After the End - Chapter 10
"Thank God it's finally June." Lucas fills his coffee cup from the machine and walks over to sit across from Cybersix. "This is the time of year when the work seems harder."
"Yeah, we're in the home stretch. But then there'll are all those exams to mark."
Lucas just grunts in answer. It's 8 a.m. and the two of them are talking in the teachers' lounge before class starts.
The door opens and Camille, one of the schools phys. ed. teachers, walks in.
"Hi Lucas, Adrian." She pulls a chair up to their table and flops down in
it. "Beautiful day, isn't it?" She spots the copy of today's
Meridianna Times on the table.
"That's easy." Lucas says. "She's beautiful."
Cybersix stares down into her coffee cup.
"It figures you would say that. I forgot I'm talking to men here. I suppose I just answered my own question; people are obsessed with her because of that skin tight suit."
Lucas frowns. "No, it's not like that at all."
Camille rolls her eyes. "Oh, so I suppose you don't see her as a sex object."
"No. When I say " beautiful," I mean it in the truest sense of the word. Like.... like the way a work of art or a song is beautiful." He looks directly at Cybersix. "Don't you think she's beautiful, Adrian?"
Cybersix thinks frantically of something to say. "Uh... I never really thought about it." She laughs nervously. "You know me, always got my head stuck in a book." Okay, that was lame. She looks down again. I'm going to get Lucas for this.
"Well, I have to go. Nice talking to you." Camille gets up and leaves.
Composing herself, Cybersix looks Lucas in the eye. "Yashimotto is coming over to my place tonight."
"He is? Why?"
"He called me last night. He says he's got something important to tell me." Yashimotto's actual words to her had been "This is perhaps the most interesting puzzle I've ever worked on." She was guessing it would take a lot to make him say something like that.
"What kind of important things?" For the first time Cybersix
notices the expression on Lucas' face. Is he jealous? He is. He's jealous of
Yashimotto! She doesn't know whether to find that cute or disturbing. She
tries to keep from smiling. It was ridiculous, of course;
Lucas is still looking at her with that confused/suspicious expression that only he can attain. She briefly considers letting him stew - after all, she doesn't have the time or the patience right now to deal with his insecurities - but then she decides against it. "I realize that my apartment is small." She explains. "It's just that my brother is already coming over and I thought it would be more convenient if we all met at once."
"Oh." Lucas' tone indicates he finally understands.
"You can come too if you want."
"Oh, yeah? Okay, I will."
Cybersix looks at her watch. "Well, looks like it's time to go to class."
"Lucas is coming over. I hope you don't mind."
"No, of course not. Hello, Data 7." Yashimotto nods to the panther, who nods back.
"Come on, sit down. So," Cybersix says by way of making conversation. "How's business?"
"Slow, but it always is this time of year."
"You know, we didn't talk about this last time, but his ... what about payment for your help?"
Yashimotto shakes his head and waves his hand at her dismissingly. "No, forget about money. I'm certainly not in dire straits if you're worried about that. Besides, I think I've brought you more questions than answers."
There is a knock at the door. "That would be Lucas." She gets up to answer the door, looking through the people before opening it.
Lucas walks into the apartment. "Hi-" He stops as he takes in Cybersix's appearance; her hair is down and she's not wearing glasses, but she's dressed in "Adrian's" clothes. Weird.
"So what's this news you have for us?" Cybersix eagerly asks Yashimotto as Lucas sits down. She doesn't even say hi to him.
"Well, to start: I got both the police and the doctor's reports on that girl. It's a rather strange case. I'm very surprised they've been able to keep the details out of the media." He pulls a sheet of paper out of his breast pocket. "The police report. I was only able to copy and paste part of it to my computer - I had to get in and out of there fast. Basically, the cops wrote it up as your average drug-and-rape case - I apologize for the use of the word average, but in my business nothing surprises you after a while. Anyway, that's what the police said, but the medical report is quite different."
"It turns out, when they examined the girl, they couldn't find any DNA on her - and I don't just mean a sample good enough to use in a test, I mean any foreign fibers whatsoever. That's very rare these days, forensics being what they are. Plus, the doctor who did the examination said in her report that the girl's injuries weren't consistent with being raped. She said it was almost as if someone tried to make it look like she was raped, but she really wasn't.
"That's strange." Lucas remarks. "Why would anyone do that?"
"Jose would do that sort of thing for fun." Cybersix comments.
"He would?" Yashimotto shudders, thinking of Ikiko in such hands.
She nods. "But it still doesn't make sense; he's got all his technos to play with. Why bother with a human?"
"Oh, we haven't even gotten to the strange part yet." Yashimotto withdraws another print out. "First, they said that the drug in the girls' system was "of unknown origin." In other words, they had no idea what on Earth it was. But here's the best part. The girl was complaining of pain in the left side of her abdomen, so they did an ultrasound: One of her ovaries was missing."
Cybersix gasps.
"They took her eggs." Lucas says in awe. He looks up at Cybersix. "That's how VonReichter created you, isn't it?"
She doesn't answer, but simply sits there looking stunned. "Do you know what this means?" She asks quietly. "Jose's a lot smarter and more dangerous than I thought he was."
"But you told me Jose didn't know how to... uh, create... people." Lucas says.
"That's why I thought. But I said that about sustenance too, didn't I?"
Everyone is silent for a moment. Data 7's tail flicks back and forth in irritation.
"So now we have the equivalent of an 8 year old with the power to create any kind of life he wants." Yashimotto muses. "At the risk of sounding like a bad TV hero, we have to stop this guy."
Cybersix nods again. "Yes, we certainly do." She sighs and looks at Yashimotto. "You're the expert; where do we go from here?"
"Well, first ask yourself: What useful things you know about Jose's operations? And what is his weakest point?"
"That's easy. It's Sylvester." Cybersix says. "I know how to deal with him."
Yashimotto nods. "So we follow this Sylvester and see where he leads us."
Cybersix cocks an eyebrow at him. "Easier said than done. Sylvester's got very acute hearing - even better than mine. Not to mention a nose like a bloodhound."
"Sounds like a challenge." Yashimotto says easily. "We'll need a good plan then. How about I see what I can find out about Jose's activities, and then we'll talk about this some more?"
"Okay. But be very careful, Yashimotto. I don't want you getting in trouble because of me."
"Don't worry. In my business you have to be good at assessing risks and making strategic moves. It's rather like - oh I don't know - a game of chess." He looks Cybersix in the eye.
She half-smiles at him in return. You had to appreciate this man's style. "I want a rematch."
Yashimotto nods again, his face completely straight. "Of course, any time.
Just give me a call." He gets up and puts on his coat.
Cybersix watches him go. She remembers well the chess game she lost to him. After she rescued him and Ikiko, he invited her back to his place for coffee. They made small talk for a few minutes, then he looked at her and said: "Cybersix, perhaps it's rude of me to ask and I don't want to disrespect your privacy. But if you don't mind answering a few questions, I find myself very curious about you."
Maybe it was simply because of the way he asked, but she told him everything he wanted to know. He accepted everything she said at face value, absorbing all the information with a serious, thoughtful expression. Once his curiosity had been satisfied, he asked her if she played chess. She said yes, a little, and so they played. And even after just having his concept of reality turned on its head by her story, he still managed to beat her soundly. Yashimotto was not your typical example of a human being.
"Are you sure you want to go after Jose directly?"
Lucas' voice brings Cybersix out of her reverie. Suddenly she remembers what he did to her that morning. She turns to him.
He leans back a little in his seat, taken by her stormy look.. "What?"
"You know what. What you said in the teachers' lounge this morning with Camille."
"Oh. What about that? I don't think there was any danger of revealing your secret."
Her brows draw down even further. "It's not that. You asked me if I thought I was beautiful. That wasn't funny!"
"It wasn't supposed to be funny." Lucas replies levelly. "I was completely serious."
"But that's a ridiculous question!"
Lucas stands up. "No it's not. You are beautiful, Cybersix, whether you realize it or not."
She represses a sigh.
Lucas watches her. "Cybersix." His tone becomes serious. "Maybe this isn't the time, but I can't wait any longer. There's something I really have to know." Without waiting for a reply, he takes a few steps in her direction. "Just tell me this one thing: If you ever knew for sure you weren't dangerous to me, would you... would you want to be with me?"
"Yes." Cybersix only just stops herself from putting her hand over her mouth. That slipped out before she could stop it. That wasn't what I meant to say. Was it?
"Oh, good." Both Lucas' voice and face show tremendous relief. And love. "That's all I had to hear." He takes a few more steps toward her. "Relax. I just want to hug you."
Still a little stunned, she allows him to take her into an embrace. But it's not that simple, she thinks, aware that she is enjoying the feel of Lucas' arms around her. And it will never be. "But Lucas, you have to realize that that will never happen." She says against his shoulder.
He pushes her to arm's length and looks at her. "I was just speaking hypothetically. Besides, you never know, maybe one day an opportunity will come up and we'll solve this whole sustenance thing."
Cybersix mentally rolls her eyes. 'Solve this whole sustenance thing?' That was being foolishly optimistic.
Lucas lets her go. "And ,uh, about that. I was thinking... why don't we break into Jose's place again and still more sustenance from that pit? I don't really have the knowledge to figure out how it works, but I could learn. I found this place that has good prices on chemistry books..."
He trails off as she shakes her head. "I tried that once before and almost got myself killed. That place has one heavy duty security system. We only got in last time because of the confusion after the Isle of Doom; no one was home then. There's no way we'd get away with that again."
"Oh." Lucas sighs dismally. "I guess I'll just try and get that vial back from Kevin again." He moves toward the door.
"Lucas,"
"Yes?" He turns around hopefully.
"Remember what I said; don't tell Kevin anything."
He closes his eyes and nods, depressed. "I won't."
****
The phone is ringing when Lucas enters his apartment. He runs and picks up the receiver. "Hello?"
It's Kevin, and he sounds out of breath. "Lucas, I'm so glad I caught you. I don't know how to tell you this, but your vial's been stolen."