Date Point 10y4m1w3d AV
US Embassy, Cairo, Egypt, Earth
Sean Harvey
The fact that he’d just been spoken to finally percolated into Sean’s consciousness. He blinked and looked up.
“Hmm?”
“I said, staring at her like that won’t get you back together, Sean.” Simon told him.
Sean shook his head and rubbed his face. “I was a million miles away.” he said.
“In whose bed?” Simon asked, light-heartedly. He was patrolling slowly around the room, apparently quite composed and happy.
”Simon…”
“Mate, don’t play innocent with me. I’ve known you since you were born and I know when you’re pathetically in love.”
Sean snorted and turned to sit sideways across the couch. “That’s in the past.” he said.
“Not by choice, hmm?” Simon observed. “Still, it explains that Firth chap’s rough treatment of you.”
“Lay off.”
Simon shook his head, and ruffled his nephew’s hair. “You bloody idiot.” he said, fondly.
Sean ducked out from under his hand. “Why are we still here, anyway? She should be asleep in a hotel room, not on a sofa. We should be sleeping in beds too for that matter.”
“Because they’ve not asked us to leave yet.” Simon told him.
“Don’t we have rights?” Sean asked.
“Yes, and by and large you can rely on the Yanks to honour them.” Simon told him. “Besides, nothing makes you look more suspicious than kicking up a stink when you don’t need to. Good advice for when you’re arrested, that.”
“What, go limp and visit your happy place? Fan-fucking-tastic advice, Simon.”
“Don’t be a twat. I’m telling you, the trick in these situations is to be calm, be honest, and let things happen. These people can make your life profoundly awkward, nephew mine, but it’s usually more hassle than they can be bothered with.” Simon about-faced and started patrolling the room anticlockwise instead. “Which means it’s a good idea not to give them a reason to bother. Be polite and cooperative, be nice and friendly if you can manage it, and they’ll give you a shove out the door sooner rather than later.”
“Right now, I’d settle for a fucking sandwich.” Sean grumbled.
Simon shrugged and knocked on the door. Immediately, one of the sapient security slabs opened it. “Can I help you?”
“Sorry to bother you…” Simon smiled at the man, noticeably exaggerating his accent a little. “But we’ve been here rather a long time and we’re getting a bit peckish. I don’t suppose there’s any way…?”
“I’ll have some food brought up.” the guard replied. “You got everything you need in there?”
“If you could spare us another blanket, it’d be much appreciated…?”
“Sure, I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thanks ever so much.” Simon aimed a smug look at Sean the second the door closed again.
“Oh yes, thank you awfully, wot?” Sean parodied.
“Rather.” Simon chuckled, and resumed his stately lap of the room. “Now how do you think that would have gone if I’d been all ’I have rights! I demand you bring me a filet mignon this instant and I want to speak to the King bwah bwah bwah…’?” he imitated a kind of pompous clucking.
“Point made…” Sean waved a hand irritably. He sat back and tried to entertain himself by multiplying the ceiling tiles and searching for patterns in the carpet.
He was painstakingly weighing up whether a particular pattern of shade under the coffee table more closely resembled a man wearing a bowler hat or a man wearing a trilby when there was a knock on the door and a couple of embassy staff members delivered two folded blankets and some trays with three sandwiches, three mugs, an insulated flask of hot water and an assortment of coffee, tea, sugar and a small jug of milk, some chocolate bars and a tube of Pringles.
They woke Ava, who, after some yawning and stretching, caused one of the sandwiches to vanish, inhaled slightly more than her share of the Pringles, polished off two Snickers and self-medicated with a drink that was less a coffee and more a triple-strength coffee flavored syrup.
“Considering you only got two hour’s sleep, you look refreshed.” Sean told her.
“I feel refreshed.” She replied. “No news? Are they letting us go?”
“We’ll see.” Simon replied, amicably. “I get the impression we really did barge into something huge here, and if there’s one thing governments don’t like, it’s reporters all over their biggest secrets.”
“What are they afraid of?” Sean asked.
“That depends on the secret.” Ava told him.
“Well what good do secrets do?” He insisted. “They come out eventually, and then you’re the one who was lying to everyone. We’ve lived that, you and me. Haven’t we? You and I both know that dishonesty for the greater good doesn’t work.”
“He’s right, Ava.” Simon agreed. “Secrets and lies only hurt people.”
Ava folded her arms uncertainly, then frowned thoughtfully before shaking her head. “Look, I’ve been… I got some advice today that made a few things fall into place, and I think you’re wrong. I mean-” She gestured at Simon. “You protect your sources, don’t you?”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“Like hell it’s not!” she exclaimed. “A secret is a secret, no matter if it’s a big one or a little one. If you take your promise to protect your sources seriously, then do you really believe that secrets are always harmful?”
“I protect my sources!” Simon stressed. “I keep them from suffering the repercussions of talking to me!”
“So a secret can protect people, then?” Ava asked. Simon scowled and scratched his head, and she pressed her point. “Simon, do you think you’re the only man in the world who can tell which secrets should and shouldn’t be kept? Do you trust yourself that much?”
Neither man had a reply. Ava, on the other hand, was hitting her stride.
“And then there’s the effort, right? D’you think they’d go to all the effort of keeping their secrets if they didn’t think they have to?” she asked, unknowingly echoing Simon’s advice about hassling the security guards. “Governments aren’t this… this shady machine that just hangs over us like a kid with a magnifying glass. They’re made of people, people just like us, who’re trying to do the best they can with good intentions.”
“So you’re perfectly fine with an opaque government.” Simon commented.
“When it needs to be, I… guess? Yeah! I am.” Ava told him. “You think secrets hurt people? Well what about all the… I dunno, the thousands of secrets you never heard of because nobody was ever hurt by them because they stayed secret?”
“What about all the ways the world could be a better place if we just knew what was going on and what needed to be fixed?” Sean asked.
Ava shook her head. “I’ve seen what happens to people who try and help when they don’t know how.” she said. “We’ve got to start trusting other people to know what they’re doing, guys. We’re all in this together.”
“Even guys like that knuckle-dragging cro-magnon wanker Firth?” Sean asked, skeptically.
Ava sighed and sat down. “ Look, Firth honestly scares me and I don’t like him much – and I know the feeling’s mutual – but he’s still a person. Christian Firth from Kentucky, listens to country rock and heavy metal, plays Warhammer, secretly loves RomComs…I’ve hung out with him and all the SOR guys, and they’re just guys. They all banded together and got me a birthday present a few years back – you know, my USM telephoto lens? The expensive one?”
“What did you say to him earlier? Something about his daddy fucking him in the arse?” Simon asked.
“‘Cause I was upset and he’s an alpha male jackass who was having way too much fun putting Sean in his place.” Ava said. “But even if he fucking hates my guts, he’s still one of the good guys and I’d trust him with my life. You don’t have to like somebody to trust them. Besides-”
She paused in response to a knock on the door, which turned out to be Darcy, who greeted the room with a smile and a “Hi.”
“So… gentlemen, whenever you’re ready there’s a car waiting to take you back to your hotel. The driver has your belongings. You’ll be under observation for the rest of your stay in Egypt of course, but it’s up to you what you do with your time. Ava, there’s a few more things I would like to discuss with you if-”
“Is she under arrest?” Simon interrupted..
“No.” Darcy said, instantly. “If she chooses to, she can leave with you… but if you’re willing,” she addressed Ava directly, “I’d like to make a request.”
Simon made a grudgingly satisfied noise with his arms folded, and looked to Ava, who stood. “I’ll see you guys whenever… this… is done with.” she said.
The two women left the room. In the silence that followed, Simon sighed. “Damn it.”
“What?” Sean asked.
“I have this horrible feeling that we just lost a huge story… and maybe a talented young photojournalist into the bargain.” Simon grumbled.
Sean shrugged and stood up. “Let’s get some actual sleep.” he suggested.
“That’s all you’ve got to say on the matter?” Simon asked.
“I’m fucking tired, I’m fucking bored, I’ve had fucking enough of this room and whatever Ava decides to do is her fucking business.” Sean scratched at his stubble. “Let’s just go.”
“Right. Maybe in the morning we can go looking for a story to justify this trip…”
Date Point 10y4m1w3d AV
Starship ’Negotiable Curiosity’, Perfection System, The Core Worlds.
Wilson ‘Titan’ Akiyama
“Okay…”
“You gonna decide, or you gonna prove how shitty your poker face is some more?”
“Shut up and let me think! …Okay… …Do you have any Jacks?”
Sikes groaned “Motherfucker!” he handed over three cards, which Titan combined with the one in his hand and laid on the deck in front of him with a grin. “Fine, fine, wiseass, you got any sixes?”
“Go fish.”
“Fuck!”
“Your behaviour confuses me.” Bedu commented. The cabin doors only locked from the inside, so somebody had to stay on guard outside them the whole time to keep the two ETs confined. Bedu had got around the enjoinder to stay in his quarters by standing just inside the threshold, watching the game. “You board our ship and abduct us, and now you are aggressively playing this… trivially simple game with one another rather than flying anywhere.”
“A little healthy competition makes it more interesting.” Akiyama told him.
Bedu nodded sagely. “Well, anything which succeeds in making you more interesting is to be cherished.” he said.
Titan gave a drop-jawed grin. “I think we just got burned!” he told Sikes.
Sikes gave the Corti a grudgingly admiring raise of his eyebrow. “I think you’re right.”
“Guys.” They looked up as Rebar came back down the ship. His expression was grim. “Time’s up.”
“…Shit.” Sikes swore, and put his cards down. “How long?”
“B reckons a week or so.”
Titan gritted his teeth. Wearing EV-MASS was a form of exercise all in itself, and while they had spent the occasional conditioning week wearing the unforgiving suit 24⁄7, it wasn’t an exercise to be looked forward to. Unfortunately, without their techs, taking the suits off was an irreversible procedure, and the rule was quite clear – the suit was not to be removed unless it could be put back on or there was a pressing medical need.
“You’d better have a full stock of ration balls on board.” he told Bedu.
“We do.” Bedu replied. “I take it something has gone wrong?”
“Something always does.” Rebar observed.
“Preach it.” Sikes agreed.
“Hmm.” Bedu mused, and then knocked on the wall beside him. “Hkzzvk, come out of there!”
The translator gave the voice that floated through the door a panicked edge. “No! I heard Humans can kill you with their breath!”
“Not so far, but then again your nose is more sensitive than mine.” Bedu replied.
Answer came there none, but he blinked as the humans all chuckled. Sikes gestured for Akiyama’s attention. “We’d better get a shift rotation set up.” he said. “Somebody’s gotta watch the ETs at all times. You wanna go sleep?”
“Reeb? You burned the most energy.” Titan turned to the sergeant first class.
“Nah, get your head down. I’m good for now.”
“B?”
“He’s too busy giving us a screwy bumblebee flight path to throw off any pursuit.”
“Arright. Wake me in six.” Titan stood, knocked fists with his brothers, and found a secluded part of the engineering section where he could get his head down on his ruck.
Sleep was a skill. You could sleep anytime, anywhere if you knew how. All it took was a bit of mental focus.
The problem was, focus was hard to come by. A two hundred meter warship equipped for stealth and evasion didn’t just fail to make a rendezvous, and while they were all staying jocular and as upbeat as they could, Titan knew his brothers well enough to know that they were all thinking the same thing: Something had gone badly wrong. That was not a thought calculated to help a man go to bed. Nor was the prospect of a whole week in the suit. That endeavour was going to tax their nutrition and Crue-D reserves hard, let alone their health and stamina.
He took a deep breath, forced those worries out of his mind. He’d only make them worse by being an exhausted wreck. Instead, he shut his eyes, focused on his breathing and, by degrees, fell asleep.
Date Point 10y4m1w3d AV
US Embassy, Cairo, Egypt, Earth.
Darcy
“So what’s this request of yours?”
Ava was showing the clear signs of fatigue now, but she’d found reserves of alertness from her power nap and snack, and was indulging in a coffee that Darcy thought looked more like a mug of liquid diabetes.
“Six asked to speak with you specifically and, if you’re willing, we’d like for that meeting to go ahead.”
Ava swallowed her coffee thoughtfully. “Jeez. Are you sure? If this is as big as I think it is…”
“There, I can’t comment. Yet.” Darcy said. “Not unless you sign some paperwork.”
“What kind of paperwork?”
“In short…” Darcy slid it across the desk. “It’s a binding legal agreement that you understand just how serious this all is, that you’ve been informed what the consequences would be to you personally if you were to break trust, and that you accept those consequences. Agree to be bound by, and so on. You should read it in full.”
“I’ve had like two hours sleep. I’m not sure I should be signing anything right now.” Ava objected.
“I’ll answer any questions you have.” Darcy assured her. “The decision is up to you. If you’d prefer, I can have a cot brought up and you can get a solid sleep in first, but the sooner you reach a decision, the sooner we can act.”
“And if my decision’s a no?”
“We’ll just have to figure something out.” Darcy said. “We can’t and wouldn’t force you into this.”
Ava stared at the NDA long and hard, then downed her coffee as if slamming back a vodka for courage, and set about reading it.
She only asked one question, several pages in. “…Jesus, the death penalty?”
“As laid out in eighteen U.S Code section seven-nine-four.” Darcy recalled, grimly. “Yes.”
Shaken, Ava ran a hand through her hair and cursed quietly to herself in Spanish. ”Me cago en la leche…”
She caught Darcy’s eye, steeled herself and read on.
“You guys are… really serious about this, huh?” she observed, flipping over the final page.
“I’ve discussed this with some very powerful people over the last couple of hours, Ava.” Darcy told her. “Many of them are not convinced about you, and I’ve fought hard on your behalf on the evidence of just one interview. Quite aside from the penalties laid out in that document, I’d be… grateful if you didn’t completely sink my career and professional reputation. As a personal favor. If you have any doubts that you’ll be able to keep everything you see and are told in the coming few days and take it all to your grave, then I beg you: please don’t sign it.”
Ava stood up and walked around the room a half-circuit, thinking.
Eventually she turned and put her hands on the back of the chair. “Can I sleep on it?” she asked.
Darcy breathed an inward sigh of relief and vindication. “Yes.” she said. “You can sleep on it.”
Date Point 10y4m1w4d AV
Mrwrki Station, Uncharted System, Deep Space
Kirk
“Lewis?”
Lewis wasn’t in his chair. The latest result of his experiments in nanoforging pizza was untouched and congealing beside it, with a cleaning drone hovering nearby, waiting patiently for the minimum time threshold to pass before it could swoop in, pluck it away, and incinerate it.
Instead, Lewis was in his meditation room, cross-legged on his Zafu. That in itself was nothing unusual, but this time he was smiling. It was an encouraging sight.
“Hey Kirk.”
“You look rested.”
“Figuring out the solution’ll do that for a guy.” Lewis didn’t open his eyes, but his smile got just a little wider.
“You have? That’s wonderful news! What is it?”
Lewis opened one eye, like a lazy dog, and grinned at him. “I let go of attachment to material things.”
Kirk chose his words very carefully. “…I beg your pardon?”
“Earth. My whole strategy so far has revolved around saving the Earth. That’s why I kept running into obstacles I couldn’t get over. It’s a waste of time trying to save the Earth, because the Hierarchy are already ON Earth. They might not have a beacon down there yet, but it’s only a matter of time, and when they do…”
“I hope you’re wrong.”
“Dude.” Lewis shrugged. “Nobody’ll be happier than me if I turn out to be wrong there. But let’s assume that I’m not. We need a backup.”
He kicked his legs out and swayed upright. “Yo, room, project file CTC-eight-oh-five. One quarter scale.”
Kirk took a step back as volumetrically projected light engulfed his head. Then he backed up some more to get a good look at it. It was little more than a rounded oblong with thrusters, and even at one-quarter scale it was clearly huge, filling as it did the whole room, which wasn’t small. “A missile of some kind?”
“Kind of the opposite.” Lewis mused. “Missiles fly somewhere and destroy shit. This flies somewhere and…”
He paused, then turned and gave Kirk the delighted smile of the slightly unhinged. “Have you ever heard of John von Neumann?”