Cyber Dreams 4.19 - Breakfast With a Friend

Have a great week! Love to hear the speculation and the feedback. It's true, Juliet didn't use her psionic abilities much at the bar, and she could have probably stomached spending more time listening to Ray and Larry's thoughts. Let's all remember something, though - those guys were Nick's people. Juliet had no plans to work with either of them. To her, Ray was just a guy she had to tolerate for the evening out. Larry might have been more interesting, but, again, he wasn't there to hire her.

Now, you could argue that she should put her skills to use to help Nick (and she might) but also remember that Juliet is human and doesn't always do the most pragmatic thing.

Anyway, thanks for keeping me honest. :)

-Plum

Juliet groaned and rolled over, or tried to, but had to fight against the sheets that were somehow wound about her body, holding her pinned onto her side. She jerked and thrashed until they came loose, and then she flopped over so her face pressed into the pillow. Her head was throbbing at the base of her skull, and the change in position helped to alleviate some of the pressure. “Why?” Her voice was hoarse, and the back of her throat felt like sandpaper.

“Why?” Angel echoed, keeping her voice soft.

“Why do I have a hangover? Get those nanites to work!” Juliet flopped to her side and peeled one eye open, staring at the bright morning light illuminating the wooden wall panel, suddenly disoriented. Where was she?

“Oh, they’ve been working. If not for your nanites, you’d have needed your stomach pumped for certain! Really, Juliet! Were you trying to poison yourself?”

“Where am I?” Juliet peeled her other eye open and blearily blinked around the room. The wood paneling continued on all four walls. An Antique-looking maple dresser was at the foot of the bed, and a high window with gauzy drapes filled the wall opposite the door. It looked familiar, that space, but it took her a few seconds to connect the dots. “Nick’s . . .”

“Nick’s cabin,” Angel said at almost the same time.

“Holy . . .” Juliet flopped back into her pillow and pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes, groaning softly. “I can barely remember—dancing, drinking, more dancing. Did we go to another bar?”

“You went to Ray’s hangar, where he had a bar set up. More of Nick’s friends were there. Do you remember?”

“God,” Juliet groaned. “Barely. I must have been smashed to agree to that. Thank God I didn’t sleep there.”

“No, Nick made sure to help you get into the cab I ordered for you both. You arrived here to sleep at almost five AM.”

“I haven’t partied like that in a long, long time.”

“I think you wanted to blow off some steam, but I must admit to being a bit worried about you.”

Juliet looked under the sheet, saw she was still in her underwear and t-shirt, and sighed with some relief. “He didn’t, like, help me get undressed?”

“No. He pulled your boots off but left you atop the bedspread in your jeans and shirt. Later in the night, you pulled off your own pants.”

“I’m sorry, Angel.” Juliet groaned, running her tongue around her mouth, trying to spread the meager saliva around. “I’m so thirsty!” She threw the sheet off and slid to the side of the bed, where she found her jeans lying on the floor. A brief panic hit her when she didn’t see her gun belt, but then she spied the dark leather hanging off the side of the dresser. Juliet tugged her pants over her feet, then stood up and pulled them up. She didn’t fasten the top button; her bladder was too swollen for that sort of squeeze. “If I remember right, the bathroom is right outside this door . . .”

“Correct. Just up the hall on the left.”

“Is Nick up?”

“I haven’t heard any sounds to indicate so.”

Juliet pulled the door open, thankful it didn’t squeak and then tiptoed over the wooden floorboards to the dark bathroom doorway. Nick’s bedroom door was across from hers, and it was shut tight. When alone in the bathroom, she turned on the sink, lowered her mouth to the faucet, and drank thirstily for several minutes. Then, she sat on the toilet and emptied her bladder, one of the most intensely pleasurable reliefs she could remember feeling. “Good grief, I’m lucky I didn’t wet the bed!”

“Did you apologize to me earlier because you felt you’d done something wrong?”

“I definitely feel guilty. I think it’s from the alcohol and my spotty memory. I didn’t do anything terrible, did I?”

“Well, you kissed Nick . . .” Angel deadpanned.

“What?” Juliet slapped herself on the forehead.

“Just kidding.”

“Oh, you . . .” Juliet blew out her breath, relief overcoming her frustration. “I guess I walked into that one. I deserve it.” When she finished in the bathroom, Juliet walked out to the cabin-like living area and kitchen and sighed with relief when Nick’s kitchen woke up to her presence. The lights came on, and a coffee machine started burbling. She pulled open the fridge to see the contents and wasn’t shocked to find only pre-packaged meal pouches, protein bars, and lots of different types of beverages. She snagged a protein bar and pulled a coffee cup off the peg hanging above the stovetop.

She was feeling significantly better by the time she’d started on her second cup and munched through her vanilla-coconut food bar. “Did you slow down the nanites so I’d learn a lesson?”

“I’m shocked that you’d accuse me of such a thing . . .”

“But did you?”

“No! I think that ‘spacer’s thinner’ you drank complicated things; that stuff should be illegal.”

Juliet set her cup down and contemplated calling a cab. “Did I agree to anything crazy last night?”

“Only that you’d talk to Nick about Mr. Fine’s job offer.”

“Man! That whole thing sounded pretty sketchy to me. Did you find anything out about that guy?”

“He’s a well-reputed fixer on Callisto. He has an A rating on his SOA card.”

“Seriously? And that’s how he approaches the talent? In a bar around a table full of people he doesn’t know, blabbing about a dangerous job?”

“It does seem sloppy when you put it like that. Perhaps he’s used to using the SOA boards and isn’t well versed in person-to-person recruitment.”

“Maybe. I guess you can’t really post this kind of job on a board, huh?”

Juliet heard Nick’s bedroom door click open, and then he shuffled out of the hallway wearing the same jeans as the night before and a clean, white t-shirt. “Morning.”

“Hey. Thanks for the coffee.” Juliet held up her cup.

“God, do you feel half as bad as I do?” He rubbed at his shaggy, gray-streaked, black hair, patting at his pocket, a move Juliet had gotten used to—he was looking for his Nikko-vape.

“I did when I woke up.”

“Holy shit.” He looked at her, shaking his head. “I just remembered some of your antics last night. You were wasted. I didn’t know you had it in you, Lucky.”

“Don’t remind me. I feel guilty as it is.”

“Nah, you didn’t do anything nuts. No dancing on tables or making out with strangers anyway. Ray was pretty pissed about you carving your initials on his ship, though!”

“I did what?” Juliet sputtered, laughing at the idea and a very foggy memory that surfaced at his words, one in which she dragged her vibroblade over the dark plasteel of a big, bulbous ship panel.

“Oh yeah! If he weren’t so smashed, he would’ve tried to fight you, but he was falling down drunk. I think that’s when Alec dragged him off to their bunk.” His words sparked another memory, one in which Alec and Ray had been snuggling on a beat-up old couch in the hangar.

“Oh shit! That’s right! They’re together!”

“Yeah. Poor Alec.” Nick shrugged as he put his coffee mug under the coffee machine’s dispenser.

“Not much food in this place.”

“Well, I’m gone a lot. You know.” He shrugged again. Then he looked up with a glimmer in his eye. “You want something good to eat?”

“Always!”

“Go put your shoes on.”

“All right.” Juliet returned to Nick’s guest bedroom and sat on the bed, pulling on her socks and boots. Then she walked over to the dresser where she’d seen her gun belt, and when she picked it up, she saw her data deck sitting on the polished maple dresser top. Suddenly, more memories rushed back to her, and she grinned fiercely. “Please tell me you got the recording.”

“I got the recording. Well, more precisely, Fido got the recording.”

“Did you listen?”

“No, I was waiting to do it with you.”

Juliet grinned and slipped the deck into the back pocket of her jeans, and then she strapped her gun belt on and looked for her vibroblade. She didn’t see it or her jacket. She stalked, boots clomping, down the hallway. “Nick, where’s my jacket and my knife?”

“Ah, the knife . . .” He sipped his coffee and ran his eyes around the room, then pointed to a small table near the door where his couch sat against the wall. “There it is. I took it from you after your antics with Ray’s ship. As for your jacket . . . I think we left it at the club.”

“Oh, damn it! Are you serious? That was my favorite . . .”

“Hang on! Don’t freak out. Let me message Sam; she’ll let me know if anyone picked it up while they were cleaning. We closed them down, right?”

“You did,” Angel helped.

“Yeah, we did.” Juliet sighed and picked up her sheathed vibroblade, leaning down to stuff it into the top of her boot.

“You gotta wear that gun to breakfast?”

“What if we get accosted? You seem to know everyone, and they either love or hate you.” Juliet pulled the door open, squinting at the bright sunlight filtering through the vine-covered trellis Nick had bordering his little patio. “Should I order a cab?”

“Nah, we can walk! It’ll do us some good.” He brushed past her, and Juliet heard him inhaling his vape as he strode down the steps onto the gravel drive that led up to his cabin. She followed, pulling the door closed and giving herself enough space so she wasn’t engulfed in his exhalation plume.

“I can’t wait to listen to that recording. Don’t you think we should listen before Nick starts trying to sell us on this job?” Juliet leaned close to a flowering shrub that lined Nick’s drive and inhaled deeply, enjoying the cloying, sweet scent as she silently conversed with Angel.

“I could listen now and give you bullet points.”

“All right. Do it.” Juliet felt a little guilty about recording Nick without his permission, but she was doing it for his protection—she didn’t trust Ray at all, and Larry wasn’t much better. She’d left the deck in her jacket, which made her wonder why she had the deck and not the jacket. She had a vague memory of being very sweaty when she got back to the booth and slipping the deck in her pocket just as she now carried it. She shook her head, still upset about the jacket, fearing she’d never see it again.

“These are my trees!” Nick called, slowing to wait for her to catch up. Juliet saw the gravel path was taking them along a long, narrow grove of tall, neatly pruned trees planted in rows. “They don’t produce this time of year, but when they fully leaf out and flower, they smell amazing.”

“Pretty cool. Some guy pays you to harvest ‘em?”

“Yep.” He gestured expansively. “The whole dome is agricultural, so you have to have something like this on your property. The guy we’re going to see about breakfast raises bees.”

“Really?” Juliet jogged for a few seconds to catch up to him. “He sells breakfast?”

“Nah, but he used to be a cook, and he’s always inviting me over.”

“Wait! We’re just barging in on your neighbor and asking for breakfast?”

Nick laughed. “Trust me! It’s fine. Howard’s up at the crack of dawn, and I have an open invitation.”

“Seems a little awkward . . .” She trailed off, letting the matter drop as Nick’s only response was an exaggerated shrug. He sucked on his vape again, and Juliet subvocalized, “Well?”

“I listened at high speed, and most of the recording is taken up by Ray practically begging Nick to take the job. It seems he’s in debt to the man whose daughter is missing, and if Nick can complete this mission, the man has promised to reduce his debt significantly. Nick was angry and asked Ray why he didn’t just do the job, subcontracting his current obligation with Yggdrasil station. Ray admitted, with much apparent shame, that he wasn’t up to the task, that he’d never be able to impress the pirates enough with his interceptor flying, and that the client wasn’t willing to provide a missile boat.”

“So, this whole thing was a setup. Larry probably didn’t even know about Nick until Ray started trying to capitalize.” Juliet paused by a side road, another gravel path that led between two fields of tall, dark green stalks.

“That’s it. Turn that way.” Nick was just a little behind her, strolling, alternating between sipping his coffee and inhaling his vape.

“Your poor heart.” Juliet shook her head, then continued down the side road.

“Yes, it seems that Mr. Fine is a fixer that Ray knows well. He’s trying to hire Nick as a favor to Ray so that he can earn points with the client, Doctor Langston.”

“And they made all this clear to Nick?”

“It seems quite clear from the recorded conversation, yes.”

Juliet turned and walked backward slowly, letting Nick catch up. When he was only a couple of steps away, she asked, “So? Tell me what Ray had to say about this job. Are you going to take it?”

“Oh, man. I’m trying to put off thinking about that. He sure wants me to—practically begged me. I guess he’s in deep with the client, and if he can provide the ‘ace’ they need, he’ll earn some big points. I feel like I’m being used . . .”

“Because you are.”

“Yeah. Well, if you listen to Ray, it sounds like he’s about to lose his ship and maybe get picked up by corpo-sec for debt collection. I guess the client is some big-wig doctor with a lot of connections.”

“No offense, Nick, but Ray seems like a creep. Do you really owe him that much?”

“I hate that I do, but yeah. He really did save my ass a few times back when we were in the shit around Venus.” Nick pointed over Juliet’s shoulder, and she turned to see a house a lot like his but larger with a much more manicured garden. A path led away from the gravel road to a wooden deck lined with many hanging, potted plants. “Head up to the deck, there. He’ll hear us coming and come meet us.”

“You didn’t agree, did you?”

“Not yet, but I think I’m going to have to.”

“Well, set up a meeting with just that Larry guy. I’ll join you, but make it someplace quiet. I want to get a good look at him.”

“Oh? Gonna be my chaperone?”

Juliet took long steps, ensuring her boots only touched the flagstones between the loose sand-colored pebbles lining the path. She always did that, usually without thinking—avoided stepping on cracks or off stepping stones. “Yeah, I’ll sit in with you on the meeting, but I’m not saying I’ll join your crazy mission. Probably won’t, you feel me? I mean, you’re about ready to give me a good report to Alice, right?”

“Yeah, just about.” He sighed and shook his head. “Don’t worry, you’re good. Didn’t I already tell you that you reminded me of myself? Can’t get any higher praise than that . . .”

“Nick!” a jovial, profoundly masculine voice said from ahead, and Juliet looked up to see a tall, round man with a reddish-brown bald head and a bushy, blond mustache that brought to mind images of a walrus.

“Howard,” Nick laughed, hurrying his steps to catch up to Juliet, “I knew you’d be up.”

“Well, well! Who’s this, Nick? A little out of your league, don’t you think?” Howard stepped down from the deck onto the paver before Juliet and held out a big, meaty hand. “I’m Howard, as you might have guessed. This is my farm!” He gestured with his other arm, swinging it wide. Juliet stepped back simply because he was so large—he had to be nearly seven feet tall.

“I’m Lucky.” Juliet tried to match his smile as she gripped the big, warm appendage.

“Yeah, she’s outta my league, my blunt friend. She’s a co-worker, not my girlfriend.” Nick walked around the mountainous man, clapping him on the shoulder. “What’s for breakfast?”

“Oh? I won’t have to twist your arm to stay and eat this time?”

“Nah, she’s hungry.” Nick pulled out a polished, hardwood bench and sat down at a matching table.

“Hungry?” Howard leaned toward Juliet, still gripping her hand. “I have just the thing—food!” He laughed as though he’d just told an uproarious joke, then let go of her and climbed back onto his deck. Juliet saw that he struggled with the steps, seeming to favor his left knee. When he walked past Nick, she noted a definite limp. “Let’s see. How does a drink sound to wet your whistles while the food cooks? Mimosa? Bloody Mary? Something stronger? Whisky and coffee?”

Juliet looked at Nick and raised her eyebrows. He shrugged and said, “Mimosa for me.”

“I’d, uh,” she was about to say she just wanted plain coffee, but then she thought of the two cups she’d already drunk, and another voice in her head asked why she shouldn’t enjoy herself a little. “I like a spicy bloody Mary. Can you pull that off?”

“Spicy? Oh, I can do spicy, my dear. Sit down there with Nicky, and I’ll get something good mixed up. What a delightful start to the day! I love to have company for breakfast. I’ll be right back.” He ducked his head and slipped inside his cabin. In the glare of the morning light, Juliet couldn’t see much beyond the entry, but it looked like the deck opened up directly from his kitchen.

“He seems really nice.”

“Howard’s the best. He doubles as my shrink, so we’ll have to leave in a hurry if he starts spilling my secrets.” Nick winked at her, but something told Juliet he was only half joking.

“Don’t worry, Nick. I have a shrink, too.” She grinned and leaned an elbow on the table so she could twist more easily, looking over her shoulder around Howard’s garden. It was lovely, and she tried to take it in, tried to enjoy the pleasant morning while it lasted; it sounded like she might need to get Nick out of some trouble in the near future.