Jason Sanford - [BCS299 S03]

by Where the World Ends Without Us (html)

  “Nah, I’m lying. I can access your grains without touching you. But I won’t. Unless you piss me off.”

  Alexnya couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Why are you camping by yourself?” Ae asked. “Aren’t those anchors your family?”

  “Nah. They hate me. I pretty much feel the same about them.”

  “Want me to use my connector to force them to like you?” Ae clapped her hands eagerly, as if the thought of manipulating anchors was too much fun to contemplate.

  “Not really. But thanks for offering.”

  “Okay, option two. Want to sleep in my wagon?”

  Alexnya fought an eager smile creeping up her face. She really wanted to do that—to feel like a day-fellow again, if only for a few hours.

  Ae stood up and waved for Alexnya to follow. Now that Alexnya looked closely, Ae’s body seemed abnormally skinny, as if she’d been ill most of her life. She looked about twelve years old, but the way she moved and talked made Alexnya suspect she was far older.

  They walked to the first wagon in the caravan. Two horses grazed nearby, and both looked Alexnya over before deciding she was safe, and they returned to eating. Ae opened the wagon’s back door and climbed inside. The funk of too many bodies living in too small a space flowed out of the wagon, making Alexnya feel like a kid again. She grabbed the handle by the door and pulled herself up, bracing herself for the disapproving looks from the day-fellows inside.

  Instead, Colton and Mita stared at her in amusement.

  “She’s weird,” Ae announced. “Like us.”

  “I am not weird,” Mita muttered.

  “No, you are weird,” Ae said. “Just like me and Colton. Which is why I said she could bunk with us.”

  Mita almost gagged as she forced a smile to her face. “Ae, anchors aren’t... comfortable sleeping in day-fellow wagons.”

  “Don’t talk to me like I’m a kid,” Ae said. “And I already said she could stay.”

  “Uh, maybe I should go...” Alexnya said.

  “No,” Mita said. “I... Colton, what do you think? It’s our wagon after all.”

  Colton sat at the small diagnostic table working on a disassembled laser pistol. “I don’t mind if she stays,” he said. “She used to be a day-fellow, you know.”

  Mita and Ae both gave Alexnya a surprised glance.

  “Wait a minute, Colton,” Mita said. “You talk all the time about your family. About how this girl took your mother’s place, how your mother ripped the grains from your body, how your grandmother is loving yet scary as shit. But you never said Alexnya used to be a day-fellow!”

  Colton shrugged. “Didn’t seem important.”

  Mita laughed and shook her head, as if she’d long grown used to putting up with Colton’s inanity. “Toss your bag on that bunk,” she told Alexnya.

  Alexnya did as told and stretched out there beside her bag. There wasn’t much space, the bunk above pressing down to only a span above face, but she couldn’t be happier. She touched the armored wall beside her, closed her eyes, and breathed deep of the wagon’s tang of bodies and electronics and food and gear.

  “Guess you were born a day-fellow,” Mita said. “No true anchor would get goofy-faced over sleeping in an over-crowded wagon.”

  “It feels good in here,” Alexnya said. “Like being home.”

  Mita, Colton, and Ae shared their dinner of rice and spiced beans with Alexnya. While eating, Colton tapped one of the dots on his arm and thanked Ae for cooking such a great meal. Seeing Alexnya’s puzzlement, he explained—having the grains removed from him had stripped him of his ability to feel emotions, at least until Sri Sa inserted her own grains into his body last year.

  “I have to tap the dots on my arm,” Colton said. “Then wham—happiness, sadness, anger, fear, or any other emotion arising from mixtures of those.”

  “You have to guess which emotion you want to feel?” Alexnya asked.

  Ae giggled. “That’s pretty much it. You should have seen him at our solstice dinner—Elder Vácha asked him to say a few words to everyone, but he tapped anger by mistake. He cursed out Elder Vácha so much she smacked him.”

  Mita rolled her eyes. Obviously she didn’t find the story nearly as funny.

  Alexnya extended her hand over Colton’s arm. “May I?”

  “Yes,” he said. “But don’t touch them. I can only use the grains to generate emotions a limited number of times before their power will be exhausted.”

  Alexnya reached out with her power and felt the grains Sri Sa had embedded within Colton’s arm. They had the same taste as the grains that made up Sri Sa. The same happiness and sadness and anger and fear as she’d felt from Sri Sa when Sri Sa had attacked her.

  “Why is Sri Sa doing all this?” Alexnya asked.

  “No clue,” Mita said. “We thought she was dead.

  “Can she be trusted?”

  Mita and Ae looked for Colton to answer, and Alexnya wondered why he would know more about Sri Sa than they did.

  Colton hesitated. “I trusted her once,” he finally said. “And she fought hard to save our lives. But the Sri Sa I knew is dead—whatever’s here now is a recreation by the grains. The question, though, is which grains recreated her.”

  Alexnya waited for Colton to explain what he meant by ‘which grains,’ but he put the laser pistol in his holster, opened the wagon’s door, and walked outside.

  When the door closed again, Ae jumped over and sat by Alexnya.

  “He got all kissy with Sri Sa before she died,” she whispered as if sharing a secret. “Even without touching his emotions, thinking about Sri Sa makes him moody.”

  Alexnya frowned. Earlier she’d thought Colton might understand her more than anyone else here, but what did it mean if he was in love with Sri Sa? Did Sri Sa feel the same as he did? She had given him back the limited ability to feel emotions, so obviously she cared for him. But was it more than that?

  As Alexnya climbed into her bunk to sleep, she wondered if this revelation could give her a way to turn tomorrow’s judgment festival to her advantage.

  The next morning Alexnya climbed out of the wagon and prepared to leave the biosphere and face the judgment festival. She stepped barefoot into the cold dew on the grass, not wanting to destroy her boots when she powered up. The rest of her clothes were tailored to stretch and open, so she didn’t worry about them.

  But before she could power up, she noticed Ae standing beside her.

  “Go ahead,” Ae said, staring eagerly at her body. “I’ve never seen an anchor power up from this close. Usually not a safe thing to witness.”

  Mita chuckled as she climbed out of the wagon wearing her leather body armor, sword, and holstered laser. But she also looked curious.

  Alexnya blushed before shaking off her embarrassment. She focused on the grains in her body, releasing their power. Her muscles and bones twisted as they rang out like steel and her hands shaped into claws. She grew until she was taller by half again.

  She grinned a mouthful of fangs at Ae.

  “That as scary as you get?” Ae asked. “I’ve seen worse.”

  Alexnya resisted the urge to pick the sassy girl up and twirl her over her head. She and Ae walked around the wagon to where Mita and Colton were waiting, then joined the other day-fellows and anchors lined up before the biosphere’s inner doors. The other day-fellows also wore body armor and carried any weapon they could find, including lasers. Wren, Pinhaus, and the anchors, meanwhile, were powered up like Alexnya. Only Chakatie had stayed her normal self, still wearing her yellow hat and suit. But even her grains clicked vast amounts of power through her small body.

  Everyone was prepared for whatever the day might bring.

  A dustdevil of grains swirled into the air before the entrance and formed into Sri Sa’s giant body.

  “Everyone looks so happy to see me,” she said with an amused grin.

  Colton stepped before Sri Sa and tapped his emotions. Anger snapped across his face.
<
br />   “What the hell are you playing at?” he screamed.

  Sri Sa frowned. “Anger is the emotion you give me? After I saved your life last year? Saved all of you?”

  Colton didn’t seem to know how to react to this. He reached to tap another emotion but Mita grabbed his hand.

  “We saw you die,” Mita calmly told Sri Sa. “Why are you still here?”

  Sri Sa smiled menacingly down at Mita, large simulated fangs glistening in her simulated mouth. “I am dead, yes. But some of the grains that powered me survived, and saved the essence of who I am.”

  Mita unholstered her laser pistol. “We can correct that error,” she said. “I’ve killed many anchors. Can’t be much harder to get rid of a grain-spun ghost.”

  Sri Sa raised a massive clawed hand to smash Mita, but she stopped when she saw Colton watching.

  “I won’t hurt you,” she muttered, hiding the claw behind her body as if embarrassed. “I’m here to help you. The grains are the ones who want all of you dead.”

  Chakatie and Elder Vácha stepped forward, with a reluctant Ae following behind them. They nodded at Ae, who closed her eyes. Her body began to shake. Alexnya felt Ae’s neuroconnector reach out to the grains making up Sri Sa’s body. A moment later the sensation vanished and Ae fell to her knees.

  “Sri Sa spoke the truth,” Ae said. “She’s made up of the rogue grains that powered her before she died. She’s not the grains that imprisoned us here.”

  Alexnya reached out toward Sri Sa with her own power. The grains making up Sri Sa tasted bittersweet and off-color—if taste was the right word—compared to the red hot spice she experienced from the grains in the rest of the world. Elder Vácha had said the grains that powered Sri Sa were an ancient variant of the nano-machines ruling today’s world. That they were even programmed differently.

  “So nice being in the biosphere,” Sri Sa said. “I don’t have to hide myself from the other grains—don’t have to spoof their communications and hack their sensors so they can’t see me. I can just exist.”

  Alexnya understood wanting to be free and just exist.

  Sri Sa shrunk her simulated body until she stood at the same height as Colton and Mita and the other day-fellows.

  “Sorry I couldn’t speak with you sooner,” she told Colton. “But I wasn’t even conscious until a few months ago. My surviving grains attached themselves to your caravan, but it took them time to replicate and reactivate who I was.”

  “Sounds like you miss being with these day-fellows,” Chakatie said.

  “I do.”

  “Then why did you place them at the mercy of a judgment festival?”

  Sri Sa looked at everyone around her, both the day-fellows and anchors tense at the coming judgment. Realization flickered across her simulated face. “I... I didn’t. The other grains had this planned, for the last year. They’re desperate to fix the problems they’ve encountered recently.”

  Seeing that no one was convinced, Sri Sa snorted. “Fine, don’t believe me. But the grains that control this world are programmed not to change. To them, the solution to any problem is simple: find and destroy everything connected to that problem.”

  Sri Sa pointed at Alexnya.

  “Everything started on your land when your predecessor killed all those anchors to protect one little day-fellow—you,” Sri Sa said. “Or maybe it started when the grains were stripped from your body, Colton. Or when Chakatie and her family saw all this happening and didn’t prevent it. Or when all you day-fellows decided you didn’t want to meekly die because the grains said you should.”

  Some of the day-fellows and anchors were having trouble meeting Sri Sa’s gaze as she spoke.

  “But the grains don’t want to simply kill all of you,” Sri Sa said. “They want to show the world that you’re wrong. To have every anchor and day-fellow outside this damn biosphere accept that the world is running as it should. Hence the judgment festival.”

  Alexnya knew Sri Sa was right. Vindictiveness and absolute control were how the grains dealt with matters. “So what do we do?” she asked.

  Sri Sa frowned. “You die.”

  As the anchors cursed and the day-fellows drew weapons, Sri Sa held up her hands. “Wait, wait! Not all of you. Only Alexnya.”

  “What the hell?” Alexnya said, fury clicking through her powered up body.

  “Those red necklaces,” Sri Sa said. “I couldn’t stop the grains from holding a judgment festival for Alexnya and bringing all of you here. But I can deactivate the necklaces now that you’re in the biosphere away from their power. I can even spoof the grains so they won’t know about it.”

  Sri Sa pointed at the red necklace on Elder Vácha’s neck. The necklace spasmed and vanished.

  “See,” Sri Sa said. “I’m now spoofing your necklace—the grains outside don’t have a clue you’re free. Alexnya must still go outside to be judged and executed. But the rest of you live.”

  Elder Vácha shook her head. “Won’t work. When Chakatie’s family returns home, the grains will realize they aren’t dead. And our caravan would quickly be recognized by the grains while we traveled.”

  “You misunderstand,” Sri Sa said. “We don’t leave. We stay in this biosphere. There are no grains here. And I can hack the grains inside Chakatie and her family so they won’t reveal they’re still alive.”

  “Wait,” Chakatie said. “We’d be trapped here... for the rest of our lives?”

  “It’s either that or be dead,” Sri Sa said. She grimaced at Alexnya. “Sorry, yeah, you’ll still die. The grains want everyone at the judgment festival to see that. But if you go out there and get executed, all these people will live.”

  Alexnya couldn’t even curse this time.

  While Chakatie and Elder Vácha and most everyone else argued about Sri Sa’s plan and whether they could actually live in the biosphere without the grains noticing, Alexnya, Colton, Ae, and Mita sat near the dome’s entrance with Sri Sa.

  “Why me?” Alexnya asked. “Why’d you pick me for this damn plan?”

  “I didn’t,” Sri Sa said. “Like I said, the grains had already set all this in motion. I just took advantage of their plans—slipped in under their detection nets to find a way for me and everyone else to live.”

  “Just not me.”

  Sri Sa had the decency to look away.

  Alexnya kicked the grass, popping a divot from the soil. She didn’t feel like sitting with them anymore, so she stood up and walked down to the lake.

  The biosphere’s sky shimmered rainbows in the morning light. Maintenance robots moved across the roof’s lattice, from this distance like ants working on their colony. She remembered the stories she’d read about biospheres as a kid, how they would protect their environments and species if the worst ever happened again.

  She had to admit the biosphere was beautiful and, with thousands of acres inside, it could easily support both Chakatie’s family and the day-fellows. Assuming Sri Sa could trick the grains into believing those necklaces had killed everyone when Alexnya was found guilty at the festival.

  Assuming Alexnya agreed to die.

  She wandered back to the caravan. Chakatie and Elder Vácha were still discussing the plan with both the day-fellows and the anchors, trying to reach a consensus. But even without listening Alexnya knew which way this would go. She wasn’t one of these day-fellows. And she wasn’t truly part of Chakatie’s family.

  No one was watching out for her.

  She returned to where Sri Sa, Colton, Mita, and Ae were sitting but hung back a bit, leaning against the biosphere’s glass. She noticed Sri Sa couldn’t stop staring at Colton. Sri Sa had done that since revealing herself this morning, as if she didn’t care what others thought of her but was desperate for Colton’s approval.

  Last night Alexnya had wondered if Sri Sa loved Colton as much as he loved her. That definitely appeared to be the case.

  She powered up the grains in her ears to hear their conversation.

  “Co
lton won’t tell you what he’s thinking,” Ae told Sri Sa. “But I can. He cried over you when you died. He’s been angry at himself for the last year. Keeps telling us how much he loved you. He’s missed you deeply—that is, he’s felt all that whenever he used the grains you gave him.”

  Sri Sa crafted a happy smile on her face. But Colton tapped the grains on his arm and looked with irritation at Ae.

  “Wow,” she said. “He thinks I’m worth using his emotions on! I’m honored!”

  Colton sighed and tapped all the dots on his arm. For the first time since Alexnya had met him, he looked like a person open to every emotion of life.

  “It’s true,” he told Sri Sa. “I did miss you. Terribly.”

  Colton reached out and squeezed Sri Sa’s hand, causing her body to ripple and partly disappear, as if she couldn’t control her own emotions and grains.

  A moment later Colton’s face was again impassive as his emotions shut down. He removed his hand from Sri Sa’s grip.

  This interplay between them was fascinating. And Colton, Mita, and Ae were a cute family, even though none of them were related to each other. Alexnya yet again missed her own mother and father and sister, and the sense of belonging she’d grown up with as part of a day-fellow caravan.

  She stalked over and stared down at Sri Sa. “You seem pretty human,” she said.

  “Why wouldn’t I be? I am human.”

  “Not what we normally think of as human—you’re a recreation. You’re what those strange grains formed from your memories and consciousness after you died.”

  Anger flashed through Sri Sa. Unlike moments before, the grains making up her body didn’t fall apart. Instead they appeared to solidify, as if her anger was making her more powerful.

  Alexnya snorted, refusing to fear Sri Sa.

  “Before you choke me again, listen to what I’m saying,” she said. “I actually believe you are still human. But why are you so human, when you’re made up of grains? The regular grains all over our world feel emotions but are never anything close to human. They could never create someone as human as yourself.”

  Sri Sa nodded and seemed to calm down. “The grains that make up my body are programmed differently.”