Chapter 29
James
James glances across the food court to where Kate is making animated small talk with a woman in a striped and furry gray-and-black one-piece. The woman even has little cat whiskers painted or tattooed on her cheeks like his first boxing opponent.
James clears his throat as if that isn’t the strangest thing he has ever heard. And he’s pretty sure the Egyptians didn’t actually worship their feline companions. “When do you want to finish the testing on the PalmPrint prototypes?” he asks.
It’s been two weeks since they set their plan into motion, and they’re both eager to make some tangible progress.
The longer he relies on Kate, the worse his guilt is.
She may be okay with it, but he can’t seem to get his mind to accept the idea.
Especially since the night of Lessa’s conception party.
The space between her thighs and the promises he made.
The former, a memory he’s caged and stuffed in a secure vault to be reopened once the business is launched. That is why he needs to stay focused.
“Since the PalmPrints are working in the SAT garages, we need to try somewhere with more stringent security measures,” Oro1 says.
“Anywhere with a live person to accept the reading. We want to make sure they don’t sense anything is off,” James adds.
It only took them a few meetings at the polymers lab to develop two prototypes to test.
“I suggest we try this oxygen bar in W Quadrant that banned me for conducting ‘business’ there.” Oro1 uses air quotes to frame the word business.
“Safe enough for our purposes?” James asks. The last thing he needs is a run-in with the authorities.
“They've never turned me in, if that’s what you’re asking.
Establishments in the lower quadrants aren’t known for strictly adhering to the regulations that govern them.
They just don’t want others bringing their business into their establishment, getting caught, and drawing the watchful eye of NHOS. ”
James nods. “I see.”
They finish their plan to test out the Identity for Hire Division.
James will wear Jett’s print and Oro1 will use one from one of the technicians in the lab who’s interested in renting out his identity after the launch.
The key is that the renter must plan not to use their actual palm during the by-the-hour rental period.
They’ll sign a contract and confidentiality agreement to that effect, which will take care of the issue of the identity being used in two places at once.
This will all be carried out on BLACKOUT through a secure portal Oro1 is setting up.
A successful trial at the oxygen bar will address Division 1. Now they need to assess the demand for the services of Division 2. How many people require a full identity?
“I put out a few feelers in a couple BLACKOUT chat rooms to see if there are any other reincarnates and I’ve gotten more than a few pings,” James says. The chat rooms, he discovered, are a strange but useful resource.
“Have any of them agreed to meet?” Oro1 asks.
“There’s one who has occasional access to an off-market device.
They aren’t sure when or if their owner will agree to meet.
Messy situation from what I gather. Not everyone is taking the moral high road like Kate, it seems,” James explains, earning a grimace from Oro1.
“There are a handful of others represented by their owners, who have reluctantly agreed to meet. I’ve arranged meetings beginning later this week. We’ll see if they show.”
“That’s discouraging. I thought there’d be more,” Oro1 says.
In James’s periphery, the cat woman pulls Kate into a quick embrace, nuzzling Kate’s jaw with her nose like an actual cat might.
Kate rejoins him and Oro1 at their table, taking her seat as if that behavior didn’t ruffle her one bit.
“Sister Xelna told me she senses the emergence of an ancient presence in the energy fields. She thinks it means felines will be the first mammalian species to evolve with the ability to roam the earth freely once again. It’s the psychic whiskers.
” When both James and Oro1 give her an incredulous look, Kate taps her nose to emphasize the point.
Oro1 leans forward. “Kate, darling, you don’t actually believe that, do you?”
James chimes in. “They’re tattoos.”
Kate waves a hand through the air as if it goes without saying.
“Yes, yes. I know. Still, it is rather interesting, don’t you think?
” She gives both him and Oro1 a pointed look.
When neither of them is brave enough to respond, she says, “If you two are done here, I have a Japanese scalp treatment, and you have your appointment with the physician to collect tonight’s boxing contestant. ”
James taps his device, noting that Kate hasn’t warmed up to the idea of Sable being a part of their business yet.
She’s right about his appointment, though.
Gone are the days when his personal assistant kept his appointments for him.
Hell, back then, he would have had a team to take care of this all for him.
It’s energizing being on the ground level again, building something.
Ironically, this time there’s no trust fund to fall back on.
Looking back, he was so na?ve, thinking he made it on his own.
This time it will be different. Harder. At least Kate has them covered for now.
As Oro1’s hand snakes around Kate’s waist to hug goodbye, James only slightly grimaces.
After her reaction to him at Lessa’s party, he’s confident that he’s her pick.
God, the way she begged for it. He could spend days making her legs quake the way they did.
Thankfully, she’s respecting the boundary he set, because he’s pretty sure he isn’t as strong as he’s pretending to be.
That doesn’t stop him from putting a possessive arm around her waist as he guides them to the elevators.
November 30, 2390, Day 27.
James and Oro1 sit at a table in the back of a stark and dusty bar in Z Quadrant called Scraps.
Compared to Kate’s pristine apartment, the place is dingy, with dirty gray walls that might once have been black.
The smell is dusky and a little acrid, like the few breaths of outside air he took before Kate saved him.
It’s apparent what she means when she claims her accommodations are high-end.
As they wait on the reincarnate, movement in the corner catches his attention.
A small battle is being waged. He counts six, no, seven cockroaches fighting for the same crumb.
The little piece suddenly breaks in two.
The six still tussling for the larger scrap don’t pay any mind as the victor scuttles away through a crack in the floor.
A moment later, he sees the same creature emerge outside to scurry across the street and disappear into the adjacent building.
He lifts a brow in Oro1’s direction.
“Only a handful of lifeforms can exist outside still,” he supplies.
“Of course,” James says. “And the crack? Does that mean outside air is seeping in as we speak?”
Oro1 only shrugs, saying, “It’s Z Quadrant, and it isn’t like there’s enough outside air seeping in to kill anyone.”
James accepts the answer as he surveys the space again with a renewed perspective. The handful of patrons, like James and Oro1, keep their heads down as if they’re here for the same illicit meetings. “I guess a lot of discreet business happens in places like this?”
Oro1 takes a sip of his cocktail, warily scanning the room. “Most of the authorities in this sector are paid off by those of us who do business here. It’s a safe place to make contact when discretion is required. But I meet clients in my office all the time, too.”
The door opens, and a tall woman with straight, nearly black hair that hangs past her shoulders enters, glancing around nervously.
James makes eye contact with her, noting her freckles.
Now, people see them as a flaw and have eliminated them from the gene pool.
Each charming dot on her cheeks sets her apart as a reincarnate.
She’ll need a procedure if they ever expect to pass her off as a person from this time, but that isn’t IdenTECH’s business. It’s his job to get her an identity.
Behind her, an even taller man with dusty blond hair looks on, and James catches his honey-colored gaze for a moment. The man, who must be her owner, leans down, saying something to her that she doesn’t quite seem to hear.
“That’s her,” he says, giving her a subtle nod. Her eyes widen as she stands there, clutching her bag.
Oro1 leans over. “What’s all over her face?”
James shakes his head. “Those are freckles. Not a defect. People from my time considered them to be cute.”
“Odd,” Oro1 says.
The woman’s indecision teeters for a long moment. Come on, James mentally urges.
Her dark eyes sweep over him, making him feel inspected. James isn’t sure what she sees. What causes her to take two tentative steps toward them, then suddenly freeze, turn back, and dart out the door.
“Fuck,” James says, running a frustrated hand through his hair as he starts to get up.
Oro1’s hand clamps down on his shoulder, keeping him seated.
“Don’t bother. You said she was reluctant in your messages.
We don’t want to pursue her. It will only frighten her more.
Reach out again next week after she realizes we haven’t sent the authorities after her.
Sometimes it takes me a few meetings to establish contact with a client.
These reincarnates are probably going to be even more difficult to nail down. Don’t be disheartened.”
James rubs his sweaty palms down his thighs, mentally cursing the failure of the first four meetings with reincarnates they secured.
Oro1’s gaze narrows on their glasses vibrating on the table, then shifts to James.
“Sorry,” he says, forcing his knee to halt its anxious motion. “Today marks the end of month two. Thirty more days to go. I can practically feel the clock ticking, which would be exciting if it weren’t my life in the balance.”
“We’re close,” Oro1 reassures him.
It’s not like it’s Oro1’s life they’re talking about.
Still, James says, “I know. At least Kate’s got month four covered and I’m close to having month five.
I’ll rest much easier when we figure out how to implant an identity into the system.
It’s not like I can continue paying the lease year after year indefinitely.
Won’t GROW notice that someone has kept one of their manupartners for an inordinate amount of time? ”
Oro1 nods. “We’ll get you an identity long before that happens.”
James downs the last of his drink. “Agreed. And in case we don’t, I’m going to work on Plan B.”