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Shielded Workroom


“Let’s mark our place, here, Pilot,” Tolly Jones said. “We’ll come back to this in six hours.”

“There is nothing else on your schedule, Mentor,” Tocohl said, not exactly chiding, but definitely puzzled.

Tolly rubbed his face. This was an unexpected lapse. Tocohl was unfailingly polite, and always gracious about human frailties. He sighed. Well, it had been a long day for everybody.

“I’m tired,” he told her, gently. “If I don’t get some sleep, I’m gonna start making mistakes.”

Silence. Long enough for him to mark the place and sign out of the workspace.

“Forgive me, Mentor. I lost track of the time.”

Sure she had. Tolly smiled, and pushed back from the desk.

“Do you want to go on without me?”

Tocohl spun her chassis to face him, the dark oval faceplate gleaming.

“I have one or two things that I may sketch out for your consideration,” she said. “But I think you have the right of it, Mentor. This is a good point at which to pause and review what we wish to accomplish, coming back to the task tomorrow, refreshed.”

“That’s what we’ll do then,” he said, turning toward the door. He turned back. “Pilot Tocohl?”

“Mentor?”

“How’s that chassis feeling to you? Any adjustments need to be made?”

“I am…perfectly comfortable, Mentor.”

“Good,” he said. “That’s good.” He turned away.

The door had just opened when he heard her say, softly, “Thank you.”


Tolly had barely gotten into his quarters when the annunciator chimed.

“Who’s that?” he called.

“Hazenthull.”

He stepped up and hit the plate to let her in, swinging to one side to give her room. Station quarters were spacious, but Haz was a big woman, taking up a lot of the available extra space as she stood there, looking down at him.

“Hey,” he said, when she didn’t speak. “How was the shift with Seignur Veeoni?”

“Peaceful,” Haz said. “She made certain of our understanding and competence, provided a list of what was needed, and left us to work.”

“Practical woman.”

“It would seem to be the case. Stost and Chernak are agreeable companions in labor.”

“So, a good shift. I was just about to get a cup of ’mite. Want some?”

“No,” Haz said, and turned loose a sigh.

“When were you going to inform me that you were breaking our partnership?” she asked.

Tolly sagged.

Their partnership. It was a peculiar thing, their partnership; based on trust between two people who made it a policy not to trust. They’d backed each other up, and saved each other’s lives, and they made—

You made promises, Tolly Jones, he told himself. You know better than promises.

He turned and sat on the bunk, pointing at a chair.

“Sit,” he told her. “I want us to be on the same level.”

She pulled the chair out and sat, slouching slightly, so that they could look more or less equally into each other’s eyes.

“First off, you’ll be innerested to know that Light Keeper yos’Phelium’s against turning Ahab-Esais into useful components, so there’s no need for me to take her over to Ren Stryker. Second, I’ve reconsidered hiding on Ren Stryker—”

“There is no need for you to hide at all!” Hazenthull burst out. “I will kill your enemies, if you’re not able.”

Tolly took a hard breath against a sudden tightness in his chest.

“I know you would, Haz,” he said quietly. “And if it was just that the Directors were gonna keep sending people to kill me, I’d stick right here and let you have your fun. But it’s worse than that.”

“Tolly—”

He held up a hand. “Just hear me out, right?”

She subsided, folding her hands over her belt.

“Right. You saw this back on Surebleak Port, how the Directors were able to stop me from protecting myself.”

“The whistle,” Haz said. “We broke it.”

“We broke that whistle. I don’t wanna think about how many’re stockpiled. The sound—it disconnects me from myself, so the Directors can be sure their orders are gonna be carried out just like they want them to be, and nothing clever outta you, Thirteen Sixty-Two.”

Haz’s face darkened, as she held his impression number in considerable contempt, but she didn’t interrupt.

“And here’s what I can’t face, Haz. They can—they’ve done this, unnerstan’ me? The Directors get hold of me, they can make me—do things I particularly wouldn’t do, as I sit here under my own influence. They—I killed my—well, we don’t have brothers and we don’t have lovers, but I killed him, regardless of the fact I’d’ve rather killed myself, and would’ve, had I been able.”

He took a breath and closed his eyes, breathing against the memory, forcing it back, how it felt to deliver the final, killing blow, after—

“You believe these Directors will force you to harm—”

“To harm everybody I’ve touched,” he said, “to betray the station, break Seignur Veeoni into twigs, melt Tocohl’s chassis a second time.” He opened his eyes. “Kill you.”

She said nothing, sitting there looking into his eyes, her broad face empty of expression.

He swallowed.

“So, see, Haz, I really should leave before the Directors or whoever they’ve prolly sent by now gets here.”

“What will happen, if they catch you away from your allies and outside of a stronghold?”

He sighed.

“I got away from ’em twice. They’ll make sure that never happens again. They don’t need me to mentor; there’s other, less-skilled programs that always need operatives.”

“That is not acceptable.”

He half-laughed.

“I agree.”

“We are partners,” she went on. “If you must leave, I will leave with you. I believe it would be better if we remained here, where our forces are strongest, but if the risk is too great, then we will retire together.”

“Haz—”

“If you leave, I will follow,” she said, flatly. “Tolly Jones. Unless you do not want me—” She showed him a broad palm.

“I will know it, if you lie to me.”

She would, too. He sighed.

“I’m staying for now. But I gotta ask you to promise something.”

“Ask.”

“If you see I’m taken, and you got a clean shot, don’t you hesitate, Haz. You kill me.”

“If all hope is lost, I will myself send you to glory’s reward,” she said solemnly. “I swear on the blade of my honor.”

Well, you couldn’t ask for more than that, not from an Yxtrang, and surely not from Haz.

“Thank you,” he said, and smiled. “If we’re done, I’ve gotta get some sleep. Promised Pilot Tocohl I’d see her, sharp and full of good ideas for this killware we’re building, in about six—well, five—hours, now.”

“I will guard your rest,” she said.

Tolly blinked.

“What, sleep across the door, and like that?”

“If necessary.”

They were partners, and that was hard enough, the two of them being who they otherwise were. He did know better than promises, but he’d gone and made one, not because he was particularly stupid, but because Haz had what passed for his heart. If they were going to take this to its natural end, throw us in the face of the universe, not to say the Directors, as a proclamation and a dare, then it was time to forge one more link.

He slid off the bunk.

“If you’re sleeping here, we’re sleeping together. Agreed?”

Haz stood and put the chair back where it belonged, taking some time with getting it perfectly aligned. She turned to face him and inclined gravely from the waist.

“Agreed,” she said.


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