Second Looks

DATE: Year 322-B. Sol 347

LOCATION: Windhuk School Hub

The Duke, now moving under the name Lovic, adjusted the heavy tool-belt slung on his hips. He adjusted his Grade-4 Liaison patch, ensuring the grime on his chin was thick enough to mask his face.

He stepped into the school hub. The space was already changing; they had scrubbed the floors and run new wires in.

-The Duke sent word before his shuttle cleared the atmosphere, Lovic said, in gravelly voice he’d practiced. Said the WMR mission was to have priority on all facilities requests. I’m here to look at the climate baffles.

Clara looked up from a stack of physical books. She squinted at him, he looked familiar. He thought he’d done a good job on the disguise, particularly the face, but sometimes it’s the new people who catch on the quickest.

-Lovic? she asked, her voice cautious.

-That’s it, he grunted, setting his tool-bag down with a heavy thud. If you’re going to run three dozen slates and a central server in a room that was meant for dry storage, the cooling vents are going to choke on the first shift-change.

-It’s kind of the Duke to remember us on his way to Timbuktu, Clara said.

-The Duke remembers everything, Lovic replied, kneeling by the intake vent. It’s the forgetting that gets people killed out here.

He began unscrewing the ventilation cover. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Juyiet helping one of the Ursuline sisters arrange desks.

-The Auditor has already started the ‘Recovery Protocols,’ Lovic said. He’s diverted sixty-percent of the secondary power grid to the loader yards. He wants a thirty-beat turnaround on the ore-haulers.

Clara walked over, standing just over his shoulder.

-I don’t know what that means, she admitted. Is that why the lights were flickering this morning?

-Aye. Adams thinks if he pushes the machines harder, the debt will vanish faster. He calls it efficiency. The tech-hands in the yard call it a funeral march.

Juyiet paused her work, her face tightening at the mention of the yards and funeral marches.

-My Eni is on the Yard-4 rotation, she said quietly. He told me they’ve authorized double-shifts for the rest of the cycle. He says the loaders are running hot.

Lovic stopped his work, the wrench still in his hand. He knew the Type-4 loaders. They were reliable until they weren't, and when the hydraulic seals on a Type-4 went, they shattered violently.

-A machine is just like a man, Teacher, Lovic said into the vent. You can’t double the quota and expect it to keep working.

-The Duke shouldn't have signed that contract, Clara said, her voice dropping so the sisters wouldn't hear. He gave away the keys to the oxygen.

Lovic finally looked up at her.

-He signed the keys to the oxygen so the MTC would pay for the air, Lovic said. But he didn't sign away the people. Just watch the children, Clara. And if the air starts tasting like copper, you move them to the chapel.

Clara nodded.

-Thank you for the warning.

Lovic spent the next hour hidden in the machinery, listening to the sisters recite the day's curriculum and the clack of Juyiet’s rosary.

The Duke had given Adams authority, like his superiors wanted, but Lovic was going to stick around to see what happened.