{"id":148,"date":"2012-04-15T00:00:50","date_gmt":"2012-04-15T04:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/?p=148"},"modified":"2012-04-13T23:20:25","modified_gmt":"2012-04-14T03:20:25","slug":"chapter-sixteen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/?p=148","title":{"rendered":"Chapter Sixteen"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Chinasia Corp was born of some of our best and worst qualities as a race: dedication, competitiveness, unity, loyalty, and ruthlessness.<\/h3>\n

— Erich Quizibian, Foundations of the Congloms of New Earth<\/em>, c. 5070 PD<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

5 Novem, 5249 PD<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s too quiet and this is almost too easy.<\/em>\u00a0 Brendan tried not to frown.\u00a0 He was waiting for things to come apart.\u00a0 He was certain that had to happen soon.<\/p>\n

He had landed during the early part of the late watch, which had in part worked to their advantage.\u00a0 With any luck, they\u2019d make it away from Xiangaou before the graveyard shift went to bed and the morning shift came on.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t want to count on that luck.<\/p>\n

Brendan maintained a casual gait, forcing himself to remember the layout of the station he\u2019d lived on for at least six of his formative years.\u00a0 It had been home to the cadre he\u2019d been assigned to back then, and then later to the unit that he\u2019d been assigned to once his training had been complete.\u00a0 There hadn\u2019t been many survivors of his cadre, and most of them had been sent away from Xiangaou\u2014to where, he had no idea.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t mater anymore, anyway.\u00a0 They\u2019d never really been his friends.<\/p>\n

There weren\u2019t any friends<\/em> in that kind of situation, just fellow travelers\u2014fellow survivors<\/em>.<\/p>\n

He went to the quarters he\u2019d been assigned to first.\u00a0 They would expect that.\u00a0 The old patterns came easily\u2014wash up, stretch, then scan the computer for anything relevant.\u00a0 There was no reason to surprise them yet, give them any reason to look closer than necessary.<\/p>\n

Settling down at the computer, he kept his first few searches innocent, innocuous, testing the limitations they\u2019d placed on his access.\u00a0 With any luck, they\u2019d think he was just trying to catch up on the current situation within the conglom, just like any other good little returning soldier.\u00a0 He smiled grimly as most of his inquiries were blocked almost at every turn until he switched over to access the public newsnets.\u00a0 Those, at least, he could peruse freely.\u00a0 The vitriol Chinasia was spewing over the Foundation, the colony, and the Guard was harsh, but tamer than he\u2019d expected.<\/p>\n

They hate what they don\u2019t understand and can\u2019t control, and there\u2019s no hope of them ever controlling the colony with anything less than deadly force.\u00a0 But they still hope that they can\u2014or simply that they\u2019ll be able to howl, threaten, and browbeat the colony into doing what they want.\u00a0 Otherwise, they\u2019ll just wipe them out.<\/em><\/p>\n

His lips thinned.\u00a0 It was an unpleasant thought.\u00a0 Our only saving grace is how badly they underestimate our tenacity.<\/em><\/p>\n

But can we be tenacious enough for them to cut their losses and walk away?<\/em><\/p>\n

Eventually, he shut down the computer and stretched out on the room\u2019s narrow, hard bunk to bide his time.\u00a0 It wouldn\u2019t take too much longer for them to confirm his identity and loosen the leash.\u00a0 When that finally happened, his real work would begin.<\/p>\n

It was only a matter of time.<\/p>\n

Then I just have to find America Farragut and get the hell out of here without being caught.\u00a0 Easy, right?<\/em><\/p>\n

He sighed, not for the first time wondering what the hell<\/em> he\u2019d been thinking when he agreed to this run.\u00a0 Ez, what did I let you talk me into?<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u25cf\u00a0\u00a0 \u25cf \u00a0\u00a0\u25cf<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Brendan must have dozed, because he startled fully awake again at the sound of his door call.\u00a0 He blinked blearily at the door before someone pressed the call button again, the whining buzz sending shivers through his skull.<\/p>\n

Bloody hell, that\u2019s an awful sound.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cCho, are you in there?\u201d<\/p>\n

He responded automatically.\u00a0 \u201cYes.\u201d\u00a0 After a moment, he slapped himself, realizing he\u2019d answered in something other than his native tongue\u2014which meant it was a language that his visitor probably couldn\u2019t understand.\u00a0 \u201cSorry,\u201d he said, now in Chinasia\u2019s corporate tongue, \u201cyes, I\u2019m in here.\u201d<\/p>\n

When he opened the door a moment later, he came face-to-face with a trim young woman in a black uniform.\u00a0 She was a head shorter than he was and he felt vaguely uncomfortable thanks to it\u2014most people back on E-557 were taller than he was.<\/p>\n

I should be comforted.\u00a0 I probably would be if I didn\u2019t think she could throw me across the room like a rag doll.<\/em>\u00a0 She had the look of a martial artist, something he\u2019d never quite mastered\u2014but then, pilots weren\u2019t expected to master things like that.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou were sleeping?\u201d the woman said, eyeing the rumpled covers on his bunk.<\/p>\n

He nodded.\u00a0 \u201cAnd well, for the first time in years.\u00a0 I\u2019m home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are,\u201d she said, handing him a thin sheet of plastic.\u00a0 \u201cYour new identicard.\u00a0 Welcome home.\u201d\u00a0 She paused, still watching him, dark eyes meeting his.\u00a0 \u201cYou are to remain on-station while awaiting further orders.\u00a0 Understood?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d\u00a0 Brendan pocketed the card.\u00a0 \u201cThank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

She nodded curtly, the heels of her boots clicking smartly together before she pivoted on her heel and marched away.\u00a0 Brendan leaned in the doorway, watching her turn the corner and disappear.\u00a0 He took a few deep breaths before he exhaled and stepped back into his quarters, letting the door slide shut again.<\/p>\n

Well, I guess I\u2019m officially back now.\u00a0 Time to get to work.\u00a0 First I have to figure out where she is, though.\u00a0 <\/em>His stomach grumbled.\u00a0 Clues to that could lie in the mess.\u00a0 If they don\u2019t, at least I won\u2019t be doing this on an empty stomach.<\/em><\/p>\n

He straightened the bed out of habit and headed out for the mess.<\/p>\n

The chow lines were much as he remembered, and so was the food\u2014over-processed meat product with rice and a dark, salty sauce that the cooks might have tried to pass off as soy sauce if anyone cared to ask.\u00a0 No one thinks to, I imagine.<\/em>\u00a0 Still, it was hot and he was hungry.\u00a0 He found a seat at the end of one of the long tables and hunkered down, fingers remembering how to use the twin metal sticks to eat with less difficulty than he had imagined.<\/p>\n

Halfway through the meal, two men dressed in pilot\u2019s jumpsuits settled down a few seats down from him, each with their own bowls of over-processed meat and rice.\u00a0 One glanced at him questioningly, then looked to his companion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho\u2019s that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCho Kaito, I think,\u201d the second man said.\u00a0 \u201cBack from the never-never after all these years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Metal chopsticks clattered against the table.\u00a0 \u201cFoundation territory?\u00a0 You\u2019re making that up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot at all.\u00a0 Linlei told me when I saw her between cycles.\u00a0 You\u2019d know these things if you were sleeping with someone in Control instead of one of Zaki\u2019s freaks.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first man\u2019s tone promised a fight if the second persisted.\u00a0 \u201cHey.\u00a0 It was an honor<\/em> to be recruited to take one of them to mate.\u00a0 Besides, I can do anything to her I want except for killing her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll take someone normal over a psychic any day of the week, Midan, whether I have to wait for superior approval to mate her or not.\u00a0 I don\u2019t care if you think it\u2019s an honor. What do you think will happen when you start spawning with her, huh?\u00a0 What\u2019s going to happen then?\u201d<\/p>\n

Brendan watched the first man shrug out of the corner of his eye.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u00a0 I have to hope it doesn\u2019t breed true.\u201d<\/p>\n

They\u2019re talking about psychics like they\u2019re animals.\u00a0 <\/em>Brendan forced himself to chew and swallow.\u00a0 Intellectually, he knew how the congloms treated psychics, but it was an entirely different experience to experience it firsthand.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething tells me that\u2019s not<\/em> the point of the program.\u00a0 They\u2019re all Zaki\u2019s little pets.\u00a0 How do you know he\u2019s not banging them while you\u2019re out flying patrols?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause he\u2019s got his hands full with the Guard bitch and has a hard-on for her besides.\u00a0 It\u2019s her or no one for him, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n

America Farragut?\u00a0 It could be.<\/em>\u00a0 Brendan smothered his frown, hoping that the men had lost interest in him.\u00a0 But where are they keeping her?\u00a0 Come on, tell me where they\u2019re keeping her.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cPlease.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t spend enough time down on twelve for that.\u00a0 He\u2019s got no interest in doing that<\/em> with her.\u00a0 Getting secrets out of her, maybe, but that?\u00a0 No way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Level twelve, then?<\/em>\u00a0 Brendan swallowed another bite of his dinner.\u00a0 It tasted like ash, which was an improvement.<\/p>\n

\u201cAsk him yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re kidding me, right?\u00a0 He\u2019d go crazy and put a scalpel through my eye.\u201d\u00a0 The man shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have a death wish.\u00a0 You keep your little psychic pet and I\u2019ll stick with my traffic controller.\u00a0 At least I know what I\u2019ll get out of that pairing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cExceedingly short<\/em> children?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith high aptitude scores.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brendan stopped listening, staring into the remains of his dinner.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t full, but he didn\u2019t feel like he could stomach another bite.<\/p>\n

What are they doing to psychics here now?<\/em>\u00a0 He suppressed another frown and stood up slowly.\u00a0 He fed his bowl and utensils into the cleaning bin and walked out of the mess, thoughts storming.<\/p>\n

He was halfway to his quarters before he decided that it was time to get to work.\u00a0 Level twelve.\u00a0 It\u2019s a start, anyway.\u00a0 Better than what I had to go on before.<\/em>\u00a0 Briefly, he considered going back to his quarters to do some digging.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t do that.\u00a0 It\u2019s too dangerous.\u00a0 What if they start to wonder why I\u2019m looking into it?\u00a0 What if they show up to stop me, then interrogate me?\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d hold together.<\/em>\u00a0 He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment.\u00a0 No.\u00a0 It\u2019s not an option.\u00a0 I have to go with what I\u2019ve got and pray that she\u2019s there.<\/em><\/p>\n

Level twelve.\u00a0 Those were briefing rooms and quarters back then.\u00a0 What have you people made them into now?<\/em><\/p>\n

Brendan didn\u2019t know, but he was about to find out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chinasia Corp was born of some of our best and worst qualities as a race: dedication, competitiveness, unity, loyalty, and ruthlessness. — Erich Quizibian, Foundations of the Congloms of New Earth, c. 5070 PD   5 Novem, 5249 PD It\u2019s … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-last-colony"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p25yjF-2o","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=148"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions\/151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}