Episode 21. Part 4
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Arden sees Christian’s bandages and turns to glare at his ‘brother’.
Arden: Were those properly looked at?
Nika: No.
Christian: I will say that the doctor who looked after me was not as well trained as you were.
Arden starts looking for the proper supplies to redress Christian’s injuries. He finds nothing to suit.
Arden: (to Swordsman) Have them get me my medical bag, please.
Swordsman: He’ll be fine.
Arden bristles and Christian heads it off at the pass.
Christian: Kevin? Kevin’s going to be okay?
Arden: He ordered the treatment.
Nika: (quietly) Thank you.
Swordsman: I am a man of my word.
Arden: (Not so fast!) Except he refused to give it most of the time.
Swordsman: Well…
Christian: It means a lot to him, of course he does. You only give it when you absolutely have to keep it. That’s obvious.
Arden: (to Swordsman) So. I’ve seen them. (to Nika and Christian) Good. I’m glad you’re okay. Sorry about the cuts. Have a nice life. (to Swordsman) Can we go now?
Swordsman: Oh…I don’t think so.
Nika clears her throat.
Nika: Why don’t we get down to business and you tell us what it is you’re looking for?
Swordsman: Maybe we should take a look at your ship.
Christian: (fishing) You don’t think that Potemkin has stowed anything on it?
Swordsman: What? Oh, of course not.
Arden: He has a demonstration in mind.
Swordsman: No. I want to see what sort of life you have given my little brother.
Christian: To be fair, he gave it to himself.
Swordsman: Oh, I do not blame you.
Christian: I appreciate that.
Arden: What does it matter. I’m happy where I was.
Swordsman shrugs dismissively: Meh.
Nika: (to Swordsman) You know, I find myself in the odd position of having to tell you to do as I say and not as I do. Be polite to your brother, please.
Christian: So, that means ‘don’t kill him’.
Nika: Yes. So, don’t kill him.
Arden: (to Swordsman) So, what do I call you?
Swordsman: I’ve left mine behind.
Arden: That doesn’t answer my question.
Swordsman: You may call me The Operative.
Arden: That’s a stupid name.
Swordsman: It’s not a name. It’s a title.
Arden: Then just make up a name.
Swordsman: I’ve given up on names.
Arden: Otto.
Otto?
Arden: You are now ‘Otto’.
Swordsman: You’re attempts to—
Arden: It’s the closest I could come to The Operative.
Swordsman lets it slide.
Arden: Let me let our shuttle know we’re going to our ship. So she can follow us.
Swordsman makes up his mind and ushers all of them out of the med bay and into the wardroom. He opens a comm channel to the Captain and orders him to hail our shuttle. Arden suggests we could all go in the shuttle, and Swordsman demurs, saying he prefers his own ship. That’s because, Christian says wryly, the last time Swordsman was alone with us, we shot him. Arden quips he was hoping for a repeat.
Swordsman: I am a man of my word, but I’m afraid I cannot trust you.
Nika: You never asked me not to shoot you.
Christian: That’s true.
Swordsman: I said I didn’t trust you, not that you weren’t trustworthy.
Arden: Why?
Swordsman: I trust very few people.
Nika: Probably wise.
The Captain cuts in over the comm, stating he’s got our shuttle on line three. Swordsman gives Arden leave to take the call.
Arden: Rina. Just letting you know we’re going to the ship in this..whatever the Alliance calls this monstrosity of a ship. You can follow or not.
Rina: I’ll follow.
She cuts the channel and Swordsman advises everyone to take a seat and strap down. We’re in for a bumpy ride.
Christian: I’m curious about something.
Swordsman: Yes?
Christian: From what I understand from what Arden’s told me, you have a certain amount of genetic combinations in your society, which is why the two of you look alike.
Swordsman: You mean on Sophie.
Christian: Yes.
Swordsman: In Erewhon.
Christian: Yes. And obviously the number in his name is a crèche.
Swordsman: You think I’m from Erewhon?
Um…no?
Christian: I’m not making the assumption. It could be that you’re the donor. You’re the original and you’re the donor that gave to him, but you don’t look that much older than him.
Swordsman: The donors at Erewhon are the original colonists from Earth That Was.
Christian: I’m going to go out on a limb here and say no.
Swordsman: I’m not that old, no.
All the donors of Erewhon were colonists from Earth That Was. He’s obviously the donor to Arden’s crèche, yet he’s not from Erewhon? Does this mean that Arden’s crèche is not the of the normal Erewhon line, but a line from an outsider? Why would Erewhon—infamous for its insularity—allow an outsider genetic line be cloned in their colony, using their facilities? Is that what Swordsman is suggesting? That Erewhon was a tool that created Arden and his crèche mates? That Arden isn’t a native Erewhon inhabitant but a cloned outsider? If that’s the case, where is he from, really, and what is his real background, and why is Swordsman even letting this information slip—especially after he’s just admitted he doesn’t trust us and trust very few people in any case?
We can all imagine Rina saying it now: You gotta be shittin’ me.
Christian digs further.
Christian: You weren’t genetically grown the same way Arden was.
Swordsman: The same way? No. Similar. We’re both clones, if that’s what you mean.
Christian: I was curious about that, but he …(points to Arden) …was created for a very specific purpose.
Arden: I was told I was created for a very specific purpose, of which I was told it was to be a doctor. He’s made me think otherwise.
Christian: Which is both fulfilling and not fulfilling.
Swordsman: See? You are learning.
Arden: All life is a learning experience.
Christian: (to Swordsman) Were you created for the purpose you’re serving?
Swordsman just smiles a Mona Lisa smile and says nothing more for the remainder of the flight. It isn’t long before T8405 lands on a point overlooking the Gift. Rina’s shuttle is nowhere to be seen—the Alliance craft is the faster one and has arrived ahead of her.
Aboard the Alliance vessel, Swordsman orders the forward cannons trained on the Gift, in full hearing of the Gift’s crew still on board.
Christian: In case we try to overpower them and try to take off.
Nika: Oh, please.
Arden: It did cross my mind.
Christian: I hate to say it did cross my mind, too. (pointing to Arden) But I immediately threw it off because his leaving would negate the deal and remove treatment for your nephew. Until we know for sure you’re nephew’s been treated—
Nika: (drawls)Well, quite frankly, the two of you can consider anything you want. But I’m pretty damn sure he ain’t goin’ anywhere til I do, darlin’.
Christian: Oh, yes. I know that. Come to think of it, I could fly the ship… if poorly.
Nika: Ain’t none’a you good enough to outfly Alliance ships, so….
She leaves it hanging, the outcome to that scenario already pretty obvious. Thrilling heroics are not in the cards, not with the hand we’ve been dealt.
Swordsman: Are we going to need guards?
Nika: No.
Swordsman: I’ll bring them down to the ship, just to be sure everybody feels comfortable.
Christian: There’s definitely nothing happening. Her nephew’s life is on the line.
Swordsman nods and ushers everyone out the med bay for the airlock. He garners a pair of guards on the way and orders them to follow.
It’s getting dark outside, the season being too early yet for summer’s long twilight. In the lowering gloom you can see the light coming from the T8405’s cockpit. Shadowy figures move inside, silhouetted in the glow of the consoles there. We can also see the red laser sights on the gun turrets shining steady on as they maintain their aim on our ship.
Nope. No jetting off on the Gift. Not if we want to break atmo alive and in one piece.
There’s a clack and whine and the seal on the T8405’s entry ramp cracks open, spilling light from the airlock beyond into the night. The ramp lowers and Swordsman disembarks, herding the rest of the crew ahead of him to where the Gift stands waiting. The two guards take up position at the foot of the airlock stairs and the rest of us board our ship.
Once on board, Arden gives his older brother the five-cent tour: bridge, passenger lounge, galley, quarters, engine room, and the cargo containers on the lower deck. The arboretum gets an appreciative murmur from Swordsman. Belowdecks, Arden even shows Swordsman the site where Potemkin sabotaged our reclamation systems with the strep, and the noxious stench of the waste tanks wafts free. Arden slams the access hatch closed on the mess and takes his brother to the point where the Reaver boarded us.
Having nothing else to show, we all troop back up to the passenger lounge. Swordsman looks around the room appreciatively.
Swordsman: It’s rustic but homey, I suppose.
Christian: We try. I try.
Nika: You do try. You try more than anybody else I’ve ever met.
Christian: It’s my job.
Swordsman: Yes. It’s a ship of massive underachievers, I’d have to say.
Arden: Thank you.
Christian: If you say so.
Nika: Is that supposed to be an insult?
Swordsman shrugs.
Swordsman: Well…trained Companion, hot shot Navy pilot—.
Nika: Sorry, but I was never actually Navy.
Christian: In the process of blazing new trails for the Companion’s Guild, actually.
Arden: Going where no man’s gone before.
Swordsman: (to Arden) So…this is what you think is your destiny, then? (gestures to the ship at large.) A medic on a…?
Arden: I didn’t say that. I said it’s what I enjoy. I have no idea what my destiny is. That’s part of the fun.
Swordsman turns to Nika.
Swordsman: Weren’t you in the Independent Navy?
Nika: (shrugs her crossed arms) I suppose you could call it that.
Christian: I was under the impression that they didn’t have separate branches. They just had a bunch of people who volunteered.
Swordsman: So, you don’t feel this is your ideal job?
Nika looks at Swordsman narrowly.
Nika: Are you honestly asking me because you’re interested in the answer?
Swordsman: I am interested to see what sort of people my little brother has fallen in with.
Nika: Then no, this is not my ideal job.
Swordsman: (continuing) —How you have molded his goals and dreams. I mean obviously there’s some puerile interest, I suppose, but—.
Arden: (angry) Okay, that’s just enough. Quit with the snide comments.
Christian: That was really rather rude.
Nika: I’m quite sure I can stand up for myself.
Arden: That was really pretty low.
Swordsman: Is that it, then? Is that what care about, what your motivation is?
Meaning: whatever interest Arden has in Nika.
Arden: I don’t care what you think or what you feel. You’re here. You wanted to see the ship, here it is. Are we done? Can I go now?
Swordsman: We’re waiting for Miss…Sebastien.
It’s a good thing Rina’s not here yet. That pause before her last name would have sent her Twitchy blaring all its alarms: does he know he real name, was that pause a last minute substitution of her alias for it? How much does the bastard know of her past, anyway? Some of this occurs to the crew, too, and Nika speaks up before the conversation can linger on their engineer.
Nika: If you’re actually interested in me, then no, this is not my dream job. This is the job that pays the bills.
Swordsman: Hm. Is it?
We all know what Swordsman is doing—forcing each of us on the defensive, making us justify our comfortable little life-ruts and in the process revealing more to him than we should. He is, however, a man you refuse to answer at your peril…and so it goes.
Nika: Some days.
Swordsman: It seems like a job that….keeps itself afloat.
Nika: It’s a little bit of a step down, from some of what I’ve done.
Arden: (to Swordsman) Are you offering us a job?
Swordsman: You would work for me?
Arden: Depends on what the job is.
Swordsman: Really? (Looks at the rest of us) Is that a view shared by your crewmates, your co-owners, I’m assuming.
Christian: Yeah, Rina’s never going to do that.
And hard on Christian’s words comes the distinctive thump and clack of the shuttle docking topside on the Gift’s hull. Less than a minute later, Rina strides into the passenger lounge from amidships and stops dead in her tracks at what she sees: Swordsman calmly sitting at the head of the main table and the rest of the crew ranged in their chairs around it.
What the hell is going on? A gorram town meeting? With the enemy?
Arden: Welcome, Miss Sebastien.
Rina takes in the body language of the crew—no immediate threat in the offing—and cautiously joins them at the table. She doesn’t sit, but stands arms-crossed, chin-up and spine-straight, and fastens her eye on Swordsman. No trust or love lost there, no sir.
Christian: Rina, Otto. Otto, Rina.
Rina: (evenly) Pleased, I’m sure.
Arden: It’s a puerile name, but we’re a puerile people.
Rina: (to Arden, softly) Don’t remind me.
Christian looks askance at Arden, leans close and murmurs.
Christian: Sinking to his level?
Arden: I was insulting myself. Not others.
Christian: Yeah…the sarcasm doesn’t quite work there.
Arden: I’m learning.
Meanwhile, Nika fills Rina in.
Nika: Arden just offered us to work for Otto.
Rina: (eye on Swordsman) Doing what?
Arden: Actually, I asked him if he wanted to hire us.
Christian: He felt out the possibility for employment.
Arden: Of which he has not answered.
Christian: Also, he wants to know if this is your dream job.
Rina’s response is wary.
Rina: He’s asking me?
Christian shrugs.
Christian: I suspect he’s putting together a reality show.
Arden declares he’s hungry, Christian backs him and they break out the Kaviar Krunchies. Uncertain what they’re up to, Rina refrains from comment and remains standing. Her coveralls are unzipped enough to permit access to her holster and her right hand is scant inches from the butt of her pistol. She keeps her arms crossed and her right hand hidden, and waits for Swordsman’s next move.
Swordsman declines the snack when offered. He picks up the conversation, starting with Rina.
Swordsman: Miss Sebastien? You were going to answer the question, I think.
Rina: The dream job.
Swordsman: Or rather, your attitude toward this job.
“What do you want?” It’s a dangerous question. She says nothing as she considers it carefully. Christian speaks into the silence, buying her time.
Christian: He wants to know why you’re here. He’s trying to suss us out to understand Arden’s state of mind.
Arden: How you’ve molded and shaped my dreams.
Christian: (To Arden) Mostly with a crowbar.
Arden: Mm-hm.
Christian: (Of Rina) Her, especially.
Nika: And meanwhile, he’s decided to sink to the level of a teenager in giving me the hairy eye, going, ‘Oh…there might be something of a draw’.
Christian: A teenager would just call you a slut.
Nika: Well, yes, I suppose so.
Swordsman: I was really remarking on one of the reasons—
Christian: It’s not what you said, but it’s how you said it.
Swordsman smiles.
Swordsman: Ahh. I see. Yes, let us be more romantic about that. I’m sure it is.
Arden: Not more romantic. More polite.
Christian: We can be more gentlemanly about it.
Swordsman: You’ll forgive my analytic nature, I was not meaning to be rude.
Nika: Actually I absolutely appreciate the fact that you were quite candid about what you’re thinking. At least in that regard.
Swordsman dismissed the crew’s verbal distraction tactic and addresses Rina directly.
Swordsman: Relax. At-Ease.
Rina takes one step back and stands even straighter: No.
Swordsman: I am not a military officer.
Arden: He’s above the military officers.
Nika: No, he’s outside the chain.
Whatever. Rina’s not backing down an inch.
Christian: When he talks, he speaks for the Parliament.
Swordsman: Well. Sometimes, I do.
Nika: (to Rina) Are you going to answer or no? Because I’d rather get past this insanity.
Nika waves a hand at Arden and Christian, who are deep in a discussion over the various jurisdictions vis-à-vis the military and the Parliament and where the Operatives fit in the overall scheme. Also the fact that the Parliament might be interested in us as a group or one of us singly or….and so on. Rina doesn’t bother looking, she can hear them just fine, and she keeps her eye on Swordsman as she answers.
Rina: I’d rather not talk over anyone.
Arden breaks off with Christian.
Arden: Let’s just start over and get rid of the insults, all the veiled threats and all the other stuff that ‘s going on.
Nika: I wasn’t contributing any such thing to the conversation.
Arden: I never said you were.
Nika: Okay, then!
Christian: I did most of it.
Swordsman cuts through the wrangling.
Swordsman: I apologize if my threats appear veiled. My threats are actually quite unveiled.
Arden: Then let’s get the threats out of the way.
Swordsman: If I am not at all satisfied with the end of this conversation, then you and this ship and possibly your nephew and others will be destroyed.
Nika: Then why don’t you get to the point of this conversation? Most of us are just not at all skilled at the art of double-talk and social bullshit.
Swordsman doesn’t even bat a lash, but continues.
Swordsman: I am trying to…finesse… your positions in this. Your….rescue of Mr. Carter undoubtedly was part of a larger—.
Christian: No. That was entirely personal.
Swordsman: Let me rephrase that: It evolved larger forces than merely rescuing a friend of yours.
Rina stands frozen. Swordsman is getting far too close to her personal territory. What is the man after?
Christian: No. It—.
Arden: Actually, he’s right. Because larger forces had an interest in Mike, and we thwarted those interests. We took something that belonged to them.
Christian: (indicating Swordsman) His larger forces, yes. In terms of that, it was entirely our doing. Personal.
Arden: Yeah, it was.
Swordsman crosses his arms and raises a brow.
Swordsman: And I assume your involvement in Beaumonde was—?
Arden: That was definitely local.
Nika: That was also….primarily—I won’t say accidental, but—
Arden: I would say ‘blackmail’.
Nika: (continuing) Bad judgment on my part on a job we took.
Swordsman: Hmm. And then you, of course, undoubtedly had access to the so-called Miranda Wave.
Christian: The way the entire Verse had access to it, yes.
Nika: A large number of people had access to that.
Swordsman: Most of the Verse has little interest in it, but I take it your interest might be greater given your…work with Mr. Carter.
Christian: We’ve considered the possibility of a connection, certainly.
Nika: But our interest in it is practically nil.
Christian: It really is.
Arden: We have no coats of the brown color on this ship.
Swordsman: Oh, really?
Arden: Really. We are not Browncoats. We could possibly work for Browncoats if the price is right, but then again, we could work for the Alliance if the price is right.
Christian: Mostly we deal with people and cargo.
Nika waves the others to be quiet and leans toward Swordsman.
Nika: So are you just attempting to finesse your way through a questionnaire of ‘Are We Dust Devils?’
Swordsman: Oh, no. I don’t believe you’re Dust Devils.
Arden: Good, because we’re not.
Swordsman sighs.
Swordsman: What I’m looking for—
Christian: Which would be good to know.
Swordsman: Your role in all this is merely as a supporting character, so I apologize if I seem apathetic to your plights. But you do, as supporting characters, affect my judgment of Arden. Arden is really the one I’m trying to understand.
Nika: So your primary role here is to really just see what the hell he’s doing.
Swordsman shakes his head: Close, but no cigar.
Swordsman: It’s to see what sort of man we’ve built.
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