We Shadows

Chapter 3: how you feeling?

Tyson had expected to have his own office sometime in his late thirties, now, at the ripe age of twenty-seven, he had his own office, department, and more appointments than he knew what to do with. Madison had insisted he get a holo, but he still felt clunky with it. He was more comfortable with paper and a pencil.

Blair sighed in front of him and glanced at the door.

"How'd you like the baskets game?" Tyson asked. "I haven't seen you out there before."

"No, Lully brought me," Blair replied. "It was fun. We had some games we played on the Canary, but there's not a room for it here."

"Oh? What kind of game?"

"We'd print a small ball; this one fits in your hand, and you try to bounce it past the other team to hit a small square on the wall. The square would light up if you hit it; and whoever had the most points in a half hour won." Blair smiled. "We'd have tournaments sometimes. It was fun."

"Sounds fun," Tyson said, thinking that it sounded like a weird version of racquetball. He wrote down the requirements, resolving to create such a room. "Are you competitive then?"

Blair nodded. "Victoria and I would play together. We won a tournament before Geordie was born. Just the one. We were much younger then."

"You don't have to make apologies. Were there prizes?"

"We got a bottle of moonshine the engineers brewed," Blair grinned. "Victoria and I were so drunk we missed a day of work after. The headache was not worth it. I don't remember if that's why we stopped playing."

"How did you two... oh, never mind, sorry."

Blair tilted his head, frowning in confusion. Tyson laughed apologetically.

"On Earth, a common question is 'how did you two meet?', but that's not relevant to you."

He chuckled. "For many reasons. The Canary wasn't large enough for people to avoid each other for long. I was seven years older than Victoria; we knew we'd be together when she turned sixteen and I told her we could partner when she wanted. I didn't expect it taking another decade, but we weren't going anywhere. It was fine."

Blair shrugged. Tyson thought it was odd how calm he appeared when he was physically in rough shape. His clothes were rumpled and he had dark shadows under his eyes.

"Blair, what can I do for you?" Tyson said, a little abruptly. "Some of the others are worried about you, but you don't seem worried."

"I'm here because Madison said she wouldn't let me come to work if I didn't talk to you," Blair pointed out. "I don't feel anything about Victoria's death. We weren't close. We had different friends, obviously. We had Geordie and my watching him alone isn't greatly different from when she was around."

"You aren't sleeping," Tyson noted. "It doesn't seem like you're eating either."

"Someone came into my berth and shot my partner with my son in the next room," Blair retorted. "I was sleeping right there. I just can't sleep at home. I dream I hear a noise and I startle awake and I just...can't sleep there anymore." He sighed, leaning back in his chair. "I've been sleeping here when I can."

"So what can we do for you?" Tyson inquired. "We could find you a new berth? Could we change the code? What would make you feel safe?"

Blair seemed shocked by the suggestions. Tyson was dead serious. He had no idea how to get any of those things done, but that hadn't stopped him on Earth. He saw no reason to let it stop him now.

"I'd like to change the codes," Blair admitted. "And maybe, if someone from builds could take a look and see if anything is...out of place?"

"We will get it done," Tyson promised. "Cool. Let me work on that, and how about we talk next week?"

Blair nodded, rising from his chair. He stopped at the door.

"I think this was helpful," he admitted. "Thank you, Tyson."

He left the room. Tyson finished writing his notes and then rose from his desk, needing to talk to Madison. Blair was packaging equipment for Esperanza's departure later. Madison didn't seem too busy so Tyson knocked on her door.

She looked up and smiled.

"I have a couple questions," he admitted.

"I'm sure. You've been here less a week. What do you need?"

"I need a list of the department heads," Tyson said. "And I know that this is complicated, but maybe a short sentence telling me what each department is in charge of?"

"You starting on your intro videos?" Madison inquired.

"Soon," Tyson promised. "But I want to understand this place as best as I can so I can help people as well. The more information the better."

"You need to talk to Levi," she recommended. "He'll have records from early Aeneid and Canary. Maybe it would be helpful?"

"Everything is helpful," Tyson agreed. "Thank you, Madison. Anything I can do?"

"Just what you are doing," she told him. "Vertov likes the idea of the videos. And we won't be waking anyone until this mining expedition is over, so you have some time."

"I think I'll need it," he remarked, leaving her office.

Being at work helped make this new life more real, but he wished he had his own therapist to talk to. He would tell them that he missed his apartment and strolling along the sidewalk to his work. The curved white halls with the formal stamps of color were no substitute for the bagel and coffee cart he passed every day.

His holo-rib chimed and he fumbled with it to see a message from Alcott. She and Levi were planning lunch and wanted to know if Tyson liked jalapeños. He slowly typed a reply, finding the holographic keyboard difficult to type on. He didn't mind spicy food.

As he was typing his reply, his holo-rib chimed again, telling him that Dylan was calling. He answered it.

"What are you doing for lunch?" Dylan asked.

"Levi and Alcott are planning something," he hazarded. "Why?"

"I've been watching more video logs and I have questions," Dylan replied. "Can we meet up and talk about Congress for lunch?"

"Sure," Tyson replied. "Where do you want to meet?"

"My berth's fine if Levi is meeting Alcott for lunch," Dylan remarked. "Merci, Tyson."

She hung up abruptly and Tyson erased his message to Alcott, composing a new one to tell them he wouldn't be joining after all. 

___

I've had writer's block for two months and each chapter is like pulling teeth. Thank goodness I can always count on Tyson to have something to say. I felt weird writing this chapter as if Blair should be allowed to get therapy in peace. 

It's my birthday today! So every ongoing story gets an update and I'll despair about my vanishing buffer some other day. Huzzah!