aya shivered, waiting for the hands to grab her. Moans continued to emanate from the crowd here and there, though a sense of unease radiated from the people closest to her. She risked a peek and lowered her arm. Four men and two women swayed on their feet, firing stern, accusing glares down at her. Perhaps her tearful apology had confused them. Like the blueberries, maybe they’d never expected the daughter of Vanessa Oman to act so… pitiful.
“Kidnapping me won’t help you. Vanessa doesn’t care about anything but money.” Maya sniffled, scavenging some confidence. She shoved herself upright, back sliding against the wall. “Some mercenaries kidnapped me two weeks ago and tried to make them pay in Xenodril. They’re all dead now. Vanessa laughed. She was ready to watch them kill me before giving medicine for free. She won’t help.”
Murmurs of indecision passed among the crowd.
“Why are you mad at her?” Ashley let go of Maya’s hand and faced the group. Her fragile body shivered as a tremor in her right leg threatened to send her to the ground.
Maya pulled her fingers through the girl’s wild hair, a futile effort to tame it. She burst into sobs again at seeing such a young girl sentenced to death. “If you help me, I can help you. I promise. I… can’t walk away. I don’t wanna think about what’s gonna happen to her. She’s so little.”
“Why should we believe anything that comes out of your mouth?” asked an Asian woman. A heavily wrinkled face conveyed great age, though her rickety frame and short stature could’ve fit an adolescent. “You’re always talking about this drug or that drug or this miracle or that miracle. It’s all lies.”
“You’re right.” Maya looked down. “I’m nine years old. I grew up in a perfect penthouse apartment and did whatever I was told. I read scripts. I smiled at camera drones. Some of those ads aren’t even me; they’re computer generated. I told her Xenodril should be free, but she won’t listen.”
As if on cue, a huge drone passed overhead projecting a giant hologram of Maya. The craft flew too high to hear the audio, but she remembered holding that damn massive bottle of nutrient powder for hours. The producer joked she could’ve fit inside the thing, and if she’d curled up in a ball, she probably could have. At least they hadn’t made her drink any of it. ‘Mega-muscle-strength’ scrolled below her face.
Who in their right mind uses skinny little me to sell that crap to bodybuilders? Probably the same idiot who came up with the wine ad.
“What are you gonna do then?” A brown-haired woman with a deep tan and Hispanic features forced her way to the front. She looked normal except for her hands, which had gone grey up to the wrists and barely moved, making them appear like false plaster prosthetics. “You say you’re just a little kid.”
“I… uhh, don’t exactly have a plan yet. But I can get into Ascendant. I need to go there to break my mom out of jail.” She held her hands up as the crowd’s anger rose. “No! Not that bitch. I ran away from home. I have a new mother, a woman who cares about me.”
A disturbance at the rear of the throng spread forward, altering their focus. The crowd calmed and parted with a deferential silence, clearing a path for another figure to walk between them unhindered. The silver-haired woman who approached didn’t appear to be one of the sick. She wore a dark teal doctor’s coat over a tight black sweater and slacks, and looked healthy as well as a bit on the stern side. Her expression of confusion became one of concern once she spotted Maya. Wrinkles around her eyes made her seem sixtyish, or perhaps younger with a load of stress.
“What are you doing here?” asked the new arrival.
Maya blinked. “Who are you?”
“I’m Doctor Janus. I try to do what I can for these people, but on my own time.” She collected Ashley and picked her up. “So, Maya… what are you doing in my Integration Ward?”
“I’ve got a friend, Doctor.” Ashley grinned and pointed. “I don’t want to forget her.”
Maya clenched her hands into fists, furious at not-Mom for causing this suffering. “Why did you say integration ward like that?”
“Come.” Doctor Janus offered a hand and looked at the crowd. “Please go rest. There’s nothing to be gained by threatening this girl. If there is a way she can be of assistance to us, I will ensure the opportunity is not wasted.”
Maya looked at the hand. “Are you kidnapping me?”
Doctor Janus laughed. “No. I only want to talk.”
She clasped the woman’s hand. “Okay.”
The doctor carried Ashley to a large, square tent and set her on a cot with a woman who bore a strong resemblance, save for the striations of grey all over her. The little one curled up and smiled.
“Who?” moaned the woman.
“Terri, this is your daughter, Ashley.”
“Ashley’s gone.” The woman thrashed her head side to side. “I don’t have a daughter.”
“Mom.” Ashley poked her. “You are sick.”
“This is someone else’s kid. Thank you for making me feel better.” The woman pulled Ashley into a hug.
Doctor Janus stooped and checked the woman’s eyes. “It’s your daughter, Terri. Your memory is going.”
Maya stared at her feet until the doctor tapped her on the shoulder. She followed the woman across the courtyard to a square tent set up with the trappings of an office. Once inside, the doctor spun around and folded her arms.
“Okay. I’ll make you a deal. Spare me the bullshit and I’ll listen with an open mind. Play games, and you’ll regret it.”
Maya glanced down at the doll. “You sound like Vanessa. How do I know I can trust you?”
“Perhaps I share the trait of not liking to be toyed with, but I’m nothing like her. I overheard a little of what you said out there, and I think we may be of a similar mindset.” She fished an ID badge out of the doctor coat’s pocket and held it out.
Doctor Elisa Kazimierz, Sector 9 Medical Pavilion.
“That’s your name?” Maya looked up. “You don’t want the Authority to know.”
“Yes.” She put the ID away. “I go by Janus to keep word from spreading back to my superiors.”
“Two faces,” muttered Maya.
The doctor smiled. “While what I am doing here is not against the law, showing too much concern for people society has written off would not bode well with Ascendant. If I am dismissed, I would lose access to what little resources I can use to assist them.”
Maya took a seat in a white plastic chair facing the table serving as a desk. “Can Xenodril help?”
“It depends on how much damage has been done. Fade is a syndrome, a body’s systematic response to internal assault by weaponized nanobots as well as a synthetic viral pathogen. Xenodril halts the infection where it is, destroying the virus. A chemical marker in the medication triggers a shutdown in the nanomachines. People who have suffered neuromuscular degeneration may regain the use of their limbs eventually, but it’s not guaranteed without additional nanosurgery these people can’t afford. Memory loss, unfortunately, is irreversible. There are about five patients here who are in all probability beyond any help, even if you had Xenodril with you right now. The other fifty-two could survive if they are treated soon.”
“Why did you say Integration Ward like that?”
Doctor Janus scowled. “The name makes it sound as though this is some kind of halfway house with the intention of reintegrating them back to society. It’s a bold-faced lie. This is a dying ward, a human wastebasket.”
Maya wiped more tears from her cheeks. “I need to meet someone at a hotel called the Emerald Oasis.”
The doctor did a double take. “What?”
“I made a deal for help getting inside the city. I’m bringing him something. After that, I’m going to go back to where I used to live and I’m going to break into the Ascendant network. I should be safe from the corporate drones. Taking me out of the system is work and effort, and programmers are lazy. Besides, Vanessa doesn’t know how much I hate her now. She thinks I was kidnapped a
nd… doesn’t care. I can still probably lie and act innocent if I get caught.”
Doctor Janus pursed her lips.
“I’m trying to get my real mom out of jail. She was one of the mercenaries who kidnapped me, but she’s really nice and she felt bad and I decided to run away from Ascendant and now she’s my mom. I’m not going to let them hurt her. When I get her out, we’ll steal enough Xenodril for everyone. She’ll know how to do it. I swear. I don’t want any of these people to die because Vanessa is a greedy bitch.”
“That’s an optimistic plan you’ve got.”
Maya jumped to her feet. “Please help me find that hotel. If I get caught, I’ll do everything I can to talk them into sending Xenodril here. It’ll make for great PR. They won’t be able to say no.”
“Well, I suppose there isn’t much to be gained from trying to use you as leverage. I find it plausible that Vanessa would be inclined to risk your life to maintain her appearance of total control. Your plan sounds like a long shot, but probable failure is better than definite failure.” Doctor Janus got up and walked for the exit. “Come on.”
Maya hurried to follow the long-legged doctor to the entrance. Janus produced a key, opened the gate, and re-secured it once they’d gone outside.
“It’s cruel to keep them locked in.”
Doctor Janus raised both eyebrows. “Oh, it’s not to keep them in. It’s to keep paranoid people out. There’s idiots out there who think it’s their righteous duty to bash in the skulls of anyone with Fade, like it’s some kind of punishment from a higher power. A ‘mark of the beast’ or some such nonsense like that.”
Maya sighed. She glanced back, tapping her big toe on the ground. “They were ready to hurt me… are you sure they’re not locked up so they don’t riot?”
“No, Maya. Most of them couldn’t walk two blocks without collapsing from exhaustion. Between depression, muscle weakness, disorientation… the worst they’d do is get themselves hit by cars or shot by drones.”
Maya frowned.
The doctor led her to a door in the alley between the two sets of Fade warning signs. Beyond it, a small e-car in a garage chirped and lit up when they approached. The driver’s side door opened on its own.
“Get in the back seat and stay down.”
“Okay.” Maya crawled in and huddled in a ball on the floor.
The car lurched forward a few seconds after the rattle of a motorized steel garage door stopped. She kept herself crammed in a tight ball, head down, and didn’t make any noise or try to look around. The car stopped a few times, but since the doctor didn’t say a word, she kept still. A faint bump rocked the floor a few seconds before the vehicle came to a full stop for the sixth time.
“We’re here,” said the doctor. “Emerald Oasis.”
Maya climbed into the front and slid into the passenger seat. “Thanks.”
“Don’t forget your promise. Little Ashley is counting on you.”
“You didn’t need to do that.” Maya sniffled, but fought the urge to cry more. “I already feel like shit. I won’t forget.”
The doctor pushed a button on the console, causing the passenger door to pop open. “Good luck, kid.”
“Thanks.”
The car sped off as soon as she had both feet on the ground, tires squealing out of the parking lot before the door even finished closing. Damn. Guess she doesn’t want to get caught here. Maya sighed. She looked away from the road and up at a flashing green hologram of a palm tree over the words ‘Emerald Oasis.’ A cluster of women on the far right end of a long one-story building had dressed in ways that left no doubt as to their profession. Unlike Naida, these women seemed proud of what they did and didn’t try to conceal it.
Maya looked back and forth among plain green doors, each marked with a fake gold palm tree stamped with a room number. Great. What room? Is he still even here?
It didn’t occur to her how conspicuous a little girl holding a blonde doll at midnight in the parking lot of a brothel-motel was until a man with neon blue hair appeared in a window, waving frantically at her. Two round, dark lenses hid his eyes, connected by a thin spectacle frame.
He disappeared. Two seconds later, the door nearest that window opened. Maya decided to run over there before someone more conscientious called the Authority on a wayward child. His white tank top looked clean enough to pull duty in a surgical ward. Loose, glossy black pants obscured the contours of his legs and gave off an ‘I have tons of money’ vibe that seemed as out of place here as she did.
“Wow.” The guy seized her by the arm and hauled her inside before shoving the door closed a few decibels shy of slamming it. “You are so damn lucky. I spent the past two hours debating if I should get the hell out of here or not.”
He sounded like the guy who’d been speaking through the drone’s speaker.
Maya glared up at him. “Don’t you mean you’re so damn lucky I still showed up after that bullshit?”
“That was out of my control. I got attacked by an overclocked defprog at a really bad time. It rubberbanded me out of the mini-net in the drone before I knew it was there, and with trying to fight the operator for control so he didn’t throw you off to your death, the firewall closed me out. I couldn’t get back in. It went full-paranoid mode. Not even the Authority operators could get in on a legit port.”
Maya threw the doll at him. “There. Hope none of it broke.”
She wandered to the bathroom, took one look at the place, and gave serious consideration to peeing on the sidewalk outside, but wound up standing on the seat with several layers of toilet paper between her bare feet and the plastic seat. As much as she needed a bath now, she wouldn’t have touched that tub in a heavy chem suit.
Maya rushed out of the chamber of horror as soon as she could and spent a minute wiping her feet on the rug. Four oblong boxes about the size of electronic pianos, all interconnected by a series of spaghetti wiring, sat in a row across a battered desk. Each component had the same word painted across some part of it: ‘Zeroice.’ The unit on the left had a primitive version, neon blue paint on top of white. With each device to the right, the size and artistry grew.
“What’s a Zeroice?” asked Maya.
“You’re still here?” The guy looked up from the bed, where he’d laid out ten narrow glass vials containing liquid that radiated a faint pale blue glow. “Oh. I guess you want your dolly back.” He reattached the head, fiddled with the back of the dress, and chucked it to her.
Maya caught it, feeling a little foolish for doing so, but didn’t drop it. “So, what is it?”
“I’m Zeroice.”
“Oh. Did your mother write your name on your computers so you don’t lose them?”
“Fuck you, kid.”
“Considering the kind of motel this is, that’s not funny. And no thanks.”
Zeroice again looked up from the drugs and frowned. “I wasn’t trying to be funny, nor was that an offer.”
“Help me get into the Ascendant network.”
He didn’t look up. “That whole ‘not funny’ thing? You’re better at it.”
“I’m serious. It’s the least you can do after almost getting me killed.”
Zeroice sighed. “The deal was getting you into the city. I did that.”
She leaned forward and snarled. “Into the city did not mean dumping me in a freezing pool of water while getting shot at by a drone you lost control of.”
“It looked worse than it was, kid. Four or five feet underwater, the bullets don’t have enough energy left to do anything.”
“I can’t breathe water!” She glared.
His blasé demeanor showed not the slightest dent. Apparently, a raging nine-year-old didn’t scare him. Maya smirked. Getting upset never worked on Vanessa, but she’s not human.
Maya dropped her voice to a neutral tone. “Please? I need help.”
“Not my problem, kid. You did your part. I did mine. Deal’s done.”
She held the doll to her chest
, half hiding her face behind its puffy hair. “Please.” Sniffle. “It’s really important.” Whimper.
He loaded the drug vials into a foam-packed case, humming.
Maya worked herself up to a good crying whine. “Please, mister. My mom is gonna die. I can’t do it alone. I need help.”
He smirked at her, either annoyed or guilty at the crying child. Perhaps playing the tears card might work on some people after all. “Keep it down. This ain’t the kind of place people bring kids, and the walls are thin. I don’t feel like getting my ass kicked by someone who thinks I’m into little girls.”
“Please help me.” She opened the tear gates wider and sniveled. “I don’t mean that Vanessa bitch, I mean my real mom.”
“Vanessa bitch?” Zeroice finally looked at her with eye contact.
Maya pulled her hair back, giving him a good view of her unmistakable perfect cheekbones and glittering gold-brown eyes.
“Oh fuck.” He jumped off the bed. “Oh, fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.”
She throttled back on the crying. “Relax. They don’t know I’m here. I’m running away.”
“Head, you idiot. You god-damned idiot. What the fuck did you do?”
Maya blinked. “Y-you’re Alfonse, aren’t you?”
He whipped about to stare at her again. “How the hell do you know that?”
“You’re right.” She studied her toes. “Headcrash was fucked in the head.”
“Stop that shit. You’re what, eight? You shouldn’t fuckin’ swear.”
“Nine. And why?”
He shrugged and thrust his arms out to the sides. “Because. You’re nine. That language sounds wrong comin’ outta a little kid.”
“Well?”
Zeroice raked his fingers over his head a few times. “This is bad. This is really bad. I’m fucked. Galactically fucked.”
“Only if I scream.” She made the most innocent face she could.
“What do you want?” He fell seated on the end of the bed. “I can’t believe I’m being blackmailed by an eight-year-old.”
“Nine. Maybe you should ease back on the drugs. Your short term memory is going.” Maya swished side to side clutching the doll. “I want you to help me get my mom back. You’re a net pirate, right? Look me in the eye and tell me you’re willing to pass up a chance to get root access to the Ascendant network.”
Heir Ascendant (Faded Skies Book 1) Page 30