by Strauss, Lee
“Yeah, we’re connected. Fellow rebels.”
“We’ll see about that.” Noah hooked his arm under one of Lebron’s. “Jabez, get the other one.”
“Human shield,” Jabez said. “Good idea.”
Lebron wrestled. Noah and Jabez tightened their grip, dragging Lebron’s taped-up legs along the cave floor, kicking up mats and blankets in the way.
“Relax,” Noah said tightly. “If they’re really looking for you, they won’t fire.”
The three strangers were in shooting range when Noah and Jabez pushed Lebron through the cave entrance in front of them.
“It’s me!” Lebron shouted. “Maurice Lebron! Don’t shoot!”
One of them called back, “Is that you, man?”
“Yeah.”
They cocked their guns. Noah and Jabez steadied their aims.
“Looks like they don’t like you,” I said. I crouched to one knee and aimed my gun with both hands gripping the handle.
“Hey guys,” Lebron shouted. “Lower your weapons. It’s cool.”
I breathed out a little as the intruders slowly lowered their ammunition.
One of them called out, “What’s going on, Lebron?”
“Lay your guns on the ground,” Noah shouted back.
“Hey,” the leader returned, “we mean no harm. Just let our man go.”
Jabez shook his head. “If we let him go, we have no leverage. It’s four cyborg freaks against us.”
Noah agreed. “No can do.”
We were stalemated. The cyborgs held their weapons loosely but I had no doubt they could fire a round off in seconds, killing us all if they wanted. We had their man, and I wasn’t convinced they cared enough about him to risk a shoot out that could kill or injure one of them.
“We’re on the same side,” Lebron said loud enough for us all to hear. “Rebels against Vanderveen, right? Out to take down the government?”
It was weird to hear him throw out my name like that.
“We need a show of faith,” the leader of the threesome called out.
Noah lowered his rifle. “On three, we all disarm.”
“Okay.”
“One,” Noah started, “two, three.”
Everyone bent slowly to the ground, dropping their guns and lifting tentative hands halfway in the air.
“So we’re clear,” Noah called out. “No one is shooting anybody tonight?”
“We’re clear.”
“Come closer, but leave your weapons on the ground. We’ll do the same. Then we’ll talk.”
The guns lay on the ground, and Noah and Jabez dragged Lebron into the open. Taylor, Mary, and I fell in behind. Safety in numbers thinking.
The three cyborgs were dressed in army fatigues, their metal parts stuck out of short-sleeved shirts and shorts that cut off at the knees, glowing in the light of the moon.
“Turn off your scanners,” Noah said.
“You hiding?” their leader asked.
“You’re bright,” Noah answered.
“This is Noah Brody,” Lebron said with a hint of pride in his voice. “My captor.”
“The Noah Brody?”
My eyebrows shot up. Just how well known was he now, anyway?
Noah stayed cool. “The one.”
“I’m Sylvester,” the leader guy said. He was tall, with a blond buzz cut, a crooked nose and square jaw. He did the tough-guy look really well. “My friends call me Sly.” He continued, pointing to the guys on either side of him. “This is Buck and Jason.” Buck and Jason were both a little shorter than Sly but equally buff. Jason had dark eyes and a straight, no-nonsense expression. Buck’s lips twitched like he found this whole thing amusing.
Noah proceeded to make introductions of our group. It felt like we were meeting new friends at a club or something, instead of potential enemies in the middle of nowhere.
“Now that we’re all pals,” Sly said, “maybe you can untie my man.”
There was an uncomfortable pause and I pictured everyone suddenly making a mad dash for their weapons.
Noah nodded at Jabez and they pushed Lebron to his colleagues. “You untie him,” Noah said. “He’s your problem now.”
Lebron landed on the ground at Sly’s feet. We backed away toward the cave, picking up our weapons as we went. Once tucked inside the safety of our hiding place, Jabez stood armed and ready at the narrow entrance.
“I dunno, man,” he said. “I think we just got took for dummies.”
Noah sighed. “Maybe.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Taylor said, smirking.
My stomach growled. “By the way,” I stared at Taylor. “Where’s Fred?”
A figure moved out of the shadows and I jumped.
“I’m right here.”
Chapter 19
I screeched. “You scared me half to death!”
Jabez spun and aimed his rifle at Fred. “How’d you get past the mod squad outside? How’d you get past me?”
“Chill, dude,” Taylor said. “Don’t shoot the hand that feeds you.”
Jabez lowered his gun and puffed his chest. “Sorry, Fred. My nerves are shot.”
I felt for Jabez. He was forced to quit smoking cold turkey. Not like there was a convenience store around here where he could keep stocked up.
I peeked out the entrance past him but couldn’t see the borgs. “Where’d they go?”
“Won’t they be spotted? By space spies or something?” Mary asked. She’d been helping the girls unload the food Fred had brought us. My thoughts flashed to Noah and me, bathing in the stream and I had to look away. I hoped he told her about us soon.
“They have high-tech camouflage tents,” Jabez said. “Must’ve ripped them off the government.”
“How did he get past them?” Rebecca asked. She was as leery of humanoids as I was.
Taylor flashed his usual smirk. “Call it super-stealth programming.”
We gathered around the fire Hannah had started and shared a welcomed meal of bread, cheese, and stew. Turned out humanoids were super strong and could carry a lot of canned food.
Noah pulled his mat closer to the wall and sat, leaning his back against it. He tilted his chin at me, indicating that I should sit beside him. I did, aware of the stares that followed. Noah and I hadn’t sat on the same side of the cave for the whole time we were here. Mary’s stare was particularly cutting.
“Man, this wall is warm.” Noah tugged at his shirt sticking to his back. I would’ve guessed he was trying to distract everyone, except that he was right. The wall was warm.
“I don’t know how we’re going to deal with the heat at the height of summer,” I added. I sat a good foot away from Noah, hoping that would keep the tongues from wagging, at least for a while.
Time whittled away. It turned dark. Every so often someone would stoke the fire, or take the flashlight to go out to relieve themselves. Mostly we were bored out of our minds. Well, when we weren’t frightened out of our skulls. Boredom and fear, our constant companions.
Taylor guarded the entrance. We turned when we heard him cock his rifle. “State your business,” he said. I had a flashback of when Noah and I had arrived at the commune in Utah and Finn had said the same thing to us. Minus the gun.
Sly’s low voice echoed. “We come bearing gifts.”
Taylor glanced at Noah, and he nodded back. Sly and his guys slipped in and sat on the ground on the entrance side of the fire. It was weird seeing Lebron untethered and with his own people.
Sly tossed several small packages on the ground. “Dried fruit. You’re welcome.”
Jabez gathered them up and passed them around.
“So, kids, what’s your story?” Sly asked.
I bristled at his condescending tone, and I could tell by the unamused looks on my group’s faces that I wasn’t alone.
Noah huffed and countered, “What’s yours?”
The fire pit burned low. The shadows in the cave flickered in spastic dances on the cave
wall.
“We tried army life and left it. We don’t like being told what to do and how to do it. Don’t get me wrong, the cyborg thing is cool,” Sly said, showing off his forearm. “We just don’t groove with what this government wants to do with us.”
“What do they want to do with you?” I asked. “Exactly?”
He cocked a brow. “Hey, aren’t you the missing granddaughter?”
“Answer my question first.”
Sly squinted at me. “They want us to mindlessly obey, which is fine if it’s for decent things like freedom and prosperity.”
Lebron added, “And the pursuit of happiness.”
Mary stoked the fire, and flames shot back to life. “But…?”
“Vanderveen wants to establish a dictatorship,” Sly answered. “An American form of Nazism. He doesn’t care what he has to do to accomplish it.”
Buck held his forefinger and thumb an inch apart. “And he’s this close to making it happen.”
Sly’s eyes kept cutting my way. “You need to answer my question now.”
I stared him down. “Yes.”
I waited for a response, but all the guy and his friends did was sniff a little.
“How do you plan to stop him?” Noah asked. “How are you going to stop Vanderveen?”
Sly scoffed. “That’s the million-dollar question.”
Jason pointed at Fred. “That guy hasn’t moved a muscle in the last fifteen minutes.”
Sly jumped to his feet. “You have a humanoid?”
“Easy, man.” Jabez held his palms up. “He’s just a machine. Like a truck. Or your legs.”
Sly eased back to the ground but his scowl remained.
“Now he is, maybe,” Lebron said. “But soon he’ll be more. A lot more.”
“Vanderveen controls the main line,” Buck added. “Every weblink in America, and he’s after control of the global web. He wants to control the earth and space and cyberspace. He’s the freakin’ beast.”
Noah tilted his head. “You mean, like, from the Bible?”
Buck chuckled. “Yeah. If you believe that stuff.”
“In that scenario, if I understand things right,” Noah said, “Vanderveen would play the antichrist, and the machine network, aka singularity, would be the beast.”
I grabbed my stomach. Something about this conversation was making me sick.
“What’s singularity?” Hannah’s soft inquiry surprised us.
Jabez reached for her hand. “It’s when machines get smarter than people.”
“Aren’t they already smarter than people?” she asked.
“But they still need people to program them,” Taylor said. “Once they can do that themselves, they don’t need us anymore.”
“Singularity is when machines become self-aware,” I added. I pinched my eyes shut, pushing at the pain that crept up my esophagus. I grabbed at my chest. Just a bad case of heartburn.
“Is singularity really something to fear?” Jabez asked. “It could be the best thing that happens to us. Finally something that can take care of this world without screwing it up so badly. They could deal with power maniacs like Vanderveen.”
“What if they deal with more than just the bad guys?” Sly said. “They decide the human race is more trouble to have around than we’re worth. One day we’re as annoying and meaningless to them as the common mosquito is to us.”
“I think that’s being a little melodramatic,” Jabez said. “I could see them evolving to the point where they’d want the vote, though.”
His comment surprised me. “You think we should let them vote?”
Jabez shrugged. “Once upon a time, women and blacks weren’t allowed to vote. If they contribute to society, why not? Who’s to say we’re more important or valuable?”
“But humans are more important and valuable than machines,” Noah said. “That’s the problem. All humans deserve to be counted as equal among themselves.”
“Why don’t we ask the company expert?” Taylor said. He turned to Fred. “Fred, what do you think? Will singularity be good for humankind?”
Fred didn’t blink. “Singularity is concerned only with itself.”
“Oh, see?” Sly said. “‘Fred’ is the enemy among us.”
I literally felt sick. I sprung to my feet and sprinted outside in time to unleash my stew dinner all over a poor prickly pear cactus.
I heard Taylor say to Noah. “I thought GAPs didn’t get sick?”
I thought so, too. What was wrong with me?
Chapter 20
NOAH
Something was seriously off with Zoe. Dark worry brought me to my feet. I hesitated, not wanting to disturb her but not wanting to leave her alone. I filled a cup with water and went outside, stopping by the entrance. “Zoe? Are you okay?”
Instead of answering, I heard her heave again. She was bent over at the waist and held her hair back with one hand. Seeing her like that scared the crap out of me.
After a moment of silence, I ventured again. “Zoe? I brought water.”
She turned, wiping her mouth with the bottom of her shirt. Her loose clothing emphasized her weight loss. The moonlight on her pale skin made her look like a damn ghost.
Zoe was sick. How was that possible? She was a GAP.
Her hand shook as she accepted my offering of water. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“You’re probably just dehydrated.” That’s what I wanted to believe, anyway. “Make sure you drink lots of water.”
“I drink as much as everyone else.” She emptied the cup and stood with arms crossed against the desert night chill. “This is so embarrassing.”
“Forget it. It happens to everyone.”
“It doesn’t happen to me.”
I stepped closer and wrapped an arm around her. “Come back inside. You need to rest.”
Everyone’s eyes focused on Zoe when we entered the cave, and I felt her stiffen under their scrutiny.
“Are you okay?” Hannah asked.
“I’ll be fine.”
Jason stood. “I’m a doctor. I’ll get my kit.”
A doctor in the house? The first good news I’d heard all day.
“No,” Zoe said. “I’m fine.”
I put a hand on each of her shoulders and bent low to catch her eyes. “Zoe. What would it hurt?”
“I’m G—”
I put a finger to her lips. “So what? That doesn’t make you invincible.”
She slumped. “Okay, sure.”
I gave everyone a stern look that said “Get out.” At least they could grant Zoe a little privacy if she had to submit herself to an examination.
One by one they left, Mary throwing me a deadpan look, until it was just Zoe and me in the room. I wished I could’ve talked to her before… but I didn’t know that Zoe and I were about to reconnect like that. It had kind of just happened. But Mary knew we weren’t meant to be. I’d already made that clear to her.
“Noah…” Zoe started.
I hushed her. “It’ll only take a few minutes.”
Jason returned as promised. He pulled out a stethoscope and Zoe removed her shirt, looking vulnerable as she sat there in front of Jason and me with only a bra on.
He placed the stethoscope on her chest and listened. Then on her back. “Breathe deeply,” he instructed.
Zoe sucked in and let it out.
“Again,” Jason said. Then he took her blood pressure and looked in her ears and down her throat. “Let’s check this one more time.” He pressed the stethoscope to her chest for a second time, and I almost suspected him of chasing a cheap thrill.
“Well?” I probed.
He pulled the plugs out of his ears. “The good news is her lungs are clear.”
The good news? That meant there was bad news. “And…”
“Her heart beat is irregular.”
“What does that mean?” Zoe asked. “That’s not serious, is it?”
Jason shrugged. “It’s not always.”
I could tell by the way Jason refused to look her in the eyes that there was more.
“Jason…” I pleaded.
“At her age and especially with her status…”
Meaning GAP.
“Her heartbeat should be strong and steady. Instead, it’s… very irregular and faint. If we were in Tucson I’d order more tests. It’s hard to know for sure what’s going on with just this.” He waved the stethoscope.
“Is there anything we can do?” I pushed back at the panic building in my chest.
His shoulders moved in an apologetic shrug. “Not out here.”
Jason left, and Zoe put her shirt back on. She lay back down on the mat and pinched her eyes shut. “I don’t understand.”
“I think I do.” It was Taylor. He’d been in the tech cave this whole time, listening in.
“What’y got?” I asked.
“Zoe’s a GAP, right? So, I did a little searching to see if there was any precedent for a GAP to lose their GAPness.”
“GAPness?”
“Yeah. I looked for anything on why a GAP would stop having perfect health, maybe even lose the extra built in years. I had to dig but I did come across something interesting.”
Zoe’s eyes were still closed and her breathing shallow and rapid. “What?” she asked softly.
Taylor hesitated then lowered his voice. “It happened once before. To a child who’d been… cloned.”
Chapter 21
I was freaking terrified. I stared hard at Taylor. “You can’t tell anyone.”
He gulped. “So… it’s true.”
Zoe muttered, “Yeah. I’m a fake.”
“How…” Taylor began, but Rebecca and Hannah came back and I silenced him with my eyes.
“Everything’s fine,” Zoe began. “Just dehydrated.” She pulled herself up into a sitting position against the wall but kept her eyes closed.
Taylor pointed his chin toward the entrance, wanting me to follow. He shoved his fists into his shorts pockets, stepped over the clutter on the ground, and headed out.
I squatted in front of Zoe, placing a hand on her knee. “I’m just going outside for a bit. You’re okay?”
Her eyes flickered open, and I saw the pool of worry and fatigue there. “Yes. Go have your pow-wow with Taylor.”