Strangers and Shadows (24 page)

Jack was worried for the man, and worried for Celia too.  He wasn’t sure what there was between him and Celia or if it was going anywhere, but now, in this moment, he knew that he cared for her.  He wouldn’t go so far as to call it love, but he knew it was something very close to it.

Desmond looked over at Jack.  “Thanks for your concern, Jack.  But I’ll be fine, and I’m sure she will too.  And don’t worry, I won’t tell her about those
growing
feelings of yours.”  Desmond managed a small smile
. 
“Even though she probably already knows.”

Jack could feel the blood rushing to his cheeks.  “I was doing it again, wasn’t I?”

“Don’t worry about it.  It takes some time to learn to completely shield your thoughts from being telegraphed to everyone around who can hear them.  Especially when they are as emotionally charged as yours.”

Jack went through his dam routine and mentally raised his thought shield again.  “There,” he said. 
“That should be quieter.”  Jack didn’t think Desmond would take him up on the offer, but he extended it anyway.  “I’m going to take the young pup out to get a bite to eat, do you wanna join us?”

“Thanks, but I’m going to stay here and keep an eye on her.  Make sure nothing changes.”

“Alright, let me know if you need anything while we’re out.”

Desmond nodded and Jack took that as his cue to leave, the conversation over.  

On his way back to Asher, Jack wasn’t sure how he was supposed to feel anymore.  First he’d lost Kid, then Celia, and now Celia was back, but something was wrong with her.  Did he ruin everything he touched?

Asher was waiting right where Jack had left him.  Jack had the feeling he could tell this kid just about anything and he would believe him.  Not that Jack would, but sometimes he couldn’t resist fucking with people.  Especially when they were practically asking for it.

“How you holding up, Ash?” Jack asked, leaning in the doorway.

“Not too bad, I suppose.  With the world as I know it changing every few days, I guess it’s just a matter of time before it all catches up to me.”

“I hear ya.  I’m still trying to get my head wrapped around this place, and the world I come from is light years ahead of yours,” Jack said.  “Come on, let’s go get something to eat.  You’ve gotta be starving.”

It
had
been a while since Asher’s last meal. 

“Lead the way.”  Asher got up and followed Jack.

Jack led him down to the cafe where Desmond had taken him for breakfast on his first day in the Sixth.  They ordered their food and sat back enjoying their drinks while they waited.  It was pleasant outside, warm, and the sky was dotted with clouds.

The food arrived and they made small talk while they ate.  Jack explained how he had had to learn to shield his mind, so the surrounding people didn’t hear his every thought.  

“It’s as much for
their
benefit as it is for mine.”

“Why didn’t
I
have to learn this when I got here?” Asher asked.

“
Desmond
said that your thoughts were already shielded.  In fact, he said that was why he was so suspicious of you at first.  It took him a few days to find a way past it so he could see that you were telling the truth about your story.”

“How would my thoughts be shielded already?  I haven’t been trained in anything like that.”

“Desmond
thought it
was probably a characteristic that all humans in your
v
erse shared.  And it was most likely because of this trait, and possibly others, that the White lady wanted you and your girlfriend to get Kid for her.”

“She’s not my girlfriend!”

Jack raised his hands defensively. 
“Alright, take it easy
, kid
.  I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Asher calmed quickly
. 
“It’s not your fault.  I’m sorry.  I overreacted.  Guess I’m more angry and upset about it than I realized.”

“No worries, buddy.  I’ve been screwed over by women with the best of them.”

Returning back to the conversation, Asher asked, “So there’s something different about the people from my verse?”

“Something like that, Desmond wasn’t too sure about exactly what causes it.  He thought it
had to do with
something physical since he couldn’t find any nanites in you.”

“How would there be nanites in me?” Asher wondered.
 
“My people are primitive compared to this world, or
any
world that I’ve been to for that matter.”

“What’s it like in your world?” Jack asked, his curiosity peaked.

Asher shifted around in his chair and then answered, “It’s... I don’t know, different.  Women are in charge of everything.  The best life most men can hope for is to be chosen for breeding.  The rest are used as workers.”

“Slaves, you mean.”

Asher stopped, considering Jack’s statement, and concluded that, “Yes, I believe slave might be a better word for it.  Don’t get me wrong, they aren’t mistreated or beaten or abused or anything like that, but they aren’t exactly free to come and go as they please either.”

“Seems kinda crazy to me, but, hey, to each their own, I guess,” Jack said.
 
“If you don’t mind my asking, how did you come to hook up with that princess broad?”

“Believe it or not, I’ve been wondering the same thing ever since I left her.”  Asher stared off, trying to recall his memories, but fearing what they might bring
.
 
“I mean, we met because my father was one of the only men who held any sort of social standing in the
q
ueen’s court, and he groomed me to follow him.  I guess the
q
ueen had a soft spot for him.  Me and Ava...  We just kinda happened one day.”

Jack nodded, saying nothing, waiting for Asher to go on.

“Looking at it now, I think I was just another plaything for her.  Just another toy, but
one that
could move and think and talk.  She said we were in love, but I guess we all have different ideas about what love is, don’t we?”

“You can say that again
,
” Jack sympathized.  “My first marriage was a perfect example of that.”

Grateful for the diversion from his memories, Asher asked Jack about it.

“We were young,” Jack said.  “I had just completed my mandatory service in the military on my world.  I was twenty, she was eighteen.  Her name was Mathilda,”  Jack laughed. “That was her given name anyway.  

“She hated it.  Wouldn’t let anybody call her by it, not even me.  She went by Medda.  Said it was what her parents called her after she learned to talk.  I guess one day they were trying to teach her to say Mathilda, but all she could manage was Medda.  Funny how some names stick…  God, I haven’t thought about her in years,” Jack said, stopping.

“No, go on, I want to know what happened,” Asher prodded.

Jack continued, “Well, like I said, I’d just gotten done with my mandatory, and she was about to start hers
,
when we fell in love
—o
r something we thought was love anyway…  We ran off an
d
got married in a private ceremony.  Didn’t even tell our folks.” He laughed
. 
“It wasn’t
un
til my
second
marriage that my mom even knew there was a first one.”

“How many times have you been married?” Asher asked.

“Plenty.  Or as my dad
used to joke
,
o
nce too many
.”  

“So what happened?”

“I still don’t really know to be honest.  We spent three perfect months together.  Still the best time of my life, I’d have to say.  Then she shipped out.  I got a job in construction and waited for her to get through with basic training.

“It was only six months, but when she got back, she had changed.  Maybe it’s something all girls go through at that age, I don’t know.  But she told me she didn’t want to be married anymore, she wasn’t in love.  I fought her on it.  There was no way she could tell me that she didn’t still have feelings for me.

“She said she did,
that
she would always love me, but she couldn’t be with me anymore.  Still to this day, I wonder if that was the biggest bullshit lie, or the most
grown up thing
I’ve ever heard a person utter.  It took me three years before I could say that same thing about her.  By that time I was back in the military and halfway through my second marriage, still trying to save the first one in my head.  Might have worked too, except Medda wasn’t my second wife.  Anyway, what are you gonna do?  I guess you live and you learn.”  He looked at Asher with humor and pity
. 
“Not exactly the words someone in your position wants to hear, huh?”

“Not really,” Asher said.
 
“Not that any advice could make me feel better about it.  It helps though, knowing that someone else has been through what you’re going through.”

“How so?”

“I don’t know, I guess it makes it okay to be where you are.  It gives you permission to have screwed life up, and permission to forgive yourself for doing so.”  As Asher spoke the words, he realized the truth of them.

“
Whoa!
  I don’t know how you got that from
my
lousy story, but if it makes you feel better, than I’m happy for it
,
” Jack said with a smile. 
This kid’s gonna be alright
, he thought.  Then he wondered about his other Kid, and what terrors he might be
facing
.

“Hey, Ash,
let me ask you a question.  You met this White lady right?”

“You mean Lady White?”

“Yeah, whatever.  Anyway, how is she?” Jack asked.  “I mean, did she seem like the sort of person that might, I don’t know, hurt Kid?”  Jack didn’t know why he was asking questions he was scared to know the answers to, but it was too late
to take it back now
.

“She
seems
to be a kind, benevolent leader.  But I can say without a doubt that she is definitely not what she seems.  She puts on the exterior of a loving mother, but there’s something dark inside her, I can’t explain it.  It’s just a feeling I would get whenever she was around.  She would be smiling at me, and I would feel a knot in my stomach.  It was like pure dread.”

“
Great
…
t
hanks,
” Jack said, his mood instantly destroyed.

“
Wizard’s back
,
” Jack heard.  It was Desmond, doing that thing he did again.

Jack tried to send back, “
Should we come back?
”  He thought it, and then not hearing a reply
,
he focused harder.  His eyes wrinkled at the corners and he began to get a headache from the strain.

“What are you doing?” Asher asked.

Jack stopped. 
Oh well,
he thought,
it was worth a try
.  “Nothing
,
”
h
e told Asher
. 
“The old man’s back.  Let’s go see what he found out.”

Jack discovered that there was no bill to pay.
  Either they
’d
put it on Desmond’s tab, or they had some strange system for paying for things. 
Maybe both
, he thought.

The pair made their way back upstairs, both lost in their own thoughts.  They each had their private battles to fight, as well as their shared public one.

Jack walked into the Shadow’s office, expecting to see Desmond and Wizard there, but the room was empty.  He then went to Celia’s room where he found Wizard bent over
her
bed.  He appeared to be scanning her with some kind of wand.  In his other hand he held a data pad that was displaying the findings of the scan.

“Just like he said.”  Wizard motioned down at the screen.  “Nothing out of the ordinary.  He said I wouldn’t find anything in a scan.”

“Who’s
he
?” Jack asked, his suspicion apparent to all
who were gathered
.

Wizard looked up, noticing the two new arrivals for the first time.  “
He
, as you put it, is one of my contacts in the Seventh.  He holds an entry level position at the compound where Celia was being held.”