Deathwatch (The Faded Earth Book 1)(57)

“Agreed,” Stein said, “but not our concern at present. How did it go?”

He relayed the story in its entirety. “I think they’re acting in good faith. I’m not so sure about the other Remnants, but those three seem honest enough. If they can convince their people this is in everyone’s interest, even as just a worst-case scenario, then we have a good shot at getting them to agree.”

“Good,” Stein said. She looked down at her hands as she fidgeted. “With a full bloom in progress, there are going to be a lot of Watchmen in need of reassignment.”

Eshton nodded. “Right. No Rez to care for until it’s sterilized and repopulated. So?”

“The Commander and I spent a lot of time working out ways to make those in the Movement more...mobile. To free up schedules and allow our members to operate without the restrictions of running a unit, that kind of thing.”

Eshton’s tired brain took far longer than it should to work out what she was saying. “Oh. You’re going to replace me.”

Stein winced, just a little. “Yes. It’s too good an opportunity. By putting someone else in your position, we can show a transfer and use the system to hide your activities. As of tomorrow, the executive-level Mesh will show you as part of Special Projects. It will keep anyone snooping from wondering why you don’t have a new duty station.”

Eshton sighed, the weariness rearing up and kicking him right in the back of the head. “Let me guess. I’ll be spending a lot of my time in a certain bunker.”

Stein nodded somberly. “Now that we’ve reached one of our goals, we have to do everything we can to make sure all that work wasn’t in vain. For now, your sole purpose in life will be making sure our guest is safe and sane. If your Remnant contacts need to speak with you, we’ll work out transit between there and here. This is important. I know you know that.”

“I do,” Eshton agreed. “If that’s all, can I eat something and then sleep for ten hours?”

She waved him off. “Sure, kid. I’ll cover your shift. At least with you getting out of here I won’t have to keep making up reasons for you not being where you should.”

Eshton gave her the ghost of a smile and left, letting the expression fall away as soon as the door shut behind him.

He was trained as they all were, to be flexible and adaptive in all things. He wondered if that training had failed him, however. Terrible as his duties sometimes were, there was still a deep comfort in the routine. Satisfaction in earning his rank and position. Having them taken from him, however important it was for the Movement, grated on his nerves.

All he had to do was hold out. Once Novak had a cure, the mountain of stress and frustration accumulating on his back one pebble at a time would finally be lifted. He just had to keep himself sane long enough to see it happen.





27


Beck found Eshton in the lab complex a few minutes before the meeting called by Novak.

“Hey, long time no see,” she said, waving at Eshton.

He looked up from the tablet he was reading and blinked. His eyes were a shade wild, his movements slightly jerky. Beck knew he had been stuck here for two weeks with only Novak and the limited support staff to talk to, and his desperation for contact with other people was written on his face.

“Beck!” he said, dropping the tablet and rushing to his feet. She had to curb her newly-ingrained fight reflex so as not to break his face when he surprised her with a fierce hug. “How are you?”

Beck returned the embrace awkwardly, then pushed him back. “Better than you, apparently. Is it really so bad here?”

Eshton twitched his head to one side. “No, not bad at all. It’s just boring. And I’ve been on duty for eighteen hours because the other guy who was supposed to be here as extra security for the meeting ran into trouble and couldn’t get away.”

Beck frowned. “Well, maybe we’ll get lucky and this will only take a few minutes. Then I can stand watch for you and you can get some sleep.”

At the mention of sleep, Eshton’s face went almost hungry. She knew he was able to work tired; nearly everyone in the Watch kept up the habit of training themselves to work on randomized sleep schedules. But combined with the mental stress of being confined to a relatively small space, this assignment was clearly taking its toll.

“That would be great,” he said. “Where’s the old man?”

Beck gestured toward the door. “Already in the conference room waiting on us. Let’s get to it.”

She had to take a step back to avoid being bumped aside as Eshton zoomed past her.

Parker and Bowers waited for them, the former furiously typing on a large terminal screen which took up half of a wall. He turned around when Beck entered the room, then eyed the door. “Is this it? Stein not coming?”

“Not today,” Bowers said. “A hazard of last-minute gatherings. Care to tell us what this is all about?”

Parker swiped open a folder on the terminal, bringing up a trove of documents Beck barely recognized as lab notes. “Yeah, I’ve been waiting on you. Want the simple version, or the detailed one?”

Bowers’ jaw clenched, and Beck held back a smirk. The old man wasn’t used to people speaking to him without the lifetime of deference every citizen of the Protectorate developed toward someone of his status. “The short version, unless you believe we need biology lessons to understand what you’re about to tell us.”