Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Chapter 16: one down

Cameron was a little surprised that Harper wasn't back yet, but Edison hadn't been very clear how much damage they were repairing. O'Keefe paced impatiently and then finally sighed.

"Look, is there any real reason we're waiting for Harper?" he inquired. "This isn't about us, but it needs to be done tonight if we're not giving up."

"I'm not giving up," Cameron snapped.

She picked up the gun and pocketed it. They slipped through the siding and on to Victoria's berth. All the holo-ribs had been still on Harper's tekcom for quite some time. O'Keefe paused before opening the siding.

"Give me the gun," he said.

"What? Why?" Cameron questioned. The storm was too loud to whisper.

"Because if something goes wrong, I'm not an expectant mother," O'Keefe pointed out. "And Harper would never forgive me. Pas mal?"

Cameron nodded and he opened the siding, mirroring what Harper had done in their berth.

This was it. O'Keefe put out his hand for the gun and she wordlessly gave it to him. He slid the bedroom door open and froze. No one had moved and so he crept closer. He leaned down to open the drawer by Victoria's bedstead. Cameron would have hissed at him; now was not the time to rob them, but then he pulled out another gun, showing Cameron what he found. Her blood grew cold; there were still firearms on the base. O'Keefe checked the weapon once over and then took aim.

The gun was quieter than Cameron expected. She jumped through the siding gap and the moment O'Keefe was clear they pushed the siding shut. The waited for movement, shouting, something, but no one came near the wall. They crept back home.

"You should probably stay the night at our berth," Cameron remarked. "So no one sees you wandering the halls. We have the other mattress under our bed."

"I'm glad I checked the drawer," he said faintly, as if he hadn't heard Cameron. "They lied. They lied about melting the guns and now we have no idea how many weapons there are on the base. What a venting mess."

They reemerged, blinking at the bright lights of Cameron and Harper's berth. Harper was still not back. Of course, the whole affair had only taken a couple minutes. Cameron had expected to feel something, regret, triumph, something. But when O'Keefe had found another gun, she had felt the same numbness of Landing Day creep back into her bones.

"Help me get the mattress?" she questioned. "I don't think anyone will come bursting in, but I would rather not have to explain anything."

O'Keefe nodded and they pulled the mattress out from under the bed and onto the floor of the small bedroom. O'Keefe watch the holo as holo-ribs across the base began to stir.

"Did Blair wake up?"

"Non, I told you, the earthstorm is loud. He probably woke up a moment later, but that's all we needed." His face was grim. "I should leave the guns here. I will be a suspect."

"No one could possibly know," Cameron promised. "And that's what they did to us. Congress will have to start thinking about justice."

"I think we should have taken out Lincoln first," O'Keefe grumbled. "He murdered my sister, my partner, my friends. I didn't have a great many people who cared for an eject like me. He took them all."

"We care," Cameron said.

"Doesn't bring Shelley or Gliére back," he replied.

"We have a plan," she told him sternly. "It's congress's move now. If they try to take action against Victoria's 'murderer' then we've forced progress."

O'Keefe moved from the chair to the mattress and yawned. For some reason, he seem older even in the time he had been at Cameron's berth.

"I'm going to go to sleep," he said. "We have a long day tomorrow and I should get back to my berth early before someone goes beating down my door."

Cameron nodded and left him be. Harper came through the front door, spattered in mud. He gave her an apologetic grimace.

"Busted pipe," he said. "Of course it had to be a sewage pipe on the first day of an earthstorm. I'm going to shower."

"Please," Cameron laughed.

"Also, I heard word on my way back here," he said. "People were running to Victoria's berth. So... you did it?"

She nodded. Harper sighed. She couldn't tell if he was relieved or not.

"We found a gun," she added, before he turned toward the bathroom. "Victoria had one. They lied."

His shoulders sagged. "Seasons. What a rotated, pear-shaped mess."

"Also, O'Keefe is in the small bedroom; I didn't want to send him back through the hallways."

Harper shrugged one shoulder. "Pas mal. I'm going to shower now. I'm very tired for some reason."

The numbness had worn away, and now Cameron was too wired to sleep. She dressed for bed, but waited for Harper to come back, wrapping her arms his wet torso the moment he entered the room.

"Babe," he complained.

She silenced him with a kiss. He took her face in his hands, pressing his lips gently against hers. When Harper was like this, Cameron wondered if they weren't in love, in their own, strange way. They never talked about it, unless they were joking.

"Come to bed?" she inquired with a smile.

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Who do you side with, Harper or Cameron? I have tried to stay neutral in this mess, but I will admit, but by the end of the book, I will admit I am not as neutral.  A weirdly short chapter, so I think I might post the next chapter in the morning.  Thanks for reading!