2313-24

The low signaling tone of the EA had him wide awake in a split second, the years of training for emergencies never leaving him. His hand automatically reached for the apparatus, fumbling just a little before finding it. When the signal continued despite his order to shut up he finally opened his eyes. It wasn't his EA running amok.

"I heard," she giggled, "just wondered how long it'd take you to figure that one out."

The smiling woman finally made a move to shut the annoying sound. Placing the EA behind her ear she laid her torso across his chest. Looking at him with an amused smirk on her face while adjusting the EA. 'Manda' she mouthed, her nose wrinkling in a face of disgust at the name he had used. Jimmy had to chuckle at her antics, he loved that name on her. It was his secret weapon in the battle they were fighting. The way she kept him on his toes was perfect for him, the way she never asked anything, instead she constantly kept trying him out, in all manners. Checking if he was worthy. It was thrilling. She was thrilling.

While watching her face he let his hand stroke back the hair from her face. She shrugged his hand off her, irritated. The gesture made Jimmy smile even broader. But then she turned to watch him, slowly freeing herself from the EA, a flicker of something Jimmy couldn't identify in her eyes.

"Shit," she replied, her eyes turning back to the EA, a pensive gaze resting on the apparatus."I'm called to town, something about an urgent HuRec document I need to sign for."

"Well I was in above my security clearance, and somebody did find out. Maybe Teaspoon was right, maybe this is my call for filing duty?" She smiled halfheartedly at him, moving slightly to look at him in the dark.

Wordlessly he shook his head, no that couldn't be it. He had grown accustomed to having her around, he'd miss her and it would most certainly be such a loss of talent to have her file memo-slots."No Amanda, I don't think that's it, probably just something you forgot to send them or something - something really stupid. It's HuRec we're talking about, lately they don't seem to be able to put two and two together."

Finally she cracked an authentic smile, "Ooooh Jimmy! You're sure you're all right?"

"I know, funny uh?" Playfully wrestling her he was finally able to roll her over to lay under him. He smiled at her, wondering if he'd have even one bone intact if they'd engage in an actual fight, he didn't think he would. "I just can't believe how much of you's rubbed off on me."

Amanda laughed, "who'd a thunken that Jimmy Hickok would be so easy to rub off on."

Who would have ever thought I'd find myself like this with any woman ever again? Falling fast for her. Letting her inside, telling her things, and god forbid it, loving? The notion scared him, he had to wipe it away from his brain, it wasn't right, he always lost focus when in love. Couldn't happen ever again.

"Enough thinkin'," he whispered to her, cupping her face into his hands. "I don't wanna think no more," he whispered to her before he kissed her. Her response was immediate, and she did wipe all thoughts out of his brain. But as he looked into her eyes he knew she was keeping something from him. He chose not to ask.

She left him sleeping in the room, watching over her shoulder as she slid out of the room, careful not to wake him. It was still very early, the night had been restless, filled with questions. The same questions that whirled in her mind as she slid into the shower, What did the cryptic signs in their files mean? Even in her own? Why had those disappeared out of the public dB, had they even ever been there? Or was it some old registration mode that had fallen out of fashion? But why didn't all have that string of signs then? It didn't even seem important, but the fact that those signs were there, included in each of the Team 41 members' earliest files, only to disappear at a later date was an enigma. It called for her to find out. Having memorized her own ¶AB123¿-2G¶, she couldn't for her life figure what it was supposed to mean. But surely it was supposed to mean something?

Switching the water off she looked at her own reflection in the foggy mirror, the frown on her forehead making her smirk, Worrying was no good, she'd have to ask around, dig into it, find out what it was all about, after all it was probably nothing. But it was her job to find out, wasn't it?

With a sigh she slid into her clothes, wriggling herself into a cotton summer suit, courtesy of HuRec's fashion department, known to make clothes for something not quite human. She had to laugh at herself in the mirror, she looked darned awful in the suit.

Amanda laughed out loud and swirled around, like on the catwalk. "Rach, what'ya think, should the creator of this be fined or what?"

"It musta been a man," Rachel grinned, "sometimes I just can't understand them, and they sure as hell don't understand me either!"

"Something wrong?" Picking up on Rachel's resigned tone of voice Amanda guessed she wasn't talking about the fashion designer.

"Naw, I just need to get outta here for a while, need to some other faces around me."

Amanda smiled at the closing shower cabinet door, recognizing the frustration of a women with too many males to handle. Too much testosterone to constantly fight, too much male logic to endure. She had been there herself. "You know what Rach, you need a clinically male-free environment for a couple of hours."

"You're telling me?" The voice that came out of the cubicle was a confirmation of her diagnosis. The need to be just oneself, no males around, a time to giggle and try on lipsticks.

"Rach, I have the solution. I need to get into town and sign some papers, I might need you so I'm ordering you to come along!"

"Probably my own indictment," Amanda leered on the closed door, "might need to have you bail me out."

The water was closed off and the door opened, letting out a towel clad, baffled Rachel; "What?"

"Just kiddin," she hurried to explain, "probably something I forgot all about, there are all these damned reports I keep getting asked to send them."

"Well, " Rachel threw a crooked smile over her shoulder at her, looking guilty as hell. "See we've been altering some findings, nothing much, but just in case."

"What findings?" Her curiosity was growing, there was more to this woman than met the eye.

Amanda felt her cheeks turn warmer, knowing she had been caught with one or more dirty thought and deed. She hadn't been aware they had been so closely monitored. "Uffa," she finally let out. "Well, I won't tell if you won't."

"I'm the culprit so you can count on me not telling," Rachel laughed as she finally got her hair untangled. "It's just ... you know I'd hate to see the group being split up for cases like this, after all it's just normal. Well maybe not the rate of it around this place..." a bemused glance in Amanda's direction. "It's like an epidemic here but nevertheless, bound to happen occasionally, no?"

"Yeah,"Amanda admitted, "there's been some discussion about it, the oath and all. Rather ridiculous, I thought they wanted us to procreate. I mean there's no law against it any other place so why here?"

"Maybe not while working," Rachel laughed as she slid into the exact same outfit as Amanda, taking her sweet time in priming herself.

Amanda watched bemused, wondering how long it would take Rachel to notice what she was doing. And wondering if she even knew herself who she was doing it for? It was rather obvious.

Their eyes met in the mirror, the quick glimpse of guilt in the red-haired's eyes nearly escaping her. But she knew, and she let Rachel know she knew too.

Rachel's eyes softening, the stance getting less guarded as she met Amanda's knowing grin in the mirror. She couldn't help laughing herself, the laughter of a guilty woman. "C'mon, let's go bail you out!"

Lou paused in the kitchen doorway, the sight of Teaspoon in an apron momentarily shocking her to silence. The man was mumbling to himself as he knelt down to peer into the oven. The basketball cap sliding down over his eyes, the kettle on the stove emanating spurts of water, eggs threatening to jump out from the power of the boiling water.

"Whoo hoo, boss? Where's the expertise?" Lou giggled as she ran over to help him, he was not an encouraging sight. The eggs were probably green by now by the looks of them.

"You mean Cody?" Teaspoon cast her the usual side looped grin, "sent him out to get some milk, safer that way. Where's your ... I mean Kid? He's up for cleaning duty. The kitchen is a mess."

She dared not look at the man while she hurried to set the table. "I have no idea Teaspoon, should I?" Peering at him she tried to assess how much he knew.

"Oh no, please," Lou muttered, very uneasy at the way the discussion was taking, "shouldn't you be checking that bread instead of serving sayings?"

"So much better on serving you youth my wisdom than mere bread, Lou. Ya know, you can't hide love or straw in your shoes."

"Straw in my shoes?" She looked at him, like truly fearing that the big bolt holding all the small ones had come loose.

Teaspoon bent down and opened the oven, a triumphant smile on his face, sending the left eye into the characteristic crack. "Well yes, obviously! That what was folks used in their shoes fivehundred years ago, straw. To keep the cold out. In clogs mostly but anyways, couldn't be hidden."

"Louise, Louise," Teaspoon chuckled, admiring the perfectly risen bread on the plate. "Perfection! Go get that beau of yours and ensemble the rest, a good old-fashioned breakfast is comin' up, guaranteed not to be forgotten soon."

Lou swallowed a wisecrack about the unforgettable breakfast and dropped the last fork onto its place, shaking her head at Teaspoon's mode of speaking. "Well Mr. Teaspoon, there ain't no clogs around and certainly no straw to put in them either. And beau's? Thought that was forbidden around here?"

"And I've never seen a bunch more eager to brake that rule," Teaspoon smiled at her, "but you can't fool me."

Lou sat herself down at the table, not knowing where to look. Cursing herself for letting go like she had. It would have to stop, right here and now, they were probably putting the whole group in a tight spot, breaking the rules. They were putting Teaspoon in an awkward situation, forcing him to lie. It was just plain wrong and she had known it from the start, but hadn't been able to stop herself. It was wrong. "No worries Teaspoon, it won't happen again."

But the man had already stepped out onto the porch, hollering for the rest of them.

Lou gripped the fork and watched it closely, a man wasn't worth losing all this for. Never had been, she'd just have to remember the fate of her mother. Falling in love wasn't safe, she would fight it with all her strength. She'd have to get back to her old self, the independent Lou, the woman that knew the moves but never let her emotions rule her behavior.

Not even bothering to look at the group invading the kitchen under constant amicable bickering, intent on collecting herself, she stealed herself to meet his eyes without melting. Walking by her he let his hand rest for a moment on her shoulder, nothing much, just a touch. She shot him a warning glance, letting her eyes wander to the boys around the stove, but he didn't seem to care. Neither did her damned body and mind, it responded to him instantly, wanting to be close, needing to feel the connection.

Sitting down by her side he filled her glass with milk as the boys returned with the casserole's and pans. Seeming totally unaware of the inner fight she was experiencing. She let her eyes rest in his smiling ones and saw the shadow of a doubt cross the blue. Then she looked down onto her plate, knowing he had gotten the message. But it didn't feel good, it hurt her too. She had to fight not to lay and hand over his and tell him; 'I'm sorry'. For what she wasn't exactly sure. She had never made any promises.

"How many settlers are there now?" Rachel inquired as she slid off her horse at the postal office. "This town seems to be growing by the minute!"

"Fourhundred and twentytwo at this instance, fifteen more are coming later this afternoon," Amanda replied, looking up the street,.

"They're going a tad fast ain't they? It wasn't supposed to be colonized this fast." Rachel remarked while looking down the new street, so different from last week. Now actually resembling an old western town. People she had no idea who they were saluting her as they passed. Peering up the street she blinked in surprise, looked like a church or something was being built at the end of the street.

"If you ask me HuRec has lost all control," Amanda smirked, "think it's kinda evident. Mark my words, the whole thing will unravel soon and then we'll truly be on our own." Glancing over at her companion she shook her head, "and you know what is likely to happen when people are let loose like this without a safety net?"

"You're pulling my leg ain't ya? Stick together, more likely it'll turn out to be the real Wild West, shoot first and ask questions later."

Rachel laughed as she turned to Amanda: "You're starting to sound like Jimmy, you know that don't you? Have some faith!"

"Jimmy's sounding like me, not the other way around, we share not only a profession Rach..."

"Or not," Rachel snickered as she followed her into the brand new postal station.

Cody actually wrinkled his nose at the greenish tinge of the yoke as he split the egg in two. "Oh man," he groaned, "it was Rachel's turn to feed us, what she do, elope?"

"Yup," Teaspoon muttered from the end of the table, "said she was getting tired of feeding you lot, and I don't blame her."

"Aww Teaspoon, " Cody tried to get his voice heard over the laughter around the table, "didn't exactly mean it like that. I just meant that Rachel and Emma never treat a poor innocent egg like this!"

"Well thank you Billy," Emma smiled, "for that nice compliment you'll get the honor of doing the dishes with me."

"You'd never be on the list of anything if you had your way," Kid remarked with a friendly grin in his direction.

Cody let his eyes dart between the grinning Kid and the equally amused Lou, "you two've certainly had your way around here lately so cut a poor fellow some slack will ya?" He snickered contentedly at the faces his comrades made. "He he, thanks for confirming my suspicions," he grinned at them. "And you're on the list for the cleaning Kid. I know since I checked. Buck, it's your turn tomorrow and Ike, you're after him."

"That's right Cody," Emma said as she rose and started to collect the plates. "Then you and Lou go get the cattle of the Withcomb's assessed. Complete physical and blood-works. Be sure to take the gloves with you Billy, you're gonna need them."

"Billy, if you want more beef you gotta get into the reality of life, get them gloves and..."

"I get it, I get it, blackmail is what it is. Go on, all of ya. Leave this place to me to tidy up."

They all laughed as Cody remain morosely staring at the egg-yoke still on his plate. A sigh escaping him. Scrambling to their feet they readied themselves for the days work. Collecting the needed items, packing their bags. Cody still sitting at the table, looking lost and desolated.

"You think we pulled the joke too far?" Kid asked, genuinely concerned at the sight of their usually exuberant friend's sloping shoulders.

Buck turned to him with a skeptical look, "I bet he has something up his sleeve with that face of his."

They all turned to watch Emma serve Cody a huge plate of still warm apple-pie, covering it with thickly whipped cream. Cody seemed to come out of his gloom slowly, just as slow as he moved the spoon with the delicious content. But they all saw the content grin he wasn't quite able to conceal.

"And apple-pie on the plate," Lou giggled. "I bet he'll do his tricks and have a serving from Rachel too when she comes back. Any takers?"

They all rolled their eyes as they filed out. Lou had to smile at the beaten expression on their faces, they already owed her, all of them. After all, she had a life long experience in hiding her emotions when she wanted too. It worked just fine in a poker game too, only time her survival technique seemed to fail her was around Kid. And she was working on that. No strings attached, only play and fun, nothing more, she told herself as she followed them out. But she still wasn't sure she'd manage it this time, with him. But she just would have to.

"Look at this!" Amanda waved a single paper under Rachel's nose, "this is what they dragged me here for?"

Rachel smiled a calming smile in the clerk's direction as the paper cut the air dangerously close to his nose. "Amanda," she spoke, "I think you still need to sign it before..."

The young man behind the desk looked pleadingly at Rachel, visibly rattled by the outburst. When receiving no aid from her he turned back to the fuming woman in front of him. "Miss O'Connell, I only do my work, I don't..."

"What I would like to know is why isn't your fellows doing theirs? I sent the whole shebang to them two weeks ago, and last week too, all neatly filed in memo-slots, numbered and all. They couldn't have missed it!"

The clerk just nodded, his hand shaking slightly as he held out the DNA-confirmer, "I would need your signature miss, if it ain't too much of a bother. It says here I..."

"I know what is says,"Amanda cut him off for the fifth time. "I'll give you my signature twice too, maybe you all will get it this time, see? I'm putting my thumb here and voilá! a signature. See? Just like I did with those files. Shouldn't be so hard to receive them and log them now, right?"

"No miss." The clerk hasted to withdraw the apparatus out of her reach, like fearing she was about to destroy it at any instance.

"Thank you," Rachel smiled at him, the poor young sod having been verbally and darned close to physically abused by Amanda for the last five minutes. The latter just wheezed, muttering loudly as she read the letter once again.

"Ma'am, there's more," he cast a glance at Amanda, "for Miss O'Connell." He looked like he was afraid Amanda would take a leap over the counter and brake every bone in his body as he whispered the last sentence to Rachel. Amanda's eyes popped up from the noppo and disintegrated the last of the young man's self-confidence.

The man shook his head and reached under the desk, extending a parcel to Rachel like it was a bomb about to explode. Rachel's fingers closed around the edge and the man let go off it, walking backwards to the sanctity of his office. Rachel could have sworn there were pearls of sweat on his forehead.

Rachel peeked at the logo in the corner. "Nope, this is just some sample or something, see there's a company logo! Was sent to your HuRec address and then rerouted here. See, the postal service is finally starting to work!"

"I wish it hadn't," Amanda groaned, "you know what this means? It means two days work for me, that's what it means. And I sent it twice for goodness sake! I want the person who lost them files, no I want their heads on a plate, that's what I want!"

"Come on Amanda, it ain't that bad," Rachel tried to soothe, "I'll buy you a cafs before we head back! You want this? It's some kind of sample, a perfume or something." She recognized the name of the company, kept sending out all kinds of free samples.

"You haven't been out here as long as I have Amanda, heck if you won't use it I will. I'm tired of smelling like a horse."

"All right," Rachel intervened, "I get the picture, let's get that caffeine before you blow a fuse."

Following behind the briskly walking Amanda she opened the parcel, turning it upside down to get to the sample. The moment it slid into her hand she felt a sharp edge cut into her skin. The flacon breaking as it hit her palm. "Shit!"

"I cut myself on the thing, it broke. Weirdest thing!" Looking into her palm she tried to figure out how it was possible for a flacon to brake in that manner. Then the liquid found its way into the cut and she had to let the bottle fall back into the parcel and wipe her hand on her pants, disgusted.

"Sure." Looking at the bleeding cut she hoped there was alcohol in the perfume, it would probably sterilize the cut just fine. Nothing to it. Finding a waste-bin she threw the parcel and its content into it, the smell of what seemed an outdated stale perfume clinging to her hand. Not a even a pleasant smell. "Let's get that cafs."

|Prologue||Chapter 1||Chapter 2||Chapter 3||Chapter 4||Chapter 5||Chapter 6||Chapter 7||Chapter 8||Chapter 9||Chapter 10|
|Chapter11||Chapter 12||Chapter 13||Chapter 14||Chapter 15||Chapter 16||Chapter 17||Chapter 18||Chapter 19||Chapter 20*||Chapter 21||Chapter 22||Chapter 23||Chapter 24||Chapter 25|