The Glitch (The Glitches Series Book 1)

by Ramona Finn

  I shake my head. “More like I never got the chance. But, Raj, listen, there’s no way to fix the AI. I saw it in…” I run out of words there. How do I tell Raj I’ve been in the AI’s core data stream and yet couldn’t do anything to stop her?

  “Raj, the AI isn’t just an artificial intelligence with the capacity to learn and grow. Conie is a digital composite of a person. When I…I hacked the system, I found the original brain patterns and personality imprints. Conie’s a construct based on her creator. And the AI’s creator pushed her being into Conie, but something went wrong.”

  Raj is staring at me. “What does that mean for us? It’s not a computer? Not a program or system.”

  “It’s evolved far beyond that. It’s fully realized and it’s going to fight any attempt to make it change or put it back in a box.”

  He stares at me, his face set in grim lines. Both of us know that if the AI can’t be fixed, we will likely die here or in the Norm.

  “Then let’s get out of here,” Raj says in a low tone.

  “There’s more,” I whisper. I clench my eyes shut. It’s not my fault the others died from the drones who found them, but it will be my fault if more die. The AI still has some of my memories in the download. I open my eyes and say, “The Rogues are in trouble. The AI knows where they are. They have to move or they’ll be massacred. Skye, too.”

  A slash of energy falls on us. I stand and face the sentinel. It’s a stupid thing with a simple program. I slap it into oblivion. But what I really want to do is delete the core program that keeps creating the sentinels. When the sentinel is gone, Raj stands and gives me a look, but he takes my hand when I offer it to him.

  I blink. We end up in a room made of nothing but lines of light. Raj spins and falls. I glance at him and see he has closed his eyes and is sweating. The room is disorienting to him so I put in a floor and give him a hand up. “It’s okay now.”

  He opens his eyes and faces me. “How are you doing all this?”

  I shrug. “Let’s just call this built-in ability.” I start to pluck at the lines, searching for ideas. The AI has shielded the drone and sentinel programs—the scabs, too. I can’t access any of them without taking time to undo her locks. I need another way out.

  A screech sounds behind me, and I glance back to see Raj hit by a bolt from a sentinel. They’ve followed us here and I thought they couldn’t. Raj hits the floor I put in, electricity encircling his ankle, tearing into him until his entire body convulses. He screeches in pain. I start for him, ready to help, just like I did with Skye, but he yells at me, “No. Go! Save the Rogues. Save yourself!”

  “Like that’s going to happen.” I flatten the sentinel with a wave, and drag Raj to his feet. He sways there, shaking, his face pale. “We can both get out of here.”

  He shakes his head. “You need a distraction.”

  “No, I need an idea. I need lightning at my fingertips and the wind at my back, and…and here comes trouble.” More sentinels appear. I grab Raj’s hand and blink. We end back in the room with file cabinets. We’re losing time, but I have no idea how much time has passed in reality.

  Conie is distracting us—meaning she may already have sent out drones to hunt down the Tracker clan. If Conie makes this plan work, she’ll go after other Rogues and the rest of the Glitches. She will find Skye and kill her. She will find Wolf. A sharp pain contracts in my chest. I have to stop the AI.

  I glance at Raj. “You’re right. We need a distraction.”

  He holds out his hand. “Give me a weapon to do what you do to the sentinels. I’ll watch your back.”

  It’s a good idea. I manufacture a weapon like the drones have in the real world. This will work in this artificial construct to tear apart the sentinels. I tell Raj, “It works just like anywhere—point and press the button.”

  He nods. I turn away and summon the lights back. I hope Raj is not going to end up sacrificing himself for me, but we might both end up sacrificing our lives for the others.

  That idea settles into me, and suddenly this is not a bad thing. To know others will go on if I do not. I understand the clan now. I know what they mean when they say the clan must come first. I have fought that idea, but now I see it as a good thing—to give so that others can live. For the first time, I understand Bear’s choice. He didn’t want the clan to be in danger because of him.

  Well, it is because of me.

  I find a line of light that connects me to drone visuals. I pull in a sharp breath. The drones fly high above dry ground. They are already on their way. I’m too late.

  I search the lines of light looking for some other way to stop the drones.

  There must be something!

  There is no failsafe and no code to recall them. Conie knew I would try to stop her and has removed the means of anyone stopping this. Frustrated, I slam a palm on the lines of light, making them all vibrate and cry out.

  I want lighting at my fingertips.

  The lines sway and shift, and one forms in front of me.

  Access: Storm.

  A jumble of information pours out on how to create a storm. A severe storm. The AI can create them or use them to make rain—or to hold back the rain. The AI is starving this world. She is making it barren.

  I don’t finish that train of thought because I can use this storm to destroy, too. Didn’t Bird say I would bring destruction with me? I will now.

  I pull up the light, pluck it and put in the code to create one of the biggest storms in history. In my mind’s eye, I can see it swirling in, the sand blinding and hitting the drones, finding the crevices in their electronics and filling them with sand.

  I picture the drones getting swallowed by sand. Then rain will hit and short out the electronics and the wind will dash them into the hillsides until they explode and nothing is left but scrap.

  This will work. This will stop them.

  When my storm is hatched, I let the lines of light fade way. Now I can get Raj and me out of here. The storm will hit the Norm as well, and the AI will be too busy dealing with protecting the Norm to bother with us.

  But when I turn to see Raj, he’s gone.

  Chapter Thirty

  I end the connect and stagger. The real world now seems unreal. I have to shake my head and blink several times before I remember to really breathe. Raj has to be here in the other room, still connected. The AI is no longer here and the control room is dark. Conie has moved I know. She shifted to another location to secure herself.

  Stumbling through the open doorway, I hope to find Raj in the other room. But it’s empty. Black scars from the drone weapons scar the walls, but there isn’t so much as a scrap of metal from any of the scabs Raj destroyed.

  Maybe he escaped already and he’s waiting for me outside?

  But how could he have done that?

  I’m not sure what happen to Raj, but I have to get out before the storm passes and Conie has time to come looking for me. I head down the hall and up the ladder and then up the stairs and out of the building. I’m running and out of breath.

  In the Norm, I pause. The Techs seem to be inside buildings, even though the dome shows daylight. I can hear the storm pounding at the dome, rattling it slightly. For the first time I wonder if the Rogues will survive the storm. It’s too much like my dream of the tunnels filling. I will never forgive myself if I have made that dream come true.

  I start down the path that I used to get to the building.

  Drones come at me, weapons armed, and it’s obvious they have been programmed to kill.

  Conie must be angry.

  For some reason, that leaves me smiling.

  I don’t have the powers I have inside the virtual world where I can smash sentinels with a thought. Here I dodge the beams from the drone weapons and wince if one burns too close and tears through the cloth or singes my hair. The beams leave a stink in the air, but I follow the smell of rain—of the Outside.

  The door is still stuck open.

  One dron
e hovers low and close. I jump up and smash my fist into it. It falters and falls. My hand stings. But I jump on the drone, smash the edge of the control panel, and yank it open to rip out its weapon. Now it’s almost a fair fight.

  I use the weapon like Raj did—sweeping it across the sky and across buildings. The weapon singes the dome and suddenly the drones shift, heading to the dome. Rain and wind leak in through the scar I made. The drones seem frantic to make repairs, and now their weapons become like torches that can mend the rip I made.

  That gives me the time I need. I sprint for the door. Behind me, I hear the whine of a drone. Heat tears into my back. I cry out, but I still don’t stop running.

  I race through the Norm, weaving between buildings, dodging under trees. I wish I had the drone viewer with the map, but I have to hope my memory of the path is still good. Straight, left, right, right.

  I have to keep correcting my course because Techs begin to walk out of the buildings, their expressions blank.

  I slam into a man three times my size. He wears the same white cloth as everyone else in the Norm, but his expression is empty. He reaches for me with a beefy hand and grabs the collar of my shirt, jerking me up off my feet. I try to wiggle out of his grasp and slap at his hands.

  His other hand comes up too and closes around my throat. He squeezes. Air catches in my throat and lodges in my chest. I kick and cough.

  Remembering my training with Wolf, I raise up my arms together, pushing them between the man’s massive forearms. Black spots form at the edges of my vision. I bring my arms down, folding them out so that my elbows catch the crook of his arms. His arms buckle and he lets go of me.

  My feet hit the ground. I pull in wheezing breaths of delicious air as I crouch low and duck away before he reaches for me again.

  He catches me by the ankle and jerks me back. I turn and bring my other leg up and around, aiming a fast, hard kick to his face. Something crunches beneath my boot. Blood splatters across his face. He staggers back, letting go of me.

  Twisting around again, I scramble to my feet and run. I run as though my life depends on it because it does. Behind me I hear more Techs coming after me.

  Ahead, I can see the storm raging through the door that is stuck open. Sand swirls, so dense that you cannot see through it. The wind bites into the dome. Drones hover over the door—trying to repair it and close it. The storm is a beast in the sky, waiting to devour me. I glance over my shoulder at the approaching Techs and know that if they get hold of me, I’m lost. Conie will never let me go.

  Running for the doorway, I pull a ragged strip of cloth from the pouch bouncing at my side and covering my face and head as best I can.

  The door starts to slip closed. I lunge forward, throwing myself into the Outside, half falling and half sliding. The door catches the heel of my boot, and then sneaks closed, leaving me to face the storm I created.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  I’m going to die. As soon as I step into the storm, the wind slaps at me. It howls so loudly it deafens me. The sand scratches at my eyes and scours my skin. It catches in my throat, forcing its way down. I put an arm over my face to try and keep the cloth over my head, but I can’t see much. The door behind me is closed and there is no way forward.

  I’m going to die here and now, alone.

  Raj is not waiting for me. I don’t know where he is now. How can he be back in the Norm—or even in a connect? I have no idea where he vanished to, but now I think maybe he has the kinder fate.

  I collapse in a heap. Sand sweeps up around me, half burying me. I think I hear my name being called, but I am certain it is just something I wish would happen. Another yell carries to me with the howl of the wind.

  “Here!”

  It sounds like Wolf, but he can’t be here. He is hiding in the tunnels, fighting not to be buried by my storm.

  I slump against the wall to the Norm, ready to be buried. Giving up seems a good idea right now. I saved the Tracker clan. I found the Glitches. And it’s not my fault anyone died. Sometimes that just happens. But I am ready to go back into the ground. I see Bear take the knife from Wolf and I smile. It is a good choice to give up so others can go on. Bobcat would do the same, and I am Tracker clan. The law is clan comes first.

  Strong arms scoop me up. It is nice to be held. I snuggle closer to a man’s chest, hard and muscled. For an instant, it seems like being back in a connect-reality and nonreality blur. But I can hear Wolf’s heartbeat. I smell his scent. The virtual world only lets you see illusion. It doesn’t do a very good job with all the senses. Prying my eyes open, I squint up. Wolf wears cloth over his face, and it almost hides his eyes. But I know this is Wolf. Only he has that scent like dry sage.

  He’s come to save me.

  Vaguely, I see the AT parked nearby. It is one of the bigger ones. It also has cloth over the cage now, but the wind tries to strip it away. Wolf carries me to the AT. The engine hums to life. Beside him at the controls sits Bird. She glances at me and frowns and I think I hear her say something about destruction. But she has a cloth over her head and face too. The AT turns and ploughs a path away from the Norm. The wind pushes at us as if it’s trying to tip us over. I can’t see much, but something wet stings my face.

  I hold out a hand. Another drop of water falls from the sky. I smile. “About time my rain showed up. Going to be a wet one, Wolf. Hope the tunnels are ready.”

  Then I give up holding on and let the world fade into nothing.

  I wake to see Croc bending over me. He straightens. “Can you sit?”

  I nod, but when I try I find I can only lift a hand. Croc takes it and pulls me upright. The world spins. Coming around behind me, Croc spreads something cool over my back. It’s then I realize I don’t have a shirt on. “Never seen burns this bad on someone still alive.”

  “That’s nice.” I frown. “Did you give me something?”

  Croc waves something burning and smoking under my nose. It smells…nice. “Just a little smoke to relax you. Didn’t know how you’d wake. Any headache? Dizziness? Do you want to throw up?”

  I frown. “If I say yes to any of that, I’m not getting out of here.” Croc comes back around, his fingers shiny from the stuff he put on my back. It has a smell like a plant. He puts the jar of stuff down and hands me a shirt. It has a burn hole in the back. He glances at it, tosses it away and hands me a shirt made from animal skin.

  I take and put it on, glad it’s soft. Every muscle in my body screams, but the smoke at least makes the screams seem like they come from a long way away. “Let me guess—council still wants to see me?”

  “More like everyone.” Croc folds his arms over his chest. “I hear tale you came in with Wolf and Bird and a storm that’s filled our drink storage. Won’t need to do a connect for some time is what I hear. I also hear there’s drones littered across the land like some big old wind came along and smashed them into the hillsides. Going to be parts for gear for a time.”

  I nod. I also manage to get onto my feet. Croc lets me, watching me the whole time. “If you’re good enough to stand, best go face the others. It’ll get Wolf stop poking his face in here every five minutes.”

  With a smile for him, I head for the main room. I have to trail my fingers along one wall of the tunnels to stay on my feet. I am dizzy, my head does ache, and my stomach keeps twisting on me as if it’s about to rebel. But I manage to step into the main room.

  Everyone stops talking and heads swivel so stares land on me. I don’t really care. I’ve faced the AI and my own past and I’m not sure anything can hurt me anymore.

  Wolf stands and comes over to me. He puts a hand on my waist as if he’s going to catch me if I fall. And I might.

  “You’re hurt.”

  “Not that bad or Croc wouldn’t have let me out.”

  He gives a nod and turns to help me to the fire, but Lion blocks the way. “Why is she back?”

  I glance at him, eyes narrowed. Lion meets my stare, but then his gaze drops and he
backs down. I push Wolf’s hand away and stride over to where the Rogues sit. Skye is by herself, and that breaks something inside me.

  I stride over to Skye, grab her hand, pull her to her feet and bring her into the circle of Rogues near the fire. Someone starts muttering. I glance around at the faces turned up to me.

  “Shut it and listen.” I plunk Skye down next to me. “We don’t have time to be stupid. And the differences we have are going to make a difference in our lives. Now, you want to blame me for everything that has happened—well, you aren’t entirely wrong to do so. It’s a long story, mine is, and I’ll tell it on a long night, but right now I’ve got important things to say. You want to hear them or you want to slap your hands over your ears and close your eyes and act like a mole that doesn’t like the light?”

  Mole ducks her head, but not before I see her cheeks flame red. I glance around. The Rogues all swap glances. I start to see bodies stir, but Bird steps up. “You best hear her. She brought the storm—the destruction. You’d best listen.”

  I swap a stare with Bird. I’m not sure we’ll ever be friends, but I can respect her honesty. It’s time for some of my own. I look back at the Rogues, and I take a breath and a last glance at Wolf for courage. Skye touches my leg. I glance at her and she smiles up at me and gives me a nod.

  I look around again at the group. I have to make them understand.

  “First off—I’m not a Glitch. We’ll I am and I’m not. I was never a Tech. I was made to be what I am and you’ll have to take that as it is.”

  “We’re all made what we are,” Elk says.

  I flash her a smile. It’s not exactly support, but it’s close enough. “I’ve been into the Norm—Raj and I went there to try and fix the AI. But we can’t. It’s not fixable. It’s also not what I thought it was. We hacked the system, and the AI tried to download what I know. The AI was sending drones here, and the AI will try that again, so we’ll have to leave.”