Watching Yute (7 page)

“
I am?”

“
You don’t want to be? I
mean, sure, you don’t get this sexy Aguei complexion like me, but
still.”

“
Holy crap! It’s a big
honour!”

“
You bet! So you better be
fluent in Aguei before he gets here.”

Cassidy paused. “Shut up.”

::: new colony established

~~~~~

:::C /07

~~~~~

Kirison considered the people he was
going to meet. Most called them extremists, or even terrorists.
They called themselves Aguei Rights Activists.

Once again, Kirison had found himself
wondering how to dress when looking for these people. He needed to
look tough. He skipped on shaving for a bit, and tried to find the
right outfit. He had to shop used clothing stores to get quite the
look he was going for.

Shoddy enough to not look like a
‘suit’, but not so shoddy as to look like a vagrant. Nice enough to
look credible. He saw a few shirts with Aguei designs on them, but
he thought such a display would seem patronizing on such a pallid
white guy. He settled for a small Aguei designed pin. It seemed to
suit the cuff of a black denim coat he found.

He needed a story to go with the
facade. Mix a little truth with the lie to make it all that more
palatable. Something to get them good and mad. Get them
motivated.

Carefully measured potions of the truth
would set him free. A miscalculation could set him… in the
ground.

Precautions had to be taken. With a
borrowed recipe, Kirison armed a syringe, and stuck it’s needle
into his arm. A small amount would do lots. It was a simple recipe,
relatively speaking. But it was insurance. Just in case.

~~~~~

:::C /08

~~~~~

Cassidy took her second shift with a
man she hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting before. Leftenent James
Blakely. “Jim”. At 13:00 they stated watch at the front, southeast
door. Cassidy was only on with Marcus the first night as a sort of
‘orientation’ shift. Jim was to be her new regular partner, but
Cipriana mentioned that it wouldn’t be forever and that mixing up
the ranks made for a tighter unit on the whole.

An additional duty that Jim had
volunteered for was to bring a supply of Alan’s cookies to the
morning shift before the watch change. Cassidy didn’t see the logic
in that. Shortly after Jim delivered the cookies, the morning shift
would be free to get cookies for themselves. She mentioned this to
Jim, and he agreed. Tomorrow he said he’d bring them four hours
earlier. Cassidy waited by their door while Jim went to the other
two doors. He got chatty over at the southwest door. Jim got pretty
chummy with Karl. Karl did seem to be one of the bigger fans of
Alan’s cookies.

By the time Jim got back, the other
pairs of the afternoon shift were just about in place, so they took
their spears and relieved morning shift, sending the cookie
container back with them

“
So, did you get attacked by
any big bad wolves?” Cassidy said.

“
No, Ma’am. The picnic
basket arrived securely at grandma’s house.”

“
That darn near sounded
military. Careful, Marcus might not approve.”

Jim snickered. “Yeah, this post isn’t
quite the kind of thing you were expecting when you signed up, is
it?”

“
Hell, add a pool and sauna,
and we’d have to pay to be here.” Cassidy saw Jim’s attention was
diverted, and tried to see what he was looking at. It seemed like
just the morning shift disappearing between ruins towards the base.
“What’s up Jim?”

“
Hm? Nada.” He idly turned
his spear, grinding the tail end against the stone. “So, is there a
Mister Cassidy?”

“
What? Hehe, Jim, you coming
on to me? Cuz you’re so barking up the wrong tree.”

“
Huh? No! Just trying to
make conversation. I take it there isn’t though.”

“
Nah. I’m.. about as single
as it gets these days. At least that’s what I think her blocking my
calls means.”

“
Ouch.
Nastiness?”

“
Could have been worse.
Could have been better. I think she could have at least given me a
chance to talk to her after she dumped me.” Again she found herself
talking a lot about personal stuff to a relative stranger. Maybe
she needed to vent a little, maybe it was the dry silence around
them that seemed to draw it out yet again. Whatever.

“
So, I cleverly deduce that
between your ex-girlfriend being female, and the ‘wrong tree’
comment, that you might be a lesbian.”

“
Hah… yeah, I might. Damn,
that would explain a lot, really.”

“
Cool. I am too, actually.”
Jim said.

“
Yeah yeah, all guys are
lesbians trapped in a man’s body.” Cassidy had heard that joke more
than a few times. Usually from idiots who thought they could score,
or slightly less idiotic guys who thought they were just
witty.

“
Ack, no no, I mean I’m
gay.”

“
So, you’re not a lesbian
trapped in a man’s body! Well look at the two of us, if we aren’t
just the rainbow patrol here!”

“
Yeah, what are the odds
that we..” Jim’s voice seemed to wander into thought.

“
Jim. Jimmy. Don’t go
getting ideas. I’m no expert, but a gay man and a gay woman
doesn’t-“

“
Oh, shut it. I mean.. well,
Cipriana makes the schedules up, right?”

“
Yeah, and…?”

“
I wonder if she paired us
for a reason.”

“
Why, cuz we’re both gay?
She doesn’t know I am, I tried to tell her, and she stopped
me.”

“
Well duh, she doesn’t need
to be told.”

“
What? Why? Is it somehow in
my record? It isn’t supposed to be… I just wanted to be out in the
open, have my cards on the table and such.”

“
Yeah yeah, I get ya. But no
one told you about Cipriana’s gaydar?”

“
Cipriana’s gay too?”
Certainly a few images rushed through Cassidy’s head that she’d
previously ignored. She was good at ignoring beauty, in this case
because of rank and the odds that Cipriana was straight. It was a
short lived little fantasy however.

“
No no no. She’s straight,
but she has amazing gaydar. 20/20, instant, infallible
gaydar.

“
What the hell was in those
cookies, Jimbo?”

“
I’m serious! She doesn’t
talk about it, cuz well.. you’ve met her.” Jim was right, it wasn’t
the kind of thing she’d bring up in casual conversation. “But it’s
totally accurate. She probably had you pegged before you stepped
off the chopper. Do me a favour though. If you plan to call her on
it, let me come watch. Seeing Cipriana squirm is a rare
sight.”

“
You’re actually serious,
aren’t you?”

“
Yes. I told
you.”

“
Oooooookie
then.”

“
Now then.. we have to
figure out why she paired us….”

~~~

In the evening when Cassidy got off
shift, she headed straight for Cipriana, who was in her usual
off-time position, sitting on her bed and nestled deep in some
thick book.

Cassidy’s stride was quick and rigid,
and she was heard coming all the way from the front door. She came
to attention at the foot of Cipriana’s bed, and saluted.
“Sir.”

Cipriana looked up, eyebrows raised.
“Yes? Why the formality?”

“
Sir, I need to discuss
something with you, and I really think this is more of an official
sort of thing. Could we go talk somewhere private?” Cassidy spoke
in urgent but hushed tones, and wrung her hands with
stress.

Cipriana placed a book mark, put the
book aside, and stood. “Alright, Leftenent, let’s go for a
walk.”

A few moments later, they were walking
outside, the darkness of the evening compounding the silence.
Cassidy walked with continual tension while Cipriana walked with
her typical glide. “Well? What has you so upset?”

Cassidy waited until they got a few
more metres, eyes darting around. She stopped, and turned to
Cipriana. “Sir. It’s Jim. I mean- Leftenent ... whatever. I can’t
work with him. I’m sorry, I can’t. You have to reassign me. Sir.
Please. I know I should be more open minded, but I’m sorry. If I
don’t have a choice, I’ll put up with it, but I think it would be
better for all involved if I were re-assigned.”

Cipriana’s eyes were wide, and it took
her a moment to respond- partly because Cassidy’s wave of rambling
took a bit to digest. “Cassidy! What…. What happened?”

Cassidy clenched her jaw as she spoke,
almost in a hiss. “Nothing happened.. it’s just that he mentioned
he’s….“ she looked around, with a look akin to terror. “He’s
gay!”

“………
.what?”

“
He is, he said so himself!
I just can’t work around… that. I’m sorry! Please re-assign
me!”

“
Cassidy…! Well, for one
thing, that shouldn’t be a factor in your duty, but I thought... of
all people, you’d be alright with it because…”

Cassidy’s face turned to more of a
curious expression. “Because…?”

“
Well, after all,
you-“

“
I’m…?” Cassidy couldn’t
help cracking a bit of a smile. She hoped Cipriana didn’t notice.
“I’m what? Whatever the hell could I be that I would be especially
open to working with someone who was gay of all things?”

With realization, a wave of serenity
re-asserted itself around Cipriana, and the confusion and concern
dissolved from her visage as if by magic. “I see. I’ve been
had.”

Giggling erupted from behind a nearby
corner, as Jim revealed himself. “Oh damn, I wish I’d recorded
that!”

“
Well then,” Cipriana said,
with her composure now fully restored, “If you two insist on
behaving like children, I suppose I have to punish you in kind.”
She turned and began heading back towards the base.

“
Huh?” Cassidy and Jim
followed behind, still giggling a bit.

“
No more cookies for either
of you.”

“
You can’t do that!” Jim
burst out. “You don’t control the cookies!”

Cipriana countered calm but firm.
“Alan’s little baking hobby is well outside regulation, and should
you get any more cookies, I might just as well decide to shut him
down, cookie-wise. Don’t make me punish the whole camp because of
you two.”

“
She’s kidding,
right?”

“
I bloody hope so, I need my
cookies.”

Still walking slow and steady back to
the base, she ignored their fears. “You two might be able to catch
the tail end of Eliot’s retirement party if you hurry up. And yes,
there are cookies.”

Jim started running, catching up with
Cipriana. Cassidy followed suit, filling out the behaviour of
children. Jim stopped to hold Cipriana by the shoulders, smiling
wide. “You’re the best den mother ever!!”

He ran off, catching up to Cassidy.
Cassidy told him as they ran, “Best den mother ever? That was
really, really gay.”

“
Uh... thanks?”

Cassidy stopped past the women’s
barracks, and then made her way down the hall to the mess. Sure
enough, most of the personnel were in attendance of Eliot’s little
going away gathering, except those on duty now. It would be hard to
call it a party as such, but it was an amicable
gathering.

Cassidy hadn’t managed to meet Eliot
before. It was kind of a meeting just to say goodbye. He was one of
the older people she’d seen here, probably older than Marcus- mind
you, it was difficult to guess Marcus’ age.

“
I understand we’ll be
taking a ride together tomorrow, Cassidy.” Eliot said with his
greeting.

“
Oh?”

“
Oh right, you were on shift
when the notice came in. Marcus said you had something to do at
central. You’ll have to ask him for details.”

So she did. “Yupyup.” Marcus responded,
“You remember that drunk lad you knocked over with his own gun?
He’s got a little hearing over that.”

“
Ah, I forgot.” Cassidy
said, “And as the arresting officer, I’m invited. I don’t know if
it’s really necessary, especially given the trip.”

“
Nah nah, go, we’ll
survive.” Marcus smirked, “Now go get some cookies before Jim
finishes them off, or Cipriana has them banned.”

“
Word travels fast around
here.”

“
It’s a small
base!”

Cassidy followed his advice, munched
cookies, and washed them down with beer. She was a little picky
with beer, and this wasn’t a brand she liked, but you know what
they say about free beer- it’s free.

Cipriana came along and said hello.
“Cassidy, in all seriousness… I hope you didn’t take any umbrage to
my knowing your orientation.”

“
Umbrage? Who the heck says
umbrage anyway? No, no, though I find the concept of you having
20/20 gaydar to be kind of-“

Cipriana interrupted unintentionally
with an exasperated sigh.