“We love you!” One particularly loud, very busty woman shouted.
Den smiled at her, and the impasse was broken. They lifted him to their shoulders. Ionia felt a weird mix of happy and confused. A new bulletin popped into the corner of the holovid.
“A new fleshie in the mix in the droid games, and he decimated the current leader. More clips and analysis during our sports segment tonight.”
“Isn’t this illegal in any way? Ionia asked. “Why the hell are they displaying this to the public?”
“It’s illegal, but everyone enjoys it, and the betting on it, so no one actually turns them in.”
“Hypocrites,” Ionia said.
“It’s the way of the world,” Sera said with a weary tone.
“How will I ever get him back?”Ionia said. He certainly wasn’t safe where he was. She wanted to see him. To ask his opinion. At least about her eye and the operation. Or at the minimum, make sure he was okay.
“You may not get him back after that match. He’s going to be the one to beat from now on.”
“That’s not fair.” She had tried to do the right thing, and it had gone wrong. She’d just put him in more danger.
“Nothing is fair. Your nupox wasn’t fair. Your mother isn’t fair. Banning my experiments isn’t fair. But you have a chance to maybe have a normal life. What do you want to do? Your mother is out trying to book passage to CONUS, without telling you or asking for your input—again. We have a chance to make one small portion of it right. Let me fix your eye before she returns and convinces you not to do it.”
That stung more than it should have. Ionia wanted to believe her mom had gotten past hiding things and treating her like a child, but she hadn’t. This sounded just like something she would do. “I need more time to decide.”
Her aunt had given her too much to process, and now with Den being in danger, she didn’t know what direction to turn.
Ravi hunched back in his corner and pretended not to be glued to every word they were saying.
“Ionia. I’m not your mother, and I wouldn’t tell you what to do. But…” She took a deep breath. “This may be your only hope of seeing properly. If you go to one of those doctors in CONUS, they may have something, but no one knows my nanobots. No one knows how to work with them like I do. I believe this replacement will work.”
She couldn’t count on her mom to fix this, and she wanted to be 100 percent before trying to find Den. If a sub life was all she could have, then she’d take it. Her mom would never let her try it, and it may be her only chance to see. To do art again. To be free again.
She could live in CONUS, and if things went well, Den could join her there. If he still wanted her.
“Okay. Let’s do it.”
***
“Open your eyes.” Aunt Sera’s voice echoed against the basement walls. “Remember, you might not see anything at first. You’re body has to adjust to the feedback.”
Ionia had kept her eyes closed since that the prosthetic was connected. She waited. Waited for the world to come crashing in, but the nanobots had not had a reaction.
She felt sick. If this didn’t work, she might never get her vision back 100 percent, and if it did, she couldn’t imagine how seeing would be.
She forced her normal eye open. Water pooled in the corners and ran down her face. “My good eye feels like sandpaper is rubbing against it.”
“I believe it’s just sympathy for the attachment in the other. Here.” She smoothed some gel across Ionia’s lid, which helped.
“Try opening only the replacement,” Sera said.
Ionia couldn’t feel the actual eye at all. Her aunt had numbed the area so she could connect to her optic nerve and not flip her out with all the creepy sensations.
She pushed her eyelid open.
Darkness.
Then a glimmer sparkled.
Clear and white.
It could have just been her imagination, but something appeared. It was as if she was standing at the end of a tunnel, watching from a distance. An object, huge, bright and unstoppable, like a bullet train, approached.
A weird, uncomfortable feeling oozed in her head, like jelly infused in her brain. The only thing she’d ever felt like it was the DLs they did in enclass, but that was similar to receiving a 2D vidclip. This. This was massive, overwhelming. Her thoughts scrambled.
“Let me test your reactions,” her aunt’s voice said.
Another flash of painful light. Her vision turned black, and the world became a void. Ionia lay still and waited. Something told her another wave was coming, an itch like a tarantula crawling over her face.
Then a boncan of sparks erupted around her, a hundred million shades of color glistened, blocking out any other images. She tried to shut her eyes, but they were stuck on open. The bright light knifed her brain. She wanted to scream, but her body was on pause, locked in.
Bits and pieces of information filtered into her brain. Three meters to the door. A schematic of the door popped into her imagination. The whole room, then stairs that lead up to the kitchen, all of it. She could see everything, into everything, Though everything. Too much to take. Too much to decipher. Why had she agreed to this? Her mom had been right—again.
Her aunt pressed a med dispenser onto her arm, and her vision instantly settled.
“Too much input. I gave you a mild suppressant that will calm you and block much of the eye’s data until you’re ready to handle it. It should work as a normal eye for now.”
The spidery panic faded as almost normal vision returned.
“I can see! I can really see! Wait, will scanners pick it up?”
“Not unless you take off that coat, and in places like CONUS, it’s a non-issue. Once you get beyond the NAR Territory borders, you should be fine.”
Then another terror wiggled up to the top. What if it was hideous or obvious? “Let me see what it looks like.”
Her aunt clicked on her hand for a reflection screen, and Ionia saw her face for the first time. It looked perfect again. Slight scarring still marred the skin around her injured eye socket, but basically, she was her old self. It was her. Down to the shade of her iris.
She didn’t want to get excited, but this was exactly what she’d wanted since she arrived. To be normal again. Or to at least look normal again. She hadn’t realized how much it had bothered her. Even the organic hadn’t matched like this. And she could see! It was as if nothing had happened to her.
“Thank you, Aunt Sera.” Ionia grabbed her aunt and hugged her.” I know you’re putting yourself at risk.”
Sera waved a hand and freed herself. “Just let me run a few tests.”
“What are we going to tell my mom when she gets back?”
“I’ll deal with your mom,” Sera didn’t sound stressed or worried. She probably should’ve.
Ionia’s mom would go off like a fifteen-ton atomic bomb when she found out. But it didn’t matter.
Seriously.
The woman who called herself mother had lied to her again and again. Her aunt may have lied too, but at least she was willing to make it right. And what was done was done. There was no going back now.
“I put dampeners on the full function until you’re adjusted,” Aunt Sera said. “Someday, down the road, we can play with the settings and see if you want HD or infrared.”
She couldn’t imagine that. It sounded like it would be the heat, but for now, she didn’t want anything out of the ordinary. This mech would work if no one knew. “Maybe someday.”
***
An hour later, her eye still functioned exactly as it should. All tests had come back perfectly.
Ravi had joined her in her—really his—room. They had been sitting quietly just looking at the street ad vids floating by the window.
“Still no pain? No strange feedback?” he asked.
“No, Doc.” She kept her tone sarcastic to keep a bit of distance between them. She was still pissed at him, but it was nice with him sitting and
hanging out with her, keeping her company, not saying anything. He wasn’t as bad as she’d painted him to be. He’d guilted her about Den, but he wasn’t evil incarnate.
“At first, I was getting some strange schematics and things, but it’s absolutely fine now. No pain since…” She kinda wanted to say the eye was installed, but that sounded too techy, too droid-like to be comfortable. She may be a sub, but she didn’t look like it. “Since the operation.”
“You’ll be fine. My mom knows what she’s doing. I’ve seen her—” He choked.
Ionia had never seen anyone literally choke on their words before. His eyes got wide, and he coughed.
“You’ve seen her what?” The curiosity burned inside her.
“You’ll be fine,” he repeated, his face set in a don’t-go-there scowl. She’d have to do more digging later. There were enough secrets in this house to fill a sea freighter. How had Sera kept all this from her husband and other children? Why trust Ravi? And why trust her for that matter? She had time to figure it out. Anyway, there was something way more urgent on her mind.
“I have to find Den.”
“That should be easy.” More scathing sarcasm. No surprise.
“Listen. You’re all for droid rights. Den has taken up with this group and probably has no other choice. If I can get him out of the territory, then at least he has a chance to really be free.” And then, hopefully, he’d choose to be with her. She didn’t say that aloud, but the thought made her heart feel like it had shaken off the shackles that had been wrapped around it since the moment Den had left.
“That’s it? That’s the reason you really want to find him?”
She nodded. “Can you help me?”
“I don’t know, Ionia. The fights move around a lot. It’s not exactly easy to find an illegal ring of fighting droids.”
“They put it on vids! And like anything you people do is legal. An hour ago, your mom was doing human experimentation.” The anger had come over her so fast that her face felt like a heat disc had been attached to her skin. “I don’t care what you say or do. I’m going to find Den and get him out of there.” She stood and scrambled down the stairs.
“Wait, my mother isn’t going to let you—”
“I dare you or her to try and stop me.” With all the new information she had, her aunt had no leverage.
She pulled on her coat and moved into the crowded street, her heart going a thousand kilometers an hour. Sweat covered her within seconds.
She hated feeling bad and weak and scared all the time. She’d always been a full-on, take charge, no-holds-barred, free spirit. This weight of fear that cloaked her was intolerable, nearly as bad as the damn floor length jacket she had to wear. But that didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except finding Den and somehow getting him back. If she had to do it alone, while dodging the enforcement and scanners, then she’d do it alone.
***
Den sat on a raised podium before a group of his peers. The closest comparison he could draw would be a ruler on a throne, but not precisely. If he truly had any power, he would have the ability to tell the frenzied group he did not desire to be placed above them. He merely desired to convince Ionia of his adoration.
He had not expected his bouts to require so much energy or to be so emotion-laden. His backup battery had been taxed, but the designer of the games must have anticipated the ebb of energy when he made the throne a charging station.
He swiveled to look at the audience that surrounded his elevated seat. Many of the females and a few of the males looked at him with a high degree of fascination.
The kind that he reserved for Ionia.
Not that it was the same as his feeling for her, but a new sensation sprung into his awareness, a kind of light, warm flow of positive ions, and he let himself smile.
They appreciated his strength and valor. Many seemed to find him attractive. Smiles aimed at him, and hands rose in his direction. He could almost sense an electrical wave from the crowd that charged him more than the augmented throne.
A good portion of his audience consisted of humans or mostly humans. A female in her early twenties rushed up and threw a circle of woven floral vegetation around his neck. She was emitting a high degree of pheromones, the kind that meant intense attraction. Her pupil dilation and increased body heat also indicated she was sexually aroused.
“Hey, Challenger. I’ve heard a lot about companion droids. I would love to find out if it’s true.” She smiled at him.
She was not his bonded human, but she was very physically attractive by human standards. Strange sensations flowed through him, but he had no desire to be with anyone besides Ionia.
The girl placed a hand the flesh of his injured shoulder. “You’re hurt. May I tend to your wound?” She gestured to a medkit beside her and then slid her palm and fingers lightly down his skin toward the wound.
“I have a self-repair function, but you may apply a bandage,” he said. “Be advised, I am bonded to another. Your flirtations, although appreciated, will not be reciprocated.”
She snorted. Her bottom lip jutted out exactly like Ionia’s when she was vexed. “I thought blood bonds were broken once you entered the arena.”
“I am unaware of that. And my feelings for her have not changed. Would you still like to aid me?”
“Sure. You were ashcharyajanak. And who knows?” She winked at him. “You might just need a few more bouts to erase that horrible owner from your memory.”
“Thank you for the compliment. But she wasn’t horrible, and she wasn’t my owner. I am free. Her name is Ionia, and I love her.” Saying the words aloud made them somehow take on a solid form, reminding him of why he was here.
The girl ignored his audio output and gently placed the bandage against his skin. He sensed her pheromone level rising. Her heartbeat moved out of normal limits. He did nothing to encourage the obvious signals. He was Ionia’s. Because he wanted to be.
His nurse returned to the masses with a lingering glance in his direction.
Chirag, who had been mixing with the throng of humans, mounted the stairs to the podium and waved to the crowd.
He pulled Den to his feet. They stood on the dais. Chirag grabbed one of Den’s hands and lifted it in a victorious gesture. The crowd’s cheers rose in pitch and volume, and the flow of electricity in his system increased.
“You seem to be enjoying this.” Chirag smiled a wide smile that filled his face and made him seem more human than machine.
“I am.” He responded to the smile with one of his own, which he found came easily.
Chirag turned back and addressed the crowd. “You will see more of our new star soon. Thank you!”
The gathering of humans and droids dissipated. Many paused long enough to nod or clasp Den’s shoulder. His emotion center hummed with pleasure that he had once only experienced when he was with Ionia. He could not find a logical reason why he was experiencing such a response, except that intense social acceptance was very different from having to fight for one’s life.
He circled back to his central question. “Was this bout displayed on an open vid capture? Ionia will be able to view my performance?”
“Hell, Den. The world can see your performance. And let me tell you, they are impressed.”
He paused and drew Den back into an alcove along one of the walls of the alley in which he had just battled. “Do you want to see her because that’s what you are programmed to want, or do you want her because you like her? Blood bonds are hard to break. Tell me this—if she had not awoken you, would you still have the same emotional stimuli?”
“That is an impossible question to answer. Ionia did awaken me. Although Einstein’s theory of time travel is pertinent, it has not been practically proven. I do not know another option. Only the here and now.”
Chirag sighed deeply. “The time has come.”
“Why is 1610 significant?”
Chirag laughed, and his grin widened. “I love how literal you are. It’s tim
e for us to leave before the officials find this location.”
“But I noted several enforcement officers in the crowd. If the exhibition were prohibited, they would have interceded.”
Chirag laughed again. “Sometimes I forget you’re a droid.”
“I never do.” Den noted that not all of the gathered were eager to shake his hand. Many had the dark hooded looks, as when he had been taken by the enforcement and tagged.
“You still have so much to learn about humans. They allow our contest to go on unofficially. But when the complaints start coming in, they have to address the problem.” Another smile, this one did not reach his other features. Incongruent body language indicated insincerity. That gave Den some reservation. This enclave of fighting droids and its hierarchy was a mystery he was still processing.
Chirag placed a hand on Den’s sweat-covered shoulder. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”
Den nodded and scanned the crowd one more time. She wasn’t there. He hoped that Ionia had been in the broadcast audience. Then when he contacted her again, he would have proven his bravery and that he was her champion. Perhaps then she would understand that his feelings for her superseded his programming. To his understanding, no other droid in the competition fought for love.
Now that the bout was over and there was no sign of Ionia, he was weary and longed to be back at the Himalaya Institute where the positive and negative scrutiny would end. He boarded the waiting hover tram and didn’t look back.
Chapter Nine
“That’s him!” Ionia repeatedly pointed at the public screen which showed Den bigger than life.
“I know.”
“Where? Where? Where?” Ionia felt like she would explode. She grabbed Ravi’s arm and dug her nails into his tunic.
“Ouch. Stop. I’ll get you there. Let’s go.”
Together they ran, Ravi led, holding her hand and guiding her. She saw the outline of a vehicle behind a crowd of people.
“Den! Den!” Ionia screamed at the transport as it zoomed across the packed artificial ground cover. She was sure she’d seen him with the boarding group. Breaking away from Ravi, she ran, pumping her arms, shoving people out of her way. But it was gone, disappearing in a spray of dust.
Vagabond Souls: The Ionia Chronicles: Book 2 Page 14