Chapter 06: Drs. Kim and Tsukishima fulfil their obligation to the ISAF in the civil war of the Jezebel system - part 7

Rising out of a sea of people, the Stronghold Bar and Restaurant building looked as if it was under siege. In reality, the open areas around the fortified building had been converted to alcohol gardens and people were enjoying themselves in the light of the setting sun and the festival lamps that were starting to turn on, one by one. The four students and officers made their way to the top of the building until they were on the roof and could look over the festivities in the streets.

Ashley looked up from her phone, “oh, Atid says he might have time to join us for a drink.”

“Great!” said Hira, “talk about someone I don’t know much about. I want to hear his story.”

“You should have told us you weren’t allowed to drink alcohol either,” said Temmie, “we could have taken you somewhere else.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” said Lauren, “but I don’t want to ruin the fun. Like I said, I enjoy the company more than the provisions.”

Ashley looked at the menu, “they have commemorative glasses. I think I’ll get one of those with water.”

“You don’t have to do that,” said Lauren.

“I know,” said Ashley, “but I know it’s easy to feel left out when in your situation, especially when others are drinking. This way we feel better as a group.”

“I think I’ll do that too,” said Hira, “we do have work tomorrow anyways.”

“We’re being so responsible tonight,” said Temmie, putting down her menu.

“Have you decided on your orders?” asked the waiter.

“Four unification commemorative glasses with water please,” said Ashley.

“So this is the drivers table huh?” said the waiter, “you got it.” The waiter disappeared into the crowd.

Ashley turned to Lauren, “Lauren, are you good to make a mission order form for Miguel and Jethro to continue investigating the Potesta system? J. D. sent an email to us saying that he just got funding from ISAF to fully document this special radar system.”

“Our Commanding Investigator J. D. Meiss?” said Lauren, “shouldn’t we wait for things to stabilize more?”

“Yes, and J. D. said it would be best to do the contract while it’s still at the top of the higher-ups' agendas,” said Ashley, “also, if you’re worried, Jethro has a pretty good track record for predicting when bad things will happen. If he is okay with coming out here, it should be safe.”

“Okay,” said Lauren, “we can fill it out in my hotel room.”

The waiter came back with four tall mugs of water and set them down, “just so know you can fill them with anything we serve here.”

The waiter disappeared into the crowd again.

Hira massaged the back of his neck, “boy I’m glad that I won’t have to be working for Susan anymore. I never knew my summer would be so terrifying.”

“Well if you did you wouldn’t have signed up for it,” said Temmie.

“That’s your logic,” said Hira, “I might do it anyways for the experience.”

“What did she do to you?” asked Ashley.

“Nothing really,” said Hira, “it’s what she did to her own team that had me on edge the whole time.”

“Like with Linas?” said Lauren.

“Like with Linas,” said Hira.

“I don’t think,” began Temmie, “that she really cared what I did for most of my time working with her, so I didn’t think much of her.”

“You were asleep for most of her tirades,” said Hira.

“They all woke me up but I pretended to stay asleep for them,” said Temmie, “in the end, my only problem with her was that she didn’t care about my book adventure.”

“I don’t think that anyone that uses fear to create the impression of consensus is going to be a good leader,” said Ashley.

“I don’t actually think she was using fear,” said Lauren.

“Really?” said Ashley.

Lauren lowered her voice, “I think that she tries to keep her team going with enthusiasm but is just sometimes prone to childish outbursts. In the one outburst I saw, she snapped back to her normal form, if she was trying to sow fear she would have tried to keep her anger apparent.”

Lauren took a sip of water and shrugged, “I don’t know, she just reminds me of a professor I had in undergrad.”

“I believe you,” said Hira.

From the crowd appeared Atid, scanning the tables for familiar faces. He spotted Lauren and the others and walked over to their table.

“There you guys are,” said Atid, sliding onto the same bench as Ashley and Lauren.

“Glad you could find the time to take it easy,” said Ashley.

“Yeah,” said Atid, running his fingers through his hair, pulling his ears back, “everything’s pretty much running itself this late into the night, the people seem happy, the speeches went well, people are going to get to go home to the countryside sooner than expected, and appointments have been made with lawmakers. I’ll have to get back to it tomorrow though.”

“Sounds rough,” said Temmie, sipping her water.

“It’s not so bad when it’s your third time doing it,” said Atid, “are you drinking water? Did they run out of drinks?”

“No, we’re drinking water since Lauren can’t drink alcohol due to her injury,” said Hira.

“Come now,” admonished Atid, “Lauren doesn’t want everyone to miss out just because she can’t drink.”

“Now wait a minute,” said Ashley.

“Isn’t that right, Lauren?” said Atid.

“Um,” said Lauren, looking around, “to be honest, yes, more or less.”

“See?” said Atid, “this might just be me being an old Purian, but you shouldn’t let one person’s misfortunes bring down the whole party. Waiter!” The waiter reappeared from the crowd.

“It’s not him being old, that’s for sure,” whispered Ashley to Lauren.

“Is the most popular drink here the Monarch Cider?” asked Atid to the waiter who looked mildly surprised to see a Purian suddenly at the table.

“Ah, yes it’s one of them,” said the waiter.

“Do you want one Temmie? Hira?” said Atid to the grad students, “my treat.”

“Sure!” said Temmie.

“That’s hard to pass up,” said Hira.

Atid looked at Ashley.

“I’ll pass.”

“Come on, what did I just say?” said Atid.

“I have to get some work done tonight,” said Ashley.

“Okay, that’s a better reason,” said Atid. He turned to the waiter, “three Monarch Ciders for us please.”

“I’ll bring a pitcher, how does that sound?” said the waiter.

“Perfect,” said Atid.

“So this is my first time meeting a Purian,” said Hira, “do you mind if I ask some questions?”

“Ask away, friend,” said Atid with a smile.

“C-can I touch your ears?” asked Temmie.

“Yeah, sure, why not?” said Atid. He tilted his head forward for Temmie. She rubbed them between her thumbs and forefingers.

“So fuzzy and soft,” said Temmie. She sat back down.

“How did you get into studying human affairs?” asked Hira.

“The capital exchange program,” said Atid, “Altaria and Hyperion have a student exchange program for humans interested in studying Purian culture and vice versa.”

“Lucky!” said Hira, envious.

“Very,” said Atid, “while I was there, I noticed that most of what my classmates and I were shown was focused on the developed systems which got me wondering what was going on with the developing systems. In the Purian Confederation, most systems are developing systems and they play an important part both economically and culturally.”

“Wait, are you from Hyperion?” asked Temmie.

“Yes, I am a Hyperian, through and through,” said Atid, “anyways, the more I dug, the more the human developing systems resembled the Purian developing systems leading up to the Schism era where the Purian Confederation withdrew from Intersyst, ushering in several decades of recession and austerity measures for everyone.”

“Your Monarch Cider.” The waiter set down a large pitcher.

“Thank you,” said Atid, he poured the cider into Hira and Temmie’s mugs before filling his own glass. “So I ended up studying human anthropology, except it always felt a little like studying Purian alternate history, which I was always into.”

“So have you ever seen anything like our planet in Purian history?” asked Hira.

“Yeah, like the secondary continent betrayal?” chimed in Temmie.

“I’ll tell you that I always thought the people on the secondary continent were in an especially good position but I never suspected that they were harboring the separatist headquarters,” said Atid, “that’s just nuts. Hey, Lauren, is that you on the TV screen over there?”

Lauren looked at the monitor behind the bar and saw her graduate student ID photo on the screen. Her past self’s beaming smile came across as so naive as to be alienating, “yes, and they’re using my school ID for some reason.” She buried her head in her hands.

“Come on Lauren, it’s a great picture,” said Ashley, putting her hand on Lauren’s shoulder. They listened to the news anchor:

“In a statement about the specifics of the separatist surrender, the 45th Intersyst Army said that they were able to locate the enemy base by reviving the Northern Monuments which were confirmed to be an ancient radar system. They credit the efforts of the 45th Intersyst Army research team working with the Waverton University Anthropology department and two Archival Officers most notably Dr. Lauren Kim of the Historical Technologies Group of the Historical Investigation Division who risked life and limb to restore the Northern Monuments to functionality. Stay tuned for a discussion on what the Northern Monuments means for privacy as we meet with an ISAF official.”

“You forgot the Linguistics department!” Temmie shouted to the monitor.

Chuckles bounced around the rooftop. The chuckles then turned into murmurs being relayed around the room.

“Excuse me.”

Lauren lifted her head and saw their waiter. Lauren’s phone started buzzing repeatedly.

“Are you Lauren Kim by any chance?”

Lauren took in her surroundings, people had turned around in their seats to look at her table. The relative quiet of the rooftop suggested to Lauren that the waiter wasn’t the only one with that question.

“Um, yes. Yes I am,” said Lauren.

Two thirds of the people on the roof of the Stronghold got up simultaneously and rushed the table. A few chairs clattered as they were knocked down in the short stampede. A wall of people had formed around their table. Lauren retreated in her seat until her back was against the stone fence behind their table. One of the women broke out from the wall and leaned across the table. Atid swept up the pitcher and his glass. Hira and Temmie’s mugs clattered on the ground. The women took both of Lauren’s hands into her own. Lauren recognized the woman as the cashier at the stationary and book store. The cashier said something in what Lauren could tell was the local planetary language.

“She says thank you for bringing peace,” said Hira, putting his empty mug back on the table, “and letting her see her mother again.”

“Oh, you’re welcome,” said Lauren in Human Consolidated Language, doing her best to be understood by the cashier.

A couple forced their way to the front of the wall, “thank you for us, together, bring,” said one of them in broken Universal Phonetic gesturing to the other who was in army fatigues.

“You’re welcome, I’m glad you’re together again,” said Lauren.

Another person emerged from the wall of people, grabbed Lauren’s hands and firmly pressed a pair of soft gloves into her hand.

“Thank you, please take,” he said in HuCon.

“Back to your seats! Leave them alone!” A small group of the waitstaff had assembled and was breaking up the wall of people. Eventually only their waiter was left.

“Could I get a picture with you?” said the waiter.

“Sure,” said Lauren.

The waiter crouched next to Lauren and took a picture of the two of them.

“Thank you, I’ll bring another pitcher,” said the waiter before hurrying away. Lauren’s phone continued to buzz.

“What’s up with your phone?” said Ashley.

Lauren looked at the first notification on her phone: “Trade and Follow: 99k+ new followers.”

Departure

Lauren steadied herself with one crutch, using her other hand to knock on the hotel door. The door opened to reveal Dr. Tsukishima, still adjusting her blazer.

“Hey what’s up?” said Ashley, “also good morning.”

“Can you help me carry my flight case downstairs?” asked Lauren.

“Of course,” said Ashley, “you should have just messaged me, you didn’t have to come all the way over here.”

“No it’s fine, see?” Lauren lifted her one crutch, “I’ve mastered walking around on one crutch. And besides, I still need to move around.”

“Fair enough,” said Ashley, “okay, let’s take our cases downstairs and get a cab to the defense headquarters.”

“Then we just have to pick up our stuff and we’ll be taken to the spaceport and then we’re home,” said Lauren.

Ashley started down the hallway, “don’t forget the 11 hour trip home from the spaceport.”

“Oh shoot.”

Lauren and Ashley once again entered the conference room that had been the base of their investigations, however, stepping in this time had a distinctly different quality to it as there was no longer any investigation to do. The room was also different, it was much cleaner without all the documents of the investigation cluttering the table. The previously detailed whiteboard was now blank. The room wasn’t as crowded either. All of the 6 person army research team was gone save for Linas and Claire. Hira and Temmie were the only other occupants. Atid’s corner of the table, although larger with more papers and binders, was vacant.

“Glad I could see you two before you left for practically forever,” said Linas looking up from the remote access terminal.

“Yeah,” said Ashley, collecting her notebooks, “where’s everyone else?”

“Doing their alternate jobs,” said Claire, leaning back in her seat and looking at the ceiling. She fell forwards in her chair and looked at Lauren and Ashley, “overseeing the relocation of defensive emplacements and gathering information about how people are faring after the conflict.”

“A garrison has been stationed at the Potesta complex,” said Linas, “they recovered the bodies of your squad which have been returned to Euban for the standard cremation.”

“Ah,” said Lauren, “it’s good to know that their families will have some form of closure.” Lauren felt unsure of herself as she said those words.

“Hey, we’re going to miss you,” said Hira, hugging them.

“Let us know if you’re ever on Jezebel again,” he said as Temmie took her turn to exchange hugs.

“Definitely,” said Ashley, “and let us know if you’re ever on Daiterra.”

“There’s a conference in Sanmachi in a few years,” said Hira, “we’re definitely going to try and submit to that.”

Susan burst into the room, “ah there, you are. The vans are here to take you to the orbital transports. A big old Astratum logistical cruiser is here to take you back home.” She paused to increase her composure, “on behalf of our army research team and the 45th Intersyst Army which it serves, thank you for your service and for saving the lives of many by peacefully ending the conflict with your expertise.”

Susan gave Ashley and Lauren a firm handshake and a pat on the shoulder. Then they shook hands with Linas, and then Claire who got up from her chair to lean across the table to reach them.

Downstairs Lauren and Ashley found a pair of soldiers who took them to the van outside.

On the ride back to the landing pad, Lauren noticed for the first time how vibrant the countryside was, due to the sun setting when she arrived. Wide fields of various grains in pastel tones were complimented by the vibrant colors of fields of medicinal flowers. Looking up, the sky was a deeper blue than she was used to. In the front of the van, the two soldiers chattered away. Along the way, their van passed several busses full of people returning to their homes in the countryside as well as military transport vehicles of various shapes and sizes. Eventually they arrived at the wide concrete platform where they first touched down on this planet. An omega craft was parked at one corner, all three ramps lowered offloading a seemingly endless stream of vehicles and people to aid with the relief and rebuilding. The soldier driving the van pulled up right next to one of the ramps.

“Well, we’re here,” she said. The two soldiers hefted Ashley and Lauren’s flight cases onto a pallet to be loaded on the craft later while the two Archival Officers walked up the ramp and entered the passenger area of the craft. Upon entering, Lauren found herself face to face with Neil.

“Neil? What are you doing here?” said Lauren, her mind became flooded with thoughts. She had so many things that she had to say to Neil. She had put off replying to his messages because she didn’t have the time or mental energy to begin to even choose what to say to him first, and now he was right in front of her, right now. Neil dashed over to her. No escaping the confrontation.

“I came here as soon as I saw that you were injured on the officer portal,” he said, his eyes darted to her leg cast, “are you okay? What happened to you?”

“No it was all my fault,” said Lauren, “I let my squad die, and it was totally preventable. There were so many ways for me to see them coming but I was too focused on my code—”

“I—” Neil tried to get a word in but Lauren kept talking with increasing tempo, unable to stop.

“And then I had to kill someone and I still don’t know if there was another way. You tried to warn me and I thought I was being cautious but now I know I was just playing, pretending for fun. And I barely got out alive—”

“You what?” exclaimed Neil, “Lauren, try to slow—”

“—but it wasn’t thanks to any actions I took. I didn’t know things could go wrong so badly and in so many ways.” Lauren’s vision had gone blurry but between her crutch and her hard case, she had no hands with which to wipe her eyes. “And now,” Lauren erratically breathed in having finally run out of breath, “and now, I don’t know what to do with myself or how to move for—” Lauren’s words became unintelligible even to herself as she started to cry.

Neil stepped forward and hugged Lauren tightly, “I’m sorry all this has happened to you.”

“It’s not your fault,” managed Lauren, her breathing calmer now.

“I should have done more to warn you,” said Neil, “but it’s okay now. I’ll take care of things, so don’t worry about anything for now.” As Neil released Lauren and stepped back, she felt him take the hard case from her hand.

“I—” said Lauren as she wiped the tears from her eye with her sleeve, “thank you.”

8: Return

Lauren’s glass of antioxidant iced tea clinked as she stirred it with her metal straw. Neil sat across from her with a cup of citrus tonic. They were on their first “special corner of Sanmachi” excursion since she returned from her mission to the Jezebel system. Neil and Lauren were at a cafe specializing in drinks that contained various nutrients to improve wellbeing, aptly and thematically called “The Apothecary.” Lauren’s black blazer and Neil’s lab coat were both balled up and put into the corner of their booth. Lauren sat leaning forwards with her shoulders hunched and looked at a corner of their table as she spoke.

“So I had my last follow up surgery today,” she said as she stirred her drink, “all of the artificial tissues that were inserted into me on Jezebel weren’t up to Daiterra standards so they replaced all of those tissues with cells grown outside of my body at the Citadel clinic. Honestly it doesn’t even feel weird to wake up from surgery anymore.”

“They fixed your leg too, I see,” said Neil.

“Yeah, no more crutches for me. That also feels weird. Turns out even the intact bone fragments had hairline cracks so they had to put a titanium sheath over my shin to share the load.”

“How are you otherwise?”

“Ahh.” Lauren scratched the back of her head. “I’m between a rock and a hard place,” she said, “I’m behind on my projects, that colony ship black box, and now a report on what we’ve learned about the Potesta system.”

“The what?”

Lauren looked up at Neil. “The radar complex I was telling you about before I left. Oh! I need to thank you for that wielding document you sent me, it was a necessary piece of the puzzle that led to us ending the war.”

“Ah, I’m glad it was useful,” he said. “I’m also glad that you had someone like Ashley with you during the ordeal. She really cares about you, and not just in the Youmen ‘cares about everyone’ sort of way.”

“Yeah, I know,” said Lauren, “I’ll tell her you said that.” She resumed looking at the corner of the table.

“You were talking about your projects,” reminded Neil.

“Right. I’m behind on my projects. The obvious answer is to work longer, but I’m worried that it will negatively impact my recovery or foul it. So I feel the need to work longer, but am afraid to.”

“Did the doctor have anything to say about it?” asked Neil, blowing on his drink.

“Yeah, he said that ideally I get plenty of rest, avoid heavy foods, and stay engaged in moderate physical activity.” She looked again at Neil, “but, he said that he knows I’m a Knowledge Corps officer and that it’s okay for me to pull long hours should my work require it.”

“If your doctor says it’s okay, then it’s okay.”

Lauren looked at her drink, “when you say it that way it seems obvious. But how did you know?”

“Sometimes you need to rely on the advice of others,” said Neil, taking a sip, “you can’t rely on your instinct all the time. Also, a doctor is one of those people you can almost always trust to give good advice about how to take care of your body.”

“I’ve trusted my instinct my whole life,” said Lauren, “it’s failed me from time to time but the consequences of those failures were never very significant. But now that it’s failed me spectacularly, I feel lost, always second guessing my decisions and sometimes ending up paralyzed, like with the work situation, never feeling good about moving forwards.”

Neil, thought for a bit. Lauren looked at him and knew that he already knew what he wanted to say and was now simulating how the conversation would go, refining his script until it was ready to be spoken.

“Here, let’s do something about it,” he finally said, “let’s put together a list of people you trust to guide you.”

“Well, there’s you,” said Lauren.

“Why thank you.”

“Then there’s Ashley.” Lauren looked at the ceiling, “and I guess Miguel since he has a lot of life experience.”

“Don’t forget your doctor. This list isn’t just your friends”

“Oh right.”

“Are you seeing a therapist?”

“No.”

“If you see a therapist, that would be another person to trust. Anyone else?”

“Okay. Maybe Jethro?”

“Really?”

“Yeah, because Ashley said that he was good at predicting when bad things would happen. But he’s on Jezebel right now, finishing up our group’s work there.”

“What about your parents?”

“I told them that I got injured on a mission but that I am okay now and not in any danger.”

Lauren leaned forwards, resting her arms on the table and her head on her arms. She turned her head to look at the cashier who was stifling a yawn.

“But I haven’t told them that I’m like this right now,” said Lauren.

“You should tell them what you are going through,” said Neil, “but you can still get their advice on decisions you are making without them knowing how you’re feeling.”

Lauren sank further in her chair. “Sounds like it takes practice.”

“You now have an opportunity for practice. You also don’t need to do that.”

“I guess. They gave me a week off to recover, I was planning on seeing my parents in a month when my projects are wrapped up and was hoping that I’d be better by then.”

“You can’t know when you’ll be better, Lauren. No one can.”

“Not even a therapist?”

“No.” Neil started sipping from his tonic.

Lauren thought about her options. She could now start working as long as it took to meet her deadlines, which was both good and bad news. She should also probably set up a long call with her parents, and it seemed like getting a therapist would be a good idea as well.

“Do you know how to get a therapist?” asked Lauren.

“Psychological Services can set you up with one. The more information you give them, the better they can pair you up with a therapist that can best help you. Here’s their contact information.” Neil pushed a glowing business card across the table.

Lauren looked at the card and then at Neil. Neil must have known the conversation would go the way it had even before they left the Citadel for the day. Lauren then realized that she was still hunched over from when she was considering her options. She picked up the card and sat up straight in her seat.

“Thanks Neil,” she said, “thanks for looking out for me. And I’m sorry for not listening to you.”

“I forgive you,” said Neil, “now just focus on forgiving yourself.”