Kinesis Page 6

  Waverly must have seen some of that on xir face, because he'd developed a little crinkle between his eyes.

  "Okay, seriously," he said, "I need to know what kind of things bother you. Should I be doing this, should I not be doing that? I don't wanna make you uncomfortable if it's something I can fix. I'm not great at toning down the crude jokes, but I could try."

  Fates and powers, he was endearing, though.

  "Crudeness doesn't bother me," xe said, then thought for a moment. "But you should be careful about initiating touch." Xe needed to keep Waverly at some kind of distance, at least until xe could figure out what the fuck was happening there.

  "Noted." Waverly frowned a little. "I'm kind of a touchy guy, though, so if I mess up, feel free to yell at me. And if I misgender you, because I haven't had a lot of practice with nonbinary pronouns."

  Okka shrugged. "That doesn't really bother me," xe said. "As long as you don't try to limit what I am. Just because I don't identify with a particular gender at the moment doesn't mean I mind being perceived that way. It's inaccurate, but not troubling."

  "Still," Waverly said. "And if you think of anything else, let me know. Yelling is encouraged."

  The corner of Okka's mouth quirked. "Noted," xe said. "Now, you wanted my help with this?" Xe waved at the arrays, still standing ready.

  "Here, get in the booth," Waverly said. "Tell me how intuitive it is to move the sensor array around. It's supposed to be just like walking. Not sure how close I'm getting." He frowned a little. "If it makes you nervous, tell me that, too. This is the kind of thing we want to be testing for. We don't just need to know how well it works. We need all kinds of information about how people react to it."

  "I'll be fine," Okka insisted. Xe climbed inside a small booth, donning the equipment which was supposed to let xem experience the robot array's surroundings as if xe stood where the robot did. It was very good, but it also reminded Okka of being an aquatic creature with a less-developed set of eyes.

  Waverly approached the array. "So how is it?" he asked.

  "It's a little soupy," Okka answered.

  He laughed. "Honest. I like it."

  It was fun, working with Waverly. A lot of what he said went right over Okka's head, but some of it didn't, and he always made sure to punctuate the really long technical rants with a joke or two. Okka found xemself longing to learn enough to follow the rest.

  There were a huge number of training programs available from the company's computers, even beyond those Okka had found in xir earlier research. The syntax was rough to learn so quickly, but the concepts were mostly familiar or intuitive. It was one of very few things that hadn't completely changed for xem in the last few days.

  Myrdu had been fighting the Cewri with programming all his life. Okka had a fervent wish that ousting the Cewri from the Collective was as easy as ousting them from a computer system.

  Okka took xir lunch breaks in Central Park. Xe thought xe would recognize another Mimica if they passed by close enough. Xe remembered that cold feeling of nearly touching the Collective when xe first woke up. Xe thought it would feel like that to walk close by Mimica if they were controlled by the Cewri: cold and empty and dead. It would feel warm, like a living being, if they were still undercover and ignorant, as xe had been. The way it normally felt to come close to other Mimica without merging with them.

  The chance of stumbling across other Mimica at all was slim, but every moment Okka spent in the constant flow of humanity through the streets of New York, the more significant that chance became. So xe took every moment xe could get.

  Xe needed allies. Xe needed other Mimica.

  And on top of that, Okka just liked people. Sitting in the park for half an hour a day watching humanity flow by was no hardship, except when xe let xir thoughts dwell on why xe was making a point to do so.

  Xe said hello to people who caught xir eye. That wasn't many, in this crowded city where personal space was at a premium, but it did happen. Xe was becoming particularly fond of the crowded mess of humanity that pushed in and out of coffee shops, especially in the mornings, all different types of people but all in search of something hot or sweet or cold or bitter to get them through the day.

  A harried-looking young woman ordered seven drinks from a hastily-scribbled list, then balanced a cardboard carrier in each ring-bedecked hand. Okka watched, concerned. "Do you need help carrying those?" xe ventured.

  "No, I've got it," she replied, "but if you could get the door, that'd be great. I've gotta get used to my role. Newest intern always does the coffee runs, you know the drill."

  "I'm afraid I don't. Is that what I'm supposed to be doing?"

  "You just started an internship?" she asked, pausing on the sidewalk, looking amused.

  "Yes, at Kemptech. You think I should be bringing my boss coffee?"

  "Depends how high up they are and how much help they already have, but probably."

  "Oh, he's… high up. And I'm his only intern at the moment." Okka didn't think Toto counted in this capacity, seeing as he had to be plugged into the wall, rather than wandering freely around the city.

  Her eyebrows shot up. "Well. Sounds like you've got coffee to buy. And I've got coffee to deliver. Hope you know how he takes it!"

  Okka returned to the coffee shop, trying to remember that very thing. Would it be better to simply show up with a drink? Should xe text Waverly, and potentially interrupt his work?

  Ultimately, xe decided to text David, instead.

  Getting coffee, would you or Waverly like anything?

  The reply came, quick and friendly.

  Thanks, I'd love a latte if you're there anyway. It's a little chilly today so I predict that if you bring Waverly a dirty chai, he'll praise you to the heavens.

  Nodding in satisfaction, Okka placed xir order.

  *~*~*

  "What's this?" Waverly asked when Okka nudged a cup in his direction.

  "Dirty chai. I hear it's traditional for interns to provide coffee."

  Waverly snatched up the cup and took a long pull, eyes closed as if the taste required his entire focus. "Oh my Lord. That is just what I needed." He opened one eye to look at Okka. "Did David ask you to do this? Because it's not something I need my interns to do. Just so we're clear. You're here to learn the business, not to be a gofer."

  "No, he didn't ask," Okka reassured him, "but he did tell me what to get when I offered. Then demanded my receipt so he could reimburse me."

  "Good. What'd you get yourself?"

  "Peppermint tea."

  Waverly's eyebrows drew together. "Oh my god, do you actually like that? Do you have a cold? Or are we just not paying you enough?"

  "I'm trying different things. This isn't terrible."

  Waverly rolled his eyes. "Not terrible, xe says. Get something you like next time, okay? Bill's on me."

  "I like," Okka emphasized, "trying new things."

  "Fair enough," Waverly conceded. Then he smiled. "Hey, you ever had sushi?"

  "No," Okka said.

  "Stick around for lunch sometime, we'll order in."

  Okka shook xir head. "My break is my own time."

  "Okay!" Waverly raised his hands, conceding. "Yeah, just thought I'd offer. Lunchtime's a work-free zone for you, huh?"

  Okka shrugged. If xe found other Mimica in xir wanderings, the work xe did then could end up being just as important as anything xe accomplished here. "I like getting out into the city," xe answered instead. "The energy of it, the crowds."

  That was true enough. Okka had always been an explorer. Always eagerly awaiting the next undercover assignment, the next chance to see new things. Waverly seemed satisfied by that answer, because he let it lie, and conversation turned to the work ahead of them for the day.

  *~*~*

  The life of the city was so different when you were actually in it than when you were observing from afar, Okka mused as xe left the run-down building where xe was staying with a sack full of laundry. The details of how
people got their daily tasks done were much more compelling knowledge when you also had to get the same things done.

  After the conversation about coffee, Okka didn't think Waverly would be pleased to know what kind of place Okka was living in, so xe simply resolved not to tell him. Xe'd lived in many worse places, and moving was not among xir priorities right now.

  The people around xem here were a fascinating contrast to the people xe worked with at Kemptech. Neither group really approved of the other, but they were all just people. Rich, poor, unassuming, quirky. These people might have scared Waverly. They definitely would have scared Caroline. The denizens didn't scare xem. In fact, after Caroline's welcome, xe preferred the attitudes of the residents of these rundown places in many ways.

  After xir laundry was done, Okka contemplated what to do with the rest of xir day off. The open air of Central Park drew xir thoughts, and there was much of it xe hadn't been able to explore over a lunch break.

  Okka watched as xe walked, noticing what kinds of different activities the varied places in the park invited. Xe was particularly drawn to the clusters of tables with grids of squares etched into their surfaces. Sitting at one was an invitation to interaction, it seemed. Okka watched several games begin before xe decided to try joining in.

  A black girl with a scuffed leather jacket and similarly well-worn boots set out her game pieces. Her backpack was covered in patches, and as she put the empty box away, the whole bag shifted with a quiet clanking noise.

  Yes, Okka thought she was a good bet. Xe approached. "Good morning," xe offered.

  "You're watching people like you're sizing them up," she said without preamble. "Don't think I'm easy prey just because I don't look like I spend all day playing chess."

  "I'm not looking for prey. I'm looking for a teacher."

  The girl's eyes widened in disbelief. "You kidding? And you picked me?"

  "I don't know the game at all. I'm not looking for a certain skill level. I'm looking for patience."

  She looked xem over, then smiled slightly. "Yeah, okay."

  She was, as Okka had suspected, an incredibly patient teacher.

  *~*~*

  Waverly had apparently gotten frustrated with the project he was working on, because he stalked out of his office, looking around as if looking for trouble. Eventually he came to a stop beside Okka's desk.

  "If you could write an app," Waverly asked xem, "any app, what would it be?"

  Okka blinked for a moment, absorbing the abrupt question. "I hadn't really thought about it. I haven't been in a position to do anything like that."

  "Oh, come on," Waverly prodded. "Everybody has their little dream app idea they'd build if they knew how, right? A better dictionary, a better digital poker game, an app that reminds you to water your plants?"

  "I don't have plants."

  Waverly scowled playfully. "You're terrible. Come on. Gimme something."

  Okka turned over and discarded several ideas for programs xe had liked in other lifetimes but wouldn't work here. But maybe something loosely inspired by one of them might work?

  "What if there were an app that gave users a quick survey about their mood, then assigned a color to the result? Then xe could look at a map of other users and their current colors, sorted either by color on an abstract map, or by location on a literal one. Maybe it could have its own chat function."

  "Huh." Waverly raised his eyebrows. "I have no idea how that would play out. Well, now I'm curious. You wanna make this happen?"

  He was actually going to ask Okka to write it? Okka frowned. "I'm not sure if I'm ready for something like that."

  "Well, I'll help you out," Waverly said lightly. "We'll do a rough draft in HTML. You've got a pretty solid grasp of JavaScript, right?"

  Okka inclined xir head. "If I have help," xe agreed, "sure."

  It took some time, some tinkering, and a lot of mistakes, but Okka thought they might have something vaguely functional. It was time to start testing and troubleshooting.

  Waverly dug through a drawer and brought out an iPhone. "I like to test everything I write in every possible environment," he said. "Apple is my least favorite, so I always do it first. I've got it all kicking around here somewhere, though. Four most common versions of Linux for desktop as well as the major Android releases, plus I've got at least three different versions of Windows, and that's not counting the Windows phone OS or Wine installations."

  Okka frowned, hoping xe wasn't missing something obvious again. "I know both meanings of the words apple, android, and windows," xe said cautiously. "But wine? I only know the intoxicant."

  Fortunately, Waverly didn't seem surprised. "This kind of Wine can be intoxicating, too, if you use it right." He waggled his eyebrows.

  Okka delighted in being his straight man. It was a wonderfully fun part to play. "And what is the right way to use it?" xe asked.

  Waverly's eyes sparkled, recognizing the cue to go ahead. "You run it on a Linux machine, usually, and then use it to run Windows programs. Although you can also run it on a Mac if you try hard enough. It's a Windows Emulator. Or, well. Wine is not an Emulator. But I personally feel like that distinction's just pedantic. It emulates Windows. It just doesn't do it the way a classic emulator would." Waverly paused, frowning at himself, and then waved all that away with a gesture. "Anyway, it means whatever your preferred OS and kernel, you can run programs that people for whatever reason didn't write for anything but Windows. Makes for a very adaptable system." He gave Okka a pleased look with a touch of mischief in it. "Very sexy."

  "It injects one operating system into another, so that they can function as one?" The humans of Earth truly were striving to become more like Mimica. "I agree. Very sexy." Xe grinned.

  Then Toto ambled in. "Craig Mepps is here," he said. "Just to drop off some secure files, he said, but I'm sure he'd like to prod you about that project that's been giving you so much trouble, too."

  "Yeah, yeah," said Waverly, no longer smiling. "Untangling the mess he handed me last time was always going to take a while. Hopefully he has something for me that will help."

  "Hope springs eternal," Toto said. That, at least, made Waverly chuckle grimly.

  The man who came up to the offices was unremarkable, white, probably in his fifties, and wore a slightly sour expression. Okka was unable to tell whether this was something Waverly brought out in him, or a more constant state of affairs.

  Waverly offered a handshake and took the flash drive that Mepps handed over.

  "So how's our project going?" Mepps asked.

  "Slower than either of us would like, to be honest," Waverly admitted. "Hit another snag this morning. Hoping this will help." He lifted the flash drive.

  "It'd better. Getting authorization to bring that outside the building was like pulling teeth. We need that architecture up and running as soon as possible."

  "Don't ask for much, do you?" Waverly rolled his eyes.

  "Is that what you were so upset about earlier?" Okka asked. "You seemed like you were working hard."

  "Banging my head against a wall is more like it," Waverly answered, taking a couple of steps closer to Okka's desk again. His expression softened, as if talking to Okka was a relief. "Our little project is just the break I needed."

  Okka smiled, glad to have contributed something, even if it was just a distraction.

  Mepps made an annoyed noise and came up to look over xir shoulder. "You're coding an iPhone app with HTML?" he asked. "What, do you not know Swift? It's not gonna look right."

  An intern at this level should know more about that, Okka was sure. Mepps was more of a danger right now than Waverly or David, who already knew something was off with xem, but had done nothing about it. This man certainly would.

  Okka narrowed xir eyes, peering at Craig Mepps, studying the way he carried himself, his reactions to cues. If Okka could throw him off balance, he'd be less sure of what he knew about Okka.

  Craig Mepps was a consummate bureaucrat, of th
e type that the Kintinnan government and the Avlan support staff were lousy with. There was something about humanoids that made them want to puff themselves up, appear more essential and powerful than they were. Mepps knew what gestures to make, but behind that, how much could he really do?

  "And can you code in Swift?" Okka asked, as if merely curious. When Mepps frowned and shifted his weight minutely, xe continued, tone going a little harder. "Do you know Objective-C? Could you really tell me just by looking whether an app is written for the iPhone or in HTML and JavaScript with a native wrapper?" Clearly Mepps had his doubts about that, as he crossed his arms in a shielding gesture. When Okka continued, xir voice was icy. "Or are you only an expert in telling other people what they can and cannot do?"

  Mepps shook his head, dismissing the question. "I'm not saying I can tell. I'm saying none of the native wrappers out there are good enough to combat all the issues with an HTML-based app. If you want the best performance, you have to write in our languages."

  Okka cocked xir head. "Or we could design a better wrapper," xe said, turning to look at Waverly, to see what he thought. "Something that solves those issues. That adapts itself automatically to the needs of the app. Code that will make it so only the people who wrote the app would know for sure how it was built."

  Waverly seemed intrigued by the idea. "Well, if we could find a way to do that, something stable and simple, that'd be…"

  "Intoxicating," Okka finished.

  "Sweeter and more intoxicating than Wine."

  The two of them were grinning at each other like oblivious idiots when Craig Mepps cleared his throat.

  "Good luck with that," he said. "Better programmers have tried."

  Waverly scoffed. "Better than me? Name one."

  "You'd be on this?" Mepps asked. "You can make that happen?"

  "Sure," Waverly said. "I mean, show me more of your base code and I can make anything happen."

  Mepps shook his head. "Kemp, you're not authorized."

  "You mean you're not authorized to give it to me." Waverly wrinkled his nose. "Next time, can I please talk to someone who is?"