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30 – Hierarchy
The combat knife was the only thing in the world. Magnolia stared, her body relaxed – something that came from long years of training. If she was tense, her reactions would be off. There was danger, even in training sessions, but it to be a factor that she accepted so that she could perform at her best. Taylor wasn’t the kind of soldier who did fancy things with his knives. No unnecessary spinning. Changes to the grip were done swiftly but in a perfunctory manner. The blade rested in his hand, and if she didn’t move at the right way at the right moment, in three seconds, it would sink…
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29 – The First Note, The Last Thought
‘And she was the turtle all along!’ Ryan stared at his director. ‘Sir?’ There was a look on Director Reynolds’ face. It matched specific facial profiles that he saw on Reynolds’ face throughout the day. A microsecond later, he deduced that Reynolds was expectant. He expected something of Ryan, though he was unsure what. He kept his eyes on Reynolds and looped the audio from the last section of their conversation. It seemed unrelated to the as-yet-unstated reasons for them standing on the Agency roof. Something was wrong. It was inconsistent behaviour. A rooftop was sometimes a location to meet with fae or to get a view of the area…
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28 – The Pain Scale
Stef was a cynic, and she knew that. Despite that, she knew she found far more moments of beauty in the world than a lot of people. It wasn’t hard if your heart wasn’t hardened in every way. Despite the firewalls around the figurative version of her blood pump, several areas been granted exceptions. It was easy to see greatness in a perfect line of code or well-done cable management. A perfect moment could exist when a video game glitched in a perfect, absurd way. And the transit of the marshmallow down the river of hot fudge was a sight to behold. It had begun as two marshmallows – one…
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27 – What Came From The Moon
The alarm went off at seven. The alarm went off at seven-fifteen. The alarm went off at seven-thirty. ‘Fuckoff,’ Stef mumbled as the alarm began again. ‘Fuck offffffff.’ Get up. With an effort, she dragged herself to the bathroom, phone in hand, her fingers operating on automatic to connect to the speaker and start a playlist. She placed the phone on the sink, stripped her clothes off and stepped into the shower. The water was warm and perfect immediately, soothing, despite her anxiety. With a sigh, she plonked her head against the tile and let the water run over her back like she was some sort of gangly, oversized duck.…
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26 – Watching the Clock
There were almost a dozen recruits in the gym – a couple that she recognised, but more that she didn’t. Stef looked around, unable to give much credence to her ability to identify and remember people. Still, most of the recruits around her were people she’d never seen before. ‘Shift B and C people,’ Curt said, noticing her staring. ‘We’re Shift A, different people tend to use the gym at different times.’ ‘Does that get confusing?’ she asked as she followed him towards the sim rooms. ‘I mean, “shift” has quite a different meaning around here. Using it in both senses…’ she trailed off and shrugged. ‘Seems weird.’ ‘It’s “require”…
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25 – Bills and Benefits
Stef leaned forward, grabbed Curt’s phone from the cradle and exited the navigation app. ‘We’re here,’ she said and set it back into place. ‘Which building?’ Curt asked. She leaned against the door and pressed a finger to the window to point at the building they’d just passed. ‘That one.’ Curt slowed the car and backed into a spare spot about half a block down from her building. ‘I’ll just wait here,’ he said. ‘Go do whatever you need to do.’ She nodded and pushed on the door of the car, aware that she should probably say “thank you”, but unable to form the words. Talking was…still not easy. Maybe…
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24 – Tech Support
The Tech department seemed so much more full of life than the Field floor. Large, flat-panel monitors streamed memes and videos. There were the standard emergency diagrams and such, but they were drowned out by schedules of a dozen different MMOs and P&P RPGs. Stef grimaced as she bumped into Curt. Warn me before stopping, next time. He pushed open a door but made a shushing motion. ‘This is the phone bank,’ he said, stepping aside to let her see a room with seven recruits at large desks, each containing at least three screens. ‘Some people can call us directly, but we also get a lot of triple-zero calls routed…
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23 – New Game Plus
+1 to confidence. +1 to giving a crap. Debuff: Run home and hide has been dispelled. Stef stared at the intersecting halls, then made a left turn. Are you ready to admit you’re lost yet? Not quite. Curt’s text had given her the room number of the meeting room, but navigating by door numbers alone wasn’t working. She’d seen the gym twice, the hall with the dorm rooms once, two separate common rooms, and the mess hall. She’d found a large board room, but so far, the small meeting room had eluded detection. She held her hands out in front of her, fingers on the home row of an imaginary…
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22 – Two Steps Forward
The trail finally came to an end at the base of a steep hill. The root they’d been following had come up out of the ground and lay on the surface, its slow pulses making it seem like a sleepy snake on a cold morning. Curt put his hand to his ear, acknowledged something, then pointed at the other three recruits on the East side of the hill, and they moved to join them. One of Brian’s cronies had a bandage around his arm, and bright orange paint had splattered onto his pants. ‘How many?’ Brian asked Curt. ‘One sentinel. Red saw four.’ ‘One conscious,’ Red elaborated, ‘the other three…
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21 – The Grove and the Grave
Stef stared at him. ‘Lol. Wut.’ ‘I’d appreciate some help,’ he said, ‘since you don’t seem too bothered by corpses.’ Thick rubber gloves appeared on his hands. ‘But take precautions first.’ ‘What precisely are we–’ She waved her hands in front of her. ‘Wait. Wait. Wait. This is a training scenario, right? To prepare us for regular work, right?’ ‘Right.’ She required gloves that matched the ones he’d required. ‘Do you routinely play with dead bodies? Isn’t that a tech’s job? Or a medical recruit or something?’ ‘Ding, ding, ding, the newbie wins a prize.’ ‘Ooh.’ He knelt beside the body. ‘So if you can just-’ He looked up. ‘You…
