Watching Yute (32 page)

“
Everyone?! What’s going on?
What do I do?”

“
I don’t fucking know! I
left my crystal ball in my other-“ Brock sighed. “I’m sorry, sorry.
As I said, I’m not exactly enjoying this. As far as I can tell,
it’s like we’re all in withdrawal.”

“
From what?!”

“
Long story, if I’m right.
Look, just get back here and help me babysit these
people!”

Cipriana looked over to Cassidy, who
was still holding the ground and staring at it. Yeah, she wasn’t in
any shape to meet with Armil. He’d understand. Well, as much as
anyone else seems to understand. Cipriana pulled Cassidy up, and
dragged her back to the base.

By the time they got back, Cassidy was
noticeably better. She hadn’t dropped to the ground to grab it in a
while, though she seemed grateful to get her hands on a wall to
hang onto. All the regular crew seemed to be in a similar
condition. A few of Armil’s G.E.G. Storms were hanging around, and
they looked mostly alright.

A dazed looking Doc Brock wandered out
from the mess area, as if he’d just survived an air raid. “Captain
Reichenbach. I think we’re through the worst of it. It’s not
exactly my speciality, but I’ve never heard of a withdrawal like
that. It came on so fast, and is letting up already.”

“
Cassidy was pretty bad. It
was a little frightening for a bit, grabbing the ground, talking
nonsense…”

Brock held his hand against his
forehead and sighed. “It sounds like you had it easy. I had to take
knives away from people. There was also a pretty vicious cookie
fight, but the resulting mess got eaten off the floor.”

“
Knives?! No one was hurt, I
hope!”

Brock looked back towards the mess.
“Nothing serious. If you see people wearing long sleeves for the
next while, be so kind as to not ask questions.”

“
Oh my.”

Cassidy staggered over by Cipriana,
tears drying on her cheeks. “Cip… Cippy…” her voice was weak, and
cracked. “I’m gonna go lie down. Gonna lie down. For a
bit.”

Cipriana nodded to Cassidy before
turning her attention back to Brock. “Now then. What are they
withdrawing from?”

Brock sighed again, putting off
uttering the answer. “Nanites. Lots of them, in everyone’s
bloodstream, and all over the place.”

“
Nanites? How? Why? Aren’t
they banned?”

“
I know, I know, it’s nuts!”
Nanites were most notoriously known for the Erebus incident. The
word ‘nanite’ alone made people think of that level of disaster.
“They weren’t that kind of nanite. I don’t know what they were for,
but they didn’t kill you or try to wreck your nervous system. I
kind of accidentally destroyed them, and shortly after, everyone
started going loopy.”

“
What? How did you destroy
them?”

“
Well, I didn’t. They
destroyed themselves, but I think that was the mission of the man
who... who attacked.”

“
What makes you say
that?”

“
He dropped a little gadget
that he half broke in front of the statue. When I found it, I
accidentally broke it the rest of the way. It broadcasted a signal,
and the next thing I know, every nanite I could find was in the
middle of doing itself in.”

“
Then why…” Cipriana stopped
herself. She was going to ask “Why haven’t I been affected?” But
she knew. That wasn’t Marcus’ voice she’d been hearing, and it
wasn’t the statue that Marcus had heard. It was these nanites. Why
were they so talkative to her and Marcus? If she told Brock that it
was still inside her, what would happen then?

All logic told her that she should get
them out as soon as possible. But it was almost like a memento from
Marcus. It was stupid, but they hadn’t harmed her, yet. it was a
type of stupid that she was willing to take a risk with.

~~~

Cassidy awoke. A vicious nightmare
echoed in her mind, and her head was pounding, but the world didn’t
feel like the inside of a blender anymore. As the details of
reality came back to her, she looked around and saw many others in
a similar condition as herself. Asleep, sleepy, or staggering with
this ‘hangover’.

But across the aisle in her bed sat
Cipriana, paragon of serenity, reading in the lotus
position.

“
Heya, Cip.” She muttered
with an ounce of forced cheer, “What’s up?” Cipriana had earlier
explained to her the cause of this ‘withdrawal’, but at the time,
Cassidy promptly passed out. “Brock got any more info about this
nanite crap?”

“
No.” Cipriana wanted to
change the subject. “You still have to go see Grand Elder Armil.
His airlimb is still parked on the helipad. Don’t worry about your
shift, Armil’s Storms have the temple covered until everyone’s back
up to par.”

Cassidy stood and stretched. “So,
outside reinforcements taking over the place, huh? Feels kind of
wrong, but I guess it makes sense… and we couldn’t have asked for
better than Armil’s guys. They’re like a sister unit to us,
huh?”

Cipriana nodded. “Put yourself together
and get going.” Cipriana’s words came out a little colder than she
intended.

“
Kay, Cip. Have you
slept?”

“
Some.”

Cassidy headed towards the helipad. The
sun glared down at her, and for the first time she could remember,
it irritated her. It was bright, and the light seemed to wash out
the beautiful colour of the land. The heat felt more like heat than
it used to, and less like warmth.

Armil's airlimb sat ahead, perched on
the helipad. Yesterday it looked like a modern aspect of a
respected leader. Today, it looked like a big bulky chunk of
military hardware with sand on it.

Was it just this ‘withdrawl’ that was
making her feel this shitty, or had she just been mildly high all
this time? Were the nanites making them all a little stoned?
Whatever. Worry about it when Brock comes up with more
info.

She stepped up to the open bay door in
the middle of the airlimb, the two Storms that stood guard there
snapped to attention and saluted. What rank are they, that they
have to salute a Leftenent? She saluted back, just so they could
break their salutes.

One spoke to her in a disciplined but
peaceful tone. “Sir, the Grand Elder is expecting you. Please head
towards the aft.” He nodded towards a passage nearby.

“
Ah, thank you.” She walked
into the relative dark of the airlimb’s interior. This was her
first time onboard one. It was slick. She’d heard how much space
they had inside, but until she stepped inside, she had a hard time
imagining a mid-sized unit spending most of their time in one. The
main bay was only slightly smaller than the women’s barracks in the
base. As she headed back through the quiet, dim little metal hall,
she passed several doors to soldiers’ quarters. Each metal sliding
door had two names on it, and spaces for an additional two names.
Finally she came to a door with ‘Grand Elder Armil’ on
it.

She knocked twice softly. Armil’s voice
replied. “Come.”

Cassidy pushed the door aside along its
track to see Armil’s office. It was a stark contrast to the harsh
metal she’d seen so far in the airlimb. This was a beautiful,
ornate, yet tasteful room, decorated with traditional Aguei art,
and touches of classical European furniture. Bands of woven cloth
hung from the ceiling against the back wall, which held some
similarities to Armil’s robe. A hint of a sweet incense still
lingered in the air.

“
Cassidy.” Armil rose from
his seat behind his desk, and spread his arms in welcome. “You’ve
recovered from this… condition we had?”

She nodded slightly. “The nanite thing.
Yeah, I think so. I still have a headache.”

“
I see. The good doctor
tells me that the usual guards here suffered the worst of the
withdrawal, apparently having been exposed to the nanites the
longest.”

“
Hm.”

Armil sighed with a sombre smile.
“Come.” He walked over to the side of his office, where a large rug
was laid out. Across the middle of the rug was a dark wooden box a
little over two metres long, but only about a third of a metre high
and deep. Armil walked to the opposite side of the box and sat
down, holding his hand out inviting Cassidy to be seated on the
other side of the long box. She took a moment to stare at the box,
and then sat down.

“
I know this new trouble is
not foremost in your mind.” Armil said, eyes cast down at the
box.

Cassidy swallowed hard as Cheryl’s name
hit her mind like a silent hurricane. She suddenly felt a lot like
lying down and grabbing at the dirt again. “Yeah. You could say
I’ve been a little preoccupied.”

“
It is a great
injustice.”

“
Yeah.” Yeah, no kidding.
What else do you say?

“
She deserves justice.”
Armil said, almost as a question.

“
Of course! And… and Marcus
too.”

“
Would you like to catch the
man responsible?”

“
That’s why you and your
Storms are here, right? You’re investigating.”

Armil looked deeply into Cassidy’s
eyes. “But you, Cassidy, have a personal stake in this. And you are
Aguei.”

Cassidy cocked her head to the side a
little, unsure of where this was going. “Honourary Aguei, at any
rate.”

“
There is no such thing. You
are Aguei, or you are not. You, Cassidy, are. Would you like to
catch the man responsible? To suspend your duties around the
temple, and be an integral part of the investigation?”

“
Leave here?” It was a
shocking thought, really. How long had she been here, and not
gotten farther away than Yute central before feeling the imposed
need to get back? “I don’t know much about that kind of work, I
don’t know…”

Armil placed both his hands on the box.
“You would be advised of everything my people find out, and you
could make decisions about what happens next. The law of the
northers dictates that this must be investigated, but Aguei law
grants you rights beyond those, as you are the closest Aguei to the
slain.”

“
What... what about Cip and
Marcus?”

“
Cipriana has waived her
right in this. After talking to her, I see that I should have
perhaps spoken to you first anyway. She also feels she is needed
more by the others around the temple. I cannot argue that her
leadership and kindness will be essential to heal the spiritual
wound we have suffered.”

Cassidy nodded slow but continuously,
considering. “I… Alright, I’m in.”

Armil nodded once slowly. “Then this
goes to you until it is settled.” He lifted the lid of the box,
revealing a Yute spear. This one was different however. It was not
made of modern materials, but it looked no less sturdy. The shaft
and side handle was one piece of hand-carved wood. The spearhead
was rather different as well. Instead of the machine-perfect,
glossy metal rounded tip spearheads of the guards’ spears, this one
was sharply pointed, and made of black stone, crudely
fashioned.

“
That spearhead… it’s the
same as…”

“
Yes.” Armil nodded, lifting
the spear with both hands. “It is the same stone as the statue. The
rest of the beast’s spear has been replaced or repaired many times
over the centuries, but the head has alw-“

“
Centuries? How old is
it?”

“
Perhaps as old as the
Aguei, perhaps older.”

“
Has it been carbon dated or
anything?”

“
We do not need science to
tell us that stone is old.”

Cassidy should have expected an answer
like that. She took the 'beast’s spear' with both hands. It was
lighter than she expected, but carried its own unfathomable kind of
weight. “Beast’s spear. So this belongs to the statue, hm? What am
I supposed to do with it?”

“
Find justice.”

“
What, am I supposed to kill
that guy with this?”

Armil stood, and walked over to a large
painting of the temple. “For ages, this spear has been lent by the
Grand Elder to an Aguei who deserves justice. It is for that Aguei
to decide what form that justice will take. No other law, Aguei or
norther, can interfere.”

“
What?” Cassidy held the
spear out in front of her at arm’s length. “You mean that if we
find the guy, I can legally…?”

“
It is your
right.”

Cassidy took her time to absorb the
idea. Then came a knock at the door. Armil looked towards it, and
called, “Come.”

Colonel Nafim entered and saluted
casually.

“
I’m sorry, Sirs. Am I
interrupting?” Her eyes lingered on the spear in Cassidy’s
hands.

“
No, Colonel. We’ve pretty
much finished here for now. Cassidy has accepted the task, so it’s
a fine time for you two to officially meet.”

Cassidy stood in a pose much like guard
duty, with the spear standing in one hand. Choosing to remember
protocol, she saluted the Colonel. “Sir. Leftenent Cassidy Stanton,
reporting for duty.”

“
No, Sir. You’re in charge.
I realize you don’t have investigative experience, so that’s my
job. I’ll conduct the investigation as I see fit, but every move is
going to be approved by you first. If you get a hunch, we follow
it.”