First Shot

by Bokerah Brumley

  GenCor will face their reckoning. We won’t let them take over with an army of Jins or an army of self-healing artificials.

  I won’t let it happen on my watch.

  We’ll play our part. For all the Pinks. For all the ReProds. I watch an instant more, soaking in the loveliness as fuel, a safeguard against the ugly ahead.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  LOCUS: ALTER EARTH

  The Barren

  Date: 16 Pentian

  Time: 0700

  SIX HOURS LATER, BOSTGO looms ahead of us. There is no standing army waiting at the border. I can’t decide if that brings relief or disturbs me even more.

  It’s no longer hidden by the curvature of the horizon. We’re nearly to the outskirts, Dyad’s tires eating away the distance between us and them. She estimates that we’ll cross into the smog just as the sun comes up. I can already smell the acrid stench. It tickles my throat now. It never used to bother me. I’ve changed.

  Dyad’s screen moves aside, and Tonick pulls two masks from the interior. He hands me one. “Put that on.”

  “Yeah.” I oblige him without argument as we advance on the city.

  The tops of the skyscrapers glitter with the lights only the Swanks can afford to keep on. The Swanks stay on top, oblivious to anyone beneath them, and the MidHeighters ignore the UnderCity dwellers.

  GenCor’s evil flourishes in the indifference, easily hidden by pollution and a constant stream of assurances that nothing’s wrong. Will the whole world fall if we fail?

  Tonick’s avatar appears on Dyad’s screen, and a countdown clock appears above them. Three minutes to the edge of the city. Another hour will see us to the old haunts and back home to Cheers. We haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary.

  Tonick and Dyad are talking, but I can’t hear what they’re talking about. The wind noise covers their conversation. I can’t see the sky anymore. The predawn light grows darker and the fetor stronger.

  Slow-blinking lights mark the far end of the Mag Mile. People are stacked on people, spread over the torn furniture. Hardcores litter the streets, strung out on Happy Sticks. As we barrel by, a whiff of death rot makes me gag.

  Sprawled across the hood of a junked-out car, an old woman’s head turns as she follows our progress. She has an implant in place of one of her eyes, but that half of her face has turned black. She’s not going to be alive much longer. She tucks a strand of dark hair behind her ear.

  Tears flood my eyes. It’s Raina. Chemical dealer or not, she doesn’t deserve to die alone, waiting for death rot to eat enough of her to interfere with her body’s functions. I squeeze Tonick’s arm.

  “Jin?” He speaks into my ear. On the screen, he holds a hand up to Dyad and stares at me. “Are you okay?” The timbre of his voice strikes a chord in my heart.

  My chin quivers, and I hope he doesn’t notice. “Fine.”

  I don’t know when I got to be so weak, so soft-hearted. We were only out of Bostgo for a few days. I was even unconscious for some of the time. Even so, I don’t have the hardness I used to, the edge I’m going to need to turn this attempt into a success.

  I shouldn’t have come.

  We’re going to fail. Because of me.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  LOCUS: ALTER EARTH

  Bostgo Sector

  UnderCity

  Date: 16 Pentian

  Time: 0730

  I DON’T KNOW IF JIN knows, but I can see her from inside the screen. Her skin is dark umber, a stark contrast to the brightness of her green eyes as they reflect Bostgo’s lights. Her bottom lip quivers.

  On the outside, I squeeze her in a hug, and she leans back into me. It’s a strange sensation to be in two places at once, but it’s like managing two separate boxes in my brain. The real me is up there, holding her in my arms as we speed through Bostgo. The other me, the one that needed to have a private conversation with Dyad, is down here.

  “What’s the matter with her?” Dyad asks me. Her avatar rubs the back of her neck.

  I shrug. “We’re back home, but it’s not home anymore.”

  “It was never home.”

  “Maybe. But it was all she knew.” I cross my arms. Dyad doesn’t understand that our broken-out bar was home to us. We all lived there, saving Pinks and helping ReProds. Jin said it herself. Teq’s was the first face she saw when she woke up. That happened in Cheers.

  Dyad studies Jin as our friend swipes at a tear that spills over her cheek. Jin ignores us, her gaze fixed at some point over the handlebars. Dyad turns to me and puts her hands on her hips. “Will you be able to kill Teq if you have to?”

  The question punches me in the middle. “What are you talking about?”

  “What if Teq isn’t alive?” Dyad frowns. “What if Teq isn’t Teq anymore? What if she’s one of them?”

  I need to sit down. A chair appears behind me, so I take the seat Dyad offers. We’re still connected. “We’ll decide that when we get there.”

  Dyad sits down next to me, now dressed in black leather from head to toe. “That’s not good enough.”

  I scowl, sorting through the feelings coming through the link. “What do you mean?”

  She has an energy pistol on her lap. She folds her hand over the weapon, completely relaxed, but she pins me with her gaze. “I’m programmed to protect Jin. That’s what you made me for. If I have to, I’ll kill you to save her. I don’t have ambiguity because of feelings. I won’t let you choose Teq and sacrifice Jin.”

  I consider Dyad’s avatar through the benefit of the link. Dyad has become everything we wanted her to be. She’s the triumph of my partnership with Teq. We both love Jin in our own way.

  Dyad’s eyes glow with a kind of intensity that I’ve never seen from her before. “We all come home.”

  “I won’t make that choice, Dyad. I won’t leave Jin behind.” I study Dyad’s profile. The weapon disappears. “Promise me something.”

  She tips her head back and studies me, waiting for the rest of what I’m about to ask. “If I can.”

  “If it comes to it, don’t let Jin save her father instead of herself. He wouldn’t want that, and neither do I. Your job is to save Jin. Always choose Jin.”

  It doesn’t matter if it’s her or me; Jin has to survive. I’m certain that she is more important to our future than either of us knows.

  Dyad stands. “We’re almost back.”

  Without another word, I let myself recede from Dyad’s world and move back into my own.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  LOCUS: ALTER EARTH

  Bostgo Sector

  UnderCity

  Date: 16 Pentian

  Time: 0830

  THE THICK SMOG TURNS from dark gray to light gray. The sun must be up.

  “Rolling through Six Corners,” Dyad says as we move over the shapes painted on the pavement. It’s always been one of our favorite places to hide.

  Jin lifts her head to study the intersection. “Stars are lucky in the UnderCity.” The mask muffles her voice.

  She shakes her head. “At least they always have been for me.” Jin coughs. The dirty air is getting to her. It would get to anybody after breathing the clean of the bayou. She points to pile of rubble. “Last week, that was a building.” She rubs her thigh. “Has it only been a week?”

  “What happened to it?”

  She stiffens. “You.”

  I flinch at the barb in her voice. I don’t remember doing it. Bits and pieces of recollection drift to the surface of my thoughts. It must have been while my programming fought off the malicious attack from Wiskee. The base of my skull throbs.

  “Are you hungry?” For the first time I think how sore she must be. Besides a couple of stops for her to relieve herself, we haven’t stopped at all. I’ve been so preoccupied with planning our attack that I’ve forgotten to make sure she eats. She hasn’t had anything since we left the forest.

  “A little,” she admits.

  At the end of our block, Dyad eases to
a halt. I can’t pick up any hostiles on my limited sensors. Maybe she can. “Getting anything?”

  Dyad shakes her head. “Nothing out there.”

  We bounce in the seat as Dyad hops up onto the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street. We stop when we’re even with the run-down bar. The edges of the window frame are blackened with soot, but we’re too far away to see inside the main room. Maybe they angry-bombed the place after we got away.

  How many Pinks have come by since we’ve been gone? How many have we helped? How many have come to us looking for sanctuary? I grimace.

  Without us, Pinks might have gone extinct. We’ve been protecting them for as long as I can remember. We’ve been helping. Haven’t we?

  Though, I can’t shake the feeling that they established me there to find Jin. Her mother was pretty set on having her. She wouldn’t have thought anything of sending me to collect Pinks. Is that why I need her to survive? Is it just my programming?

  Has Jin been my mission all along? So many unanswered questions.

  I turn to Jin. “Hit the scatter.”

  Jin twists one of the studs on her cuff. The extra heat provides a little extra camouflage, but not enough to sneak in completely unnoticed. Dyad slows and pulls to a halt.

  I stand up to look one way and then the other. Straddling Dyad, I swivel in place. This is too easy. GenCor must know we’re here. Surely they were already processing digital images of us as we rolled into Bostgo. They’ll figure it out.

  But we might have a little time.

  They’ll know soon enough.

  Jin is most wanted. If Maria’s words were true, GenCor was jacked into the bungalow network. How else would Wiskee have gotten down all the way to the clearing?

  A siren warbles at the end of the street. There’s a patrol out and about. “We need to get inside.”

  Dyad doesn’t argue. She zips across the pavement and stops at the window. “Door-to-door service,” she says. She must be trying to lighten the mood.

  Jin puts both of her hands on the low masonry wall and pitches herself over into the main room. Once she’s in, Dyad peels out and away down the street. She has her own list of places where she hides.

  My entrance isn’t as graceful, but I’m in the room posthaste. The familiar broken tables and chairs are in the same positions as I remember them. Everything is covered by a layer of dust and, beneath the dust, there’s blood-red fluid everywhere. The smell is all gone, and it’s turned almost black.

  But it’s there like an unwanted tattoo.

  The footprints are ours. Other than the burn marks on the window frame, nothing indicates anyone else has been here since we left.

  The patrol’s siren warbles again. A tinny voice announces, “We are only here to help. We are committed to help all ReProds with their unique medical needs.”

  Although I can’t see the actual vehicle yet, the patrol is close enough that I can see the flashing lights reflected in the haze. I lean back against the wall.

  The robo is three buildings away from us and getting closer. Jin needs to disappear.

  I turn to her. “Jin, get below.”

  It’s the safest place for her.

  Jin doesn’t wait. She keeps low and scurries around the bar. There’s the sound of breaking glass, and then the seal on the hidden room hisses. Fluorescent light splashes across the floor. She gets gone. Her footfall stops, and she cries out. She doesn’t say my name, just a retching gasp.

  “I’m coming, Jin.” I sprint across the floor and down into the hole after her. “I’m coming.”

  She’s standing over my bed, trembling as she gapes at...someone. Long legs, breasts, everything dusted with freckles. It takes a moment, but then I recognize the woman there. My knees almost give out.

  It’s Wiskee, spread-eagled and blank-eyed. In this GenCor version, pink imitation starfish arms spread across my pillows, reaching toward Jin. Wiskee’s fingers end in hacker tubules that reach toward me. This isn’t the same one that attacked us in the forest. A chill travels down the stairs.

  Above, the siren warbles. It’s a countdown clock. Capture is imminent. “We are only here to help. We are committed to help all ReProds and their unique medical needs.” The tinny voice is closer now. Close enough to pick up our signatures if we don’t seal the room.

  Jin’s eyes dart from Wiskee to me. “Do you remember doing this?” She takes a step back. “There was blood...no, not blood. Red fluid everywhere. It looked like blood. It was awful. I woke up in your bed, next to her. I woke up with death.”

  “I did it to protect you. Wiskee wanted you. Just like back in the forest.” I remember that much. At least I think I do. I put up my hands. “Love changes things, Jin. I’ll never go back to what I was that day. Trust me.”

  Her composure cracks. “What if they reprogram you again?”

  “I beat it last time.”

  “Will you this time?”

  “So many variables.”

  “We’ll make it.”

  “I can’t do this. Why did I come?” She sinks to the corner of the bed and buries her face in her hands. “I’m going to lose you all: Teq, Dyad, you.”

  I grasp her shoulders. “You won’t lose us. We’re all going to make it back home. Together.”

  She trembles from head to toe. A shadow crosses her face, but she nods. “Together. We’ll be together. ”

  I move away to slam the button, and the hatch closes. Fluorescents blink and then come on. I shouldn’t have brought her. This isn’t going to end well.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  LOCUS: ALTER EARTH

  Bostgo Sector

  UnderCity

  Date: 16 Pentian

  Time: 1000

  TONICK IS SEARCHING the shelves for something. We’ve been down here a while.

  “Aha,” he says. He comes near. “Here.” He presses something against my hand. “You’ve got to be starved.”

  I glance at my palm. He’s given me an emergency meal. I don’t want to eat it, but I’m hungry enough to forget that I’m going to be eating next to a dead...thing.

  I won’t call her a woman.

  “Thanks,” I say finally. The metallic wrapper crinkles as I crack it. The food warms in my hand.

  He dips his chin. “Dyad says it’s all clear out there. The patrol left without finding anything. She didn’t pick a fight.”

  “We don’t want one here.”

  He rubs the back of his neck. “We’re not far from the infiltration point on the map. As soon as you’ve recuperated, we’re ready to breach GenCor.”

  “Where does that map lead?” I put a bite of potato in my mouth. It tastes of garlic.

  “To a tunnel entrance.”

  “Where does the tunnel go?”

  “Into the basement of the GenCor building.”

  “The old one?” I’m talking between bites now.

  “Yeah.”

  “What if they moved?”

  “We thought of that. Dyad’s been parked over there, checking it out. Guards are still stationed at entrances and exits. At this point, we think they do their experiments in the basement. Maybe that part was too hard to move.”

  I toss the empty tray aside. “What do we do then?”

  “If we can get inside, we can hack the network.”

  “What if they hack you back?” He has to know that’s a possibility.

  “Dyad has orders to kill me the minute anything looks shady in my programming.”

  “And what if—”

  The corners of his mouth turn down. “Then I will kill her.”

  “And Teq?”

  “If she’s there,” he says, “and that’s a big if, we’ll rescue her. Otherwise, our first goal is to plant a virus in the GenCor mainframe and dump all their private documents on the newswire. It’s the best way to get MidHeighters and the Crest dwellers to understand what GenCor’s been doing in the dark.

  We’ll launch a truth bomb on Bostgo. The Swanks and MidHeighters will
have to make a choice. They’ll either turn a blind eye or do something.”

  “What if they choose to do nothing?”

  Tonick grins. “Then we’ll have access to all their records. We’ll know all their weaknesses. Dyad will download everything before they can get the leak cleaned up.”

  I shiver. “What if nobody cares?” It should matter to them all. They should care about what happens when nobody watches.

  “It’s up to them.” Tonick moves his hand across my back. “If they don’t, we’ll find another way to make them care.”

  That sounds more ominous than I can handle right now. More militant.

  How do you make a generation care about anything outside their own scope?

  I don’t ask about my father. I don’t want to have that conversation. If my father is there, I’ll save him. Tonick doesn’t want to hear that. But the old man risked it all for me; it only seems right that I should try to do the same for him.

  “What’s in the bag?”

  “Nanos.” He tilts his head to study my leg. “I used the last we had on you. Back in the cabin.” He slings a pack over his shoulder. “Dyad’s waiting.”

  “Let’s go, then.” I hit the button and then hurry past him without waiting on him. I’m not sure I can handle his touch right now. Two dead Wiskees are too fresh in my mind. I don’t blame him. I should thank him for doing it, but it’s hard to stomach. The droid I love kills for me.

  Outside, Tonick takes the front seat and I climb onto the back, locking my hands around Tonick’s middle. It’s hard to think of Tonick as a killer. He was the manipulated triggerman. Yet the murders rest on the shoulders of Maria Stella. Maybe the deaths of Teq and my father, as well. I want the stars he gave me, but she won’t let me keep them. My world won’t right itself until she’s gone.

  Dyad switches her lights to the off position. We’re traveling on sensor readings only. I never could get the hang of cruising by instrument. Between the two of them, they make it happen.