Forty-Five #2
“We can hope Martim’s granted a lease on the synthbody—three decades, that’s nothing to these people—in exchange for advising on the division’s operations and transitioning it to new leadership.
That would be a reasonable exchange.” Kob groans and starts to push himself wearily off the sofa.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. ”
“Don’t get up.” Isako goes into his kitchen, starts opening cabinets and looking for things.
He watches her, amused. “Who’re you kidding? You don’t know your way around a kitchen.”
She brandishes a butter knife at him. “Shut up and let me do this.”
She cuts up a loaf of bread and arranges it on a platter with a block of goat cheese she finds in the fridge, some microgreens, and a tin of fruit preserve. She brings it back to the sofa and sets the platter down on the coffee table. “How’re you feeling? Any better?”
“Could be worse.”
He sits up and they eat side by side, too tired to muster much conversation.
At last, Isako feels she has to say it. The food in her mouth loses its taste before she swallows.
“You were the contractor Uchi and Martim hired to eliminate the survivors of Field 93. That was the last DTE job you mentioned, the one you did for the money but couldn’t finish. ”
Kob tenses but doesn’t reply.
“That’s why you knew where to find Waterboy. And why you didn’t want to go with me into the Old Warehouse.”
Kob finishes chewing slowly and leans back against the cushions.
“I didn’t want to keep secrets from you, but also…
I’m not proud of that job, Isa. Nor the way I left it.
It wasn’t how I wanted to end my career.
I put Martim in a bad spot when I failed my contract.
When you told me he was dead, I couldn’t let it go any more than you could. ”
Isako understands. Young people like Martim are motivated by fear of failure. Old hands like her and Kob are just trying to redeem themselves for failures already made.
“I wish I could’ve told you.” Kob gazes at her with eyes that are soft and pained. “Code be damned, I should have. But it was hard, knowing how much less you must think of me already.”
“You can’t make me think less of you.”
He smiles a little. “You’re too loyal, then, even for an atier.”
“I don’t change my mind easily.” She sighs and leans against him, tiredly. “My kithfather had the same longknife practice every morning. He lived by the Code up to and including the day he resigned.”
“Isthmus Akio was a great longknivesman,” Kob agrees.
“I was always proud of him for that. Proud to be following his example.” She drops her head onto his shoulder and is quiet for a minute.
“I didn’t want to hear it, but you were right, earlier, when you asked if we can trust the compass.
It’s hard for me to say now if devotion to the Code is truly virtuous, or just a willing embrace of ignorance.
A way for us to narrow the scope of our lives so the forces we can’t control are more bearable. ”
His shoulder rises and falls slowly under her cheek.
“I don’t know what to think anymore, about any of it,” she confesses.
“All the years I was working in Astrocom, I thought I knew what was going on in the Company, but all I saw was a sliver. The Great Silence… that affects everyone, now and in the future. It’s way above our pay grade.
But like you pointed out to Martim, who’s to say that those we serve have any better a compass than we do? ”
Kob raises a hand and smooths the hair back from her brow.
“There are four million people trying to survive on this godforsaken planet. All of them—from the directors who pay a fortune for synthtech, to the badgeless scrounging for offscrip—need to believe in something greater than the Vastness. For some that’s the freedom of the Mother in Chains, or reincarnation in paradise, or reconnection with Earth, or the Founders’ Vision. For us tracs, it’s the Code.”
His lips brush her hair. “We all share the same struggle, but we believe it ends in different places. Whether the Great Silence breaks tomorrow or goes on forever, that truth won’t change.
A couple of old tracs like us can’t solve much, but we can solve a few things.
This one last time, we can finish out a contract by saving lives instead of ending them. ”
A call alert comes through. Isako glances at it, but it’s from an unknown line. She answers it.
“Oh, so you’re still alive,” Waterboy drawls. “I didn’t expect that.”
Isako sits up, her skin crawling at the sound of the man’s nasally voice. “How’d you get my ID?”
“Help me out here, because I’m confused ,” Waterboy says plaintively.
“See, I thought we had a plan. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m all in favor of shooting doctors who make jarbrains.
But, you see, bombs and guns are awfully expensive and hard to get.
So, I was under the impression that we were on the same page about the point of our little partnership. ”
“Things didn’t go as planned,” she says.
“I’ve got to say, after the trouble we went to, seeing that murdering bastard sitting warm and safe in his castle is really pissing me the fuck off right now .” Waterboy’s distractable singsong turns into an accusing snarl. “You had one job . You promised you’d do it! You tricked us.”
“You didn’t do any better when you tried to blow up his car.”
She winces and pulls the earpiece away as he starts yelling.
She can picture his wide blue eyes and waving arms. “We never should’ve trusted you!
You wasted our time and suckered us, and for what ?
We’re going to get him next time without your stinking help.
You better watch your fucking back from now on, you lying trac bitch. ”
Kob takes the earpiece from her. “Listen carefully, Elk Terrence. That’s right. I remember your name and your face perfectly well. The gods of old Earth didn’t spare your life. I did. ”
His words are a deep and chilling monotone. Waterboy shuts up.
“Whatever great purpose you think you’re destined for, I can still take it away. Keep your detrit friends away from us, and don’t call this ID again.”
Kob ends the call.
After a minute, Isako takes her earpiece back. “Were you bluffing?”
“I’m a reformed contractor, not a saint.” He spreads goat cheese and fig jam on a piece of bread and hands it to her. “You can resign when you’re ready, Isa, but I’m not letting you die until then.”