Fic: Altered Trajectory (cont.)

[jeriendhal]

It was a month later when Rufus drove out the Military Service Hospital in the capitol, and was admitted to a room in the physical therapy section. He found Mac there strapped to what looked like a combination hospital bed, exercise machine and medieval torture device, overseen by a therapist. The undersized security officer was stripped to the waist, pulling up and down on a cable attached to a metal weight, a look of intense concentration in his eyes. He stopped when he spotted Rufus, a frown crossing half his face, the other half still flaccid, the nerves dead.

“Hello Mac,” Rufus greeted. “You look like you're doing well.”

“I loo' li' droolin' ijit,” Mac replied in a slurred growl. Which wasn't far from the truth judging by the evidence dampening his muzzle. “Wha' you wan'?”

“I wanted to check in on your recovery. Your doctors say you're making remarkable progress.”

Mac shrugged his good shoulder. “They wan' me to try an' ge' as much wor'ing as I can, 'efore they try t' conne't a nerve bypass chip. Got five more frellin' months of this shi'.”

“Believe me, you have my utmost sympathies. That's why I wanted to speak to you, privately for a moment, so you know your injuries were not in vain.” The therapist nodded at this and quietly slipped outside, closing the door behind. Rufus locked it and sat in a chair beside Mac, pulling out a data card which he flipped idly between his fingers. “I just wanted to let you know that things are going well between the Galapagos Dominion and GSA. The humans quieted down considerably when Count Lakewalker informed them that we had given Commander Blake a thorough interrogation, and knew almost exactly what their intelligence service's intentions were. There's been a bit of a shakeup going on there, according to our sources and Admiral Blake. Rogue elements acting without the Federation Council's oversight, etc.”

“Sure,” Mac said with a snort.

“It's keeping the peace. That's enough for now. Our own government is sending a delegation to Galapagos Prime to set up a consulate there. Not a formal embassy of course, that would stepping outside the GSA charter, but enough to let the Human Federation know we're not going to let them do their business unobserved.”

“Good,” Mac replied. “Anythin' else y' wanted t' tell me?”

“Not tell exactly. I wanted you to have this.” He placed the datachip in Mac's paw and closed his fingers around it. “That's the remaining copy of the all data from your cyberglider unit's memory, at least the bits unrelated to the mission we were on. You had a few personal files there that I'm sure you'll be glad to have back.”

Mac really wasn't capable of registering a look of disturbed surprise anymore. He did however, ask, “Anybody loo' at the files?”

“Just myself,” Rufus replied.

“That shi's personal,” he growled.

Rufus didn't smile, that would have been unseemly given Mac's very vulnerable position right now. Nevertheless he did say, “The vid file in the folder labeled “1776” was very entertaining. I'd never seen the play that was recorded before. Had to look up the references to identify it. Who was the fellow playing Benjamin Franklin by the way? He looked like a relative of yours.”

Mac stared at him for a moment, then with obvious reluctance said, “Mah gran'faher.”

“Very amusing fellow.” Rufus grabbed a chair and sat down backwards on it, resting his arms on the back. “Now, one of the happy things about our government is that we do have freedom of speech. Commoners may speak out against their lords as much as they like. It's how the nobility is kept in line, letting them know whether their policies are appreciated or resented. Nevertheless, I think when an agent of External Affairs chooses to associate himself with people who put on a play which concerns itself with breaking away from one's rightful lords and forming a new nation... Well, I can't say his career prospects would look very good if it came to light.” When Mac remained silent, he continued. “You're a member of the Vulpine Democratic League, aren't you?”

“Yah,” Mac said after a moment.

“Rather odd line of work for an ExAf agent. Aren't you suppose to be protecting the Vulpine government?”

Mac growled. “Ah protec' the vulpine people. Farmer noble ca' go to da Col' an' Dark.”

“We're your rightful rulers,” Rufus pointed out. “We're trained to lead. It's a much more sensible idea than having untrained amateurs elected into office every few years.'

“Ya' like you were doin' so good when y' were a drug addict.”

“A point. Though I'm an unusually bad example,” Rufus allowed. “Nevertheless....” He took the data card and slipped it into the front pocket of Mac's ship knit pants. “That's the only copy of your personal material files. I suggest you give it to a trusted co-conspirator to put somewhere safe as soon as you can.”

Mac blinked his working eyelid. “Why?” he asked.

“Because no matter how much you might hate the Farmer Lords, they still want to make sure you're taken care of, out of respect for the personal sacrifice you made. I beg you keep that in mind in the future.” He saluted the little officer, who returned it, looking a bit more respectful.

TBC

Comments

[a-ferins-tale.livejournal.com]

Ah. That explains a lot.

And Ru is recovering. :) AND the vulpine are managing to keep the humans inline without turning it into a political incident.

Now all we need is a wedding please... a real one this time.

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

No wedding I fear (unless I choose to write it as a short story). We do get to see Beth and Hazel arguing over the design of her wedding dress in the last scene, which I should have ready to post in about eight hours your time. It's almost finished but I'm dog tired and I need to go to bed.

BTW 1776 is a real play, a musical comedy actually. Ben Franklin, one of our Founding Fathers, was a horny old bastard in real life and the play takes that aspect of him and runs with it. :)

[mjkj.livejournal.com]

Nice one...

Hmmm, Vulpine democracy :) I wonder how that would work out...

...but to deduce him being a member of the Vulpine Democratic League just because his grandfather had reenacted an old human play is quite far fetched in my opinion... :) ...though we do not know what were the other files like...

I wonder what Mac's future career will be...

*waiting for the last scene and the wedding...*

mjkj

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

Note that Rufus had other hints, especially given Mac could barely contain his hostile attitude towards a Farmer Lord intruding on the mission.

[mjkj.livejournal.com]

Yeah, true...