“We haven’t chatted since the wide game,” Nuri said. “And I’m not completely blind. All the Nasty Girls and their close friends are out of the programme.”
“You’re perceptive. Good.”
“That was your doing?”
He gave a one-shouldered shrug.
“And they’ll get away with it, won’t they? The bullying. It’s all been hushed up?”
“Nothing is ever truly hushed up. Those youngsters were doing a really bad job of playing the long game. Their actions these past few months will one day bite them in the arse. If not now, then a few months or years down the road. That is a punishment in and of itself. A few words carefully shared in the right networks will be more effective than correctional service. Sometimes it’s impossible to get rid of tarnish.”
Nuri looked at him askance. “Wouldn’t it be better to just get the punishment over?”
“Where’s the fun in that?”
“I nearly got killed.”
“You of all people should know that life’s not easy. Imagine what it’ll be like once you’re out there.” He waved up at the sky.
“And if I’d died? You forget, I’m a Citizen now.”
“And you knew the risks when you signed on. We’re not coddling anyone in this programme. You could have fallen off one of the obstacles and broken your neck. You could have accidentally hurt yourself while out on your morning run.”
“Still …” Nuri could see the sense in that, but she wasn’t convinced. “What now?”
“You carry on. Be the best.”
“So, that’s the pep talk part, right?” She offered a wry smile, which he returned.
“Something like that.”
“Why are you paying me special attention?”
“What makes you think that I don’t do the same for the others? Maybe you just aren’t aware enough. All the facilitators have focus groups of their Chosen.”
“So, I’m your and Katha’s problem now?”
He laughed. “You’re hardly a problem, but if you must, consider this your pep talk. The problems you had have been dealt with, and you’ve got good friends around you, even if you’re not technically a squad anymore. You’re a good person, Nuri. You inspire loyalty in those close to you.”
“It wasn’t always like that,” she said.
“I know. Don’t lose hope though. Maybe you had a start in life that was rougher than most, but that doesn’t have to set the tone for the rest of your life.”
“Jeez, you sound like one of those motivational film clips they show in life orientation class.”
“Maybe,” he said, “but they do have a kernel of truth in them, even if they’re rather trite.”
“What now?” Nuri asked. They’d already gone nearly an entire circuit of the field.
“Now?” Raphel glanced up at the sun, then winked at Nuri. “Now I think it’s time for lunch.”
* * *
Oddly enough, once the routine had started, Nuri enjoyed the early-morning runs. Their new schedule meant that none of the facilitators drilled them the way they had before the first winnowing; they left it up to individual Chosen to complete their allotted tasks. Each week they had to check in with a certain amount of physical-exercise hours, study hours, classes and all the rest. Anything they missed they had to make up in their own time. Not that Nuri had much free time, what with the extra psi-training she still had.
Her runs were precious times, when she came closest to those occasions back in the barrens when she all but flew across the landscape. Only now she’d traded rooftops, fences and walls for fallen trees, rocky ridges and a few old ruins smothered in vines. The facility’s grounds were huge, almost half the size of the north-western barrens if she included the wilderness beyond the swamps to the east. The route they’d taken regularly before the first winnowing had been but a fraction of well-trodden tracks criss-crossing the entire place. Nuri liked the idea that she could get lost out in the rest of it; perhaps if Raphel, Mei and Byron knew, they’d have complete fits.
The best part was that since the Nasty Girls and their friends had gone, people had let Nuri go out on her own. At first, she’d checked to see if someone was surreptitiously following her, but unless she was being monitored on the security cameras, she was well and truly alone.
It was glorious, like being able to stretch her arms and legs after being boxed up in a small space for weeks.
This morning had been better than most, she decided. Nuri had followed a game trail – she’d only caught glimpses of the small, graceful hexapods that lurked in the woods here – and headed out to the north-eastern perimeter, where a few old ruins were situated. Nuri figured she’d practise some controlled falls and landings where no one could watch her and have a good laugh at her mistakes. She had a new tumbled landing she wanted to try, and one of those walls was just the right height …
An object flashed in the sky above her as she broke cover onto the flat stretch of grass before the ruins. She stopped to watch as the thing spiralled to the ground. It whined like a mosquito before landing with a puff of dirt. A small flock of pia fowl took flight about five paces to her left from a thicket.
Her first instinct was to run, but when she checked about her, Nuri didn’t see anything amiss. Those birds must’ve been spooked by whatever had fallen from the sky. Tentatively, her senses alert to the smallest threat, Nuri picked her way across the open space and went to investigate.
The object was a drone – small, military grade. Its dull cerametal carapace had a singe mark where an anti-grav unit had been attached. This must’ve fallen off at impact. Or been blasted off … She turned it over with the toe of her running shoe to reveal the facility logo – a Heran glyph associated with discovery. Who’d shoot down …?
The small hairs on her nape prickled in warning, and Nuri jumped to the left and rolled just as the sand where she’d been standing exploded. Laser rifle! Ancestors! Her surroundings gained clarity in a way that hadn’t happened since the last chase she’d experienced – running out of Fadhil’s property.
Zzzzt! Zzzzzt!
Nuri darted about like a sun-struck moonbug, then turned and scarpered for the closest vegetation.
Zzt!
The heat from that last bolt stung her cheek, and she ran like mad, just like in the tag games they’d had during training, praying the sniper wouldn’t track. There wasn’t any adequate cover unless she reached the trees, and she didn’t have time to pinpoint where exactly the sniper was hiding. Considering the shots had targeted her after she’d left cover, it stood to reason that she’d be safer where she’d come from.
Except three masked men were waiting for her once she hit the trees. Dressed in camo, they weren’t easy to spot until the last moment, though Nuri managed to swerve right out of the nearest one’s reach.
They were trying to herd her back into the open. Back into the sniper’s range.
Heart thumping, she leapt high, used her momentum to drag herself up a tree the same way a cat would, and ran along the bough until her weight bent it towards the ground. Beneath her, the men were shouting, but she didn’t wait to find out what they were saying. As she ran, she jumped.
Not enough traction, but she was able to grab a limb above her, swing up and then throw herself towards the next trunk. The trees weren’t going to last forever – that was the problem. Three spectacular leaps later, she hit the ground, rolled and took off, her nearest pursuer’s hand grazing her shoulder.
Too close.
They thudded like pandors behind her, their breath huffing although they were fit. Military trained?
This wasn’t a wide game. She’d end up dead if she messed up now.
And she was in a section of the grounds she didn’t know well, trying to lose attackers who had stamina.
Head to your right; keep to the watercourse.
The instructions were terse, felt notions of where she might go more than actual words. Nuri obeyed without argument.
; Not alone in this, came the reassurance, and a sense of strength suffused her, eased the burning in her lungs so that she could concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other.
Nuri was small; she could slip through the reeds. Her pursuers blundered in, slowed down a fraction so that she had the head start she needed when she slid into a muddy gully.
A visual of a luminous satellite map flashed via her AR despite her not having accessed it – this muddy watercourse flowing into the small river where she and a few others had practised diving out marked stones. It wasn’t deep, but it’d offer her an opportunity to reach the reed bed on the opposite bank unseen – the water was murky and would hide her well. There were hundreds of fen mole paths across the water, and the ones that would bring her to safer territory were highlighted in flashing red. If this worked, those fools would waste time hunting for her among the reeds.
That was the theory.
Where were these visuals coming from? No time to think.
Each time she put down her foot, took a leap across a gap, she feared someone would clutch at her, that another stray rifle bolt would singe her. A flash of pain as her ankle twisted made her yelp. She pressed on, conscious of a man gaining to her left. Her breath rasped, her lungs were on fire, but stopping was not an option.
The next she knew, she took a leap and arrowed into the water. Fierce exultation shot through her as she dived, stirring up the silty bottom.
Her route flashed, the same way it would, had she been playing one of the VR RPGs. She’d have to find out more about this AR programme later – maybe it wasn’t so bad after all. Just that she’d gone most of her life without relying on it, so to have access to it now was … beyond brilliant.
Behind her the water pocked with rifle fire, but Nuri was headed diagonally to her left, and not in the straight line her pursuers might expect. Her world was reduced to a warm, tea-coloured haze. Light struck slanting bars as she swam with sure strokes. Her lungs ached, but she concentrated on pushing ahead. Where was the bloody reed bed? Must be –
Next moment a fallen tree had her in its grip, and the dagger-like bites from the branches made her cry out and loose a stream of bubbles. Twigs snagged her limbs and she fought hard not to completely lose her composure. The expulsion of so much of her air would already be a dead giveaway. With a savage twist and ripping fabric, she kicked free and surfaced.
Even as she blinked away water, she took note of the men pointing at her from across the way. Not far enough! She struck out for the bed of reeds, where she pulled herself into the sludgy mass of vegetation. It was slow going, her only consolation that the bastards behind her would be slowed down too.
Once again the map flashed, her path highlighted, and Nuri hurried along, silently thanking the ancestors or whoever else was watching out for her. Her route brought her to a maze of foliage – the ground here was firmer, and she could weave between the protruding roots of the shrubs. In the distance the men were cursing, which gave her cause for a bitter smile. They were probably stuck in the reeds. Where she’d been able to slide between, they’d no doubt fallen through and got their feet stuck.
Knowing that she was almost free didn’t take away from the fact that she was tiring. Her legs were leaden, and she was sure her heart was about to burst right out of her chest in a gory spray. She daren’t stop. Even when she reached the outskirts of the pilaar forest, she didn’t slow. Here the ground was firm, which meant her pursuers could catch up. Yet she knew the area, there was that, so she slowed a little and varied her route, making use of rocky outcrops and fallen trees.
Glimmers of the buildings and the training fields began to flash through gaps in the pale trunks, giving Nuri that mystical second wind. Whether her pursuers were still on her tail she couldn’t tell, but she had never been this grateful to see the facility’s ugly structures. Even better were the recruits playing a ball game on the nearest field. Nuri sprinted past them, her vision blurring until she simply couldn’t run any more. The turf rose to greet her, and she landed badly, wrenching her shoulder.
All she could do was concentrate on her breathing, her lungs and throat aflame as the air rasped in and out. Her wet clothes felt as though they were steaming, and the brown stench of dirty lake water overwhelmed her. She was vaguely aware of people calling her name.
A tall blond human reached her first – Stefan.
“Nuri?” He crouched down next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “What happened? Are you all right?”
“Does … it … look … as if … I’m …” That was as far as she got, her need to gulp air more pressing than words.
Her world grew darker around the edges, then brighter, as the nausea flowed through her in waves of hot and cold.
“I’m calling the medics!” someone yelled.
* * *
Nuri came too as she was being hefted onto the stretcher between two medical orderly bots.
Mei was right there as they hurried along. “What happened to you?”
“Uh …” Nuri croaked.
“Don’t try to talk,” snapped one of the facilitators on the other side of the stretcher as they began to move towards the medical centre. The woman sounded annoyed, and Nuri had a nibbling of dismay that she was in trouble.
“Is she all right?” she heard Byron calling.
“We think so,” Mei replied. “Going to medical. I’ll stay with her.”
They rattled into the building, and were brought to the trauma room where the AI scanned her. A drip was inserted with the ancestors only knew what cocktail of drugs, because it felt as if a cool blanket had been draped over her.
Mei remained with Nuri, helped her out of her sodden clothing and then gave her a sponge bath before helping her into one of those awful hospital nighties that didn’t close properly at the back. Mei didn’t ask what had happened, just kept up a steady stream of chatter about things that didn’t matter, which kept Nuri calm. Every time Mei stopped talking, the horrors of what had just happened crowded back on Nuri, turning her into a gibbering mess.
By the time she was settled in a bed, and had the covers pulled up to her chin, all Nuri wanted to do was sleep, but then Raphel bustled in, his face tight with worry. He dismissed Mei, but Nuri had enough strength to clasp Mei’s forearm before she could leave. No way she was going through this alone.
“What’s happening here?” Raphel asked.
Drugged up to her eyeballs on sedatives and whatever else the AI had given her, Nuri’s relief at being taken care of was replaced by a creeping disappointment – a betrayal, even.
“You said I was safe,” she mumbled.
“You are safe!” Raphel exclaimed.
She shook her head. Mei clasped her hand harder.
“There were men, this morning, when I went running. Sniper with laser rifle. They tried … I was too fast.” A little bit of pride slipped back in. Though it’d been a near thing, she had been too fast. “I accessed maps on the AR. Found a route out.”
Raphel hissed in surprise, stepped back. “A moment.” He held up a hand while his eyes went distant and he no doubt fired off messages via his AR.
Seconds later, his dark eyes held hers again. “Now, tell me everything. Slowly this time.”
Nuri’s vision blurred with tears. She didn’t want to relive it so soon, but she had to. This much she understood. How had the facility security been breached without an alarm being raised?
“I was out by the north-eastern perimeter, when I saw a facility drone fall from the sky …”
16
They kept her in for observation for three days. Nuri had a laser burn on her left leg she hadn’t been aware of, and it had gone far deeper than she would have liked. She’d also inhaled water from the lake, or so the AI said, so was treated for inflammation of the bronchial passages and possible infection.
Mostly she slept, grateful for the quiet, and the only people who were allowed to see her were Mei, Byron and Raphel. Nuri was certain they were ta
king turns to guard her, because she wasn’t alone at all that she was aware of. Byron told her how he and a bunch of the other Chosen had formed squads and scoured the quadrant where Nuri had been attacked. He recounted in great detail how they’d found where the bastards had tunnelled under the perimeter fence and used a clever jamming device to fool the cameras and override security. They’d shot down the drone simply because it’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nuri shuddered when she considered what might’ve happened if they hadn’t slipped up, and if her sixth sense for predicting danger hadn’t come into play. She was alive by microseconds, so far as she reckoned.
When she replayed the incident, she imagined the worst – how her life could have ended right there.
“How can they hate me so much?” she asked Mei.
“They don’t hate you; they hate what you represent,” was Mei’s answer. “To them you’re just a threat that must be erased. You can’t take this personally.”
“Easy for you to say.”
Mei didn’t have an answer for that.
Fadhil Tien wasn’t cleared for a visit, but he sent her a ghost orchid accompanied by a short voice message.
* * *
Hi Nuri, I was informed of the incident, and I’d like you to know that I’m doing everything in my power here on the outside to prevent something of this nature from happening again. The facilitators are keeping me up to speed with your continued progress, and I am very proud of you.
I hope that you feel better soon, and that at some point before the emergence we will have an opportunity to meet face to face. I would like that very much.
Keep well, ancestors bless.
* * *
His voice conveyed genuine affection, and a warm rush of emotion flooded Nuri. It was still a surprise to find that people cared about her. Or tried to give the impression that they did, at least. She couldn’t quite shake her old suspicions.
How would things have been if she’d grown up with parents? A mother, even.
That dredged up an old hurt, one that she’d kept buried so deep it shocked her with its sting. She’d always been Nuri alone, runt of the pack, the one lumped with all the shite, the most dangerous jobs. Now, she was Nuri the ex-crim, with a small coterie of beings she considered friends despite the overwhelming antipathy many others showed her. And she had a patron – one willing to adopt her once she’d finished with the programme. None of it felt real.
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