Shutdown
Page 28
I’d hoped that introducing vids over the Link of what was really happening instead of the lies the drones had been fed all their lives might help, but they still mindlessly performed their tasks. There was no way we could explain how to feel while the V-chip still controlled their limbic systems.
On the upside, it also meant that small children who’d been freed were still being cared for by their parents, food was still being produced, and necessary products were still shipped around the Sector. I was working with other Rez leaders to begin introducing a system of commerce so we could pay them for their work.
Ginni was recovering well with her new bionic leg and had started a daily news hour that was broadcast both over the Link and the external networks. It finally put her gossip impulse to good use as she tracked down stories and tried to cover the revolution both here and across the globe. She was also investigating what was happening to glitchers worldwide. In some Sectors, it had been protocol to immediately deactivate any subjects who started showing anomalies. Sectors One and Two were the only others that had a significant glitcher population. After the fighting died down, they’d begun setting up schools similar to the Foundation.
Everything moved slower than I wanted. I wished I could just wake up one morning to the new world already fashioned and working. Disputes about the divvying up of land and resources were already cropping up. And everyone looked to me for answers. It was my face being plastered on the vid screens as savior and leader. Ginni said people needed a figurehead and that seeing the face of their leader helped them feel safe, so I went along with it.
“How did the negotiations go yesterday?”
“Diederich was less than willing to agree to our entrance into his weapons facility.” Diederich was the leader of Sector One now, the largest Sector in the world. He was the highest-ranking officer in their Resistance movement, but he’d been hardened by his losses over the years. “He outright refused when I said I was coming to take away his nukes.”
Adrien lifted an eyebrow. “And yet you managed to persuade him?”
“Markan went with me.” I skewered a dripping peach on the end of my fork. It wasn’t the reunion I’d imagined with my brother. We spent almost every day together lately, fighting in our Sector and traveling all over the world to help out when other Sectors needed it. Facing hordes of Regs together did create its own kind of intimacy, and we’d had a couple good conversations while we hunkered down on some battlefield or other. But still, I hoped someday soon we could get to know each other without the threat of danger around every corner.
“So I froze all three hundred people in the facility where they stood while Lundris did his thing,” I continued.
Adrien choked on the orange juice he’d been drinking. “I thought we agreed we needed them as allies.”
“Not at the cost of letting them keep nuclear weapons,” I said, my voice hard. “They can rule themselves, that’s fine, I won’t interfere. But I refuse to let another D-Day happen. There’s already been so much blood.” I put my fork down, my appetite suddenly gone. In the spirit of free press, there’d been plenty of vid footage of the rebellion. And I’d witnessed far too much firsthand as well.
So much violence. All started because of me. I’d been naïve not to realize at the beginning what it would take. During the heaviest periods of fighting, like back when we were trying to take Central City, I was on call constantly to push back armadas of Regs. Cole was busy rehabilitating the younger Regs-in-training who hadn’t gotten the final V-chip installation yet. He hated sending them back out into the fighting, especially when they’d have to face off against their own, but in the end, he agreed it was the best way to achieve peace long-term.
Even with Markan at my side, I couldn’t be everywhere at once. Inevitably, whenever I arrived on a scene, dead bodies already littered the ground. It kept me up at night, until I’d asked Jilia for the strongest sleeping meds she could give me. We couldn’t afford for me to have a nightmare that accidently unleashed my power and ripped our compound apart. Because I was using so much of my telek reserve every day, I didn’t think I’d have enough leftover to erupt at night. And it seemed like my power was finally leveling off, like the eruptions had just been part of my growing pains. But I didn’t want to take any chances.
I couldn’t take back the blood, and I couldn’t give life back to the dead, but I could do everything possible to make sure another D-Day never happened. As much blood as had been spilled, no nuclear weapons had been fired in the worldwide revolution. I intended it to stay that way.
“Hey,” Adrien said gently, reaching over and taking my hand. He had an uncanny ability to know what I was thinking about, especially when dark moods struck. “It’s okay. Let’s just think about all the good we’ll do today. Only today matters, not yesterday, not tomorrow.”
I looked over at Adrien. We were taking things slowly as well, but I didn’t mind. As long as he was by my side. His logical mind had become invaluable as I tried to solve problems and mediate disputes.
He was different from the boy I’d first known. But every day I got to know the new him more and more. And I thought maybe, just maybe, he was starting to completely believe me when I told him I loved him. His hand lazily held mine, rubbing gentle circles with his thumb. The touch sent a warm tingling sensation all the way down to my toes. I closed my eyes for a moment and focused only on it. No yesterday. No tomorrow. Just now, this moment.
“Oh, look—it’s time,” Adrien said, his chair squeaking as he pushed it back and stood up. I opened my eyes and couldn’t help but smile. The sun broke over the horizon, splaying warm pinks and oranges across the ocean.
I stood at Adrien’s side. It was our ritual, whenever we could manage it, to watch the sunrise together. I reached for his hand and interwove my fingers with his.
There was so much left to do, and the future was still uncertain. Not even Adrien could see how this would all work out. He told me that he didn’t want to know. He avoided touching Markan at all costs.
I glanced up at Adrien. He had changed, it was true. But his gentleness had never left. He’d been strong enough to rediscover his humanity and hold on to it in spite of everything. It was his idea to watch the sunrise together each morning.
“I love you.” I turned to look at him. “Do you believe me yet?”
His eyes were lit brilliantly by the light. He didn’t waver from my gaze.
“I do.” He dropped his lips to mine.
As we kissed, the sun rose and bathed the earth in light.
ALSO BY HEATHER ANASTASIU
Glitch
Override
About the Author
HEATHER ANASTASIU grew up in Texas and now lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her husband and young son. She spends most days writing at a coffee shop or daydreaming about getting a new tattoo.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
SHUTDOWN. Copyright © 2013 by Heather Anastasiu. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
Cover design by Ervin Serrano
Cover photographs by Shutterstock.com
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Anastasiu, Heather.
Shutdown / Heather Anastasiu.—1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-250-00301-0 (pbk.)
ISBN 978-1-250-02235-6 (e-book)
[1. Individuality—Fiction. 2. Emotions—Fiction. 3. Thought and thinking—Fiction. 4. Psychic ability—Fiction. 5. Government, Resistance to—Fiction. 6. Science fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.A51852Shu 2013
[Fic]—dc23
2013003055
e-ISBN 9781250022356
First Edition: July 2013
eather Anastasiu, Shutdown