Chapter 15: Hazing

“Lieutenant Capstan, Ensign Gebel has met with Decurion Omachuck. He is one of the psychologists stationed on Artemis.”

Octavia stopped for a moment and took in a deep breath. She was almost afraid of what condition Calix was in. She knew he wasn’t physically hurt but psychological trauma could be even more damaging. “What’s his condition?”

“Oddly, his vital signs are steady at their normal levels,” the AI replied. “Pulse is fifty-two, blood pressure is one twenty over seventy, blood oxygen is at ninety-nine percent. There’s a slight decrease in electrolytes and a slightly elevated white count but those are within the norms for his physiology. Shall I continue?”

“No,” Octavia said immediately. The AI could list vital statistics about Calix ad nauseam but she knew there was nothing physically wrong with him. “How is he acting?”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand the question,” the AI replied.

Octavia sighed loudly. Stupid AIs. “What’s his demeanor? How is he relating to other people?”

“His demeanor seems dour and taciturn. He’s threatened to perform an anatomically impossible act on the psychological representative.”

Octavia laughed in spite of herself. “So, normal then.”

“His normal, I believe,” the AI replied. Octavia could swear the AI sounded amused.

“Where is he now?”

“Ensign Gebel is on his way back to his quarters,” the AI responded promptly. “He should enter in forty-three seconds. Orders?”

Octavia thought for a moment. She was probably ten minutes or so from her place herself – and she needed to stop in and talk to Avery. Plus send a message to Melissa to have her start packing the household. Plus ... so many things to do, so little time.

Prioritize. Delegate. She’d stop in and talk to Avery and let her handle the rest. “Let him go. Send my apologies to Decurion Omachuck and tell him to stand down but remain ready. I’ll meet Gebel in his quarters and assess the situation.”

Octavia stopped just outside of Calix’s dwelling. By Confederacy convention, if not exactly law, a Citizen was allowed a certain amount of privacy. Under normal circumstances, the door would only open for the base commander, Civil Service orders or with the owner’s permission. However, these were not exactly normal circumstances and she’d been granted special dispensation over Calix. Pursing her lips, she hesitated – weighing asking for admission versus just entering.

In the end, she entered his quarters unannounced, expecting to hear – something. Shouting. Yelling. Screaming. Crying. Something. What she received was surprising. The place was quiet. Tamara and Whiskey were on a couch watching something on the faux-television. Alicia was sitting at the kitchen table apparently looking over something on a pad.

The only thing out of place was Sophia. She was sitting on the floor cross-legged in front of the door to the master bedroom.

“Hi, Lieutenant Capstan,” Sophia smiled, standing to greet the woman. It wasn’t lost on Octavia the woman remained in position to block the doorway.

“Hi yourself,” Octavia nodded. “And call me Octavia, please. I’m assuming Cal is in the bedroom.”

“Yes,” Sophia replied, her smile fading. She chewed on her cheek for a moment. “You can’t go in there. He’s asked to be alone.”

Octavia thought about that. “As his friend, I understand,” she said calmly but purposefully. “As a senior officer, however, I have to ask you to step aside.”

Sophia looked conflicted for a moment, her eyes never leaving Octavia’s. Then, with a barely susceptible nod of her head, she took a few steps to her left, leaving the door exposed.

Octavia took a step forward and put her hand on Sophia’s shoulder. “We’re going to make him better Sophia.”

“Better? What do you mean?” Sophia asked in surprise.

“From the breakdown he had two days ago.” It was Octavia’s turn to be surprised. Her eyes narrowed shrewdly. Surely someone had informed Sophia about what had happened. Yet, unless she was an incredible actor, it didn’t appear that Sophia knew anything at all about Calix’s breakdown. “Has no one told you about it?”

“Oh. That.” Sophia’s voice was strangely relieved. She was worried Calix was in trouble for some reason. If all that was worrying the woman was Calix’s little problem on the previous day, there was nothing really to worry about. “He didn’t have a breakdown.”

“Soph, I came out of my pod to find him in a ball on my doorstep,” Octavia explained gently. She was looking at the woman, trying to determine if this was an act or if Sophia was actually in denial. “He looked pretty broken down to me.”

Sophia’s eyes widened for a moment but then settled back down. She smiled, as if she knew something Octavia didn’t. It further startled the Lieutenant. “That does sound bad – but I don’t think it’s what you think it is. This isn’t the first time he’s – well, I used to call it shutting down but...”

Octavia was shocked. This had happened before? Was Calix that messed up? Why hadn’t the AI picked this up?

Sophia laughed in spite of herself. “You look like someone shot your favorite dog. It isn’t like that. Every now and then, Cal needs some time – maybe an hour or a day or so – to himself. When he doesn’t get it, he becomes really short with people. In case you hadn’t noticed, he can be a real pain in the ass. Rico could tell when it was happening and he’d send Cal away for a day – ‘to meditate’ Rico once said. Whenever Cal came back, he was fine.” Sophia looked pensive. “He hasn’t been short this time but – I knew there was something off. I should have said something. He’s been really going hard for the past few months and hasn’t taken time...”

Octavia nodded shortly. Was Calix unreliable? Was it possible his CAP score was incorrect?

“AI, should we re-test Calix?” She sub-vocalized the question. No reason to get Sophia or the others panicking.

“For what purpose, Lieutenant?”

“Well, his – his breakdown,” Octavia replied. She smiled a patronizing little smile at Sophia to cover her conversation.

“In discussions with the Earth-at AI and analysis of his current scores, I believe they are currently accurate,” the AI said after a rather long pause. “This defect is why he has not been scored higher.”

“Higher? He has a freaking eight point eight already, how much higher could he go?”

“Considerably higher, actually. Calix Flynn Gebel’s mind is – unusual, for a human,” the AI’s reply was unusually slow. In a human, Octavia would say it was picking its words carefully – but she knew the AI was not human. “It conveys a basic organizational structure which we have found unique amongst you. However, during testing we noted a flaw in the situational processing algorithm his mind uses for managing temporally antithetical constructs. It led to reduction of scores in several non-adjacent areas and so has already been factored into the over-all score. Further, it is our considered belief this limitation can be overcome in time through normal processing modifications. We were curious and concerned on how he handled the flaw – however, by listening to your conversation with the Sophia Gebel concubine we now understand better – but we have still ascribed a ninety-seven point four six percent chance he will overcome this limitation over time.”

Octavia wasn’t certain she understood everything the AI said, but the gist was all that was important at the moment. Calix’s – problem, whatever it was, was already factored into his score. As she prepared to move forward, she realized how incredible the fact truly was. He already had an eight point eight – one of the highest scores she’d seen, and in time, he could have an even higher score.

Of course, now it didn’t really matter. Post extraction, CAP scores weren’t used much except in disciplinary matters and the occasional allocation of additional concubines.

She braced herself and stepped towards the door and it opened in front of her. She thought she was prepared for anything. She was prepared for Calix to be recalcitrant or down-right uncooperative. Maybe to find him angry or sulking or even completely out of his mind. She was not prepared for what she found, however.

Calix was seated at the table, two pads in front of him. He was looking between the two, his fingers tapping on their surfaces. He looked ... normal.

Octavia was so taken aback she almost couldn’t make it into the room. Only some subconscious instinct moved her forward, the door sliding shut behind her. As she took her first step into the room, Calix’s head rose for a moment before settling back on the pads in front of him.

“Hi, Octavia,” he called distractedly. “Sorry about worrying you yesterday. I was...” His voice paused as he turned to look at her. Octavia’s eyebrows rose in surprise. He looked different – but it was a good different. He looked stronger and more focused.

He chuckled mirthlessly. “I was a little out of it, I have to admit.”

“What happened?”

“Easy question to ask,” he said softly. “Not so easy to answer.”

In one fluid motion, he got up. There was no awkwardness, no creaking and shuffling. One moment he was sitting and the next he was standing. He rotated his neck and shook out his arms. Then, he raised his arms and stretched, arms flexing.

The incongruity of it startled Octavia. She remembered opening her door and coming upon him looking like a shell of himself. He had looked vulnerable, something she’d never seen with respect to Calix before.