Authors: Joseph Picard
“
Peter!” Sandy hid her face
and shoved Peter. Cheryl muttered something, and shrunk down a
little, embarrassed, but Cassidy stood her ground.
“
Yes Sir, I do! But the
batteries died!”
Peter burst out laughing, and wandered
off. “I like her, Sandy!”
In the wake of Peter’s tact, it was now
a quick-draw of apologies between Cheryl and Sandy. Sandy won,
being more experienced in apologizing for Peter’s social
indelicacies. “Cassidy, hon, I’m so sorry.” She looks off-screen to
where Peter went. “But well played, at any rate.”
“
No problem, Mrs. L- er,
Sandy.”
“
Mom,” Cheryl chimed in,
“assuming Cassidy hasn’t been scared off, could we come for a
visit, like maybe next weekend?”
“
Oh of course!” Sandy
bubbled with joy, “That would be great!”
“
I still have to make
concrete arrangements, so I’ll let you know when I know
more?”
“
Sure, of course. Ah, now
I’m all excited.” Sandy turned to the off-screen Peter again,
“Peter, they’re going to come out and visit!”
“
Geez, I gotta get some gas
for the barbecue!” was heard.
“
Talk to you later,
mom!”
“
Okay hon! Love you! See
you, Cassidy!”
Cassidy waved, and Cheryl disconnected.
She turned to Cassidy, and shook her head. “I forgot to warn you
about my dad… he’s… he thinks he’s funny.”
Cassidy smirked. “No problem, I think I
can go a few rounds with him… he likes his barbecue,
huh?”
“
Loves it. Burgers, steak,
hot dogs, he does some killer roasts-”
“
Do you think when we show
up, I should lie, and tell him I’m a super-strict
vegan?”
Cheryl giggled, and wrapped herself
onto Cassidy. “Oh, you two are going to get along just
fine.”
Cassidy hugged Cheryl back. “So… they
think we’re serious enough that they can bring up grandchildren.”
Her voice rang with affection.
“
I know it’s way too early
to think about thinking stuff like that,” Cheryl said with a slight
apologetic tone.
“
It’s okay.” Cassidy
squeezed a little. “We should think about getting married first.
Maybe in a year and a half or so.”
“
You’ve been thinking about
it…”
“
It’s hard not to. Do you
want to desecrate a wall with me now?” Cassidy pointed at the knife
she left by the wall.
Cheryl looked into Cassidy’s eyes,
breathing deeply. She gently pushed her onto her back, and kissed
her soft, slow, and deep. “It can wait a little.”
~~~~~
:::C /23
~~~~~
Kirison had been getting more paranoid
than usual. The news didn’t say enough about the ‘Suspected A.R.A.
terrorists’ that could verify that it had anything to do with Horad
and his cronies, but it had to be them. It was too big of a
coincidence. What other Aguei would have a motive? It was hard
enough to believe that Horad had swallowed his B.S.
The army was doubtlessly investigating
in all ways they figured was applicable, but god help Kirison if
they go sniffing for nanites. They wouldn’t be hard to find if they
bothered to look. They were everywhere around the temple by now,
and in everyone. If they found any nanites, Kirison felt it would
only be a matter of time before the army tracked it to him. Goddam
Lancer sure as hell wasn’t going to protect him. Kirison needed a
place to hide, to lay low. Join a frigging missionary, get to
Africa or something, then skip out, take a new name, and work docks
somewhere.
Yeah, right.
Suffice to say, Kirison’s stress level
was at a peak. He found himself trembling a little. What could they
do to him? Throw him in jail? How long? What were the details of
those new nanite laws? His nanites weren’t designed to hurt anyone.
They weren’t designed to hurt anyone! Then those fucking hooligans
run in with grenades? Who gave those fucknuts grenades? It was just
a good thing that the nanites did their job and turned the grenades
‘off’, or the consequences of getting caught would have been much,
much higher.
Having thrown out any desperate plan to
hide, Kirison decided to try to act natural. Employment insurance
was long gone, and his savings were taking significant hits. Anyone
not freaking out about the law bearing down on them would be
looking innocently for a job, so that’s what he did.
One evening in his apartment, pecking
away at online job postings on his terminal, a call came in from
“?????”. Among other things, that could mean a disposable or a
public terminal. He accepted the call. A face came up that caused
all of Kirison’s suppressed stress to explode out of his
mouth.
“
Horad!”
“
Samuel.” ‘Elder’ Horad’s
voice came as grim and gritty as ever, with an expression to
match.
Kirison had almost forgotten the name
he had given to Horad. He had created a dummy account for Horad to
call which forwarded to his terminal. “Horad, that thing on the
news, was that your people?!”
“
Things did not go as
planned. But they will tell the federals nothing.”
“
What the heck were you
trying to do?”
“
The grenades must have been
defective,” Horad said, “Others from the same box were fine. Luck
was not on their side. The explosions were to create enough injury
and confusion that they could escape into the desert.”
“
You could have killed a
pile of people!” Kirison knew he was dealing with a dangerous man,
but this was more than he wanted. On the other hand, Kirison knew
that a sane, reasonable person wouldn’t be useful to him
either.
“
It would have sent a
message about defiling the temple with crass tourism.” Horad said
this with no sense of irony, that explosions and murder might be
seen as defiling as well. “But still, the tours have
ended.”
Damn it, damn it, damn it. Horad felt
victorious, and it hadn’t gotten anything done about Kirison’s
problem. “Listen, Horad. I wish you had stayed in touch before your
little stunt. It’s going to be much harder to get in now. If you
had talked to me, I could have given you what you needed to get in
and out without capture, without hurting anyone.”
“
What’s done is done. My men
will simply have to suffer the oppression of prison for the
cause.”
“
You don’t understand,
Horad! You’ve accomplished nothing! The grenades didn’t work
because the spirit willed them not to! Until you deliver the chant,
the spirit will remain controlled by the lies of the federals! The
will of the Aguei will be bound in chains!” If only he had prepared
this line of B.S. before, and had everything ready earlier. “We
have to meet!”
After making arrangements and hanging
up, Kirison took a blood sample from himself and checked on his
‘insurance policy’. It was still doing well.
~~~~~
:::C /24
~~~~~
The brassy sun had long dipped under
the west sands. Its light was long departed, and its warmth fading
as well.
Yet another afternoon shift was drawing
to a close. Things were much as they were before the tourism had
started. No visitors, no wide eyed, boisterous children full of
questions. Cassidy didn’t really like the idea of tourists at
first, but now it seemed like something was missing from the
day.
The quiet was peaceful as it always
was, but peace can do well with a small dose of noise. A small dose
of liveliness.
Night shift people were straggling in,
and when it felt like time, spears were handed from afternoon to
night, and shift was changed. The southeast guards had a bit of a
lead on Cassidy and Cheryl, so Cassidy decided to take her time
with Cheryl, and allow Marcus and Cipriana to catch up, having to
come a little farther from the north door.
Here they came. Marcus tended to become
a little bit of a father figure to many with his easy going, kindly
ways. At the same time, Cipriana was already jokingly called the
den mother. Despite Cipriana not being nearly as old as Marcus,
they looked really good together. They just fit. It seemed so
natural to assume they were together, despite what she had been
told. But no… watching them, maybe they were just very old friends,
long time compatriots. Labels and definitions aside, it was clear
they were close. It would be the kind of thing Cassidy might be
envious of, if she didn’t have Cheryl.
The evening had a particularly
enjoyable calm about it, so Cassidy almost didn’t bother striking
up conversation with Marcus and Cipriana. Cassidy broke the silence
with a soft tone that was more typical of Cipriana. “Hey, you
two.”
Cipriana gave one of her trademark
smiles, and Marcus replied. “Hey, Cass, Cheryl. How’s
things?”
“
S’all good, chief.” Cheryl
answered. Marcus nodded. “Good, good.”
The four of them walked along quietly
for a bit, then Cassidy moved onto what was on her mind. “Hey
Marcus. I have some questions ‘bout our big stone buddy
there.”
“
Uh huh? Fire
away.”
“
You talk about the ghost a
lot, like you talk to it. I assumed you were just having fun with
the idea..”
Marcus smiled. “But now he stops you
from blowing up, and you start to wonder.”
“
Well, yeah. The watch
thing, and the camera thing… I wondered about them, but I never
bothered to bring it up.”
Marcus looked back at the temple as
they walked, as if he was checking to see if the statue was
eavesdropping. “Well, our old boy likes things simple. Fancy new
stuff like electronics and explosives? He doesn’t get it. Doesn’t
like em. Rather than deal with such complicated unnecessary things,
he just puts them to sleep.”
Cassidy smirked, and skipped the issue
of the ghost’s existence. “Well, if he can put them to sleep, it
seems like he somehow understands them perfectly fine!”
“
Bah. Magic doesn’t rely so
much on understanding, I think.”
Cheryl spoke up, unsure what to think
of Marcus’ sanity. “Does he... speak to you?”
“
Not exactly. Usually he
whispers thoughts to me.” Marcus scrunched his face a little,
searching for the right words. “Ideas. It’s kind of abstract. Tells
me useful things, sometimes he just gives me less important
things.”
“
Like?”
“
Well,” he looked into the
sky, searching his memory. “Well, before the grenade thing, he
warned me something was wrong with the tour group. I wonder if he
smelt the grenades. But often it’s more general things.. like that
he was enjoying the tours. He misses the kids, I think.”
Cassidy leaned towards Cipriana. “You
hear any of this, Cip?”
Cipriana smiled, and shrugged. “No, I
think Marcus is the ghost’s favourite.”
Marcus chuckled. “Well, that stands to
reason; he’s my favourite ghost of a giant dog statue.”
“
Okay, alright, fine.”
Cassidy was willing to accept what Marcus was saying just because
she had no motivation to argue. “So what’s his story, anyway? Did
the Aguei make him?”
Marcus scrunched his face again in
thought. “Well, I’ve asked about his history, and I’ve gotten
pieces of it, but keep in mind I only get fragments of ideas from
him. And his history is a very old memory.”
“
We’re listening!” Cheryl
nagged jokingly.
“
A long time ago, I don’t
even think he knows how long this was, there were a lot of
different things in the world. Some good, some bad, some very bad.
He hated the ones who died but walked.”
“
What, like those ‘zombies’
at Autar and Meston?” Cassidy asked.
“
Yes. No. Those were
terrible for certain, and he could feel them, but they were phony.
Compared to the cursed things he hunted ages ago. He hunted and
hunted, everywhere he could travel, and when they were all gone,
when people were safe from them, he rested here.”
Cassidy and Cheryl looked at each other
with cynical glances. Cassidy sighed. “So. Hundreds of thousands of
years ago, there was a giant horned dog that ran around killing
monsters, then he came here and turned to stone.”
Marcus turned to Cipriana. “When she
puts it like that, it sounds far fetched, doesn’t it?” Cipriana
gave her amused smile, and then Marcus continued. “I don’t know if
that statue is his body. For all I know, the statue was created as
a symbolic tribute to a hero or something. Maybe the monsters were
just an invading enemy. But what I feel from him feels like a
little more than that. All I know for sure is that the ghost likes
company.”
“
And dislikes complicated
stuff like watches.” Cassidy added, still with a tone of
skepticism. It all sounded pretty silly, but it was hard to argue
with the cameras, watches, and the lack of resent explosions in her
midsection. “He doesn’t watch in the showers, does he?”
“
You're tiny, bipedal and
fur-less. I don’t think you’re his type.”
~~~~~
:::C /25