Chuckling despite the chaos, the stranger slid into the booth across from James, blocking Noa’s escape. Pulling his hand from his pocket, the stranger put a stiff plastic necklace on the table. “Sit down and put this on, Noa.”
James looked to her, surprised the man knew her name. Realizing the man’s frame was no longer blocking the view to others in the room, James sat down and leaned as far as he could in his seat. Noa followed James’s lead, but didn't take the necklace. “Who are you?” she demanded.
The man’s smile widened, but he didn’t show teeth. “It will hide you from the patrol.” The smile lasted too long without changing, and was too symmetrical.
Sliding toward him in her seat, Noa said, “Get out of my way … ”
The man frowned. The necklace he wore went dark. Halting, Noa gaped. James did, too. Where an instant before there had been a handsome if artificial-looking face, what appeared now was the face of a man who was pudgy and overweight. He had a thin unkempt beard, above which his cheeks and forehead glistened with sweat. His nose was long, pointed and European, but his eyes were narrow and red-rimmed. He lacked a distinct chin.
“I’m only trying to help you, Noa,” he said, his lower lip quivering.
“Dan Chow,” said Noa. James’s eyes slid to her. Her jaw was hard, and her eyes were narrowed. She didn’t look overjoyed to see “Dan.” Her eyes darted to the necklace. Dipping her chin toward James, she said, “If you’re going to help me, you’ve got to help my friend.”
“We don’t have time for games,” Dan said. Around the table the crowd was being pushed backward. James heard shouts from the patrol, “Take out your IDs!”
“Lizzar dung. You’ve been playing a game since we came in,” Noa hissed back.
Dan’s eyes slipped to the crowd and back to Noa. He looked down his too-long nose at James and sniffed. “Fine, Noa. Keep your toys.” James felt heat flash beneath his skin, but instead of sweating, he shivered.
“My friend,” Noa said, and the heat cooled.
The man’s lips quirked up in a small smile. He snorted. “Really?” Pulling out another necklace, he slid it across the table to James. Leaning back, Dan said, “And he looks like a throwback, too ...” James raised an eyebrow. He remembered, in his past, getting into shouting matches with people who used that slur. Now … it might have been the circumstances forcing him to keep a level head, but he didn't feel outrage. The slur didn't feel denigrating, it felt like his name, an incorrect label, a jumble of syllables.
Taking the necklace proffered to her, Noa slid it on her neck—and she vanished. In her place was a woman with paler skin, straight black hair that cut off just above her shoulders, eyes that were narrower and lips that weren’t as full. Her face looked perfectly made up with makeup that was sophisticated, but not too heavy. The tiny scars above and below her eye were gone.
It was a look he normally would like, but now it set him on edge. Noa was the only thing that felt real to him. The hologram—he was sure that was what it was—took away his one tether to reality. He gave his head a tiny shake. Picking up his own necklace, he inspected it briefly. It looked and felt like a slender band of lightweight plastic. Slipping it on, his mind whirred. To work, holographic projections required smoke at the very least. In the hologlobes, rapidly oscillating beads reflected cyan, magenta, and yellow depending on the holographic data received. The necklace had no such medium to operate in.
As the latch at the back of James’s necklace clicked, Dan said, “Now you’re both more attractive.” Dan’s necklace was on again, his face once again artificially handsome.
Noa—or the hologram she wore—rolled her eyes. James had a sudden inkling of what he looked like.
“Hide your hands,” Dan commanded.
Glancing down, James saw Noa’s hands were still dark and his were still light. They both slipped their hands beneath the table as Dan pushed some ID billfolds out on the tabletop.
At that moment, a Luddeccean patrolman sidled up to the table. “IDs please!”
Dan nodded at the ID billfolds. “Right there, Sir.”
Beneath the table, Noa’s hand went to James’s arm, and he could feel her tension in her fingers.
The guard picked up the billfolds. As he flipped through them, James had the distinct impression that time was slowing. He cast furtive glances around the room, and noted there were no less than fifteen other Guardsmen. All were armed with stunners, and more lethally, phaser pistols.
The Guard’s eyes went to James and then to Noa, and back again. James’s muscles coiled, ready to fight. Noa’s fingers tightened even more. Tipping his helmet, the Guard gave a wink to James and a smile to Noa. Nodding to Dan, the guard put the IDs back on the table. “Thank you for your cooperation,” he said, and strode away.
Dan chuckled. “I wonder if I should feel jealous or proud that he found you two ladies interesting.”
Noa made a barely audible gagging noise.
At the table where the two lovers had been hardwired together, James heard a woman’s voice, “Please, no!” and a Luddeccean Guard saying, “You are under arrest!” Noa went completely quiet and still. There were more sounds of protests, and scuffling, as other patrons were shoved up against the bars and tabletops.
James’s eyes slid to Noa’s and her holographic disguise met his gaze.
“Easy ladies,” Dan whispered. “Haven’t I just proved that you have nothing to worry about?”
Despite his assurances, Dan didn’t speak again until the Luddeccean Guard had cleared out of the room, taking a substantial number of patrons with them. And then he said, “Fancy meeting you here, Noa.”
Noa’s holographic illusion fixed Dan with a glare. “What’s your game, Dan?”
Dan cocked his head, and one side of his lip curled. “I go by Ghost now. Aren’t you going to thank me?”
“You didn’t do it out of the goodness of your heart … ” Noa tilted her head. “... Dan.”
Dan frowned and leaned across the table. “I could just as equally ask what your game is, Noa. You need something, too. You were off in one of their re-education camps—”
Noa recoiled as though she’d been struck.
Dan gave her a thin smile. “Didn’t think I’d know about that, did you?”
Noa’s jaw hardened. “You knew about that, but didn’t help?”
Dan’s lower lip trembled. And James smelled something familiar. He’d smelled it when Noa had darted off his bed and in the cattle car just before he clipped the man in the chin. Noa had been afraid. Had the man in the cattle car been afraid? Was Dan afraid? James’s eyes dropped from the man’s artificially generated face to Dan’s hands. They had a barely perceptible tremor.
“You were too afraid to help,” James said flatly.
Noa snorted. “Good call.”
James couldn’t meet her eyes. He’d almost been too afraid to help, too. Dan’s eyes flicked to James, and then went back to Noa. “I was too smart to get involved.”
“You’ve always been too smart, haven’t you, Dan?” Noa snapped.
“Ever seen tech like this?” Dan said, stroking his neck.
Noa’s holo’s eyes narrowed to slits.
Dan leered. “Oh, your precious Fleet would love these, wouldn’t they? Are you sorry that you didn’t recommend me for a promotion now?”
Huffing, Noa shook her head. “I had nothing to do with that.”
“You could have put in a good word for me,” Dan snapped.
She snapped right back, “Get to the point. Why are you helping us? Just to gloat? To show off your shiny new tech?”
Dan sniffed. “Maybe.” He tilted his head. “Although I am curious as to how you escaped the camp.” He leaned closer to Noa. “That would seem to be a feat that would require divine assistance.”
James almost jerked back at the word “divine,” and felt all his nanos and neurons fire at once. The Luddeccean Guard had broadcast the falling of an “Archangel.” Had Dan heard the broad
cast? Had he somehow pieced together James’s “identity?” What would it mean if he had?
Without missing a beat, Noa said, “What are you getting at, Dan?” James didn’t think he’d be able to speak as smoothly.
Dan’s brow furrowed and a light went on in his neural port. “The Archangel Project. I know you were involved.”
All the neurons and nanos in James’s skull lit again, and the charge spread to every inch of his skin. Dan knew … he had to know James was the supposed Archangel. And then another neuron flickered brightly in his mind. Noa had never said she was involved in the Archangel Project.
Noa’s jaw dropped. Her eyes flitted to James. Did she look guilty, or just confused?
“Dan,” she said, meeting the man’s gaze. “I’m not part of the Archangel Project.” She sighed. Bowing her head, she leaned on her elbows, her shoulders slumping. “But you’re not the first person to ask me about it. The Luddeccean Guard asked me about it when … ” Noa shifted in her seat. “I’d never even heard of the project,” Noa finished, “Not until they asked.”
A light flashed near Dan’s neural port. “But how did you escape?”
Meeting Dan’s gaze, Noa tapped a rapid staccato beat on the table top with a finger. “It’s not a pretty story. I don’t want to talk about it.”
Dan leaned back, touched his neural port, and the light went out. “I believe you.” His forehead furrowed.
“What do you know about the Archangel Project?” Noa asked, leaning toward Dan.
Dan snorted. His eyes flicked to James, and for the first time James felt as though he was being looked at instead of looked through. Looking away, Dan blinked rapidly and waved a hand. “That the time of angels has come. Or aliens, or devils, or djinn. Who knows?”
“You’re too smart to believe any of that, Dan,” said Noa.
Narrowing his eyes at Noa, Dan frowned. “It’s Ghost.” And then he looked away and wiped a hand down his face. “Surveying my options … ” He muttered in a voice so low it was almost inaudible. “Hoped you had something special … ”
“What do you mean?” Noa asked.
Dan glared at her. James’s eyes fell on the ignored IDs on the table. On a whim, he plucked them up and flipped through them briefly. He saw Noa’s holographic image in one, another woman who looked startlingly similar to Noa’s ulterior appearance in the second – he supposed that was what he looked like. The third had a picture of Dan’s holographic avatar. James read the name “Hung See.” And suddenly James knew why Dan had approached them. Sliding the IDs to Noa, James said, “He’s on the run, too. That’s why he’s hiding his identity from the Guard, and he’s looking for help.”
Dan sat up very straight. He glared at James. Noa, by contrast, smiled. “Last I heard, the new Luddeccean Premier had hired you on; in your words, they ‘recognized your talent.’ Why would one of their own be hiding?”
Dan looked away. “I’m not one of them, obviously. They barely appreciated me. I built their non-ethernet dependent systems—a closed system that could never be infected by external influence. I gave them the computing power of a time gate at a scale that is … ” His eyes closed and a look of bliss passed over his features. “ … At a scale that is impossibly small.”
“And they turned on you,” Noa said. Her avatar’s jaw appeared to harden. “Because the mind that could build that sort of computing power—”
“Luddites,” Dan hissed.
“By definition, actually,” said James, remembering the origins of the Luddeccean name.
Dan scowled at him. Noa’s lips flattened, not like she was angry, but like she was trying to conceal a smile.
James’s own lips wanted to pull up—but didn’t. He touched the side of his mouth self-consciously.
Leaning toward Dan, Noa practically crooned, “You need help, Dan. Which is why you helped us.”
Dan sat perfectly still. He didn’t blink, or swallow, but his necklace flickered, and for a moment, James could see the red eyes and sweaty face of the real man. A passing barman, a bowl of peanuts and boiled soybeans in either hand, stopped and gaped.
Noa said quickly, “We’d like to see a menu, we’re hungry.” The man put the two bowls of snacks on the table, nodded, and left quickly.
James’s eyes fell heavily on the peanuts. He could see their oil glistening in the low light. Before he’d even thought about it, he’d scooped up the contents of the bowl and shoveled them into his mouth.
“How lady-like,” said Dan. James shrugged. The taste of the peanut oil and salt on his tongue made his taste buds sing.
“Your makeup is running, Dan,” Noa said.
Dan blinked, and Noa tapped her necklace meaningfully. Dan’s eyes went wide. He tapped his necklace and the hologram flickered back to life. Gaze shifting around the room, he picked up the fake IDs from the table and said, “We need to get out of here. Follow me if you want my help.”
Without looking back, Dan slipped out of the booth and walked toward the back door.
Palming the soybeans, James looked at Noa—or the hologram that concealed her face. “He let us keep the hologram projectors,” he said.
Noa looked past him and her brow furrowed. Following her gaze, James saw the bartender pointing in their direction and whispering to a patron sitting alone at the bar. James’s mind whirled through his recent memories. He was certain he hadn’t seen that patron before.
“Because he knows we have to follow him,” Noa said.
The patron at the bar got up and walked with quick steps to the front door.
Noa’s eyes got wide. Slipping from the booth, she whispered, “And we have to hurry!”
Barging through Hell’s Crater’s backdoor, Noa plunged into the alley beyond. From the main street she heard a shout. “Patrol, this way.”
“I see Dan,” James said, grabbing her arm and pulling her in the opposite direction. Noa blinked. There were no streetlights, and she was unable to see anything. She let herself be drawn in that direction, trusting James’s augmented vision.
She heard pounding footsteps behind them. She plugged the sound of the steps into a Fleet app. Her gut twisted. “There’s ten of them.” She remembered the stunners and laser pistols they’d carried, and their threats to rip her port out—she wasn’t sure which would be better.
James yanked her sideways into another alley at a four-way intersection. It had stopped raining; they passed under several rows of clothing hung out to dry. The pavement was still slick though, and everything smelled damp. The alley was partially blocked with dumpsters, and they bent low to hide behind the dumpsters’ bulks.
“I saw him go this way,” James said. “He took off his disguise.”
“Because the light they emit is a beacon in these dark alleys,” Noa gasped, ripping her necklace off and jamming it into her pocket.
James did likewise. “Nice to have you back,” he murmured. Someone shouted, and the group that had been following them split in opposite directions.
“Five still after us,” she said. “Keep moving.” James nodded, and set off at a quick trot. Behind them Noa heard the Guards knocking on doors and banging their rifle butts on dumpsters. A shot made her jump, and both of them quickened their pace. They ran under another row of clothing, and past a hover on cinder blocks, and found themselves at a main thoroughfare. Late night shoppers and some men who looked as though they had just finished work at the boat yards were walking down the street. Over the sound of her loud, raspy breathing, Noa heard the whir of antigrav as a hover bus took off.
James stopped and peered left around a corner. “Patrolmen, three more of them. But Dan went right, I saw him—see him!”
Behind them there was another shot into a dumpster. “We have to make a break for it.” Noa said, gritting her teeth. Her lungs burned and her ears rang with the sound of bullets impacting on metal.
“Right,” whispered James. Grabbing her arm again, he said, “Now, before I lose sight of him!” He gave a yank, and th
ey bolted to the right. She heard the patrolmen on the street shout, “There they are!” Noa urged her legs to go faster … she was a very fast runner. Was. Past tense. But James pulled her along. “Down this alley,” he said, yanking her left.
They tore down another alleyway with laundry above. Noa’s eyes widened. It was one of the alleys they’d passed through earlier.
James yanked her right, and left, and Noa saw the main thoroughfare where the cab had first put them down. She heard troops shouting ahead and behind. Noa’s breath was ragged in her ears. Her skin was clammy with the ambient humidity.
James stopped. “I saw him go this way … but we should have caught up to him … he wasn’t moving that fast.”
Tearing her arm away, Noa looked for something that she could use as a weapon, a broken bottle, an old two-by-four, anything. “No garbage, nothing I can use to bash someone’s head in,” Noa hissed. “I’m really not liking the new regime, even if there are no rats.”
“This wasn’t sticking out last time we were here … ” James said.
Noa looked over her shoulder. James was staring at a brick protruding from a wall where the outer layer of stucco was peeling away. Before she could tell him to stop worrying about it, he pushed it into the wall. It moved with a scrape … and a portion of the wall flickered … or rather, did the inverse of flickering. It went darker, reappeared, and went dark again. The unflickering wall was barely wider than Noa’s shoulders, and no higher than her chest.
“Another hologram,” James whispered, just audible over the sound of footsteps closing in on the intersections at either end of the alleyway. He took a step back and put a hand to his chin as though pondering a deep and weighty question.
If the situation hadn’t been so dire, Noa might have laughed. “Just the time for your inner professor to pop out,” she muttered.
“What?” said James, blinking at her.
Without a word, she spun him sideways. “Down!” she whispered, pushing him through the unflickering space. A heartbeat later she followed. She felt rather than saw stone walls scrape against her back as she passed through the narrow space. And then her side hit something firm even as the walls fell away in front and behind her. Stumbling, she found herself gasping for breath, side pressed to James’s chest, staring back the way she came. “Shhhhh … ” James said, and she realized he meant her breathing. She took one last deep gasp and tried to relax her demanding lungs. Looking back the way she came, she found herself staring through the hole in the wall they’d just come through. On this side, it looked like a flickering curtain of light … if it was flickering on the outside too …
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