Daugher of Ash

by Matthew S. Cox

  Not worth the damn effort. Hate bots. Hate cyborgs.

  Kate let the flame disperse, panting and sweating from the effort. Shouting from the hallway left her no time to think. She sprang to her feet, leapt the bot, and ran for the emergency door, a trail of bullet gouges chewing up the Epoxil floorboards behind her.

  he temperature of Kate’s skin got in the way of a great many things in her life. The inability to wear clothes, have human contact, enjoy comfortable surroundings, and an amped up food intake were the usual annoyances. With a great amount of concentration, she sometimes managed to turn it off for a few seconds or dim it. Most often, she did that to enable drinking water even if it made her tired fast. Swallowing steam would cook her insides. While hurtling down a tube intended as a fire escape, she found the requisite amount of concentration difficult to maintain.

  A vertical shaft embedded in the hotel’s wall led straight from the roof to the ground level, filled with a snug plastic sleeve designed to retard the falling speed of fleeing guests. Alas, the flexible tunnel did not slow down a body much when it melted on contact. She fell in fits and jerks whenever her focus lapsed. During each period of free fall, she clawed at the wispy translucent shroud racing by.

  Paul, or maybe Leo, had carried her into the building while she had been unconscious. She had no idea what floor the target stayed on or how long the fall would be. Molten plastic smeared over her arms, between her fingers and toes, and got all tangled in her hair. Claustrophobia mounted, as if she drowned in gooey tatters, unable to see more than a hand’s width in any direction. On the way down, she negated her genetic defect for a few seconds at a time―enough to slam into a pit full of foam chunks at a sub-fatal speed.

  Shock from impact ended all mental focus, and her safe landing turned into a trap. She grabbed and struggled to stand, but the hunks of padding melted to liquid so fast she couldn’t grasp anything but liquid. A goopy mass of semi-molten cushioning and caustic fumes threatened to drown her. Adrenaline kicked in, giving her the strength to wade through the thigh-deep miasma and climb a metal ladder out of the pit. Liquefied foam ran down her legs in sizzling trails as she sprinted toward flashing red lights by the exit door.

  “Oh, shit.”

  Opening the fire exit had set off alarms, which would attract the cops as well as emergency services. She ran her hands over her chest and arms, slinging the bubbling ooze off as much as she could. It hit the wall, solidifying on contact into organic filaments resembling dried noseblow. Squawking sirens outside blared louder when she stiff-armed the door open.

  “Vagrant 5,” she muttered to the bracelet.

  Her holographic clothing shifted to the rags of a street dweller. Several dozen homeless people sifted among trash or sat around in the alley behind the hotel. Against every instinct telling her to get out of there, she staggered to the other side and collapsed against a building. Grime seared away from the wall where her back touched it, and bits of trash burned out from under her. In seconds, the scratchy traction-coated metal under her bare butt warmed to comfortable.

  A squad of armored mercenaries swarmed the corner, heading for the fire exit. Kate kept her head down. She peered past strands of her hair, black courtesy of the holo-projector, watching and waiting.

  One of the men waved his rifle around. Approaching sirens lent urgency to his voice. “Any of you shitheads see a woman run outta that building?”

  Several of the homeless people pointed down the alley, one man pointed the other way. Kate faked a congested cough and waved in the same direction as the majority. Whatever dried liquid she’d sat on burned off to such a horrible smell, the mercs kept their distance. She clung to the hope that her heat would kill germs to avoid throwing up at the idea of sitting in a puddle of someone else’s bodily fluids. They jogged off to her right; the lead man muttered to someone over a comm link about an aerial unit.

  Blue and white Division 0 patrol craft swarmed in, soon joined by an enormous flying fire-suppression machine. Kate remained in place, cradling her bruised face and happy for a chance to breathe. The attempt to burn the sentry bot by pushing fire to white hot had left her ready to pass out from exertion. She touched her temple, trying to understand how her brain could melt a bullet on contact as a reflex while she had to work so damn hard to consciously destroy the little machine. El Tío had once likened it to attacking a tank with a flamethrower.

  A small bit of lead isn’t armor plating.

  Police boots tromped past her. Acting the part, she pulled her feet in close and muttered incoherently at them, as if annoyed by their presence.

  “Well that’s irony for ya,” said a scratchy-voiced female officer. “Some asshole sets the fire escape on fire.”

  Kate found it difficult to suppress the urge to laugh.

  The wasp zipped unnoticed around the legion of police and came in to land on Kate’s knee. It looked up for a moment before hopping to her shoulder and hiding in her hair.

  “You should leave soon,” said Hitesh. “They’ve called in Division 0. Hotel security saw you burn that hallway. You’re slipping; only one of them died.”

  “I wasn’t trying to kill them all, just keep them away. El Tío asked for surgical, didn’t he?”

  One of the Division 1 officers stepped in front of her as she got up. “I need to ask you to stay in the area until we are finished taking statements.”

  “It was the Martians.” Kate held her hand at stomach level. “Little grey fuckers, this tall. About a dozen of em.”

  He shifted his weight to his left leg. “Have you been drinking, ma’am?”

  “Drinking? No. I wish. Got any?” She flashed a broad grin and peeked at his thoughts.

  This is useless, damn vagrants. I don’t have time for this crap; the Zeros can read their fucking minds.

  She gasped, covering it up with a cough, and focused on a spot of air at the front of the hotel, by a cluster of police vehicles. A loud detonation of orange flames set off dozens of car alarms. When the officers looked, she took off running, screaming that the Martian invaders were attacking.

  The alley led to a sidewalk packed dense with bodies. Kate had no choice but to wait for an opening. Touching anyone would attract unwanted attention. She altered the hologram to project unassuming street wear and conceal her hair under false blonde. Opportunity presented itself in the form of a man carrying a large metal box. She lunged at him, shoving the parcel and knocking him on his ass. The brief confusion afforded her a gap to the street, and she darted across traffic to the other side and the safety of an alley.

  A half hour and several blocks later, she’d made it far enough into the grey to consider the cops a non-issue. She shut off the holographic alteration of her hair, letting it go back to normal―a necessary badge of identity in her black zone―and ducked through an unlocked fence into a lot behind a disused building. The rear door still bore the fading logo of a long-dead franchise fast-food place, one of the companies who refused to replace a live workforce with unpaid dolls. That dated the area to at least forty years abandoned. Kate huffed, leaning forward to catch her breath.

  “What the hell are you grinning at?” She frowned at the smiling rendition of an older man in a white suit holding a drumstick.

  Her fingers snagged an inch into her hair on gooey plastic. She picked and peeled at herself in an effort to get rid of it all. The more she plucked away, the more she found.

  “Screw it.”

  After a look around to make sure no one watched her, she removed the bracelet and walked a few feet away from where she set it down. A column of flame erupted around her, creating a deafening roar and thick, black smoke. She let off on the burn only after she no longer smelled scorched plastic.

  “Most impressive,” said a female voice.

  Kate gasped, covering herself as she whirled. A short woman with white hair in a pixie cut lurked beyond the gate. Both of Kate’s hands filled with fire and her face turned as red as her hair.

  “You m
ust be Kate. I―”

  The woman let out a yelp as she jumped away from flames striking the fence. Kate walked sideways to her bracelet, another flame orb poised.

  “Bloody hell! Do that again and I’ll break your little toy.”

  Kate stooped to grab it, never taking her gaze off the shadow in the fence. Once the comforting presence of holographic clothing shrouded her, she lowered her guard a little. “Who the hell are you?”

  “Well, I can certainly understand why you have so few friends. You’re such a charmer.”

  “Fuck you.” Kate backed away, looking for an escape route. She had a choice of boarded up window or climbing the fence. She edged for the window.

  “I’d rather not. Are you dressed yet?”

  “Stay back.” Kate whipped the second sphere into one of the boards, focusing on the lingering fire to amplify it.

  The woman stepped into view around the fence. “All I want is a moment to talk. I’m Anna.”

  Kate leaned against the wall; the burning board went out with a whoof.

  Hello, thought Anna. Looking at my head are we?

  You’re looking at mine. Kate’s eyes narrowed as she sensed Anna pondering a blast of lightning to knock her senseless. You can make lightning?

  Anna smiled. Don’t act so surprised; you make fire. Please don’t let me see any more.

  “You know that freaky bitch?” Kate grasped the edge of the windowsill behind her. “The white one?”

  “Yes. Aurora’s unique. So… I won’t zap you and you don’t burn me. Deal?”

  Kate narrowed her eyes. “What do you want?”

  “Deal?”

  “I’ll think about it.”

  “Come on, we need to get you out of sight.” Anna moved away from the gate, boot heels clicking on the alley.

  “Who are you?”

  When she got no answer, Kate pushed off the wall and ran to the fence. Anna waited a short distance away, too far to talk. The look on her face turned pitying by the time Kate had crept close enough for conversation.

  “Don’t look at me like that.”

  Anna gestured at a passage into a parking garage. “It’s not too often I run into someone who makes me think I didn’t have it so bad coming up. I’m sorry.”

  Kate raised her hands, expecting an attack. Anna shook her head.

  “I’m sorry for what you went through. I’m not going to harm you.”

  Anna jogged down the street to a ramp entrance, stopping a few steps into a sunken space full of cars with an expectant glance. After a moment of feeling exposed in the alley, Kate followed. Puddles flashed to steam as she stepped in them, running to catch up. Bare footprints rendered in dry where combat boots had trod.

  “We should have a little privacy here.” Anna started to smile, but let off an exasperated sigh. “Oh, will you please relax. You’re like a beaten dog waiting for the next fist.”

  Kate blushed at the ground, glaring up a moment later. “I don’t need your pity.”

  “Some friends and I have been trying to find you for a long time. You’re not as alone as you think.”

  “Freaky bitch said that too. So what is your deal?”

  “You know you’re psionic? Please tell me you don’t think you’re using magic or chi or some such nonsense.”

  “Duh.” Kate rolled her eyes. “Who’d believe that?”

  Anna smiled through her fingers. “You’d be surprised. Well, you and I… we’re not like normal psionics. We are a higher order. Those men who made you were trying to create a perfect weapon.”

  Kate faced away, biting a knuckle.

  “I’d have killed them too. People like us need to stick together. We can help each other.”

  “Help each other do what?”

  Anna leaned against a car. “There is a very smart man who is trying to make a better way for us. He wants to create a world where those with gifts are not hunted, exploited, or killed. A world where The Awakened make the rules.”

  “Awakened?” Kate looked back at her. “People like us?”

  “You’re a pyrokinetic. Most people with your talent make ordinary garden-variety fire, but yours is blue. You are many times more potent than anyone the authorities have seen before. Electrokinetics can’t throw lightning through thin air; they have to use a conductor.” Anna reached out and sent a twenty-foot arc into a nearby light fixture, which exploded in a shower of glass and sparks. “I can do that.”

  “I’ve got El Tío to look after me.”

  “Aurora’s told us all about him. Like everyone else in this world, Kate, he’s just using you as the weapon they made you to be. Maybe he does feel some sense of pity or affection for you, but at the end of the day…”

  “Yeah.” Kate kicked at the ground.

  Squeaking boots echoed over the parking deck. A cat-sized hover bot slipped into view from behind an elevator bank, pivoting to face them.

  “Bollocks,” grumbled Anna.

  Five figures in grey armor followed it, the same brand of corporate mercenaries who had been protecting Tyrel. Kate muttered a few choice words as she clawed her hands in the air away from them. A handful of shots rang out in the seconds before a standing wall of blue flames rose in their path and wrapped around. Bullets came close, spraying her with fragments of glass from wrecked cars, though she didn’t flinch.

  “Damn,” said Kate. “They don’t know when to call it a day.”

  Patches of inferno turned yellowish white as she intensified the burn. A crack louder than a gunshot disrupted her concentration, snuffing the flame wall to a curtain of smoke. The fleeing bot careened into the ceiling, chased by a blue-white lightning thread from Anna’s hand.

  “Where were we?” Kate brushed glass from her hair.

  One of the mercenaries moaned. Kate glared, and patches of flame around the bodies burst into a roaring bonfire. She snarled at them until the twitching stopped.

  “You just killed five people.” Anna blinked. “With no more reaction than…”

  “They would’ve killed me. It’s just a job. I do it. I get paid. People die. Who cares?” Kate squinted. “What do you mean Aurora might’ve been right?”

  Anna forced a polite smile. “In polite society, telepaths don’t eavesdrop.”

  “I’m not part of polite society.”

  “Great, another feral.” Anna sighed at the ceiling. “Cripes. At least the last one was sweet, if not a bit petulant.”

  “I don’t bay at the moon or piss on trees, you know.” Kate nibbled on the tip of her finger. “At least, not anymore.”

  “You’re taking the Mick, I hope.” Anna frowned. “We don’t have time for that. You certainly don’t sound like you grew up wild.”

  “Whatever that means. El Tío made sure I got somewhat of an education.” Kate moved close enough for her visitor to lean away from the heat. “You’ve got my attention. Tell me more about this smart guy of yours.”

  The area rumbled with the weight of six-wheeled armored vehicles, tires visible through the gap between wall and ceiling at the street.

  “Crap,” said Anna. “Police assault units.”

  “Damn interruptions.” Kate held her hands up, ready for a fight.

  “Are you nutters? That’s Division 6. They don’t talk.” Anna leaned back, eyes half-open. Her arms shot out to the sides, and a barely-visible pulse of energy rushed away from her.

  Kate’s bracelet faltered and shut off, making her gasp. Dead lights above them flickered with eerie violet-blue light before they exploded. The cascading effect raced outward in a circle, following the pulse and leaving them in the dark.

  Kate covered herself with her arms, glaring at Anna. “What the hell did you do that for?”

  Anna squinted at the electronic device. “To buy us time to get out of here. I tried to leave your thing out of it… Oh, bother.”

  Kate tapped it twice and it came back online. She slumped with a sigh of relief as a ghostly mesh of blue gridlines wrapped around her and turne
d into opaque clothing a second later.

  “Run, Kate. Get out of here.” Anna jogged backward. “We’ll catch up.”

  Outside, men and women yelled, most of them cursing faulty equipment that all failed at the same time. A thick-voiced woman yelled about an EMP weapon, which seemed to worry them. Kate sprinted across the garage to the far side and leapt up, grabbing the lip of the wall. Her toes slipped on the smooth concrete, so she pulled her weight up with only her arms. For a moment, she squatted atop the wall in a gap too short to stand in, looking back at the shadows of assault police moving among destroyed cars. Before any got close enough to see her, she ducked out onto the sidewalk and blended with the crowd.

  eated at the edge of a long plastisteel pier, Kate dangled her feet over the edge and swung them back and forth. The reek of fish, algae, and saltwater kept her breathing shallow. A hundred yards off to the right, the flickering effect of an acetylene torch lit the windows of an old warehouse. The tainted wind played with her hair, making her shiver each time it danced over her back. She shivered not from being cold, but from feeling exposed.

  Behind her, East City loomed, a great monolith of technology shadowing the docks. Light flickered and moved along the numerous elevators and stairways connecting the city surface, some seventy meters off the ground, to the natural earth. She lost a few moments watching workers in exo-armor drag a cargo container the size of a PubTran bus onto the most massive elevator slab she’d ever seen and begin the long trek to the surface.

  A distant voice bellowed from the deck of an ancient oil tanker berthed two piers to the left. Off-gridders had converted it into ‘luxury’ housing, replacing the cavernous holds with walls, floors, and hundreds of society’s unwanted. Their lookouts paced the deck, small rifles tucked close to their chests. None of them noticed her there, a redhead in black.

  The wind gusted with a howl. She curled up, hugging herself, the touch of her fingers on bare skin made loneliness heavier. Gunshots rang out in the distant dark. She looked in the direction for a few seconds and let her head sag forward. Such sounds made up the routine background din of the black zone; anyone who reacted to a far-off firefight stood out as a newcomer. Out on the water, the hollow, semi-skeletal figure of an ancient statue caught the glow of faltering lights. They’d shut down the holographic replacement for some reason or another… maintenance probably. Some years ago, a senator had campaigned for money to rebuild the statue. He’d pocketed most of it and bought a giant holo-emitter instead.