The Girl Who Dared to Endure
Page 36
I swallowed. I had known this moment was coming, and now that it was upon me, the confidence I had been feeling earlier drained out of me. I was about to reveal Jasper, Rose, and Tony to both Sage and Scipio. I had no idea how this was going to go, and that was causing me no small amount of anxiety. Mostly because they weren’t sure how he was going to react, either.
“I will answer your questions gladly,” I replied. “But first my Knights will need to clear the room. May I have your permission to move Sadie and Plancett to cells in the Citadel, pending the result of this meeting?”
Sage stared at me for several seconds, and then looked up at Scipio. “Lord Scipio?”
“You may remove them to the antechamber,” he said after a pause. “I will not allow them to be shuffled out of this room in handcuffs, and marched to the cells, without first having justifiable cause. If the Tower learns that two councilors might have been involved in a plot to overthrow me, there will be a reckoning, and I would like to avoid that in case these allegations prove untrue.”
I heard the warning in his voice and got the message loud and clear. If I wasn’t able to convince them that I was telling the truth, then I would be the one being escorted from the Council Room. It was hard not to make a gulping sound as I swallowed the lump that was my fear. I couldn’t fail in this. If I did, there would be nothing to do but run away with everyone, join my brother, and leave the Tower to its fate. Thank Scipio I’d had the foresight to make sure that everyone was ready to go at the first sign of failure. All we would have to do was hide out until my brother and the others arrived.
“As you wish. Knights?”
Dylan finally let Sadie up, hauling her back and then pushing her down the stairs. Sadie struggled, crying out in spite of the muffler over her mouth. I could feel the hatred and spite in her eyes as Dylan shoved her past, the blue of them so dark with anger that they were more black than anything else. Dylan kept her firmly under control, though, and within moments, the Knights had left, leaving the hard drives containing Jasper and Rose on the central dais.
I pushed away from my desk and moved down the stairs, then stepped through the door. “Lord Scipio, does this room have a terminal independent of your own systems available?” I asked, heading for the dais in the middle of the room.
“Yes,” he replied. “I trust you need to interface the hard drives to it?”
“Yes,” I informed him. “I will also need you to share control of your holographic projectors and speakers.”
Scipio blinked at me, and then nodded. I made it to the dais just as a slot opened up from the floor, and a terminal on a table was lifted up from a storage area below. I could see the connection cables waiting, and picked up both hard drives, carrying them over to the table. Setting them down carefully, I plugged Jasper in first. Here we go, I said, hitting the button to initialize the download.
“The reason I know that Sadie was responsible for stealing parts of Scipio’s code is because the parts she targeted were parts of other AIs, used to enhance Scipio’s original programing. They were all candidates for Scipio’s position, once, but ultimately weren’t selected when their programs failed. However, aspects of their personalities were added to give him extra checks and balances in his decision-making process. Allow me to present the first one: Jasper.”
Jasper’s download had just finished, and I nervously turned and looked up to where Scipio was sitting on his chair. Seconds later, his form grew less defined as some of the blue beams being emitted by the projectors above shifted, the color changing to an orange hue. Moments later, a ghostly outline of Jasper in his full glory stood next to Scipio, his white hair slicked back and his mustache impeccably groomed.
“Greetings,” he said, giving a nod of his head. “It is good to see you, Brother.”
Scipio looked up at him… and then back to me. “What is this?” he asked.
I frowned. I had wondered if Scipio had been aware of his loss, and now that he was peering at Jasper like he was an absolute stranger, I was starting to realize that he hadn’t been. Hell, watching his face, it was almost like he didn’t even remember Jasper in the first place. Disappointment rippled through me as it hit me that Scipio might not be able to help us fix his programming on his own. Especially if he wasn’t even aware he was broken.
“That is Jasper. He made up the core of your logic, before he was taken twenty-five years ago.”
“That’s ridiculous,” he said. “I think I would know if my—”
“Are you telling me that you haven’t yet deduced that convincing your diagnostic subroutines that you are perfectly well would be the first step any subversive group would take against you?” Jasper asked, and I squinted at him, taking a moment to rephrase his question to Scipio in a way I could understand: You don’t think they’re smart enough to make you think you’re okay?
“I…” Scipio faltered, and my heart stopped. I’d never seen the great machine look so flustered, and I suddenly worried about what he might do, now that he was beginning to realize that there was a problem. I prayed he didn’t shut down. The last thing we needed was for him to go offline.
“How many of these… parts of Scipio have you collected, Champion Castell?” Sage asked, and I looked back to see the old man standing, his arms crossed over his chest. “I see another hard drive there.”
“Three,” I said. “I have Rose and Jasper, while Engineer Green has Tony.” I paused to look at Lacey and saw her setting a hard drive of her own on the desk in front of her, resting one hand on it and giving me a nod. “There are two more—Kurt and Alice. I know that Kurt was stolen first, over a hundred years ago, but we haven’t been able to discover his whereabouts. We have no idea what happened to Alice.”
“But they were all stolen?” he asked, spearing me with a look.
“Ye—” I paused, and then shook my head, realizing I was about to lie inadvertently. “I don’t know about Alice. All I know is that she is likely missing as well. Tony made his way to Engineer Lacey on his own, when he realized that they would probably be coming after him next. But I haven’t questioned him. I am uncertain of his story.”
“So that explains it,” he muttered. I squinted at him, baffled by his response.
“Sir?” I asked.
Sage blinked owlishly down at me. “Hm? Ah, yes. My apologies.”
Apologies for what? I wondered as he unfolded his arms from under his armpits. I started to follow where his hand was pointing, assuming he was about to ask me some sort of question.
Until I saw the object he was gripping, the familiar, matte black L-shape of it barely registering until the first flash of fire erupted from the tip with a violent BANG! Strum jerked in his chair, a red hole forming between his eyes. The back of his skull exploded in a wet mass across the wood of the wall behind him. I stared at it for a second, so shocked that I was unable to fully comprehend what had just happened.
Then Lacey gave a shrill scream of horror. I snapped my head toward her in time to see her standing, staring at where Strum was still sitting, his body still and lifeless. Suddenly another BANG barked from over my shoulder, and I ducked down instinctively, covering my head with my hands. Blood spurted from high up on Lacey’s chest, just below her collarbone.
She staggered back, and the next bullet caught her low in the stomach, at which point she disappeared behind the desk. I whirled around, finally breaking through the shock of his attack and already starting to call Dylan, when Sage said, “Scipio, lock down this room and jam all transmissions coming from this building, authorization code Pine, Ezekial 0-1-9-5-1.”
“Authorization confirmed,” Scipio replied automatically, and I heard the metallic grate of locks being slammed into place and additional security doors being lowered. My breath caught when I realized that I was trapped. Alone.
With a man I feared I had gravely misjudged.
Ready for the FINAL BOOK of Liana’s story?
Dear Reader,
Thank you for reading Th
e Girl Who Dared to Endure.
Book 7, The Girl Who Dared to Fight, is the grand finale of the series!
It releases May 10th, 2018.
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I’ll see you again soon, for one final return to the Tower…
Til then,
Bella x
P.S. If you’re new to my books or haven’t yet read my Gender Game series, I suggest you check it out. It is where the Tower’s story began and is set in the same world as The Girl Who Dared series—the two storylines complement each other.
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Read More by Bella Forrest
THE GIRL WHO DARED TO THINK
The Girl Who Dared to Think (Book 1)
The Girl Who Dared to Stand (Book 2)
The Girl Who Dared to Descend (Book 3)
The Girl Who Dared to Rise (Book 4)
The Girl Who Dared to Lead (Book 5)
The Girl Who Dared to Endure (Book 6)
The Girl Who Dared to Fight (Book 7)
THE GENDER GAME
(Completed series)
The Gender Game (Book 1)
The Gender Secret (Book 2)
The Gender Lie (Book 3)
The Gender War (Book 4)
The Gender Fall (Book 5)
The Gender Plan (Book 6)
The Gender End (Book 7)
HOTBLOODS
Hotbloods (Book 1)
Coldbloods (Book 2)
Renegades (Book 3)
Venturers (Book 4)
Traitors (Book 5)
A SHADE OF VAMPIRE SERIES
Series 1: Derek & Sofia’s story
A Shade of Vampire (Book 1)
A Shade of Blood (Book 2)
A Castle of Sand (Book 3)
A Shadow of Light (Book 4)
A Blaze of Sun (Book 5)
A Gate of Night (Book 6)
A Break of Day (Book 7)
Series 2: Rose & Caleb’s story
A Shade of Novak (Book 8)
A Bond of Blood (Book 9)
A Spell of Time (Book 10)
A Chase of Prey (Book 11)
A Shade of Doubt (Book 12)
A Turn of Tides (Book 13)
A Dawn of Strength (Book 14)
A Fall of Secrets (Book 15)
An End of Night (Book 16)
Series 3: The Shade continues with a new hero…
A Wind of Change (Book 17)
A Trail of Echoes (Book 18)
A Soldier of Shadows (Book 19)
A Hero of Realms (Book 20)
A Vial of Life (Book 21)
A Fork of Paths (Book 22)
A Flight of Souls (Book 23)
A Bridge of Stars (Book 24)
Series 4: A Clan of Novaks
A Clan of Novaks (Book 25)
A World of New (Book 26)
A Web of Lies (Book 27)
A Touch of Truth (Book 28)
An Hour of Need (Book 29)
A Game of Risk (Book 30)
A Twist of Fates (Book 31)
A Day of Glory (Book 32)
Series 5: A Dawn of Guardians
A Dawn of Guardians (Book 33)
A Sword of Chance (Book 34)
A Race of Trials (Book 35)
A King of Shadow (Book 36)
An Empire of Stones (Book 37)
A Power of Old (Book 38)
A Rip of Realms (Book 39)
A Throne of Fire (Book 40)
A Tide of War (Book 41)
Series 6: A Gift of Three
A Gift of Three (Book 42)
A House of Mysteries (Book 43)
A Tangle of Hearts (Book 44)
A Meet of Tribes (Book 45)
A Ride of Peril (Book 46)
A Passage of Threats (Book 47)
A Tip of Balance (Book 48)
A Shield of Glass (Book 49)
A Clash of Storms (Book 50)
Series 7: A Call of Vampires
A Call of Vampires (Book 51)
A Valley of Darkness (Book 52)
A Hunt of Fiends (Book 53)
A Den of Tricks (Book 54)
A City of Lies (Book 55)
A League of Exiles (Book 56)
A Charge of Allies (Book 57)
A Snare of Vengeance (Book 58)
A SHADE OF DRAGON TRILOGY
A Shade of Dragon 1
A Shade of Dragon 2
A Shade of Dragon 3
A SHADE OF KIEV TRILOGY
A Shade of Kiev 1
A Shade of Kiev 2
A Shade of Kiev 3
THE SECRET OF SPELLSHADOW MANOR
(Completed series)
The Secret of Spellshadow Manor (Book 1)
The Breaker (Book 2)
The Chain (Book 3)
The Keep (Book 4)
The Test (Book 5)
The Spell (Book 6)
BEAUTIFUL MONSTER DUOLOGY
Beautiful Monster 1
Beautiful Monster 2
DETECTIVE ERIN BOND (Adult thriller/mystery)
Lights, Camera, GONE
Write, Edit, KILL
For an updated list of Bella’s books, please visit her website: www.bellaforrest.net
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