Noir

Chapter 7

Chapter edited by a_complicated_life
http://w.tt/1JnLdse

Kai P.O.V

This is my first day back to work after the event with Miss Fox.

Apparently, I won't need a cure for the next month or so, but its classified. So I have to go back to work and act like nothing happened.

As soon as I get into the building, I see Jimmy standing by the door and, from the look of it, he's been waiting for me.

"How are you, man?" he asks.

"Oh me? I'm fine," I say back.

"Are you sure? You seemed pretty shook up the other day."

"Yeah, it's pretty hard for me to talk about that, so I'd appreciate it if we didn't talk about it," I told him. I could see in his eyes he didn't like it. Jimmy is all about talking things out, but he respects my decisions nevertheless.

Sometime I wish the ark was full of Jimmie's. Life would so much simpler, but it's not, unfortunately. But there are enough people like him in Tene to help me accomplish my plan.

We go into the receiving section of the cleaning station and, as usual, Bob is there. Bob is always someone that intrigued me, because Bob is a nice guy from general consensus. I always admired him. Bob is nice; too nice, and never not nice enough. He lives in this seemingly unachievable balance and, as I see him, I know that his going to be a key in my plan.

You see, Bob is loved by everyone. He's the hero you want to cheer about. As I see him, I tell him, "Hey Bob, how are you?"

With pained expression, he replies, "No, how are you?"

I say back, "I'm fine. I just don't want to talk about it." And then we go back to work.

I do everything to be paired with Bob in fetching duty. You see, fetching duty is the most dangerous step in cleaning the air, as you have to go in the receiving pods and suck the polluted air in containers so they can be cleaned. The concentration of toxins is unbelievably high, so I put a small hole in a suit. Very dangerous, I know, but as long as the air doesn't reach ak5.5 I'm fine. The normal limit is ak5.0 but, since I'm full of antidote, I should be fine.

Hopefully.

As we go in, I start to feel the effect, but I don't say anything. I wait until we are in the furthest dock, and my suit is at ak4 .8. I feel bad, but not nearly as bad as I should. I fake fainting, and Bob drops the air fill he has in his hand, damaging it but catching me. He checks my suit and sees that I'm at ak4.9. He gets super worried and he drops everything we were supposed to do activate the emergence protocol.

Thanks to me, who sabotaged the air filter prior to this incident, he liberated 3000cc of clean air into space. At the time, Bob knows what that means; he going to get Flagged for this if he's lucky, the death sentence if he's not. Nevertheless, Bob carries me to the safety dock and asks, "Kai? Are you okay?"

Although I know why, I ask, "Why did you do this?"

"I don't even know," he says, but I do. He's a good guy, a nice soul, a good samaritan. And that's what kills you in this ark. That's what killed my mom. Finally, he says, "I just saw too many people die."

As he's about to be taken away by the guards he pleads, "Please take care of my little sister!"

A guard appears behind me and says, "The President wants to see you", and hits me in back of the head. I wake up, yet again, in the immaculate white room and for the first time I see him: not in a poster, psa, or tv but the real deal President Fox.

I realize that I'm tied up to this chair in a material that seems more noble that even the leather that Lyla used. Silk, but the strongest silk that I've ever touched. Not that I have touched silk before.

Finally, he asks, "Care for a tea, young man?"

"Kai," I respond.

"Right. Care for a tea, Kai?" I ask him what tea is and he chuckles. "Tea is a hot drink, but people seem to forget that it's also a symbol for basic things. We will war a symbol so powerful that it'll inspire entire kingdoms and nations. Have you ever heard of the tea party?"

I frown. What is he talking about? "No."

He laugh and says, "Oh, forgive an old mans ramblings." He pauses and his expression changes to one that I don't know. "Have you told anyone about your little adventure with my daughter?"

"Why?" I ask.

"You know, the things about daughters, especially mine, is that they never listen. She has done an unforgivable thing to you and your family. Have you told anyone about it?"

Right away, I feel this hostile feeling toward him. I realize that he doesn't want the news to be known, and I say with great sadness in my heart, but which I know is necessary. "Only one. His name is Bob , Bob Finisher."