Disparity

by Eric Warren

  “The trick would be to get it past her guard,” he said. “But if its late at night I should be able to get inside. As you suggested, go underneath the shield.”

  “Why didn’t you say this before?” she said, the heat in her cheeks rising. “We could have been tracking her this entire time.”

  He turned back. “Because first, we didn’t know if she was who she said she was. Second, you didn’t want my help, remember? You were going to go off on your own. If Blu hadn’t coaxed you along—”

  “Yet you still kept it from us.” She shook her head. “I knew it. I knew better than to trust you.”

  “I didn’t keep it from you,” he snapped. “I tried to tell you and you didn’t want to listen. I figured you’d either realize I’m only trying to help or you wouldn’t. You’re not my daughter. You’re not my ward or my responsibility.”

  “Frees could have died out there,” she said, her voice heavy with regret.

  “I think we’re both glad that didn’t happen. But you need to get yourself straight and work out these issues otherwise they’re going to eat you alive.” He paused. “Do you want me to use the drones or not?”

  “I don’t care,” she said with a wave of her hand, strolling past him to the hallway. “Do whatever the hell you want.”

  TWENTY

  “ARISTA?” The whisper came through the room and landed on her ear like a butterfly. Not enough to completely rouse her, but not so much she stayed asleep either. She put her hands behind her head where they hit a solid cinder-block wall. She winced and drew them back, blinking and sitting up.

  Blu was hunched over in front of her, her silver hair back in a ponytail that drooped over her left shoulder like a familiar.

  “Hmm? Is everything okay?” she asked.

  “Dad says he’s getting some info from the drones he sent. He thought you’d want to hear.”

  She wiped her eyes, confused. “Hear what? What is there to hear?”

  “Come listen,” Blu said, holding out her hand. Arista took it and allowed Blu to pull her up and off the mattress. It wasn’t the most comfortable bed she’d ever slept on, but it did the trick. Better than a cold, hard floor.

  Blu led her back into the main room where a device up against the wall hummed with activity. David sat hunched over his desk, watching something displayed on the flat surface in front of him. “Oh, good,” he said. “You need to hear this, “I’ve rewound it from the beginning.”

  “Hear what?” she asked.

  David tapped a button and Echo’s voice came on over a speaker Arista couldn’t see or detect. “Hello?”

  “Leader Dante?” That was McCulluh’s voice! Had he come through the gate too? Had they already opened it? She stared at David, but he held one finger in the air, as if she needed to wait.

  “Jansen?” Echo asked. “How did you…are you here?”

  “No, ma’am,” McCulluh said. “We’re using a carrier wave based on the quantum signature of the gate’s destination. Or some shit. The technicians will have to explain it.”

  “I see,” she said. “Report. What’s the situation there?”

  “The gate is not operational at this time. We estimate a few more days for repairs, maybe sooner. Some of the bullets in the firefight struck the casing and the control panel.”

  “Did the gate malfunction? You know where I am, right?” Was that panic in Echo’s voice or was Arista imagining it?

  “We are aware. At this time, we can’t tell if Reynolds ever had any intention of going to the past or not. All we are trying to do is replicate the original circumstances so we can bring you back.”

  Going to the past? Blu mouthed. Arista gave her a concerned nod.

  “What is the status of the other gates? Of Trymian?” she asked.

  “Holding. We have approximately seventy-four percent of the gates under our control. But we have not yet breached Trymian’s stronghold or Hogo-sha’s tower. We were waiting on your orders.”

  “Hold for now,” Echo said. “I’ve managed to maneuver myself into a good position here. When I return I’ll have a vast number of resources at my disposal. We don’t need to risk any more human lives than necessary. We’ll need as many as we can get after this war is over.”

  David’s eyes flicked to Arista but she avoided them.

  “And what of the girl and her friend?” McCulluh asked.

  Echo exhaled over the speaker and there was a plop. Like she’d settled into a chair. “They’re here,” she said. “They tried to ambush me today. She’s too clever, I never should have sent Sy after her. I should have killed her myself.” Arista felt lightheaded. She had been the one to send Sy after her?

  McCulluh sounded like he was stifling a laugh.

  “You don’t think I could do it?”

  “With all due respect, ma’am, you’re not a killer.”

  “She never should have come back,” Echo said. “She put everything in jeopardy just by being in the colony. I knew I shouldn’t have allowed it.” She paused. How did Arista put everything in jeopardy just by being there? Did it have something to do with her shuttle accident?

  “What of Reynolds?” Echo finally asked.

  “Dead,” McCulluh replied. “Stray bullet.”

  “Finally,” Echo exhaled. “Come up with something. The colonists wouldn’t be happy if they suspected anything. And we don’t need a martyr.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “And when I get back we’re going to take care of this once and for all. No more rogue projects. No more gates to the past or children-based weapons. We take this fight to the Cadre and end it once and for all.” Arista could imagine McCulluh nodding in that slow way he did. “I’ve found something here, Jansen. Something that will make all of this very easy,” she said.

  “What?” he asked, his voice a tic louder.

  “A type of key. And as soon as I have it in my possession I’ll be ready to return. You said a few days?”

  “Yes, ma’am. We’ll make the preparations. And as soon as the gate is operational I’ll notify you again. We don’t think we’ll be able to open it more than once. You’ll need to be ready.”

  “Give me twenty-four hours,” Echo said. “And I’ll have it.”

  The call disconnected, and the room was left only with the erratic sounds of Echo’s breathing.

  “I think that’s it,” David said.

  Arista felt the room spinning. If she didn’t sit down, she’d crack a tooth on the concrete when she lost her balance. Steady hands appeared behind her and guided her to a seat. When she turned to look it had been Blu. Funny, for a second there she’d thought it’d been Frees.

  “What the hell was that all about?” Blu asked. “What did she mean by ‘end it’?”

  Arista barely heard her. All she could think about was it had been Echo who sent Sy after her. Had she also instructed Sy to give her a new hand she could use to defeat Hogo-sha? But if Echo wanted her dead then why give her a mission to accomplish? Or maybe that had just been Sy’s own agenda. But there was no doubt about it anymore: Echo wanted her dead and had wanted for a long time.

  “It sounds like I’ve already met my maker in the other world,” David said, leaning back against the desk. “Unless I have a relative with a similar name.” Arista shook her head. “Death then. I at least hope it was quick and painless.”

  Why would Echo want her dead? Why didn’t she want her to come back to the colony? She’d certainly made a good show of not freaking out when Arista had just appeared on her proverbial doorstep. It must have something to do with her memories stored in the Device. But she had also mentioned a key. What kind of key?

  “What—?” It took her a second to find her voice. “What was that key she talked about?” Arista asked. “Did you notice that?”

  “I bet she means Croden’s Key,” Blu said.

  “What does it do?” Arista asked.

  “It’s like a skeleton key for the planet,” Blu said. “Top-secret government pro
ject.”

  “I don’t—” She shook her head.

  “What did she mean,” David began, “when she said take the fight to the Cadre? What is the Cadre over there?”

  “What is it over here?” Arista asked.

  “It’s the experimental research group that tried to build the AIs and failed a century ago,” David replied. “Didn’t we already go over this?”

  “Right, right,” Arista said, rubbing her head. “I’m just having trouble concentrating.” She paused. Should she tell them? What might it do to their illusions about AI? Then again what if she didn’t tell them, they managed to create one as Blu was apparently close to doing, and then it became self-aware and killed everyone? Again. As much as she despised the humans, Arista couldn’t not give them the warning. In some capacity, at least.

  “The Cadre is an organization built and maintained by the machines to regulate their society,” Arista said. “In my world they took over and slaughtered the human population.” She took a deep breath. “In my world…AI’s killed everyone.”

  TWENTY-ONE

  THE ROOM FELL SILENT EXCEPT for the slight humming of the equipment behind David. A few times Blu moved to say something, then thought better of it and closed her mouth again.

  “It’s got to be an error,” David finally said. “A mistake, somewhere. Your original AI wasn’t programmed correctly.”

  Arista arched an eyebrow at him. “Are you sure about that?”

  “Yes. There are safeguards…protections to keep something like that from happening. Firewalls, soft cages, electronic bonding…all of it would allow for a fail-safe. Something to turn off the AI in the case it became malevolent.”

  “Maybe,” Arista said. “Maybe now you have those things. But a hundred years ago they didn’t. Or they didn’t consider it a threat. Whatever the case, seventy-five percent of the human population was wiped out four days after the AI came online. The rest…the rest were hunted down over the next fifteen years. Only a handful survived. In a cave under Antarctica.” When Arista caught Blu’s eye she added: “A very large cave.”

  “It doesn’t mean that will happen here,” David said. “I won’t allow it. It will never get that far. Any AI we develop will be strictly controlled. If we ever get that far again.”

  Arista shot Blu a glance but the young girl didn’t return the gesture. Instead, she only stared at her boots.

  “Regardless,” Arista said. “We need to stop Echo. Or at least I do. The gate could open any time after twenty-four hours. Which doesn’t give me a lot of time. But if she’s busy looking for this key she might not be so focused on me.” Arista walked across the room and placed her hands on the table beside David. He seemed lost in thought, like he didn’t even see her beside him. And that was bad. She waved a hand in front of his face and he blinked a few times as he took a step away from her, startled. “Tell me more about this key. What exactly does it do?”

  “It’s a governmental experiment which may or may not have gone wrong,” David said. “The government commissioned to have a device built that could destabilize any type of machine. Basically giving the user full access to their goal. It’d be easy to eliminate your enemies if you could first access their bank accounts and drain their funds.” He glanced out the window. “It was supposed to be secret but someone—we don’t know who—released information about it six months ago when it was being transported from Dallas to Washington. There was a wreck. It was lost.”

  “Lost?”

  “Stolen,” Blu said. “Someone caught wind of it and wanted it. It’s been on the black market ever since. Except maybe until now. With all her connections I’m sure Echo could locate it. And I doubt it will take her long.”

  Arista took a deep breath. The key didn’t matter. What mattered was catching Echo off guard again. They had surveillance on her, they could track her now. They could get the drop on her when she was vulnerable.

  “What could she want it for?” Blu asked. “She said she could use it to ‘end this’. What was she talking about?”

  “A couple of days before I arrived, Echo instructed the remaining humans to use the Quantum Gates to travel the world, and to kill the Peacekeepers,” Arista said. “I just thought they were eliminating a potential threat, but in reality their goal was to gain control of all the gates. David—the other David told me he needed the energy from the network of gates to make his gate through time work. That was either a lie or a miscalculation because when we came through they only had seventy percent of the gates contained.”

  “Other David?” Blu asked, glancing back and forth between them.

  “I’ll let your dad explain that one,” Arista said. Blu’s gaze shot to her father who only shook his head once. “Anyway I—”

  “What are Peacekeepers?” Blu frowned.

  “Semi-autonomous machines,” Arista answered. “Created by the Cadre to use their improvisation skills to hunt down difficult targets. Like me and Frees.”

  “I don’t understand. Aren’t all the machines in your world autonomous?”

  Arista pulled a seat out. They didn’t have the time to waste on this. “I’ll just say this. The machines are cruel not only to us, but to each other. But back to my point. Echo seems to have initiated a war with the machines. Before it was about holding the gates, but I’m guessing now they don’t travel to the past she’s come up with a new plan. She means to destroy all machines, autonomous or not.”

  “For what reason?” David asked.

  “To allow the limited human species to thrive and grow again. Machines were the only thing keeping them underground for so long.”

  “She wants to start a war,” Blu said.

  “She wants to finish one. And she must think this key can help her, though I don’t see how.” She tapped her fingers against the table. “We’re going to have to capture her. There’s no other way. We need her as a bargaining chip when the gate does open.” She whipped around to David. “Do you have a drone that could monitor the site and notify you when the gate returns?” David nodded. “Okay. Get that set up. We need Frees. How close is he to being activated?”

  “Blu?” David asked.

  “Oh. Umm…” she began. “I think we should wait until we get the drive back in him. If we wake him now he’ll just want to move.”

  “It finished charging not too long ago,” David said, taking it from his desk.

  “Okay. Perfect. I’ll…just go…start him up again.” Blu retrieved the drive and left them there together.

  “She seems nervous,” David said. “I hope this isn’t too much for her.”

  “It’s a lot of information for a kid to take in,” Arista said. “She’s probably just in shock.”

  “I noticed…” David began. “That other voice mentioned the girl. Was that you he was talking about?” She nodded. “And they wanted to kill you. They even sent someone to do it.” His voice was flat, emotionless.

  “They did,” she said defiantly.

  “And somehow you still made it. You survived an assassination attempt, and a trip to an different universe.” He adjusted his glasses and glanced away. “You should be proud of yourself. You’re an accomplished survivor.” His eyebrows lifted and he smiled at her. Was that pride? Arista wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

  “Thanks,” she said, uncomfortable and not sure where to look.

  “I have a feeling that woman knows more about your history than you do,” he added.

  Damn. How as he so intuitive? It was like he could see into her soul. Was this what it would have been like growing up with human parents? Her other parents had tried but never been able to completely understand exactly what she was going through. They had never “grown up”. But humans obviously had. And this man seemed to know what she was thinking, especially when she didn’t want to talk about it.

  “It’s okay,” he said, leaning against the desk again, crossing his arms. “You don’t have to tell me about it. It’s just you get this little tug on you
r mouth when you’re forced to talk about something unpleasant. I know because I do the exact same thing.”

  “There was an accident,” Arista said, trying to ignore the similarity. She’d noticed it too but had pretended like it wasn’t there. “When I was eight. My mother—she told me she erased my memory so I wouldn’t feel the burden of my family pressing down on me. So I wouldn’t be so brash and trying to prove myself against an idea that was doomed to fail. She felt it would save my life.”

  “She was right.” He paused. “Wait…if ‘I’ was your father, then who was your mother? Does she have a double here?”

  Arista shook her head. “I don’t think so. Remember me asking you about Jessika Thorne?”

  “Ah.” He turned to the computer terminal. “She should be easy enough to find.”

  Arista came up behind him and peered over his shoulder as he typed. “Jessika with a ‘k’.”

  “Got it.” The terminal beeped showing no results. “Guess that means there is no chance one of my romantic flings in my youth resulted in you,” David said. “Before my injury.”

  “Seems that way.”

  “Then you being here is all the more special,” he said, a smile forming across his face that reached his eyes.

  She stepped back. The Device registered higher levels of blood pressure and adrenaline flooding her system. No. She wasn’t going down that route. She wasn’t about to let this guy, this…copy get to her. The father she’d been “given” had been an unstable, selfish bastard. No amount of goodwill would be able to erase that.

  “I’m going to check on Frees,” she said. “Make sure Blu doesn’t need any help waking him up.”

  The smile faded as he nodded. “I’ll keep monitoring Echo. See if we can’t find anything else useful.”

  “Thanks,” she said, dropping her eyes and leaving the room.

  Why was she having such a problem acting natural around him? It was either full-on rage or some combination of embarrassment and guilt. At least now she didn’t have to worry about running into an Arista from this world. Though she had to wonder if Blu existed on the other side. She hadn’t seen her in the colony but that meant absolutely nothing. Arista hadn’t seen most people in the colony and for good reason. They all either stared or had been chasing her at some point. Though, if she got back she’d have a hard time finding her. David had given her the name Bloom, which meant her real parents had named her something else in her world. But still…she’d probably recognize the face, right?