Dawnwind 1: Last Man Standing (10 page)

“Diplomatic options.
 
And I really don’t think I should talk about it until I have a better idea as to what’s going to happen.”

“As long as you aren’t in any kind of trouble?”

“None at all,” said John, amused.
 
“Although, from the way the newsmakers have been trailing me since I left the Institute, you’d think I’d gone on a murderous rampage.”

“Do you want to go home for dinner?”

“No,” said John.
 
“Actually, I think I’d like to give them a bit of a show.”

Olu narrowed her eyes.
 
“What are you planning, John?”

“Nothing bad,” he said.
 
“Promise.”

* * * * *

 
Vesu Oza shut off the infoscreen of his instructor’s lectern, and stepped down from the dais.
 
Most of the students from his Moral Economics class had already left the lecture hall, talking and laughing among themselves.
 
Only a single student remained behind, waiting for Vesu at the bottom of the dais’s steps.

Mentally, Vesu sighed.
 
“Good evening, Miss Nop.”

Ito Nop was an unattractive young woman.
 
Her nose was too big for her face, she had a disquieting tendency to squint at whomever she was speaking with, and she had a prickly personality.
 
Vesu thought that her friends must have been extremely patient.

“I’d like to discuss my essay with you, Instructor Oza.”

“Of course, Miss Nop.
 
Come by my office tomorrow and . . . .”

“I’d like to do it now,” said Ito, firmly.

Vesu smiled.
 
“I’m sorry, Miss Nop, but I’m meeting friends for dinner and simply don’t have time to. . . .”

“May I walk with you?”

“I . . . suppose,” said Vesu.
 
He waved a hand at the door.
 
“After you.”

* * * * *

Fi Mosu sprawled on the green grass near one of Gomis University’s lakes.
 
It was a warm day and several students had taken advantage of the weather to go swimming.
 
Their clothes and PINs lay in a haphazard pile near the shore.
 
Fi had been tempted to join them, but as quickly as the thought had flown across his mind, he had dismissed it.
 
The other newsmakers wouldn’t be taking a break.

Fi had spotted Deso Nesomi from Planetary skulking around one of the university buildings, and Wisiw Som from UNN interviewing students.
 
The competition was on the human’s trail, just like Fi and probably for the same reasons.
 
References to Epcott on the public infonets
 
had risen a startling thirty-eight percent in the last few days.
 
There hadn’t been a spike like that since Assembly Representative Esip Futop’s connections to organized crime had been exposed!
 

Fi had been aware of John Epcott, in a general sort of way.
 
He remembered the enormous swell of public sympathy when the human’s story was leaked by sources inside the Defense Authority months ago.
 
There had been a lot of interest in this mysterious alien, who looked so much like a Junian that he could almost pass for one on the street.
 
Twenty-two percent of the comments made about Epcott were related to his appearance.
 
Words like “exotic” and “attractive” showed up quite a bit in the relevant group discussions.
 
A thriving sub-group speculated quite a bit about whether Junians and humans were sexually compatible.

Thankfully, as far as Fi was concerned, such speculation was in the minority.
 
Most of the interest in Epcott seemed to be based upon intellectual curiosity and genuine sympathy regarding his status.
 
Prior to this assignment, Fi had waded through a lot of the speculation, reviewed the previous public interviews with Epcott, and even managed to speak to some of the scientific specialists who were interviewing him about human culture.

The image that Fi had built was that Epcott seemed remarkably stable, considering he had survived the destruction of his species.
 
Fi had wondered if Epcott had been so stable when first encountered by the
Undaunted Spirit
.
 
He had sent a request to the Guard, for access to crew logs referring to Epcott and even made tentative inquiries to some of the
Undaunted Spirit
’s crew.
 
So far, nothing had come from either of those sources.
 
The silence from Guard Command was no surprise.
 
As part of the Defense Authority, the Junian Guard was probably the most information-opaque organization on the planet.
 
But individual guardsmen, in Fi’s professional and personal opinion, loved to talk.
 
His inquiries about Epcott had been politely, but firmly, rejected.
 
This suggesting to Fi that the guardsmen aboard the
Undaunted Spirit
had bonded closely with the human.
 
That suggested things about Epcott that were genuinely intriguing to Fi.

His own brief encounter with the man, earlier, had only made Fi Mosu more curious.
 
The human’s responses to his questions, intended to be deliberately provocative,
 
had been thoughtful and even-handed.
 
 
Now, Fi found himself wanting to do a proper interview with Epcott, not just about the assaults, but also about the man himself.
 
If Epcott agreed and the interviews were handled properly, Fi thought that it might give his career a sizeable boost.

But Fi suspected that he would have to approach Epcott carefully.
 
Let Nesomi and Som pester the man.
 
Fi knew their interview styles and suspected that Nesomi’s belligerence and Som’s oiliness would not ingratiate them to the alien.
 

No, thought Fi.
 
He would let his colleagues take the lead and, ultimately, take themselves out of the competition.
 
Then, he would step in, with his request for an interview.
 
All he had to do until then was watch and wait.
 
Grinning, Fi decided that maybe a quick dip in the lake would be fine after all.

* * * * *

 
John glanced up from the PIN he had been studying.
 
Vesu had arrived, accompanied by a young woman with yellow hair so dark that it was almost the color of mustard.
 
She wore a long blue robe, over a yellow dress that revealed a generous portion of leg.
 
The young woman was arguing about some esoteric subject with Vesu.
 
As John watched, Vesu paused on the threshold of Olu’s office and turned to the young woman.

“I understand what you’re saying, Miss Nop, and we can discuss it in more depth later.”
 
Vesu placed particular emphasis on the last word.
 
“But as of this moment, I am done instructing for the day. Contact me tomorrow and we’ll set up an appointment to address the rest of your concerns.”

The young woman frowned.
 
“But . . .
 
!”

“Good night, Miss Nop,” said Vesu.

John thought the young woman would continue to argue, but then she seemed to realize that they were not alone.
 
She glanced away from Vesu, noting the presence of Olu and John.
 
Her gaze froze on John and she stared.

“You’re John Epcott! The Last Human!”

Silently, John nodded.
 
Ito lowered her head, her fingertips flushing scarlet.
 
Without another word, she turned, bobbed her head in farewell to Vesu, and fled down the corridor.

“Well,” said John, “that was unusual.”

Vesu shook his head and ambled over to the couch, where he sat, heavily.
 
“Ito Nop is an unusual girl.”

Olu chuckled.
 
“Poor Vesu.
 
Rough day?”

“It was going fine until the last fifteen minutes.
 
Nop walked with me from my last class, wanting to talk about her essay.”
 
He sighed.
 
“Clever girl, but she has all the sensitivity of a razorbeak.”

John chuckled.
 
“Well, the day is over with now, so put it behind you.”
 
He patted Vesu’s hand.

“Fine by me,” said the man.
 
“How did things go with Lewij?”

“She was very informative.”

“Good,” said Vesu.
 
“Now, where shall we go for dinner?
 
I’ve heard about this wonderful new restaurant over in Kuciz District.
 
They’re supposed to have over a dozen versions of fish stew on the menu.”

“I think John has some place in mind,” said Olu.

Vesu looked intrigued.

* * * * *

 
Deso Nesomi checked her eyepaint in her PIN.
 
She produced a cosmetic tube from her belt and carefully replaced some of the sparkle she had lost during the day.
 
Not too much, of course.
 
She didn’t want to look like some addlebrained lifechanger, wearing sparkle-powder like
foundation.
 
Just enough to emphasize the shape of her eye, to contrast with the mid-tone blue eyepaint.
 
Satisfied with her repairs, she returned to surveying the university.

“Any luck?”

Deso scowled. Wisiw Som was sitting on a bench behind her. Som was in his sixties, his short golden hair starting to turn white at the roots.
 
He didn’t wear eyepaint, and his skin was starting to display the coarseness many Junians developed later in life. His dark blue robe, decorated with intricate yellow beadwork, fell to his ankles.

“Do your own hunting, Wisiw.”

The old man chuckled.
 
“Don’t be such a sorehead.
 
Have you seen Fi?”

“No,” said Deso, leaning against the wall.
 
“Maybe he gave up.”

“More likely he’s found a better spypoint.
 
Are you going to try one of your famous ambushes with Epcott?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Just making conversation,” said Som.

He reached into a pocket of his robe and produced his PIN.
 
He touched the interactive screen and Deso heard the camera-drones before she saw them.
 
They were small, spheroid devices with mirrored surfaces.

“Isolation!” Deso glared at Som.
 
“You’re using stealth camera drones?”

“Jealous?”

“What do you think? Does UNN know you have those?”

“Of course.”

Deso frowned.
 
“You aren’t thinking of violating privacy, are you, Som?”

Som gave her a withering look.
 
“Don’t be stupid.
 
I just use them to cover more ground than I can on my own.”
 
He rose from the bench.
 
“Speaking of covering ground. . . .”

Deso turned back to the front of the building.
 
Epcott had emerged, the hood of his red over-robe down, easily identifiable by his tangle of black hair.
 
He was accompanied by a man and a woman.
 
Deso recognized them as Epcott’s housemates, Olu Teneso and Vesu Oza.
 
The trio headed toward a groundcar station, chatting among themselves.

Deso powered up her camera-sphere and hurried after them.
 
“Mister Epcott!”

The trio paused on the stone path.
 
Deso saw a look of annoyance flash across Teneso’s face, but Epcott was smiling and standing with his head tilted to one side.

“Yes? Can I help you?”

Deso smiled and raised a hand to indicate her camera.
 
“Deso Nesomi of the Planetary News Service.
 
Do you have time for a few questions?”