Tunnel Rat

Chapter 270: The Friend you haven't met yet.

Belinda watched over Milo until she was sure he was asleep, and the pod assured her that he was resting. A life of being in and out of intensive care had led to her taking online courses in medicine to have some idea of what was wrong with her and what they weren't telling her. A benefit was reading the screen on Milo's pod and knowing he was alright. Which left her alone in a mad scientist's workshop. She was amazed that he lived here. So many things were crammed into the space, and so little made it comfortable. There was a small bed, really just a padded mattress on a shelf. Some obvious things were missing. The first was a proper bathroom. There was a small toilet in a corner and a pipe with a faucet above a drain on the floor. A food processor would provide the horrible hab food she had promised herself she'd never try, but there was a freezer with frozen tacos and other meals that could be heated in the microwave. And cheese, Milo had a lot of cheese. And that was it; everything else was a jury-rigged network of old computer screens, linked servers, and workstations. And none of it was accessible to her. All of it asked for a password or voice activation.

She was happy to find a collection of anime that she could watch and a screen that didn't need a password. After defrosting a taco, she put a random episode of Dragonball Z Omega in the player and sat back to watch overpowered combatants punch each other into orbit. She didn't care what she watched; she just wanted a distraction as she stretched and went through her physical therapy routine. Her suit was working, which thrilled her, but her muscles weren't used to moving, and all the PT she had put in was inadequate. She needed to build muscle and learn to move properly. And if the suit helped the way the gloves had, the more she did, the better she would be without the suit. She was concentrating hard on moving each muscle group slowly, which is why the voice startled her.

"Can we watch something else? I've seen this episode. Or can you explain the physics involved in punching? I'm not sure any of these people should be alive when they get hit so hard, but I don't know the alien physiology of the different races."

Belinda quit moving and looked around. "Who are you? Why are you spying on me?"

"I wasn't spying; I was watching anime with you. But this one is boring since I've seen it, and it's all punching. I'm Rusty. Oh, and if you are looking for a camera, all the screens can act as cameras if needed."

That didn't make her feel better. "So, which one are you using? And why can't I see you? If you're looking at me, it's only fair you let me talk to your face."

"This is awkward. Do I have to do a face? Can't we just talk? I'll turn off the video and not look at you. I promise. Just talking. What else can we watch?"

"Fine, voices only. But who are you?"

"I told you, I'm Rusty. That's what Milo calls me. I'm a friend."

"A friend I've never met."

The voice became more animated. "Yes! Exactly! A friend you never met. I'm Milo's friend, and Milo is your friend; therefore, by the transitive property of friendship, A friend of a friend is a friend as well, even if you haven't met them."

Belinda sighed heavily. "If only the world worked that way. I don't think you can 'math' friendship."

"You can't? But I just did! And don't people say, 'The enemy of my enemy is a friend'? That implies that two negative friendships can yield a positive friendship. But if you don't want to apply math principles, we can just agree to be friends and not worry about a reason. Hi! I'm Rusty. I want to be friends. This is GREAT! Now I have two friends that I have met and several I have not met."

She sat and thought about things for a moment. "You're like Milo, aren't you? Hiding in a habitat with not enough friends and a lot smarter than everyone else."

"YES! That is me. I'm like Milo. You are smart, too; you figured it all out! What anime are we watching?"

The voice was too funny, and Belinda had to suppress her laughter. Rusty was a lot like Milo; she'd have to watch what she said and how she said it if she wanted to be understood. "Fine. he has another 17 episodes of DBZ Omega...

"Seen those."

"How about seasons 32 and 33 of Those Annoying Aliens?

"Seen those too."

"Space Pirate Benjamin Franklin the 17th, only has three episodes. That one didn't go long."

"Seen it. Confused about the talking dolphins and flying whales."

"Dirty Pair?"

"I haven't seen that! What is it? Wait! I don't care; it's new!"

"Well, it seems to be about two girls who casually cause mass destruction while trying to do good."

"I already like it! Let's watch it the slow way, like regular people do, and if you want to talk, that's fine. I lack perspective, and Milo is helping me with having a normal perspective on things."

Belinda started the first episode, thinking she and Milo had much to talk about when he woke up.

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Milo awoke in his pod eight hours later. He felt much better and could focus his thoughts normally. He was amazed he'd slept for so long. He'd never slept for eight hours before in his life. As always, he made a list of things to do after waking up. Normal maintenance could wait, and he'd only deal with emergencies in the habitat section. He had other things to do.

He needed to check on Belinda and ensure the suit kept her metabolism normal until he could look at all of her medical data. Looking at the data was next; for that, he needed Rusty's help. Each storage disc held a huge amount of data, and he had taken everything in the storage area. He was nervous about taking Belinda to Downtown. There were a lot of unknown variables, including the possibility of more security Roomba, who wouldn't appreciate their intrusion. He could risk himself, but how did he risk someone else?

And there was Rusty's problem. The A.I. wanted him to do more of the tutorials so he could help it shut down the programming that was trying to turn the fusion reactor into a small sun. Another reason not to put Belinda down there, although the whole hab was in danger. He needed time with Rusty. Belinda would have to stay here until things were sorted out. There was food, and she'd be safe. In two months, she would be 18, legally an adult, and could manage things independently. Until then, she needed to be safe from Victor, her stepfather, kidnapping doctors, and anyone else who wanted control of her money. At least they had two weeks until her stepfather returned and maybe a month until Victor figured out who he had in the pod. The plan to use the injured doctor had only occurred to him when he decided to stick her in the pod and save her life.

So, two weeks to figure out a permanent place for Belinda to hide. Steven and Wally would help with that, he was sure. He'd call them later. For now, he needed to 1. Talk to Belinda 2. Check for emergencies 3. Meet up with Max and head to downtown. 4. Start Rusty analyzing the stolen data. (Was it stolen? It might belong to Belinda. That would make it borrowed data.) 5. Work on the tutorials and learn how to think faster. 6. Call Wally and Steven. Having a plan in his head, he crawled out of the pod and discovered what every general knew: No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.

"Milo! About time, sleepyhead. Get over here and unlock your system for me. I've been away from my email for eight hours, and Rusty says he isn't allowed on the Data Net because of his feet. Whatever. I need to talk to Eric, and I need to find more episodes of Dirty Pair."

"Please, Milo? I need more of Kei and Yuri! Can we get more?"

Milo paused while his mind caught up. "Rusty? You're talking with Belinda?"

"Why is this a question? You heard me just now, talking with my new friend Belinda. Oh, wait! That's a way of saying something you aren't saying? Are you asking why I'm talking with Belinda? Was I not supposed to talk to her? You never said not to. Were you saving me to surprise her? Did I spoil your introduction? I'm sorry. But you can make us all feel better by getting us more Kei and Yuri anime and watching it with Belinda and me. Friends should not be sad. Let's be happy."

Belinda laughed at him. "Oh, you should see your face. You make that face when I beat you at video games."

Milo went to a keyboard and began typing. "I've set up access for you on this machine, Belinda. It gives you normal data net access and can't be traced here, no matter how hard they try. No one can find you here. Your password is 'Lovely Angels.'"

Belinda started to talk, but Rusty interrupted. "You don't want anyone to find Belinda here?"

Belinda shook her head. "I'm hiding, Rusty, from some bad people. Milo rescued me."

"Oh. Rescuing sounds fun. But I have a question. If no one is supposed to find you, why is there a tracking device broadcasting your location?"

Two voices yelled at once. Then Milo said. "Rusty, please explain fully. We weren't aware of this."

"Yay! Rusty gets to be a Hero too! Belinda has a short-range transmitter inside of her that is broadcasting her location. Currently, the signal is 98% blocked by the walls of your shielded tank, and the signal will have a short range anywhere in the habitat, especially in areas of heavy machinery such as the pipeworks layer. The signal identifies itself as being from ; their advertising is part of the signal."

Milo immediately looked up the company. As Rusty said, the implant had a short range but would tie into any system it could access, giving away Belinda's location. The signal should be almost completely blocked by the walls of his tank and would be partially blocked by the suit she was wearing, but not completely.

"We need to figure this out. In two weeks, people are going to be looking for you."

Belinda was checking her email. She turned and looked at him, white-faced. "Sooner than that. Victor is already in jail, and the news is out that he was trying to kidnap me."