Loose Ends: Cal & Howie

Chapter 12: Strained

Kori was the first to meet with Tommy in the passageway. The Chancellor met Tommy while he was in mid-transit to the briefing room, which happened to be just a few clicks away from Cal's new quarters, which was not a coincidence. The command ring was an entire centrifuge; it currently held the quarters for all of the Gel-squad members and the Cabinet for the governing body of their home. Which currently was represented by Kori. He wasn't in a rush to select members of his staff. Not that anyone was jumping at the chance to be a body member where there was a constant struggle to get gears churning in the way of operations. No one could blame them; not even Tommy wanted to do it; he was strictly protected, but these days, he was less protected and more being pulled in multiple directions. Kori needed a replacement for a secondary leader. In the old days, such a position was held by someone called the Vice Chancellor. But she's dead. Or a monster.

Since the meeting was going to be later on, the prisoner meeting was to be held at 0400, which Tommy was used to at this point. "Isn't prison upkeep Russell's job?" Tommy added with a hint of annoyance. Russell and Tommy weren't all that close at the moment; they were still playmates, but they had a falling out. A few weeks ago, they came together with a few of the population to build a gordball court on one of the station's lower levels. Gordball was a traditional Omeocoon game, played for generations in their home to anyone outside. It's much more painful for solids, which aren't that resistant. Essentially, the goal is to hit your opponent with a melon; the game wasn't designed for beings who didn't possess an enhanced healing factor. The game has transitioned from fruits to rigid balls within the last few decades. Their arenas were also showered in darkness except for minimal ambient lighting strips, which allowed players to hide barriers and structures in the arena. They attempted to build teams and start a tournament, making it a tradition for the station, the very first one. Still, Russell accused Tommy of cheating at the end of the first round of the first game when he utilized his shapeshifting powers in an unprecedented way. It wasn't his fault he was manipulating his shape better than Russell.

The gordball operation was quickly snuffed. Russell and Tommy were back at square one with their relationship; it reminded him of their first meeting two years ago. Friends fought. Kori, of course, begged the duo to keep up an appearance in public, as the station often held an informal press conference that allowed the population to get updates on the station's situation. They were all smiles and hugs, but backstage, they avoided each other like the plague. But Russell never gave Tommy his piece back, nor did he ever ask for the one he gave to the gel-squirrel. That signaled to Tommy that he wanted to be friends; he just needed breathing room. Tommy knew that Russell was having problems with his temper; after several merges with him, Tommy had experienced that member and even suffered the effects of personality transfer for a few months. He was so angry for no reason the slightest things often set him off. He was worried this wave of emotion was the weight of the apocalypse, his quitting of being a DP hero, the stress that was brought onto him as a temporary leader, and, of course, the fiasco with Russell's village. He could feel it was flushing out of his system, and meeting Cal was his last burst of uncontrollable anger. That left him worrying about his friend, but he would've if Russell wanted to talk, he would've reached out.

"He's not answering the intercom. I sent Kipp to find him; the little one always finds a way to cheer him up. And this prisoner has requested you by name; he was... persistent." Kori continued. They rounded the corner and pressed ahead. "Which one is it again?" Tommy inquired again; he wasn't in charge of prisoner operations and wasn't in a rush to learn names. The only reason why those people were on the station to begin with is because there was nowhere else to dump them. "Howard sometimes goes by Howie."

"Which one does he prefer?"

"Howie."

"And you said he was looking for me by name?"