Prometheor

Judith

If you hadn't done what you had done, he thought to himself as he carefully arranged his desk, I wouldn't be doing this. This was the most crucial part of his plan, the stage that offered the greatest risk of overall failure. When he felt everything was in readiness, he called out to his captors.

"I need to see Fabian," he said when Tiny opened the door. He closed it without a reply and a moment later, Fabian, Judith, and Tiny were in the small workspace, looking at the thumb-sized glowing crystals and the detritus of scattered parts.

"These two crystals are codified expressions of the weapon's concept. Their code is ever so slightly different because as we discussed earlier, I'm not entirely sure on the expression of the concept; there are perhaps a few different ways to express it and only one that will work perfectly." Leo was calm as he spoke.

"Yes and that's why you needed so many," Fabian replied. He looked through some of the spare parts in the waste bin. End bits of wire and sleeves and rings that didn't fit.

"There's only the three, the two holding the codes, and one spare in case neither of these work. If neither of these program crystals work, I'll have to dream another way to express the concept through codified prometheite." Leo stared at the three of them. People he trusted as friends. Tiny's chemical manipulation, Judith, and her stupid prophecy. You get what you pay for.

"I just want you to appreciate how difficult this process is."

"So what do you need?" Fabian asked. "Why did you call us in here?" He was casually looking around the room. Leo hoped his accumulated body odor would encourage them to leave quickly. There was a reason he never took off his socks.

"I'm ready for the Tiger, but you should know, this part of the process is where things could go wrong."

If there's one thing I learned from "Copernicus" it was to thread some truth into the lies.

"What do you mean?" asked Judith. Leo didn't look her in the eye because lately she's been cradling her belly absent-mindedly. Fabian rested his hand on the edge of the table and looked under it.

"If the structural matrix is very different from these coded crystals, I could be back to square one. I assume the Tiger is an old bit of rock, am I right?" Fabian straightened and glanced at the area on the floor where Leo had been sleeping for weeks now. With his tow, he tossed the filthy sheet aside. He hadn't seen!

Fabian looked at Judith, who took a moment to look closer at the objects on the table. "Depends, I guess," she said finally. "He could be done in another three days, maybe less."

Leo shot her the most aggressively unforgiving look he could manage.

"You're too kind," he said and each word, because they were so few, was a crystal clear drop of venomous poison. They would be left wondering if they were flattering his ego and not giving him enough time, or underestimating him and giving him time to spare. And either way, he got to deliver the line with unmasked hatred, which made it all the more believable.

I've learned so much from you. Both of you.

Fabian set a glowing crystal on his desk and walked out of the room, saying, "Sixty hours." The crystal was a bit longer than the others, had a slightly greater diameter, and was covered in Fabian's grubby fingerprints.

Thanks for the fingerprints, idiot.

Leo grabbed his waste bucket and thrust it at Tiny. "I'll need at least three Milky Drops to get this right." Tiny didn't move or react. "I wouldn't want to make a mistake now, would I?"