Maggie fell into step beside Angie on the way to the kitchen. Coffee was always the first priority, and today the special treat of apples, a bushel of which had been acquired by Master Scrounger Elias. Fresh fruit was such a rare treat that the sudden windfall had had to be rationed. Most would be sliced up and would be offered to the rest of the camp at the general meeting that would follow the 10 o'clock debriefing among the library raid participants. Whole apples were reserved for the latter. Small, precious rewards those who most recently risked their lives.
At the moment, though, Maggie was focused on Angie's smile and surprisingly cheery "Good morning", out of character for somebody who would never be a "morning person".
"You're perky this morning. Guess that headache's gone."
"Yeah," Angie shrugged. "And a good night's sleep for a change, mission accomplished and all that."
"Yeah, right," Maggie took her friend's arm without slowing down, "somebody got laid last night." Maggie delighted in teasing Angie about her hot love life with the (mythically) stone-cold "Fixer".
Without breaking stride Angie replied casually, "'Getting laid' sounds so..." she wrinkled her nose in distaste, then finished with a sly smile, "passive." and the two women laughed intimately. "He's not exactly unwilling to be ravished… 'traditional' seems to extend only to the surface, not the position."
They were still snickering as they grabbed some coffee and settled at the table. Caleb and Elias were already there, Julie and Robert arriving seconds later, followed closely by Chris Farber.
In the corridor outside, Tyler and Donovan crossed paths.
"Razor burn?" Mike observed innocently as Tyler hastily rearranged the low band collar of his shirt over the strawberry hickey in the hollow of his shoulder.
"Yeah." Tyler shouldered ahead of Donovan into the room and made sure the top button was fastened. Shit, this time we are going to have words about this teenage shit, he promised himself.
Robert began almost before Donovan and Tyler were seated. "There are more than a few questions about what happened yesterday… most of them centering around what happened to David Peterson."
Donovan and Tyler remained impassive.
"We told you, we couldn't find him," Mike reminded everyone. "I followed Tyler to the place the maps told us he'd be waiting before his lecture, and he wasn't there. There wasn't time for a search so we went to the rendezvous point."
"Look, he's dead, end of story, " Tyler added tersely. "Maybe we should be asking why that skank lizard was pretending to cover Maggie and Angie's asses.
"No matter how he died, they're gonna make him look like a martyr. Maybe the Visitors killed him themselves if they found out his connection to Angie," Maggie offered. "And Tyler's right, we should be trying to find out why Todd is making up this crap about me and Angie."
Robert spoke next. "If it was him making it up."
"Robert is right," Angie announced, "he could have been directed to recite whatever script he was fed."
More discussion followed, rapidly shifting the focus from the circumstances of the death of David Peterson to the fiction of the death of Maggie and Angie.
Finally Julie summarized, "Okay, so there are a few options here. Todd could be a Fifth Column member, and though Martin has never mentioned an inside member in the library he could be a freelance rebel." She responded to one or two doubtful expressions, "Willie can't be the only one who thinks what the Visitors are doing is wrong. It makes sense that there are others, and there's no knowing how high in the hierarchy."
"Nobody guessed little compliant me was opposed to the Visitor takeover," Angie added. "I didn't believe I was a rebel, because I wasn't part of the official Boston resistance. Do the math, guys, law of averages says that there are others like me on every side. Knowing that what's happening isn't right, but too chicken to join up with the official rebels."
"Not chicken," Tyler injected, but added nothing more.
Elias cut to the chase. "Okay, so what now? We have an opening, and I think maybe if they had any information about us or where we are we'd all be smoking piles by now. So it makes sense that this Todd guy was bullshitting."
The only possibility of confirmation lay with Martin's fifth column intelligence. Anything else was conjecture or wishful thinking, depending on the source.
"I'll try an urgent contact to Martin," Donovan offered. "With everything moving so fast I think he'd use his cell's sub-monitor radio frequency, and we'll have some info by tonight. They have a portable transmitter but I don't know how the new Visitor security protocols prompted by the raid might have affected their usual communications."
Robert concluded the meeting, "Okay, then. We'll wait for the fifth column updates before making our next move. Agreed?"
All voiced agreement.
"Next meeting dependent upon what we learn," Julie confirmed. "Sorry to say it after the day we've been through, but stand ready."
Moments later the camp filed in to be updated.
"Angie, I must speak with you in privates," Willie told Angie urgently, drawing her back as everyone exited the camp meeting that had gone as well as could be expected, given that so many were so removed from immediate action.
Angie wasn't in the mood for last-minute updates on data modules. She wanted nothing more than to go back with Tyler to her quarters, their quarters, and do nothing but wallow in the illusion that four walls and two people defined the sum of the universe. Then again, Willie had never made an urgent request of her before now. Given what he'd done for her, nothing was too great a request.
"Sure, what's up?"
"Come to the computer area," he told her. "It is important we do not talk where others can hear."
"What's up? Nothing new could have happened, unless you believe I'm in on something that could be dangerous," Angie protested. Still, she followed where Willie lead.
"You must trust me," he insisted. And, of course, she did. Once they were in the computer room (a real computer room in the Coast Guard HQ, adapted for rebel use) Willie closed the door behind them and turned to Angie wearing a more purposeful expression than she could remember seeing.
"The extra module you brought from the library contained a message for you," Willie announced, in perfect English. "The program was self-erasing, but I can repeat from memory." He recited the message and the directions to the meeting place.
Angie listened, stunned. Given what Todd had announced for the Visitors… what could he intend? "Willie, you saw what he said on TV, what do you think it means?"
Willie knew, as others did, that the Visitor leaders would take any opportunity to destroy the Resistance. Knowing that, it would make sense that if this mid-level functionary Todd knew that Angie had gained access to sensitive files he would also have been able to help his superiors follow her to the base, and destroy them all. So it was very unlikely that his covert message was a tool for subversive advantage.
"I believe he is like myself. Unhappy by the purpose of our leaders, but not in with any group of revolt against it."
The pained look on Willie's face made it plain he was remembering that his own awakening happened only after he'd become acquainted with Harmony.
Angie was out of her depth; she knew that Todd seemed different from the others of his kind, but was clueless as to what "different" was worth as a Visitor. Willie's judgment would have to be good enough. "So you think it might be a good idea to do what he asks? To meet him and figure out how he can help?"
Willie was naïve in many ways, especially in his knowledge of Earth humans. He had come into the rebellion as an accidental ally, believing deeply that wholesale destruction pf another species was wrong yet reluctant to assist in the annihilation of his own species. Still, the possibility of allying with even one like himself, loyal to his kind yet devoted to peace, drew him toward believing what the secret message suggested.
"Yes, I believe that meeting with Todd might be a good idea. We must be cautious," because some naiveté had been leavened with hard knowledge, "but I believe a great deal was risked by sending you this message."
She considered this, and after a moment nodded in agreement. "Okay, then. I'll go."
"No, Angie. We will go. But nobody else can know of this."
The firmness in Willie's demeanor overcame any possible protest.
"Right. Meet you at sundown by the cliff bench."