Daughter of Mars #78 | (Breaking Eggs Part 2)
Risa stared through the empty space where the virtual comm screen had floated. A dancing pair of threads tied to the slats of an air vent mesmerized her.
“Something wrong?” asked Aurelia.
“Garrison’s been calling me nonstop since my electronics came online. I couldn’t keep dodging the man who got me off the street.” She picked at her nails. “I’ve been shitty to him. Like it’s his fault I agreed to get wired up. He got me off the street. If he hadn’t, I’d have grown up to be some gang’s sex toy… if I even grew up.”
Aurelia grumbled. “I have some moments where I wonder if your people have the right idea. It’s a different world on Earth where it’s about ratings and PR. No one sees Mars… except the people stuck here.”
“Stuck here?” Risa broke her stare at the ribbons. “You thinking of going back down?”
“No… I was born here too. I mean… We’re stuck with this mess.” Aurelia lowered her voice. “You’ve gotten your hands dirty, haven’t you? If I find out who’s responsible for Pavo, you want in?”
Risa locked eyes with her. “Yes.”
They sat in awkward silence for several minutes. The waiter returned, topped off coffees, and collected empty plates. When the two suits got up to leave, Aurelia shifted in her seat and broke the stalemate.
“There’s a lot of stories on the NewsNet about the bombings your people carry out. How much of it’s true?”
“Almost none.” Risa pondered another bite, but couldn’t summon the effort needed. “They show the same victims over and over again. There’s a scene with a dog trotting away with someone’s arm in its mouth, but the arm doesn’t leave a shadow. Reflections in windows don’t match what’s going on in the scene. It’s like they’re not even putting any effort into the dustblow, but people buy it.”
“So the Front doesn’t set off bombs?” Aurelia added cream and sugar to her coffee. “I think waiters are psionic. They always know when to come by and throw off the perfect balance.”
“We do, but not against civilians.” She folded her arms and looked down. “The Corporates like to use people as shields.”
“That’s a guilty look if I’ve ever seen one.” The woman’s tone came off as accusing, but she had a hint of a smile.
“As far as I know, none of the devices I’ve ever used have harmed someone who didn’t deserve it. I’m not sure if scientists developing a nanobot-powered bio weapon intended to melt the flesh off still-living civilians counts as a military target, but―” Risa sighed.
“Why didn’t the military strike that facility? Seems strange that your people found it first.”
“Yeah, it does.” She let her arm flop on the table, curling half-alive fingers around her cup. “Never thought about that before. I used to feel awful whenever I had to kill. Even the heartless bastards working to bring such a horrible death to innocent people.”
“Used to?” Aurelia sipped her coffee.
“I wanted out. I wanted a normal life…” Her voice fell to a whisper. “With Pavo.”
“I still can’t believe he was MLF.” Aurelia shook her head. “Suppose you can spend years with someone and never really know who they are.”
“He wasn’t technically Front, he was PVM. More of an ideological group of high-thinkers than rebels who run around planting bombs… but he ran around planting bombs.” Risa smiled at the same time tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Why would the media accuse you of killing civilians if you didn’t?”
“Vultures. They want ratings and fear.” Risa gathered her emotion in the span of a few breaths. “Thyle City wasn’t so clean. Real civilians got caught in a demolition operation once. We hit a heavy vehicle production facility the ACC set up on the bottom two tiers, with four levels of colonists on top of it.”
“I remember that on the ‘net. I was… damn I was in high school then. How could you not know?”
“It wasn’t me. I wasn’t doing bombs back then. I was still a child. My sis―not really… she was like a sister. There was a malfunction with the detonator. It went off in her face while she was planting the last charge. Almost everyone on Tier 4 died when it caved in. The failing superstructure kept collapsing, leaving the rest of the people who didn’t get crushed or fall to death to gasp for air.”
“She shouldn’t have gone through with it.” Aurelia glanced over her shoulder as a group of men in dark-stained work coveralls walked in. “I’m not saying she deserved to die, but…”
“Genevieve wasn’t a rookie. I think she killed herself on purpose.” Risa covered her mouth. “Everyone I get close to dies.”
“I guess that sounded callous. I didn’t realize you were so close.” Aurelia drummed her fingers on the helmet she’d moved to her lap.
“The MLF found me when I was nine. I was the only kid there. Gen was maybe fifteen or so and got to be my babysitter since she was the next youngest. She used to have the worst luck. A month or so before she died, she tried to get chicken vindaloo out of the ‘sem and it exploded. Orange sauce and chunks of half-formed chicken sprayed everywhere. She got it full in the face and screamed.” Risa laughed despite feeling awful for it.
Aurelia exhaled.
“Does the MDF spend much time trying to find us?”
“Uhm… A ‘be on the lookout for suspicious MLF activity’ notice every so often, but nothing organized. They sent your picture around once, but it looks nothing like you. Older and more…” She waved her hand around in a circle as if trying to grab a word from thin air.
Risa thought back to the image from the public holo-panel. “Evil?”
“Yeah.” Aurelia scooted to the edge of her bench seat. “I gotta get going. I’m on duty. I’m going to check on that video file. Something bothers me about it. Pavo wasn’t acting right.”
“They probably drugged him.” Risa stared into space, trying not to think about him. “I… I don’t even care about politics anymore. All that matters is finding the people who killed him.”
“I’m still hunting for information.” Aurelia stood and put her helmet on. “I’ll vid if I find anything. Please do the same. That’s a party I don’t want to be late for.”
The helmet sealed with a hiss. Conversation among the workers stalled at the sight of an MDF officer so close.
“I will.”
Aurelia approached the counter, swiped her NetMini to pay for her food, and left. Whispering evolved back to normal speech a moment after she was out of sight. Risa slipped out of the booth, snagging the box of leftovers. She lingered at the edge of the table, picking at the plastic box in her hands. Waiting won’t make it any easier.
She gazed up at the ceiling where naked LED bulbs glowed like brilliant stars against greasy blackness in an impressionist version of outer space. Raziel, if you’re still listening, I need to ask one more favor.
“Please don’t let me kill Maris.”
Related posts:
Daughter of Mars #77 | (Breaking Eggs Part 1)Daughter of Mars #76 | A Plea in Darkness part 2Daughter of Mars #75 | (A Plea In Darkness part 1)
