Darren
Monday, 2nd of November, 198 A.C, 13:24
“Despite the leaps and bounds that have been achieved in life-extension technology over the past century, scientists have yet to truly perfect any of the myriad options available to us. Cybernetics are quite effective, but their drastic nature puts many people off and they are helpless in preserving the brain. On the other hand, gene editing tends to be less physically intrusive and can help the brain, but is a much trickier process and comes with its own set of detractors. Hopefully, however, the scientific community will discover solutions to these problems in the coming years. Here to speak about these roadblocks is Dr. Lutra, a preeminent surgeon and genetic engineer.” - Spark News tech broadcast
“Congrats on making it another year! That makes you, what, 31 now?” Axel ran alongside me, seemingly not out of breath in the slightest.
I sighed. “Don’t remind me. And I feel even older than that, if you can imagine.”
Axel chucked. “Well, you certainly *look* older, that’s for sure.”
I shot him a flat glance.
“I’m just messing with you. Still, it's a pretty odd choice to go running for your birthday.”
I checked my form to make sure everything was locked in. “It’s a break from work, isn’t it? And it’s an opportunity to spend time with the squad.”
Axel continued to grin. “Man, you’ve really got to learn to practice what you’re always preaching to Sarie. Maybe that’s why your hair’s already grey.”
I didn’t respond to that one.
Beck was behind us, panting and wheezing as she limped along. She tried to say something, but all the huffing rendered it unintelligible.
I gestured to the end of the block. “Let’s push through to there, then we can take a break.”
I got a “guuhhhh” in response. I picked the pace up to a stride, Axel easily matching me and Beck… doing her best.
Axel and I slowed to a stop as we reached the end of the block and took a quick measure of our heart rates. Beck more or less fell over the line.
“You don’t want to lay down too long,” I said. “Don’t want to get stiff.”
Beck slowly clawed her way to her feet. “How… *huff*... How are you guys not *heff* not dying right now?”
Axel offered her his water bottle. “Lots and lots of practice. Sorry, but unless you want to replace your body with cybernetics, that’s just about the only way.”
Heeding some advice we had given her last time we ran, Beck made sure to drink in slow, small sips. “Darn. Thanks for having me along though. I feel bad slowing you down.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, “I’m happy to take it a bit slower. I’m getting on in years, after all.” I winked at Axel.
Axel patted me on the back with mock sympathy. “Yeah, just running at all is great. I may have super healing powers, but hoo boy are my ribs still angry at me for last Tuesday.” He paused for a second. “Oh! Before I forget, Sarie wanted to apologize for not being able to make it again. She’s had her hands full with schoolwork and her part-time, as per usual.”
Beck frowned. “Oh yeah, she’s studying at VA, right? Geez, that’s gotta be a lot to keep track of.”
I gave a tired smile. “Pretty taxing on our finances too. The, um. The more wealthy of us can only sieve off so much of our money without drawing attention to ourselves, and a good portion of that goes to her tuition.” Realizing I might have come off as aggressive, I added, “We’re happy to, of course. We’ve got more resources, so it only makes sense that we share them with the rest of you. I just wish I could do more without jeopardizing all of us.”
Axel looked like he had something to say, but he stopped himself right before it came out.
Beck nodded. “Well, tell her that I’m sorry she’s busy, but that I’m looking forward to training with her.”
Axel grinned. “Oh, just wait for leg day with her. Or arm day. Or cardio. You know what, just wait for any workout with her involved. Gonna leave you regretting your life choices.”
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lily making her way towards us. By her muted getup and wide-brimmed hat, I could tell she was trying to avoid attention.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
She waved as she approached. “What’s up? Is the run going well?”
Beck seemed to forget her exhaustion and bounded over to her. “Hey Lily! Run’s going great! How’ve you been doing?”
Lily laughed as Beck went in for a hug. “Missed me, munchkin? Sorry I’ve been a bit radio silent, work’s been killing me. Kinda jealous of you though, you little attention hog. Been getting in a lot of action, I hear?”
Beck stepped back and showed off the slowly fading cut on her cheek. “Sure have! Got this one from Yumi!”
Lily put her face in her hands, but I could see a smile between her fingers. “Oh Yumi, what are we gonna do with you?”
“Says the person who gets drunk on the job,” said Axel.
Lily pointed a finger at Axel. “Well, *to be fair*, it’s not exactly my fault that I do. Got a very particular drawback.”
“Fair, fair. Just sayin’.”
“Anyway,” she said, “I hate to interrupt but I’ve gotta snag Darren for a second.”
Axel nodded. “No problem.”
Beck nodded. “Yeah, I was about to head home anyway. Dad’s gotten pretty strict about me going out ever since the other day. Wanna run back with me, Axel?”
“Sure! How about you set the pace this time?”
The two of them took off, Beck chugging along in front and Axel jogging leisurely behind her.
I turned to Lily. “What is it you need me for?”
Lily started off towards the safehouse. “Sable wants to have a meeting. Sent Yumi and Trevor off on an escort and everything. Must want some privacy.”
“This is about the news article?”
“If I had to guess. Personally I’m loving the attention, but you know Sable. Always planning.”
***
The safehouse’s meeting room was sparsely decorated. A large wooden table took up the center of the room and a few filing cabinets and drawers lined the back wall.
Despite the table being surrounded by chairs, nobody was sitting. I was slowly pacing around, Lily was leaning against one of the cabinets, and Sable was by the head of the table, arms stretched down to lean on a chair.
Sable cleared his throat. “I’m assuming you both know why I called you here?”
“Think I’ve got a good idea, yeah,” said Lily. “We’re officially on the radar. A small blip, but there.”
“Exactly. Whether we’re ready or not, we’re shifting to the next phase of the plan. As the three founding members, it’s important that we all agree on how we’re going to adapt.”
“If I may,” I interjected, “Why just us? Shouldn’t everyone have their say?”
“I want to keep us agile,” said Sable. “It’ll be easier to come up with a unified plan like this. I also don’t want them worried about everything.”
I frowned slightly. “It seems to me that we’re just endangering them. Besides, we’re a squad without leaders, aren’t we?”
Lily groaned. “Hey, as much as I’d love to join in on your little debate, could we get on with things?”
“Of course,” said Sable. “Sorry.” He took a second to recall what he had been saying.
“Ah, right, the news article. We’re going to be running a very tight gauntlet soon. Up until now we’ve been enjoying a good amount of safety from our obscurity, but now corporate interests, the Watch, and VA are all going to be turning up the heat.”
I nodded. “But if we can get enough support from the public, and maybe get in the good graces of a megacorp or two, we won’t be worth it to go after.”
Lily chimed in. “So that leaves us with a stretch in the middle that we’ll want to get through as fast as we can. Otherwise, *bam!*” She clapped her hands together. “No more Impulse.”
“That’s the gist of it,” said Sable. “It’ll all come down to the timing. If we rush things we’ll lose steam before we can reach that critical mass. But if we take things too slow we’ll turn ourselves into a fine target.”
I rubbed my chin. “So what does that mean for us right now?”
“Right now, we lay low. We focus on our contingencies, get everyone that doesn’t have VA training up to snuff, and wait for something really, really big for us to tackle.”
Lily cracked her back over a chair. “Been waiting for ages for something high-profile. Just don’t make me wait too long or I’ll die of boredom.”
Sable chuckled. “Oh don’t worry, I’m right with you there. I’d just also like to make sure we all live through this.”
Lily nodded in mock sage agreement. “Very true, very true. I guess you’ve got an extra reason to be cautious, considering all that fucked up shit your Veil does to you.”
“Yeah, you could say that.” Sable smiled politely. “Anyway, the main takeaway is that we’ll have to keep our eyes peeled. For threats, yes, but also for opportunities. There are crises happening every day. We’ve just gotta sift through them and find something good.”
He paused. “And if we can’t find anything… well…” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “There’s always New Year’s Eve.”
A shadow passed over the room.
I coughed. “Yeah, there’s always that.”
“Now *that’d* be high-profile,” Lily quipped. We all chuckled, but the air was still a bit thicker than before.
The meeting fizzled out soon after, all of us caught in our own heads. New Year’s Eve was still about four months off but it was all I could think about as I made my rounds at the clinic. How many of my patients would I be treating again once that day rolled around? How many new faces would be showing up? And how many wouldn’t ever make it back to my operating table?