Chapter 16: Rage Against the Machine

Calix woke, his mind calm. He felt – peaceful. He felt better than he had for a long time. His mind seemed quiet and organized. He felt - ready.

It had taken him quite some time yesterday to open and deal with the boxes in his head. Much longer than he expected. Too much time. Maybe Octavia was right. He’d never thought about it before. He’d never considered that maybe taking the time once a day to deal with all of the crap would be enough. He’d have to start trying it – maybe before he went to bed each night.

He looked over at the bed, his sheets rumpled. He had slept alone last night for the first time in a long time. He was surprised to find he missed the comfort of a body beside him. There was something primal – something visceral – about having a companion in bed. It made him – better.

As he turned it over in his mind, though, he realized he didn’t miss just having a body beside him. He missed having Sophia beside him. It was a bit of a scary revelation. In that moment, he realized he didn’t just love Sophia – he was in love with her.

It worried him a bit. He wasn’t used to needing someone – and wondered if he’d ever feel the same way about the rest of the women in his care. He grimaced when he realized he would miss quite a few of them if they weren’t near.

“AI, what time is it?” he whispered, heading off more of those thoughts.

“0432.”

0432. He’d slept for almost seven hours, far more than the two to four he usually received. It wasn’t all that unusual, however. He generally needed a bit more sleep than normal when he was purging his mind. Getting rid of the compartments felt good, but it came at a cost.

He sighed as he let his legs fall off the side of the bed and came to a sitting position. He was really going to have to get a watch. He had an internal need to know the time. He examined the thought and wasn’t sure where it came from. Maybe it was a leftover consideration from his need to be on time.

He sighed again as a thought flit through his mind. It was so ironic, given how he’d reacted a few days previously, he almost laughed. Still...

“Artemis, would it be possible to have the time constantly in my field of view? Say forty percent opacity in the lower left quadrant?”

“I would need to re-activate the implant.” Calix chuckled at the AIs petulant voice.

“Don’t lie to me, Artemis,” Calix laughed. “You’re not very good at it. I’m fairly certain the implant in my head is still working. Just, is it possible?”

“It is possible.”

Calix noticed the AI hadn’t bothered to correct him. Sometimes a lack of admission was an admission. If you fail to choose, you’ve still made a choice. “Can you show me, please?”

The time suddenly appeared in the lower left of Calix’s vision – but it was large and distracting. “Can you reduce the size by, say seventy-five percent and maybe up it to forty-five percent opacity? Also, drop it to just the bottom edge of my vision.” He watched as the numbers shrank and moved. “Perfect. Let’s leave it there, okay?”

“I can do it, but it is an inefficient use of ocular space,” the AI said through the implant. “I would recommend, instead, you associate a specific action with a temporal check. For example, I can adapt the implant to display the time only when you look at your left wrist.”

“Even when there’s no watch on the wrist?” Calix questioned carefully.

“Even when there is no watch on your wrist.”

Calix thought about it for a moment. “That sounds good. Let’s go with that.”

He watched as the time disappeared from his vision. He looked down at his wrist and noticed the time and date – year-month-date and hour minute second – were displayed on his wrist. They looked like they’d been tattooed there but the tattoo kept changing as the seconds passed. Above was the current day of the week. Useful ... but mildly disturbing. He’d just have to get used to it.

He dressed in his clothes from the previous day – his only clothes now, he thought. He’d have to do something about that – and then moved to exit the bedroom. During a break from his purging the night before, he’d asked Artemis about training facilities he could use.

It turned out there was a large, unused space that was basically empty. Originally, it had been put in as a gymnasium, but as Artemis had dryly explained, there was no need to train in such a barbaric way when nanites were capable of keeping even the most lumpish couch potato in peak physical condition.

Okay, maybe he was paraphrasing a bit. Calix requested the area be fitted to its original purpose – weights, machines and indoor track – and also have an optimized Parkour practice field put in place. Evidently, DECO had approved the change – Artemis said it would be ready by this morning.

The door slid aside as he approached – and he had to stop almost immediately. Sophia was lying on the floor in front of the door sleeping. Evidently, she’d taken his ‘request’ to make sure no one enter the room rather literally.

For a moment, Calix looked down at the older woman. Her actions only reinforced how he felt about her. There was no ambiguity and no reservations. He loved her. Wholly. This situation was one example why.

For the past two plus years, Calix had been the Cholos enforcer. Though he now knew it was a lie he’d told himself, he’d accepted them as family and done everything he could to make sure they were safe.

No one had ever thanked him. No one had had to – that was his job and he was happy and proud to do it. Yet here, now, when he needed it most, Sophia had taken it upon herself to protect him. He had absolutely no doubt in his mind she’d give her life to protect him. Just as there wasn’t a doubt in his mind he’d give his life to save her.

He stooped down and slid his arms under the older woman’s form, lifting her easily. Sophia was a relatively small woman and couldn’t have weighed more than 45-50kg. Her body was warm as he brought her to him. As her still form made contact with his chest, she came half-awake.

“Cal?” She whispered, her arms going up and encircling his neck. She snuggled into him as her arms pulled her even closer. Her eyes, however, barely fluttered open. “You ‘k?”

“Everything’s fine, Soph,” Calix whispered quietly. “Go back to sleep.”

He laid her carefully on the bed and then pulled the covers up to her chin. He watched as she tossed and turned a bit, trying to get comfortable.

“You coming to bed?” She yawned.

“Not right now,” he whispered. He took a pillow and tucked it into the woman’s arms. “Snuggle with this.”

“Not as much fun,” she smiled sleepily.

He watched her pull the pillow in, burying her face in it. She hummed a little, snuggling down deeper, her short, auburn hair partially covering her face. He reached down and brushed it back, behind her ear. Then turned and walked out.

Parkour is physical and mental. It requires a certain physical prowess to run through, jump over and basically overcome objects in your way. Mentally, it requires complete concentration to be constantly aware of your surroundings, analyzing your path to find the easiest and shortest acceptable avenue from point A to point B. It also forced you to keep the big picture in mind, strategize your movements to conserve energy, and use the least amount necessary to get to your ultimate destination. While there were usually a lot of situational point As and point Bs, there was only one starting point and only one destination.

Calix went through the course, and though his body shone with sweat, he made it seem effortless. Octavia had entered the newly minted gymnasium a short time into Calix’s course, alerted by Artemis when the young man had exited his pod. She’d sent Avery to talk to Calix’s women about the abilities of the med-tubes to affect change in the meantime.

The exercise equipment was laid out in a large room that overlooked the track and Parkour practice field a few meters below, so she could see almost everything. She was astounded. It seemed every movement Calix made was calculated; each leap and twist was executed with flawless precision. There wasn’t an iota of extra effort spent, not a millimeter of body placement wasted. He moved like a bending, flexible machine – and it was awe inspiring.

She’d watched him at GlobalTech, of course. She’d even watched the videos of the encounter afterwards – drones and Marine suits had captured video from nearly every angle. She’d been impressed with it – but now, watching him move in real time, live – she was completely in awe.

“How long has he been at this?” She sub-vocalized to the AI

“Thirty-two minutes, twenty-four point two seconds,” the AI replied helpfully.

“How are his vitals?”

“Stable and well within tolerances. Should I elaborate?”

“Not necessary,” she replied. “How much longer will he be?”

“He requested a twenty kilometer course but sufficient space wasn’t available. This course is five kilometers in the round so he will need to traverse it four times. He is currently moving at approximately three point two three minutes per kilometer, but I expect the time to increase as he tires. I anticipate it will require approximately another thirty-five to forty minutes for Ensign Gebel to complete this course.”

Octavia looked around. “He requested all of this?”

The Parkour course wasn’t stable. Its surfaces twisted and moved, holes vanished in one place to appear in another and walls grew and shrunk apparently at random.

“This area had been designated as a gymnasium on the base’s original plans. However, it had been used only three times for such a purpose. It has been used another forty-eight times as a clandestine meeting place, thirty-seven of those were of a procreative nature. I submitted a re-purposing proposal to designate this space as a conference area three months, one week, four days, seven hours, forty-seven minutes and 12 seconds ago, but with usual human inefficiency, when Ensign Gebel requested an exercise area, it had yet to be re-designated.”

Octavia’s eyebrows rose. “So, this has always been here?”

“The area, track and equipment were here,” the AI explained. “The Parkour course was added over-night.”

“Ooo,” Octavia gasped as she watched Calix grab a moving block with just his fingertips before arcing his body forward. “He almost missed that.”

“Actually, it is my opinion the movement was calculated,” the AI replied. Octavia never understood the emotional capabilities of the artificial intelligences, but she could swear it sounded like even the AI was impressed. “If he had not used the maneuver, he would have had to delay crossing the gap by approximately two point four seconds as he waited for another alignment of the moving platforms. Ensign Gebel has shown a willingness to take acceptable risks in order to overcome such delays.”

“You’re recording this, right?” The young woman asked. She knew it wasn’t necessary. The AI recorded all of their activity. Occasionally, when she wanted to clear her mind, she took to thinking about where and how the AIs stored all of the audio and video. She hadn’t come up with a solution.

“Of course.” The AI seemed hurt that she would even need to question that. “I’m considering archiving the footage and forwarding it to the Marine and Naval training academies as an example of efficient human movement through space. I will also forward this to some of the other Confederacy races. It will serve to reinforce their faith in our managing of your race to confront and overcome the Sa’arm. A modified and heavily redacted version of the GlobalTech Encounter was considered for the same purpose but was ultimately deemed too violent for this use. The amount of modification would destroy the poetry of motion present in Ensign Gebel’s movements. This display, however, can serve such purpose and contains no troublesome violence.”

Calix left the parkour course a little over thirty-eight minutes later. He felt good about his first Parkour run on the space station. Unlike the various obstacles he used in Detroit, the AI created course seemed to consist solely of items which moved on their own as well as changed over the course of the run. It made things more challenging. It made him measure the various movement sequences. It was a good test of his skills and he was satisfied he’d only made a few minor technical errors. He was ready to start on his workout when he noticed he wasn’t alone in the weight room.

“Octavia?” Calix asked, surprised. “What are you doing here?”

“Watching you, of course,” Octavia laughed. “I wanted to make sure you were – okay.”

“I’m fine,” Calix replied. He moved over to a weight-bench with a bench press arm attachment and sat down. “Some meditation, a little rest and all is right in my universe.”

He rotated his shoulders, working out a few kinks. “I think I’m going to take your advice, though. I’d never thought about dealing with stuff every day – I guess I just got so caught up in my routine I didn’t even consider I could improve it.”

“Besides,” the young man continued as he stood up and started adding weight to the bar. “I think part of my current problem was my previous life was so clearly over. I mean, entering the room up top was a pretty clear demarcation. It meant just about everything I’d been before was gone. I’d need to come up with new practices, new routines – a whole new life. On top of everything else, I just got a bit overwhelmed.”

He lifted the bar to test it and then added another plate to each side. “I shouldn’t have let things go on as long as I did. I won’t make that mistake again. As for now, I’m forging a new routine. I normally did Parkour in the evenings. Now – well, at least while we’re on the base – I’m doing it first thing in the morning. I’m shaking things up.”

He grimaced a moment. “Well, depending on how much time I have, I may run the course in the evenings as well.”

He lay back down and lifted the bar, testing it. “I just wish I had something to sink my teeth into beyond setting up my household – which, honestly, is going to involve my companions more than me. I figure things will shake out to a new normal in a few days, then it’s just modifying the normal as we move along.”

Octavia nodded, her brows knit together. She watched as Calix started lowering and lifting the bar. “You know, I think this is the most I’ve heard you say at one time since I’ve known you.”

Calix paused, the bar held just above his chest. His eyes looked distant for a moment. “I think it’s because I trust you. I talk to Sophia all the time. Brianna, too. Maybe not this much but I’m just finishing getting stuff out of my system.”

He shrugged, causing the bar held above him to bounce slightly. “I don’t think you have to worry much about me becoming a chatterbox. I don’t do that.”

Octavia watched him as he quickly raised and lowered the bar. The one hundred sixty-five kilograms of weight on the bar was impressive. It wasn’t ‘Marine’ impressive but impressive for an unmodified human. She watched him pensively for a few minutes as she considered what to do.

Mathers was in-system. It was both a relief and a problem. It was a relief because communications with the outposts were near real-time. Just however long it took for a mail ship to jump there and back.

Of course, it was only a daily trip. The Confederacy had thought weekly or even monthly was sufficient but DECO had insisted on daily – they’d wanted hourly shuttles but the idea was rejected almost immediately.

It was problematic because Octavia could see Calix attempting to commandeer one of those ships once he found out. That just wouldn’t end well. Certainly not for Mathers – he’d be dead – but probably not for Calix – he’d be court martialed first and then he’d be dead.

She couldn’t blame the young man. She had no real vested interest, and she was half-inclined to jump on one of the mail transports.

Trying to let cooler heads prevail, she’d brought the problem to the attention of one of the three local Civil Service officers late yesterday. Decurion Suarez was unavailable, so she’d discussed the situation with Sub-Decurion Almatters. The AI filled the CS officer in on the specifics of the problem.

“Five suicide attempts in an 18-month period?” The woman questioned, her eyebrows raised. The woman was rather tall with a long, willowy grace. She didn’t walk so much as glided. She didn’t move so much as swayed.

Octavia felt familiar stirrings in familiar places. The woman was beautiful and beyond beautiful. Her dark black skin somehow managed to glow in the harsh light while her dark, curly hair glistened. Her face was long and lean, nestled within her near-black hair, but her blue, almond eyes seemed to sparkle in counterpoint. “That is fairly excessive. Why was this not brought to the colony administration?”

“The problem might be slightly larger than we initially considered.”

“How so?” Almatters asked, one eyebrow raised.

“The Earth-at AI is denoting a pattern concerning Corporal Dwight Ulysses Mathers. He has two concubines – Lucia Philipa Mathers and Constance Yvonne Mathers. Both of his concubines had dependents who he adopted. Lucia Philipa Mathers brought Mia Louisa Mathers and Mira Alonna Mathers while Constance Yvonne Mathers brought Kendra Lisa Mathers and Rae Anne Mathers. Mia Louisa...”

“AI, please use first names only except where they might cause confusion,” Almatters requested in exasperation.

The AI seemed to pause for a moment. “I was attempting to avoid confusion by using the full names of those individuals. The human race is using a wildly inefficient and disastrous naming scheme. It is impossible to designate a one-to-one relationship between any given name and any given person. Further...”

“Please, just use the first name in this instance,” Almatters interrupted with a sigh.

“As you wish,” the AI stated. Octavia could swear the artificial intelligence sounded put out on having to use only the first names. “Mia and Mira have attempted to commit suicide on five separate and distinct occasions since their extraction. However, Kendra and Rae have made multiple attempts to stow-away on various outgoing vessels including two mail transports. This is considered reflective of a pattern with Dwight’s non-paternal dependents. It is becoming apparent none of them wish to remain with Dwight or their mothers.”

“Why wasn’t this analysis given to the Oort commander for follow up?”

“Records indicate the Earth-at AI has brought the issue to the attention of the Oort commanding officer no less than five separate times.”

“What remediation steps have been taken.”

“None.”

“Excuse me?” Almatters asked again, her voice growing slightly harder.

“No remediation steps have been taken,” the AI replied succinctly.

“Has this even been investigated?”