'Jannine!'
Jannine's shoulders slumped. If she'd just disappeared, she never would've had to tell Neko what had happened. But she couldn't keep walking, not when Neko called to her.
'Where have you been? Where are you going?' Neko hurried to her side. 'Are you OK? Was it the alert? You never fail the alert! How late did you stay out this morning, anyway?' She grinned. 'I'm sorry I was so grumpy. Are you done with counseling? Can you come back to work?' She lowered her voice, whispering, confidential. 'The temp is really good. I think he wants to work here. Permanently. He's even got his own equipment. Are you in trouble?'
Jannine wanted to explain, but she had no idea how. She wanted desperately to get out of here.
'I quit,' she said.
'You-- what?' Neko stared at her, stricken, then awed. 'You quit! Because of what I said? Is that why you had to go to counseling? How did they find out? Jannine... Oh, you're so brave!'
'Brave?' Jannine said, baffled.
'I ought to walk right out the door with you!'
'No,' Jannine said. 'No, you shouldn't, that'd be dumb.' Neko thought she was leaving because of the company's products. That was OK, because Jannine couldn't explain why she'd quit. It was too complicated and too embarrassing. But she couldn't let Neko quit, too. Not if she was going to quit because of what she thought they might be building. Not if she was going to quit to be in solidarity with Jannine. That would make everything, even their friendship, a lie.
'Do you mean it?' Neko said. 'That's such a relief! You won't be mad? Did they know I-- ? I can't quit, Jannine, I'm awfully sorry. I can't afford it, I need this job...'
Jannine felt betrayed. That made no sense. She didn't want Neko to quit. Hell, she didn't want to quit, herself. She would've felt awful, she would've felt guilty, if Neko had tried to leave with her, and she would've tried to talk her out of going. No: she would have talked her out of going, no matter what she had to tell her. No matter how much she had to tell her.
The lights blinked: end of break. Everyone had to get back to work. The temp would be in Jannine's couch.
'It doesn't matter,' Jannine said. 'I have to leave.'
'I'll walk you to the door.'
'Why?' No one was supposed to leave the floor during work hours. 'You'll be late. You'll lose points.'
'I don't care!'
At the checkout, the barrier gave Jannine her I.D. It refused to hand over Neko's. Neko hesitated.
She could come through the barrier. But she'd have a hard time getting back to the floor: security, explanations, maybe even counseling. A lot of lost points.
'It doesn't matter,' Jannine said, disappointed despite herself. 'Stay here.'
'Well... OK, if you're sure...'
Jannine went through the barrier. It closed again behind her.
'We'll get together,' Neko said. 'For a drink. Sometime. OK?'
Without turning back, Jannine raised her hand in a final wave.
The exit opened. She walked out onto the rain-wet street, into the darkness.
Published by Alexandria Digital Literature. (http://www.alexlit.com/)
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