He chose a deck chair away from the crowd and sat down to catch his breath. The chair was a new one, nice and clean. He suddenly realized that the chair and the facility it sat in were both clean because someone was keeping them clean. Of course the center had a full-time maintenance staff. They never saw the JAM. There must have been lots of civilian contractors who had come to Faery. War was big business. He’d never before thought about all the people who were involved in the war with the JAM, but when he stopped to think about it, only a small fraction of the FAF directly faced the JAM threat on the front lines. Even so, that doesn’t mean that the people at the rear, like the ones who keep this pool clean, were necessarily safe, Rei thought.
Assuming they considered the humans worthy of their notice in this war, there were all sorts of ways the JAM could kill everyone here if they wanted to. The JAM might have already begun making preparations. The pool maintenance staff might have been noncombatants, but no place on Faery was safe for them. Rei didn’t know if they were conscious of that, but he was grateful that they were here doing their job. Grateful that they kept things clean.
THE CHEERFUL GROUP, apparently having been waiting for Rei to leave the pool, were lined up on the start line. Teams were instantly chosen and it seemed that a mini swim meet was about to begin. After a few humorous on-the-spot introductions of the swimmers, the race began. Some onlookers cheered the swimmers on. Rei was tired, but hearing their cheers felt good to him. The actual participants were probably good swimmers, but their skill range was all over the place. Still, they were giving it their best and taking it seriously, so it didn’t make for a bad show.
The race was a three-course relay, and when the second set of swimmers dove in, the one in the center lane caught Rei’s attention. She was a woman, remarkably fast, and she didn’t waste a single stroke. She was catching up with the man who was in the lead. Rei was intrigued by her excellent performance and wondered if she had ever competed seriously. There was a beauty to the movements of a well-trained human body. He could never tire of watching it.
“Not joining in, Captain Fukai?” said a voice that suddenly came from behind him. Rei didn’t turn to look. He knew it was Captain Foss. He hadn’t even noticed her come in.
“Did I ask to join in? I’m not interested,” Rei said. His eyes stayed on the race.
“I wonder if you don’t want to compete because you’re afraid of losing,” Captain Foss said, as though idly chatting.
“I’m not afraid of losing.” He turned to face Captain Foss. “Losing doesn’t make me feel scared, just irritated.”
“Quite a few people would avoid contests from the start because they don’t like to feel that way. That’s basically what a fear of losing is. They hate the contest itself. Are you sure that isn’t what you’re feeling?”
“What I think,” Rei said, “is that I’d rather avoid losing a contest and feeling irritated about it if it isn’t necessary. That’s how I feel about that race. I didn’t come here to win anything.” He paused for a moment. “So what brings you here?”
Captain Foss was wearing the white doctor’s coat she normally eschewed during her counseling sessions. The coat marked her as a military doctor, which essentially made it her uniform. It meant that she was still on duty and hadn’t come here for fun.
“Major Booker just asked me to do the right thing for you,” she said.
“Oh,” Rei replied. When he followed his one-word answer with silence, Captain Foss asked him if that was all he was going to say.
“What are you getting at?” Rei asked.
“A little while ago, the major contacted me and told me in no uncertain terms that he wanted you released from my care.”
“So what? You’re saying he was lying when he told you to do the right thing for me?”
“No, he was telling me that if I were worried about you, then he wanted me to end the psychological aspect of your rehabilitation, and to please take care to do that.”
“And you want to stay involved, right?”
“It’s my job. Of course I want to stay involved. I have no idea what the major is thinking. Or what you’re thinking, for that matter. If you don’t like my methods, could you please do me the courtesy of telling me so to my face?”
“This is definitely the major’s doing,” Rei said as he rose from the deck chair. “I just follow his orders. He told me that it wasn’t necessary for you to keep treating me. If there’s something going on between you and the major, that’s not my problem.”
“Where are you going?”
“The sauna.”
“Are you running away from me?”
“Running away?” Rei chuckled without even thinking. “You seem like you want to fight with me, but you don’t know how to. Okay, here’s how it works—if you don’t want me to run away, you chase me. If you get in my way, I hit you. Major Booker gave me permission to do that, naturally.”
“Who are you at war with, Captain Fukai?”
“The JAM.”
“It doesn’t look that way to me.”
“You trying to be my girlfriend now?”
“What?”
“The sauna. Are you coming in with me?”
“If you’re going in, then yes, of course I will.”
“Dressed like that?”
In response, Captain Foss slowly took off her white coat, then grasped the hem of her sweater and began pulling it off too.
“Forget the sauna,” Rei said. “I don’t think I could deal with you asking me about this and that in a tiny, hot little room.”
Captain Foss paused, her pale belly showing. “Then will you come to my office?” she asked.
“No.”
“You’re not yet psychologically fit to return to combat duty.”
“You’re right,” Rei replied with a nod. “There’s something I need to settle with you first.”
“Settle with me?”
“Why are you so interested in what goes on in my mind? That’s going to gnaw at me until I get an answer.”
It was annoying how she was always following him around. There was no escape from her on the base, and ignoring her required an enormous amount of effort. The only thing left to do was to have it out with her once and for all.
The race in the pool wasn’t over yet. The last swimmers had just dived in, and everybody was paying attention to them. Rei might have lost interest in the swimmers, but the people in the pool area were still aware of him. As Rei looked to be walking away, one of them whistled and called out, “SAF’s bugging out of here.” There was no scorn or anger in his voice. It was simply delivered as a situation report. The cheers died down. It’s the same reaction I get from other units in battle, Rei thought. The Special Air Force really did hold a special position in their forces. Rei left the pool area without looking back.
In the locker room, he changed out of his swim trunks, put his wristwatch back on, then logged his exercise on a form he carried on a clipboard. When he’d gathered it all up and walked out of the locker room, Captain Foss was waiting for him.
The basic reason why she had come was that, technically, this was the time when she should have been examining him, and as his attending physician, she wasn’t amused by his arbitrarily deciding to do a bit of independent training instead. He’d just been following Major Booker’s orders, but it was clear that the major hadn’t been able to convince this doctor. That left it to Rei, the concerned party in this matter, to get her to agree. If he managed to make her see that he didn’t need her to treat him anymore, it’d take a load off of his mind as well. The result would be the same whether Major Booker made the move or not. Thinking that, Rei renewed his resolve. He canceled the strength training session he’d scheduled for after his swim and left the center to have a chat with Captain Foss.