Deprecated

by Michael Karr

  “I’m sorry,” Rylee said. And she did feel sorry. She’d never wanted to deceive any of them. Especially not Preston.

  “How exactly did you dupe those Regulators?” Serghei asked, apparently unbothered by her deceptions. “Did you hack into Regulation’s systems?”

  “No, that would have been traceable,” Grayson said. “I—”

  “Can you two be nerdy later?” Rylee interrupted. “We need to focus on Preston. Serghei do you have any ideas?”

  “Doesn’t your friend—er—acquaintance here have connections in the Elect world?”

  “I’m not exactly free to move about, at the moment. That’s why I’m in hiding. However, I do have an idea.”

  “Which we have no interest whatsoever in hearing,” Rylee put in before Grayson could go on. She didn’t even want to hear him mention her becoming an elect again. “There’s got to be a way that we intercept the Deprecation trucks, or something.”

  Grayson walked over and sat in Preston’s usual spot, exchanging a distrustful glance with Feng as he did so. “You could try that,” he said.

  “But?” she replied, reading in his tone that he knew something she wasn’t accounting for.

  “First of all, you won’t know for sure when they’ll take care of the next round of Deprecations. Could be the end of the week. Could be in two weeks.”

  “We could rig a camera to monitor Regulation headquarters,” Serghei suggested.

  “Fine,” Grayson said. “You’ll have to be ready at a moment’s notice. The real problem is that those trucks are well-guarded. Two Regulators up front, in the cab. And two or three in the back. This wouldn’t be the first time someone has tried to save a loved one from Deprecation. And don’t be surprised if the Regulators use Preston or the others as human shields.”

  Rylee didn’t reply. The idea of someone using Preston as a human shield paralyzed her. No, she couldn’t go through with a plan that put Preston in so much danger. She was a skilled marksman, but under that kind of stress…even the best could make mistakes.

  “Well,” she said, unconsciously scratching at the back of her hand, “can’t we break into Regulation headquarters and bust him out?”

  “Ah, a jail heist,” Serghei said, excitedly. “Classic!”

  “You want to break into a building full of Regulators?” Grayson said, his voice dripping with cynicism. He took a casual swig of his Mountain Dew.

  “Why not?” Feng said. “We go in, guns blazing. Shoot up some Regs. And we can use this tripe face as our own human shield.” He jabbed his thumb in the direction of Grayson.

  “You keep calling me that name. Does that even mean anything?”

  “Shut it, tripe face!”

  Grayson just shook his head.

  “Not to be a doubting Thomas,” Serghei said, tentatively, “but Feng’s not in any condition to engage in a gunfight. Even with the brace I made, he struggles to walk.”

  “Whatever. I can fight.”

  Serghei didn’t say it, but they all knew that he was useless with a firearm. And despite Feng’s bravado, she knew that it would be suicide to bring him on such a mission. It would be suicide even if Feng weren’t injured. She scratched at her tattoo. This was pure torture. A nightmare. Preston was in the custody of Regulation, and she had no way to save him. Why had she let him go? Why hadn’t she stopped him?

  “If I had a few weeks,” Serghei said, “I might be able to devise a plan which doesn’t involve extermination of all the Regulators, but it would be too late by then.”

  “What about your original plan?” Rylee asked. “The one to hack into Regulation’s systems.”

  Serghei shook his head ruefully. “Insufficient, I’m afraid. For one, the word is that Regulation has stopped taking tips. Too many bogus leads. Secondly, we don’t know how to access the holding cells in the basement of Regulation headquarters. I suspect the locks for those will not be tied to the building’s main power.”

  Was there nothing they could do then? No, she refused to accept that. There had to be a way.

  As if in answer to her thoughts, Grayson spoke. “I respect your ingenuity. Unfortunately, even if you manage—by some miracle—to rescue Preston, that won’t be the end of it. They’ll eventually tie him to one of you. To Rylee, or her grandfather. Then they’ll come after you. You may be able to hide for a while, but sooner or later, they’ll get you. Then it will be over for all of you.”

  “That’s a risk we’re willing to take,” Rylee said. “We’re not going to abandon him just because it’s dangerous.”

  Grayson waved his hands. “I’m not suggesting you give up. Not at all. But, if you want to help him, you need to do it the right way. And for that, you need my help. You need this.”

  From the breast pocket of his coat, he drew out a thin glass vial, and held it up between his thumb and forefinger.

  “I’m not letting you turn me into an Elect.” Rylee nearly shouted as she said it.

  “Wait, wait, wait a moment,” Serghei stuttered. “That’s a PNU? That’s all that’s needed to make someone an Elect?”

  “That’s all,” Grayson said. “With this you’ll have access to information and locations not possible otherwise. With it, I’m confident you and I can find out who’s behind the murders. If we do that, it will be easy to get Preston exonerated.”

  “Why don’t you turn Serg into the Elect,” Rylee said. “He’s the one who loves Elects.”

  “Yes,” Serghei replied eagerly. “Imagine the things I could do with a PNU-enhanced brain…”

  Grayson shook his head. “Unfortunately, in my haste to get away, I didn’t pay attention to the PNU I was stealing from the labs. It was made for a female.”

  “I see,” Serghei said, dejected.

  “What does it matter who it was for?” Rylee said. “The PNU will still work, right?” She couldn’t believe she was even talking about this. Even if it was Serghei who would take it, she didn’t really want him turning into an Elect either.

  “Actually, the PNUs are tuned differently for the male and female brain. Generally, male and female brains are wired differently in some areas. The PNUs account for that difference in wiring. It might work okay in a male brain, but it could have some unintended consequences.”

  “Man, if Serghei starts liking boys,” Feng said, “then I’m gone.”

  Grayson shook his head. “That wouldn’t happen. However, there’s another issue. This PNU has a specific certificate and profile that’s directly linked to one Leah Morrison. Any network access done with the PNU will log her name as the accessor. Likewise, if we have to infiltrate Regulation, any of the Regulators will be able to access your PNU’s profile and see your name, age, gender, etc. You need to use it, Ry.”

  He held out the tiny vial to her. “It’s the only way to save Preston.”

  She stared at it, the sullen lantern light glinting off the glass like a yellow jewel. It was so small—innocuous. How could something so small cause so much grief and pain?

  “Don’t do it, Ry,” Feng said. “Don’t become one of them.”

  “Just because you have a PNU-enhanced brain,” Serghei said, “doesn’t mean you’ll become like them. You’ll still be Rylee. Still be one of the good guys. But with awesome abilities. You’ll be able to shoot a fly off Preston’s shoulder from five hundred yards away. You’ll be unstoppable.”

  “Stop it, you two,” she said, holding up her hands. “Please, I just…need to think.”

  She ran out of the room, out of the warehouse, bursting out into the night. The rush of cold air soothed her burning cheeks. Rylee looked up into the night sky covered with murky gray clouds. Neither the moon nor the stars were visible. Just like always. She felt a surge of hot tears forming in her eyes. But she fought them back.

  She would not permit herself to cry. Tears could not save Preston. No, Preston needed action. He needed her to forget about herself and do what it takes to save him. That’s what he needs. What he deserves. If there was any
other way…

  Clinching her fist, she turned and strode back into the warehouse.

  “I have one more question,” she said, as she entered back into Serghei’s room. Grayson looked up at her in surprise, as if he didn’t expect to ever see her again. “Once this is all over, can the PNU be…removed?”

  Grayson nodded his head slowly. “It can be disabled, such that it’s virtually removed, yes.”

  Rylee swallowed. “Okay. I’ll take it.”

  TWENTY-SIX

  “Do you see any other Elects nearby?” Grayson whispered from her side.

  Rylee went to peer around the corner of the wall against their back.

  “No!” Grayson said, pulling her back into the shadows by her shoulder. “Not like that. Remember what I taught you?”

  Sighing so that he could hear her annoyance, she tried the technique—or whatever you called it—to inspect her surrounding for other Elects.

  “We’re particularly interested in Regulators.”

  “Great. My favorite people,” she muttered.

  Rylee had practiced this. Even become fairly good at it. Using her new PNU. She hated it. Every time she utilized its capabilities, she felt appalled. Appalled to be her. Appalled to be one of them. Appalled at herself for not being able to come up with a way to save Preston without Grayson’s plan. She still didn’t know if she was making the right choice. Or even if she trusted Grayson.

  The PNU commands—as Grayson called them—were supposed to be like extensions of her own thoughts. Like telling your hand to form a fist or your toes to curl. Only there weren’t any muscles involved. And the PNU automatically compensated—somehow—for her brain’s lack of muscle memory using the commands. The PNU had a multiplicity of autonomous operations which didn’t require her direct control. These she was learning about.

  Now she needed to instruct her PNU to tell her about any nearby Elects. Her natural inclination was to speak aloud. That wasn’t necessary.

  I hate this.

  If only Grayson didn’t have to go around the Elect sector of the city with his PNU deactivated. It wasn’t safe for him to have his PNU active. Someone might detect him. As yet, he’d failed to fully explain why that was a problem. He was hiding something from her.

  Issuing the command, Rylee didn’t have to wait but a fraction of a second. Her vision filled with faint lines and shapes—pale blues, outlining the walls of the buildings around her. The augmented vision momentarily gave her vertigo. How could she ever get used to this? She was being shown the buildings beyond the wall, which currently obstructed her actual vision. Literally, she could scan the street around the corner without actually seeing it.

  Only lines of inanimate objects—that’s all she saw along the street. All clear there. She turned her attention to the building. Lots more lines, punctuated here and there by bright green figures—outlines of people. Other Elects. Great. A building full of Elects. Just where she wanted to go.

  Reds. She was looking for the color red— an indication of Regulators. Probing, Grayson called it. The method that allowed her to detect the nearby presence of other Elects. What Serghei wouldn’t give to have that technology.

  “It looks clear,” she said, speaking over her shoulder.

  “Good,” he replied. “Follow me. Keep probing for Regulators.”

  Grayson skirted around her, and dashed across the street. Despite her augmented vision—or whatever Grayson called it—she still turned her head to look down the street before following. She followed Grayson to the right of the building, down an alleyway. He stopped midway down it. A door stood in front of them. Morgue. Her PNU forced the word into her thoughts.

  A chill ran through her at the thought of going inside. A room specifically for dead bodies. Even though they were all likely the bodies of Elects, it still creeped her out.

  “Open it,” Grayson instructed.

  “I hate you, by the way,” Rylee said in response.

  “It would be awkward otherwise. Now, open it. Please.”

  This was one of the reasons Grayson needed her help. To open doors for him. Like some sort of servant. There was more to it than that. Or, at least, that’s what he had explained to her. Her PNU would unlock doors. Grayson had described to her the full technical details. Sufficient to make her want to beat her head against a wall, and to make Serghei drool.

  All she really remembered is that her PNU was meant for someone else. As soon as she opened that door, it would log her entry. That’s why Grayson needed her. If he used his PNU to open the door, the elusive someone would know he’d been there tonight.

  Grabbing the metal door latch with her gloved hand, Rylee paused. As soon as she touched it, something happened in her mind. A tugging, almost. She didn’t quite know how to describe the sensation. Only she knew instinctively that it came from her PNU. The door wanted information—credentials—from her. Credentials she had to relinquish. Not understanding quite how she did it, she let go of the requested data. Instantly, the door clicked. She turned to the door latch and pushed the door ajar. Magic.

  Despite hatred toward the Elects and the PNUs, she couldn’t help feeling a sense of awe at what she could now do.

  Rylee felt for the pistol beneath her jacket as she pushed further inside. Three days had passed since Preston had been captured and she’d agreed to Grayson’s plan to make her into an Elect. In that time, Grayson had taught her how to use her PNU. And she’d done little else but practice using the accursed thing. The only bright spot in that whole time was that she’d managed to convince her grandfather to return her Glock.

  Those three days had felt like an eternity. Her mind refused to rest. Refused to stop worrying that they would be too late to save Preston. That any minute, the Regulators would come back for her grandfather. Supposedly, what they were doing now would help both her grandfather and Preston.

  The door led them into a dark room. Much to Rylee’s surprise, the air within was only slightly warmer than the frozen air outside. She shivered, not from the cold though.

  Behind her, the door clicked and thudded as it closed them inside, making the darkness complete.

  “Help me look for a light switch,” Grayson whispered from behind.

  “What? You mean your precious PNU can’t turn on the lights, too?”

  “Actually it’s your precious PNU. And that’s a very good question. If you ever get a chance, ask my dad about it some time.”

  “Found it.” Grayson’s proclamation was followed by a faint snap and a flood of blinding white light.

  Shielding her eyes, Rylee let out a cry of shock. “Ah, that’s bright!” She’d never seen lights so bright before. Not artificial lights, anyway. Occasionally, the sun made such appearances outside. It would probably take her night vision a full week of pitch blackness to recover from this exposure.

  Once her eyes acclimated sufficiently to the lights, Rylee looked around. There wasn’t much to see. A wall lined from top to bottom with large steel locker doors. A few steel tables. On one of the tables, there was a green sheet of fabric, laden with a neat row of shiny implements. Scalpels and other tools that made Rylee’s skin crawl to think of their use.

  “You should stop probing, by the way,” Grayson said, moving over to one of the lockers. “It’s generally considered rude or suspicious behavior.”

  “And breaking into a morgue is not?” she quipped.

  “No argument there. I’m only suggesting that it might draw unwanted attention.”

  Though she liked the idea of being alerted early of someone’s unexpected intrusion on them, she agreed that it would be foolish to advertise their own presence. Focusing her thoughts, she instructed her PNU to stop probing. The blue lines of her augmented vision faded away, leaving her feeling relieved and a bit lethargic.

  “Done,” she said.

  “Good. Now, can you see about accessing the morgue’s internal records? There ought to be an inventory of recent admissions and where they are stowed.”
r />   Rylee furrowed her brow at him. “An inventory? As in an inventory of dead people?”

  “What do you want to call it, a guest list?”

  An unbidden smile cracked Rylee’s lips. “Fine, you win. We’ll call it an inventory. Not that it really matters. I have no clue how to access it.”

  “Just try a few commands. The PNU is designed to work intuitively. Think about what you want, and there’s a good chance the PNU will figure it out.”

  Right. Super intuitive. Maybe for someone who was used to having their brain possessed by another lifeform.

  Again, Rylee focused on her thoughts. Show morgue inventory, she thought. Though, it was a little different than merely thinking. The best way she could describe it was pushing the thought out, as if to do something outside of her body. Of course, that didn’t make any sense at all. Since everything was happening within her brain.

  Whatever she did, it worked. In her vision, overlaid on the world around her, six of the lockers illuminated with a hint of yellow. Her eyes instinctively fixed on one of the lockers. As she did so a name instantly formed in her mind. Garrison Pike. The name induced a flood of toxic emotions, which she fought to contain.

  There was other information there too. She could sense it there. Like an unfocused object in her peripheral vision. Only, it was an unfocused thought.

  “Okay,” she said slowly, “I think I have it.”

  “What did I tell you?” Grayson said. “You’re a natural Elect.”

  She shot him a withering glare, but didn’t reply.

  “Can you find the most recent…uh…guest that checked in?” he asked.

  “There.” She pointed to one of the lockers on the middle row, close to where Grayson stood. “Two lockers to your left.”

  She took a step backward as Grayson walked over to the locker and pulled it open. Though Rylee had killed her share of Elects, she preferred the idea of kissing Serghei’s rat over looking at bodies that had lain dead for several days or weeks. Steeling herself, Rylee walked over and stood next to Grayson.

  From within the open locker, Grayson slid out a long steel table. On it lay an equally long white bag. Any fool would know what the bag contained. Apparently unaffected by such thoughts, Grayson located the zipper’s tab, unzipped it part way, and peered inside. A white face, swollen and rigid peered back. The sight made Rylee jump back in horror.