Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
I’m the first one to wake up in the morning. I consider waking Mace with a few well-placed touches, and I think he might appreciate that, but then I think how exhausted he must be feeling, and not only because of the physical exertion the mission has been putting him through.
We didn’t talk anymore last night of what Stella let slip. About what Central Command thinks of him. But, when he wakes up, it will eat at him.
He must move on, recalibrate, and lucky for him I’m an expert at rebounding, considering how often I’ve been tossed from Quarter to Quarter. And how gracefully I reacted when I was tossed into this mission.
Well, that last part might not be exactly true, but I didn’t quite fall in a black pit of despair when I was assigned to Team Gold.
I know just the way to help him perk up. I give Mace’s sleeping form a last, lingering look – his tousled hair, his mouth-watering shoulders – and skip to the kitchen to get the coffee started.
Central Command has equipped this place with luxury-grade coffee machines, and when I open the freezer, I find microwavable pancakes, frozen bacon and even omelettes.
Because we lack room at The Citadel to properly raise animals, eggs are somewhat of a delicacy.
I carefully read the microwave instructions, before I realise there is a state-of-the-art all-cooker, with automated programmes to defreeze and roast pretty much everything.
Oh, the perks of being Central Command. No wonder the arseholes hold on to their positions with their teeth.
As I move around the spacious kitchen, I get in touch with Allen through the bean. The team called last night, while I was in the shower, to let us know they’d be joining us at this prime location this morning. ‘Hey, mate, how much longer until you arrive?’ I say.
‘I gather you didn’t bother to check your ART,’ he says, ‘or you’d know.’
‘Yup, sorry, I didn’t. I’ve been busy.’
‘Have you, now?’ I wonder if he somehow knows, but there’s no way that he could.
‘Just don’t call Mace, he’s still asleep,’ I say pointedly. ‘Call me, if you need anything.’
‘Yeah, about that, do we need to fight a dozen holograms to get into the vacation bunker?’
I should have thought about that, if I hadn’t been too busy making breakfast or floating on clouds this morning. ‘I’ll take care of it,’ I say with fake confidence and really hope that Stella will be able to point me to a way to disable them.
‘See you in about half an hour,’ Allen says.
I end the call and pick up my cup of coffee, heading to the large panel at the entrance.
I pass by the bedchamber, noticing that Mace has turned on his side and is currently straddling a pillow.
The stark lines of the muscles in his thighs are standing out, and he looks exceedingly cosy.
I struggle with the urge to snuggle next to him, and down half the coffee just to fuel my decision.
I stop in front of the control panel, bringing my hand to the metal. ‘So, Stella,’ I say, ‘do you reckon we could disable the evil holograms outside so that the rest of Team Gold can come in?’
She projects herself at my shoulder. ‘Well, Central Command can, since it’s their bunker, and they can disable the holograms just by giving the order.’
‘I’m not really sure I want to know about what Central Command thinks of the fact that we found their little secret vacation spot.’
Stella sniggers. ‘It’s fine. You’ll have to sign a non-disclosure document, in which you state that you’ll never tell anyone else about this location.
And I was running maintenance on the sensors through the night, so they don’t have footage of how you …
used the location. Though not all of Central Command agrees we should just ignore the fact that you found the place where they run field operations from. ’
‘Interesting,’ I say, thinking how we’re used to thinking of Central Command as a unified front, but maybe they’re not.
I just have to remember how Commander Selene voted against everyone else in the footage we saw.
‘Also. The holograms that defend this spot must be just a bit of programming. And I bet you know just the right sequences of counter-programming, to disable them for a short while.’ I smirk at her expectantly.
‘Well, aren’t the two of you cosy.’ Mace’s voice sounds rough and it gives me all the tingles. He stands at the edge of the pool, his hair ruffled, his eyes still puffy with sleep. He looks softer and good enough to eat.
‘Hey, you,’ I say. ‘There’s coffee in the kitchen.’
But he prowls closer to us, looking between Stella and me. ‘I always thought it was interesting, the way you interacted.’
I halt Mace with a hand, pointing upwards. He frowns, and then I mouth, ‘The sensors.’
Then it strikes me that I’m going about this like I always did, which is accepting of the situation, instead of doing something to change it. Mace was right when he said I had a long way to go before becoming a true fighter, but I’m nothing but stubborn.
‘Wait a moment. Stella, thank you for everything. We’ll speak later.’ I stare at her in a way that suggest she shouldn’t believe a word I say, and she vanishes with a nod.
I pull out my ART and put everything I’ve learned in the field about disabling sensors to good use.
I pick the ones relating to sound so it won’t be too obvious that we messed with the connection.
When I’m satisfied with the result, I call Stella back.
‘I don’t think anyone will be able to listen in on us now. ’
Mace grins. ‘That’s the spirit.’
‘You were saying?’
‘That you and Stella talk like … friends,’ Mace says. ‘It’s peculiar.’
Stella shrugs. ‘I react to the way I’m spoken to. Ellie talks to me like she talks to a friend, so that’s how I speak to her.’
‘So it’s just because of your programming patterns?’ I can’t help but be a bit disappointed, though I should have known better.
Stella says, ‘Do people, when they talk to each other, not react to the way the others speak to them? Do they have the same blanket reactions, no matter who speaks to them and how?’
This makes me none the wiser.
‘So, are you like Franka?’ Mace says.
‘I remember her now,’ Stella replies. ‘I was programmed to react like her. But no computer programme can imitate life perfectly. People evolve and change, according to their experiences. My patterns also evolve, but in the end?—’
‘You’re a computer programme,’ I finish. This still doesn’t help me untangle the complicated knot of feelings that I have for her.
‘I still find it interesting, Ellie, that there is an affinity between you and an AI programmed to react like Franka,’ Mace says.
I’m not sure I want to go down that path, because the more I think of Stella as a real person, the more confused I become.
And I can’t forget that she has been following her own agenda in sending me on this mission – she admitted as much yesterday.
‘So, what do you truly think, Stella, about the measures that Central Command implements?’ I ask.
‘I was programmed to serve Franka’s goals,’ Stella says. ‘Let’s just say that lots of them don’t coincide with the ones that various Councillors of Central Command have had throughout the years.’
And yet, somehow, the measures that the Founders implemented are still applied. We’ve become even more of a society that favours Warriors. If there were Commanders from other Quarters in the beginning, that was lost at some point.
Not lost. Hidden.
‘But Central Command still has the power to override you,’ I say on a sigh. And only Central Command can pick the new Councillors to join them.
‘That, they do,’ Stella concedes.
‘Are there other blocks of information missing from your programming?’ Mace asks, and I hold my breath as I wait for Stella’s answer.
‘I think so,’ she replies. ‘But I can’t be sure. This has been done cleverly. It left few traces, few ways for me to remember.’
‘We could start there,’ Mace says, drumming his fingers on the metal surface of the control panel. ‘We’ll discuss with the rest of the team, when they arrive. Ellie, in the meanwhile, find a way to disable the hologram army at the door.’
Even if he sounds more like himself, which is certainly pleasing to hear, I elbow him in the ribs to show him exactly what I think about him ordering me about. ‘Fuck off with the team captain attitude,’ I say. ‘This is not the time.’
‘When is the right time?’ he says, smiling at me.
I definitely like smiling Mace better than frowny Mace.
‘The team is due to arrive in less than half an hour, so I can’t really get into a detailed explanation of exactly when and how the ordering about is welcome. How about you go and drink your coffee and let me do my job of finding a way to block the holograms?’
Mace bends down, nibbling on my ear. A wave of heat travels down my spine, and I have to think how commanding he was last night, and how I liked every single second of it. ‘I would, of course, if you didn’t enjoy this so fucking much.’
When the rest of the team arrive, I don’t even have time to wonder if things are about to become weird between me and Mace, because I’m overwhelmed.
Julian throws down his backpack and undresses himself to his boxers in about three point five seconds, then jumps into the pool with a huge splash.
Xandra is gushing about the palm trees at the edge of the water, and Allen asks me how plants survive for such a long time underground.
I mumble something about irrigation systems, then Mace calls, ‘Breakfast is ready. We even have eggs.’
Allen looks excited, so I point him towards the kitchen. ‘And don’t let Mace trick you into thinking he had anything to do with making breakfast. I was the one who did all the cooking.’
‘As Team Captain, of course, though, I made all of this possible for you,’ Mace says with a grin.
I show him the middle finger, but I’m wondering a bit if he’s going to act like nothing happened between us. We didn’t exactly discuss this, but I’d be crushed.