Fate of Frailty Chapter 11
By Karen Hart
"Here you go, girls." The waitress's voice interrupted their thoughts, and the two sisters looked up to see Mayumi holding a large tray with their orders. The woman smiled as she set their orders on the table, warning them to be careful of the hot plates. "Will that be all?" The girls nodded and she departed, likely for another table.
There were a few minutes of silence as the girls dug into their meals, the scrape and clank of utensils against ceramic the only sound at their booth. A few minutes later Mary looked up from her pasta. "Hey, Shelley…?"
The lavender-haired girl looked up from her tuna melt. "Hm?"
"Do you think," Mary began slowly, "do you think Rubedo likes being Rubedo?"
Shelley blinked at that, and set her sandwich down. "What do you mean?"
Mary considered her response for a moment. "Well, I just thought that sometimes he's got this…trapped look to him. Like he's caged or something, I don't know. It's just something that occurred to me." She shrugged and dug back into her meal.
It was Shelley's turn to become quiet, though her moment lasted longer as she mulled over her sister's words. She realized that it was true; Rubedo was acting "caged", as Mary had put it. She nodded. "You're probably right." She leaned forward, her voice dropping slightly. "But what do you think it is that's making him feel that way?"
Another bite of the pasta. "Well, first, I think he's sort of jealous of Gaignun." Shelley nodded for Mary to continue. "Gaignun's grown up. He goes out. He's in the…what's that word again? Public. Rubedo's kind of sheltered, I guess. Not many people know about him. He's stuck with his appearance, which makes him different. I figure, maybe he just wants something to be different." Mary exhaled and attacked her food yet again.
Silence reigned once again as the girls pondered over the subject of their conversation.
---
Gaignun leaned against the back of the plush couch and stared expressionlessly at Helmer's image in his new Connection Gear screen. He broke the non-expression by arching an eyebrow. The rather unsettled look on the Representative's face was enough to rattle him internally. "Is something the matter?"
"I have some bad news, Gaignun."
Gaignun took a moment to steel himself against whatever Helmer might have had to tell him. "All right, lay it on me."
"It seems there's been a rise in the U-TIC Organization's activity. So far, it's nothing major, but—"
"—but if it's allowed to continue, we don't know how far it'll escalate or how far they'll try to spread their influence," Gaignun concluded.
Helmer nodded. "That's about it."
"And with the Foundation undergoing changes, U-TIC's got less opposition," Gaignun noted thoughtfully. He was quiet for a short while, considering possible options. "This place—it was originally used as a supply area for government and military vessels, correct? How did that work? Doesn't seem that just keeping someone supplied would keep U-TIC at bay."
"Well," Helmer started, drawing the word out, "there were specific groups that were hired off the record to deal with U-TIC Organization. Publicly they were supposed to halt post-war crimes, but they needed to have resources made available to them. Thus, the Foundation."
Gaignun nodded slowly. "I see. I don't remember seeing any in the construction schematics, but are there weapons built into this place?"
"Of course. It wouldn't do to leave the Foundation defenseless. But why?"
"I just have a half-formed idea in the back of my head. It'll take a while to turn it into something coherent, though. I'll let you kn—" Gaignun broke off the comment as he heard the door's mechanism working, and turned his head to watch Rubedo enter the hotel suite.
The redhead strode into the room at a fast clip and threw himself with characteristic energy onto the couch. "God damn I love this place!" he enthused, as he hurriedly freed a small, rectangular object from it's brown paper wrapping. As Gaignun had half expected, it was a paperback book, slightly tattered, but in good condition nevertheless, with the title Into the Out Of on its cover.
Gaignun smirked at his sibling's antics. "Good to see you back," he commented dryly.
Rubedo blinked and pulled himself away from the book, turning to Gaignun with a confused expression. "What are—oh." He caught sight of Helmer on the screen. "Hey, what's up? From the look on your face, this doesn't look entirely like you were paying Gaignun a social call."
"Perceptive," Helmer replied. "I was telling Gaignun about some possible U-TIC problems." He repeated them for Rubedo's benefit, adding "I'd like to find away to nip this in the bud before things get out of hand."
The book sat forgotten in Rubedo's lap as he too thought over the situation. "Looks like the Foundation's got to work a bit on its defense systems, now."
Helmer nodded. "That's about what we've reached, so far."
---
Dessert arrived not longer after Mary and Shelley had finished their dinners: two small but highly anticipated sundaes. Again there was quiet at the booth, the two girls working to make dents in the sweet concoctions. A moment later Mary twitched slightly, and began to giggle softly. It eventually became something approaching a full blown laugh.
Shelley looked at her sister with confusion. "What's so funny?"
Mary took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. "You were in a different aisle, I think, but remember that store we went to? The one with the really neat displays?" Shelley nodded. "Well, it's just that thinking of Rubedo make me remember something." Mary fell prey to another giggling fit, but tried to continue despite it. "Well, I was standing behind Rubedo and Gaignun when this lady asks Rubedo to move out of her way. So he does, and she tells Gaignun—" a pause for breath "—to keep on eye on his kid."
Shelley joined in the laughter. "Gaignun would've only been around six if Rubedo really was—"
Suddenly both of them stopped laughing, their expressions mirrored as they realized the solution to their problem.
"That's it, isn't it?" Shelley asked, knowing the answer.
Mary nodded. "Yes. Yes it is."