by Eric Warren
“Elevators it is.”
“I will check them first,” Shin said, trotting over to the bank of four elevators.
“What’s he going to do if a Peacekeeper comes out of one of those things?” Arista asked Frees. He only shrugged but she noticed his palm was flat. He’d activated the felp. Should she do the same? Sy had said she needed to hold her thumb and pinkie finger together for two seconds to power up the weapon. And then just flex her hand to fire. No, she didn’t want to do it yet. She might have a nervous tremor or twitch. Or she might forget it was on and try to brush her hair out of her face, burning off her nose. She didn’t need to lose any more body parts.
“All clear,” Shin called.
The ride up to the first sky lobby was fast with no sign of Peacekeepers, which Arista found odd. Perhaps Hogo-sha was so confident in his ability to protect the outside of his fortress he didn’t see the need for internal protection. But still, it gnawed at her.
The second elevator was just as quick, taking them up fifty-five floors in under forty seconds. Arista’s ears popped on the way up. She hadn’t thought about lack of atmosphere. If the building was high enough and not climate controlled, she might have an issue breathing. Reflexively she took three deep breaths, prompting a glance from Frees.
“Okay?” he asked.
She nodded, staring straight ahead. There would definitely be Peacekeepers on this level. And she would have to be the one to kill them. If changing them didn’t work anymore, it was their only choice to get to Hogo-sha.
The doors opened and Shin peered out into the hallway. “Still clear,” he said. “I see no one.”
Arista bit her lip. “Something’s not right. We should have seen someone by now.”
“I think tonight, luck is on our side,” Shin replied, making his way into the sky lobby quietly. “We are almost there.” He led them to another bank of elevators.
“Does this feel right to you?” she asked Frees. All of her senses felt like they’d been dialed to eleven. Sights, sounds…everything was sharper.
“I trust him,” he replied. “He wants the same things we do. Let’s just get this over with.”
Shin stood inside the elevator, waiting for them. Arista followed Frees in, trying not to drag her feet. “When we get to the top, he should be in a large room close to the elevators. When you have finished with him, call me and I will pick the CPU. Then we’ll go.”
Arista nodded, her heart hammering in her chest as the elevator rose the final fifty-five floors. Get in, take him down. Check for humans. Get out. That’s all there was to it, right? Simple.
The elevator doors opened. Shin stuck his head out then pulled it right back in. “Down to the left,” he said, pointing. “You’ll have to blast through the doors. Protected by code.”
Arista looked at Frees. How could he not see the strangeness in all this? Could she be the one who was being obtuse here? What if her ambivalence toward the machines was making more of this than there actually was? Shin had said he would get them here uninterrupted; it was what he was best at. And he’d delivered. Now it was their turn. Perhaps what was really bothering her was the time had finally come and she would have to make a choice. Save the humans or let them die again. She still wasn’t sure she could make that choice.
“Let’s do it.” Frees stepped out into the hall.
Arista took one last look at Shin and followed, pressing her thumb and pinkie together. Her arm froze up for a second, then relaxed. That must have been the weapon activating. Now all she needed to do was not flex it until they were inside. She glanced back, Shin stared at them from inside the elevator, his head just beyond the edge. She turned, watching Frees and wishing she had as much confidence as he was projecting at the moment. He strode up to the small pad beside the door, aimed the felp and fired. The unit shut down and the doors made an audible click.
Arista drew three more deep breaths, ready to make this happen. One way or another, Hogo-sha was done for.
Frees placed his hand on one of the handles. “Ready?” he asked. She nodded. “Let’s go.” He pulled the door open and checked the other side before slipping in. She was right behind him with her arm extended, looking for any Peacekeepers Hogo-sha might be keeping as guards, but seeing none.
They stood in a large, two-floor circular room. The back third of the wall was all glass looking out on the city while the other two walls were covered by built-in shelves stacked high with books. Above them, a second-floor circular ring ran the perimeter of the shelves and then the glass, with two staircases on either side leading up.
And there, in the middle, was a giant sphere attached to the ceiling.
The sphere reminded her of Charlie; it was covered in small little greebles and devices, as well as hundreds of lights, all blinking on and off in random patterns. At the very bottom of the sphere was a series of cables running down to an opening in the floor. Exactly as it had been back in Chicago.
“It’s a library,” Arista said, taking it all in.
“We don’t have time to look,” Frees whispered. “Let’s take care of this. It looks like it is suspended from the ceiling by three support struts. I’ll take those. He’s probably already alerted the Peacekeepers so let’s make it fast.”
If Hogo-sha was anything like Charlie it meant he couldn’t speak on his own. He was primarily a processing unit, designed to be immobile.
Frees climbed the stairs on one side, taking them four at a time to take aim at the supports. The lights on Hogo-sha flickered faster. He clearly knew he was in danger. Arista walked to the middle of the room, her arm raised up. But her eye wandered. If there were humans in here where was Hogo-sha hiding them?” Charlie had kept a secret compartment built off to the side of his main chamber. It didn’t look like there was room for anything like that in here.
“Ready?” Frees called from the upper level.
Before she could respond someone grabbed her arm, yanking it down and pulled her into a bear hug. “Frees!” she yelled. She turned to see who had grabbed her. These Peacekeepers were much too quiet! How had he…?
“Shin?” she asked, seeing the familiar face behind her.
“I am sorry, Arista. I do not wish to hurt you.” His voice was even, non-threatening.
Frees raced to the edge of the banister, staring down. “Shin, what are you doing?” he yelled. “Don’t tell me you work for them?”
“Not exactly, no. I am Hogo-sha.” He looked back at Arista. “It is me.”
Seventeen
Arista shouldn’t have been surprised. Everything about this, ever since he showed up in that alley had felt too easy. He just happened to have a place for them to rest. And they hadn’t seen a Peacekeeper since their initial arrival. Now it all made sense. Hogo-sha had wanted them to reach this place. So he’d made it as easy as possible.
“No!” Frees yelled. “You’re one of us! Your eyes!”
“Eye color can be changed, Frees. Even Jonn knew that.”
Arista stiffened at the mention of her old “boyfriend”. They’d never actually been in an official relationship but had pretended to for Arista to better fit into machine society. Dad said she’d be much less suspicious as part of a pairing. But after she’d changed him he’d always had more feelings for her than she could reciprocate. His one talent had been to find a way to alter his internal code, changing his eye color back to its original color so he couldn’t be easily picked up by surveillance. The plan had been for him to help her parents achieve the same thing, had they ever actually met.
Then he went crazy.
“I don’t understand, how can you know Jonn?” Arista asked.
“He worked for Charlie. Charlie showed us his methods. I used them to my advantage. If he could change his eyes back to their color, why couldn’t I change someone else’s to look like they are something they are not?”
“Shit,” Arista said, squirming against him. “The Peacekeepers. They weren’t Peacekeepers at all, were they?”
“And this body? Who is this?” she asked, indicating the person holding her.
“My favorite avatar. So I can go on adventures.”
Frees had made his way down the stairs and was holding his palm out to them. “Let her go, Shin.”
“Frees, deactivate your weapon. I can crush her in my arms in under a second.” He gave a squeeze and Arista screamed. She feared all her bones would break at once.
“Is this why you brought us here? To kill us?” Arista asked, struggling against his immense strength. “Why not just do it when we didn’t expect it? Why go to the trouble?”
“It was never about killing you,” Shin said, keeping his grip firm.
“Hostages,” Frees said. “He wants to know where the human colony is.”
“So you can destroy them?” Arista tried wriggling out of his grasp again, to no avail.
“The humans cannot be allowed to populate. They are a cancer on the Earth. We have no choice. I do not like killing, but the threat is too great.” Shin said.
The lights of Hogo-sha seemed to ripple in concert with what he was saying. How could she have been so stupid? Obviously Hogo-sha would have an avatar.
“One more chance, Frees. I can damage her without killing her. Put your hand down. Prepare for shutdown.”
Frees’ gaze shifted between him and Arista. She narrowed her eyes at him. He wasn’t going to do it, was he? He couldn’t dislike the humans that much he’d be willing to sacrifice them. His arm dropped.
“No!” Arista said. She placed her thumb and pinkie fingers together, confirming activation. She flexed her hand.
Air rushed by in a whoosh as Arista was propelled through the air. Shin no longer held onto her and a bright light engulfed the entire area. She landed with a thump on her side as debris peppered the ground around her. Smoke made everything difficult to see and alarms blared in her vision, indicating multiple cuts and wounds to her body along with a myriad of heightened conditions. She blinked them away and pushed herself up. A significant crater dented the floor where she’d stood only moments before. Shin was nowhere to be seen. A hand grabbed her from behind and she whirled around.
“We have to get out of here!” Frees yelled.
Something clipped her shoulder and she turned to see five “Peacekeepers” standing near the entrance, their weapons drawn and firing. But they weren’t Peacekeepers. They were husks. Husks Hogo-sha controlled just like Charlie had. She raised and flexed her hand again, the concussive blast knocking her shoulder back while at the same time sending the Pseudokeepers flying backward. There was no telling if she’d killed them or not.
“We have to finish the job!” she yelled to Frees. She pointed her hand at the giant sphere but as soon as she flexed it Frees barreled into her, knocking her off balance. She shot went wide and blew through the windows on the far side, shattering them and opening the space to the windy atmosphere. “What the hell?” she yelled at him.
Frees pointed ahead of her. More Pseudokeepers had arrived and were firing on their position. She fired. Again and again, sending them all back from the doorway. It was their only way out and if she had to kill a thousand of them in order to escape, she would.
They made a break for the door, Arista’s hand still extended in front of her like a lance, ready to impale anyone with the massive amount of energy it generated. She’d have to remember to thank Sy for developing such an effective weapon. As soon as they reached the door she turned one more time to take a last shot at Hogo-sha when the body of one of the Pseudokeepers she’d downed came flying at her like a rag doll. She barely moved in time to avoid it as it smashed into the ground, chipping up pieces of the marble floor as it landed. Further inside the room she could make out Shin, lifting the bodies one-armed and sending them flying in their direction. His face was stretched into a rage like she’d never seen. She’d never get a clean shot.
“C’mon! We can’t do it!” Frees yelled. He grabbed her by the jacket and dragged her into the hallway.
“No! We. Have. To. Finish!” she yelled back, yanking against him. “I have to finish!” She screamed now. What would Sy say when she learned they were right there and didn’t destroy the AI? They were so close. She would be so disappointed. She had failed her, again.
“The elevators will be too slow,” she heard him say, but was only half paying attention. She tried to focus on not tripping over her own feet as he pulled her along.
“Let go!” she said. Behind them another series of bullets whizzed past them. Arista turned and fired again, clearing the hallway as soon as Frees let go of her, stopping in front of the elevator bank.
“How tall was the closest building?” Frees asked. The Device provided the answer without her even needing to consult it. “Twelve hundred, fifty-two meters,” she said, “To the southwest.”
“Then we have to go down.” He wrenched open the doors of one of the elevators and grabbed Arista by the waist, jumping to the cables inside.
“Frees, what—” she managed to yell before she saw his plan. He slid down the cable, holding on only tight enough so they didn’t tumble off. She looked up to see one of the carriages approaching fast from above. “Faster!”
“I might not be able to stop!”
“We’ll be crushed otherwise!”
He loosened his grip and they dropped even faster, moving close to terminal velocity. Arista thought every second that passed would be the one where they smashed into the floor of the sky lobby. She didn’t even want to look so she kept her gaze upward. The elevator above them wasn’t able to keep up and they were gaining some distance on it.
“Hang on to me!” Frees yelled and she hugged him. A mighty squeal came from above, the sound of metal on metal as his hand gripped the cable tight and slowed them to an almost stop. “The door!” he said. “Blast the door!”
She put her hand out and the two metal doors flew off their hinges, slamming into the far wall. Frees swung them inside just as the carriage passed by.
“This will have to do,” he said, glancing around. “You said southwest?”
She nodded, understanding what he meant to do. It was probably their only way out.
They ran around the bank of elevators to the far side of the sky lobby. All of Osaka lay before them, with one of the taller buildings close, but not close enough for a jump.
“We can’t make that,” Arista said, the Device running through the calculations. “We’ll have to find another way.”
“There is no other way.” Frees fired his own weapon at the glass window, shattering it. He kicked away any sharp pieces. “I’ll cushion the blow.” The wind whipped through her hair and she took a step to brace herself.
“We won’t make it. You can’t cushion a blow when we hit the street. We’re too high.” Her pulse was speeding and her heartbeat pounding. The Device delivered the stats to her vision which she blinked away.
“We can make it. If I can jump from one building to another with a bad leg then I can make this with two good ones.” He grabbed her arm and spun her around so she was on at his back, then he lifted her legs before she could protest.
“Frees! Don’t!” she shouted but it was too late. He’d made up his mind and she wasn’t strong enough to break his grasp. There was a commotion behind them; the Psuedokeepers no doubt. Frees backed up and took off for the opening as fast as he could accelerate. The Device continued to modify the calculations as he did; she only hoped he was right.
He launched at the proper angle from the opening, sending them sailing out into the cool air. But his speed hadn’t been sufficient. The Device told her he would have needed to be traveling at least one-third faster than he had been when they began their arc. As gravity took back over and they dropped Arista saw there was no chance. The feeling of falling took over.
Except she had a concussive weapon. She didn’t have time to run through the ramifications; they would be dead in four seconds if she
didn’t do something. She dropped her arm behind them and flexed her hand. Suddenly they were spinning through the air, gaining some altitude. It might be enough to make it to the next building. There were too many variables to calculate. She fired again and they spun in the opposite way, the sensation making her sick to her stomach. She closed her eyes, trying to ward off vertigo.
“Hang on!” Frees yelled. She gripped him harder.
The spinning motion stopped as she was jerked forward, then back again. The jolt made her lose her grip on Frees and she opened her eyes to find she was on the edge of the nearest building, slipping off Frees’ back. She clawed furiously at his hoodie, trying to find something to hold onto while everything slipped through her fingers. He wasn’t doing any better. They had hit the side of the building but not broken through the glass and were sliding down the side. Arista flexed her hand again and the glass below them shattered into a thousand pieces. She grabbed onto the first thing she could find with her new hand as they slid past, bringing her to an abrupt stop. Frees fell almost directly past her and she reached out, finding a handhold this time. He jerked to a stop and she screamed at the same time, his entire weight supported by just her wrist. She wouldn’t be able to hold on long. Above her, she held onto a shattered window frame. She didn’t have the strength to pull them both back up, but she could swing them inside.
“Destroy the windows!” she yelled.
Frees fired his weapon and the windows shattered, allowing her to swing him over so he could grab the edge of something. The Device told her she had a sprain in her left wrist as soon as she let him go. She blinked it away and swung herself with her new hand in behind him. He was on his hands and knees, attempting to get up. She scrambled over to him before he had the chance and grabbed him by the collar, screw the pain.
“When I say we can’t make it, you listen!” she spat.
He didn’t react, only watched her eyes with his, allowing her to jerk him around like a doll. She glanced to where they’d just come from it was a miracle they’d made that distance. But it also ensured none of the Pseudokeepers watching them from the opening would be able to follow them. “C’mon,” she said, letting go. “We can’t stay here. We need to make more jumps before we’re clear of them.”