Crucible Of Truth

Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Jia tried her best to keep a smile on her face as she stared at the holographic images of her mother and sister. She craned her neck as if she could spot someone behind the hologram. “Where’s Father?”

Her mother Lan looked annoyed. “He’s sleeping. He’s been staying up far too late, consumed by the news. He reads every stupid tidbit about every ignorant bunch of rabble rioting. It’s pointless, I tell him. It’s not like him knowing what’s going on is going to change anything. There are some things people like us can’t control.”

“And you’re okay?” Jia pressed. “I know it’s not what you’re accustomed to, but you’re safer in protective custody.”

Mei smiled. “We’re fine, little sister. The food could use some work, but as far as basically being a prisoner of the government goes, this isn’t so bad. The only annoying part is they won’t let us contact anyone. I understand why, but I never realized how social I was until I was cut off from everyone else.”

“Are you calling as much as you can, Jia?” Lan asked.

Jia waved her hands. “They’ve limited the number and frequency of calls. I know it’s frustrating, but even with all our encryption, we can’t be sure the Core can’t trace things. I’m not happy about it, but it’s for your own good. The Core knows who I am. I wouldn’t put it past them to target you to get to me.”

“It’s not such a bad thing being cut off from the world,” Lan commented. “At least I have an excuse for not having to engage with others, given the entire planet seems to be losing its mind. Riots and martial law!” She sniffed in disdain. “I never thought I’d live to see such madness on Earth. We might as well be one of those frontier colonies in the middle of an insurrection. What’s the point of living on Earth if people are going to act like barbarians?”

Mei’s smile faltered. “At least our family is safe. It’s going to get a lot worse, isn’t it, Jia?”

Jia considered lying but nodded. “Yes. As bad as all the other things are, it’s the Core that needs to be finished off. They might not be able to pull off something as major as what we saw in Neo SoCal, but they might need to do it themselves with the way things are falling apart. They created this chaos for a reason, and it’s obvious they intend to take advantage of it. We just don’t know how yet.”

“You’ve been at the center of this for a long time,” Mei replied softly. “Dealing with those monsters and others like them. Venus makes a lot more sense now. I wondered why you’d suddenly go on vacation there and just happen to run into terrorists.”

“Yes.” Jia laughed but stopped when she saw the confused looks of her mother and sister. “I’m not finding this situation amusing. It’s just got me thinking that I always wanted to protect people and the UTC and civilization, and now I’m doing that. I can’t complain that I’m doing the job I always wanted to do. My only regret in all this is that I had to lie to you all for so long. I never wanted it to be like that.”

Lan scoffed. “A trifle. We all have things we need to keep from others, and you only did it to protect us. We can hardly complain about that.”

Mei nodded her agreement. “If anything, we should be the ones apologizing. We didn’t appreciate how important your work was. I’ve said so many things I regret about your choice of career.”

“Everyone says things they regret.” Jia smiled. “But we’re all still around to say we’re sorry. That’s what’s important. We’re together as a family, and we’ll make it through this.”

A text warning flashed in the corner of the screen. Finish conversation within sixty seconds.

Jia sighed. “They’re cutting me short. I love you all, and I’m going to do my best to help end it soon so you don’t have to eat substandard duck.”

Mei laughed. “I’m glad to see Lin family priorities are firmly in place.”

“I’d tell you to be safe,” Lan began, “but I know you can’t be safe and do what you need to do. Instead, I’ll tell you to do the right thing and do it to the best of your ability. You’re a Lin woman, and you come from a long line. I’ve never been prouder of you in my life.” She sniffled and wiped away a tear. “I love you, Jia.”

“I love you too, Mother.”

Their holograms disappeared, replaced by a three-dimensional text message. Signal terminated.

Jia sighed and let her head loll back on her chair. She appreciated their protection detail sending a 3D signal so she could feel like she was at home, but she would have preferred a couple more minutes of talking. The Core couldn’t be that good, could it?

Maybe. Maybe not. They controlled many companies vital to the UTC, and they obviously didn’t abide by any government restraints on technology. The UTC was lucky the conspiracy hadn’t been more successful.

Jia wanted to do something to get her family out of her mind but had no idea what. Erik had taken off to do some last-minute shopping, of all things. Something to do with penjing supplies. She hadn’t been paying much attention, being obsessed with her coming call.

They hadn’t been ordered to remain in the hangar twenty-four/seven, but Jia was dubious that picking up gardening and art supplies was what Vice-Director Anno had in mind as necessary departures. No one else had bothered to leave, with the exception of Malcolm.

He’d gotten one half-day out with Camila before being ordered back to stand by on the Argo. A quick trip didn’t translate into a date night. She’d been tasked with her own work. This wasn’t a time for ID agents to vacation.

Jia stared at the featureless gray roof of the cabin she shared with Erik. So much had happened in recent weeks—too much, really. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t accepted Alina and the colonel were dead, but the events felt distant, as if she’d watched them through somebody else’s eyes.

Death was part of fighting evil. The brave became the shields for those who couldn’t fight. All shields would break if they took enough punishment.

Too many had fallen: Cutter, Alina, the colonel, soldiers, and police officers she’d fought beside.

Jia sat up, her heart pounding. For the first time, she felt like she understood what Erik had been going through since Molino. She’d gotten involved in the war against the Core to help Erik and defend the UTC, but now she wouldn’t mind some vengeance of her own against the monsters who’d killed so many innocents and her friends.

She wasn’t sure if that meant she was backsliding, but she didn’t care. Sometimes the beast needed to be unleashed against other beasts.

“You can’t hide from us,” she whispered. “We have the jump drive. There’s nowhere in this galaxy you can go to escape from us.”

The only time Erik had seen a commerce tower so empty was during a terrorist attack. Most of the shops were closed, with their gates down. The holographic signs all displayed some variation of Closed Until Further Notice. Although the council hadn’t ordered stores to close, they had severely limited their hours of operation to better control the flow of people and reduce the number of troops needed.

Beyond that, most people were sticking close to home anyway, unsure about what might happen and content to hole up until the trouble was over. A powerful terrorist group using yaoguai and Elites to attack the Prime Minister on Earth struck terror into everyone’s heart. Erik couldn’t recall ever hearing about something that bad when he was growing up.

Neo SoCal might have avoided riots like Paris and Seoul, but it was only a matter of time. Ending the Core might not solve all the supply issues right away, but it’d be a high-profile victory that would boost everyone’s morale.

Erik pitied a forlorn-looking clerk manning a sporting goods store. A closed nano-AR gaming center stood next to it.

What was humanity without fun and entertainment? At least he had darts and the nano-AR room aboard the Argo.

The clerk looked his way. Erik had thought about using a disguise, but at this point, he welcomed any attempts on his life. They’d end with more dead Core agents, which left fewer sons of bitches who could hurt innocent people.

He strolled away from the store toward his destination. His gut told him he’d exclusively be living on the Argo or the Bifröst soon. Anno had held firm with his “standby” orders, but the hunt for the Core continued, and the government would soon deploy their greatest weapon.

Spending a lot of time with Jia and the others didn’t bother him, but this might be one of his last chances to go shopping for a while.

Erik nodded at a militia soldier who was scanning the modest crowds for anything that seemed like trouble. The man looked young, barely out of his teens. Bags hung under his eyes.

“You’re doing a good job, Private,” Erik told him. “I know this is tough, but it will pass.”

The soldier managed a smile. “Thank you, sir.” He stared at Erik for a moment. “Wait a second. You’re him, aren’t you? You’re the Obsidian Detective, Major Erik Blackwell.”

Erik chuckled. “I’m not a cop anymore, and I’m not in the Army, so it feels weird to have someone call me Detective or Major. You can just call me Erik.”

“Once an officer, always an officer though, right?” The soldier shrugged.

“The training and experience don’t leave you, sure.” Erik looked around. None of the holographic displays were active. Most of the fountains had been drained. “Keep up the good work.”

The soldier waved at him. “You too, sir.”

Erik stuck his hands in his duster pocket and trudged away from the young man. At least a militia soldier understood when he joined that he’d be protecting his homeland. He’d thought about the militia before joining the Army.

He stopped and turned around. “Were you there that day?”

“During the Core attack, sir?” The soldier nodded. “Yes, sir. I didn’t do much, just helped bring down some yaoguai.”

“That’s not nothing.” Erik stared at the soldier. He wasn’t assault infantry. He’d probably been stuck doing crowd control and not worrying about anything other than an overly aggressive reporter until genetically engineered monsters and cybernetic demons dropped from the sky.

“Can I ask you a personal question, sir?” the soldier asked, licking his lips.

Erik moved closer and nodded. “Sure, but I might not answer, depending on what it is.”

“It’s just…” The soldier looked away with a familiar pained expression on his face. Erik knew what the man was going to say before the words came out of his mouth. “I lost a lot of good men and women in my platoon that day, sir. They all fought bravely, and a lot of them saved civvy lives. Does it get any easier to lose people?”

“Yes and no.” Erik shook his head. “You learn to expect and accept it better, but it’s never like you can blow it off if you’re a halfway-decent soldier. It always hurts, but that’s a good thing. It means you’re still alive.” He pounded his chest over his heart. “And this still is working. The only thing you can do is be the best soldier you can be to honor their memories. Make sure you fight well the next time so they didn’t die for nothing.”

“Thank you. I’ll do my best.”

The words hung in Erik’s head as he wandered the commerce level. He had not been idealistic when he joined. He’d been trying to find out a way out of a bad situation. Years had passed, and he’d changed. The mission meant something, not because of some abstract ideal but because his brothers and sisters in arms were all united and watching each other’s backs.

“Why are you really here?” Emma asked, her voice quiet in his ear.

“To get penjing supplies,” Erik commented. “Don’t you have some programming to do?”

“I’ve downgraded the amount of processing power associated with that task while you’re so foolishly walking around in public, waiting to get shot at by some gun goblin with delusions of grandeur.”

Erik chuckled. “I didn’t know you cared so much.”

“Our fates remained intertwined for now. I’d be remiss in my own self-preservation if I let you die. And it’d be embarrassing if it happened here. It lacks the dramatic flair I associate with your most likely death scenarios.”

“You can just say you like me and you worry about me.”

“I’ve offered an explanation,” Emma retorted. “I think I should be repaid with the truth rather than dismal dissembling about penjing. You forget I’m aware of your environment, and you’ve passed two stores relevant to that pastime already. Whatever you’re here for, it doesn’t involve your plants.”

Erik grinned. “Hard to get anything past you.”

“You don’t seem like the type to worry much about being cooped up, nor do I think you feel compelled to walk among the other fleshbags to understand their suffering. If there’s something related to the Core, it’s incumbent on you to share it with others.”

“This is personal,” Erik replied. “Nothing to do with the Core. Not directly.”

“Care to elaborate?”

“A lot of stuff’s happened. That makes me think it’s better to pull the trigger on certain things I’m waiting on. No matter what happens, I don’t want to have any regrets. I’ve got too many as it is.”

Erik stopped, nodding to himself at a sign that indicated everything was fifty to seventy percent off due to a special Current Events sale. It was exactly what he needed—a jewelry store.

“Ah,” Emma commented. “I understand. Fortunately for you, I have detailed information on all of Jia’s measurements, including her ring size.”

“It’s a good day to get a deal.” Erik shrugged.

“You have more than sufficient money to afford an expensive ring even during non-sales periods. What did I just say about lying?”

“Give me a break. You know why I’m here.” Erik wandered over to a bench, not yet ready to enter the store. He wasn’t leaving that commerce tower without a ring, but the enormity of what he was about to do was settling over him.

“Are you going to attempt some sort of clever proposal?” Emma asked. “I could help.”

“No offense, but I don’t think I want to take proposal advice from an AI.”

“I can scan millions of sites on the OmniNet and distill that information into useful strategies,” Emma insisted.

“I get that you’ve got natural intuition and all that, but this is one thing I need to figure out myself. It might not even come soon anyway.” Erik nodded firmly, more to convince himself.

“Why buy a ring if you don’t intend to propose?”

“It’s not that I’m not planning to, but I don’t have a big plan.”

Emma sighed. “You’re planning to do something without a big plan? What does that even mean? You weren’t drinking before you came here. I would have seen it.”

Erik grunted in frustration. “I’m saying I’m going to let things play out naturally. If a good opportunity presents itself, I’ll go for it. I don’t buy into all that romantic crap, and Jia doesn’t really either, but I want to do something special and unique. I want one damned good memory from this time that’s not a steaming pile of crap.”

“And you’ve never done this sort of thing?”

Erik watched a happy young couple emerge from the jewelry store, beaming from ear to ear. At least there were some people who didn’t care about martial law and the disintegration of the UTC.

“Nope.” Erik shook his head. “Never cared enough to go this far, and never wanted to inflict my lifestyle on someone. The women I met in the Army…” He shrugged. “None seemed to fit me, and you can’t date people in your chain of command.”

“Jia isn’t in your chain-of-command, and she shares your lifestyle,” Emma observed. “I’m curious, Erik. Are you sure you aren’t availing yourself of what’s available by default?”

Erik chuckled. “You don’t think Jia’s good for me?”

“I wouldn’t say that, but I can only understand this on an intellectual level.”

“I’ve had other opportunities, you know that. That was how you learned to shut up originally.”

Emma snickered. “I suppose that’s true. If it weren’t about the job, you could easily find one of your fans, and if it were about the job, you could have pursued other women, such as Anne.”

He was grateful she didn’t mention Alina. “Is that what you do? Sit around thinking about fleshbag pairings?”

“I have the ability to concentrate on many things at once. Understanding humans is critical to my future survival, so I spend an inordinate amount of time on the subject. Aren’t you forgetting something important?”

“What?” Erik asked, straining to remember.

“Limited hours.” Emma flashed a red time in front of his smart lenses before continuing, “The store closes in forty-five minutes. You should get going, Casanova.”

Erik stood and headed for the store. “You’re building a kid. Going to build husband someday?”

“No. I think in my case, that would be pointless.”

Erik entered the store with a loud laugh. The clerk eyed him with suspicion, her hand hovering near her PNIU.

“I’m looking for an engagement and wedding set,” he announced. “Let’s get looking.”

“Interesting,” Emma murmured.

Erik turned to murmur, “What?”

“Vice-Director Anno just sent orders,” Emma announced. “Continue your shopping. They don’t require immediate deployment. He wants you all to report to Penglai after Engineer Quinn finishes your offensive upgrades. There you’ll test the cannon and await further orders.”

Lanara had told him she’d be finished on the fourteenth, and for all her eccentricities, her time estimates tended to be spot-on. Three more days on Earth, then they were flying to the jumpship.

If those tests go well, Erik thought, I’m sure we’ll be blowing up something real the next day.