Ch. 2
Uhhh... slow chapter... incredibly slow, probably a bit boring, but it seems necessary to get some of this out of the way. The Steel-Leeds relationship mentioned here will be explained further later. (Have a feeling I'll be getting rotten tomatoes for this though.) Sorry about any egregious mistakes, but I ran out of patience to proofread.
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***Josh/Max***
I uncrossed my legs... crossed them... uncrossed them again... then I sat forward, leaning my arms on my knees.
I looked out into the sparkling blue of Del Oro bay where the ivory white research ship had already been docked for about 15 minutes. The ship sat like a slumbering beast while a steady stream of students and researching scientists came waddling out with bags slung over shoulders, suitcases in hands, luggage rolling behind, and various articles tucked under an arm that couldn't hold anymore items.
Laura was still nowhere in sight, and I was getting uneasy. I had originally wanted to bring someone with me to give me a little moral support. I asked Berto, but dad needed him at N-Tek to clean out some kink in the diagnostic system. There's Kat, my new partner. But when I asked her, she said something about seeing too much of my face at work already. Then she threw out some wisecrack about "not needing to know the personal problems of Turbo Boy." (I think I'm really growing on her.)
Lastly there's Pete, who's a close friend of both Laura and me. He would seem the natural choice right? Wrong. Pete is only Josh's best friend. Max, which is who I am right now, isn't even supposed to know him.
Boy, that gets really annoying. It freaks me out that I have to start thinking about myself in third person. And it's just plain frustrating to have to keep track of what/who each of my sides knows.
I sighed to solitary myself, and leaned rearward against the back of the wooden bench until my face was tilted skyward, facing directly up. Still somewhat dazed by my situation, I tried to lose myself in the mesmerizing azure of the spring sky. The sea breeze tickled my nose as it gently brushed and whistled by.
My hand took the small daisy that was sitting on my lap and held it up into the air. For lack of anything better to do, I focused my attention on the small flower, inspecting the white petals against the background of endless blueness that was directly above me.
It's strange really. Every woman I tried to have a serious relationship with ends up running away from me. First Laura went off to the middle of the ocean. And after that, I turned to Rachel only to have her bolt off to Siberia. I must be losing the McGrath charm.
"Max?" A voice buzzed in my ear.
I continued staring at the daisy. I twirled the tender stem in my hand and amused myself with the way the overhead sunlight haloed the petals with a warm glow.
"She's not there yet, I take it?" the voice said.
"Nope," I answered, briefly, curtly. I try not to talk to Berto too much or too loudly when I'm in public. I've gotten strange looks before. And the scary thing is, I'm literally talking to the voice inside my head. (... voice, implanted Biolink... whatever...)
"Max," Berto began, "You know the systems check is almost finished here. Do you still want me to go down there as soon as I am done?"
***Berto***
I looked into the monitor, watching his hand twiddle with the little white flower. His head was still leaning back, staring absent-mindedly at the sky.
How long have I been watching his world through his eyes? About year, maybe not even that long, but it seems like I've known him forever now. And through our unique relationship, I feel like I'm almost as integrated into his system as the Max-probes themselves. Nearly everyday I spend my share of time behind the giant monitor, keeping tabs on his bio readings and watching his soap opera of a life.
Some days are more eventful than others though.
"Do you still want me to go down there as soon as I am done?" I asked him.
The view on the monitor rocked from right to left. I could tell he was shaking his head.
"Nah, it's okay bro," his voice muttered. "You won't make it in time anyway. She should be out here in 10 minutes tops."
"Whatever you say."
The truth is I didn't want to be there. And the N-Tek system failure that I was supposed to be fixing didn't exist. I had lied to him.
I pushed my glasses up higher on the bridge of my nose.
"Good luck anyway, hermano."
I didn't lie to hurt him. Every time I call him "hermano" I mean it. He is like a brother to me. I left him to meet with Laura by himself because this really is his own battle. I admit I don't know much about women or romance at all, but I do know that this is not an N-Tek operation and teamwork has no place in this particular mission.
Maybe that's part of why it didn't work out between him and Rachel. Assimilating work with romance, and forcibly fitting business roles into the personal roles... Simply put, it blew up. In the end Rachel requested a transfer to a division in Siberia. It was cold... in all meanings of the word.
After me, I anticipated that the next person Max would ask to go to the docks with him was Kat. You don't look through the eyes (literally) of another man for so long without slipping into his brain. I was one step ahead of him, and convinced Kat of my position, persuading her to refuse also.
Did I overstep my bounds here? Maybe... But isn't it time my judgment counted for something? I was the one to keep him alive during his transphasic transformation, and I've continually been the one he turns to for patching him up and reenergizing him after his rumbles and tumbles with terrorists. Like I said, he is my hermano, and I am his. I look out for him and I just happen think this is the best way for him to deal with this.
"Hey Berto?"
I startled from my momentary reverie. "Yeah Max?"
In the monitor I saw his hand stop toying with the flower for the moment. "When she gets here, can you..."
"No problem, I'll give you two privacy."
Pause.
"Berto?"
"Yeah?"
"What's going to happen?"
I chuckled, "You mean you couldn't find the answer to your woman problems in the Batman cartoons?"
"Hey! Don't make me start calling you Alfred." In the monitor, his hand gestured and pointed to emphasize his point.
Pause again.
"But Berto, seriously. What's going to happen when she steps off that boat?"
I couldn't answer. As much time as I spend watching his entire world, I couldn't predict. As many times as I have saved his Max-probe-based body from crashing, I realized there are some things I can't fix for him.
Adjusting my glasses, I cleared my throat. "Max, I have something I need to go take care of right now. Buena suerte."
"Hey Berto. What's gonna..."
The transmission trailed off in a buzz of static interference.
Indeed.
What is going to happen now?
Uhhh... slow chapter... incredibly slow, probably a bit boring, but it seems necessary to get some of this out of the way. The Steel-Leeds relationship mentioned here will be explained further later. (Have a feeling I'll be getting rotten tomatoes for this though.) Sorry about any egregious mistakes, but I ran out of patience to proofread.
-----------------------------------------
***Josh/Max***
I uncrossed my legs... crossed them... uncrossed them again... then I sat forward, leaning my arms on my knees.
I looked out into the sparkling blue of Del Oro bay where the ivory white research ship had already been docked for about 15 minutes. The ship sat like a slumbering beast while a steady stream of students and researching scientists came waddling out with bags slung over shoulders, suitcases in hands, luggage rolling behind, and various articles tucked under an arm that couldn't hold anymore items.
Laura was still nowhere in sight, and I was getting uneasy. I had originally wanted to bring someone with me to give me a little moral support. I asked Berto, but dad needed him at N-Tek to clean out some kink in the diagnostic system. There's Kat, my new partner. But when I asked her, she said something about seeing too much of my face at work already. Then she threw out some wisecrack about "not needing to know the personal problems of Turbo Boy." (I think I'm really growing on her.)
Lastly there's Pete, who's a close friend of both Laura and me. He would seem the natural choice right? Wrong. Pete is only Josh's best friend. Max, which is who I am right now, isn't even supposed to know him.
Boy, that gets really annoying. It freaks me out that I have to start thinking about myself in third person. And it's just plain frustrating to have to keep track of what/who each of my sides knows.
I sighed to solitary myself, and leaned rearward against the back of the wooden bench until my face was tilted skyward, facing directly up. Still somewhat dazed by my situation, I tried to lose myself in the mesmerizing azure of the spring sky. The sea breeze tickled my nose as it gently brushed and whistled by.
My hand took the small daisy that was sitting on my lap and held it up into the air. For lack of anything better to do, I focused my attention on the small flower, inspecting the white petals against the background of endless blueness that was directly above me.
It's strange really. Every woman I tried to have a serious relationship with ends up running away from me. First Laura went off to the middle of the ocean. And after that, I turned to Rachel only to have her bolt off to Siberia. I must be losing the McGrath charm.
"Max?" A voice buzzed in my ear.
I continued staring at the daisy. I twirled the tender stem in my hand and amused myself with the way the overhead sunlight haloed the petals with a warm glow.
"She's not there yet, I take it?" the voice said.
"Nope," I answered, briefly, curtly. I try not to talk to Berto too much or too loudly when I'm in public. I've gotten strange looks before. And the scary thing is, I'm literally talking to the voice inside my head. (... voice, implanted Biolink... whatever...)
"Max," Berto began, "You know the systems check is almost finished here. Do you still want me to go down there as soon as I am done?"
***Berto***
I looked into the monitor, watching his hand twiddle with the little white flower. His head was still leaning back, staring absent-mindedly at the sky.
How long have I been watching his world through his eyes? About year, maybe not even that long, but it seems like I've known him forever now. And through our unique relationship, I feel like I'm almost as integrated into his system as the Max-probes themselves. Nearly everyday I spend my share of time behind the giant monitor, keeping tabs on his bio readings and watching his soap opera of a life.
Some days are more eventful than others though.
"Do you still want me to go down there as soon as I am done?" I asked him.
The view on the monitor rocked from right to left. I could tell he was shaking his head.
"Nah, it's okay bro," his voice muttered. "You won't make it in time anyway. She should be out here in 10 minutes tops."
"Whatever you say."
The truth is I didn't want to be there. And the N-Tek system failure that I was supposed to be fixing didn't exist. I had lied to him.
I pushed my glasses up higher on the bridge of my nose.
"Good luck anyway, hermano."
I didn't lie to hurt him. Every time I call him "hermano" I mean it. He is like a brother to me. I left him to meet with Laura by himself because this really is his own battle. I admit I don't know much about women or romance at all, but I do know that this is not an N-Tek operation and teamwork has no place in this particular mission.
Maybe that's part of why it didn't work out between him and Rachel. Assimilating work with romance, and forcibly fitting business roles into the personal roles... Simply put, it blew up. In the end Rachel requested a transfer to a division in Siberia. It was cold... in all meanings of the word.
After me, I anticipated that the next person Max would ask to go to the docks with him was Kat. You don't look through the eyes (literally) of another man for so long without slipping into his brain. I was one step ahead of him, and convinced Kat of my position, persuading her to refuse also.
Did I overstep my bounds here? Maybe... But isn't it time my judgment counted for something? I was the one to keep him alive during his transphasic transformation, and I've continually been the one he turns to for patching him up and reenergizing him after his rumbles and tumbles with terrorists. Like I said, he is my hermano, and I am his. I look out for him and I just happen think this is the best way for him to deal with this.
"Hey Berto?"
I startled from my momentary reverie. "Yeah Max?"
In the monitor I saw his hand stop toying with the flower for the moment. "When she gets here, can you..."
"No problem, I'll give you two privacy."
Pause.
"Berto?"
"Yeah?"
"What's going to happen?"
I chuckled, "You mean you couldn't find the answer to your woman problems in the Batman cartoons?"
"Hey! Don't make me start calling you Alfred." In the monitor, his hand gestured and pointed to emphasize his point.
Pause again.
"But Berto, seriously. What's going to happen when she steps off that boat?"
I couldn't answer. As much time as I spend watching his entire world, I couldn't predict. As many times as I have saved his Max-probe-based body from crashing, I realized there are some things I can't fix for him.
Adjusting my glasses, I cleared my throat. "Max, I have something I need to go take care of right now. Buena suerte."
"Hey Berto. What's gonna..."
The transmission trailed off in a buzz of static interference.
Indeed.
What is going to happen now?