Chapter 8

Chira, 1 Toraa, 4393, Orthodox Calendar
Sunday, 15 August 2007, Native Regional Reckoning
Chesapeake, Ohio (Native designation), Orala Nature Preserve, American Sector

The rain down in Williamson drifted up to Chesapeake after a couple of hours, but by then it didn’t matter. They were all inside, and Temika had managed to return with Doctor Adam Northwood from Logan. They were both a little soaked, but Northwood wasn’t complaining. Northwood was an older man, around 60, with a full head of silver hair cut in a crew cut and some dark spots on his forehead. His face was gaunt and drawn, but his eyes were lucid and gentle, a pleasing green, and he had a manner about him that put people at ease. The most casual inspection of his thoughts showed him that this doctor was absolutely trustworthy. His lifelong passion was healing the sick and injured, and he held unswervingly to the ideal of the pure doctor... one who heals anything he can, regardless of what the injury is or who had it. Northwood would treat Symone without questions, because she needed a doctor. Jason showed him upstairs to the room where he had both Tim and Symone, and he didn’t bat an eye at seeing a Faey. Jason told him what he’d seen, and he just nodded and sat down to inspect them himself. He took all of ten seconds checking Tim’s arm, then tutted and set it back down gently.

“Clean break of the ulna and radius,” he diagnosed. “Nice splint, it perfectly aligned the break. Who did it?”

“The guy who found him,” Jason answered.

“He’s good,” Northwood nodded. “All we need is a cast on this, and this young fella’s gonna be up and about in no time,” he said with a smile at Tim. “All you need, young’un, is a little something to help take the edge off the pain.” He reached into his medical bag, and produced a single white pill. “This’ll help you get along to sleep, son,” he told Tim. “That’s the best thing for you right now.”

“Okay, doctor,” Tim said, swallowing the pill. He leaned back in the bed and closed his eyes.

Northwood went over and sat down on the bed beside Symone. He checked her pupils and inspected her face and head carefully, then used a penlight to check her pupils again. “Hmm, I don’t see any evidence of trauma,” he announced. “Good pupil response. It’s most likely a concussion. You said she had some burns?”

“Under the armor.”

“Then show me how to get it off, if you know,” he ordered. “I figure you can, if you saw the burns in the first place.”

Jason chuckled and nodded and, with Northwood’s help, they stripped Symone’s armor off her. The two burns on her leg looked bad, but the one on her shoulder looked nasty. It had punched through her armor much harder than the hits to her leg, leaving a charred burn as big across as an orange, charring well into the soft tissue under her skin. By then, Tim was already asleep, so he didn’t see just how badly his girlfriend was injured. “These are pretty bad,” Northwood admitted as he inspected the burn on her shoulder. “I don’t have anything that’s going to help treat this. The best we can do is excise the destroyed tissue, bandage her up, and hope she heals naturally.”

“I have a bunch of Faey first-aid stuff,” he told the doctor. “Do you know how to use any of it?”

“Actually, I do, son,” he said. “Go get it.”

Jason retrieved his first aid kit, and Northwood rifled through it quickly. “Not bad, son,” he said, taking out a bottle filled with powder. “I need a glass of water and something we can use for bandages.”

Jason retrieved the water, and a sheet that they quickly tore up into strips. The doctor poured the powder onto a press then added water to it, which made it start to bubble and foam. He then applied it to her shoulder. There was a strange acrid smell, and smoke wafted up from under that press.

“This is a compound that dissolves away inorganic matter,” he explained. “It’ll also remove most of the charred tissue, since it’s been oxidized. After this, we apply some of what’s in that vial right there, then bandage her up. That’s a bio-organic accelerator; it causes her natural healing mechanisms to go into overdrive. Using that compound, she’ll be fully healed in about six days.”

“They must have trained you in Faey medical technology,” he reasoned.

“A year’s worth, until an argument with a Faey doctor in a hospital sent me to a farm. I didn’t much like it there, so I decided to come live somewhere else. I can assume you have a similar story, just from the technical side, given the toys I’ve seen.”

“The airbike? Something like that,” he agreed. “I was a student in one of their schools, then decided I didn’t want to help the Faey oppress my own people. So I relocated.”

“Some of them are actually quite good people. I think you know that as well,” he said, glancing at Symone meaningfully.

“As long as you don’t piss off a noble,” Jason said bluntly.

Northwood chuckled. “That’s exactly what I did. About half the Faey doctors are nobles, for some odd reason. I guess because it’s a non-com job or something.” He applied another press to each of Symone’s leg burns, then peeled the one on her shoulder up to inspect the progress. “She’s quite the looker, isn’t she?” he said conversationally.

“That’s a strange thing for a doctor to say,” Jason said with a smile.

“I’m a doctor, but I’m also not dead yet,” he grinned in reply. “There’s nothing in the Hippocratic oath that says I can’t appreciate the view.”

“As long as you don’t do anything else, I suppose.”

“Exactly, son. Never have, never will, but when I get to treat a woman like this, it’s something of an informal job bonus.”

“Uh, doc, she’s Faey. She’ll know you ogled her.”

“Son, she’s Faey. She’ll take that as a compliment.”

“True,” Jason admitted wryly.

After the dissolving agent did its job, Jason helped Northwood apply the salve to those wounds, which now were pink and raw instead of charred black. The burn in her shoulder almost exposed her collarbone, and looked really ugly. He applied the healing agent, then they bandaged her three wounds and used cloths to clean some of the ash and smoke film from her. Then he injected her with something from Jason’s first aid kit, then pulled up the blankets. “For a concussion, there’s nothing I can do,” he admitted. “We just let her sleep and let her ride it out. Her vitals are strong, I’m sure she’ll be fine. We need to scrounge up what I need for a cast, son, then I can get a cast on that boy’s arm. That’s all he needs. All I need for a cast are bandages and plaster.”

“I don’t have any plaster, so we’ll need to go scrounge for it.”

“That’s fine, son, I have some at home. Someone just needs to take me there. Now, care to explain how she got injured by MPACs? Or is her being here the only explanation I need?”

“More or less, doc,” Jason replied as he showed him out. “They’re both friends of mine from outside. I’m not entirely sure on the details yet, but it must have been ugly. Symone and Tim are virtually married, doc, nothing will separate them. I’d guess that when Tim decided to run after whatever happened happened, Symone decided to come with him.”

Northwood whistled. “That’s some loyalty.”

“Symone’s like that,” he nodded in agreement. “Tim is more important to her than her own people. Something really bad must have happened, and she must have fought her way out. From what I heard from the people who found her, and what Tim told me, they were shot down not far from here by the Faey. I guess the Faey figured they were dead, because they didn’t check the river where their skimmer crashed to make sure.”

“They were coming to find you?”

He nodded. “I have a contact in the Imperium that knows more or less where I am, and another friend that knows about her. They talked to a friend who knows that person, and they found out generally where I am. They were coming here to join me.”

“You still have contacts in the Imperium?” Northwood asked in surprise.

He nodded. “Yeah, and they’re trustworthy,” he said as they opened the front door to his house. The rain had stopped, but the skies were still heavy and threatening, introducing a heavy mugginess to the air that made it unpleasantly warm. Temika, Kevin, and Willy were waiting out by the curb, talking with each other, and Luke and Clem had joined them. “They’d never turn me in. They’ll still help me as much as they can get away with it, if I need it. But I have most everything I need now. Like you said, doc, some Faey are good people.”

“So I did, son,” he agreed with a warm smile.

“Temika,” Jason called. “Doc Northwood needs to get some plaster from his house. Can you take him?”

“Sure can, sugah,” Temika said with a grin. “If the doc promises not to try tah squeeze me in half this time.”

“Then you should learn not to ride that thing like a bat of hell, girl,” Northwood said accusingly.

“Slow is borin’, sugah,” she winked.

“Then pick, dear. A fun ride and bruised ribs, or a safe ride and no nagging pain.”

Temika laughed and mounted her airbike, then turned and patted the seat behind her. “Jump up, doc. Ah’ll have you back here in an hour.”

“Then I hope you like purple ribs,” he said as he climbed on behind her.

Jason sat with Tim and Symone while Temika went for the plaster, wondering what had really happened. Tim had mentioned messing up in school, so Jason could only guess that Tim had accidentally done something in class that made the instructor realize he had talent. He’d said that Symone was on campus, so odds were she picked up on the sending chatter and barged in to collect him up before they could secure him. After that, he could assume that they’d managed to get away, hide somewhere long enough to contact Jyslin and have her find out from Kumi where they’d delivered his goods, then they’d managed to steal some kind of transportation. They got made during that, and were chased with some determination from the Faey. They’d even called in fighters to shoot their skimmer down.

That was probably about their whole story, in a nutshell.

He pondered the problems it might cause. They probably thought that both were dead, since they didn’t bother to land and search for bodies. Jyslin might have some problems, because now that was three people she personally knew that had either gone missing or went crazy and rebelled. He had little doubt that she was going to get a little visit from someone in the Secret Police soon, but that in itself wasn’t too much of a worry. Jyslin was more than a match for almost anyone out of that little organization; they wouldn’t get anything out of her she didn’t want them to get in the first place. Jyslin really was that strong... sometimes he wondered how she’d managed to avoid being drafted into the Secret Police in the first place. For him, there might be some problems. Some of the squatters around here might not like the idea of a Faey being out here, and might actually forget who was protecting her and come after her. Well, that wouldn’t last long, that was for sure. After all, they’d better not forget just who it was they were dealing with. Symone wasn’t going to be their problem... Jason was. He now had three mouths to feed, so he wasn’t going to be able to live off his stores for very long. It was now seriously time to learn to hunt, or fish, or find some way to trade or barter with some of the squatters, through Temika, to secure food. That last option might be harder if they refused to deal with him, because of Symone.

Then again, if worse came to worst; they could always just go buy food from the Faey. Symone being with him might actually make that easier, at least as long as they didn’t recognize her.

His mind circled those same trains of thought over and over, until a knock at his door brought him out of it. It was Temika and Northwood, carrying a canister of plaster powder, a large plastic bucket, and a pair of old sheets. “Okay, son, let’s get that arm fixed,” he announced.

Jason helped Northwood make that cast, which was actually a simple process. A cloth lining wrapped around the arm was covered over in strips of sheet dipped in plaster, then it was smoothed out and allowed to dry. It took Northwood all of about a half an hour after they got the plaster mixed, leaving behind a very professional-looking cast. “Give that cast about an hour to set, then he’s all done,” Northwood told Jason. “He won’t need a sling, but don’t let him stress his arm, which is just common sense. As for her, you won’t have to use the inorganic dissolver again, but you will need to change her bandages twice a day. Apply the healing agent to the bandage press and she’ll be fine, it has a built-in antibiotic that will prevent infection. She stays in that bed until at least noon tomorrow,” he ordered. “If she’s not awake by tomorrow morning, get on the CB and have them relay me a message. She might experience dizziness, disorientation, or loss of memory when she wakes up, and might have vertigo issues when she stands for a couple of days after. If she’s still suffering from vertigo after three days, I need to know. Make sure she drinks at least twenty glasses of water a day,” he ordered. “She also has to eat at least five times a day. That biometric stimulator’s going to wreak havoc on her metabolism, so she has to eat and drink a lot while she’s healing.”

“I’ll take care of it,” he said with a nod. “Temika said you deserved some kind of compensation for coming out here, doc. So, what do you take? I doubt you’ll accept Visa anymore.”

Northwood laughed. “Well, I heard that you managed to pick up some guns from one of the Huntington gangs,” he said. “Have any good hunting rifles?”

“I got a few,” he answered immediately.

“Good, my Winchester is starting to get a little old, and nobody has any they’re willing to part with. Let’s go take a look at them.”

For his trouble, Northwood left Jason’s house with two hunting rifles. Jason didn’t use them, so it wasn’t like he was giving him anything absolutely critical. Temika took Northwood home, Tank and Willy retrieved Tank’s motorcycle and they started back home, and Clem and Luke went back to working on something over at their house, leaving Jason’s house unpopulated. Jason moved a TV up to the room and watched it for a while, waiting for them to wake up.

The first to wake up was Symone, not long after sunset. She groaned quietly and shifted, and immediately he felt her mind reach out. She didn’t bother to open her eyes, just sighed in relief. Thank the Trinity, you talked to Jyslin.

“Good morning,” he said quietly, looking at her. She opened her eyes and regarded him. “Feeling better?”

You can send, hon, she told him. I’m better. She winced and put a hand on her shoulder. At least mentally, she amended. I’m surprised you found us so fast.

I didn’t, he answered, getting up and sitting on the bed beside her. A couple of squatters did. Tim was awake and told them they were looking for me, and word reached me. I went down and got you.

How is he? I can’t get any sense of him at all.

Broken arm, the doctor that bandaged you both up gave him something to make him sleep, Jason answered, pointing to the bed across the room.

That musta been one hell of a sleeping pill. It knocked him completely out. There’s not even a sense of him sleeping, it’s like he’s not there.

It was for pain, he told her.

Ah. That’ll do it. How bad am I off?

You were hit three times, he answered. The two burns on your leg aren’t bad, but the one on your shoulder wasn’t pretty. The doc that came had Faey training, he used the medical stuff I brought with me to get you pretty well patched up. He said you should be fully healed in about six days.

That’s good to hear. Tim?

Broken arm and that’s it, he answered.

He musta broke his arm when we went down, she grunted mentally, squirming up to a half-seated position. I didn’t think either of us were going to make it there for a minute. One of the fighters sent a plasma bolt right through the cockpit. That blew out the whole ship, and we dropped like a rock. Thank Trelle for crash foam, she sent fervently.

That might be why they didn’t bother looking for you, he reasoned. If one of them aced the cockpit, they probably figured they took both of you out. What happened?

Worst possible scenario, she sent heavily. Tim expressed the day before it all went to hell, but he had to go to school. He slipped up, an instructor caught it, and she called in a containment team. I got to him first though, and all but stole him. We managed to get out of town, and hid down in Crown City long enough for Jyslin to talk to someone that knew generally where you were. We stole a skimmer and got chased, then they called in fighters. We didn’t last long after they caught up with us.

Well, you made it. That’s all that matters.

That is so true, she sent fervently, closing her eyes. With nothing but the clothes on our backs... or armor in my case. Guess I get to cavort around naked for a while.

You’ll fit in some of my clothes for now, he told her. We might have to bargain with some people for things like underwear though.

Speaking of my armor, how bad off is it?

Just those three holes, and one murdered paint job, he answered. I have some carbidium and phase cloth, we should be able to patch it decently enough.

Yeah, that’ll do it. Part of what that Faey noble sent you?

He nodded. Let me get you some food and water. The doc told me to make sure you eat at least five times a day, and drink lots of water.

Yeah, sounds like he’s got me on bio-accelerant, she noted.

I think that’s what he called it, but I’m not sure. That stuff, he said, pointing at a large vial on the nightstand between the two beds.

That’s it, she affirmed. I’ll eat and drink like crazy until I’m healed. She moved her arm, and winced. Ugh, this won’t be fun. But it doesn’t feel like it’s too serious.

Not life threatening, but it certainly looked nasty.

Burns usually do, after they dissolve out the crap. It’s not the first time I’ve been tagged by an MPAC.

You’ve been shot before?

Yeah, an accident during basic training, she said, holding up her right arm. Everything from here down isn’t what I was born with, she explained, pointing just under her elbow. They regrew it.

I didn’t know they can do that.

Faey doctors can regrow almost anything, she answered. It wasn’t pretty, and it hurt. I was in a flex-cast for a month. She grinned at him. You’re really good at this now. Tim would never understand you, you go too fast.

I actually prefer it to speaking, he shrugged. It seems simpler, easier.

You’ve been converted, she winked.

If that’s what you want to call it. Let me get you some food.

After feeding her a healthy meal, he left them to sleep out the rest of the night, though he didn’t sleep well at all. He spent most of that time down in the basement, planning on moving his room back up to the master bedroom, then watching for any Faey dropships as he listened in on the traffic frequency for any hint that they were moving through the area. There were none, at least during the times that he was awake. He woke up from an unplanned nap and realized it was past sunrise, then wandered upstairs. He was greeted in the kitchen by Tim and Symone both, Tim sitting at the table with a bowl of oatmeal in front of him while Symone rooted through the refrigerator. Tim was in his boxer shorts, and Symone hadn’t bothered putting on anything but a sling for her arm.

“That’s not quite how I’d like you wandering around the house, Symone,” he said evenly as he stepped past her. “It’s not that it’s not pretty, but I do have neighbors.”

I met one of them. Mary, wasn’t it? she sent absently. She seemed a bit surprised to see me.

“That’s not a surprise,” he noted as he sat at the table, which made Tim chuckle.

I had a robe on, silly, she chided him. You find me some clothes, and I’ll be happy to put them on. But that robe wasn’t mine, so I’m not going to risk getting it stained with food.

“That’s good to hear. You feeling alright, Tim?” he asked.

“Yeah, just a little sore,” he answered, clumsily trying to bring a spoon of oatmeal up with his left hand. “And this cast already itches. Symone said she told you what happened.”

He nodded. “So... what do you think?”

“I think I’m scared as hell,” he answered immediately, understanding what he meant.

“It’s not as bad as you think. Actually, you might start to like it after you get a handle on it.”

“Do you?” he asked.

Jason nodded immediately. “I actually prefer it over speaking, but there’s more to it than that. Guess you get to be the teacher, Symone.”

I know... I don’t think I’m going to be as good at it as Jyslin was, she sent.

You’ll be better at it than I would be, he told her. I’ll probably have to take lessons from you too. Jyslin didn’t finish teaching me.

I think she taught you well enough, she answered. You can just wait until I get Tim up to that level, then you can sit in. By then, I might be good enough at teaching to not look stupid.

Tim chuckled. “You’d never look stupid, honey,” he told her.

“You’re just being sweet because I’m naked, Tim-Tim,” she said audibly with a wink.

“You certainly don’t have any trouble hearing,” Jason noted.

“No, but not hearing is the trick,” he grunted. “That’s what got me caught. I got all disoriented in class because of all the voices, and got so confused that I made the instructor worried. She used sending to call for a nurse, and I told her I didn’t need one. That did it. She was all over me in a heartbeat. After that other girl expressed in class, I guess they were told what to do if it happened again.”

Probably, Jason agreed with a nod. Since both of you are awake, you need to understand how things are around here. First off, they do not know I have talent. That’s a secret. He went on to tell them about the gangs in Huntington, Temika, his stuff and his defenses, and Clem and his family. Now that you two are here, draining my food reserves, we’ll have to either start gathering it, or I finally go with Temika to breach the border and buy some from the outside.

That might not be a good idea, Symone warned. They’ve been looking for you, hard. You get picked up on any camera tied to MilNet, and they’ll know exactly where you are. That’ll bring a capture squad down on you in a matter of minutes.

When did they start implementing face recognition? he asked in surprise.

Since forever, she chided him. Your best bet is to send that Temika woman after it. It’s too dangerous for you to do it. Just give her money and a shopping list.

Temika... might not be the best choice, he sent hesitantly. She’s got a temper.

Something tells me you’re not saying everything.

I’m not. Why Temika’s not a good choice is something you two don’t really need to worry about, he send bluntly.

“Couldn’t we just take someone up there and have them do it?” Tim asked.

“I think we need to start looking into being self-sufficient,” Jason told him. “You ever do any hunting, Symone?”

“Not religiously, no,” she answered. “But I do love to fish.”

“That’s a start. Clem said he’d teach me how to hunt, and Mary wants to help me put in a garden. I have the guns I took from the gangs to use to buy some food-”

“Do they have any more?” Symone asked with a wicked little smile.

“What?”

“Guns. They’re obviously enemies, Jayce. When I heal up, I’ll put on my armor and go over there and take anything we need.”

“I’d rather not start a war, Symone,” he told her sternly. “As long as they stay on that side of the river, as far as I’m concerned, they don’t exist.”

“That’s not smart, Jayce,” she said seriously. “You don’t leave an enemy around to bite your ass when you’re not looking. Want to make them go away? You and me put on our armor and make sure they can’t do anything.” She pulled frozen pancakes out of the freezer. “Besides, they have stuff we can use. This isn’t civilization, cupcake. It’s there for the taking.”

“Then we’d be no better than they are,” he said with an edge to his voice.

“Of course we are. We’re cuter.”

He gave her a dark look. “So, we go over there and take everything they own. Then what do we do about the people?”

“They can join us or take their chances,” she shrugged.

“I won’t trust any of them.”

She tapped her forehead. “We can weed out the fakers, and with me here, you don’t have to give yourself away.”

“And what about the others?”

“Hey, they’re on their own,” she shrugged.

“Okay, we clear out downtown. Then the gangs on either side take it over, and we’re back to square one.”

“Then we take them out,” she said with a short sigh of exasperation. “You’re not a military woman, Jayce.”

“I should hope not.”

She laughed. “Sorry, you know what I mean. Leaving them out there isn’t smart, especially since they don’t like you, they’re armed, and you have to go to sleep sometime.”

“They’ve tried, they failed, they haven’t been back in almost a month. Everyone who’s come over here got sent back naked. They’re very much afraid of me.”

“Well, are they that afraid of Clem?” she asked pointedly.

Jason fell silent, frowning at her.

Think about it, she sent with a seriousness in her thoughts, sticking the frozen pancakes in the microwave. “I see you got power and water going,” she remarked.

“It took a while,” he told her. “Especially with the water. Just for this house, though.”

“You should set up water for Clem,” she told him. “And power.”

“I don’t have the material,” he told her. “Besides, I don’t do that kind of thing. Clem just happens to live close to me, that’s all. I’m not protecting him, Symone, he just lives close to me because the gangs are afraid to come here.”

She gave him a sly look as she retrieved her pancakes, then slid past his chair and sat down. “Think about it, Jayce,” she said. “We clear out the gangs, and we seriously reduce the threat level. Maybe that would convince more people to come here.”

Why does that interest you, Symone? he sent curiously.

Simple, Jayce. I probed Mary when she came over, so I have an idea of what’s going on around here. I may just be a house soldier, but I do understand basic military tactics. We’re living in a lawless area, so the only way to ensure our safety is to establish our own law. You did that over here on this side of the river, but it’s not enough. Those gangs over there will take a shot at Clem, and I don’t know about you, but I rather like Mary. She’s a sweet girl. I see no reason why we should make them fend for themselves when we can do something to make sure that raid never happens in the first place. You can’t afford to be reactive about this, Jason. We have to be pre-emptive. And it goes beyond that. We have limited supplies and limited resources. To better ensure a decent long-term solution, it’s only logical that we try to pool our resources with other people out here, people we can trust. Clem’s a good start, because Mary thinks he’s the water of Miri when it comes to those old ballistic weapons they use out here, and her husband can fix almost anything. Get a few more people to fill critical roles, like that doctor that treated me and Tim, and you can build a foundation that will attract people to come here, people who have things that we don’t. That way we can all live in one place that’s relatively safe and share our resources, making everyone’s lives better.

Jason had to admit, much as he didn’t want to, that she did have a point. The idea of trying to start a community of trustworthy people, helping each other make a better life for themselves out here in this lawless wilderness, had merit. Jason couldn’t hunt, knew nothing about gardening, but he could invent things, and what he had here would provide real protection for anyone who lived here. If Clem was here to maintain their weapons, Luke here to fix things, and maybe get Doc Northwood and people who had livestock, and people who knew how to farm, and people who had things that they could use in a way that would help everyone, while they shared the responsibility of keeping the violent people away from their borders... .

It wouldn’t be easy, that was for sure. It wouldn’t be that hard to evict the gangs, but defending their claimed territory from mobile gangs of thugs was an issue. And attracting trustworthy people and finding a way to get everyone down here and set up also would not be easy. It would take a hell of a lot of hard work, for one of the main keys of attracting and holding people would be the promise that living here would be in some way better than living where they were now. The promise of something as simple as power, or running water, might be enough to attract a great many people.

Power. Could he find some way to restore power to a large area? Probably. The PPG running his generator could easily power something much larger, since it wasn’t even running at 2% maximum running his home generator. He could clamp that bad boy onto a real generator, something capable of powering several city blocks. Two of those huge generators in a hospital or other power-critical buildings could probably do it, but it would be safest to get three or four. He’d have to come up with some way to get a single PPG to power all of them, though.

Water. Now that wasn’t going to be easy, no matter what he did. Supplying clean water would mean tapping into the current water system, which would mean that he’d have to design a system that pushed around 100,000 gallons of water a day, and deliver it clean through a water pipe system that had been neglected for three years. The easiest approach would be to try to utilize the city’s water treatment plant and find some way to get it running. That would be doable if he could get power back to it, but he’d need some people who knew what they were doing to try to get the thing back online. To put out enough pure water, and have enough pressure in the pipes to move it, he’d have to use the current facility. There was nothing that he could easily design or build that could accomplish that task, not that wouldn’t take at least a year to get up and running.

Water... that might not be a go. But power, power he could handle.

“What are you thinking about, Jayce?” Tim asked.

“I’m mulling over Symone’s idea,” he answered. “I have to admit, it’s not a bad idea. I don’t much like the idea of becoming the police around here, but I have to admit, just the possibility that we might attract just a few people who have what we lack and are willing to join the community makes it an idea worth thinking about.”

“You just have to think like a general, Jayce,” Symone winked at him.

“And you’re what, a corporal?” he asked with a sly smile.

“I’m a general now,” she said impudently. “General Symone, thank you very much.”

“Fine, let me go find a star to pin on you,” he said, looking at her bare breasts deliberately.

Symone laughed. “It’s six days ‘til I’m up and running, Jayce, so that gives you six days to think it over. I just need you to patch my armor sometime in there, no matter what you decide. I don’t want to go out in a situation with my ass hanging out the back of my armor.”

“At least I’d love marching behind you,” Tim grinned.


Six days. Jason thought about it almost continuously while Symone rapidly healed, thanks to that compound he applied to her bandages that rapidly accelerated her healing process. She ate like a rabid wolf the entire time, putting a huge dent in his food reserves, so much so that Jason had to put himself and Tim on a rationing schedule to make sure they had enough food to last ‘til the end of the month.

Symone certainly didn’t just lay around. She spent almost every waking moment with Tim, starting to train him in the basics of his talent, which was how to close his mind, and how to open it to varying degrees to leave himself able to hear sending, or hear the thoughts of just one person in a group, and so forth. That took him three days to master to the point where Symone was satisfied, then she moved into the next stage of the training, the basics of sending.

While Symone and Tim did that, Jason attended to a few chores, the first of which was to patch her armor. The laminated yterium armor she had didn’t like being patched with raw carbidium, but Jason more or less rammed the patch down its throat regardless of how it might feel about it. He had trouble getting the metals to anneal together, and spent almost a day melding the phase cloth he had with the synthetic phase barrier layer in the armor. Jason had the organic version, but what was in the armor was the inorganic version, which was actually much stronger than what he had, and they didn’t like being fused. It took him two days to complete the repairs, which included buffing out the dings, painting the patches so they matched the surrounding armor, and putting some soft cloth padding inside to replace the gel backing that had been blasted away where the holes had been. He had no spare gel backing, so Symone would just have to make due with the cloth.

After he got that done, he went on a hunting trip with Clem and Luke, learning the basics of hunting. They didn’t bag anything, but Clem and Luke were very skilled hunters, and they taught him quite a bit about the basics of hunting deer. Jason had other ideas about how to go about it, though, which basically revolved around firing on deer he spotted from the back of his airbike, but he had to learn how it was done the normal way.

That gave him three days to consider the benefits and drawbacks of Symone’s idea. The benefits were obvious: gaining access to resources and people with skills that would better his situation and the situation of those within the community as a whole. Securing a section of the wilderness and turning it into more than just a mad competition to survive, a place where people could live in safety and security, and help restore civilization to the wilds, and dignity to the citizens.

The drawbacks were also obvious: lots and lots and lots of work, on everyone’s part. The knowledge that he would be taking on responsibility for others in addition to himself. The requirement to secure the territory, which meant that he might find himself in a position where he would have to fight... for real. There was a chance he might have to kill someone.

In a way, that scared him... but in a way, he’d accepted that the instant he decided to abandon the safety of living in Faey society. He didn’t like the idea of killing, and he hoped it would never come to that, but he had left New Orleans with a determination to be free that went so far as to defending that by any means necessary, even if it meant killing. He’d always imagined that the first life he’d take would be a Faey, killing one of them when they finally tracked him down and tried to take him, but more likely was the prospect that the first blood he would shed would be human.

Was he willing to kill to protect himself, protect this place, protect the people who came here to seek out a better life? Was he ready to take that ultimate step? Was taking a life worth that?

He looked into his heart and found the answer, late that night as he stared up at the full moon, then saw the shimmering light that was the reflection of the sun off a Faey battle cruiser in orbit.

Yes.

He had been willing to die to be free. Now, he knew that he was willing to kill to keep the freedom he had won for himself.

But he saw much more, laying on his roof and staring up into the shimmering light that was the cruiser slowly traversing the heavens from horizon to horizon. He saw that no matter what they built here, it could be destroyed by that one Faey cruiser up there. They were utterly at the mercy of the Faey, and no matter how free he remained out here; he would forever enjoy the false sense of freedom a gerbil might feel inside a large cage. Spacious and the occupant wanting for nothing, but still trapped within boundaries that made that sense of freedom a lie.

But there was very little that could be done about that. He would be a single man challenging the might of an empire that spanned 72 star systems, armed with little more than the proverbial stick while they had plasma weaponry. The only equalizing factor he possessed was his own telepathic ability, which would not allow them to take him without a real fight. If they wanted him, they had to come down here and battle him with real weapons, putting real lives on the line. So long as the Faey held the advantage of telepathy, they would retain control over Earth.

He heard Tim’s voice down in the front yard, as he and Symone sat on the porch and chatted with Clem and Luke. Clem and his group didn’t seem to mind Symone at all, part of her bubbly charm that just made everyone like her. Then again, her being out here probably told them everything they needed to know about where her loyalties were.

Tim. Tim was another telepath; Temika had the potential. There was that other girl too. There were human telepaths on Earth.

For the first time, Jason understood just what that really meant. Oh, he knew what it meant to the Faey, but he had never seen it from the other side before.

Telepaths threatened Faey dominance over Earth.

Telepaths threatened Faey dominance over Earth.

Telepathy was the only weapon against which the humans had absolutely no defense. Now that humans had reasonable access to Faey technology, now there was only that one advantage separating humans from the Faey.

Talent.

And that was no advantage if a Faey came up against a human telepath who had sufficient training.

So, the playing field was technically even now. The only disparity came with numbers and training. There was all of one trained human Telepath that Jason knew of on Earth... himself. The Faey vastly outnumbered him, had superior technology, nearly endless resources... and here he was pondering trying to start a rebellion against them.

Could it be done? Probably. It would, however, require three critical things to happen, though:

First, there had to be many more telepaths. Jason could probably protect three or four people from telepathic attack if they were close to him, so that meant that it would be five people against the world. Any reasonable attempt to rebel would require them to field enough telepaths to make an operation successful.

Second, there had to be some way to establish a home base and have it be either unassailable or totally unable to be found. That wouldn’t be easy considering the enemy could see everything from orbit, and he couldn’t even power up his skimmer without it getting located, since they were now actively looking for it. He would need to equip that base with enough resources to carry out a campaign against the Faey, from vehicles and weaponry to food and other essential supplies, and find some way to prevent that line of supply from being disrupted.

Third, they had to come up with a plan that would succeed in freeing the human race without having Earth break away from the Imperium. The Faey were now almost dependent on the food grown on Earth to feed their colonies, and any rebellion that threatened that food supply might cause the Faey to destroy the human race out of retaliation. That would be a very, very, very tricky proposition. On the other hand, now that the other spacefaring races knew about Earth, they were probably going to need the Faey’s military protection, or they’d just replace one conquering race with another. The human race was now, for better or worse, bound to the Faey by ties that neither side could afford to have broken. What the human race could only hope for in that situation was to win the right to govern itself, but still deliver the food that the Imperium desperately needed and be subject to the Imperial crown. A subject principality, autonomous to a point yet still answering to another government.

Three nasty little problems, any of which was by itself a monkey wrench in the gears. But everything else hinged on the lack of telepaths.

If he could get the telepaths, he would need to find an untouchable base. If he could find the base and man it, they could rebel against the Faey. And if he rebelled, he would walk a razor’s edge trying to balance the severity of the attacks against angering the Empress Dahnai. Be a thorn in the side of Trillane, but not so greatly disrupt things that Dahnai sent in Imperial troops to deal with him. Keep it against the humans and House Trillane, try to make them look so incompetent that Empress Dahnai would take Earth away from them, then try to convince her to give the humans a chance to do it themselves.

In the short term, the heavily outnumbered humans would need a edge, an aspect that made them exceptionally dangerous to the Faey who would be opposing them. The railgun he designed would help arm them, if he could mass produce it, and would be effective enough to put them on an even footing. But he had to plan for when Trillane brought their real military equipment, the exomechs and the fighters and the hovertanks and the autonomic battle robots. They needed weapons against those, not against the small numbers of infantry holding the planet, who were outfitted in obsolete gear made for a war some century ago.

He had several ideas. Jason had researched those military machines-at least as much as he could find out in the public domain-and though they were formidable, they were not invincible. With some ingenuity and some experimentation, he could devise counters to them. But to do that, he needed real equipment, he needed more information, and he needed the ability to move heavy equipment around without detection.

He already had his skimmer and his airbikes, and that was a start. The skimmer could be his means to the outside world. The skimmer was parked because he couldn’t move it without detection... so he figured that was his first major objective. He had to find a way to be able to move the skimmer without the Faey picking it up.

He needed... a cloaking device.

Corny as it may sound, that was what he needed. But, since there were no Klingons around to show him how the ones from the old Star Trek universe worked, he needed a way to figure out how to make one for himself, something that hid the skimmer from sensors, and even from the naked eye. If he gained the ability to move at will, undetected, it would open up the entire world to him, maybe even the entire universe. After all, that stargate was out there, just beyond the orbital track of the moon, and it never closed. Any ship could go through it, and that stargate went directly to Draconis Prime. Off of Earth, he could buy things they needed, using what money he had left, things Kumi wouldn’t buy for him when she realized that he was actively opposing her noble house.

Houses. The nobles houses of the Faey didn’t like each other. They were a feudal society, where each house looked after its own, then worried about Imperial concerns. If he could find another noble house that might help him overthrow the Faey, believing that they were going to get Earth, he might be able to trick one of them into helping him evict Trillane, then backstab them when he tried to get the Empress to give the human race the chance to run their own world.

God, this was insane. Even if he tried, the chance of him pulling it off was virtually infinitesimal. It would take wild luck, dedication, and an unswerving dedication to independence. It would take years, it would take patience, and it would take a willingness to sacrifice his life if need be to further the cause.

But what else was there? Life inside the gilded cage? He’d rather die free than live in this glass bottle.

Symone appeared in front of him, climbing up the ladder. Her wounds were almost completely healed, just a small sore in her shoulder now. They did leave very faint scars on her legs, and there was going to be a noticeable scar marring the blue skin of her shoulder, but it wasn’t going to be disfiguring. It was too bad that healing compound wouldn’t work on Tim, but they had no way to apply it to his broken bone short of injecting it directly in there... and they didn’t have the equipment to do that. They certainly did in a Faey hospital, but not out here. They wouldn’t do that anyway, they’d just use a bone fuser. Five minutes, bone mended, just like that. She sat down beside him, then flopped on her back as he was and looked up at the sky. So, tomorrow you answer me, she sent.

We’re doing it, he replied without much enthusiasm, his distaste of it clearly in his sending. But it will not be a bloodbath. Do we understand one another?

We won’t have to fire a shot, Jayce, trust me, she answered. I don’t like killing people when there’s no need for it, you know me better than that. We just slip in, track them down, then capture them and strip them of their weapons. Remember, they’re humans, totally defenseless against our talent. We don’t even have to get within sight of them, just doink ‘em and that’s it. We have Clem or Tim or someone watch over the ones we catch until we have them all, then we lay down the law and let them go. We’ll be done by dinner.

I hope it’s that easy, he sent with an audible sigh.

Something else is bothering you, cutie. What’s wrong?

He got up on his elbows and looked at her. She saw the grim look on his face, and the playful smile faded away as she sat up as well. Symone, he sent soberly, then he blew out his breath. How far would you go to protect Tim?

That’s a stupid question, hon, she answered. My being here should answer that question. I faced that decision already, and I chose Tim.

I know. You were willing to fight your own people to protect him. But the question is, Symone, would you fight your own people if they weren’t threatening him?

What do you mean? I don’t understand, Jayce.

You said it yourself, Symone. We need to be pre-emptive. I guess I’m asking you just how pre-emptive you’re willing to go.

You just lost me.

Okay, let me put it this way. If I found a way to take on House Trillane and drive them off Earth, would you help?

She gave him a very long look. Jason, that’s treason! she gasped audibly.

And what you did with Tim isn’t? he asked. And if you’ll note, I didn’t say rebel against the Imperium. I said rebel against Trillane. There’s a difference.

What kind of difference is that? she asked.

Jason explained his concept to her via sending, using images and feelings as much as he did using words. When he was done, she was quiet for a long time. Shit, she sent absently. Okay, cutie, I’ll grant you that it could work, but it depends on so many things to happen just absolutely perfectly that it’s really infeasible. It could work, but I could grow hair on my chest and start cracking kobo nuts with my pinkie.

Jason laughed audibly. Point taken, but, you know, I-

I know how you feel. If I were a human, I’d probably feel the same way you do. You want things the way they were. But think about it, cutie, even what you’re thinking of doing doesn’t make things the way they were. They won’t ever be again. Besides, what you’re talking about is virtual suicide, and let’s not even talk about the kind of force you’d need. There are a million or so Trillane troops on Earth, cutie. To face them, you’ll need, oh, about half that number of troops, since you’re going to be fighting a guerilla war. Now, not every one has to have talent, but about one out of three does, so they can protect the others. That’s a hundred thousand or so trained telepaths, Jayce. There’s like no possible way to find that many, train them, then hide them. Then consider that there are about fifty thousand Imperial troops here, and they will fight. It would be really, really hard to run by an Imperial Marine and tell her that your fight isn’t with her, cause she’ll shoot you in the back. And if you do fight her, you just got Empress Dahnai pissed at you. It makes it really hard to plead your case with her when you’re shooting her troops.

But, I’ll tell you what, some of your ideas make sense to work for even if you never go to that next step. Faey-proofing a piece of this place is a good idea. Being able to move around in the skimmer is a great idea. Arming some people we can trust out here with weapons that my old house will respect is another good idea. Creating a hiding place to use as a last resort in case we have to run is another very good idea. Inventing a few new things to whip out as surprises is a good idea. This is our turf now, cutie, and we should defend it, even from my former house. If they poke their noses around, they get them shot off. After we give fair warning, anyway, she sent with a wink.

Jason sighed. He didn’t consider some of those possibilities, and she was more or less right. Okay, so it is a bit far-fetched, he admitted. But I won’t ever give up on the idea of it, Symone. Even if it’s utterly hopeless, I’ll still work towards it, because so long as I do, then I haven’t given up, and I’ll be able to look at myself in the mirror every morning.

Nothing wrong with that, cutie, she sent quite seriously. Nothing wrong at all.

Thanks, Symone. I didn’t realize you were so military-minded.

I did manage to stay awake during basic combat training, she grinned, looking over at him. Actually, I’m pretty good at it. I have my first class sniper ribbon, I’ll have you know.

Have you ever fought anyone?

Sure, she answered. House soldiers fight a hell of a lot more than a Marine does. I’ve been involved in four separate incidents between my house and another. Basically all four were just skirmishes, but we did shoot at each other. The Empress frowns on it, but it goes on.

What kind of skirmishes?

Just basic stupid shit, she answered. Defending my post from raids. Once they slated me to go on a raid, but it got called off.

Raid?

When one house sends soldiers to attack a position belonging to another house, she explained. This military position, that factory, just idiotic stunts the nobles pull to piss each other off and get commoners killed. The Empress doesn’t like houses to raid each other because she says it weakens our overall defense and industrial output. Personally, I think she’s right, but they should stop it just because it’s damn silly. So you didn’t like what that Countess in that other house said, fine, but that’s no reason to send a dropship of armed women down to a hovercar windshield factory and blow it up. That’s just stupid.

Jason chuckled absently. “I guess it is at that,” he agreed aloud. “So, we have a date tomorrow. You feel like you’ll be ready?”

Hell yes, she answered, putting her hand on her injured shoulder and rotating her shoulder a few times. The only place it hurts is right on my skin, everything else is healed up. There wasn’t any permanent damage, and what little’s left’ll probably be healed by tomorrow morning. I already tried on my armor, and those patches you did really look good. Those cloth swaths inside feel weird, but until we get some extra gel-back, I can live with it. How we gonna play it?

Disarm, round up, then lay down the law, he answered. No killing unless they start throwing explosives at us or something, you know, like using weapons that might actually hurt us. I want this to be as bloodless as possible.

Aren’t we chasing them out?

He nodded. But we’re not throwing them out with nothing. We find their food storage and split it up evenly between them, then let them leave with it. We’ll hit the west end gang first, then hit the downtown, then hit the east end gang. With some luck, we’ll have all of Huntington cleared out by sunset.

We giving them any warning?

And ruin the surprise? That’s not smart, he smiled. You’ll use the hoverbike, I’ll use the antigrav pods in my armor. That way we can move fast if necessary.

Trelle’s Garland, I’d love armor like yours, she said with a lusty sigh. That’s what we get issued when we’re just about anywhere other than here. Most of the career types buy their own armor. I think now I wish I would have done that, but a good suit of armor costs about a year’s salary.

What, about thirty thousand or so?

Try about fifty thousand.

Hmm, he mused. I think I need to find a way to get access to my bank account without anyone noticing. They’re still sending royalty payments to it.

Call that overly clever Trillane. I’m sure she knows someone that knows someone that can pull it off. She’ll probably keep half of it, but getting some of it is better than getting none, she added with a wink.

That’s an idea, he sent with a nod. In fact, I’ll do that now.

Cool, I’ll go make something to eat .

He went back down into the house using the attic window, then went to his bedroom. He moved everything back into the master bedroom, mainly because the itcher wasn’t in use anymore. Now all he had were his street mines and proximity sensors, but with Clem here, that was enough time to get back to the house and get weapons. His panel was open and up, currently just showing a map of Chesapeake and the status of his sensors and traps, for the panel now ran the defenses. He put that process into the background and brought up the comm, then called Kumi’s private number.

She appeared wearing a floppy shirt of some kind, and the room was dark. Jason cursed to himself and blew out his breath. “Damn it, I’m sorry Kumi,” he said before she could say a word. “I misread the time.”

“Not a problem, babe,” she answered alertly. “I was about to go to bed. If you’d have called twenty minutes later, then I’d have been mad.”

“What time is it there?”

“Midnight,” she answered. “I’m turning in early. So, what’cha need, babe?”

“How hard would it be to find someone to make the royalty payments I’m getting from the Ministry of Science to go to another bank account?”

Her eyes brightened. “I’ve been waiting for you to ask me about that,” she grinned. “Hold on a second.” She vanished from in front of her vidlink for almost two minutes, then came back and furiously typed something. “Okay, babe, thumb your panel.”

“Why?”

“Just do it, nit,” she told him brusquely.

Uncertain over her motives but trusting her, he did as she asked. “Okay, babe, there should be an account file uploading to your panel.”

He looked down, and saw that there was indeed. He also noticed that their comm session had shifted into a secure mode, something he’d never seen before. “Yeah, welcome to Trillane’s Goreda Security Protocol,” she winked. “Not even the Secret Police can track what we’re doing now. Okay, that account file is a bank account out of Moridon. The First Bank of Moridon, to be precise. It’s a neutral planet, sovereign, that specializes in banking and finances. Nobody conquers them because most governments in the galaxy use Moridon as a kind of neutral meeting place.”

“And I bet that’s where you have that secret bank account you have set up,” he smiled.

She nodded. “Moridons don’t tell anyone shit about their customers,” she told him. “And their computer security makes us look like we’re still using electricity. Now, open the file.”

He did so. It was a bank account file, and to his surprise, it had his name on it. “You already set it up?” he asked in surprise.

“I set up that part of it,” she answered. “When you thumbed up, you activated the account. I can’t fake that, like I said, Moridons have pretty strong security. Now, just give me a few minutes. Those royalty payments right now are being channeled to my account,” she admitted with a grin. “I figured what the hell, you couldn’t use it, and the Ministry won’t stop sending the payments unless you’re confirmed dead. That’s the law. Even if you were in prison, they’d still pay you.”

“You were stealing my money?” he asked, then he laughed. “Kumi!”

“Hey, I never said I was nice,” she winked. “I’ll give it back to you. Minus a twenty five percent fee, of course,” she said with a smirk.

“Kumi, you’re evil!” he laughed.

“I know,” she admitted. “Hold on, I gotta remember how to do this.”

“Do what?”

“Redirect the money. Someone else did this for me, and he left me instructions on how to change it if I ever wanted it to go to a different account. He’s a computer wiz, someone I met at one of my parties. He’s a zarinen in House Trefani. Trefani’s infamous for being the main house behind organized crime,” she told him. “Here it is. Give me a few minutes. I have to go to the Ministry and change the account number. Hold on a few.”

Jason wasn’t sure whether to be mad or amused. Kumi had had that friend of hers hack the Ministry and redirect Jason’s royalty payments to her own account, and hadn’t said anything. She could have offered to do it for him, but had instead kept quiet. But, on the other hand, the instant he asked about it she came clean. So, it wasn’t like she was going to be deliberately deceptive... she was just seeing how much she could get away with. He watched her face as she typed on the keys of her comm panel or panel or whatever she was using, and decided that he’d forgive her this time. “Okay, I’m done. The contact info for the bank is in that file, you just connect to them through CivNet or call them. They’ll demand a retinal scan before I can send any money into the account, you thumbing it just activated an application. So call the bank and get that done, then call me back.”

“Got it. Talk to you in a few.”

She nodded and her picture vanished. Jason noted that the panel came out of that secure mode, then deleted a bunch of data out of its memory. Probably the client program for that security protocol.

Jason called the number in the file, and found himself looking at a rather scary-looking creature with black skin, glowing red eyes, and large curled horns growing out of its head. If Jason had ever imagined a demon, that’s what it would look like. “First Bank of Moridon,” the creature said in a surprisingly pleasant voice.

“Uh, yeah, I just activated an account I set up over CivNet,” he told the creature. “I was told I needed to call in and provide a retinal scan before I could deposit money in it.”

“Race?” he asked.

“Human-er, Terran,” he corrected, recalling that they weren’t called humans by the Faey, at least officially.

“One moment while I call up a biological profile. Retinal scan is an identity method we use for some races,” it explained, obviously seeing the question in Jason’s eyes. “Once I have your biological data, I’ll connect you with a bank officer which can assist you.”

“I understand. You have to find a way for secure identity with my race.”

“Yes,” it nodded. “I have the data. One moment while I transfer you.”

Jason found himself looking at a tasteful logo for the bank, with three pyramids pointing corners at a white globe in the middle, almost reminiscent of the old nuclear symbol that used to be prevalent on Earth before the subjugation. After just a few seconds, he found himself staring at another black-skinned horned creature, but this one had glowing green eyes, and had a sharper face. “Mr. Jason Fox?” it asked in a higher-pitched voice. A female? “I am Gurath Ka’Than, assistant account officer. You wish to verify identity to fully open the account you applied for?”

He nodded. “What do you need me to do?”

“One moment please,” it asked, reading something to the side of the window where Jason’s face probably was. “I see here that I have several options for secure authentication. You’re remarkably similar to the Faey,” it noted. “You used a unique external signature to activate the first phase of the opening process, a unique digit print. Our policy is to require at least three separate and unique biometric signatures for personal transactions. This print pattern of the thumb will serve as the first. I read here that your retinal patterns are also unique, so that will be the second. A spectrographic pattern will serve as the third.” It typed something on its keyboard, then looked at him. “Look at your monitor please, and remain still.”

Unsure, he did as it asked, and there was a dull red flash over his monitor window. He blinked a few times and got a minor headache. “Thank you. Your biometric data is being added to your account. Remember that any time you wish to conduct business over CivNet, you need access to a vidlink-enabled communication device. Our automated computer banking services require video ability to authenticate your retinal pattern and spectographic pattern.”

“That’s all you need?”

“For authentication, but there’s some paperwork that needs filled out before your account is fully open. I’ll need your thumbprint signature on this form,” it said, and a text form appeared in place of its face. “Please take a moment to read it, then sign on the line at the bottom and press your thumb to your monitor in the red box when complete.”

Jason read it over. It was a contract agreement between him and the bank, spelling out the bank’s services and fees and its security, and a list of conditions that went with the account. He found their banking policies quite attractive, but also noticed that the fees for this account were rather high. But then again, this was a “numbered account,” completely anonymous to the outside world and all information about it savagely defended by the bank, the kind of account a criminal or very rich person would have. The fees were high, but the account offered quite a few services. Virtually any financial service he could dream of, legal services, all conducted with the utmost privacy and anonymity, and since his was a very prestigious kind of account, they even offered transportation services and concierge services on planets where the bank had a branch.

Jason pressed his thumb in the proper place and then used the rarely used dowel to sign on the line, which caused the form to flash a few times and then vanish. “Very good,” the creature whose face reappeared said. “You account is open. Verification is being sent to your comm panel now. May I register this comm panel as your personal contact number? I assure you, it will never be used unless there is an emergency that requires your immediate notification. The privacy of our clients is our utmost concern.”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” he answered.

“Welcome to the First Bank of Moridon,” it said with a smile that showed all kinds of nasty-looking, pointed red teeth. “You account is now active. Please keep in mind that you need to transfer at least five hundred credits into the account by the end of business tomorrow, standard time, to cover the initial fees.”

“I understand.”

“If you have any questions about our services or your account, feel free to call or access us through CivNet.”

“I will. Thank you.”

It nodded. “Have a pleasant day.”

Jason had to shudder a little bit. That was a Moridon? They were creepy.

He called Kumi back quickly. She appeared again, but with the lights on this time. “You done?” she asked.

He nodded.

“I already changed things at the Ministry so your payments go to your new account. Now I need to transfer over what I already got, and you have to set up the transfer of my twenty five percent to my account,” she said with a greedy little smile. “You’ll do that through the bank. Just call them back and tell them that you want a quarter of payments from the Ministry transferred to another account. They’ll be able to set it up.”

“A quarter? Well, we might have to talk about that, seeing as how you tried to steal it in the first place,” he said with a slight smile.

She laughed. “Okay, you got me. Twenty percent.”

“Let’s try ten.”

“Fifteen.”

“Deal,” Jason said immediately.

“Okay, I’m transferring your money over. You do trust that I’m sending what I’m supposed to, don’t you?” she asked winsomely as her fingers flew across her keyboard.

“I guess,” he chuckled. “Do you need me to authorize it?”

“Nah, the bank will accept any deposit without you having to authorize it. In fact, it’s there now,” she told him. “I’ve got three royalty payments, totaling about two hundred thousand credits, so I’m sending over a hundred and fifty. I still get a quarter of what I already have,” she said with an outrageous grin. “Besides, I need that money. I threw a wild party a couple of days ago, and I paid for it using this money. I’m sending over one fifty cause it’s all I have.”

“Well, you might just have to go into debt,” he mused, then he laughed at her outraged look. “It’s alright, Kumi,” he assured her.

“Don’t make a young girl old, babe,” she said darkly. “Oh, is that other one with you now?”

“What other one?”

“I’m a Trillane, babe. I heard about another human expressing, one that’s a friend of yours. They shot down him and a Faey who helped him not far from where I met you, so I guess they were coming to see you. Did they reach you?”

“They think they’re alive?” he gasped.

“Not for sure, but they sent back a recovery dropship to find the bodies and recover the wreckage of the skimmer. They got the skimmer, but couldn’t find the bodies. They think they were swept away by the river current, but then I got to thinking. If that Faey was in her armor, she’d survive the crash easily, so I think they’re still alive.”

Wow. Tank and Willy must have collected them up, then Jason arrived and took everyone away before the recovery ship arrived. Luck and timing had saved Tim and Symone... and him too.

“I see from your reaction they made it to you,” she winked. “Well, your secret is safe with me, babe. Okay, I’m sending you my bank account number. Remember, fifteen percent. I trust you.”

“I’ll take care of it. You need to get to sleep, Kumi.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. I have a long day tomorrow,” she said.

“Doing what?”

“I have bartha practice in the morning, then I have my tumiya lessons,” she said, looking down. Bartha was a game, vaguely similar to hockey or soccer, played by teams of seven. The objective was to knock a ball through the opposing goal, but the ball had a suspensor field in it that made it float, and the players wielded large bat-like devices to hit the ball. What made it different was that the goal was about thirty feet in the air, and was defended by a robotic blocker operated by one of the players, the “goalie.” That person had to both play the game and defend the goal, which made it the most demanding position. He remembered watching it late one night on TV. A tumiya was a ten-stringed instrument similar to a guitar, but it sounded more like a plucked violin. It was one of the instruments played in most Faey orchestras. “I also have a doctor’s appointment. I forgot about that,” she grunted. “After that I have a party to go to,” she winked.

“Sounds like a full day,” he noted.

“Yeah, usually I don’t have that many things happening on one day. Just a schedule convergence, I guess,” she chuckled. “Oh, yeah, thought you should know something.”

“What?”

“All my girlfriends think you’re gorgeous,” she said with an outrageous grin. Then she ended the call.

Think he’s-she didn’t! She did! She showed that picture of him she took to her friends!

That, that, that rat! She promised she wouldn’t do anything with it!

He felt a sudden flare of indignation, and not a little embarrassment, then he laughed helplessly. She did say that, but she didn’t promise not to show it to her friends.

Oh well, he’d have to come up with a way to get her, that was for sure. No way he could leave that alone.

Awful brave of her to say that before he set up giving her her split.

But he was a man of his word, and giving her 15% wasn’t much to ask for getting access to his money. With an untraceable panel (also thanks to Kumi), he could buy things... he just had to figure out how to get it to him.

Kumi, of course.

He’d have to avail himself of the Kumi Delivery Service soon. There was something he wanted, and besides, he had to get her back.


Clearing out Huntington was an exercise in amusement if anything else.

By sunrise, they were armored and ready. Symone fidgeted a bit as she got it settled on her, and Tim, his cast now covered in little drawings and sketches that Symone had put on it (many of which were quite nice, Symone was talented as an artist), sat in front of Jason’s panel with a headset on his head and ready to do his part. Jason had reconfigured both his and Symone’s telemetry to broadcast on a threaded hyperfrequency with a range of only about five miles, and the receiver was patched into his panel. That telemetry included audio and video, for Faey armor came standard with cameras, microphones, and sensors that kept track of the wearer’s vital signs. Armed with an accurate map of Huntington and surrounding towns, Tim was ready to track their movements and serve as a second pair of eyes for them. Though his broken arm and lack of armor meant he couldn’t directly help, he could still do what he could to further the cause.

“Ready, Jayce?” Symone asked as she had Tim push down on the shoulders of her armor, to settle it into place.

Jason nodded, and then went over and turned on the CB he’d gotten. He tuned it to channel 19, which was the channel everyone used, and a channel he was positive all the gangs listened to in order to try to track down and catch others. “Keep an ear on that channel, Tim,” he told his friend. “That’s what the locals use. And on the desk is a radio the downtown gang uses. If you hear anything interesting, let us know.”

“You got it, Jayce,” Tim nodded, sitting down and slapping the tabletop. “I’m ready.”

“Let’s go clean out some low-lifes,” Symone winked at Jason before putting on her helmet.

With Tim directing them, they quickly and efficiently swept Huntington clean. They started in the west end, all the way in Kenova. Symone and Jason used their talent to track down anyone in the vicinity, then Symone did the honors of subduing them with telepathy, to hide Jason’s talent from them. It was done at a distance, and since at first nobody realized what they were doing, it was ridiculously easy. They were disarmed, tied up, then Symone transported them to a central location with her airbike while Jason tracked down their next target. Symone was putting them in the old Redmen Bingo hall at the foot of the west end bridge. Tim would guide her back to Jason, and they’d do it again.

It took just two hours to round up the west end gang, first by capturing their patrols, then assaulting their home base. Jason was impressed by Symone when she barged in and quickly subdued twenty humans in a matter of moments, letting them shoot at her to their heart’s content. There had been one injury when a ricocheted bullet hit a man in the shin, but it wasn’t serious at all. They then ranged up into downtown Huntington, and it took them about three hours to round up the sixty or so members of the downtown gang, first the patrols and then the two concentrations of unmoving gang members. The east end, though, was a bit trickier. They had more territory and were spread out, and besides, by then they knew that something was going on. The last remnants of the downtown gang suspected that someone was out there taking out their patrols, and the east end gang immediately realized it when their first patrol didn’t respond. Rounding up the last remnants of the gang had required some actual firing, because they’d lobbed some hand grenades at Symone as she approached the State Police barracks where they holed up. Jason and Symone backed off, and Jason demonstrated some of the more interesting aspects of his railgun... such as its ability to go through concrete and steel like it wasn’t there. Seeing an array of bluish corkscrew trails appear over their heads, and seeing the neat holes that it put in the walls-both walls!-even punching holes in glass without shattering it, took the fight right out of them. They quickly realized that Jason could just stand outside and turn the building into swiss cheese, and there was absolutely nowhere they could go to escape from it.

Surrender was inevitable at that point.

By sunset, they had captured all three gangs, which were tied to chairs at the bingo hall, and it was over. Jason and Symone transported the sixteen gang members that were the last ones caught back to the bingo hall, and then they got up on one of the tables so they could all see them. They weren’t surprised at all when Symone took off her helmet, but they were a bit surprised to see Jason under the other suit of armor.

“Good, I have your attention,” Jason told them as he looked over the hundred and twenty or so people tied to chairs in the hall. “As you can see, I’ve been joined by a Faey. She’s a good friend of mine from the outside world, and after a little altercation, she decided that living out here was better than spending the rest of her life in a prison. But enough of that. When she got here, she raised some pretty valid arguments as to why I tolerate you people living over here, especially since I know you know that another family’s moved in down the street from me. She also raised some interesting notions about attracting people to this area and forming a community that works together instead of fighting each other, and wouldn’t you know, I think she had some damn good ideas.

“So, this is what’s going to happen. My lovely assistant here is going to find out where you keep all your weapons and food stores. All of them, right down to your oldest pellet gun and dented can of beans.”

“That’s me,” Symone said in English with a wide grin, waving at the crowd. “Emphasis on the lovely, of course.”

“Of course,” Jason drawled. “Given she’s a Faey, and it’s pretty obvious how she’s going to find out, we can all be pretty sure that we’re not going to miss anything. If you know about it, we’ll know about it. Once we collect up all your guns, explosive, knives, sharpened toothbrushes, women’s frying pans, rubber chickens, you know, everything, we’ll let you go. Each of you will be rationed an equal portion of the food stores we collect, allowed to gather your personal possessions, and then you’re on your own. That basically means you’ll be run out of town, and you’ll have to find somewhere else to live.

“But, if you decide you’d rather stay and be a part of the new system, you’ll get your chance. My lovely assistant here will verify the sincerity of your claim, and if she deems you honest about wanting to live a more peaceful life, you’ll be allowed to remain. Anyone she deems untrustworthy is gone. And do keep in mind, she is a Faey. You can’t lie to her, you can’t hide anything from her, and if you decide later on after you win your chance to live here that you change your mind, she’ll know about it immediately.”

Jason looked around, and listened to their thoughts. They were shocked, afraid, nervous, and very, very uncertain, but not a few of them seemed to contemplate the possibilities of living without carrying around a gun. “Now, everyone’s going to be untied in small groups so you can get a break. I’m sure that some of you need to go to the bathroom, and some of you have been here for a while, so I’m sure you’re hungry. We have water and some cans of food in the other room for you, so don’t worry.”

It went rather well. In groups of ten, Jason and Symone untied them and let them relieve themselves outside, then let them eat and drink quickly in the other room, whose only door opened out into the main room. That left twenty at a time free, but given that their captors had put their helmets back on, which rendered them absolutely invulnerable to anything that the unarmed gang members could throw at them, took the fight out of them almost as fast as the first and only time Symone used her telepathy to subdue one of the first men she untied. He’d lunged at her, but she didn’t even flinch as she took total control of him. She paraded him back and forth for the benefit of the others, even made him strip down to his underwear and sing I’m a Little Teapot. That display sucked the resistance right out of them. Some of them had never seen a Faey in person before, having run off to the hills before the evacuation, and only had stories and rumor to go on about Faey telepathy. Seeing it in use, in person, was an eye-opening experience.

By ten, Symone had correlated with Tim on the location of every weapon and food stash owned by all three gangs. By two in the morning, with the help of Luke, Clem, and Mary, they had every one of those stashes. By five, every single scrap of food held by all three gangs was stacked neatly in the bingo hall. All the gang members were all tired from lack of sleep and sore from being tied, which made them perfectly set up for Symone, for their responses would be much more genuine. One by one, Symone took them into the back room. Jason sat in on those sessions while Tim, Luke, and Clem kept guard over the others, as he observed how Symone went about probing the deepest thoughts of the gang members. She would ask them questions, and those questions would trigger thoughts and feelings that she would read, which she used to probe even deeper until she got at the truth she wanted. The time of mindscape was much faster than the physical world, and each interview only took about five minutes.

When all was said and done, 127 people, over 90%, were deemed too much of a risk to be allowed to remain. Oddly enough, the woman who had replaced Joe Bueller as the downtown gang boss, a sharp-faced woman named Regina Thompson, was allowed to remain. Those people were given an equal share of the stockpiled food, and were escorted out of the hall by Jason in groups of five, taken to their homes, allowed to collect up what was theirs, then were driven to the city limit at 5th Street Hill and was effectively kicked out. Jason had no sympathy for them. They were offering them a chance to live safely, but many of them wanted nothing of it. They reminded him of the old saying it is better to rule in hell than serve in heaven, for that was their mentality. Some of them weren’t like that, but their mistrust of Symone was so deep-seated that they couldn’t be trusted to stay near her, for they were violently prejudiced against any Faey, and not just the system. Even Faey who had gone against that system themselves were hated and reviled. Those he did feel a bit sorry for, but Symone had proven herself a hell of a lot more than any of them had.

By noon the next day, the 14 people left were untied and sitting in chairs in the bingo hall. Jason and Symone were still armored, but both had their helmets off. Neither of them looked very tired, but in actuality, Jason was exhausted. But he’d never show them that. “We won’t hold you here much longer,” he told them, standing up on the raised area where they used to call the numbers. “But before we let you go, we need to arrange some things. You’ll receive a share of the food here to hold you over for a little while, while we organize how we’re going to do things. For right now, I’d like all of you to come over into Chesapeake, or the buildings right around the downtown bridge in Huntington. There are lots of empty houses over there, and it’s safer if we’re all closer together. We’re going to abandon most of Huntington for right now, mainly because we won’t need it. Tomorrow, we’re going to sit down and have a meeting. We’ll find out who can hunt, who can fish, who can farm, and who can fix things. Then we start doing what we’re good at and start preparing for winter.

“We have three primary interests,” he told them, sitting on the dusty table on the dais. “First, we secure a viable food supply without stealing it from other people. Hunting, fishing, farming, gathering. Second, we restore power to as much of Chesapeake and parts of Huntington that we can, both because I think you’re all tired of living without power, and getting some freezers going will help us have more food put back for the winter. Third, we get as much farming in as we can before winter. What we can’t hunt, grow, or forage, we buy from squatter groups using the guns and equipment that your former gangs had stockpiled. Security is my problem,” he told them. “This armor and some of the Faey weapons I’ve managed to get should be enough to discourage just about anyone. And if that doesn’t, she will,” he said, pointing at Symone. “As you know, we humans have no defense against Faey telepathy, and believe me, right now she’s as much in this with us as anyone else. If her people get their hands on her, she’ll probably be executed.”

“What did you do, miss?” one of the men asked curiously.

“Nothing much hon, I just shot up a military base and rescued my beau from their custody,” she winked. “My man’s a human, and I’d much rather have him than them, if you get my meaning.”

Their thoughts told him that many of them were impressed by that, because after all, she was out here with them. “Keeping everyone safe will be our job, but don’t worry, we won’t make you depend on us. In a couple of days, after everything settles down, you’ll each be given back a pistol and a rifle, for protection and for any hunting you might want to do. We’re also not going to just be the guys who replaced the old gangs. Everyone will have a say in how we do things, I’m not going to tell you what to do. We’re trying for the good old days, people. Just trust that I’ll do my best to keep us all safe, and that I’m not going to try to be a king, and let’s all try being what we used to be, not what the Faey have made of us.”

That got him a few nods, and a rumble of consent among them. “Okay, Luke, is the Deuce outside?”

Luke, who was standing by the front door, nodded.

“Alright, me and the lady are going to drive you guys back to where you have your stuff. If you have vehicles or know where to get one, load them up and bring them up to the downtown bridge, but do not cross it. It’s still trapped, and I don’t want anyone getting hurt. If you don’t have vehicles, just let us know, and we’ll swing back by where you are in a couple of hours and get your stuff moved over. Everyone understand?”

They all nodded.

“Okay people, let’s get moving. I’d like everyone settled into a new place before nightfall, so everyone can get some sleep. Including me,” he chuckled. “Remember, if you drive over in a car or truck, stop at the bridge but do not cross it,” he emphasized.

They all stood up, and just a cursory look at their thoughts showed him anxiety, worry, uncertainty, but a little bit of hope. They’d accepted the new order of things because of fear of being alone, or hope that it might actually work out, but one thing he got from these 14 people whom Symone had cleared was that just the chance that they’d get power back made them enthusiastic.

Small favors, he guessed.


By nightfall, they had everyone more or less situated. By midnight they were done. Jason was very tired, but he also felt very good.

He’d been surprised at the number of vehicles those old gangs had had. It took a few hours for them to move them all into Chesapeake, parking them on and around Route 7, and every one they brought was filled with the stockpiled goods of the gangs who had owned them. They brought clothes, furniture, their rations of food, personal effects, tools, boxes and boxes of batteries of all kinds, and just about anything Jason had ever seen that was battery operated, anything they thought might be of use and anything they didn’t want taken when the scavengers in the hills descended on the city like a pack of wolves when it became common knowledge that the city had been abandoned.

But they certainly wouldn’t find much. The former gang members knew where everything was, and they were very efficient about stripping virtually anything of use and bringing it with them. As per Jason’s request, any large-scale tools or equipment were left in the houses beside his, which had become the official storage buildings for tools and were close at hand to be defended, because they were going to need tools. Surplus clothing or gear that had been gang property rather than personal property was also stored in the houses on his block, to be handed out or traded as it was needed.

Jason finally crawled into bed about two in the morning. He was utterly exhausted, but he had hope.

That next day was just as busy. Jason sat down with everyone, including Clem and his group, on chairs and benches assembled outside his house. As per his request, nobody had claimed a house on either his block or the one his house faced, a safety zone around him and their communal property that would help protect critical equipment in case of attack. It left him plenty of room to set out traps without worrying about killing someone by accident. What started as an official meeting quickly became an unplanned barbecue when Mary and Ruth brought out two entire butchered deer and started cooking it for everyone. In that 14, Jason was pleasantly surprised to find an engineer, one Steve Harris, a short fellow in his late thirties with prematurely balding blond hair and a pair of glasses taped on one side hanging precariously from the end of a narrow nose. His face was narrow and drawn, but his blue eyes were excited. Steve, it turned out, had been an electrical engineer for an oil refinery in Texas before the subjugation, and his knowledge of industrial electrical systems would be absolutely critical for building a new power grid in Chesapeake. What made it even better was that he’d been trained in basic Faey systems, having gone through their school, and had been working as a systems technician in Columbus. He’d been in the west end gang, but out of happenstance more than anything else. He’d ended up in the wilderness after he’d hit a car in a traffic accident, and had panicked and ran away because he had already had two arrests for drunken driving. A third arrest for anything would mean being packed off to a farm, and he’d been terrified of that idea, so much so that he risked death in the wilderness rather than face a farm. He’d managed to live long enough to make it to Huntington, and after the west end gang caught him, he offered to fix things for them in exchange for food and protection. Steve was by no means a survivor or warrior.

Steve was the only true technical find in that group, but Jason found himself with quite a few proficient hunters, and a few that were rather good at gardening, and several who were good at car repair. There was also a carpenter and a construction worker in that group.

Jason liked the odds now, though. With him, Tim, and Steve, they should be able to come up with something.

That would be later though. After a good meal, they held their first town meeting.

“What’s a town meeting for?” one of them asked, a tall black man named Leamon Lacy, who had the body of a basketball player and an impressive flat-top.

“Well, there’s, what, twenty-two of us?” Jason asked, then he nodded at his count. “We need some kind of official leadership. I told you I won’t order you guys around. So, we’re going to elect a city council and a mayor. Three council seats who advise the mayor, and the mayor who’ll be responsible for most day to day decisions. Anything important comes up for a vote by the council, and major issues are voted on by the whole community, not just being decided by a few people,” he cautioned. “Just like the way things used to be.”

“Couldn’t this mayor just change the rules?” Leamon asked.

“Well, I guess so,” he said, glancing at Tim, who just shrugged. “If you guys let him, anyway.”

“Okay then, I nominate you for mayor, Mister Jason,” he announced. “You I think I can trust, cause you’ve done everything you said you’d do so far. I don’t think I trust any of these other yahoos.”

“You’re one of us yahoos, Lacy,” someone called with a laugh. “But I’ll second that nomination.”

Jason was a bit flustered with that, because in short order, he was elected mayor of the community. Leamon Lacy, the old gang boss Regina Thompson, and Clem were elected to the city council.

After that was dropped in his lap, they finalized their immediate plans. The hunters would fan out and start bringing down game that would be stored in every working freezer that they could find that they could fit into the house on the other side of his house from the storage house, which Jason was going to patch into his working electricity so they had a way to store it. Ruth would take her farming group down east of the bridge and start cultivating that land out there, at least after Luke and a few men went down there and tore down some houses to make room for farmland by using a bulldozer that Luke had managed to get running. Tim and Steve were going to get the electricity going in the house by Jason’s for the freezers, and Luke was going to take a few of the younger, more burly men out and find those freezers, then go clear room for Ruth’s farmland. There were only 21 people and several major tasks, so some people found themselves working on a farm in the morning, then running out and hunting in the afternoon, for example.

Jason tracked down the community’s best tailors, and got a group of four who had extensive experience. He told them about the phase cloth he had, how it was bulletproof, and assigned them the task of making each and every person a shirt or jacket and a pair of pants with the phase cloth as a lining. Getting people into armored clothing quickly was very important, for it would help protect them if a large group of armed attackers raided their community. How they accomplished this task was up to them, but it was a task that was very important, and one they had to accomplish quickly.

They also elected two “deputies,” Luke and Irwin Preece. They would be given Jason’s two hunting plasma rifles, and they would be at Jason’s call if he and Symone needed reinforcements while dealing with invaders. Both Luke and Irwin had been in the army, and both had seen actual combat, back in the second Gulf War on top of the battle experience they’d received out in the wilderness, so they were sensible choices. Jason, Symone, Luke, and Irwin were the group’s official “army,” responsible for protecting the community from outside aggression.

It was rather late, so Jason called the meeting to an end and told them they’d get to work tomorrow, and they spent the rest of the night getting to know each other and enjoying the venison that Ruth and Mary had graciously cooked for them.

Jason was surprised at the willingness of these people to work together, but their thoughts and their attitudes showed them to be sincere. Not two days ago, most of them were enemies, but now they were working side by side. He was a bit surprised, at least until he looked at them and heard their thoughts, and heard the hope that was blossoming there. These were the people that Symone had assured him were most receptive to the idea of living in a community that worked together instead of stole what they needed, and she had been proven right on the mark so far. They were willing to give it a try, even if things seemed unusual, and they were just a little intimidated by Symone and her power. They hoped that it would mean a chance to get electricity in their houses. They hoped that it would put a stop to the violence and insanity that their world had become. They hoped for a chance to raise children in a safe place. They hoped.

And that was a good thing.

The lack of children had been something that Jason hadn’t really thought of until he heard it in their thoughts. None of the gang members had children, not even infants. The only child in the entire community was Mary and Luke’s daughter, Jenny. That struck Jason as odd until he asked Regina, who explained calmly that all her women stayed on birth control pills, that having infants around was a major liability for a group that made its living through armed conflict. And in a way, he realized that that was probably the truth.

Late that night, Jason, Tim, and Symone sat on his porch, enjoying the surprisingly cool night air and watching a thunderstorm move in from the northwest. You know, setting up power in a wide area is going to attract my people, Symone warned him.

I don’t see why, Jason replied. I’m sure that a few squatter groups out there somewhere have managed to get power back on somewhere.

And I’m pretty sure that that attracted my people too, she answered. I’m not saying it’s a bad idea, but let’s not light up all of Huntington.

“Well guys, I’m really tired, and I want to get an early start in the morning,” Tim said with a yawn. “Not sure how much use I’m going to be with this cast, but I’ll do my best.”

“I’m sure you’ll do just fine,” Jason told him. “You want to do the patrol first, or me?” he asked Symone.

“We need to install a better sensor system,” she grunted. “It’d be nice if we could see them coming from the hilltops.”

“We’ll add it to the list,” he said. “Right now I need to go call Jyslin. She hasn’t answered her phone for like four days now.”

“You haven’t tried to call for two.”

“Well, if I don’t call, then she didn’t answer, did she?” he asked with calm logic.

She laughed as he got up, then she smacked him fondly on the backside. “I’ll armor up and go look around,” she said. “Then it’s bedtime for me.”

Jason went inside and to his room, then sat down in front of his panel. He called Jyslin’s number, and was relieved when she picked it up within three seconds. It was audio only, a picture of her on his screen. “What?” she demanded.

“It’s about time,” Jason said.

She appeared immediately, and Jason gasped. Her hair was a frazzled mess, and her eyes looked hollow and slightly unfocused. There was a bit of dried blood on the corner of her lip as well. “What happened?” he asked immediately.

“I just got back from a long chat with the Secret Police, that’s what,” she answered wearily. “They seem to think I know something, given how you vanish, then Tim expresses, and Symone steals him out from under the nose of House Trillane and gets them both killed trying to escape.” Of course Jyslin knew that wasn’t the case, but he realized quickly that they probably had a tap on her communications, so she had to play this carefully. “That’s three people gone, and I’m in the middle of all of them.”

“They’re looking for me?”

“Of course they’re looking for you, dink,” she said waspishly. “And they know you talk to me. They want me to try to convince you to come back, because nobody has the fainted bloody fucking idea where you are, and there’s certainly nothing that anyone can do to find you using your panel. They’ve already tried tracking your signal, but they can’t figure out where it’s coming from. How did you do that?”

“A good magician never reveals his secrets,” Jason smiled.

“Well, you have about half of the comm people over here tearing out their hair,” she told him. “One guy swears your signal is coming from the moon. So, are you coming back?”

“Hell no.”

“Well, I tried,” she grunted, closing her eyes and rubbing her temple gingerly.

“Are you alright, Jyslin?” he asked.

“I’ll be alright,” she said with a sigh. “Having a little chat with mindbenders is never very fun, especially when they think you’re hiding something. They drug me behind the topo, but they found out I don’t know any more than what I told them, that I really did have no idea you planned to run, and I have no clue what wild hair got up Symone’s ass to make her do what she did. I’m still a bit shocked that Tim expressed, but it’s not like it matters now.” He had no idea what that expression meant, but that last part told him that Jyslin’s formidable telepathic ability had managed to repel the mindbenders who had probed her, fooled them using her ability that she knew no more than what she claimed. Jyslin was a very powerful telepath, and was more than a match for the average mindbender. Though she was young, Jyslin had been a fully expressed telepath for a long time, since she was just a little girl, and that gave her the experience to cross swords with telepaths twice her age. “And all that time, I thought he was having an allergic reaction to something Symone was wearing or using, with the nosebleeds and headaches and shit, just like you did for a while.” She saw his concerned look. “After a long sleep and pain pill for a splitting headache, I’ll be alright, Jayce, I promise.”

“I’ll let you get some rest then, hon,” he said compassionately, sincere worry flooding him.

“I think that’s a good idea,” she grunted, putting her head in her hands. “I would tell you to call tomorrow, but I don’t think you will.”

“Not when they expect it, that’s for sure,” he told her. “I hope you feel better.”

“I will, I just need time.”

He sighed. “I miss you.”

She gave him the longest look, the bleariness gone from her eyes. “I miss you too,” she said in English. She put her fingers up against her monitor, and he did the same... and in the strangest way, it was almost like he could feel her touch. God, he could use her support right now, with all these new people around, and him being thrust into the unwanted role of leader. If anything, he had always felt more secure with Jyslin near him. He could use her smile, and her sense of humor, and her wisdom, and her electrifying touch-

Well, best not to dwell on that.

“Call me soon, alright?” she asked quietly.

“I will, I promise.”

She gave him a longing look, then took her hand from her display. Then her image vanished from the screen. He closed his eyes and blew out his breath, worry for Jyslin flooding through him. God, he hoped she was alright. No telling what those mindbender bitches did to her, but Jyslin was a strong telepath, a strong woman. They’d never get anything out of her. He felt the oddest pride that she’d be willing to risk so much for him, that she saw him as that worthy. He also felt pride in her strength, and that she felt he had strength similar to hers.

Well, he’d make her proud, as proud of him as he was of her, that was for sure. He’d do what needed to be done, what was expected of him, and what he had to do to fulfill his promises and keep everyone safe. He had duties now, duties and obligations. He had brought them on himself, but he would carry them out. There were 34 people here now, 34 people who would look to him for protection, protection he had promised to provide to them. And he would provide that protection. He would do what he could and he would keep them safe.


Kiraa, 11 Toraa, 4393, Orthodox Calendar
Wednesday, 2 September 2007, Native Regional Reckoning
Chesapeake, Ohio (Native designation), Orala Nature Preserve, American Sector

The cheer that roared across Chesapeake was almost deafening when the lights came on.

Ten days, that was all it took to restore power to almost fifty different buildings on seven city blocks, a stunningly short amount of time given the amount of work it took. But it worked, and it worked well.

The secret had been in the planning. Tim, Jason, and Steve pored over old electrical grid layout maps of Chesapeake for almost a full day, though that wasn’t the subject at hand for most of that day. The subject was how to generate the electricity. They kicked around several ideas, from pulling a generator from a large building to using the PPG by itself to building their own, but each either would be too hard to implement or wouldn’t provide the power to handle the demands on it. The answer was a combination of home built and the PPG. Steve and Jason used components out of the workshop that Kumi had bought for him to build a generator out of flux cabling and a microprocessor to control the cabling’s magnetic field, with a core yanked out of a pole transformer. Generators usually required that the conductor cut through lines of magnetic force, usually accomplished by turning a core of coiled copper wire inside a magnetic field created by huge stationary magnets. But Jason had flux cabling which created a dynamic magnetic field, just like the magnetic catapult in his railgun, which would creating a moving magnetic field cutting through a stationary core. The only requirement they had was getting a core big enough to handle the power demands that would be placed upon it. Writing a software program to create the necessary 60 Volts had taken all of an hour, and it had been Steve who had written it. Steve, it turned out, had quite a bit of experience with Faey TEL language, having learned the basics in school, then finishing his education of it himself out of curiosity.

It took them three days to build the generator. It was about the size of a washer and dryer side by side, flux cabling carefully wrapped around the insulated core with industrial wiring connected to the core. They tested it and confirmed that it did indeed work, though they couldn’t test its ability to carry a load until they hooked it up to something.

Temika dropped by right after they finished the generator. At first she was very cautious, for she had heard all kinds of rumors about what had happened down here, and her first contact with anyone was with people she knew were gang members. But it didn’t take long to assure her that Jason was still there. He gave her some lunch and explained what had happened and what they were doing, and after that she left very quickly. She left so fast and without any word that he worried that she was never coming back.

After that, they spent four days setting up their grid. The main thing they did was isolate their habitation area by creating a local grid block, then they inserted the generator in an abandoned store beside the bridge, between the two “minigrids” they had designed. The west grid was residential, and the east grid was to power anything down at the farm that Luke and his bulldozer were still making. After that was done, they installed pole transformers on the pole just outside the generator, which had taken nearly a day because the pole didn’t have mounts and those things were damn heavy. Then they went out and took the bulbs out of every street lamp that was within the grid while everyone else went into each unoccupied house on the grid and shut off circuit breakers.

Once that was done, they tested the grid for nearly two full days without turning it on, using test equipment. They searched for bad sections of wire, faulty transformers, and any shorts in the lines that would overload the grid and make the generator shut down. After all three signed off on it, they decided to turn it on. They had to have a little ceremony of sorts, of course, so they waited until morning the next day, so they’d have a full day of light to find any problems if it didn’t work.

Tim did the honors. He was the one down at the generator-what everyone now called the “power plant”-and he flipped the switch. Both Jason and Steve were holding their breath when he called over the little hand radio that he was bringing up the grid, but they released that breath explosively when the front porch light of the house across the street from Jason’s came on.

And they cheered for nearly ten minutes. A few of them danced around. Getting power back was like a dream come true for most of them, and that simple fact more than anything else had made it worth throwing their hat in with Jason. That night, they would sleep in houses that could be lit up just by flipping a switch, not lighting a candle. Some of them would sleep in air conditioning, those whose houses had them and whose units still worked.

Then they got back to work. Jim Wilson was assigned the task that day of bringing the freezers up in stages, the freezers that had been put in the house beside Jason’s. They couldn’t all be turned on at once or they’d overload the house’s wiring, so Jim had to go over every hour and turn on five more freezers, until all 24 were going. The house’s wiring started overloading at 15, and the breakers couldn’t take anymore at 18, so a change of plans was devised on the spot. The freezers distributed evenly through the houses from that house beside Jason’s to the one at the end of the block, which consequently gave them much more room for more freezers. Luke, who was done with bulldozing out room for farms, and Leamon Lacy went out and found more freezers and brought them back while Jim Wilson started turning the freezers on, five at a time, in each house. Jason didn’t like the idea of spreading the freezers out among several houses, since it decentralized their food storage, but the house by his just couldn’t handle the electrical load, and besides, every house on his block was defended by nature of its location in the middle of the community. People lived on every side of him, just not on his block or the block facing his house.

People started snagging window units out of empty houses after that night, as those without any air conditioning, or with broken air conditioners, sought them out, and there was something of a comical mad dash on the empty houses for working appliances. After seeing people setting things out on the sidewalk, though, Jason called another town meeting that night, and they organized a coherent trash disposal system. They designated the old parking lot of the K-Mart down on Route 52 to be the town’s dump for inorganic trash, which was nearly five miles away. That put it more than far enough away. Luke, however, wasn’t totally happy about that, and asked that everyone bring their broken appliances to him and Leamon first, to see if they could fix it. If they couldn’t, they could strip them of usable parts, then what was left could be sent on to the dump. Organic trash would be taken down to the farm and dumped on the compost heap to serve as fertilizer for their crops.

Those crops were already growing. They only had about two months of growing season left, so Ruth, who was the farm forewoman, had planted fast-growing crops that they could harvest before the first frost. She was confident that they’d get a good yield, and that combined with the food they had stockpiled already, and at the steady rate that the hunters were bringing in meat, she was confident that they’d have a comfortable winter.

When the power was back up, it gave Jason too much time to worry about Jyslin. He hadn’t called her yet, since they’d be expecting it, but there really wasn’t much he could do for her. She’d resisted the mindbenders, and knowing her, they wouldn’t bother her again, but he just felt bad that she had to go through that. She suffered because of him. Jyslin had really put her neck on the line for him, and for Tim and Symone as well, when by all rights she should have turned them in. It was her Imperial duty. The only thing that had stopped her was their personal relationship. It wasn’t even love-at least not love like most people would expect-it was just that they liked each other.

He tried to keep his mind off Jyslin with work. The abandoning of Huntington had drawn in a great number of scavengers, most of which were the former gang members, who had indeed waited to see what would happen. While Jason was busy with the power and Luke was busy with his numerous projects, it had been Irwin and Symone who had kept watch over the city. Irwin had already gotten used to his plasma rifle, and he was a nasty marksman. He and Symone had had a friendly competition, and he proved the equal of Symone’s sniper rating. Symone taught him how to ride the airbike, and he traded patrols with her. The armor making group had hurried to get Irwin the first finished pieces of phase cloth armor, which consisted of regular clothes sewn with thin cotton linings that held the armor cloth between them. They’d used some old sheets they’d taken from the gang stockpiles, and though Irwin complained that it felt weird, and that it was a tad hot to wear in the early September heat wave, he certainly didn’t mind too much. After the power was restored, the four of them traded patrols in a rotation that kept someone watching over the city most of the time. They did nothing against the scavengers that invaded Huntington, looking for scraps and leftovers, but they did actively intervene when any of them tried to cross the river, or came towards their enclave from the Ohio side. Several times over those days they worked on the power, they had all heard the report of a plasma rifle being discharged, as the sentry fired down in front of scavengers from the airbike to scare them away. The airbike’s scanners could easily pick up scavengers with its onboard scanner, so there was no way they could sneak up on the enclave. Jason tightened their patrol to ignore most of Huntington and focus mainly on watching over Chesapeake, virtually allowing the sentry to park the bike over the houses of Chesapeake and get everything within a mile in any direction in scanning range, because what happened in Huntington really no longer concerned them. They had everything that they wanted out of the city, and what was left was available to anyone who could find it. Some of the old gang members were very angry, because they couldn’t find any guns left behind; Symone had been very thorough. But there was little they could do. Everyone in the enclave now had a pistol and rifle, and they were armed at all times. That would matter if they could even get close enough to threaten anyone, because the airbike was over them and they got plasma rained down on them as they tried to get close. And then, even if they got to the edge of the settlement, there was the fact that there were the traps. Those gang members still remembered the nasty traps Jason had devised, and they had no idea where any of them were now, since there were many more people over on that side of the river. If they even lived to reach the outer edge of the community, they’d have to deal with armed opponents when they had nothing but homemade weapons.

The strangest part was seeing the scavengers, some of which were old gang members, standing on the West Virginia bank of the river and looking over in the evening hours, just before sunset, and seeing houses with electric lights going. Even from across the river, some of them could almost hear them sighing.

The sensor system was first on the list of things needed after getting power restored. That was simple enough to set up, for they already had a sensor array in a position to do the job. It could easily perform the double duty of scanning the valley while it defeated Faey attempts to scan the area for Faey-origin materials and energy signatures. Jason, Tim, and Steve set that up before they started working on the power, because all it took was a little programming of the sensor array to stagger cycles of sweeping the valley with searching for Faey sensor sweeps, and a protocol that told it to stop scanning the valley if it detected a Faey pulse inbound and devote all resources to defeating the pulse. The sensor fed its data back to Jason’s panel, letting him see the movement of absolutely everyone from either side of the valley, and about ten miles in both directions in the valley proper. It was also set up to broadcast a warning if it detected any activity in the “danger area” inside a mile of community’s defined boundaries on all sides but the river, and using the far bank of the river as its border on that side, so it wouldn’t go off when scavengers were going through downtown Huntington. It broadcast the alert using the same frequency that the old downtown gang’s radios used, which let anyone with a radio hear the warning. There were enough radios for every person to carry one, so everyone would immediately know if someone was approaching them. There was some trouble with it at first because it was going off any time anything larger than a large dog got in the danger zone, but Jason and Steve worked out a sensor filter that only caused it to react to anything human-shaped, the presence of firearms or PPGs, or the movement of any mass greater than five hundred pounds. That would catch squatters, Faey in armor, their weapons, drones, and any vehicle moving towards them.

Temika came back two days after they got power restored, and she wasn’t alone. Not only that, she had three huge barrels tied to the undercarriage of her airbike, hanging by thick ropes. She landed outside Jason’s house with an older fellow on the back of her bike, whom Jason immediately recognized as Doc Northwood. Jason, Tim, and Steve were sitting on his front porch, going over contingency plans for bringing up more sections of the city for power if it was needful, and were also in the first stages of trying to work out the rather sticky water situation. Everyone was still drawing water from the river or streams, and they were looking into ways to get running water going to everyone... not an easy task.

“Well, I see you wandered back,” Jason said. “What are you hauling now?”

“Mah stuff,” she announced. “Ah’m movin’ in.”

“Oh really,” Jason chuckled. “And did you ask anyone?”

“Ah don’t have tah,” she grinned. “Ah seem tah recall a certain someone sayin’ Ah was welcome heah any time, if’n you don’t recall. Besides, Ah told you Ah’d do most anythin’ for some air conditionin’,” she added with a wink. “Ah took some stuff tah Doc, and he wanted to come up and check on his patient up heah, so he came up with me.”

“That’s right,” Northwood said as he dismounted. “I need to make sure that arm’s healing up right, Timothy.”

“It’s doing fine, Doc,” Tim told him.

“Well, lots of new faces,” Northwood said as he looked around. “We heard that you attacked the gangs and kicked them out of the city, and that some people started moving in around you.”

“Something like that,” Jason told him. “Most of these people are the old gang members. They decided to try a life of honest work instead of stealing. So far we’ve done rather well. Everyone more or less gets along, and we’re actually getting things done by working together rather than waste all our time fighting.”

“Well, let’s not waste time, Timothy my boy. May we borrow your house, Jason?”

“Be my guest,” he said, motioning to the door.

Jason walked up to Temika after excusing himself from Steve. She was righting the barrels that had fallen over when she landed. “So, you want to move in,” Jason chuckled. “I hope you realize it’s not just my decision. We have a rule here that any newcomers have to be accepted by a vote at a town meeting. You also have to pass a screening from Symone, the Faey. If she deems you trustworthy, you’re in.”

“Yo’ serious,” she said in surprise.

“Deadly,” he answered. “But that’s no biggie. We could really use your contacts and your airbike right now, because winter’s coming, and we need to start trading with the other enclaves for some things we need for winter.”

“Well, Ah should ask for a meeting then,” she said nervously. “Though Ah really don’t like the idea of that blueskin pokin’ around mah brain.”

“I’ll call one for tonight. Until then, make yourself at home.”

She did. She ate half of the contents of his refrigerator, then wandered around and talked to people. She seemed a bit leery of some of them, probably old grudges, but she quickly got a general feeling for what was going on. Everyone was busy getting ready for winter, and she saw activity on multiple fronts. Jason didn’t see much of Temika until that evening, when they met down at the Chesapeake Town Hall on the corner of Route 7 and the bridge, in the old auditorium in the building that had been a church before becoming a town hall. It had no air conditioning, but fans in the meeting hall kept the interior cool. Everyone was there but Irwin, who was on the airbike running a patrol, and Jason, Regina, Leamon, and Clem sat at the table at the head of the meeting room. Temika and Doc Northwood sat in the front row, looking around in curiosity. Jason banged the gavel down on the table to call the meeting to order, and everyone quieted down. “Settle down people,” he said as he stood up. “It’s a quick meeting guys. Temika here wants to move in, so we’re voting on that tonight, and that’s it. Some of you probably had run-ins with her in the past, but remember that this place is all about forgetting that stuff and moving forward. Besides, with her airbike and her contacts through the region, she’ll be key in getting us set up for winter. With Temika horse trading for us out in the field, we’ll have a much more comfortable winter. So, anyone have anything to say?”

“Only that she packs a mean punch,” someone shouted, which caused some chuckling.

“That’s it? Any other remarks?” Jason called, then he waited a moment. “Fine, all in favor?” Just about everyone raised their hand. “Opposed?” Nobody raised their hands at all. “Symone, it’s your turn.”

“You got it, cutie,” she told him, standing up from her seat. “Alright, Temika, come with me. This’ll just take a minute.”

“You gonna look in mah head?” she asked nervously as she stood up.

“Afraid so, hon,” she nodded. “Nobody lives here that we can’t trust, and this is the only way. Everyone else did this, so you have to too. Don’t worry, I’ll only look where I have to look to make sure you won’t backstab us. Your privacy is very important to me.”

“Alright,” she said, putting her hand on her stomach. Jason opened himself up just enough to hear her thoughts, and found them to be a whirlwind of fear. She was deathly afraid of Symone and the power she represented, but that fear was overwhelmed by what she saw as a once in a lifetime opportunity. She had reserved judgment on Jason’s crazy idea because she didn’t think it would work, but seeing them get the power back on had made her realize that this might be her only chance to find a better life for herself.

“I think from now on, people who ask to join should go through Symone before we vote on them,” Regina announced as Symone took Temika into a side room. “In fact, I put it on the floor as a motion.”

“That’s a good idea,” Leamon agreed. “I second.”

“In favor?” Jason asked. All four raised their hands. “Okay, motion carried. Symone screens any applicant before they come up for vote.” He looked out over the people. “While we’re here, anything anyone wants to bring up?”

Ross Michaels stood up. “Yeah, I know you’re still working on the water, and we know it’s gonna take time, but you think you could come up with something temporary? Getting clean water is getting harder. Just a central tank somewhere we can draw water from will do.”

“We know, we’re kicking around an idea for that right now,” Jason answered. “We were thinking of finding a tanker trailer somewhere and using it for holding water, at least after we get it cleaned out. But yeah, it’s going to be a while before we figure out a way to get running water in the city. There’s only three of us on the tech team, and working on a water system isn’t anything any of us have done before. But we’ll figure something out.”

“We’ll come up with something,” Tim called to them.

“Until then, a central tank of clean water will work just fine,” Ruth called.

“We’re starting to run low on ammo for the thirty-thirties,” Clem called. “Anyone who’s carrying one, keep a mind on that and try to conserve ammo when you hunt. If you want, bring it to me and I’ll trade it for an aught-six or nine mag. I have some extras, and plenty of ammo.”

“You’re running low on everything, or just the slugs?” Jason asked.

“Just the slugs. I have plenty of casings and powder.”

“We can make a mold of a bullet and I’ll see what I can do to make you some,” he promised.

“Talk to me tomorrow, and remember to police your brass, people, I can reuse it.”

Symone came back out with Temika. The woman was pale and shaking, but she had a grin on her face. “Temika’s got my stamp of approval,” Symone called to them. “She’s trustworthy.”

“Okay then, welcome to the community Temika,” Jason announced, then he waited for a round of enthusiastic applause to cease. “Mary, would you show her around and explain the rules?”

“I’d be happy to, Mister Jason,” the young lady replied.

“Any other business?” Jason called.

Steve stood up. “I wanted to announce that when I have the time and the equipment, I’m going to set up a little cable service for everyone,” he told them. “Nothing fancy, mind you. If we can get a transceiver and a good satellite dish, I can pipe the signal out on the old cable company system’s wires. It won’t be fancy, but at least we’ll get some TV out here. I’ll need a couple of volunteers to help check the cable though, and we’ll need to find a transceiver capable of picking up Faey channels.”

“Ah think Ah can get one of those,” Temika said. “Some of the squatters that live up near the border have stuff like that, and if they don’t have it, they can get it. They do black-market business with the Faey guards that patrol the border.”

“Well, talk to Steve about that. Any other business?” Jason asked. He waited a moment, but there was silence. “Okay then. Next scheduled meeting is Friday. That’s it, we’re adjourned.” He banged the gavel on the table, and that was that.

On the way out, he talked to a few people about the water situation, then found himself being pulled aside by Northwood. “Would you mind if I stayed the night, son?” he asked. “It’s a bit too late for Temika to take me home, and I don’t think she really wants to right now, with all her stuff sitting in your house.”

“You’re more than welcome to, Doc,” Jason nodded. “You can stay in my house. I’d be happy to have you.”

“Thanks, my boy,” he said with a nod.


Temika fit in rather quickly, though she was a bit shocked at how nice everyone was. She admitted at breakfast that she expected everyone to be more combative, more fussy, but nobody was like that. She also expected some of them to be ugly to her, but again, nobody was like that. Jason explained that he was a bit surprised too, but perhaps it was because maybe they’d seen what they could do if they worked with each other instead of against each other. Sure, their thoughts didn’t always match their words, but that was human nature. The fact of the matter was that everyone was cooperating, because now they all understood that they had to depend on each other in order to make it through the winter. These people had had the courage to try, and already they’d seen some of the rewards for working with the system, in the form of power. Some of them had been a bit skeptical until he had delivered on that promise, and now they had faith in the idea of the community.

She wasn’t there long though. She stayed a couple of days, only leaving to take Northwood home the next morning. She was there long enough to find a house, move her stuff in, make a couple of deals, then lock it up and head back out. She was leaving with a rifle and a thousand credits of Jason’s money, that the city council had released to Steve so he could trade for a transceiver for his television project. Temika had been on the CB most of the afternoon, finalizing the deal with a small group that lived near the border in Chillicothe. Jason’s money would buy the transceiver and pay the agent doing the buying, and the rifle was payment for the squatters who were acting as the middle men.

She came back early the next morning with two things. Steve’s transceiver, and Northwood again. The doctor had his medical bag with him, and he approached Jason as he, Luke, Leamon, and Tim tried to get a backhoe going down on Route 7, outside the old pizza place. Luke had this obsession with heavy equipment, but Jason saw the use of having some big equipment around for doing really big jobs. The bulldozer he’d got running had already proved its worth, and a backhoe would make it much easier to dig trenches for pipes, or dig pipes up. Jason and Tim stood there with the maintenance manual for it, which was badly sun-bleached on a few pages from where it had sat in the seat of the enclosed cab for two years, while Leamon and Luke, the community’s two best mechanics, tried to get a fuel pump out of it. Jason and Tim had no experience with heavy diesel engines, but both of them were curious to learn.

“Hey Doc,” Tim said brightly as they watched the two mechanics working. “What you doing back so soon?”

“Well, I was making a house call, and Temika came over and picked me up so I could see you, Jason,” he said seriously. “I recalled you saying that you had another town meeting tonight, right?”

Jason nodded to him. “Eight.”

“I’d like to apply to live here,” he announced.

“Really? That’s great, Doc!” Tim said brightly as Luke said “we could sure use you, Doc.”

“That’s not a problem, Doc,” Jason told him calmly. “Believe me, having a certified doctor around would make everyone much more secure. Just be at my house at noon, so Symone can screen you. If she passes you, you’ll be the first order of business tonight.”

“We could get that done right now, son.”

Jason shook his head. “I need Symone right now,” he told him.

“Ah, okay. Just so you know son, I’ll still be traveling to visit patients outside the community. I’m the only doctor around, and I’m needed. I’ve never played favorites and I never will, but you have power here. I can set up a good clinic here, even do some minor surgery if it’s needed. That can help people much more than where I am.”

“Moving here doesn’t mean you lose your outside life, Doc,” Jason assured him. “As long as you abide by the rules, you can do whatever you want.” He looked at his watch. “Damn, I’m late,” he grunted. “Sorry guys. Doc, feel free to wander around if you want and talk to some people. I gotta get home.”

“What are you late for, son?”

“An appointment.”

“It’s one of his secret Mayor things, Doc,” Leamon chuckled. “He won’t tell us what it is.”

“It’s what I need Symone for,” Jason told him. “I need to get her a replacement piece for her armor, so I’m going to deal with a Faey contact I have on the outside. She’s going to buy it for me, and then arrange to deliver it.”

“Oh, I get it. I see her wearing her armor all the time, though. What’s wrong with it?”

“It’s patched,” he answered. “Symone got shot up escaping with Tim from the Faey. I patched it up with what I had laying around, but it’s not entirely safe the way it is. If she gets hit in the same place, the armor won’t do much to protect her. I want to get her replacement pieces that aren’t jerry-rigged.”

“Ah.”

He sent to Symone to have her come to the house, then he got home and claimed his panel and called Kumi’s number. He tried to call yesterday, but she wasn’t home. He left her a message telling her he’d call back around this time, which was about noon her time. This time he got her and not her answering service, wearing a tight halter top that she commonly wore when exercising. “I thought you forgot,” she teased. “What’s up?”

“I need something delivered,” he told her immediately. “Can you swing it?”

“As easy as a man pees standing up,” she replied with a wicked grin. “You got a list ready?”

“In a minute, important things first.” Symone came into the room, and he glanced back at her. “I was wondering,” he told her.

“What do you need me for, Jayce?” Symone asked as she came up to him.

“Symone, meet Kumi. Kumi, this is Symone,” Jason introduced.

“So she’s the one that rescued your friend,” Kumi said, looking at her. “You’re brave for a commoner.”

“And you’re awful young to be the conniving noble Jason talks about, my Lady,” Symone replied with a wink.

“I’m a bad girl,” she admitted with an outrageous grin. “So what do you need?”

“Armor for her,” Jason answered, nodding his head towards Symone. “Real armor, like mine.”

“Armor? How the hell are you going to manage that, Jayce?” Symone asked.

“He can swing it, girl,” Kumi chuckled. “I can have it there in two days.”

“How do they make it so fast anyway?” Jason asked curiously.

“It’s already partially made,” she answered. “The company I deal with keeps virtually every size of every piece on hand, and they just pick the piece that’s closest to the size they need and customize it for an exact fit. With the machines they use, they can have a full suit of fitted armor ready in about six hours after getting the order.”

“Nice,” Jason said with a nod.

“Symone, is it? I need you to strip,” Kumi ordered. “I’m going to take a vid of you so I can get your exact size. That way the armor fits right when you get it.”

“No problem, my Lady,” Symone said, immediately reaching for the tail of her shirt.

“Can it with the Lady shit,” Kumi told her. “Just call me Kumi.”

Symone did as she was told and stripped, even taking off her panties... which probably wasn’t really necessary. He couldn’t see how those bikini-style undergarments could possibly interfere with Kumi’s measurements. But, Kumi told her to strip, so Symone stripped. Jason moved out of the way so Kumi could get an unobstructed angle on Symone, who did more than Kumi had asked of him. Kumi had her turn around, raise her arms, bend this way and that, until he realized that Kumi was just dragging it out. “You about done Kumi?” he asked pointedly.

“Almost,” she said. “Men don’t have the same curves as women, babe, so the armor’s fit is a bit more important to let us move freely. That and I had enough vid of you dressing and undressing to compile a good dynamic size. You moved the right ways,” she winked. “You don’t want her armor to break her ribs the first time she bends sideways, do you?”

“Yeah, they measured everything you can imagine when I was in basic, in a bunch of different positions. This isn’t unusual, cutie,” Symone told him.

“Sorry, I thought you were just messing with her or something,” he said contritely.

“I don’t mess with girls, babe,” Kumi told him with an evil grin. “I don’t get much out of seeing something I can see by looking in a mirror. I dabbled with girls a couple of times out of curiosity, and I admit it wasn’t bad, but it just wasn’t as much fun as having sex with boys.”

“That was too much information, Kumi,” Jason said with a grunt.

“You’re such a prude,” she accused with a laugh.

“I’m just not as worldly as a spoiled noble debutante,” he replied, which made her howl with laughter.

Kumi had Symone do a few other things, like deep knee bends, kicking her leg, and then she gave Jason a wicked smirk and had Symone touch her toes. Now that was just to get at him. He added that to the list, for she was going to get hers when she delivered Symone’s armor. “Okay, that’s enough,” she told them. “I have enough for a good sizing. I’ll send this through and get them to work on it. I’ll pay for it, and you can pay me back tomorrow, babe, when we arrange the meet. That work for you?”

He nodded as Symone gave him a curious look. “Meet?” she asked as she pulled her panties back on.

“That’s how he gets what I buy for him,” Kumi winked. “You need anything else? May as well make a shipment out of it.”

He uploaded a small file to her. “Actually, I do. I’m going to need a replacement sensor transceiver pod like what’s in my skimmer, to start off with. I also need ten cases of double-stranded twenty gauge flux cabling, a box of twenty-ten plasma magnets, three spools of dataline fiber, thirty PGX-10 PPGs, twenty AJX-3 lasers, eighty EI-21 multipurpose microsensors, twenty PCM-1021 moleculartronic microprocessors, twenty AT-2 smartgun pads, and twenty MK-2 backglass displays. It’s all in the file. Oh, yeah, I want something else, Kumi. Something you might not be able to get. Something that might get you in trouble.”

“What?” she asked curiously.

“I want a replicator,” he told her.

She whistled. “Babe, those are pricy. You’re talking a hundred thousand credits, at least, and that’s used. And the armor’s going to run you about sixty.”

“You can get one, though?”

She gave a snorting laugh. “Babe, I can get anything. Replicators aren’t controlled like you must think they are. Any industrial supply company sells them. I’ll have more trouble buying the armor than I will a replicator. The main issue for you is cost. You’re talking money when you start talking replicators. You can buy a skimmer for less.”

“Oh, I thought they were because in school they-”

“Well, there you are. They lock them down in schools to keep the students from doing something stupid with them,” she told him, then her eyes widened. “Jason! You’re building more of them?”

“A few,” he admitted with a nod, understanding what she was asking about. “Enough so the group I’m with can protect itself.”

“I want one!” she said immediately. “I’ll trade you-hell, I’ll buy one from you!”

“Remember what I told you, Kumi?”

“Yeah, but you really think I’m going to give it to the Imperium?” she scoffed.

“No, but that’s puts it out there for them to find, take apart, and copy. I’m sorry, hon, but the answer’s no.”

“Jason, I will trade you a hundred Mark IV MPACs for one of those guns,” she said seriously. “You can stick a bomb in it so it explodes if I try to take it apart, I don’t care.”

“I can’t do that, Kumi, I’m sorry.”

She knows about the railgun? Symone sent.

He looked over at her. One of her bodyguards fired it when she delivered the airbikes, he replied. She’s doesn’t know what it is, but she’s seen what it can do. She was impressed by it.

I can tell.

“Come on, babe,” she almost pleaded. “I want one.”

“Why?” he asked. “You can never use it, Kumi. If you do, someone’s going to want to know what it is, where it came from, how it works, and I told you that I’ll never give it to the Imperium. You’d be buying something you’d have to keep in your closet.”

“I can keep it in the closet, just so I have one,” she told him.

“I’m sorry Kumi, but no. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but you’re not the only one there, and I can’t risk something happening that puts it in the hands of the Imperium. If that happened, both of us would be in serious trouble.”

She gave a squeaking growl and slapped her hands on the top of the table. Kumi had a bit of a temper, he noticed, and she didn’t like not getting her way.

“He’s right, Kumi,” Symone said seriously. “If the Imperium caught you with it, they’d hang you out for the korpas, then they’d come swarming down on Jason like a pack of giruzi. It’s safer for everyone if you don’t have one. But I’m sure Jason will let you play with it for a while when you’re here,” Symone winked.

“Now that I can live with,” Kumi said with a slight smile. “This is going to get expensive, babe. All that equipment and armor and a replicator? Tack on my fee, and we’re talking a minimum of two hundred grand. Probably more, it’s going to depend on what kind of replicator you want and what’s on the market.”

“The bay only needs to be about four shakra by four shakra by two shakra,” he told her. “I don’t need a big one, just something that can produce some material for me.”

“Like parts for that gun of yours?” she asked with a grin.

“The stock, yes,” he admitted immediately.

“You know, I could probably figure it out,” she said with a sly little smile. “Going on what you ordered.”

“Maybe, but am I going to use all of it for the gun? Some of that stuff is for other purposes, you know. You have no idea what’s in my gun or how it works, so you have no idea what I need for what’s inside that pretty black casing now, do you?”

She gave him a sour look. “You’re being mean to me, babe.”

“You’re the one who’s beating her head against the wall, Kumi,” he said seriously. “I really like you hon, but you’re edging into dangerous territory here. My life stands in the balance, hon. I’m not going to take any chances.”

She sighed. “You’re right, you’re right,” she admitted, waving her hand absently. “I’m sorry, babe, but it’s just such a fucking cool gun. A girl couldn’t help but want one.”

Jason chuckled. “Well, thanks Kumi, I appreciate the compliment,” he told her sincerely. “And I’ve got, um, a little over two hundred fifty thousand in my account right now. That should cover it. That’s the limit, hon, so work with that figure, and don’t forget your five percent.”

“Another deposit?”

He nodded. “Two, actually. Seventy thousand and forty thousand this time.”

“Got it, babe. Call me this time tomorrow my time so we can work out when we’re meeting. Oh, and make sure you bring something big to get the replicator. I’ll try to find a small one, but even small ones are pretty big.”

“This time tomorrow your time,” he affirmed, doing the conversion on his panel. “Oh yeah, I forgot. Think you can throw in one more panel, one that you don’t have to worry about CivNet access for? My panel’s getting a little stressed with everything I’m doing on it, I need a backup.”

“Off the shelf?” she asked, and he nodded. “No problem, babe. I’ll get you a couple, that way you have a spare.”

“You’re a lifesaver, Kumi.”

“You know it,” she grinned. “Talk to you tomorrow. Later, babe.” Her image disappeared from his panel.

That’s an interesting girl, Symone noted as she finished putting on her boots.

She’s a pirate, he told her immediately. Don’t ever think that’s she’s not. But she’s trustworthy. She’s loyal to the money I pay her.

Where are you getting that money?

It’s mine. Kumi had someone hack into the Ministry and redirect my royalty payments to a bank on Moridon. She gets fifteen percent of each royalty payment as a fee for it, but it’s worth paying her. That money’s buying your armor, and it’s buying me the materials to build more railguns.

Symone laughed. The Imperium wouldn’t dare trying to take on Moridon over that account! she sent, her thoughts amused and mischievous. Your little noble friend is a clever monster.

She’s moderately monstrous, yes, Jason agreed blandly.

I’ll never be able to pay you for the armor, cutie, she warned him.

You’ll use it to defend the community. That’s payment enough, he told her. After I get enough money built up, I’ll buy armor for Luke and Irwin, too. But that’s going to be a couple of months down the road.

They won’t mind, that’s for sure.

I’d hope not, Jason sent with a chuckle.


Jason wasn’t alone this time, as they waited for Kumi to arrive. He was hidden in the woods in the same place where he was before, at the swimming area of the old Beech Fork Lake. Symone was with him this time, and they had Luke’s Deuce hidden under some low-hanging branches in the overgrown road that led to the swimming area. The Deuce should be able to carry a replicator; they were about a ton in weight on the average, well within a Deuce’s carrying capacity. Jason had called Kumi the day before and arranged this meeting to take place at sunset today, which was now. Kumi was coming in person again, but this time she wasn’t staying on Earth. She had come on a freighter, she would make the delivery, and then she would go back home. It would take her about six hours after all was said and done. It was about the closest thing to real work she ever did, he reasoned. She probably had her butler, Fure, do most of the legwork when it came to collecting up the things she bought for him.

He hoped she hurried up. There was a front coming through, and it was going to start raining soon.

Remember, they do not know I have talent, Jason warned Symone as they heard the dropship’s engines in the distance. I’ll have my mind totally closed, even to sending, so don’t even try. Fure already suspects I have talent, so don’t give him any reason to think he’s right.

Who’s Fure?

One of Kumi’s servants, he answered as the lights of the dropship appeared, as it descended through a cloud. Remember the plan?

Symone laughed wickedly. She’s going to hate you, Jason.

I know, but she has it coming. Remember, it won’t be personal, and I apologize in advance if I do something that offends you.

Jayce hon, you’re my friend, she reminded with a pat of his shoulder. Trust me, I won’t take it personally. I’m going to enjoy it, truth be told, and I did agree to do it. I won’t back out, and I know what we have to do.

I know, but it’s good to make sure.

They watched as the dropship circled the area, obviously sweeping the place with sensors, then it landed. Jason and Symone, neither wearing their heavy armor, walked out into the clearing as the back doors and ramp opened on the dropship, and Jason saw the same five people who had greeted him the first time; Kumi, the twins Meya and Myra, Fure, and that little red-skinned guy whose name Jason did not know. Everyone but Kumi was wearing similar clothes since the last time; the twins in their armor, and the two servants in their livery, but Kumi was wearing an odd half-top of shimmering black cloth that had flared half-sleeves, whose lower hem was also uneven. It revealed a hint of a peek of the lower slope of her right breast, but the left side hung down to the waist of her sleek black pants, which were slung very low on her hips and were quite form-fitting. The outfit left her flat stomach bare, showing off that figure that Kumi was so proud of. There was a big container behind them, somewhat reminiscent to Jason of a semi’s trailer, just square, with smooth, polished sides, and built out of what looked to be titanium. It looked like a giant mirrored cube, and he could see no door on it. Jason waved to them as Kumi started down the ramp, but Meya and Myra were already moving to the sides of the ship to investigate the area.

“Hey babe,” Kumi greeted as they met at the base of the ramp. “We gotta do this fast, I’m on a tight schedule. It’s all in the container. You have something to carry it?”

He nodded. “An old vehicle we salvaged out here. Wait here, I’ll go get it.”

With Symone spotting him, Jason backed the Deuce up to the edge of the ramp of the dropship and parked the huge truck, then climbed down as Fure used an antigrav pod affixed to the top of the container to transfer it to the open truckbed. The chassis of the truck settled noticeably onto its tires when the weight was put in the bed, but the container fit... almost. It stuck out almost two feet on either side of the bed, and took up the entire length of the bed as well. Fure annealed the base of the container to the metal bed of the Deuce so it wouldn’t slide off as Jason looked over a list that Kumi supplied him, everything she had bought. “The replicator’s an older model and it’s used, but it works. I tested it and everything. It’s also not too big as reps go, so it shouldn’t take up your entire workshop,” she grinned. “Everything else is here. I have her armor in the cockpit, she should try it on before we go to make sure it fits.”

“Let’s go then, I have to get that truck back to its owner by tomorrow, and we have a ways to go,” Jason told her.

Jason and Symone followed Kumi up into the cockpit, and after he looked around, he realized that this was the same dropship that she’d used the last time. He recognized it. “Armor’s right there, girl,” Kumi said, pointing. “Now give me the gun. I get to play with it while she tries it on.”

“Fine, just stay where I can see you, and don’t try to take it apart. You won’t like what will happen if you try,” he warned.

“Trapped?” she asked.

He nodded. “I’m going to help Symone with her armor,” Jason said, handing her the railgun. She took it and literally ran through the cargo compartment and down the back ramp. She was quickly joined by Meya and Myra, and the BEE-yah sound of the weapon echoed through the ship as they took turns blowing craters in the hillside on the far side of the lake spur.

“Okay, try it on,” Jason whispered to Symone in English. “We’ll do it when she burns up the ammo, after you finish.”

“Got it,” Symone said with an evil grin, pulling her tee shirt over her head.

Jason helped her put the black armor on, mainly because they didn’t have much time. He did pause to admire the same phoenix design on the breastplate of her armor that was on his. After she was done, stuffing her blonde hair up under the helmet, she moved around to ensure the armor was a good fit, then she tested its systems. Unlike Jason, who had had no idea what anything did, Symone immediately knew what everything did, and where it was. She tested the forearm MPAC ports but didn’t fire the weapons, and her feet came off the ground after she flipped up the armored flap hiding the control console of the armor’s systems, on her left wrist just under the flared pod of the MPAC.

“It all works,” she whispered to him.

“Okay, let’s get you out of it,” he said, watching Kumi and her guards, as Fure kept an eye on him from the ramp. “You’re sure you don’t mind?”

“It’ll be fun,” Symone winked.

After burning up all the ammunition, Kumi made her way back to the cockpit, but Jason quickly disappeared from her view. Fure rushed forward, but Kumi was closer, so she reached the cockpit hatchway first. She was greeted by the sight of Jason engaged in a passionate embrace with Symone, who was nude, the armor and her clothes scattered all over the floor of the cockpit. Symone had him backed against the bulkhead, and his hands squeezed her shapely butt liberally as she kissed him with aggressive hunger. Jason kept a watchful eye on Kumi as he broadcasted intense, downright pornographic thoughts about Symone, which he knewKumi was hearing. He continued the game, but it wasn’t easy to concentrate on Kumi because Symone was maybe being a little bit too serious about kissing him. She was a damn good kisser, and she was having fun.

Though he couldn’t hear Kumi’s thoughts, he had no doubt it was getting to her. Kumi’s skin flushed, turning a faint shade of purple, and she watched them with hungry eyes. Jason then opened his eyes enough for Kumi to see him looking at her, and she was suddenly assaulted with graphic fantasies about him, her, and Symone. He pushed Symone aside, who played it to the hilt by kissing his neck ardently while her hands were all over him; she even stuck her hand down the front of his pants and grabbed him. He advanced on Kumi, who stood in the doorway, one hand on the bulkhead and the other cupping her breast, and she stared up at him with sultry eyes when he reached her. He leaned down and kissed her, still assaulting her with graphic images of what he intended to do to her, and she wrapped her hands around him like a vice, even wrapped her legs around him when he picked her up and carried her towards one of the passenger seats.

Kumi didn’t see the huge grin on Symone’s face, or the fact that she’d stopped pawing Jason and was now hurriedly collecting up her armor even as she rushed to get dressed.

He deposited Kumi in the very chair in which she’d sat naked and propositioned him, still kissing her with passion, and honestly enjoying it. What was it with Faey and kissing? Did every single one of them have to be a fantastic kisser? Jyslin just blew his socks off every time she kissed him, and he’d just discovered that Symone was a fabulous kisser, and now Kumi was doing her race proud. He ran his hands up inside her top, getting a thorough feel of her breasts, then wormed a hand inside her tight-fitting pants and got a feel of what she’d offered him the last time he’d met her. She almost sucked the breath out of him when he touched her, and he knew he had her dead to rights.

He withdrew his hand slowly, almost sensuously, and when she let go of him to return the favor, he quickly pulled away. Every lascivious thought pouring out of his mind just stopped, and he rose up from his half-kneeling position quickly and effortlessly, pausing only to adjust his shirt. “Thanks for everything, Kumi,” he told her with a neutral expression, though his eyes were dancing with mirth. “I have to get that Deuce back before I get in trouble. It was good to see you again.”

She looked up at him in total confusion, breathing heavily, and her exposed blue skin was sheened over with sweat. He’d got her going, and then he just stopped cold. She didn’t quite understand what was going on, lost somewhere between her ardor and his mystifying behavior. He leaned down, as if to kiss her, but instead leaned in and brought his mouth close to her ear. “By the way, my girlfriends think you’re gorgeous,” he whispered in her ear.

He pulled away, and it suddenly dawned on her that he was doing nothing more than playing with her. She turned absolutely purple as she blushed furiously on top of the flush of her ardor, and the look she flashed at him from that chair was positively murderous.

“Think about that the next time you show my naked picture around without my permission,” Jason told her with a slight, clever little smile, reaching down quickly for the railgun that Kumi had dropped to the floor when he kissed her. Symone handed him her box of armor, and she bowed outrageously to the flustered noble and took it back.

“Was it good for you, baby?” Symone asked Jason outrageously.

“Symone, you make a man beg to die in your arms,” he answered with a dry drawl.

“I-You-She-I-grrrraaaoohhhh!!!!” Kumi stammered, then her words turned into a growling scream, slamming her hands against the armrests of her chair as Jason and Symone hastily made their escape. Fure gave him a shocked look, then he chuckled ruefully as the two of them rushed past. They managed to get out of the dropship before they both erupted into uncontrollable laughter, which he had no doubt was audible to Kumi inside the dropship.

They got to the Deuce and hurriedly climbed inside, but Kumi was already at the ramp. “Jason Fox!” she screamed loudly. “You RAT! That was MEAN!” Then she started laughing. “Don’t even think you’re gonna get away that easy, you tease! Next time I see you, I’m gonna make you do every single thing you were thinking at me!”

Jason poked his head out the window and looked back at her. “Then let’s call it a date!” he shouted back to her. “Gotta go, Kumi! Have a safe trip home, and I hope you enjoyed the show!”

“I will own you, Jason Fox!” Kumi threatened, pointing a finger at him. “When I’m done with you, you won’t be able to walk straight for a week!”

“Confident, isn’t she?” Symone chuckled as Jason started the Deuce, whose engine drowned out her voice, and they got moving.

They didn’t look back until the truck was almost to 152, but then they saw the dropship rise up from the behind the hill they’d driven over and bolt off into the night sky. They didn’t stop laughing until they were halfway home, when Symone sighed in amused contentment and leaned back in her seat. “Oh, Trelle’s garland, that was great,” she said, then started giggling again. “She was so hot for it that she was about to rip her clothes off, and then you just stop. Demir’s sword, Jayce, you must have ice in your blood.”

“Oh, I was tempted, I won’t lie,” he admitted, “but revenge before fun, as they always say.”

Symone laughed, then she reached over and put her hand on his shoulder. “After that, I think I’m going to have to take Tim up to our room and try to melt his cast,” she told him. “You managed to get me as worked up as her. Trelle’s garland, Jayce, I never thought you could be that dirty,” she admitted with a laugh.

“Jyslin corrupted me,” he drawled. “I might have to take a cold shower tonight, but it was worth it. First I get kissed by you, then by Kumi. I don’t think many men could stand up to that for long.”

“Cold shower? Bull shit,” Symone told him. “I’ll take care of it, Jayce. Friends don’t leave friends frustrated. I wouldn’t be much of a friend if I did.”

“You don’t have to do that, Symone,” he assured her.

“Hell, now I want to,” she winked at him. “You got me wound up tighter than a tenday clock, cutie. I think you deserve the honor of popping my spring.”

“I’ll let Tim take care of it,” he told her.

“I told you once before Jayce, it’s no big deal. You are my friend, and you need a woman. Faey women don’t let their male friends go without. Ever. You need some sex, and you’re getting some tonight. You can fight with me about it all you want, but in the end you’re gonna end up letting me fuck you, and you know it. Just accept it gracefully and enjoy it.”

“Tim might have something to say about it.”

“Tim thinks I’m already fucking you,” she told him bluntly. “I reminded him when we got here that any time I thought you needed some I’d take care of it, since Jyslin isn’t here and it doesn’t look like you’re fucking any of the human girls on the side. He’s known what Faey women do for their male friends, cutie, since back when we went to the beach. I won’t be doing anything other than what he thinks I’m already doing.”

Jason blew out his breath. Dissuading Symone was probably a lost cause. She was his friend, and that was something that Faey friends did. As long as they didn’t join minds, it would just be casual sex, and that was more than within the bounds of a Faey’s concept of a healthy friendship with a member of the opposite sex.

And, to be honest with himself... he was most certainly in the mood, and outside of calling Kumi back down, Symone was about his only option. He felt a bit awkward about the idea of having sex with his best friend’s girlfriend, but she saw nothing wrong with it. And it wasn’t like he could just go up to one of the women in the community and ask her to come sleep with him. He’d have to ask Tim about this. If Tim told him that it was alright, he guessed he may as well. If only because Symone wouldn’t leave him alone.

“Well?” she demanded.

“I’m considering it,” he said seriously.

She gave him a look, then laughed.

“I’m a bit uncomfortable with the idea of it Symone, I won’t lie,” he admitted. “You’re my best friend’s girlfriend. In human society, that makes you out of bounds. But, I know you’re not human,” he said, cutting off her inevitable reply. “You’re just doing what you think is right, just like I am.”

“You don’t understand as well as I thought,” she said, pursing her lips. “Tim’s looked into my heart and soul, Jayce, through the bond we share. He knows that nothing will ever take me away from him, not even hot sex with his hunky best friend. That’s why he doesn’t mind. Hell, cutie, you can ask him when we get home. I bet you ten credits here and now he’ll give you his blessing.”

“I may have to do that, for my own piece of mind if anything.”

“Then it’s easy money for me,” she grinned.

“Easy money? Hell, woman, you’re about sixty thousand in the hole to me for your armor.”

“Then I’m ten credits closer to breaking even,” she winked. “You wanna get rid of me, cutie? Get a human girlfriend. I’d put some money on that brown woman, Tomika?”

“Temika.”

“She’s cute-at least for a human-built like a Marine, and she’s stacked,” she told him.

“I’m not her type. She likes guys who are ripped.”

“Hunger makes the best sauce, cutie,” she winked, then she frowned. “Did you know she has talent?”

He nodded. “I’ve had to edit her memory before, when I messed up. She has potential.”

“Not potential, Jayce. Talent. She’s like a little girl who hasn’t expressed yet. It’s there, just not awake. It’s just a matter of time.”

He glanced at her, moving the big truck across the road to avoid a fallen tree, which caused it to hit a cavernous pot hole that shook the whole truck. “How soon?”

“Days, months, no idea,” she shrugged. “Once it’s like that, it just takes something setting it off, if it doesn’t wake up on its own.”

“You could have told me earlier.”

“I’m not entirely sure how to approach her, Jayce, and I wanted to come up with something before I told you.”

“How do you mean?”

“She’s terrified of talent, cutie,” she said seriously. “Someone must have done something very bad to her to make her like that. I’m not sure how she’ll react when she finds out she has it. I’ve been trying to come up with a safe way to tell her that won’t cause her too much harm.”

“I’ll do it,” he told her. “If she’s that close, she needs to know before she expresses, or she might have a nervous breakdown.” He picked up the handheld radio. “Tim,” he called.

Tim, like just about everyone in the community, had one of those radios, so he answered immediately. “You done, Jayce?”

“Yeah, I’ve got the package and we’re on the way back. I need you to do something for me.”

“What?”

“Get on the CB and send out the word that Temika needs to come back,” he told her.

“Ah’ll get right on it, sugah,” Temika’s voice called over her handheld, her tone amused. “Ah just got back about ten minutes ago. What do you need?”

“You. I’ll explain when we get back.”

“You got it, sugah.”

Jason and Symone drove the rest of the way in relative silence, as Jason worked through how he’d breach this subject with Temika. He thought of several different ways to do it, but he knew Temika, and knew that trying to dance around the subject wouldn’t sit well with her. The best way would be to just tell her, and explain to her what needed to be done. She’d respect him more for that than for leading her on or not leveling with her.

Several scavengers ran out of sight as they crawled through Huntington, following a roundabout route that was the only unobstructed path from 5th Street Hill to the downtown bridge. He paused at the bridge and called over using the radio, and waited while Tim disengaged the trap on the bridge. He drove over and quickly made it back to his house, then pulled up in front of it as Tim, Doc Northwood, Steve, Temika, Clem, and Leamon stood up on his porch. He wasn’t sure what they were doing, but it didn’t really bother him that they were there. Tim and Symone lived in his house for right now, to keep Tim close to the two people who could contain him if he had an accident, or at least at that time. After a few weeks of training with Symone, Tim had learned how to completely close his mind so he didn’t hear the thoughts of those around him, and he like Jason, he actively kept that up most of the time. Jason had to choose to hear someone’s thoughts, which prevented accidents.

“Wow, what’s that?” Leamon asked as Jason and Symone got out of the Deuce.

“This is our latest goodie bag,” Jason answered. “I’m broke now, but I got something that’ll make things much easier.”

“What?” he asked.

“A replicator,” he answered.

“A replicator? That thing that can just make stuff?” Leamon asked.

Jason nodded as he whistled, which got Tim’s attention. “Go get my annealer, would you please?” He looked to Leamon as Symone came around the truck. “It can make some things, yes, but it has limits,” he explained. “It can only make elements, not finished products. This’ll be handy to bang out all the copper wire we need, or iron, and stuff like that, but it won’t do stuff like those things on Star Trek would.”

“So what good will it do us?”

“Trust me, it’s going to be very useful,” he said seriously.

“Umm, Jason son, we don’t have any forklifts,” Clem told him. “How are we getting anything down from it?”

Jason screwed his face up, then looked to Symone. “Think you and me could lift a replicator with the armor?”

“Breaking it in early, aren’t we?” she chuckled. “Sure, cutie, we could pick it up. We’ll need everything but the helmet.”

Jason and Symone went in, Symone carrying her armor in its box, then the suited up and came back out. The container was a featureless cube of unpainted titanium, without doors or markings of any kind outside of this end up and fragile. It had been annealed closed, and Jason had to use the annealer to get it open. He cut the entire back wall out of it, then pushed it over for Symone to catch. She did so easily, then drug it out of the way and laid it on the ground. The air inside, air from whatever planet that Kumi had been on when it was sealed, was fresh and oddly sweet, and inside was stowed boxes and boxes of equipment. Each box was made of an ultra-strong synthetic material much akin to plastic, with different colors and logos, with Faey words printed on them. They were manufacturer’s boxes, and inside them was the equipment she had bought for him. Behind those boxes, looming large, was the replicator.

“Okay, fellas, let’s move these boxes out,” Symone ordered as she and Jason climbed inside.

With eight people working, they quickly got everything out and stacked neatly on his lawn. Jason and Symone sized up the replicator, then looked at each other from its ends. “Scoot it over then get out and set it down?” she suggested.

“I think that’s best,” he agreed with a nod, opening the command panel on the arm of his armor as she did the same. He engaged the strength augmentation system, which caused his entire suit of armor to suddenly make a sound much like a charging flash for an old camera. The backglass on his console flashed [ENGAGED] three times, then it turned green and went steady. The powered joints of the armor were now charged and ready, and they would respond to the flexing of his muscles and the pressure his body put on the inside of the armor when he moved. The armor was now doing all the moving, but it would move with him like it was his second skin. With the armor’s powered system active, the two of them easily scooted the thousand pounds of replicator over to the edge.

“Alright boys, we need your help,” Symone told them as they jumped down the five feet to the ground. “Me and Jayce are gonna pick it up, you guys get on the back side and keep it from wobbling as we bring it down. We can’t let it fall over.”

“Got it, Miss Symone,” Clem said. “Come on, boys,” he told the younger men, and he, Leamon, and Tim climbed up into the unit with the help of Jason. “Mind that arm, Tim son,” he ordered. “Just put your shoulder on it. Me and Leamon’ll be on each end.”

“Ah can help, yah bunch’a chauvinists,” Temika laughed as she pulled herself into the unit. She got beside Tim and put her hands on the back of the replicator. “Ah’m ready.”

“Ready?” Jason asked Symone as he put his gauntleted hands under the bottom edge of the replicator, and she nodded. “Ready up there Clem?”

“We’re ready, Jason,” he answered.

“On three,” Symone said, then counted down. They picked it up, which made it wobble dangerously since they were so far under it, but the three men and woman behind it kept it stable. They lifted it out past the edge, then lowered it slowly and carefully to the ground.

“What is all this stuff, Jason?” Leamon asked.

“Well, most of what’s in the boxes is what I need to build more guns like the one I carry,” he answered as he and Symone picked it up again, then started carrying it towards his house. “Can someone go open the door and clear a path to the basement stairs?” he asked.

“I’ll get it,” Tim said, and rushed ahead.

“I got some extra flux cabling in case we need to build another generator, and there should be a new panel or two in there too, which is going to run the security system so I can have my panel back. I also got a sensor array to replace the one I had to take out of my skimmer. And of course, Symone’s armor,” he said, looking around the replicator at her.

“Ain’t I just gorgeous?” she laughed. “This is real combat armor, not that junk that I wore before.”

With Doc Northwood guiding them, Jason and Symone carefully carried the replicator through the house, then down the stairs and into his basement workshop. The others were carrying boxes behind them, as they got the replicator down into the basement, then set it down against the far back wall of his workshop, which he’d cleared out for the replicator that morning. He opened the replicator’s outer cover, which slid up into the top of the unit, displaying its control panel, dataport for external datalink, and the replication chamber, hidden behind an inner door. He powered the replicator up, and it went through its power-on diagnostics as Symone picked up the stick that held its service manual, which Kumi had tied to the handle of the replication chamber door.

“Jason, son, we’re not done moving things in,” Clem told him with a chuckle. “You can play with your new toy later.”

Jason laughed. “Point taken,” he said. “Let’s get the rest of that stuff down here.”

They moved the boxes down, then Jason unannealed the container from the back of the Deuce and he and Symone pushed it off. It hit the ground with a loud bang, but given that it was replicated laminated titanium, it didn’t so much as bend when it hit the ground. Jason cut up that titanium into strips, then the others helped him carry it down into his workshop, where it was stacked neatly in one of the smaller storage rooms. “Let’s find the panel Kumi said she got me,” Jason told them. “They’re in one of the boxes.”

“Kumi? That’s a strange name. Pretty though,” Clem noted.

“Kumi’s a strange and pretty young lady,” Jason said, but Symone started snickering evilly. “She probably really hates me right now, though.”

“Why is that?”

“I played a prank on her,” he answered as he opened a box and found flux cabling. “It was in revenge for a prank she played on me last week. Mine was just meaner.”

“Trelle’s garland, was it!” Symone said, erupting into laughter. “You should have seen the look on her face!”

“What did you do?” Doc Northwood asked.

He glanced at Symone, who just grinned evilly. “Let’s say that I exploited one of the baser aspects of a Faey noble’s personality,” he answered.

“And what is that?”

“Lust,” Symone said with a vicious smile. “Jason here is very handsome to a Faey, Doc. I don’t think handsome really describes it, though. Drop dead gorgeous is probably closer to the truth. Kumi has the hots for him, and he played on that to get her back for showing a picture of him naked to her friends.”

“That’s too much information, Symone,” Jason said darkly as the others burst into laughter.

“They have to understand the history,” she said with an outrageous grin.

“How’d she get a naked picture of you, Jason?” Temika asked curiously, trying to get control of herself.

“She demanded it as part of the payment for the last shipment of goods she delivered to me,” he answered, giving Symone a scowl, but she just winked at him. “I really didn’t have much choice, so I let her take it. Kumi is... a bit eccentric.”

“Ah’d nevah guess,” she said, breaking down into laughter again.

“Here’s the panel,” Tim said, opening another box. “There’s two of them in here.”

“Don’t turn them on,” Jason cautioned. “Well guys, I have some work to do, so if you don’t mind,” he prompted.

“Sure, we’ll clear out,” Clem chuckled.

“Temika, stay a minute,” Jason told her. Tim looked about to say something, but Symone looked at him in a way that told Jason that she was sending to him privately. He glanced at Temika, then at Jason, then he nodded and followed Leamon up the stairs.

“Ah take it this is part of what you needed me for?” she asked. “What, you need a naked picture?” she asked with a sly smile. “Ah hate tah tell yah, sugah, but Ah’m much harder tah get out of mah clothes.”

“I’ve already seen you topless,” he said dryly, leaning back against the replicator and crossing his arms.

She laughed. “Ah reckon you have,” she said ruefully. “All it took fo’ you tah manage it was for me tah get shot, too,” she added with a sly smile. “Now, what did you want tah talk about, sugah?”

He blew out his breath and bowed his head, then looked back at her steadily. “There’s no easy way to tell you this, Temika. It’s going to shock you, and you’re probably not going to like hearing it.”

“Now you got me worried, sugah,” she told him seriously, the smile sliding from her face. “What, Ah’m being thrown out? Did Ah do somethin’ wrong?”

“No, it’s nothing quite as simple as that,” he said, then he stood back up. “Sit down.”

“What?”

“Sit down.”

“Shit, this must be real serious,” she grunted, sitting on a stack of boxes beside her.

“It’s serious all right,” he agreed. “First off, let me explain something to you. I didn’t come out here just because I wanted to get away from the Faey. I did, at least partially, but a really big part of the reason I’m here is because if the Imperium knew about me, I’d be shipped off to Draconis for brainwashing.”

“Why would they do that?”

“Because of what I am,” he replied evenly. “I’m a telepath, Temika. I’m a human telepath.”

“Yo’ shittin’ me,” she said with a gasp.

He shook his head. “I found out about it a few months ago. A Faey friend of mine named Jyslin found out about it, but she didn’t turn me in. She trained me instead, trained me how to control it an how to not get caught. She did it because she likes me, and she didn’t want to see me get my mind wiped by the Imperium if they discovered me. At that time, I thought I was the only one, a fluke.

“But I’m not the only one. Tim is here because he’s a telepath, but unlike me, he got caught, which is why Symone is here. She literally fought her way out of New Orleans with Tim, to get him away from the Imperium. Symone loves Tim with all her heart, and she decided she’d rather live a life as a hunted outlaw than lose him.”

“Yeah, we can all see that,” Temika said unevenly, obviously as her mind tried to wrap around the idea of Jason being telepathic. Jason was not listening to her thoughts, because he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. “So, yo’ a telepath? Yo’ listening tah me think right now?”

He shook his head. “I don’t do that unless I have a good reason. I don’t invade the privacy of my friends like that, and besides, it’s not polite.”

She gave him a very long look. “Why you tellin’ me this, Jason? If you’ve kept it secret fo’ this long, why tell me now? What, you gonna tell everyone, an’ you’re just stahtin’ with me?”

He shook his head again. “Telling everyone would be a mistake,” he told her. “If one of them gets picked up in a Faey sweep, then I’m toast. They’re looking for me, there’s no doubt about that. But, there are lots of Jasons out here, but they’d come right after me if they picked up from a squatter that there was a human telepath running around out here.”

“Then why tell me?”

He looked her right in the eye. “Because you’re also a telepath,” he said directly.

She didn’t move a muscle for almost thirty seconds. “Ah’m whut?” she asked blankly.

“A telepath. Or you will be, I should say. It hasn’t woke up yet, but it’s there. That’s why I told you about me. That’s why I’m talking to you now.”

“But Ah don’t-how do you know?”

“The short of it is that Symone sensed it in you when she screened you,” he answered. “She was afraid to say anything to you, because she said your reactions when she screened you hinted that you have some major issues with telepaths. She was trying to figure out a way to tell you without upsetting you. I told her I’d do it. I thought you might be more comfortable if I told you, instead of her.” He leaned against the replicator again. “After all, I have no reason to lie.”

“Ah can’t believe this,” she said with a quavering voice. “Ah’m, Ah’m a telepath?” Her eyes darted back and forth, and for a second he thought she was about to faint. He lunged forward to catch her, but she steadied herself quickly, then stood up. For some inexplicable reason, she was grinning. “You know what? Ah bet this means that no blueskin can ever stick her grubby little hands in mah head ever again,” she said fiercely.

Jason raised an eyebrow. She was willing to embrace the idea of it that fast? Odd. He was sorely tempted to peek at her thoughts, but he wasn’t about to, not and risk destroying the trust he seemed to have just built with her.

“With some training, probably not,” he agreed in a slightly uncertain tone. “It depends on how strong you are, though, and how strong the Faey is. And who’s better trained, of course. Skill can overwhelm raw power.”

“Symone taught you?” she asked.

“No, someone else did, but Symone is teaching Tim. And when your power expresses, you’ll be in there with him. But there are some things you have to understand, Temika.”

“Whut?”

“After you express, you’re grounded until Symone says it’s safe for you to leave,” he explained. “An untrained telepath is dangerous, and not just for the reasons you think. I think it’ll take about a month for Symone to train you to the point where you can go back to ferrying stuff around, but you might not have the time for it. You’ll be spending most of your time learning, and learning fast. My power’s been awake for months, and I’ve barely learned half of what Jyslin wanted me to know. I can control my power so I don’t hear others, and I can send, and Jyslin taught me the basics of using my power as a weapon, but that’s about it. When you and Tim are up to where I am, I’m going to be in there with you while Symone teaches the advanced stuff to us.

“Oh, and obviously, never tell anyone about this,” he said intensely. “Your life depends on nobody knowing about it. If the Faey knew about you, they’d tear this entire region apart trying to find you. And when they did, you’d be shipped off to their home planet. Once you get there, they’ll brainwash you to be a faithful lapdog to the Empress. That’s the fate that awaits us if the Faey find out about us, and you always have to remember that anyone who knows about us is as good as an open book for the first Faey who crosses his path. Do you understand that?”

She was quiet a long moment. “Yeah, yeah, Ah understand, sugah. An’ yo’ right, Ah can see exactly what yo’ talkin’ about. When will it happen?”

He shrugged. “Maybe right now, maybe next year. There’s no way to tell. When it’s ready, when you’re ready, it just happens. Have you been having sudden headaches? Dizzy spells? Unexplained nosebleeds?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Ah thought the airbike had somethin’ tah do with it.”

“Then you’re very close.”

“What’s it like? Bein’ a telepath, Ah mean.”

“Scary at first,” he answered. “Very scary. You hear all these thoughts that aren’t yours, and you can’t make them go away. But you’ll learn how to block it out very quickly, and after that, it’s much more interesting. I happen to like being a telepath. I like to send more than I like to talk, because it’s faster and more precise, and you can communicate more than just words. You can send images, sounds, even emotions, and that’s much more effective than talking.”

“Ah don’t care about that,” she said. “Ah just want tah make sure that no blueskin can evah get inside mah head, evah again,” she said fiercely.

“Symone was right,” he said quietly. “Someone did do something to you.”

“You bettah believe someone did!” she shouted at him, almost hysterically. “Ah got my brain all but scrambled by one of those Faey bitches! You don’t know what it’s like havin’ someone in yo’ head, takin’ anythin’ she wants, an’ there ain’t nothin’ you can do tah make her stop! You don’t know what it’s like tah feel that helpless!”

“I can understand how that would make you feel,” he said, sitting on a box. “But don’t take it out on Symone. Remember, she is not like that. Be as angry as you want at the Faey, but don’t ever believe that Symone could do something like that.”

She came up short, then sat down again. “Ah, Ah don’t believe she could,” she said honestly. “Ah never thought Ah’d see a Faey Ah wouldn’t immediately hate, but Symone ain’t like no Faey Ah’ve evah heard of. She’s too much a sweetie tah be like them.”

“Good, I’m glad you understand that,” he said, standing back up. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to get this armor off. Just do me a favor and go home and think about what I said, and try to relax. And remember that when it does happen, don’t panic, just come to me or Symone straight away.”

“How will Ah know?”

“Believe me, you’ll know,” he said seriously. “It could be tomorrow, it could be next week, it could be next month, so don’t think that you’re just going to go home and immediately express now that you know it’s going to happen.”

She blushed just slightly; obviously, that was exactly what she thought.

“Ah-thanky kindly, Jason,” she said, standing up again.

“For what?”

“Fo’ bein’ honest, sugah,” she answered. “An’ for givin’ me hope that Ah’ll get back mah dignity.”

Then he understood. The violation she had endured under that Faey trooper had done more than injure her mind, it had left her feeling weak and helpless, and those were feelings that Temika Daniels, the Queen of the Glass, the most ferocious center ever to play women’s college basketball, wasn’t prepared to accept. If she too had talent, then she would feel confident that no Faey could ever violate her that way again, that she could protect herself, and that helped restore a modicum of the self-image that she had lost when that had happened. It was a start down the path of redemption in her own eyes, a way to get back what she had lost when that Faey had raked her claws through Temika’s mind and destroyed the image of security she had possessed.

“Any time, Temika,” he said gently. “Any time.”

“Call me Mika, sugah. All mah friends do.”

“Mika,” he mirrored with a smile.

She came up to him, and though he could tell she flinched at the idea of it, she leaned in and kissed him quickly on the cheek. Her phobia over being touched would take longer for her to overcome, because it had become ingrained in her very personality, but that too was a start.

He watched her go up the stairs and out of sight, and he took a minute to sigh and be relieved that it had went well.

He went back up to his room to take his armor off, pondering the idea of Temika learning how to control her talent, and the fact that she looked to be a very eager student. She had no fear of the idea that she had talent; in fact, she embraced the idea of it immediately and completely, because it represented to her a way to get back a feeling of control of her own life. That was probably a good thing, because she wasn’t going to be afraid of her gift at all, and overcoming the fear of that unknown, strange, and frightening gift was the first step to mastering its power.

He went into his room and closed the door behind him, then turned to go to the chair to start taking off his armor, but he stopped short when he saw Symone laying on his bed. Naked. Laying on her side but with both shoulders on the mattress and her hands under her head, in a very sensual pose. And you thought I forgot about you? she sent winsomely, rolling fully onto her side and giving him a wicked little look. She patted the bed before her commandingly.

Symone, I told you, I’m not too comfortable with this, he repeated.

TIM! she sent with impressive power, mainly because Symone really wasn’t that strong in the talent. That had to be about everything she had. Tell him it’s alright!

It’s alright! Tim sent immediately, though his form was poor and his words were a tad garbled.

Now, you can either come sit down, or you can threaten our friendship in my eyes, she sent with surprising vehemence.

He blew out his breath. He really had no other excuses, and their friendship was definitely at stake here, so he went over and sat down on the edge of the bed. She sat up behind him, and a glance down showed him a very long blue leg on either side of his black armored form. Relax, Jason, she sent with an audible laugh. It’s not like I’m going to pull your teeth out with eyebrow tweezers. You and me are going to have a little fun, have some good sex, then I’m going to go back to the man I love. If you think it’s going to change our relationship, please, what is it you humans say? Oh yes, “get a clue.” I love you as a best friend, Jason, and this is one way Faey show that friendship. When I get out of this bed, I won’t think any differently of you than I did last week, or right now. And I know that you won’t mistake it for love. Jyslin proved that to me, she sent with a little giggle. You were able to carry on two very different relationships with her at the same time. I won’t be any different. So.

So what?

So, it’s time to find out if Jyslin was just bragging or if she was telling the truth, she sent with a naughty undertone, grabbing his left arm and deftly unlocking his gauntlet from his arm greave. Every Marine in her squad has been dying to find out, and so have I.

Bragging about what?

We’re about to find out, she sent as she leaned against his back and licked his ear while pulling his gauntlet off.

He felt a shiver run up his spine. Bragging about what? he demanded.

You, she answered, unlocking the elbow joint. Now get out of this armor. We don’t have all night, you know.

Chapter 9