Story

Louise turned around noticing that her parents appeared. She immediately ran off to her mother, grabbing on to her arm. With a little bounce, she pulled on her a bit. I could see a bit of fear bleeding into Adelphe, likely recalling what happened. But she still relented and let herself be taken. “How come Miss Val is tied up, mum?”

The woman hesitated moving her eyes between her daughter and me. I could see the calculations spinning around. Everything that the Orthodox taught her shouted in her head. And then there was her daughter.

“Yea, do please tell me why I’m tied up.”

She flashed a dirty glance at me saying ‘You’re not helping.’ Yeah no kidding, you think I’m gonna help you? My butt’s freezing on your floor because your tiny zealot brain can’t think as far as Sol tells you to pray.

“It’s—“

Leonce came in behind them. “It was just a misunderstanding, dear. You know how we told you that strangers are dangerous?”

“Yup! I shouldn’t talk to them! But Miss Val isn’t a stranger, she’s a Courier, we help them!”

“That’s right. We do help them. We were confused and some things were said that shouldn’t have.”

“Said?”

“Yes, but we came to an understanding. And Miss Val’s going to help us.”

Louise bounced up and jumped over to me. She pulled on my shoulder, though without being untied I wasn’t really going anywhere. She wasn’t putting her strength in it. “What’s Miss Val helping with?”

“Something very important. And we’re going to need your help too, dear.”

“Me?”

Leonce moved around to lift me up to my feet. Once I could find my grounding, he set me down and unlocked the binding. Freed, I rubbed my arms glad to have the blood flowing normally. I looked down at my bare legs. “Can I have my pants back?” Adelphe snapped back to me, but a hand on her shoulder calmed her down. “I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to run around the House in my panties, do you?”

“No, you’re right. I’ll go get them for you.”

“They’re blue! Like the sky!” Louise remarked on my panties. Okay, that was random. It stunned me for a moment as I heard that.

I patted her on the head when I recovered. “That’s right! And tomorrow they’ll be green!” I grinned back at her. She giggled. At least she’s enjoying herself.

The father returned carrying everything that was on me. Oh, thank Sol, I don’t have to walk around thinking my tits are popping out. I quickly dressed myself as they tried to give an explanation to Louise. It seemed to be as much trouble as I had when asking her about the cough. They really did a number on her. Motioning subtly, B bolted from whatever shadow he hid himself. I felt the light tug as he climbed in out of sight.

I tugged on my jacket with it closed up. “All set on my end.”

“Ready to see daddy’s work, Louise?”

“Yea!” She hopped up as he lifted her up into her arms. I walked out ahead as Adelphe stayed behind. After everything that happened, I was equal parts surprised and relieved. I didn’t think she’d even let things go this far. So it was impressive Leonce talked her down this much.

In the lobby, Leonce took the lead and he guided me into the back. A large room that looked to serve both as an exam and workshop. For the couple of Basilica I had been inside to see their augment work, this looked impressive. They still beat him, but that legacy really paid off for them.

He placed Louise down on the table. She sat for a moment only to try to move off. “We need you to sit there, dear. Can you do that, Louise?”

“But I want to see all the things you got daddy!”

“After we’re done, I’ll let you play with anything you want.”

“Really?”

“Of course, so sit still, please.”

“Okay!” She calmed down for a bit, though it didn’t take long for her leg to start jittering in place. Leonce turned to go get some equipment. Since he did that, I did my best to keep her attention. The screen on my jacket sleeve took her interest. “It’s a map!”

“That’s right. I use it to navigate the town, since I don’t have an internal one.”

Louise poked at it for a bit before quickly moving on. She tugged on the branding of my upper sleeve. It was a triangle rotated to its right with an orbiting dot around it. “What’s this mean?”

“Just the branding for the clothes I bought. I got them in the first town I visited from a shop called Viscontis.”

“Viscantes?” I gave her a favorable nod. It was going to be the best she could do. “They aren’t like my clothes.”

I shifted to the side letting Leonce move in with his scanning equipment. He began calibrating everything and nodding thankfully for my distractions. “Well spotted, Louise!” She giggled and bounced slightly. Sorry, Leonce. “They aren’t like the ones you wear.”

Turning up the sleeve a little I let her look inside. “You see the wiring and circuitry just inside?” She nodded with great interest. “These are what they call exo-clothes. They are made for people who aren’t unable to fully augment due to some medical condition or personal choice. It’s like having fake augments surrounding me. Doesn’t give me the same capabilities that you have, but let’s me keep well enough.”

“Wow! What if I wore it? Would I be even stronger?”

I looked over to the father. He shook his head. It wasn’t something I had considered too much, since augments already came in different grades depending on your employment. So more power was never a question. “It doesn’t work like that. You have to get a different type of augment for that.”

“Really?”

I nodded. “Sorry.”

“What if I gave up my augments?”

I looked back at him again. This wasn’t my territory. These questions were your job. But he just motioned to me to keep going. Dammit. “Your old body’s not around anymore? So you can’t go back.”

“But I like your jacket!”

“Oh this? Well we can talk to your mum about getting you one after this is all finished! I bet she’d be really happy to go shopping with you!”

A beep came from the equipment. Leonce put things back and dragged over a large projected display. He began typing with practiced rhythm to pull up everything that came from the scan. I leaned over to him. “Do you want the data I got from the woman I mentioned? For cross reference?”

“You have it on hand?”

“B, can you transfer everything you recorded?” I undid the top couple parts of my jacket to let him free. He climbed out on the table. Leonce glanced down and back at me a little surprised. But B quickly placed his hand on the table data transfer panel.

Louise reached out and petted him softly. “He’s a living being, daddy! You have to be careful with him.”

I gave him a sideways smile and shrugged, but he nodded with a small grin. The transfer took some time, but I could see he was already starting to bring up early comparisons. The Basilica had far better investigative software, so I worried how much we could learn when with this. But it might be enough. We just needed a cause.

“Miss Val?” I turned back to Louise. “Why is he called Bee when he’s a monkey?”

“Oh…” My brows pinched a little as I could feel the laughing coming from B. It made me cringe a little as the memory came back to me. Of course it’d be a child that’d wonder. “He’s not called Bee in the insect, but the letter B.”

“Just the letter? Why? Didn’t you give him a name?”

“B is a name,” I protested.

“It is? Don’t names have lots of letters?”

“ Yea…they do. But B is…”

“What?”

The child-like curiosity went full on intensity locked at me. She wasn’t going to let me away with a simple answer. Dammit. I really didn’t want to walk through this door again. “B is a nickname, it’s short for his real name.”

“So he does have a name! What is it?” She leaned in fully now that we no longer need her to sit still. Louise seemed clued into her freedom.

I closed my eyes trying not to hear him laughing. “Bob.”

“Bob?”

“I’ve had B since I was your age and my parents let me name him. They said to remember that’s going to be his name forever and make it a good one.” Why did they let me name a pet? Children are the worst at naming.

Louise stretched back to B and stroked his fur again. “Hello, Bob!” Kill me now.

The light on the transfer flashed to signal the completion. Quickly, the rest of the data streamed in on everything that we grabbed from the corpse. Leonce became very still as he seemed to be lost in everything. “This is frightening…”