Chapter Three #2
Jienne sighed. “Klauz, every time you look at me now, you will remember that night, and you will feel the need that I didn’t let myself express. Do you have any idea how humiliating that will be to me? That is a very dangerous and depressing situation. I just want to go and start over somewhere.”
She looked up at him, his purple skin looking a little sallow.
Ava looked at him and paused. “Jienne, did you want to talk to the consortium? Nigel can keep track of you, making sure that they are on their manners, and we need to start our little discussion about BDC policy and culpability.”
Ekron asked, “Why is Torun here?”
Ava smiled. “He’s a shareholder.”
Jienne nodded and got up. Nigel came with her, and they walked out to the backyard.
The consortium followed, looking relieved but sombre. Klauz extended his hand, and Jienne took it.
Ava nodded and nodded to Keska. “Bring Cabree on, please.”
Keska got her on the com, and then she tossed a disk to the ground. Cabree was standing there, looking as if she were physically present. “Morning, everybody. I hear there was a colossal fuck up?”
Caska walked over to sit in a singular chair. “I am here today to make sure that everything is covered.”
Keska walked over to the side of the room with Cabree, Zera, and Torun.
Ava got up and dimmed the lights, showing the projection of the events and the description of what happened to Jienne.
Zera rubbed her face, and Ava saw that she was crying when Jienne slunk away into the night.
“He made stipulations, and we have started giving in to the patrons. That will stop today. No more lack of cloaks, no more optional masks, no more meeting with other patrons if it isn’t authorized in advance with the patron and escort and other patron.
The guard bots are no longer optional. Ever. ”
Keska nodded. “A bot could have had her wrapped when her mind broadcast distress. The problem was that he was inside her mind, projecting pleasure and pushing out to where it was all that the other patrons could see. That was how he used her to get into their heads.”
Cabree said, “I can write a program to detect flickers of signal, and the ladies can be trained to emit a detectable pattern.”
Zera blinked. “Fuck. Yes. That would work. Even thinking a simple numeric code will do it.”
Keska nodded. “I have gotten the bot units small. If the ladies and gents are using the cloaks, I can create a decorative trim for the cloak that will turn into the protection bot.”
Zera sighed. “Can you demonstrate?”
Keska reached into her pouch. She pulled out a disk that was two inches wide and a quarter of an inch thick. Ava smiled as she juggled it and opened a small tablet, typing in commands.
Keska held it in her hand and said, “Okay, someone, scare me.”
Torun blinked and shook his head. “Nope.”
“Fine. One, two, three.”
The disk expanded and wrapped around Keska with an exoskeleton.
Zera whispered, “How do you get them so small?”
“I want one to fit in my pouch. If this thing had a delivery spot, it would get me out of here right now.” Keska nodded. “I will work with Susara on designs.”
Zera nodded.
Avagail said, “I will run more thorough backgrounds on patrons. Invasive ones. No more trusting the shallow dives. I am going to have someone interview their fucking fourth-grade teacher. Their grandma is getting a call.”
Ava saw Caska’s lips twitch.
Cabree nodded. “I will create an identity-confirming program. It will double check descriptions and finances going back twenty years.”
Keska asked, “Can it check associates?”
“Oh, good idea. I will get that to you in two days.”
Keska nodded. “Zera, I will need test subjects.”
Zera paused and nodded. “Right. Where do you want to test them?”
Keska chuckled. “The Dekkor live range is going quiet for the weekend. That would be a great place to test them. Cabree, as soon as you get me that program, I will let Zera know so that we can do this.”
Cabree nodded. “How soon can you integrate it?”
“Should be able to get it in within six hours.”
Ava looked to Caska. “Are the steps being taken sufficient?”
Caska looked at them. “Legally, you are covered. These are all reasonable responses to the situation. Another event and I will not be the ruling body that you are facing. It will be a formal and very public hearing. This report will be sent to the BDC archives. Protect your escorts, Zera. They are your focus on making friends around the world.” Caska nodded.
“Final ruling is one point two million to Jienne for the danger you put her in by bending your own rules. With her uneasiness at working for Klauz again, she will need to get a new job or retrain.”
Zera nodded. “Accepted.”
Ava smiled. “I will go and bring her the offer. If she wishes to counteroffer, we will know right away.”
Ava got up and walked out to where the consortium was talking softly and politely with Jienne, and she was showing no signs of stress as she was speaking with Klauz. Nigel was sitting on his haunches nearby, nice and alert.
“Jienne, I have an offer of settlement from the BDC.”
Jienne nodded and walked over to her. Ava simply showed her the number. “This is simply compensation for the dangerous situation you were in and the discomfort of the corrective actions.”
Jienne blinked. “Wow. So, I get that now?”
“As well as the settlement from Vikor because he followed the suggestion not to allow a protective bot inside, and Techor and Remark, who yanked your mind open.”
“Right.” She shuddered.
“So, if you accept, we just need to do it in front of the legal representative. Caska.”
“Okay.”
They headed inside, where Jienne was properly introduced to Caska, who explained that if Jienne needed any assistance relating to the assault, the BDC would still help.
She nodded, asked a few quiet questions, and then agreed to the settlement.
Zera signed, and Ava signed as the financial overseer. The transfer was begun immediately, and Jienne got a call from her financial institution a moment later. When she confirmed she was expecting a legal payout and was content with a seven-day hold, everything was done.
When it was done, her knees were wobbly. “Now what?”
“Now, you get to decide what you want to do. You can go on a vacation, pay off some bills, spend time with family, or see if you want to take any classes. Heck, you can even buy a house in a nice area.”
Jienne nodded. “Do I have to leave right away?”
Ava shook her head. “No, of course not, but you will have to put up with the twins. They are in today since they had to leave their regular jobs for this.”
Keska was talking with the projection of Cabree, and she looked over. “I have to get back to work. There is a tournament, and my poor machines are taking a beating.”
Jienne said, “What do you do?”
Zera snorted. “She makes and repairs tiny machines. That’s her activation.”
“And Zera is all butthurt because I am not going to be exclusive to Z Corp. Making sex toys for actives isn’t exactly mentally challenging. Even making the jewel clasps that Drin is wearing was only the work of half a day.”
Torun grumbled, “And Zera is upset that Keska won’t be an escort.”
Zera snorted. “She doesn’t need to be legal like Caska. I know it isn’t readily obvious, but Keska takes your breath away when she’s all dressed up.”
Keska grinned. “She’s right. I am fucking stunning. Oh, Kritz found our genetic donors, Caska.”
Caska looked over. “Really? Nice. Anyone we know?”
“Yup. The Blade of Uradda and the eternal Aluhara. I don’t know how we are made of two girls, but here we are.”
Zera blinked. “You are related to Nelith?”
Keska chuckled. “Yah.”
“Does she know?”
“Nope. I got the results this morning when I was working on one of Kritz’s micro screwdrivers.”
Zera said, “I thought you would be excited.”
“Why? You know our situation. We know Nelith’s situation, and I am guessing that Aluhara has a slow-aging factor. No wonder they wanted more of them. I just wish we had gotten out earlier. Escaping when we were five was five years too late.”
Caska smiled. “At least we were cute enough to get adopted.”
Keska nodded. “And we got neat names. I like mine.”
Torun snorted.
Zera sighed. “Well, this is a traumatic day for me.”
Jienne snorted.
Cabree laughed. “The women around her are suddenly changing, and it’s rough for her. She will adapt. Probably when my little one wants to talk to Auntie Zera.”
Zera grinned. “How is it coming?”
“Good. The sun here is keeping me nice and warm.”
Keska snorted. “Right. The sun.”
Ava laughed with the rest, and Cabree grinned, then made her farewells before Keska deactivated the projection unit and put it back in her pouch. She had already deactivated the escape unit for the escorts.
Jienne looked to Keska. “Can you come out with me to say goodbye to the consortium?”
“Sure.” Keska smiled.
Ava watched Jienne straighten up next to the smaller woman. It was only an inch or two, but it seemed to help Jienne’s posture. She was pulling herself up that extra inch.
Keska just ambled along in her work gear and dirt smudges with the fifteen braids along her scalp. The braids hid her ear tips, and the smudges were strategic to conceal the stunning features she was born with.
Ava needed to talk to Zera and Caska, so she stopped watching the others. There was a bit of business that needed to be attended to.