Title: Love, War and Bruises
Chapter Two
Author: Stormhawk
Not wanting to go to school the next day Stevie called a cab and headed for the mall as soon as she was awake. She spent the rest of the day wandering around, buying anything that she wanted and generally trying not to think about the day before.
But she was resolved on moving out, she just wanted to find a nice place first, that didn't mean she had to move out straight away. She could keep away from Cray for a couple of days, and if got to be too much of a problem she did have her gun...
"Hey Brooke!" someone called out as she walked through the mall. Stevie turned and saw a trio of girls from her English class.
"Oh, hey," she said with a smile.
"So..." the one in the front, Angela, said. "You want to tell us what happened yesterday? And why you skipped today?"
"It's really not that..."
"Don't try and tell us that it's not important or not interesting," Rana said, "I think it's finally time you spilled all of your secrets."
"I don't have any secrets..."
"No secrets hey?" Lydia said with a smile, "then what's the deal with you and Cray?"
"We think of you as a friend," Rana said, "and friends don't keep secrets from each other."
"We were just about to get some lunch," Angela said, "you want to join us?"
"Ok, sure."
They went over to the food court and found a booth that was out of the way. "So..." Lydia started. "You and Cray..."
"There is no me and Cray," Stevie said as she shook her head. She was quietly jealous of the girls, as well as most of the other people her age, most of them wouldn't have to go through half of what she had been in her short years.
"Here's what we do know," Angela said. "You and he show up on the same day as new students, seemingly from nowhere, you don't talk about your old school or old friends, you live in the same house - a mansion I might add with an older guy and Cray's big sister. None of you have jobs and you still can afford a place like that. You have a lot of mysteries around you."
"Not to mention we have heard Cray call you 'Stevie' instead of Brooke."
"That's just a nickname, my middle name, what the 'S' stands for?"
"Oh, well that explains that at least. What about the rest of it?"
"There's a lot of things I can't tell you because..."
"Oh my god," Rana said as she slapped her hands over her mouth. "No way..."
The other three girls looked at her, "what is it Rana?" Lydia asked her.
Rana motioned for them to lean in close, "Brooke...I think I just worked you out."
Stevie smiled nervously, "you...did?"
"You're in the Witness Protection Program aren't you? You and Cray and the other two? That's it isn't it?"
Stevie smiled, well, in all honestly, it wasn't completely wrong. "Can I trust you guys?" They all nodded. "Yeah, Rana is right. We were all placed in the WPP. That's why I can't tell you everything."
"That's cool," Angela said.
"That is so coolies Brooke," Lydia said. "Rana I never would have thought of that."
"Brooke, we swear we will never give up your secret," Angela said with a smile. "But that doesn't explain why you hit Cray and skipped today."
"He was just being a jerk, and I needed a day to get away from him."
"Yeah," Angela said with a nod, "guys can be so stupid sometimes."
"Hey Brooke, since we're talking about secret stuff, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure Rana."
"Have you ever heard of something called the Matrix?"
Stevie's heart stopped as she stared at Rana. "The...the...Matrix?" she stuttered.
"Yeah, do you have any idea what it is?"
"Not really," Stevie lied, "why did you ask?"
"Cause I got this," Rana said as she pulled a piece of paper out of her bag. Stevie took it and looked at it, in jagged font it read "You need to wake up from the Matrix Rana-chan. Only then will your eyes stop lying to you. Meet me tonight above the moon and under the stars."
"Where did you get this?"
"I got it last night, I'm sure it's from Jeremy, he's the only person who ever called me Rana-chan. There are a couple of chat rooms I hang out in, and Jeremy introduced me to all of these hacker-types."
"Who is Jeremy?" Stevie asked, not recognizing him from school.
"He used to go to our school," Angela explained, "he was really cute, and Rana still has a thing for him."
"So what do you think this message means?"
"I have no idea, I fake a lot of my computer knowledge, I just ask my little brother to tell me stuff that sounds right and he taught me l33t."
Angela and Lydia rolled their eyes, "we told her to stay away from the computer types but she didn't listen to us. Some of them can be dangerous."
Stevie nodded her head, "yeah, some of them can be real dangerous. I suggest you just throw that piece of paper out and forget you ever saw it."
"I would, except that Jeremy is the only person I know online who would use that phrase, 'above the moon and under the stars'. So I want to know why he would invite me somewhere like this. They must have something to do with it."
"Who is 'they?'" Stevie questioned.
"Jeremy I mentioned is involved with a computer group. But I don't know much more than that."
Stevie knew what the message was but not what to say to her friend, she didn't know what she could say without giving everything away. But she did want to keep her friend out of danger. "Hey Rana, I know who might know."
"Yeah? Who?"
"The other guy in the mansion is a programmer, he spends hours online, he should know what this is all about. It could be some elaborate practical joke for all I know."
Rana smiled, "yeah Brooke, if he could tell me that would be great."
"Cool, you want to come over when we're finished here?"
"Yeah!"
"By the way, where is 'above the moon and under the stars'?"
"Half Moon Club, the dance floor is painted like a moon and the roof is dotted in stairs, it's where we had the tenth grade dance."
The four girls shopped around until it started to get late, and then Stevie and Rana got a cab back to the mansion.
Stevie ran up the stairs to Darth's attic and rapped on his door. "It's open," he called and she walked in. "Hey Stevie, what can I do for you?"
She closed the door, "one of my friends from school has been contacted by the rebels, I'm not sure why, she's not after the truth or anything, she got a message telling her to meet them tonight. What can we do?"
"I'm not sure. Why would they be contacting her if she's not after the truth?"
"As near as I can figure, a guy who used to go to my school is one of them. She's kept in contact with him over the net."
"And you don't want to tell her the truth."
"Of course I don't."
"I can understand that. So what do you want me to do?"
"Can you come up with some half-truth that will keep her away from them?"
"Shouldn't be too hard."
"Yeah, would you mind doing that?"
"No, I don't mind, just so long as I manage to get a straight answer out of one of you as to why you hit Cray."
"He hasn't told you?"
"Not a word."
"Fine, I'll tell you but you tell Rana about the evil cyber terrorists first."
"Ok, you want me to come downstairs?"
"Yeah, she may get scared away by the state of this room."
"Hey, it's kind of clean..." he muttered as he followed her downstairs.
"Rana, this is..." Stevie looked at him, unsure if he wanted her to use his real name or his alias.
"Hi, I'm Tyler," Darth said as he stuck out his hand.
"I'm Rana," she said with a smile. "Brooke says you might be able to help me."
"Sure, what's your problem?"
"Do you know what the Matrix is?"
"Yes," he said without batting an eye.
"Well, what is it?" Rana asked him, excited that someone finally knew the answer. And if it was something that could reunite her with her cute Jeremy then all the better. She wasn't looking for anything more than that.
"It's nothing more than a front."
"A front for what?" Rana asked in confusion.
"A cyber-terrorism cult that uses mind-controlling drugs to recruit new members."
"You're kidding right?" she asked him, looking for any sign that he was joking.
"No, I'm completely serious."
"But...Jeremy wouldn't be mixed up with something like that..."
"Believe me," Darth said, "a lot of people get sucked into it. But once they're a part of it, they aren't what they used to be."
"I don't believe you," Rana said, shaking her head. "Brooke, what kind of sick joke is this?"
"I'm not joking Rana, I wouldn't joke to you about this."
"I'm not joking either Rana," Darth said. "I've had friends who were mixed up in this as well."
"Yeah well," Rana said as she went out the door, "you've given me some things to think about."
Stevie looked over at Darth once she had shut the door, "you think she's going?"
"Yep, she's got rebel written all over her. R-E-B-E-L. But I seriously don't know how this guy convinced his captain to recruit someone like her."
"The rebels are weird..." she said as she gave him a wry look.
"Was that an insult?" Stevie replied with a grin, "your turn, what happened between you and Cray?"
Stevie pouted and sat down on the couch, "he said something that I can't forgive."
"Which was?"
"Nothing I want to talk about," she said as she sat down on the couch and picked up the remote for the big TV. She flipped a couple of channels until she found The Simpsons. Darth sighed and sat down as well.
They watched the entire show in silence and when the credits started she looked over at him, "ok, you want to know what's really going on?"
"Yes, please."
She opened her mouth to speak but stopped when the door opened, Cray walked in. She stared at him for a minute then ran upstairs. Cray shook his head and went to walk up to his room.
Darth shook his head and dragged him through to the kitchen. "You aren't leaving this room until you tell me what is going on."
"It's just a misunderstanding."
"I don't care if it's just a misunderstanding. Your face still hasn't healed, Stevie has been in a perpetual bad mood and is going to move out, and I haven't even seen your sister in at least twenty-four hours."
"Admittedly the last isn't quite so strange..."
"Don't change the subject Cray. We never had problems like this on the Exy."
"On the Exy we couldn't have problems. I mean seriously, what could we have come up with that was worse than living on a cold hovercraft that flies around sewers of a long-dead city while hunter-killer squiddies were on our tail every other day, while have to live on a diet of snot and water. Everything in our lives out there was about survival, that's all that mattered, everything else was secondary."
"We did have some good times."
"The good times stand out because they were little oasis's in the desert of a world we lived in. Here...our problems are a little different."
"What are you guys fighting about?"
"She thinks I said something but she didn't hear me right and she won't let me explain no matter what I try. I tried screaming through the door but she just opened it and threw a can of coke at me, I tried yelling it through the heating grill but she shut her end. I tried emailing her but she never responded. I tried calling her but she hung up, I have done everything but break her door down and stand there until she listens to me."
"So why don't you do that? We can get the door fixed."
"Cause she would shoot me, she's threatened to shoot me."
"Stevie has a gun?"
"Yeah. Her daddy gave it to her, and I really think she would shoot me."
"Do you want me to act as a messenger? I could wave a little white flag or something?"
"You know the whole 'don't shoot the messenger' thing?" Darth nodded, "well I don't think it applies when the one receiving the news is the pissed off offspring of the system up there."
"Offspring of the system...did you say something concerning her...origins? She's still not over turning into Jessica so she would hyper-sensitive if you said anything about that."
Cray shook his head, "I didn't say anything about her. It was nothing to do with her."
"About her dad?"
Cray sighed, "yeah. Nothing to do with her, all to do with him."
"You idiot."
"But! She never gave me a chance to explain what I said!"
"Come on Cray, remember how psycho Phoenix would go anytime someone would say something against the Exy? Or remember that time I had to lock you in a storage cupboard for half an hour to stop you from beating up a councilor's nephew after he said Ryder wasn't fit to be a captain..."
Cray grinned at the memory, "and then you formatted his ship's computer..."
"That was a decision we all came to."
"That cupboard smelt funny, like engine degreaser and snot."
Darth looked at him in desperation, "can you see the point I am desperately trying to make?"
"That people will go more rank when you say something against someone they love than when you say something against them?"
The programmer punched the air, "yes! He does understand! Praise the...praise the people who came up with broadband!"
"How much sleep did you get last night?"
"There was a Star Trek marathon on...and you're off topic again. Now put two and two together and don't come up with five."
"Are you telling me to sit quietly and think about what I've done?"
"Someone has to. God knows someone has to help you, I do want this ridiculously expensive house back to normal by tomorrow otherwise I am going to shave your blue head and spray paint it green."
"Why are you acting like this is all my fault? Stevie isn't the one with a scar on her face."
"That is just a cut, if you're lucky it won't scar. And I know two things. One, you have a habit of letting your mouth work faster than your brain - which does exist even if you don't exercise it as much as you should. Two - Stevie has had it much rougher than you and only reacts or overreacts when something really gets to her."
"We were out there a lot longer than her."
"At least you had us Cray. At least you weren't alone out there. And saying something against her father isn't the best thing you could do, she takes it very personally."
Cray scowled, "at least she has her father. Me and Niq can't ever see our family again."
"It would cause them a lot of pain if you saw them again, it's just easier to leave it the way it is. It's been years, they have closure."
"But we aren't dead. It's unfair to let them think we're dead."
"I know, but no one has ever had to think about this happening so we're treading new ground. How about I talk to the captain for you, to see if his 'no' is his final answer."
"Would you do that?"
"Yeah, if you can work out your problem with Stevie. If you can work out what you say is a simple misunderstanding then we can think about tackling something which takes a lot more explaining."
"My thanks Lord Vader."
"You're welcome," he said as Cray walked out of the kitchen.
Darth shook his head and pulled a carton of milk out of the fridge, "why the hell the world needs to be so complicated I have no idea," he said then drank straight from the carton.
"The rest of us drink out of that as well you know," Niq said as she walked into the kitchen.
"And where have you been?" Darth said as he dumped the milk back in the fridge.
"What are you? My minder?" Niq said as she shook her head and pulled a premixed vodka drink from the fridge.
"No, just your friend, your shipmate, your housemate, and the guy who was thinking about calling the cops to see if you were dead or not."
"Relax would you, it's not the end of the world, I was only gone a little while."
"It was more than a day and your cell wasn't even on."
"You're going to be gray before you're twenty-five. Stop trying to worry about everyone."
"Sorry, but this house seems to be full of problems at the moment."
"Yeah?" she asked as she sat on the bench and took a swig of her drink. "Like what?"
"Well your little brother has been fighting with Stevie and neither of them will talk voluntarily, I have a good idea what's going on but neither of them have bothered to share the exact details. They both skipped school today so I had to ring up and make some excuse about them being sick. Oh, and Cray may get a big scar on his face where Stevie decked him."
"Yeah, what else?"
"Where the hell do you go Niq? Where do you go and why do you go? You just leave, never tell anyone where you're going or when you'll come back or even if you'll come back. Your phone is hardly ever on and we do get worried about you."
Niq rolled her eyes, "it's called a social life, get one."
Darth pulled a donut out of a container on the bench and munched it thoughtfully as the sun went down. "Do you think I'm stressing too much?"
"What were you doing when you were their age?"
"Hacking, programming, attempting to get a date, then getting used to eating snot."
"They are balancing the knowledge of reality, hormones and high school. Cut them some slack and stop playing daddy. I think you should be more worried about getting a life then those two, they'll be fine in a couple of days."
Darth nodded then grabbed a soda and another donut, "so your turn. What is this social life of yours that's so much more interesting than hanging around this opulent mansion watching a really big TV?"
"Clubbing, attempting to find a real boyfriend instead of these losers I dump after a month or two, partying, and witchcraft."
"Witchcraft?" he asked with raised eyebrows.
"I have these two friends that are into wicca. They can do a couple of spells and it's really fun to be a part of."
"Real witchcraft?"
"Yeah," she said with a grin, "something about their 'spells' manipulate the Matrix in some way but they actually work."
"Well, that wasn't what I had expected."
"Well, that's the truth."
"Thanks for telling me. Now I think I need to go upstairs and see if they've killed each other yet."
"Didn't we just talk about you not worrying?"
"I'll stop worrying tomorrow, I promise."
"Hey Darth," Niq said as he went to walk out of the room.
"Yeah?"
"I've had a couple of boyfriends since we've been back in, you aren't...jealous or anything are you?"
"Huh? What are you talking about Niq?"
"I know it was a couple of years ago but...that night..."
Darth shook his head and then knocked it against the doorframe, "Niq how many times do I have to tell you that nothing happened?"
"It's nice that you say that but we're both adults ok? So you have no jealousy issues?"
"How could I be jealous when there was nothing between us?" He shook his head and then walked up the stairs.
He saw Cray standing outside of Stevie's door, "so?" he asked, "what's the update?"
"I have stood here calmly and said my piece. And so far she hasn't shot at me."
"That's good."
"But after waiting for five minutes...five minutes on my watch..." he added for emphasis, "I took the gamble and opened her door. She's gone."
"That's not so good."
"Should we be worried or you think she's just gone out?"
"I think she's gone to stop her friend from being recruited by the rebels. Her friend didn't buy our take as them being cyber-terrorists with mind- controlling drugs."
Cray walked into Stevie's bedroom and opened her cupboard, her gun was still hanging on the door. "Oh this is so not good. Rebels have guns and she doesn't. She's going to get herself killed and I never even..."
"She's not going to get killed and you never even what?"
"Apologized for this misunderstanding."
"Funny, I thought you were going to say something else," Darth said with a wry grin.
"Hello? Let's go find her. I'm going to call her cell."
"I'm going to hack into the school and find this friend's email address so I can see where this meeting is."
"Was this friend hot?"
"This is not the time for that."
"No, trust me, if there is a hot or cute chick in the school me or one of my friends has her email address already."
"Quite an efficient network," Darth said with a smile. "Her name was Rana."
"That's easy, considering the fact she has no alias. ?"
"It's a chat site, most of the girls in my classes get on there and chat. That's half the reason it's so easy to remember their email addresses."
"Ok, I'll hack her email, a sixteen-year-old girl's password shouldn't be too hard to find and you ring her cell phone."
Author: Stormhawk
Not wanting to go to school the next day Stevie called a cab and headed for the mall as soon as she was awake. She spent the rest of the day wandering around, buying anything that she wanted and generally trying not to think about the day before.
But she was resolved on moving out, she just wanted to find a nice place first, that didn't mean she had to move out straight away. She could keep away from Cray for a couple of days, and if got to be too much of a problem she did have her gun...
"Hey Brooke!" someone called out as she walked through the mall. Stevie turned and saw a trio of girls from her English class.
"Oh, hey," she said with a smile.
"So..." the one in the front, Angela, said. "You want to tell us what happened yesterday? And why you skipped today?"
"It's really not that..."
"Don't try and tell us that it's not important or not interesting," Rana said, "I think it's finally time you spilled all of your secrets."
"I don't have any secrets..."
"No secrets hey?" Lydia said with a smile, "then what's the deal with you and Cray?"
"We think of you as a friend," Rana said, "and friends don't keep secrets from each other."
"We were just about to get some lunch," Angela said, "you want to join us?"
"Ok, sure."
They went over to the food court and found a booth that was out of the way. "So..." Lydia started. "You and Cray..."
"There is no me and Cray," Stevie said as she shook her head. She was quietly jealous of the girls, as well as most of the other people her age, most of them wouldn't have to go through half of what she had been in her short years.
"Here's what we do know," Angela said. "You and he show up on the same day as new students, seemingly from nowhere, you don't talk about your old school or old friends, you live in the same house - a mansion I might add with an older guy and Cray's big sister. None of you have jobs and you still can afford a place like that. You have a lot of mysteries around you."
"Not to mention we have heard Cray call you 'Stevie' instead of Brooke."
"That's just a nickname, my middle name, what the 'S' stands for?"
"Oh, well that explains that at least. What about the rest of it?"
"There's a lot of things I can't tell you because..."
"Oh my god," Rana said as she slapped her hands over her mouth. "No way..."
The other three girls looked at her, "what is it Rana?" Lydia asked her.
Rana motioned for them to lean in close, "Brooke...I think I just worked you out."
Stevie smiled nervously, "you...did?"
"You're in the Witness Protection Program aren't you? You and Cray and the other two? That's it isn't it?"
Stevie smiled, well, in all honestly, it wasn't completely wrong. "Can I trust you guys?" They all nodded. "Yeah, Rana is right. We were all placed in the WPP. That's why I can't tell you everything."
"That's cool," Angela said.
"That is so coolies Brooke," Lydia said. "Rana I never would have thought of that."
"Brooke, we swear we will never give up your secret," Angela said with a smile. "But that doesn't explain why you hit Cray and skipped today."
"He was just being a jerk, and I needed a day to get away from him."
"Yeah," Angela said with a nod, "guys can be so stupid sometimes."
"Hey Brooke, since we're talking about secret stuff, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure Rana."
"Have you ever heard of something called the Matrix?"
Stevie's heart stopped as she stared at Rana. "The...the...Matrix?" she stuttered.
"Yeah, do you have any idea what it is?"
"Not really," Stevie lied, "why did you ask?"
"Cause I got this," Rana said as she pulled a piece of paper out of her bag. Stevie took it and looked at it, in jagged font it read "You need to wake up from the Matrix Rana-chan. Only then will your eyes stop lying to you. Meet me tonight above the moon and under the stars."
"Where did you get this?"
"I got it last night, I'm sure it's from Jeremy, he's the only person who ever called me Rana-chan. There are a couple of chat rooms I hang out in, and Jeremy introduced me to all of these hacker-types."
"Who is Jeremy?" Stevie asked, not recognizing him from school.
"He used to go to our school," Angela explained, "he was really cute, and Rana still has a thing for him."
"So what do you think this message means?"
"I have no idea, I fake a lot of my computer knowledge, I just ask my little brother to tell me stuff that sounds right and he taught me l33t."
Angela and Lydia rolled their eyes, "we told her to stay away from the computer types but she didn't listen to us. Some of them can be dangerous."
Stevie nodded her head, "yeah, some of them can be real dangerous. I suggest you just throw that piece of paper out and forget you ever saw it."
"I would, except that Jeremy is the only person I know online who would use that phrase, 'above the moon and under the stars'. So I want to know why he would invite me somewhere like this. They must have something to do with it."
"Who is 'they?'" Stevie questioned.
"Jeremy I mentioned is involved with a computer group. But I don't know much more than that."
Stevie knew what the message was but not what to say to her friend, she didn't know what she could say without giving everything away. But she did want to keep her friend out of danger. "Hey Rana, I know who might know."
"Yeah? Who?"
"The other guy in the mansion is a programmer, he spends hours online, he should know what this is all about. It could be some elaborate practical joke for all I know."
Rana smiled, "yeah Brooke, if he could tell me that would be great."
"Cool, you want to come over when we're finished here?"
"Yeah!"
"By the way, where is 'above the moon and under the stars'?"
"Half Moon Club, the dance floor is painted like a moon and the roof is dotted in stairs, it's where we had the tenth grade dance."
The four girls shopped around until it started to get late, and then Stevie and Rana got a cab back to the mansion.
Stevie ran up the stairs to Darth's attic and rapped on his door. "It's open," he called and she walked in. "Hey Stevie, what can I do for you?"
She closed the door, "one of my friends from school has been contacted by the rebels, I'm not sure why, she's not after the truth or anything, she got a message telling her to meet them tonight. What can we do?"
"I'm not sure. Why would they be contacting her if she's not after the truth?"
"As near as I can figure, a guy who used to go to my school is one of them. She's kept in contact with him over the net."
"And you don't want to tell her the truth."
"Of course I don't."
"I can understand that. So what do you want me to do?"
"Can you come up with some half-truth that will keep her away from them?"
"Shouldn't be too hard."
"Yeah, would you mind doing that?"
"No, I don't mind, just so long as I manage to get a straight answer out of one of you as to why you hit Cray."
"He hasn't told you?"
"Not a word."
"Fine, I'll tell you but you tell Rana about the evil cyber terrorists first."
"Ok, you want me to come downstairs?"
"Yeah, she may get scared away by the state of this room."
"Hey, it's kind of clean..." he muttered as he followed her downstairs.
"Rana, this is..." Stevie looked at him, unsure if he wanted her to use his real name or his alias.
"Hi, I'm Tyler," Darth said as he stuck out his hand.
"I'm Rana," she said with a smile. "Brooke says you might be able to help me."
"Sure, what's your problem?"
"Do you know what the Matrix is?"
"Yes," he said without batting an eye.
"Well, what is it?" Rana asked him, excited that someone finally knew the answer. And if it was something that could reunite her with her cute Jeremy then all the better. She wasn't looking for anything more than that.
"It's nothing more than a front."
"A front for what?" Rana asked in confusion.
"A cyber-terrorism cult that uses mind-controlling drugs to recruit new members."
"You're kidding right?" she asked him, looking for any sign that he was joking.
"No, I'm completely serious."
"But...Jeremy wouldn't be mixed up with something like that..."
"Believe me," Darth said, "a lot of people get sucked into it. But once they're a part of it, they aren't what they used to be."
"I don't believe you," Rana said, shaking her head. "Brooke, what kind of sick joke is this?"
"I'm not joking Rana, I wouldn't joke to you about this."
"I'm not joking either Rana," Darth said. "I've had friends who were mixed up in this as well."
"Yeah well," Rana said as she went out the door, "you've given me some things to think about."
Stevie looked over at Darth once she had shut the door, "you think she's going?"
"Yep, she's got rebel written all over her. R-E-B-E-L. But I seriously don't know how this guy convinced his captain to recruit someone like her."
"The rebels are weird..." she said as she gave him a wry look.
"Was that an insult?" Stevie replied with a grin, "your turn, what happened between you and Cray?"
Stevie pouted and sat down on the couch, "he said something that I can't forgive."
"Which was?"
"Nothing I want to talk about," she said as she sat down on the couch and picked up the remote for the big TV. She flipped a couple of channels until she found The Simpsons. Darth sighed and sat down as well.
They watched the entire show in silence and when the credits started she looked over at him, "ok, you want to know what's really going on?"
"Yes, please."
She opened her mouth to speak but stopped when the door opened, Cray walked in. She stared at him for a minute then ran upstairs. Cray shook his head and went to walk up to his room.
Darth shook his head and dragged him through to the kitchen. "You aren't leaving this room until you tell me what is going on."
"It's just a misunderstanding."
"I don't care if it's just a misunderstanding. Your face still hasn't healed, Stevie has been in a perpetual bad mood and is going to move out, and I haven't even seen your sister in at least twenty-four hours."
"Admittedly the last isn't quite so strange..."
"Don't change the subject Cray. We never had problems like this on the Exy."
"On the Exy we couldn't have problems. I mean seriously, what could we have come up with that was worse than living on a cold hovercraft that flies around sewers of a long-dead city while hunter-killer squiddies were on our tail every other day, while have to live on a diet of snot and water. Everything in our lives out there was about survival, that's all that mattered, everything else was secondary."
"We did have some good times."
"The good times stand out because they were little oasis's in the desert of a world we lived in. Here...our problems are a little different."
"What are you guys fighting about?"
"She thinks I said something but she didn't hear me right and she won't let me explain no matter what I try. I tried screaming through the door but she just opened it and threw a can of coke at me, I tried yelling it through the heating grill but she shut her end. I tried emailing her but she never responded. I tried calling her but she hung up, I have done everything but break her door down and stand there until she listens to me."
"So why don't you do that? We can get the door fixed."
"Cause she would shoot me, she's threatened to shoot me."
"Stevie has a gun?"
"Yeah. Her daddy gave it to her, and I really think she would shoot me."
"Do you want me to act as a messenger? I could wave a little white flag or something?"
"You know the whole 'don't shoot the messenger' thing?" Darth nodded, "well I don't think it applies when the one receiving the news is the pissed off offspring of the system up there."
"Offspring of the system...did you say something concerning her...origins? She's still not over turning into Jessica so she would hyper-sensitive if you said anything about that."
Cray shook his head, "I didn't say anything about her. It was nothing to do with her."
"About her dad?"
Cray sighed, "yeah. Nothing to do with her, all to do with him."
"You idiot."
"But! She never gave me a chance to explain what I said!"
"Come on Cray, remember how psycho Phoenix would go anytime someone would say something against the Exy? Or remember that time I had to lock you in a storage cupboard for half an hour to stop you from beating up a councilor's nephew after he said Ryder wasn't fit to be a captain..."
Cray grinned at the memory, "and then you formatted his ship's computer..."
"That was a decision we all came to."
"That cupboard smelt funny, like engine degreaser and snot."
Darth looked at him in desperation, "can you see the point I am desperately trying to make?"
"That people will go more rank when you say something against someone they love than when you say something against them?"
The programmer punched the air, "yes! He does understand! Praise the...praise the people who came up with broadband!"
"How much sleep did you get last night?"
"There was a Star Trek marathon on...and you're off topic again. Now put two and two together and don't come up with five."
"Are you telling me to sit quietly and think about what I've done?"
"Someone has to. God knows someone has to help you, I do want this ridiculously expensive house back to normal by tomorrow otherwise I am going to shave your blue head and spray paint it green."
"Why are you acting like this is all my fault? Stevie isn't the one with a scar on her face."
"That is just a cut, if you're lucky it won't scar. And I know two things. One, you have a habit of letting your mouth work faster than your brain - which does exist even if you don't exercise it as much as you should. Two - Stevie has had it much rougher than you and only reacts or overreacts when something really gets to her."
"We were out there a lot longer than her."
"At least you had us Cray. At least you weren't alone out there. And saying something against her father isn't the best thing you could do, she takes it very personally."
Cray scowled, "at least she has her father. Me and Niq can't ever see our family again."
"It would cause them a lot of pain if you saw them again, it's just easier to leave it the way it is. It's been years, they have closure."
"But we aren't dead. It's unfair to let them think we're dead."
"I know, but no one has ever had to think about this happening so we're treading new ground. How about I talk to the captain for you, to see if his 'no' is his final answer."
"Would you do that?"
"Yeah, if you can work out your problem with Stevie. If you can work out what you say is a simple misunderstanding then we can think about tackling something which takes a lot more explaining."
"My thanks Lord Vader."
"You're welcome," he said as Cray walked out of the kitchen.
Darth shook his head and pulled a carton of milk out of the fridge, "why the hell the world needs to be so complicated I have no idea," he said then drank straight from the carton.
"The rest of us drink out of that as well you know," Niq said as she walked into the kitchen.
"And where have you been?" Darth said as he dumped the milk back in the fridge.
"What are you? My minder?" Niq said as she shook her head and pulled a premixed vodka drink from the fridge.
"No, just your friend, your shipmate, your housemate, and the guy who was thinking about calling the cops to see if you were dead or not."
"Relax would you, it's not the end of the world, I was only gone a little while."
"It was more than a day and your cell wasn't even on."
"You're going to be gray before you're twenty-five. Stop trying to worry about everyone."
"Sorry, but this house seems to be full of problems at the moment."
"Yeah?" she asked as she sat on the bench and took a swig of her drink. "Like what?"
"Well your little brother has been fighting with Stevie and neither of them will talk voluntarily, I have a good idea what's going on but neither of them have bothered to share the exact details. They both skipped school today so I had to ring up and make some excuse about them being sick. Oh, and Cray may get a big scar on his face where Stevie decked him."
"Yeah, what else?"
"Where the hell do you go Niq? Where do you go and why do you go? You just leave, never tell anyone where you're going or when you'll come back or even if you'll come back. Your phone is hardly ever on and we do get worried about you."
Niq rolled her eyes, "it's called a social life, get one."
Darth pulled a donut out of a container on the bench and munched it thoughtfully as the sun went down. "Do you think I'm stressing too much?"
"What were you doing when you were their age?"
"Hacking, programming, attempting to get a date, then getting used to eating snot."
"They are balancing the knowledge of reality, hormones and high school. Cut them some slack and stop playing daddy. I think you should be more worried about getting a life then those two, they'll be fine in a couple of days."
Darth nodded then grabbed a soda and another donut, "so your turn. What is this social life of yours that's so much more interesting than hanging around this opulent mansion watching a really big TV?"
"Clubbing, attempting to find a real boyfriend instead of these losers I dump after a month or two, partying, and witchcraft."
"Witchcraft?" he asked with raised eyebrows.
"I have these two friends that are into wicca. They can do a couple of spells and it's really fun to be a part of."
"Real witchcraft?"
"Yeah," she said with a grin, "something about their 'spells' manipulate the Matrix in some way but they actually work."
"Well, that wasn't what I had expected."
"Well, that's the truth."
"Thanks for telling me. Now I think I need to go upstairs and see if they've killed each other yet."
"Didn't we just talk about you not worrying?"
"I'll stop worrying tomorrow, I promise."
"Hey Darth," Niq said as he went to walk out of the room.
"Yeah?"
"I've had a couple of boyfriends since we've been back in, you aren't...jealous or anything are you?"
"Huh? What are you talking about Niq?"
"I know it was a couple of years ago but...that night..."
Darth shook his head and then knocked it against the doorframe, "Niq how many times do I have to tell you that nothing happened?"
"It's nice that you say that but we're both adults ok? So you have no jealousy issues?"
"How could I be jealous when there was nothing between us?" He shook his head and then walked up the stairs.
He saw Cray standing outside of Stevie's door, "so?" he asked, "what's the update?"
"I have stood here calmly and said my piece. And so far she hasn't shot at me."
"That's good."
"But after waiting for five minutes...five minutes on my watch..." he added for emphasis, "I took the gamble and opened her door. She's gone."
"That's not so good."
"Should we be worried or you think she's just gone out?"
"I think she's gone to stop her friend from being recruited by the rebels. Her friend didn't buy our take as them being cyber-terrorists with mind- controlling drugs."
Cray walked into Stevie's bedroom and opened her cupboard, her gun was still hanging on the door. "Oh this is so not good. Rebels have guns and she doesn't. She's going to get herself killed and I never even..."
"She's not going to get killed and you never even what?"
"Apologized for this misunderstanding."
"Funny, I thought you were going to say something else," Darth said with a wry grin.
"Hello? Let's go find her. I'm going to call her cell."
"I'm going to hack into the school and find this friend's email address so I can see where this meeting is."
"Was this friend hot?"
"This is not the time for that."
"No, trust me, if there is a hot or cute chick in the school me or one of my friends has her email address already."
"Quite an efficient network," Darth said with a smile. "Her name was Rana."
"That's easy, considering the fact she has no alias. ?"
"It's a chat site, most of the girls in my classes get on there and chat. That's half the reason it's so easy to remember their email addresses."
"Ok, I'll hack her email, a sixteen-year-old girl's password shouldn't be too hard to find and you ring her cell phone."