Chapter 29 – Solitary
Ashley’s Journal, Monday Evening, July 6, 2308
This camp is scheduled right down to the last minute. There’s not a lot of time for chatting and the boys don’t seem to interested in talking to me. I’m the only girl here, and I’m painfully aware of how much I stand out.
Today I had my first match, Scott. He was one of the ones who raised his hand as having martial art experience already.
As soon as the whistle blew, he jumped at me.
I curled up, and his face ran into my knee.
I didn’t mean to hurt him.
There was blood everywhere.
They had to take him to the nurse and call in the janitors to clean up all the blood. It totally was not my fault. I heard one of the Instructors, Lopez, I think; say something about that being an example of lesson number one. He was trying to be funny, but I think it was mean.
Tuesday Morning, July 7, 2308
Dr. Fox woke to discover himself in an opaque plastic cell. They'd left him his clothes but had taken his shoes. Light filtered into the room from everywhere and nowhere. There was a small enclosure with a toilet and a sink. He was grateful that he hadn't been sent somewhere more primitive.
Fox checked his pockets, empty. The Metachron was gone.
It was just as well. Fox realized it had influenced him. It was different from the Micronix, which he had created and programmed. Having survived the explosion at the Epsilon Facility, which took the lives of forty thousand criminals, it had a different vibe, to say the least.
Based on his own investigation, Fox suspected that it was, in fact, the facility itself. He theorized that the Metachron had consumed every ounce of metallic alloy present and expelled waste material in the explosion.
The Metachron was different. He was glad to be rid of it.
The room was cold and having nowhere special to sit, Fox settled on the floor, essentially the same place he'd awaken. He tucked his feet under his legs to try and minimize the cold.
Discovering himself in a meditative posture, not particularly tired and with little else to do, he relaxed his mind and focused on his breath.
Ashley’s Journal, Tuesday Evening, July 7, 2308
Today we leaned lots of boxing moves, punches and jabs.
Yesterday was all about blocks and blocking. We even learned how to hold our fingers if we want to do an eye poke. They didn’t teach us anything like this at the last camp. This is downright dangerous stuff.
Sihing Shou said tomorrow we’re going to learn kicks, but that we want to learn punches first, because we only want to kick after we knock them down.
Someone asked if that was fighting dirty.
Shou said he’d rather live dirty than die clean.
Everyone laughed.
But then he stopped and said, “My point is, you should only be fighting if it’s a life or death situation in the first place.”
I thought that was pretty smart.
Oh, in my match-up, against Chris, he tried to do some fancy kick and sprained his ankle. So he had to forfeit, and I won by default.
Tuesday Evening, July 7, 2308
Ross switched his vehicle over to autopilot / roam. He triggered his invisibility phase-cam and climbed out. He activated the gravity harness as he fell away from the car and headed toward his scheduled rendezvous with Snow and King.
Arriving a few minutes later, the three of them hovered high above the Fox home. Snow and King had been waiting.
“What the hell is going on?” King asked. “Things are getting fishy in the middle district.”
Ross pointed out several homes in the neighborhood. “That one is the Bureau, over there we have the NSA, those three are private security, and that one is Stanwood’s personal team.”
“No shit?” King asked. “Can I tell you, we just got TAD orders from the NID? They want us to find Pierce and the device.”
“So you’ll be on the inside?” Ross asked.
“I’ve got orders to Jerusalem,” Snow interrupted. “What’s that about?”
“SecDef says Fox asked to have you reassigned,” Ross answered.
“Three weeks?”
“Thank Croswell,” Ross glanced around. “He may not be here, but…”
“Big Brother is everywhere.” King laughed.
“And we have another problem,” Ross said.
“It’s been twenty-four hours since I’ve seen hide or hair of our good doctor. It seems after his meeting yesterday he bought a cup of coffee and fell off the face of the Earth.
“Out in DC?” Snow asked.
Ross nodded. “It gets better. Several customers reported nausea, unconsciousness, memory loss and strange dreams.”
“Sinusoids,” Snow said.
“Our weapons have fallen into the hands of our enemies,” King asked.
“Croswell just sent me to Jerusalem and assigned you to our number one enemy,” Snow said.
“Please don’t go jumping to conclusions,” Ross said.
“Where’s the footage from the café?” Snow asked.
“A couple of hours ago, Reid got the footage of the café, thank you. I’m sending to your internal HUDs now.”
Snow blinked and then closed her eyes for a moment. “That’s Stanwood’s bitch,” Snow said, identifying Von Kalt.
“That’s right,” King added. “I’d recognize him anywhere.”
“They just grabbed him off the street?” Snow asked. “Yesterday? And we’re doing nothing about it?”
“We’re not doing nothing,” Ross answered. “I’ve got Reid on it. We’ll get a location. But you are going to New Jerusalem.”
Ross turned to King “And you are going to work for the enemy.”
“I won’t be able to broadcast. I won’t be able to warn you if anything is going down,” King said.
“It won’t come to that. Oh, by the way, he made that one shot rule a standing order,” Ross said.
“That’s insane,” King said.
“What One Shot Rule?” Snow asked.
“Fox told me that if anyone ever drew on him, that I have to give them one shot before I return fire. He said, ‘That’s the Point of Return Fire.”
“That’s retarded,” Snow replied.
“Right,” King agreed.
“I get it.” Ross looked at his comrades. “You really don’t get it?”
“No, I don’t get it,” King answered. “What’s the point of having an invisible bodyguard if you have an order that says let them shoot me?”
“I agree with you that hundred percent,” Snow added. “I’m not letting them shoot Ashley of Geoff. Not once, not ever. That is not happening.”
No one spoke.
The late afternoon sunlight faded from the sky.
Ross glanced at his watch. “Ana is teaching gymnastics, two buildings away from Geoff and only one from Ashley. They are surrounded by dozens of people. They’re fine.”
“They’re surrounded by a bunch of children and teachers, that is far from safe, or fine, and you know it,” Captain Snow said.
“I also know that you are going to El Nuevo Jerusalem as soon as this conversation is finished. Aren’t you?” Ross asked.
Snow waved her hand.
“Look,” Ross said. “They’ve got no official rendition warrants for Andrew anywhere in the system. This whole gig is undercover.”
Snow laughed. “So, Stanwood finally grew a pair and went off-book.” She stared at the stars, just appearing in the sky overhead.
Ross spoke quietly, “Just go and make sure the old man is okay. It is a matter of National Security, if it makes you feel any better.”
“You know he just wants me out of the mix,” she said.
“And what’s so wrong with that? You’re an original, and the only one of us Stanwood will shoot on sight.”
“You have to find Andrew. If you haven’t heard from him in a week, I’m coming back.”
“He said three.”
&nb
sp; “I don’t see how Dr. Te needs my help in the first place.”
“Orders are orders, Ana.”
“Thanks so much.”
“I swear, the moment we learn anything, you will be the first person I call. Hell, hanging out with Te, it will probably be you guys calling us.”
Captain Snow smiled,
King raised a hand. “Right, I’m off, must report oh-dark-thirty. Catch you cats on the other side.”
Ross and Snow waved. Snow lingered for a moment.
Ross raised his hand. “Objection noted.”
Snow nodded, turned away and increased her elevation, heading toward her roaming vehicle, lost somewhere in the Angel City traffic.