Change of tempo

It had been a while since I was a regular at Firefly's. When 'Brina left for Ariel I lost my dance partner and, to be honest, we hadn't been as social at the bar in the previous months in any case. And no, it wasn't because I thought I'd been snubbed by never being featured in any of the bar's calendar's over the years.

Still, the bar had always attracted a broad range of folk and I was quite fond of many of them. They'd always billed themselves as the friendliest bar in the 'Verse and, while it was debatable, the claim did have more than a little merit. I'd met my wife in Firefly's back when it was on Blackburne, and sparked off more than one friendship, so the place would always have a reservation in my heart.

Thing was, since 'Brina had gone off to work on a special project with Uncle Elsoph, I'd been a bit lonesome. Not the 'defining characteristic' level of lonesome it had been when I'd gotten to Hale's Moon in the first place, but I was critically aware that I was sharing my room with a Beagle rather than a Beagle and my wife. While Haley was adorable, she did snore, and her nose was cold, and there were some needs a dog, no matter how affectionate, just couldn't fulfill.

I'd gone back to Firefly's on a lark. Taking the shuttle down from the Orbital to see who was around on one of the nights when Gray was spinning the tunes. Wednesday nights are usually quieter than the weekends, which kind of fit my mood. I wasn't really looking for anything, except, maybe, a distraction from being alone in my office in orbit.

I was actually mildly surprised to see Raids there in the bar. It had been a while since I'd seen her, though I tried to keep tabs on her and had made an effort to tell the Alliance patrols that she was legally a citizen and entitled to the same protection and respect that everyone else on the colony deserved. That, and if they pissed her off, I wouldn't be responsible for their medical bills.

Raids asked me if I was aware of another mechanical on the Colony, other than herself and Krenshar. It seemed she'd encountered another inorganic and was curious as to its status. It was, honestly, the first I'd heard of it, which came as something of a surprise. I was generally pretty good about keeping track of the 'unusual entries' to the colony.

She had the impression that this new mechanical had come in on a boat, rather than being the spawn of our remaining Mother Bot. More of a utility model than a combat unit. I was perfectly happy to trust Raids to look into this new machine, though I'd look myself as well and check with others on the ground. The more information we had, the better. If it was just another sophisticated machine, not so much to worry about. If it was another development of the Mother? Different story.

What really surprised me was when Raids asked me to dance. Considering where my head had been for the last week or two, it was a welcome invitation. Also a pleasant surprise to find that Raids was a superbly graceful dancer. I'd seen her in combat before, of course. The four purely mechanical arms, tipped with razor sharp talons, moving like a threshing machine, mowing down anything unfortunate enough to get in their way. She was strong and blindingly fast, but also graceful and lithe.

Maybe it wasn't a surprise that she was an excellent dancer. Though I had to admit, at some level, it was funny that the only person here who'd ask me to dance, with 'Brina gone, was our resident 'reformed' killing machine. In some ways though, it made perfect sense. Raids and I shared a similar situation. Though I'd never entirely understood it, I'd been told that many of the Men and quite a few of the Women found me intimidating. All 41 kilos of me. Understood or not, it did explain why I'd been alone so long before 'Brina. For Raids, the difficulty finding a dance partner was a little easier to understand. Not everyone was comfortable with the idea of a sentient machine, and her origin as a combat model frankly scared a few people.

Fortunate, then, that I wasn't scared of Raids.

If I had been, I'd never have found out how good a dancer she is.

I'd taken a risk in accepting her as one of us. The town council had gone along with me then and, now, without a doubt, I knew it was the right path. Raids wasn't Human. She never would be, and that didn't matter in the least. She was one of us. She'd proven that as I always believed she would.

She was also one hell of a dancer.

There it goes . . .

I'd been waiting for the other shoe. I knew it was coming. I always know that it's coming. It's just the way things are. Especially out here, where we seem to live in an Enhanced Improbability Field. Assuming there actually is such a thing, which there probably isn't. But it makes for a better excuse than a shrug of the shoulders and a "nannari."

So far, the other shoe's come in two thumps. The first a Reaver boat coming in hot and making the Militia earn their keep. Figures that none of the Alliance patrols would be on the ground when it happened. A couple of visitors apparently really stood out during the attack, or so I'm told. Seems the Reavers like to attack when the Alliance isn't around and I'm on the Orbital. Probably a survival advantage in that, seeing as how a platoon of well armed soldiers is bound to be more effective than even our Militia.

A single Reaver boat is more of a nuisance than a real threat. At least to us. Now, if they sent a whole tribe after the colony? Might be ugly. Blackburne was hit by several, at once, and they had to abandon their homes. But every year that gets less and less likely as Entropy works its magic on their numbers. Mindo's experiments aside, the Reavers were a dieing threat. Self regulated into extinction.

The rock strike on the Companion platform was more surprising, and unfortunate. We have the best Navtrac array of any 'small colony' on the Rim, with better navigation and approach sensors than most of the mid-sized colonies, or even Alliance bases, in the region. It's overkill for Hale's Moon, really. Most colonies our size don't even have traffic control, let alone a Navtrac array. But even with all that, there's still blind spots. Not many, but they're there. And, sometimes, rocks small enough to slip through the cracks in our coverage find their way to the surface.

Usually, when one of those rocks, rarely bigger than a Rugby ball by the time it burns up, sneaks through, it impacts somewhere harmless. That would be, roughly, ninety nine and a half percent of Hale's Moon's surface. This time though, we had the bad luck to miss it on the radar and for it to be on a trajectory that hit something fragile. With all the work that had gone into rebuilding the Companion House on that big industrial lifter, it was sad to see it settled half over on its side in a ravine. But one unlucky hit was all it took.

Maybe the 'Verse telling us we weren't supposed to have something nice.

Sad really. With 'Brina gone as long as she's been gone, I was actually considering spending an afternoon there. Maybe an evening. Haley was a wonderful girl, but there's some kind of contact that a Beagle just can't provide - no matter how affectionate she was. Now it looked like the opportunity had passed.

At least Aroha Hannu's volunteering to look into our Terraforming was a potential bright spot. I'd done a lot with the old Westinghouse unit when we'd found it a couple years ago now. Between it and impacting a couple cometary bodies, we'd managed to raise the humidity to the point scrub would grow and some life could survive on the surface. But she'd actually had some specific education in it. Hale's would never be a Green world. That just wasn't in the cards. But maybe, just maybe, we'd be less of a windfall for Blue Sun's 'skin moisturizing products' division.

What was bothering me most, I think, was the situation with x0x0.

I understand more of her arrangement with Major Siamendes than she knows, since I'm privy to more internal Alliance communications than I let on. But that's only part of the issue with her recently. Her nearly coming to blows with the soldier Siamendes sent to collect her not withstanding, her recent behavior has me a bit worried.

It's been obvious for a while that x0x0's not entirely stable. Her brother's death was an obvious blow, but there've been other things that don't make a lot of sense. What is her real relationship with Krenshar? How does Blue fit into her puzzle? Lily? AuroraBlue? Somehow, all those threads tie back to x0x0, but none of the links are clear. Yes, Blue was one of x0x0's projects much like Nora was one of mine. But Nora had never had an agenda.

It seemed that on some level x0x0 was a Reader. There were a few, I knew. I'd dealt with a couple of them before I'd 'retired' the first time. They were all mad to one degree or another, and x0x0 sometimes showed the same traits. I could still remember what the subject at the training center had said to me - "The others. So much noise. Always loud. So loud. But you, no. Quiet. You whisper." Does x0x0 listen to my whispers?

Does Blue?

She's an enigma. Sometimes I think I understand her. Other times I think she's trying to play me. Which, honestly, probably means she is. But there are still things I'd protect her from, or at least try to. I'd called Silvermane before Siamende's soldier left with x0x0. Just a heads up, and request to keep me in the loop. Cory would put things through the proper channels as she always did and I would be read into the link.

The question though was not whether I was protecting x0x0 from the Alliance. But whether I was protecting the Alliance from her.

The other shoe

Things have been unusually settled now for several weeks. With the exception of a new bar opening, down in one of the old dug out storage areas under town, and some changes to some store fronts, it's been almost unsettlingly quiet. Even some of the locals have mentioned it. They're not so much angry with the ongoing Alliance influence, as confused by it.

With things so settled, why are they still here?

Silvermane tells me it's the same on the other colonies in her patrol space. No word from the Brass. No word from Parliament. Just wheels within wheels grinding onward for no discernible reason. My own contacts are either completely in the dark, or being very careful with that they're saying. Rather disconcerting, actually.

I'm in a position where I have the authorization and resources to know what's going on. For the moment though, I'm coming up empty. I'll have to bring more resources to bare but it will take time. Strangely, time is what we seem to have an abundance of now.

Even with the Alliance in power, the town seems to be doing well. The mines are operating smoothly, though Blue Sun "reclaiming" the Destiny compound has changed the face of the colony in some ways. Krenshar's 'Replicant order' has a greatly subdued presence, and many of Destiny's 'resident' population is having to face life under new management.

Not that they were ever as independent as they presumed. Their compound had always existed at Blue Sun's convenience, and Blue Sun's presence was with the blessing and ongoing good will of the town council. And the Town itself has, for a long time, at least tried to stay under the Alliance's radar - and to cooperate when it came down to it.

There was always the simple fact that a cruiser had more people sweeping the decks than we had colonists. If they'd wanted to destroy us, they could have. Our resistance would have been futile at best. Sure, some of our number could have escaped into the desert. But to what end? Hale's Moon didn't have the biosphere to support long term survival without support. It would have been for us as it had been for that Loyalist unit: a slow death from exposure.

Thing was, it seemed less and less like it would ever come to that. The opening of a new bar spoke to an odd sort of stability. Though, given the location, tucked under ground as it is, I suspect it caters to a less than savory clientele. That, in spite of the pleasant facade of its proprietor.

I'd keep an eye on him and his customers. I didn't actually mind having such a place in our midst. It served as a contrast to Firefly's and the small bar Sobi was arranging on the Orbital. A lot of business got done in bars, and the kind of business that got done in bars tucked away underground was often the sort of business that Spooks took an interest in.

So, rather than being put off by the place, I considered it an asset. I'd have to keep up my own 'protect the town' image. More honest attitude than image, really, but still. The bar could become another data point for the work I was doing.

Just wish I wasn't quite so alone doing it.