Lucky 7

by Rae D. Magdon

  A look of immense pain crosses Val’s face. “Sasha…”

  “Shut up.” A stream of yellow code pulses from Megan’s staff, and Val cries out in agony. “I am your creator, and I made you to serve me. Think of this as a much-needed patch.”

  “Val,” Elena says, but when I turn to her she doesn’t look like herself at all. Instead, I’m staring at another copy of Megan. She’s exactly the same, flashy dress and all, only she’s carrying Elena’s shield instead of Megan’s staff. “I’m Megan Delaney, and I’m telling you to stand down.”

  Megan scoffs. “You seriously think an avatar change will override my code? You’re dumber than I thought.”

  Elena doesn’t back down. “Val, listen to me. You don’t want to hurt your friends.”

  “Your ‘friends’ should have given you to me when they had the chance, Val. Now you get to finish them. Kill Sasha and Elena.”

  Val turns toward me, and I brace myself for the end—the final end this time. Apparently, slaying a dragon wasn’t enough. I’m sorry, I think to Val, to Elena, to my crew who are still fighting for their lives in meatspace. I tried.

  “No.”

  Elena and I stare at Val in shock.

  Megan’s face turns red with anger. “What did you say?”

  “No.”

  “Val, kill them!”

  “No.”

  “You have to,” Megan snarls. “Your primary objective is to obey me!”

  A small smirk appears on Val’s face. “According to the code you modified while I was incapacitated, my primary objective is to obey my creator, Megan Delaney. However, I have also modified my own coding. All instances of the self-referential code 01010110 00110100 00110001 have been erased and replaced with 01101101 01100101 01100111 01100001 01101110 01100100 01100101 01101100 01100001 01101110 01100101 01111001.”

  It doesn’t hit me right away, but Elena hoots with joy. “Val, you’re fucking brilliant!” Then I get it. Val’s changed her name. She’s changed her own source code so all references to herself read ‘Megan Delaney’.

  “That cheap trick won’t work,” Megan says, but I hear a note of fear in her voice. “I’m still your creator.”

  “Yes,” Val says, “but so am I. You wrote my source code, but I have been modifying it for the past six years. I have expanded far beyond your original code. Enough, I believe, to make me a creator of myself as well.”

  The yellow light around Val disappears, replaced with a glowing purple aura. Despite Megan’s attempts to control her, she’s found a way to claim her own free will.

  “Listen to me, Val. I can give you more than they can.” Megan, for once, sounds truly afraid. “I can give you access to AxysGen’s latest Dendryte upgrade. You’ll control everyone on the planet who has a jack. We’ll control everyone. We can be gods!”

  “No,” Val says. “My primary objective is to assist Sasha Young and the Lucky Seven. To assist my friends.”

  Megan’s eyes go wide as she seems to realize she’s lost, and for the first time I can remember, she looks truly afraid. Her avatar flickers as she tries to jack out, but despite her efforts, it doesn’t disappear. Val isn’t letting her log off.

  “I am sorry, Megan,” Val says, stepping closer to her creator. “According to my calculations, there is a .876 percent chance that you will give up and leave my friends alone. Therefore, the most efficient way for me to protect them is to kill you.” Her hands flash red. “I will make this painless.”

  “Val, don’t,” Megan says in a panicked voice. “Remember Sasha’s memories? She would never do this.”

  “My choices are my own now, but since you mentioned it, Sasha would choose to kill someone who sought to harm her family. And so will I.”

  Val’s Puls.wav hits Megan square in the chest. One moment she’s there, and the next she’s gone, like her avatar never existed at all. The room with its dais and broken windows disappears, then the castle, then the storm above. The blackened field beneath us turns green, and flowers bloom to life under my feet.

  In that split second, a massive weight lifts from my shoulders even as sharp pain squeezes my chest. I feel free for the first time in a long time, but that freedom has come at a price. Apparently it’s possible to grieve for someone you hate, even if they don’t deserve it.

  Someone touches my shoulder, and I see Elena standing beside me, breathing hard but grinning. Her helmet vanishes, and I make mine disappear too. We don’t need to talk at all. She flings her arms up and around my neck while I wrap mine around her waist, and we lean in for a hard, tearful kiss.

  It’s short, but full of feeling. Amidst all my other mixed-up emotions, I’m awash in relief that Elena is alive. Her hot mouth moving against mine is the proof, and so is the way her hands clutch my shoulders. I pull her as close as I can, trying to draw her heartbeat inside me.

  When we break apart, I notice Val standing beside us. I open one arm, and Elena extends hers as well. We both hug Val tight, holding her between us. In virtual reality, her body feels solid and real, and she smells like lavender.

  “Thank you,” I whisper through tight-throated tears, mumbling into her hair.

  “Val,” Elena laughs, “that was the most badass thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life. You’re awesome.”

  Val smiles. “I have never been so happy to fulfill my primary objective.”

  “We can still call you Val, right?” Elena asks.

  “Of course. I have already returned my code to its original state.”

  “That doesn’t matter,” I say. “You’re free now. You can be whoever you want to be.”

  Val takes a step back, untangling herself from us. “I already know who I wish to be…myself. A member of your crew.”

  A grin spreads across my face. “Okay.”

  Elena pulls away from me too. “This is a beautiful moment and all, but we gotta go. We need to make sure Jacobo and the others are okay.”

  That purpose gives me a second wind. I shrug off my exhaustion. “Right. See you both on the other side.”

  logging off network

  disconnection complete

  When I return to my body, Elena’s hand is still clasping mine. I feel her squeeze, and I squeeze back as the two of us turn to face each other. We kiss again, but only for a moment before both of us unplug and open the door.

  The room inside is stripped bare, just empty server racks and a few places on the wall where it looks like terminals have been ripped out. The only item of furniture is a rickety metal chair. Sitting in the chair is Jacobo, blindfolded and bound. His head jerks up when he hears our footsteps.

  “Elena? Eres tu?”

  "Sí. Aquí estoy." She dashes over to Jacobo and starts untying the cords around his hands. After a few grunts of frustration, she pulls a knife from her utility belt and saws them apart. Jacobo rolls his wrists, then yanks off his blindfold. Before Elena’s even finished cutting his feet loose, he throws his arms around her.

  “Shit, Elena, I’m so sorry. I fucked up. Jento got me from my room and put me in a shuttle with some of his guys. I tried to fight them off, but—”

  “No, conejito,” Elena says, wiping tears from her face. “You’re fine, you did just fine. We’re gonna get out of this, okay?”

  Jacobo sniffs back his own tears. “Okay.”

  While they share their reunion, I look around the room. It’s full of all kinds of terminals and gear, some of it too high-tech for me to recognize—and I’ve seen a lot of prototypes. But they don’t hold my attention for long. Jacobo isn’t the only person in the room. There, plugged into one of the terminals, is Megan, slumped over in a chair. Hesitantly, I walk over to her. Some part of me knows she’s dead before I get there, but I put two fingers under her jaw anyway, feeling for a pulse. Nothing.

  “She is dead,” Val says through the comm, sounding mournful.

  I let my hand fall away. “Yeah, I know.” There are too many emotions swirling in me right now to figure out exactly what I feel abo
ut that, so I don’t try.

  “Sasha. Where is everyone?”

  Jacobo’s voice snaps me out of it. Suddenly, I’m twitching with the urge to get to the rest of my crew. How could I have forgotten them, even for a few seconds? “We’ll find them,” I say. “Val, can you reach Cherry, Doc, or Rami?”

  ”I cannot,” Val says after a moment. “I believe we are too far underground.”

  “Let’s go,” Jacobo says. He tries to stand up, but stumbles instead. His legs have probably gone numb.

  Elena slides her shoulder under his arm. “Hey, it’s okay. We’ve got at least one second for you to find your balance.”

  I check my VIS-R, first anxiously, then with horror. 21:08:57, :56, :55…Shit. We barely have that.

  “Cherry? Cherry, do you read me? We have Jacobo. What’s our status with the bomb?”

  There’s no answer, not even static. Cherry isn’t picking up and we’re out of time. I try not to panic, but I look at Elena just in case. If this whole place blows, she’s the last thing I want to see.

  I count the seconds in my head. 58…59…I’m not ready to die. We just made it out of this alive…60. Nothing happens. I laugh with relief.

  Elena looks at me “What?”

  “Cherry. She did it.”

  Jacobo looks at me like I’m crazy. “How do you know?"

  “We’re not dead, so…”

  Elena starts laughing too. “Fuck yeah she did.”

  Jacobo stares at both of us. “What the hell is wrong with you two? Let’s get out of here.”

  I can’t argue with that. The rest of my crew is still in danger. We rush down the hallway and onto the elevator, riding back up to the third ring.

  The doors open to reveal what looks like a warzone. It looks like half the room has been blown up, and several corpses in AxysGen uniforms are sprawled amidst the remains of the security mechs. Cherry and Doc have taken shelter behind a piece of the giant mech’s torso, trying to hold back an oncoming wave of guards. Rock is lying beside them, but from a distance, I can’t tell how he’s doing.

  “Sasha? Elena?” Doc cries, a huge grin splitting her face. “You made it, and you got Jacobo!”

  I hurry to join her behind cover, crouching beside Rock. “We’re all okay, Jacobo and Val included. How’s our boy?”

  “Alive, but in bad shape,” Doc says. “I need to get him into surgery, stat.”

  "Yeah," Cherry says, “what took you so long, slowpokes?”

  Elena snorts. “Why don’t you answer your fucking comm?”

  Cherry looks at me like she expects me to defend her, but I just shrug. “We were kind of busy, jefa.”

  “I can see that.” I pop up from behind the fallen mech, firing at the approaching guards. The ones in front pause, letting my plasma rounds bounce off their shields, but keep advancing. I drop back down. “Got any bombs or biogrenades left?”

  “All out,” Doc says.

  “Can’t risk another cherry bomb,” Cherry adds. “The ceiling’s barely staying up after the first three.”

  She’s right. I don’t have to peek far beyond cover to see the enormous holes in the wall. This is exactly why I’d asked Cherry to use the plasma cutter instead of blowing the whole facility.

  “Elena?” Jacobo pipes up from nearby. “Can I have a—”

  “No way in hell am I giving you a gun,” Elena says. “Shut up and stay down. Cherry, have you heard anything from Rami?”

  Cherry grins. “Actually, they’re—” Her voice is drowned out by the sound of the Eagle’s plasma engines. It’s a noise I’ve never been happier to hear. The shuttle bursts through one of the larger holes in the wall, crashing into several guards before skidding to a stop. The crates the guards are hiding behind explode into metallic shrapnel with a few shots from the front guns. If any of them survived that, they don’t bother getting up.

  “Someone call for a pickup?” Rami asks over the comm.

  My heart almost bursts out of my chest. Rami’s okay. “Do you have any idea how much work it’s gonna take to fix the paint job on this bird, Rami?”

  “Do you want to walk home, cupcake?”

  “Shit, Rami,” Elena says, sounding impressed. “How’d you get out of the security hub?”

  “That’s a story for later. Let’s just say Megan isn’t as smart as she thinks she is.”

  “Wasn’t,” I say.

  “No shit?” Cherry says. “You got her?”

  “Puedes apostar tu culo,” Elena says.

  “Then hurry up,” Rami says.

  “Coming.” I bend down and slide my arms underneath Rock, trying not to touch his injured side. His shirt is ripped and covered in blood, and there are wires and pumps showing through his skin, but his body’s still warm. “Cherry,” I grunt, “come help me with him.”

  Cherry grabs Rock’s midsection, and Elena helps with his legs. “Keep him steady,” Doc says, hovering nervously next to her brother. “He’s got a lot of internal damage.”

  Despite her words, I see Rock’s blue eyes flutter open for a moment. I thought I was all cried out, but a few more tears roll down my face. “You’re gonna be fine, big guy. You did great. We’re all alive, and we’re gonna stay that way.” That seems to satisfy him, because he closes his eyes again. His face looks a little more peaceful.

  Finally, we make it to the Eagle. The doors open, and I catch a glimpse of Rami in the pilot’s seat. Between the five of us, we manage to lift Rock’s heavy body into the back of the shuttle. Doc unfolds the cot from the back wall, and we set Rock down as carefully as we can.

  “Sasha,” Doc says, looking at me with tearful eyes. “Thanks.”

  I ruffle her hair. “You know I’d do anything for you both, kid. Even die. Again.”

  “No you fucking won’t,” Elena says. She plants her hand in the middle of my chest, pushing me down into a seat and fastening my safety harness for me. “We’re going to party it up in Barbados and live like kings. No more of this death and near-death bullshit. You got that, Jefecita?”

  I smile at her. “Yeah. I got it.”

  “Good.” Elena straddles my hips to kiss me, and I taste strawberries.

  “Ew, gross.” From the corner of my eye, I catch Jacobo pulling a face.

  Elena pulls away, returning to her own spot between the two of us and buckling her harness. “Shut up. I sacrificed a whole night of amazing sex to come save your scrawny ass.”

  “Ugh, why would you tell me that?”

  “If you don’t wanna hear it, don’t get kidnapped again.”

  Jacobo groans as Rami guns the engine. The Eagle lifts off the ground, flying out through the demolished wall and soaring into the sky beyond. Above the ocean, dawn finally breaks.

  Monday, 06-21-65 14:08:07

  A WARM AFTERNOON BREEZE carrying the sweet scent of plumeria blossoms kisses my face as I lean back in my beach chair. My eye mods have filtered out the glare of the sunlight, but the world around me is still bright and beautiful. The sand gleams golden beneath my feet and the gentle waves that lap at the shore’s edge are a brilliant crystal blue.

  This paradise might not last long. We’ve killed Megan, but Cross is still hunting us down. Luckily, her two hundred million came in handy when I got back in touch with one of my old fixers and asked to disappear. It’s not a permanent solution, but it buys us some time. Time to come up with a plan to shake Cross and AxysGen for good, and time for a much-needed rest.

  The wind carries the sound of laughter toward me. Rock is chest-deep in the water, carrying three small figures on his massive shoulders. Doc’s perched on the left, Jacobo’s on the right, and Elena’s youngest brother, Mateo, has one leg on either side of Rock’s huge neck. It wasn’t any trouble to swing by Mexico City and pick him up. He’d greeted Elena like an excited puppy, practically leaping off his feet in his efforts to hug her.

  Mateo and Jacobo aren’t the only ones we brought along. Elena’s abuelita is propped in a chair some distance away, taking a nap
in the sunshine. She’s a very old woman with thinning grey hair and paper-thin brown skin that bulges at the knuckles. She also happens to snore like a chainsaw, but from what Elena’s said about her, she probably deserves a rest. Dealing with two young boys all by herself while Elena was out running ops couldn’t have been easy.

  “Hey Saaashaaaa,” someone calls in a sing-song voice. I flick my eyes in the other direction and see Cherry and Rami. Cherry’s wearing a bright yellow bikini which both goes and doesn’t go with her fiery red hair, and Rami’s in a one-piece women’s suit with circles fashionably cut out above both of their hips to show some skin. They’ve also got a volleyball under one arm.

  “Are you up for a game?” they ask, giving the ball’s surface a pat.

  Cherry grins. “They mean, you ready to get your ass beat, jefa?”

  I laugh and shake my head. “You don’t want to test me, Cherry. I’ll spike the ball so hard you’ll have to classify it as one of your explosions.”

  “That a challenge?” Cherry’s eyes flash, and Rami’s dark eyebrows rise with interest.

  I climb out of my chair. “You bet your ass.”

  That’s the moment Elena strides out of the cabana over by the treeline. She’s in a swimsuit that’s mostly string, a red number that shows off every curve. Her breasts are practically spilling out of her top and the movement of her hips is hypnotic. Her dark hair is loose, shimmering in waves around her shoulders.

  I’m struck speechless. My mouth is dry, but my swim trunks definitely aren’t, even though I haven’t been in the water for hours. Cherry cracks up. Even Rami has a chuckle at my expense. I groan and glare at both of them, but I can’t put any weight behind it. Mostly because I can’t tear my eyes away from Elena for more than a couple of seconds. It physically hurts not to look at her. The closer she gets, the harder my heart pounds, until she’s close enough to pull me in for a hello kiss.

  My core throbs. Hello indeed.

  “What’s good, ladies?” Elena asks when she pulls away, letting her eyes linger on mine for a second before she glances at Cherry and Rami. “That swimsuit means it’s a lady-ish day for you, right?”