Daugher of Ash

by Matthew S. Cox

  I’m where I belong now. They should keep me locked up.

  The more she thought, the less she felt like resisting C-Branch. She was a machine made to kill, taking her first life at the age of seven. What kind of twisted person cries over a deer and feels nothing at killing people?

  The auto-tray arrived with a portion of ziti. It landed nearby, though Kate ignored it. A sense of drifting off to sleep began, but halted with an icy caress down her back. Something tugged at her mind; she sensed an intrusion, though the instinctual urge to resist evaporated under the terror of another shock. The mere thought of getting zapped again almost spilled her bladder.

  Nothing happened.

  She squirmed around, tightening the blanket.

  You look a right hames, girl. Feeling sorry for ourselves, are we?

  Kate screamed.

  Now, now. Calm down before they think you’ve gone Cat-6.

  She sat up, eyes darting about.

  These blokes have got the place locked down hard. This is the only way we have to reach you.

  “What? Aurora?”

  Don’t talk out loud. Just think, dear. I’m inside you. By the way, in case you hadn’t noticed, you’re quite peckish. Hungry even.

  No, I’m not.

  The same chill that she felt on her back spread into her arms and legs. As though her brain had detached from her body, she spectated while she sat up and took the tray in her lap. A plastic forkful of ziti hovered at her mouth.

  Open up, dear. You don’t want me to sing the choo-choo song, do you?

  Kate scowled. I’m not two years old.

  The sound of a woman’s voice mimicking a train in the back of her mind became maddening within seconds. She acquiesced and tolerated being fed a few forkfuls before fighting for control of her arm.

  That’s it, luv. You’ll need your strength.

  She squeezed the blanket with her toes. What for? I’m where I belong.

  Rubbish, chirped Aurora. Archon wants to help you.

  Ziti slid around the plate, urged by an aimless plastic utensil. C-Branch, Division 0, El Tío, everyone… All they want to do is use me. Archon’s no different. I’m just a weapon. A killer.

  Well you’re right sick as a parrot, aren’t ya? This all over that bloke in St. Louis? I can help you forget all about him if you fancy.

  Her left eye winked on its own.

  She stuffed another forkful in her mouth. No. I’m tired of running, and it’s not all about sex.

  Twenty-five years untouched, you expect me to believe it’s not? Hmm, imagine what the guards watching your cameras would do if I popped out and we messed about. The total clusterfuck that would cause is wicked tempting.

  Kate pouted into her lap, reliving the moment with Esteban and the oven mitt. I want more than that. It’s not the physical contact. I’m tired of feeling like it’s ‘the world plus Kate.’ I want to belong with someone.

  Aww, that was so romantic. Her left arm wiped away nonexistent tears.

  Stop that. Kate grabbed her wayward hand and held it to her gut. That’s so creepy!

  Her legs crossed, left on top. I know! Real pisser innit? Aurora’s voice laughed in her thoughts.

  Kate shivered and clutched the stun collar. How is it you’re not setting this fucking thing off? Get out.

  Oh, don’t throw a wobbly. I’m not using your brain, too. It’s watching what you do. It can’t see ghosts.

  She stared at the wall.

  No. Aurora let off a heavy mental sigh. I’m not dead, but I’m close enough to a ghost to fool that machine. Look, this isn’t your place. Buck up, you’re leaving.

  She set the fork on the empty plate; the auto-tray floated off and disappeared into its hatch. Everyone wants to use me. I… I can only think of one person I’ve met who’s been nice to me without wanting something in return.

  Just one? asked Aurora. What about that spiritualist fellow? The one who got you to thank the dead animals?

  Kate ran her fingers down her hair in a repetitive, nervous gesture. Okay, two.

  Althea is innocent and naïve. She thinks there is good inside everyone. Can you believe that?

  She chuckled. I’m a killer.

  Are you so sure, Kate? By the way, they can’t get you out of here… but once you’re out, they can protect you.

  “What’s that supposed to mean,” whispered Kate. “They who?”

  Kate, in her blanket-burrito, scooted like an inchworm over the metal cot and leaned against the corner of the cell. She stuck one hand out in the open, gazing at her splayed fingers. For the second time in her life, she felt helpless―at the mercy of others. She couldn’t boil her way out of this cage. A brief moment of jealousy toward Althea came and went; the girl had an entire city willing to protect her. Envy gave way to gratitude. Kate had become one of them; she wanted to protect the child. What Althea said hit her out of the blue and hung a leaden weight of guilt around her neck, heavier than the stunner. The old man had manipulated her. Burn out cancer… He loves misery and suffering. He wanted to scare me away from her. Kate squinted at the space she thought held the cell door.

  I just need to play their game long enough to earn trust.

  ate startled awake at the touch of a hand jostling her by the shoulder. A short figure stood beside her iron-hard bed. Kate raised an arm over her eyes to shield them from the relentless ceiling lights. Between the glare and the sudden shift from sleep to conscious, her brain perceived only a blur of color in the approximate shape of a woman. The grip on her shoulder pushed and pulled; her head felt like the yolk inside an egg as someone shook it.

  “We don’t have much time. Get up and fetch your shoes,” said the woman.

  “They confiscated them.” Kate sat up. “Won’t even let me have socks… think I’ll hang myself.”

  “Bother. That’s a stack of shit, Kate. They’re trying to keep you uncomfortable, make you pliable. Keep you freezing, then give you a blanket. You start to trust them, see them as nice. Didn’t it occur to you that you could hang yourself with your jumpsuit more easily than socks?”

  A few blinks changed the generic female shape into one she recognized, a diminutive woman with white hair in navy blue coat over black shirt and pants. “Anna? What the hell are you doing here?”

  “This is your gallant rescue. Come on.” Anna dragged her standing. “Aurora’s got the security station man.”

  Kate fell back to sit on the hard metal bunk. “We’ll get shot. Get out of here before you get caught too.” She tapped the collar. “I’m useless right now. I’m as safe as I can get here for what I am and I probably deserve―”

  “Bollocks.” Anna hauled her upright again. “Aurora told me she doesn’t think you’re in for being used as a killer anymore. Once they figure that out…” She made a finger gun at Kate’s temple and a pshoo noise. “If not for concern over what you’ll do, to keep your existence a secret.”

  “But…”

  “Archon is going to take us away from all of this. You will be safe and happy somewhere far away from the reach of any government or corporation.”

  Kate sniffed. Burnt flesh. “What’s that smell?”

  Anna pulled her by the hand to the door. “I think he called himself Agent Jones.”

  “Dead?”

  “No. Just knocked out.” Anna peeked out into the hall. “Government types get peevish when you kill one of them. We’re trying to get you out of here, not start a war.”

  “I can’t go out there like this… I look like a prison escapee.”

  Anna smirked. “You are a prison escapee. I brought you some things, but they’re stashed a bit away from here.”

  Kate’s started to speak, but a noise like the bark of a goose came out of her as Anna lunged forward, dragging her by the arm. Every ten yards along the ceiling, smoke poured out of small holes wherever a camera had been. Anna hurried down the corridor, skipping some hallways and taking two turns without pausing to consider, suggesting she somehow knew th
e way out.

  At the third corner, one of the synthetic agents surprised them, lunging into a stomp-kick that threw Anna into the wall. Kate instinctively drew her hand back in a claw-like shape. Memory of the horrible agony awaiting her stalled her brain before she tried to make the fireball. The synthetic looked at her, taking less than a full second to disregard her as a non-threat.

  Kate shivered from the fear of being an ordinary woman threatened by a machine-man stronger and faster than her, and devoid of any sense of conscience. Anna wheezed, looking more angry than worried.

  He drew a pistol and aimed at Anna in a motion so fast it created a blurry ghost trail behind his arm. A flash came with a tremendous bang that slammed the air from Kate’s lungs.

  She cringed at the deafening echo. It took her a moment to process what happened. Rather than a muzzle flare, the light had come from a thick bolt of lightning connecting Anna’s hand to the synthetic’s chest.

  Anna growled and clambered to her feet. The synth stood motionless for a moment before falling forward. He hit the ground pistol first, balancing on rigid statue-like limbs. Pale grey foam steamed from the corners of his eyes and mouth―boiling nanobot-laced ‘blood.’

  When Anna took her by the hand again, Kate clamped on in a hug.

  “What the devil’s gotten into you?” Anna pushed at her. “We have to get out of here.”

  Kate tapped the metal band around her neck. “I’m…”

  Sapphire eyes widened a touch with a show of sympathy. “Yes, yes… I know. Helpless. You’re welcome, now come on.”

  Three steps into the run, Kate shook off her fear. When she went from drag-along to sprinting under her own will, Anna released her hand. They ducked into a stairwell, heading down.

  “Down?” Kate blurted, waving her arms not to fall. “Aren’t we underground?”

  Anna stopped at the landing halfway between floors and raised both hands. Kate moved up behind, feeling foolish for hiding behind a woman so short. The top of Anna’s head barely made it to Kate’s chin.

  Another pair of synthetics waited at the landing below, compact rifles aimed. Anna closed her eyes. Twin bolts of lightning leapt from ceiling lights, struck the artificial humans, and flowed into her arms. The concussive wave of the blast knocked the door behind them off its mounting rails. Kate tried to grab Anna for support, but wound up on her back, twitching. The smell of ozone and burnt silicon choked the air out of her throat.

  “Sorry, Kate. Don’t touch me when I’m live.” She jogged down to the landing, making an obvious effort to avoid both guns. “Lucky for us, they don’t know me.”

  “What’s that mean?” Kate dragged herself upright. Ache ran in throbs down her back and legs; the shock had reawakened a good portion of muscle pain from the neural stunner.

  Anna moved into the hallway, muttering. “Synthetics, dolls, cyborgs… whatever. Exactly the worst thing to send after me. They all run on electricity.”

  “I hate borgs and bots.” Kate grumbled. “They take so much energy to melt.”

  Anna smiled. “I find them far easier to deal with than people.”

  “Killing or… just uhh, ‘dealing’ with?”

  “Take your pick.” Anna chuckled as she peered left and right.

  Kate snagged a rifle as she stumbled past the twitching synths. I’d rather be a target than helpless.

  “What’d you take that for?” Anna glanced back while punching in a code by an elevator door.

  “I hate feeling like some little girl who needed saving. I don’t want to be dead weight.” She slid to a halt, back to the wall, and sighted over the rifle at the corridor. “This collar. I’d rather not shit myself twice in one day.”

  “That was three days ago,” said Anna as the doors opened. “If you shoot at them, they won’t try to recruit you. They’ll just kill you.”

  “Like they’re not going to do that already. Wait… three?” Kate blinked.

  “Yes. Mental torture, Kate. Solitary confinement.” Anna pointed at the ceiling, and interlaced her fingers to make a step. “Right, up you go.”

  Kate slung the rifle over her shoulder and put a foot in Anna’s hands. After a boost, she climbed up through a hatch in the roof and crawled out onto a ladder. The narrow rungs felt like standing barefoot on icicles, but she weathered the discomfort.

  “Climb up a bit and get tight on the ladder,” said Anna, before switching to telepathy. Gonna send the lift to the roof after I disable the cameras.

  Kate pulled herself up four rungs and huddled as tight as she could in the recess that held the ladder, hugging the metal framework. Several sharp cracks echoed from below, followed by the scent of burned electrical components. Seconds later, rattling announced Anna’s frantic exit. Once the metal box slid up and past her, Kate looked down. Anna held on to the rungs a few feet below, waving at her to start climbing.

  Kate looked up at the receding square of light as the elevator cab ascended. Dangling cables swayed from the underside. The occasional tiny spark flickered between magnets and the tracks it climbed. Anna’s impatient tapping grew louder than her breathing.

  Dull blue-grey metal stretched overhead in a vertical tunnel. Drawn in the wake of the elevator, wind carrying the scent of metal and grease whipped up from below, filling the legs of her prison jumpsuit and slapping her in the face with her hair. The jolt from the stun collar had left her muscles unable to exert without tremors, every rung she dragged herself up became a battle of willpower. Smears of dark liquid stained the walls here and there around the occasional loose metal flap over a breaker panel or maintenance access. Soon, her hands and feet had gone numb from the frigid plastisteel.

  The labor of moving mutated into a repetitious mechanical activity divested of higher brain function. Anna’s hands swiped at her feet every few seconds, no doubt a hint to move faster. Kate squealed when one brushing hand turned into a grip about her ankle.

  “We’re here,” whispered Anna. “Slip back down a bit and follow me.”

  She leaned away from the ladder a little and made the mistake of looking down. Anna peeled the cover from a ventilation shaft, tossed it, and climbed in. Kate’s eyes locked onto the slatted grating plummeting into what appeared to be a bottomless pit.

  “Kate?” Anna’s voice echoed from the duct.

  Clatter. The vent hit the wall forty feet below, spinning. Crack. It caromed off a pipe and continued spinning into darkness. Her mind filled with a looping vision of falling face-first, the ground rushing toward her with a fatal kiss.

  “Kate?” A white pixie-cut poked out from the vent portal. “What is it?”

  The telltale mental twinge of incoming telepathy swam over Kate’s brain. She didn’t dare resist, and had to fight the urge to reply.

  “Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me. Afraid of heights?” Anna rolled her eyes. “Look, we’ve got about ten minutes before all bloody hell breaks loose. Guns, dogs, nasty stuff. Look at me, Kate. Don’t look down. Look at me.”

  Kate fixated on the face in the vent. What’s wrong with me? I’m not a coward. The presence of tight metal around her neck answered her question. She tried to take her mind off her fear of falling by clinging to anger at having the device locked around her neck. Anna grabbed her arms and helped pull her in before she could think about the action. Once inside the claustrophobic confines of the shaft, she forgot all about the deadfall. Anna crawled deeper into the dark. Kate sat for a moment, trying to catch her breath and get her body to stop trembling.

  “Will you come on?” Anna whisper-yelled from about ten meters away. “We’ve got a bit of a schedule to keep.”

  Kate rolled onto all fours and hurried after. She tucked up behind Anna, trying to peer over her back and make eye contact.

  “You do the electricity thing, right?” whispered Kate.

  “Yes. Will you please back off a bit? If I stop short, your head’s going to go up my arse.”

  “Sorry. Can you get this damn thing off me?”

&
nbsp; “Probably, but not now. It’s a complicated device and I’ll need to map it out. Once we’re in the air, I’ll get on it.”

  Featureless metal vents passed for a minute and change. Kate followed her savior along a series of turns, left, left, right, straight past a four-way turn, then left. Anna moved with such confidence in her route, Kate’s fear lessened somewhat. At the end of the next section of shaft, she slid through an opening into a large chamber dominated by a massive air mover. The walls shimmered with chopped-up light as angled metal fan blades big enough to use as beds circled above. Kate crawled out, casting a hesitant glance upward before standing. The chamber’s size kept the spinning death machine a good two feet above her head. A few partial rats clung to the walls where the fan had flung them.

  “Stay down, if that thing powers up to full speed, it’ll suck you in.” Anna dragged a large black bag out from a hiding spot among pipes and unzipped it. “Get that kit off, quick.”

  “What?”

  “Lose the jumpsuit.” Anna seemed exasperated. “Must you make me say everything twice?”

  “Why don’t you speak English then?”

  “Where do you think the bloody language came from?” Anna rummaged in the bag.

  Kate shrugged out of the jumpsuit without hesitation, crossing her arms and shivering in her underwear for a moment until Anna threw clothing at her. She scrambled into a dark, long-sleeved shirt, loose black military-style pants, blessed socks, and boots.

  Anna sat, watching her change, but glanced away from the grateful look.

  “Why the face?” asked Kate, snapping the last of the boot fasteners closed.

  “You’ve changed.” Anna scooted away from the rifle. “I remembered you being colder. You… almost seem like a lost child now.”

  Kate squatted and recovered the weapon. “Yeah, you were a little freaked.”

  “I used to be a self-pitying softie.” Anna sighed. “I know what the world is really like now. People only want to exploit the kind-hearted.”

  Kate tilted her head. “You look like you’re about to laugh.”

  “I’m finding it ironic.” Anna stood, reaching for a hatch plate in the wall. “The first time I saw you, you made me feel like I was the sweet, innocent thing. Now you’re making me feel like the bitch.”