Tailspin, p.72
Tailspin, page 72
Doctor Pillar came back in. “You’ll be fine in a few days. Don’t run tomorrow. Give yourself a little time.”
“I will.”
Nurse Eina came in with a gel for my ankle. She took my sock back off, scowled as she slathered it all over my foot, and then put me in a wet sock.
Ugh. “It’s cold.”
“Here.” Nurse Eina held out a bottle of green liquid, and I took it reluctantly. “This should top you up.”
Doctor Pillar stared at his data pad. “You’re showing some anomalies,” he said and raised an eyebrow at me. “Still getting headaches?”
I’d almost grown used to it; I guess you did when things hurt all the time. I sighed. They could see it clearly or he wouldn’t have asked. “Depends on what I’ve been doing throughout the day,” I said, touching my head on instinct.
“Painful at night?”
I nodded. “Seven, sometimes an eight.”
“I would hope they were easing off a little by now.”
“Not yet. How long does it take for some?”
“You’re getting extra medication,” he said. “Those who have had this have cleared their headaches in a few months.”
I frowned. “It’s been over ten months. What’s wrong?”
“I’m looking into it, but there are a few things I’m keeping an eye on. We might need to put the other eye in.”
“Take my only real eye out?” Shit, I didn’t like that at all.
“You haven’t been honest on the reports,” Doctor Pillar said, his eyes twitching while he tapped out notes. “So if I or Doctor Brosk have to step in, I will get you on the schedule as soon as possible, and we will take your other eye out.”
“Why aren’t you reporting the headaches?” I felt Nurse Eina glaring at me and I glanced at her suddenly reminded of my mother’s chiding. Five again…ugh.
“I don’t feel they’re that bad.” I was at least being honest. “I’m sorry. I guess I just got used to them.”
When I thought about the pain level, they were a seven or an eight, but I didn’t often think about it. I just went to sleep. I was burying my head in the sand, and they and I knew it.
Nurse Eina gave me a shake of her head. “You’re going to have to be more honest. If you need that other operation, the sooner the better.”
“Okay,” I said. “Sorry, I promise I will let you know.”
“I’m asking your AI to report them directly to me,” Doctor Pillar said. “If anything changes, I will know.”
Apex? I asked.
Orders are orders, he replied though his voice was at least softer than Doctor Pillar’s. I can’t ignore them, and really, we shouldn’t have just kept on going.
I was getting chastised on all sides even if he was saying it better. Sorry.
Just have to admit it, he said. Work through it.
***
It didn’t take long after I was back in my bunk, resting, that I got another comms knock. Doctor Brosk.
“You really should have talked about the headaches,” he said.
“I said I’m sorry,” I said. “I got used to them.”
“Well, get unused to it, we’ll work through a plan with Pillar and watch you as he’s said.”
“So this is you—”
“Another friendly kick up the ass.”
“You really think another eye operation would get rid of the headaches?”
“Maybe,” Jim said. “But I don’t think we could stop the X1 and you from reacting like you did last time. I promise I’ll look over everything and talk to you soon. It’s a little hectic out there for us at the moment.”
I mean I knew he ran Rise, but… “The fire?”
“Yes, we’re flat out at the moment. I will talk to you soon.”
“Soon,” I said, and he was gone.
I turned over, trying to get comfortable at least for a moment. It was almost impossible.
I guess I drifted off slightly, as a soft tap-tapping actually woke me. I opened my eyes to darkness. I never slept that long. Did I?
I checked my HUD and the time. Shit, I really had. The door opened a moment later and Niko stood there. “Malaki sent me,” he said.
I sat up, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. “What’s up?”
“No one could get you on comms.” He stepped inside though there wasn’t much room, the door clunking behind him. “You okay?”
“I needed sleep,” I said. “Something else up?”
“It’s your day off. I wanted to grab something to eat, shoot the shit, you know.”
I smiled at that and patted my stomach. I hadn’t eaten in a long time, and I was starving. “That sounds like a very good plan.” I slid to the edge of the bed, slipped my boots on, and laced them fast.
“I’m not buying, though,” Niko said. “I’ve a baby to look after now, you know.”
I laughed at him. “Wouldn’t expect you to. I’ve enough to swing for some food for us both. Come on.”
His grin spread, but then soon turned into a yawn. “Now Malaki will be wishing she’d come to wake you herself.”
Then of course, I yawned as well. Ugh.
The queue for food wasn’t big, and I got a nice plate full of good bodybuilding foods.
“You’re never going to eat all that.” Niko laughed.
I paid for both at the till and pulled a piece of fake meat off the plate as I walked to find a spot. “You bet I will,” I said.
Niko slid his tray on the table overlooking one of OOF’s gardens. “Some of the places here are really well looked after,” he said.
“Some of them, almost all of it,” I replied between chewing my food. I took a sip of coffee, enjoying how it tasted.
Niko fell silent and I watched him for a short while. “What’s up?” I asked.
He glanced back at me and drank some of his own drink. “Nothing,” he lied.
“Don’t,” I said. “I’ve known you a long while now, talk to me.”
“She’s growing so fast,” he said.
“Jasmine?”
“Yeah, being away from her is really hard, and from Lacy.”
I could only imagine it was, and my heart pained for him. “Are you going to ask to leave the team?”
He shook his head. “What? No, no way.”
“I wouldn’t blame you,” I said. “You could easily get another job, somewhere so you and Lacy could be with each other more often, no weekends or weeks away.”
He fell silent again. “Niko,” I prodded. “I love ya, man, but family first.”
“You’re family,” he said. “This team is everything to me.”
I put my hand to my chest. “Thanks, man. I think so too.”
He looked away, back outside, then back to me. “I do have something to ask of you.”
His smile then, he grinned from ear to ear. “What?”
“Will you be my best man?”
“You’ve set a date?”
“July 24th,” he said. “That’s not everything, though.”
“How is that not everything?” I laughed and finished my coffee. It really didn’t hit the spot, and I wanted more.
“I’d like you to be Jasmine’s godfather.”
“You really weren’t kidding when she was born? I’ve never really been around kids,” I said.
“Neither had I,” he replied. “But you’re everything I would like her to know.”
“Really, with my luck?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Even with your luck. You show huge commitment to this team, you care deeply, you’re responsible.”
I had to laugh at that. “I’m not too sure on that one.”
“Seriously, you’re good for all of us. I’d like her to get to know you on a deeper level as she gets older.”
“Doesn’t that mean if something happens to you and Lacy, I’d be her legal guardian?”
“They used to ask godparents to do that, but you’re not with anyone to help look after her. I would think if anything happened to us, either of her grandparents would step up. Maybe even Roe might?”
“Roe, yeah. She would make a wonderful parent.”
He raised his eyebrows. “You don’t like my cousin, do you?”
“No,” I said. He kept staring at me. “No!”
“Okay, just you know, it would be good to get you a girlfriend, or even a date.”
“I don’t have time for dating,” I said. “You know how much studying we’ve all been doing. This is a hell of a first year here.”
“That it has been. Well, maybe we can take you somewhere nice for your birthday?”
“I’d like that.” I smiled. “In fact, I’d like to go back to the place on the beach if it’s still there, where you did your flyby. They had some amazing cake. Plus, we could ask Jim, Alba, and Roe out.”
He looked at me sideways again.
“No!” I said.
“That sounds like a perfect plan,” Niko said. “I’ll organize it. Would be really nice to spend a day away together, just for fun.”
He was right, it really would. “It’s an odd day.”
“I’ll get us a pass,” he said. “Don’t worry. This will be good for all of us. Party on the beach—what could be better?”
“Now that does sound great,” I admitted. “Thanks, man.”
84
I stood looking at my meager wardrobe, in nothing but a towel. Fuck, I’d never even thought about what I was going to wear. I literally had next to nothing. Just uniform, and more uniform. Even the clothes Jim, Alba and Silao had given me, had become well worn, also I was just too big for all of them now.
A knock at the door made me turn and Malaki stood there with a bag in hand. “I took the liberty of getting you a little something for tonight.”
“Mal,” I said. “You shouldn’t have.”
She stepped inside. “You still have the bare minimum of everything, and we all know that. Jim and Alba sent over something for some new shoes, too.”
I took the bag off her. “How’d you even know what size?”
Her eyes trailed over my form. “Seriously, I’m with you every day, weekends too. Heck, we’ve slept in the same bunks, sleeping bags.” My face flushed, and she laughed. “Shouldn’t be too hard to dress yourself, right?”
“I’m not that bad,” I said and took the clothes out of the bag. A nice shirt, dress trousers, and a pair of shoes.
By the time we made our way across to the shuttle bus, Justin and Silao had joined us, and the others. Everyone looked so different. I had to take another look at them.
“If you stare any more, I’ll make you pay for your own dinner,” Walter said.
“You all look amazing,” I said.
“Not every day we get asked to a party on the beach,” Silao said and gave Malaki a little twirl.
Out of everyone he was the smartest. His family’s money oozed off him. Ren moved into his side and hooked her arm in his. “All the single ladies are going to be drooling over you guys,” Ren said. “Would you be my date?”
Sialo’s face went red, and he glanced at me. “Sorry. I—”
“Teasing, but I will stick with you, if you don’t mind for tonight.”
“Ahh, of course. I don’t mind that at all.”
I glanced at Malaki, her hair fell in the waning sunlight, catching the reds. “I’m excited to see what this cake’s like,” she said. “You’ve talked so much about it this year.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’ll love it.”
“I’ve waited all day for this,” Justin said coming into my left side. “You’ve picked one of the finest places by Rise.”
“It was just where Alba and Jim brought me.”
“You were lucky, not many people get to eat here,” Silao said.
“Expensive?”
“It has real cake, what do you think?” he said.
“Wait, it is actually real cake?” Malaki’s eyes widened. “Like really real?”
Silao nodded. “Locally sourced flour, eggs…baked inside.”
“No way,” Justin said.
“Real cake,” Declan added and ran a hand down his stomach. “Good lord.”
We got out of the shuttle bus an hour later, and took a nice walk down to the beach, there were a few shops still open, and Malaki let out a squeak, running inside one. When she came out, she held up a little bag, running to catch us up. “Don’t often get to shop here either.”
“Never enough time,” I said.
“No.” She hooked her arm in mine and walked with me. “There really isn’t.”
***
We were almost at the beach in plenty of time for dinner. Niko had never shut up about getting us the day out of studies early so we could travel over on one of the earlier shuttle buses. I felt like a person today, not just an experiment.
However, I did single him out to ask about Lacy’s project, the spider.
“You know she’d love to get you back,” Niko said.
“But?”
“She’s a lot of data to go through and for now she has to sit on her hands. See how things are.”
You like the idea behind the spiders? Apex asked.
Of course. Don’t you?”
Depends on what the plan is with them. They could be a real help or a hindrance to our progress.
I liked the way he said our.
Niko prodded me as we arrived, pointing ahead. “You’ll miss it if you’re too busy talking to other people.”
I looked up and to where he pointed.
There at the end of the boardwalk…
A very familiar silhouette.
I looked at Malaki. “No,” I said.
“It took a lot of persuading to get them up here, but…”
Bail’s leather jacket, padded combat pants, and red spider T-shirt were just as easy to spot now as they were in Aug-World so many months ago. He had a young woman on his arm, in a short skirt and heels.
We approached, and I felt myself choking a little.
Bail dropped Daisy’s arm, and moved to me, slapping me in a huge bear hug. “Good gods, man,” he said. “You look amazing.”
“So do you,” I said.
“Err, same ole, same ole,” he said.
I looked at Daisy and stepped to her. She wrapped her arms around me and kissed the side of my cheek. “Happy birthday, Rusty.”
I admit I did glance around, hoping there were two other birthday surprises as Bail automatically started to woo Malaki.
Daisy did, however, take my hand in hers. “I’m sorry, your parents couldn’t.”
“It’s okay,” I said, wiping a tear from my eye. “I’m so glad you’re here, really.”
I was, it was amazing, and I knew today was special. I wasn’t sure the last one I had could be topped, but this blew it away.
We talked so much, we laughed till my stomach hurt, they all sang “Happy Birthday” for me. Which was embarrassing, but I’d also never had any of this before. Real friends. Sure, Bail and Daisy were great, and I felt like they were friends, but now I knew those with me were with me for life. Bail was too, but not in this capacity. We were just there for each other, grown up together; this experience wasn’t what we had, and some of it I could never explain to him. However, talking to Daisy and him about his life, their lives, seeing them hold hands, I was happy for him. We talked like the last year had never been, just like we would any other day. It was perfect. All of it.
More than a while later I pushed back in my chair, happily observing all of my friends, my family in their element, laughing and joking. The food had been divine, more than amazing. I was stuffed, full of real rich food, wine, and whiskey. The others had moved off for a walk, but I couldn’t. I patted my stomach and Malaki sat down with me.
“I’ll stay.” She shooed everyone else off.
My HUD pinged, and I went to answer it.
“I wasn’t sure we could talk to you…”
The video feed popped up in front of me. Both my mom and Tsomak. “We had to try,” he said.
Both their faces had changed, a lot. Weight loss, tired eyes, pale skin.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“We have a lot to talk about, but not yet,” Tsomak said.
“Happy birthday, son.”
“We’ve left a present for you in a secure locker transfer.”
“You shouldn’t have,” I replied, but he held up a hand.
“Collect it when you can, there’s no rush.”
On his hand, was a message.
Tungsten Bank Locker ID number, 717991A - You know the pass code.
It was the look on his face, and my mom’s. Something odd.
Apex?
I see it.
“I miss you,” Mom said.
I almost choked up, but I had to be strong for them.
“I miss you too, Mom, please take care.”
“We’re doing everything we can,” Tsomak said.
A loud knock at the door behind them made them both turn. “We have to go,” Mom said. “We love you.”
“We do love you,” Tsomak agreed with her.
My mom just managed to blow me a kiss before the feed cut out.
“Are you okay?” Malaki asked.
“Bit of a cryptic message,” I replied and told her what they’d said.
Malaki called the waiter over and ordered us some more drinks. “Nineteen,” Malaki whispered a while later, as we both just sipped the freshly made cocktails and watched the other in our party drifting up the beach.
“Have we really known each other for almost a year?”
I looked at her across the table from me. “Yeah, almost a year of putting up with your shenanigans.”
“Hey, that’s not fair.” I let out a chuckle and bumped her feet with mine.
“This was a good idea though, right?”
“Have you seen them?”
I glanced out at everyone on the beach front. “Yeah.”
Silao and Justin stood watching the ocean, the helos moving in and out across to OOF.
“I’m proud of them,” I said. “All of them.”
“Me too,” Malaki replied.
It was a glorious day, and evening. By the time we fell into the hotel to sleep, I was still warm and fuzzy, with many questions about the gift off my mother and Tsomak.
***
I still hadn’t the time to go get my gift from the secure locker. Though Apex assured me it would still be there, it was safe. I always needed more time, always needed more money. I never had enough of anything, really.
