Watching Yute (42 page)

Cipriana swallowed hard, and lowered
her head. “No. but someone should have.”

“
You?” It was hard to
imagine the den mother of peace bringing that spear down on Horad’s
neck.

Cipriana rested her hand on her own
shoulder and crossed her fingers. “Me. I should have. Before he
killed them. It’s my fault. I should have been able to do it. He
was there to kill me. It’s all my fault.”

Cassidy struggled to remember that this
wasn’t Cipriana talking to her. Did the ghost… the thing...
actually care? Regardless, Cassidy put her hand on Cipriana’s other
shoulder.

“
Blame goes first to the
bastard doing the killing.”

Cipriana uncrossed her fingers. “You
should take that advice yourself, Cassidy.”

“
Damn it, Cip, what’s that
mean? I should have been able to stop him, if I’d just pushed
through the storm a little more. I was weak.”

She crossed her fingers. “I was weak,
too. And ignorant.”

“
Both of you shut the fuck
up!” Cipriana screamed with her fingers uncrossed. “They’re gone,
and trying your damnedest to take blame isn’t going to change any
of it!”

Cassidy stepped back in shock as
Cipriana slumped against the bay hull. She wanted Cipriana to have
her old aura of peace back. Not knowing what else to do, she put
her arms around Cipriana.

“
I’m supposed to be the
leader now. Marcus is gone, and I have to be the leader.” Cipriana
sobbed softly, “I know the job, I know how to do it, I practically
have been doing it, but I… I don’t know how to do it. I have to be
strong for them all, I have to be…”

“
Den mother?” Cassidy asked
softly.

The crying broke for a moment for a
stifled giggle. “Yeah.”

“
You don’t have to be that
all the time. They all realize...”

Cipriana backed away from Cassidy’s
hug. She sniffed, and recovered her posture. The core of her aura
pushed forward a little. “They do. They’re good people.” Her voice
built confidence and calm slowly. “But I do have to be that. That’s
part of the job.”

Cassidy thought of asking if Cipriana
had thought of getting someone else for the job of C.O. of the
base, but decided against it. She wouldn’t really want anyone
else.

Cipriana’s fingers stared to cross,
then didn’t. Then did. “I don’t think I want to talk in this
manner. It feels wrong to use Cipriana’s body in this way.” Her
fingers uncrossed, but she didn’t speak. She looked into
nothingness as if hearing the voice. “I understand.” She finally
said.

Cassidy raised an eyebrow. “What do you
understand, Cip?”

“
He doesn’t want to act like
a ‘bad nanite’,” presumably referring to the Erebus attacks. “I’ll
pass along any messages he has from now on.”

“
Well, it was kind of
creepy.” Still, he was in there, hearing everything. That was
creepy enough on its own.

“
Are you coming back to
duty?” Cipriana asked, changing the subject.

“
Naw, I’m going to go back
and see what they come up with from this sketch Horad is helping
them make of his … contact, whatever. ‘Samuel’. Horad doesn’t even
have a full name for the guy. Maybe that made sense for a guy who
only has one name himself. It's common enough for traditionalist
Aguei.”

“
Why didn’t you just stay at
the Yute base, then?”

Cassidy shrugged. “I’m not an artist,
and we got to have a talk, so it’s all good.”

“
Are you coming in to say hi
to people?”

Cassidy thought about it. She would
just end up at the camp again. “I… I shouldn’t. I'm heading back to
central as soon as we drop you off.”

~~~

Nanites. Samuel gave him nanites? It
was easy to dismiss what the army said as lies, except that they
had so much evidence. He never knew nanites could be used in such
ways.

The evidence could be faked.

Why was it that he felt nothing good as
he broke the prayer idol in front of the statue? Why was the feel
of flesh parting for blade still so strong in his mind, despite
trying to forget?

If he had managed to break some
conspiracy by the government, they weren’t showing any signs of
minding.

What did Samuel have to gain from the
Aguei strength being released? Horad didn’t want to accept being
used like this, but the more he thought about it, the less Samuel
made sense. No point in struggling with it now. He had already
given his name, and helped them make a sketch.

When the sands rose to his aide, he
felt sure. So sure that great powers of the earth were on his
side.

~~~~~

:::C /40

~~~~~

Cassidy lay back on her bunk aboard the
airlimb, staring at the ceiling, and ran her thumb along her little
pendant in a lazy, absent minded way.

“
Well Cheryl,” she softly
spoke into the nothingness, “Did I do good? Are you sitting on some
damned cloud, pleased that I got him? Or are you pissed that I
didn’t kill him?”

Nah, that wasn’t her style. Maybe she
should have given him a good kick to the face or something. That
would have been pretty satisfying.

She held the pendant up a little, and
looked down at it. The tiny token of Cheryl’s ash inside made for a
poor companion. Her own lack of faith told her that the ash was all
that remained of Cheryl, but the thought of her gentle, playful
spirit still existing in some form was a pleasant idea.

She rested the pendant on her lips and
sighed.

“
Sir?” Keith’s voice came
from the other side of her door, followed by a few knocks. “Are you
there, Sir?”

Cassidy sat up quickly, surprised to
feel cold air on her face, where tears had flowed. She didn’t
realize she was crying. The realization of it made it
worse.

“
Yeah.” She forced a word
out before Keith assumed she was elsewhere.. “Gimmie a
sec.”

“
Yes, Sir.”

Cassidy wiped her eyes, and steadied
herself as she swung her feet to the floor. Her hand bumped the
handle of her gun, which was laying on the bed. When exactly did it
leave her holster? She stood up and looked in the little
mirror.

Her eyes weren’t too red. And Keith’s a
guy. Guys never notice things. And so what if he did? She slid open
the door.

“
Keith. What’s up, are we
just about there?”

“
Must have been quite a
power nap, Sir, we landed at central.”

A nap, yeah, we’ll go with that. “Ugh.
Well, my compliments to the operator. What’s going on?”

“
The Colonel’s got a couple
bits of news for you, but Armil wanted you to pop by his office
first. His office on the base.”

“
Right.” Her mind was still
in a bit of a haze. She may as well have been having a nap. “Point
me in the general direction, and I’m off.”

“
Sir, I can take you
there.”

Cassidy sighed. “If you don’t mind… I
kind of feel like being alone.”

Keith looked a little concerned. “Can I
do anything for you?”

“
Nah. Nah, it’s all good.
I’ll be back when Armil’s done with me.” She stepped out, and
started heading to the loading bay. The door was open, and a few
Storms and base crew milled about. As she crossed the deck, she was
glad to not get any attention this time. She was less of a
spectacle without the spear, not to mention the prisoner and
entourage.

It was good to feel anonymous. It made
her wish she’d just ignored Keith’s knock.

Down the hall, a handy directory
pointed her towards Armil’s office. When she rounded a corner, the
two Storms guarding a door was an obvious sign.

“
Hello boys, I believe you
are expecting me.”

“
Yes, Sir, go on in,
Sir.”

“
Right.” She adjusted her
hat’s brim, and went through the door. Inside was very similar to
Armil’s office on the airlimb, except bigger. Somewhere between the
traditional crafts, and the modern office trappings, there hung a
sizable portrait of an Aeki sunbathing on a rock.

“
Cute lizard, Sir.” Cassidy
said, pointing lazily at the painting as she walked over to were
Armil was seated at the rug.

The spear’s case sat in front of him
again, so she sat down on the other side of it.

“
Cassidy. I hope you are
well,” Armil smiled softly with a nod, “you look a little
tired.”

“
I just woke up a bit ago.
What’s up?”

“
I visited Cheryl’s parents,
to offer my condolences and gratitude.” Cassidy remembered Sandy’s
comment about having to clean up before Armil came over. She had to
repress a giggle, imagining Sandy frantically trying to clean her
living room, stuffing a day old newspaper under the sofa, scrubbing
a spot on the coffee table, all while Armil stood on the front
step, ringing the doorbell.

“
How are Sandy and Peter
doing?” Stop imaging Armil impatiently ringing the doorbell while
Sandy picked cat hair off the recliner. Stop it.

“
Well, I think. As well as
one could ask at this time.”

Cassidy wrung her hands a little, and
nodded. “Yeah. They’re good people.”

“
They asked about you, as
well.”

Cassidy nodded again. “Sandy’s such a
sweetie.”

Armil reached over to a canvass bag
that had been lying nearby. He set it on top of the spear case,
using it as a low table. “Sandy sent this for you to have. She
apologizes for not giving it to you sooner.”

Cassidy paused for a small moment,
trying to guess what was in the bag. She opened it, and couldn’t
take another breath.

It was a little black ring
box.

Tears began trying to force their way
out. Her voice fumbled. “What am I supposed to do with this? Is
this what I think it is? How is that supposed to make anything
better?”

She opened the box. She and the diamond
stared at each other for a while. “It’s… “ It was exactly the kind
of ring that would catch Cheryl’s eye. The gold flowed in a pattern
that wrapped around the stone with care. All in all, a fairly
simple design, but beautiful.

After staring at it for a while, she
rested it on her knee, and reached behind her neck to undo the
clasp of her pendant. Armil saw what she was going to
do.

“
Cassidy. Wear it on your
finger.”

Cassidy left the pendant closed, and
picked up the ring again. “You think so?”

“
Would you have said
yes?”

“
Of course…” Cassidy sighed
and stared at it for a bit longer, then put it on. It complimented
the ‘promise ring’ quite well. Odd. She’d never been much of a
jewelery person. Now she had a pendant and two rings, all reminders
of what she’d lost.

While Cassidy got lost, staring at her
new ring, Armil quietly opened the spear’s case. Cassidy looked up
at Armil with questioning eyes.

“
I have a favour to ask.”
Armil said, lifting the spear from the case, “Keep this, and
continue with the Colonel, in pursuit of this ‘Samuel’.”

“
I don’t understand.” She
kept her hands to herself, but stared at the spear. “I got the
killer, it’s over.”

“
Yet Samuel defiled the
temple with these nanites, and spun lies that led to the killings.
This might be interpreted as somewhat of an abuse of the spear’s
meaning, but it will speak of my concern with this
matter.“

“
I guess… but why me?” She
took the spear.

“
You have handled it well in
the past. Besides…” Armil shrugged, “I can’t go lending it to
someone else so soon. It would be unheard of. In fact, if anyone
asks, I am not lending it to you again; I am merely rejecting your
returning it too early.”

Cassidy stood the spear beside her, and
wearily used it to pull herself to a standing position. “Well then.
I guess that’s that.” She tapped her ring finger twice against the
spear. “I have some work to do.”

She found that the spear made her walk
slower. She noticed that sometimes, very high ranking officers took
their time, but this wasn’t the saunter of authority. It was almost
a processional walk.

She looked at the floor, mostly, but
noticed the glances of passers by in the base hall. How many knew
the meaning of the spear, and how many just saw her as some crazy
broad with a spear?

Well, spears from the temple base
weren’t that unusual to see at the Yute base, but this one was
decidedly different.

A voice snapped Cassidy out of her
wandering thoughts. “What the fuck is that?”

Cassidy turned to see a brunette woman,
wearing blue fatigue pants, a white halter top, and a black leather
jacket with the sleeves rolled up. The blue fatigues were
distinctive around here. They had been used by many of the
frontline troops in the Erebus conflict. But this woman looked
otherwise quite civilian. It took a moment for it to click in
Cassidy's mind.