Absolute Power (Book 1): Origins (18 page)

“First,” Jess held up a finger, “I’ll let the elder crack slip.  Second.  Are you sure you're fourteen?”  She pretended to look through the file folder she was holding.  All the while Eve maintained the bow, so Jess had to bend down to look her in the face.  “Around these parts I'm lucky if I can get someone your age to do anything I want, let alone respectfully.  But I don’t take it personally, just teenagers being teenagers.  They don't hate me; they just want to do what they want to do.”  Jess headed to the bed where she plopped down.  “Arlene's group, now, they hate her.  Arlene is a gal like me... well, not like me, but we have the same job.  Anyway, the other day her kids all flushed the toilets at the same time, while she was in the shower.  I could hear her scream from my room.”  Jess laughed.

Eve looked up and asked, “This is allowed?”

“Well, no, but no one got hurt.  And what are you going to do, punish the entire section?”  Jess asked rhetorically.

“Yes,” Eve answered flatly.

“But if you punish someone for every little thing the punishments won’t mean much,” Jess explained.

“I understand, ma'am,” Eve conceded.

“Jess,” Jess growled making Eve's eyebrow furrow.  “Say it.  Jeessss.”

“Jess,” Eve repeated.

“Great, now take a seat,” she patted the spot next to her on the bed.  “So you got your room and you remember your room number?”

Eve nodded.

“Here's your key card,” Jess handed Eve the plastic card.  “Robert, the bonehead, forgot to give it to you.  Then when he realized, he was too embarrassed to come back up.  Just like a man.  Are men like that where you're from?”  She didn't wait for an answer as she pulled a packet of papers from her folder.  “This is a list of stuff you can and can’t do.  But rule of thumb, if you gotta sneak around to do it you probably shouldn’t be doing it.

“Okay, rules.  Check.  You're rooming with Danni.  She can be a handful at times.  If she's mean to you, ignore it.  She doesn't really want you dead.  Word of warning, she can play around with shadows, turn them into things, make them solid.  Her last roommate left crying, but I read up on you and shadows.  They shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

“No,” Eve replied.

“Say, nope,” Jess told her.

“Nope,” Eve repeated.

“Shadows shouldn't be a problem, right?” Jess asked again.

“Nope,” Eve answered this time.

“Robert said he invited you and Shruti to dinner tonight, to which I will be attending, so we'll all go together.  But...”  Jess leapt off the bed and shoved open the closet door.  “You haven't a thing to wear.  If you were an average teenage girl, this would be a ‘freak out’ moment right now.  However, we have some options.  You can 'A,' go in what you've been wearing for the last couple of days.”  She shook her head and made her eyes frighteningly big.  “'B,' borrow some of Danni's things.”  This time she pointed to a pile of clothes on the floor and squeaked, “Eeep.  Then there is 'C,' make a new friend who has clean clothes in your size.  Lucky for you I know just the girl and she should be here soon.  Which reminds me, I better call Shruti.”  Without a pause, she grabbed the phone and dialed.  “Hello, this is Miss Lang calling for Miss Pandey,” she said into the phone.  “Your presence has been requested in room three twenty-two.  Dress for dinner and dancing.  See you in a bit.”  She hung up and said to herself, “Friends, check.  Clothes, check.  What am I missing?  Make-up, jeez, where's my head?  There's a requisition to get you personal supplies, but that won't be here for ages.  Let me run to my room and grab some shampoo, hairspray, lipstick...”

Jess wandered out of the room still listing off the things she needed.  Eve closed the door behind her and took a moment to soak in the experience.  It wasn't until a minute later that she noticed the music was still blasting from the computer.

Jess had come back with a girl named Heather.  She had bright red hair that poofed out in every direction.  Eve assumed she would get along with her like she had with everyone else so far.  After five minutes of listening to the girl talk, Eve found her annoyingly self-depreciating.

“I don’t know; I'm no good at this,” Heather mumbled.

Eve was standing in the middle of the room wearing a black dress with fringe on the edges.

“Black is slimming,” Shruti suggested.  She was sitting on the bed dressed in a vibrant orange tunic.  Her hair was braided in a complicated twist that ended at the small of her back.

Jess tugged and flattened the fabric of the dress then stepped back to see if it helped.  “She's already thin as a twig,” Jess commented.

“Well, the green one was too bright,” Shruti said.

“Made her look like a landing beacon,” Jess joked.

“That was my favorite dress,” Heather murmured.

Shruti covered her mouth to smother a fit of laughter.

“I want to look slim?”  Eve asked.

“You want to look good,” Shruti answered.

“The boys won't like you if you’re a slob,” Jess said and made an ugly face.

“Slob,” Eve repeated.

The girls were laughing at this when the door opened, and Danni entered.  Her combat boots thudded against the ground as she stormed over to her bed.  She was wearing all black with a variety of shiny metal hooks and chains coming from everywhere.  When she spotted the three of them, she stopped dead in her tracks.

“This is your new roommate, Eve,” Jess introduced her.

Danni didn't respond and instead sat at her computer.

“How was class?” Jess asked.

“Fine,” Danni answered as her fingers clattered on the keyboard of her computer.

“Fine?”  Jess questioned.

“It was just Saga,” Danni grumbled.

“I love Saga,” Shruti exclaimed, “His explanation of practical applications...”  Danni turned and gave her a hard look, so she stopped talking.

“Eve, Shruti and I are getting ready for a dinner date,” Jess interjected.  To Eve she said, “I think the black one works for now.  We'll get you something later; it's not like Robert gave you much time to prepare.”

Danni stopped whatever she was doing at the computer.  “You're going to dinner with Lieutenant Day?  Man, he has a great ass.”

“Great ass,” Eve copied.

Jess nearly choked.  “Let's not repeat that.”

“It's not very appropriate,” Heather added.

“Who asked you, carrot top?”  Danni snapped.

“Girls,” Jess cut in before it escalated.  “You should never compliment a man.  They'll get cocky, and then you'll never hear the end of it.”

“Wait, she doesn't have her own clothes?”  Danni asked.  Her chair was turned to face them, and she was completely absorbed in the group.

“She's from another world,” Jess answered.  “One where they aren't hung up on fashion and make-up.”

“You're making me sleep with an alien in my room?”  Danni said annoyed.

“She's not an alien,” Jess corrected her.  “Now give me some of your lipstick.  Mine is the wrong shade.”

“Whatever,” Danni said and tossed a plastic tube across the room.  “As long as she doesn't lay eggs in my stomach or something.”

“I have the ability to access trans-dimensional portals involving a singularity universe... wrmme...”  Jess put a hand over Eve's mouth to stop her.  The other girls were staring at her.

“That's a mouthful,” Jess tried to recover for Eve.  “Next time someone asks what you can do, try telling them you can walk from shadow to shadow.”

“Why?” Eve asked.

“It sounds cool,” Jess replied.

“Cool,” Eve repeated.

“Cool,” Shruti mimicked and giggled.

“How does a black dress reduce body mass?”  Eve asked suddenly.

On the first floor of the Residence was a banquet hall, complete with a dance floor and stage.  Robert had requisitioned the room for the night and made arrangements with the kitchen to have dinner served.  He watched intently as the staff set plates and silverware on the table.  The guests for the night would mainly be the people in his platoon.  The only people Eve wouldn’t know were Angie and Henry, but he suspected they would get along.

Angie had arrived early as always.  She wore her PR uniform, the one they were required to wear when meeting with civilians.  It was made of a thick grey cotton with a red stripe running up the outside of each leg.  Polished and neatly arranged on her left breast was her name tag and medals.

“I told you to dress nice,” Robert said to Angie.

She looked down at herself, inspecting the fabric for stains or wrinkles.  “This is my nicest uniform,” she replied.

Robert shook his head in frustration but wasn't willing to make it an argument.  He went to the kitchen, at the same time Jess came in with Shruti and Eve following behind her.  All three of them had gone to a lot of trouble to look elegant for the evening.

They stopped in front of Angie, and Jess said daintily, “Anne Marie.”

“Jessica,” Angie nodded.

“Eve, may I introduce Sergeant Anne Marie Godfrey,” Jess said to the girls.

Eve bowed and said, “Greetings, Sergeant Godfrey.”

“Greetings,” Angie stood and bowed.

“So ladies, are you ready to be charming and eloquent?”  Jess asked.

Both Eve and Angie raised their eyebrows at her.

“Well, why don’t you two take a seat,” Jess said to them, “Shruti and I will find Robert.”

Jess marched off on a mission with Shruti struggling to keep up.  Angie sat back down, and Eve took the seat across from her.  They looked at each other for a while wondering if they should converse.  Eventually, Angie turned her attention to her place setting, deciding it was off center and needed to be rearranged.  Eve looked up at the chandelier, watching the way the light bounced in every direction.  Both felt comfortable in the silence and hadn't said a word by the time Alison arrived.  The dress she wore was delicately beaded with red and silver crystals.  It was a knockout of a dress, and she wore it well.  She sauntered into the room hoping that Robert would be there to see her enter.  When she saw only Eve and Angie, she dropped the act.  Alison waited for one of them to explain where everyone was, but they didn’t catch the hint.

“Are you guys enjoying yourselves?” She asked sarcastically.

“Yes,” they answered at the same time.

“Am I early?” Alison asked.

Robert came storming out of the kitchen followed by Jess and Shruti.  “I didn't think it mattered,” he said to Jess.

“I'm sure you didn't,” she replied.  “And that's why you shouldn't be in charge of dinner.”

“
You
said I should set up a dinner,” Robert said indignantly.

“We'll I'm usurping your authority.  Take a seat, and I'll handle the rest,” Jess pushed Robert toward the table then went back into the kitchen.

Robert looked a little confused as to how he had lost the argument.  He gave up trying to figure out what went wrong and sat.

“What was that about?” Alison asked.

“Appetizers,” Robert said still grumpy.  “What are you three talking about?”

The rest of the night went more smoothly.  Conversation was friendly despite Henry and Angie's bickering.  They talked about everything from work at the Complex to their vacation in Cuba.  There were a few questions for Eve, but not so many that she felt uncomfortable.  Henry was in the middle of a project at R&D and spent most of the time messaging the department.  Finally, he gave up trying to explain his instructions and stood to leave.

“I'm gonna have to take a steak for the road,” he said then turned to Eve, “Don't forget to stop by my office.  It gets lonely in the basement; all chained up and beaten.”

“You have an awful lot of freedom for a slave,” Robert said trying to make sure Eve didn’t get the wrong impression.

“Freedom is useless without the cash to experience it,” Henry cried.

“What would you buy, a brain?” Angie grunted.

“Wow, was that a joke?”  Henry asked rhetorically.  “Well, it's been fun, but duty calls.”

Dessert was a tart covered with cream and berries.  It was the first time Eve had dessert, and the others found it entertaining to watch her.  They finished and stood to say their goodbyes.

For some reason, Robert started to think about Alex and wondered what dinner would have been like if he were still alive.

“Lieutenant Day, thank you for inviting us to dinner,” Shruti interrupted his dark thoughts.

Robert assumed that she had heard him thinking.  He found it difficult to scold her for doing so without permission.  It always tended to be instances like this where she would casually intervene before something became worse than it had to.  “I'm glad you could come on such short notice,” Robert said.

She smiled at him shrewdly, and he did his best to give her a disapproving look.

“Good night, baby,” Alison interrupted, giving Shruti a big hug.  “I missed you, but I’ll be here for a while so we can visit.”