by K. T. Hanna
“Aishke?” he prompts her gently as they round the final corner before the deck entrance. Bringing her to a halt with a tug of her hand, he looks her directly in the eyes.
“Aishke hasn’t woken up yet.”
Dom’s grip tightens. He opens his mouth, but stops and shakes his head, moving so his body is a hairsbreadth away from touching her. “It’ll be okay.” The words are so soft. They’re like a brush of air over her face, a cool and relaxing breeze, and in the back of her mind, she can’t help wondering just what the domino psionic DNA involves.
“Yeah.” She squeezes back, and he focuses on her with a nod before dropping her hand as he turns and enters the conference room, the subtle undercurrent nowhere in sight.
Even though it’s cold where he touched her, Sai suddenly feels relieved. Maybe not everything is lost after all.
The view through the front viewport as the Mobile navigates the wasteland is equal parts beautiful and terrifying. Red soil emphasizes the barren landscape in front of them. It’s a sort of mockery that life-sustaining crops are no longer welcome here. A scattering of ancient electrical propeller mills dot the landscape in the distance. Those with still spinning blades are so rusted with age, the contraptions look like a slow whirl of blood-stained knives in the setting sun’s light. Most mills have fallen into disrepair, blades crumbling at the feet of the poles that once held them high—like they’ve given up. A shiver runs down her spine with an odd sense of foreboding.
The feeling doesn’t last for long. Kayde bumps her elbow, pulling Sai out of her contemplations with a grin. Mason walks in with Jeffries, heads bowed in discussion of something Sai can’t strain enough to hear. Iria and James enter together, and Mathur stands behind a console, flicking through something that reflects light back onto his face. It’s probably why they’re meeting on the bridge. The tension is so thick it’s suffocating.
“Our camouflage won’t protect us from them anymore. They’ll be able to hone in on us in an approximate area. The Mobiles are large targets once you know that shimmer on the horizon isn’t heat, but a huge vehicle city.” Dom starts in immediately, not beating around the bush.
The silence is deafening. Sai’s sense of foreboding is confirmed. Great.
“Maybe it’s not that bad? Mathur has almost finished reinitializing the other dominos. If we can set up an ambush, I can probably take care of most of them.” Her voice sounds stronger than she feels, but stubbornness won’t let her back down. They need to stay positive. They can’t let this cripple their plans.
Dom shakes his head. “That’s not the only news I bring.” He puts the flat package down on the table and unwraps the protective cloth. “Bastian got this to me just before I left, probably at greater risk than he should have taken.”
The reader lies on the table, gleaming up at them with an evil twinkle. Dom touches the screen, and it flares to life, listing names, locations, and duty divisions.
“Bastian is under orders to instruct not only the faculty, but any students of the facilities who’re capable to use their abilities and learn to tap into the net in order to keep the populace calm. Those who are...stronger will be focused on specific problems away from the net.”
“Isn’t that what the grid is supposed to do anyway?” Sai asks.
Mathur’s speaks softly, yet loud enough that it carries through the whole room. “Technically, but not everyone is as heavily influenced. For those with some level of psionic protection by way of a dormant gene? Harsher, more forceful thought manipulation is a safer bet.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?” James speaks up for the first time, his thick arms folded over a muscular chest. “Maybe they won’t get hurt that way?”
“Nothing will bother them, James. Those with a dormant psionic gene are usually relatively safe, but with some amount of focus...” Mathur turns to Kayde. “With focus, many of them will be in danger as well. If at all possible, Kayde, we need the Ebony adaption soon.”
Kayde laughs. “You’re lucky I don’t listen when you give me orders, old man.”
Mathur nods, but the twinkle in his eye is outweighed by the wrinkles of concern around them. “I count on it. Timeline?”
She closes her eyes, lips moving in a silent series of what are probably calculations. When she focuses back on him, her grin lights up her whole face. “Maybe ten days? Could push it to a week?”
“Seriously? Have you been sleeping at all?” A scattering of laughter circles the room, ebbing the tension slightly.
“I’ve been working on it a while, and Petri’s helped.” Kayde smiles, and her eyes sparkle. It’s her element. “Keep in mind that I’m limited in my testing here, and it’s not quite ready for that yet. I’ll put more emphasis on it.” Her brow furrows for a moment. “I can’t guarantee it, but I’ll work my butt off.”
Dom holds up his hand. “That’s great and all, but the Damascus will be ready in the next few days. We need to scatter Mobiles now, so they don’t have a concentrated target. There’s one more thing. I brought you a present, Mathur.”
He reaches into his backpack and pulls out a smaller wrapped object, which he places in Mathur’s hand. “A kernel.”
Mathur takes, it, unwrapping it carefully. The tiny ball is littered with thousands of minuscule circuits. “Perfect, Dom. How did you...”
Dom laughs, a little self-depreciatingly, and looks away from his maker. “Let’s just say, if all else fails before they take us down, I should at least be able to take some of them with me. You’ll need to make that machine faster than you thought possible. Everything has to happen quicker. Bastian is trying to delay them, but has to be subtle about it. Regardless, in just under a week I’ll go back to help him sneak in to shut them down.”
“That’s far too dangerous. Is he suicidal?” Sai blurts the words out, that sense of trepidation back in full force.
“Not at all. He’s considering the bigger picture.”
It’s the first time Dom’s origin has ever stood out this starkly. His voice is distant, almost alien. Sai shivers as he continues to speak.
“If he manages to shut them down, he saves many lives for the price of his. You have to realize, Owen—their new science officer—is close to making Damascus production a possibility. The last thing we need is more of them. If Bastian uses the machine to shut them down, he will destroy it. If he destroys it, they can’t reactivate them again until they’ve repaired or rebuilt it. There are things that were done to those machines that only Bastian’s father and Mathur know about.”
He scans the room for a long moment, meeting each person’s eyes. “We have few options. I will be back in Central within a week’s time to assist him with the escape, should he need it. There’s a time crunch now. Thanks to Aishke’s outburst a few days ago, they know the general area we were in. There’s only so far we can travel.”
“I have two full teams of medics prepared. It’s been the one thing I could organize this time around.” Jeffries shrugs. “There’s nothing more I can do until casualties start pouring in.”
“There will be far too many of those,” Mathur murmurs. “Kayde, get that Ebony ready. If we release it when Dom goes to help Bastian, we may have more people on our side than the GNW was counting on.”
“The gods know we’re going to need it.” Mason speaks for the first time since the meeting convened. His face is pale, eyes shadowed by the bags underneath them, but his voice still holds that leader’s strength. “So they’re going to utilize the psionic abilities of the students to seek out problem areas in the public and strong-arm them?”
Dom nods.
Mason purses his lips. “My brother isn’t stupid. Let’s hope he can pull this off. Are the dominos ready, Mathur?”
“Almost. I will need at least another week with them, to be perfectly honest. There are aspects of their nature which were incorrectly acclimated. I have had to adjust and tweak a few behavioral norms which were fairly skewed. But give me a good week, and we’ll be done.�
�
“Faster with Dom’s help?” Mason persists.
Mathur shrugs. “Definitely. He is more adept than I.” He smiles a weary smile.
Dom claps his hands together, making most people in the room jump. “If that’s it then, I think we have enough to work on.” He exits the room with Mathur before Sai can catch him. Somehow she manages to keep her earlier feelings of desperation at bay.
The beeps of the machine attached to Aishke are annoying. Sai finds herself counting each one, reaching sixty and starting from the beginning as she watches the slow rise and fall of her friend’s chest. There’s so much they’ve been through, so much they have yet to go through.
All that’s left is to organize themselves and throw their best effort toward preserving the life they have.
She sighs and draws circles on her friend’s hand. Round and round, figure eights, slowly counting the beeps.
“You know, that really tickles. If I had energy, I’d laugh.” The voice is breathy, but definitely Aishke.
Sai sits up with a start. “You’re awake?” She looks down at the still form of her friend whose eyes are still closed and frowns.
“I’m awake. Just so tired.” Aishke’s lips barely move.
Sai resists the urge to gather her up in a bear-hug. Instead, she leans forward and hugs the stray hand she was tickling. “I’ve missed you.”
“I didn’t miss you.” Aishke smiles faintly. “I haven’t missed anything. It feels like I’ve been floating. I do have good news, though.”
“Good news?” Sai is somewhat confused.
“Yeah.” Aishke chuckles, and it turns into a cough that brings Marlena running.
She glares briefly at Sai while checking all of Ash’s vitals and giving her a tiny sip of water. “Seriously. With the two of you, I’m going to grow old before my time.”
“Sorry.” Aishke at least has the decency to appear contrite, her eyes cast downward. It’d probably be more effective if she also wasn’t biting her lip to keep from laughing.
Marlena sighs and crosses her arms. “What will I do with you two? Stop getting hurt. Be more like Iria and be invincible!” She smiles to take the sting out of the words. “Rest up and take it easy. I’ll send for Jeffries. He needs to look you over.”
And with that, Marlena leaves them both alone again. Sai blinks, watching as the door closes. “The good news?” she gently reminds her friend.
“I know what I did wrong and how not to repeat it.” The tone to Ash’s voice is flat, and her eyes are closed again. The weariness practically drips off her words.
“I’m really not sure you’re going to be doing anything anytime soon.” Sai admits reluctantly. “You’re weak at the moment. They’ve only fed you intravenously for days. You need to get up your strength before you can help.”
“Help?” The word is faint, but definitely asked.
“We’re closer to confrontation than we thought. We’ll be at war in a few days.” Sai feels a tear slip down her cheek and rests her head on Ash’s hand. “I don’t know what to do, Ash. I can’t figure out how to help us win.”
She sits there for a few moments in silence, knowing her friend understands the situation. Sai didn’t really need advice or reassurance, just someone who understands why she is so down, why it feels like the world is about to drop out from under her feet.
Despite the fact that most Exiled were born to this or escaped to it of their own volition, very few of them were ever a student of the facilities, and even fewer were subject to the true lifestyle evident under GNW control. What the Exiled have is luxury of choice and living. To have that taken away...
“It won’t be taken away, Sai.” Ash’s voice is stronger now. “We’re not going to let them take it away. It might not be easy, but I know we can do this. You’ve given me so much hope and shown me so much. We aren’t giving up now.”
Sai laughs and reinforces her shields. After sharing so much time in psionic training together, sometimes they creep into each other’s thoughts. “I know. I need to stop overanalyzing things. We’ll do this like we do everything else.”
“With brute force!” Aishke’s shaky laugh almost turns into a cough again, and Sai can’t help her own chuckle. Tension leaks out with the sound, dissipating through the room. She squeezes Aishke’s hand again.
“Thanks.”
“I’ll rest up for a day and join you, but if I’m not mistaken, you have better things to be doing than sitting in here wasting time wallowing with me.”
“Ouch, don’t pull any punches.” The words sting a little, but Sai knows she’s right. “Okay, okay. You get better fast, and I’ll do what I can for now.”
Jeffries walks into the room and frowns at Sai. “You shouldn’t be wearing her out. You can come back this evening.”
Sai winks at Aishke and mock-salutes the doctor. “I’ll do that, then. Take care of her.” She saunters out of the room, aware for the second time that day that maybe they do have a chance. Snowballs can withstand heat for a moment, right?
“Have a chance,” she mutters to herself as she pushes sweat-soaked hair out of her eyes. “Sure, sure, be optimistic.” Domino Thirty-Five charges her again, and she only narrowly misses his quick grab at her. Instinctively she juts her hip out and catches him off-guard, sending him careening. It’s not as easy as it was in her test. Probably something to do with Mathur having tweaked them so they’re not constantly off-balance.
“Time.” Mathur frowns and jots something down on his clipboard. Iria crosses her arms and comes to stand next to Sai.
“You know,” she says and pauses to pant for some air. “Aren’t we supposed to not be able to fight these? If we can fight them, doesn’t that mean the Damascus will rip them apart?”
Sai shrugs. “The dominos are just scaling their reactions. They’re not actually trying to hurt us. Like I don’t try to hurt you when we spar.” Because this is nothing like the test she barely survived in the training facility. Iria doesn’t need to know that, though. It’s in the past, and if everything goes right, Sai will see to it that no one ever has to go through them again.
Mathur turns to the girls. “I need to make a few adjustments. Can you wait?”
Sai nods and wipes the back of her hand over her perspiring forehead. “Sure, Mathur, we’ll just keep warm.” She turns to Iria.
Her friend looks at her incredulously. “What now?”
“He’ll be done tweaking in about ten minutes, or he wouldn’t have asked us to wait. I, for one, would prefer to be ready when he is and not to be cooled off and stiff.”
Iria grunts and brings up her fists. She’s not the sparring partner Bastian was, not even as good as Aishke, but she’s solid and quick. Sometimes she can land a surprising hook, but generally, Sai wins. It’s all character-building, but Sai can’t deny feeling stronger than someone feels good.
Light on her feet, bouncing on her toes has a whole new meaning since she got her new legs. As long as she keeps that strange shadow to the edge of her vision, she doesn’t have any weird urges. Well, not very often, anyway. Sometimes, when no one is around in the middle of the night, she gets the sudden desire to make it all stop. But it never lasts for long and always leaves her with little explanation.
Iria has improved as a sparring partner over the months. She has a way of throwing a hit that moves through the elbow at the same instant. It’s very difficult to judge where her punch will be thrown before it is. Ducking, Sai grins and sweeps her leg out in a quick movement that takes Iria by surprise. But as their limbs contact, Sai pulls back a bit on the power to avoid hurting her friend. Iria lies panting on the mat with a big smile.
“Looks like those grafts are finally synched right,” she says, sitting up and wiping sweat off her brow.
Sai laughs. “Yeah, right? It’s been almost three months.”
“Since you woke up,” Iria adds.
Sai blinks at that. “Since I woke up. Is there such a huge difference?” She really hadn’t tho
ught there would be.
Iria smiles brightly. “Oh, nothing, just another few weeks you’re missing.”
“As in, another month?” She knew she’d been out, just never realized quite how long and never thought to ask.
Iria grins. “About that, but you’re here now, and that’s what counts.”
Mathur walks back in with Thirty-Five. Its moves are stronger, less clunky. Sai finds it difficult to focus her mind again, though. So many weeks she could have trained people that she instead spent in a hospital bed. She shakes her head to clear her thoughts when she realizes Mathur is speaking.
“Just an adjustment in their visual acuity cortex. Her reactions were slightly off, as if there was a delay from you to her. Should be more of a challenge for you this time, Sai.” Mathur grins like it’s a contest, and she takes it as such.
Sai glances and realizes the domino is indeed a female. Or more so than Dom, anyway. Her it is, then.
It’s a good workout this time. Dodging punches from something that can easily kill a Damascus with its fists makes her adrenaline rush. If she concentrates just a sliver of her psionic powers to strengthen her muscles and speed, to preempt the attacks aimed at her, she can stay ahead of its movement and avoid a direct hit—barely. She’s under no illusion about the benefit her legs give her now.
The blood coursing through her veins heightens her senses and brings her back to the day she passed her test. Closing in on a year ago now—eight or nine months depending on how long she was out after her accident. Reinforcing the surface of her skin and tendons so they absorb impact and stave off injury. Heightening her senses so she can preempt the movement an instant before it actually happens. Dodging out of the way and sending her own sweat flying in her wake.
For the first time in months, she can feel the life coursing through her veins—able-bodied and capable of holding her own. Nothing like her fight with the Hound, which was nasty but quick, or the fear and panic that caused her to decimate that Damascus lieutenant. This is control; this is what it’s like to be psionic, to push yourself. Even if the strength of a domino is different, honing her skills can only be to her advantage. It has to be. She can’t afford to think it means nothing.