Chapter 36: 10.3 Appropriation

  The two girls walk out of the bathroom to find Wolf wheezing while Jack’s crossing his arms and shaking his head.

  “Alright,” Sarah begins. “As I was saying, this is Squirrel.” She gestures to Marianna with both hands.

  Jack and Wolf nod in unison. “Yep,” Jack says.

  “I can see it,” replies Wolf.

  “Oh please,” Marianna says, waving off the suggestion. “Everyone calls me Squirrel, but I’m ok with my friends calling me Marianna.”

  “Squirrel then,” Jack agrees and Wolf nods more vigorously than necessary.

  Squirrel’s expression seems to deflate, her arms beginning to sag. “My hyper attention can be a real burden sometimes.”

  “Hyper attention?” Sarah asks.

  Squirrel nods. “Yeah, it can be a real pain to notice everything all at once and all the time. Wait—did y’all come in through the front door earlier?”

  “We sure did. I’m not about to go teleporting in here again if I can help it. I nearly caught on fire last time and you lost your eyebrows again.”

  “Well, how are you gonna make omelets without losing a set of eyebrows every now and then?”

  Sarah looks at her sideways, eyes narrowing. “I’m pretty sure eyebrows don’t come into play with omelets.”

  “Just depends on the flamethrower you use, I suppose.”

  “Can we just get to why we’re here, Squirrel? What’s the status on our project?”

  Squirrel plops down in a rolling chair and pushes her way over to her work bench. She raises her glasses as she flips through her notes, then lowers them again, spreading the black smudge down her nose after it rubs off her forehead onto the nose piece.

  Marianna spins back around with her glasses on the tip of her nose. She glances up to Jack and Wolf as they try to smother their laughter.

  Squirrel looks to Sarah for an explanation, who just shrugs. “I swear,” Sarah begins, while suppressing her own smile. “I can’t take these two anywhere these days without them acting like idiots.”

  Squirrel just waves it off and pushes her glasses back up with her knuckle. “Boys will be boys. Anyway, I’ve been tinkering with the uh—” she stops to check her notes, “cybertron metal. I managed to incorporate the metal with Henry VIII over here.”

  Squirrel leads them over to a terrarium in the corner. There are several scorch and scratch marks around the inside of the glass. In the center of the container is a mouse that is covered in white fur from the waist down. His upper body is metallic, almost like he’s a prototype for the T-800 with the mouse skin peeled away from his top half.

  “But why Henry VIII?” Sarah asks.

  Squirrel nods. “Let’s just say the first seven were…less successful.”

  “Oh,” Sarah replies with widening eyes.

  “Yeah, but I still don’t think it’s a success. It’s hard to tell if it’s the metal that’s in control or if it’s Henry finally being able to express his frustration about being in the cage. The metal is really interesting. It responds to electrical currents, so I’m thinking synapses can sustain its manipulation, so long as you can start the synapses and then keep them supplied.”

  “Which basically means don’t die, right?”

  Squirrel becomes distant as she runs through some mental scenarios.

  Jack elbows Wolf. “Do you think she fell asleep?”

  “Are you complaining?” Wolf asks.

  “We’d have to block access to the dendrites,” Squirrel mumbles to herself. “Then it should be possible to…” She trails off again.

  “Squirrel,” Sarah calls.

  “Hmm, yes?”

  “You were telling us how close you were to blocking the metal’s ability to send information?”

  Squirrel scrunches up her nose. “No, that doesn’t sound right. I’ve still got a lot of variables to account for. Closer isn’t the same thing as close.”

  “Right,” Sarah says with a nod. “Well, how about my new sword. Any closer on something that can cut through metal?”

  Squirrel raises her finger, then beckons for her to follow before leading back to the workbench she was at earlier. On the workbench is a pedestal that’s holding an incomplete sword handgrip in place where cords are held in place by clamps as they’re wound down the handle.

  “It’s really quite fascinating, you know,” Squirrel says, looking down at the handle. “It’s still quite a lot of work and it’s really neat seeing how it all goes together with the tsuaka, the ito, samekawa, mek—”

  “Squirrel,” Sarah interrupt. “None of that has anything to do with when my sword’s supposed to be done. Have you been able to work out the metal cutting detail?”

  “Oh, I’ve still got a few things left to try. I’m sure I’m getting closer.”

  Sarah narrows her eyes. “But that doesn’t mean you’re close.”

  Squirrel nods. “That’s right.”

  “Well, this has been helpful,” Sarah says, placing her hands on her hips. “What about some goggles? Do you happen to have any?”

  “Oh, I do! Let me show you.” Squirrel opens a drawer on her bench and pulls out a pair that look like a face covering for snorkeling. She beams as she passes them over to Sarah. “These are my pride and joy. They’re made from a shatter resistant Plexiglas that aviation is using as a countermeasure for bird strikes.”

  Sarah perks up at that. “Yeah, that’ll do nicely. Thanks.” She pulls the elastic band and slides them around her neck, setting them inside her collar.

  Squirrel looks wounded as she half reaches for the goggles as they go around Sarah’s neck. “But those were my only pair,” she mumbles.

  Sarah walks over to a nearby counter and starts pulling open drawers. “Do you have anything for nausea?”

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  Squirrel’s eyes get big, and she looks back over at Jack.

  “What?” Jack protests.

  “I see what’s going on here,” Squirrel says, waggling her finger between Jack and Sarah. “Yeah, now it all makes sense.”

  Sarah looks up from the drawer. “What are you going on about now?”

  Squirrel holds out a finger and begins counting things off. “The nausea, the being overly protective, the—”

  Sarah walks back over and snatches her finger. “Girl, if you count one more thing with this finger, I’m gonna break it off. There’s nothing going on there. I’m just talking about motion sickness.”

  “Oh,” Squirrel says, reaching up to adjust her glasses. “Well, you should have just said so. I’ve got some patches in that top drawer over yonder.”

  Squirrel looks back at Jack with a smile and waves.

  Jack looks over at Wolf who drags his claw across his own neck, indicating an impending doom.

  “Alright,” Sarah says while pocketing what looks like several individually wrapped sanitary wipes. “I think we’re set for now.”

  “Aw,” Squirrel pouts. “Do you know when you’ll be back?”

  “No, but do you have a safe place in your workshop that you don’t go very often?”

  Squirrel points. “Probably the door, since I don’t get out much.”

  Sarah raises her eyebrows and nods. “I probably should have guessed that.”

  “Why do you ask?”

  Sarah draws her katana out of her collar and references some of the runes on the handle. She retrieves the marker that she appropriated from one of Squirrel’s drawers, then gets down on her knees next to the door.

  “Uh, Sarah?” Jack says.

  “Keep your pants on, I’m doing something here,” Sarah says, biting the top off the marker.

  “Well, if you—” Squirrel begins

  Sarah spits out the top. “Zip it,” she interjects, glaring at Squirrel and forcing her to withdraw. “Don’t make me get the hose and spray you down.” She turns back around, shaking her head and mumbling about stupid kids as she proceeds to make a mark at the base of the door while referencing the katana’s handgrip.

  “Ok,” Sarah says, standing and putting her katana away. “I’ve made your door an anchor point for my portals. “So, try not to let anyone stand around it for long periods of time. If it opens, it might be an emergency.”

  Squirrel nods. “It’s just me in here, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

  “Good. Hopefully, my showing up won’t be a time when you’re working with an open flame…again.”

  Squirrel shakes her head and waves off the concern. “That’s doubtful. I usually only work with fire on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

  “Ok and remind me again what today is?”

  “Ha ha hu uhm. You don’t even know what day it is, Sarah? Silly you. It’s—,” she coughs into her shoulder, “—day of course.” She grins and nods to the three of them.

  “Right, well, we should go,” Sarah says, looking to Jack and Wolf who both nod back eagerly.

  “Wait!” Squirrel rushes over to Sarah and takes her wrist. “Don’t forget about the you know what,” she whispers, then gestures over to Jack with a head jerk.

  “There’s nothing to forget,” Sarah whispers back. “We’ve got to come back, remember?”

  Squirrel nods and extends an open palm. “It’s a promise then,” she says smiling.

  Sarah looks down at the hand. “I’m not touching that. How long did you say it’s been since you sho—”

  “No, give me a gun. I need one.”

  Sarah’s eyes narrow. “Why exactly?”

  “It’s a surprise. Just leave it with me and pick it up next time you visit.”

  “Ok,” Sarah says, pulling out a pistol.

  “Uh,” Jack begins, his and Wolf’s expressions growing concerned. “Are we really sure that’s a good idea?”

  Sarah continues looking at Jack as she jettisons the magazine, then ejects the chambered round, catching it before she passes over the pistol with the slide locked back. She then turns back to Squirrel as the gun changes hands. “If anyone else had suggested that, those would have been fighting words. I trust you to take care of this?”

  Squirrel nods. “You know I’ll do you right…err not do do and definitely not doodoo, but—”

  Sarah raises her hand. “Yeah, yeah. I get what you mean. Just be sure to take care of her and I’ll…we’ll be back.

  Squirrel smiles and nods with an expression that’s part blushing and part ditsy schoolgirl as she mistakenly releases the slide lock, startling herself as it moves forward.

 

  Sarah opens a portal to leave and gets crowded as Jack and Wolf move to pass through it with her.