Today is not a day for heroes
an excerpt

Chapter 2

News Bulletin – the Senate defended its current foreign policy today, amidst rising criticism over its handling of the recent application by Westernesse Citadel’s wealthiest priest for protection. Father Delagor is reported to be fearful for his personal safety after receiving several death threats over his views regarding celebrity marriages, and the type of attention given to them by the media and public. Alexandria Citadel’s Senate maintains that the worship of Celebrity is the most sincere expression of religion in the modern age, and should, therefore be encouraged. Consul Hepterburg had this to say, ‘Father Delagor is no doubt very sincere…’

Jewel rolled out of bed, covered the distance to the table in two strides, and jabbed viciously at the off button of her pocket-com. As its lights winked out, she snarled, ‘You piece of junk! What do you think you’re doing, waking me up at this hour?!’

Esthar, now an innocent slab of metal and plastic, remained silent. She dropped it back onto the table with a sigh. The wall clock announced that it was an hour before her usual waking up time, but she felt it was probably useless to try to sleep again. Instead, she fished her personal tool box out of its drawer, selected an appropriate screwdriver, and turned Esthar over.

She removed the tiny power cell, checking it carefully for corrosion or other damage. However, it was barely a month old, and looked as perfect as if it had just come out of its box. The gauge on the side indicated that it still had 99.7% full power. So, it was not a simple case of a dodgy battery messing with Esthar’s brain.

Four screws held the back of the unit to the front, and she laid them carefully aside, before lifting the back off completely to expose the com’s inner circuits. Nothing was obviously damaged or loose, but she went step by step, removing each component in turn and testing it. After an hour, she had a collection of perfectly working computer parts arranged on the table in front of her, and no idea why, when they were assembled into a single machine, it did not work perfectly.

She quickly re-assembled the com, and then put her tools away. Her bed was made in a few seconds, and snapped back against the wall. This allowed her to get to her clothes without banging her head as she had the last two mornings. Perhaps there was something to be said for getting up early, after all. As she selected her clothes, (black, multi-pocketed pants, and bright red tee shirt), she was reminded again of her decision to buy something new. After all, today’s outfit was almost identical to yesterday’s, except for the colour of the top, and its message (‘I like your approach, now let’s see your departure’ printed in neon orange on black yesterday, ‘Life is not a rehearsal’ in white on red today).

After eating breakfast, she actually had time to place the dishes in the sanitiser, and give her floor a quick wash with her chemo-mop. Determined to set her alarm fifteen minutes earlier in future, she left the flat feeling almost cheerful. The only thought that clouded her mood was her continuing issues with Callistan and Cartonian. She turned the whole situation over in her mind during the walk to work, but could find no solution. At least she had a conversation with Spex to look forward to.

She arrived at her work station without running in to her immediate superior, and closed the door on the outside world with a sigh of relief. Logging on took less than a minute, and it was very shortly after that the light indicating that her friend was trying to communicate via their encrypted channel began blinking.

‘Hey, Spex!’ she grinned, as he came into focus on the screen in front of her.

‘Hey, yourself. So, what’s new?’

‘Straight to the point, eh?’ she replied, her good mood at seeing him deflated slightly by his disinterestedness in small talk.

‘Always, Jewel, you know that. Seriously, I’ve been worrying about you all night. Tell me what’s going on!’

She took a deep breath, and tried to organise her thoughts. ‘Where to begin!’ she said, trying another weak smile. Her Clan mate simply peered anxiously at her through his glasses, and she gave up.

‘OK, well, I’ve been here nearly a month and haven’t heard one nice word from anybody. I mean, it isn’t just me – nobody seems to be nice to anyone else up here. I honestly thought everyone would be happy, here.’

Spex rolled his eyes at her before responding with, ‘This is old news, Dudette. You’ve been saying the same thing ever since you arrived. And I’ll tell you what I told you last time – get out, or make some kind of effort with people yourself.’

‘That’s easy enough for you to say,’ she said, a look of injured innocence on her face. ‘You aren’t held in contempt simply for who you are, and where you come from!’

‘Change the disc, Jewel! I don’t believe this hostility is really such a surprise to you,’ came the immediate reply. Then his expression softened, and he said, ‘Look, if it would make life easier, why not drop the tag and get rid of the tat? Obviously, you wouldn’t be the first.’

‘No,’ she admitted, ‘but I just can’t. I don’t want to become Jewelandra Carnaby, or something equally ridiculous! I’m proud of who I am, what I’ve achieved to be here. Why should I deny all that just to meet some vague ideal of normality?’

‘What’s normal, anyway, right? OK, so pack it in – come home.’

He said the words, but they were from habit, and they both knew it. They had gone through the same conversation every couple of days for as long as she had been a Citadweller.

Her reply was just as over rehearsed, and carried no more real conviction. ‘No, Spex, that doesn’t work, either. The Slums aren’t my home, now. I have changed, more than I would have thought I could ever have done. And I’m learning so much, every day. I can’t leave. I just have to guts it out, I suppose.’

Spex finally broke in to a grin. ‘That’s more like it! But this is all old ground. What’s happened recently to put you really in the dumps?’

‘My boss. In fact, two of my bosses. Why can’t real bosses be overcome by using a couple of fire spells, and a few fancy punches, like in games?’

‘How would I know?’ he shrugged, ‘I don’t have a real boss.’

She stuck her tongue out at him. ‘No need to rub it in. OK, yesterday the Captain in charge of the Tech department pulled me in to her office, which is always a fun experience. Apparently, part of my job is to give the bored rich kids a way in and out of the Citadel without being caught, by always leaving at least one gate with no security system. So, I went and sabotaged one of the gates, one that I’d worked on to repair only that morning. Imagine, Spex, having to undo work that you’d only just done, and done as well as you could…’

He pulled a face of mock-horror. ‘I’m imagining it. It’s terrible!’

‘Oh… shut up!’ she said, laughing despite herself. ‘Anyway, I knocked out the cameras and the scanner but…’ Although there was no chance of them being overheard, she lowered her voice. ‘I installed a new camera, some gizmo that my predecessor must have been working on. I hooked it up to the system, but then hid it so that only I can see what it picks up.’

‘What’s it picked up,’ Spex asked, his own voice barely above a whisper.

She laughed, suddenly. ‘I haven’t even checked!’ she exclaimed, slapping her hand to her forehead. ‘Hold on… Ah, there it is. Hmmm… nothing! Great. All the poor little rich boys must still be in bed. Oh, well, I’ll check back later.

‘OK, so I was late back last night, which is when I ran in to my supervisor,’ she said with a shudder. ‘He started mouthing off, just like Callistan had – about how I should change or get out, but because he hates what I am, what I represent, not from genuine concern like you, Dude!’ She blew him a kiss.

‘Just get on with it!’

‘Heh. Anyway, I made some flippant remark about people hiding their pasts, and he suddenly became all nervous.’ She leaned closer to the screen. ‘I managed to coerce some over time out of him for tonight, but I don’t think blackmail is a sensible long term strategy.’

‘No, I don’t think it is’ agreed Spex. ‘Push him too hard, and he’ll push back harder. He’s been there longer than you. That means he has more to protect, and more ways of protecting it.’

‘Yeah, that’s just what I thought! So, that was my day, yesterday,’ Jewel finished, throwing her hands out in a “there you go” gesture.

‘Nothing else?’ the young man asked, immediately.

She thought for a moment. ‘Well, as a kind of concession to blending in, even if I can’t fit in, I’m thinking of buying some new clothes,’ she admitted. ‘Citadel fashions for women are pretty grim, though! I was looking at men’s clothes…’

‘Oh, you’re impossible, Jewel!’ he laughed. ‘You’re trying to blend in, remember? Or do you want people to think you’re a dude?’

She was silent for a moment as she mulled over his words. ‘Oh, well, I suppose it’s back to the drawing board with that idea, then!’

Spex shook his head, still chuckling. ‘Look, Jewel, I’ll have to shoot, in a minute. Anything else you haven’t been telling me?’

‘No!’ she paused. ‘Actually, yes, but I don’t know how important it is. Esthar has been behaving really oddly, blurting out news bulletins at random.’

‘I thought you wanted the news? You’ve been listening in on the goings on up there for the last year or more, ever since you hacked into the frequency.’ He tried hard, but could not keep all of his abject admiration for her skill out of his voice.

‘Yeah, I do,’ she replied, carefully ignoring the compliment in his tone, whilst responding to his actual words. ‘But not at full volume when the darned machine is supposed to be turned off.’

‘Well, you’re the genius, here, Jewel. If you can’t fix it, I don’t have a chance,’ he said with another shrug.

‘I know, but just keep it in mind, k?’ She gave him a mischievous wink, and continued, ‘I want an explanation as much as anything, and you’re the best person I know for outlandish theories.’

He assumed a wounded expression. ‘I’m hurt, Jewel! I never expected you of all people to say something like that.’

‘Oh, you’ll get over it,’ she said, dismissively. ‘Well, I’d better do some work, I suppose. Call me later, and I’ll tell you if anything has happened with my secret camera, OK?’

‘Definitely! Laters, Dudette.’

‘Toodles!’ she replied, smiling brightly.

The screen went dark for a moment, before the information it was supposed to show (how many cameras and scanners were working correctly) appeared. The world without his face seemed cold and dark.