Sanctuary Falling (10 page)

Angela looked at the time counter on her pop-pad, in exactly three seconds the meeting would cease being a morning meeting and have stretched into something more gross in dimension. She could then almost call it a seminar, or based on the topics covered, a disaster reaction conference. Struggling against severe boredom, Angela tried to focus on the topics of discussion. That failing she focused on Gene, who was still waiting for his turn to talk. He barely, if at all, seemed to notice that he was in the meeting. Angela stared at Gene for a while, until suddenly a phrase broke through her apathy.

“All that comes to mind is descriptions I’ve heard of a crunch bomb.” For a minute Angela didn’t even know who said it. Then her mind traced the voice to a shy woman who had only recently been elevated to the level of prime factor.

Crunch bomb, that was what they called the massive implosion device the darkones had used to destroy the dimension in which Sanctuary had originally existed. Once exploded, in the star around which Sanctuary orbited, a catastrophic chain reaction had occurred and the entire dimension imploded. Instant warning bells began ringing in Angela’s mind on hearing
 
that the dark may have pulled out that weapon again.
 
“Where and when was this?”

“EA01747, an alternate where the Gene Wars never happened. I was stationed there, but I ran when the sun went dark,” the woman replied.

“What makes you think crunch bomb?” Angela asked, almost literally on the edge of her seat.

“I left behind sensors, the closest match to their readings was the record of the big crunch,” The woman pulled out a pop-pad and tapped it a few times. Then a graph appeared on the screen of Angela’s pad.

Angela glanced at it, the two lines shown deviated very little from each other. Dispassionately, she tapped off the display. Angela leaned back in her chair and shoved her own fear into the back of her mind. “Thank you for your report,” Angela paused infinitesimally to rake her brain for the proper name, “Allison.
 
I want everyone to take note and put in some time looking over all we know about crunch bombs just in case this isn’t an isolated incident. Allison I need you to go over all your notes and data, and get copies to me and Bill in pattern recognition.” A brief silence hung in the room while everyone else typed or scrawled brief notes into their pop-pads. Angela glanced around the table, “Any other field reports?”

No one suggested there were any, so Angela focused her attention on Gene. “Gene, what do you have for us?”

Gene seemed suddenly excited and animated, “Yllera, came in from the field yesterday morning, and promptly began a metamorphosis.
 
Since then, a lot’s been happening. It has surprised even Tina, with its ferocity. It seems that Yllera’s body is completely restructuring itself.
 
Yllera’s musculature and skeletal systems have altered to begin following the standard pre-plague Agurian mode, there’s no telling how long it will be before she starts shape shifting. Already her genetic mimicry abilities have advanced beyond pre-plague abilities. Yllera
 
so completely mimicked Tina’s DNA that even with the clinic scanners Tina had trouble recognizing and finding Yllera’s Agurian DNA core. I personally have never seen anything like it.”

Angela felt an uncomfortable knot in her stomach, “What about the crisis you mentioned?”

Gene shrugged an answer, “Tina still seems sure something’s coming, but I can’t see where she’s getting that certainty from. I personally don’t see anything in the scans. The trouble is that I don’t want to discount Tina’s thoughts on the subject, you know with her gut she’s usually right.”

Angela nodded thoughtfully, “Can Tina see any way around the crisis?” Gene fumbled through his pop-pads and shook his head. Angela, scratched her brain trying to remember if Yllera had already been discussed this meeting, no, not so far.
 
She searched out Yllera’s field supervisor with her eyes. “Erica did she manage to make her report before this happened?”

“Well, not exactly. There was a bit of a scuffle during her extraction, some future science geeks lives were saved. There was a catalyst involved and . . .
 
I don’t know too much about it I walked in on them patting themselves on the back,” Erica answered.

“Are you still standing behind a promotion for her?” Angela remembered Erica hadn’t said much since the last meeting Gene had attended. There had been a brief and unsatisfactory written report since, something about mishandling information about a dark plot. Angela tapped at her pad to bring up the report and skimmed it again.

Erica squirmed, clearly uncomfortable, “I guess I’m still for it, but I thought that Yllera’s last field report had precluded the possibility.”

Angela finished rereading the report. Even Yllera acknowledged the fact that she had made a foolish and amateurish mistake, running blindly into the enemy’s lair to rescue others. It was a mistake like many, truth be told, Angela had made in her younger days. As Chief factor, Angela knew encouraging such recklessness would get someone killed, but she also knew that such an intense desire to help people had to be rewarded. Angela’s thoughts swung back the other way; she couldn’t just arbitrarily promote people. After all, the others might think she wasn’t fit to do her job. Angela paused. If that idea weren’t reason enough to promote the girl, Angela didn’t know what was.
 
Then again, how would Yllera feel if she ever found out she got promoted because Angela wanted to get fired? “Grrrrrr,” Angela growled out loud, without quite meaning too, “What did the catalyst have to say on the subject, was Yllera a help, or a hindrance?”

“I believe he found her helpful.
 
According to him, Yllera noticed the situation and called for backup, and he arrived first,” Erica answered.

“So on her first solo mission she made amicable contact with a local catalyst, no disasters happened and at least one was diverted,” Angela smiled, “I’ll think about it. Being Agurian, perhaps she could manage to make herself welcome in the areas on Jelaria where we haven’t been welcomed before. We’ve known for some time that the Jelarian Agurians would make strong allies.” Minds and clothes rustled briefly, as some in the room briefly questioned the wisdom of giving someone so green such a critical position, Truth could be truth, but the girl could always think the reason for her promotion was something else. Angela shelved her smile and glanced around the room, “Any more business?” A resounding silence answered her. “Then I call this meeting officially cl. . .”

“How’s that thing with the factor applicants going?” Gene interrupted.

“I’ve seen some definitely promising traits in one applicant, but so far the other seems unsuitable.”
 
Angela glanced at Sinclair, who had already risen to leave. He paused and smirked, looking down on Niri as though the unsatisfactory one were her applicant. Angela couldn’t resist needling him, “HE doesn’t seem to possess the right talents for it.” Sinclair sputtered and left the room stiffly.

Niri, who was still seated tapping away at her pop-pad, paused and glanced up. She had a “did I miss something?” look on her face.
 

Angela smiled at the other woman. “Okay, meeting over! Let’s go to work.”
 
Angela rose, tucked her pop-pad in her pocket and headed for her private exit, which lead directly to her office. Behind her people started to leave, most funneled out of the room through the door but some simply teleported away. Angela was on the office side of her threshold when she heard a voice calling her name.

“Angela, whoa! I wanted to talk to you,” Briefly, Angela’s boredom numbed mind couldn’t recognize the voice. Finally it came to her. The voice belonged to Ben, her husband’s best friend and her cousin’s husband. She paused holding the door open by virtue of her position.
 
He sprinted and followed her into her office.

“What’s up?” Angela asked trying not to sound as tired as she felt.

“I suppose it is a bit much for you to remember what day today is,” Ben answered as the office door closed behind them.

Ben’s words didn’t hold the slightest bit of sarcasm, though they could have. Angela scoured her mind, but found nothing. “What day is it?”

“The eighth anniversary of my arrival in Sanctuary. Remember, the day I fainted and cracked my head open on a rock in the green space behind your apartment?” Ben answered with a twinkle in his eyes. Clearly he was up to something.

“Okay, so?”

“So, on our last mission, Miranda and I picked up a souvenir that I thought would make a perfect anniversary gift.” He whipped a small blue tissue-wrapped bundle from behind his back, “Here’s to finding a wacky plan.”

Angela accepted it hesitantly. Unwrapping the tissue, Angela found a second layer of suede wrapping tied with a hemp twine. What had their last assignment been anyway? She slipped off the twine and unwrapped the suede.
 
At its center was a small tin star, a badge reading sheriff. Angela’s confusion slipped out in a soft huffing sound as her left eyebrow rose.

“Okay, so you don’t remember telling me about feeling like a poor sap an old west town made the sheriff after the real law gave up?” Ben began.

“No, I remember I just don’t get why you,” Angela gestured with the badge to finish her sentence.

Ben smiled, “It just occurred to me that in all of the old westerns the poor saps always got a badge, before their wacky plans worked. You’ve been operating without a badge, so how were you supposed to find a wacky plan?”

Angela smiled and grasped the badge firmly. It was one of the most thoughtful gifts she’d ever received, “Thanks, who knows, maybe it is what’s been missing.”

- - - - - - - - - -

Annette awoke to the bed vibrating beneath her. She started to key off her alarm, but remembered belatedly where she was. She was in Corrine Dayton’s old room and this was the beginning of the second day of the rest of her life. Annette rolled out of bed and pulled herself into an upright position, despite legs and arms that complained of overuse. In an attempt to rectify the situation she went through a set of rigorous stretches in a hot soapy shower. After her shower she slipped into a comfortable, exercise suit.

“So, how did it go?” Tawny’s voice asked as Annette gathered the last of her thoughts before heading out to meet Niri.

“I don’t think it went well. I didn’t finish Angela’s obstacle course,” Annette answered dimly.

“Hmm, obstacle course ala Angela? She’s doing the tests? Tell me more.” Tawny mumbled.

“Well, there’s me and three others, a set of twins and a boy that Sinclair is sponsoring. Anyway I took the test with the girl twin, and she had a lot of trouble with it. She fell off
 
the balance beam and had a wicked fear of heights and ended up twisting her ankle. I helped her out, and then didn’t manage to finish because of it,” Annette answered taking one of her headache pills. She paused before swallowing, had anyone said the siblings were twins? She thought hard. No, it wasn’t mentioned, but she knew they were. It was a truth she just knew, and she knew it wasn’t just because they seemed so close in age.

“Really, Sinclair had a kid being tested? I bet the kid’s a big jerk, just like Chavez,” Tawny mumbled.

“He’s a bully.”

“So if the other twin had problems in the test, this boy probably wouldn’t have been much help, right?”

“I’d be surprised if Tony didn’t trip him, seeing as he got a few feet further than anyone.” Annette answered, thinking about it for the first time.
 

A smaller version of yesterday’s breakfast appeared on the desk, “Breakfast’s on me, and I wouldn’t worry about Tony. I think you did better on the test than you think, but that’s just me. Who listens to a forty-year-old computer program?”

Annette sat, prayed and ate quickly, thinking about the test and Tawny’s reaction to it.
 
Chavez was clearly sponsoring Tony, and Annette knew Niri was her sponsor. Was Niri Becky and Rupert’s sponsor as well, and if she wasn’t who was? Annette sensed something to that idea, but let it go in the interest of finishing breakfast. Niri might already be waiting impatiently for her. Annette finished, “Thank you, Tawny for another excellent, if too large breakfast. Is Niri waiting outside?”