The next few days were peaceful for the girl. She spent them with John and Emily digging through various hotel rooms and doing rooftop cookouts under the stars. They appeared to be the only people left here and hadn’t heard a peep yet from whatever it was that broke in down below. Both towers of the Wrynn Moran hotel had helicopter landing pads: which was part of the reason John and Emily had chosen this place to begin with. After a bit of negotiating with Duncan, the head triage operator at Vandenberg Airforce Base, they had managed to secure a helicopter evac to the base. No guarantees on a colony ship spot though.
It seemed the launch base at Vandenberg was still sending transports to the colony ship in orbit. There apparently a few spots still open and they were doing a final screening for gifted individuals. On the downside, this was very likely the last colony ship left. Anyone that didn’t make it aboard would be left to fend for themselves either on the surface of the planet or in orbit without any major developed infrastructure to support them. The chances for Emily and John were slim, but for the girl, the people at the base would run some tests and see if she could be approved as a candidate.
Back at the Wrynn Moran, they were having an afternoon tea session on the roof with all the complimentary tea packets they had raided from the other rooms. John and Emily had set up another tent on the roof expressly for this purpose. They mainly avoided going out during the day because it was much too hot. Even now, the girl could feel the dry heat coming from the sun being counteracted by the higher altitude cool winds blowing through.
John was relaxing in the tent sipping tea while Emily moved about the rooftop planters in her usual yellow suit poking about to see if anything was still alive. They had transplanted the girl’s small aloe plants onto the patches of dirt to give them more room to grow out as some of them had begun to sprout more small nubbins for leaves. Emily’s plant (Gerald Jr. 3) had begun budding into a flower. A testament to my superior horticulture skills, Emily had said.
The girl was finally out of her pink sweater and was relaxing on a recliner in a white pink striped t-shirt. She busied herself opening up sugar packets to dump into her mug of green tea. The sky above was streaked with foamy silver-rose colored clouds as the sun began making its way down the horizon.
Music played from her phone to the side. The speakers on the phone were terrible but functional enough as the sounds of piano, soft and light, danced with the afternoon wind. Then the vocals came, feminine and clear:
“As the candle's gentle flame flickers in the dark,
I see the stories of our lives, etched upon the spark,
Memories like sparkling glass, in the hourglass they flow,
In the fading of the night, our love will softly glow.”
“Hmm," John said, “I think I know this one.”
“Yeah?” the girl asked.
“Yeah… Yeah! The next part is like–” John started singing in a surprisingly on-key gentle voice:
“Oh, this life, it's but a fleeting, fragile thing,
But in the stillness of the night, I'll find my angel's wing,
In the arms of the unknown, my spirit takes its flight,
When the time comes (It will!), I'll embrace the endless night.”
“Wow, that was actually not too bad," said Emily, sitting down in a chair next to the girl. “When did you get so good at singing?”
“Haha well that’s the chorus so that’s really the only part I know," John said. “Hey, actually here’s a bit of a funny story.”
He shifted a bit, then said, “It was at night I believe… yup it was the night shift at the ER I remember…”
“The emergency room," Emily clarified for the girl as the girl sat up and leaned forward to listen to the story.
“Yeah, that," John continued, “So this 30 year old male walks in with blood all over his stomach. Laceration wound.”
“What! That sounds scary!” the girl said.
“It definitely looked scary," John agreed. “Turns out he had been stabbed in a bar fight. So he’s half drunk at this time, I don’t even know how he drove here on his own.
“We check him, his vitals are all stable. We do the usual imaging and all that, wound exploration etc. The guy’s pretty much fine," John said. “But the thing is, this guy is totally convinced he’s going to die. The whole time he’s talking about his will and calling for his momma, wanting to see ‘Kelsey one last time’. And we keep telling him to stop moving around and calm down and that he was going to be fine, because we’re trying to stitch him up.”
John paused for a moment to take a sip of tea.
“Then he goes all quiet," John said. “We’re like, ok finally. But then… he starts singing.”
“Haha… WHAT!” the girl giggled.
“Yeah he starts singing THIS SONG.”
“Oh god…”Emily chuckled and put a hand over her face-window.
“Starts singing about farewells and the end and yada yada," John laughed. “It wasn’t the best singing, and at the time I was too busy trying to fix him up but… it was pretty funny. It was just so out of nowhere.”
“Well it’s a pretty good song," the girl said, leaning back in her chair.
“That it is," John replied. “But the guy was fine. Stayed maybe 3 days for monitoring and then we sent him home. Except now I can never hear this song without remembering that one guy.”
By now the song had ended and the sky was a warm shade of orange with swirls of soft peach clouds.
“You got any batteries left in that phone?” Emily suddenly said.
“Yeah a little," the girl replied. “Might need to take a jog around the pool sometime later to recharge it.”
“John, stick your face in the window," Emily said, “We’re taking a picture.”
“What, like this?” John’s face appeared with a goofy grin.
“Perfect”, Emily said, then she gestured to the girl. “Come on over.”
It took a bit to get the pose right with Emily’s bulky suit and John’s face shrouded in the shadows of the tent. The girl’s arm wasn’t quite long enough either and she was the only one with free hands so they took around 10-20 pictures in various poses as the sun slowly set behind them.
“There you go, something to remember us by when you're sailing through the stars," Emily said.
“Right," the girl said, suddenly morose at the thought. “You guys aren’t going to be able to come with me are you?”
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
“Haha… probably not," John said with an awkward laugh. “But hey, at least now with you, there’ll be a part of us forever. Maybe one day they’ll use us for stock images on whatever world you guys end up on. Just picture it: one thousand years from now a little girl, some guy in a tent and a big yellow hazmat suit will be somewhere on the internet or whatever they have in the future for anyone to search up and look at.”
“Who the hell would look for something like that?” Emily laughed. It was a genuine throaty laugh. “I’d say we would probably be stuck in a museum somewhere. ‘This is how they lived back then’.”
They all laughed at the thought of that.
Then, after a moment…
“Hey kid…” John hesitated, then continued. “I think you should know this. But me and Emily are sick.”
“Yeah I figured…” the girl replied matter-of-factly. “Are you guys infected? Y’know, with the Rust?”
“...yeah," John sighed. “We’ve been holding it back with some third generation nano injections but those only last a week at a time and we’re mostly all out. We’re going to need to go on a supply run pretty soon. Pick up other medical supplies as well.”
“Ok sure," the girl said cautiously. “W-when are we heading out? Are we going to be back in time for the evac?”
“Uhm…” Emily gently put a hand on her shoulder. “We’re going to need you to stay here.”
“Wh-what do you mean?” the girl asked, her composure began to drop and she started trembling. “I-I can help!”
Her face turned red as her eyes watered up darting back and forth looking at anything but their faces, “I’ve found some great stuff! L-like that s-swiss army knife and-and those cookies…!”
Emily pulled her in for a big rubbery embrace. “I know you’re amazing. But just in case we don’t make it back in time, we need you to get on the helicopter.” The girl felt her tears roll off the suit’s rubbery surface. It was uncomfortable, but it helped her calm down a bit.
“They said they would be here in about a week," she said, voice muffled. “Can’t you guys just wait?”
“I… don’t know if we’ll last that long," John sighed. “I wish we could be here for you always, kid. But that’s just not how things are. If we stay here for too long we’ll become a danger to you.”
“We’ll try to come back as soon as we can," Emily said, patting the girl on the head.
“Wh-when are you guys heading out?” the girl rubbed her eyes and looked up at Emily.
“Probably around the day after tomorrow," John said. “That’s about as long as we can hold out probably. But don’t worry, little lady, we’ll teach you how to use the radio and stuff.”
“We’ll also record a message for you, just in case," Emily said. “How about that? We can’t write too well with these suits on, but if you charge your phone up we can do a recording with all the stuff you might need to know.”
“Th-thanks," the girl sniffled. She was glad it had gotten pretty dark by now and they couldn’t see her snotty face.
Glittering stars soon began painting the night sky. John eventually got out of the tent, and he told stories while they played cards by lantern-light. Emily even added a few EMT stories of her own. The girl especially liked the story about the woman who got off the ambulance after being revived from a heart attack and insisted on walking home. The moon loomed close above as if to listen in, casting its silver light over them. The girl wanted the night to go on forever, but her drooping eyelids did not want to cooperate. Pretty soon she was leaning against Emily, limp and breathing softly. They carried her downstairs to her room leaving her to dream about icy lands and endless seas.
***
“Inspector Chen, you stand accused of the murder of Dr. Li and are under suspicion of the murder of the Enforcement Chief Lee Chen," the President read carefully from a tablet in front of him. He peered at her over his glasses for a moment then broke into a grin. “Not by me of course, but you are being accused.”
Inspector Yahuei Chen did not find this particularly funny, and neither did the six council members sitting on either side of him. She was handcuffed to a desk in the middle of the council room. There was a guard on either side of her and two more behind. Council members sat in a curved row in front of her, three on each side with President Cai at the center. On the President’s left were the three upper class official elected Lords, and to his right were the three general population elected Electors. A woman on his far left hand side with large expressful –almost innocent looking– eyes flashed a harsh look at him then peered down at the Inspector with an almost scornful look.
“I, however, AM accusing you as that’s where the facts lie," She brushed aside a wisp of hair (that had most certainly been placed there on purpose from the looks of her intricately crafted hair knot) and continued. “Dr. Li’s cause of death was poison, which matched the traces of poison left in her teacup…” she paused for dramatic effect. “As well as the same poison that killed Enforcement Chief Lee Chen.”
The other council members murmured in surprise and concern. President Cai tried not to look too surprised, but his darting glare at the woman gave him away to Inspector Chen. He had been caught off guard.
Given the circumstances, he had acted quite admirably, however. When Inspector Chen had been arrested the enforcers had originally been instructed to take her to floor 50, the prison floor. There, she most likely would not have been allowed to live to see the next morning. President Cai, as soon as he got words, immediately sent his personal guard to guide her to the council chambers saying it was a “matter of national security” and required an emergency meeting.
The woman who just spoke, none other than Lord Xue Liu – the noble who had appointed the currently deceased Enforcement Chief, had protested at first, but soon gave in. So now here they were: a hastily gathered council in various states of bewilderment. Inspector Chen carefully examined each of their faces trying to peer into their thoughts and intentions. Who was faking their confusion and who was genuine?
“Hmmm, so what is the evidence pointing specifically to the Inspector here?” One of the nobles to the right of President Cai spoke up. He looked to be middle aged, which in combination with the location he was seated clued Yahuei into the fact that he was a publicly elected council member, rather than an upper class appointed one. He had creases around his eyes and a few gray strands of hair, but these combined with his kindly dark eyes and thoughtful expression made for a rather pleasing combination. This was Elector Sen Zhang, formerly a lawyer and known philanthropist.
A rather haughty looking young man with a curling mustache on the left side of the room replied. “Well according to our reports, Inspector Chen is known to frequent the cafe. Not to mention she often holds small meetings with a variety of people, which we assume are informants. The cafe owner knows her well, it’s obvious she asked him to help poison Dr. Li here.”
“Obvious?” President Cai gave the man a look. On the surface he was smiling, but there was a glint in his eye. “Lord Yang, what exactly makes it so obvious? From what I see here, she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Precisely," Sen Zhang said. “It all seems a bit too convenient. The woman literally dies of poison right in front of Inspector Chen, surely if Inspector Chen wanted to kill someone, she wouldn’t be so obvious! Not to mention Dr. Li here had a knife! The story is just too weird.”
“Come now, you aren’t suggesting the woman attacked the Inspector with a knife so Miss Chen here had no choice but to… poison her tea in self defense?”, Xue Liu responded, her fine features twisting in a sardonic look.
“I’m not suggesting such a thing, obviously. I’m just saying there seems to be more to this than on the surface.”
Lord Qin Yang interjected, twirling his mustache, “Well clearly Dr. Li, being astute as she is, recognized she was being poisoned and tried to respond by taking down Inspector Chen here with her.”
“It’s a rapid acting poison," Sen retorted, “By the time you notice, you’ve already been paralyzed.”
“What’s the motive?” President Cai cut through the chatter with efficiency. He was staring right at Xue with an unwavering gaze. “Surely you’ve got a motive in mind, yes?”
The room turned quiet as they all turned to look at her. “Of course. Dr. Li –by the way this is top secret information– has been working near the surface to recreate and manufacture second generation nanomachines.
“However, due to the lab’s proximity to the surface, the scientists have discovered that…” Lord Xue Liu took a deep breath. “That the Rust is slowly seeping in from the surface.”
There were loud gasps. Even President Cai’s eyes widened in surprise.
Xue continued, “Inspector Chen killed Dr. Li to hide this fact, and was on her way to silence the rest of the scientists. Isn’t that right, Inspector Chen?”
Yahuei was caught by surprise at the question, but even more so by the revelation of who the real target of this plot was. “I didn’t… I wasn’t planning…”
“But Inspector Chen would never have tried this on her own for no reason. She’s just a soldier following instructions," Xue’s eyes flashed with triumph. “Who was it that gave you this order?”
Yahuei looked at her with narrowed eyes, rapidly trying to formulate a response to what was obviously coming next.
“It was President Cai, wasn’t it? He was the one behind all of this.”