Something Admitted

  “Well, that’s bad,” said De Beer.

            Ian, Ed and De Beer were gathered in the map room; a large room with a holographic projector in the centre of the room that was capable of rendering lifelike maps of anywhere on the planet. At present, it was a satellite image of the whole of South Arica.

  “It would seem we’ve inadvertently started a war,” said Ian.

  “Again,” noted Ed.

            There were a number of red dots on the map, mostly concentrated in Gauteng but a handful were scattered across the rest of the country.

  “So, the Others are hitting back at us and at the Council and their agents. The Council is doing the same, leaving us at a minor disadvantage. We are undermanned and under supplied,” said De Beer.

  “But better trained, and this Stronghold will take anything they can throw at us,” said Ian.

  “Even Betsy?” asked Ed.

  “Yes, well, mostly,”

  “Betsy cannot target this region,” said CNet over the hidden intercoms, “the programing for the sky nail platform forbids it, completely,”

  “And of course you control some of it,” said De Beer.

  “Yes, that to,” admitted CNet.

  “We still can’t wait for them to attack us, or Elizabeth,” said Ed, “I’ve already asked her to come over and stay here, so no objections,”

  “No, it’s best if we all stay close to Prime,” said Ian, “Though from what JR has said, there’s no way Abigail will live here,”

  “Neither will Connor,” said Safu as he entered the room. “What about Romulus?”

  “The restoration is going well,” said CNet, “Though it is overdue for inspection, and I would prefer to move my platform there to help with restoration,”

  “Then what about here?” asked Ian.

  “There are enough droids here to keep the place running more than efficiently. Besides, I am busy with an upgraded platform for this Stronghold,”

  “Somehow that does not put me at ease,” said De Beer.

  “Nor me,” said Safu.

            JR sat down at a table in the bustling coffee shop in Sandton and waited. Abigail had sent him a cryptic message asking him to come here and wait. So he did. He waited for a good half an hour before she showed up.

  “Sorry, I thought someone was following me,” she said as she sat down opposite him.

  “They probably are, seems we’ve started a little invisible war,” said JR.

  “Yes, but it’s always the innocent that suffer. Look, I need your help. You say you trust Ian, well I still don’t, and I’d rather have the truth out of him. In a little less than forty eight hours a bomb will go off somewhere around here, I don’t have the details but no doubt Ian already knows about it. I want you to tell him where it is when I give you the signal,”

  “I thought you didn’t know where it was?”

  “I don’t,”

  “So then why tell him its somewhere when it isn’t?”

  “Because I mean to confront him about the killings,”

  “And what about the bomb?”

  “I’m sure someone will deal with it well before it explodes. So, will you help me?”

            JR was quiet for a while. He wanted to tell her where she can go and how quickly she could go there, with a few choice phrases added for more dramatic effect, but something stopped him. Something in the back of his mind wanted to know the truth as well, to prove her wrong. Or right.

  “I’ll help you,”

  “I thought the renovations were going well, look at this layer of dust,” said Jacks.

            He had tagged along with the other four and CNet’s robot body on their little road trip. They had taken the working VTOL, which CNet flew as he did not trust any humans flying him anywhere.

  “The cleaning will be done afterwards,” said CNet as he moved past Jacks.

  “How much of the facility is accessible?” asked Ian.

  “Almost all the rooms are now opened. The alternate CNet had similar ideas but the lack of power forced core slowdown, it was not thinking clearly in laymen’s terms,”

            They looked around for the better part of an hour, checking the important rooms like the armoury and laboratory. They all gathered in the kitchen afterwards for a quick lunch before they headed back to Prime.

  “How did it go with your wife the other night, De Beer?” asked Ian as they ate.

  “I don’t want to talk about it,”

  “She was furious, or so Bridget said,” said Jacks.

  “She was a lot more than furious, and it would seem I need your help,” said De Beer.

  “I’m sorry what?”

  “I need your help,” mumbled De Beer.

  “I didn’t quite hear that, you’ve got a whelp?”

  “I need your help, Jacks,”

  “Oh, why didn’t you just say so. Help with what?”

  “My family trusts you, more than me it would seem, and I’d feel a lot better if you were protecting them,”

  “Is that an assignment and an order?”

  “Yes,”

  “No can do, you see, I’m dating your daughter, and it just wouldn’t be professional,”

            Everyone stopped eating to look at the two of them. De Beer was staring at the young man with his mouth agape.

  “You see, we’ve held hands, we’ve kissed, made out, held other things with our hands…like ice cream cones and fruit. There was also an incident with whipped cream and strawberries…not a good idea when you’re watching a horror film,”

            Ian realized what Jacks was doing, and he could barely contain his laughter. As Jacks kept on talking, De Beer grew all the redder and his mouth fell open wider.

  “And I’ve seen her underwear,” continued Jacks, “but don’t worry, she saw mine as well so it was more than fair. It was my turn to do the laundry and she helped me. I was your wife’s underwear as well, and your younger daughter’s. They’ve got good taste,

  “But in all seriousness, sir,” and at that, Ian and Ed nearly fell of their chairs. To that point, Jacks had never called any older man ‘sir’, “Bridget means the world to me. I would die for her, or anyone important to her, including you. So if it’s not too much of a problem, I’ll decline your assignment but I will go back and protect them, out of my own will,”

            De Beer was at a loss for words. He tired speaking but nothing came out. Finally he just extended a hand to Jacks, who took it.

            Later that night, Ian found Ed on the roof of Prime. It wasn’t the same as back home. There was no bar, no deck chairs and no lapa. Just rough roof tiles and a ladder leading to the balcony below.

  “She sent me an email,” said Ed solemnly. “Aaliyah,” he added as he saw Ian did not know who he meant.

  “What did it say?” he asked, not really sure if he wanted to know.