John Krygelski - The Aegis Solution

Over her shoulder, she asked, “Do you like it?”

“I do. It’s all beautiful. But I didn’t think they would have the type of stores in Aegis where you could pick up decorating items.”

“They don’t.” She returned with two full glasses and set them on the coffee table in front of the sofa. “Would you like to move over here? Sitting up would probably be good. Think you can make it?”

Elias stood slowly, wobbling for a moment. Tillie, seeing this, started to come over but he waved her off. “I can do it. Give me a second.”

In a moment, his head cleared and he was able to walk the five paces to the sofa, dropping heavily into the overstuffed cushion.

With a deep sigh, he said, “There! Made it.”

“Congratulations. To answer your question, I’ve accumulated all of it over the years from newbies.”

“People bring in this kind of stuff?”

“This kind of stuff? What kind of a comment is that?”

“I didn’t mean it that way. Really. I’m only surprised that people checking in at Aegis would bring their refrigerator magnets with them.”

“People have their favorite items buried with them when they die. Why wouldn’t they bring them here? At least here they know they can look at them again.”

“That’s true. But how did you get them?”

“Well, I didn’t steal them if that’s what you mean.”

“I didn’t….”

“Don’t give me that. I saw it in your eyes. You were visualizing me dropping out of the ceiling grille while people slept and stealing their favorite peacock feather fans.”

Elias laughed. “I admit I did briefly entertain that image. Are you sure you aren’t a graduate of Kreitzmann’s psychic class?”

She held up both hands, palms facing Elias. “No way! I would never submit to any of his experiments.”

“I’m curious because if people went to the trouble of bringing their prized possessions, their lovely objects….”

“That’s better.”

“…into Aegis with them, why would they give them up?”

With a subtle upward jerk of her shoulders, Tillie answered, “I guess they just liked me.”

“They just liked you? People spontaneously gave you these things?”

“Sometimes. Sometimes I’d barter with them.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve been here a long time. I was one of the first-day group.”

“You were?”

“Yes. So, that and, well, another reason — I know my way around. A lot of times the newbies wanted something and I knew where and how to get it. I’d trade for something they had that I liked. I’m kind of like that genial character in the old World War II movies who could always procure whatever his sergeant needed, and nobody ever asked him how he got it.

“People would arrive here with a whole bunch of stuff. They never seemed to mind giving up one or two of their pieces. The only exception was all the refrigerator magnets. That whole collection was given to me at once.”

“Who would do that?”

“You aren’t my only rescue. A very nice lady arrived who had them all packed in one of her suitcases. I watched her come in and was tracking her when the Zooks….”

“Zooks?”

“That’s my name for the ZooCity hooligans. Anyway, they jumped her. God knows what they were going to do to her. But they never got the chance.”

“You are the Wonder Woman of Aegis, aren’t you?”

The huge smile again filled her face. “I do what I can. Now it’s my turn to ask some questions, if you feel up to it.”

“Fire away.”

“Who do you work for?”

“No one. I’m retired.”

Her mouth scrunched up in an expression of displeasure. “Okay. So you’re going to lie to me. And after I saved your butt back there.”

“I’m not lying,” Elias protested emphatically. “I am retired.”

“From where?”

Elias looked up at the cast-in-place concrete ceiling, in an unconscious attempt to reduce her ability to read his mind by looking into his eyes. “A department within Homeland Security.”

“Which department?”

He laughed. “One you’ve never heard of.”

“Try me.”

“It is called the OCI.”

“Office for the Coordination of Intelligence.”

“How do you…?”

“Just do,” she interrupted. “What did you do there? Before you retired, that is.”

Giving up any pretense, he answered, “I ran it.”

Her eyes widened. “Really?”

Elias nodded.

Without another word, Tillie quickly rose from the sofa and walked to the same cabinet where she kept her knock-out bombs. From it she withdrew an object which was blocked by her body. With a flourish, she turned and held it up for Elias to see. It was a square of cardboard with two words printed on it with a Sharpie. Elias made an involuntary sound as he recognized it as the sign from the video in Faulk’s office. On it were the words — Help us!

“That was you.”

She nodded, carefully placing the sign back into the cabinet and closing the metal door. As she returned to the sofa, Elias asked, “How did you know about the camera there?”

Dropping down, she answered, “As I said before, all in good time. I’m still not one hundred percent sure I can trust you.”

Elias was not certain what direction to take next. She took advantage of his silence by asking, “Why was it so long before you got here?”

“So long? You only put up the sign a few days ago. I think that’s pretty damn quick.”

“Not like a 9-1-1 call. Should’ve been hours, not days.”

He shook his head in frustration. “Well, I’m here now.”

“Whoopee! The cavalry has arrived, and the first thing that happens is I have to rescue him.”

“Thanks.”

“Actually, since you’ve been here, you’ve been rescued twice. The first time you had to be saved from the Zooks.”

“You were watching?”

“Yes. I’ve been watching the entrance since I put up the message.”

“Why didn’t you help me then? Not that I needed it.”

“Of course not,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I was going to jump in, but the Zippers beat me to it. I would have if they were going to mess with you, but they didn’t.”

“Okay! So I haven’t gotten off to a great start.”

“You could say that again.”

“I do have a question for you, though. Since you seem to know everything going on in here, have you met a man named Eric who would have arrived about two and a half months ago?”

Her brow knitted in thought for a moment. “No. At least not by that name. What does he look like?”

“About six feet tall, brown hair, brown eyes, dark complexion, average build but in good shape.”

“That sounds like about a fourth of the population. Do you have a picture?”

“Not on me, but I do have one back on my laptop.”

“We’ll have to look at it. When I see his face, I can tell you if he arrived and maybe where he is now. Who is he?”

“They sent someone else in first.”

“They did? You said about two or three months ago?”

Elias felt his back muscles tighten as he sensed the direction of the conversation. “Yes. That’s about right.”

“But that was before my sign.”

Elias only nodded.

Her eyes flashing, Tillie raised her voice in agitation. “You didn’t come here because of my sign. You came to look for this Eric!”

Trying to defuse her anger, Elias explained, “Both, actually. In fact, there were three reasons why I decided to come out of retirement. The first was that we found out Kreitzmann was in Aegis. The second was losing Eric. And the clincher was your sign.”

“I don’t believe you. And, besides, Kreitzmann’s been in and out of here for years. Why would your people suddenly worry about it now?”