WE ARE THE RISEN

Recruit. (Part Two.)

     "I have to say, it wasn't easy getting them on board," Wiles said as she powered off her laptop. "Thank God for you and Davis."

     Shifter looked at her, puzzled. "What did I do?"

     "You've been nothing short of a success," she replied with a smile. "My program wouldn't have gotten off of the ground, so to speak, if you hadn't been as receptive as you were to it. I took a very risky gamble, and now that I have concrete evidence that rehabilitation is possible, the program will become more 'in the open,' so to speak."

     Shifter remembered her first day on the ship like it was yesterday. It was spent mostly in an open space somewhere on the ship, her hands cuffed in front of her, with no obvious exits other than a door guarded by a man in simple jeans and a plaid shirt. Her first meeting with the Council was not as relaxed. Shifter had been openly hostile, to say the least, and despite the Council member's attempts to communicate, she had done nothing but glare at them from the hard chair. She was used to being talked down to, at least. The pitying looks and words she received only inflamed Shifter into a heated silence, and she was sent back to the holding space, and the man with the kind eyes.

     He sat on a short wooden stool next to the iron door, the contrast almost hilarious to her at the time. He made no attempt to make conversation with her, which she appreciated, simply making eye contact or giving her a warm smile from time to time. It was almost unnerving, she had thought, to see someone so carefree and relaxed on a war base, but Shifter kept her distance, trying to kill her curiosity. The space she was kept in had few distractions, however, so she found herself wondering about him, making up false stories he could tell to pass the time. She distinctly remembered the lack of a clock, which had bothered Shifter like nothing else so far in her confinement.

     The lack of a clock was a tactic, one she was familiar enough with, but it ended up being the cause of her first words spoken on the ship, directed to her guard.

     "What time is it?" Shifter had asked him, allowing herself to make direct eye contact, trying to appear threatening.

     He smiled at her again. Not one of victory this time, like she had anticipated; in fact, he had a slight tinge of sadness to his eyes. "It's almost 6 in the evening," he said.

     "Thank you," Shifter said shortly. The guard, she later learned, was Davis, who was later promoted to second-in-command under Wiles. She had always admired him, if she were truthful, mainly due to the aura of calm that she could practically see around him. Even after all of the years after the room without a clock, she could see very little change in his general attitude.

     After Shifter's simple question, it seemed as if her mouth could not contain the torrent of questions spilling out of her mind. She had become the interrogator, asking him meaningless questions like what day it was or what his favorite color was. Davis, she remembered thankfully, had taken it in great stride, patiently answering all of hers as the day wore on. When the door opened again, though, Shifter immediately felt herself close off, reverting back to the hateful silence she had kept while being questioned by the Council.

     This woman was alone and was slightly familiar-looking. Shifter realized with a start that it was Wiles, a well-known defector from the PIPS. She had been the head of the operation until she had made her escape, and had managed to elude the world's eyes up until her reappearance a year later as the head of the RISEN.

     But, when Shifter had been captured, it had been nothing more than a rumor.

     "You can leave, Davis," Wiles had said, motioning towards the door. "Thank you."

     He had listened, albeit reluctantly, and left the two women alone in the stark-white room.

     "Your name is Erin, correct?" She asked, sitting down on the stool previously occupied by Davis, whom Shifter was missing already.

     She had decided that silence was not the way to approach this new situation. When in doubt, Shifter had thought to herself, lie.

     "I don't go by it. That's my mom's name," she said casually.

     Wiles sighed, rubbing her eyes with her free hand, the other clutching a rather thick file. "What would you like me to call you, then?"

     "Martin will do just fine. What do you want?" Shifter had said, with no attempt to hide the venom in her tone.

"For one, I would like you to tell the truth." Shifter internally winced, mentally throwing out her plan A. "Neither of us will get anywhere at that rate."

     Wiles handed her the file, marked CONFIDENTIAL in red, blocky letters, and a red pen. She took both hesitantly, opening the file to find an old mugshot of hers, and her life story in the text underneath. "Why are you giving me this?" Shifter asked.

     "I want you to go over it," Wiles had said with a smile forming on the edges of her mouth. "This information is dated, to say the least, and if you want to get out of here, I need up-to-date information. That way, I can put you on the registry."

     Shifter's mind went blank. What angle is she playing? She thought to herself while struggling to come up with a response.

     "What do you get out of it?" She had asked, eyes narrowing.

     The semiformed smile had dropped off of Wiles' face, replaced by what she thought of as exhaustion. "You're smart, Martin. You know what's going on, at least to some extent, and I know you have no reason to trust anyone on this ship. The Council has been on me all day about this, and they went against my wishes and talked to you themselves. Which," Wiles had added with a small laugh, "you gave them hell for."

     "I know more than you might think. It'll take some getting used to, but I know that we could use someone with your talents onboard." She finished.

     "What talents?" Shifter asked angrily. "Killing people? Hacking into government programs for extra rations?"

     "Well, no, but those situations are how we found you in the first place," Wiles said in an attempt to placate her. "You aren't the only one by far. What we do need are people that can work a computer and fix a broken bone, not at the same time of course. At least, not yet."

     Another thought struck her as she read the woman's face. Wiles was a person who had left behind everything to stop an organization that she had started. She was just as stuck on this boat as Shifter was. That was what Wiles had meant, she reflected as she came back to the present. Neither of them was getting off of this boat anytime soon. The least she could do was help another person who was to meet the same fate adjust, however good the fate may be in the end.