Authors: Pamela Foland
“So it’s nothing?” Yllera typed, though the back of her brain itched with the idea that it was actually quite important.
He pursed his lips and shook his head, “Nothing you need to worry about. Any other problems, suit working okay?”
Yllera typed a short, “Yes, I should get back to work. Thank you for your time,” before tapping the cut off key and deactivating her pad.
“Nothing to worry about?” Yllera thought loudly at the blank pad while she detached the keyboard. Now, should she lick Tatia, or have the girl spit on her. Yuck either way.
- - - - - - - - - -
Chapter 12
Now What?
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Angela hadn’t been back to her office in three days, she couldn’t stand it in there anymore. She’d also had great fun hiding from her assistants, they eventually would catch up to her, out of breath and troubled by the search.
She would reassure them in a chiefly manner, telling them she was trying to get more exercise now that the morning meetings were canceled. They would smile and nod and beg her to check her pad for messages more often. She would smile and nod and promise to do that. It was becoming a dance, the dance of the quitting chief, at least that’s what Angela was calling it in her head.
More fun than hiding from her assistants, was sneaking up on all of the departments. She would sneak into each department in silent running mode and stand in the middle of the space until someone noticed her. Some departments like communications, which always had a doughnut for her, noticed quickly. Other departments, like R&D she could wander through all day without so much as one interruption.
In fact she was jogging around an empty corner of R&D as the fourth day of hiding began. Angela was having a great time. She could get lost in the labyrinthine research caverns for days. It might even be fun to outfit herself with provisions and do just that. No, she’d miss Daniel too much. She thought of his smiling face, actually he’d probably enjoy wandering around with her, camping in the caverns was very much a Daniel-ish idea. Trouble was if she suggested it he would probably drag her into Gene’s office for a full medical check to make sure she really was his wife.
Angela stopped outside of an empty cubicle and teleported herself a doughnut. Munching on it she briefly contemplated the state of her nervous breakdown. Avoiding work and responsibility was either a last ditch effort to prevent that breakdown, or it was the onset stages of it. What did it matter, Angela was working very hard to be Angela, and the Chief was having a harder and harder time stopping her.
Angela munched messily on her doughnut and on impulse crouched in a corner of the cubicle. It felt like a children’s fort. She remembered playing as a child it was wonderful how a flimsy cardboard box could protect you from anything when you were five. Now, she was hiding from even her friends.
“There you are cousin!” Tina’s exasperated voice called through the open cubicle entryway.
Angela briefly regretted not setting up a barricade across the opening to her private sanctuary, “What do you need?”
Tina grimaced, “For one you could check . . .”
“Yes, yes, I should check my e-mail more often and leave word where I am to be found in case of emergencies, or I should work in my cruddy-blue, feng-shuied office!” The words spilled out of Angela’s mouth as though she didn’t have one shred of impulse control. She slapped a hand over her errant mouth smearing chocolate icing from her doughnut around her face.
Tina entered the cubicle and sat down near Angela, “You aren’t yourself today cousin, do you want to talk about it?”
Angela held her hand over her mouth to prevent verbal spillage. There was nothing more she wanted than to talk about it but suddenly embarrassment allied itself with duty and held her mute. Wasn’t herself? She was actively trying to be more
>
herself’.
“Stress?” Tina asked.
Angela nodded mutely, lowering her chocolaty hand.
A wet wash cloth appeared in Tina’s hand and she gently cleaned the chocolate from Angela’s face and moved on to her hands, “What happened?”
Angela tried to put forth an answer, instead one just spilled out,
“Qualline Jharra, an achillean from Trilanta. She had no family. And now she is dead. She isn’t the only one, several factors have disappeared along with the dimensions I sent them to.”
Tina frowned and folded the washcloth, “You feel responsible?”
“I am responsible! People die and I’m the one who sent them to their deaths. I don’t want to do this anymore. I can’t,” Angela broke down into tears, slumping into the corner. It was out, the secret truth, finally someone knew.
Tina wiped at Angela’s tears with the clean side of the washcloth, “I understand. Everybody comes to you and gives you all of the problems and you have to fix them. Nobody wants to fix yours. I’ll put forth a medical restriction on you, you can act like you’re fighting it if you want. Take some time, get a hobby.”
Angela wailed, “A hobby! I tried a hobby! I started painting my office and they came in and redid the whole thing! I can’t stand it there anymore!”
Tina nodded and retracted the washcloth.
Angela looked at her cousin, there was real concern behind Tina’s eyes. “I’m so sorry, what was it you came looking for me about?”
“I came to find out if you’d read my report on Yllera,” Tina answered, “but it isn’t important.”
Yllera? Another problem with Yllera? Angela straightened up, rising to her feet, assuming something of the chief’s bearing. She liked the girl and felt responsible for her, after all if Angela had only moved more quickly she might have been able to save the girl’s mother from torture by the dark. Then again if she had rescued Yllera’s mother then Yllera, a child of rape, would never have been born. Causality sucked! “What’s wrong is she going to be okay?”
Tina rose to her feet just as quickly, to keep eye contact with Angela, “No, I told you it was nothing important.”
“You wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of hunting me down if it were nothing! Spill, that’s an order!” Angela was fully in Chief mode now, her tears dried up on force of will.
Tina chuckled, “Okay, but you’ll see it wasn’t important. I hunted you down because I wanted to see your reaction. Yllera called me frantically the other day because she thought something was wrong. She sprouted feathers. An Agurian has officially regained the ability to shape shift! What’s more she was beginning to shape shift into a non-hominid. They didn’t used to be able to. She’s like a super Agurian.”
Angela cracked half a grin, “She was scared? What did you tell her?”
“I told her not to worry, and if the feathers bothered her that much she could lick Tatia and it would probably get rid of them.”
“Lick Tatia?” Angela laughed, a talk with Tina was what she needed, “Now, about that medical leave. . .”
- - - - - - - - - -
Annette yawned, it was too early for this. One foot in front of the other, she jogged around the track. Behind her trailed a string of students.
She set the pace. Tawny waited at the bleachers for Annette to bring the class after their run. Annette found it almost ironic that she had spent so much time working hard like the kids behind her only to end up back in the same place.
She had
woken up at five to lead Tawny’s pre-trainees through their paces. Fortunately she was almost done, for the day. It was the last lap and then Annette could turn over the kids for their lecture. Then Annette was free to wolf down breakfast and head to class. Later, instead of physical training with the rest of her class, Annette would help Tawny with organizing and locating materials for the diversity class.
“Time Prima?” Annette asked worried about her schedule.
“Six-forty, pick up the pace.” Prima replied.
Annette sped up. The kids behind her groaned and she heartily agreed with them, but she didn’t want to fudge time if she didn’t have to.
It was too early to have to run so far, so fast, and her legs hated her for making them cooperate. Her body was no longer as willing as it once had been. Though her newly longer limbs had the potential to make the run easier and smoother, but they had forgotten how to do the job. The four weeks she’d been Tawny’s assistant hadn’t proven enough to get them back in line.
Finally, Annette reached Tawny.
A little out of breath she sat next to her towel and sipped at her water. A strange low un-sound vibrated through Annette. She almost wanted to put it off as her pounding heart, but it felt different, almost ominous.
“Tawny, do you hear something?” Annette asked as the sound began to dissipate.
The android cocked her head, and turned it searching for a sound, “I assume you mean something
which is out of place, the answer to which is no.”
The sound had passed, leaving only a sense of foreboding Annette could not shake,
“It’s gone now.”
“What was it like?” Tawny asked as the last of her students finally arrived.
“Disturbing,” Annette rose taking up her towel and water, “I have to head to the showers, see you later.”
Tawny nodded goodbye and turned to begin her lesson for the day.
Annette headed for the locker room. At her locker Annette shrugged out of her jumpsuit and transferred Prima’s remote to the collar of purple sun dress.
Her floor was the top ranked one and her floor mates had insisted she take advantage of the privilege. Then she drug herself to the shower and washed off the sweat. Still wet and smelling better, Annette pulled on the dress and tossed the jumpsuit back into her locker.
Next on her to do list was breakfast. She was early, but that was to her benefit and the joy of her floor mates. It meant she could stake out the best table for them.
They’d also been pleased by her assistantship, in general they were happy to have her. She had become a part of their routine, their functioning, their well oiled machine of efficiency. Annette handled anything that was more easily done by hand than telekinetically, and she had found a solution to Scope’s homework allergy. The girl was a terrible typist and had horrendous handwriting
so Annette had requested authorization for a dictation program. It went through smoothly and now so did Scope’s homework. After that success and a few other suggestions which had proven fruitful, everyone even Carl, asked her opinion with difficulties. They were almost looking to her as a leader.
Annette shook that thought off, only a few months ago Annette had been a part of the class she just left, with little hope of attaining her dream, and no friends or sense of belonging to speak of. Time changes almost anything, but hard work helps. Annette arrived in the cafeteria. She went to the favored table
and flipped the card in the center to mark it as occupied then she collected the breakfast tray waiting for her at the counter.
She ate slowly, rereading her homework as she ate. At a trickle then a flood the cafeteria filled, Carl and the others joined her with their trays. Annette smiled in greeting, and carried her tray to the recycle chute.
When she came back the others were engaged in an animated conversation.
“I hear the temporal physics module is one of the hardest classes in the program,” The instructor is brutal, he can turn any answer into a wrong one!” Popper groaned.
Annette was instantly intrigued, being that today was the first day they would be going to the class. She sat quietly.
“I hear it is more philosophical than physics,” Net replied.
Carl grinned, “I think therefore I can’t go back in time to kill my grandfather.”
“Huh?” Toaster asked, from across the table.
Annette smiled admiring the dark purple suit he had chosen to wear.