Whom Do You Bring?
This was cobbled together from an impromptu chat with Andy and as such isn't quite an RP, as I've had to pad it out into narrative form. It's pretty sparse past the intro as a result.--Maer
Monday, 19 Oct 2522
Durance class, Equinox
En route to Persephone
2203hrs, ship’s time
I sat staring at the cursor blinking at the bottom of the message I found waiting for me when I opened my databook.
To: тигр
From: Da1m0n.
Re: Ark
You are invited to the Ark.
"...two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee..."
Whom do you bring?
I’d stumbled across the Ark on our way to Paquin. I’d made inquiries after the Abbot and had been convinced I’d burned my chances when they claimed they’d never heard of him. So the message caught me by surprise. If I accepted the invitation, I would be in a position to find out more about the Ark and who was already in it. But why do you want to know? whispered my inner critic. Is it really to find out where the Abbot had gone? Or are you still trying to find Mike? To make amends for leaving him to face Miranda alone?
I put the databook aside on the bed before I could touch the keys and tried not to remember that hitch in Mike's shoulders when he’d stifled the impulse to hug me in greeting, that night I went to say goodbye. He’d known before I’d said it. I’d never been able to hide anything from him and now, almost a year and a half later, I wondered what else he’d seen. Self-deception had played a major role in my psychological make-up. It was something I’d finally come to see and had taken pains to correct, but there were things that I still could not acknowledge that others saw plain as day. If he stood here tonight, this moment, what would Mike see? A genuine curiosity about a clandestine community asking me to join them? Or a pathetic attempt to atone for a transgression no amount of punishment could ever absolve? I picked up my databook and read the message again.
Two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark … Whom do you bring?
If I joined this Ark, the price of membership was the inclusion of another person. Who should I bring along with me? Whose neck to you want to put in the noose, whispered my inner critic again.
Shut up.
I was still staring at the screen, my memories wandering over the mistakes I’d made with Mike for the past three years, when Joshua walked in and found me. His hair was wet from a shower and I caught the faint whiff of soap off him when he smiled and joined me on the bed.
“Surfing again, love?” he asked and ducked in for a kiss. He drew back and nodded at the databook in my lap. “Anything interesting?”
“You could say that.” From the stroke of his fingers on my back, I had a good idea what he’d meant by interesting and I shook my head. As much as I would have liked to indulge in the delights promised by those fingers, I knew I had to take care of the message in front of me first. I reached behind me and caught his hand and kissed his fingers in apology. “I got an invitation and I’m not sure if I should respond.”
His expression changed once he’d read the message.
“I was debating asking you,” I said to his unvoiced question. “Thing is, if I did, would you?”
“I’m your fiancé. If you ask, of course I will join with you.”
I realized I’d been holding my breath and puffed my cheeks, relieved. On no account was I going to dissuade him. He’d made his choice. “Got an alias/code name?” I asked instead. “Mine is tigr. Russian for tiger.”
“Apt,” he said, running a hand through my hair and mussing it. He squinted at the message on the screen. “Is that you need a buddy or that you are supposed to being two additional people?”
“I'm going to pitch me and one person—you. See what the response is. If I need me and two people, Kiera's getting asked next. Both of you have clandestine/underground experience we can use.” It was also something I’d debated before he walked in. Of everyone on this boat, Joshua and Kiera were the two I trusted most to navigate the twisted paths the clandestine route often took.
“Well, if it is like Noah's Ark,” Joshua said, his breath tickling my ear. “It needs to be two of a type, right?”
“Male and female. Biblically speaking, a mated pair. Which we've got. But that's if you're going to interpret that verse literally. Maybe it's more a call for like-minded people. Or hell, maybe it's a dating service. I don't know yet. Jehovah's witnesses ... Mormons? A trap set by the Feds?” Paranoia was never far from me these days, not with the geo-political situation sitting primed like a powderkeg.
I looked at the message again, at the cursor blinking away at the bottom of it.
To: тигр
From: Da1m0n.
Re: Ark
You are invited to the Ark.
"...two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee..."
Whom do you bring?
With the ability to follow a loved one’s thoughts that couples have, Joshua asked, “How trustworthy do you feel these people are and do you think I ought to have an alias?”
“Enough to investigate, and yes,” I said. “I think you should. I have one.”
“If they know who I am, is that likely to scare them off or interest them?”
“It would depend on their agenda, Joshua, and right now, I don't know what it is and won't likely know until I'm in. If I had to hazard a guess, they're gearing up for something. I caught the line "The Flood is coming" when I stumbled across them. I don't know what it means, exactly, but the fact that they're gathering people over a circumspect channel makes me think it's more than a flash mob planning to strip naked and dance in Parliament Square.”
I snorted and threw myself back against the pillows, frowning. I conjured in my mind’s eye the map I’d made of the recent events rocking the verse, the one I’d taped to the machine shop wall. Where was the Flood starting? Where would it go and where would it end? From the Core to the Rim? Or was it the other way around? Would it come in from the Rim, sweeping all before it like water from a burst dam? Would the Ark ride the wave to safety or would it get dragged under? There was no telling from here. Joshua sat still a moment and then flopped onto the pillows beside me.
“FreedbyZed seems appropriate,” he said then, tucking his hands behind his head.
“Okay—you're in?” Just like that? Really? I needed to be sure. The clandestine community, as I had good reason to know, could be very unforgiving of half-hearted measures, eyeing such actions with suspicion. Justifiably so.
“Of course I'm in,” Joshua said, just as serious as I: Just like that. Really.
I sat up, pulled the databook into my lap, and typed my response:
To: Da1m0n
From: тигр
Re: Ark
Whom do you bring?
Answer: тигр and FreedbyZed
“We're in.” I hit send and shut the databook with a click. “God help us.”
“Don't get overdramatic, Rina.”
And despite the tension I’d felt over this, I couldn’t help but grin at him.
“See there? I made the right choice. Don't change a thing.” I crossed myself anyway and Joshua’s expression mimicked a dismissive shrug.
“So far, honestly, I'm not too impressed with God.”
How many times had I said the same thing? More than I could count. And it irked me that Joshua, normally upbeat and optimistic, had beaten me to it. A rainy night on Paquin whispered from my memory and I said softly, “You know, a wise man once told me that even if you stop talking to God, he's still willing to listen. I expect that holds true with how impressed he is with us, regardless of how unimpressed we are of him.”
I gently brushed the hair off his brow and he captured my hand and kissed it.
“Smart guy. Beggar's the only man who I've come across who strikes me a true man of faith.”
“There are more out there than you'd think but they're rare. Very rare.” Like Ezekiel, I thought and smiled up at Joshua. “Like someone else I could name.”
“You're not talking about me, I hope.”
“Of course, you.” I sat straighter on the bed and draped my arms around his neck. “Who else would I be talking about?”
“I'm no man of faith, Rina.”
“Belief and faith aren't the same thing. You can have belief without faith, but rarely the other way around.” Again, memories of Ezekiel on Paquin rose, flickering like the candlelight in the restaurant where he’d bought me dinner in exchange for my company and a chance to talk. As we had then, so I did now, and I addressed the thing that really mattered. “So, faith aside, what do you believe in, Joshua?”
As usual, Joshua did not disappoint but rose to the challenge.
“Choice.”
“And what are the choices before you now?”
“I believe that everyone deserves the chance to make their own choices and that in every situation, there is always a choice. Right now, I made my choice to join with you on this ark thing.”
“And I've made my choice,” I breathed and kissed him, slow and sweet, letting him know I didn’t regret the choice I’d made. The kiss grew long, attenuated, and then broke and I settled on the pillows again, wrapped in his arms. “So ... what do you think that 'two of every sort' line means?” I frowned at the databook and nudged it with my foot, my mental gears already spinning away. Then: “God, I hope it's not another Thousand Flowers Campaign.”
Joshua didn’t even seem thrown by my non-sequitur. He just hugged me and asked, his chin on my shoulder, “What is that?”
“Thousand Flowers?” I craned my neck around to face him and quirked a brow at him. “That's right ... you probably weren't raised on institutional paranoia like I was. Back on Old Earth, well before the Exodus, the then-current Sino government solicited the populace's opinions on it. To let intellectual discourse blossom like ‘a thousand flowers’ across the land.” I snorted softly: the fools. “Of course, this was just a ruse to get everyone who might be a political problem to come out of hiding and have them dragged out back and shot. It was quite effective.”
Not that the Feds are never known for witch hunts, no. Still ... I frowned.
“This doesn't have that feel,” I explained. “You can only get in by invitation and by encryption key. You can only send messages forward to one other key at a time, though you can know several. It's too compartmentalized to feel like a fishing expedition.” I bit my lip and twisted around to look at him again. “I don't know, Joshua. My gut's telling me it's legit. I just don't know what it deals with yet.”
“Legit doesn't equal a smart idea, mind you.”
“No. It doesn't. I understand that. I'm not about to blab everything on this network. If anything, I'll be lurking quite a bit until I can get a better handle on it. Look. We're on our way to Persephone, yes? I'll wave Omar and ask him his opinion about it. If there's an Ark cell on that planet, chances are he'll know about it. If he doesn't, he'll know who to ask.”
“Ark implies outlasting a disaster.”
“A means of salvation, yes. But salvation from what? Which disaster? It also implies a journey somewhere. So ... where? Captained by whom? Toward what purpose? Serving whose agenda?” I turned all the way around in his arms and cupped his face in my hands. “It comes down to who are you? Who do you trust? Who do you serve? Why are you here? What will you do? I am myself, as my life made me. I trust you and our crew. I serve justice. I want to make a difference.”
Joshua smoothed my hair back before answering.
“I'm worried that the ark folks are going to create a disaster.”
“Borrowing trouble is my expertise, not yours. But thanks for that. I'm trusting you to keep me grounded.” I planted a quick kiss on his palm as he stroked my hair again. “Thing is ... disaster for whom? The opposition or themselves or both? I don't know, but the Flood is Coming ...”
“Has the Verse sinned so much?” Joshua’s expression sank and I hated what I had to say next.
“If we're dealing with fanatics, does it have to? I would think the mere presence of sin would be justification enough.”
Go to Joshua's Crew Page or Rina's Crew Page
Go back to: Season Six, Aug 2522 to May 2523
Go to EPISODES or TIMELINE
