  The unawakened weren’t even listed in the database, nor was there a field for them. I considered the exclusion, wondering how it would benefit me in the future. Sometimes, being ignored and left out of the system was far better than inclusion.

  When the military came calling, I wouldn’t be a consideration at all. I liked the idea, so as I worked at reorganizing the data, I maintained the exclusion of unawakened. I wasn’t just helping myself, either.

  If Rob’s explanation of why Arthur Hasling had wanted me was true, excluding all the unawakened from Baltimore’s primary database would protect us from becoming a food source for the dae without humans to provide for them. Helping those untouched by the Dawn of Dae appealed to me as much as getting my hands on the information necessary to figure out what Dean Lewis was up to.

  Manipulating the system from within intrigued me almost as much as making a difference to those who were just like me, trying to survive in a world gone mad.

  One day, I would learn how to work without my world narrowing to the focus of my concentration. The clearing of a throat behind me startled me so much I jumped out of my chair, tripped on one of the legs, and landed on my ass while the air rushed out of my lungs. I floundered, my heart pounding in my throat and ears.

  “Time,” Sergeant Gildroy announced, and I heard the amusement at my reaction in his voice.

  I was tempted to crawl under the desk and hide until I died of dehydration or starvation. Climbing to my feet, I dusted myself off, aware of the heat in my cheeks. I mumbled an apology under my breath, fixing my gaze on the tiled floor.

  The elite really liked marble.

  “Explain your choices for your reorganization of the database,” the cop ordered.

  I was aware of Jacob’s gaze on me, although the dae remained silent. Inhaling and holding my breath for several seconds helped steady my nerves, and I sat back down, gesturing to the screen. “There isn’t much point in creating a database you can’t realistically use. While there’s a lot of data in the old one, it’s spread over several different places with no easy way to link them all together. For example, in one set of databases, people are listed by an identification number only. To find the person’s name, you have to link to a database that lists both identification number and
name. There are databases that go by name only, and since there are people who have the same name, the data becomes muddled. Those individuals will need to be resorted, matched with their identification number, and put into the system again. Unfortunately, that’s potentially tens of thousands of people. Then you have the issue of the dae who lack humans. Most externalized dae are recorded alongside their human counterparts, which doesn’t allow for free dae.”

  “I follow. Continue.”

  “If you want a system that works, you need a consistent way of linking all of your data sources. That’s it. That’s the starting point. You can’t develop much else until you have a foundation that actually works. If you try to put the end game goal ahead of the basic infrastructure, you get a mess like this.” While I wanted to point out the average fringe primary school student could probably devise something better given half a chance, I kept my mouth shut.

  I was already toeing the line criticizing someone else’s work, especially when that someone else was likely an elite.

  “Interesting. And your recommendation for correcting this issue?”

  “Build a sane foundation with proper database linking and repopulate the data. Once the data with good integrity is loaded into the system, redo the remaining entries.”

  “Did you not say this is potentially tens of thousands of people?”

  “Could be hundreds of thousands, depending on how many people have the same name—or how many dae have the same name. I can’t give you an exact number without pulling records from the database.”

  “How long would that take?”

  I considered it. The police had good tools for sifting through records and even better machines backing their databases. I hadn’t had a lot of time to experiment with the system, but as long as I could find commonalities allowing me to get counts of the overlapping records, it wouldn’t take long to go through the data.

  A few extra hours—or days—on top of my realistic estimate would give me all the time I needed to start comparing the surviving humans with those who had gone missing. To do that, I needed access to the primary database of those living within Baltimore’s jurisdiction.