The bed was narrow, of military issue, and had seen better years, but it was good enough. Jay stretched broadly and smiled; it was good to rise well-rested. He switched on the bedside lamp and pulled out his dream logbook. His IterationX implant gave him practically perfect memory but physically writing down his dreams was a helpful meditation. The exercise made him pause and sift through the details of his dreams - to ponder them slowly and seek meaning from them. After all, he was a shaman and dreams were his realm.
Once he had finished his dream log and morning meditations, Jay headed off to the room the former military base had set up as a gym. Two homid Garou working on the weight machines nodded to him as he came in. He avoided the Etherites' odd muscle-building equipment and worked out a bit with the various mundane machines to loosen himself up. Afterwards the Garou joined him on his morning jog around the base - once they had shifted to lupus.
After he showered, he combed his hair and braided it on one side. Today he used a small blue gem on a cord as a tie-off and regarded the effect thoughtfully. He really had to get some other decorations to braid in. Cords, perhaps, to properly honor his totem, or perhaps some clasps shaped like spiders. At least the dark blue stone went well with the jade earring he wore on the same side.
In the cafeteria, he waved to Kenny and Anne and joined them at their usual table. They both looked a little bleary.
"You folks all right?"
They looked at him over their coffees. "Long night," Kenny said. "Someone - who shall remain nameless..."
"But his name begins with 'Edmund'," Anne interjected.
"...screwed up the landing gear when they overhauled Number 6."
Anne sighed. "Some people will take a perfectly good design and 'improve' it until it no longer works." She sipped her coffee. "So how was your weekend with the Dreamspeakers?"
Jay thought of the new tattoo on his thigh. "Pretty good."
Anne looked over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow. "Head's up, Jay."
Debra sauntered over and sat next to Jay. She gave him a soft, sultry smile. "Are you going to be busy this afternoon?"
"Actually, yes. I've been asked to help with the Electro-Shield."
"Installing fuses?" Kenny asked.
Jay smiled at the Etherite. "It's not a bad idea."
Debra placed a hand on Jay's arm. "Funny, that's where I'll be too. It'll be a pleasure working with you."
"You'll find me to be quite professional," Jay replied blandly.
The Garou pouted. "You're no fun." She walked off in a huff.
After breakfast, he went to his 'office' - a desk, a few chairs, a couple of plants, and a computer in a small room. Johnson Carries-the-Spear was bouncing on the balls of his feet, waiting for him. It was odd to see the Garou pack leader acting like an eager puppy.
"Have you heard a reply yet?" the Garou asked.
"Not yet, but maybe they sent something earlier this morning. Darkside runs on its own time." Jay checked the messages and glanced up at Johnson. "They've agreed to most of the terms but they want another fifty pounds of that special Columbian blend. Ah... whole bean, not ground."
Johnson ground his teeth. "There goes my personal stash. But it'll be worth it for moon metals." He rubbed his hands together. "Now to get the Etherites to build a few freighters so we can start shipping it. Not much room inside one of those jets for much more than a pilot."
"You could have it refined at Darkside," Jay suggested. "Refined metal would be a lot easier to transport than raw ores."
The Garou frowned. "Having Technocrats refine the metals? Unacceptable. They wouldn't treat the spirit of the metals right. I'd have to station my people *at* Darkside. I don't think they'd like that. Hell, I don't think I'd like that - we don't have enough Garou to cover the caern and the moonbase both."
Jay mentally chastised himself for not thinking of how the refining process might affect the metal spirits. He considered the design of the A-10. "Perhaps the missiles could be replaced by cargo tanks. They can carry 225 kilogram bombs. No reason they can't carry 225 kilograms of ore. We could send up a second craft as a fighter escort."
"Good idea. I'll talk to Anne about it. She knows the A-10 inside and out."
Johnson paused. "You'll be working on the Electro-Shield today?"
Jay nodded. "Actually, I was rather surprised to be requested. I thought that having Garou spirits bound within you'd be... more territorial about it."
"Normally, we are. However, your fast work during the attack shows you can handle machine spirits. Not like a Garou," he quickly added, "but you've got a good touch. Debra was rather insistent on having your help today." He leaned closer to Jay and spoke softly. "Has Debra been bothering you again?"
Jay slowly nodded. "Mind you, I like Debra. But she doesn't pay attention to a subtle hint... or just a plain and simple no."
Johnson laughed. "That's Debra. I'll have a word with her."
"Oh, she's not *that* much trouble."
"No trouble at all." The werewolf gleefully cracked his knuckles and left the room.
Jay sighed. Couldn't the werewolves settle anything without resorting to violence?
Although the Etherites weren't as bound to forms and paperwork as the old Technocracy had been, there was still plenty of correspondence to handle. Everything from elegantly hand-written letters from technophobic Verbena to terse e-mails from others in the New Order of Reason came across his desk. Word had gotten out that the Etherites and the Garou were operating a launching platform and requests came in from all quarters.
Much of the correspondence was Void Engineers looking for foodstuffs from Earth and everyone else looking for specialized hardware that could only be created off-world. There were even a few letters going back and forth from families who had been divided by the Technocracy's civil war. Those were carefully screened long before they hit his desk. A few were pleas for information: is my husband/sister/son still alive? Jay didn't have the answers to many of the questions that crossed his desk right to hand, but he could get information from various sources and pass it along.
After about an hour and a half Anne poked her head in. "Jay, how fast can you be ready to go Up?"
He jumped up from his chair. "I'm ready now!" he replied, grinning. "Uhm, as soon as I can tell people I'll be off-base. Where are we going and how long will we be there?"
"Victoria Station," Anne replied with a smile. "We should be back before lunch. Kenny's already up there in the Volvo. He didn't want to take a Warthog up and scare the locals."
Jay let the Electro-Shield team know that he was going to be off-base for a while and might be delayed, though he didn't expect to be. He closed down the computer and left the office. "So what's going on up there?"
They walked towards the hanger. "The Broom Stick is back."
He nodded at the good news. "What are we taking up?"
"The new trainer. You want to have a hand at it?"
His smile got broader. He'd been taking advantage of his free time in the Virtual Adept's simulator, and already been up on some practice flights. "Sure, as long as you handle the landings." He paused. "Shouldn't we take along a change of clothes?"
Anne sighed. "Yeah. But I'm *not* putting on a corset."
Ten minutes later Jay eased the modified A-10 off the ground. He could feel the spirit give a little whoop as it left the earth.
"Sweet takeoff, Jay," Anne remarked. "Take her up and into Etheric insertion."
"Okay." He flipped the switches and the frame of the craft began to hum. He glanced over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow at Anne. "Do I have to say it?"
"Of course," Anne chuckled.
"Clear Ether!" He hit the last switch. The shock of crossing the Gauntlet took his breath away but he recovered quickly. The ship yelped but didn't complain further. He pointed its nose towards the heavens.
Twenty minutes later they approached the Etheric space station. Jay had to stare at the incongruous sight of the 19th-century complex floating in the depths of the Ether. He glanced at his radar display. "I'm reading something long and narrow behind the Station - the Broomstick, I presume?"
"Let me take control and we'll do a fly-over," Anne suggested.
Jay relinquished control and patted the instrument panel in thanks. The spirit within the device returned a warm feeling.
When they arced over Victoria Station a long, narrow craft came into view. At its extreme end was a tubular structure with pipes streaming towards the end. It looked very much like an old fashioned country broom. Jay whistled. "How long is that?"
"A quarter of a proper English mile," she replied. "One man's vision in its final form. Let's land and talk to the guy."
Anne docked the craft neatly. As they went inside, they passed a horse-drawn carriage with mechanical horses and a humanoid robot driver, a bathyscape bristling with antennas, a Void Engineer's travel pod, and Kenny's Volvo.
Within the Station, they stripped out of their environment suits. Jay had a borrowed frock coat, button-down shirt, and cravat while Anne wore a man's equestrian outfit complete with boots and riding crop.
In the main lounge they found Kenny, in his traditional long coat and scarf. He was chatting softly with a very old man in a coat and vest. The man's hair, mustache and bushy eyebrows were white with age.
The man looked up and adjusted his spectacles. "These must be your associates," he said.
Kenny rose to introduce them. "My fiancee' and squadron leader Anne Farrow, and Jay Harriman - the liaison from the New Order of Reason. This is Ephrium de Haviland; architect and builder of the Broom Stick."
"Pleased to meet you," Jay and Anne chorused.
"Please, sit down you two," Ephrium said. "I am an old man and past any need of formalities."
Anne snatched one of the darkly stained heavy oak chairs before Jay could offer to help her sit. He took another chair and sat down. It was leather covered and very comfortable. His hands stroked the carved wood. He had to admire the craftsmanship. The spirit within whispered that it could use a good polishing.
"Where's the Void Engineer?" Anne whispered.
"Getting 'properly attired'," Kenny whispered back.
As if on cue, the VE stepped into the room. He looked uncomfortable in a borrowed smoking jacket over his combat fatigues.
"Ah, the military has arrived!" Ephrium said with a twinkle in his eye. "Not quite in *dress* uniform but... the War rages on, does it not, Colonel Sherman?"
The VE nodded. "Yes, sir, it does."
Introductions were made all around. The colonel shook Jay's hand with a bit more warmth than he did the Etherites'. The presence of a fellow ex-Technocrat seemed to put him at ease.
Sherman continued. "And to fight the war we'll need supplies. I think we all know how the Civil War has put a knot in the supply lines."
Ephrium nodded. "And this is why I'm offering you my life's work - the Broomstick. Capable of carrying cargo and personnel from Earth orbit to... well, to wherever you need to go. I've spent the last forty years putting her together. With the help of my robots, of course. I brought them with me if you want to see them."
A concerned look flashed across the Void Engineer's face. "They're not... still aboard?"
The old man laughed. "My dear boy! They were mostly industrial robots. Automatic miners, smelters, and assemblers made up most of the construction 'crew'. Only a dozen could be considered even semi-intelligent and they've all been deactivated. Except for Mel and Molly and they were more... personal servants than robots. Do be kind to them; they've helped me greatly in my declining years. The others are within the spacecraft, waiting your instructions."
He shrugged. "Or you can melt them down for the metal. It no longer matters to me. What does matter is that at the end of my life I will have made a contribution to the Defense of Humanity."
"I thank you for your efforts, Mr. De Haviland," the Engineer said. "And we will accept what we can get. But it's still a rather small craft."
"Ah, but its propulsion system is massive!" the old Etherite said with a smile. "And it was designed to have items attached to the surface. Large containers filled with all kinds of goods can be placed along the sides. Then on top of that, just add an outer envelope to shield the containers."
Anne and Kenny were nodding at the vision. Jay groaned inwardly. Leave it to the Etherites to come up with an outer-space zeppelin.
The Engineer frowned and Jay guessed he had similar thoughts. "Well, I suppose it might work. But it has no defenses. We'd have to take away resources from the front to guard it."
"That's where we come in," Anne said. "We have the defensive capabilities in the Warthog E-Class. And we can go both Etheric and planetside. Strap four of those babies onto the Broomstick and we can tear up anything with Too Many Tentacles."
Sherman nodded. "Yes, you and your Garou-enhanced weaponry might just do the trick."
Jay stepped into the discussion. "As a fellow user of Enlightened Technology and member of the New Order of Reason, I can vouch for the efficiency of the killing power of the weapons. And I can assure you that the modified A-10 can do everything the Etherites say it can."
Colonel Sherman looked him straight in the eye. "Do you trust these people, Mr. Harriman?"
"With my life, sir," Jay replied.
The Engineer's shoulders relaxed a bit more. Jay's assurances had helped ease his doubts at least a little. "We'll have to inspect the craft... if you don't mind, Mr. de Haviland."
The old man chuckled. "Look a gift horse in the mouth? Best check the legs and feet, too. Of course, to check out its gait you'll have to give it a run." His eyes twinkled. "Wouldn't you?"
"I'd be glad to assist in any way," Jay volunteered warily.
The colonel regarded him carefully. "You're a brave man, Mr. Harriman." He turned back to the Etherites. "No offense meant."
Anne grinned wolfishly at him. "None taken."
Kenny sighed. "We are *so* misunderstood!"
They talked for several more minutes, arranging schedules and additional assistance from Earth.
At the end of the discussion Colonel Sherman pulled Jay aside and spoke to him quietly. "I'd just like thank you for input and your sacrifice. It must be hard, dealing with Re- tradmages as well as unstable shapeshifters."
Jay thought of Debra. "You have no idea." He shrugged and smiled. "Oh, this group isn't too bad, really. Some of them are actually quite talented engineers. They just need a little, um, grounding sometimes."
The military man smiled. "Good man."
Jay took the controls of the trainer again on the way back to Earth. Its spirit purred as they lifted off the parking lot. This was turning out to be a pretty good day.
After lunch, it was off to the weekly council meeting. Joshua was waiting in the room for him. He looked gloomy - a rare emotion for the Ragabash. "Jay, you can't take her away," he pleaded.
Jay shook his head as he took his seat. "It's not my decision."
Three Etherites and three Garou were already seated on either side of a long table. Armand, the sole Celestial Chorister on the base, sat at the head of the table and called the meeting to order. He glanced at Jay and Joshua.
"I suggest we start with the status of our prisoner. Mr. Harriman, I understand you have found a place for Miss Abrams?"
Jay nodded. "Yes, I have. Since she has shown little interest in returning to the Technocracy, one of our New Order of Reason labs has volunteered to take her."
Joshua jumped up. "I object! Did anyone ask her? Maybe she doesn't want to leave. Maybe she likes it here."
Johnson Carries-the-Spear stared at his packmate. "Josh, sit down and be quiet."
Joshua became upset. "Well, did anyone ask her? Huh? Huh? She's got the right to go anywhere she likes!"
"Josh..." Johnson growled.
"She should be here! She belongs here! I took her down, I claim coup... she's mine!"
"JOSHUA!" The Garou alpha came around the table and stood over the agitated No Moon.
The Ragabash became subdued but held his ground. "Miiiine... miiiine..."
Jay cringed inside at the volatile scene.
Johnson put an arm around Joshua's shoulder. "It'll be okay," he said softly. "We'll work it out."
Joshua whined like a puppy and hung his head in submission. "I love her. I do. I want to marry her. I want her to have my cubs."
Everyone in the room sighed in relief that violence had been averted.
Jay cleared his throat. "Ah, Joshua, if you'd let me continue - the lab in question is located in Reno, Nevada..."
Joshua brightened. "That's not far..."
"And I've already arranged for visiting privileges," Jay continued.
"You have? You did? Jay!" Joshua ran over to him and hugged him in his chair. "I'll name the first cub after you! And the second! And the third!"
"Gah... I'm.... honored," he gasped in the Garou's strong embrace. "Could you... release me?"
"Yes, yes, sure!" Joshua waltzed around the room. "And it'll be Charlene and me! A wedding in Reno!" He danced, light as a cloud, out of the room.
One of the Sons spoke up. "Excuse me, but isn't Reno in the grip of the Syndicate?"
Jay smiled. "Let's just that say there've been some ... accommodations made between the Syndicate and the Order."
"Good work, Mr. Harriman," Armand said. He nodded to Johnson. "And thank you, too. Now that the most contentious issue is done... shall we move on?"
Jay cleared his throat. "Mmmm... could we discuss the situation with Mr. De Haviland and his spaceship? I'd like to know how deep the commitment this base has with the project and how might I be of service."
"I'd rather talk about moon metals," a Garou growled.
Johnson elbowed the man. "We'll get to that." He grinned confidently and leaned backwards in his chair. "I heard you volunteered to inspect the Etherite craft."
He smirked at Jay. "Anything to get skyward?"
Jay smiled self-consciously. "Well, the presence of an... Enlightened Engineer did seem to dispel some of the doubts of the Void Engineer."
The Chorister nodded. "And we all appreciate your efforts, Jay - but I don't want to over-tax you."
"I'll be okay," Jay replied.
"Then I'll leave depth of your contribution to your own judgement," Armand replied. "While I have you on the floor, how did your visit with the Dreamspeakers go?"
"Good." He felt warm from the memories of his weekend sojourn. "It was more a 'getting-to-know-you' meeting more than anything else. I think I've made a good first impression; from there we can build stronger ties. It, ah, helps that the 'Speakers back near my old base could vouch for me."
From there the meeting veered away toward more internal affairs and he was excused. Jay had an hour before he was scheduled to work on the Electro-Shield and he contemplated what to do with it. He could take a short stroll in the desert, or maybe stop down in the game room and play a few games on the pinball machines. Or he could see if the training simulators were open...
He showed up in the Electro-Shield room fifteen minutes early, feeling a little chastened. Fully loaded, the A-10 was a very different beast and in the simulator he'd blown up on landing twice.
The Electro-Shield room had racks and racks of semi-identifiable equipment. There were old mainframe parts, microwave generators, hunks of geode crystals married together with miles of printer cables, glowing glass tubes, and fiber optics. A console of monitors and big power gauges sat to one side with status lights flashing erratically. Behind it all was a large room with two large power generators jury-rigged with Etheric magic to provide the final field. They hummed sweetly.
None of the Etherite techs were around yet. He found Debra leaning against the side of rack with her eyes closed and breathing slowly. She didn't look bruised. Jay quietly walked around her and examined some of the changes made since the Technocracy attack. He was delighted to see that they had installed both fuses and circuit breakers, but his spirits fell when he saw the big triple-knife override switch.
Debra's breathing changed and he turned to see her eyes flicker open. She stretched luxuriously. She smiled at him. "Hi."
"Afternoon."
She sucked in her lip. "Um... I really have to apologize for my behavior. When it's that time of the month I... ahh... lose my social graces." She flashed a quirky smile at him. "Not that I had a lot to begin with."
Jay wondered if she could read minds. "That's okay. I hope I didn't get you into too much trouble."
She laughed. "Oh no. Johnson came up to me all ready for a fight and I didn't give it to him. He was so disappointed when I agreed with him." Her tone became serious. "I hope this won't interfere with us working together. I really respect your ability to work with machine spirits. Especially with this mess. That's why we asked for your help. It's a gift. I guess that's why I'm attracted to you." She shrugged. "Pity it's not reciprocal."
"It's, ah, it's nothing personal. I'm just not..."
She held up a hand. "It's all right. Hey, look: fuses!"
He touched the console and felt the spirits beneath. At the same moment the techs showed up bearing coffee. The spirits emoted strongly at him. "Let's take the coffee out of the control room," Jay suggested.
One of the Etherites opened her mouth to protest but Debra stepped over and herded them out. Jay patted the equipment. "No more accidents like last week."
With the liquids safely away, Jay and Debra began their work on the equipment. It was a hodge-podge of Glasswalker spirit work and Etherite engineering (if you could call it that). In the recent Technocracy assault it had held and saved the base only through his own spirit talent and the quick action of the Etherite techs. Afterwards he'd agreed to help upgrade the system. He gingerly placed his hands on the console.
He felt the Wyld guardian spirits prowling the circuits warily - always on edge, always ready to pounce. They were hard-edged and dangerous but they sniffed him and went on their way. Etherite machine spirits alarmed him more. They were colorful, chaotic, contradictory and often hammered into place by the sheer willpower of the Etherites. The equipment shuffled and clanked and threatened to self-destruct at any moment. It was like a group of Rube Goldberg machines that slung liter bottles of nitro-glycerin between themselves. There were so many places where - figuratively - the gears were missing teeth or the levers creaked that he felt that he aged a few years every machine cycle.
Yet every once in a while something beautiful rose out of the chaos. Sometimes it was a tweak that made a jerky movement smooth or an application that truly showed amazing engineering skill. As Kenny would say, a true work of Art.
He had little time to appreciate those rare moments. As the techs worked on their repairs and upgrades Jay was kept busy soothing the crazed spirits within. Sometimes he felt like he was greasing the ball bearings or tightening the loose bolts; other times he felt like he was putting a soft blanket around an alarmed spirit and cuddling it until the changes was made.
He let Debra chase down the fiercer ones. As he was soothing a confused spirit (and there were a lot of them in the Etherite machine) he felt the rush of something powerful pass by him. A moment later he felt something clawed and wolfish chase after it. The spirit he was calming yelped and he concentrated on reassuring it.
"Jay... Jay... they're going to reboot the system. You'd better come out now," Debra's voice came to his ears.
The spirit became calm and Jay breathed a sigh of relief. He lifted his hands from the console. He was shaking and sweating.
"Rough job, eh?" Debra said.
He swallowed. "What a mess."
"Come on... you don't want to be in here when they reboot."
They left the room, passing the medical staff waiting patiently outside. The lights dimmed and there were screams from within the shield room.
"You'd think they'd use a remote control," Debra chuckled.
Jay moved to rush in after the medics but Debra grabbed him. "They'll be fine. A little smoked and needing a few days off, but they'll be fine."
Jay waited until the two techs were brought out. He felt relieved that they were still on their feet. They looked glassy-eyed at the two shamans and gave them a 'thumb's up'.
"*Now* we'll go check the system," Debra said.
Jay re-entered the room and placed his hands on the racks of equipment. The change in system dynamics was immediately obvious; it felt less like a jigsaw barely kept from windmilling out of control, and more like a smoothly working loom properly in synch. But although the system seemed to be humming along contentedly there were a few uneasy feelings here and there. It bothered his sense of good engineering. Most Etherite equipment bothered his sense of good engineering. "We should smooth out those kinks," he said over his shoulder.
"Leave them be," the Garou replied lightly. "The Wyld spirits will take care of anything that gets out of line."
Jay quickly took his hands off the racks.
She laughed. "Go shower. I'm off to see a director about a train," Debra said. She gave him a parting grin and walked away.
Jay took her advice. He also took some time to ground and meditate. With his eyes closed, he searched for that deep, still part of his being. It sometimes took a while to reach that state of mind. Just as he neared that place his stomach rumbled. He frowned and pursed his lips. Well, his teacher did used to say that food could help ground oneself...
For all the problems and headaches with living on a Garou/Etherite base, one advantage was in the food. The Etherites were known for their demand for culinary excellence and the shapeshifters for their demand for excellent meat in general. Jay smiled at the pot-roast and potatoes smothered in gravy steaming on his plate. Ah, comfort food.. He took his usual place with Kenny, Anne and Frederick - the top pilots on the base. Kenny pointed to Jay's plate. "Dude, overloading a bit on the protein?"
"I worked on the Electro-Shield today," he replied.
"Then definitely eat hearty," Anne chimed in. "Just leave room for the chocolate cake."
"There's always room for chocolate cake," he replied with a grin.
They chatted amiably over their food. When technical talk did come up Jay sparred lightly with Kenny about Technocratic engineering ideas while Kenny mockingly proselytized Etheric principles. Anne and Fredrick smiled and watched the show; banter between friends. Despite the philosophical and experiential gulf of between them, Jay enjoyed their company.
Yet, he felt a twinge when he saw Anne and Kenny shifting in their seats to sit closer to each other. Memories of his divorce rose up briefly. He gently pushed them aside and placed them back in the mental shelf labelled The Past. He'd dealt with his sense of guilt over the failed marriage and come to terms with it long ago. Knowing that it hadn't been his fault - hadn't been anyone's fault, really, except maybe Fate's - didn't do much to help with his present loneliness, however.
After dinner, Armand came over to their table. "Jay, our prisoner has asked to see you before we send her off. We've escorted her topside. Would you mind?"
"Oh, no. Not at all." He got up slowly. Maybe he had overdone the protein.
He found Charlene just outside the hanger door with a pair of guards. The Etherite had a dangerous looking weapon in a holster at his side. The Garou needed no weapon. She smiled when she saw him. "I just wanted to thank you for seeing me during my incarceration. It was nice talking to another... engineer. Someone who also had... been inside and is now outside of the Technocracy."
"Not a problem." He smiled shyly. "I remember what it was like being on the run and friendless."
She flexed her fingers. "It's been hard. A lot of things I used to believe in... I've had to reconsider. Everything I was told about... non-Technocrats."
"Is 'deviant' the word you're looking for?" one of the guards sneered.
She reddened slightly but continued. "They may have played mind games on me but... I feel like I've lost a family."
He nodded. "Sometimes families fight. We can just hope that someday we can put aside our differences and get back to our true purpose."
A fire flicked in her eyes and her voice became firm. "Saving humanity."
"Saving humanity."
"And how about saving Man's Best Friend too?" Joshua announced as he approached.
Jay saw a different light grow in Charlene's eyes. He stepped aside and away as Garou and Technocrat stood talking quietly. Joshua said something indistinct and Charlene giggled. Jay felt that pang of loneliness again.
"Now that's what I call an Odd Couple."
Startled, Jay turned his head to the voice and found Debra standing next to him. "You sneaked up on me," he said defensively.
"No, you were wool-gathering. Look at these shadows," she indicated their long silhouettes thrown upon the ground by the setting sun. "You should have seen me coming a mile away." She indicated the couple with her head. "It's strange. I've never seen Joshua act this way - all sweet and love-dovey. I've seen him with other women; he makes them laugh, bounces them hard,. and walks off to the next one. That damned Techno must have jarred something loose in his head."
"The feelings seem to be reciprocal," Jay replied.
"That's even stranger."
A car came up from another building. The couple embraced briefly. The prisoner and two guards climbed into the car. Joshua, Debra, and Jay all watched the vehicle drive away in a cloud of desert sand.
Joshua stood stock still for several long moments before letting loose a sudden, heart-rending howl.
"That's my cue," Debra sighed.
"Is there anything I can do?"
"No. But thanks." She went over to her packmate and joined him in his lonely wail.
Jay knew where that was coming from. He turned and walked back inside but the inner corridors and rooms of the base felt confining to him.
He put on his hiking boots, took a communicator, and left a note in the base message system that he was taking a walk. Soon he was making his way along one of the many trails the Garou had formed in the desert. Away from the distractions of the base, he could let the rhythm of his steps calm him and he finally was able to feel fully grounded again.
He paused at a slight rise and surveyed the landscape. The desert was becoming very dark now that the sun had fully set. The only illumination was from the hanger lights and the stars above. He sat down and looked up. His dream was to be up there amongst the multitude of heavenly lights. While he'd been in the Technocracy that dream hadn't become possible, but here, amongst the 'Reality Deviants', it might be coming true. Just not in the way he'd once thought it would.
A tickling sensation brought his attention back to earth. A large spider had crawled on the back of his hand. He raised his hand and smiled. In his first real shamanic vision, an old woman had descended from the sky on a gossamer thread. She'd set up a loom in front of him and they'd talked for a very long time - or a very short time, he wasn't sure. Although his IterationX implant usually gave him perfect memory, he couldn't recall the entire conversation but afterwards he'd felt... better. He'd often felt like there was something he was missing - like the word that sits at the end of your tongue that you just can't remember. He still hadn't found the word but now he had a dictionary. Or perhaps he had a loom to weave the patterns on.
He rotated his hand and the spider walked along his fingers. "Well, hello. Are you one of those Signs from Grandmother or are you just someone who found me interesting?"
Naturally, the spider didn't answer.
His com clicked on. "Mr. Harriman, could you please report to the radio room? We've got Darkside on the line and they refuse to speak to anyone but a quote, Real Engineer unquote."
He let out the smallest of sighs. "I'll be right there."
Jay put his hand down on the earth. "Sorry, little one, but duty calls."
The spider leaped off his hand and vanished into the night. Jay did likewise.
-end