Aftermath

Ch 22: ERROR: BRAIN_NOT_FUNCTIONING (?)

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to @ancestralgirl specifically, but I ask everyone to enjoy. This one is slightly shorter than usual, but the next chapter picks up right after this one. 

Kota

Sean and Owen had gone downstairs to see if my mother had left yet and usher everyone upstairs. Once they were gone, North approached me, sitting on the side of my bed. "Hey, are you sure you're okay with this?"

It's not as though I have a choice. "I'm fine," I answered, realizing it was true. I did need time to heal—and cross a few items off my to do list. "It's best for the team, I get that, and I can get some things done."

"Shit, that's not the point of this," he growled. "You're not supposed to get things done."

Time to backtrack. "I just meant I have some studying I want to do for physics." Before he could object, I jumped in. "I may listen to a few audio lectures. I'm not going to overdo it."

His dark eyes stayed on me. "This is just a temporary change," he said, still suspicious.

"That's right." I looked at him, a small smile on my lips. "So don't get too comfortable with my job." We had shared a healthy rivalry for years now, dating back to boot camp.

"I won't," North chuckled, but he still looked wary. "I need to get something from you."

"Sure," I said, getting out of bed once again. "What is it? My drumsticks?"

"No, I've got some." He looked uncomfortable, pulling at the collar of his shirt. "I, uh, need your files."

I turned around. "My files?"

"Yeah. The schedules? Of everybody and where they're supposed to be."

"Oh." Good; I had no actual files. "Well, I have an Academy calendar on the computer that shows what missions we have planned. I'll give you that right now. But you'll have to give me a day or two to input the rest of it."

His brow wrinkled. "I can read your damn handwriting; you don't have to type anything for me."

"No, you don't get it. Non-Academy stuff is not on paper; it's all up here." I tapped my head. At least I hoped it was.

North's eyes narrowed. "Everybody's shit? There's ten of us. All the classes and missions and who needs what and when, not to mention Sang's schedule. . ."

"It's not as much as it sounds like. Outside of the Academy, our schedules are fairly static." I sat down in the desk chair, pulling on my glasses for the first time since Tuesday evening. Even though the swelling had gone down, they were uncomfortable on my face. Maybe I'll dig out my contacts. "I'll at least pull up the Academy calendar for you. I know you prefer having a hard copy, so I'll print it out, and we'll work on the rest as it goes."

"Shit," he said, shaking his head. "All right, yeah. Give me what you've got."

I tapped the mouse to bring the computer out of hibernate mode, greeted with my usual desktop image: a collage of family photos Sang had put together one slow afternoon. I moved the mouse once, then again, staring at the computer.

"Good morning, Kota," Silas said, coming in.

I mumbled a greeting to him and a few others of my teammates as they came in. The room began to buzz with activity, but I ignored it, my attention was captivated by the computer. The words on the screen were slightly blurry, even with my glasses. But I wasn't worried about that, at least not yet; I had expected the blurriness.

No, the problem was the mouse: it was moving in the exact opposite place that I was moving it. Was it broken? Unlike the computer, it was relatively new, and I had never seen a mouse malfunction quite like this, but that didn't mean it was out of the realm of possibility.