Leads snaked from beneath JI’s head, and he plugged into each of the mechlings, one after the other, carefully, so as not to disturb the ropes. “Poor things. They are gone elsewhere. I will accept them, Ari, if you can make this work. I will attach them properly first.”
With a thunk, each of the mechlings at his shoulders seemed to sink into and hug closer to JI.
“There. Done. They won’t jar loose.” The ropes slackened and draped, like grotesquely wrong fashion accessories.
“Good.” She took a deep breath. “Bring me closer to them please, JI. I want to be able to touch both you and them.” Closer the better with such fine work.
“Climb on.” Gently the mech lowered his clasped hands.
She stepped onto the cage of his metal digits and hung on as he raised her to his neck.
Perhaps, this was what she was born to do? It seemed as if that might be true. Healing people had never worked for her. Never been easy. This, though...
“Keep your thoughts as still as you can, JI,” she murmured.
“I will. Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” he whispered.
So true.
She touched him, then blindly reached to the left and touched the first of the mechlings. Inside this one was a burned-out brain, mostly dead, somewhat alive. Enough, she hoped, providing feeding JI into it didn’t do him some irreparable damage.
“I might kill you,” she’d told him.
“We all die,” he’d said in return.
“Not sure I can take that if it happens. Please don’t,” she mumbled, praying to the star gods she’d never believed in. Then she began to weave her magic.
Never having seen what was inside his brain case, she imagined it as a green mass of pretty glowing lights. Each miniscule light a part of JI, and now she had to entice them into following the path she made that led to Mechling One, and Mechling Two.
Playing with life, she was. If there were gods, she was one to JI. Come to me, and she showed the lights the way, weave and spin, spin and weave.
They seemed to follow, they settled, the tendril of JI communicated and spread. Whether he would still be JI when this was done, another matter entirely. Not enough, not yet. Inside JI the brain case still bulged with inordinate and obscene pressure. She taunted, teased, and led him onward to Mechling Two.
Weave and spin, spin and weave.
Time washed past, blurred. She remembered to breathe, barely, the susurrations of real-life air going in and out of her lungs as a background noise. These thousands and thousands and millions of connections played beneath her virtual fingers.
When she was finished, she found herself curled up on his elongated hands. She stretched and blinked up at him. Orange sensor lights glowed, wavered. JI was quiet, but alive, sleeping.
Hours, it would take hours for this to resolve.
Time for her to help herself, and she knew what she had to do. It wasn’t nice, exactly, but no one would be hurt, unless...
Keera. Slowly Ari turned on the small space of the hands. The woman was asleep, lying next to the rock where she’d been reading. A bowl of food sat on the ground before JI. Keera must have left it for her.
The light past the overhang was dim and fading quickly. Sunset then, though the high towers provoked an early dusk. She had to hurry or this would be impossible. Healing JI had taken many more hours than she’d predicted. Far too long.
Hurry.
What she had to do was almost a violation of JI, but he was asleep and it was her only way. She put her hand to him again, found the lower neural pathways. Balancing on only one of his palms, she instructed the other arm to gouge the stake from the ground.
Such a simple thing for such a powerful mech. The arm pried it loose in seconds, but the groan and rasp of earth and metal was louder than she’d expected.
“What are you doing?” Keera rolled to her feet and sprinted over. “Get down here, girl!” Eyes narrowed she pointed at the ground.
“I’m sorry.” Ari bit her lip. Only one solution. Again it came down to her or someone else. The choices were bad. Her heart paused...
She made JI’s arm swipe sideways and smack into Keera. The woman flew sideways and hit the wall to the right. She slid, crumpled.
That’d been far harder than she’d meant.
If she’d killed her... Healing people wasn’t her strength.
Almost whimpering in anxiety, she climbed down. The chain tinkled and grated as metal slipped along metal. Though she gathered most in her hands, remnants of chain slipped to the ground, trailing along behind her as she ran.
Keera looked so still.
Sobbing, she flung herself down and groped for a pulse at her neck then at chest.
Lub-lub beneath her palm.
Ari shuddered. Her plan had turned to crap but maybe she could help her.
Concussion? Cracked ribs. Fractured arm.
Healing her was going to make her weak when she needed to be strong.
She tried. Her people healing wasn’t at its peak, rarely was, but she tried. The fracture she couldn’t fix exactly. The bones joined poorly. The other damage she partially healed. She hadn’t made it worse – there was that.
Her tears plopped onto Keera’s chest.
“I’m sorry. So sorry. They’ll be back soon.” Hours, but waiting would lose her a perfect chance to run. What she’d done already would earn her some terrible punishment.
She searched among Keera’s belongings for something to use as bedding. A wadded-up bit of clothing went under Keera’s head and she covered the unconscious woman in a blanket. Then she stood, wiped her eyes and figured out how she was going to climb with a heap of chains trailing behind her.
Couldn’t of course.
As a final, hopeless apology, she wrote a few words on the cover of Keera’s book and placed it in her hands.
She had to instruct the sleeping JI to pull apart the metal. Long pieces snapped off. Wasn’t perfect but at least the chains were shorter. After making a sling for the remaining pieces of the chain at her front, she grabbed as much food and water as she could carry, as well as Keera’s gun and knife, searched for better clothes than the flimsy things she wore, but nothing of Keera’s fit her. The woman was far too tall and skinny. Minus pants she was going to rub off a lot of skin, but nothing so simple would stop her now.
Then she walked to the most slanted building. Going straight up would be impossible but this looked possible. She let her gaze travel to the sky.
Darkness reigned, apart from JI’s eyes and faint moonlight.
Her vision let her see most of the crevices.
“If I don’t do this, I’m a slave for life.” Had to then. No choice in this.
Again she wiped her face then she began to climb.
Never had she exerted herself so greatly. The chains made some paths that might have been quicker, impossible.
By the fifth floor, she was gasping and had to rest. Wobbly legs, wobbly arms. After that, her routine settled in. Do five, sit, drink water. Recover, move up.
Not all the floors had collapsed. Some were pancaked, some were partly flattened, and quite a few had shifted but remained intact. It would’ve been easier if all of them had been crushed.
Hours later, her limbs were shaking and had turned into liquid lumps that barely obeyed her. She’d fall if she kept going, so she gave up on climbing and stopped. She’d rest and sleep. When the Scavs came back, she’d stay quiet, wait for night again. Move onward. Hopefully they’d leave the clearing.
The top was only...a day away at most?
Doable.
Had to be doable.
Once she was still and silent, the night noises became louder, insistent.
Hear me, I’m something unknown moving... I might eat you.
Over the thundering beat of her blood, she heard slithering that grew louder and seemed to pass below.
Fuckfuckfuck.
At last the creature passed on, moving away, somewhere. Hopefully it woul
dn’t come upon her while she slept. Her eyelids grew heavy...heavier...
When she woke, it was morning or at least it was daytime. Slabs of bright light slanted in, warming her legs. It might’ve been midday. Below, there was shouting, and she had no idea how far she’d climbed last night. When she moved, all the pain from the scratches on her legs, arms and even butt – came to the fore. Owie.
The Scavs and Sawyer would’ve found her gone and Keera hurt. JI, she hoped, would be better by now.
Being utterly still might be her best strategy, but she should find out the location of her enemies – her enemies being everyone except for herself.
So she crawled to the edge, where pieces of uneven rubble lined this broad shelf, and she peeked down, trying to show no more than the top of her head and her eyes.
The people below were tiny. She pulled over Keera’s long gun and put the circular glass sight to her eye which, because Keera was a dedicated markswoman, had a nice magnifying effect. Sawyer was down there. JI too. JI was looking up at her.
She shimmied back with her elbows doing the walking and prayed. He couldn’t have seen her, could he? He was a military mech. Of course his vision would be excellent, when he was healthy, and she’d made him healthy, hadn’t she.
He’d seen her. She knew it.
Swearing would not fix this. Maybe he’d be mute and tell no one.
She needed to go up, desperately, except it was daylight.
Ari stared at the crumbling ceiling. Go or stay? There might be holes that’d let her ascend without showing herself to those below. One was here, deeper into the tier, at the back, a pile of fractured material would let her climb into it.
She gathered her gear and sloped to the hole, peered up. Light showed so it communicated with the outside.
Do it.
Chapter 23
JI was coming up after her. She’d glanced down again and spotted him. Since then, she’d checked his progress and he was ascending as if he was this giant mechanical insect – arms reaching, grabbing holds that fractured, trying another. Never stopping. She’d fixed him too well. His route was jagged, his climbing steady. His speed...he’d catch her before the top.
Why, though? What did he want? To talk? To thank her?
The problem wasn’t JI, really. It was that Sawyer followed. Whenever she looked, he was methodically climbing. Worming between levels, past obstacles, over projecting beams she’d never have dared to negotiate.
She could’ve shot him. Many times. One shot to get the range. Even though this was Keera’s weapon and wouldn’t behave well for her, there was no windage. Straight down shot and she could try many times. Second would knock him off, she figured. Even if it wasn’t a fatal one, the fall might kill him.
When she aimed, her hands fidgeted, shook. She couldn’t. Killing people was bad, she told herself. This was why she shook. She’d get to the top before him, if not before JI.
Then, she thought again.
She fired a warning shot. It ricocheted into space with a peeyooong noise after knocking out a chunk near his hand. He stopped climbing and looked up. She aimed again and he ducked out of sight. She imagined their eyes locking. So easy to kill him.
Glimpses of his limbs told her he was still coming.
Fate, or maybe her inner good person, or some strange part of her that hadn’t bothered telling her why, said no to trying harder to make him dead.
She should but couldn’t. Keep the bullets for game when she reached the surface. She’d have to find her own food for weeks.
A few times projectiles whined off the building nearby. Scavs at the bottom were aiming at her. She made herself a fast target, rarely exposing herself on the face of the building for long.
Get to the top, there should be forest up there.
Then run.
If cornered she would shoot him. The man didn’t know how good she was with a long gun.
When the sounds of something massive following her became too obvious, she sighed. Pieces snapped, being crushed under big hands, being ground under the weight of a mech. Stop and talk?
Not yet. Not quite.
She climbed another story, then stopped and took a few swigs of water from Keera’s canteen. The ceiling, the sky, the very top, could not be more than ten stories above her.
Freedom was up there, she could smell it, hear the rush of it breathing. So close.
But she sat on an edge shielded from below by a lip of the story beneath and dangled her legs, cradling the long gun. Wasn’t hers, but it was her one piece of power. JI wouldn’t be hurt by this, but Sawyer would. While she waited for JI to arrive, she sighted on Sawyer, who showed far below for a few seconds. Hours before he’d get to her.
A purple vican flew past, beak open, maybe eyeing future morsels. She stuck her tongue out at it.
What she said to JI might be important. Why was he following?
She was still staring down when JI heaved himself up and sat beside her. A few pieces of gray flooring snapped off and dropped.
Lucky the edge was thick – but then she’d checked, knowing what was coming.
“You found me.”
“Because I’m equipped to do so, Ari. I can seek, resolve, and neutralize targets far smaller than you. Ones far tougher than you.”
“Hmmm. What did you want?” She caressed the gun, feeling the dimples and knobs, the fine surface with the languid details brought out by years of use and meditation. It comforted her to have something so deadly.
“To talk.”
“I figured. You look very well. I’m happy for you, but I have to go. Sawyer will catch me otherwise, and I do not at all wish to be his slave. Besides, the other Scavs want to kill me.”
“Let me dismiss some concerns. Zarr has told Sawyer you will not be punished except as he, Sawyer, wishes to, if he brings you down.”
“They are shooting at me, JI! Are you trying to convince me to stay and wait? Hells! I had a notion you wanted to say thank you for what I did but not this.”
“This shooting will cease. I promise this.”
“Okay.” She frowned.
“I do want to thank you. These mechling brains are damaged and they too will fail, but you’ve given me more life. I will need to do this again to live past a year.”
“A year is a lot of time, JI. Maybe you can come with me then I can do more?”
“This would be an interesting possibility, if...”
“If?”
With several distinct clunks, he extended his legs outward, making grating noises that said not everything was healed. “You compel me to make new decisions.”
“How?”
“Touch me.” He held out his hand.
Ari laid her fingers on his palm. To her surprise, he turned his hand and slipped it away, to grasp at the chains where they were gathered into the sling. She batted at him and protested, sure this was not an innocent gesture. Ignoring her curses, he dragged her closer and unraveled the chains, lifted one mech haunch, and sat on a chain. He took away the gun and also Keera’s knife.
With the chain taut, her head was pinned, and she had to put her hand between the side of her face and JI’s body so as not to have her ear squashed painfully. “JI! Let me up.”
“First you will hear me.”
“I was already hearing you! But okay. Say it.” She curled her toes. He didn’t need to hold her down to speak.
He’d forced her hand again. She could make him let her go. She touched him and sent her awareness toward his brain, only to feel it pushed away and back to the surface.
“I’m a military mech, Ari. I analyzed and circumvented what you did. I learn quickly and can even extend my brain tendrils as you did. I’m grateful as it will help me heal myself, however, do not think to control me without my consent again. I see your habits have not changed. I am very disappointed in you. I promised Sawyer to keep you safe and with me, you used my somnolence, my healing time, to break that promise.”
“I never made
that promise.”
“True, but you used my body without my consent to break it. You also used me to hurt another person – Keera.”
That... She winced. “That I am sorry for. I hurt her, but I couldn’t see another way.”
“I have learned a new thing. You betrayed me. I learned about betrayal. And so...” He tweaked at the second, longer chain, rattling it on his thigh and it slid off to hang over the edge, swinging, jerking lightly at her neck.
“JI, there is nothing I can do now. I see that yes, I was wrong. Let me go, please. None of this, holding me down, will make what I did go away. I’m sorry. Sorry a million, million times.”
“I agree that doing this doesn’t change what you did. This is true. But this is not to reverse your actions.” He looked down at her. “This is my betrayal. I’m going to leave you here to face Sawyer. Emery would say I’m your Judas.”
What was a Judas? She’d regarded him as a friend. Then the meaning of his words penetrated her despair.
He was leaving her here. There was hope then. Except that he stood and wrapped one chain about a metal pole that formed the middle of a partly destroyed column that ran up to the ceiling. He knotted it into place, and crushed the knot against the metal.
“If you can get free from this, you can leave. Good luck in your life, Ari. I wash my hands of you.”
Oh. Watching JI do a symbolic brushing together of his hands, as if dusting her off them, hurt deeply. He picked up the long gun and dropped it through a hole to the level beneath.
Losing him as a friend almost superseded being left here for Sawyer to find.
“JI...please don’t –”
“Do not fall over the edge. You would hang yourself. Goodbye.”
To her surprise, he climbed upward, not down. That goodbye echoed in her mind long after he was gone from sight. The rumbles and thumps as he ascended dwindled until all she could hear were the sounds of her breathing, her heart, the wind, and the distant caws and whistles of birds.
She wasn’t going to wait like some stupid victim. She should find something to loosen the chain, but there was nothing but pale gray stone within reach. Though she bruised her fingers, mashed the metal canteen onto the chain, and scratched bloody furrows into her palms while handling the rock, the chain barely did more than rotate around the pole.
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