“Huh? Oh. Probably not my place. You should talk to Andie about that. I’m going to head back to the site. I have a few jobs of my own to do, you know. My boss gave me a list of things he wanted done, and I’m clearly not working on them,” Lily said, giving him a grin.
“Uh huh. Maybe I should order you more often.”
“It’s a wonder you don’t. Talk to Andie.”
And with that, Lily left him there, heading back towards the setup area.
As if knowing that they’d been talking about her, Andrea Prime came over.
“Felix? Are you better now?” she asked, moving in close to him.
I must have really worried them all. I’ll let Kit inside my head when we get back so she can pick through my thoughts. Once that’s done, everyone else will end up being better off as well.
“Yep. Doing much better. But I wanted to ask you a question or two if you don’t mind,” Felix said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
“Nn?”
“Did you separate Myriad out from yourself?” he asked directly.
Andrea went rigid in his arms, her shoulders as stiff as a board.
“What?” she asked, as if she hadn’t heard him.
“Did you separate Myriad out?”
“I… that is…”
“You did.”
“Nn…”
“Why?”
“Because, Myriad isn’t me. And I’m not Myriad. You were right. We’re all the same person, but we’re also not. We talked it over. A lot. We weren’t going to tell you, because we want you to treat us all the same as you always do. But… but the Security and Combat Others are all going to be in a different… Prime… of sorts. And everyone else is coming to me.”
“So… there’s an Andrea Prime, and another Prime, now,” Felix said, trying to clarify the situation.
Andrea hesitated for a moment before nodding her head. “Yes. We… we’ve successfully split and everything is working. In fact. I played her part the other day, and they were me, and no one noticed. We can still perform each other’s functions, memories remain after all because we split them, but… the Others…”
“Were swapped around. Ok, I think I get it. And you want me to treat you two as if there was no difference?”
“Nn…” Andrea said, pressing her face to his shoulder.
“I can definitely try to do that. I think you might find that as time goes on you’ll become further and further separated. Though regardless of that, I think the new Prime needs a regular name if only to designate who I’m trying to talk to. If you’re Andrea, and she’s your twin sister, how about… Adriana?”
“Adriana?” Andrea repeated. “Adriana.”
“Adriana and Andrea Elex,” Felix said.
“Twin sister. Can… can you try something for me?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“Could you try to pull up Adriana’s window? As if she were her own self?”
“I can do that,” Felix said, smiling down at the Beastkin.
Taking a step back from Andrea, since it was just easier if the window didn’t go through people or things, Felix focused his mind.
He conceptualized the idea that Adriana Elex, formerly Andrea, was a separate entity. Equal in every way to Andrea, but not Andrea.
That he wanted to modify her, and not Andrea.
Nothing came up at first, and Felix was afraid that it wouldn’t work. That Andrea and Adriana weren’t able to be separated in the way that Andrea wanted, and would always and forever be Others.
A window popped up suddenly.
Status Correction: Joined Personality -> Separated, yet able to Join, Personality
Correct Status? (20,000 points. I would have chosen Alexa instead.)
Felix took a slow breath, reading the window again.
The panic that had threatened him previously fell away in a rush.
Lily had been right.
This… thing… whatever it was, would intervene or interfere if and when it decided it wanted to.
For now, it seemed content to watch.
Felix hit the button to accept the change.
“Andrea, you’re officially twins, though I suspect you could still reform into one person if you wanted,” Felix said, looking up at the now smiling Beastkin.
Chapter 22 - Trump Card -
The ex-marine snorted and stared out across the field.
“Any particular reason you chose me?” he asked. “Don’t get me wrong. Nice view and all, but you’re asking me to be the ugly end of the stick for an entire… world.”
“Because you’re qualified, can function independently, and were given a Fixer rank. According to HR, Michael Haglund does very well when put into the worst situation and given little in the way of support,” Felix said “I’d say manning a fort in the middle of a hostile planet counts for that. Your heavy weapons specialist title doesn’t hurt either. I figure you’ll have this place tighter than a shoelace budget at the end of a fiscal year.”
“And you brought me here to show me the site and offer me the job,” Michael said, scratching at a beard far too long for a man so young. Blue eyes that’d seen a bit too much during deployment held a dull glow to them as they stared into Felix.
He looked very much the part of ex-military trying to make it back in the real world.
Maybe being at a fort on the edge of a wild world will be just what you need.
“That, and you and your wife both listed relocation as an option,” Felix said, nodding his head. “This would be relocation.”
At the mention of his wife, Michael’s eyes flicked over to the small, dark-haired Beastkin frolicking around the tall grass.
Felix wasn’t one to judge, given his relationship with Andrea, but they seemed an odd pair.
“Veronica does seem rather happy,” Michael said gruffly.
Felix took a moment to watch the cat-eared Beastkin dive into a dense growth. “I’ve noticed they tend to do better in wilder environs, yes. Can I assume that’s a yes?”
“Can I pick my own security assets?” Michael asked, looking back at Felix.
And there we go. That’s all done, just a matter of him formally agreeing.
“You do, but you’ll lose your HR status and be forced into a leadership role. A separate HR Fixer will be assigned and report up through Kit. A representative of Legal will, of course, be on hand as well. Everything else is a material or personnel requisition form,” Felix said, holding out his hand.
Michael had a sour look on his face, but shook Felix’s hand.
“Oh, planet’s named Legion. I’ve claimed it by territory rights. I plan on listing the ownership of said planet locally here, and at the HQs back home. I figure ten years is long enough for a legal claim against it,” Felix said with a grin.
“Figures,” Michael said, grinning back. “Legion first.”
“Legion first,” Felix repeated.
Michael let go of Felix’s hand and turned back to the field. Leaving him there to contemplate his new home, Felix went to join Kit.
“He’s happier than he lets on,” Kit said when he got within earshot. “He has a hard time showing it.”
“Good. You done reading through my brain yet? Can I turn it off?” Felix asked.
“Yes. I’m done. I did take a minute to really go through your thoughts about the dunk tank though. It was surprisingly—”
“Going to drown you in horrible thoughts if you finish that sentence,” Felix threatened. “If you really wanna know what I can drudge up than we can go right on down to hard-on hotel and I’ll make you wish you could bleach your own thoughts.”
“Ah… yes. I’m done. I’d agree with Lily and her assumption, based on what I saw from your mind. And yes, we are getting along, and for the reasons you suspect,” Kit said.
“Hm. Good,” Felix said. He didn’t want to talk about it. His suspicions were rather simple. Kit was sharing his thoughts with Lily, and acting as a filter for her.