by Alex London
“Crave Energizer Blast!” a male voice shouted. “Hey, Knox Brindle! When you crave perfection, why don’t you blast off with Crave! Energizer! Blast!”
“How is it reading you?” Marie spun on him. “I thought you had fake ID installed?”
“It must have worn off!” Knox cursed and pulled his glasses from his pocket. He raced through his datastream, his hands waving through lines of settings and privacy codes glowing in the air in front of him.
“You glitch-brained idiot!” Marie shouted at him. “Shut it off. The whole city is going to know where we are.”
“I got it, okay,” he grumbled, embarrassed at his own stupidity. Marie was “dead”; Syd’s ID would scan as Frobisher Wick, but, as far as the system knew, Knox was still Knox. Targeted advertising had just put a target on their heads.
He worked as fast as he could, waving his arms frantically through line after line of code. Marie kept the EMD stick raised, spinning in circles, unsure from which direction an attack would come. Her mind conjured an army of phantoms, but when the advo vanished, they were still alone. The tin wall was just a tin wall. Knox tossed away the projections and pulled his glasses off.
All three of them listened, side by side, breathing heavily, and when Knox was satisfied they hadn’t alerted anyone, he dropped the glasses back into his pocket.
“No,” said Marie, holding her palm out.
“What?”
“Give her the glasses,” Syd ordered.
Knox didn’t like to be ordered around by his proxy. He didn’t move.
Marie thrust her palm into his face. He sneered at her. He was a hacker. You don’t take a hacker’s tools.
She raised her EMD stick.
Knox grunted and pulled out the glasses. He looked at Marie and handed them to Syd, giving Marie his widest grin.
Syd dropped the glasses onto the ground and stomped them under his foot, grinding them into muck.
“Do you—do you realize how lux those were?” Knox couldn’t believe this swampcat, his total disregard for personal property. Probably never owned anything in his life he’d care about breaking.
“I guess you can add that to my debt,” said Syd.
“Look, I didn’t mean—” Knox shook his head. “I just think they might have been useful.”
“At getting us caught,” Marie said.
“Never mind,” said Knox. “So where to now?”
“We do like Mr. Baram said.” Marie pointed. “Cross out of the Valve and get to the zoo.”
“How will we even get inside?” Syd wondered. “They know Frobisher Wick is me.”
“Well, if I had my transmitters, I could make some new ID.” Knox glared at both of them. “Luckily, I come prepared.” Knox pulled another biopatch out of his pocket. “I made a backup while you were napping in my bedroom. It’s not as strong, but it’ll hold for a little while. Just don’t pee too much.”
“Pee?” asked Syd.
“It’s in the fluids.” He extended the patch to Syd. “You are now Vandal Singh, second son of the scion of the GenoFruit Corporation. You’re sixteen years old, you’re in remission from mild melanoma, and you got back early from a private paracruise across the SoCal Ring of Fire. It is lovely this time of year.”
“Uh-huh,” Syd grunted, taking the patch and putting it on.
Knox crossed his arms and rocked on his heels while they waited for the patch to dissolve.
“Don’t be too proud of yourself,” Marie said.
“Oh, but I am,” Knox said, smirking. “Vandal here has never been in trouble and his parents are not Xelon customers.”
“So?” Syd said.
“So he’s got no proxy.” Knox smiled. “I thought you might appreciate that.”
Syd studied Knox for a moment. Marie’s eyes darted back and forth between the boys.
“Yeah,” Syd said. “Thanks.”
“For my oldest friend, anything.” Knox winked. If it came to it, Syd was the one who mattered here and Knox did not want Syd siding with Marie. His proxy might hate him right now, but no one could hate Knox for long. He knew his assets. Why wouldn’t they work on a guy like Syd? Without his datastream, he only had one other talent. Might as well use it.
“Now, let’s go to the zoo.” He turned to Marie. “You think you can stay alive this time?”
Marie glared at him and they turned to the east, heading toward the sunrise.
[29]
SYD TOOK A DEEP breath and peered across the roadway outside the zoo, looking for signs of trouble. The sun was up and it was blazing. Syd couldn’t see any Guardians, but he still didn’t feel safe. It wasn’t just the Guardians or the patrons at his side. His own skin was betraying him. His own blood. A virus.
Knox kept glancing at him, looking at the letters behind his ear. Yovel.
To Syd, it sounded like a name. It didn’t sound like a word that could end the world as they knew it. Why should Syd have to carry it? Why should he be responsible? All he ever wanted was to be left alone. He scratched at the branding on his arm, the metal letters of Marie’s name. They itched. His whole body felt like a wound.
Just in front of the zoo entrance there was a small wading pool, an artificial swamp filled with a flock of these bright pink birds. The birds each stood on one skinny leg. The other leg was lifted, bent at the knee. It seemed like you could knock them over just by breathing on them. No wonder they didn’t survive in the wild. If you wanted to get by, you needed both your feet planted below you. Someone was always going to try to knock you down.
“Relax.” Marie leaned forward and put her hand on Syd’s. Her skin was soft and smooth and practically glowed white. “No one is going to hurt you. Let’s get in there. We’ll all stay close.”
She tapped Knox on the shoulder with the EMD stick and he flinched, but it wasn’t turned on. Then she slipped it back under her jacket, tucked into her waistband like a Maes gang thug. Funny what the rich kids know about the Valve, thought Syd. And what they don’t.
Syd would feel better if he was the one with the EMD stick. Whatever happened here, he needed to be able to defend himself. And a person with a weapon and a cause made him just as nervous as the Guardians. You never knew what a believer was capable of.
“Marie?” Syd began when he felt Knox’s hand on his back.
“I’m looking out for you, pal,” Knox whispered in his ear, apropos of nothing.
“Uh,” Syd responded, but he felt Knox’s finger slide up and down, just a little movement. He wrinkled his eyebrows and Knox smirked.
It was obvious what Knox was trying to do, but Syd didn’t mind. Flirting right now was ridiculous, but it made sense to Syd. Knox was looking for an ally. He was a flirt and now that he knew about Syd, he thought flirting would help keep them united. Knox didn’t need to try so hard, really. Because he was so obvious, so incapable of real deception, Syd trusted him. He couldn’t keep his own secrets, and for Syd, right now, simplicity was the greatest virtue.
Marie, on the other hand, was inscrutable. She was a patron, but also a Causegirl; she wanted to save the proxies so much she had been willing to die to protect her proxy, then let her proxy die to save Syd, even though he didn’t want her to. She wasn’t giving him a choice. He wondered what she saw when she looked at him. Did she see a person or just an ideal? Did it matter, so long as she got him where he needed to go?
In front of the zoo, small children raced around on the pavement, shouting and shoving, rushing into the climate-controlled atrium. Some were followed by programmed nannies, little fuzzy bots with grasper arms and cooing voices. A scattering of adults, all of them zoo employees, walked about purposefully, but not one paid any attention to the kids. In a way, all these Upper City kids were orphans too.
Marie pointed to the entrance and nodded. She stood and Syd followed. Knox stayed by his side. Their eyes darted from left to right, looking for threats.
The bots scurried around, keeping the kids in check, scolding and guiding, working
hard to stay in control, following their program.
Syd felt a little like a bot himself, following a program he didn’t understand, going on auto, obedient and uncomprehending. No one looked twice at him. With Knox’s clothes on, he looked like a patron. He looked like he belonged. Of course, if anyone looked closely, they’d see the blotches on his skin, the nicks and scars from working in the shop, from bug bites and cut-rate food and sleeping in a toxic dump. The sunken eyes, the word behind his ear. He had to remind himself it wasn’t visible. Just knowing it was there, however, felt like he had a holo hovering above his head.
He avoided making eye contact with the little kids.
“Vandal Singh, do you miss Murmly?” A projection appeared over the great glass wall behind the flock of bright pink birds. A kindly older woman in soft focus looked right at Syd, her head massive above the birds.
He didn’t respond, but the woman in the holo held her smile, patient.
“You’re Vandal Singh,” Knox whispered.
“I know who I am,” Syd whispered back. “But what the hell is a Murmly?”
“I know your dog misses you,” the advo woman answered.
“Uh,” Syd said. “Yeah.”
“For a one-year RePet subscription, we can reproduce Murmly with almost ninety-six percent accuracy. That’s the highest percentage in the industry. Sign up right now and you can receive a second resurrection free! Can I tell Murmly you’ll see him again soon?” The advo woman flashed her teeth.
“Follow me,” Marie said, grabbing Syd by the wrist to make sure he did.
The advo watched them head for the entrance, the smile fading as the double doors swooshed open. Syd glanced back over his shoulder, but Marie pulled him forward. Up here not even the pets die when it’s their time, he thought.
By the time the doors closed a new advo was aimed at the next passerby: “Got ideas? Get credit! We’ll buy your ideas same day. Open twenty-four hours. When you need credit now, just ping Idea Mine! from your datastream.”
Inside the zoo, the air was cool and clean. The sound of children running echoed off the tiled floor and great wide windows ringed the atrium, opening into preview tanks and cages. In one, a black bear slept a sedated sleep while little kids banged on the glass. In another, a bright green eel’s long body undulated in the water, a meter above registering its electric output. It didn’t swim around, and kids ran right past it without even looking
Marie led the boys to the entrance scanners.
“You took care of this, right?” She glanced back at Knox.
“Just walk with confidence,” he said. “I’ve faked out tougher scanners than these.”
Marie went under the entrance scanners first and they followed her into the zoo without being stopped.
As soon as they were inside, Syd’s jaw dropped. He must have looked like every one of those little kids with their fuzzy bots, overwhelmed with wonder.
The polar bear exhibit rose before them. A group of giant white bears rolled around together on top of it, playing as if they weren’t the last of their kind on earth. Syd jumped backward.
“Don’t worry,” said Knox. “There’s an invisible fence keeping them in. Particle fields or something. That’s the largest amount of ice on public view in the world. Not even the Nigerians have anything like it.”
In another display, a flock of penguins squawked and hooted. Right next to them a night-black panther slept in the branches of some jungle tree.
“Pretty lux, right?” said Knox.
Syd nodded. “I’ve never seen anything like this . . . only animals we have in the Valve are feral cats and dogs.”
“And rats,” said Marie. They shuddered at the memory of the giant hissing thing.
Knox made a face.
“Don’t be an idiot, Knox.” Marie looked sympathetically at Syd. “He’s never had to go hungry.”
“Oh, like you have?” said Knox.
Syd shook his head at both of them. “We don’t eat the rats,” he said.
“That’s not what I meant.” Marie blushed. “It’s just I . . . I didn’t know. I’ve never met a proxy in person before.”
“You!” Syd heard a mechanized yell and spun in its direction, fearing he’d been discovered. The others turned with him and both of them grabbed his arms, protectively. Knox had a grip like a vise. Marie’s grip wasn’t much gentler.
Syd relaxed and pulled himself free when he saw it was one of the Carebots, with blue-and-green-striped fur, low to the ground so it was at the same height as the children in its care, with a holo display of a cartoon face.
The face did not look pleased and its voice was not the usual kindly burble of the Carebot model.
It zipped past them with a whirr and stopped in front of two children, a boy and girl, siblings it looked like, who had somehow tossed a toy of theirs into the polar bear exhibit. The bears were chewing up the toy, its processors and batteries and all. One of them had a piece of it stuck on its nose. Its giant paws wiped at its snout, but the bear couldn’t tear the piece off and the kids laughed hysterically.
They stopped laughing when the bot reached them.
“Oliver! Celia! What did we discuss at home? You two know better,” the bot scolded. The children stood rigid before it. “Now we’ll see what your misbehavior has cost. Follow me.”
The bot moved off and the children followed glumly behind. Syd watched them line up by a wall where there were other misbehaving children. Each stood with his or her bot, or even, Syd noticed, a few actual humans—Upper City teens who wanted to earn some extra cred as nannies—and projections popped up in front of them as the proxies arrived and the punishments were administered.
Syd swallowed hard as the two children received a lecture about responsibility for the rare wildlife and the destruction of expensive toys. He grimaced as projections appeared in front of the children, revealing two sickly Valve kids, looking frightened with anticipation.
Marie nudged Syd to turn away before the punishments started.
“Don’t look,” Knox whispered. “It’s considered rude.”
“Just shut up,” Marie hissed. “Can’t you see this is hard on him?”
“Don’t treat him like a baby.” Knox rolled his eyes at her.
“I’m treating him like a person.” She clenched her fists. “More than you ever did.”
“Syd can stick up for himself,” Knox said. “He makes his own choices.”
“Is that what you think?” said Marie. “You don’t have any idea how the system works, do you? You don’t know anything about people like Syd. You don’t even care.”
“And you do?” said Knox. “I’m the one helping him get away. I don’t even know what you’re trying to do. You started all this to begin with. If you hadn’t set me up, Syd would still be in that little shop, I’d be with some chick who wasn’t a psycho and your friend Beatrice would still be alive!”
Marie tried to form a response. “I’m trying to change things,” she said. “I’m trying to make the world better . . . for everyone.”
Knox crossed his arms. “Don’t act like you’re better than me because you feel guilty for being born rich.”
“Both of you, quiet.” Syd cut off their argument. “We’ve got an audience.”
He nodded his head back toward the entrance at a woman in a fashionable green jumpsuit, expertly tailored, with expensive red hair falling in curls over her shoulders. She could have just been a normal patron visiting the zoo, except that the woman was walking straight for them.
“Guardian?” Syd asked, ready to run.
“Guardians don’t look like that,” Knox told Syd. “They’re perfect.”
“Everyone up here looks perfect,” Syd answered.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Knox squeezed Syd’s shoulder and Marie glared at him.
“Knock it off,” she grunted.
The woman walked right up to them. As she passed by, she whispered and moved on toward the café.
“She’s our contact,” said Syd. He took a deep breath. On the ceiling, a giant RePet advo appeared, happy children running to greet their animal friends with smiles and tears.
“Animals brought to you by RePet and Xelon Corporation,” a cheerful voice announced for all to hear. “Financing available.”
Syd turned to face Marie. “You should go home.”
“I should . . . what?” She looked startled, pained even.
“This isn’t your problem,” Syd told her. “Mr. Baram’s people will take care of me now and I’ve got Knox for a hostage. Too many people have already gotten hurt because of me.”
Knox nodded. He’d be glad to see Marie go.
“I’m not going anywhere,” said Marie. “The only way for Beatrice’s death to matter is to tear the system down. If you can do that, then I am sticking with you.”
“I can’t change the system,” said Syd. “I don’t want to.”
“I think you can,” said Marie. “I heard the old man say it.”
“And just like that, you believe it?” Knox groaned. “That’s all it takes?”
“I believe we have to try,” she said.
“No matter what?” Knox said. “Even though your proxy died? Even if you have to die . . . again?”
“Some things are more important than any one person,” said Marie.
“You’re insane,” said Knox.
“And you’re a shallow piece of—”
“Quiet!” Syd said. “Something’s wrong.”
“What?” said Knox.
“What?” said Marie.
Syd pointed up to the holo for RePet on the ceiling. It was gone. His eyes darted to the kiosks throughout the zoo plaza. Their projections had vanished too. No advertisements.
He’d once been to a NeoBuddhist center in the Valve where you could pay by the minute for the advos in the meditation room to disappear. You’d get your quiet, but only if you could afford it. But that wasn’t it, not here.