Stranger King (4 page)

Chapter Six

Lena woke
as the sun was rising over the city. She went to the window, naked and pink. Her eyes adjusted, the artificial irises narrowing.

Kozol stirred and she ignored him, going over to the kitchenette to pour herself a cup of coffee. She drank slowly, her body adjusting to the heat. He had risen, walking over to her, his body barely covered by his underclothes.

He kissed her on the cheek as if it was an afterthought.

“Planning on getting dressed?” he murmured into her ear.

“Not for a while yet,” Lena replied sleepily.

“Lucky me.”

Lena leaned into the kiss, letting his hand cup her cheek. She knew this was meant for her benefit, the romance that all men thought women needed. She knew he wasn’t falling for her and that greatly comforted her. After months of skirting around it, falling into bed with her boss had seemed a pleasant compromise. These two weeks had been enjoyable, but she worried he felt she was looking for more.

She was about to mention this when the vid-screen came on with an incoming message alert. Kozol went to the living room and took it, a face Lena didn’t recognize coming into view.

She decided to take a shower while Kozol dealt with the early morning intruder.

Lena coded in what temperature she wanted and she entered the pod. It reminded her in Mandarin of its scheduled maintenance date and she pushed a button, acknowledging that she had received the message.

She dressed in her interior clothes quickly and came back into the living room, hearing Kozol arguing with the stranger on the screen.

“Listen, I don’t send out my people on suicide missions. You want it done, ask the Americans. They don’t seem to give a shit. Now stop wasting my time.”

The screen faded and Kozol drank his coffee.

“Don’t worry about that,” he said, waving it off. “Just some piece of filth that thinks you’re worth burning up.”

“Nice to know you actually care about your employees.”

“Listen, I take care of my people. You all have food, water, clothing, a roof over your heads, and good, decent health care.”

“I wasn’t complaining. I’m just curious how bad it must have been for you to turn it down.”

“I only take what I know you can handle. This … this wasn’t something it was possible for you to do and survive. Don’t give me that look, that’s the end of the conversation.”

He glanced at her as she nodded and walked past him.

“I’ve got to get to the barracks,” she said. “Your own rules dictate I have to check in there before any shift.”

Kozol frowned. “Safety protocol is safety protocol. Go on then. Will I see you again tonight?”

“Couldn’t you use a night off from me?”

“No,” Kozol admitted, “I enjoy having you around.”

“Look, Daniel,” Lena said quietly. “We have to talk.”

Kozol barked out a laugh, “Nothing like that. After my husband died … it’s been lonely. It’s nice to just have someone to wake up to in the morning. You’re beautiful, yes, but I enjoy having a friend at home again. Everything else is just a bonus.”

“Oh,” Lena replied, her face softening. “How … was it recent?”

Kozol shook his head. “Well, to me it feels recent. It’s been five years. It was quick. Had a puncture in his heart we never knew about. One day, it just stopped. I didn’t know until the next day, I was out of town … you don’t want to hear about this.”

“You wanted a friend, here I am.”

“I also wanted sex, I’m not going to lie about that.”

“It was nothing I didn’t want.”

Kozol made a face and then continued, “The point is, I like having you around. So stay around if you want to. You have nothing to fear from me. It’s good to have a friend at home. A particularly attractive friend.”

“I think I can handle that,” she replied, softly, but smiling, “but I still do need to go. I’ll give you a shout later today. Alright?”

She left without kissing him.

*

Lena tried to sneak out of the turbo pod quietly, only to run into Stiar drinking her morning coffee at the counter. Stiar looked up at her and smirked. Lena went bright red.

“It’s not what you think,” Lena insisted.

“How long have you been sleeping with him?” Stiar asked, amused.

Lena tried to protest, but Stiar merely raised her eyebrow.

“Only a few days,” Lena said finally. “It’s nothing serious.”

“I’m just surprised,” Stiar admitted. “Don’t get me wrong, he used to sleep with everyone. And I mean everyone. It was becoming a dramatic vid around here. Then when Eric died, he just sort of stopped. Seems like the wrong time to get monogamous, but grief does weird things to people. Maybe he felt guilty, I don’t know.”

“He was cheating on him?” Lena asked.

“I think Eric more looked the other way. Grief does weird things, but love is even worse. I miss Eric. He was a good guy.”

“Do you have a problem with me sleeping with Kozol?”

“God no. Who do we meet when we get off shift? Take your kicks where you can get them. Just let me know if you need to know where the daytime sex health clinics are. Goodness knows you’ll need one with him.”

Lena paused, seeing Stiar’s grimace before going back to her coffee.

She asked, “Are you … jealous?”

Stiar laughed, “God no, you’re welcome to the man.”

“I meant—”

The two glanced at each other, blushing before looking away. Lena cleared her throat and picked up the dossier on her table.

“Strange,” Lena commented. “In all of this, they want to have a music festival? In the middle of the day?”

“It ends just before noon. Some rich teenagers being stupid and drunk in public. I think it might be good for them. It’s been uneasy since the Americans arrived. There’s been a lot of kids getting into trouble. It might be good for them to unwind for a while.”

“And they need three of us for this?”

“The host requested Kozol himself, in fact. He holds the safety of his participants near and dear to his heart. I think it’s just to impress the American guests, show we too can have some backbone. It’s in a few weeks still; it’ll take that long just to figure out the logistics. It could be fun though.”

“You want to go?”

Stiar smiled. “I could be convinced.”

Lena felt her wrist pad hum as it announced an incoming vid-com message. She sent the message to the room’s vid-screen, sitting down as her father’s worried face appeared. Stiar nodded and left the room for the women’s quarters.

“Hi Dad,” Lena said cautiously. “How have you been?”

“You never got back to me. I waited for two weeks. I thought you might have been dead, killed. No one would get in touch with me. Do they even know to tell me if you’re dead or dying? Do any of them care?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to wake you.”

“You’re my child. You are always allowed to wake me.”

“I’m sorry, Dad.”

Her father sighed, his hand running through his graying hair, “This isn’t why I called. I wanted to say that I’m sorry. Everything I said before you left… I love you, girl. I always will. I know you will do great things with your life. I’m sorry I wasn’t more supportive. If this is what you want, then this is what I want.”

Lena felt tears coming to her eyes. “I love you, Dad.”

“I love you too. I know you probably have to go. Just call me when you have the chance. Day or night. I miss you.”

“I miss you too.”

“Are you happy?”

Lena admitted softly, “I’m trying, Dad.”

“Then that’s all I can ask. Be well, Lena.”

The screen turned to black.

Stiar walked back to Lena’s side and she glanced up at her friend. Stiar sat down beside her and asked, “You alright?”

“I will be,” Lena smiled sadly. “What woman these days doesn’t have daddy issues of some kind or another?”

“The ones with two mothers.”

Lena laughed and Stiar gave her an affectionate punch in the shoulder.

“Come on,” Stiar said. “It’s time for our workout. Now I tell you, I’m going to wipe the floor with you this time.”

“Shut up.”

*

“Just fifteen more minutes,” Kozol called out, glancing at his wrist screen. “Get your asses in gear. Go, go, go.”

Lena grumbled as she picked up her speed on the treadmill. She drank from her bottle and glanced at Martin easily jogging as the tread started to go faster. Lena had never been a sprinter. She was told that this was necessary, but like French so many years before, she was almost entirely sure she never would have to use these forced skills.

The power cut out and she lost her footing in surprise. Lena was thrown against the wall and landed painfully on her side. She looked up at the others, seeing Calvin stand as the vid-screen flickered on. A garbled voice came through, shouting an incoherent message that clicked and shrilled. Lena covered her ears as the high-pitched whine went through her body.

The flash of an exo-suited figure flickered on and off. The message looped twice and then ended. They all looked at each other for answers as the power came back on.

“Practice is over,” Kozol said, “Get back to the barracks. Staff meeting at 14:00. Go.”

Chapter Seven

The six
of them sat in front of the vid-screen watching the message over and over as the local news and government tried to dissect the meaning. It gradually grew less hard on the ears, and Lena was finding it much easier to listen to after a few hours. She thought she might even be able to recognize some of the sounds.

They had shared their own theories at first, their own speculations, but all had grown quiet. Lena thought of Haida Gwaii and the delusional man promising that a conspiracy was brewing. For the first time, she questioned her judgment of the situation.

Kozol came into the room and turned the vid-screen off.

“Stop watching this garbage,” he ordered. “We are continuing our schedule this week as planned. Assignments have not changed.”

“Daniel,” Calvin insisted, “we may be at war soon. We need to get home to our families. We don’t even know what this is. We should have taken this more seriously when the girls came back from the islands. We need to actually—”

“Calvin,” Kozol reprimanded, “It’s just a garbled message, probably from another colony that’s been out there so long they don’t know how language works anymore. We’ve been living in space for decades. If there were other critters out there wanting to eat us or sell us for scrap, we would have run into them by now. This is not the time for hysterics. The masses are going to be panicked and our service prices are going to skyrocket. This is a time for opportunity.”

The rest looked at each other uneasily as Calvin refused to move his gaze from Kozol.

“Maybe,” Calvin said slowly, “Just maybe, you can think of us as more than hirelings you throw into danger to fill your pockets. Or would that be too much for that little ego of yours to handle?”

Kozol froze and then growled, “You want to go see your family? Fine. You’re fired. Get out of here. You will pay your termination of contract fee at the front desk. Then I don’t want to see you here again. Do you understand?”

“Understood,” Calvin said, grabbing his coat. He slammed the door to the men’s barracks as he left.

Kozol closed his eyes as if in pain. When he opened them again only anger remained. “Anyone else want to question me?”

Lena was tempted for a short moment and then imagined what she would say to her father when she showed up at his doorstep. That was enough to scare her into staying.

“Good. Get into your gear and get back into the training room.”

*

Lena was brushing her teeth when Delia called her into the living room. She heard the tail end of the speech; saw the reporters’ hands recording video as the Canadian Prime Minister walked off the stage.

“What happened?” Lena asked, toothbrush hanging from her lips.

Stiar replied in a quiet voice, “The Canadian Prime Minister is stepping down. Apparently an American general deployed here is being sworn in as acting Prime Minister until parliament can be resumed.”

“When will that be?”

“It’s been prorogued, and the Governor General has apparently fled to England, so who the hell knows.”

“What does this mean?”

Martin said softly, “It means that it doesn’t matter if we do have little green men invade in the next few days. We’re under American control again.”

They watched the screen quietly for a few minutes, Derek suppressing tears.

“I know you must all want to talk to your families,” Lena said quietly, “but I need to talk to my dad right now.”

*

“I’ve never seen so many soldiers,” Stiar said, as the vehicle slowed at the Coquitlam border checkpoint. They were on their way to the concert venue, an extravagant forest locale north of Mission, and before they’d even reached the Metro city limits they’d passed half a dozen American patrols.

“Quiet, let me handle this,” Kozol said, leaning out the side of the transport. He brought out his collection of papers, the spotlight harshly illuminating his face.

“I can’t believe they still want to go through all of this,” Lena whispered.

“The Americans want to show that everything is normal. I’m surprised that they still let us operate as security.”

“I don’t think there’s many Daywalkers in the American forces, maybe they think we’ll actually be of some use.”

“Quiet,” Kozol turned back and hissed at them, “Do you want to get detained? Lena, get me your birth certificate. They’re worried you weren’t born here.”

Lena froze, “I don’t have one. I was adopted, it got lost during the process.”

“Shit,” Kozol swore and responded to the officer, “Yeah, yeah, we’ll come in. I tell you though, there’s nothing exciting here.”

*

Lena was dragged into the questioning room, thrown into a metal chair. She winced as the light shone into her eyes.

“She’s obviously a Daywalker. Look at the artificial lenses, who else could afford something like that? All the other paperwork is fine. So she doesn’t have a birth certificate? I’m sure a lot of us are missing them after the Independence wars,” Kozol insisted.

He stood in the back of the room nervously as the guard returned to Lena, lowering his visor as he examined her closely.

“Where were you born?”

“I don’t know.”

“Are you a Canadian citizen?”

“Yes.”

“How do you qualify if you cannot prove where you were born?”

“I’m adopted. My father is a Canadian citizen. By the laws of your country and mine, I am granted the same amnesty as he is. It does not matter where I was born , I am a Canadian citizen and you have no right to hold me this way.”

Lena did not move as the slap hit her face. She felt the burn and she stared up defiantly, “I am a Canadian.”

“I’ve looked up your file, Greenwood,” the officer said. “The closest we have to a birth certificate is your father registering the adoption. We have new orders, given to us from the president herself, that any citizens born within American borders are Americans and are to be brought off Canadian soil and back to the homeland. In this time of threat, we want to keep our citizens safe and protected.”

Lena paused and looked at Kozol as he was handed the documentation.

“This is real, Lena,” Kozol said quietly.

He looked over and addressed the officer, “As her employer, I must hold her to her contract. She still owes me over a year and a half of service that must be provided here. I will vouch for her citizenship.”

“If she is proven to be American, you would risk perjury?”

“Yes,” Kozol said, his eyes meeting hers.

“So be it,” the officer replied. “I will arrange for the hearing. She is allowed to leave for now, but she will be given a tracker until she is acquitted.”

He hit a button and a man came into the room, a large syringe in his hand. Lena froze as he kneeled by her, pressing the needle into her shoulder and pumping the fluid in. She groaned as the sensors settled into her muscle.

“You are free to go, citizen,” the officer said, as Kozol helped Lena to her feet. They walked back to the transport, Lena resting slightly against Kozol.

“What the hell is going on?” Kozol hissed to her.

“I honestly don’t know,” Lena lied, rubbing her shoulder.

*

Lena woke when they arrived at the campground. They showed their passes and made their way through the metal shelters with darkly tinted windows. They were led to the last one on the edge of the grounds where they set out their gear.

Kozol went out to talk to the organizers and phone the lawyer. Stiar sat down beside Lena, who lay down on her cot.

“I’ve seen your birth certificate,” Stiar said quietly, “I saw it when I was hiring you. So why don’t you tell me what the hell is actually going on?”

“It’s a fake.”

Stiar looked concerned as Lena sat up. “The truth is, I know where I was born. I was born in Toronto a few weeks after the borders were drawn up. My parents were both Canadians trying to immigrate to British Columbia. They lied, said I was older than I was, trying to get me under the cut. I’m not 26. I’m 25. It worked for years. But now … what was I supposed to say? It was obviously a forgery. I couldn’t just give it to the guards, I couldn’t just tell them the truth. I panicked. When I found out about the occupation, I called my dad. He’s trying to get me real documents, but I don’t know how long it will be until all the bribes go through. Especially with everything on hold right now.”

“But your birth parents are Canadian…”

“The Americans don’t care. They’re going to see I was born in annexed Canada well after the borders were settled. According to them, I am one of them. I don’t have any proof in my favor.”

“So you’re just giving up then?”

“No,” Lena said quietly, “I’m accepting. When we get back, I’m going to tell my dad, and then I’m going up north. I may get away for a few years, long enough for parliament to begin again. I just have to figure out how to dismantle this stupid tracker. But I’m not going back with them.”

“Would it be so bad?”

“Would you go with them?”

Stiar said quietly, “No.”

“Then don’t expect me to.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I trust you and you gave me a chance. You believed in me. You’ve been a good friend, Stiar. You deserve to know the truth.”

“I won’t tell them until you’re gone.”

“Thank you.”

Stiar hesitated before touching her hand softly. They glanced at each other and Stiar smiled.

“You look me up when this is all over, kid,” Stiar said quietly.

Lena squeezed her hand, “I promise.”