Chapter 5 – Birds and knees

On the 200^th floor of what was essentially another city above the city below, rising from the first’s dust up into the very sky, the upper middle senior management sat on yoga mats and cast their eyes this way and that to ensure the Coporation’s interests, tied so closely to their own, were keenly monitored.

They were on level 226. Up high, in other words. But you wouldn’t know it. There wasn’t one window on any of the floors above 200. Not many apart from those within the Corporation were allowed up here. Strong had visited once before to see Crane, a meeting that still riled him to his core.

As he walked behind the petite behind of Ms Fore, Strong wondered how this pretty little thing had ended up here. She didn’t seem the type, but he was too cautious to be caught out by such assumptions. Instead, he allowed his imagination to wander, building a picture of a girl told her place in life from the moment she understood the words of those spoken around her. Like him, she would have been reminded again and again how everything she did, thought, wondered should lead her here. To be this person. With this life.

She led him straight across the corridor from Crane’s room. Another oddity. The elevators up this high operated by corridor rather than floor. Each one led to only two rooms, one at either end, the elevator itself opening mid-corridor.  In this one it seemed Ms Fore’s office was the one across from Crane’s. As he walked behind her, Strong wondered how she spent her days, this tiny woman he’d happily let dance in his dreams, within the organisation some called the other God.

She opened the door to her office and the wondering stopped, as once more he was slapped in the face by the madness of this place.

The room was as large as Crane’s but rather than the bare walls and floor of that madman’s inner sanctum, Ms Fore’s office was an aviary. An aviary without windows. Birds flew everywhere, their droppings covering every surface, the noise near deafening.

Before she entered, she collected a set of plastic boots which rested in a shoe store in the corridor. She motioned for Strong to do the same. He wasn’t going to show his curiosity so attempted to act nonchalant as he pulled on the boots. Grabbing two umbrellas from a stand, she handed one to him and entered. Their Stephenies followed them in but chose to loiter by the door. They still held hands, and now shared an umbrella.

Strong and Ms Fore headed towards the small square tent in the centre of the room. Reaching it, she opened the flaps, bending daintily as she entered. For Strong, it required almost doubling over. Again, he would save his complaints for now.

As expected, the tent itself didn’t provide much cover from the cacophony outside. Without so much as a word, the girl simply offered his bent form a chair and a set of headphones, quietening him with a finger on the lips as he finally attempted an objection. Strong couldn’t deny the touch had left his heart racing and begrudgingly bit back his anger, placing the headphones over his years as she did the same with another set and seated herself across from him.

Immediately, the sounds of the birds dulled to near nothing.

“I’m sorry, but we each have different ways to ensure that we maintain some privacy.” Her lips didn’t move but the voice inside his head was clearly hers.

Strong began to say something but stopped himself. He wasn’t sure where to start and the pretty lady would shed some murky light on things eventually. And so instead, he sat back and watched her. At least he was in a chair.

The voice in his head came back. “The cameras are a part of the building, and we cannot remove them. Yet there are ways to keep out prying eyes. Mine involves my two loves, birds and camping.” She looked at him pointedly, waiting for a reaction. He wasn’t born yesterday.

“Ok, Mr One. You may have guessed that there’s something other than normal at play here.” He raised his eyebrow at that. “My name is Fore and I am a Daughter.”

That explained some things.

“I’ve been with the Corporation for a long time now. I was placed here by Mother herself to ensure that things didn’t… get out of hand. You may have thought me Crane’s assistant, but as you can see, that is not entirely correct. He and I are…,” she trailed off as if trying to gather the right words, “the fists within this department. But my hand came from another body, if you will.”

“Do I speak or can you simply read my thoughts?” It was time to turn this into a conversation.

“Unfortunately, I cannot.” She herself spoke this time, smiling as she did, and he heard her as clearly as before. “As long as you refrain from raising your voice, the birds will protect us from prying ears.”

“Great.” Time to let it rip. “I don’t know what you know about this whole thing Ms Fore, but whatever it is, if you could be the only person in the world who would speak clearly, I’d be both surprised and eternally cocking grateful.”

Again she smiled. She was beautiful. In her own shortass way.

“I understand you met my sister.” Not an answer. Why was he surprised?

“Briefly.”

“Do you know of all the Daughters Mr One?” Another question. Strong shifted in his chair impatiently.

“I didn’t know about you.” He’d keep it short and sweet if that’s what it took.

“My.. let’s just call it term.. here has not been made public for a number of reasons. Neither is it pertinent to the problem before you.”

Strong looked about the small tent. There was a rolled up sleeping mat resting against one of the walls, a small basin next to it.

“Well, at least you’ve conformed to the whole being crazy bit.”

She laughed out loud at this. “You think we’re all crazy? Perhaps you’re right.” Her eyes were serious. “But have you ever considered the alternative?”

He wasn’t going to play these games. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on lady or should I ask the birds?”

“Didn’t I just overhear you tell Crane how much you were enjoying the mystery?” So she was listening in. She probably wasn’t the only one.

“Well, opportunities like this don’t come around all that often.” He observed her, hoping for a reaction. There was none, so he continued. “Is there anything worthwhile in that box of firefeed Crane offered me?”

“Not really. It was my ploy to get you here.”

“Lady, had you asked, you wouldn’t have had to trick me.” He hoped she was getting the message.

“I understand you’re looking for Chin.”

“Among others. He’s certainly someone I’d like to speak to. Why? Do you happen to know where I might find the dirty nailed shit?”

“Have you thought to ask Dynomax?” Again she smiled.

“I’d rather chew strips of my own flesh before feeding them to your birds out there.” He realised he was getting tired of this. “Are you trying to tell me something without actually telling me anything? Or am I just being paranoid?”

“Do you recall what Crane said to you earlier?”

“Does anyone answer a question with an answer around here?” He didn’t want to with this woman but she was really pushing his button. Ok, maybe with any woman. They were his heel thingy.

“For all his faults, you would do well to think on Crane’s words, Mr One.”

“Is that it? You people really know how to throw about riddles.” It was his turn to smile, which he did as he lent towards her as if to speak some great secret. “The Frey doesn’t care. That’s the secret lady. She hasn’t cared for a long time, if she ever cared at all. Things work because everything is in place for them to work.”

There was that smile again. “You’re wrong.”

“So put me straight.” He knew he didn’t have time for this flirtation but he was damned if he’d let the opportunity pass.

“You’ll find Chin in the Grey, but he’s not the one you should be looking for.”

“Oh yeah? Who then?”

“The first Stephenie.”

“The what?”

“Chin’s Stephenie was replaced by the first Stephenie. She’s more Daughter than Stephenie.” She chewed her lip as if unsure again. “Actually, she’s more Mother herself than one of us.”

“So you’re telling me that one of you is doing this?” Fuck! “Why?”

“When the rest of us were created, we were touched by Mother. But when she created Stephenie, long before she even thought of creating us, she gave her a piece of herself. That makes her the most powerful of us, almost as powerful as the Frey herself.” Was that a hint of fear in her voice? “I don’t know her reasons. But she’s left home and she’s dangerous.”

“So why doesn’t the Frey herself stop her? If there was ever need for divine intervention, surely this is it? Why leave it to us mere mortals to fend off a demi-god?”

“Mother is..otherwise occupied.”

It was Strong’s turn to laugh out loud. “Can’t be bothered, eh? I get them days too.” He lifted the headphones from his ears, the noise of the birds returning like a hammer to the head. “Guess I’ll make my way over to the Grey then. Can I count on you for any future help or is this about as far as you’re willing to get involved?”

She rose and took a step so that she was right beneath him, and placed a hand on his heart. Looking up into his eyes, she kneed him in the balls. As he doubled over with the pain, a scream dying on his lips, tears streaming down his face, she leant in close to his ear and whispered, “That was for not offering to follow through on those rather salacious thoughts you’ve been having about me. If you need me, think those same thoughts some more and I’ll come as fast as I can.”

Fuck, these bitches were weird. And hot.