by Loren Walker
Then Theron's voice grew louder, making Anandi jump. "Cohen, Sydel and Phaira - they're still in that valley?"
"I don't know where they are now, and I don't care." She twisted in her seat, trying to find some give in her arm bonds.
"What's your problem with them?"
Help me, her thoughts begged. Save me.
She heard Theron give a soft chuckle. "You know, I have my own issues with that family. I might be sympathetic to yours."
"Take the bag off and I'll tell you," she challenged.
With a whisk, light flooded into Anandi's eyes, and she screwed her eyes shut to adjust them, embarrassed at the sweat on her face and the state of her hair. When her vision cleared, she saw Theron glance at her, and then turn back to face the pilot controls, gazing through the windshield. Did she catch a look of shame in his face? She couldn't be sure with her eyesight so blurry. She took in gulps of fresh breath and tried to gather her thoughts.
"So?” came his detached voice. “Your turn. Why are you mad at them?"
Anandi stared at the back of his head. He was still pushing it?
He was in need of someone to commiserate with, she realized. She could serve that role. He was practically begging for a confidante.
If I can make him think I'm on his side, he'll relax his guard enough for me to break loose.
It was the best chance she had. She couldn’t see the coordinates to where they were flying, and the sky showed nothing but blue.
"Because - because I'm tired of being a convenient computer for whoever calls begging for help," Anandi started, thinking quickly. "With no regard to how it impacts me, or my father. I've never gotten a thank you, or any invitation to be more than just a disconnected voice for their one-time use, and I'm sick of it. I'm more than that. I'm capable of more than that, and I'm worth more than that."
"That's not a reason." Theron's response was a huff.
Anandi balked. "You said you were sympathetic."
Theron glanced over his shoulder, his profile dark and hawkish. "She saved you and your father from jail, twice now, if I'm correct, once in Honorwell and once in Liera. She was arrested in your place and was willing to go to prison instead of giving you two up. Everything she did, she did to protect you two, and her family, and that was the only -”
His sentence stopped.
"I don't want to talk about Phaira," he added gruffly.
"You brought her up," Anandi shot back. "I meant the lot of them, not just her."
Though she couldn't see the motions, Anandi heard the sound of fingers tapping the flight controls. It all came together for her, in that moment, and she cursed herself for not having realized it earlier. He and Phaira. Their familiarity in Honorwell, how they bickered under the balcony when helping Anandi and her father to escape. The fact that Phaira got out of patrol custody in the aftermath, with nothing to her record. It was him. They were involved, and probably for longer than she knew. He knew about Liera; how could he know about that unless he was there? Was he the reason why Phaira was sneaking out at night? Anandi felt both sick and furious at the thought. In another time and place, she would have been jealous. Anandi had never been sure if Phaira was straight or gay or some combination, she always seemed so aloof. Does she even have any feelings? Anandi had wondered time and again, as her resentment took root over the last few months. But this was different. This was some kind of connection that she hadn’t even realized, even with all her eyes and ears and access.
What is the right move? she wondered. Should I talk about Phaira? Should I be derogatory towards her? Or defend her? What does he want to hear?
"We're going to see Renzo, right?" she tried instead. She was still trying to figure out how they were connected. Why Renzo would leave his family behind and go with Theron? Theron had hired the family before for protection. Maybe this was an extended contract? "Is he working for you again?" she blurted out.
"Not for me, no," came his response. "A partnership."
Anandi held back her gasp. Renzo had joined ranks? He was a Sava?
Theron looked over his shoulder. "And one that you can be a part of, if you're open. I know you think I'm scum, but you might think differently if you see what I've been trying to do."
Anandi didn't know what to say. Careful, careful, her thoughts warned.
"My hands are bound, Theron," Anandi finally spoke. "This isn't really a situation that leaves me 'open' to new ideas or partnerships."
She saw a slight flush in his neck. "You're right. We'll be landing shortly, and I'll take them off. I'll need your Lissome though. I know you've got at least one on your body."
Reflexively, Anandi put her elbow over the tiny black square in her pocket. There will be others, her thoughts whispered. Stay calm and keep him talking.
"And don't be mouthy again when we get there," Theron added. "It's one thing in a junkyard, another when you're surrounded by my people. Don't cause someone to overreact. I don't need the mess."
Was that a threat, or a warning? Anandi stared at the back of his head.
Theron gave a soft hmph! of an exhale. "Funny, isn't it? Where we both ended up? You running the Hitodama, me the Syndicate. Always thought it would be Keller doing this, never me. Never thought I'd be here."
"Neither did I," she had to admit. "You know how much I wanted to be free of all of it. I didn't want to be an Ajyo, and everything it entails."
"I'm starting to think it's just fate," he muttered. "Doesn't matter what we do, or who we try not to be. It all would have happened, no matter what. I'm a Sava, you're an Ajyo. We play the same roles, again and again, one generation and the next."
Maybe that was true. She was an Ajyo, and he was a Sava, and their families had been in business and friendship for decades. A tiny part of herself accepted this, relaxed and ready for the role he was presenting. Their families, finally reunited.
It made her made her think of her father, and a rush of panic went through her. Had he been captured, too? What about her people? What if the Savas were slaughtering them all now, as she flew through the sky with hands bound? What if he was distracting her, easing her into a trap?
"Whatever we decide, Theron," she choked out. "My father remains free. I don't want him involved, not in any of this."
"He's never been a factor." That flat, dismissive tone was back in his voice.
"Does that translate to 'he's safe and unharmed'"? she couldn't help but press.
"Like I said," came his quiet reply. "He's never been a factor."
* * *
The windshield went dark and cold, and the engines quieted. It was so dark, Anandi couldn't see where they had landed. She forced herself to not squirm with nerves, even as Theron rose from the pilot's chair, unfolding to his great height and stretching his back.
He gestured at her. Warily, she stumbled to her feet, and waited.
She felt the brush of his hand on her wrists and heard a tiny click. The fasteners released and fell to the floor with a clang.
She rubbed her wrists and looked up at the giant man. He pulled his overcoat over his broad chest and buttoned it. "Come on," he repeated curtly, ducking under the doorframe, heading for the Arazura's exit hatch.
Outside, they emerged into a compound, so vast that it took Anandi by surprise. She flicked her gaze in all directions, searching for some kind of geographical marker. She looked up at the vast brick building, its crumbling exterior: red brick and stone, old windows, cracked glass, the whistling of wind through the roof. What was this place?
“Used to be a school for troubled youth,” she heard Theron say. “When it was condemned, Grandfather picked it up. Now it’s in my name. Thought it would be good to put the property to use.”
For a school, there was a startling amount of security measures built into the area, as Anandi discovered when she followed Theron, taking note of the guards patrolling the area, the endless number of men and woman that moved on rotation, checkpoints, metal detectors.
On entr
y, Theron handed her a thin half-circle of metal. “Put this on,” he instructed.
Anandi thought about arguing, but paused when she saw Theron put on his own loop, affixing it behind his ears, and under the long sheath of hair, so the silver glimmer was barely visible. Tentatively, she mimicked his movements, feeling its smoothness, the tiny impression in its center, where her fingertip hovered. She felt the tiniest click, and stiffened. But nothing happened.
Theron was looking down at her, a strange look of bemusement on his face. “It’s protection,” he told her. “You’ll need it from them.”
He gestured at a series of doors, three in total, with a slit of a window at the top.
From them?
Anandi looked through the first window on tip-toes.
She recognized the green braids immediately.
A toddler was asleep in CaLarca's arms, wrapped in a blanket, as she rocked back in forth in her kneeling position. She was staring at the wall. Anandi wondered if she should knock, or wave. Then a wave of shame went through her; what was she thinking?
Quickly, she glanced into the other two rooms. The middle cell held an older man with long hair, dark skin and heavy lines on his face. He was sitting cross-legged on his cot, playing with a bracelet of black stones on his wrist. The room on the far side held yet another man, younger, thinner, bearded, who paced the width of the small space, and caught Anandi’s eye when she looked in. The partner Ganasan, she realized, the one from the video. He was being kept apart from his wife and child. Why? And who was the man in the middle? Another NINE?
Fingers trembling, Anandi touched the loop of metal around the back of her head. “This is the HALO you made with Renzo.”
“The improved version,” Theron corrected. “Stronger, and more disruptive to NINE frequencies without sacrificing quality. There's been a lot of progress. Come and see."
Theron walked, heading down hallways, and Anandi scampered to follow, feeling like a mouse chasing a giant, the way he took such long strides. Amber eyes lowered as he passed, and lifted to stare at her. She was utterly confused now, between the HALOs and the apparent hostage situation that was taking place, even though she acutely remembered the video that spread across Osha, of Theron’s men storming a building, and the violence that followed. Theron had gone through the trouble of freeing CaLarca’s family, just to take her and her son into custody?
Anandi shivered and forced her legs to keep moving.
The hall opened up into what might have once been an auditorium, but the space was now filled with noise; whirring machinery, smelting and heat, the stench of chemicals. Piles of metal and tools, spotlights on various stations. And there, in the harsh florescent light of one, was Renzo Byrne, welder goggles pushed onto the top of his head, his regular glasses on his nose, his skin shining with sweat, and a look of pure bliss on his face. From a distance, Anandi stared at him, and wondered if she were to punch him, if he would fall, or just laugh at her.
“Ani!” came the surprised cry. Renzo slapped down his heavy gloves and came running, sweeping her into an embrace. “You're here!”
“Seems you had two people trying to get the Arazura back,” she said through clenched teeth. “Coincidence.”
Renzo’s smile faded as he let her go. “I know this looks bad to you.”
Anandi chortled. She put her hands on her hips, staring at Renzo. To her relief, his eyes were still gray-green, and not amber; if they had been, she didn’t know what she would have done.
“But he’s my business partner,” Renzo corrected. “And with our inventions, we’ll make sure that no one ever gets hurt by NINE again.”
Her thoughts turned, putting pieces together. Since the Arazura was first built, Renzo hadn’t stopped creating. He worked in a mad spree over the past few months: the HALO, the stealth technology on the Arazura, those SCKAFO leggings for CaLarca's legs. This was how Theron had snared him. Through invention.
Renzo took her by the wrist and steered her to where he was working. “Remember the electromagnetic pulse project that I came up with on the Arazura, that you activated in Toomba? I came up with a smaller version some weeks ago, a Disruptor Coin."
He held out his hand, which held a simple coin-shaped piece of metal. "And I’m glad I did, because it was the only thing that stopped the Red from…”
He paused, his eyes clouding over.
Then Renzo continued. “I’ve made it even smaller, so it can slip into a pocket, and be activated by the edge of a fingernail. But the DC is strong enough that anyone within a ten-foot radius who is NINE will be impacted. It’ll short-circuit their brains for a split second, just enough to disrupt whatever they’re doing, so a person can get away, or call patrol.
“Then the HALOs,” he kept on. “They should be standard in every vehicle, on every patrolman's belt. We have no idea how many NINE there are, Ani. Sure, CaLarca’s group, but remember Huma, remember all those people she recruited - who else is out there? They’re multiplying, and they can hurt people. It can’t happen again. These people need to be managed. And if they’re not willing to be public about what they can do, then we make it obvious.”
Listening, there was a part of Anandi that agreed with what Renzo was saying. She had never liked CaLarca, and the woman had caused nothing but trouble and manipulations, but she couldn't help but feel bad at seeing her imprisoned and under guard.
"He's holding CaLarca prisoner," she said carefully. "And her family. You're ok with that?"
Renzo shrugged. "She made her choice.”
Renzo was her closest friend. She knew more about him than anyone, and yet, when Anandi looked at him now, he looked so unpleasant. She never quite felt their age gap so strongly than she did in that moment.
"I’m not starting a war," Renzo said, as if he were reading her mind. "Nothing here is lethal. But this will prevent so much violence and suffering. It's necessary. Look at what they’ve done to my family. Huma and her brain scrambling. Kuri’s manipulations, almost killing Cohen. Lander, stuck in an institution. Yann Qin, messing with Sydel's mind. The Red mass murders. All NINE, all corrupt. Not one of them has used their abilities for good.”
She couldn’t help but ask: "You think Sydel is evil?"
"Sydel isn’t included in any of this," Renzo said brusquely. "She’s a special case, and she’ll always be separate, as long as she can keep herself under control."
Or else?
“Is this all for a specific buyer?” she pressed. “Someone who knows about the NINE?”
“No, it’s for the public. That’s where you come in, Ani. At least, I hope you’ll agree to it.” Renzo’s eyes were intent on hers. “There are information embargos about NINE. The information has been held back for decades, and it should be public record. Osha needs to know about the NINE, and we’re hoping that you might be the one to spread the word in a controlled way, so not to overwhelm the public.”
Anandi felt faint.
“It’s time, Ani. It’s time people knew the truth, and that they are able to protect themselves. The three of us, working together? We can save hundreds of people from unnecessary harm. I know it's different, but if you think about it, you know it's the right thing to do."
This wasn’t what Anandi was expecting, not devices to help people, to stop NINE from hurting others.
“I need water,” she breathed. “I need a minute to think.”
Theron’s hand was around her elbow, then, and steering her away, out of the auditorium, into the murky hallways, filled with amber eyes watching. She let him lead her, trying to suck in as much oxygen as she could, to chase away the dizziness that threatened to overwhelm.
When she looked up again, they were in a new room. Once a classroom, but now a sanctuary, the room was closed off from the outside, outfitted with a desk, and a dozen Lissomes.
“A lot to take in,” Theron said, not unkindly, gesturing at a chair. "Sit down."
“Yes.” Anandi sank into the cushion and eyed the deactivated Lissomes
on his desk. If she could slip one into her pocket, she could contact the Hitodama, and send out warnings, send out commands to everyone she knew to lock down, to destroy files, to shield identities, and get her father into custody. Alert the patrol to their presence, to what they planned to do….
Though, as she thought more about it, was there really anything for them to do about it?
Theron wasn’t breaking the law, for once. Manufacturing wasn’t illegal. The patrol didn’t even know what NINE was, or what it was capable of doing. Look at the Kings Canyon massacre, and the covering-up of Em Lee’s death in the Toomba mountains, and even the Red itself. Even with so many witnesses, it was still shrouded in secrecy.
Maybe they know more than we think?
Or maybe they are just determined to keep the truth from the public.
The truth was Anandi dreaded the NINE as much as both men did. After what happened to Renzo, to Phaira, to Lander, how could she not see them as a threat? She feared CaLarca and everything she represented, and even Sydel a little bit. The girl was nice, but she was dangerous, and it had been a mistake, letting her get so close to Anandi’s father. She should have watched more closely. Sydel could have hurt Emir at any time, plumbed his memories, controlled him at will. Anandi shouldn't have let them be together without precautions.
And if she felt that way about her father, why shouldn't the rest of the continent be informed, and protected, even if it came through Sava means?
It felt easy, and logical, and it terrified her.
Is this how it started, going down this path of evil?
“Theron," she began, keeping her voice low. "You didn’t bring me here to spread gossip. I know you better than that. What’s your real need?”
Theron gave a faint smirk. “We don’t know each other that well, Anandi. By proximity, really.”