Silence In Numbers: File One, page 8
“83%.”
Lenora blinked. “Eighty… three? But that’s-“
“A lot, yeah. Most actually. She’s almost full-body. Of course, tech is so advanced these days you’d never be able to tell unless you were told, at least until you saw her put her fist through a concrete wall. Her body still works as much as anyone else’s but it’s mostly synthetic.”
“And we can’t ask why…”
“I wouldn’t.”
Reno shook his head. “I wouldn’t either, ever. There’s no guarantee what response you’ll get from her and none of the ones I can think of are good. I mean, I can only imagine the story behind a CP of eighty-three.”
Lenora looked between them. “So she can survive a lot more than the ordinary person.”
Sano nodded. “Yeah, but… obviously she’s not invincible.”
“Obviously…”
The fell silent again after that. Time passed with them all in their own thoughts until the click of boots on the floor drew their attention.
M walked up to them with his trademark smile on his face, shining glasses hiding his eyes beneath the brim of his hat. In short he looked the same as always so none of them could read him at all. “Hello gentlemen, lady. I am assuming you aren’t doing as well as you could be.”
They all stood and Sano nodded at him. “Good eyes Director. You got any news for us?”
“Of course, First Lieutenant Lionel, I didn’t come simply to tease you. And to prevent doing so, I will first state that you may put aside your fears, Captain Samakura will recover in time.” There was a collective sigh and a heavy feeling of relief. M paused to allow the rest of them to process the good news before continuing. “Tonight did not go well for us, but it could have gone worse. It has been a rather expensive night, however, and the others on the board tend to forget their gratefulness for your survival rather quickly and focus more on the bill.”
“Which means?”
“Captain Samakura is in a bit of trouble with the company leaders.” M held up a hand to stop Reno speaking even as he opened his mouth. “It was not your fault Corporal Hillford, the mission was the Captain’s idea and responsibility, and we both know she won’t argue that. And no, the fact that she saved your life doesn’t mean anything to the board, sad but true. They only appreciate hard facts, and those facts are that we lost a very expensive aircraft and nearly lost a very important asset.”
Reno blinked. “Asset?”
Sano growled. “Captain Sama’s more than-“
“Yes, yes, I know, do calm down, Lieutenant. But you must understand, they are businessmen, and to them an asset is all any of you are. The fact remains that this was a failed mission on all counts.”
“So what do we do?!”
M smiled. “I’m glad you asked. We fix things.”
“How the hell do we do that?!”
“Patience. Let’s wait until the team is back together, shall we?” M pointed down the hall. “If you take the elevator up one floor you’ll find I’ve secured rooms for the night for anyone who wishes to stay. If all goes well you might be able to visit the Captain tomorrow if you wish.” His glasses seemed to flash as he grinned. “Though I am almost certain she will not wish it and you will get a less-than-friendly greeting.” He turned to head back down the hallway. “But then, this team is nothing if not stubborn…”
Law bid them goodnight before heading after M towards the building’s exit. Rufus gave a wave and followed them, leaving Sano, Reno and Lenora behind looking at each other. Sano shrugged, turning to head towards the rooms. “Guess they’re not willing to risk her wrath. Cowards.”
Lenora smiled as she and Reno followed him. “Maybe they’d just prefer not to see her in such a position.”
“Nah. Cowards.”
“You say that,” Reno countered, “but they aren’t the ones who ran scared out of the building two weeks ago after trying to sneak in to her locker room while she was changing.”
“She had a gun!”
“Coward.”
“She was firing the gun! At my head! I like my head! Preferably in one piece!”
“Cooooooowaaaaaard.”
“Bah! I’d like to see you stand your ground against bullets.”
“I wasn’t stupid enough to bring it on myself in the first place.”
“I wasn’t trying to sneak in, I just wasn’t thinking!”
Lenora intruded with a smile. “So you’re not stupid, just ignorant?”
“Yes! I mean, no! Rrrrrgh, don’t make me shoot you two.” Sano stepped into the elevator, hitting the button to the floor above after the other two stepped in.
They laughed softly and Lenora grabbed his sleeve as the elevator doors opened back up. “Come to our room before going to yours, we can have a drink and talk for a bit before retiring for the night.”
Sano looked at her, appreciating the gesture and the genuinely caring look in her and Reno’s eyes. It sounded a lot better than just heading off to his room alone immediately. He smiled, shrugging. “Yeah, sure. So long as there’s a limit on how much you two can talk about your kid. Don’t get me wrong, I love the kid, but you people have no concept of limits.”
Lenora laughed, pulling him and Reno along. “No promises!”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Hahahahahahahaha…”
Katsumi jerked, her head leaning back as it felt as though her spine were being stretched and snapped. When the pain subsided a bit she was able to notice the stranger part of her situation: she couldn’t feel anything besides her own body, and even that felt distant. It was as if she was merely floating with nothing else around her.
“It’s not polite to sleep when you have guests.”
Katsumi forced her eyes open as she heard the male voice again. It was just as she’d felt, there was nothing around her but darkness. Thin blue lines of light that reminded her of electronic wiring spread in front of her, filling miles and miles like lines of code in an infinite darkness. It was indescribable, and she floated in the center of this strange world, arms and legs as weightless and useless as the rest of her.
There was a rush of wind and, before her, a figure floated down from above, feet coming first into view. His clothing was a strange mix of electronics and old styles. His entire body was encased in something very similar to the look of the world: black light body armor with similar glowing blue lines of electronics, code, energy, whatever it was. A long black trench coat was added to this, the kind they used to wear in the 1940’s well over a century ago. On his chest was a symbol: Σ. Altogether it gave him a look that screamed he was something different than anything anyone had dealt with in this age, something new.
She couldn’t see his face; all she could see was a smiling mouth. The rest was hidden in the shadows of his black hood, though she could see a shock of white hair that reached his shoulders. His arms were spread out to either side, one foot in front of the other as he floated down into view, wind from nowhere blowing his coat around him.
Katsumi remembered what had happened and at first took this for a strange dream, but it seemed far too “real” for that. He “stood” on nothingness in front of her as she felt her body tilt upright to face him. He seemed to be waiting for something, so she decided to start by asking one of the many questions she had: “What’s going on?”
“Complicated.” He waved his hand causing images of fractions to float past her head.
“Simplify.” His voice seemed filled with subdued amusement that she didn’t like. There was something else about it she disliked that she couldn’t quite put her finger on, but it was smooth.
“Who are you?”
“Good question,” he smiled. “Still complicated. My name,” he touched the symbol on his chest, “is Sigma.”
“That’s an enigmatic name.”
He spun in the air once, grinning. “I am an enigmatic person!”
“You’re certainly trying to be,” Katsumi deadpanned.
“I feel effort is important,” he retorted, seeming not at all put off by the insult. “Next question.”
“Where am I?”
“In a hospital. Or did you mean where is your consciousness?”
“I’m sorry?”
“You aren’t feeling your physical body at the moment. Lucky you! It would be causing you quite a large amount of pain!” He seemed a little too happy about that for her tastes.
Katsumi sighed. “Fine then, where is my consciousness?”
“It’s in your head as usual… sort of.” He floated over beside her, gesturing to the endless space before them. “I’m visiting, and of course I thought I should say hello as I did, perhaps a ‘get well soon’. No card or flowers, sorry. I did do a bit of redecorating though. Like it?”
Katsumi shook her head, shutting her eyes as she felt she was somehow getting a headache while inside her own head. “It’s a little too cyber for me.”
Sigma waved a hand. “Nonsense, you like everything cyber.”
“How did you get inside my head?”
“Please, hacking people is just as easy for me as hacking computers.”
“Hacking… people?”
He laughed and she grimaced, though at first she didn’t know why. After a moment she realized it was because of how much he enjoyed the statement. “Nearly everyone has at least a small CP. Even that can be a window into some truly nasty things.”
“So you’re hacking into my brain.”
“Yours is easy. I’d find a defense for that if I were you.”
“What are you after? How do you know me? What is this even about?”
Sigma spun around to face her, floating back a few feet. “I’ve answered enough questions for now. I won’t give everything away. I hate spoilers.”
Katsumi glared at him, not amused. “Listen to me, you’re going to answer my questions or-“ Sigma snapped his fingers and her head jerked back as she screamed at the incredible pain now shooting through her spine. She felt her consciousness fading with Sigma’s voice trailing after her before she was out again.
“Mind your manners next time and you’ll get further! But as a token of our newfound friendship I’ll give you one hint for the next round: the answer’s in the heart!”
There was laughter… then darkness… then nothingness.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Samuel Lawrence stepped out into the cool night, grateful for both the cool air and the fact that he was finally outside. He pulled the pack of smokes from his tan army jacket and removed one, lighting it and taking a long draw followed by a sigh. He needed to clear his head and that wasn’t gonna happen inside that building. The door swung open behind him and he glanced back to see Rufus exit the building as well. He turned around to face him. “Not staying either, huh?”
Rufus put his hands up and shrugged. “Why would I stay? I’m a little surprised you aren’t, though.”
“Why’s that?”
Rufus removed his shades to let his silver eyes give Sam an obvious look. “You’ve been dead silent all night and I know it’s not because you don’t care.”
Law shrugged. “I’ve seen her in this position before.”
“Seen it once, seen it every time? I don’t buy that.”
Law smirked around his cigarette. “I know better than to see her at any point before she’s up, walking and able to pretend nothing’s wrong.”
“Sano and Reno know that too, don’t they? We all do.”
Law nodded, taking a moment to let out a breath of smoke before replying. “Sano never worries about her reaction; he’ll go in anyway and take whatever she throws at him just for the sake of seeing her condition for himself.”
Rufus folded his arms. “I guess it makes sense, though I have sense enough to trust the doctors’ word. What about Reno?”
“He’s feeling guilty. He’s weighed the risk, but he’ll take it just to be sure she doesn’t blame him.”
“Do you think she does?”
Law chuckled. “Of course not.”
“Mmm. I would.” Rufus understood the look Sam directed at him despite the bigger man still wearing his shades. He shrugged in reply. “It was his fault.”
“There was an explosion right beside the chopper. No pilot could save that.”
“Not that. I can’t blame him for the chopper crashing, that would be ridiculous.”
“What, then?”
Rufus lifted his hand up to shoulder level, gesturing with an open hand as if the answer was obvious. “The man is weak. Relative to the rest of this team he’s a borderline cripple. It’s his fault Captain Samakura had to focus on and worry about him during the crash; if she’d only thought of herself she would’ve been fine.”
Law turned to him. “She would’ve done the same for any of us.”
Rufus’ eyes hardened. “She wouldn’t have to. If I was the one up there with her we would’ve gotten out fine.”
“So you think she should’ve just let him die.”
“No.” Rufus shook his head. “I don’t want Reno dead. I don’t even want him off the team, really. I just want everyone to accept his responsibility in this matter.” Rufus spread his arms. “Every one of us has weaknesses. This tragedy was caused by Reno’s.”
“I’m surprised you aren’t blaming the Captain’s need to protect him.”
“That isn’t a weakness. If she were working alone it would very much be, but as it is she survived and kept a team member alive, one whom we will not now need to replace. We still have his skill thanks to her actions.”
“Good.”
Rufus smiled. “Defensive of our Captain, aren’t you?” Sam ignored him, but he didn’t take the hint. “You’ve known her longer than any of us, that’s to be sure. Could it be you’ve developed feelings stronger than friendship for her in those years?” Law only grunted which made Rufus chuckle. “Well, her birthday is in- let’s see, as of right now it’s 2 AM on March 25th- two days, isn’t it? At thirty-four is when most women are entering their prime. She’s probably starting to look for a husband!”
Sam looked at him with a raised eyebrow which lasted a few seconds before both broke into laughter. Law flicked his finished cigarette away. “Yeah, she’s definitely in the market for that.”
“A wife, then?”
“Don’t ask me.”
Rufus chuckled. “I bet she wants a white-picket fence with a daisy garden and two pleasant children.”
“It’s 2068. When’s the last time you saw a white-picket fence?”
“Good point. More realistically she’d probably have an underground bunker with laser turret defenses and an AI security net.”
“This is a dangerous conversation. If she heard we’d be risking our health.”
“That’s why we’re having it while she’s unconscious.” Rufus folded his arms again. “In all honesty though-“
“Rufus, what does she do when none of us are with her?”
“I have no idea.”
“Right. She won’t let anyone into her personal life; she’ll hardly even let them into her apartment. The chances of her letting someone in enough for anything more than a ‘war buddy’ relationship are basically non-existent.”
“Hmm. Sad. Dreadful waste of an attractive woman.”
“You go ahead and go tell her she’s a waste of an attractive woman. I’ll wait out here.”
“One team member in hospital is enough for now, I think. Anyway, I think it will be bad if she wakes up and learns we’ve all wasted the whole night sitting around waiting for her to do so, so I’m heading back to the scene to see what I can figure out.”
Law nodded. “I’ll come and see what I can tell about this explosion. Maybe it will be different from the other one.”
“We can only hope,” Rufus sighed as he started walking. “Otherwise we’re dealing with a serial mass-murderer with an uncomfortable talent for nearly killing our Captain…”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The first thing Katsumi felt when she woke up was pain; the second thing she felt was guilt. The emotion hit her for various reasons, but the most pressing one was that she remembered her last thought before blacking out, the one she’d sent across the city, and she knew how her sister would be feeling.
The room around her was silent for the moment; she could tell she’d been left alone for now. She began moving one muscle at a time, trying to check her damage. She found it harder to move her left arm, wondering why that was until she felt for it with her other arm and realized it was missing. She groaned, dropping her remaining hand and returning to her thoughts. She couldn’t wait another moment without fixing the problem she’d caused hours ago…
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Ayane sat in her bed, looking at anything and everything in the room trying to distract herself. She’d been going a little crazy for the past five hours; since she’d heard her older sister say her name, and then nothing. Since then she hadn’t been able to reach her at all; it wasn’t the first time, but it took all her willpower not to stomp right out of her room and go find her sister. As it was she’d just sat in bed and cried more or less nonstop, watching the clock and hoping for any response.
Ayane… I’m alright.
Katsumi’s voice startled and relieved her. Katsumi! Her own voice was full of anger and worry; she knew the first one wasn’t fair but she couldn’t help it. What happened?! The last thing I heard was you say my name and then…
Our helicopter was blown out of the sky. I managed to save Reno but I couldn’t get myself out from under it when it came down.
Ayane put her hands over her mouth and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She normally had incredible composure, but this was her weakness. And you’re okay?
I’ll be fine. Apparently it was… a little close, but they said I’ll make a full recovery. I should be fine by tomorrow.
Ayane let out a sigh, leaning her head back and staring at the ceiling. You scared the hell out of me. All I heard was my name, and… then I couldn’t reach you.
I’m sorry… I honestly… I didn’t know if I’d make it. It was a reaction. I didn’t want to hurt you, I just… I couldn’t stop myself from trying to reach you a last time…
