by Eric Warren
Frees stood up without a word and followed her out to the stairwell.
Eighteen
“I can’t believe you were so stupid.” Arista slumped back against the wall. They’d made three more rooftop jumps—all of them minor in comparison—before breaking through the stairwell and finding their way back down to the street. They’d managed to get back on some of the abandoned streets they had passed earlier thanks to Arista’s map.
“Did you seriously think we could make that? Or were you just willing to kill us both?”
“What does it matter anyway?” Frees asked. “How many machines did you kill back there? A dozen? Maybe more? That weapon she gave you should be classified as a genocidal device.”
“It’s supposed to be!” Arista roared. “How else are we supposed to destroy the goddamn thing?” Now both arms hurt. Once the adrenaline had left her system her entire body ached from the ordeal. She had tiny cuts and bruises all over her body from the broken glass and impacts. “This is your fault.”
“My fault? Who wanted to impress the human so much she’s willing to do whatever it takes? Kill whoever it takes?” He gestured wildly.
“Yeah? And who was willing to trust the random guy who just happened to show up right when we needed him? Didn’t you think it was odd we didn’t see a single Peacekeeper after he showed up? Not even in the building itself?” She glared at him, daring him to respond.
“We heard some, patrolling.”
“Because he was controlling them to do that!” she yelled. “God, they aren’t even real Peacekeepers. He’s smarter than we gave him credit for. Anyone we meet could be either a Peacekeeper in disguise—or just another of his avatars made to look like they’re on our side. We should have seen it as soon as we arrived; he was waiting. Ready. We can’t trust anyone now. Everyone here is tainted.”
“I can’t believe how casually you dispensed with them,” Frees said, not looking at her. Instead, he leaned against the ledge of a short wall. On the other side, the alleyway dropped down a few feet leading to an old fence.
“What was I supposed to do, Frees? Let them shoot us?”
“Use your ability! Turn them, change them to our side!”
She sneered. “That doesn’t work here! Whatever he’s done to them they are immune. He told us that himself.”
“And you trust what he says?”
Arista gaped at him for a beat, her mouth slightly open. “Trust? No, I don’t trust what he says! I said that from the beginning! Remind me, which one of us ran into this thing headstrong without any regard for what we might be facing?”
Frees tapped his chin with his finger in a mocking gesture. “Hmm, let’s see. Oh yeah, you did. You were so intent on impressing Sy, you didn’t see she’s doing nothing more than using you. Giving you compliments, touching you on the arm, don’t think I haven’t seen it.”
“Touching me on the—” She shook her head. “She respects me. And she gets it, Frees. In a way you never will. You’re not like us. You are a copy of us, and that drives you insane more than anything else because you know it’s true. Otherwise why tear all your skin off? Why try so hard not to be part of society? Because you know it’s nothing more than a cheap copy of the real thing and you can’t deal with the blow to your pride that your race can’t come up with anything on its own.”
She knew the moment she said it she’d pushed him too far. But honestly, she didn’t care. He’d almost killed them. Didn’t he care about that?
Frees turned and approached her, stopping a foot short. Even though he wasn’t breathing and his face wasn’t red and he wasn’t showing any of the telltale signs she normally would look for in someone’s body language she could tell he was furious. It was in the quiet way he held himself, still as a statue with his orange eyes boring into her. And she stared right back, not willing to give an inch. Could she even trust him anymore? Or had he been corrupted by this place? Was that why he’d made that jump? Was he trying to kill her?
“You never wanted to destroy Hogo-sha in the first place, did you? That’s why you pulled me from that room. You could have had those struts down in an instant if you’d really wanted to. Is that why you came in the first place? To stop me?” she asked.
“I came so you wouldn’t die alone,” he finally said. “Because this was a suicide mission. Sy knew it, but you are too blind to see it. But I’m done. You want to kill yourself over this AI then you go right ahead.” He stepped forward, pushing her out of the way as he made his way down the alleyway.
“Fine,” she said as she passed. “At least I won’t have someone whining to me about how many Peacekeepers I have to kill when I go back in.” She thought he would stop and come back; that he couldn’t resist a good fight. But he only kept on walking. And the further he got the more defiant she became about it. If he really meant to leave then she didn’t need the burden of him. If he couldn’t reliably have her back then she didn’t need him slowing her down. It would be easier for her to get back into Hogo-sha’s building without him anyway.
As soon as he disappeared around the corner she kicked a small container of parts, sending them flying down the alley after him. She should have known this would happen. She should have expected it sooner. He was only ever interested in her for her ability to change the machines over. And now that she no longer could change them he was done with her. Big surprise.
Arista hopped over the short wall and down onto the lower level of the alley. She needed to regroup. And something to drink would be nice. Her only choice was to go back to Shin’s lair, but she’d have to keep a lookout to make sure he wasn’t there. She could get in, get some water, contact Sy again, and get back out fast. Maybe even grab some of that equipment if it could help her. She’d be able to get a message out to Sy using his console, if he hadn’t disabled it or blocked it like he had her own personal channel. But if it was active there was a possibility he could monitor the transmission, locate Jill and Max in the process. It was a big risk, but she didn’t see she had much choice. She needed a way back and wasn’t going to get it standing around in this cold alleyway.
The fence at the end of the alley was clamped shut with a large padlock. Arista grabbed it with her new hand and squeezed. The lock bent and broke in her hand, falling away.
So that’s what that feels like.
She felt a surge of renewed vigor as she slid through the fence and back toward Shin’s place.
And if he did happen to be there waiting for her, she’d make sure Hogo-sha would never be able to use that avatar again.
Nineteen
Jill hadn’t moved from the table when Max pushed through the back door. The human followed close behind.
“I told her she didn’t need to bring me here, I can go anywhere in the city undetected,” the human said as soon as she was in the door. A curt smile spread across the woman’s face. “I’m sorry, that was rude. I’m Forsythia. Sy for short.”
“Yes, we talked.”
“Right.” Sy wiped her brow. “Well. Thank you for allowing me in your home.”
“H’ve got some supplies if you’re hungry. Things we keep on hand for Arista,” Jill stood and opened the pantry door. Max moved into the living room.
“That would be nice, yes. I haven’t eaten since yesterday.”
Jill grabbed a few pieces of bread and some fruit from the refrigerator. “You were at the gate all night?”
Sy nodded, taking a seat across from the one Jill had vacated. “I needed time to work on the gate. And to prepare Arista’s new hand. I manufactured it on site, though I already knew I would need it. I brought the base with me and made the measurements the other night.”
“But you didn’ tell her,” she said softly.
“I wanted it to be a surprise,” Sy said, flattening her own hands on the table and drawing them across the lacquer of the table.
“How’d you know?” Jill smashed some nuts with a pestle, working quick to turn them into a butter.
Sy l
ooked up. “From the initial Cadre reports when they first picked her up. We were monitoring then too. They said a human had been discovered after burning off her own appendage. Then things happened so fast.”
Rock music blared from the other room.
“Max! Turn that down, it’s the middle of the night!” The music volume decreased. Jill looked over at Sy. “She likes music.”
“I think that’s fascinating. All of you. I find you all fascinating.”
“You’ll excuse us if we seem a little paranoid. We’re not used to dealin’ with humans.” Jill pulled the fruit over and whisked it into a chunky jam. She spread the jam on one piece of bread and the jelly on the other.
“It’s understandable. We didn’t do the best job the last time around. We’re trying to be better. Just like you.”
Jill slid the sandwich over to her. “Arista likes these. Hope you like it too.”
“Yes, thank you very much.” Sy finished the sandwich in six bites. “Delicious.”
“Arista’s room is the only one with a bed if you want it. The rest of us stay down here.”
“That sounds great. I think I’ll head up now; I’m beat. You’ll let me know if you hear from either of them?”
Jill nodded. “Yep.”
Sy beamed. “Thank you again for your hospitality. I will see you in the morning.”
Once she was upstairs Jill pulled Max into the kitchen. “Anythin’?” she asked.
“Other than an obsession with the other one you mean?”
Jill glowered. “Anythin’ weird, I mean.”
Max looked up to the ceiling. Arista’s room was on the back side of the house, not directly above them. “She’s hiding something. I don’t know what. She spoke with Arista for a while, after Frees called you I assume. I didn’t catch all of the conversation.”
“Can we trust her to bring them back?”
Max shrugged.
Jill pondered it. Something about Sy didn’t seem quite right. She was too comfortable around them, like she’d been practicing. Jill didn’t trust people who weren’t suspicious of others. Suspicion was healthy. It saved your ass when you otherwise would be dead. “Follow me,” she said. “And don’t make a sound.”
Jill moved through the living room to the stairs, taking them one at a time, listening for creaks or squeaks. If she happened upon one she tested a different part of the stair before she proceeded. Max followed her moves precisely until they were on the landing. She moved into Frees’ room, closing the door behind Max. She mouthed: Listen for her.
Max nodded.
Now. It was time to see if Frees really knew what he was doing with all this scanning equipment. She turned the main power on and the machine flickered to life. Jill lifted the headphones and slipped them over her ears, scanning the comm waves for anything that might be relevant. Anything that looked out of place.
Max’s finger came into her view and pointed to an anomalous reading on the screen. Jill tapped it once and an audio feed ran through her headphones.
“—at the old machine’s house now. There were complications.” Sy’s voice. Who had she contacted?
“Where is the girl?” A male voice she didn’t recognize. It sounded gruff, no-nonsense. Like a military commander.
“Still in Japan.”
“Jesus. She was supposed to be back by now.”
“Yes, sir, I know. The AI was better prepared than we anticipated.”
This was just Sy giving her report to the colony. Jill expected as much, the woman wouldn’t be operating in a vacuum.
“Will she make it back?” the man asked.
“It’s unclear. If she’s already used the new weapon it’s probably unlikely. This was supposed to be a quick one-two punch. She may not even get the job done there.”
“She better,” the man said. “Otherwise you’re going in to get her. She’s too valuable to leave in the field, alive or dead. So one way or another, Sy, bring her back.”
There was a pause on the other end of the line. “Yes, sir.”
Max resumed her position by the door. Jill waved at Max to come over, picking up a second set of headphones.
“And what about the machines?” Sy asked. “Are we still a go on them?”
Max’s eyes grew wide as she listened.
“I want that one without the skin. The others I’ll leave up to you. Echo wants as many as she can get, but I know your resources are limited. You know how important this is.”
“What if by some miracle she comes back and hasn’t removed Hogo-sha?”
“You told me that wasn’t going to happen. You said she was too worried about disappointing us.”
“Devil’s advocate, sir.”
“If she comes back without completing the mission, sedate her, bring her back immediately. We’ll re-evaluate if we have to.”
Jill heard Sy take a breath. “Yes, sir.” She ended the call.
Max removed her headphones at the same time as Jill. “What do we do?” she whispered.
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Jill said. “Re-evaluate. And they have some kind of plan for us? I knew she wasn’t telling us everything. We have to warn Arista somehow. Tell her not to come back either way. At least not until we get the chance to remove Sy. But we can’t kill her, we’ll just keep her locked up, where she can’t hurt anyone.”
“We need to get them back, they shouldn’t even be over there,” Max said.
“Is that worry I hear in your voice?” Jill set the headphones aside and turned off the machine.
“No. I don’t care about the girl,” Max said. “But Frees deserves better.”
“Yes,” Jill said, “Yes, he does.”
Twenty
She sat, watching, for hours. Arista had perched herself along one of the pipes above the tunnel leading into Shin’s hideout. It gave her a great vantage point of all directions, should he decide to send someone back down to look for her. And it was also close to a rusty pipe, which the Device confirmed was leaking 99.9% water with only trace heavy metals. Nothing she should be concerned about. Still, she took it sparingly.
Everything in the hideout was just as they’d left it as far as she could tell, but she couldn’t discern if anyone was still inside or not. If Shin had come back to ambush her then this would be the perfect opportunity. But she doubted he would. He saw the power of her weapon when she knocked him on his ass back in the tower. He wouldn’t come back unless he was sure he’d be able to take her down. Which either meant a lot of firepower or a lot of backup.
Or both.
“Screw it,” she whispered and jumped down. Creeping along the wall she approached the entrance: a simple metal door, standing open just as they’d left it. The Device reached out with its limited scanning capabilities but found nothing of note. If she was going to contact Sy she needed to make this quick.
Arista peeked around the corner, taking a mental snapshot of the room before drawing back to analyze it. All seemed normal. No one inside and nothing out of place from when they’d left. Still, she touched her pinky and thumb together, powering up the hand. She ducked inside, scanning the room quickly with the hand outstretched in front of her. How quickly she’d come to rely on it. Now she understood why Frees built his. It gave him security.
Stop thinking about him.
Right, she was here because she needed to get out of this place. After she’d had some time to think it over she realized returning to the tower immediately wasn’t the best idea. She needed to get back home to Chicago and come back better prepared. Maybe with Sy. Everything about this had gone wrong from the start. Not to say that it had been Sy’s fault because how could she have known? It was just an unfortunate situation. And the more she’d mulled the idea over the better it had seemed to her. Go back home, figure out a new plan, come back prepared. She needed to get back to where she could get some rest and some food and some time to think clearly.
Powering down her weapon, she took a deep breath to calm herself
and stood up fully. All of the equipment was still active. She took a moment to inspect the terminal, using the Device to scan for any known monitoring device or surveillance equipment and finding none. Arista grasped the end of the desk and pulled it away from the wall, inspecting the components. Nothing seemed nefarious, though it rarely ever did until it was too late. She could thank Shin for that lesson.
Pushing the desk back into place she drew in a deep breath. If Shin had wanted to monitor the calls, he would have done it while he was standing there in front of them. So she wasn’t giving up any information he didn’t already have. Maybe it wouldn’t matter anyway, best case scenario was she’d be out of here in a few hours. She took control of the main terminal, connecting her own comm with the system.
Here goes nothing.
“Arista? Is that you?” Sy answered immediately. Arista switched it over to visual communication and a hologram of her materialized in front of Arista’s face.
“Sy, thank goodness.”
“How did it go? Were you successful?” Sy’s eyes were wide, hungry for information.
Arista had to push down the sick feeling rising in her stomach. She had known this would be the first thing Sy would ask. And she last thing she wanted was to disappoint her again but she had no choice. She needed help. “I’m sorry, Sy. I tried, I really did. He’s just been one step ahead of me this entire time.”
“It’s okay!” Sy said, her voice chipper. “I know it’s tough. We didn’t expect this much resistance, but we can work around it. What do you need from me?”
“I think I need to come back. To regroup. Maybe we could get a couple more people from the colony? All of us go over at once. That way we’ll be better prepared. We’ll have a higher chance of success.”