It’s no secret that a conscience can sometimes be a pest
It’s no secret ambition bites the nails of success
Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief
All kill their inspiration, and sing about the grief
— Bono
Chapter 3: Multitasking
Xero’s eyes fluttered open and she groaned weakly. Her senses were filled with a pleasant aroma, but every fiber of her being ached. As if her skin had been peeled from her body and sewn back haphazardly, there wasn’t a part of her body she didn’t want to run and hide from. After some absent consideration, she decided that the pain radiating from the center of her brain surpassed the anguish reported by the rest of her.
“I thought those herbs might wake you,” a male voice said quietly at her side. “Welcome back.”
“Rielle,” Xero croaked, to discover that her mouth was painfully dry. Henry moved into the hacker’s field of vision, holding a small ice chip. She opened her mouth and let the water melt on her tongue. She couldn’t remember ever tasting anything as sweet.
“Relax, Xero. She’s over there,” Henry replied, nodding to the space next to her. “But don’t wake her up. She’s been up for over fifty hours taking care of you. I only convinced her to get some shut eye when it seemed you were out of the woods.”
Xero turned her head, grimacing at the pain and dizziness it induced, to find she was lying on a soft bed, a cushion that had been set up on the floor of the work room. Rielle MacGab lay a couple of feet away on a similar cushion, her head pillowed on crossed arms, sleeping soundly.
Returning her attention to Henry, the hacker accepted another ice chip. “I’m not sure what happened,” she admitted.
Henry chuckled quietly. “Let’s see, you broke into my house, hacked into a Ronin work station, and got fried on the nets. Rielle said you were convulsing and she couldn’t shut the system down. She finally beat it into submission with a rain stick. I got home about then. You were burning up.”
“I feel like I’ve been drawn and quartered,” Xero mumbled.
“A fate you most certainly deserve,” Henry agreed. Xero glared at him and he shrugged. “I won’t lie to you. Your meridians are still a mess and I don’t know if you suffered any brain damage or not. I was ready to let you unsub, but your friend is very persuasive.”
“Don’t tell me she told you her ‘past life’ theory,” the hacker groaned.
“Oh yeah. We’ve had a couple of days to talk. She spent a lot of time with you out in the pond, trying to get your temperature down. That water is snow runoff so it’s pretty cold. I think she needed to talk to take her mind off the fact that her lips were turning blue.” He paused for a moment then continued solemnly. “She told me about Renée,” he added at last.
Xero closed her eyes briefly forcing the image of Bat’s charred corpse from her mind. “I’m sorry about that, Henry,” she said simply.
“Not as sorry as I am,” he whispered. “I’ve been using acupuncture to try to straighten out your meridians. Why don’t you get some rest and we’ll try again later?”
Xero watched him go, wondering why the hell she didn’t just thank the man.
The mobil communications unit buzzed loudly waking Jasper Helms from a sound sleep. He groped for the device, tipping over a glass of water on the nightstand in the process. “What is it?” he demanded, picking up the glass.
“Xena may still be alive,” Ares’ metallic voice growled through the speaker.
Confused, the senator shook his head trying to clear it. “I thought you eliminated the hacker yourself.”
“Mistaken identity. Xena entered the net not long ago, but managed to escape. I want your people to find her. She’s using the ID Xero. Find her, capture her, and get her on the net.”
“Wouldn’t it be simpler to just take care of her myself? Jasper asked, uncertain why his sponsor had such a fixation.
“No!” Ares barked. “Xena is mine. And don’t for a second underestimate her importance here. If she isn’t neutralized, I can guarantee that you won’t get what you want. She lives for disrupting the plans of the wicked.”
“Wicked?” Jasper gasped in offense. “I’d hardly call saving the country ‘wicked’.”
“Jasper, shut up,” Ares replied. “You’re a self-serving, lying charlatan and we both know it. If you want to mask it in sound bites like ‘family values’ and ‘moral compass’, I couldn’t be less interested. My point is this: someone else is going to be looking for this hacker. If she finds Xero before you or I do, you very well may see all of your plans ruined.”
“I’ll contact my source. I think I’ve heard of Xero--she’s a big time, wanted hacker so she shouldn’t be too hard to spot.”
“Whatever,” Ares replied dismissively. “But you’d better move quickly. Get your supporters online now. Xena is down but she isn’t out. You have Pipeline ready to go tomorrow and it won’t matter if Gabrielle finds her.”
“Mr. Ares, I’ve explained to you that we need more time. Even pressuring everyone involved the soonest we could get test software would be a week.”
“Tell your people to have it ready in four days,” Ares replied, his voice cold and hard. “And I want Xero found.”
“Maybe I could bring her to you personally and--” the line went dead. In his frustration Helms threw the mobie unit down on the nightstand, knocking the now empty glass of water over once again.
When next Xero woke it was to the sound of voices. She kept still, her breathing even. It took several moments of searching her memory to remember where she was and what had happened. The agonizing headache had been replaced by a feeling of numbness and utter exhaustion.
As Xero listened to the movements around her, she determined that Henry was seated on her left, Rielle on her right. She heard the sound of a match, then smelled the faint floral scent of the burning herbs. Lacking the energy and desire to announce herself awake, she decided to simply feign sleep until she slipped into unconsciousness once more.
“Why are you heating the needles?” Rielle asked, watching Henry carefully.
“The meridians are almost completely blocked. Even at this rate it’s going to take some time before she gets any feeling back in her lower legs, if she recovers at all.”
Rielle tried to ignore the dismal assessment. Xero would recover because she had to. Too much depended on her. “You said you spoke to her,” she said, trying to redirect the conversation a little. “Does she sound okay? You were worried about brain damage.”
Xero could almost hear Henry shrug. “She’s already ‘brain damaged’ if you ask me. If she’s more damaged than before, I don’t know yet.” The hacker could hear him putting something down then he continued. “Did you have any luck with the computer?”
“I got one drive running, but there’s chance of sending or receiving messages. It’s just a dumb retrieval program, a safe one I hope.”
“That was quick work,” Henry allowed. “You know your way around hardware.”
“I started off in hardware when I was younger,” Rielle replied. “I took a lot of systems management and software classes in school. Online law enforcement seemed the natural progression. If I hadn’t gone that route, I’m sure my curiosity would have led me to hacking.”
“And here you are with a hacker anyway,” Henry replied. “How ironic. It isn’t too late for you, Rielle, you can still turn her in.”
“Why do you hate her so much?” Rielle asked hotly, feeling very protective of the unconscious outlaw. “What she does for a living is wrong, and I know she isn’t the nicest person, but this goes way beyond that.”
When Henry spoke his voice was tight, the fight to keep his emotions in check evident. “You saw for yourself what she did to my wife--”
“The way I hear it, you backed out of your marriage contract early and threw your wife out of the house.”
“Xero tell you that?” he asked, surprised and defensive.
Rielle nodded. “She said you visited twice after that. When she first started hacking and when she was injured. What I want to know, is who took care of your ex-wife after her eye replacement surgery? Those are high maintenance procedures. They have to be treated every few hours or the body rejects the implant.”
Neither spoke for long moments, Rielle’s words hanging heavily in the air. When Henry finally broke the silence his tone was sad, defeated.
“Hackers do take care of their own. Rielle, my marriage fell apart for a lot of reasons. I would have gone insane had I stayed for the entire contract and Renée would have, too. Once I quit the business, it became too much of a strain for us to be together with her still on the inside.” He shook his head, dismissing her. “I guess unless you’re married yourself, it’s impossible to understand.”
Rielle laughed bitterly. “Oh, I’m married alright, almost the same boat as you. I’m three years into a five year contract. And I want out.” Henry looked at her waiting for her to continue. The syscop looked back down at their patient, smoothing a strand of hair away from her face. “Her name is Paula,” she continued. “It’s funny almost--she always seemed so close to everything I was looking for, but there was always something missing. I finally decided to stop looking and just get married. The first couple of years were fine, pretty good in fact. But then when I started dreaming about Xena and Gabrielle and began to remember who I am…” She trailed off.
“So what is it you’re looking for?” Henry asked as he readied another needle.
“Her.” Rielle replied softly.
Xero winced at the comment just as a needle was pierced into her leg. “Ow,” she croaked, her eyes fluttering open.
“Don’t be such a baby,” Henry snapped, clearly annoyed. He looked sadly at Rielle for a moment longer than began to remove the needles from the hacker’s body. “Why don’t you take her to the pond. Let her soak for a half hour. The fever is still hanging around, so it couldn’t hurt.”
Rielle nodded and stood, moving to the head of the soft pallet. “Pond?” the hacker asked dubiously.
“You’ve been unconscious the other times,” Henry supplied. “You get to float with the fish a few times a day.”
“I’m not getting in that water,” Xero insisted.
“I’m afraid you don’t have much say in the matter,” Rielle replied with a grin. With a fluid movement, she picked up the edge of Xero’s cot and began to drag the travois towards the door. When she tried to struggle, Xero realized she couldn’t feel her feet.
“You’re paralyzed from just above your knees down.” Henry explained. “Your lower spine got zapped pretty bad. Do yourself a favor and do what Rielle says. You’re recovering in spite of yourself, so don’t screw it up now.” He stood, and with a disappointed sigh directed at Rielle, went upstairs.
“Let me guess, he’s jealous,” Xero quipped, trying to mask her uncertainty as Rielle dragged the cot outside.
The sun was still out, hanging heavily over the expanse of ocean, blocked by the house. It was light and the day’s warmth clung to the grass and rocks ringing the pond. “Jealous?” Rielle wondered aloud. “I don’t think so. He hates your profession more than you personally I think. Although he pretty much hates you personally too,” she added after a moment’s reflection.
Carefully, Rielle set the cot down near the edge of the pond and extracted several large towels from a compartment underneath, then began to undress.
“A cold bath and a show?” Xero quipped dryly, not trying to hide her appreciative gaze from the syscop. “Do you want me turned on or off?”
“Quit being such an ass will you?” Rielle shot back. “The water is fucking cold. It’s even colder when your clothes are soaked. Trust me, I know. Now, if you’d be so good as to roll into the water...” She left her words hanging and began to get annoyed when it became clear that the hacker wasn’t going to comply.
“I can’t swim,” Xero announced at last through clenched teeth.
“Who said anything about swimming?” Rielle asked, taking off her sweat pants. “You just have to float. You’ve been doing it for two days now. One more and you’ll get that merit badge.”
“I was unconscious at the time,” Xero reminded the syscop, looking with disapproval at the pond when she noticed other things already inhabiting the water.
“I could knock you out,” Rielle offered. “But I suspect you’ll be pretty pissed when you come to. Trust me, just roll into the water, I’ll catch you.”
“No.”
“Have it your way then.”
Before she could protest, Rielle had grabbed the side of the cot and gave it a swift turn. Xero was rolled on her side and dumped straight into the water, Rielle sliding into the pond an instant later.
“Xero, stop thrashing!” the smaller woman shouted as the hacker struggled against the sheet still wrapped around her body. Something about the syscop’s tone brought a momentary pause to her struggling. Instantly, she felt strong arms wrap around her middle, one arm supporting her weight in the water, the other untangling her from the sheet. “There you go, you’re fine. I’ve got you.” Rielle’s voice was assured, confident, and in moments Xero’s arms were free so she could hold on to the rocks that ringed the pond.
“You fucking bitch,” Xero growled, shivering more from fear than from the cold water.
“It’s the company I keep,” Rielle shot back smoothly. Xero tried briefly to hoist her body out of the water, only to discover that she simply didn’t have the strength needed. “You don’t have it in you to do much but float,” Rielle commented after watching the hacker struggle for a moment.
“This is fucked,” she finally grumbled, giving up on getting out of the pond and easing back into the cold water. She held onto the rocks by the edge of the pool, and refused to look at her companion.
“I could teach you how to swim, you know,” Rielle offered after a moment’s silence.
“I’d better not be in the water long enough to need it,” the hacker grumbled. Then, trying to get her mind off her predicament, she asked, “When did you learn how?”
“When I went to summer camp,” Rielle answered. To prove her point, she moved through the water with practiced ease, alternating between a variety of strokes. Xero watched, trying to think of anything but the fear twisting in her already aching body like a knife. After a couple of moments, Rielle smoothly glided back to Xero’s side, easily treading water next to the hacker.
“I don’t suppose you ever went to summer camp?” she asked. Xero didn’t answer, only shook her head. “Then let me show you what it’s like,” Rielle coaxed. She eased her arms around the hacker’s middle, tugging gently. “Just let go,” she whispered near Xero’s left ear. “I’ve got you.”
The body pressed against her back was so warm, Xero could feel her arms stretch as she tried to stay in contact with it as Rielle moved away from the edge of the pool. One hand came free before she realized what was happening. With a frantic grasp, her fingers attached themselves to the rock once again. Rielle smiled, she’d had more progress than she expected.
Easing around in front of the hacker’s body, Rielle ducked under the surface. She came up for air between the hacker and the rock wall, wrapping her hands around the muscular biceps that framed her head. Xero’s strong hands clung to the rocks like limpets. “This isn’t so bad now, is it?” Rielle asked, looking into blue eyes clouded with fear and anger.
Xero readied a sarcastic come back when she was struck by just how inviting the body in front of her appeared. “It could be worse,” she whispered as she leaned in to claim the soft lips that had captivated her attention.
Rielle melted into the warm, confident kiss, every fiber of her being screaming in recognition. Memories of Gabrielle experiencing Xena’s kiss for the first time surged through her mind as her lips moved against the hacker’s. It felt so much like the heated warlordly Xena, fresh from battle. While it wasn’t the Xena Gabrielle knew the best, it was something Gabrielle, and Rielle for that matter couldn’t help but respond to.
Xero deepened the kiss, sighing in contentment as the syscop welcomed the exploration of her lips and tongue. She began to lose herself in the sensations as she pressed firmly into the soft pliant flesh in front of her, pinning Rielle to the rock wall behind.
With a startled gasp, Rielle jumped as she felt her body pinned. Xero ignored her, seeking her lips out once again, this time even more hungry and aggressive.
“Xero, stop it!” Rielle demanded, when she could no longer move.
“What?” the hacker murmured near her ear. “You don’t like it rough? I bet you do.”
Rielle shuddered as Xero let go of the rock ledge with one hand, letting it drop into the water and explore her body. There was too much familiarity in the touch. Too many liberties taken without permission. Even though she could feel her body respond, she could feel her heart shy away from the touch. In spite of what her memory told her, this wasn’t Xena. Not the Xena that loved her at any rate.
“Come back here,” Xero growled and claimed the syscop’s lips once more. Even in her weakened state, the hacker was still strong. The mass of her body alone was enough to trap the smaller woman. Rielle found that the harder she struggled, the more intense the hacker’s kisses became, devastating her senses like a hurricane. Not knowing what else to do that wouldn’t seriously hurt the larger woman, Rielle waited until the hacker’s tongue forced inside her mouth once more, then bit down. The bite wasn’t hard, but it was enough to startle the hacker and let her slip out of the larger woman’s crushing embrace. Ducking under the water once more, Rielle surfaced several feet away from the hacker well out of grabbing distance.
“What’s the matter, baby?” Xero murmured in a taunting voice. “Wasn’t it good for you?”
“What part of ‘no’ don’t you understand?” Rielle demanded.
“The part where you’re throwing yourself at me.”
Rielle thought about it for a minute and blushed. “You’re right, I did. I’m sorry, it was a mistake. I thought it’d...ah...be different.”
“Next time we play for keeps, kiddo,” Xero replied, seemingly unaffected by the exchange.
“I’m sorry I bit you,” Rielle finally added, determined to get it out in the open.
“Not a problem,” the hacker purred with a smile. “I like it.”
Blushing to the roots of her hair, Rielle took a sudden interest in her feet treading water. “I...um...guess you would,” she finally mumbled, not knowing what else to say. “With the...er...rings and all.”
Xero laughed, a genuinely amused laugh that had Rielle looking at her shocked. “So I take it Mrs. Syscop doesn’t have pierced nipples?” Rielle shook her head, interested in her feet once again. “I guess Xena didn’t either?”
“I...I don’t know,” Rielle admitted. “I don’t think so.”
“Too bad,” the hacker allowed. “So, where did you meet Mrs. Syscop anyway?”
Rielle frowned, then decided to ignore the sarcasm. “Paula and I met at the ‘36 Belfast Olympics. I was part of the system security detail for the Online Pavilion; she was competing. I bumped into her at the International Federation of Fencing booth.”
“Lemme guess,” Xero said with a grin, “You found out she ‘sword fought’ and your knees went weak.”
“Something like that,” Rielle blushed, embarrassed that her attraction to the warrior type was so apparent. “Actually, Paula’s a pentathelete—running, swimming, riding, and shooting, too.”
“Sounds like I have stiff competition,” the hacker suggested with a smirk.
“Get over yourself, Xero. Until you learn some manners, you aren’t even in the running.” Rielle spoke with more confidence than she felt. Even now, treading water six feet away from the hacker, she couldn’t deny the effect the outlaw had on her. She struggled to stay focused on the other woman’s face, but frequently her eyes dipped down to note the muscular form static in the cold water. Rielle knew it was too much to hope that Xero had somehow missed her visual indiscretions. It all seemed like a game to the hacker. She shifted, moving her body and watched the syscop try not to notice. Rielle failed every time.
“You want it both ways, Rielle,” Xero observed, shifting her hold on the rock ledge once again. “You want a warlord, but you want to be on top as well. It don’t work that way. If what you want is someone to come crawling on her knees, begging to fuck you, then don’t chase me. It ain’t gonna happen. Go back to your wife for that.”
Rielle glanced away. The words stung because she knew they were true, and that it was exactly what she wanted.
“So, any more visits from our buddy, Ares?” Xero asked, finally ready to change the subject.
Rielle nodded. “Yeah, two more members of Congress unsubbed. Their bodies were found in their offices yesterday. I have to think that some more hackers got fried too, but that hasn’t been in any of the news searches. Any idea how Ares found you?”
Xero shook her head. “With the program I was using, it would have been like looking for a book mark hidden in a library. Whoever Ares is, he’s got major firepower.”
An alarm sounded on Rielle’s watch and she smiled. “Time to get you out of the water. Henry wants you to nap for a bit to get your strength back, and then we’ll try to get some food in you.”
Xero opened her eyes as a shiver ran up her spine. It was night and the evening chill was cold against her bare feet. “Is there some reason I have to freeze my fucking feet off in these God damned dreams,” she shouted to no one in particular.
“I find it odd myself,” Janice replied calmly from behind her. “But I don’t make the rules here.” The archeologist had been leaning against a tree, dressed in her usual attire. Mel stood next to her wearing a short skirt and matching jacket.
“Well, who does make the rules then? I wanna talk to them,” the hacker demanded bitterly.
“Why are you in such a foul mood?” Janice asked. “Having ‘girl trouble’?”
“You seem to be up on my every thought, so why don’t you tell me?” Xero shot back. The frown on the hacker’s face deepened as she watched Janice and Mel exchange glances. “What?” she demanded.
“We didn’t expect things to be quite so rocky,” Mel explained gently.
The hacker wasn’t mollified. “Tell that to the syscop. Half the time she’s a walking come on, and the other half she acts like I’ve got the plague.”
“She can’t really help it,” Janice soothed. “On the one hand, she’s got two millennia’s of memories making her crazy about you. Then you open your mouth and she can’t remember what it was she saw in you in the first place.”
The hacker took a menacing step toward the archeologist who held her ground. Mel stepped in between the women, doing her best to diffuse the eminent battle. “What Janice is trying to say is that so much of you is like Xena for her, but there’s still an unknown, alien quality too. She’s afraid that you mean much more to her than she’ll ever mean to you.”
Xero rolled her eyes. “What’s the big deal? We’re just talking a little sex here.”
Janice took a step forward, her hand going to her bullwhip. “It’s a lot more than that to her, hacker, and until you feel it too just keep your hands to yourself.”
If Janice planned to say any more, she didn’t get the chance. A guttural groan from nearby drew the attention of the three women. Xero walked the short distance to the trees, whistling approvingly when she found the source of the noise.
“Interesting technique,” she commented. “Who’s the bob?”
“Janice!” Mel sputtered, her cheeks flushed crimson. “What are we doing here?”
“It’s Xena’s seventeenth birthday. I guess we’re celebrating,” Janice replied.
Xena was nude, save for a bracelet, and positioned astride the hips of her companion who wore only his boots and pants, the latter of which were pulled down past his hips. Moving rhythmically together, it was soon evident where most of the noise was coming from.
“His name is Petracles,” Janice explained. “Xena met him about a year ago. A wanna-be warlord, he’s got the charisma, but isn’t overly bright.”
“He seems to have other assets,” Xero commented with a grin, watching the muscular form of the man writhe in pleasure beneath Xena. He spoke in fractured phrases, little of it making sense except that he highly approved of what Xena was doing and didn’t want her to stop any time soon. Xero watched the way Xena moved, the way she touched her breasts and ground her hips into her partner’s. Her smile was sexy, her expression wanton. “She’s using him,” the hacker observed.
Janice shook her head sadly. “I’m afraid she’s not. She thought she was, but he’s only next in a long line of people who are going to fall short of her expectations.”
“Oh my!” Mel gasped as Petracles groaned Xena’s name with a final, furious thrust, then lay still.
“By the gods, Xena, you are magnificent,” Petracles panted as he struggled for air. “How I look forward to spending endless nights with you in the circle of my arms.”
Xena smiled warmly and leaned forward to kiss her lover. “That will be soon enough, my love,” she murmured. “I’ve heard Poteidaia is small, weak. You should get supplies there before we move the army out.”
The warrior laughed. “Always thinking of work, aren’t you Xena. You take the hunting party and get some game, and I’ll meet you with the rest of the army. Tell me, have I ever not taken a suggestion of yours? We’ll get supplies at Poteidaia before moving on.”
“You take my suggestions because I’m always right,” Xena purred as she shifted position. “And come to think of it, I have another suggestion for you.”
“Doesn’t look to me like Xena is particularly let down,” Xero observed. Petracles had shifted position, rolling Xena onto her back. She moaned contentedly as his lips and hands began to explore her body.
“You’ll see,” Janice said cryptically and began to walk away from the scene.
“Oh, come on!” Xero protested, “it was just getting good!”
“The last thing we need is you waking up in that kind of mood,” Mel insisted as the tree women made their way back through the trees. When they emerged, it was dawn and a small group of men were clustered around Xena, waiting.
“So what’s up?” Xero asked.
Janice shrugged. “Cortese’s raid on Amphipolis was almost two years ago. We’re at another crossroads for Xena. Rhea and Thithis were only the first of many villages to be raided by her army. They got it the worst, of course. A number of villagers fled and Xena trailed them to whichever villages gave them refuge. For a time, that was how she picked her targets.”
“What about Amphipolis?” Xero asked.
Mel shook her head sadly. “They were quite accepting of Xena’s spoils until the town was rebuilt. Once repairs were completed, the council of elders had a change of heart and now she’s an outlaw in her own village.”
Before she could say any more, one of the men with Xena pointed to a dust cloud on the horizon, barely visible in the early dawn. “Someone’s coming!”
As the dust cloud got closer, the thunder of hoofbeats could be heard. At the sound, Xena frowned. “Where in Hades are the rest of them?” she muttered. A dozen men on horseback came to a halt at the edge of the trees where Xena and her men waited. The largest man quickly dismounted and hurried over. “Where are the others, Darnelle? Where’s Petracles?” she demanded.
The man lowered his head respectfully before speaking. “There are no others, Xena. Petracles took your army and is headed south.”
“What?” Xena thundered.
Darnelle looked around cautiously before answering. “He tricked you. He never intended to attack Poteidaia. He said it wasn’t worth the effort. Once we separated from you, we headed east. As soon as we got to Bascilla, he started making preparations to attack.”
“And no one said anything?” Xena asked, barely keeping her rage in check.
“Of course we said something. That was when he gave us the option to leave. Any men loyal enough to you to forego the spoils of Bascilla was welcome to leave. That’s what the twelve of us are doing here.”
Xena fought to control her emotions as she considered her options. “Why did you come back?” she asked, biding her time while she thought of what to do.
Darnelle grinned. “Marcus and I aren’t stupid,” he said. “Neither are the others. Petracles may have a decent sized army, but we know who did the tactical planning for our raids. Besides, I’m willing to back anyone that could turn me from a blacksmith into a gladiator.”
Xena smiled briefly, an action that had Xero puzzled.
“What’s she smiling about?” the hacker wondered aloud. “This whole thing sucks. I mean, I guess she shouldn’t be too upset about the broken betrothal thing, it looks like she got a good fuck out of it. But taking her army… I hope she rips his balls off when she catches up to him.”
“Actually,” Mel countered gently, “Xena is more upset about the loss of Petracles than of her army at the moment. She isn’t a monster yet. She’s a young woman who has just had her heart broken for the first time. She’s smiling so she won’t start crying in front of what’s left of her men.”
“I admit this is a harsh way for her to spend her seventeenth birthday. But you know getting into Xena’s bed was easy,” Janice continued, “but getting into her heart was another matter. Kinda like someone else I know.”
“Fuck you,” Xero muttered.
Once her men had been debriefed, Xena moved off to a fire by herself, and Xero followed. She was a fair distance away from everyone else, the chatter behind her barely registering in her ears. It was then that Xero could see the tears fall freely. The hacker smiled, seeing that the tears were more from anger than sadness. “Good for you,” she said quietly, even though she knew the warrior couldn’t hear her. “The guy was an asshole. You’re better off without him.”
“I believed you,” Xena muttered to the fire as her eye caught the glint off her betrothal bracelet. Furiously, she tore the jewelry from her wrist and threw it into the flames. “Someday you’re going to regret this,” she whispered. She wasn’t sure why, but Xero felt a shiver run up and down her spine at the words. For a seventeen year old, Xena of Amphipolis had mastered rage.
After wiping the tears from her cheeks, she stood and returned to her men. “Marcus, you’re with me. We’re going to do some scouting.”
“Where to, Xena?” Darnelle asked.
“Poteidaia is near by,” Xena explained. “Marcus and I will check it out. It might be worth a visit after all.” The men cheered as Marcus went to get their horses.”
“Don’t tell me we’re riding horses?” Xero asked as the trio followed Xena and Marcus to their mounts.
“Well, you want to see what happens, don’t you?” Janice asked as she handed the reins of another horse to Mel.
“This will never do,” the Southerner muttered, looking down at her outfit. She walked around to the side of the horse to mount. When she did, Xero was surprised to see her neatly dressed in tan jodphurs, a crisp white shirt, and a trim riding jacket.
“It’s a dream, remember?” Janice quipped, mounting her own horse. “I don’t suppose you ride?”
“Are you kidding?” Xero shot back. “Until today I’ve never even seen a real horse.”
“Then ride with me,” Janice offered, extending her arm. After a moment’s hesitation, her curiosity got the better of her and Xero accepted the offered hand. She settled herself behind the archeologist, smiling slightly at just how well the smaller woman’s body fit against her own.
Marcus and Xena rode through the morning. The pace was easy and it didn’t take too long before Xero felt moderately comfortable on horse back. Around noon they crested the hill overlooking the quiet village of Poteidaia.
“What do you think?” Janice asked when she reined her horse to a stop.
Xero looked at the scattered buildings some distance away. It was quiet, peaceful, and most likely prosperous. “Looks good,” she answered, “like a farming community. I don’t think Xena should have much trouble with it.”
“Wrong again,” Janice replied with a laugh. “Xena is about to be defeated by an army of one. Let’s go.”
Janice, Mel, and Xero dismounted and followed Marcus and Xena to a wooded area near a stream by the village. Xena’s keen hearing picked up voices and she signaled Marcus for silence. At her gesture, he stayed put as she moved in.
A group of women approached the stream carrying baskets of laundry. Children accompanied the women, very young boys and girls ranging from toddlers through adolescents. One girl in particular caught Xero’s eye and she looked over at Janice. “Another crossroads, right?” she asked.
“Hacker’s catching on,” Janice replied with a smile.
The women chatted animatedly as they worked, washing the clothes in the swiftly moving stream. There was a nervous, agitated quality to the women’s banter.
“I hear they raided Calsica not two months ago,” one woman said to her companion. “That witch has tracked down every victim of Thithis and killed them. I tell you Hecuba, it’s only a matter of time before she descends on Poteidaia.”
“I pray to the gods Xena of Amphipolis never steps foot in Poteidaia,” Hecuba replied solemnly. “Gabrielle, please hand me your father’s clothes--over there. Lila, help your sister.”
Xero watched the two go after the large basket. She would have known Gabrielle anywhere. While the hair was much lighter, almost blond, her features were unmistakable. She looked about nine years old, the dark-haired sister about six. Awkwardly, the girls brought the basket of laundry and set to work at the chores assigned--Gabrielle helped with scrubbing, Lila with rinsing.
“I think Xena should come here,” Gabrielle said suddenly.
The circled elders looked at the child critically. “Don’t say such things, Gabrielle,” Heccuba scolded.
“The story teller that came through town said her home was destroyed by someone else,” Gabrielle continued, undaunted. “He said the people of Thithis helped. I think she’s chasing them because she’s hurting. If she came here, and we let her have a home, maybe she wouldn’t hurt anymore. Then she wouldn’t hurt anyone else.”
“Gabrielle is stupid,” Lila remarked.
“I’d rather share my room with Xena the warlord than you,” she shot back.
“Girls, that’s enough,” Hecuba scolded. “Gabrielle, while that’s a nice sentiment, I think it would take more than a home for Xena to stop hurting people.”
“No, it wouldn’t.”
Xero looked over at Xena in surprise at the words the warrior had whispered, almost silently, to herself. Vibrant blue eyes were riveted on the nine year old.
“Let me guess,” the hacker commented as the foursome made their way back to Marcus and the horses. “Xena decided to leave Poteidaia alone?”
Janice grinned. “More than that. She left land altogether. It made sense, really. If a little town like Poteidaia knew about her, chances are the other inland villages would have to. She decided to take to the sea. She still focused on the merchant fleets of cities that failed to support Amphipolis. It was also something she could do with a small crew. A pretty brilliant move, actually.”
“So, when she met Gabrielle later, did she remember who she was?” Xero asked.
This time it was Mel who grinned. “It was no accident that Xena headed home by way of Poteidaia years later when she finally left the warlord trade. She thought about Gabrielle often in the early days.”
Xero chuckled. “Big bad warrior,” she muttered.
“Big dumb hacker,” Janice added, her own voice amused.
Lab mouse slaughterhouse, medicine won’t cure my ills
Tongue tied genocide, words may hurt but silence kills
St. Johnny wants to be in pictures, no one left to quote the scriptures now
Joy stick politics, kills another sacred cow
— Barbara K
Chapter 4: Blamestorming
Rielle scooped some warm water into a cup and carefully poured it over the hacker’s long ebony hair. The water trickled down, falling into a large bucket under the cot where the outlaw slept. A sensuous smile eased across her face as she ran her fingers through the wet, silky tresses. Movements almost as practiced as a warrior sharpening her sword.
Henry watched silently for a moment, frowning slightly. “Even sleeping tigers are cute, I suppose.”
Rielle’s smile broadened. “I don’t think she’s as bad as all that. Besides, people struggled to save tigers from extinction for a reason, right?”
Taking a seat on the coffee table next to her, he shook his head. “I like you, Rielle, I really do. You’ve got your shit together. But you’ve got no business being mixed up with this kind of animal.”
Putting down the water cup, Rielle spent a few moments massaging the unconscious woman’s scalp and neck. When she spoke, there was a regretfulness in her voice that surprised the healer. “I’m not the sweetness and light you think I am, Henry. I’ve done plenty in my past that I need to atone for. If part of that is putting up with a disagreeable hacker, then so be it.”
The healer smiled sadly, another piece of the puzzle that was Rielle MacGab snapping into place. “Who’s past, Rielle?” he asked gently. “Yours or Gabrielle’s?”
She didn’t look at him when she whispered, “They’re one and the same.”
“Rielle, if you think I’m trying to scare you, you’re right. I don’t care what you or Gabrielle have done, but I’m certain that messing with this monster is more atonement than is required.” His tone was gentle, but Rielle bristled at the comment anyway. He continued before she could speak. “Take a look at her neck.”
Rielle stared at him a moment before moving the hacker’s hair to the side and examining her neck. “Two scars,” she murmured to herself. “At the base of her skull.”
“Xero’s twisted, bent. She’s a product of the system,” he explained as Rielle just stared at him, clearly not comprehending. “I grew up in an orphanage too,” he explained. “I was lucky. It was a good place, and I didn’t get moved around. But we heard stories. Those scars are from point blank taser burns. It was home-made ECT in the kid farms. Kids that got moved around a lot, had problems adjusting… sometimes getting zapped would fix ‘em. Make ‘em mellow. Other times it just fucked them up. Usually those kids went straight from one institution to another, either prison or psyche farm.”
“You don’t think people can change?” she asked quietly.
“Sure, some people, but not all. The younger you start, the better chance you have of fixing ‘em. At some point you have to accept that they’re too far gone and just try to stay out of their way. Besides, it isn’t like Xero’s ever done a single thing in her life to repair the damage that’s been done. You won’t see people like her in therapy.
“Rielle, listen to me. Xero is a hacker for a very good reason. It’s risky and demanding as hell. She can’t be effective and let emotional thoughts intrude. She works so she won’t have to feel. She eats and sleeps so she can work some more. Most hacker’s take uppers to keep from dreaming. Renée did, and I bet she does too.” He shrugged. “This isn’t the kind of person who sends out Christmas cards. She doesn’t go to a movie on a Friday night with a bunch of friends. She doesn’t take someone out to dinner because it’s their birthday. If you let her, she will hurt you. And I don’t want that to happen.” He gently touched her cheek with one hand, then headed up the stairs, leaving Rielle alone with the Xero and her thoughts.
“I’m sorry I didn’t find you earlier,” she whispered to the unconscious woman as she poured some shampoo into her hands. “Your lives are never easy, are they?”
The grinning form of the archeologist faded from view as Xero’s awareness shifted. The hacker focused on a persistent tugging at her hair. The sensation wasn’t unpleasant, rather, it felt exquisite. After a few moments of careful consideration, and the soft sounds of splashing water, the hacker realized that her hair was being washed. “Who do I have to kill to get some undisturbed sleep around here?” she grumbled sleepily.
“It’s about time you woke up,” Rielle replied in a cheerful voice. “Your little naps have been anywhere from eight to twelve hours. Henry said your fever has broken and you need to start getting your strength back.”
“Right,” the hacker mumbled then tried to move. “Don’t listen to everything Henry says. He hates me, remember.” Xero was surprised to find herself naked, wrapped only in a thin sheet. “What day is it?”
“You came on to me in the pond yesterday if that helps,” Rielle answered. Noting the hacker’s confusion about her nakedness she continued, “Your clothes have been off since we dumped you in the pond four days ago after Ares nearly unsubbed you. Made sense to leave ‘em off, less effort. Henry has been giving you regular acupuncture treatments and it’s easier to wash you that way.”
“You’ve been bathing me?” Xero asked, her eyebrow arching.
Rielle didn’t flinch. “Is that a problem?”
“Oh no,” the hacker replied with a smirk. “I’m just sorry I slept through it.”
Rielle wasn’t shaken by the hacker’s flirtatiousness. “If you’d been awake, you could have bathed yourself. If you can stop thinking with your crotch for just a moment, things are getting a little more dire in the real world. Now would be a good time to come up with a plan.”
Xero laughed bitterly. “Not me, sister. Sure, I want to know who unsubbed Bat, but I’m not going to find out by joining her. I think I’ve done enough. Why don’t you go back to your wife and we’ll file this little adventure to memory?” Rielle listened to Xero’s ranting for a moment as she dried her hair. When she finished she picked up a comb and began to untangle the dark locks. “Well?” the hacker finally asked when she received no response.
“I’m just waiting for you to get over yourself, that’s all,” Rielle replied pleasantly. “You’re shaken up now, and I don’t blame you. You’ve gone through a terrifying experience that has already killed quite a few people. You’re a lot of things, Xero, but quitter isn’t one of them. Fact is, the nets aren’t safe for you or any of your buddies until Ares is dealt with. You’ll come around. You’re just not cut out for a low tech existence.”
“Someone else’ll solve it,” the hacker grumbled. “Hackers won’t put up with that kind of shit for long.”
“I’m afraid you’re wrong. Xena is the only one that ever been able to get the better of Ares. If you don’t take him out, your secret little hacker society is going to crumble along with our government,” Rielle said forcefully as she focused on a stubborn tangle.
“Democracy falls. Isn’t that a little melodramatic?” the hacker asked with a wince.
“Sorry,” the syscop apologized, easing up. “You think I’m kidding? I’m not. Two more cabinet members have died as well as six more members of Congress. A lot of people are too scared to log on. They’re having their underlings do it.”
“And you think someone else is buying off the underlings?” Xero asked, struggling to sit up when Rielle had finished with her hair. She managed with some difficulty. Her body felt almost foreign to her. Her muscles had begun to atrophy and her skin was sickly pale; thankfully, there were no mirrors in the room. Slowly, the gravity of her situation sank in. She’d come close to a fate many others had already experienced. While the thought scared her to her very core, it also made her quite angry, and anger was something Xero was good at.
“I think it’s possible,” Rielle answered. “Administrative assistants are being forced to do more of the real work online because their bosses are too scared to do it themselves. They’d be easy enough to buy. They don’t make the same kind of money, political loyalty is expensive. Why wouldn’t they sell out? Here, drink this—Henry left instructions to take it.” Efficiently, she settled the mug between the hacker’s hands, making sure she had a good grip.
“Where did he go?”
“To Carmel for a few supplies. Don’t worry, he isn’t going to turn you in.” Rielle watched her companion with interest as she dubiously sniffed the broth. “It’s miso soup. Don’t worry it won’t bite. You haven’t had any solid food for days, so we need to take it easy on your system.”
“How can you be so sure, about Henry I mean?” the hacker asked, taking a tentative sip. The soup wasn’t half bad, she realized. A little salty, it was smooth none the less and didn’t have the unpleasant tang of rough water.
Rielle shrugged. “He’s not protecting you as much as himself. He doesn’t want corporate systems descending on his little haven here any more than you want them crashing the hackers. Come on, as long as you’re conscious, you might as well look at what I’ve found.”
Xero rolled her eyes. The syscop was nothing if not persistent. Shifting to a more comfortable position, she adjusted the sheet wrapped around her body. Rielle headed upstairs, returning with a soft pair of grey sweats. Without comment, she helped the hacker dress.
“I can’t feel my feet,” Xero announced flatly as Rielle helped her with a pair of running shoes and socks. The hacker managed to sit up on the low cot. With her legs extended in front of her, she looked even more lanky and awkward than she was.
“Can you feel this?” Rielle asked, firmly grasping the base of Xero’s calf with her hands. The hacker shook her head and Rielle moved her hands up to mid calf. “What about this?” Again, the response was negative. “Here?” Rielle asked, moving her hands to Xero’s knee. Her brow furrowed in concern when the hacker answered ‘no’ once more.
“That doesn’t make sense,” she muttered to herself. Slowly, she moved her hands up the hacker’s thigh, her fingers trailing over the material of the sweat pants. She only stopped when a sharp indrawn breath caught her attention. With a frown, she glared at Xero. “You’re faking it, aren’t you?” she demanded
Xero grinned back down at her. “I just wanted to see how far you’d go. Seriously though, I don’t have any feeling below mid thigh.”
The syscop quickly removed her hands from the hacker’s leg, blushing furiously at being taken. She realized then just how accustomed she’d become to touching Xero’s body, but was a much different experience with the outlaw awake. Briefly, she wondered which would wear off first--her attraction or Xero’s amnesia. She hoped it was the latter and was embarrassed for thinking so. It would be much easier to deal with the difficult woman if her own emotions didn’t constantly cloud her own thoughts and actions. Easier, but apparently not possible.
It took some doing, but Rielle managed to maneuver Xero into a chair. Seated at a large table in the work room the hacker looked around, realizing that several days had indeed passed. Gone were the dust coverings over the furniture and equipment. At the work table, an assortment of hard copy printouts were stacked, waiting for her perusal.
With a resigned grumble, Xero read through the documents. The sensation of reading print on paper was strange, foreign, and she found the concentration it required taxing. As if on cue, Rielle appeared at her elbow, holding a steaming cup of tea.
“Why don’t you take a break?” the syscop suggested. “Tell me what you think.”
Xero accepted the offered cup of tea. It smelled like mint. After an experimental sip, she nodded approvingly. “Well, this is fine for only having half the picture. Did you log on to get these?”
“No,” Rielle replied emphatically. “The system is set up for dumb retrieval only. No interactivity, it can search news nodes but that’s it.”
“Fine,” Xero muttered, picking up a pen that was laying on the table. “Go to this site,” she instructed as she wrote down the complicated address in the margin of one of the printed sheets. “When you get there, reconfigure the monitor setting for inverse. Once you’re looking at the negative image print the third story for each day we’ve been out of town.”
Rielle accepted the paper and sat down to work, keying in the address and search parameters. “Xero, this is a collection of wrestling statistics,” she complained when the requested articles had been retrieved.
“So that’s who’s using the address now?” the hacker snorted. “It’s been so long since I’ve used the site, I forgot who had it.”
“Okay,” Rielle continued, “I’ve inverted the monitor and now I’ve got garbage.”
“Print out the garbage and hand it over,” Xero replied with a grin.
When the requested pages had been handed to her, she carefully folded the first sheet in half. When she finished she held it up to the light, looking at it thoughtfully.
“What is it?” Rielle asked.
Xero handed the folded paper and proceeded to fold the next. “Messages from The ‘Horn. We piggy-back info on the third story of whatever’s on that site. The Saddlehorn Gazette. It’s a way to keep in touch if you’re underground and can’t risk logging on to the main node. MaryD maintains the encryption. She really whipped it into shape when she came on board. She and Shadow monitor most of the node traffic. According to this, fifty-six hackers have been mysteriously unsubbed. There have been wakes at the ‘Horn every night. Hacking rates are going up due to the danger. Damn, some people are going to get rich off this. Someone seems to be in a hurry to make people panic.”
“If they live that long,” Rielle added. “Do you know any of the unsubbed?”
The hacker nodded. “I knew all of them.” She read for a few moments more then looked over at her companion. “Hand me some of that blank paper.”
The hours passed quickly. Xero occupied herself with reading the encrypted messages and checking the information against the articles printed by the syscop. Rielle watched the hacker carefully, looking for signs of fatigue. As impressed as she was by her companion’s endurance, she didn’t want let her overextend herself on her first real day conscious. She was just about to call a halt to the other woman’s work, when Xero pushed the stack of papers away.
“I think I know what’s going on,” she announced.
“Care to share it?” Rielle prompted.
“There doesn’t seem to be much of a pattern determining just who is unsubbed and who isn’t. Reformists have been left alone because no one takes them seriously.”
“So Ares isn’t worried about Reformists,” Rielle said as she nodded.
“Right. Or whoever Ares is doing this for isn’t worried about them. We’ve got a Democrat in power and they seem to be the big target. But it isn’t just Democrats. There are a number of Republicans that have been offed as well. Ones that were interested in working with the President to resolve a number of issues. The Republicans unsubbed also apposed the more rabid fringe of their party.”
“The Conservatives?” Rielle clarified.
The hacker nodded. “The ‘Horn routinely tracks the amount of time logged on the nets by various politicians, among others. I’ve been looking at it to see who is more frightened by what’s going on. If a group isn’t worried about online time, there may be a reason. There has been absolutely no drop off in Senator Helms’ net time from before this started until now. And almost no drop off from his key people.”
“I didn’t think he logged on at all?” Rielle wondered. “He’s made his disdain for this kind of technology quite clear.”
“I know. Supposedly, he’s hardly on at all. For someone that hesitant about technology, don’t you think an event like this would scare him from the nets altogether? There’s more. The President has had to cancel all sorts of overseas stuff to deal with this problem at home. She’s averaging one funeral a day. Not good for someone who is supposed to be running a country.”
Her words were cut short by the sound of footfalls descending the steps. Henry had returned.
“Nice to see you conscious, and Rielle still clothed,” he commented in greeting.
“You’re just jealous,” Xero shot back, her voice devoid of humor.
Henry shrugged. “Of you maybe, but not her. I pity the woman that catches your eye.”
“We’ve made some headway,” Rielle announced, getting up from her chair and discreetly moving in between healer and patient. “Xero thinks Senator Helms might be involved in what’s happening.”
“Leave it to a Southie to blame us,” he muttered.
“Hey, you people elected him,” Xero shot back acidly.
Rielle shook her head in exasperation. “It isn’t like California has been two states for all that long--give it a rest.” Turning her attention to Henry, she gently chided, “You’ve got to admit, the man is an asshole.”
Henry shrugged. “Why not tell him that yourself? He’s supposed to be having dinner tonight at Deetjen’s. I stopped by there for lunch on my way back from Carmel; they’re griping about the security scans.”
“Why would he go there?” Xero wondered.
“What is Deetjens?” Rielle echoed.
“It’s a historical inn just up highway one,” Henry explained with a smile at Rielle. “Rather eclectic. My guess is Helms is heading down south for some reason and is meeting with someone on the way. Deetjens has the best food on the coast, it’s small, secluded and he can afford it.”
“If he’s this far down from Sacramento,” Xero mused as her eyes lit up. “I’ll bet he’s going to South California. I’d love to know why.”
Rielle looked at the hacker critically. “Oh, no you don’t. You can’t walk-- remember? I think beating the Senator to a pulp would be out of the question.”
Xero smiled. It was a lazy, sensual smile that made the syscop swallow reflexively. “Who said anything about violence? I think a simple bug would be much more illuminating, don’t you?”
“You’re crazy,” Henry interrupted. “You’re not going to get within 50 feet of him.”
“Me, no,” the hacker allowed. “But the gorgeous blond over here shouldn’t have any problem.”
Rielle blinked. Blinked again. “Xero thinks I’m gorgeous?’” she thought. Coming to her senses with some effort, she shrugged indifferently. “No biggie, what are you proposing?”
“You can’t be serious,” Henry protested.
The hacker laughed. “Leave her alone. This is her ‘I’m a big tough butch’ act. She uses it in bars to pick up women.”
“If you’re the result, then you should agree that this is a dumb idea.” Henry replied without missing a beat.
“If you two can stop talking about me like I’m not here!” the syscop protested. “If you want a bug planted, then start talking, Xero, otherwise shut up.”
“Okay, okay,” Xero allowed, deflecting Rielle’s anger with a hand gesture. “It’s simple. We reprogram the mike on a mobie unit. Give it an extra power source, like from one of the dead computers, to boost its range. His security will be carrying mobies anyway. Just try to snag it on one of the guards. Even if we can’t pick up on Helms’ conversation, we should manage to pull in whatever’s going on in their head sets, or maybe they’ll be talking about him.”
“Can you rig a mike like that?” Rielle asked, clearly impressed.
“Sure, I’ve got the tools on the bike. Henry, you got an extra mobie unit?”
The healer looked resigned as he nodded his head. “Yeah, I’ve also got some of Renée’s clothes upstairs. I’m sure she can find something suitable to wear.”
Bat’s clothes. Xero looked around and frowned, realizing that she was missing her dead friend’s baseball cap. “For a divorced guy, Henry,” she observed, vowing to find the cap later, “you sure have a hard time letting go.” He shrugged and ran a hand through his short blond hair. Handsome enough, it was still hard for her to picture her deceased associate with the holistic throwback.
“For a heartless thug, you seem to be having trouble acting like one.”
Xero was too tired to come up with a suitable comeback. A look at her watch told her it was already late afternoon. She didn’t have much time.
When Henry excused himself to return upstairs and fix dinner, Rielle left to get the tools from the motorcycle, leaving the hacker alone with her thoughts. She was concerned about the killings, the people she knew that she’d never see again, but for some reason she didn’t dwell on them. The reason was Rielle. The syscop intruded on her thoughts the way rock formations intruded on a still horizon. Xero had no trouble admitting an attraction, and absently wondered if forcing herself on the smaller woman would get her where she wanted to go. Puzzled, she reviewed the incident in the pond. The syscop responded all right, her body screaming an invitation. But she slipped from the hacker’s arms at the first opportunity.
Xero shook her head. That certainly didn’t keep the syscop from touching her. The hair washing thing was a sensual assault in its own right. Frustrated by an equation that had no solution, the hacker forced her thoughts elsewhere.
Those strange dreams. The only thing more frustrating than the ‘come here, go away’ syscop was her infuriating twin, the archeologist. Absently, she made a mental note to ask the archeologist how she died. Xero hoped that perhaps her dark haired companion offed her in a fit of frustration, similar to what she was feeling right now. Her thoughts then shifted to Xena.
‘I can’t be her,’ Xero reasoned to herself, unsure of why she felt compelled to deny it. ‘She’s a warlord, I’m a common criminal. It isn’t the same thing.’ Forced to play devil’s advocate, she acknowledged that they were both at the top of their respective professions. ‘So why don’t I remember any of it?’ So far she hadn’t seen anything in the ancient Greek woman’s life that would warrant the kind of memory block Janice and Mel were convinced she had.
“Oh, great. Now I’m treating them like real people,” Xero groaned to herself. She looked up, relieved when Rielle returned with the tools.
As Xero tweaked and fine-tuned the mobie unit to peak performance, Rielle did the same for her own appearance. Shedding the baggy functional sweats she’d lived in during Xero’s convalescence, Rielle returned in a formal dress of Bat’s. Simple black, clingy and sleeveless it showed off the best attributes of Rielle’s fit form. An elegant jacket went with it, black with subtle zebra stripes in silver thread. Xero didn’t pretend not to be impressed by the syscop’s appearance; she couldn’t have hidden her jaw dropping if she’d tried.
Scrambling to cover, she kidded the younger woman appropriately on her appearance, trying to mask her own sense of awe. Henry wasn’t fooled and said as much. That brought the hacker as close to genuine embarrassment as she’d been in years.
Still grinning, the healer handed over the keys to his car. “Just take the highway up about five miles. I had my friend make you a reservation. You’ll have no trouble getting in, and with the way you look I’m sure you’ll get close to Helms. Right Xero?”
The hacker frowned at Henry, then with a flick of her blue eyes, dismissed him. “No heroics here, be careful. Snag a security guy with the mic have a nice dinner and then get back here.”
“Got it,” Rielle confirmed as she picked up her purse and headed out the door.
Hacker and healer waited impatiently for Rielle to return. Henry’s concern seemed to be of the brotherly type. It was clear that the two of them had formed a bond over the last several days. Xero guessed it was due in part, to Henry’s desire to save Rielle from a fate worse than death-- life with Xero.
The two made a concentrated effort that evening to stay out of each other’s way which was made difficult by Rielle’s insistence that Henry keep an eye on his patient. Somewhat awkwardly he sat down in a chair off to the side of the work table and tried to be as unobtrusive as possible while Xero fidgeted with one stack of printed papers than another. The hours droned on and Henry was certain he’d go crazy in the edgy silence.
“I’m sure she’s fine,” he finally said, his voice snapping the quiet like the breaking of a dry twig.
“She can take care of herself,” Xero agreed doing her best to sound indifferent. She tried to tell herself she could care less what happened to Rielle but knew she didn’t. It was more than a desire to get laid. She reasoned that if she were that desperate, she could probably seduce Henry for that. No, something was up--something she couldn’t put her finger on--but she decided she didn’t care when she heard the sound of Henry’s car returning to the house. Relief gave permission for her exhaustion to surface and Rielle had barely made it downstairs when the hacker’s eyes began to flutter closed.
“Hi guys, mission accomplished,” Rielle announced cheerfully. “Bagged Helms himself, and the eggplant was wonderful.”
“Tell me in the morning,” Xero muttered and slumped over, sound asleep at the work table.
“This isn’t funny,” Xero shouted as she gripped the ship’s railing, wishing she had something substantial in her stomach to discharge. She hated dry heaves.
“Seasickness sucks, doesn’t it?” Janice commented.
Xero turned around, her eyes glaring into those of the archeologist. “I’ve been meaning to ask you, how did you die? Please tell me your girlfriend got fed up and did you in with a chain saw.”
“You’ve been watching too many old movies,” Mel said soothingly from her position at Janice’s side. Both women were leaning against the ships railing to Xero’s left, seemingly unaffected by the rocking of the ancient Greek war ship.
“Mel and I were killed in a car accident. I was in my eighties, Mel was ninety-two.” Janice supplied with a smile.
“Driver of a truck fell asleep at the wheel and ran into the car taking us home from one of Janice’s archaeology conferences,” Mel said, looking at her companion lovingly. Her face beamed with pride.
Janice smile bashfully. “We were, how do you put it? Unsubbed instantly. But at least we went together.”
Both women exchanged a look that had Xero over the railing with dry heaves once more.
“Where are we going?” the hacker asked when she was able to stand.
“To a sea side village called Neopolitis,” Janice replied, moving to a barrel of fresh water and filling a mug for the seasick woman.
Xero accepted the mug gratefully, downing its contents and wiping her mouth on her sleeve. To her surprise, she was wearing a green and black checked flannel shirt over her white t-shirt. She’d never seen the shirt before, but felt comfortable in it none the less.
“The folks of Neopolitis made a big mistake,” Janice continued, adjusting the hat she wore. “They sided with Vanilis in a dispute with Amphhipolis. Not a smart thing to do with Xena around.”
As if on cue, a figure emerged from below decks. Xena was dressed more colorfully than her crew, in bright blue billowing pants and armor decorated in gold coin.
“Interesting wardrobe choice,” Xero muttered. “Did she miss the cut for ‘I Dream Of Jeannie’?”
“You’re one to talk, ‘Lumber Jill’,” the archeologist shot back with a grin, looking pointedly at the flannel shirt.
Xena shrugged out of her robes and waited for the archer to take his position across the deck from her. At her nod, he drew an arrow from his quiver, knocked it to the string, took aim, and fired. Xena lunged out of the way, catching the shaft before it imbedded itself in the cabin door behind her.
“Nice catch,” Xero said approvingly.
“She’s still pretty rough,” Mel amended. “In time, she won’t have to lunge out of the way. She’s only catching about ninety percent of the arrows now, but she’ll catch on.”
“Mel, you’re such a perfectionist,” Janice scolded. The archaeologist fished into her pocket and extracted a small cigar, offering it to Xero who declined. After striking a match on the metal band of the water barrel, she lit the cigar and puffed thoughtfully as they watched the Xena go through her workout. By the time she finished, the doomed village of Neopolitis was clearly in view.
The raid didn’t last long. Storage buildings were hit with flaming arrows before the ship even docked. Like a tide, the men from the war ship surged onto land, swords gleaming, frightening the villagers into submission. Before long, the villagers were on their knees in the town square as the treasury was brought to Xena. A heavy trunk loaded with dinars and precious jewels was dumped at her feet, carried by the village elders. She gave a short speech, explaining just why the night had come crashing down on them with vengeance. She didn’t hide her pride that the enemies of Amphhipolis always paid, either with their gold or with their lives.
The crew made its way back to the warship, a prisoner in tow. “Who’s the bob in the leather skirt?” Xero asked with interest, looking to Janice.
The archeologist just smiled and before long the man announced his identity with some pride, not cowed by Xena’s threatening presence. Xero’s jaw dropped.
“That’s Caesar?” she stammered. “I thought he’d be taller.”
Janice, Mel, and Xero followed the others back onboard as they set sail, and again, time shifted. Activity on deck exploded in the morning light as a stowaway was discovered. Xero whistled approvingly at the fight that ensued, clearly impressed by the small woman’s proficiency. Janice grinned, overhearing hacker mutter “nice piece of work.”
The three women followed Xena below decks where she began her study of pressure points, anxious to learn all she could from the diminutive fighter who’d nearly bested her crew. Janice and Mel noticed Xero watching with interest, casually touching spots on her own neck as they were explained. Warlord and slave worked together for several hours, developing a form of communication based on sign language and the slave’s limited understanding of Greek. When Xena called a halt to her lessons, she casually mentioned plans to see Caesar later. At the sound of the Roman’s name, the slave’s demeanor changed. Xena seemed slightly puzzled by the behavior, but appeared unconcerned.
“What’s she doing?” Xero demanded when Xena headed up the stairs from the cargo hold. “The pressure point chick is practically throwing herself at her!”
“Xena’s not... um... in tune with that just yet,” Janice explained feebly.
“You’ve gotta be kidding,” Xero wondered, looking after the warrior. “You’d think betrayal by Petracles would have taught her something.”
“Taught her what, Xero?” Janice challenged. “Surely you of all people aren’t saying women are more trustworthy then men?” The archeologist shook her head sadly. “A woman can betray you as readily as a man.”
Mel moved to stand next to her lover and draped a comforting arm around the smaller woman’s shoulders. “Janice, honey, we’ve gone over this a hundred times. You know Gabrielle had her reasons for what she did.”
“What are you talking about?” Xero interrupted.
“Gabrielle betrayed Xena is what I’m talking about,” Janice replied bitterly.
The hacker’s eyes went wide as she put the pieces together. “When all this shit started you said I am Xena. Rielle’s insisting that she is Gabrielle. Now you’re telling me that Gabrielle betrayed Xena. So what you’re really asking me to do is help the syscop who betrayed me in another life?”
“Don’t get indignant about this,” Janice warned. “You don’t know the whole story and are in absolutely no position to offer any opinion on this whatsoever.”
“That’s a bit strong, Janice,” Mel countered. Turning to the hacker, she smiled kindly. “What my love seems to forget is that the ‘unfortunate incident’ came at a very difficult time in Gabrielle’s life. She was someone who revered life above everything else and saw herself as a peacemaker.”
“Terrific,” Xero muttered.
“Anyway,” the Southerner continued with a disapproving look, “Xena dragged them both off to Britannia to settle an old grudge, and Gabrielle was forced to kill someone in self defense. She was devastated, struggling to…” Mel paused, at a loss for words to convey the depths of the bard’s anguish.
“She wandered amid the ruins of her decimated psyche. To use an archeological metaphor,” Janice supplied, a touch sarcastically.
“Janice, be nice,” Mel warned. “It didn’t help matters any when that fire god Dayhok went and got her in a family way and she had to give birth to a demon on top of everything.” Xero’s jaw dropped and she sat down heavily on a nearby crate. “As I was saying,” Mel continued more gently, “to make matters worse, just after all that, Xena had to pay an old debt that she owed to her mentor and didn’t take the time to explain the whole situation to Gabrielle.”
“Mel, you and I both know that talking wasn’t Xena’s strong suit,” Janice countered. “Hell, even Gabrielle knew it.”
“Look, the last thing I’m going to do is break up a fight between you two,” Xero warned, head still reeling. “So I suggest you drop it. Mel, if you’d just tell me what happened...”
The Southerner nodded and continued. “Xena travelled to C’hin, or China as we know it, to make good on her promise. Gabrielle betrayed her and warned the man Xena was supposed to kill, the Emperor himself. She trusted the Emperor who was a lying bast…a, um, not a very nice man,” Mel corrected herself, nervously adjusting her glasses. “When she realized the mistake she’d made, she was devastated. Ultimately, she worked it out with Xena, and if Xena didn’t hold a grudge against Gabrielle, I don’t see why anyone else should.” The last was said with a pointed glare at the archeologist.
“I’m not holding grudges,” Janice said defensively. “I was simply pointing out to our charge here that women are not by virtue of their ovaries any more trustworthy then men, particularly seeing as how some of them can later lie to you about throwing Demon Baby off the cliff and then…”
“Janice,” Mel drawled sweetly and with very little warmth. “I think that when it was over and all the smoke cleared, both of them were very hurt, both forgave each other, both had lost children…”
“Children?” Xero mumbled, still holding her head.
“Yes, but certain children had more to do with…” the archaeologist was replying, not even bothering to disguise her mounting irritation.
“Okay, okay,” Xero broke in hastily. “So we can all agree that Xena had trouble with lovers all around? Is that it?” Janice and Mel looked guiltily at each other. Clearly, they wanted to object to the statement, but couldn’t. “Fine, you two stay down here and work out your issues, I’m going back up deck and hurl some more.”
Xero’s perception of time shifted. While it didn’t feel like much time had passed at all, inwardly she knew it had been weeks. Caesar was traded for ransom and the slave girl freed from her bonds. She and Xena spent many hours above deck sparring. Time was spent below deck as well, but that time was reserved for a more detailed study of pressure points. Xena learned a few words of Gaelic and the slave learned the meaning of many of the warrior’s words, although she couldn’t put them together for herself. The hacker watched with obvious frustration as the Egyptian made overtures to the Greek woman, failing with each attempt.
“You didn’t tell me that Xena was the densest woman alive,” she muttered at one point within Janice Covington’s earshot.
“Funny,” the archeologist shot back. “I thought Rielle said that about you.”
With a frown, the hacker turned her attention along with Xena to the man in the crow’s nest, alerting those on deck to an approaching ship bearing Caesar’s standard. The slave did her best to warn Xena of the danger, but the warrior was adamant.
“It’ll be alright,” Xena assured the slave. “He’s my friend.”
“What kind of euphemism is that?” Xero demanded of the warrior that could not hear her.
“For all her complexities, Xena is at times frighteningly simple,” Janice explained. “She had a number of friends through her life, some more intimate than others, but she was fiercely loyal to all of them.”
“To be honest,” Mel countered with an apologetic smile, “if she introduced someone as a ‘friend’, you could bet she was sleeping with them.”
With barely controlled rage, Xero watched Caesar betray of Xena and her crew. Those that weren’t killed on sight were taken to the beach where they were crucified. “I don’t see Darnelle,” the hacker remarked, looking at the faces of those dying on crosses.
Janice shook her head. “He couldn’t stand the sea. He and Xena parted ways after Poteidaia, spent his time as a first class gladiator. It wasn’t until years later that he was reacquainted with her. Marcus left then too. She stopped by to visit him from time to time, being a ‘friend’ and all. She worked a few jobs with him, then had him in her army for a time after her ‘rebirth’.”
“Rebirth?” Xero asked the trio neared the last cross.
Her expression pained and static, the hacker watched as the last cross was raised. She closed her eyes briefly at the agony inflicted when the main beam slammed home. With each swing of large sledge hammers, the warrior winced. Xero winced with her as if she felt the searing pain as well.
“Crucifixion is such a messy way to die,” Janice explained, holding Mel’s hand as the Southerner turned away. “It’s designed to kill you slowly, by asphyxiation. Your upper body can’t support the weight of your lower body and it strangles you. The whole leg breaking routine was a Roman idea of mercy. It usually speeded up the dying process. I think the apostle Paul was nuts for requesting the procedure upside down.”
Xero didn’t hear the archaeologist’s words. Her whole being was focused on the blue eyes that glared down at Caesar in defiance. Inwardly, she knew better. Watching Xena’s face she could see things that the Roman couldn’t--the building fear, the agony, the rage at his betrayal. Xena was a rope slowly snapping, each strand that frayed separating her a little further from herself, closer to a black void.
The hacker heard as well as felt the crack of shinbones and the tearing of muscles as the heavy hammer slammed into the warrior’s legs. Only one strand remained, one small thread that kept Xena connected to the child who grew up in Amphipolis. Xero sank to her knees and cried in pain and anguish as she realized the inevitable.
It was only a matter of time before the last thread was severed, a thread named M’lila.