Mary
sat down at the small table with her grandfather. She glanced out the windows that surrounded
the pod that she was in; all she could see was filtered bluish-grey sea water
and a tunnel leading off to a larger residential hub and occasional bits of Loch’s
sea-life floating past. So it was on her
home world, far, far away from where her body lay dreaming; most of the
residents lived beneath the vast oceans of the planet, under tremendous
pressure. Her family had been lucky
enough and wealthy enough to be able to have a few privacy amenities like this
one.
She
held the cup of hot coffee in her hands.
It dwarfed them, and she realized that she was a lot younger in this
dream than she actually was. Her
grandfather towered over her like a giant with heavy jowls, sparse hair and
watery blue eyes. Bright red capillaries
born of heavy alcoholism adorned his nose, and the overpowering reek of Scotch
made her own eyes water.
“Why’dja
bring me out here, girlie?”
<<Gruber:
You realize that Omega Protocol is only
to be initiated when absolutely necessary.
It is difficult to coordinate and displays a lack of trust. Why did you insist on it?”>>
“I just
wanted some private time with you. I
didn’t want everyone to hear us talking, grandpa.”
<<Mary:
I’m quite aware, and I’m sure that you’ll
understand when I go into detail. There
are people who shouldn’t hear what I have to convey, and those people may
belong to SCAPE as well. Is that
acceptable?>>
“Ach,
all right lassie. Can you get your
grandpapa a drink, maybe? My throat’s a
bit dry.”
<<Gruber: Do you
have your report compartmentalized?>>
Mary
reached under the table and opened the cabinet, pulling out a bottle of Scotch,
imported from Earth. It was a horribly
decadent purchase, so much so that Mary was a little embarrassed that she had
such clear memories of it and wondered if it made Gruber think any less of her. She pulled out a smooth, round glass and
poured her grandfather a couple of fingers and put the bottle away, passing him
the glass.
Grandpa
began to sip at the scotch, his eyes widening and expression becoming
blissful. “That’s the stuff… “
<<Gruber: Good
info. You’ll be happy to know that the
Rell is doing all right. I’m not seeing
from this report why you called Omega here, though.>>
“When
you’re done with it, Grandpa, maybe we can play a game.” Mary suggested.
<<Mary:
You’ll understand when you’re done with
the report.>>
Grandpa
scowled. “Ya can’t just rush a good
Scotch, ya know.” He grunted and
continued to sip.
<<Gruber:
There’s a lot of information here. Give me a couple of minutes.>>
Mary
looked under the table and pulled out a board with alternating red and white
squares. It was solid wood, from the
Homeworld, and also a luxury, though not so much so as something disposable
like the Scotch. She set it down on the
table in plain sight.
“What’s
yer game, girlie? Chess or checkers?”
<<Gruber: How
long do you think this assignment is going to last, Mary? It doesn’t look like it’s a very large
organization. We could move on them this
week.>>
“I
don’t know, Grandpa. Should we even be
playing a game?”
<<Mary: I
wouldn’t have invoked Omega and asked for a private dream meeting if I thought
that this was going to be a simple issue.
Have you gotten to the part about the Awakeners? They are seriously concerned about their
involvement. That’s one of the reasons I
that I called for this; I wanted to have someone who wasn’t an Awakener review
the information before it is shared and archived.>>
“Yer always playing a game, Mary, whether you
think you are or not. The smarter folks,
we know it. Don’t forget it.” He finished the scotch, leaned back, and dug
his thumbs into his waistband with a contented sigh.
<<Gruber: Every
small group like this has paranoid fantasies.
It would only make sense for a group of rebel psychics to take issue
with Awakeners. What have you found that
lends any credence to their theories?>>
“Grandpa,
do you think you could help me make my own chess set?” Mary pleaded, her hands on the table.
<<Mary: This is
only one cell, boss. We could grab these
guys, but there’s a network to be concerned about. I think Althea is more important than she has
suggested, too. I want to find out who
she is. She claims that she left the
Society a few years back. Not many of us
disappear, Hans, it’s got to be a pretty short list.
I need your help. I need a legitimate reason to have access to
information surrounding the Awakener incidents that she told me about. If there is any reasonable doubt about them I
can sow seeds of distrust among other members of the group. If there isn’t… well, then we all need to
know.>>
“Ah,
sure, of course! I’ll just cut down
yonder tree out there – “ Her grandfather waved expansively at the blue-grey
waters. “- and I’m sure you’ll be right
handy with a table saw at yer age. Nah,
if you want a chessboard, use the one we’ve got for you. There’s a reason we pay people to do things
for us, girlie: they’re better at it than we are. You make yer own chessboard and it’ll look
like shite.” He thumped his glass once
on the table. Mary frowned and pulled
out the bottle again, pouring him a couple more fingers’ worth.
<<Gruber: Part of
the glue that holds together SCAPE is the trust that our agents put in each
other, Mary. I can put forward requests
to access specific files or reports for you, but have you do it yourself
because a bunch of half-baked psis have been trying to fill your ears with
paranoid nonsense? No. You’re not a data analyst, you’re a Systems
Engineer and a SCAPE agent. Get me the
specifics and I’ll have them investigated for you.>>
“But
Granpda, what if I get practice? There
can’t be many other people who can make chessboards here. And you always told me that the rarer a thing
is, the more valuable it is. What could
be rarer than a chessboard made on here on Loch where there are no trees?” Mary didn’t like wheedling her grandfather;
he had a lot of grandkids and was wise to it.
She had spent much of her life watching her family pay other people to
do things for them, though, and had always found it frustrating, though she was
young enough that it was hard to give voice to her frustrations. She wanted to be the one doing things, making
things, and getting paid for it herself.
<<Mary: Give me
a chance, Gruber. I’m on the ground floor
on this one. Degrees of separation means
that anything that gets through to our data handlers is going to be third or
fourth hand. I want to see this for
myself. I’ll keep up on the reports, and
unless I come across something big, we won’t have to go Omega again, and if I
do, then you’ll know why – I found some fairly obvious evidence of Awakener
malfeasance. I know you can pull the
strings to get me into some kind of comm analyst position, or archival
work. It’s not too much of a stretch,
and it would go a long way towards getting Althea’s trust – as well as finding
out who she really is.>>
Grandpa
rubbed his forehead, jowls quivering. In
the window behind him a shape rose in the water, looking like a slick-sided
barrel with a starfish at one end and membranous fins or wings gently pushing
it away from the pod that they were sitting in.
“Mary,
some people just aren’t made to do that sort of thing. Yer not that kind of girl, none of our family
is. We don’t build little things. I’ll tell ya what though, since I used to
like to whittle back when I was a young man on the Home World – promise me that
it’s just a hobby. Promise me that it
won’t take away from yer school or yer friends, and I’ll get ya some materials
and some tools. My Brin probably knows a
bit about the craft, I’ll let ya sit with him for instruction.”
<<Gruber: Fine,
we’ll get you moved, but I want you to know that I’m marking your insistence at
this as a possible cause for concern.
Paranoia can be infectious. I’m
going to request that you put in more regular reports, and we’re going to need
to give you monthly checkups, too. It’s
not that I don’t trust you, Mary – it’s that you’re young, you’re new at this,
and I sure as anything don’t trust them.>>
The odd
creature continued to propel itself away, fading into the distance. Mary got up and gave her Grandpa a hug, and the
scent of his aftershave, deodorant, sweat and Scotch gave her a dizzying wave
of nostalgia.
“Thank
you, Grandpa! I promise won’t let it get
in the way of school.”
<<Mary: Thank
you for the opportunity. I really do
hope that I’m wrong. Also, we had an
observer, but I think they got frustrated, they just left. That’s the other half of the reason I invoked
Omega, Hans. They’re watching me like a
hawk.>>
Grandpa
petted her on her head.
<<Gruber: So are
we, Mary. So are we.>>
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