Clarity's Edge: Technopaladin, #1

by Elizabeth Corrigan

  “Grace!” Clarity gave her fellow paladin an over-enthusiastic smile. Catching more flies with honey and all that.

  For a moment, Grace kept walking without acknowledging the greeting, and Clarity thought the spy might not stop. Once she had gotten within a few feet of Clarity, she stopped moving and asked, “What do you want?”

  “Just to talk. Can we step into the pub and have a few words?” Clarity gestured toward the building to her right, the restaurant called the Copper Rooster that was the closest building in Londigium to the Citadel.

  “That’s a paladin bar.” Grace all but spat the words. “Anything you want to talk to me about, you’re not going to want to have overheard there.”

  “So we’ll talk quietly,” Clarity said. Grace didn’t look convinced. “Or we can go somewhere else. Please, Grace? Just a few minutes of your time?”

  “Oh, fine.” Grace spun on her heel and headed toward the Rooster. “I could use a drink anyway.”

  As they entered the pub, Clarity took a moment to wonder who had named the bar and why. Had they named the place after a particularly bright bird, or had someone made a mechanical chicken out of copper, like one of Cass’s animals? She wished there were some kind of image to give her a clue, but the decor was rooster-free. Instead, the paraphernalia on the walls focused on great deeds of paladins past, including armor from great war leaders and out-of-date computers of historical significance.

  Grace placed a drink order at the bar, then picked a booth near the back, and Clarity slid in across from her with about as much finesse as an elephant, or so she felt. She could not wait to be free of the crutches and trying to maneuver on one leg. “Thanks for agreeing to talk to me---”

  “Skip the pleasantries,” Grace said. “What do you want?”

  Clarity tried not to let the other woman’s rudeness offend her. Grace didn’t owe her anything. If anything, she owed Grace for making her confront her own selfishness and galvanize her into action. “I wanted to say you were right. About paladin leadership. The Grand Conductor wouldn’t hear a word about the Azure District.”

  “Ha.” Grace seemed genuinely amused. “He always listens to what I have to say about it. Not that I tell him anything real.”

  Clarity blinked. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, my job is to spy on the Azure District for the order,” Grace said. “I’ve been sneaking in since graduation to try to learn everything that goes on in there. They often give the job to the rookie spies because it’s seen as less dangerous than spying on a foreign country. But I quickly learned that Steadfastness doesn’t want real information on the Azure District. He just wants to make sure they’re not mobilizing or converting outsiders.”

  “Is that how you and Archer met?” Clarity asked, figuring she’d focus on something that might put Grace in a better mood, even if it wasn’t the most pressing question.

  Grace smiled to herself, as if experiencing a happy memory. “Yeah. He saw me watching Garrett’s men one day and tried to chase me down. He didn’t catch me, of course, but he was on the lookout for me after that. It became a game between us, and by the time we actually met, well, one thing led to another, and…” Grace trailed off and glanced up, as if remembering who she was talking to. “So, yeah. But surely you don’t want to talk about me and Archer.”

  Clarity didn’t speak for a moment as a man came over with Grace’s drink, a large mug of a dark, frothy ale. Clarity considered commenting on the early afternoon hour but restrained herself. She needed Grace to like her. “I want to get some Dovexin to Evelyn,” Clarity said. “That’s what I want to talk about.”

  Grace huffed. “Evelyn knows what she needs to do to get the medicine, and she’ll do it. It’s in her best interest anyway. Elliott will bring in a lot more money for the family than she ever could. Working for Garrett is the only way to get ahead in the Azure District.”

  “That doesn’t seem right to me,” Clarity said. “And what about the other children? Evelyn mentioned a friend whose child had died. Garrett must be withholding medicine from some of them.”

  Grace took a long swig of her beer. “So Garrett only helps people who can help him. He’s no different than the paladins that way, and at least he’s honest about it.”

  “That’s not true! About the paladins. They don’t help the Azure District because the people there made a choice to refuse aid, but they give medicine and technology to hundreds of thousands of people in Corinthium who have nothing to offer them.”

  “Nothing but the tax dollars that continue to support their child-stealing ways,” Grace said. Clarity opened her mouth to argue, but Grace held up a hand. “Look, I get it. You’ve bought into the lies, and you think you can walk in like a shiny savior and fix everything. I’ll just tell you now that you can’t. I don’t think it’ll stop you, but if you want my help, forget it.”

  “I’m not a ‘shiny savior.’” Clarity felt a bit of temper in her voice. “I’d like to fix the whole Azure District, sure, but I know that’s unrealistic. At this point, I’ll settle for saving one child.”

  “You don’t need to save Kimessa,” Grace said. “I told you, she’ll be fine. Now, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to finish my drink in peace, away from your particular brand of zealotry.”

  Clarity thought about arguing further, but even she could see Grace was a hopeless cause. She grabbed her crutches and inched her way out of the booth, then turned back to face Grace. “If you change your mind, I’ll still be here,” Clarity said.

  “Bye,” Grace said.

  The conversation hadn’t taken very long, so Clarity could still have gone into the city for a dress, but after her conversation with Grace, she wasn’t feeling up to it. All her hopes rested with Cass, who a large part of her still couldn’t believe she’d told about her plans. She was pretty sure he didn’t hate her as much as he had a week ago, but the fact remained that she had only interacted with him a few times and had trusted him with her biggest secret. She wasn’t proud of it, but she wondered if part of the reason she trusted people like Cass and Grace was that they were expendable, whereas Hope and Zeal were not.

  Don’t be ridiculous. Neither Hope nor Zeal could have helped you with the motorcycle situation, and while Zeal could help you get Dovexin, Cass can too, and there’s no need to drag them both in. Unless Cass won’t help. She knew she was asking a lot of him. Why would any paladin risk their place in the order to help people who rejected everything the paladins stood for? She wished she could aid the Azurites on her own without risking anyone else, but she needed assistance.

  That evening, her thoughts consumed her so much, she almost forgot to get dinner. She barely had time to grab a sandwich before the mess staff kicked her out for cleaning. Between the broken leg and the subterfuge, I’m way off my training regimen. She was supposed to get a solid eight hours of sleep every night, eat regular and nutritious meals, and stick to a workout schedule. I’ll get back on that, she thought. Starting with the eight hours of sleep tonight.

  When she got back to her room, though, she didn’t take off her bodysuit and put on her pajamas, or even lie down on her bed. Instead, she sat in her desk chair and waited. Her mind tried to run through scenarios of what she would do if Cass refused to help her, but each time it did, she focused on the thought that she needed to wait for him to decide.

  When her doorbell chimed a few hours later, she knew who it had to be. She pressed the button to open the door, and Cass stood on the other side, looking for all the world like the eleven hours since they’d last seen each other had been as hard for him as they had been for her.

  “All right,” he said. “I’m in.”

  Clarity couldn’t keep the smile off her face. She beckoned him inside and was grateful her room was neater than his had been. She sat down on the edge of her bed and indicated that he should take the chair. As he crossed the room, Clarity said, “I
know you know what helping means. I hope you don’t mind if I ask what made you change your mind.”

  Cass lowered himself into the chair and glanced at the monitor inside Clarity’s desktop. Her computer was off, she knew. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d turned it on. We’re an unlikely pair. The man whose only friends are computers and the woman who’s probably so far behind on software updates her computer wouldn’t connect to the network.

  “It wasn’t an easy decision,” Cass said. “I talked to the Visionary, and---”

  Clarity balked. “You talked to the Visionary?”

  Cass held up his hands and quickly said, “I didn’t tell her anything.”

  “That wasn’t what I meant.” Clarity wanted to get up and pace around the room, but her crutches made the movement awkward at best, so she stayed put. “The Visionary usually has a months long waiting list, or so Hope tells me, though she might be exaggerating.”

  Cass shifted in his chair, not looking at Clarity. “Well, she saw me. She’s an interesting lady.”

  “No doubt,” Clarity said. “I haven’t met her. Well, at least, not since she chose me, and I don’t remember that.”

  “Right.” Cass ran his fingers through his hair. “Anyway, she told me that if all I wanted was to be a paladin, I had to decide what a paladin was. I decided paladins help people first and foremost. So I want to help you.”

  Clarity felt warmth bubble up in her chest. “Thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me yet. Thank me when we’ve saved the world and we aren’t out on our ears.” Cass’s words were dark, but he gave her a wry smile as he said them.

  “We don’t need to save the world. At this point I’ll be happy if I can save even one child. Saving all the children would be great at first, but let’s start with one. I suppose you want to know the plan.”

  “I suppose,” Cass said. “Though now that I’m a full partner in this endeavor, I demand the right of input into any plan.”

  “And who made you a full partner?”

  Mischief sparkled in Cass’s eyes. “Hey, if I’m going to risk life and limb for some ungrateful Azurites, I at least want top billing.”

  “Fair enough.” Not quite sure where to take the joke from there, Clarity got down to business. “I want to talk to Evelyn. I want to listen to what she has to say, but to make her see I’m not the enemy she thinks I am, I need to bring medicine to cure her daughter. The trouble is getting my hands on Dovexin. I could try to steal some from the Citadel, but our medicines are very well guarded, and as you’ve observed, stealth and lockpicking are not my strong suits.”

  “I don’t know. I thought we did a pretty good job taking care of that motorcycle,” Cass said.

  “Nice of you to give me some credit, but that was all you,” Clarity said. “Anyway, it occurred to me that Garrett, crime lord of the Azure District, must be getting the drugs from somewhere. I thought we could check the records of where the treatment is getting delivered in the city and see where shipments are getting lost. That might give us information about where a problem in the supply chain is.

  “That’s actually not a bad plan.” Clarity tried not to be offended by the surprise in Cass’s voice. “Though it’s incomplete. What do you plan to do when you get that information?”

  “I guess that’ll depend on what the weak spot is,” Clarity said. “But at the very least, I don’t have a problem stealing from thieves who withhold medication from dying children.”

  “I don’t suppose I do either.” Cass glanced once more at Clarity’s lifeless computer. “I can’t do it from here. Standard issue computers don’t have the software I need. I can do it tomorrow morning from the office.”

  “Are you sure?” Clarity asked. “Your office computer has got to be pretty easy to trace back to you.”

  Cass let out a deep breath. “And Tenacity is a bit on my case after last night’s shenanigans. It should be fine, though. I’ve got a username she doesn’t know about, and I’m pretty sure she doesn’t monitor my oldest computer, because I use it so rarely. It should be fine.”

  “Okay,” Clarity said. “I trust you.” And the weird thing is, I think I really do.

  Chapter 13

  Cass wasn’t quite as confident he could keep Tenacity out of his research as he’d led Clarity to believe, but he didn’t want her thinking he wasn’t an effective partner. When he got to his office the next morning---after training, of course, where thankfully his sparring partner had more mercy than Zeal---he stopped at Tenacity’s office to give her a report on what he planned to accomplish that day. He did so with enough frequency that it wouldn’t seem out of character, and the move might make her decide she didn’t have to check in on him during the day.

  Unfortunately, she wasn’t at her desk. It’s fine. Maybe she’s at some big, important meeting all day, and I don’t have to worry about anything. He headed to his office and considered locking his door, fire hazard or not, but he decided that would look more suspicious than not, should Tenacity stop by.

  Cass spent the first two hours of the day working through the bug tracker on the AIs he was developing. By then, he hoped he had lulled Tenacity into a false sense of security regarding his activities, or at least had bored her enough that she’d gotten tired of monitoring his behavior---if she’d been watching at all. He swung his chair around to the old computer in the back of his office that he only kept around for those rare occasions when people wanted records from three years ago.

  Meg chose that moment to wake up from her nap and jump onto his desk. “What are you doing on that piece of junk?” She stood on top of the old screen and looked at it as if it smelled unpleasant.

  “It’s not a piece of junk.” Cass picked Meg up and put her on the floor, but she immediately hopped back up. “It’s a perfectly fine machine, better than most warriors’ standard issue computers.”

  “Ah, doing something illegal with that girl you don’t like again, I see.” Meg’s metal feet clacked against the desk as she walked over the monitor.

  Cass glanced around, even though he knew no one was in the room. “Please do not say that so loud!”

  “What’s Valor going to say when he finds out you’re spending time with his girl?”

  “They broke up, as you know perfectly well.” Cass scooped Meg up and returned her to the ground. “Besides, I don’t care what Valor thinks.”

  Cass hadn’t thought a mechanical cat could snort, but she made a very good attempt at doing so. “If you’re just going to lie to me, I’m going back to sleep.” She sauntered back under his usual desk and curled up in her cat bed.

  Cass pressed a few buttons on his touchscreen, then glanced up at Al. “Do you have an opinion as well?”

  “Hoo.”

  “That’s what I thought.” Cass turned away from his animals and logged in under his alternate username. He had started the application he needed and pulled up some basic information about the supply chains for Dovexin when his door whooshed open.

  “Cass, I need you to---” Tenacity broke off when she noticed where Cass was sitting, or at least appeared to. Cass couldn’t believe her timing was so coincidental. “What are you doing over there?”

  He turned and studied his boss, looking for any sign of disingenuous or exaggerated surprise, but he didn’t find any. She was a better liar than Clarity claimed to be. Fortunately, so am I. “I’ve got stuff running on the three main computers, so I figured I’d work on this side project over here. What did you need help with?”

  Tenacity glanced at his main monitors, and Cass thought he glimpsed the barest narrowing of her eyes as she evaluated his claim. He had in fact set all three to render new versions of projects for the quality assurance staff. “Side project? Cass, I let you keep the fourth computer so you could maintain old files, not so you could have four things going at once. I’ve told you before, you work too hard
. And I know you’re Perspicacity and all, but even you don’t have the attention to manage four projects well.”

  “Well, this one’s not work,” Cass said, gesturing at his active display. “It’s a favor for my mother. She’s a little concerned about the flow of Dovexin in the city, so she asked me to do a little research into the supply line. I figured it’d be okay to do it now, since my other stuff is processing.”

  “The Dovexin supply line. For your mother.”

  “Yup. See?” Cass gestured at his screen, which very clearly displayed information about medication transportation in Londigium.

  Tenacity pursed her lips. “I suppose I should have a conversation with Mercy about her giving you unofficial tasks, then.”

  Translation: I’m going to check with your mother to see if you’re lying to me. “Oh, no, don’t do that. I promised her I would do it during my spare time, but you don’t want me spending extra hours in the office. I don’t have the software on my computer in the barracks to do this project.”

  “Cass. I’ve seen your home computer. What software could you possibly have on the piece of crap you’re using that you don’t have in your room?”

  Uh… “Geocoding.” Cass hoped the answer sounded as smooth to her ears as it did to his. “I’m getting the addresses ready to import now. They might take a bit of time to clean up, but I should have the results ready by the time my other projects are done.”

  “You hate geocoding,” Tenacity said. “I have tried to get you to build a better address matching AI for three years, and you refuse to touch it.”

  “Which is why I looked so eager to hear what you wanted when you walked into the room. I was hoping for a distraction.”