Jessica13 snapped out of her distraction when it appeared that Lance7 was called to the elevator himself and he closed the comm line with her.
He didn't need to tell her not to rat the personal thoughts he'd shared with her to the higher-ups. They were all in it together, and everyone had personal hopes and dreams that didn't need to be shared. Personal being the operative word, of course. Everyone needed dreams, but they didn’t affect reality.
"I wish I could stay out after nightfall," she said softly—to herself and maybe a little to Mini as she continued to work on the mech in front of her. "I bet the Skyfall would be a whole new kind of beautiful when the sky's all dark."
Mini responded with a trill of appreciation.
She wouldn’t finish the Lancer before the deadline, and by the time she lugged the last haul of the day to the elevator, the sun had already begun to slide behind the horizon. Her final glance gave her one last glimpse of the gorgeous view before she slipped between the massive steel doors that closed behind her.
This was her reality—back to the crowded, cramped halls, the neon lights, and the metal tables and chairs. She sighed and shook thoughts of the open spaces above from her head. Once again, a persuasive sense of oppression sneaked in, no doubt stirred by the thought of the regimented confines that awaited her.
The elevator doors opened again when the scan on the new material was completed and all contaminants had been removed, and she dragged her haul through the corridor. It was a little more crowded than usual as it looked like word of the deaths had already started to spread. Some of the folks from the administrative level had come and were talking to Armstrong7 and a couple of the other pilots while they tapped the tablets in their hands.
It was weird how they looked cleaner than everyone else. They did have a more generous canteen account, as most admins did. It was a difficult job, after all, to pick up the pieces and find ways to tell parents their kid had died.
Jessica13 avoided them, moved over to the coupler, and disconnected from Mini. She waited for the HUD to go dead before she pulled herself out of the suit.
"See you in a while, Mini," she said softly and patted the shoulder of the mech before she dropped lightly onto the causeway. She kept her head down to avoid drawing the attention of the admins.
Chapter Four
No one liked the early roll calls. The teams had collapsed after a long, tough day as almost everyone had been called in during their off-hours to help with the attack. Of course, no one was surprised when that time wasn't comped back to them, but being woken this early seemed to add insult to injury.
Well, they would get canteen for the extra time, but it still sucked.
Sometimes, though, they needed to go with the bad because there was extra meaning to it. The relevance was soon revealed when the pilots who had been involved in the attack the day before were called to the recyc level, where the furnaces were burning and made the whole area much hotter than anywhere else in Sanctuary.
Some of the workers were present, their skin already stained with sweat and soot despite the early hours, as well as a couple of people from the admin level.
One man, in particular, stood out. John5 was dressed in clean white clothes and his wispy white hair and a thin beard on his chin identified him easily as the oldest man in the room. He was also one of the oldest members of Sanctuary and certainly the oldest Jessica13 knew. There was talk about folks in the research levels who were well into their hundreds, but she hadn't been able to confirm that. They didn’t come to her level in the mountain much and many not at all.
John5 was present, of course, because of the deaths. He was one of those with the Athena genes, like her, and he had helped to coordinate the admins with the engineers who worked around Sanctuary. The man was well-liked among the folks and was often seen as a de facto leader among them, always willing to give anyone a chance to be heard among the sometimes arrogant people who administered the bunker.
Once all the pilots and bulletfoots were present, he raised a hand to bring them to a respectful silence as he walked over to where the bodies were laid on two shifters that would move them into the furnaces. The old man liked to say a few words over the dead because it helped those who knew and loved the departed to cope with the grief of their passing.
Of course, the bodies had taken a great deal of damage and so had to be shielded from sight by a rough brown cloth.
"Thank you all for coming here today," John5 said, his soft voice still very clearly audible over the roaring of the furnaces. "As you know, I sometimes like to say a few words over our dearly departed to make sure they remain in our memories as we continue to press forward with our lives here in Sanctuary. These brave souls gave their lives defending the security we all enjoy."
Jessica13 nodded and lowered her head in respect as the older man spoke.
He cleared his throat gently before he continued. "We must always remember that the safety we enjoy in this bunker is not given freely but earned through the efforts every one of us contributes. Nothing makes me happier than to see the harmony we all live in while we work together to make our home a better place. And nothing makes me sadder than to see one of those members fall into darkness."
She'd never really understood that
