Understanding

“Shit.” said one boy. 

“You’re not supposed to say that.” said the other. 

“We won’t be able to use the tables in the library anymore.” said the first boy. 

“Shit, said the second. 

Jack and his best friend sat on top of a slide with a surface too rough to slide on, watching other children play. 

“Are you going to visit?” asked Jack’s friend. 

“I don’t know.” said Jack. “Dad seemed pretty mad, so he might not want to come back.” 

“That sucks.” said his friend. 

“I’ll be online.” said Jack, turning to him. 

The other boy cocked his head. “All the free games are for kids though.” 

Jack laughed. “We’re six.” he said. 

His friend scowled. “Yeah, we’re not little kids anymore.”

“I guess you’re right.” said Jack. They were silent for a while. “Do you think your mom would set up an online subscription for you instead of your allowance?”

The other boy sighed. “I asked her about it, she said we don’t have enough money.” 

Jack shook his head. “That sucks.” he said. “I thought your dad was doing overtime?” 

The boy shrugged. “Adults never have enough money.” 

Jack sighed. “Yeah. It sucks though.” 

“It sucks.” agreed his friend. 

“Do you think we have time to play a game before they come back.” 

The other boy considered this. “I didn’t bring any buildings, but I brought my army.” 

Jack hopped off the slide. “We can just use books. Let’s play one more game before I have to go.” His friend nodded, and hopped down after him. 

“Hey Jack, time to go.” 

Jack looked behind him. The office, which stood in a field apart from the rest of school, had closed it’s windows. The principal was locking the door, and Jack’s parents were waiting for him. 

Jack turned to his friend. “Bye I guess.” he said, glum. Later, he could not remember the boy’s name. 

---

“Have we looked into corporate rivals?” asked Jack. All the heads at the meeting turned to him, except for Wyn. 

They were seated with all the region security heads and their staffs, around a large conference table overlaid with and AR display showing a number of statistical graphs and two suspect profiles. 

Wyn, without looking at Jack, said “If we had a reason to suspect one, the evidence would be in front of us.” 

Jack withdrew, and the region heads turned back to their meeting. 

---

“What the hell was that?” asked Wyn without much energy, dropping into the chair behind their desk. 

Jack stayed standing. “You mean the question I asked?” 

Wyn looked Jack straight in the eye for the first time that day, and lightly rubbed their temple with a single finger. “We’ll get to that, but let’s start with why you felt the need to interrupt a high profile meeting with it.” 

Jack looked at his feet, then shook his head and forced himself to look Wyn in the eye. “I wasn’t thinking, I am sorry about that.” Wyn opened their mouth, but Jack cut in. “It will not happen again, I know better.” 

Wyn sighed, and looked back at the display on their desk. “Well that’s for certain.” they said. Jack held back the urge to ask for clarification. Wyn continued. “Investigating other corporations is outside our scope. There are people in charge of that, and they were at the meeting. They have the same information we have, and it’s up to them to act on it.” they looked up at Jack again. “If they find anything we need to know, we’ll know.” 

“But shouldn’t we coordinate with them?” asked Jack. 

Wyn shrugged. “Not our decision.” Then, looking back to their display. “All valid questions, just make sure you ask me next time instead of letting the rest of the region heads know how bad I am at controlling you.” 

“Of course, sorry. And thanks for the answers.” said Jack, grimacing slightly. He turned to leave. 

“Sit down.” said Wyn. Jack stopped, and turned. “We still need to go over your reports.” Wyn added.

---

Elle and Jack swept through the third floor of the office. The lights were out, but the desk computers and the televisions mounted on the walls still needed to be turned off. They searched every room together, and powered down the electronics as they went. “I told you it would be someone from the plant.” said Elle. 

“Oh I know.” said Jack. “It’s still weird to me.” 

Elle rolled her eyes. “The data doesn’t lie, and it’s just not that weird.” 

Jack shrugged. “I never said it was weird, just that it doesn’t make sense to me.” He grinned. “I helped get him, didn’t I?”

Elle sighed. “Yeah I guess.”

Jack held up a hand apologetically. “I get that it’s normal. People don’t like their bosses. I just don’t feel that way, that’s all I meant.” 

“Normal’s not the word.” said Elle, sharply. 

“Of course.” said Jack. “I just meant the motive.” 

“You’re not supposed to relate to the motives, Jack.” sad Elle. Jack rolled his eyes. 

They finished searching the office, locked the doors, and left. 

---

Jack opened Elle’s door. She was standing with her arms crossed. She turned, and stared at him coldly. He ignored the look. 

“Have you head?” asked Jack. He realized the news was on the television mounted to the wall of her office. “It has to be rivals.” he said, before she could answer his first question. 

Elle rolled her eyes. “We haven’t even finished cleanup, and you think this is your smoking gun?” 

Jack came into her office. He closed the door behind himself, and she shot him a look. He ignored it. “There’s seven corps that have a reason to go after the plant, but only two of them also have a reason to bomb the foundation.” said Jack. 

Elle turned back to the television. “That’s as far as you know. Have you considered that they might be unrelated?” 

Jack shook his head, “Come on, this is just too much for a coincidence.” 

Elle shrugged. “I’d wait until the investigation is over before jumping into this half cocked again.”