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“This is Maya and Laurie from Harbour City," Alicia introduced us as she reclined lazily in her chair.
Baba regarded us for a moment with a raised eyebrow.
"And how is the city?" she asked eventually.
"Much the same as I left it I imagine, nothing ever changes much there." I smiled at her.
"Or at least that's how they want it to seem." She gave me a knowing look.
"I'm afraid I've begun to think I wasn't paying enough attention while I was there, and now it's too late," I admitted.
"It's never too late. You noticed, you just didn't know that you did." She winked at me. "As nice as introductions are, I presume you want something from me?"
"They brought someone else with them from the city, a boy, but he was skimmed by a bullet and hasn't woken up for several days now. We were hoping you could help," Coal explained. I didn't like the way he said boy, he could only be a year or two older than Taylor and I.
Baba surveyed us all through narrowed eyes. "He's going to need an MRI to check he's still in there, then a drip and life monitors, presuming he is, until he deigns to bless us with his presence. You realise the equipment they have in your city could have fixed him in a jiffy?"
"I've never really had to use the medical centre in the-" I began.
"Don't worry, I'm aware it's irrelevant. Just another new technology they deny us out here." She tapped a pen on the desk again and again whilst considering it. I held my breath.
Baba looked at me over the rim of her glasses as though she were weighing me, I hoped she didn't find me wanting.
“Okay. Bring him to me," she said finally. I sighed with relief and sagged in my chair. "But his care won't come without a price," she continued.
A momentary panic filled me, I had no idea what they used for currency here.
Coal's grip tightened on the arm of his chair.
"What's the price?" he asked evenly.
“It doesn't matter, I'll pay it," I threw in.
Baba smiled a cunning smile.
"I thought as much," she said.
Coal shot me a reprimanding look and I chewed my lip as I realised I’d put my foot in it.
"Name your price," Alicia sighed, throwing me a filthy look over her shoulder too.
"We've had reports of an old military bunker to the north which holds a super computer capable of hacking us back into the Harbour City networks."
"When you say 'to the north', how far north are we talking?" Alicia asked suspiciously.
“As far as you're thinking and a bit further. Did I mention how much power we will have to use to run an MRI?" Baba regarded us calmly.
I looked pleadingly at Alicia who huffed and settled back into her seat.
“We need the information on those networks. We've been stalled for five years since we were discovered snooping about in those systems. We had contacts in that city and we need to know how many of them were captured, and if any of them survived. We have to get access to the population data. Once we know what they know then we can finally continue in our struggle against them. When you reach the super computer you simply have to attach a transmitter and we can do the rest remotely. I have Jayden and Livi on standby as soon as we have that connection," Baba said.
I had no idea what she was talking about but I didn't really care. All that mattered was getting Taylor the help he needed.
“So that's the price?" Coal asked.
"It really isn't that difficult. As far as the computer goes it will be straight forward. I need people I can trust for this, Coal. And it's not easy to find people with your particular...talents," Baba smiled.
“Yeah. It's just getting there that's tricky," Alicia said in an exasperated tone. "We aren't considering this are we?" She reached out to touch Coal's arm and tried to catch his gaze.
