Ex Officio (#3 EX TRILOGY)

Chapter 12

Akoma spent the rest of the day taking a tour through the base with Pee and Kay keeping her company from time to time. She kept seeing Dufie popping in and out of sight everywhere she went, and she could not help suspect that Dufie must have been spying on her for some reason. Poku did not engage Akoma for hours, and Akoma knew he was trying to avoid being questioned about the other Poku they kept referring to. She had intentionally kept mute about that subject with the hope of getting it out of Dufie after she had stopped behaving like a shadow creeping in the dark.

After a quick nap which she ensured was not under the influence of any drug for a secret test drive in Scenario, Akoma woke up and walked into the central deck of the base where Scenario and Dufie's perch were. Luckily for her, she found Dufie seated behind her computers. When they locked gazes with each other, Dufie looked away and attempted to leave, but Akoma rushed to her side and stood in her way. Dufie looked her over with contempt and raised an eyebrow.

"How can I help you?" she asked in an unfriendly tone.

Akoma smirked and determined to shut down every sass to get herself through Dufie's skin with the hope of nicking some info for her benefit and safety. She sighed deeply and stepped out of Dufie's way. "First of all, I want you to know that I am not interested in your Poku," Akoma said, and she wished she could retract those words because Dufie's eyes flashed with disgust. "Um – right. No hard feelings. He's a good guy for you – but not me. I lost my Poku back there, and he was not very human. He's the one who probably got me to be here with you people. I wish I knew him a lot more. All he was planning – the connections he seems to have had while in Ex Vivo. He must have made some huge sacrifices for his country, I guess? Did you know him?"

Dufie stared at Akoma in silence and blinked. "What do you think you are doing?" she asked.

Akoma shrugged. "I am just trying to know the mystery behind this your Poku and my Poku and the other Poku and all that. It gets confusing. Poku - your Poku - won't open up to me on that. I felt you could – "

"I am not in any position to tell you anything about that. Find out for yourself."

"No. You will tell me. We can do a very good trade."

"And what do you mean by that?"

Akoma bit her lip and leaned closer to Dufie to give her a piercing stare. "Louisa was my close friend. I watched her die at the hands of Ender about half a year ago. I never heard of what became of her because I was stuck under Ender's mind control. You seemed to have been affected by that encounter in Scenario – when Louisa came up. Either you planted her by mistake or my mind conjured her – whatever it is that happened, you knew something more."

Dufie's eyes began to gleam with tears, and in order to keep Akoma from seeing that soft spot, she quickly crouched and pretended to undo her shoelace. Akoma folded her arms across her chest and watched her. "What makes you think we can just talk about Louisa easily as if we are on good terms?" Dufie asked angrily. "Show respect to the dead."

"Who's she to you?" Akoma crouched by her side and looked closely. "The resemblance is – undeniable. Are you her – "

"That's none of your business!" she snapped at Akoma and startled her to rise to her feet at once. "Don't think you can make friends with me at once by simply bringing Louisa up. It's a sensitive matter I wish you would be careful about. Get out of my sight!"

Akoma nodded and turned to leave in silence. Halfway through the doorway to her room, she heard footsteps behind her and she turned quickly to see Dufie standing close to her. She looked angry. Akoma shrugged and held the doorknob to close the door shut, but Dufie held it back and shook her head at her. "What?" Akoma asked.

Dufie seemed to be struggling to say something that was leaving a toll on her pride, and her lips kept quivering as emotions flooded her face amidst tears she failed to hold back. After a minute, she finally squeaked, "Promise me these two things."

"OK."

"When we make it through this war alive. When – we make it – help me find Louisa. And destroy Ender. I will give you every training you need, but you have to make it. Deal?"

Akoma scratched her chin. "No deal. What will you offer me?"

"Training, of course."

"You've asked more than you are giving. Do something for me too."

"What?"

"Tell me about this Poku mystery. Who was the one who was with Ex Vivo - the one who was destroyed, and who is this one?"

Dufie sighed and shook her head. "All right. I will tell you, but not here."

"Where?"

Dufie slowly turned to nod at the Scenario machine, and Akoma's heart sank.

Goodness, not again, she thought and grimaced.

                    ***********

The Vice President returned home that afternoon from a series of meetings and a long tour in a municipality to oversee the construction of a dam. When he arrived, the security guards at the entrance had been replaced by new ones he had ordered from Ex Vivo. He nodded at them and they nodded back as he stepped out of his car and walked to the porch. One of them opened the door for him and he walked slowly into the living room. His wife was seated in a couch waiting for him, but something was different about her. She was still, absentminded and barely breathing. The Vice President walked towards her and sat by her in the couch. He leaned over to kiss her on the cheek, and with a quick tap on the back of her neck, there was a flash of light on the region his finger touched, followed by the fading of her skin to reveal a small panel hidden under the now translucent skin. The Vice President punched a few buttons in a combination and tapped the area again, causing the skin to cover itself up again to its normal state. In a series of jerks, the Second Lady was reanimated. She gasped and blinked repeatedly, looking around her wildly until her eyes rested on her husband's face. She smiled and reached forth a hand to stroke his face.

"I missed you so much, darling," she said stiffly as if the words had been forced into her mouth and pulled him into an embrace. "How was your day?"

The Vice President smiled and replied, "Very loaded. But I was able to keep things running on the surface well enough to get people distracted. They will not see the economic takeover I'm going to spearhead right from inside the Presidency."

The Second Lady smiled, and her pupils dilated and contracted out of excitement. "Can't wait!" she gasped. "I'll be in the kitchen getting supper ready, darling. Go get a shower, will you?" She pulled away from the hug and left the living room for the kitchen.

The Vice President waited for her to be out of sight before rising to his feet and walking to upstairs to his bedroom, where he took off his jacket and went out to stand at the balcony to look down at the drive in his backyard that led to the east gate. There was an Ex Vivo truck whose engine was idle as four pickup agents carefully carried eight bloodied bodies bagged in plastic bags one after the other into the back. Each of the bodies had tags on their arms or legs. As they carried away the last one, a middle-aged woman dressed in the same clothes and bearing striking resemblance as the Bae version of the Second Lady back in the kitchen, the Vice President waved a hand and muttered, "Farewell, Second Lady Juliet Obiribea Woode."