We were a block away from the garage, on a dark and deserted street, trudging toward our goal when I heard a howl in the distance followed by barking. Xel’s ears pricked up. The barking continued, growing closer. Xel was looking back, up the street.
“Dogs,” he said. “Run. I’m behind you.”
My legs were tired and my brain was fuzzy, but I did as he said. Half way down the block, I glanced back and saw them in the moonlight--a pack of dogs. I could hear their paws hitting the street. They were thirty feet away, twenty, ten. The barking was deafening. Near me, parked at the curb was an old bus--windows broken out and the wheels gone.
“Climb to the top!” Xel shouted. I found a handhold and pulled myself up but the lead dog was on my heels. I felt its jaws close around my ankle then felt it let go as Xel jumped on its back. There was a yelp. I felt for another handhold, fingers sweeping across the bare metal, found something I could grab onto, and scrambled to the roof. I flipped onto my stomach and looked down. Xel was holding them off, his claws flashing. Two dogs were writhing on the ground. Another dog lunged. Xel swatted it away like a puppy then turned and attempted to follow me up onto the roof. Just as he leapt, a massive hound intercepted him, pulling him down and landing on top of him, biting at his face with terrible fangs. Without thinking, plasma knife in my hand, I slid off the roof of the bus and landed hard beside Xel. My leg collapsed under me. I felt something snap but still I swung the blade which roared to life, cutting an arc through the night. The hound fell, sprawling. I threw my arm around Xel and pulled him to me, swinging the knife again, my back to the bus. The dogs surrounded us, snarling, and showing their teeth. I brandished the knife, and they fell back a pace. Suddenly another light bloomed in the darkness. A fountain of fire shot out. I felt the heat on my face. The dogs turned and ran. I saw one whose fur was singed and smoking fall then rise again and continue running.
“Quick, inside the gate!” someone yelled.
I tried to rise but my leg was useless. White hot pain shot through my body, and I almost fainted. I put a hand on my leg and my pants felt wet. I realized it was blood from the dog bite.
“Can’t stand,” I managed to gasp.
The man set down something he was carrying--the source of the flame that had scared away the dogs. Strong hands pulled me up. I put an arm over his shoulders, still holding Xel to me with my other arm. Together we staggered through the gate and into the garage. As soon as we were inside, the man lowered me to the ground and went to the gate, pulling it closed.
“Xel,” I cried, looking into his eyes. His fur was gashed open, revealing plastic and metal underneath. Slowly, his eyes opened and focused.
“Tara,” he said in a small voice. “I was afraid. I have never felt this. Fear is terrible.”
“It’s all right,” I answered. “I was afraid too. We made it, though. We’re inside.”
The man who had saved us finished locking up the gate and ran over. “I’m Hector,” he said. “Those dogs were after you, man. Good thing you were in front of our gate. What happened to your leg?”
“Broken I think,” I said through gritted teeth. “Hurts. We need to see Aeon.”
Then a wave of pain washed over me, and I blacked out.
***
When I woke, I was in a kind of infirmary. Bright light was streaming in a bank of windows. I tried to sit up but realized I couldn’t move my leg. I pulled the blanket covering me aside and saw that it was encased in a compression cast. My head was foggy and I was having trouble concentrating.
“Tara, you’re awake.” It was Xel’s voice.
I turned and saw him curled on a chair next to my bed.
“What happened, Xel?” I croaked.
“You fainted. They brought you here to their infirmary and gave you some pain killers that made you sleep. I scanned your leg and helped them set it. Your right tibia is broken in two places. You also have some stitches in your calf where the dog bit you. And they cleaned the wound on your arm and re-bandaged it.”
I lifted my arm and saw the fresh bandage. The bed creaked when I moved, and I noticed that it was old. Probably salvaged from some abandoned hospital. The infirmary was makeshift too. We seemed to be near the top of the garage. The windows were framed in with what looked like salvaged wood and the walls were concrete. Beyond the windows the blue-brown sky stretched off to infinity.
“What time is it?” I asked. “Have you seen Aeon?”
“Hector said he would go see him in the morning and let him know we’re here. It’s seven-fourteen a.m.”
Later, after I had dozed off and then woken again, a woman came into the room. She was about my grandmother’s age.
“I’m Doctor Akebe,” she said. “You got yourself pretty beat up. Aeon is waiting outside to see you. I’m going to check on your leg and then let him in.”
“Okay,” I said. “Thanks for taking care of me. Do you live here? At the garage?”
“Yes. I’ve been here since the beginning. I was a doctor, back before, so that’s what I do here. Not much to work with but I do what I can.” As she spoke she was skillfully checking my leg and bandages. Her fingers were warm. “All right, you’re doing okay. I’m going to let Aeon in. I’ll be back later.” She left the room and, a moment later, Aeon came through the door. He shuffled to my bedside, clasped my arm quickly with his hand, then sat in a chair next to the bed, and stared at the floor.
“Please tell me,” he said.
“Xel, will you tell the story, please?” I asked. “I’m still a little woozy.”
When Xel was done, Aeon looked up. He had kept his eyes on the floor, nodding his head while Xel spoke. “So he’s alive? In this place, the Cedar Creek Commune?”
“Yes,” I said. “They have the code now. We need to get back there. Can you help us? We need to contact Celeste and Joseph.”
“I can help,” he said, nodding. “But we’ll need to be careful about it. What’s this place like? Will they take in an old man who knows electrical engineering? I want to come with you. I want to be there to help him.”
“I think you’ll fit right in,” I said, smiling for the first time in days.
***
Dr. Akebe gave me the okay to leave the infirmary later that afternoon, and Hector rolled me down to Aeon’s shop in a wheelchair. It felt strange to be there without Loki, but Aeon welcomed us warmly. It was as jumbled and messy as I remembered. Maybe even more so. Aeon set me up on the old couch in the back room again and brought me food to eat. I ran a hand over the corduroy upholstery, remembering the days I had spent there before.
“I have my specs set up with a heavily encrypted connection,” Aeon said, sitting down across from me while I ate. He held a small needle and a spool of thread. “Xel, will you let me sew up that gash in your fur?” He turned back to me. “As soon as you are ready, you can try to contact your friends.”
“I’m ready now,” I said. “They’re probably worried about me.”
Celeste’s avatar materialized first then Joseph’s.
“Tara!” Celeste cried out. “Where are you? Are you all right?”
“Yes,” I answered. “I’m safe. I’m hoping you can help me get back though. To the commune.”
“Tell us where you are. We’ll come get you.”
“There’s one problem,” I said. “I have a friend here who wants to come with me. Oh, and also, I can’t walk.”
“Please tell us what happened,” Joseph answered. “We can work it out.”
***
The next day, Aeon, Xel, and I waited at the gate. Aeon had an old suitcase. He had chosen a few things that were meaningful to him. When I asked about the rest of the stuff in his shop, he said that he was ready to leave it behind. He had tried to keep his leaving quiet but word got around. A crowd waited with us. Silently, Aeon’s friends approached one by one, hugged him, offered him small presents. Finally, I saw Celeste’s hacked car pull up out front. Hector opened the gate.
“Thanks again,�
� I said.
“Just glad I could help,” he replied. “Any friend of Aeon is a friend of mine.”
Aeon walked while Hector wheeled me to the curb. I looked over at the bus, reliving the fight for a moment in my head, then looked away. The car door slid open, and Celeste jumped out.
“Tara! Oh, my god, look at your leg. This is my fault. I was too far away when you called.”
“Not your fault,” I said. “It’s okay. It will heal.”
Somebody else stepped out of the car behind Celeste. I didn’t recognize him for a moment but then I saw that it was Joseph. He was shorter than I expected.
“Tara. It’s nice to meet you in person,” he said, eyes focused on my shoulder, a nervous smile turning up the corner of his mouth.
“Nice to meet you too,” I replied. “This is Aeon.”
I didn’t track much of the drive back to the border. My head was still cloudy from pain meds, and I slipped in and out of consciousness. Alphar met us near where Celeste had picked me and Xel up, out on that abandoned stretch of highway with the wooded hills rising up around us. He normally would not have taken the chance of flying across the border but I couldn’t walk, so it was necessary. I remember being carried onto the floater and strapped into a seat.
It was late when we arrived back at the commune, but Yarrow was waiting for me in the hangar with a wheelchair. Sky was there too.
“Welcome back, Tara,” Yarrow said as Joseph and Alphar set me in the chair. “This is motorized so you can get around on your own.” She showed me the controls. “Sky wants to take a look at your leg and your stitches. After that, you need to sleep.”
“No,” I said, rubbing my eyes. “I want to see Loki. I want to know what’s going on.”
Aeon was off the floater, standing behind me. He gazed around in wonder then brought his attention back to Yarrow. “I would like to see him too.”
“Welcome, Aeon. Welcome to the commune,” Yarrow said. “We’ll take you to him. Tara needs to rest, though. You can see him in the morning, Tara.”
I tried to answer but a yawn stopped me from speaking.
“I will go with Aeon,” Xel said. “I’ll keep you informed.”
“All right,” I relented. “I want to see him first thing in the morning though. And help with the firmware code.”
***
When I woke my room was dark. I lay for a moment, reorienting, before I realized I could ask the computer for help.
“Computer, lights up, please. What time is it?” The lights glowed to life, and I saw the rust-colored blanket, the rag rug, and the wooden shelves. My backpack and Loki’s both leaned in the corner. The wheelchair was next to the bed. It felt like home, I realized. My own space.
“It is ten twenty-three a.m. Would you like me to inform Yarrow that you are awake?”
“Yes, please.”
When Yarrow came into my room she was smiling. “I have a nice surprise for you. Let’s go to the infirmary.”
“You’re not going to make me eat breakfast first?”
“Not this time.”
Yarrow held the door open, and I guided the wheelchair into the infirmary. I saw Loki’s bed, Aeon sitting next to it. Xel at the foot of the bed, sitting up straight and turning to look at me. Then I saw Loki. He lifted his head from his pillow, focusing his dark eyes on me.
“Tara,” he croaked. “What happened to you?”
I wheeled myself over to the bedside and reached out, taking Loki’s hand. I squeezed softly and he squeezed back.
“Nothing,” I said. “Nothing important. Just a broken leg.” Tears were sliding down my cheeks. “I’m glad you’re awake. It’s nice to see your eyes open.”
Chapter 19
A Letter Home
I sat in the room next to the infirmary with Xel, Alphar, Joseph, Oak, and Celeste. The table was scattered with coffee cups, specs, and the remains of a meal. They had been up all night, working on the firmware. Oak sat back, fingers laced behind his head.
“It was Xel,” he said. “Xel figured it out.”
I looked at Xel and he squeezed his eyes shut. “You solved it?”
“Yes, I conducted a full analysis of the codebase. Once I was sure which routines controlled the implant’s output, it was fairly simple to disable them. We all worked on it together though. Celeste wrote the simulation and tested it with Alphar and Joseph before we flashed Loki’s implant with the altered code.”
“Xel, you’re amazing.”
“You rewrote my programming Tara. If you had not succeeded, I would not have been able to do this. Before, it would not have occurred to me. I was programmed not to be curious, not to feel, not to be empathetic. My task was only to protect and serve my human companion.”
“However it happened, Xel, I’m glad you were able to do it.”
“So am I, Tara. I think Loki is my friend. Is it okay to have a friend, other than you?”
“Of course it is!” I looked around the table. Celeste was leaning her head on Joseph’s shoulder, eyes half closed. Alphar lifted his mug and took a drink of coffee. The mood was subdued but celebratory. “Are you going to try it on Keira too?” I asked.
“Yes,” Alphar answered. “Her implant is not the same generation though. We will need to do some more work. You can help this time. Right now, though, we all need to sleep.”
“Are you staying to help?” I asked, turning toward Celeste and Joseph.
“Yes,” Celeste answered with a yawn. “Joseph resigned from his position at Xia Yu. We will be staying here. Neither of us wants to continue living that lie.”
I bowed my head, feeling strong emotions, all mixed up. “Is Loki going to be all right?” I asked. “Are you sure it’s going to work?”
“Nothing is certain, Tara,” Oak answered. “He will have a long recovery. You will too,” he said gesturing to my leg. “We are optimistic though. I think he will recover fully. Especially with Aeon to take care of him. They have a strong bond. You too. You have a strong bond with him. He’s going to need you.”
***
It was June twenty-first. The summer solstice. I pushed through the door and left Cedar Creek Commune behind. I had been inside all day studying and helping out in the classroom. It felt glorious to be out with the sun warm on my face. A light breeze was blowing, rippling through the grass by the goat pen. Bees were hopping from flower to flower in the meadow. I strode to the fence that surrounded the pen and waved to Meadow. She was working on the other side but came running over when she saw me.
“Tara! Going for a walk?”
“Yes. Just up the hill. I need a little nature time.”
“Can I come with? I’m almost done.”
“I’m going to do a little writing. Want to join me in an hour? At the overlook?”
“Okay. See you there,” she said, smiling, and walked off to tend to the goats. I saw Talya and waved then kept on my way. There was a kind of path across the meadow that was trodden down from people walking to the woods. I followed in their footsteps and soon came to the tree line. Under the trees, it was cooler and there was a rich smell of sun warmed pine, dirt, moss, and fern. I took my time walking up the hill, wending slowly along the trail, veering off occasionally into the woods to visit favorite places. There was a small brook that ran near the trail and I had a few secluded sitting spots where I liked to go when I needed alone time or when I just wanted to watch the water flow by. Today I wanted to go to the overlook though. I felt like I needed the broad view over the valley below. It was a reckoning kind of day. I wanted to think and sum up and write it down. Yarrow had gotten me started writing as a way to process my feelings. Now I had a letter to write though, and it wasn’t going to be easy. Yarrow had been suggesting I write it for a while, and I finally felt ready.
I stooped and picked up a smooth stone half hidden under a tree root. Rolling it in my fingers I rubbed the caked earth off it and continued to fidget it as I walked. It felt nice in my hand--a good weight and a pleasant shape
. At last I saw the crest of the hill and emerged from the trees at the overlook. The tree tops stretched out below, hazy in the pollen-laden air. I sat on the fallen log I had shared with Meadow the first time I visited the place and dug a pair of specs out of my bag. I hesitated for a moment then put the specs on. The familiar data streams came into focus.
“Dictate message,” I said and the cursor appeared, hovering over the view of the valley below. I had access to Joseph’s anonymizing system so the message would not be traceable.
“Dear Mom and Dad,” I began then sat for a minute, thinking. “I hope you haven’t been worrying about me.
“I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to write to you. I hope you and Zoie are well. I also hope my actions haven’t caused any trouble for you. I didn’t mean to upset you or mess up your lives. I can’t tell you where I am but I am safe. I’ve learned how to take care of myself pretty well. Please don’t worry.
“You might have guessed that I overheard you talking to the doctors about a surgery to put an implant in my head and change the way I think and act. When I heard that, I decided to run away. I couldn’t let it happen. I don’t hold any grudge against you, but I also don’t think I’m broken. I don’t need a computer in my head to fix me. I’m fine the way I am. I’m not pro-social as the psychologists would say, but if there is anything I’ve learned since I ran away, it’s that I shouldn’t ever let myself be measured by what I’m not. I can only be who I am. I’m a good person. I’m capable and I’m strong. It was tough getting to where I am now. It took a lot of hard work and courage. Sometimes it was like an adventure and other times it was scary or just felt hopeless. I made it through, though, and, in the end, I found a place where I belong. I never would have found that if I stayed.
The Place Inside the Storm Page 20