ABC - Penance

Police Auxiliary Post, Unity Townsite, Labour Camp One

The Post was bustling with Officers in blue, rushing inside to talk to other officers then heading out again. I swapped a few salutes with junior ranks as I ambled past them and entered the relative calm of the garage. Ghost stayed on his bike in the crowded parking lot, chewing on a protein bar that he had found lurking in his side pannier.

“Morning Sergeant Lincoln, Officer Milovich” I announced as I came in. The pair glanced up at me from the Sentinel recharging station as they cajoled a new unit into the charging slot. It looked brand new, fresh from the manufactories further north, the blue paint glossy and unmarked.

The other three Sentinels regarded me impassively from their own slots, as chipped and worn as Unit Three had been.

“Hi Alvarez” Lincoln replied while Milovich tried to salute and support an uncooperative mechanical at the same time. He failed at both and the new Unit Three toppled to the concrete floor with a resounding crash. I returned his salute anyway and asked for a private word with the Sergeant.

“Sure” he agreed and we left the young officer struggling to lift the dead weight of the mechanical into the recharger. “Try running one of the power leads to the battery pack, Milovich” he suggested as he followed me outside.

“Do they always send the new ones without a charged battery?” I asked Lincoln and he scowled back at the garage.

“I think this is Headquarter’s way of telling me I’m in the shit without actually stating it outright” he confessed unhappily. We had walked about fifty meters along the side road, the one that ran parallel to the outer walls of the Camp. By unspoken agreement we stopped in the shade of an old gum tree, looking through the mesh barriers at the activity within the Camp.

“It would be hard for the top brass not to wonder if you had been in collusion with Acres” I finally responded. “You ran this Post for four years, right next door to the Camp” I met his eyes when I took off my dark glasses, examining his face carefully. He met my gaze for a moment, then dropped his face away from me to stare at the Camp.

“Yeah, I knew he was up to some dirty crap” Lincoln admitted. “All his senior Wardens were shitbags, the kind of people that got shipped out to a Camp like this because no other Head Warden wanted them. Acres snapped them up, forcing out the decent ones and never promoting the ones that stuck it out”

I looked at the Camp too, seeing that both VTOLs were still grounded on the roof of the Headquarters building. The arguments over who had jurisdiction were probably still in full swing, leading me to idly wonder if a shooting war was going to break out between the Wardens and the Police Auxiliary.

My money was on the Police, but then I am a biased observer.

“You could have reported your concerns to Spitfield” I suggested. “Maybe let your Uncle the Commissioner know what was going on”

Lincoln gave a rueful laugh and looked at me sideways.

“Ah, I see you know about the family connection” he muttered. “In my case that was actually a hindrance, not a help. I’m kind of a black sheep in my family and Acres knew all about that. He threatened to make my past misdeeds common knowledge if I poked my nose into his affairs”

“He openly threatened you?” I wondered aloud. Even for a wanker like Acres that seemed pretty ballsy.

“Nah. It was all implied, mostly by his underlings and that bastard Campbell” the Sergeant explained. “By the way, rumour has it you broke that little turd in half when you escaped from Morituri’s. Is that true?”

“I can neither confirm nor deny that statement” I said evenly but I had a faint smile on my lips as I spoke. Lincoln nodded his head and turned to face me. He threw a snappy salute so I gave him one back.

“I’m glad you rolled into this town, Inspector” he told me. “You broke the back of a beast that was taking this town into hell. You have my thanks for that” I don’t think he was referring to the Town Liaison Officer, at least not specifically.

We started walking slowly back to the Post, our boots scuffing the grass that overran the road side. It was getting warm now, all the morning fog long gone and the sun beating down on us mere mortals with harsh intensity.

“I’m sorry about Unit Three” I told the man. He shrugged his shoulders and pointed his chin at the garage ahead of us.

“Milovich was the one who cared about that bloody nuisance. The rest of us never understood why he made a fuss, but then he was always a technical geek”

“Maybe he should talk to Chandra at the Camp” I offered. “He can set up a meeting with Charlie, since that was what was inside of Unit Three”

“Yeah. I’ll suggest that, once this shitstorm calms down a little”

We had reached the open doors of the garage, Milovich visible within as he got a shock from the charging cable for the still recumbent Sentinel. Sergeant Lincoln and I both had a chuckle and I remembered the other reason for my visit.

I took the blue Police Auxiliary cap from where I had tucked it into my new jacket.

“Can you give this back to Officer Simmonds for me?” I asked and handed it over. “I had it cleaned and pressed, so she shouldn’t need to buy a new one”

“Are you kidding me?” Lincoln snorted. “If half the shit they are saying about you is true, we are having this framed and hung on the office wall. She’ll be stoked to know you wore it at all, but thanks for giving it back”

“You’re welcome” I answered with a grin and was about to turn away when one last question bubbled up into my thoughts. With everything else going on, it had completely slipped from my attention but it may be important and Lincoln was bound to know.

“Hey Sergeant, I never got the full tour of the Labour Camp. Some other stuff got in the way. What exactly does this Camp produce with all the labour of the inmates?”

“Well, it isn’t common knowledge, Inspector” he replied. “This was the first camp established to manufacture goods used and exported by the Zone, besides the food and mining run by the other camps. Camp One is used by Pan-Tech Industries to manufacture interface processors. You know, the ones that let the Enhanced operate their implants and cybernetic limbs”

“Fuck me!” I nearly shouted. “You mean they let prisoners make those things for world-wide use?”

“Of course” he answered, a little perplexed. “The automated factory is all under the ground, the inmates just move materials around and other physical work. Everything critical is overseen by the Camp AI”

I looked past his quizzical face to the low buildings in the distance. Inside those walls, for at least three months, they had been building devices without supervision from Charlie. Maybe they just kept churning out the same interface processors they always had, maybe not.

Whatever records there had been, Acres had ensured they were destroyed when he abandoned the Camp. I wondered if Jericho-Three had any idea of what had been going on here, and if somehow he had sent me into this mess to uncover the truth.

“Thanks, Sergeant” I finally responded and walked away, lost in my thoughts.

I could feel Ghost’s eyes on me as I came to stand at the side of his big bike. He stuffed the empty bar wrapper into a pocket and threw his leg over the machine.

“Where to now, Alvarez?” he asked me with his usual flat tone.

“I’m hungry. Let’s go get something to eat. I know a really good place close by”

=====

Mabel’s Place, Unity Townsite, Labour Camp One

It was after midday when Ghost parked his machine out the front of Eat, My Pussy. The front door showed a Closed sign but I could hear Country Rock blaring from within so I pushed it open and stepped inside. Ghost followed me in, his eyes roaming the dim interior with the practised air of a soldier.

A big, hunched figure sat in Bobbi’s chair at the counter, taking a shot from a small glass tumbler using a metal right arm. The left arm ended at the shoulder joint, a temporary interface cap still red and raw at the seam from recent fitting. It was Wade and he turned a menacing glare in our direction.

“Fuck off, we’re closed” he snarled, locking his artificial eye on me. He slowly and deliberately drained the glass and set it down on the counter top. With a grunt he slid off the stool and squared his shoulders at us, his metal fingers resting lightly on the holstered pistol at his hip.

Ghost was at my side, his own hand resting near the service pistol he wore at his waist.

“If you two are going to have a pissing contest, could you take it outside?” I asked them both. “I just want to eat some lunch” I walked casually over and took a stool three down from Wade, settling my ass on the worn seat. It put me in the line of fire between the big hunks of muscle, so I fervently hoped they were going to play nice.

Wade moved first, reaching out and placing his cold metal palm on my shoulder. The weight made me slightly lopsided as I turned to meet his stare.

“Thanks for being there with Bobbi, at the end” he told me. “I heard all about it from Nigel and Cathy”

“She was an amazing woman” I said. “I barely knew her, but I miss that crazy bitch so much” My throat had caught with those words and I looked away, feeling incredibly lost at that moment. The Freelancer patted my shoulder gently and I knew then how much he had loved her in his own way.

I doubted Bobbi had ever shown him the affection he craved from her, yet she had been loyal and true to him. Seeing him now, I wondered if losing her would break him or make him stronger. For the sake of the crew, I prayed it was the latter.

“Is Mabel here?” I asked him and he pointed at the ceiling. “Okay, I’m just going to see if she is alright. You boys behave while I’m gone”

“I won’t start anything, Alvarez” Ghost informed me. “But I will be the one to finish it”

Wade bristled visibly, then relaxed and smiled at my hulking partner. The two of them could be bloody twins I thought to myself, although one of them was only one-handed right now.

“It will be fine, Luisa” Wade told me. “Go check on Mabel and I’ll get lunch started”

Bloody hell I thought, maybe Wade will grow stronger from this.

=====

I clomped up the stairs to Mabel’s room on the upper floor, my heavy boots ringing from the worn steps. The door was open on the upper landing so I knocked on the door frame and went inside.

Mabel was wearing pants and shirt, with a heavy jacket in red leather draped across her bed waiting to be worn. A single travel case was sitting at her feet, the Dumb AI onboard already locked onto her signature.

“Going somewhere?” I asked her from the doorway. She didn’t reply, just continued fussing about the room stuffing small personal items into a large handbag. I watched her for a bit then went and sat on the bed, letting her move around me as she completed packing.

“I heard that Bobbi’s funeral will be in a couple of days” I said. “Nigel says they have to remove the Enhancements from her body before she can be cremated. Something about how the internal batteries could blow up the furnace if they aren’t all taken out”

“They won’t bury someone with major implants either” Mabel answered tonelessly. “They worry about grave robbers digging up Enhanced bodies to salvage their tech. Sounds barbaric to me but what I’d expect from the Zone”

“The burying or the digging up?” I asked her. She paused and finally met my eyes. Her beautiful dark eyes were red from crying, matching my own I supposed.

“Your mission is done, Inspector” she demanded softly. “Why are you still here?”

“Just tidying up some loose ends” I answered. “And checking in with some friends before I head home”

“What category do I fall into? Loose end or friend?”

“Kind of both, to be honest” I told her, giving her a smile. She held me with her flat expression then sighed deeply, her defences finally crumbling.

“You don’t know how to be honest, Luisa” Mabel muttered and dropped onto the bed at my side, her hip warm and close to mine. “You are a liar and a bully and you probably cheat at games”

“Hey!” I replied. “I almost never cheat, except when I play Papa at cards. But he cheats too so it evens out”

Mabel leaned against me, her dark hair brushing my cheek.

“You remind me of Bobbi” Mabel breathed out gently, her words tickling my neck. “I think that’s why I like you, Luisa”

I slowly slid my left arm around her shoulders, feeling her soft body beneath the thin shirt. My heart was hammering in my chest and my breasts tingled, aching at her proximity. With deliberate intent I tilted my face to hers and touched my lips to her mouth.

Mabel moaned softly and parted her own lips, her hot tongue probing into my mouth as I laid her down on the bed covers. We kissed passionately for a long time, our mouths grinding feverishly against each other. She tasted of ginger and honey, a spicy sweetness that fuelled my desperate hunger for her.

Our lips parted and I took the opportunity to lift the shirt over her head, flinging it to the floor. Her bra was a simple white cotton number, barely holding her bountiful assets in place. I lowered my face into the tanned valley where her breasts met and kissed her tenderly.

Mabel pulled me deeper into herself, my mouth smothering her warm skin with kisses and gentle nips with my teeth. I was overwhelmed with desire for her and wanted to make hard, fierce love to her body.

“Bobbi”

A single word, the name of the woman we had both lost. I don’t even really know which of us uttered her name in that moment.

I lifted my mouth from Mabel’s breasts and sat upright on the bed, my hunger turned to a cold weight in my stomach. She turned away from me and leaned over the bed, picking up her shirt from where I had dropped it.

“I’m sorry” we said at almost the same time, each of us knowing what we had wanted from the other. A chance to kiss a dead woman one more time, using the other as her proxy. Mabel stood first, tugging her shirt down over her hips and giving me a rueful smile.

“I still like you, Luisa” she admitted. “But I loved Bobbi. That’s why I need to leave this place so I can try and let her go”

“It’s Okay” I replied, giving her a smile in return. “I have a woman I love waiting for me back home. This was always going to be a big mistake and I’m sorry I lost control”

She held out her hands and I took them in mine, letting her draw me to my feet once again.

“Will you be here for Bobbi’s funeral?” she asked me. I shook my head no, wishing I wasn’t such a coward.

“I can’t do funerals” I told her. “If I go to see someone buried, it forces me to accept that I can’t ever see them again. If I stay away, I can tell myself that maybe it was all a mistake. That maybe one day they’ll turn up on my doorstep, laughing about how someone else was pronounced dead instead of them”

“I get that. I won’t stay either” Mabel responded. She still held my hands in hers, her touch firm and soft at the same time. Just like Mabel herself I supposed.

“We both have our reasons to run away from this town”

Mabel released my hands and finished putting a last few items into her handbag. When she was done, she ran one last look around the room then shrugged her arms into the jacket.

“Time to go, Luisa” she said.

“Copy that” I agreed.

=====

Wade cooked us a rather good meal, using some of Mabel’s spices and sauces and all of her best beef. The former eatery owned laughed and told Wade he could sort that out with Jimenez, who had arrived while I was upstairs. She was leaving the Eat, My Pussy to her bartender on the promise that he kept the rear room aside for the Freelancer crews.

Mabel was especially adamant that the matching dartboards stayed in place, even if no-one would be crazy enough to play Bobbi’s version in the future.

We ate the spicy beef, drank Mabel’s cheap beer and had a toast with the last of Bobbi’s whisky.

“To Bobbi!” Wade called out as we raised our glasses.

“To Bobbi!” the four of us roared in response, Ghost adding his own powerful baritone to the cheer.

“And God bless all who sail in her” Wade added, confusing us all and making us laugh.

It was as close to a Wake as I was prepared to go, refusing in my heart to accept she was gone forever. I had only known her for three days, one of which she was trying to kill me. Dammit but I had an ache inside of me that was hurting really bad.

“Hey Wade, what day is it today?” I demanded.

“It’s the twentieth, Alvarez” he replied. “It’s Sunday”

“Great” I mumbled. “Now I hate fucking Sundays too”