If Jove Stray

Chapter 21: a wealth of knowledge

I finished unpacking my clothes, putting the last shirt in the drawer. I hadn't caught my papa before I had moved, but I did message him, saying that perhaps we could have dinner here in a couple days.  He agreed, and I hoped that my papa didn't worry about me.

My holo-rib buzzed and I answered it, seeing that it was from Lully.

"Dylan, sorry to call but the print code is wrong; you used your personal account," Lully said. "Emerson was about to start the print and saw the mistake. If you resend the information, we can get it done in the morning."

"It's not wrong," I told him. "I want a holo not for work."

"Oh." He was silent for a moment. "I don't know if we can print a holo for personal use. I'll have to ask Vertov."

"How is that restricted?" I questioned. "I'm not printing a weapon; it's just a larger screen."

"The holos have a different level of access," he explained. "Communications sets them up per each department so no one has total access. If we printed you one for personal use, then I don't know how we'd set it up."

"Set it up to accept my holo-rib and I can work from there," I replied, trying not to be exasperated with my friend. "Talk to Vertov, whatever you need to do. I can come in tomorrow if need be, pas mal?"

"Merci, Dylan. See you tomorrow."

I heard the front door slide open as I disconnected the call. Levi peered around the berth as if he wasn't expecting me to be here. His face lit up in a smile when he saw me in the small bedroom.

"I made cookies," I said. "But we should get dinner going first. How was the rest of your day?"

"Good," he said. "I stopped by personnel on my home. I heard a video log from Earth."

His brown eyes glimmered. I couldn't help but catch his enthusiasm.

"So? What did it say?"

"It was a woman rattling off facts," he admitted. "Pretty boring to be honest. But the time stamp was from decades ago; I'm hoping that I'll be able to find more information on my holo-rib."

I groaned, thinking of my rotated conversation with Lully. Levi frowned as he began printing noodles.

"What's wrong?"

"I ordered a holo for our berth," I explained. "Only Lully called to tell me that I couldn't do that. Or at least, he doesn't think so. There's not a good reason that it's restricted. And it would have been nice to go through your discs on a larger format than your holo-rib. I have a feeling we're going to be doing a lot of research soon."

"On what?" he inquired.

"Dashiell said in the meeting today that all the congress meetings are recorded," I said. "I want to watch them. I want to know if Austen is targeting personnel and if Dashiell is bullying congress into whatever he wants. And what in all the seasons is Titus even doing on congress; no one voted for him."

Levi handed me the green beans and I methodically chopped them, handing the result back to him. Levi, at least before, had enjoyed the cooking process. I ate and cooked to live; Levi found food fascinating. He opened one of the cabinets; we had a good deal more spices than when I had lived here last. Cooking dinner didn't take long, and I helped him get the plates to the table where we sat to eat. It was odd being here again, I thought.

"Please don't take this the wrong way," Levi said quietly, looking up from his plate. "But do you wonder that you're taking all this a bit far? You're not on congress anymore; what can you do about any of it?"