ABC - Penance

Jericho’s Compound, Outskirts of Pan City

10th February V27 (2047)

I was leaning against the outside wall of the dining room, sipping my second coffee for the morning and contemplating life in general. A light, warm rain was falling gently as I watched Ghost and Jimmy loading our bags into a chunky black sedan. They seemed oblivious to the rain, but I stayed in the shelter of a verandah, happy to stay nice and dry for the moment.

Two tall women came splashing along the gravel path, heading to the dining room. I recognised the taller one as Mouse, her muscular body straining against her wet shirt and blue shorts like some ancient sports goddess. It was her running partner that made my breath catch, the coffee cup paused against my lips.

“Morning Luisa” called Georgia cheerily, jogging to a stop under the awning that covered me. She was breathing hard, sweat and raindrops running freely down her face and neck, absorbed into the long sleeved jumpsuit she wore. Her walking harness whined a little as she came to a stop, the powered framework supporting her legs and lower body.

“When did you take up jogging?” I spluttered. “More importantly, why are you outside?”

She laughed merrily at my shocked expression, laying a warm hand on my shoulder.

“I told you I had been practising in the frame, don’t you remember?” she chided me. “And I was never afraid of being outside. I just had no reason to before”

Mouse had vanished inside the building, reappearing with a towel for Georgia and another for herself. The tall clone woman started towelling Georgia’s long flowing hair, wringing out some of the rain. She met my eyes over Georgia’s shoulder, giving me a possessive smile.

“I guess you found a reason now” I said, trying to keep the jealousy out of my voice. The Pre-Cog saw where my eyes were directed and patted me softly on my shoulder.

“Luisa, will you come for a walk with me?” she asked. I glanced at the falling rain beyond the awning and she punched me lightly in the arm. “Come on, you baby, it’s only water”

I was thinking about the Water Tower in the Hole. Minke and I had climbed to the top but I never did the required three spits over the side. For all I knew this could be falling piss out there, assuming I believed in the old kid’s tales.

“Okay” I relented and followed her as she led me along the same gravel path she had run down minutes earlier. Mouse had stayed behind, telling Georgia she would get their breakfast ready.

We walked slowly, following one path then another that joined it until we left the quadrangle of buildings behind. Native bushland surrounded us, the gravel path now one of dirt and fallen leaves, heavy footprints marking the ground in places. Georgia stopped at a small clearing that overlooked a narrow valley, a small stream glimpsed in the distance that ran away to the east.

“It’s beautiful here” I said, the pair of us standing with our arms touching in the shelter of a gum tree. “I forget how green the Zone can be away from the city”

“Yes, it is” Georgia agreed. “I’ve fallen in love with this place. I already checked with Jericho and he’s allowing me to build my own house” She pointed at a wooden peg driven into the grass covered slope, a red ribbon trailing in the slight breeze. ’Right there, with a porch that overlooks the stream”

“Won’t that cost a fortune to build out here?” I asked her. The spot she indicated was a good two hundred meters from the compound, which seemed a long way to run power and water.

“You know I am filthy rich, right?” she told me with a smirk. “That apartment building in Spitfield was only a fraction of my wealth. Most of my money comes from shares I trade and the short term money market”

“Yeah, I guess a Pre-Cog Net Diver would be the one person who could make a lot of money that way” I shuffled my feet, wondering how to ask her what I wanted to know.

“Why not you?” Georgia said softly. She met my startled eyes and tapped the side of her skull. “Pre-Cog, remember? I ’m about thirty seconds ahead right now, because I’m trying not to hurt you Luisa”

“Mouse seems to have taken a real shine to you” I deflected. “The Jills are good people so she will make you happy”

Georgia took my hands in hers, forcing me to face her. Water dripped from the branches over our heads, sprinkling us with Eucalyptus scented drops.

“I love you, Luisa” she declared. “You were a friend to me when my life seemed so dark, a guiding beacon bringing me safely to shore. Yet you would never have been able to accept me as I am, no matter how hard you tried”

“You don’t know that!” I snapped back, looking deep into her dark eyes. “You never gave me the chance!”

“Actually I did” Georgia answered. “Thousands of times, testing the future paths. It always ended up with us being hurt”

My eyes were blurring now, that damned rain filling my vison with salty drops of water.

“Didn’t I ever once tell you I loved you?” I whispered to her. “Wasn’t there one future where I held you in my arms?”

“Of course there was” her beautiful voice told me. She stepped into me, her frame whining faintly as her hips pressed against me. I felt her breasts touch my chest through her soaked jumpsuit, her body soft and hard at the same time.

“But you love someone else more than me. You know that Luisa. As hard as you fall for a pretty face, she’s the one you really want to be with”

Georgia held me tightly, her arms surprisingly strong. Her eyes bored into mine, daring me to call her a liar.

“I can’t be the one she loves” I sobbed. “She doesn’t deserve someone like me!”

“You killed for her, Luisa” Georgia reminded me. “You risked everything to set her free from Peter”

“Because I am a selfish bitch! I refused to share her with anyone else!”

Georgia smiled at me, nuzzling her cheek against mine.

“That’s what love is for a loyal hound” she spoke into my ear. “Only one master for your heart”

She pulled away from me, using the towel she still carried around her neck to wipe away my tears.

“Is that what you wanted to tell me?” I said at last, feeling the aching in my very core slowly easing.

“There are other things” she admitted and we spent some time standing close while she told me all of the secrets she needed to share. Some of it stunned me, others I knew I would have to resolve in time.

When Georgia had injected the HEx into her bloodstream, standing beside the Canal in Spitfield, it had gifted her with a prescience she had never experienced before. She had seen in those future moments so many events she could not comprehend.

Some had saved our lives, others were yet to come. The future was uncertain, a path without maps to show her the safest road to travel. Yet some things seemed inescapable. She told me what she could and I filed them away, wondering if such crazy notions could ever come to pass.

It was her final revelation that sent me to my knees, my heart and mind ready to break into a thousand fragments.

“The last, clearest future memory I saw was you, Luisa” she told me. “You were in a bed somewhere, looking exhausted but triumphant. It may have been a hospital, yet the surroundings were indistinct as if the future was undecided about where this would happen”

“Well, I do spend a lot of time waking up in hospitals” I suggested. “No reason to think my future will be any different”

“It’s more important than that, you ignorant woman” she explained. “It wasn’t you that my vision was focussed on. It was the newborn infant in your arms! Your child, Luisa, I am certain of it”

“Liar!” I shouted and that is when I fell, my knees sinking into the wet grass. “Why would you tell me such a lie!”

Georgia knelt and held me again, stroking my shaking shoulders.

“You know I can’t have children!” I cried. “I’m too busted up inside. Why hurt me this way?”

“Have you looked at yourself lately, my dearest friend?” she whispered into my bowed head. “Whatever that Pony gave you, it is rebuilding your body anew. Give it time and who knows what you will be capable of?”

That is when it hit me, the truth in her words. The gift the mad scientist had given me, for whatever his reasons, had brought me back from death. If it could do that, maybe it could give me the one gift I truly wanted?

“Thank you, Georgia” I told her. I got to my feet gave her a look of gratitude. “Whether it comes to pass or not, you’ve given me hope”

“Not just for you, Luisa” she reminded me. “My visions always centre around me. It means I had to be there with you at the birth” She gave me a look of triumph of her own. “I don’t know far ahead the vision was, but we both get to make it to that moment!”

“Hey, maybe that means you are the father?” I suggested.

“I don’t think it works that way” Georgia replied coolly.

=====

Jimmy drove us away from the compound, the morning sun struggling valiantly to pierce the heavy cloud layer overhead. I sat in the back by myself, sprawled across the real leather seats with one muddy boot propped up on the centre console. Ghost was in the front seat, dressed in sombre black as usual, his head turning constantly as he kept watch on our surroundings.

The rain was persistent, falling from clouds the colour of a bad bruise. I laid my head against the rear window, looking up speculatively at the unhappy sky.

“Do you think this rain has any fallout in it?” I asked the other occupants. “The storm in the north has pushed itself along the coast, maybe looking for us”

“This is a secondary front caused by the original, so it won’t have any radioactive particles in it” Jimmy said knowledgeably. “Anyway, the monitoring stations at Skyport have detected only minimal rads in the air”

“And storms don’t chase people” Ghost stated flatly. “Even a trouble magnet like you can’t influence the weather”

Lightning arced down into the distance, throwing harsh shadows across the land. It was followed by a cracking boom of thunder, rattling the sedan’s windows like the hammer of a giant.

“Somebody disagrees with you, partner” I observed from my reclined position. I hunched down lower into the padded seat, my head barely above the level of the windows. Ghost twisted to watch me, a narrow smile on his face.

“What are you doing, Alvarez?” he demanded.

“Everyone knows that the taller you are, the more likely to get hit by lightning” I replied. “So long as I am lower than you two, I’ll be fine”

“Actually, the car will function like a Faraday Cage” Jimmy commented, never taking his mismatched eyes off the road. “A lightning strike will knock out the engines but we’ll be fine”

“I feel infinitely cheered by that thought, Jimmy” I said.

We drove for a while, Jimmy guiding the sedan through increasingly well-travelled roads under we entered the outskirts of Spitfield. The peak hour rush of bicycles and scooters, carrying their riders to their jobs, was nearly over for the morning. Our driver nosed the big car through the rain-coated stragglers with practiced ease, honking at the occasional suicidal bike courier and getting a two fingered salute in reply.

“And your horse” Jimmy invariably responded, giving his own middle finger in return.

“We still haven’t talked about the Pachyderm in the corner” Ghost said to me.

“The what?”

“The Elephant in the room” he explained. He turned in his seat, regarding me steadily. “Myles said there was another assassin who had been assigned to you. We need to talk about how we are going to deal with that”

“Yeah, I know” I answered. “After I spoke to Georgia, I think I know where they’ll strike. But it’s going to be putting a lot of faith in her vision. Will you trust me on this one?”

His handsome face creased into a thin smile which warmed my heart.

“I trust you, Alvarez” he stated without emotion. “It’s your judgement that I doubt”

“Isn’t that the same thing?” Jimmy proffered into the conversation.

“No, it’s not” I said snarkily. “Anyway, I’ve got a plan”

I laid out my idea to Ghost and he nodded his head in approval. It would take some resources to pull off, but I reckoned Jericho-Three owed me a favour or two.

“There is only one problem I can see” I added after we had talked it through. “I need to get Papa involved. I am not sure he’s going to be happy about this”

“It would be a terrible thing to ask anyone to do” Ghost agreed. “Can we make it work without him?”

“No, we can’t”

“Then your father is going to see his daughter killed right in front of him” Ghost reminded me.

“Yeah, I know”

We sat in silence for the rest of the ride to my apartment building. When we pulled up out the front, I saw Minke standing on the porch, chatting to Mr Liu. The pair of them were laughing about something together, then the girl spotted me exiting the car.

“Luisa!” she yelled, running down the rain slicked steps without fear and crash-tackling me with a ferocious hug. “I missed you so much!”

“I missed you too, kiddo” I replied. I managed to pry her arms loose long enough to recover my bag from the car trunk. Ghost had exited the car too, watching my young housemate grapple me with an almost paternal air.

“Shall I begin the preparations?” he asked me. I nodded my agreement and he returned to the car, giving me a wave before Jimmy drove them away.

“Preparations for what?” Minke asked me excitedly. She hefted my bag and took my hand, leading me towards the lobby doors.

“I have to go and see someone” I answered. “Someone I should have visited already”

“Cool! Can I come too?”

“Not this time” I told her. We had reached the doors and I gave a curt nod of acknowledgement to our door guardian, Mr Liu. He gave me a brief tilt of the head in reply and returned to his ever vigilant scowling at the street traffic.

“This is something only Papa and I can do”

=====

That night I ordered us pizza and Minke and I watched the Thursday night Gravity Ball game. I drank a six pack of beers and cheered my team to victory. Minke told me everything I had missed in the two days I had been away, the nuclear explosion in the northern sea only marginally less topical in her mind than the new sweeping kick she had perfected with Hanna-Lei.

When it came time for lights out, Minke shyly asked if she could sleep in my bed. I asked her why, since she had a very comfortable bed now in the living room.

“I just missed you, that’s all” she replied with downcast eyes. “Every time you leave, I get this awful feeling that you won’t come back”

“Yeah, I get that too sometimes” I admitted. “Come on, you can sleep next to the wall. I’ll need to get up and pee at some point and I don’t want to clamber over you”

I swear she ran into the bedroom, claiming my best pillow and pulling the covers to her chin. I followed at a more sedate pace, turning off the rest of the lights before stripping down to my t-shirt and boxers. As I got into the bed, Minke snuggled up against me.

“You’ll always come home to me, won’t you Mama?” she whispered.

“Always” I lied.