Jen scowled as the car's automatic navigation systems took her
back hone. 'I can't believe this,' she thought, 'I really believed she
was opening up to me!' She grit her teeth, 'Then wham! She hit me with
that line, I don't date cops.'
The sound of a chime announced she was home. She stepped out and
slammed the car door behind her, striding towards the parkade access.
She slid into the elevator, and the android in it opened up it's mouth
to give a cheery greeting.
"Not a word," Jen scowled at it. The android looked clearly
stunned, not expecting to receive such a reaction from a normally
pleasant woman. It gazed after her curiously as she left the elevator,
not even trying to give it's usual, 'Have a nice day.'
The apartment door was keyed open easily, and as Jen went inside
she slammed that door shut behind her just for good measure. She knew it
was a pretty childish reaction, but it did feel sort of good. She tossed
her heavy bag of gear onto the dining room table with a thump,
hesitating in front of the fridge for a moment.
'Wish I had some beer,' Jen admitted. It would have felt nice to
slug back a cold one, but after her night at the bars she was being
careful about alcohol. With a sigh she got out a soda and made her way
into the livingroom, flopping down into her favorite chair.
"What a awful day," Jen groaned softly, taking a long drink of
the fizzy soda.
Well, it was awful except for one thing. That surprising kiss
Kate had given Jen in the little cafe still lingered with her, making
her whole body tingle excitedly. The surprise she saw on her
ex-girlfriend Karen's face had been nothing to what Jen had been feeling
then, even though she concealed it as best she could.
"Which is why Kate's brush off pissed me off so much," Jen
admitted.
'What is going on with that woman?' she thought with a frown.
Jen was sure Kate liked her at least, but if so why did she keep acting
like this? She wasn't like that with Beth or Gwen, both woman she
treated with a respectful distance.
"It's only me that she gets snarky to," Jen sighed.
The dawn came way too early as far as Kate was concerned. The
loud ringing of her old fashioned alarm clock jerked her right out of a
sound sleep, a pleasant dream where she had been eating a terrific
dinner with a young woman. Sometimes it had been Jen there, other times
Lynn sitting across from her.
"Gee, can my subconscious be any more obvious?" Kate grumbled as
she staggered over to her bathroom. A quick brush of her teeth, a
fresh-tab for her breath, then a moment under the sonic shower to clean
up before work.
Her antique answering machine's light was blinking, so Kate
reached over and hit the switch. She heard the old fashioned tape rewind
and smiled happily. The smile completely disappeared, however, when she
heard who it was.
"Kate? It's Silver," the freewill android's voice came over the
line. "Could you come down and see me soon? There's some odd things
going on with the police here, and I was hoping you could shed some
light on the situation," the voice was gently ironic.
Kate erased the message thoughtfully. Silver was pretty sharp,
and if she thought something odd was going on, she was most probably
right. "I'd better go see her," she sighed.
Kate stripped off her night shirt efficiently, pulling on bra
and panties, then jeans and one of her old T-shirts. She buckled her
shoulder holster in place, noting the date with a slight frown. 'I've
got another appointment with the headshrinker soon,' she thought with a
slight smile.
Kate hadn't planned on liking Dr. Alexis Jameson, and she
certainly hadn't expected to be telling her anything. But oddly these
weekly sessions had proven to be a comfort, a chance to talk about what
was going on to a sympathetic ear. She even found herself considering
the sessions after the requirements of the department came to a close!
Slinging a jacket on Kate headed out, manually locking her door
behind her before she left. The ride to work was surprisingly quiet, and
she got there in record time. As she got out she saw Jen arriving and
called out, "Hey, Jen."
Surprisingly the blonde completely ignored her call and went on
inside. 'Yes, she's really pissed at me for yesterday,' Kate thought
grimly. Jen had never actually ignored her before, and it left Kate
feeling oddly alone.
Beth looked up from her computer terminals as Kate walked
inside, "What did you say to Jen? She just growled at me when I
mentioned you."
"You asked about the kiss, didn't you?" Kate asked her
suspiciously.
"Well, yes," Beth admitted. The little green eyed redhead looked
up at her curiously to impatiently ask, "So what happened?"
"Jen drove me back here," Kate admitted, "asked me to go out to
dinner with her, and I told her I don't date cops."
"Right after kissing her?" Beth blurted out. She shook her head,
"Talk about sending her some mixed messages."
"Think I should apologize?" Kate sighed.
"If you two could cut the gossip session a moment?" Gwen's voice
was cold. Both woman stood at attention as the Asian woman continued,
"I've got a meeting with our superiors. Kate, you're in charge until I
get back."
"Got it," Kate nodded crisply as Gwen left. After a few moments
she exchanged a careful look with Beth, "What's with her?"
"I don't know," Beth looked off in the direction Gwen had gone,
her expression worried, "she's been like that all morning."
"What's going on?" Jen had emerged from her cubicle, looking a
bit embarrassed about her moment of bad temper. Then her eyes landed on
Kate, and her lips narrowed to a thin line.
"We're not sure ourselves," Kate said quietly.
For a moment Gwen wanted to go back and apologize, but there
wasn't time. She had her meeting, and she expected that being late would
not be appreciated. The elevator was empty as she rose to the chief's
level, making her way down the hall to the designated meeting room.
The sounds of conversation stopped as she went in. 'Obviously I
was the topic,' she thought wryly. She stood straight and saluted,
"Captain Gwen Musashi, reporting."
"Take a seat," the commissioner waved her to a seat.
Gwen studied the crowd, knowing that her gaze could unnerve the
unwary. Very few people had gray eyes, but Gwen was one and she wasn't
above using it to gain an advantage. Assessing the men around the table
she noted several men from the Mayor's anti-android camp there, and
quite tellingly there was no one from the pro-android side.
'Let them put their cards on the table first,' was an old saying
one of her co-mothers used to say, and Gwen always followed that advice.
Silently she looked down the table, watching certain officers squirm
under her gaze.
The commissioner smiled slightly, "You may be aware that the
Mayor has long been troubled by the free-will issue." He waited, and
there was a murmur of agreement from officers around him, but Gwen kept
silent. "After consulting with interested parties," he continued
smoothly, "the Mayor has decided to move on this matter."
"We're going after free-wills," Gwen said quietly.
"Yes," another officer looked at her warily. Her tone of voice
was oddly neutral, not disapproving but not supportive either.
Gwen raised a single elegant eyebrow, "And the legal grounds?"
The commissioner clearly didn't like hearing that question.
"We've been advised by council that they are simply misplaced property,"
he answered stiffly.
"By council," Gwen said casually, "you're referring to the
lawyers kept under retainer by the android manufacturers?"
Completely ignoring her question another officer spoke up, "Your
department is the most experienced in dealing with these rogue androids.
We will have to rely on you to handle the... malcontents among the
freewills."
'You stupid bastard,' Gwen looked at him, 'you have no clue, do
you?' By the ill expression on the commissioner's face he understood
just how big of a mess this was going to be, but clearly he also was
stuck with it.
"Can we rely on you," the young man pressed.
Gwen met his eyes steadily and chose her words very, very
carefully, "I will obey my orders to the letter, sir."
"And your people?" the commissioner asked perceptively.
Gwen puffed out a short breath. Kate probably would go along,
maybe Jen and Beth was a unknown. "When is this new policy going to be
announced?" she asked.
"Tomorrow's news conference," he answered.
"I'll talk to them today, make sure they understand the stakes,"
Gwen said seriously.
The meeting broke up not too long after that, but the
commissioner quietly asked that Gwen to stay behind. He smiled grimly,
"The governor is on the Mayor's back, and he's on mine. I'm sorry about
all this, Gwen."
Gwen smiled at him grimly, "You might advise the lowtown units
to get the old fashioned riot gear out, sir." At his surprised look she
added, "There is no way that the majority of free-wills are going to
surrender peacefully, sir."
He nodded grimly, "They'll be ready."
"No, they aren't sir," Gwen shook her head grimly, "none of us
are ready. I think this is going to be an education for us all."
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