Second Sunrise [Justric & Lillian Thorne]

[Lillian Thorne]

It was off, the idesk was off and she was in his arms, trembling and afraid. Afraid that anything she said or did would make things worse for them. But also knowing that her silence, coupled with her obvious fear made things worse for him. She buried her face in his neck, knowing that even this was violating the agreement she had with Oberhall. She was supposed to hold him at arms length, this wasn’t arms length and she didn’t think she could do that. Ever. Not now.

Somehow, knowing she was already defying him once gave her the strength to defy Oberhall again. She spoke, softly and near his ear, hoping that it was safe to do so.

“Oberhall recorded our lovemaking. He showed it to me. He…” she faltered, shame filling her. “he has the whole thing, sounds and image. He said he used your idesk. He is going to show it to people if I don’t do as he says. He wants me to testify against you, that’s what the visitors are, at least in part. I am supposed to stay away from you and not tell you. We can’t stay here. I… I feel so…” she lifted her head from his shoulder, her eyes brimming over with tears as her lip quivered. She’d never looked so lost, not even when she’d been so recently revived.

“I feel so violated. He watched us, made comments about it. It was so beautiful and now he’s taken it away and I know, no matter what he said, he’s going to show it to people. Why does he hate you so much? Why does he hate me?”

Her head dropped back onto his shoulder and she sobbed helplessly into his arms.

[Justric]

A stunning numbness swept through Jacob's core. Oberhall had recorded them? For how long and what else might he have seen or heard? Jacob wanted to curse and swear, rant and rave at the injustice of their violation, but his senses were too thrown. The iDesk? Really? Oberhall had been so desirous of blackmail material that he dug up that old trick? Jacob knew all too well the pranks kids could play upon one another until they got implants of their own, but by adulthood such shenanigans were usually forgotten, swept away by the immersion into the connected reality of the chips. To fall for such a simple gag made Jacob not only feel violated. It also made him feel like an idiot.

The rest of the news wasn't bode poorly for them as well. If it had been academics, he could have talked his way out of trouble. Military? Jacob could bargain. But actually legal proceedings were another matter altogether. He could well be barred from practice, his licenses revoked, face stiff penalties and fines, and even jail time. If things went to the their worst, he could even be subject for behavioral reprogramming. Granted he wouldn't be subjected to a complete mind wipe, he was not some serial killer. Still, if Oberhall had a hand in all of this it would be a hand full of aces. Jacob did not relish the idea of having to re-learn how to talk.

With Prudence sobbing in his arms, he gritted his teeth with a tightly clenched jaw. "He doesn't hate you, Prudence. He just doesn't care, which in my opinion is worse. To him, you're little different from a Neanderthal, not truly human. And he hates me because..."

He took a breath. He really didn't want to go into this. There were some things he was not proud of, though he himself was blameless. Still, his love asked for their nemesis' reasons and denying her was not an option.

"He hates me because he feels he should have taken the lead on this project after Oberhall's death. And he hates me because I was McNaulty's assistant, and the two of them never got along. And he hates me... because it was his formula that was the basis for the bio-agent that McNaulty and I developed." It was like a flood, the fear of thinking him a thief surging with the relief of admitting the cause of their vexations. "Because he fears it will be McNaulty name, my name and now Yu's name that history will remember if the project succeeds... and not his."

"We didn't steal or copy his work," he hastily explained, "But his theories were the building blocks we started with. It was easier than going back and redoing it all from scratch, and all the reviews did mention how his work contributed to our own. He never saw it that way, thought he should have been compensated for his work and there were many who agreed with him. It didn't seem to matter that the research facility he was with had already paid him, he wanted more from us! The argument went on for a few years and almost went to court; instead McNaulty offered him a position on the team so he might oversee 'his' creation, a plea deal if you will so that everyone would settle down and get back to work."

[Lillian Thorne]

She had a sense of what he was talking about, the motives behind the hate rather than the specific nuances and she nodded tearfully against his shoulder, her hands clutching his back desperately. She was so afraid she was going to lose him. There was little in this new world that she’d woken into that she felt was a true improvement, beyond electricity and plumbing, and to contemplate existence without Jacob by her side made her feel panicked and forlorn. She knew that if he were taken from her and she was left in Oberhall’s care she wouldn’t stick around to see another sunrise.

But She could hear in Jacob’s voice that he was frightened too. This both reassured her and frightened her. She hadn’t over-reacted, she’d gotten him word but he was nervous and she needed him to get through this. She shook in his arms and tried to pull herself together. They needed to be moving, now.

“We need to leave, soon. Now if possible I would think. We have no idea when this trial will happen and the longer we wait, the more settled in these officials or whoever they are will be. Do you think we’ve waited too long?”
She lifted her head from Jacob’s shoulder.

“He may have had me watched, can he do that? Someone could be heading to him right now telling him I broke my word and told you. Please Jacob, when can we go?”

She was done with this place, with its sterile soil, it’s labyrinthine politics and its competitive, hate filled academics who was her as an experiment or a commodity.

[Justric]

Jacob was still stunned, even as she begged to flee. It was all coming down around his ears. He was not a man of action, but one of thought and cunning. There were supposed to be a few days yet to finalize his plans, a handful of precious days before he would calmly and confidently put those contingencies into effect so that the two of them might might waltz right through the confusion to the near empty shuttle bay. Now the pressure was upon him, as it was no longer a matter of days, but hours and minutes.

What were they going to do? How would they come for him and, more importantly, were they already here? The idea of a trial struck hard. A creeping dread clawed its sickly way up the back of his throat. He had fantasized about playing the rogue, stealing a shuttle and living on the Earth while dodging authorities. The reality of being declared a criminal crystalized in his mind; he had never broken the law before.

"No, wait, wait," he muttered and stammered. "They haven't formally charged me with anything. They have to charge me before they can arrest me... I think. Until then, I'll simply be... wanted for questioning... I think."

He gave up debating the legalities of it. He had studied medicine, biology, anatomy... The only law courses he had ever taken was in regard to medical law and malpractice, and the finer details of those lessons were lost in time and practicalities of life. He did know one thing. Waiting was of no use anymore. "Now," he declared firmly. "We leave now." Jacob leaned forward to kiss the weeping woman in his arms, a quick kiss of reassurance but no less loving for all of its briefness.

With one arm still about her, he grabbed the iDesk and smashed it against the hard edge of the cot, once, twice. It's screen cracked and shattered from the repeated impact, its case now bent at an odd angle. Switching Prudence about in his arms, he then leaned the other way to grab the hand trowel he used for puttering about in the dirt. As well used and loved as the trowel was, he had kept it as sharp and clean as any surgical tool. "Grab anything you want to take with you, Pru, but keep it light."

[Lillian Thorne]

Grab what she wanted. Well that was easy. She had what she wanted already in her arms, Jacob. But as sweet and romantic as that statement was Pru was too practical a creature to to grab a few things. She didn’t need the admonition to keep it light. She had little in the way of possessions really. She nodded quickly and moved away from him, rifling through the gazebo for the things she’d need without leaving behind any sign that they had left. She didn’t know how long their departure would remain undiscovered but any time they were able to eek out by being careful was to their benefit.

Clothing, not that she had much but several changes were put into the sack she grabbed as well as her wooden knitting needles and a ball of yarn made from some synthetic fiber that she was assured perfectly mimicked wool which her fingers refused to believe was wool. Also her sewing kit, needles, thimble and thread which had been a gift from Liddell so that she could show him a few things. All this she carefully shoved into her sack, concealing her clothing beneath the work in progress of her knitting which was a sweater for Jacob, hoping that if they were stopped it would be less apparent that they were fleeing. Small things but the only things she could think to do.

She thought back with satisfaction to the sound of the idesk smashing and even though she knew full well that it being destroyed did not mean that the horrible recording of her and Jacob was also destroyed, it had given her a small measure of peace. She wondered if Jacob regretted the need for it to be smashed, it was his way of connecting since he was without a chip but she hesitated to ask him, not yet.

She realized that she was done, that she had everything she could think to bring. She looked around the gazebo and her eyes danced over all the things there, none of which seemed important enough to bother with. Perhaps it was from living such a spare life but she wasn’t keen on having lots of possessions. She turned to Jacob having noted the time.

“I have an appointment with Singh in half an hour. I don’t think she will raise any sort of alarm right away but that is when our absence will likely first be noted. Where do we begin?”

[Justric]

"No...No, I don't think she'll realize what's going on until we're far along enough," he concluded. "It's not as though we have armed guards or soldiers to contend with; not unless things have really changed in the past few days. Theo would have said something."

That stopped Jacob cold. "Theo. We were going to take him with us, but he's in medical for a check up." He wavered. Theo was a good friend, and he had been raised that you don't turn your back on friends. But now time was of the essence. Theo didn't face the same lifetime of observation that Prudence did, or the life of a criminal that may brand Jacob's character. "Damn it. Damn it!" He ran long, dirt stained fingers through his hair. Another foundation of his life dropped away as he made a decision he never thought he would have to.

"We can't wait," he decided. He grabbed fistfuls of clothing and rammed them into his travel bag. "I know we planned on taking him, but we never talked to him about it and he doesn't know our plans. If I have to chose, then my choice is with you, Pru. No regrets."

"We head straight for the hatch to the corridor and follow it," he instructed. "We'll pass three corridors all on our right, then there's an access corridor behind a panel on the left. It's cramped, but that should drop us in a storage room located outside the bay. And we leave those damned environmental suits behind! Our best defense right now is that we're contagious."

He hated the idea of using disease a weapon, rationalizing to himself that it was less than a factor of lethal force and more of a psychological threat. Even with the chips upgraded to try and counter the unique strain of influenza, the people of Jacob's times were terrified of disease. The possibility of getting sick again should keep people at a distance.

"A lot of the pass codes that I need to enter at certain points are going to required a lot of my concentration. They're manual backup systems. You'll have to keep watch."

A quick glance around the gazebo forced a sigh from his lips. It had been nice for a while: him and Prudence, no responsibilities. But he reminded him that there was no freedom either. He took a deep breath and looked towards Prudence with what he hoped was a reassuring grin. "Well... Are you ready to do this? Last chance!"

[Lillian Thorne]

Three corridors on the right, then a panel on the left. She could do that, she could play lookout and maybe if she had to she could play decoy. She wasn’t certain what she could do but the burden of this escape wouldn’t be all Jacob’s. She had winced when he mentioned Theo, she could see the pain in him at the decision. She hated that he had to have that burden but there was nothing they could do. With Oberhall actively against them they needed to act fast and the medical exams tended to be long, drawn out affairs.

She shivered to think about what He’d said about her heart and how times of stress might bring on an attack. She hadn’t mentioned it to Jacob because she hadn’t wanted to worry him and now, seeing how much worry he was already under she knew she’d made the right decision. She took his hand and pulled him close, standing on tip-toe to press a kiss to his mouth, something she’d grown fond of doing since they’d moved into the gazebo.

“I am ready with no doubts or regrets.”

She turned from him and with a determined air to her movements she strode to the hatch he’d indicated and opened it. She stepped through and thought that somehow the air tasted different, as if this first step with its promise of freedom changed things enough for the air to be different. She breathed it in deeply and strode forward, pleased that the corridor was largely uninhabited this time of day. It was well past lunch time but as most of the people on the station were academically inclined they tended to work through lunch and eat it late which caused this strange quiet period in the afternoon, a quiet period that worked very well with their escape plans. She smiled back at Jacob and tried not to over analyze the tightness in her chest. She was simply nervous and excited. There was nothing more than that at hand. They passed one corridor on their right and the tightness increased. They would manage this, she knew it.

[Justric]

They moved along, Jacob all too aware he was probably creeping about as though he was a character actor in some melo-vid. Still, it didn't hurt to be cautious. One corridor down... two corridors...

Rationally he was well aware that it was mid-shift for almost everyone; no one was about because they were all working and lunch was another hour or two off yet. The reason no one was in the corridor was because there was no reason for them to be. The first two side corridors had been empty as well, their adjoining rooms further within the complex.

Jacob could not quiet bring himself to say he was in a rational frame of mind, however. He was sure he could hear his heart thumping. He was sure he could hear Prudence's heart thumping for that matter. Why was it that the station seemed so... quiet? Was the constant thrum of the station's life-support always so unobtrusive on the ears? What if someone decided to stretch their legs? All it would take would be one member of staff to decide he or she wanted to take a smoker's break, and they would have to run.

Words. He tried to used words to distract himself from his worry. Where did the term 'smoker's break' come from any way? Whenever someone wanted to take an unscheduled work stoppage, they said they were 'going out for a smoke.' What was a smoke and why did you have to-

He grimaced. As they reached the third corridor, he realized that his self-distraction was not working at all. In fact, he could feel his own heart beating louder within his chest. Jacob even began to feel a little giddy in his fears. He gripped Prudence's hand all the tighter. Was the reassurance of it more for her or for him?

Just a foot past the last corridor, on the opposite side of the curved wall, was the square access hatch that would lead them into the maintenance tunnels. The sigh of relief Jacob breathed came out loud in the stillness of the hallway. Through there, into the store room and around the corner to the shuttle bay. Activating the shuttle and launching with a minimum of detection was going to be difficult, but he shunted that aside as a whole different problem. One thing at a time.

"Right," he whispered to Prudence, "You keep watch on both corridors, love. This will take me a minute to bypass."

He gave her another kiss, one that was all too brief for his liking but time was pressing. Besides, if they pulled this off they could have a lifetime of kisses ahead of them. Another squeeze to her hands for luck, and he was on his knees opening a hidden keypad besides the maintenance hatch. "Now then..."

[Lillian Thorne]

She was convinced that the halls reverberated with the sound of her racing heart. How had she never noticed that the halls of this place were so eerily silent? Just the whisper of their movement and of course the pounding of her heart, filled the space. She wasn’t even certain if it was excitement or fear that made her heart race. But regardless of the source it still served to drown out all other sounds. She worried that they would be found, that people would begin pouring out of the side corridors and rooms and begin shouting. She could picture it quite clearly in her mind. People in containment suits coming at them, armed with weapons and the two of them being pulled apart all while Dr. Oberhall played that horrible recording for all to see. Fear then, fear was clearly the more dominant emotion in her just then.

She looked back briefly at Jacob as he bent and tended to the keys and prayed that he would have an easy time of it. She flicked her eyes back up to regard the corridor and tried to slow her breathing and heart but there was not enough for her to do just then, nothing to occupy her but worry. Her mind kept slipping back to that horrible scenario and she began to feel downright nauseated which would do no one any good. She tried to picture the steps they needed to take in her head. Through the hatch, through a store room to the shuttle bay. She’d never been there, never seen a real shuttle though she’d been shown them on the idesk. The trouble had been that she’d had absolutely nothing to compare them with. People had tried and what she had for examples was so primitive in comparison that she was completely unable to grasp it. She tried though, especially since they had made the decision to flee but hadn’t quite been able too. Fortunately for her, she didn’t need to understand it to benefit from it. Jacob would procure and Jacob would drive it and with any luck she would understand it better when she disembarked and stepped onto the planet she’d died on hundreds of years ago. For that matter, Planted had been a difficult thing for her to grasp but still she longed for it.

She heard someone coming long before she saw them, they must have been coming from down a side corridor that joined up to the main one because she couldn’t see them down the straight one that ran in front of her. A soft swishing of feet upon the floor and a squeak every three steps as a cart with a sticking wheel was pushed ahead of whomever.

“Jacob.” She hissed almost inaudibly. “Someone’s coming.”

[Justric]

"Damn, damn, damn!" Jacob muttered. Entering the sequence of numbers to open the door was an easy enough task, a simple tap-tap-tap of the numeric buttons. First entering the over-ride codes so that the access was not recorded or alerted was another matter. He could hear the squeaking of the cart now as well, and cursed himself as he recognized it.

"It's the cleaning staff," he whispered back to Prudence. "I forgot about them. They clean everyone's quarters while they're at their workstations. Shit, this is taking too long..." Jacob closed his eyes and forced himself to think, spending precious seconds in thinking of a plan. If they were caught... if there was an alert...

"Wait... Wait, that's it. Prudence, go running to whoever it is. If you flail about like you're in a panic, they won't pay attention to which direction you came from. Tell them I'm sick, that they have to get the medicos into the bio-sphere. Something like that. Most folks, if they're rushed, forget to use their own chip for communication. Gotta love statistics. By the time they go running off, I'll have this access hatch open." He gave her a desperate wink. "Most of them think you're an ignorant savage, right? Play it up. Use their ignorance of you against them."

Jacob bent low to complete the rest of the over-ride code. "And then we'll show them how stupid they really are..."