“We don’t tell anyone. We infect them with the data. He can block us all he wants, but if he can’t know who has the data, then he can’t block them from posting it. He would either have to shut off the whole SatNet, which I don’t think is even possible for him to do—or revoke everyone’s access in Prin, equally difficult with unregistered LightTabs and incomplete citizen data.”
“Like me!” Vin smiled.
Tani stared at Vin, “You’re right. He would know about you because you are on the lab roster, but your Tab and birth are completely unregistered. If he can’t physically find you, there would be no way for him to stop you from posting the data.”
Vin leaned back to lounge on the floor, wincing slightly as the grating dug into his elbow, then trying to cover it up with a smile, “It’s time for the uneducated dolt to save your genius asses!”
“You realize you’re going to have to leave Prin? The Underground is too empty now to hide down here.” Delilah asked.
Vin’s smug expression melted off his face, “Shit—you’re right.” He sat back up and started brooding, “I guess I could try Ceafield?”
Tani and Delilah looked at each other before exclaiming, “No!” — “No way!”
Tani continued, “You’d be killed within days. You’d have better luck in the Underground.”
“I have family there!”
“You have people distantly related to you there. They would probably kill you just for showing up and assuming they would help you. If they didn’t—I’m sure they would steal all your food.”
Vin shook his head, “They would take me in!”
“When was the last time you spoke with them?”
“Um—well, I wasn’t really speaking-age at the time I last saw them...”
“See? Murder and food theft.”
“I don’t see what our other options are. I can reach out before leaving and make sure they won’t kill me.”
“I wouldn’t trust anyone that has lived in Ceafield for at least twenty years.”
Vin sighed and looked straight into Tani’s eyes, “It’s the only way to keep you safe. I have to go and I have to stay alive to keep you alive. I’m going to do it, Tani, so you should help me figure out how to go about it.”
Tani felt her stomach drop at the thought of losing Vin — whether he was safe but not in Prin, or dead— she was losing him.
“Alright. We’ll figure it out.” She looked over at Delilah, “Head back to the lab. Act like nothing is weird. We were doing an in-home follow up. Vin and I may have caught something, so we both went home for the day. We’ll get the data package set up and a timer for delaying its release as long as we are all alive.”
Delilah nodded, standing with them, but turning to leave first. Once she was through the door, Tani threw herself at Vin, hugging him. “I’ve never done anything without you, my whole life, you know.”
Vin hugged her back, “We have always survived together. And we are still doing that, even if I’m not here.”
85
Vin
Vin waited until Tani left the room to remove the giant blanket from his pack and replace it with a sack of food he had hidden in the adjoining refrigerated room for their blood supply. I’m heading south anyway. South-ish. He still had the tent, cot, and a thinner blanket. He’d be fine.
Tani was rifling through the medication fridge next door, trying to put together a basic medical supply pack for him, so he hid the food under the lighter blanket.
So far, Vin had managed to stay relatively hidden when he was in the lab. Kingston was spending more time here, but mostly just checked in with Tani and then spent his time with Hunt. He seemed to have little interest in disposing of Tani, likely because no one had proven to be capable of continuing her work. He feared more for Delilah, who could be replaced and could serve as a pawn for Kingston to use against Tani. Vin’s attempts to convince her she should leave with him were unsuccessful.
The heavy metal door opened from the second fridge room and Tani strolled out, “I’m going to grab a spool of gauze. Make sure you don’t use the antibiotics unless you really have to, but don’t let something get infected. Once you get to the swamplands, any infected wounds will just get worse and the antibiotics won’t last to fight off infection for the multiple weeks you’ll be in them before Ceafield. Are you sure your family won’t kill you?”
Vin rolled his eyes before he noticed the quiver in her chin. He closed the gap between them and put a hand on her shoulder, “I’ll be fine. They have no reason to kill me. By the time I get there I won’t have anything worth stealing anyways.”
“Will they help you learn Ceafield? You might be there a while.”
He tightened his grip on her shoulder, prompting her to look at him rather than the floor, “Tani, as terrible as the stories are of Ceafield, there are honest people there. It’s just like the Underground, just overcharged a little bit—we survived that as children. I can survive this.”
She nodded and looked away again.
Well, at least I can. He looked over her small stature and thin arms as she tried to hide behind her strands of dark brown hair and sighed. I’m glad she’s not coming.
Tani slipped away from him, “I’ll be back with the medical kit.”
He waited patiently in the room, knowing no one would be in there other that Tani or Delilah. She reappeared and handed him a pack, wrapped in heavy cloth and tied with extra gauze.
“Antibiotics, topical and oral, fever reducers, material you can use for a makeshift splint—as long as you can find some relatively straight branches—and some alcohol, gauze and a mask.”
“A mask?”
“You never know what you might find there. If you run into sick people, wear the mask unless you’re alone. If you see any animals that look really thin, like walking corpses, do not eat them. Their disease can’t be cooked out of them.”
Vin resisted the urge to roll his eyes again, “I don’t think I’ll be doing much hunting with the small knife I own.”
“Oh! Hang on.” She scurried out of the room. He heard the door to her office bang down the hall and she reentered a few moments later. She held what looked like a black walking stick, with a bar at the top, followed by a large circle.
“Um—I’m not that much older than you.”
“It’s a weapon that also works as a walking stick. You may need the stick to get through the swamplands.” She leaned the stick portion down, slipped her hand through the circle, grasping it before the bar beneath it. She placed her other hand about halfway down and pulled her hands in opposite directions. The stick came apart right below the bar, and she pulled a blade out from the center. It looked like hardened ceramic, also in black.
“Did you use one of the Nagata printers?” He looked at it in shock, stepping forward and taking the sword from her. It was incredibly light. He ran his finger across the edge of the blade to test the sharpness.
“Yes. I have access now. I designed it, printed it, then scrubbed the logs. Careful. It’s sharp enough to cut through pretty much anything.” She lowered her voice, “I made sure it could slice through the Prin style armor. Just in case he figures anything out and sends people after you.”
“Seriously? Why wouldn’t they make armor that can be destroyed by their own manufacturing?”
“Mobility. The amalgams they use are designed to have some give, since they can’t afford to customize each piece to the particular soldier. Only the General has ever had custom armor, and well—I don’t think you’ll have to worry about him. More importantly, though, it should make dispatching any Xenai easy as well. Assuming they don’t have superior numbers. I suggest running from them, though, at least until you can find a spot to take them one at a time. Even if there is one, others are usually close by.”
Vin nodded, still transfixed on the dark matte blade. It was beautiful, in a terrifying way.
“Hey, dude, look. That’s not all!”
He ripped his eyes back to th
e bottom staff that Tani still held. She gripped a piece of the staff a few inches from the top and began to twist with vigor. “This isn’t going to work as an emergency weapon like the sword. But, it’ll help with hunting.” A blade began to slowly turn up into place from within the staff. The last few inches above the point Tani was turning opened up at the top as the last rounded bottom of the blade poked through. The opened pieces fell back into place with a click, creating a smooth round blade that nearly looked like it belonged to the staff. “You’re going to have to learn to throw it.”
She began twisting it back, and he watched the top open back up and the blade slide slowly back in. “If its not locked into place all the way retracted, you won’t be able to get your sword back in.” She handed it to him and he sat the sword down, extended the spear, then retracted it until he heard a click. He put the sword in and was surprised that it just flopped around the top, “uh—this doesn’t seem very secure.”
Tani sighed. She grabbed it from him with a great deal of caution, then tipped it down just enough to pull it out an inch. “See where it gets thinner and has ridges?”
Vin could barely make it out on the black hilt that seemed not to absorb any light. “I think so? It screws in, doesn’t it?”
“Just a slight twist to secure it.” She handed it to him and he felt when the ridges fell into place and the sword was secured.
“Alright.” He laid it down on the metal table next to him and scooped Tani into a big hug, “I don’t know if I’ll ever be good at using this, but it’s the best thing you’ve ever given me.”
“Better than getting out of the Underground?”
He smiled as he set her down on the floor, “Yes, but only because pretty much everyone got out of the Underground a few weeks after us. Kind of diminished the value of it.”
“If you didn’t have to go, you’d be a pretentious Topsider soon.”
Vin smiled, “I do it all for the food.” He scooped up his bag and slung it on. The cot hung off the bottom, bumping into his legs. The top of it was taller than his head. “Man, this is going to get heavy fast.”
Tani gave him her all-knowing smile, “And you’ll be glad for your old person murder stick.”
* * *
Vin spent the night in the Underground with the last good food he would probably have in a while. Tani had paid to get him a meal from the pastry stall. And by meal, he had pretty much every single one of the pastry wrapped meats on their menu, and a few of the sweet cakes. It would have fed Tani for a week.
That girl is so strangely amazing. He thought as he reached the edge of the formerly livable Underground space, snuck into a closed shop and found somewhere to sit with his bag of food. The smell had been tantalizing him the whole way down, so he dug in, not caring about the mess he made or the rats that would come. No one lived here anymore to worry about it.
The route to the edge of the Underground that extended past the southern Prin walls made the rest of the Underground seem clean. The undisturbed waste and water had festered for years. Dead animals littered the space. He put on the mask Tani gave him to filter out some of the smells. It was still wretched. Thank god I finished all the meat pies last night. No way I’d touch them after this.
He couldn’t take it all the way to the exit Tani had marked for him. He ducked out as soon as he found an exit outside the walls, checking for patrols and dodging out when they all had their backs turned. He covered the open ground to some trees quickly, and then checked his LightTab to find the best path to get distance from Prin and meet up with the route Tani had created all the way to Ceafield.
Four weeks to get there, assuming he didn’t overexert himself. He pushed himself to move quickly the first few miles then slowed down, drinking some water and sending a message to Tani through their encrypted lines,
I’m out. No issues. Don’t forget to send your updates tonight before I have to extend the data release timer.
The Tab pinged back more quickly than Vin had ever gotten a reply from Tani before:
Between Delilah and I, you’ll get a message on time. Don’t miss the extension.
She had attached a small image to the message. He tapped it and waited for it to download as he sipped on his water. It was of Tani and Delilah, sitting in a cafe for breakfast. Piles of whipped cream were visible at the bottom edge of the image.
He laughed and replied:
I won’t forget, you wretched glutton.
It was almost time, and he almost forgot. His warning on his LightTab pulled him back to reality. He cursed and ripped his eyes away from the scene before him. He pulled out the Tab, saw the message from Delilah that they were safe, and hit the extension macro. He put the Tab on silent for the next twelve hours, then slipped it back into his pants, looking back at the scenery.
The southern town before him was in ruins. It had been built after the Sundering. Tani had marked it as a place to stop to get food. The homes were smoldering heaps of rubble. In the darkness, he could still see some embers. It had happened recently. He waited in the stillness, reaching out with Intuition to see if he could sense anything alive. He was rusty and knew that there was a good chance he would miss something, but it still made him more comfortable when he didn’t find anything lurking around.
He debated going around the town, which would add some time, then decided that with how destroyed it was, whatever had caused the devastation would likely have moved on and have no intention to return. He needed to find a spot that looked safe, but was close enough to some dying embers to provide warmth. He slowly walked through the streets, hyperaware of everything around him. He located a cellar door that seemed to be fine. He threw it open and descended into the darkness, happy to find a part of the cellar had collapsed in, bringing the smoldering wood into the dark stone room. He placed a rock under the door to hold it open a few inches to make sure there was airflow both ways then laid out his cot onto the floor halfway between the door and the blackened wood and embers.
It was hard to sleep. What is going on, now? Are the Xenai back already?
86
Tani
Thank God Vin left already. Tani thought to herself as she reviewed the documents that Kingston had brought in. He had been in the middle of everything on her side of the lab all morning. He seemed kindly enough, and not at all wary of her as she had expected. Does he not care if people know what he is? Does he know what he is?
He had a few basic plans for weaponry powered by the Blight Crystal that he had gotten from the Artificers, and. he was perky and full of questions for her about them. She shrugged, “I still need a Xenai to work with.”
“I’ll get you one, soon. There haven’t been many around lately. But, I sent out extra patrols to the north and south to try to find you one. I’m sorry its taken so long.”
“You can’t help that they got their prize and ran away.”
Kingston looked around and lowered his voice, “Do you really think they’ll turn her into a weapon against us?”
“I don’t know if they will use her against us. If they wanted to wipe us out, they could have kept coming and done that rather than retreating. But, they will turn her into a weapon. And without knowing what they want, we could end up in their way and have to deal with her.”
He nodded and turned back to the blueprints on the LightTab in front of them, but kept his voice low, “We need these up and running quickly. I sent the patrols to the south because a settlement went dark there. They might have been wiped out by Xenai. They are investigating and looking for a Xenai to trap for you.”
Tani felt a pang of alarm. Vin is south. “You’re not sure it’s Xenai? Could it have been something else?”
“Could be. They just stopped responding to our communications.”
Tani looked at the blueprints. “Get the Artificers in here who designed this. We can test smaller versions of similar design first. We can test it against pure Blight Crystal until we have a Xenai. I think if we can get it to destab
ilize itself, it should work on embedded organics.” She looked around the platform, “You realize, if we do create something that works against the Blight Crystal in Xenai, we’ll also be creating something that works against—all my patients?”
He gave her a solemn look and a quick nod, “We’ll do what has to be done.”
Tani turned away, confusion about Kingston swirling in her mind. She had seen it, at the execution—his system—a setup to wrench power from the Shae family. And now, here he was, offering himself as a potential sacrifice to save Prin. It didn’t make sense. She had to be caught in a new construct of his. He had new goals and was building a new system. She did not appreciate being in the middle of it.
“Tani? I need some tea, do you want to walk to the cafe with me? It’d be nice to get out of the lab. We can get some food, too.”
Anger rose within her, but she pushed it back. The only way to figure out the new system was with new information, “Sure, I don’t think I’ve eaten yet today.”
Kingston nodded and rose from his chair next to the table. The quiet surprised her as they walked from the lab and strolled through the treelined pathway to the market, a few blocks away. Kingston seemed to be in no hurry as he moved along, looking up into the sky and watching the wind through the trees. The sudden gusts of air chilled Tani through her jacket and multiple layers of clothes beneath it, but Kingston seemed to not notice the cold.
As they rounded the final corner into the busy market, Kingston grabbed the door to the Cafe a few steps ahead and held it open for her. It smelled better inside than Tani remembered. The scent of fresh bread and pastries filled the room. I might be turning into Vin, she thought as her stomach grumbled. She walked slowly past the shelves with pastries and various types of bread, covered by clear plastic. I could eat one of everything right now.
Song of Sundering Page 49