REBEL CONTACT

[interstellarnpcs]

SHEP

GOLD

SILVER

Comments

[interstellarebels]

[Silver stares at him for a few moments, apparently unsure. Eventually they shrug their shoulders.]

Part of the problem, like we keep saying, is that we don't hear things the same as you do. So I don't know exactly why I sound that way to you, except for the fact that both of us try to shield our identities with our music for the same reason we wear masks. If I had to guess...Gold probably sounds they way they do because they're torn between trying to be two things all the time. Maybe one of them is real and the other is fake. Maybe they're both fake. I don't know - it's not my business.

[eba02]

[That is a whole mess of uncertainties at a time when he needs exactly the opposite. A few moments of quiet consideration pass before he speaks up again. He's not accusing, but still curious:]

How much d'you actually know about them?

[interstellarebels]

[Whatever - fair question.]

A lot of things. I've been working with them for over two years now. We've got a lot going on that the rest of you don't see.

[eba02]

Well, yeah, I figured. People at the top always do.

They ever pull anything like this on you before?

[interstellarebels]

[They think for a moment before answering.]

No. Not really. The plan...I think they just believed it was the best thing they could do for the cause. For how they reacted to you...

[They shake their head.]

Usually I'm the asshole. I think their situation is getting worse.

[eba02]

Their situation.

[Clarify, please.]

[The asshole comment goes unremarked upon. There's a reason he'd been mostly talking with Gold before this, after all.]

[interstellarebels]

Their life. You know, the secret one I can't tell you about? It's tied up in all of this. Just like everything is.

I don't know how I can tell you more than that. It's complicated, and it's not my story.

[eba02]

[It's not the answer he wants. Then again, he hasn't really had many of those during this conversation, so it's par for the course.]

[He needs to make a decision, and it's hard to do without more information, which is exactly what he's not going to get. Of course.]

[He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. One day at a time is gonna be the best he can do, isn't it - at least until he knows more. If he ever knows more.]

You got a spare communicator on you?

[interstellarebels]

Yeah.

[That hangs in the air for a while, Silver apparently having accepted that tense silence is how it's going to be.]

I can get you one.

[eba02]

Good. That'd be hard to explain otherwise.

[He lets the conversation lapse again for a few moments, taking in the music of the city.]

So. Now what?

[interstellarebels]

You go back to your home base and make some decisions, I guess.

[eba02]

Already made 'em.

[It takes saying it aloud to make it real, but...yeah, he's already decided what he's doing.]

Nobody without music sense or music magic is gonna be able to tell what Gold did. Now that you're on to 'em, they're probably not gonna go after me again. And...well, we got rough odds already. The last thing I wanna do is make 'em worse.

I can't promise it'll never come up, but I'm not gonna start a witch hunt either.

[interstellarebels]

[There's a long moment of pause, as if Silver is processing that. When they eventually speak, it is genuine.]

Right.

...

Thanks.

[eba02]

[He's still not sure it's the right decision. Hell, he's not sure there is a right decision here - but it's not like he gets the choice to abstain.]

...yeah.

[He has a lot of thinking to do, and while he can't start it here, he does let that lull stretch on a little longer.]

I guess I can't call you- when an' where do I meet you to get the new communicator?

[interstellarebels]

Nah. Got one on my bike.

[They get up without another word and wearily trudge outside to get a communicator. What a day.]

[eba02]

[He gets to his feet and waits for Silver to come back. What a day, indeed.]