I looked at him, grateful for the way my sunglasses concealed the bulk of my expression. Only Shaun was likely to realize how upset I was. You mean its classified from the media.
Now, Georgia
Are you seriously telling me that if I were some random Joe Public, youd answer my questions, but because I work for a news site, you wont? His silence was all the answer I needed. Goddammit, Peter. We are dying for you, and you wont tell us what kind of bullets theyre using for the job? Why, because being reporters means we automatically have no sense of discretion? Is that it? Were going to run right out and cause a public panic, because, gee, no ones going to suspect a cover-up when one of our own gets dead and we dont say anything but Death sucks! I started stepping toward him and stopped as Rick and Shaun each grabbed me by an arm. Screw you, I spat, not bothering to fight their hold. I thought you were better than this.
Senator Ryman looked at me, shaking his head in open bewilderment. Shes dead, Georgia. Buffys dead. Chucks dead. You should be dead, all of you, dead and sanitized, not here and alive, shouting at me for not wanting you to rush right back out and keep getting yourselves killed! Georgia, Im not keeping this from you because youre a reporter. Im keeping it from you because Id rather you didnt die.
With all due respect, Senator, I think thats a decision you have to let us make for ourselves. I shook my arm free of Shauns grasp. As soon as Shaun released me, Rick did the same. We looked at Senator Ryman together, waiting for his answer.
The senator glanced away. I dont want your deaths on my conscience, Georgia. Or on my campaign.
Well, then, Senator, I guess well just have to do our best not to die, I said.
He turned back to us. His expression was bleak. It was the face of a man whod spent his life chasing a dream and was only now beginning to realize how much it might cost to get it.
Ill have the reports sent to you, he said. Our plane leaves in an hour. If youll excuse me. It wasnt a question, and he didnt wait for an answer. He just turned and walked away.
first time I met Buffy. Man, I didnt even know I was meeting her, yknow? It was one of those types of things. Me and George, we knew we needed a Fictional if we wanted to get hired at one of the good sites because you cant just log in and be like Yo, were two-thirds of a triple threat, give us our virtual desks. We needed a wedge, something to make us complete. And that was Buffy. We just didnt know it yet.
They do these online job fair things in the blogging community, like Craigslist gone even more super-specialized. Georgia and I flagged our need for a Fictional at the next fair, opened a virtual booth, and waited. We were about to give up when we got a chat request from somebody who IDed herself as B.Meissonier and said she didnt have any field experience but she was willing to learn. We talked for thirteen hours straight. We hired her that night.
Buffy Meissonier was the funniest woman I knew. She loved computers, poetry, and being the kind of geek who fixes your PDA before you know its broken. She liked old TV and new movies, and she listened to all kinds of music, even the stuff that sounds like static and church bells. She played guitar really badly, but she meant every note.
There are people who are going to say she was a traitor. Ill probably be one of them. That doesnt change the fact that she was my friend. For a long time, before she did anything wrong, she was my friend, and I was with her when she died, and Im going to miss her. Thats what matters. She was my friend.
Buffy, I hope they have computers and cheesy television and music and people laughing where you are now. I hope youre happy, on the other side of the Wall.
We miss you.
From Hail to the King,
the blog of Shaun Mason, April 21, 2040
Twenty
The senator and his security team came from Houston to Memphis via the Houston CDCs private plane. Every CDC installation has one fueled and ready at all times. Not because there could be an evacuationany outbreak large enough to require evacuating an entire CDC installation would leave a distinct lack of uninfected people to actually evacuatebut for the transfer of specialists, patients, and, yes, politicians and other such notables from one location to another in a quick, efficient, and, above all, discreet manner. It wouldnt do to set off a public panic because someone had seen, say, the worlds leading specialist in Kellis-Amberlee-related reservoir conditions being flown into a populated area. The nation is constantly poised on the edge of a riot, and the CDC is very aware of how easy it would be to be the match that starts the fire.
The last time I was on a CDC plane and conscious of the experience, I was nine and on my way to visit Dr. William Crowell. Dr. Crowell was that worlds leading specialist I mentioned before, and he thought he mightve found a cure for retinal KA. My parents, ever eager to do stupid shit in the name of a good story, flew me to Atlanta to let him test his treatment on me. His cure proved as artificial as his toupee and his light therapy left me seeing spots for a month, but I got to ride in an airplane and have an adventure without Shaun. For my nine-year-old self, that was almost enough.
They give you more snacks when youre nine. Also, airplane captains may be willing to let cute little girls in dark glasses hang out in the cabin, but theyre not as understanding of adult journalists who just want to get away from their traveling companions. When you added the fact that the senator wouldnt look me in the eye, while Shaun spent the entire flight trying to take his seat apart with a screwdriver swiped from one of the guards, its no surprise that I was happy as hell to touch down at our destination, even though landing came barely an hour after taking off.