I had no idea what was about to happen. Part of me was afraid of being attacked on sight, but by this point I was almost numb to risk. It was just another risk of many. The bigger the risk, the bigger the payoff. But more than that, it was curiosity. I was invested in the mystery, and that lingering irritation that the vaccine had been offered to some, but not others. It had been offered to the small, passive voices. Those who weren’t a threat. Jeremy and the others on Rockport? They were outliers. Outcasts. They didn’t respect authority.
Well, neither did I.
As we neared the port on the PanTech island, all was eerily quiet. No artillery being lobbed in our direction. No guns pointing at us from the shore. No warnings to turn back.
That didn’t mean they hadn’t noticed.
A single soldier stood on the beach, watching as we approached. She made no comments, even as Bereth and Isaiah stepped off the boat and tied us off.
“Hello, Adversity Management soldier. Do you recognize me?” I asked, stepping off the boat last, Ghost perched on my shoulder.
“No. Should I?” the woman asked.
Her eyes were as blue as the waters behind me, her raven hair in a ponytail. She had the standard issue off-duty uniform, small sidearm on her hip. Unsurprising. There was little reason to wear armor here, I’d imagine. Over ninety percent of the island was eating out of their hand, and the other ten percent was too small and undergunned to be any real threat. Even I had shown up to their island armed with only a sword.
“Depends. Were you on the submarine that stole my supplies the other day?”
She tilted her head. “No, I wasn’t with that unit. Pretty rare for someone to come to our island to see us after we’ve seized contraband to complain about it. Gutsy too. I like that. I’m Clarise. You are?”
“Taylor. Formerly Professor Taylor, if that matters to you. Not that it should.”
“It matters. Seems lots of people in Adversity Management know your name, Taylor. I’ve heard it mentioned from time to time. Your reputation precedes you.”
“All bad, I hope.”
“Mostly,” she agreed. “But not all of it. We owe you some appreciation for our cat and dog units. Without them, I fear we’d have dwindled down to a very small unit by now. They make up about half of our overall forces and, as you know, are immune to the virus.”
“You are now too, I assume. Considering what you seized was my vaccine that was meant for everyone, including Adversity Management. Props to all of you for figuring it out so quickly. I’d love to speak with your commander about that matter, if you wouldn’t mind.”
“Unfortunately, whether or not I mind doesn’t have much to do with it. Our commander has been dead for more than a week.”
“Oh, really?” I asked. While she didn’t necessarily seem to be lying, this would be awfully convenient considering my suspicions that Lunaria was this zone’s commander. “My condolences.”
“How very kind of you,” she said, her voice saturated with sarcasm.
“How about a second in command?” I asked.
“Also dead,” she said.
I sighed. “Well… I genuinely am sorry, for what it’s worth. I suppose I’ll speak to whoever happens to be in charge. You do still have someone in charge, right?”
“Of course we do,” she said, turning. “Right this way… Professor.”
I turned to Bereth and Isaiah, who were looking especially nervous. “Wait for a bit, if you don’t mind.”
Bereth nodded, though I had the feeling they wouldn’t wait for long.
Not that I could blame them. This was not the kind of place you’d want to be wearing out your welcome.
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“Shame what happened to PanTech HQ,” she said, surprisingly making small talk as we walked.
“All things considered, it really is a shame. I’m surprised I find myself feeling that way. I never was all that fond of HQ. What zone are you from?”
She shrugged and continued walking.
So, she didn’t want to talk about it. Understandable. Perhaps it was a zone like Frelya’s, and better left in the past. Either way, she had no interest in indulging me in this topic.
Eventually, we arrived at a building. One of many. Not tents, but actual structures. They’d been shipped here from HQ, being they were made of synthetic materials only PanTech could supply.
Nothing this island, or its inhabitants, could ever produce would be able to put a dent in these structures.
“Mind your manners. You may have been a professor, but you’re still a guest here.”
“Thanks for reminding me. I should’ve done the same for your people who robbed me the other day.”
She gave me a snarky grin before flinging open the door. Everyone turned to look. Some of their eyes became as big as saucers as I walked in behind Clarise. I recognized several of these cats and dogs from their time at HQ. I also recognized some of the jerks who robbed me. Or, ‘seized my supplies’ as they’d put it. As if it was theirs to seize.
No one said a word as we approached the table near the back. I helped myself to a seat, though I wasn’t sure who to look at.
Clarise cleared her throat. “Announcing the famous Professor Taylor,” she said. Oh, the sarcasm. Better than open hostility.
“What do you want?” an older man asked.
“Are you in charge?”
He nodded, taking another bite of those nasty nutritional rations I remembered.
I nodded to his plate. “I suppose you’re looking forward to getting rid of those, huh?”
“What do you want?” he repeated.
“What’s the matter? Not a fan of small talk? Don’t want to chat a bit about food before we get down to business?”
“Given the rumors, I didn’t expect you’d like small talk either.”
“She doesn’t,” Ghost said.
“Thank you for clarifying, Ghost,” I said.
“Ah, Ghost. He’s even more famous than you are, Professor.”
“I’m not surprised, nor am I bothered by the fact,” I said. “Nice little trick you pulled with Redbank, by the way.”
“Oh? I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about.”
“An even more impressive trick if the one in charge doesn’t even know about it.”
“Just what do you think happened with Redbank, Professor?”
“You can just call me Taylor,” I said. “And your name?”
“Kaden.”
“Kaden… well, it seems you performed some sort of drugging and… more drugging operation over there. Excellent work, by the way. Are you a medical professional yourself, or scientist, by chance? I had to conduct a very thorough examination on one of the inhabitants before I could confirm it. Got her under the thumbnail. Genius, actually. I almost missed it.”
He nodded. “Thank you for your praise, Professor.”
“Taylor,” I corrected.
“Taylor… I’m glad to see my unit has impressed you. I hope you’ll forgive us for our initial misunderstanding with you. You see, with the breakdown in social order and with many Adversity Management teams falling prey to… devolving circumstances, we have had a few unwelcome visitors recently. For all we knew, you were about to poison everyone on this island, or could’ve been preparing to attack us. We prefer to err on the side of caution. You understand.”
“It could have been cleared up by speaking to me. But, as you said. We’ll consider it water under the bridge. Depending on how you answer my questions, of course.”
“Oh?” he asked, crossing his arms. “I hope you’ll reconsider bold actions, Professor Taylor, when you’re surrounded by a group you know very well the capabilities of.”
I raised my hands. “I’m not as dumb as I look, Kaden. First question… Lunaria. Is she your commander? Like you said, there’s nothing I can do about it either way. May as well tell me the truth.”
A chorus of laughter rang out all around me.
“Lunaria… what now? Did you really ask me if she was our commander? Taylor, I take it back, you have a much better sense of humor than I thought. You really had me going with that one.”
“It was a serious question. I’ve seen a similar trick pulled before.”
He paused a moment, contemplating.
“You know… I guess I do see your point there. But no, she isn’t.”
“Next question. What happened to her daughter?”
No laughter on that one. I couldn’t help but wonder why.
“None of your business. You get one more question.”
“When and how do you intend to vaccinate Rockport?”
“We don’t,” he said, taking another bite of his nutritious slop.
“Why not?”
“I said that was your last question.”
“I don’t care what you said, Kaden. Consider it a part of the final question.”
He stood up, looking down at me.
“Because they’re your type of people, Taylor. They cause trouble, and they are trouble. The sooner they die out, the better.”
“I don’t like that answer,” I said, standing and looking him in the eye. “The vaccine is meant for everyone. Not for you to play deity with, deciding who lives and dies.”
“Go meet with them. Come here and take it if you want. I’m sure that’ll go over well.”
Another chorus of laughter. My hand snapped out, speed and strength increased by my enhancer. I held him by the collar. Everyone in the cafeteria stood up, drawing their sidearms.
“You should reconsider, Kaden.”
“So should you, Professor.” He nodded toward the soldiers surrounding us. “Being a professor doesn’t make you immune to consequences.”
“Neither does being part of Adversity Management,” I said, releasing him.
I walked out of the building.
"Foolish,” Ghost said as we made it out of hearing distance. “Why would you do that?”
“I didn’t do anything, Ghost. There are things set into motion that will be hard to change. Doesn’t mean I can’t try.”