2024-11-11: Life out of Balance
- Log: 2024-11-11: Life out of Balance
- Cast: Ada Legatum Luckwright, Luanova Luckwright
- Where: Neo-America Senatorial Office
- Date: U.C. 0099 11 11
- Summary: She's done. She can finally focus on other things.
"Excuse me?"
"Myrmex-2 passed operations testing. We're going forward with MFW-2. You're done. You can finally focus on other things. Your studies, your career..."
Luanova Luckwright's weight left her. She felt the tilt coming and shifted her heels to keep her balance, walked to one of the guest chairs in her mother's office, and fell backwards more than sat in it while her mother, the Senator, continued to congratulate her about the bright things ahead in her future that she had no interest in.
"So you're not going to call me in anymore, then."
"Oh, heavens, no. I'm sorry I ever had to put you through that." Ada leaned down from above, put a reassuring hand on her daughter's shoulder. "We have proper pilots contracted now, reporting no adverse effects. They're 'Myrmidon.' All of them, trading off. MFW-1 is going into storage. You're safe and healthy. You can put Myrmecia behind you now."
"And we're just not going to deploy."
"Of course we're going to deploy. 'Myrmidon' is. In MFW-2. That's what we hired them for. We're finally back to where we've been fighting to get all this time, with professional soldiers doing the fighting. And you did wonderfully. You're not hurt, you made the unit look good, we got our investors and market visibility. Now Solenopsis - that's what they ended up naming the new model - Solenopsis is combat-ready and reproducible and can be deployed as defense forces across the Earth Sphere. We're in the black, and we're in the clear. And you're done."
No more deploying anonymously into combat zones. No more risking her life getting her hands dirty with threats to civilian life. Just the safe life Mother had always promised her, the life in the spotlight, shaking hands and smiling for the camera. Mother greasing palms to position her to access seats of power to follow after her political ascent. Boardrooms and glass spires and mutually beneficial negotiations piled up into the horizon.
"Lua, dear?"
Ada looked at her expectantly. Lua's hands were clenched. "Is there anything else," Lua said. Her voice came out of her mouth smaller than expected.
"No, that's all. I thought that this was such news that it would be impersonal just to tell you on the phone, and I happened to have a clear space in my schedule. You know, we haven't had lunch together in awhile, and I already have some thoughts on the book tour we could take on that thesis of yours. There's directions we could go..."
"I'm not hungry." Lua pushed herself back up out of her seat. "I have a meeting with a professor coming up later today, and I think I should get going to make sure I don't miss it."
"Oh." Ada pursued her lips, and Lua hated how sincere the disappointment showed on her face. "Well, maybe another time. You should have told me if it was a bad time for you. We'll catch up later, though. Things are going to pick up from here, now. You'll see."
Lua had long learned not to try to argue with her mother's notions of what she should be happy about. "It was nice to see you, Mother," she lied.
The Myrmex-2 project had been completely stalled for so long she had stopped keeping close tabs on it. What kind of acceleration would it have taken for them to get through operations testing when she wasn't looking? Would she be able to get access to the files? If Mother had realized mass-production, what was she going to do with it?
What was Lua going to do?
When she uncurled her hand, she found she had drawn blood.