Dev nodded. “You trust them.”
“I would trust Alex with my life, and have.” Doctor Dan said, in a serious tone. “And you can too, but you can also trust Jess, and I hope she comes to trust you.”
Dev hesitated, then she nodded again. “I hope she does.” She said. “I want to do good work for her.” She watched Doctor Dan’s face, as he smiled gently. “People here sometimes aren’t nice.”
“I know.” Doctor Dan. “Be strong, Dev. In the end, people who try to hurt people like you, end up only hurting themselves. “ He let his hands drop. “I have sent you my personal comms link to your quarters. Use it if you need to. If you just want to talk or tell me something, do it.”
Dev smiled. “I will.” She said. “Thank you for everything, Doctor Dan. I’ll do my best here.”
“I know you will.” Doctor Dan gave her another hug. “Go get some food. Is that okay for you so far?”
“It’s fine.” Dev said. “Will you come eat with us?”
He shook his head. “I think I will make your new colleagues very uncomfortable.” He patted her back. “I’ll be by to say goodbye before I leave. Go on now.”
Dev clasped his hand and released it, then she turned and headed for the dining hall, pausing as the scan picked up her badge and opened the door as she approached.
Once it closed, she took a breath and released it.
Then she looked around and spotted Jess, who was standing in the line. She quickly went over to join her, coming to stand next to her in front of the food dispenser.
“Your buddy give you a pat on the back?” Jess asked.
“Doctor Dan? Yes. He’s going home tomorrow.” Dev replied. “He wanted to tell me that, and compliment me on my work.”
Jess punched in two sets of codes. “So he was saying goodbye?”
“Something like that, yes.” Dev smiled briefly. “So I suppose I’m staying.”
“Oh yeah, you’re staying.” Jess pushed a tray at her. “Later on I’ll show you around the place the right way.” She picked up the tray and headed for a large table where the others were sitting. She took a seat and Dev took one beside her.
‘Lot of people coming in.” Jason said, glancing around. “All the prep people for the new class.” He forked up some of his fish. “Thought for a few days they’d cancel it.”
“Yeah.” Elaine agreed. “Brent, don’t you know one of the newbies?” She looked at the tech, a man of middling height and very black hair. “I thought you said you did”
Brent nodded. “Cousin of mine.” He admitted. “I tried to talk him out of it but the jackass didn’t listen.”
Dev listened politely, as she chewed. The tray held some different things than last time, a crispy cake she liked very much, some chewy protein she guessed was probably fish, and some things in hard shells, which tasted salty.
“So. Um. Dev.”
Dev swallowed and looked up at Elaine, with a start of surprise. “Yes?”
The agent leaned against the table. “I’ve always wanted to ask this. What the hell is the collar for?”
“Oh.” Dev put her fork down. “It’s a programming interface.” She said. “It gets installed right after you mostly finish growing, when you start to get skills.”
“Ah huh.” Elaine said. “So, it’s a plug?”
“Not really.” Dev unsealed the neck of her suit and peeled it down low enough to expose the collar. “There are leads that the programming system connects to but then there are leads go up through the back of your neck here..” She touched the back of her head. “And into your cortex.”
“They put wires in your brain?” Elaine said, after a pause.
“Yes.” Dev agreed. “It’s how they give us programs.”
“How do they do that?” Jason asked, curiously.
“I don’t know. I’m not a programmer.” Dev smiled briefly. “It’s a special skill, not many natural born can do it. “
“Natural born.” Jess looked at her. “Is that what you call us?”
“Yes.”
“Weird.” Jason shook his head.
They all went back to eating. Dev closed the collar on her suit and took a sip of the pale fizzy drink, which she was getting to like, and she felt okay about getting the questions since at least they were asking and not just talking at her like they were before.
Good sign, she supposed.
“What do you suppose Bain wants?” Jason asked Jess. “That guy scares me. Don’t care who knows it.”
Jess shrugged. “Can’t be too bad. We all made it.” She said. “Besides, one of the things I noticed going in was that we surprised them.”
Elaine was nodding, her mouth full.
“Felt like that to us too.” Jason said. “I expected we’d get ambushed… hell, I told Elaine we were probably flying into a net coming around the side of that ridge they were hiding under but it took them time to react and I figured they didn’t know we were coming. “
“Which is strange.” Elaine said. “Because you know we don’t usually leave our kind there in their clutches. If it had been me, I’d have expected us.”
Jess grunted. “Point.”
“Yeah.” Jason frowned. “Hell, though, I’m not going to look a gift horse in the ass.”
Dev made a mental note to access her pad when she got back to her quarters and start looking up some of the odd verbal utterances she’d heard so far from Jess and her other colleagues. She’d heard that thing about the horse twice now, so she figured it had to mean something pretty important,
“So who else is coming in the class?” Elaine asked. “Twelve for us and?” She looked at Jess. “Any idea?”
Jess scraped the last of the fish from her plate. “Repair chiefs, some security, and from what I hear, a dozen of the biological guys for downstairs.”
“Huh.”
“There are some pilots and mechanics coming from the crèche.” Dev offered. “They were staging them when I left.” She added. “They were talking about new vehicles.”
“Ah.” Jason was listening to her. “Finally! They’ve been rebuilding those carriers since I was a baby.”
“Last year?” Elaine elbowed him.
“Shut up.” Jason elbowed her back.
“Good to see a new bus if it’s true.” Brent allowed. “So many things are falling off mine I was afraid I’d tank someone on the deck when we took off.”
“Yeah, if they give them to us, not the newbies.” Tucker spoke up for the first time. “Member what they said the last time, that they had to get the good stuff cause they didn’t know better. We could handle all the crap.”
“Well.” Jess rested her elbows on the table and cradled her mug in her hands. “Anyone tries to pull that bullshit line on me I just point them at her.” She pointed at Dev. “They didn’t come any newer than she did this morning.”
Tucker and Brent gave Dev a grudging nod. “Yeah that’s true I guess.” Tucker said. “Sides what your rig looked like when you got back I figure they’d got to build it up from base steel anyhow.”
They finished lunch and filtered out the door, most heading for the residential quarters on the next ring of hallways outward. Dev walked quietly along at Jess’s side, as it got quieter and quieter when the two other teams peeled off to their rooms.
Jess and Dev’s quarters were, Dev realized, at the end of the half ring hall. Right across from them was the entrance to the ops center, it’s outline grid a sedate blue unlike the raw red of the previous day.
She paused as she went past Jess’s door towards her own, to absorb the idea that this place was, now, for her, a home.
For now long? She didn’t know. But she had passed the first test of this new assignment and earned herself a continued presence with the possibility of a longer term stay.
“Hey, Dev?”
Dev turned, to find Jess in her doorway. “Yes?”
“Change then come over. I want you to come see Bain with me.”