by Mary Weber
Danya slid in front of her and extended her own hand to Sofi. “Ambassador Danya from the South Middle East region. And you are CEO Inola’s daughter and one of our most brilliant gamers, I’m told. I’m grateful to finally meet you.”
Miguel saw the polite niceties mixed with mistrust flash across Sofi’s eyes as she shook Danya’s hand. “And you as well, Ambassador. I’ve always thought you one of the saner voices on the news clips.”
Danya chuckled and glanced over at Miguel. “Oh, I quite like this one. You should keep her.”
Sofi’s reaction was an immediate snort of disdain.
“Pretty certain she keeps herself just fine,” Miguel said. “And allow me to introduce Heller Torn, Sofi’s gaming tech and friend.”
Alis nodded and drilled her gaze into the boy. “How on earth did you get the Delonese to allow them?” she whispered. Then glanced at Claudius. “And why?”
Claudius tipped his glass. “Miguel had a run-in with special enforcers at his house who tried to take him and the girl out. They ran for it. I followed. Here we are. The Delonese were willing to oblige.”
Beside him, Lex and the ladies let out gasps. “Appalling,” said one. “Disgusting,” said the other.
“Which I’d struggle to believe the Delonese allowed.” Danya peered around at the room. “Except they certainly seem fascinated by her. They can barely keep their eyes off her.”
Miguel gave her a short nod just as Lex breathed, “Ooh, look, they’re about to begin.”
A second later the operatic aria broke off and the Delonese froze in place.
31
SOFI
SOFI SHIFTED BENEATH THE ROOM’S DEAFENING SILENCE AS her panic rebloomed. The invisible, untouchable tension a reminder that, for as beautiful as this room and its artisans were during the past half hour, none of that covered up the fact that she still despised them, or that they likely had Shilo.
Maybe that’s why they all kept looking at her. If they had him, they’d have to assume it’s why she was here.
She squared her shoulders and shoved down the cold and hatred and fear. And clenched her hands into fists. Just play their game, Sofi. Find out what you can, then get back to your room and finish what you came for.
She’d just turned to question Claudius as to how much longer they’d be here when the chanting began. It started from the stage and spread out across every inch of the round room. Beautiful. Monotone. Eerie. The Delonese nearest Sofi picked it up after the other hundred individuals as, in the earcom, Sofi noticed she couldn’t decipher the words.
She looked around and found Danya smiling softly at her and Heller. “Would you like to know what they are saying?”
“Heck yeah.” Heller grinned.
“We are one,” Danya translated. “In soul. In beliefs. In harmony. In favor.”
Sofi studied the visitors’ faces. The words were beautiful, just like them. Ethereal almost. And yet . . .
“We are unified in the richness of life, of sacrifice, of transparency, and of love.”
And yet something about them felt so fake.
Sofi swallowed and continued to study the lilt of the words flowing effortlessly off so many tongues. As if they were sharing a part of their souls, their lives, their community—except they’d somehow forgotten the rest of the picture. In a room of passionate individuals who danced and sang and painted and performed, she had the distinct impression this recitation was an act. Like a habit practiced too often, too long, until too much of its meaning died.
She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but Sofi felt that if she were to lean down and scratch a bit of whatever flooring the room was made of, she’d find something far deeper, darker, more revelatory.
And it scared the crud out of her.
Heller bumped her arm. “Incredible, isn’t it?” he mouthed.
Sofi nodded and peeked at Claudius and Miguel, only to find similar expressions of discomfort on their faces.
“We are created from technology and born into a product of beauty,” Danya continued. “We will rise higher through our own experience, community, and personal power.”
Sofi heard Alis clear her throat and watched her shift closer to Miguel. She could only pick up bits of phrases as the woman began whispering in his ear.
“What on earth were you think . . . ?”
“. . . wanted by half the Corps . . .”
“. . . what if they . . .”
Sofi turned away and watched the rounded glass ceiling and the stars twinkling beyond. She could see Earth—it looked exactly like the photos from old satellite footage. Something moved in her, nudging her like a homesickness she couldn’t explain or ignore. Gad, she just wanted to find Shilo and go home—back to their old home. And re-create some semblance of a life already gone where they’d danced and made quilted forts and caught fireflies under the same moon beaming at this very moment. Her throat swelled and she tuned back in to Danya.
“And in the end, we will be greater. We will be conquerors of our own truth, our own will, our own death. We will be rulers of destiny.”
As quickly as it had begun, the chanting ended, and Sofi didn’t know if her heart was more relieved or disturbed. They weren’t just rulers of their own destiny and will, but other people’s as well, if intuition was to be believed.
She swallowed the flat taste in her mouth. “Well, that was different.”
“But kinda cool. I like their philosophy at least,” Heller said.
Sofi scoffed and turned, only to catch Alis eyeing her with what appeared to be disapproval. Sofi tossed her a wide smile and watched Miguel and Claudius go back to making the Delonese fawn over them.
Gasping, she suddenly tilted and swerved as the entire room abruptly spun and her head lost all sense of direction. What in—?
It was like someone turned off a gravity sensor somewhere and the room’s air lightened.
In front of her, Heller frowned as if he, too, was confused. He gave a small jump. Then promptly bounded up four feet and looked over at her, grinning. What in the world? She followed suit, and the floor fell away as she reached out to touch one of the solar systems floating overhead.
Three clicks of a beat and suddenly the music picked up, followed by half the Delonese in the room launching themselves into the air and engaging in a form of dancing.
Sofi raised a brow before pausing to look back at Miguel. He was talking to the tall woman, Danya.
“Tell me you brought her for what I think you did,” she overheard the woman saying. “And can she do it?”
He merely nodded and kept his eyes focused on his drink.
“Wait—what?” Sofi wanted to ask, but a crowd of Delonese surrounded her and pulled her up to dance with them. It wasn’t the rave style she was used to, nor ballroom like the older generation preferred. This was wild. Free in the same way one moved when tangibly aware of every tissue and bone and electric nerve connecting the body in a blending of grace. And as the music turned up and pumped through the room, for the first time on the planet, Sofi’s heart took a breath and let the cold chip off of her a little more.
And in that moment, she shoved the panic and anger aside and melted into the rhythm.
The Delonese swung her around, and between, and upside down until she lost all sense of time and breath. They only set her back down when they decided to show off their acrobatic skills, and Sofi watched as half the room was soon walking and vaulting on the domed ceiling. Even as the food and drinks and tech all stayed rooted in place. “The air is only sensitive to living cells,” a visitor said when she asked.
The display reminded her of one of last year’s FanFight levels.
She found a spot against the domed side near where Miguel had been speaking with Danya. The female ambassador was exiting the room and Miguel now had a new friend.
“Pretty bit of work there,” she heard the Delonese coo. “She got a name?”
Sofi peeked over but didn’t recognize him. Not that it me
ant anything. They all had a strikingly similar appearance. Same hair color, facial features, and those unblinking eyes. The uniformity had stuck out to her more than a few times over the years.
She smirked as Miguel cleared his expression and straightened off the wall he’d been leaning against. “Not one of interest, cuate.”
“Truly?” The visitor took a sip of his own sparkling glass—not his first by the swagger in him—and puckered a brow. And turned to stare straight at Sofi. “Not to you perhaps.”
Oh.
Oh.
She almost gagged. He was talking about her?
“She’s one of the FanFight kids,” Miguel said. “Not anyone of interest to you.”
“Oh, I know exactly what she is. I saw her at the stadium on the tele introductions. Thought she died in the blast.”
Miguel’s face shaded with irritation. He refused to look at Sofi, just snorted and said, “Well, good luck with that.”
“Challenge accepted,” the guy said. But rather than head her direction, he turned and strolled the other way as Miguel became a homing beacon for a gaggle of Delonese men and women.
Huh. Maybe he decided she wasn’t that interesting after all.
Good.
She rolled her eyes and went to move on when Miguel lifted his gaze to her. His eyes swept over her sweaty face and prompt frown, then his expression shifted from strained to amused. She was about to scowl deeper at him, except his countenance just as quickly shifted to something else.
Something that grabbed her and gutted her all in the space of one raw, hungry glance.
She opened her mouth and felt her insides chip away a little more at the thrill of it. Then the guests were flocking to him and blocking his view, and Sofi was left reeling from an emotion she had no idea what to do with.
Stupid boy.
She returned to watching the dancing and pretended he’d never existed. Which came a bit easier once she homed in on Alis and Claudius and Heller carrying on. If she’d ever thought Heller had moves, Claudius put him to shame. The man was a mix-master.
She was about to join them when Danya reentered the room, and Sofi rose to connect with her. To question her. To ask what she’d meant earlier about Sofi being there for what they needed. But just as Sofi was making her way over, the lights dimmed so low she could spot Heller’s flashing cheek piercing half the room away.
Suddenly the music stopped. The dancing stopped.
And one by one the hundred Delonese looked up at the moon through the ceiling.
Then, in unison of perfect step, perfect form, perfect stride, they walked toward the giant doors.
And Sofi stopped in her tracks.
32
MIGUEL
BACK IN THE ROOM, MIGUEL TOOK OFF HIS JACKET, THEN PULLED out his handscreen and set it on the chair. When he looked up, Sofi was staring at him through thick eyelashes in a way that made his lungs skip a breath. He raised a brow. “Everything okay?”
“Other than what just happened back there?”
Heller nodded and plopped his elbow on her shoulder. “Yeah, that was some freaky twilight stuff.” He glanced at Claudius. “But fantastic. Sweet dance moves, dude.”
They knocked knuckles just as Sofi shook her head and ducked from Heller’s arm. “I’m not just talking about the chanting or antigravity dancing. I’m talking about the fact the lights shut down and the aliens just walked out in a trance.”
Miguel tried not to smile. It had weirded him out the first couple times too until he realized it was nothing more than just an unusual tradition. “Not a trance exactly.” He scrunched his forehead. “Genetically altered maybe.”
Sofi’s face sallowed. “Wait, are they? Genetically enhanced?”
He grinned and chuckled. “Nah, I’m just messin’ with you. I actually have no idea. Although I wouldn’t doubt it for as perfect as they all look.”
“It’s the skin,” Claudius said, nodding.
“Well, enhanced or tranced or whatever the freak it is—there’s something seriously wrong with those people. We will rule our own destiny—while we all stare up at the moon and walk out like robots?”
“Hot tea, anyone?” Claudius said.
Sofi shook her head.
“I’m changing,” Heller called, as if anyone cared.
“They have strange customs, sí,” Miguel admitted. “But to be fair—so do humans.”
“Yeah, well, the sooner we find my brother and leave, the better.”
“Tea?” Claudius said louder.
“Yes. No. I don’t care. Claudius, I—” Sofi turned and put up her hand. Only to have it brush against Claudius’s V-necked chest of man-hair. She yanked back. “Gah, seriously? Okay, fine. Yes. And thanks.” She strode to her room and came back a few minutes later wearing purple fluffy unicorn pj’s and carrying her handscreen.
Miguel exchanged smiles with Claudius because how could she not know she looked ridiculously adorable? Even when pissed.
Claudius shook his head and pretended to bat fake eyelashes, and Miguel discreetly glared him off.
Sofi set Heller’s and her comp-screens across the thin metallic table and opened them. “Sorry,” she said after a moment. “This place just gives me the creeps.”
“Understandable.” Miguel grabbed his handheld and joined her at the table. “So, what do you need help with?”
“You could tell me what you and Ambassador Danya were talking about. What do you want us to do?”
Miguel didn’t show surprise at her observation. Of course she’d been listening. He swiveled his head to indicate his discomfort as to whether the room’s security was still intact. Then chose his words carefully. “I’d be able to explain more if we could finish the project from this afternoon.” He pulled a comp chip the size of Sofi’s pinkie nail out of his breast pocket and handed it to her. “Would this help?”
She eyed it and then him before she took it and slid it into her comp just as Claudius set down three cups of tea and Heller appeared in a pair of “Dead Right” pajamas.
Claudius nodded. “Nice, kid.”
“Thanks.” Heller glanced at the door. “So where did Alis and Danya go after the dance, by the way?”
“About one hundred feet down the hall. Apparently trying to catch up on Kim’s notes before tomorrow’s meeting.”
Miguel caught the look on Sofi’s face.
“Pretty sure Alis isn’t too happy with you guys bringing us,” Heller said.
“Danya and Alis are good people,” Claudius interjected. Then tapped the tea in front of Sofi. “Seriously, drink it. They may have horrid food, but they’ve become addicted to our version of spiced tea. It’s been one of Miguel’s greatest—if not only—feats of influence.”
“Aside from all the other great feats, you mean.” Miguel grinned, then took a sip and kept his gaze on Sofi. “But now let’s see if we can accomplish a few more.” He tipped his chin to her screen and dropped his voice. “Is that what you were looking for?”
Sofi glanced down and her eyes widened. Two seconds later a hologram emerged from her comp and floated above the table. It was Delon’s planet with code scrolling around it.
Heller gave a low whistle. “That’s the one. Where’d you get it?”
Miguel shrugged as Heller and Sofi went to work sorting through the words and numbers as if they knew exactly what they were looking at.
Claudius flipped the tele back on—only to growl at it two seconds later. “Aw, come on, Nadine. We want news.”
Miguel glanced up.
“Is it true, Corp 30, that you can’t find your CEO’s daughter?” Nadine looked at the camera. “Or is something bigger going on here? Stay tuned as we continue to give you the truth as it unfolds.” She pasted on a wide smile. “And don’t forget tomorrow’s unveiling of Corp 24’s Altered prototype. Is your child an alien? Is your lover a human? Has your brain been secretly altered? Find out how it works when we test it in the morning.” She ended with a fan-favorite i-reality
wave and then blew a kiss. “Good night from Nadine.”
“Think I’ve got a few people I’d like to try that on,” muttered Claudius.
“The kiss or the Altered?” Sofi said.
Claudius looked up as Miguel and Heller snickered. “Very funny.”
“Except for the fact it’s going to cause a whole lot of drama,” she added.
Miguel noted that Heller frowned and kept his mouth shut.
But Claudius flipped around on the couch. “How so, girl Sofi?”
She rolled her eyes. “Anytime you use panic to pitch a product, it creates problems.”
Miguel agreed. It’d only increase suspicion rather than peace.
“Except the panic was already there,” Claudius argued. “That’s the whole reason they developed it.”
“What she means,” Miguel interrupted, “is that the product is a wise one. The way they’re selling it is going to cause mass panic. And shoot their prices through the roof.”
“Well, I think it’s a crap product anyway.” Heller tapped away at his screen. “And I’m betting they’re the ones who planted that explosive to keep it from being used.”
Sofi scoffed. “You’re kidding, right?”
Heller shrugged. “It’s most likely a fake—and the bomb drama was just to heighten sales. As you guys said, stir the panic, increase the sales. Just watch, everyone will be clean tomorrow—but Corp 24’s shares will go sky high.”
Miguel chewed his cheek. “I’d agree with you, except . . .” He glanced at Sofi. “Corp 24 didn’t do it.”
Heller laughed. “And you know that how?”
“Simple.” Sofi turned to the kid. “You and I both know only a few people could have pulled that off—and Corp 24 isn’t any of them. They couldn’t even manage a stronger firewall, let alone plant something decent behind it.” She pursed her lips and peered back at where she’d been typing.
A few seconds later Miguel’s handscreen blipped, and Sofi reached over to tap it. He stopped midsip of his tea as Vicero’s AI head abruptly popped up in 3-D off the screen. What the—?