Hal glanced up before turning back to his handheld. “Don’t worry,” he said with a smile. “I got both eyes on her, Cap.”
FIVE
Hal punched the heavy boxing bag, feeling the rough canvas scratch at his knuckles as his fist smacked its surface. He imagined tension rolling through his body and coming out with each punch he landed. Ty had explained about threat levels that he’d learned in officer training: “green” was no threat at all, “yellow” meant a heightened state of awareness, “orange” meant danger was imminent, “red” meant you were in the shit, and “black” was when you lost control of yourself. Hal had realized immediately that he never operated below a yellow at any time, and that things could go red or black very quickly. Ty said it was that way for most vats, but if Hal stayed aware of the levels, he could stay low on the scale, and think more clearly. But knowing didn’t make it easier.
That was the reason for the sparring. The more energy Hal could work out physically, the better chance he would have of controlling those colorful moments, when the rush took him over completely. Before meeting Ty, he hadn’t had much self-control at all and was always in trouble, but thankfully now, he hardly ever hit black.
Tyce understood him – Hal had liked his captain from the first time they’d met. He’d been fighting another vat, right after getting transferred into Ty’s outfit. It was typical for the new guy to get challenged and he was damn well going to make sure it only happened once. He expected a week or two in the brig, after being dressed down of course (possibly a flogging if that appealed to the new CO), but Ty had done neither. He had let them fight it out – Hal taking the reigning champion apart – and then said, “Report to my office.” Hal had followed Tyce, while the other guy’s friends dragged him off to the med bay.
When he’d gone in, Ty had seated himself behind his desk. He remained there, for long moments, just observing Hal and saying nothing. Hal could still feel how the blood stung as it trickled down from a cut on his eyebrow into his eye, but he refused to break his stance to wipe at it.
“I understand you’re my new sergeant,” Ty said.
Great, Hal had thought. It’ll be a demotion. “Sir, yes sir,” he had replied, keeping his eyes fixed on a point behind the captain’s right shoulder. He remained as still as he could manage while a rush thrummed through his veins.
Tyce looked down at his terminal pad and tapped. “Don’t think I don’t understand why that had to be done, Sergeant Cullen. I do. However, I expect you to try and find better ways to solve your problems.”
“Sir?” Hal was so stunned, that he met Tyce’s eyes.
“You heard me. Someone with scores like your own,” Ty had turned his pad so that Hal could see his own file on screen, “should have no trouble thinking of alternative solutions to conflict, when possible. I’ll expect you to be able to talk about your ideas the next time we see each other. For now, you’re dismissed, sergeant.”
And just like that, Hal found himself standing outside in the hallway, unsure of what had just happened. He grinned, thinking about it now. It was the first moment he’d ever felt like he could trust one of his COs. And the first moment he wanted to be something better than just a vat who liked to fight.
He paused for a drink of water from his bottle. After he’d finished up the work on the water purifiers midafternoon, he’d gone to look for Vivi, but she was still engaged on the ship’s main terminal at the time. She’d been jacked in, hands moving in the air as she virtually adjusted the shipboard computer. He didn’t want to bother her, so he’d gone to the cargo bay alone to work out, telling himself that a nat like her would have better things to do anyway.
He lost track of how long he had been there, listening to music as loud as his earphonics would go and bouncing back and forth as he pummeled the bag. A touch on his shoulder shattered his concentration, and his hyped reflexes swung out quickly as he turned. Thankfully, he was also fast enough to pull back his punch before it landed.
“Woah!” Vivi threw up a forearm in defense as she ducked. She stumbled back a few steps, looking at him with fear in her eyes.
Hal let out a sigh as he dropped his fist and yanked out his earpieces. “Shit.”
She looked pale for a minute, and he reached out slowly to steady her, remembering the black eye she’d had when they’d first taken her on the Loshad, but she flinched away from his touch on her arm. He noticed and held up his open hands. “I’m sorry. You good, Veevs?” He’d made up the nickname for her from the start, and she didn’t seem to mind it.
“Yeah. Sorry. I guess I startled you.” The young woman pulled a small smile, and he realized from her wide eyes that he had really scared her. Her hands still shook a little as she brushed the hair from her face.
He smiled in a way that he hoped was reassuring. “It’s only my reflexes. Just lemme see you first next time, ’kay?”
Her eyes are such a pure shade of green, he thought. They glimmered like spring-gems in sunlight. He could remember the first time he’d seen one of the crystals, in the classroom of one of the vat training facilities on Chamn-Alpha. It had been during a geology seminar when they were given samples of rocks from different planets to identify. At the end of class, Hal stole the green crystal from the geology kit and was never caught. It was the only personal possession he still had from that time.
She was blushing a little as she held his gaze. “What?” she asked softly.
He shook his head. Keep your mind right, he told himself. She’s a nat, and the last thing she’d be interested in would be a vat. “I came to find you earlier,” he said. “To see if you wanted to spar. I promised to teach you a few things, remember? You were still working on the main computer, though, so…” Hal shrugged, like it was no big deal.
“Oh. Sorry. Hey, I think I might have the drive fixed now. But what I really came to tell you was that Runa said we got a message from Astin Fortenot. It’s about that tip he’s got for you guys. He’s gonna be at the Syzygy for a while and said you could meet him there. This is that guy you and Tyce tried to meet last night, right?”
“Yeah.” Hal reached around her to grab his towel. “Ty’s gone to get things started at LanTech, so I’ll go check it out – see what he has to say.” Hal wiped his face, then grabbed his water bottle.
She was still standing there when he turned back around, shifting from foot to foot before she spoke. “Hey. What if I come with you? That is, if you want some company,” she offered.
Hal weighed how risky it would be for her to go along. The lower levels of Omicron weren’t exactly the safest places on the station, but she’d be with him the whole time. “OK,” he finally replied. “Be ready in ten.”
SIX
Hal had obviously been down to the club levels of Omicron Station before; he was greeted by a few scantily-clad women working the level. He returned their embraces, knowing most of them by name.
Vivi raised an eyebrow as they continued walking toward the Syzygy.
“What?” he asked, shrugging. “So, I know people.”