To thine own self
by Ainzfern
3
"Well... there she is." Standing next to Katze in the basement level security car park of Eos Tower Riki said, voice throbbing with pride and adoration as he gazed lovingly at his newest acquisition.
A sleek midnight-black VRF3000 series hover-bike; the latest model off the production line, boasting a fuel-injected V4 engine, a two-stage valve actualization system, V4 valve timing and a glossy carbon fiber triple-clamp cover.
Oh yes...
Turning to Katze, Riki grinned. "So, what d'you think?"
Removing his cigarette from between his lips, Katze blew a stream of smoke towards the low ceiling. "I think it looks like a high-speed accident waiting to happen."
Riki snorted. "Fuckin' philistine," he muttered amiably enough, his eyes still fixed on the hover-bike. "Have you been talking to Iason?"
"Don't need to."
Shaking his head, Riki reached out and stroked his hand adoringly over the hover-bike's console. "Well, let me tell you something... This little baby is more than just a prime ride, Katze."
"Oh?"
"Yeah." Riki felt his expression change, softening slightly. "It's the first big-ticket item I ever bought with my own money."
Katze turned and looked at him, his pale face a mystery.
"It matters, Katze," Riki added seriously.
"Yes." Without breaking eye contact with Riki, Katze dropped his cigarette butt onto the concrete floor and ground it under the heel of his boot. "Yes, I guess it does."
"C'mon..." Riki jerked his chin toward the lift that would take them up to the penthouse, leading Katze across the lot towards it. "Those manifest files that you wanted de-coded are done. I'll get you the discs I made up."
"Good," Katze murmured as they stepped into the lift together, "I've been waiting on those."
Riki shot him a look. "Patience is a virtue, man, especially seeing as how it was you who told me to drop 'em while I worked on those United Industries cracks you wanted done."
Katze merely smiled blandly at him.
"Actually," Riki glanced sideways at the ex-Furniture as the lift smoothly ascended, "That last file that I cracked..."
"What about it?"
"Any updates from your people in the field?"
Riki watched as Katze's scarred face suddenly twisted into a sly little smirk. He nodded at the red-head, reading the expression for what it was... as a clear sign that Katze had won yet another round.
"Yeah." Katze slipped his hands into his jacket pockets and leaned against the wall of the lift. "They followed the standard plan of attack as soon as I got your cracked list, either renewing or replacing existing agreements."
Riki gestured for him to keep talking as the lift doors opened onto the tastefully plush lobby outside the penthouse and both men fell into step together, moving to the front door and stepping through into the grand apartment.
"I've gotten a report from one of my agents that United's delegates have already tried to approach two off the list." Katze pulled out his cigarette packet, immediately heading to the balcony.
Grabbing the promised discs from a side table as he passed by, Riki followed him, handing them to Katze who slipped them into the inside pocket of his jacket. "So what happened?"
Katze huffed an evil little chuckle. "All the delegates could do was sit on their hands and then turn around and go back home." Katze's smirk was loaded with smug amusement. "Hopefully this time, I've burned their fuckin' fingers badly enough for them to keep the hell out of my hair for a while."
Riki took a seat on the sun-warmed bench just outside the balcony door, peering up at his friend. "So, you reckon you've really pissed 'em off?"
Katze shrugged sharply, his suddenly glittering eyes narrowing. "I hope so."
"This isn't gonna come back and bite you on the ass, is it?" Riki asked, abruptly feeling a mild surge of anxiety. "I mean, what if United starts upping the ante? What if they find out who you are?"
"That's unlikely," Katze replied around his cigarette as he lit it with a flourish and inhaled deeply. "Besides, they can't exactly cry for help from any official agency, can they? They're trying to cut in on a market that is technically illegal, Riki. Believe, me... jackals don't howl too loudly when they get bitten."
"Just be careful Katze, okay?"
"I'm always careful." Katze walked across to the balcony wall, leaning comfortably against it as he looked at Riki, his entire bearing indicating that this particular part of the conversation was over.
Shrugging his acceptance, Riki suddenly felt his mouth curve with a smug little grin of his own. "So... you're really gonna be taking a little sabbatical from your usual job to help Raoul Am with his, are you?" He was immensely gratified to see Katze's reaction to his lightly teasing question was everything he'd guessed it would be. The red-head's eyes at first widened, before narrowing almost immediately with suspicion.
"Where'd you hear that?" Katze demanded softly.
Riki tilted his head, wondering at the odd tone in Katze's voice. "Iason," he replied.
Barking a sharp and mirthless chuckle, Katze shook his head. "Typical," he muttered.
A touch concerned over the sudden loss of good humor in Katze's face, Riki frowned. "What's wrong?"
"Ah, it's nothing." Katze pitched his finished cigarette over the balcony with an almost savage flick of his hand. "It's just that I actually thought for a second that Raoul had stepped off his pedestal long enough to ask me, personally, if I wanted to work for him – rather than just asking Iason if he could fuckin' borrow me." His expression darkened. "It pisses me off, man. I've earned my freedom from these guys. It'd be nice – y'know... if someone other than just me could fuckin' remember that."
Riki held up a vaguely conciliatory hand. "Hey... Hey, chill out a little, Katze. Iason didn't answer Raoul one way or the other, okay? He told him to ask you."
Katze's expression was still hard. "Seriously?"
"Would I lie to you?"
"Yes."
Riki waved an impatient gesture at him. "I mean, about something important like this."
Sighing, the last vestiges of discontent leaving him, Katze fished his cigarettes out of his pocket again. "Probably not," he admitted grudgingly as he lit up, "At least, not these days." He offered the open packet to Riki.
Riki snorted gracelessly. "Y'know your confidence in me is underwhelming." He selected a cigarette, placing it between his lips and leaning forward for Katze to light it for him. "So, what's the story with you and Raoul Am, anyway?" He inhaled with pleasure before blowing out an impressive lungful of smoke. "Are you actually getting to be friends or are you just professional associates?"
Katze shrugged, his brow creasing in a slightly perplexed way. "I don't know."
Riki stared at him, honestly surprised by the candor of his answer.
Seeing the look, Katze stared back. "What?"
"Uhm..." Riki tapped the ash from his cigarette into the planter beside the bench as he held Katze's eyes with a level, even serious, gaze. "I guess I wasn't expecting you to be that honest."
Katze blinked, looking almost as startled as Riki felt. "To tell you the truth, neither was I."
Nodding, Riki sat back a little more comfortably. "Well, as Iason keeps telling me the world is changing. Who knows what opportunities are out there for us?"
Smiling, ever so slightly, Katze met his eyes with a gaze that suddenly seemed far older than it ever had before. "Yeah," he replied, his voice soft and somehow distant. "Who knows?"
Raoul had to confess, as he made his way over to the main consoles situated a few meters away from the amniotic tank in the centre of the main lab floor; that Katze was certainly working hard enough for his money. Upon arriving at the Bio-Lab with Katze earlier in the morning, Raoul had quashed any possible protests regarding the man's presence by introducing him as a free-lance technical consultant who had come highly recommended by Iason Mink himself.
With that single shining testimony unquestioningly accepted as his sole qualification, Raoul's team was virtually falling over itself to accommodate his newest employee.
Katze, of course, took full advantage of the opportunity. Having obviously fully versed himself in the specifications Raoul had given him two days before, the ex-Furniture directed the team with absolute confidence and authority.
It was strange, Raoul thought, but Katze changed when he was put into this manner of situation. The sardonic attitude almost seemed to disappear. He face became animated, somehow more alive, when his mind was being stimulated by something that obviously challenged him as much as his black market concerns did, but contained none of the additional pressures.
He was quite an interesting dichotomy of a man, Raoul was beginning to see.
Watching the red-head at work now, Raoul actually felt impressed. Not really something that, even only a few months ago, he would ever have thought the mongrel capable of inspiring in him. Katze had been here in the lab for a mere few hours, but already basic troubleshooting on the main system frames had been completed, and he now had Raoul's chief technician voluntarily immersing himself into the tank to test the results of Katze's initial patches to the monitoring systems.
He approached the consoles, nodding briefly at Katze before turning his gaze on the readouts. "Progress?" he asked softly, glancing across the floor at the vaguely disturbing sight of a fifty year old civilian technician, in his underwear, laboriously climbing up the ladder resting against the tank.
Suppressing a shudder, Raoul turned back to Katze expectantly.
"Slow," Katze replied in a distracted manner, his eyes still carefully assessing the data filling the consol screen. He remained silent for only a few seconds more before sighing harshly, pushing away from the consoles and shaking his head in disgust. "Nope. I thought so. Trying to fix what's already there just isn't going to cut it, Raoul."
Raoul blinked. "You say that as if the design were substandard in some way," he noted.
Katze lifted one shoulder briefly. "Well, as a basic system design its okay, but I can immediately see there are significant problems with it."
Raoul peered over his shoulder at the tank, his brow furrowed in concern. "How can you tell so quickly?" he asked softly.
Katze shrugged. "Well, because either there's a problem with the life sign monitoring system, or your tech, Rufus, is actually dead," Katze nodded towards the tank where Raoul's chief technician, breathing apparatus on his face, was floating quite happily. As he noticed them staring he lifted one hand and gave a little salute.
Raoul sighed.
Katze snorted, looking back to the display in front of him. "Tony?" he called out.
Down on the floor, near the tank, a young white-coated man turned around. "Yes, Sir?"
"Get him out of there," Katze shook his head and made a frustrated little noise in his chest. "We're gonna have to redo this monitoring system from scratch."
Tony acknowledged him with a nod, scaling the ladder affixed to the side of the tank and opening the hatch at the top to pull his colleague out.
"How far behind schedule is this going to put us?" Raoul asked him, absently watching Rufus drying himself off and donning a somewhat threadbare company lab-coat.
"Actually, not at all," Katze swivelled around and looked up at him, crossing his long legs comfortably as he consulted a Raoul's project estimate report. "You've already allocated several days for system adjustments. Believe me... pulling the whole thing out and rebuilding it will be way faster than trying to re-troubleshoot what's already in there. Plus, there's the added benefit of being able to do it right, this time."
Raoul arched a sardonic brow at him."Do I detect a hint of criticism against my staff?" he asked mildly.
Katze lifted one shoulder. "A hint? No. A whole essay full? Possibly. Look, your guys aren't bad at their jobs; that's not what I'm saying," Katze sat forward, his expression growing serious. "But what they're not good at is thinking outside the square."
"This is, incidentally, why you are here."
Katze snorted gracelessly. "Mongrels are very good at workarounds, Raoul. They have to be." He chuckled softly. "Y'know... you Elites have really sold yourself short by not utilizing us more. There's a whole cunningly devious workforce going to waste over in Ceres."
Raoul tilted his head. "There may be something to what you say," he murmured. He peered closely at the red-head for a moment. "When did you last eat?" he asked suddenly, remembering his promise to Iason.
Katze blinked, looking startled. "Uhm..." he broke off, frowning slightly.
"I shall take that as an 'I don't remember' then, shall I?" Raoul's tone spoke volumes.
"I'll grab something from the canteen later." Katze set the report aside and turned back to his consol.
"No," Raoul easily swiveled his chair back around with one hand. "You will not. Come," he gently but firmly grasped Katze's upper arm, pulling him to his feet. "I was planning to take lunch in Eos Central today. You will come with me."
Katze's mouth twitched. "You're not one for subtle invitations are you?"
Raoul's look was direct. "You will do my project very little good if you pass out from lack of sustenance, Katze."
"Point." Katze grabbed his jacket of the back of the chair. "Okay, so where to?"
"Any preferences?"
Smiling, Katze shrugged again. "Zephyrs?"
"You rather like that cafe, don't you?" Raoul noted, amused, as they headed toward the exit together.
Katze pulled a little face as he slipped his jacket on. "Actually, to tell you the truth, it's probably the only place where I've eaten in Eos Central."
Raoul chuckled, leading him to the main building entrance.
"So..." Katze said as Raoul finished a brief call to his driver. "Am I paying my own way again?"
Raoul blandly smiled at him. "Naturally."
"God," Katze rolled his eyes. "Richer than kings and tighter than paupers."
Now openly amused, Raoul shrugged amiably. "Truly one of the unsung methods of staying wealthy, Katze."
"I tell you what," Katze turned to face him as Raoul's driver pulled up just in front of the main doors of the Bio-Lab building. "If I get your tank's computer systems up and running by the end of the week, you get to buy me lunch, what d'you think?"
Stepping through the front entrance, Raoul nodded urbanely, "Katze?" he replied, "I believe we have, what would be known in your black market parlance as a 'deal'."
Katze snickered all the way to the car.
To thine own self – chapter 2 << >> To thine own self – chapter 4