Watching Yute (4 page)

“
Hey there!” Cassidy yelled
out, waving. The approaching woman waved back without a word.
Cassidy hauled herself and her duffel to meet her. Once they were
closer, the woman spoke up.

“
Leftenent Cassidy Stanton,
I presume?” She saluted with a warm, calm smile. Her expression
reminded Cassidy a bit of Major Douglas- er, sorry,
“Marcus”.

“
Yeah, that’s me. Reporting
for duty.” Cassidy found herself speaking in a calmer tone, taking
her cue from this woman.

The woman saluted casually, “Corporal
Wanda Morat. Nice to meet ya. Can I take your duffel?” She was
obviously an Aguei, though she spoke with no trace of an accent. It
stood to reason; Aguei in the service tended to be fairly
‘assimilated’, and rarely bore much of an accent, or other blatant
signs of their lineage.

“
Naw, that’s fine, Corporal,
thanks. Oh, ‘Marcus’ gave me the impression that things were kind
of lax around here with rank and stuff. I guess you should call me
‘Cassidy’.” The two started on towards the building.

“
This girl catches on fast!”
Corporal Morat said to an imaginary third person, “I guess that
makes me Wanda!”

Cassidy gave a small chuckle. “Wanda it
is, then.”

“
So, Cassidy, what brings
you to our humble hole in the wall?”

“
Marcus did!”

“
Well yeah, but he doesn’t
tend to just snap people up. You had the option, right? Why’d you
say yes?”

Cassidy sighed, and shrugged. “Seemed
like a good time for a change of pace.”

Wanda waited for Cassidy to continue,
feeling there was more to it, but she didn’t want to pry. “Yeah,
every now and then, it doesn’t hurt.”

::: new potential colony host
found.

::: establish monitor colony:
complete.

They neared the threshold of the
'temple base'. It was bigger than it looked from the air, and
despite of, or maybe because of its age, it projected quite an air
of grandeur. Of course, not nearly as much as the temple itself,
looming to the north.

The walls of the base were
made of large stone blocks, pocked with age. It looked almost like
you could reach out and pull a handful off, but such an effort
would be scoffed at by this stonework, which had made it this far
through ages of true sandstorms.

Black metal sub-structure lined the
doorway, forming a closeable doorway which was currently open, and
generally stayed that way. Looking inside, she saw that similar
black metal supports lined the other doorways, ceiling, and a few
spots that hadn’t fared as well over the ages. Cassidy felt
strangely at home, and like an interloper in an alien world at the
same time.

Passing inside, she only then realized
how hard the sun had been beating down on her. Wanda spread her arm
out, presenting the front room. “Welcome aboard, Leftenent
Cassidy!”

Cassidy couldn’t help giggling. That
was exactly what Marcus called her. “Thank you, Corporal
Wanda!”

“
She learns fast, what did I
tell ya?” Wanda said to herself. “Okay, well, let’s get you settled
in. Over here’s the gals' barracks.”

Wanda led Cassidy to a room with eight
bunks, four on either side. Three other women were here. Two were
asleep, and one was sitting on her bunk in the far corner,
seemingly meditating. She was sitting up, eyes closed, her uniform
jacket across her lap like a blanket.

Cassidy swallowed hard, and tried not
to stare. She was radiant. Not that she radiated sexiness exactly,
though she was beautiful. This woman exuded an aura of peace and
serenity that seemed to fill the room like incense.

Wanda noticed where Cassidy’s glance
lingered. “That’s our ‘den mother’ and second in command, Captain
Cipriana Reichenbach.” Since they entered the room, Wanda spoke
even quieter. Was it consideration for the sleeping, or just the
calm that the meditating Captain cast onto the room?

Cassidy walked over to the Captain, and
stood at attention at the foot of her bed, after putting her duffel
down behind her. She took another moment to look at the Captain a
little longer. Her chestnut hair flowed around her face, giving her
a distinctively earthy look. Behind her on the ledge sat a small
flowing plant, a large well-used candle, her hanging dog tags, and
an assortment of necessities. Cassidy’s eyes were drawn to a
hand-sized butterfly design painted on the wall, almost expecting
the Captain’s influence to bring it fluttering to life.

How long was she staring? Oops. Cassidy
stiffened her stance of attention, and brought up her arm to
salute. Drawing breath to announce herself, she was interrupted by
the Captain. The Captain opened her startling green eyes, and
smiled warmly and welcoming. Her voice came soft but
clear.

“
At ease, Cassidy. Welcome.
If it’s all the same to you, I’ve penciled you in for a watch
tonight with Marcus. He’ll brief you during shift.”

Cassidy was still a little transfixed.
“I… sure….” The way the Captain said it, it almost sounded like
people got to pick their shifts usually. “Let me guess, Captain,
you don’t get called ‘Captain’ much…”

“
Cipriana is fine.” She
nodded.

Wanda spoke up as she slid Cassidy’s
duffel under the bunk across the aisle from Cipriana. “If you
really get to know her, you can just call her ‘Cip’.” Cipriana
rolled her eyes, almost unnoticed.

“
I guess that’s my bunk?”
Cassidy asked.

Wanda shrugged. “I just thought cuz you
dropped your duffel here… There’s only five females on staff here
right now. We’re under-represented, far below average statistical
gender ratio. What’s with that?” Wanda smirked at Cipriana as if it
was her fault.

“
How many total personnel?”
Cassidy asked.

“
Twenty eight, to ‘man’ two
positions at three doorways at the temple. We operate eight hour
shifts, day and night, plus extras so we get some days off and
junk.” Wanda answered.

Cassidy thought she should mention her
orientation, just to be up front. Not that it was required or
anything. She knew she was mature enough to deal with close
quarters with other women, but she thought it might be best to lay
things out on the table, for the record. “I.. thought I might let
you know...”

Cipriana interrupted gently. “No, It’s
alright.”

Cassidy shrugged. That was odd.
Whatever. “I guess I’ll settle in.”

~~~~~

:::C /05

~~~~~

Kirison studied himself in the mirror.
What was the right ‘look’ for this kind of meeting? He’d heard
rumors that Mr. Book was connected, but Kirison didn’t have any
exposure to them himself. He made a mental note that should pushing
come to shoving, the fact that his boss was connected might be a
useful bit of leverage.

Leverage? What was he thinking? For one
thing, he was in deeper than the boss was already… maybe... and for
another thing, he was about to meet people who didn’t respond well
to nobodies trying to wield leverage around them.

Okay, screw the leverage. For now.
Focus on the image.

He didn’t want to priss up too much;
they’d eat him alive. He didn’t want to look too tough; they’d
sniff him out as a poser.

Kirison had a laugh at himself. As if
he knew how they think. His knowledge on the topic was entirely
rooted in movies. Screw it. Dress ‘business casual’, be respectful,
and try not to throw around too many big words. He wouldn’t want to
seem condescending.

He was ready to go. Maybe. He had
agonized earlier about how to get there. Drive, and chance his
licence plate being seen there, or take a taxi, and risk
disappearing, and not leaving behind a car that could help solve
his murder. Of course, if they wanted to go to that length, they
could make a car disappear, too. He had finally decided he was
being paranoid, and that once again, his lack of knowledge about
them gave him very little information with which to make smart
tactical decisions.

Of course, smart decisions weren’t what
got him into this position, was it? He walked right into a rabbit
hole and had been falling ever since, not even aware of it until
just a few days ago. And now he was looking for a grappling hook
that he might as easily lodge in his own eye.

Clips from cheesy movies popped up in
his head all the time as he was driving there. The restaurant he
arrived at was nice, but not too nice. The lights were low inside,
like a movie cliché. It was not a comforting thing.

“
I’m here to see him.” He
said to the lounge bartender, hoping he would know what he meant.
The bartender silently lifted one finger, to tell him to wait. The
bartender knocked on the mirror behind him, and went on with his
business. Shortly after, a very large man in a very nice suit came
out from the back.

Kirison wondered if this large man
would be gentle when giving him cement shoes.

~~~

Cassidy colonized her bunk and
footlocker as adequately as she needed. Having a fair amount of
time until her first watch, she decided to explore the base a bit.
Just outside the ladies’ barrack was the ladies’ washroom and
showers. Note to self- still itchy from that little sand
dust-up.

Past that was a small supply room, then
the main hall. Directly across the hall was what appeared to be a
section identical to the one she just left, except that it was for
the guys. This was evidenced plainly by the male soldier walking
out of their own supply room. He waved, and came her
way.

“
Hey, either you’re the new
blood, or a long way from home.” he said. As seemed to be mandatory
around here, he had a cheerful calm, and spoke more softly than she
was used to. Not as soft as Cipriana, mind you.

This time, Cassidy jumped right past
rank and last names. “Yeah, I’m new. Cassidy.”

“
Nice to meetcha, Cassidy.
I’m Alan. Settling in alright?”

“
Yup, just having a peek
around. I have a watch with Marcus tonight.”

“
Want some cookies? They
should be ready...”

“
Cookies!?”

“
Heehee, come on.” Alan led
her to the mess. The smell of the cookies hit her long before they
got there. The mess could seat maybe fifty, on regulation tables
and benches. One side wall had everything a military kitchen
needed, and a few little additions of more civilian origin, for
comfort’s sake. The opposite wall had a large screen on it,
definitely not standard issue hardware. Several of other guys were
about, watching some movie on the screen, or pecking at a
meal.

Alan bee-lined for one of the ovens,
grabbed an oven mitt, and started pulling out three sheets of
oatmeal raisin cookies.

Before the last batch of oatmeal raisin
was on the counter, at least half of the soldiers in the room were
closing in, smiling. Alan closed that oven and moved over to the
other, pulling out three sheets of chocolate chip cookies. Many
hands were already claiming raisin cookies, with yelps, and
cookie-blowing, while others waited for a chance to attack the
chocolate chip cookies.

“
You stupid apes!” Alan
said, raising his voice. “Guess what? They’re hot!” It was the
loudest voice she’d heard here, and it was a little re-assuring
that she wasn’t in the middle of a group of librarians in
training.

One of the cookie grabbers addressed
Alan “Hey Alan! Great cookies as usual. I think. I’ll tell you when
my tongue heals. This is the newbie?” he pointed his thumb towards
Cassidy.

“
Yeah Karl, meet Cassidy,
Cassidy? Meet Karl. Karl’s a stupid greedy ape, like the rest of
these stupid greedy apes, who think that six friggin' sheets of
cookies are gonna disappear before they cool! See Karl? Cassidy
here isn’t a stupid greedy ape!”

“
She’s probably just on a
diet or something.” Karl mumbled, grasping at straws to defend the
guys.

“
No,” Cassidy said, soft and
pleasantly, “I’m waiting for them to cool. I’m a greedy ape, but
not stupid.”

“
Yay, female intelligence!”
Cried an Aguei woman over at a table, who later introduced herself
as Maxine.

“
There’s even still cookies
left over from the last batch in the cupboard,” Alan said, shoving
the sheets over to where he could clean them... if there weren’t
stupid greedy apes in the way.

“
The ones in the cupboard
aren’t warm!” one of the others perked up, mouth full.

“
They also won’t burn you!
You all realize that old cookies can be warmed again, right? Just a
few seconds of zap, and you’re good to go.” Alan tossed a dishrag
at the guy blocking the sink. “You stupid greedy apes have all
evolved thumbs, it’s time you learned how to use tools.”

Cassidy reached over and bent one of
the raisin cookies until it broke in half. She stuffed the half
cookie in her mouth.

“
That’s it? Don’t trust my
baking?” Alan said.

“
Cassidy chewed, holding her
index finger up until she swallowed. “I’m on a diet.” She joked.
“Really though, these rock. It was worth transferring here just for
the cookies.” She grabbed a chocolate chip cookie, and drifted
towards the door. “Thanks for the cookies, Alan! I’ll see you
stupid greedy apes around, I guess!”