by Loren Walker
“And yet, here I am, in the middle of your machine,” she pointed out. “You know what I can do, and I know what you’re capable of. You don’t need me to spread information. You could do that yourself, easily. So why am I really here?”
His fingertips drummed on the table, one quick succession of raps, before falling still.
“What aren’t you telling Renzo?” she pressed. “You don’t want to involve him in the Syndicate, do you? You can’t want that. And you know he can’t stick to just making trinkets, and not get involved in the rest of it. What happens when the two cross over?”
“It won’t.”
“Don’t be stupid,” Anandi growled. “I’ve lived with the shadow of your family for my entire life. It never goes away, and it never lets you go. Why would it start doing so now?”
A long pause. Then, finally, Theron spoke: “I have something for you.”
He took the Lissome on the far right of the desk and slid it over to her with two fingers. Anandi resisted the urge to snatch it up and run. Instead, she eyed it with suspicion.
Theron chuckled. “It’s not going to electrocute you. But it’s locked, just so you know, so don’t bother trying to open it. You won’t be able to. Not until I activate it.”
A sinking feeling in her stomach. “Then what am I supposed to do with it?”
“Keep it safe and hidden, until the right time.” Theron got back to his feet, looming over her. “I have another request. Find Joran Asanto for me.”
“You mean Bianco Sava?"
"I mean whatever form he's taken, I want to know where he is and how to find him."
"How does he fit into your little manufacturing plans?”
Theron’s face darkened, and for a moment, Anandi thought he might hit her.
She tried to reason with him. “You don’t need me for –"
“Find him,” he interrupted, his voice like a bite. “Track him down, in any way you can. Any information you can steal. Any firewalls you can break. I want his exact location, where he sleeps, where he eats, and who is supporting him. Tap cc calls, or other correspondence.”
“Why don’t you do it?” she couldn’t help but snipe back.
“Because I’m building a business.” He swept his arm across the room, gesturing at the Lissomes. “I need an answer, and some kind of decision from you, Anandi. I'd rather it be of your free will, for it all to be, moving forward. I respect your talent, I always have. We’ve taken care of each other, I think, from a distance. I have, at least, for both you and your friends.”
She couldn’t say yes.
But she was in a compound filled with Savas.
She couldn’t say no, either, not audibly.
But I can steal, came her thoughts. And I can gather information. And I can sabotage from the inside. For whatever reason, he’s a fool to bring me in this deep and expect me to behave. I’m surprised he hadn’t mentioned all I’ve done to stop his correspondences and transactions.
He’s distracted. Getting sloppy. This is an opportunity.
"I'll find him," she told Theron. "If you meet my terms."
"What do you want?"
"I want my father off the radar."
Theron sighed. "Why are you so preoccupied with him? I have no use for Emir."
"I want to speak to CaLarca and her family," she tried. "Whatever details they can provide on where Joran might have ended up. What have they told you?"
"Nothing. They won't talk." Theron looked away. "I'm working on something to help with that, but it's not ready yet."
His gaze came back to her. "You go in guarded, though. Full HALO, with Disruptor Coin, and guards on them. She might try something."
"Fine. And last thing: I want access to everything." She wet her lips, pushing forward. "No supervision, no intimidation, no restrictions. If you want me to find Bianco, I need to understand every crack of the Syndicate, and who might be hiding him. No firewalls, no alarms. I get to look where I want."
"Done." Theron nodded at the Lissomes. "They're all actively connected. Look where you want.”
Anandi stared. He couldn’t be serious. Was he crazy, or desperate?
“But,” he added. “These Lissomes are programmed to only provide information. You can’t send out anything, no ccs, no messages. So if you had a hint of trying, don’t bother. I’m going to choose to believe that you are a woman of your word, and are here to help. So thank you."
Theron ducked out of the room, and Anandi was left dumbfounded, staring at a dozen Lissomes, wondering what kind of parallel world she had been dumped into.
IV.
To Anandi's surprise, the other Savas treated her with respect, even calling her Ms. Ayjo. They brought her hot food with utensils. They offered her choice accommodations for bathing, for rest, assuring that they would stand guard outside her door. The family name, coming in handy again. She didn’t know whether to be relieved or repelled.
The cameras installed in the abandoned school were open to her viewing, and she could see into each of the cells. Anandi saw the top of CaLarca’s head, how she paced as her son was sleeping in a little cot, her braids swishing across her back. The man in the middle was called Voss, she figured out, though he barely moved, or interacted with any food slipped into his cell. In the third cell, sometimes she saw Theron in there with Ganasan, though there was no audio, and from the angle, she couldn’t read lips. They would just sit in chairs, across from each other, and talk. No violence, no signs of an argument, though Ganasan’s face remained cold and mostly still. Theron had the audio somewhere, she was certain. She wondered what they talked about.
When Anandi worked up the courage, she asked to see CaLarca.
It was just after noon. There were four escorts, heavily armed, shockrounds in one hand and Disruptor Coins in the other. Anandi felt the weight of the HALO on the back of her neck, and touched the chip, wondering if it was active, before stepping inside.
The cell was outfitted with anti-NINE technology, Theron had told her, more inventions from him and Renzo: ways to scramble thoughts, to stop projections, all things that sounded crazy, but in some ways fascinating. Renzo's brain was on fire, and he was constantly in that auditorium, sketching, welding, creating, and barely sleeping from what she could see. She saw the REM injector marks in the crook of his arm. The marks made her think of her father, and his need for blood transfusions, when he was still sick. She'd asked Theron to let her people know she was safe, and he promised to do so, but that was the only thing she had heard.
If anything, she thought, Theron is a man of his word. I have to believe that, at least, until I figure out what to do. And what questions to ask. And what kind of a threat CaLarca is.
Inside the cell, the green-haired woman seemed asleep. Her head was against the wall of the room, back in the corner. The toddler son was whining, picking at a meal pack. There were cots, and blankets, and a latrine, and a running faucet for water. It could be worse, she reasoned.
Anandi felt the weight of barrels behind her. Working to keep her hand steady, she unlocked the door, and pushed in it.
Inside, the woman had no reaction, yet her eyes were slightly open, and glazed. Is she communicating with someone? the thought occurred to Anandi. She looked all around, noting the wiring, the piping, the cameras. Was it possible, even with all of Theron's defenses?
Slowly, Anandi knelt to the floor, trying to catch CaLarca’s eye. The young son saw her first, pointing at Anandi with a chubby hand, and scrambling next to his mother’s side. The boy looked like CaLarca a little bit, with those black eyes, but his skin tone was warm and golden, very different from her blue-tinged skin and green braids. Anandi wondered if he’d seen his father since coming here.
“Hello, CaLarca,” she tried. “We’ve never seen each other in person, only on screen, but hopefully my voice sounds the same.” Every word came out awkward, and ridiculous.
“Are you okay?” she added. “Do you have enough food? Are you warm enough?”
Were these the right questions to ask someone who was being held captive?
The boy made a few incoherent noises. CaLarca’s arm went round him, and he snuggled close. She still didn’t look at Anandi though.
“We have a common goal, I think,” Anandi began. “Finding Joran Asanto. I know you have a past with him, and he was holding your family hostage. Even faked their deaths, I guess. I’m so sorry that I was the one who told you they were dead… "
Her voice faltered, and Anandi felt shame creeping up her neck. “I know this isn’t the most ideal of circumstances, but whatever you can tell me about Joran, or Bianco Sava, I can track him down.”
And then what? she wondered. It wasn’t as if she and Theron were going to be pals again. This was all so confusing. She didn’t even know why she’d asked to talk to CaLarca in the first place, as a condition of her service.
"Who was the man in the video with you?” Anandi pushed. “Voss, I think? Is he one of the NINE? Is he a friend of yours?”
Nothing. The boy was looking at Anandi with curiosity, but CaLarca was a statue.
"You should have stayed loyal."
Anandi jumped at the sound of Theron’s voice.
Theron leaned on the side of the doorframe, flanked by bodyguards.
Only then did CaLarca's gaze lift and focus on Theron. The tension in the room grew hot.
"That's the difference between you and me," CaLarca finally spoke, her voice dry and low. "I've always been loyal to the ones I love. I did what I had to do."
"That seems to be a common sentiment among NINE," Theron said. "Doing what's necessary, whether it hurts, or destroys, or kills."
CaLarca laughed, high and reedy, and utterly strange. "As if I didn't volunteer my life to protect yours. Or take down Shantou, after she murdered your cousin."
"You stole the Arazura, and left those – that family - for dead," he accused. "The ones who cared for you when you were lying half-dead in a mountain. You could have killed them."
"As you say, Theron," CaLarca sneered. "Loyalty, above all."
CaLarca rose her feet. As Anandi backed away, she caught sight of CaLarca's leg braces, shimmering under the florescent light.
"Anything, and everything for them," the woman said, "I'm prepared to do."
Theron scoffed. "You can do nothing while you're in this building. You can't use any of your NINE abilities, not in this cell. I've made sure of it."
CaLarca's black eyes narrowed. "I don't need NINE to hurt you."
Suddenly, CaLarca grabbed a section of pipe that snaked up the wall. It came loose, to Anandi’s surprise, with a clank! And CaLarca was attacking Theron, and the little boy was screaming, and the guards behind her were wavering, their barrels and shockrounds following their movements, around and around.
"Don't shoot," Anandi screeched at them. "Don't shoot her!"
Then her jaw dropped. Theron moved incredibly fast for such a large man, avoiding the swings. CaLarca hit the wall and sent the plaster crumbling. She caught Theron once, across the knee, and he wobbled for a half second, and barely missed her swipe, an inch from his mouth. Finally, he grabbed the pipe in one hand, the sound making a loud THUMP through the room and bore down all his weight. CaLarca was fighting back, but her knees were crumbling, and she was crying out in pain. Then he snatched the pipe out of CaLarca's hands and pushed her down hard.
CaLarca skidded across the floor, letting out a gasp. Then she snatched up the howling boy and huddled into the corner with him. The boy’s screams had quieted to whimpers. CaLarca had her face turned away from the door, so all Anandi could see were her braids, hairs standing on end.
Anandi was hustled away, in silence, to her quarters. She went to bed, put the covers over her head, and replayed the scene again and again in her head: Theron's violence and his protection, CaLarca's savagery and helplessness. She wished desperately for someone to talk to. But there were no outgoing calls available, no way to drop a message without raising suspicion, and she didn't know yet where she stood, and how much she could risk with Renzo.
Patience. Patience.
Renzo came into the office where she worked the next day, holding two cups of tea. The steam brought back memories. We shared tea when we build the Arazura together, she thought, accepting the cup. That seems so long ago. I never thought we'd come to this. Did he hear what happened yesterday? Does he even care what happens to CaLarca or her family?
"How goes it?" Renzo asked, propping up his feet and sighing.
"Steady," Anandi said carefully. "And you?"
"Good." Renzo smiled as he took a sip. "You know me, I'm happiest when I'm working. It's a thrill to have so many resources at hand. We work well together, Theron and I. Who would have thought it? It feels good, though, that I'm playing a part in making the world a little safer."
"You know, Ren," Anandi began. "I do think people with NINE abilities are dangerous. And I can see the logic behind what you're building here."
Renzo flushed with pleasure.
"But," Anandi added, "I can’t help but think that original NINE group? That was a special case. A select group, under stress, buried underground for weeks and experimented on. Maybe it was the environment that caused them to lash out, not the abilities themselves."
"Huma wasn't a part of it," Renzo pointed out. "Or her minions."
"That's true," Anandi admitted. “But still – “
"I don't think I really thought about it, or understood it, until the Red," Renzo continued, as if he hadn't heard her. "That was pure evil. Unfiltered desire to hurt and torture. The things the Red did…"
Anandi saw his hands tighten around his cup, and she wondered if he might crush the ceramic.
"Jetsun didn't deserve that," he continued. "She was a pain, but she didn't deserve that. It's not the environment, Ani. It's the wiring. Sooner or later, a NINE hurts someone. I don't know if they can help it. And what chance do people like you or I have, when they can reach into your mind, or manipulate your energy so they can throw you off a mountain? That's all I've seen so far. I haven't seen it ever used for anything good."
His words were true, Anandi had to admit it. She'd activated maps, and tracked people, but she'd never had her mind touched.
What did it feel like, she wondered, staring at the top of Renzo's head. Did it hurt when Lander was taken? Did he have any memories of it?
She couldn’t forget that about Calarca, as guilty and confused as she felt - if they were out of that cell, who knows what she, or Ganasan might do to Theron, or Renzo, or Anandi herself?
Renzo shrugged. "Sorry," he added. "Didn't mean to get into all that. It just strengthens my resolve to perfect the designs and get them into manufacturing."
"Your inventions in public hands, though?" Anandi asked. “HALOs are one thing, but that Disrupter Coin? If it can be deployed anywhere, it'll impact any NINE in the vicinity."
"That’s true. So?"
"What if those people affected, what if they don't know they're NINE? That would be terrifying."
Renzo shrugged. "Well, better they know."
"But what if people use it to target, to visibly separate the NINE and the general public?"
"What if they did?"
That blithe statement made Anandi shut her mouth and pretend to sip her tea, though her throat closed with terror. It was one thing to read about exploits, and another to have Renzo actively agreeing to neutralize some undetermined percentage of the population.
And that wasn't the only war on the brink of eruption. Later that day, searching deeper and deeper, using Theron's Lissomes and channels, Anandi delved into the dark side of the network, following trails, making notes, and seeing more than she ever wanted to see in a lifetime.
And she found Joran Asanto. Specifically, the trail that he and his followers were leaving. There were reports of fighting in the North, in the Daro skerries, and it was crawling to the East. Bodies dropped off bridges, blood smeared across alleys and doors, forming the sam
e strange spiral symbol, like the eye of a hurricane. Territory battles, Anandi realized. Joran’s people were attacking those connected to the Savas, small-scale or seemingly untouchable.
When she told Theron of what she found, he said nothing, his eyes locked on some fixed point in the distance.
“What about a location?” was his response, finally. "Where his base of operations is?"
“Nothing consistent,” Anandi admitted. “He’s smart. Changes set-ups all the time. He’s made powerful friends.”
“Yes, my grandfather’s friends," Theron said coldly. "They’ve changed allegiances. Disappointing.”
“Is it?” she couldn’t help but ask. “What do you care if they do?”
“They swore an oath.”
“I haven’t sworn an oath.” When the words came out, she immediately regretted them. But Theron didn't react or say anything; his eyes were unfocused. What was he thinking of?
She thought back to the last time she saw Bianco Sava, the few times she’d seen him in person. He was at her birthday party in Honorwell, she remembered, at the grandfather’s arm, fat and rough and balding and cruel. All this time, a secret NINE, an Osha figurehead with an ancient name.
And even with all that, still poking at Theron with a sharp stick, thumbing his nose, taking his territories, his men, his loyalties.
Will he come for you next? she wondered, eyeing Theron. He’s already killing your men. He’s taunting you to come out into the light. What is with this guy, and his fixation with you?
Everything made Anandi’s head swirl. She saw Renzo with Theron, how they laughed together, how they worked shoulder to shoulder, heads bent, hands busy. And Renzo loved it. He was eager to do whatever Theron suggested.
He might as well go ahead and dye his eyes amber, join the flock.
When Theron left, Anandi felt the Lissome in her boot, pressed against her calf, hidden in the leather. To Theron’s credit, she was unable to unlock it. Yet. But it was on her person at all times, even when she slept.
One more day, she told herself. Wait for the right moment before any movement.