Protector of Men Ch 48
"Are you sure that was what it meant?" Cover asked her. He was a little skeptical of her findings, but only because of what she had said only a few hours ago. Zandra had told him earlier that the Oracle mentioned to ignore a Merovingian, because he would be dangerous. And now, now she was telling him that Neo was being held by him. It seemed inevitable that she would next be ordering them to take him out.
"Yes, yes I'm sure," she answered with a vigorous nod. Cover eyed her thoroughly.
"I was suspicious about it before," she continued, "Now I'm sure of it."
Cover sighed and nodded. It seemed like more and more he was relegating his position to her – allowing her to do just about whatever she wanted. But she was the One, so it was truly up to her how the war would be fought. He was just there to lead. To advise.
"I think we still need to research some," he said, and by her immediate reaction, could tell she was not happy.
"Just a little," he told her, "Just go into the matrix and see what you can find."
Zandra sighed, but agreed. He was her captain, after all.
The rest of her day was spent wandering about the ship. She talked a little, but read a lot. She decided to catch up on some… history. There wasn't any shame in looking a little further into the information she had gotten - perhaps there was something more. Soon enough it was night, and time to rest. Zandra went gladly, but didn't want tomorrow to come. Going into the matrix for information, for direction… it seemed a bit useless to her. But if it was what Cover wanted her to do, then she'd do it. He wouldn't force her do anything that wasn't useful.
"Dr. Roberts?" she asked waveringly into the telephone.
"This is he," he answered in a clear tenor. Zandra was more than a little intimidated by the prospect of speaking to the famous doctor. What was she but a small college student, and he a world-renowned physicist? She took a moment to muster up her courage before tackling the subject at hand.
"Hi," she started, more confident, "I'm Alexandra Richards, from Princeton College?"
"Ah yes," he answered slowly, "The physics project girl."
Zandra laughed nervously. "Yes, I guess that's me," she answered.
"How is it coming along?"
"Very well, thank you. It's simply fascinating, Dr. Roberts, your work is really magnificent."
"Oh no," he chuckled self-consciously, "I just observe. But I hear you expanded on my theory of the universal hologram?"
"Actually yes," she answered, more timid. "My professor, Dr. Judd suggested that I speak with you, kind of mull over hypotheses…"
"What did you find? I'll be interested to hear about it."
Zandra took a second to answer. She was a little worried that he'd just laugh at her…
"Well, I was looking at the entropy values in quasars, like you suggested, and I found something a little off. At first I thought it was a problem with my calculations, but Dr. Judd agrees with me that it isn't."
"Well, what was it?"
Zandra was thoroughly afraid now. The moment of truth.
"Well, one of the constants of nature, it was a little off… like I said I thought it was wrong, but we could observe its affects as well, so we deducted it wasn't a mathematical error."
"Zandra,"
"Well, and I related it back to your idea of the universe as mutable, you might say, as…"
"Just information."
"Right." Zandra took a second before continuing again. Her breathing seemed off, probably because of her raging nerves.
"But anyways, the constant, it kept changing every now and then. When it did, the 'information', I guess, replayed itself for a second. It was just amazing to watch, Dr. Roberts, it actually repeated itself! Just for a moment."
"Zandra,"
"-But it happened quite often for a while." Zandra heard a noise in the background, thought that something was wrong with her phone. Lately it had been making a lot of clicking noises every time she called someone. She was about to get it fixed, but had forgotten about it before calling Dr. Roberts."What constant did you say it was, again?"
Zandra awoke to a slight nudging on her shoulder. She opened a tentative eye and saw Shade's shirt in front of her face. She made a noise, and he moved back into her field of view.
"Zandra," he whispered, "It's time to get up."
Zandra groaned and turned over. It was already morning?
"Oh, come on," he joked, pulling her back to the other side. She let herself be pulled, to go along with the joke. Shade stopped, and stooped to the ground.
"You have to wake up," he told her, a smile creeping across his bright face, "We're going in today."
Zandra groaned again, but this time pulled herself up in bed.
"That's the ticket," he told her softly.
"So we're going in?" she asked, pointing at herself and him. He nodded.
"Just us two," he answered, "Cover's gonna be our backup."
Zandra nodded.
"Do you know where we're going?" she asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes again. Shade laughed, recognizing her habit. Once she became confused at his jovial mood, he quit laughing.
"There are some ships convening at broadcast depth today, we might drop in there."
Zandra nodded again.
"But also, we can try this Renee-Chatoh thing if we can," he continued. "We'd just have to jack in twice for that."
Again Zandra nodded in comprehension.
"Up then," he suddenly told her, standing with energy. Zandra gave him a weary look, and slowly pulled herself to her feet.
"Can we eat before we go?"
Shade laughed again. "But of course."
They ate together, chatting happily while they did. It was a welcomed change for Zandra; it reminded her of many weeks ago, a time when she and Shade had been more than just shipmates, but bunkmates, as well. Her heart fell immediately. Stephen was the reason why happiness had become so suddenly hard to find. And here I am, she thought regretfully, just pretending nothing's happened… Shade stopped eating for a moment, concerned. Suddenly Zandra had become very quiet and didn't touch her food. In a few seconds she looked at him and blushed. Then they both began to eat again, but this time much quieter.
"Done?" he asked after a few more minutes. Zandra nodded, and Shade discarded both of their plates. Together they walked to the main deck to jack in.
"Hey," Kesia greeted them, with her usual smile. "Ready to go?"
They both nodded in unison. Kesia smiled again.
"They've all jacked in for the meeting," she told them as they reclined into their chairs, "But you should get there when it starts."
"How many people are meeting there?"
Kesia's eyes searched the room, as if looking for the answer.
"Eleven, I think," came her tentative answer. Zandra nodded in comprehension again, her neck beginning to ache. Long day ahead…
"Alright then," came Shade's voice, strapping his legs into his chair, "Let's get moving." Kesia quickly called out to Cover, who was nearby. He had his arms crossed as he approached the two, watching him intently.
"Be careful, you two," he told them. He then looked solely at Zandra, as if no one else could hear.
"Zandra, don't forget what you are. What you are capable of. You need to find information."
He raised his eyebrows at her, silently asking if she understood. Her blank expression told him that she had at least listened, and that was all he needed. He then stepped forward and strapped in Shade's arms, then moved to Zandra. Soon they were ready to go. All they waited for was the needle; their connection to the other world.
Zandra didn't wince as it went in. She didn't even care anymore. There were much more pressing things to worry about when uploading. All she saw was Kesia waving goodbye from her chair, and then everything went black again.
"Ready to head out?" Shade asked her. He stood only inches away from her, a look of excitement on his face.
"I think so," she answered, looking herself over. She smiled, and Shade gave her a look of curiosity.
"Holster," she answered, putting her ammunition in its rightful place. Suddenly the day was looking better already.
