{"id":313,"date":"2013-01-27T00:00:07","date_gmt":"2013-01-27T05:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/?p=313"},"modified":"2013-01-26T16:52:26","modified_gmt":"2013-01-26T21:52:26","slug":"four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/?p=313","title":{"rendered":"Four"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

When Mimir died, humanity lost the knowledge of a thousand generations. Whoever killed Mimir killed our past and without that past, I fear for what our future might hold.<\/h3>\n

— Ardis Carlyle, commentator for Newswire, 4 Novem 5223<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

1 Decem, 5249 PD<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWill Alana be joining us tonight?\u201d\u00a0 Grant asked as he sat at Rachel\u2019s kitchen table, watching his wife and sister-in-law hard at work on cooking dinner enough for six\u2014or eight or nine.\u00a0 It was hard to tell how many they were cooking for.\u00a0 He was out of practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI doubt we\u2019re going to see her any night in the near future,\u201d Rachel said dryly.\u00a0 \u201cEither before or after the reconstruction begins on her arm.\u201d\u00a0 She turned and pointed a spoon at her brother-in-law.\u00a0 \u201cThere are a lot of things I could say to you, Grant Channing, about what you put her through without even being here, but out of respect for my poor sister, I\u2019m going to keep my mouth shut.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grant opened his mouth to protest, but closed it again after America shot him a look that could melt steel.\u00a0 Rachel glanced at her sister and shook her head before returning to her work at the stove.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight,\u201d he finally murmured. \u201cThough in my defense, I was only thinking of the safety and well-being of our daughter\u2014you know, the one who holds two of the keys to that damned database we almost died to get off Mimir?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThree,\u201d Rachel said.\u00a0 \u201cShe doesn\u2019t know that she\u2019s got mine, but she has it.\u00a0 Brendan\u2019s idea.\u00a0 Had it incorporated into a pendant she never takes off.\u201d<\/p>\n

He shot her a sharp-eyed look.\u00a0 \u201cDid you tell him what it was?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, but I didn\u2019t exactly have to.\u00a0 He was bright even back then.\u201d\u00a0 Rachel turned away from the stove, drying her hands on a towel as she wandered over to the table to steal a sip of tea from Grant\u2019s cup.\u00a0 \u201cHe knew it was important and he knew that it was probably from Mimir, and he also knew that Lindsay was the most important person in my life, so he suggested that I have it turned into a piece of jewelry for her for her sixteenth birthday.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI see,\u201d Grant said, leaning back and crossing his arms.\u00a0 \u201cWhat did Adam have to say about that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t get a vote,\u201d Adam said from the doorway, straightening from his lean to duck fully into the room\u2019s cozy warmth.\u00a0 \u201cI wasn\u2019t in the picture at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how you managed that,\u201d America said, glancing at her sister.\u00a0 \u201cI mean, Grant and I were forced<\/i> apart by circumstances, but I can\u2019t tell you that I couldn\u2019t sometimes catch glimmers of him at the back of my mind.\u00a0 You and Adam chose<\/i> to be apart.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know how you managed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rachel looked at Adam.\u00a0 He shrugged slightly and she shook her head.\u00a0 \u201cWe were angry,\u201d Rachel said after a moment.\u00a0 \u201cI was angry.\u00a0 He was hurting for a lot of reasons I still don\u2019t think we\u2019ve fully discussed.\u00a0 It\u2026wasn\u2019t the best time for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a long time to be apart,\u201d Adam said quietly.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people who don\u2019t know we were ever together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy daughter\u2019s husband being one of them,\u201d Grant said, eyeing Adam.\u00a0 \u201cIs he as good a pilot as they\u2019ve been saying?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs who\u2019s been saying?\u201d\u00a0 Adam asked as he headed for the stove.\u00a0 He pecked America on the cheek and reached past her for the still-steaming kettle of hot water.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople,\u201d Grant said, only half belligerent.\u00a0 He\u2019d been out and about, listening and watching and trying to learn as much as he could about the status quo without waiting to be informed by Rachel or Adam.\u00a0 Frederick, of course, had been no help and Daci was downright surly when he started to press, so he\u2019d given up on getting anything out of her.\u00a0 \u201cAre you going to answer the question, or are you going to be damnably evasive and vague, Adam?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGrumpy giving you shit, Grant?\u201d\u00a0 Frederick asked as he came in from the garden, eyes bright and hair windblown.\u00a0 He looked younger and yet far, far older than he\u2019d been the last time Grant had seen him before recently.\u00a0 It was strange, he reflected for a moment, how one remembered the people important to them after a long absence.<\/p>\n

\u201cOther way around, Freder,\u201d Adam said.\u00a0 \u201cYou want some of this?\u201d<\/p>\n

Frederick settled into a chair, nodding.\u00a0 \u201cSure, some tea would be nice.\u00a0 How long until dinner?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt least another hour,\u201d Rachel said as she took the mug that Adam offered her.\u00a0 \u201cMore than enough time for Grant to get even more curious about his son-in-law\u2019s skills as a pilot and the current state of our military forces here, since I\u2019m sure that\u2019s where the conversation was heading.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSounds like I\u2019m winning the bet,\u201d Frederick said.<\/p>\n

America laughed.\u00a0 \u201cWe all knew it wouldn\u2019t be long.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grant favored them all with another glare before he looked at Adam again.\u00a0 \u201cWell?\u201d<\/p>\n

The marshal shook his head slightly.\u00a0 \u201cI wish all of our pilots were half<\/i> as good as he is.\u00a0 That\u2019s why he\u2019s training them.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure there are any in our forces that could beat him on skills and I\u2019m not sure that there are many among the conglomerates that could, either.\u00a0 Chinasia was wasting him as a dropship pilot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d wondered how he was so easily able to infiltrate their installation,\u201d America said, leaning against the counter and crossing her arms.\u00a0 \u201cIt makes sense now that he used to work for them.\u201d\u00a0 She shook her head, eyes growing distant for a moment.\u00a0 \u201cYou should have seen the way he fought.\u00a0 Took down Taki like he was a sheaf of wheat to be harvested.\u00a0 I\u2019d never seen anything quite like it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly, glancing toward Rachel.\u00a0 \u201cI wonder if he\u2019s learned more from Alana than we ever suspected.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMore likely he remembered training from childhood,\u201d Rachel said quietly.\u00a0 \u201cHe likes to pretend he doesn\u2019t remember a lot of it, but sometimes I can still see the ghosts of it in his eyes.\u201d\u00a0 She glanced at Grant.\u00a0 \u201cYou were changing the subject.\u00a0 Why\u2019d you bring up those keys?\u201d<\/p>\n

His nostrils flared and he looked away, stared out the window at the gathering twilight.\u00a0 \u201cI shouldn\u2019t have, but it slipped.\u00a0 They\u2019ve been on my mind for a few days now. The galaxy\u2019s about to go to war with itself again and we\u2019ve still got components of Mimir\u2019s grand database hidden all over the homosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot to mention the keys,\u201d Frederick murmured, swirling his tea in his mug.\u00a0 He winced as Grant\u2019s gaze immediately snapped to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s that<\/i> supposed to mean?\u00a0 You don\u2019t\u2014Frederick, tell me you didn\u2019t lose<\/i> it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t lose it,\u201d Frederick said.\u00a0 \u201cI hid<\/i> it, just like I hid the pieces of the database you gave me that last time I was on Mimir.\u201d\u00a0 His eyes half-lidded as he exhaled a sigh.\u00a0 \u201cMy job was helpful in that regard, though it won\u2019t be easy gathering up those pieces again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially because you\u2019re dead<\/i>,\u201d Adam said.\u00a0 His brow furrowed slightly as he took a sip of his tea.\u00a0 \u201cHow many pieces on how many planets?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNever mind that<\/i>,\u201d Grant said.\u00a0 \u201cWhat did you do with your key?\u00a0 I thought we all agreed to keep them close.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGrant, if I had kept my key close<\/i>, we\u2019d never be able to access parts of that database ever again.\u00a0 It would have been destroyed when someone almost killed me.\u201d<\/p>\n

His heart dropped to his stomach and Grant looked away, frowning.\u00a0 Even as a prisoner of the Compact, he\u2019d heard about his friend\u2019s supposed death.\u00a0 Seeing him alive and relatively well had been a balm for his soul, and America\u2019s too.\u00a0 He sucked in a deep breath, then asked, \u201cSo what did you do with it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI left it with Sephora Damerian,\u201d Frederick said.\u00a0 \u201cIt was something that we did.\u00a0 Whenever one of us was going into a situation we suspected was dangerous, we\u2019d leave sensitive data with the other.\u00a0 I\u2019d never know what she gave me and she wouldn\u2019t know what I\u2019d given to her, but we\u2019d do that just in case.\u201d\u00a0 He shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cOdds are that she\u2019s never looked at any of it\u2014anything I left her on the case, considering that it all evaporated after I was gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was because you were the driving force behind the investigation in the first place,\u201d Rachel said, her voice remarkably gentle, considering how much she\u2019d wanted the people who\u2019d killed Mimir found and punished.\u00a0 \u201cShe might not have even had the option of continuing your investigation, Freder.\u00a0 They might have shut her down intentionally.\u201d<\/p>\n

He gave her a weak smile.\u00a0 \u201cI have no doubt that they did, Squeaks.\u201d\u00a0 His shoulders rose and fell in a shrug.\u00a0 \u201cEither way, I\u2019ve got every confidence that she\u2019s still got it, though I know she doesn\u2019t know what she has.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s the Inspector General now,\u201d Adam said thoughtfully.\u00a0 \u201cAnd the Whispers just died.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you trying to say, Adam?\u201d\u00a0 America asked as she turned back toward her work on dinner.\u00a0 \u201cOr, more to the point, what are you implying<\/i>?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat she might stumble over it and maybe realize its significance in the near future,\u201d he said, frowning slightly to himself.<\/p>\n

Frederick shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cShe\u2019ll be too busy trying to decipher whatever data I left her.\u00a0 I don\u2019t even remember what it was, other than it was a pile of possibly false leads that are twelve years cold now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou two are talking gibberish again,\u201d Rachel said as she joined her sister.\u00a0 \u201cBecause I know you\u2019re not saying that Sephora Damerian\u2019s going to come across something that reopens the Mimir can of worms because someone just bombed the Whispers to bedrock.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d her husband said.\u00a0 \u201cNot at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

The look he gave both Grant and Frederick said that he thought that was exactly<\/i> what was about to happen.<\/p>\n

Frederick\u2019s lips thinned and Grant shook his head slowly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to gather the database pieces before this war really gets started,\u201d Grant said.\u00a0 \u201cWe have to get them someplace safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat, like here?\u201d\u00a0 Rachel glanced over her shoulder at them.\u00a0 \u201cNowhere is safe, Grant.\u00a0 Not when the pieces are moving around like the endgame of a chess match.\u00a0 We\u2019re better off leaving them where they\u2019re hidden and retrieving them if we all make it through this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe survivors will need a map,\u201d Frederick said.\u00a0 \u201cIn case one of the people in this room doesn\u2019t survive what\u2019s coming?\u00a0 We need to put something together so that whoever\u2019s left will be able to put all the pieces back together again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grant\u2019s jaw tightened.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s too big of a risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t think the larger risk is the loss of the entire archive?\u00a0 As much knowledge as the Psychean Guard could gather in a thousand years?\u00a0 Three quarters or more of humanity\u2019s collective knowledge, lost forever?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe galaxy already thinks that it\u2019s lost,\u201d Grant said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s not yet.\u201d\u00a0 Frederick pounded a hand down against the table hard enough that the cups and spoons jumped and rattled. \u201cDamnation, Grant, don\u2019t be stubborn.\u00a0 We need to tell them\u2014your daughter, her husband, your niece, Dr. Grace, perhaps his sister.\u00a0 It\u2019s time we pass what we know about all of it down to a younger generation\u2014down to someone who\u2019s more likely to make it through all of this alive and be able to do<\/i> something once the danger\u2019s passed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grant was silent for a few long moments.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t like it,\u201d he said at last.<\/p>\n

America turned from the counter, one brow arching delicately.\u00a0 \u201cBut you\u2019re not going to tell him no,\u201d she guessed, her voice soft but firm.<\/p>\n

He met his wife\u2019s gaze, a muscle at the corner of his jaw twitching.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u00a0 I\u2019m not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood,\u201d she said, then looked at her sister and Adam before glancing back to the men at the table.\u00a0 \u201cThen we start drawing the maps tonight and pray we haven\u2019t waited too long for this moment to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll have to find a way to get Frederick\u2019s key from Damerian,\u201d Grant said.<\/p>\n

Frederick shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cI have a feeling it\u2019ll find its way to us. Trust me in this. Once Sephora realizes what she has\u2014if she realizes what she has\u2014it\u2019ll find its way here.\u00a0 If it doesn\u2019t, then all we have to do is send someone to pick it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

A wry smile twisted Adam\u2019s lips.\u00a0 \u201cYou make it sound so bloody simple, Freder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frederick laughed.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s because it is, Grumpy.\u00a0 That\u2019s because it is.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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