The trip home was a little more awkward than the trip up. I knew that Sharron had it rough before becoming a samurai, but I didn’t know it was bad enough to cause her to freak out at the mention of the town.

Sharron spent the first half of the trip staring out the window, while I spent that same amount of time just trying to figure out what to say. I finally managed to blurt out, “Do you want to talk about it?” by the time we got to the undercity connection.

She scoffed. “Do YOU want to?”

“Look, I’m not the greatest talker. I honestly considered waiting until we got home and immediately passing you off to Jane, but I think I can handle it if you just want to vent or something,” I replied.

“At least you’re honest about it,” Sharron chuckled. “I’m… not great, but ok. I just got caught off guard back there. Just the mention of that town brought back memories of ‘working’ as an indent for Global Rare-earth and Industrial Mining Corp. Your only choices were to perform the most dangerous tasks available and possibly die, or refuse to do them and have your debt increased. The company didn’t care if indents lived or died, they owned them until the end of their lives, one way or another. I saw a lot of people die in those mines, even before falling into the antithesis tunnels.”

“Well, you don’t have to come if you don’t want to. I made a deal with Mirage to check out the tunnels, but you can stay in Calgary. Even if those tunnels are crawling, I doubt there’s anything I can’t handle.”

“I feel bad not coming with you. Maybe I should come and face my fears,” Sharron said with a shaky smile.

“Maybe? It sounds healthy to me, which probably means it’s a bad idea. I’d suggest talking to Jane, or maybe that frog, before you make any decisions. They’re a lot better at making smart decisions.”

Sharron laughed. “True, very true. Maybe I’ll give it a try.”

I relaxed a little when I saw Sharron smile again. It was the first time I’d seen her genuinely distressed about something.

When we pulled into the garage, to my surprise, it was Sharron that hopped out first. “Thanks for the talk,” she said with a small smile, “Don’t forget to inform Jane that you’re leaving or you’ll never hear the end of it.” She closed the door, then wandered over to her RV. Guess she wasn’t quite ready to talk to Jane yet.

I, on the other hand, headed right for the residence. I could get the bears to do most of the preparation while talking to the family, which would save me a lot of pain and effort. As I entered the main area, I found Jane at the table studying a tablet, while Isabelle and Jennifer argued at the other end of the table.

“What’s this ruckus about?” I asked, raising my voice to be heard over the pair of kids.

“Jeni says the samurai piece can’t move zigzag, but she’s wrong!” Issi declared.

“That’s stupid.You’re telling me that one piece can attack anywhere on the board, how is that fair or balanced?” Jeniffer growled.

“Samurai can do anything!” Issi countered.

“Just leave them. I tried to mediate half an hour ago and realized after a few minutes that this has to be something they need to figure out themselves,” Jane mumbled as she put down her tablet. “How did your meeting go?”

“Well… that Mirage asshole invited Sharron, promptly brought up a traumatic experience for her, then tried to get me to do a favor for him.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“He did what? Is Sharron okay?” Jane asked.

“No, but I did talk with her a little, and she’s a little better now,” I replied, sitting down next to her. “She may come and talk to you later, though.”

“I’ll make some time for her when she does,” Jane said with a nod. “Now, about this job…”

“Don’t worry, I didn’t let him guilt me into going,” I told her.

“Good.”

“I raked him over the coals first,” I said proudly.

Jane lowered her head and rubbed her eyes with one hand. “Evelyn…”

“Hey, antithesis and investigating problems is kinda my job now, and there wasn’t anyone else available,” I said defensively. “He was desperate enough to push Sharron in order to get someone up north to check on things, so I made him agree to a couple things that’ll make my undercity improvements go smoother in the future. I’m going to leave most of my bears here to keep the peace, and Sharron will probably stick around so you’ll be perfectly safe.”

“I’m not worried about us, you moron. You have a habit of getting distracted and going overboard without someone to keep you focused,” Jane growled.

“I’m not THAT bad,” I said.

"Yes, you are,” Jennifer said, without looking up from her game with Issi. “I can’t count the number of times you’ve gotten distracted while on a job.”

“I always brought food home at the end of the day!” I replied defensively.

“Yeah, using the most inefficient methods imaginable,” Jennifer scoffed.

“Don’t tease Evie. She’s trying her best!” Issi cut in. Even though she meant it in the very best way possible, it still hurt a little. The only one trying to defend me was a six year old, and she was using a condescending phrase to do it.

“There’ll be other samurai in the area, and I’m not going into a massive fight, just an exploratory expedition,” I told everyone. “So there’s no reason to be worried.”

"Uh, huh,” Jane said, obviously not believing me. “And when are you leaving?”

“In a couple hours. I just need the bears to fill my truck with necessary supplies, like extra laser fences and ammo. I’m only going to be a couple hours out, so I'll pop back in occasionally if it looks like I’ll be stuck there for a while. It won’t be like Seattle.”

“Well, at least that’s something,” Jane said with a huff. “You better call every night to talk to the kids, and since you’re leaving soon, we should at least sit down and eat one last time.”

“That’s fine. I can do that much,” I replied.

“Yay! Numables!” Issi cried, instantly losing interest in her game, to the frustration of Jennifer.

“I’ll call the others,” Jennifer mumbled as she summoned the rest of the clan for a meal.

It was a good time, one that ended too soon. I said goodbye to all the kids and made Alan promise to behave before heading back into the garage.

I wasn’t planning on taking any of the IFVs, so I packed as many supplies and bears as possible into the truck trailer. Six squads of bears, not including my team, five dozen squirrels, stacks of laser wall emitters, and a pair of lures pulled out of the IFVs. I could honestly fit a lot more, but I wanted to keep most of my forces here, where they were needed. If the shit hit the fan, I could always request backup.

Just when I was about to climb into my truck, I noticed Sharron was lounging around outside her RV, so I stopped by one last time.

“Are you sure you don’t need my help?” she asked.

"Well, Jane and the kids seem to believe that I’m unable to function by myself, but I think I can handle things for a little while,” I replied with a shrug. “I’d welcome your company if you decide to come later but, considering your reaction earlier, I’d suggest thinking about it more. Talk to Jane, and maybe sleep on it. Just don’t make any rash decisions you’ll regret.”

She bit her lip, then nodded. “I won’t. Stay safe out there.”

I leaned in and, to her surprise, gave her a quick hug. “You too. I hope you feel better soon.”

“Thanks,” she squeeked out.

With that out of the way, I jumped into the driver’s seat of my truck. My team was already situated in the back, so all I had to do was direct the vehicle towards its destination. I waved at Sharron as the truck turned, then settled in for the trip. Next stop, Hinton.