Clocks Without Time

Chapter 3

"That's it that's what happened." 

Nerida tapped the end of her cigarette. The ash settling into the carpet of the common room, well, called a common room. It wasn't much more than a glorified changing area. Surely an elite group with a seemingly endless pit of money could spare a little something to go towards an actual rest room. Or at least a cleaning fee for the absolute laughable excuse for chairs. Still Nerida's rather excessive smoking, Amaya constantly bringing back her body weight in dirt and what was Ai's persistent tinkering didn't serve any aid to tidying the place up.

However, Nerida and by the looks of things Souya, Amaya and James greatly appreciated the mercy of the company for at least moving out Ai's equipment otherwise it would have been entirely too painful to discuss her death surrounded by all her stuff. Still it was her mess that made the place homely. No one quite notices the value of something until its gone and the retraction of Ai's stuff only consolidated the fact that she herself was also removed.

Nerida raised the cigarette to her lips.

"You shouldn't do that 'rida." Amaya stated sounding pretty bored. The look in her eyes gave her away, it always did. She was overcompensating for the pain the group was in. Things were turbulent but as annoying her act was, Nerida could never find it in herself to tell her to stop. 

"Suck my dick Amaya." Still Nerida let the cigarette burn out.

"Shut up both of you." Souya no longer contained his spiraling emotions. Everyone turned to look at him. "Shyu's dead and Lev's practically catatonic, what the fuck caused that?"

"Souya, listen." James cut in. Amaya looked towards the floor. "Ai died right in front of Lev, that's a lot for a person to experience."

"Lev wouldn't lie." "Lev doesn't lie!" Souya's voice was raising high enough for the sound to begin to echo through the corridors.

"Souya, no one has said Lev is a liar, both Nerida and Lev has been through an extremely traumatic experience and I don't think its fair to say either story is reflective of the situation."

Nerida shot him a glare. James shot one right back and she knew better than to argue.

"Both are going to have an evaluation and everything will make sense soon. What we need to do is be there for each other, do you understand Souya?" Souya breathed out of his nose heavily. He did understand, he just didn't want to admit it. His eyes were glassed over with tears threatening to streak his face and his shoulders shook. 

"I'm going to see Lev." With that he left the room.

James and Amaya turned to Nerida. She swung her legs off the table from the cross legged position she previously held. She reached for her cigarette, frustrated to see it had burnt out and dropped her hand. Nerida felt a slight pain when her split knuckles came in contact with the table but didn't show it.

"You all know time is getting hard to find, we've been at a shortage for a long time now." Nerida looked at James questioningly. Amaya only sighed.

"Nerida me and James have been thinking."

"Go on." Nerida prepared herself.

"We think the reason there's so many more missions and we've been split up is because there's so little essence left that time is predicted to run out, completely." Amaya added.

Nerida knew. Somewhere in the back her mind she knew something had shifted for the agency to split them up and all the harassment about being time efficient and doing so much in so little time wasn't coincidental. Humanity was living on borrowed time and there was less and less to borrow from.

Sensing her silence James spoke. "We don't have much time left, humanity as a whole will die out. We didn't want to drop this on you especially now but-." 

"I know." Nerida said. Her head was hanging on by so little it felt like there was only so much more conversation she could take. There was a long period of extended silence where no one looked at each other. 

"Okay." James cut the silence. "If either of you need anything, you know where to find me." With that he left the room allowing the door to shut behind him leaving only Amaya left. There was another moment of silence. Nerida looked away willing for her face to remain calm, any outpour of emotion Amaya would pick up on. That's the problem with Amaya she sees everything yet can't manage to handle it alone. Nerida supposed that's why her and James' dynamic worked so well. James always knew what to say and Amaya always knew what was up.

"Nerida-," Amaya began.

"What?" Nerida's words came out harsher than she would've liked to intend however she didn't really care all that much.

Amaya paused before continuing.

"I know you and Ai were close."

There it was that stupid testing of the water before going all the way in with a 'you must miss them' or 'they wouldn't want this'. All the crap Nerida wished she could cut from existence. She turned away and grunted. This was one thing Amaya did not have to comment on so early, actually she didn't have to comment on it ever. A problem shared was not a problem half solved, a problem shared was just a huge mess smeared all over the place.

"Can we please not talk about this right now?" The please surprised Nerida and surprised Amaya even more.

"Yeah- yeah sure um, don't worry, sorry to have- intruded." At each word Amaya was closer and closer to the door. Nerida didn't look up. Her short nails tapping almost soundlessly on the desk.

"If you need me, don't hesitate." Nerida heard the door open and swing shut. Finally alone.

Nerida led back on the table. Her back met with the cold surface, her legs swung over the edge and she ignored the tables edge digging into the back of her knees. It was cold in the room. Even colder now no one was here. Nerida's hair floated in front of her eyes. If Ai were here she'd announce it was time she had a hair cut, along with asking for a cigarette. Bastard she thought. Well no more free haircuts anymore, being a cheapskate wasn't an option. The absence of Ai tinkering away was so loud, there was just nothing. No 'hand me a spanner', no fire alarms, just nothing.

Something shone in Nerida's eye. Probably some glass or some piss poor excuse of the metal chairs sat in the corner. Still she slid off the table onto her hands and knees ignoring where the bruises met the ground until she reached what shone in her eyes. Those cleaners can't clean for shit she thought. Sat in front of her was a bolt. Ai's bolt rusted and dented but sat gleaming under the lights. 

Nerida didn't know what was on her mind as she slipped it into her pocket. Ai always found a way and as stupid as it was, Nerida felt like it was a parting gift.

She was late for the evaluation at sundown but she had peace of mind.