Jess sat up and swung her long legs off the table. “Don’t feel bad, Jared. Bain steam rolled over pretty much everything but then – he’s the old man.”
“Yes, he is.” The medico agreed. “A lot of people got the shit scared out of them by him. No one expected … I mean, you hear the stories and all that, but no one thought he’d just come in here and start shooting.”
“No.” Jess retrieved her folder. “But he did.”
“What I’m wondering now is – will he stay here, or is he going to pick someone to replace Bricker?” Jared watched her face closely. “What do you think?”
Jess shrugged both shoulders. “I’m just an agent. I try to think as little as possible.” She turned and headed for the door.
“Senior agent, now.”
Jess looked back over her shoulder and grinned, then she went through the door and was gone.
**
The dining hall was almost empty when Jess and Dev entered it. None of the other agents or techs were there, just a few console operators from the ops center nearby, and alone in the corner, Stephen Bock.
Jess gave him a casual wave as she took a seat at a small table and motioned Dev to do the same. “So here’s how this works.” She said. “That screen shows you what’s available tonight. You tap on what you want, and they deliver it.”
“I see.” Dev regarded the screen. “Why do they do that, if they make you go pick it up the rest of the time?”
“Tradition.” Jess said. “There are some things we do… just because that’s the way we’ve always done them and no one wants to change it because it meant something way back when.” She keyed something into the pad. “I’ll throw a few credits at this.”
Dev studied her choices, and made her selection. Then she folded her hands on the table and regarded her tablemate. “Is it something like these?” She touched the insignia at her neck.
“Something like that.” Jess agreed. “You’ll see more of the traditional stuff when we attend the incoming ceremony for the new class.” She smiled. “I remember when it was me up there. I”d never seen any place like this before.”
Dev pondered that. “We have… I guess it’s sort of like that when we graduate from basic learning.” She said. “We all come into a big room, and they take record of all our designations and where we would be going for advanced classes.”
“Yeah.” Jess nodded. “I had that in school.”
“Then they took us all to medical and had our collars installed.” Dev touched her throat. “They said we were all grown up then.”
Jess leaned her chin on her fist. “So… they don’t do that special programming with you until you’re older?” She looked up as a bio alt waitservant approached, with a tray. “Thanks.”
The man placed the drink she’d ordered on the table, and then, with the barest hesitation, put a second one in front of Dev.
“Thank you.” Dev looked up at him.
The man nodded, then he straightened and went back into the preparation area.
Jess snorted and shook her head.
“That’s a Ceebee 245.” Dev commented. “They do that – the serving thing, up in the crèche too, for the natural borns in the fancy places.”
“They do?”
“Yes.” Dev said. “They don’t give us any programming until we graduate basic. They teach us the regular way before that. Reading, and writing, and basic skills.”
“Huh.” Jess sipped her drink. “I guess that’s not too different from how I grew up. I was in pre school until I was five, and they gave us the aptitude battery.” She said. “Then they sent me to the academy, on my sixth birthday.”
Dev took a sip of the glass she’d been given finding a medium fizzy beverage with a taste that reminded her of the soy nuts that had sometimes been served in the crèche. “What is this?”
“Beer.” Jess said. “Like it?”
Dev tasted it again. “I think so.” She said, after a pause. “So what did they teach you at the academy? Is that where all of the people here went?”
“What did they teach me.” Jess mused. “I hardly remember. Like you said, reading and writing I suppose. Some math, geography. History. How we got to be in the situation we’re in, that sort of thing, for classes.” She paused, as the server came back and put down their plates. “Then at… I guess around age ten they start teaching us the business.” She lifted her hand and made a circle over her head, encompassing the structure around them.
“So, you knew you wanted to do this?” Dev cut a bit of the fish on her plate and put it in her mouth.
“Wasn’t given a choice.” Jess was plowing through her meal.
Dev stopped chewing. “Really?”
Jess looked up at her. “Really.” She washed her mouthful down with a swallow of the beer. “Didn’t really want a choice, that’s what the battery is for. My family’s been doing this for ever, so when I tested high it was a foregone conclusion that I’d go, and I’d graduate, and I’d come to a place like this and do what we do.”
“Wow.” Dev took another sip of the fizzy beverage. “So all the other people we work with, the ones we went on the mission with, they all did that too?”
“Not exactly. The agents, me, and Elaine, Jason, Sandy… we all did. So did Stephen over there, and the guy who got his head taken off. Anyone who wears the black bars like I do. They do the whole course, from childhood.” Jess explained. “The techs, like Brent, come in around your age. They get schooled on the outside, and if they pass the tests and the background checks and the psych, they get admitted.” She forked up some of the fish and ate it. “Damn, that’s good.”
“Oh.” Dev was also enjoying the taste. “So that’s why I heard someone call them outsiders?”
“Yes.” Jess nodded. “They come to what we call field school. During that, they get matched to an agent, and then sent out as a team usually with a couple others to someplace like this.”
None of this had been in the programming, Dev realized. Only the rules and regulations of Interforce, and the technical knowledge she’d need to do the job.
“There are always more techs than agents.” Jess said, after a short silence. “We get in the way of blasters more often.” She gave Dev a wry wink. “But we can choose to leave. I almost did the other day.”
“Yes.” Dev murmured. “I’m really glad you didn’t.”
Jess paused in mid chew, as she met the serious, earnest eyes gazing at her. After a moment she hastily swallowed. “Yeah, I’m kinda glad too. “ She said. “It’s gotten a lot more interesting here lately.”
Her tablemate looked a touch puzzled, but then smiled.
They both looked up, a little startled, as they heard a throat being cleared nearby. Stephen Bock was standing by their table, his hands in the pockets of his jumpsuit.
“Stephen.” Jess motioned to a seat. “Join us.”
“No, just stopping to offer my congratulations.” Stephen said. “I saw your ranking change. Well deserved, Jess.”
“Thanks.” Jess accepted the words with a brief nod.
“And congratulations to you too.” Stephen turned to Dev. “The system recorded your permanent assignment here. So welcome.”
Dev had put her utensils down when he’d started speaking and now she nodded. “Thank you.” She said, politely. “I’m glad I was able to contribute to good results.”
“Well, you did a good job, and I hope we can trust you to keep Jess’s ass out of the fire again in the future.” Stephen said.
Dev looked at him, then she glanced at Jess, as one eyebrow hiked up. “They didn’t cover that in the programming either.” She apologized. “I’m not really sure what to do with your ass.”
Jess hastily swallowed what was in her mouth and clapped her hand over it, snorting and then dissolving into laughter.
Stephen covered his eyes, and sat down in the seat abruptly.