"We've got a different schedule tonight. Christophe's back and we're going to eat with him and Reginald. Jillian delivered our new suits. What say we get gussied up and pretend we have good manners for once?"
I smiled and headed to my room. My new suit waited on my bed all laid out for me. I could picture Jillian pouring over every little detail while laying it out, making it look absolutely perfect. I stood and looked down at it and sighed heavily.
StarTech colors are grays, maroons, and greens, in different combinations. As I said, position and rank get their own uniforms. Sometimes the sleeves are green, others have green and maroon striping. You get the idea. From the start Christophe said he wanted understated and simple, but definitely StarTech. I looked at the uniform and shook my head. She got the StarTech part right. As to the rest, that was up for debate.
The main color was gray, and I suppose if there was anything to be happy about, it was that. The pants had green striping down the sides, with maroon utility strapping around the waist. I put the pants on and looked in the mirror. I'm not a fashion expert, but they didn't look too bad. They fit well. And were comfortable. All in all, I could live with them. In stark contrast, the top of the uniform was ridiculously complicated. I struggled to get it on and then just stared at myself in the mirror, not really believing what I was seeing. The waist was tight, but the top ballooned out and ended in a high, tight maroon collar adorned with stars. There were green shoulder pads with the golden ST pins on both sides and maroon fringe dangling off. A sash went from one shoulder, across the poofy chest, and secured onto the waist of the shirt with a bow. A bow.
"Ralph!" I bellowed.
The only thing funnier than my uniform was Ralph's. It was not the same. As Reginald explained later while he tried admirably not to laugh, Jillian wanted to represent Ralph's military rank as well as his StarTech status.
We both marched up to Reginald's fuming.
Not marched, really. Ridden smoothly up the series of elevators. And not fuming, so much as comically outraged. There was nothing any one of them could say to get us to wear these uniforms in public. It was never even an option.
"Just what was that woman thinking?" Ralph demanded, the long tassels at his waist shaking.
Christophe was drinking a cocktail on the couch and seemed unfazed by it all. "It honestly would be warmly received by the press Earthside."
"Then let the press wear it." Ralph unbuttoned the shirt and took it off. He held it out to Reginald, who looked to Christophe. Christophe gave a small nod, and Reginald called for his bot Charles.
"Yes, sir? Are we ready to dine?"
"Not yet, Charles. The guests have just arrived. Please take their coats."
"Yes, sir. Hang them?"
"Burn them," he said with a laugh, grabbing my shirt. "The pants don't look so bad," he said.
"I like mine," I said.
"Good. Then we'll just need to, uh, rework these." He gave them to Charles. "Are you cold?"
We stood in the pants and plain white tee shirts. We were fine, and he dismissed Charles and motioned for us to sit on the couches with Christophe.
"So much for being fancy and pretending we have manners, eh?" Ralph whispered.
"No secrets in this room, gentlemen." Christophe sipped his drink. It always amazes me how cool he is, how in charge, in control. He even outshines Reginald. As the "public face of the company" as Jillian put it, I suppose that's how he has to be. Still, he pulls it off so well. In the room with both of them, anyone would think Christophe is the boss of StarTech.
"I was just telling him that we're not adjusting well to the fancy life," said Ralph.
"Ah. Yes. Well, you will." Reginald offered Ralph a cocktail and me a drink without alcohol. He poured them himself, then sat with us. "So tell me, Jake. How's Utopia treating you?"
"Good." It was a lame answer, but what else could I say?
"I saw Marlon tried to show you up in front of Lynette." He gave me a little smirk as he sat back. "Don't look surprised. I already told you I know everything that goes on around here. Besides, there's no way he can hack my system without being noticed."
"What's this?" Christophe asked.
"Marlon tried to get in on the fah'ti project."
Christophe rolled his eyes. "Will he never learn? What's it this time?"
Reginald shrugged. "Just a week." At Christophe's look, Reginald laughed. "Don't look at me like that. It did no harm."
"This time."
"Completely different from last year. And we did learn that young master Cosworth here has been holding out on us."
Huh? "I haven't been holding out anything."
"You never told us you can read Qitani."
Christophe's eyebrow quirked again. From him, that was an enormous gesture. "Interesting."
"I wasn't holding out. You never asked. Besides, most of what I looked at I couldn't read."
"Not true," said Ralph. "You couldn't understand it. That's not the same."
I suddenly felt like I was in the hot seat. "Well...whatever. I don't know what it means, so it can't help."
"You can speak it, too," said Christophe. He was giving me that look again. I wondered if he was trying to inspeak. It felt... I don't know how it felt. It was unnerving. His gaze is piercing and feels like it cuts right through you. "Don't get uncomfortable, Jake," he said quietly. "I'm just trying to figure you out." He sat forward suddenly, and placed his drink on the table. He tented his hands, like Reginald, and tapped his lips with his forefingers. "I just returned from Earth. Do you know what I was doing there?"
I shrugged and shook my head.
"Feeling out the public. Testing the waters. A little whisper here, a little rumor starting there."
"We said we need this to be the right time," explained Reginald. "What we didn't say is that it actually is the right time. Christophe was gathering intel."
"To?"
"To see if they'll be receptive to your existence."
It was blunt. Oddly, it hurt. I know it shouldn't. I was there, alive, a person whether they were receptive or not. Besides, I hadn't exactly had warm and fuzzy feelings towards them, either. Still...
"And?" asked Ralph.
"And it was positive," said Reginald quickly. "Christophe just likes the drama. It's positive."
"By and large."
They still looked tense, though. "Isn't that a good thing?" I asked.
"Yes. Very. Which is why I went ahead and leaked some information." Reginald tapped his fingers on his glass.
"What kind of information?" asked Ralph, sitting forward in his seat.
"A rumor about Jake, of course. A highly confidential StarTech document, one that proves that Eunice and Lance Cosworth were never properly sterilized."
I didn't know what to say. Why leak it? Why make it seem shady like that? Why not just come right out and...and...
And what. Drop me in the middle of the world and say "Look everyone! Here he is! A star boy!" It would not be believed. They all knew it. I felt like an idiot that it took me so long to figure out. I was not going to burst onto the scene. Instead I was going to be slowly leaked until StarTech had to fess up.
"What are you going to tell them when they ask why StarTech is just turning over the intel now? I thought you had an agreement to have all documents overseen by the governments?"
Reginald, too, had that look of conspiracy. "Of course they were given over when they were supposed to be. And that, I can actually prove. I'd fake it if I had to, but it's awful nice when I don't have to." He gave a laugh. "I've had a team combing through all our old turn overs to look for anything we could use, and as it turns out, these documents were filed, and filed properly, along with a warehouse of other documents highlighting every detail of StarTech's history."