They had that “I’m joking, but I’m really not” tone in their voice. The joke isn’t that maintainers have factions. It’s not even that those factions have wrong sides, or that being on the wrong side might be deadly. The joke is that Chris, who is unwelcome in this archive, would prepare Ellie for it. Or maybe the joke is on Ellie for being enough of a fool to believe whatever Chris says. Some small part of Ellie is offended on Chris’s behalf anyway.
“Actually, that’s a good point.” Daniel screws up his face. “Who did Chris say has been out to kill you for years?”
The thing about Daniel is that no matter how much one may be tempted to punch Daniel, one knows better. At Chris’s birthday afew years ago, in a volleyball game, Chris’s husband hit him by accident trying to bump the ball. The poor man’s arm broke against Daniel’s body. He was stuck in a cast for months.
Besides, it’s not like Daniel knows how insulting the answer to his question is. He doesn’t deserve to be punched. Probably.
Ellie takes a deep breath. Since Daniel has caught her swerve and set her back on the rails of this conversation, she might as well get it over with.
“Isolationists.” Ellie’s tone concedes everything. “They used to scare me into doing what they wanted by saying that they’d sic the isolationists on me.”
The Head Archivist’s laugh sounds like a little kid overblowing a contrabass recorder. It squawks up and down their range, squeaking at the top and booming at the bottom. They rock back and forth on their stool, several branches clutching their desk for balance.
“What did they think we would do toyou?” The Head Archivist manages an additional word or two between laughs, sometimes repeating them as they master themself. “Assault with a deadly question? Death by documentation?”
It’s a good minute or two before they calm down. Ellie waits, not nearly as embarrassed or humiliated as she thought she’d be. Daniel keeps waving his hand, trying to interrupt, which riles them up again. Honestly, that’s at least thirty seconds of their laughter by itself.
Eventually, Ellie plows on, speaking over them. Against all odds, she’s going to defend Chris. There were a few years where Ellie thinks maybe Chris meant it when she said she was training her. Certainly, Ellie ended up trained. Also, Chris is her sister. Ellie feels obliged regardless of how little Chris deserves it.
“Maybe they misunderstood what isolationists do. We didn’t learn much about you at school.”
The Head Archivist sobers up. Their once-rippling bark hardens.Their trunk steadies on their stool, planting pointed legs solidly on the ground.
“No, when they were younger than you are now, not only did they make unwarranted changes to your skunkworks, but they were part of a group that tried to destroy the archive. I assume they all were trying to eliminate records of the perversions they installed. However, they were quite indiscriminate. It was hardly a surgical removal of specific records.” They cross a couple of their branches. “Your mother was quite beside themself.”
Ellie didn’t know any of this. Maybe Chris is always angry at Ellie because the perfect daughter can never be angry at her mother. Mom disapproved of Chris’s work, and Chris couldn’t be angry at Mom about that. It is infinitely more acceptable to be angry at Ellie instead. Maybe an angry Chris decided Ellie was Mom’s favorite simply because Ellie never did anything that betrayed everything maintainers stand for, things that made Mom stop working with her. Even in Mom’s final days, though, when Chris hid food from her and locked her in at night, Mom refused to say anything bad about Chris. Mom spent much of those days defending Chris as a sister, if not as a maintainer, to Ellie.
“Head Archivist?” Daniel is still waving his hand for attention. “We came here for a reason.”
“Right.” They relax, their fingers now interlaced and resting on the desk. “Ellie, forget your sister’s lies. No one would ever deny you permission to study the abomination that trapped your mother into a living death. You didn’t need to go skulking among the stacks.”
“We weren’t.” Ellie points a thumb at Daniel. “The silent sirocco here got lost.”
“That’s a bit harsh.” Daniel’s smile undercuts his rolling eyes. “I knew where we were. I just didn’t know where to go.”
“Spoken like a true maintainer.” The Head Archivist is utterlydeadpan. “All the information we’ve gathered about that abomination is ready for you in a study room.”
“Oh, that’s not why we’re here.” Daniel bounces as he leans in. “Maintainers are making changes in our skunkworks right now and we need to figure out what they’re doing.”
“So your maintainers are at war with themselves again. That explains why we’re so busy.”
Ellie says “War?” at the same time Daniel says “Again?” The Head Archivist looks them both over, slowly twisting their trunk back and forth.
“You’re both so… young.” For a moment, their bark seems not only wrinkled but tattered. “You don’t have to be involved in the vendettas of your elders.”
“But there’s a secret cabal.” Daniel rumbles more than he speaks. “We need to understand their changes and probably revert them.”
“Oh, I daresay there is more than one secret cabal of maintainers.” Their bark crinkles in a way that’s unmistakably amused. “I mean,you’reobviously not making any changes right now.”
Ellie stops herself from sighing. Maybe the reason no one talks about secret cabals is to keep smart-asses from making the obvious joke. Then again, Daniel’s the one who stepped into it this time. Once she realizes that, she has to stop herself from smiling. This is probably bad, but it’s not that bad. This sort of snark is wasted on Daniel. Sheer size isn’t the only reason the man is a walking mountain.
“I’m a verifier. All I do is manipulate planes of air and tell people that their designs don’t work.” The walking mountain is predictably matter-of-fact. “I don’t make changes to the skunkworks.”
“Not yet.” They rifle through a stack of papers and pull one out. “You’re not a verifier. You’re a generalist, or you will be. You’re oneof Ahdi’s and still practically a baby. They like generalists. At the rate you’re going, give it a few years.”
That catches Daniel up short. He stares at his hands, as if they’ll suddenly spark like Ellie’s of their own will.
“Literally no one thinks all changes are good.” Ellie doesn’t roll her eyes but the attitude plays anyway. “And, these, we don’t even know what these do yet. Right now, they don’t do anything, but it can’t possibly stay that way.”
