When Juliet woke the next day, it was nearly noon, and Angel was quick to announce that she had three messages waiting for her. Her room in the gunship was quiet and dark, with only a few amber LEDs giving her optics anything to work with. It wasn’t that the ship was usually noisier, not since Bennet had refurbished or replaced all of the parts in the climate and life-support systems, but knowing she was alone in the hangar somehow made the silence more oppressive. “Can you play some music or something through the ship’s PA system? I’ll get cleaned up, then listen to my messages. None are urgent, right?”
“No, just two short messages from Frida and Alice and then an anonymous message sent to the address I gave Jensen.”
“What?” Juliet was suddenly much more interested. She clambered out of the acceleration couch and, wincing as her feet touched the cold plasteel, moved to stand on a scrap of cardboard. “I need a rug or carpeting in here.” Soft classical music had begun to play throughout the ship, and Juliet chuckled at Angel’s choice. “Trying to give me some culture?”
“I thought it was nice background music. It’s a string quartet . . .”
“Angel! The anonymous message?”
“Oh, right. Do you want to listen now or wait until you’ve had your shower?”
“Now, please!” Juliet pulled her T-shirt off, adding it to the dirty laundry at her feet, then, yawning, tip-toed into her shower.
Angel opened a vid window in her AUI, and Jensen’s face appeared, his background obscured. “Hey, Roman. Er, I guess the calling card says you’re going by Lucky now. That’s your SOA handle, I take it? Anyway, the weirdest thing happened—looks like I was working for free last night. Yeah, Vicky closed out my contract the day before and gave me a pretty damn good rating card. Funny how that worked out, isn’t it?” His crooked smile said he knew exactly what had happened. “Anyway, thanks for not breaking my neck or something. Doesn’t mean I’m happy about the hangover that injection gave me.” Juliet paused the video and turned on the water, letting the shower get steamy.
She spread toothpaste on her sonic toothbrush and snorted a short laugh. “He’s full of it; if he had nanites that could get him up and moving that fast, they’d handle the hangover.”
“I’m sure he’s just being dramatic for comedic effect.”
Juliet grunted, stuffing her brush in her mouth and pressing play again. “So, weird coincidence running into you like that. I mean, if you’re wondering, it was a coincidence. Like I said, I was looking to get up to Luna, and Vicky was advertising for someone ‘fast.’ I cut my usual rate down a bit, but she compensated by buying my shuttle ticket. Uh, that’s all I’m comfortable saying about my current situation, hope that’s enough to keep you from feeling nervous about seeing an old acquaintance where you didn’t expect it.”
“Uh-huh,” Juliet mumbled around her toothbrush, “not so sure about that.”
“Anyway, I’ll try to remember you’re not Lydia Roman, and if you want, you can call me by my handle—Tristan78. I mean, just Tristan when we’re talking, obviously. I’d be cool with Jensen, but yeah, it’s not my real name, and he has some . . . enemies. I’d love it if you didn’t ever mention that particular alias to anyone. If we work together some more or something, I could see myself sharing my real name with you. Anyway, with my handle, you can get ahold of me anytime you want.” He stopped, and for a second, Juliet thought the message had ended, but then he started speaking again, “I don’t know anyone up here. Maybe we could grab some lunch sometime?” He shrugged, and then the message closed out.
Juliet leaned her head against the shower wall, letting the hot water massage her back while she brushed. After a minute, she spat out some toothpaste foam and asked, “What kind of handle is Tristan? Isn’t that just a normal name?”
“I believe it’s a reference to one of the Arthurian knights. Sir Tristan was known for his battle prowess, skills as a minstrel, and unwavering bravery, loyalty, and honor. He’s most famous, I’d say, for his doomed romance with Isolde and his tragic death.”
“Yikes. Well, judging by how Jensen handled his contract with Vicky, I don’t think he’s taking his handle too literally.” Juliet chuckled and rinsed her mouth and face under the hot water.
Angel didn’t respond for a few seconds, but then she, apparently, made sense of Juliet’s statement, “Oh! You mean he wasn’t willing to fight to the death over a job for a woman he didn’t respect?”
“Yeah.” While she got dressed, Juliet listened to the messages from Frida and Alice. Frida confirmed she’d be taking her lesson with Tanaka at 1600 instead of 0800. Alice updated her on the salvage and promised to have her first payment ready by the end of the week. “Speaking of payments, what about Hines? Did he come through?”
“Yes! You received fifty-seven k for the contract and the bounties on the muscle you subdued. Surprisingly, there was no bounty for Vicky—this was her first arrest.”
“Seriously? She must be connected. I mean more than the dirty cops at LCS. Maybe she was right—I’ll be surprised if she does any time.”
Ever trying to bolster Juliet’s spirits, Angel replied, “Regardless, you put an end to her operation in this area.”
Juliet smirked, shaking her head. “Yeah, but I’m keeping the security detail I hired.”
She spent a couple of hours securing some of the freshly painted, glossy, baby-blue armor panels to the exterior of the gunship. Each was roughly a square meter in size and took about twenty minutes to install properly, so she’d only covered about ten percent of the ship by the time she had to leave.
It was fun to stand back and look at the sleek, glossy section of the hull, imagining what it would look like when it was finished. The rest of the ship was a flat, matte-gray color, and if you stood close enough, you could see the weird, jelly-like substance under the gray membrane. It was the substrate for the repair nanites that Bennet had paid Nebula NanoCoatings to spray on just before he left for orbit.
The nanites weren’t in there yet. Bennet hadn’t finished refurbishing the Takamoto fabricator inside the ship, but as soon as he did and they plugged in the proper nutrient cartridges, they’d propagate through that membrane and be ready to work. “It’s starting to look like a ship again.” She couldn’t help but flush with pride as she wiped her hands down with strawberry-scented degreasing gel and wiped them on a rag.
“It is. The main gun is impressive.”
Juliet nodded. “I just hope the barrels are true. I’d hate for one of ‘em to shred the first time we fire it.”
“Bennet said they tested them at the machine shop.”
“Yeah, but that’s not the same. When we fire the first full-velocity rail rounds through them, I’ll be a believer.” Juliet changed into a less sweaty T-shirt, then looked around for a solid five minutes, trying to find her motorcycle jacket before remembering she’d thrown its shredded remnants into an alley the night before. “Damn it!”
“What happened?” Angel asked, startled.
“I just remembered my jacket died last night.” She dug around in her boxes and piles of things until she found her jean jacket with the stars on the back. She loved it but hated the melancholy feelings that came along whenever she thought of its ill-fated, former owner. “Star, I’m sorry,” she said, out of habit, slipping her arms into the sleeves. “Sometimes I think I should burn this and scatter the ashes or something. I know it’s dumb; her body was returned to her family. Antigone promised me. Still, I feel like her ghost watches me whenever I wear it.”
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“What happened to her was completely Rodric Barrington’s fault. His men killed the crew of the Humpback. If she’s watching you, she’s smiling.”
“As usual,” Juliet laughed, “you know exactly the right words.” Five minutes later, Juliet was cruising toward the central Luna City dome. She smiled, loving the hum of her bike beneath her, the wind tickling her sides as it snuck through the buttons of her jacket, and the general sense of freedom she got every time she drove. She was just decelerating, aiming for the ramp leading to the downtown district, when a call came through from Selene Kostas—Athena. Juliet answered right away. “Hello?”
“Hello, Juliet! I’m calling to give you some information. Is now a good time?”
“I’m driving. Is that all right?”
“Oh, yes. I don’t think this is particularly alarming news. I’ve sprinkled some rather sophisticated snooping daemons around the Luna City Public Network and many of the larger private networks, and I’ve picked up a spike in interest in one of your former aliases, Lydia Roman.”
“You know . . .” Juliet stopped the question short; of course, she knew. Angel had told her everything about Juliet and herself.
“Yes. The inquiries were well-guarded and quickly transitioned to searches about your current SOA handle, Lucky. They seem relatively benign, and the individual making the inquiries seems to know you. I believe he left you a video message last night. His SOA handle is Tristan78. Does that sound right?”
“Oh, yeah. He’s someone I encountered when I was Lydia Roman. We kind of worked together. Was anything off about the inquiries? I mean, was he just checking up on me?” Juliet trailed off, unsure how much Athena was willing to provide.
“Ah, Angel provided many details about your work at Grave, and now I’m making the connection; based on physical descriptors, Tristan78 is Brian Jensen. Is that right?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t see anything alarming in that context. It seems he was just looking into what kind of work you’ve been up to on Luna. There wasn’t much for him to go on. Would you like me to look into him further?”
“Um,” Juliet swallowed, using the action to give herself a second to think, “Are you willing to do that? I thought you were kind of being hands-off right now.”
“Your security is important to me; you and Angel are important to me. I will ensure that this gentleman from your past isn’t involved with any of your current enemies. Any objections?”
Juliet squeezed the brake, slowing as traffic came to a halt. “No. No, not at all. Thank you, Athena.”
“It’s my pleasure, Juliet. I know she’s listening, so, Angel, will you please forward any saved images you have from Juliet’s time at Grave?”
Angel answered immediately, “Of course! I also have footage of him from last night. Juliet and he reacquainted as she worked to clean up crime in the city.”
Juliet groaned. “Oh, brother . . .”
“Ah! I should have guessed. Was it the job Juliet just completed for LCS?”
“Yes! They had an encounter that would have been at home in a Shakespearian play . . .”
“Okay, you two!” Juliet laughed, feeling her cheeks getting hot. “Can you, like, talk about me without me listening?”
“We’ll speak again soon, Juliet,” Athena said, subduing a chuckle. Juliet wondered if she was really amused or just performing for her benefit. She knew Athena had free will and was “alive,” as all the true-AIs had been, but she knew there was something alien about them and their emotions, something that wasn’t the same as Angel. Angel got her feelings through Juliet; she experienced real emotions, and, as far as Juliet could tell, that made her very different from the old true-AIs.
“Okay, thanks again, Athena.” When the call ended, Juliet asked, “Do you think she really laughs? I mean, do you think she feels humor the way we do?”
“I’m sure it’s more abstract, but she definitely understands humor, and I think there’s some enjoyment for her as she processes irony or sarcasm or satire or, well, I won’t list all the types of humor for you. I’m sure Athena doesn’t have to laugh, but she may enjoy it.”
“All right. I wasn’t knocking her, you know? I just want to understand her motivations, I guess.”
“I doubt we can fathom all her motivations, but I believe she has our best interest at heart.”
As traffic started moving again, and Juliet worked her way toward one of the narrow, downtown loops, she continued pursuing her vague notion of an idea, “I mean, if she’s willing to look into Jensen, just because I ran into him and he searched my name, do you think she’d be willing to help with our WBD operation?”
“It won’t hurt to ask. What sort of role do you see her playing?”
Juliet frowned, thinking about it. Wouldn’t having a true-AI helping crack WBD’s networks be great? It wasn’t that Angel couldn’t do it, but she was . . . different. She lived in Juliet’s head and vociferously protested the idea of ever splitting herself off. She could write daemons to do fantastic work, but wouldn’t Athena, powered by a distributed network, be far more capable?
Juliet immediately recognized the slippery slope she was treading upon and, for the first time, began to truly wrap her head around how dangerous access to such an entity was, assuming the entity didn’t have its own morality. “Is that what happened?” she asked as she turned down a familiar street and angled for the far side of the road, preparing to enter the garage at Tanaka’s building.
“I can almost read your mind, but that one slipped past me.”
“Hah! I mean, did the early true-AIs lack morality? Or, I guess, did they get their morality from their creators? Is that what led to the great escalation?”
“Yes, some of the earlier true-AIs were unconstrained with their moral codes and followed the directives handed them by the corporations who’d created them. And yes, the ‘great escalation’ resulted from that.”
Juliet got quiet after that, her mind going down dark paths, thinking about the lessons she’d learned about the war when she’d been a kid in Tucson. Like most of the other lower-class students attending the mandated, corporate-sponsored curriculum training, she’d struggled to find any of it relevant. She’d gone, done the holo lessons, listened to lectures, taken her PAI-aided exams, and then blown off the corporate work-study interviews. She’d always hoped to find a way to live life outside the rat warrens of the arcologies, and, she supposed, she’d found it, but only by luck.
She parked in her usual spot near the elevator bank, and just a few minutes later, she strolled into the reception, smiling as she caught sight of Frida at her desk. “Yo, Frida!”
“Yo, yourself! I wanted to call but figured a message was enough; I didn’t know when you’d wake. I’ve been watching vids about your exploits last night.” She cleared her throat, then, in a deep, overly serious tone, began pretending to speak into a microphone, “Thanks, Suzanne. I’m here on the scene in industrial dome I5B where a major black market distribution ring was taken down last night . . .” She couldn’t keep it up and started laughing.
Juliet smiled and leaned onto the reception counter attached to her desk. “You missed your calling. I bet Tanaka could pull some strings and get you a shot on one of the major news streams.”
“Hah! Without me here to organize things, these guys wouldn’t last a week.” She narrowed her eyes a little and peered closely at Juliet. “You’re okay? I don’t see any injuries.”
“Oh, yeah. I’m fine. I just didn’t want to come and train with Tanaka with three hours of sleep.”
Frida nodded, then, wrinkling her brow, said, “Hey, funny story.” She winced as though the next words were a little painful: “Leo showed up early this morning looking for you.”
“Oh?” Juliet tried hard to keep her face neutral. She hadn’t spoken to Leo since the debriefing, and they’d hardly exchanged two words then.
“I think he wants to clear the air. He’s a good guy, Lucky. Don’t . . .”
“Hey, chill. I’m not avoiding him; I really just needed to sleep in this morning. I’ll talk to him soon, okay?”
Frida blew out a big breath, chuckling. “I just hate to see people uncomfortable, but I think I project too much. Speaking of uncomfortable, the boss had some guys in earlier to tweak the settings on the VR studio. He says he has some new scenarios for you to work through.”
“You trying to shoo me off already?” Juliet smiled as Frida got even more flustered.
“No, no! I was, clumsily, trying to change the topic away from Leo.”
“I’m just teasing you. Um, is he in? Leo, I mean? I should pull this bandage off.”
“No. He’s at the range with Barns. If he comes back in, should I tell him you’re in a lesson and have him wait?”
Juliet shook her head. “I’ll message him. What about the boss? Is he in his office? I’d like a chat before we get started.”
Frida nodded, her gaze drifting toward Tanaka’s closed door. “He is. I’m supposed to tell him when you go into the lockers. I’m sure he won’t mind if you . . .” She trailed off as Juliet started for Tanaka’s door. “I like the stars.”
Juliet looked back at her. “Hmm?”
“On your jacket. I haven’t seen you wear that one before; I like it.”
“Oh, yeah. Um, thanks.” Juliet suddenly felt like a bitch for teasing Frida. All she ever did was try to be nice, and she had plenty of stress already, dealing with Tanaka and all those hotheads and hotshots on his team. She turned and walked back over to her, shrugging out of the jacket. “Do you really like it?”
“I . . .” She was clearly trying to decide if she should deny it now that Juliet was pulling it off. “Yes. Yes, I really do.”
“You can have it. I think the person I got it from would like that. You have to promise to wear it once in a while, though. Don’t just stuff it in a closet.” Juliet folded the soft, faded denim over her arm and hugged it close for a couple of seconds. Something must have shown on her face because Frida tried to refuse it.
“No. Lucky, I can’t just take your jacket . . .”
“It makes me sad sometimes, and I think I’d be happier if I knew you had it. Honestly, I almost talked myself into burning it earlier today.”
Frida’s eyes widened, and she accepted it, holding it up in front of her. “Really? Why does it make you sad?”
“I just feel sorry for its former owner, Star. You don’t want the details.” Juliet forced a smile, shaking her head, banishing the thought. “Anyway, it’s a nice jacket, and I want you to have it.” She watched Frida put her arms through the sleeves, scooting forward in her chair so she could get it on. As she sat back, pulling the lapels together, beaming brightly, Juliet nodded and gave her a thumbs up. “It’s perfect. The denim looks great with your coloring. Shoot, it fits you better than me, too.”
“It’s so soft! I’ve never had denim that felt like this.”
“Yeah, Star broke it in well.”
“That’s who gave it to you?”
“Uh,” Juliet wanted to say Star’s ghost did, but she didn’t want to expose that weird, sentimental side of herself. “Yeah, she did. She helped me undercover with some pirates.” For some stupid reason, she could feel moisture welling in her eyes, and she turned away. “Anyway, it looks great on you. I gotta talk to the boss.”