Day 91 (continued)
The journey to Paz's quarters was a familiar one, though he'd never seen it from the ceiling, which made the experience all the more surreal. To his surprise, the door was ajar when they arrived.
"I've already been here." Spider told him, "Where do you think I got this?" he gestured to where he'd stowed the photograph.
Quaritch assumed a crouching position to better look through the doorway, his flashlight beam scanning the room slowly. A few things were out of place, but the room was still orderly in spite of the layer of filth time had deposited on it's surfaces. Even the bed was still neatly made. Memories rattled at the edges of his consciousness, and he grew exceedingly aware of Spider staring at him.
"A lot of her stuff was taken for people to use, clothes mostly. She didn't have much else."
"Nah, Paz wasn't too sentimental." Quaritch said automatically. "Kind of a hardass really. I liked that about her." he turned his beam on Spider, illuminating the disappointed frown etched in his features. "She didn't log much either."
"Yeah, I know. I tried that too."
The two of them sat in silence for a long moment, their glum expressions mirroring each other. The air was stale here, growing staler by the second.
"Come on, I know a place you haven't tried."
Quaritch lead Spider down to the first floor, through the halls opposite the main entrance. There was a back airlock, rarely trafficed, that served as a utility access and emergency exit. Sunlight from outside streamed through the window in the door, casting a small bright rectangle on the floor. It was there Quaritch stopped, and began running his hands along the walls.
"What are you doing?"
"Do you know how hard it is to get laid in a place like this?" Quaritch's hands groped along the duct-work carefully. "Everyone knows each other, everyone talks."
"W..what?" Spider choked out, mortified.
"The last thing you want to do is to get caught with your pants down, especially with a subordinate.." the recombinant commander continued patting the walls down, conveniently ignoring the horror slowly playing out over the boy's face. "So, we had to take precautions."
Behind the HVAC diffuser duct, Quaritch's fingertips made contact with what he'd been hunting for. "Bingo." he produced a small rectangular object, disturbing a dust cloud that eddied through the sun shaft as he held it aloft. It was quite a bit smaller than he'd remembered, until he realized it was made for human hands.
"No open conversation, no loaded looks. Only this." He held the data stick out to Spider. "She stopped leaving these for me after we broke things off, so I imagine.." he dropped it in Spider's outstretched hand. "This one's for you."
It was all Quaritch could do to keep up with Spider, who scrambled out the exterior door once he realized what was in his possession. The salvage team probably had an extra data pad, so he wasted no time crossing the tarmac towards Con. He only looked back at the Colonel when he remembered he needed permission.
"Go." Quaritch waved him on, watching the boy break into a full sprint. When the Spider was out of sight the Colonel's gut's twisted on themselves once more. He turned back to Hab3, wrenched the door open and crouched back through into the gloom. Ten paces down the hall, he searched the walls again, turning up another data stick in half the time. He stared at it for a long moment, before pocketing it.
Eclipse came and went, sky patrol's switched out twice. All quiet. Quaritch paced outside of ConMod, his hand resting on his weapon. The tension in his gut hadn't let up, but it wasn't doubling either. His mind was curiously blank, a holding pattern of sorts. He'd thought about checking his old rooms, but found himself unmotivated to do so.
A soft sniff sounded from somewhere behind him, and he turned to see Spider emerging from whatever hiding spot he'd absconded too once he'd had a pad in his possession. His eyes were red, puffy, but he hid the rest well.
"How'd it go?"
"Good. It was.. good." Spider cleared his throat, "Too short." The kid was gone for over an hour, he probably watched it dozens of times
. "Yeah." Paz wasn't one to mince words, Quaritch knew all too well.
"Thanks." Spider muttered. Their eye's met, and something passed between them. Something heavy.
"Sure thing, kid."
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