Hart slowly shakes his head.
“The worst part is that in your zeal to destroy a couple of thousand androids, you also destroyed what might have been our only hope to deactivate the several million still left.” She pauses a moment, watching as he lifts a slightly shaking hand to his brow. “The deactivation codes were in the computers on that base, General Hart. Computers which are now in billions of tiny little pieces so small that not all the General’s horses nor the General’s men will ever have the hope of putting back together again.”
“I—I didn’t—think….”
“No, you didn’t did you. You might want to start trying to in the future.”
And with that, Kirsten turns and walks away, leaving the stunned crowd behind.
Manny looks up at his cousin, an almost awed smile on his face. “Wow.”
Koda chuckles in agreement.
“I thought I recognized her. Kirsten King, isn’t it? The robotics guru?” At Koda’s nod, he continues. “Sure looks different without those damned contacts in, that’s for sure.” Then he grins. “The Colonel’s gonna prang when she finds out the good Doctor’s here. They think the same way about those metalheads.” He scratches his head. “Too bad she’s not here.”
“Where is she?” Koda asks, surprised.
“Got called out to escort some civvies in. A couple of them were hurt, from what we heard. She should be back this evening some time.”
Both look on as Kirsten exits the hangar, the crowd easily parting before her as if she bears the Staff of Moses. Koda eyes her cousin. “Looks like I’m pulling some escort duty of my own. Catch you later, huh?”
“I’m headed for the mess. Stop by if you’ve got time later.”
“Will do.”
4
“Dr. King!”
Kirsten stops and whirls, fully prepared to confront this latest interruption of her royal blue funk. She hesitates as she realizes the intruder is the woman who saved her several times already this day. If for no other reason than that, she swallows her temper and even manages to try a smile out for size.
It fits rather poorly.
“Yes….” Kirsten pauses, looking at the insignia on the uniform covering the woman’s rather well-maintained form. “…Lieutenant?”
Koda gives an easy grin. “Just Dakota, or Koda if you prefer. I’m a Vet.”
“Ex-lieutenant, then,” Kirsten replies, smirking.
Koda rolls her eyes. “A Vet as in Veterinarian. I’m not military, ex or otherwise.”
Kirsten’s eyebrows climb into her hairline. “You’re a civilian? Then how…why…?”
Koda sobers. “Let’s just say it was something I had to do.” She looks the smaller woman over carefully, a frown creasing her striking features. “I think maybe a trip to the hospital would be in order. We’ve got a good one on base here and you’ve been out in sub-optimal conditions without adequate clothing for far too long.”
This smile is more genuine, though sorrowfully brief. “You have a gift for understatement.”
“So I’ve been told,” Koda replies in kind.
“Well, I thank you for your generous offer, but I’ll pass right now. My chest is clear and I’m regaining feeling in my limbs, so I think I’m alright for now.”
“Well, then, how about if I get you to a place where you can dry off and warm up?”
Kirsten eyes the tall Vet carefully, her ingrained distrust once again springing to the fore. For Christ’s sweet sake, K, a small corner of her mind clamors, this woman just saved your life, almost at the cost of her own. I really think you can trust her, don’t you?
It’s a bit of a struggle, but she finally gives in to that insistent inner voice and manages a nod at her benefactor. “That’s an offer I’ll be happy to accept.”
“Good,” Koda replies, smiling. “If you’ll follow me?”
5
Kirsten steps into the small, but cozy, house with a sigh of profound relief. Warmth from the heater immediately seeps into limbs just now waking from their frozen sleep. The tingling starts immediately, and she knows that knifing pain is soon to follow, but she keeps her reactions pushed down deep inside, as is her custom when in the presence of others.
Dakota disappears for a moment, returning with a neat stack of dry clothing in her hands. “Bathroom’s right behind that door there,” she gestures as she transfers the small bundle to Kirsten’s arms. “Fresh towels are in the closet, and the shower should even have some hot water left, if you’re so inclined.”
Dakota turns away before Kirsten can say a word, and disappears back into what Kirsten can see from her current vantage point is the bedroom. The door closes softly, leaving Kirsten alone in the short hallway, clothes in her hands and a perplexed look on her face. After a moment, she shrugs and heads into the bathroom.
After so long doing without, the shower is simply much too large a temptation to resist. Turning on the ‘hot’ tap to full blast, she sheds her sodden garments as a warm fog rolls out from the shower to fill the small, tiled room. Adding a little cold to the mix, she turns on the shower itself and steps inside.
The first touch of water on her skin is an almost religious experience—pleasure wrapped around pain wrapped around a feeling of relief so muscle-jarring that her head spins. Bracing herself against the cool tiled wall, she waits for the feeling to pass before grabbing the bar of soap and lathering up. Days of dirt and sweat swirl down the drain, and she wonders for a moment if her anger, and her fear, and every other negative emotion she’s currently harboring as tightly as a miser to his cash, will so be so easily washed away.
It is only when the water starts to go tepid that she drags her weary—yet blessedly clean—body from the shower. The towel is soft and gentle on her skin, and the clothes she slips into, though a bit large, bring with them a comfort of their own simply by being dry.
A quick drag of a comb through her hair, and she leaves the warm, moist haven of the bathroom for the house beyond.
Koda smiles up at her from her place on the tatty couch. Dressed in a pair of well-worn jeans and a simple white T-shirt, she displays a body that, to Kirsten’s scientific eye, is as close to perfection as she’s ever seen. She pauses a moment, wondering at her body’s response to the picture presented, then shoves the thought down with the rest of them, to be explored at a later time.
For the first time in a very long time, she feels that there may actually be a later.
Noticing the odd look directed her way, she summons up a smile in response and continues into the living room, where her meager stockpile of belongings has been carefully set on the coffee table.
“Feeling better?”
“Much, thank you.”
“Good.” Dakota once again looks over the young scientist, taking in the bloom of roses on her cheeks and eyes which, if not exactly sparkling with good humor, have at least lost their haunted dullness. Still, exhaustion has drawn dark, sooty smudges beneath each eye, and Koda spends a moment wondering when it was that she last slept. “You’re probably tired. You’re welcome to the bed, if you’d like.”
“No….thank you, but I need to figure out if I was able to salvage anything from Minot’s computers.” She pulls the two chips from a pocket in the soft sweatpants she’s been given to wear. “I took these with me when I went outside.” Replacing the chips, she picks up her backup laptop and looks to Koda. “Hopefully they’ve got something on them I can use.”
“There’s an office right next to the bathroom, there. It doesn’t have much in it, but you’re welcome to whatever’s there.”
“Thank you.”
“Not a problem.” Dakota rises to her full height, stretching slightly to work out the kinks in a back much abused this day. “I’m headed for the mess. If you’re hungry, I could bring some back for you. It’s military food, but it’s edible.”