FICTION: Cyborg Sleeps Part 18

More from my story, Cyborg Sleeps. Here we check in with Director Gattell and Constable O'Hara, who now has a first name (Rachael) because she's going to play a much bigger role than I thought at first. As you'll see, she's heading for very deep waters here...

Part 18

Director Gattell felt exhausted by the long day and by the many unpleasant compromises he had had to make along the way. No matter what Asira must have thought of him, he knew that if someone else were to take charge now, it would be much less easy for her to come through this crisis period. He groaned. That reasoning rang hollow even to his own ears, let alone how it might sound to anyone else. It was an ugly situation that forced him to be so cold to his agent when she needed support and strengthening. He was wise enough to know that sympathy and kindness were not Asira's needs right now but equally his immediate concerns had not helped her either.

The cyborg project remained in safe hands, the other military and intelligence chiefs had agreed that disaster had been averted and that security on their activities had been maintained successfully. The media had run with the story and then moved on quickly to the next developments in the wars overseas, and it was already fading into the past as far as the public eye was concerned. Most of it achieved with the minimum of string-pulling behind the scenes, just letting the news agencies behave as they always did. Though it would require monitoring for a little while longer, it was now at a level where it could safely be allowed to drop from his personal attention and be left with staff a little lower down the chain of command.

It was almost a relief when the telephone rang and he answered to find a request for a cyborg agent to be inserted behind enemy lines. It told Gattell that his project was back in the loop and back in normal operation. After checking the requirements of the mission, he agreed that it was appropriate for one of his charges and approved the request, handing it off to the specialists who would determine which cyborg was best suited to the particular details of the mission and set in motion the process of bringing the briefing team to the facility, reviving the chosen agent and setting up the mission.

Work filled the rest of the day before finally Samuel retired to his private quarters, ate a simple meal and went to sleep.

***

Rachael O'Hara had spent most of the day in bed since the press conference, sleeping ready to take another night time shift. She was determined to figure out what had really happened at Syborne Way and why the government or military or both were covering it up. She didn't know how she would go about it – after all, this stuff only happened in movies and trashy novels and she was sure she wasn't like any of the heroes of those. She was just a cop who had happened to respond to the wrong call and now there was a big secret that involved Goddess knew what and it was going on in the midst of the innocent people of the Empire. It was her duty as a policewoman and defender of law and order to uncover the truth and, if necessary, expose the secrets that might threaten the values she new her fellow countrymen and women held dear. The task was, she felt sure, too big for her, but when Lady Destiny calls, you had to answer her with all your heart and soul and body. Rachael O'Hara would not shirk her duty and would find a way to work it out.

Of course, she thought as she changed into her uniform, it would be easier if police work was like they showed it in the movies, but for a constable like her there wasn't a lot of scope for creativity. Teaming up with Sgt Nicholls they had just enough time for a few words of familiar banter before they set off in their car to patrol the dark streets of the city and make sure that petty crime was discouraged by their presence, and respond to any calls they received. O'Hara was glad that Nicholls steered clear of the topic of the previous night's scene, because she was sure that he wouldn't see things quite the same way as she did and didn't want to have to hide her feelings from him. Indeed, she figured that if he didn't want to talk about it then it probably meant that he had also been leant on to forget the incident. Had she been less preoccupied then she might have remembered that Nicholls rarely spoke about something that as far as he was concerned had been resolved with an arrest and charge, and that this was (for him) no different. But instead she was seeing everything now as though it had some bearing on the cover-up because she was so focussed on needing to investigate it and not knowing how to do so.

It turned out to be a busy night and she had no chances to think in any depth about what she was going to do, or to start doing it. By the time her shift was over an hour or two before dawn she was tired out and needed to sleep again, so after eating a small supper/breakfast she showered and went straight to bed.