by Jo Anderton
In their place, a hole. A terrible and deep scar that I feared to look at. The Tear River ran wild into it like the unchecked flow of blood, and steam rose from it in a struggling, final breath. The destruction, however, was far more widespread than that this crater. Even from the mountain I could see sections of collapsed buildings and gashes in the roads. A northerly portion of the wall had collapsed, and more fires than I could count burned unchecked across the city.
“At least the national veche had already brought in the military,” I said, to no one in particular. “They will calm things down, won’t they? Help those who need it, shelter those who have none.” I swallowed on an ash-sore throat. “They will rebuild.” To a point. The city would never be the same.
More doors will open.
“I know.”
Because the puppet men – my so-called brothers – still remain.
“I know.” I hesitated. “I might have set it off, but they created and stored the power that destroyed so much of Movoc-under-Keeper. We can’t let them do that again.”
More than just one city is at stake.
“The puppet men come from the other world, don’t they? They were created by programmers, the same people that created you.”
Yes.
“And Halves are programmers too, sent across the veil – through the doors – into this world, to help you.”
Yes. Even if they don’t know who they are any more.
Lad had remembered though, hadn’t he? Well, the traces of his blood inside me, the ghost that rode my suit of silver, had. “If the programmers created the puppet men, then maybe they will know how to stop them. Once and for all. Maybe we need to ask the programmers how to defeat the puppet men.”
But without my Halves, I have no way to ask them.
“Then maybe I should.” I’d opened doors, and closed them. How hard could it be to walk through one?
Tanyana, that is impossible. The two worlds are anathema to each other. You belong in this world, the light world. You can’t even exist in the dark.
“But it is possible to cross between them, isn’t it?” I glanced down at the suit spinning on my wrist. “That’s what Lad did. That’s what every Half does.”
Only in one direction. And it changes you.
“I am already changing.” If the Keeper was a so-called program, then debris was a program too. Wasn’t that how Lad’s ghost had described it? And I was so much debris now, so much suit. When Lad had died, his blood had been absorbed by my suit – my debris, my program. Even the Keeper said I looked like a Half, now. If Lad could cross between worlds, then why couldn’t I?
If you do that, Tanyana, you will risk everything. Your life. Your world.
I turned my back on Movoc-under-Keeper and returned to Kichlan, slumped on the floor. “I know.”
He looked up at me, so desolate, more like his brother than himself. I thought of all I had done to hurt him, how I had used him and the secrets I had kept from him. Kichlan wasn’t Devich and didn’t deserve to be treated that way. I should have seen that from the beginning. His loyalty to his brother, the strength with which he led his collecting team – he had offered all of that to me, and more. It was too late to accept now, but at least he was here, with me.
And I would do what ever I could to make sure he stayed that way. I knew that now, with absolute certainty. No matter what the risks.
“Why did you come for me?” he whispered. “You should have let me die with my brother.”
I crouched beside him, bent forward and kissed his forehead. He tasted of dirt and sweat.
“Lad is still with us,” I whispered. “He will never be truly gone.” I did not explain blood, and programs, and the strength of his presence within my suit. Not now. “And I know he would have asked me to look after you, the way he looked after me. He would have said it was my turn. So that is what I will do. That is why I did not, and could never let you die. For your brother, because he would have wanted me to.” I tipped Kichlan’s face back toward me, and this time I kissed his lips. He did not pull away, he did not turn his head. And faintly, ever so softly, he kissed me back.
“And for me, because I need you too.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jo Anderton lives in Sydney, Australia, with her patient husband, faithful dog, one megalomaniac cat and one dumb-as-a-post cat. She’d rather be living on a big block of land in the country, so she can adopt more pets.
By day she is a mild-mannered marketing coordinator for an Australian book distributor. By night, weekends and lunchtimes she writes dark fantasy and horror.
Her short fiction has appeared in Aurealis, Midnight Echo, Kaleidotrope, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, and been reprinted in Australian Dark Fantasy and Horror Vol 3.
She was shortlisted for the 2009 Aurealis Award for best young adult short story, the 2011 Aurealis Award for best science fiction short story, and her debut novel Debris was shortlisted for the 2011 Aurealis Award for best novel.
joanneanderton.com
Table of Contents
Suited
Contents
Analysis of Past Events
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR