Laura had always been a good friend, the best. She’d met so many people in Junior Academy, then Fleet Academy and the military. Many of her best friends had died years ago, service mates who perished on the Sunspire during combat action. Others drifted off as service took them in different directions, and for Ayan, that meant up the command ladder, further separating her from fellow graduates and the acquaintances of her youth. Then she was reborn, and everyone but Doctor Anderson and Minh were gone. When she arrived aboard the Triton, the reunion with Laura was the sweetest. There was no forgetting or replacing such a friend, and as she sat on the edge of the bed Jacob Valance had slept in the night before crying for reasons she couldn’t quite put together yet, she had never been more grateful that she was there. Laura didn’t ask why she was in tears, she just kept her company while she got them out of her system, but then, she did want to give her an explanation. “I have no idea what I’m doing here,” Ayan managed as she wiped tears away.
Laura handed her a tissue, where she’d found it, she had no idea. “You’re doing great.”
“No, I’m really not. I mean, all day we’ve been running about, trying to make a proper place here and I manage to sign the first contract the Government presents, then strike a bargain with a crime lord. What kind of madwoman does that?”
“The intelligent, flexible kind.”
“Oh, and said crime lady all but said; ‘me and your Jake are old shagging buddies, think you can meet us up again?’ God, I’m so lost. So completely, utterly lost,” Ayan punctuated with a long blow of her nose.
“There’s no-“
“And as soon as I get back I go off like a drill sergeant on one of his most trusted people.” She sat silently for a moment, reviewing the incident. “I have to apologize.”
Laura caught Ayan before she could finish standing up and sat her back down. “Oh, no you don’t. She had it coming, I mean she really had it coming. You bent over backwards and worked miracles today. I mean, think about it. None of us have been here before, you couldn’t call back to the ships because we don’t have a local code, and they needed you to get supplies, somewhere to land and the permits to move. I wouldn’t know where to start. Then she has the nerve to give you grief over getting it all finished in the nick of time?” Laura shook her head. “You actually managed to do what anyone in your position would want to do, and she deserved every word.”
It was easy to believe Laura, everything she said was true. “Maybe bringing up the serial killer was going over the line just a little,” Ayan admitted.
“But did you see the look on her face?”
Ayan couldn’t help but laugh. “I don’t think she’ll doubt me aloud again. Jake’s going to hear about that though.”
“So? I’m pretty sure he’ll agree Stephanie was in the wrong. Respectful colleagues present advice and alternatives, not criticism without support.”
“They used to tell us that in Officer Training.”
“And I’ve heard you say the same to people in the lab.”
Ayan looked at Laura, whose eyes went wide as she realized her blunder. “Wasn’t me,” she said quietly.
Laura smiled back at her and nodded. “It was. A little different, but everything she was, is in you. Besides, the woman I’m sitting beside is something greater.”
“Sure, there’s more of me, especially in the hips, and in the front,” Ayan countered, playfully.
“No, well, yeah, but-“
“Well, thank you!” Ayan laughed, feigning injury.
“It suits you. It really does, but really; as you are, I can’t imagine you sticking to an Engineering department, or a research lab. You’d do wonderful in either place, but after spending the day with you today I see so much more in you. An ambassador, an explorer, a problem solver, and it’s all wrapped up in a confident, charming package. I think, no, I’m sure Patrizia was actually envious of you when she realized you were the one who gave Jake his scarf. I think you made a mystery real for her, I think you lived up to what she pictured in her mind as a woman she couldn’t compete with.”
“Oh, come on,” Ayan said with disbelief. “Not in this lifetime, or any other. Did you see her?”
“Yes, and she was hanging on your every word, especially when you stood up to her and actually countered her price with an offer of your own.”
“Must happen all the time,” she replied with a barely suppressed smile.
“You know it doesn’t, and if something did happen between Jake and her, it’s probably ancient history now. Just talk to him about it.”
“That ought to be an interesting conversation,” Ayan sighed. “But I think I will.”
“Good. It’ll be fine.”
“You’re amazing, Laura. Busy picking me up off the floor while Jason’s still out there. I’m sorry.”
Laura closed her eyes and nodded. “I’m worried, but I’d know if something happened to him. Wherever he is, I know he’s doing his best to come back to me.”
“Minh should be back soon.”
“I know. I think I’ll try to get some rest before he arrives. Do you mind?”
“No, I think I’ll wait for Jake in the Captain’s quarters.”
“Good luck. I think everything’s going to be fine though.”
“I hope so.”
Chapter 33
It was impossible to know whether she was waking up when her eyes snapped open, or if she was becoming aware. What was certain, as Eve lay atop her made bed in her finest green and blue silk gown, was that until the very moment of awareness or waking, she was not in control. She couldn’t feel Gloria behind her eyes, but there was a residue. There was guilt, and a strange giddiness that was unlike anything she’d known.
“What have you done?” Eve asked aloud, hoping the other woman wouldn’t answer from somewhere inside her mind. Despite her growing dread she began to reach out, to search the network of surveillance and storage for evidence of her passage. Within milliseconds she found the trail. Gloria had made no efforts to hide her activities.
Eve went to bed. It took her exactly forty three minutes and nine seconds to fall asleep. Four minutes and fifty one seconds later she sat up and dressed in her finest gown, put on the heels she never really learned to walk properly in, and exited her quarters. She was humming something, and after a quick search through the archives, she realized it was an ancient song called Birdhouse In Your Soul.
Eve didn’t remember any of it. Not a single instant. Watching the woman wearing her body swagger down the familiar hallways, smile at soldiers and officers as she walked past, and look right into surveillance hot spots so Eve could look her in the eyes later was infuriating. When she realized the woman’s destination she was so enraged that she lost her connection with the network. She forced herself to settle down and focused her attention on the surveillance footage of Gloria entering Beaudric’s quarters.
With a grace Eve never had, Gloria sat down on the edge of his bed and whispered; “I have something to show you,” as she caressed his cheek.
He roused with a start, sat up, and after a moment smiled at her warmly in the dim light. There were few words as she let him get dressed behind her and walked him down the hall to the lift. In seemingly easy silence they made their way to the bowels of the command carrier and Eve was horror stricken as she recalled the next batch of surveillance data from the system. Gloria walked him directly into the emergency genesis chamber. It was a long, broad corridor with black tiled floors and bare generation one frameworks lining the walls in their cubicles. Like a collection of hundreds of skeletons they stood waiting, empty eye sockets staring across the room at each other. A box at each one’s feet contained everything they needed to get to work after coming to life. It was a place no one was supposed to see, a place where, if they urgently needed basic personnel in vast numbers they could be produced hundreds at a time. Behind each cubicle was a loading mechanism that would stand another framework skeleton up after one had finished generating and walked off. Another loader under the box would put a fresh uniform, and weapons or tools inside.