I had finished eating by the time Simon wandered into the room. As he made his way over, I wondered how he would feel about my plans. He looked around and brightened as he saw me. Everyone else must be treating him pretty badly if he was so desperate for my company. I moved over so he had a place to sit.

“Good morning, Simon. Do you…” I stopped myself before offering him something to eat, which would have been rather foolish. Certainly awkward. Not that he couldn’t eat, it just didn’t really benefit him in any meaningful way. It would be a waste of eggs. “Did you sleep well?” I corrected.

He smirked, clearly understanding what I had been about to ask,

“Yes. Fine, thank you.”

The mistake did remind me of certain practical concerns. Eventually, Simon was going to need to eat, and no one here was really suitable for that. Ubarae, didn’t eat nearly as often as humans, so it could be days, but that really depended on the last time he indulged. It wasn’t a question I was really comfortable asking at this juncture. But he seemed to already know what I was thinking, unsurprisingly.

“I’m fine on that front, too. Don’t worry about me.”

“Someone has to. Which reminds me,” I edged further away from the rest of the group, and he followed. “I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but for a while, do me a favor and watch your back.”

“I know,” he dropped his head. “Why do you think I spend all my time with you? You are the only one I don’t feel the hate radiating off of like heat. They are very uncomfortable to be around.”

“Come on, it can’t be everyone.”

“Just about. Your boss is ok. He still doesn’t like me, but he is very professional. And some of the patients I helped, Sally especially, they are more tolerant. But I don’t have any illusions about my place here.”

I sighed. I wanted to reassure him that the others would come around, but I was no longer convinced. Left alone, I am sure they would have, but from what I had heard Wallace was stirring people up against him, drawing on a somewhat reasonable hatred and feeding it. He had always been that way, a bit of a shit disturber, but he could really get people hurt this time. He was one of those guys who couldn’t draw the line, which was the problem. Some let the ubarae we saw in our work, the dangerous, violent criminals, convince them that all ubarae were evil. It was an attitude that we all had to constantly guard against, because most were just decent people, trying to live their lives. Just like the existence of murderers didn’t make all of humanity irredeemable. James had always tried to instill in us the distinction. But people like Wallace didn’t draw the line. It was a dangerous attitude to be spreading around, especially now. Because whatever the Domini were doing, it wasn’t the fault of the entire species, who had kept to the Pact for centuries. It was why I hesitated to even suggest exposing them. I doubted Wallace would do them the same curtesy. It occurred to me that that was part of the reason James didn’t want me bringing it up. Not because he was afraid people would disagree, but instead that they would likely agree too strongly. That gave me some pause. Were my own motivations less than pure, here? Was I letting anger tempt me towards a scorched earth response? I frowned, it was something I was going to have to think about carefully before I committed. I looked over to find Simon carefully studying my face.

“What?”

“Is something wrong?”

“Nothing outside of the obvious,” I shrugged.

They weren’t mind readers, but it could sure feel like it sometimes. I was going to have to be more careful about keeping my emotions in check around him.

“Let me ask you something,” I changed the subject quickly. “Do you suppose other ubarae could be recruited to help? We really need to bolster our numbers with people who won’t be susceptible to the Domini.”

“That is a tricky question,” Simon hedged. “It depends what you mean by ‘susceptible’. I understand better than most that the future the Domini promise is attractive to more than you would expect. There are a lot of ubarae who feel that they shouldn’t be restricted to enclaves, policed by the Organization, constantly watched as if they were all criminals, even when they have done nothing wrong. There is more friction than I think you realize. How do you think he recruited so many people? And even those too timid to actually help him wouldn’t necessarily be willing to hinder him.”

“Are you saying all ubarae agree with this course of action?”

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

“No. Of course not. But I am saying that there are enough who would that approaching ubarae at random might be counterproductive. Or dangerous.”

I sighed. That wasn’t the news I was hoping for. We couldn’t do much alone. And recruiting human civilians came with a lot of risks. Not to mention convincing them and then getting them up to speed would take too long. Well, that wasn’t really my concern anyway, James and Wallace were coordinating personnel. I had enough on my plate without taking on any more.

“So, what are we doing today?” Simon asked.

I smiled in spite of myself. I had a sidekick, apparently.

“Hopefully, I’ll hear something from Tom. If not,” I shrugged. There wasn’t a standard procedure for this. “Either way, I need to find a way into the headquarters.”

“That doesn’t sound like a good idea,” Simon frowned. “More than anywhere else, they will have that place locked down. Going in there would be dangerous, to say the least.”

I shrugged,

“Not as dangerous as doing nothing.”

He nodded, conceding the point,

“What can I do?”

“Right now, I don’t think there is anything to do. Check on the patients. Keep your head down. Maybe find a map and mark every place you remember being a stronghold for the Domini. Think about anything else you might know that could be useful. Wait for more information.”

“So, we will be staying here, then?”

“I will. You probably don’t have to, though if you want to help treat the injured, you could. But it might be safer for you elsewhere.”

He considered for only a moment,

“I’ll stay. I want to help.”

I nodded,

“Good. Well, let’s go see how the patients are doing.”

“If the plan is to keep treating the injured here, we should get some better supplies.”

“We can probably manage that. Make a list of what you need.”

Simon nodded and scurried off towards the impromptu medical area, happy to be of use. I leaned my head back against the wall and looked up at the ceiling. I had to get into headquarters. Everything was there. Our people, our enemies, and all the information I needed to put my fail-safe into action. But the place was specifically designed to be near impossible to infiltrate. I frowned. If Tom got back to me, I could ask him to try and get to the files. But even if I could trust him with this plan, they would surely notice and discover that he was the one who had done it. It would probably get him killed, and even if he survived, he would never be able to go back, so we would lose a valuable source of information. No, he couldn’t be directly involved in this. But maybe with his help… I got to my feet and went in search of Vasili. He was perched in the rafters of the warehouse, monitoring the front through a small window. I sat next to him on a beam,

“Hey Vas, any activity on the perimeter?”

“Nobody but our own people. It seems that we are undiscovered, for the moment,” he lowered his binoculars and turned back to her. “If you had told me a week ago that I would be squatting in a warehouse, on the run from my own employer, I would not have believed you.”

“I’m not sure I believe it now,” I laughed, but there wasn’t any humor in it.

“Tell me something, Ray,” he studied me carefully, “Do you see a way out of this?”

I took a deep breath,

“That depends, are we talking a good way, or any way?”

“That’s what I thought.”

“Well, don’t read too much into that. It is hard to see anything, this early. Fog of war, you know?”

Vasili snorted,

“Perhaps.”

“Besides, don’t go by me. There are smarter people than me trying to figure this out.”

The Russian raised an eyebrow,

“Now is not an ideal time for false modesty, friend. It wastes time we do not have.”

“Modesty?”

“Many of us are excellent at our jobs. We follow our orders and we do it well. But if we are to survive this, we require more than that. We require a plan. And few of us are tacticians. At this moment, we have James, and we have you. We will need you both.”

A tactician. That surprised me. I didn’t consider myself any different from my coworkers. But Vasili was not one to be careless with his praise.

“This surprises you? Perhaps you think that we all have a plan at this moment and are just waiting to enact it?” Vasili chuckled. “No. A plan is what we need. I know you have one. I can see it in your eyes.”

“Vasili, I don’t really…”

“Relax, Ray. I won’t ask what it is, yet. You and James will keep your secrets as long as you have to. You always do. But if there is something I can do to help, say the word.”

I swallowed hard. Vasili was a good agent. Smart, dedicated, cool under pressure. And he was scared now. He needed me to have a plan because he needed someone to have a plan. So, no pressure, then. Maybe it would be better for morale if I didn’t dissuade him, for the moment.

“There is something I need to know,” I considered my wording carefully. It would make him feel better to think I had something planned, unless he realized that said plan was insane. That would only make things worse. “When you were observing headquarters, you said you saw them bring prisoners in? Partials that they were going to experiment on?”

“I don’t know about experiments, but yes, I did see them bring in some of our people,” he gritted his teeth at the memory.

“What condition were they in?”

“Condition?”

“Were they injured? Conscious? That sort of thing.”

Vasili reflected for a moment,

“Some were injured. Looked like they had been shot. But the wounds had been bandaged and treated. They were wanted alive. Others had no obvious signs of injury, but they were not conscious. Perhaps drugged.”

I considered that. It wasn’t unexpected, but it complicated things.

“Thanks, Vas. That helps.”

“Is there anything else?”

“Not right now. But I’ll be back.”

He nodded and returned his attention to the window. I climbed back down to the floor. Simon was waiting for me with his list. But a chime brought me up short, a new message from Henry. Finally.

The other night was hot. Same time and place?

Simon was going to have to find another shopping buddy. I turned to search for James. I had to set up another meeting.