by Ramona Finn
“It would make digging new tunnels easer.”
I glance at him. “We may not get to that.”
Wolf nods and frowns. Pike joins us and tells Wolf she needs to talk to him.
“Can it wait?” Wolf asks.
Pike’s eyes darken. “No. It’s about what we just saw. Crow thinks Red Kite’s going to try to steal some of that black powder.”
“Meaning trouble.” With a sigh, Wolf turns to me, but I put a hand on his arm. “Go on. I’ll see you back at the Glass Hall.”
Wolf breaks away with Pike, heading over to meet up with Crow.
Picking up my pace, I rejoin Skye and Alis on the walk back to the Glass Hall. We are all dragging and tired by the time we get back to the Glass Hall. We start to head inside, but a shrill whistle has me looking up and over to one of the metal skeletons of the buildings here.
Mountain stands over in the shade of the building with two of his clan. The two carry long tubes and I stiffen. I know what gear from the AI looks like and this has the black gleam like a drone’s skin. But I’ve never seen tubes like this. The drones and scabs have weapons, but they are short and shoot out beams of light that can kill. What do these tubes fire?
Even though I’m tired, hot and sweaty, I forget my thirst and desire to head inside the Glass Hall to sit, and walk over to the Walking Tall Clan. Mountain grins and glances around. “We wait for Wolf.”
We don’t have long to wait. Wolf, Crow, Pike and Red Kite walk out of the Empties together, Red Kite looking unhappy, her mouth pulled down, and Crow and Wolf looking about the same. Only Pike seems pleased.
When everyone has gathered, Mountain takes one of the tubes from his clan member, hefts it to his shoulder and then points the tubes down into the Empties. For a moment nothing happens, and then a high-pitched whine erupts. From where Mountain has the tube pointed, a piece of twisted metal melts and pools to the ground. Mountain pulls the tube from his shoulder and pats it. “Makes things get really hot. Melts drones.”
I walk up to him. “Can I touch it?”
He shifts the tube away from me. “Only for Walking Tall Clan. We scavenged these. They’re ours.”
I have a dozen questions to ask. Where did he find these weapons? What powers them? Has he ever taken on more than one drone? How many does he have?
Before I can say anything, Mountain turns away and walks over to Wolf. “We need to talk—and plan.”
Wolf glances at me. I can tell he wants to include me, but I shake my head. If we’ve got the help of the Rogues, we don’t need to endanger that by insisting that they also work with Glitches. Wolf can lead the Rogues—I’ll handle the rest.
Alis comes up to me and nudges my arm with her elbow. “Everyone in the Tracker Clan is talking about the black powder and the weapons. A lot of them don’t seem all that happy.”
I nod. Knowing other clans are more powerful is nothing anyone wants to hear. Glancing at the Fighter Clan, I can see a lot of them edging away from Red Kite to go talk to Mountain or to Faun—will she lose even more of her clan?
We head back into the Glass Hall, which is cool and shaded. After the heat, it feels wonderful, and I take in a breath. Then realize the air always seems fresh here—there are systems at work in the Glass Hall that I don’t understand. And there is power here. I want to slip away now and explore more, but Skye comes over with water and that distracts me.
I sit with Skye and Alis. The clans are all settling into their usual spots, with the leaders off in one corner, talking quietly. Food comes out—cactus pods that are both sweet and sour and wet, some cooked roots that are stringy and a little bit of cooked lizard. I’m grateful for the sustenance if not the taste.
Skye is talking about the black powder now, too, wondering how it’s made. Alis is frowning and keeps glancing at me as if she wants to say something about what we’ve seen today.
I’m just worried.
The weapons don’t seem enough compared to what the AI can throw at us.
Alis finally shakes her head and mutters, “We need more than what we’ve got.”
I don’t want to agree with that.
I open my mouth to tell her something. I don’t want to make choices from fear—I promised myself I wouldn’t. Wolf said that was a bad thing. And here I am afraid we will fail.
Before I can say anything, Bird walks over, her ribbons fluttering. She stops in front of me, pushes the knotted hair back from her face and says, “You’re going to need me.”
Chapter Twenty
I stare up at Bird and then stutter out a question, “Need you for what?”
Bird rolls her eyes, and plops down in the space between me and Skye. “You need me.” When I keep staring at her, she lets out a long breath. “I had a vision of you and the AI. You’re going to have to face it. I’m not going to be needed by the Rogues, but unless you have me with you, you’re going to become part of the AI. I saw that. That’s what I’ve been seeing all along—you and the AI, both in the darkness. I can change that. That’s what’s new.”
Swallowing hard, I keep staring at Bird. There are very few in the Tracker Clan who do not believe in her visions. I didn’t understand them at first, but I know she found me in the Outside because of a vision. She’s been able to help the Tracker Clan. Maybe the future isn’t always clear to her, but if she thinks we have a chance with her help, I’m willing to grab at that possibility.
I give a slow nod and tell her, “Sometimes it’s hard to like you, Bird.” She stiffens. I keep talking. “And I haven’t always trusted what it is you want. We fought over the biogear, but I know you care about the clan. I know you want to do everything to keep others from dying. But just how do you think you can help me?”
Bird glances from Alis to Skye. Alis is frowning, and Skye is wide-eyed and smiling. Skye and Bird are close, and Skye seems to think this is a very good thing. I’m hoping she’s right. When Bird shakes her head, her ribbons flutter. “I don’t know. Not exactly. I just know I’ve seen me with you. I’m not going to be with Wolf and the others when the fight comes. I’m supposed to be with you. There’s something I’m going to have to do.”
It’s my turn to push out a breath. “That’s not only unclear, that’s not at all helpful. You do know I’m going to try to hack the AI again—with a connect. And you want to come with me into the virtual world?”
Bird shifts uneasily. She hates gear of any kind. She hated the biogear I created—it made me faster, stronger, and a lot of Rogues adapted to using it. But not Bird. We lost our biogear in the tunnels, but now Bird has to face that she may need to be even more connected.
She doesn’t answer, so I straighten and nod. “Fine. I’m not going to lie. We need every bit of help we can get. In fact, even with all the clans, I don’t think it’ll be enough.”
Bird gives a snort. “So why are we doing this if we can’t do it?”
“I didn’t say we can’t…but…” I let the words trail off.
Bird narrows her eyes. “What are you keeping back?”
My cheeks heat, but I hold her gaze. “Another vision?” I ask.
Bird shakes her head. “No. More like you always think you can hold things back.”
“That’s because she knows so much better than the rest of us,” Wolf says and sits beside me. Alis moves over to make him room. He picks up a chunk of cooked lizard, eats it and smiles at me.
“It’s not that I know better, and how long were you standing there behind me?”
He shrugs and eats more lizard.
Bird leans forward. “Okay, Lib. Talk. What haven’t you told others? Why do you think we can’t defeat the AI?”
I swallow hard. I don’t want to tell them about the Glass Hall—something inside me keeps wanting to hold it back, keep it secret. I don’t know if that part of me is really Dr. Sig—she kept secrets, too, and that didn’t work out so well for all of us.
“Whatever excuse you’re going to use, forget it,” Wolf says. He cuts a hand through the
air. “You need to talk. We need to plan.”
I wince and look away. “It’s…well, I was going to say nothing major, but it actually is.” Looking up at him, I sit a little straighter. “I think the Glass Hall is alive—it’s like the AI, but it’s not the AI. And I think I can use its power to battle the AI…if there’s enough power left here.”
Now everyone is staring at me. Wolf slowly chews the lizard, swallows and then asks, “Why do you think that?”
“Because I can connect to the Glass Hall. It’s like going into the AI’s virtual world, but it’s also different. This was Dr. Sig’s lab. She built the AI. I think she built this place to—I think there may even be part of her still here.”
Silence stretches around me in this small group. The murmurs from the other clans and the others in the Tracker Clan seem a long way away. Someone has started a fire and the smoke stings my eyes. The Sing-Song Clan is humming quietly together. I glance from Wolf, to Alis, to Skye to Bird—only Bird seems unsurprised by my words.
Wolf’s shoulders ease a little and he lifts one hand up. “Why do you think this Dr. Sig is here? If she created the AI, that had to be long, long ago.”
“Long enough that her bones should be dust,” Alis mutters.
Should be…two words I no longer trust.
I nod, however. “I’m…connected with Dr. Sig. And she is connected to the AI. I’ve learned things from recordings she left here. I told Wolf about them.”
“But not us about the connects,” Skye says, her voice sharp. Bird thumps Skye’s arm. They swap looks and Skye hunches her shoulders and looks away. I glance over at Wolf. “It’s not something I meant to keep to myself forever, but it sounds…it sounds…”
“Weird?” Alis says. She shakes her head. “Crazy? Like maybe you’ve been hallucinating? Were you worried we’d decide we couldn’t trust you?”
“Something like that,” I tell her. A tightness in my chest eases. It is still hard to push out the words and talk about the Glass Hall, but I know I need to—I need to step away from the part of me that feels like Dr. Sig. She made too many mistakes, and one of them I saw on her recordings was trying to do everything in secret and on her own. She did not trust anyone, and the loss of the other person working with her just made her worse.
It is even possible that the AI got its need to be alone and fear everything and everyone from Dr. Sig—from Connie Sig’s own fears.
I will not give into that.
Alis pushes at the bits of cactus, which smell pungent and sweet, and asks, “Did you think we couldn’t do connects here? Or were you worried we’d mess things up?”
Turning to her, I tell her, “This isn’t about what you can and can’t do. This is about what do we need to do to beat the AI. I had to dig out information—but it’s hard to ask questions when I don’t even know what to ask. So what was I going to say? Hack a connect and just look for data?”
Alis shrugs. Wolf rubs his hand on his leather trousers and glances around at us. “Time to speak of what is in front of us. Bird said her vision is that she is with you—so you can take Bird into a hack? A connect?”
“Maybe.” I lift a shoulder and give Wolf a sideways glance. “Rogues can make connects—if they have biogear on.”
Wolf’s mouth tugs down, and Bird starts shaking her head. She folds her arms across her chest. “Gear is poison. And we don’t have any.”
I press my lips tight. I could make more—but is there time?
Glancing at Wolf, I know he hated the biogear as much as Bird—and both of them think it was changing me. That does not seem to me to be a problem compared with the world ending.
“I don’t know that’ll help,” Wolf says. “Rogues should do what we do best. We can attack the Norm. Lib, your plan is you will go after the AI from within the Glass Hall.”
“If I can.”
“We can,” Alis says, stressing the words.
I glance at her and look back at Wolf. “I am not really certain I can hack the AI from here—I haven’t tried for a connect, because once we get one.”
“This place is a target,” Alis says.
Skye shudders and wraps her arms around herself. Bird leans over, nudging Skye’s shoulder with her own. “Hasn’t happened yet.”
“So the only time we can test a connect from here to the AI is when we have to connect,” Alis says. “And if we can’t connect, the Rogues are then on their own with an attack against the AI. That really is crazy. No wonder you didn’t want to talk about it.”
“If a connect from here doesn’t work, we need to be ready for that. Maybe try to get a hack on a platform.”
Alis falls silent, and Skye shakes her head. “There aren’t any working platforms. The AI has shut them all down. The AI knows we take water from hacks.”
“I forced a hack on one platform,” I tell her.
Skye lifts her head and stares at me. “No, you hacked a drone. You got it to do what you wanted. I saw that.”
Alis looks at me. “How did you do that?”
I wave away the question. “It’s something I can do. I can’t explain it. And I might be able to do more of it with the power of the Glass Hall behind me.”
Wolf frowns, looks at me and asks, “Do you worry the Glass Hall is another AI?”
I let out a breath. “I…I don’t think so. It…feels different. The Glass Hall is more like…well, like one of the animals of the Outside. It has a mind, but it seems simple. It doesn’t really talk to me with words, but it has code in it. But it’s not like the AI…it’s…simple.” I shrug. I keep coming back to that same word.
The others all seem wary, and Alis glances over her shoulder as if she’s worried now that the Glass Hall is listening to her.
Wolf stands.
Instantly, the Tracker Clan looks to him. He holds up a hand and says in a clear voice, “We’re going to attack the Norm soon. Anyone not want to do that can leave here, head for the hills. Not sure you’ll be safe—you won’t be if we lose.”
Wolf waits.
A few glance around at the rest of the clan, but no one leaves. And then Crow stands.
I stiffen because Crow and Wolf have had issues, and Wolf was challenged for his leadership not that long ago.
But Crow stands in front of Wolf and says, “We’re clan. We follow you.”
I glance around. Croc looks unhappy, but Pike and Mouse smile and nod. Clan stays with clan.
Crow motions to the other clans. “Want help with them?”
Wolf shakes his head. I glance at Crow. He looks almost smug and he smiles at me. I have to shake my head, and I mutter, “You don’t even know what you’re getting into.”
He shrugs and turns to talk to the clan, but his voice is loud enough for others to hear. “Don’t know what other clans decided, but I’m not interested in hiding. AI’s already started to shake this world apart. Don’t want to let that happen.”
The Tracker Clan draws closer, people shifting to be nearer Wolf. My throat tightens. They will follow him to their deaths—or to a new life. They will do as he asks. I’m both proud of him and of the clan.
Looking at Crow, he folds his arms across his chest. He looks…immovable. His stance reminds me that he was of the Fighter Clan before this.
Maybe his willingness to fight is in his blood. Or maybe he is like the others in the Tracker Clan—unwilling to stand by idly while terrible things happen and willing to follow Wolf.
I glance up at Wolf and see he is not looking at Crow or the others in the clan, but he stares across the Glass Hall to where Red Kite stands, one hand on her knife hilt, her eyes narrowed and her skin glowing red from the clay she wears on her face.
Crow seems to notice this, too, for he stiffens and his eyes sharpen.
Red Kite strides over to stand in front of Wolf, her shoulders tense and her stride jerky. She glances around as if she’s wary, and her stare flickers over to Crow, who watches her with unblinking eyes.
She locks stares with Wolf, bu
t she seems to speak only to Crow. “You saying the Fighter Clan only wants to hide?”
Crow shakes his head, but Wolf answers. “You’re in this battle—or you are hiding. No other choice.”
Red Kite’s mouth tightens. She lifts her eyebrows high. She looks from Wolf to Crow again. “Really? What kind of clan is this that you listen to the likes of them?” The sweep of her hand takes in me, Alis, Skye and Bird, too.
Wolf’s jaw tightens. He bites out the words. “The kind that cares more what you do for each other.”
Crow drops his arms to his side and asks, “What do you want here?”
Red Kite shifts on her feet and faces Crow. “I meant what I said to you.”
The pulse beats in Crow’s jaw. He doesn’t say anything. Once again, I wonder what they were talking about. And how they know each other. There is a spark between these two—I think they must have been close at one time. Chin coming up, Red Kite tells Crow, “I’ll prove it however I can.” She stares at Crow for what seems a long time and then glances at Wolf. The corners of her mouth tug down. “Even if it means helping whatever half-baked idea you have. The Fighter Clan doesn’t run.”
Facing Crow again, she tells him, “We’ve lost, too. Far too many to sickness. To drones. My father—” Red Kite breaks off. For a fraction of a second, her eyes seem brighter, caught between anger and sadness. “I don’t lead as he did.”
I’m not sure if I believe Red Kite, but I am not willing to turn away any help. But will Wolf accept her help, too?
I look at Wolf. His expression is hard to read, but at last he nods. “We should all get a chance to redeem ourselves. How else better than in battle. It’s time to make plans.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Meetings to try and work out the plans go all night. I don’t know how Wolf stands it. It’s more arguments, more ideas that won’t work—and I am left wanting to jump up and scream at all of them to just listen to Wolf. But he sits still and listens.
Red Kite wants Mountain and Faun to give the Fighter Clan their weapons and black powder so they can lead the fight. The other clans won’t do that. Iguana of the Hills Clan says he’ll fight with Red Kite if his clan can also have the secret of the black powder that is so destructive. I finally leave them and fall asleep listening to the arguments.