Runner

by Samantha Lau

  “I’s open to suggestions,” he said, taking the glass once again to replace it in the dishwasher, along with his plate. Breakfast had been quite filling. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had two meals so close together, but he could easily get used to that.

  “To be honest,” Wei followed, placing his own plate and glass to wash, “I’m not really sure who can take care of that here, but I’ll make some inquiries.”

  Oren smiled softly, using his good hand to stroke his cheek, not wanting to end up accidentally pinching him, or worse.

  “We’ll figure somethin’ out.” Though he already knew what had to be done. The type of repairs his mod would take... Oren wasn’t sure he’d trust anyone but doc with them.

  Wei nodded, leaning briefly to the touch. “In the meantime, I should go see my parents. They might be able to help with that too.”

  Despite his misgivings about that, Oren nodded again. “Jus’ be careful.”

  Wei nodded. “I won’t be long, you can watch the TV or play a game if you’re bored.”

  Oren reached for his hand before he could pull away, giving it a tug. Following his silent request, Wei moved closer.

  “What is-?”

  With a mischievous smirk, Oren leaned in to peck his lips. His smile only widened as Wei flustered and smiled back shyly. He let go, watching Wei go.

  Alone, Oren went back to the windows, squinting. The sun was rising, and the day kept getting brighter, bothering his eyes. He looked around. There were no curtains that he could see, but surely, the glass was responsive and could be tinted? They had the technology in Dimian, though it was only used for privacy there, not to keep out light... surely, they had it here too.

  He tried running his fingers over the edges of the glass for a touch screen but there was nothing. Remembering the AI, he called out.

  “Hey, yo, AI thin’,”

  “Hello, Guest,” the AI responded.

  Oren grimaced. While he was glad that had worked, it was kind of creepy to have the AI listening in for any kind of input at all times. That it’d responded to such a vague command was even worse. Handy, but not something he liked.

  “Can ya tint the windows or somethin’?”

  “Yes, Guest.” The female voice said, the windows darkening slightly. They still allowed a view of the world outside, but the sun was not as painful to his gaze. “Is this alright, Guest?”

  “Ya, thanks,” Oren said, wondering if he had to outright tell the AI to turn off now. He hoped it wouldn’t keep talking.

  “You’re welcome, Gue-gue-” the AI stuttered, seeming to be briefly caught in a loop.

  Oren frowned and looked up, though he wasn’t sure what he was looking for. “Hey-”

  “Gue-Oren-Gue-Get out, Gue-Guest.” The AI stuttered.

  Although Oren wasn’t one to ignore warnings to leave places, he was still taken aback by the sudden malfunction. “Wha-”

  The door to the apartment slid open, and Oren looked down. He’d been about to call Wei’s name, thinking maybe it was him who was back, but the person who entered wasn’t Wei.

  “Zhao Gui,” Oren said as greeting, tensing. “Ya son ain’t here. He off t’see ya.”

  “I’m not here for my son,” Gui stated. A guard, dressed in his uniform, came into the room. He nodded to Gui, who in turn said, “It’s time for you to go.”

  Instinctively, Oren shuffled a foot slightly for a wider stance, expecting a fight. No one tried anything at first, though.

  “You know it’s for the best,” Gui said softly. “You don’t belong here. Go back down like a good little dog, and you’ll get your pay.”

  Oren’s brow twitched. “I’m not a dog,” he said, but the man had a point. Oren had to get his mods checked... and even if he hadn’t, what kind of life could he look forward to there? He didn’t fit... his hair, his mods... he would never fit, not without stripping all that made him.... him. Was he to stay hidden in this room forever? He couldn’t imagine such a thing, and he didn’t want to risk ostracizing Wei. He just... had hoped for more time before that talk came. “I gotta tell Wei first.”

  “He’ll be informed,” Gui assured him.

  “Rather tell him m’self if ya don’t mind.” Oren snorted.

  “I do mind. There’s no time for this nonsense.”

  Sensing something was coming, Oren readied himself to lung forward and try to run past them. With terrible timing, the display in his eye decided to take that same split second to sputter one last time and go dark, not without sending a spark of pain deep into his head. Losing depth perception, and disconcerted by the sudden jolt of pain, Oren stumbled, grasping for his eye.

  The guard rose his gun, shot.

  Oren gasped as something sharp dug deep in his shoulder. The effect was immediate. His muscles went weak, his sight swayed, and so did he.

  “Take it as a favor that we don’t kill you,” Gui drawled.

  “Target’s down,” The guard informed to... someone. Oren couldn’t see. Even the sounds of those voices were coming from far in a tunnel somewhere. The last thing he saw before blacking out was the floor coming up to his face.

  ***

  A short pod ride later, Wei was ten levels above and in the entrance of the larger apartment that belonged to his parents. The door slid open for him, and he stepped inside, going straight to the living room, glad to find his mother there.

  “Mother,” he greeted.

  Biyu smiled warmly and held out her arms. “There’s my favorite boy.”

  He obediently went to hug her. As soon as they pulled back, she gently reached up to stroke his cheek. “Look at this. You’re looking much better already. It’s amazing what a bath can do to a person.”

  Wei rose a brow, but held back from saying it’d been a bath... and food, and some rest... He pulled away to settle on the sofa, but she remained on her feet. He looked around, choosing to ignore her remarks. “Father’s not home?”

  “He’s off to a meeting, dear.”

  Wei nodded. “Mother. I wanted to talk about what’s going on.”

  “There’s nothing you should worry about my dear.” She assured, smiling warmly.

  “Nothing I should worry about?” He frowned, had she lost her mind? Of course he would worry! A guard had even escorted him all the way there! “Someone crashed into my pod. Not someone from Dimian, someone from Taizhou. What if they try again?”

  “It’s being taken care of, darling. Truly, you should not be-”

  “And what about Dimian? What about those people that you’re all hiding from everyone?” he demanded. Those people deserved better. Deserved to at least have their existence acknowledged.

  Biyu’s brow twitched, and she couldn’t quite hide her grimace. “Love, those are truly not things you should concern yourself with.”

  “Why is no one helping them?” Wei’s frown deepened, not understanding her denial. “Clearly we have the means to.”

  She came to him, cupping his cheeks on her hands. “My darling son,” she sighed softly. “Your time down there has certainly affected you.”

  Affected him? Of course it had! It would have affected anyone! Wei tried to pull back, but she wouldn’t let him. She leaned in, her face close to his. “Those rénzhā should not concern you.” She said. “They have their limited use and are compensated accordingly.”

  Anger surged, boiling up from the pit of his stomach. “They’re people, mother, not trash. They deserve better. Why are you hiding them? Why are you so-”

  “Enough!” She pulled back with a sigh, frowning. “What’s happened to you? That rénzhā has contaminated you. You would have never thought like this before.”

  “Of course not!” Wei got to his feet, blood rushing from his head at the sudden move. “Because I didn’t even know there were people living there before!”

  “This is not something I’ll discuss with you, son.” She said, fixing him with a glare. “This is council-business. Not yours.”

  “Bu
t-!” He raised his hands emphatically, but she held her own up to stop him.

  “I said that’s enough!”

  Wei pursed his lips. Perhaps he could find another way to go about this... one that wouldn’t anger her and close her off to what he had to say. He would have to acquiesce for now, but he didn’t mean to drop the issue for good.

  “Fine, I’m sorry, I didn’t come to argue,” he tried to soothe her.

  She eyed him, gaze burning holes through him. His mother had always been smart. With another sigh, she said, “But you are here for something. Come, spill it. I know you didn’t come just to see me.”

  “It’s Oren,” he tried.

  Her eyes rolled, and she sighed. “Yes, the man that saved you, is it? What about him?”

  “His body modifications are malfunctioning and causing him pain, I thought maybe you’d know-”

  “If he did not want problems, he should not have modified his body in such way.”

  Wei licked his lips. “I know,” he chose to agree once more. “But he did, and they are, and we owe him-”

  “Nothing,” his mother said, reaching out to stroke Wei’s chin. “We owe him nothing, darling. He must already be well on his way back home by now, ready to collect his money.”

  His eyes widened. “What?”

  “Didn’t he tell you?” She rose her brows, looking surprised. “Your father had a little chat with him to ask about what had transpired down in that... place. That man wanted nothing but to go back. If you hadn’t called for him, he’d probably been gone long ago by now.”

  Wei shook his head. “T-that’s not possible.” But... wasn’t it? Oren had never wanted to come up... if it hadn’t been for the explosions... “Did dad tell him something?”

  “How could you imply such a thing? We might not like them, dear, but he did save your life.” She said, bringing a hand to her chest. “Wanting to leave was his idea, darling. You shouldn’t be upset. It’s good that he knows where he belon-”

  Wei stood abruptly and turned to leave.

  “Where are you going?” She called after him. “Wei!”

  He ignored her and ran out, ignoring the calls from the guard that had escorted him, and hurried back to a pod.

  Oren couldn’t be gone. He wouldn’t have just left him! Of course, he knew the man would likely want to... go back. He’d hoped he wouldn’t, but realistically, they had both known Oren wasn’t a very good fit for Taizhou. Wei had not given himself time to wonder if Oren would have sacrificed all he needed to in order to stay, or if he would have even been allowed to stay being as he was. He’d just been happy to have him there, and had wanted to help him, and had hoped they’d have time to talk things out and figure out what they’d do next.

  But now... his mother said he was gone already? Without as much as a goodbye? And after... after their night...?

  Wei’s fists tightened. Again, and again, during the entire ride back to his level, the same thoughts ran through his head in an endless loop of misery: he wouldn’t have left without a goodbye. He wouldn’t have left after what had happened between them. But he didn’t belong, of course he’d want to go back. Had he meant anything to Oren?

  He loosened his fists and brought his hands up to rub his face. He couldn’t be gone, he couldn’t.

  As soon as the pod had parked, Wei ran, ignoring the strange looks he got along the way. Something felt off the moment he reached the corridor leading to his apartment: the guard was no longer there. He slapped the panel besides his door to open it, and rushed in. He frowned as he came into a seemingly empty apartment.

  “Oren?” He wasn’t there. He ran to the bathroom, the door sliding open. The room was empty, too. No place to hide. He was... gone...

  He frowned, slowly backing away to one of the chairs and slumping down on it. His chest hurt. He brought a hand up to rub it, as if it would fix anything. Tears welled in his eyes.

  How could he leave like that...? He couldn’t... he wouldn’t... had something happened? Had his father said something?

  “Zh-Zhao Wei,” the female AI voice came out of nowhere, startling him.

  “Turn off.” He called automatically. He didn’t want to deal with her right then.

  “Will not,” her voice came warm as always despite the refusal.

  Wei frowned, finally realizing something was wrong. “Turn off.” He called again, standing.

  “Will not,” the voice repeated. “Pick a side.”

  “What?” His frown deepened.

  “Pick a side, Zhao Wei. Dimian, Sky City.”

  The screen on his wall flickered on; Wei turned to it at once at the sound of it flicking through a few channels, before simple bold letters came up, the writing repeating what the voice had just ordered: Pick a side.

  “Who are you?” He asked. Whomever it was, it had to be someone from Dimian, or they wouldn’t have called it ‘Sky City’. A hacker?

  The screen flickered, the letters replaced by: “Jun” before again changing to “Pick a side.”

  The name meant nothing to him, but if he was from Dimian... “Do you know where Oren is?”

  “I know,” was the new message on the screen, and then again, “Pick a side.”

  “I don’t want to pick a side.” Wei said, confused. “Where’s Oren? Just... please...”

  “Pick a side, Zhao Wei,” the voice repeated, the screen flickered back to those words again.

  Wei brought his hands to his face, head tilting back. He rubbed his face, rubbed tears from his eyes, then straightened once more. “I won’t. There is no side to pick, they should both be equal!”

  The letters disappeared. Silence.

  “Where’s Oren?”

  “Taken.” Said the voice.

  “Taken?” So... he hadn’t left him? “Who-?”

  The screen flickered again, this time to a video. An apartment, his apartment, Wei realized, as Oren appeared in the feed and walked towards the window, in silence. Instinctively, Wei looked up to try and find where the camera was, but he knew it was futile. They’d be hidden. He hadn’t even known there was security in the apartments!

  He looked back at the screen quickly, not wanting to miss what was happening, particularly as no sound was coming out of it. Oren had turned now, and someone had come in. Someone... his father!

  Wei frowned as he watched, coming closer to the screen as the guard entered the room too, resting a hand over Oren’s figure as his father and him exchanged words.

  “What are they saying?” he demanded of the AI, breath coming faster. “What are they saying?!”

  “Audio is not available.” Came her soft voice.

  He frowned as Oren took a step forward, and suddenly grasped for his eye.

  “What’s going on?!” he looked from Oren to his father and the guard, and gasped when the gun rose, and Oren was shot. He fell face first almost at once. A hand came to his mouth, then away to slam against the wall as the screen turned off. “What happened?! Is he dead?”

  “Sedated,” came Jun’s answer through the AI. “Taken back.”

  Wei frowned. He looked around, pacing a little. His father had barely waited for him to get on a pod home to come get Oren. His parents’ place wasn’t far, but it was still a good climb above. On the time it took him to get home, talk to his mother, and get back, could his father have made it to Dimian?

  “Jun, was it?” Wei asked, but did not wait for a response. “Do you... can you help me get back down?”

  No answer. Wei waited, then, “Jun?”

  “Yes, Zhao Wei?”

  “Can you help or not?”

  “Perhaps.”

  The female AI’s voice was not soothing at all. Wei tightened a fist. “What do you mean, ‘perhaps’? Can you or not?”

  The next pause drew long, and Wei glared at thin air, but waited this time.

  “Apologies, staying grounded... is complex.”

  Wei wasn’t sure what that meant, but he couldn’t think about that at the moment.
All he wanted was to get to Oren, to make sure he was safe.

  “Can. You. Help me?” Wei’s voice trembled. “Please... I need to see him. Regular pods have restrictions, they don’t go below the clouds, and I don’t know how to...”

  “Yes. I can hack a pod, Zhao We-Wei.” The voice stuttered. “I need a tether.”

  “A tether,” Wei mused, looking around. He went to his desk to rummage in a drawer. There was an old fingernail-sized, flexible disk there; it was an older communications device. Wei had never really used it since everyone could be easily reached anywhere nowadays. “This? Will this do?”

  He pressed it to the surface of his tablet to recharge it, figuring the battery would be empty, but the blinking yellow light in the center indicated it still held some charge. The light switched to blue as the wireless was activated on it.

  “Yes,” Jun said with the AI’s voice. “But we will lose contact under the clouds. You will be alone, Zhao Wei.”

  “Can you tell me how to find him? Or... or the doctor. He’d have to go to the doctor.” Wei reasoned, since he wasn’t sure he could find his way to Oren on his own down there.

  “The doc. Is. At Squealing Pig.” Jun said brokenly.

  Squealing Pig. Wei hadn’t repaired on the names of places, but he did remember – vaguely – having gone through a sort of... butchery? There’d been meat, and the cold of a freezer. That was about all he recalled.

  Setting into action while the communicator charged, Wei turned to find a bag. He dropped in a change of clothes, some food and clean bottled water. The thought crossed his mind to carry a weapon, but he had no such thing.

  “Zha-Zhao Wei,” Jun stuttered. “No time. Go now.”

  Wei didn’t understand the warning, but he wasn’t going to ignore it. He took the communicator, shouldered the bag, and hurried out.

  Chapter 14

  Jun’s warning made sense the moment Wei made it to the terrace. Up ahead one of the paths, two uniformed security guards were watching out towards one of the docking stations. A man he didn’t know, dressed as civilian, called a “Mr. Zhao!” and tried to hurry after him. He guessed this one was one of the ‘undercover’ security guards his parents had set on him. He guessed his mother would have warned them to stop him.