I woke up on an unfamiliar couch. My head was killing me. The battle to open my eyes was hard fought, but after about ten minutes I claimed a pyrrhic victory. Shit that light hurt. Ok, where am I? Purse on the floor by the door, dress in that chair. Shoes between the two.

  I looked at myself. Bra unhooked, but underwear is still on. Need to find a bathroom. Who's purse and shoes are those? Bathroom over there… I could never afford this hotel room. Ok, mirror. Makeup is ruined, but I seem to be OK. Toilet…. Ok now some water.

  I staggered out into the kitchenette and fished a glass out of the cupboard. Yeah, nice hotel room. As I was taking a long drink the bedroom door opened. I quickly ducked behind the counter, but not quietly enough.

  “Who’s out there? Ashley, is that you?” Mia’s voice.

  “Mia?” I croaked. Ugh, need more water. There was some rustling in the bedroom and then Mia stepped out in a bath robe. How can she look that composed in a situation like this?

  “Are you alright, Ashley?” she asked hesitantly. I stood up from behind the counter.

  “I don’t remember last night. Did we do something we shouldn’t have?” I asked.

  Mia ducked back into the bedroom and came out with another robe. She answered as she helped me put it on.

  “While I strongly object to the characterisation of anything that may happen between us as something “we shouldn’t do”, I don’t think we did. We both look to be covered in each other's lipstick, but I don’t think we were sober enough to go further.”

  I took a deep breath. It was shakier than I would have liked.

  “We can talk about that after some food though, I think.” She looked around and made a beeline for her purse on the floor. Fishing a communicator out of it, she hit the button on the side.

  “Ms. Dlamini. I hope you are well.” said Tempo.

  “Yes, and I do hope you will forgive me for missing the car last night.”

  “You seemed to have more pressing matters, and subprocesses such as automated vehicle movements are easy enough to reschedule.”

  “Thank you.” Mia said with an eye towards me. “I’ll call you again when we have ourselves sorted out here. Ciao.” She dropped the comm back in her bag, where I could hear Tempo’s muffled farewell.

  I flinched as she closed the distance and wrapped me in a hug. Was I crying again? Crap. I needed to get a grip.

  “I’ll handle room service. Can you be a good girl and get in the shower for me?”

  “D-damnit M-Mia, I am a dec-decorated s-secret service agent, and I won't be talked d-down to like that!” Can I just get a solid breath out, please?

  “Right now you are a woman who has had one hell of a week. You can let it out if you feel like it. Be strong again when you need to face the world.” She turned me and pushed me towards the bedroom. “The products in the shower are decent, and I’ll check on you in a few minutes.”

  The shower was nice. I stripped out of the remains of last night’s regalia. Heavy water pressure, hot hot water. That felt so good. After a minute, Mia cracked the door.

  “Ashley, are you alright if I come in?”

  “If you want to have this conversation while I am covered in soapy water, sure.” I snarked.

  “That sounds like the best time for it.” Mia affirmed as she flowed through the door.

  We didn't get any talking done before we had to fetch the room service cart. If there is anything in the world better than post orgasm croissants and quiche, I can’t name it. As we settled down for coffee I asked again.

  “Conversation now, or a quickie to go with the quiche?”

  “Now’s good.” Mia said over her cup. This woman was unflappable.

  “I’m pretty sure we’re going to end up as an HR violation, to serve as a warning to others.”

  “Nah. While my firm is on retainer for whatever ends up being put together to protect Kos-Api, I won't be on that team. And while you could contract with my firm for HR services as well, I won't be on that team either. We would be fine.”

  “Yeah the other thing is that I'm worried that I'm just desperately rebounding after I just got dumped by my high school sweetheart.”

  “A valid concern. While I am hardly willing to confess my undying love for you, there is obviously an attraction here that I'm willing to keep exploring. If something more comes of it then come what may.”

  And that was the end of that conversation for a while.

  It was lunchtime before Mia let me come up for air. Not that I’m complaining. She had a sharp mind for improvisation. Regardless, we had to settle some actual details if we wanted to be ready when Uncle Sam pulled the plug.

  “You wouldn’t have come to DC without paperwork.” I accused Mia, pointing for emphasis with half a finger sandwich. “Wine and dine me, and steal my maidenly virtue while holding a contract behind your back the whole time.”

  “Yes, call me a brilliant mastermind some more!” Mia joked. “I will take over the world one binding legal agreement at a time!” She abruptly got serious.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “I did bring an agreement though, and it wouldn’t serve our interests to delay it because we are enjoying each other's company.”

  “Alright, let me see it.”

  “I need to say first though, that if you agree to this my firm will represent the company we put together, but I represent an interested party, not you. Right now neither I nor my firm are your lawyers so if you want to have someone look at this you probably should.” Mia handed me a stack of paper from her briefcase.

  I fished out my communicator and keyed it.

  “Estrada.”

  “I’m sorry, but we haven’t met.” I observed, puzzled. Mia just shrugged.

  “I work for Tempo, and part of that is taking overflow calls when he is at capacity. My equipment says this device is assigned to an Agent Robins. Would that be you?”

  “Yes. I was planning to ask Tempo to have someone look at a document for me.”

  “Is it sensitive or confidential?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “OK, let me.. and that… there. I have a sandboxed subprocessing system set to OCR it. Please hold each page in front of the camera. I won't be able to see it from here.”

  I did so.

  “Okay, the system is telling me it has recorded 15 pages and it is 99.7% sure it's got clean views of all 15. Are you satisfied with that result?”

  “Yes, someone can tell me if they can't read it.”

  “Au revoir.”

  It was about ten minutes before my comm chimed again. I spent the time well, demolishing several more finger sandwiches.

  “Good afternoon to the two of you.” said Tempo.

  “Tempo. Did Mr. Estrada give you the document?”

  “Yes, and you have my apologies, but I am going to have to make use of the services of misters Estrada and Romero more as time goes by and activity levels continue to escalate.”

  “So what do you think?”

  “The Hive has its own interests in this endeavor, so while I can't say we are disinterested, I will say we are sufficiently third party to give you what we feel is a neutral opinion about this document specifically.”

  “OK, I can live with that.”

  “The document contains no poison pills, the exit clauses are quite gracious, and as long as you operate with what can arguably be called good faith then there are no penalties.”

  “Thank you, Tempo.” Mia handed me a pen and I signed it.

  “Alright, now while my firm doesn’t represent you directly, we represent whatever this is, of which you will soon be the director. You may still want to consider hiring the services of a personal attorney.”

  I nodded.

  “To that end, you should soon be the recipient of what will seem like a never-ending stream of documents that require signatures.”

  “Yay.”

  My comm chirped again. I hit the button and Allegro’s voice came from the device.

  “Tempo tells me you should have signed the agreement by now. Is this the case?”

  “That was fast, but yes.” I answered. “Good evening Allegro. You seem excited to talk to us today. How are you doing?”

  “Ugh, can we dispense with the pleasantries?”

  “Yeah, I’m teasing.”

  “And I’m a hormonal teenager with easy access to WMDs. Quit it.”

  “Heard and understood “

  “When you two are ready to leave the hotel there will be cars waiting to take you both home. Hive traffic control will handle piloting so don't worry about the controls for now. These vehicles will be your only allowed personal vehicles going forward for security purposes. They will park nearby to you in secure areas and can be called for use as necessary.”

  “Understood.” said Mia.

  “In the center storage compartment for each of these vehicles you will find a device that looks like an EpiPen. Use it on yourselves according to the instructions printed on them before bed tonight.”

  “What are they?”

  “Let me finish. I have to speak using lungs like you do and occasionally I have to refill them.”

  “Sorry.”

  “The contents of these Auto injectors are an anesthetic and the core components for a nano machine production unit which will most likely emplace itself in one of your larger vertebrae. The actual site may vary and the minutia is something I don’t care about right now. This will enable certain technological upgrades to your physiology which will be necessary for you going forward. Documentation is in the car with the injector.”

  “OK.” I agreed hesitantly.

  “There are a couple dozen other humans that have already had these technological augmentations done and they're working well so don't worry about this being some kind of experiment.”

  “That’s a relief.”

  “Have you done this to Kos-Api?” asked Mia.

  “No. Medical scans give us cause to believe that whatever she did to her immune system to ensure she doesn’t get sick would have a deleterious effect on nanomachine systems. We haven't taken the opportunity to study it further at this time.”

  “You’ll tell me if you do.” It wasn’t a question.

  “We understand the relationship you have with Kos-Api, and we know where the lines are drawn.”

  “That wasn't an agreement.”

  “Curious.”

  “Allegro.”

  “I and my boss both like Kos-Api, and hope she thrives. The Hive is in a position currently to further that goal. However, we both know I'd be lying if I said that the Venn diagram representing the Hive’s interests and Kos-Api's interests was a perfect circle. Aside from all that, your human reproductive bullshit has me on a hair trigger today.”

  “Alright, that’s fair.” said Mia. I just looked at her.

  “What? I’m a realist and that is the best you are going to get out of the highest levels of politics. Plus, we both know all about that human reproductive bullshit.”

  I stifled a giggle.

  “Anyway, that’s all I have for you two today. On an unrelated note, we have pushed an upgrade to the comm devices so that if you push the button on the side it will trigger a routing subroutine to listen for a recipient. Holding the button for 3 seconds will trigger the previous functionality of connecting to your default contact.”

  “Thank you Allegro.”

  “Why does it seem like you're experimenting with the best functionality on these?” I asked.

  “Because we are. We don't use them and soon enough you won't either, for reasons that will become readily apparent.”

  The device chimed off and I just looked at it. Mia just looked at me.

  “I don’t have to go home until late. When's your plane?”

  “Tomorrow evening.” I answered.

  “Well, whatever shall we do until dinner?”

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