Jess moved to the back of it, but kept facing the wall. She stopped next to it and waited, as the rest of the group came in after her filing in with a scuffle of boots and meant to be overheard whispers. She put her hands behind her back again and braced her legs, ignoring it all.
Dev stood quietly next to her, realizing none of the rest of the people in the lift had come even with them. She wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, but she could tell there were a lot of mad people, and that something Jess had done had displeased them.
She looked up at Jess’ s profile, outlined in the harsh white light from the ceiling. There was no emotion there, she merely watched the surface of the wall as they traveled upwards. After a moment, Jess looked at her, and slowly winked.
Dev muffled a smile, putting her own hands behind her and waiting herself in silence.
The elevator reached it’s destination, and the doors in front of Jess slowly opened. They now faced into the huge space, which was filled with people, all looking at them, all in the same complete silence.
Dev didn’t know where to look first. Near where they were were line upon line of bio alts, all in their jumpsuits in various colors. In front of them were natural born, but also in the same kind of jumpsuits and in front of them were techs, and then the admin people.
Near the front she saw Alexander Bain, and standing next to him, to her surprise and pleasure, Doctor Dan. On a low platform at the very end of the space were a big group of people in different clothes.
Some, she recognized. They were from the creche. Some she didn’t, and there were twelve people there in dark gray jumpsuits with either black or green sleeves. She figured those must be the new agents and their techs.
Jess started forward, and motioned her to follow.
Dev took a deep breath and did, as they started out and walked down the steps from the lift and into a long, stone aisle that went down the middle of the huge space. Their boots made a surprisingly loud sound that echoed a little, a discordantly disorganized noise since they were all walking at their own pace and not in step with each other.
Outside a storm was going on, and there were lightning bursts and thunder all visible through the transparent walls and roof. It was an eerie counterpoint to the silence of the crowd as they all watched Jess lead the rest of the operations agents and techs through them.
Dev could see the new comers watching them now and she straightened up, setting aside her discomfort, and the strangeness of the surroundings. She matched her steps to Jess’s as they walked along the aisles, past the bio alts, and the workers, the techs and the administrators as that weird silence beat against them.
Jess walked up the steps to where Bain was standing, coming to a halt next to him and Doctor Dan, as Stephen Bock came up on the other side. She waited for Dev to come up next to her then she turned to face the low platform, letting her arms relax at her sides.
The rest of the ops agents and their partners filed in behind them and as they did, Dev sorted through the positions of the crowd, and the layers of emotion and got a sense of why so many people were glaring at her. She was aware enough of the politics of humanity to understand there was status involved here, and that was always a little uncomfortable.
It had been in the creche. She’d gone through that sense of discomfort when she’d been singled out in any way for praise, and faced the envy of her creche mates. There was that sort of thing here. Jess had been singled out, and people were mad because it wasn’t them.
Got it. Dev felt a sense of satisfaction, and now she put the issue aside and exhaled in contentment, glad she was standing where she was.
Bain caught her eye and smiled at her. Dev smiled back, then caught Doctor Dan watching her with a proud grin. She wasn’t really sure why he was, but it felt good anyway and she stood there quietly at Jess’s side, her arms at her sides and her head held high.
Bain waited for a moment more for everything to settle, then he strolled over to the steps and mounted them, arriving at a podium planted on the edge. “Well then, people.” He rested his hands on the edge of the podium. “Here we are.”
He paused, but no one said a word, nor did he seem to expect them to. “I’m quite glad to welcome all of you here.” He gestured at the crowd. “And to welcome our newcomers too.” He indicated the platform. “I know we’ve had some difficulties lately, but I think now we’re on the right track, and headed in a better direction.”
Doctor Dan cleared his throat gently, and visibly suppressed a smile.
Bain raised an eyebrow at him. “At any rate, I’m glad you are all here, and now I will turn this over to our new senior operations agent, Jess Drake.” He stared pointedly at Jess. “Agent Drake?”
Dev felt Jess take a deep breath next to her, and she gave her a smile of encouragement as she walked forward and then up the steps to where Bain was standing.
She could see all the newcomers watching her and she suspected if she turned around she would see all the other people watching her too, but Jess merely exchanged nods and places with Bain, leaning against the podium for a long, silent moment.
“So it’s a time of new beginnings.” Jess said, after that pause. Her voice, low and vibrant, rolled through the chamber and echoed softly. “I’ve learned the hard way not to live in the past, and you all shouldn’t either.” She eyed the newcomers. “Don’t look back at where you came from, or who you left behind because every day means something different here.”
Bain had stepped to one side, and now he nodded silently.
Jess paused. “If there’s anyone here who should be tradition bound, it should be me.” She went on. “I’m the eleventh generation of Drakes who’ve worn this uniform and my brother Jimmy called me last night to tell me my nephew’s the twelfth.”
The newcomers exchanged glances. Jess studied them. “But I figured out recently tradition buys you nothing.” She said. “So do yourselves a favor and keep your eyes open to all the possibilities out there.” Briefly, she studied the young faces focused on her. “That’s all I have to say. Welcome.”
With that, she turned and walked back down to where Dev was, coming to stand next to her and folding her hands in front of her as she stared pointedly at Bain.
“Excellent.” Bain didn’t miss a beat. “Instead of the long winded blather you’d have gotten from others, we can now perform the induction and start the celebration. Thank you, Drake.”
“Sir.” Jess pronounced, putting just the slightest drawl on it. She gave Dev a sideways glance, one eyebrow lifting.
Dev grinned at her and carefully imitated her earlier wink.
**
The party was loud. Dev kept close by Jess’s hip as they squeezed their way through the room, towards a place where people were getting drinks. The big space had been rearranged, the podium and platform removed and tables full of food were now appearing on the fringes.
Jess got to the bar and leaned an arm on it. “Gimme a grain straight up and.. “ She turned to Dev. “What’s your poison?”
Dev’s brows creased. “No, wait.” She held up a hand as Jess started to explain. “Does that mean, what do I want to drink?”
“Yeah.”
Dev considered. “Do they have the stuff we had at dinner?”
“And a beer.” Jess told the man behind the bar, a bio alt who was staring at Dev intently. “Hey!”
The bio alt jerked and reached for the drinks. “My apologies, agent.” He handed Jess a glass and then offered Dev another , taller one.
“Thank you.” Dev took the glass. She looked around. “Wow.”