“He’s just unconscious,” she replied pleasantly, setting the man on the ground. “I thought it might be easier to make a deal with that man than this one, and decided to remove him from the equation. I hope you don’t mind.”
I did, a little bit, but one look at Lidecher told me Rose’s ploy had worked; the poor man was damn near peeing himself. “Excellent idea,” I said to her, before turning back to him. “Lidecher, was it?” I asked.
His eyes darted from his companion to me, and he nodded, fast enough that the fat under his chin began to jiggle.
I stepped closer, keeping the smile on my face. “Listen, I just have some questions. If you answer them honestly, I will let you and your friend find a place to hide and ride this out until the crisis has passed. If you don’t, I’m going to let my friend here throw you around. We haven’t tested how dexterous her fingers are yet, so she could use a little practice.”
He gulped, and then vigorously nodded again. “Anything you want. Just please don’t hurt us.”
My smile grew, and it was mostly genuine. “I won’t. Now tell me, how did you get into Cogstown, how are you getting updates from the Core, and what were you trying to do here?”
12
The words spilled out of him as if I had opened the floodgates to his every thought, and I was a little taken aback by the speed with which he answered.
“All the nets that are programmed with Eye credentials are working. Part of our emergency procedure is to immediately divert power to our communication nodes so we can coordinate with the Eyes stuck outside the Core. We were in Cogstown replacing some of the power crystals in a power diverter when our Cog guide informed us that power had gone down to the rest of the Tower. He was escorting us to the upper floors when we received a transmission from the Core through our commanding officer, directly from the head of our internal department. He informed us that the Core was under direct attack from Cogstown, and ordered us to upload a code into their mainframe to divert power to the Core, to stop the attack. To help Scipio survive.”
I stared at him for several seconds, then turned back to the door, intent on getting to one of their pads and having Rose confirm what he was saying, but paused when I saw that Lynch and Dylan had already done so. Dylan had dug through a bag and pulled out a white pad, and was now offering it to me. I grabbed it, tapped it, and then held it out to Lidecher when it asked for a password. He hesitated, but then quickly tapped in four digits: 1-0-9-4. I pulled the pad back and handed it off to Rose. I had no doubt that whatever they had been sent to upload into the computers was meant to take Cogstown offline, but probably not in the way Lidecher and the others had been told.
I wanted to know exactly what it was, so that Lynch could tell the other Cog workers how to defend their department.
“Find the code. If he’s telling the truth, hook the pad up and figure out how far they were into the upload, how much damage they did to Cogstown’s systems, and whether we can help them restore it. Keeping Cogstown’s power away from the Core will slow Sage down.”
“We honestly didn’t get far,” Lidecher offered nervously. “We had just finished connecting our pads to the servers. I swear, we hadn’t even opened the file our lead sent us to upload!”
I stared at him for a long moment, my face revealing nothing. “We’ll see,” I finally said, letting doubt color my tone. If he was telling the truth about the code, that meant he could be telling the truth about his net. And if the Eyes’ nets were somehow still active, then I could use that to my advantage. I looked up at Rose, waiting for her to confirm or deny his story.
“It’s true,” she announced a few moments later, handing the pad back to me. “A virus was sent to him, but it has not been uploaded yet.”
I took it back, and then smiled at him. “Lidecher, I’m going to need your net, if that’s all right. Got some important calls to make. We’re also going to take your partner’s, to keep you from calling anyone and telling them you were unable to complete your mission. I’d prefer not to sedate you both to do it, but if I have to…”
I trailed off and turned to the wall, where I’d seen a first-aid kit sitting—right where it was supposed to be, per Tower protocol.
“Sure,” Lidecher said obsequiously. “But you realize that you can only use it to connect to other Eyes, right?”
I paused in pulling the bag from the compartment on the wall, and then shrugged it off. It was disappointing, yes—I had been hoping to call Leo and Grey and warn them about the legacies, if they didn’t know already—but that didn’t mean I didn’t have anyone to talk to. In fact, if there was anyone I needed to talk to, it was an Eye. And luckily, I had one in my pocket. “No matter. It can be used for other things,” I informed him. “Now, would you like to sit or stand?”
He eyed me and the bag, and then his eyes flicked to the chair. “Sit, I think.”
“Excellent choice. Dylan, would you mind extracting his net, please?”
Dylan came up beside me, and then hesitated. “Liana, you know we can’t use someone else’s net. The DNA scanner won’t accept another user.”
I pressed my lips together in frustration. She was right, of course. If I had Leo here, he could undoubtedly override it—and Quess as well, for that matter. The rest of the security features wouldn’t matter with the power out, but the DNA one was tricky. I thought about it for a second, and then noticed Lidecher shifting uncomfortably, as if he had a secret that no one else did. As if he knew exactly how to do just what I needed to do.
“Lidecher? You have something you want to share with the class?”
Lidecher cringed, and then gave me a furtive look. “I can do it for you,” he whispered. “But… But I need assurances that no one will find out about this. They’ll put me to death if they find out.”
I hesitated, wondering why he would betray his department like that, and then realized I didn’t care. I’d promise him the moon if he could help me get this net working. I needed information, and this net could help me get it.
I looked at Lynch. “I assume that if you survive what’s happening, you could find some way of hiding him?”
Lynch studied us both for a second, and then nodded. “Lacey gave us all alternative identities if our cover was ever blown. He can have mine. It’s in Water Treatment. He’ll have a contact there, one of Strum’s people. If she survived, she’ll cover for him.”
I turned back to Lidecher and raised an eyebrow. “Is that enough?”
He nodded nervously and then turned around. “Go ahead and remove it. I’ll need a minute or two to overload the circuit responsible for the DNA lockout.”
Dylan didn’t need to be told twice, and quickly moved to do it. I looked down at my watch and saw that we had lost four minutes with all this, giving us only ten more to get to Tony before Sage did.
A rush of impatience surged through me, but I shut it out, crossed my arms, and waited.
Three minutes later, I was trying not to wince as Dylan took the laser cutter to the back of my neck, the sting of it both familiar and irritating by this point. I’d changed my net out so often in the past month or so that it was beginning to feel commonplace. She slipped the modified net in, and before she could even seal up the slit she had cut, I felt the tendrils of the net begin to unfurl, creeping along my cerebral cortex like vines growing across the earth. I breathed through the process, closing my eyes against the image of slender fingers reaching out to grip my brain, and slowly counted off the seconds in my head.
By thirteen, the sensation had passed and Dylan had pressed a small amount of bio-foam into the wound, sealing it shut. I rotated my neck a few times, trying to release some of the tension, and then nodded at Dylan.
“It’ll do. Let’s go. We only have”—I paused long enough to check my watch, and then looked back up at her—“seven minutes to get to Tony.”
“Roger,” she replied, gathering up the items from the med kit and placing them back in the bag.
I turned awa
y, focusing on Lynch. “Are you okay to watch them?” I asked.
He nodded. “I already called for backup, but I’ll be fine. I kept one of the pulse shields they were using, so if they step out of line…” He trailed off and gave Lidecher a speculative look.
Lidecher paled, his black eyes darting to me. “He’s not going to hurt me, is he?”
“Depends on whether you try anything stupid,” I replied indifferently, picking up his bag and slinging it over my shoulder. “I’m sure you’ll be fine, though. You seem to be good at making smart choices. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
I pivoted on my heel and headed out the door into the hall, moving a few feet away. Then I said, “Contact Dinah Velasquez, IT005-65C.”
I felt a moment’s apprehension as I waited for the familiar buzz to begin, but quickly let it go as the net kicked in a moment later, telling me it was transmitting. As I waited for Dinah to pick up, I waved Dylan forward, pointing down the hall.
There was nothing in the rulebook that said I couldn’t multitask.
Dylan led the way to the next door, the one that held the server farms responsible for controlling entry and exit from Cogstown, and housed Tony’s program. We were halfway down the hall when Dinah accepted the transmission.
I’m not sure who you are, but you’re not a part of my department, tech. What do you want?
I tried not to smile at the belligerent tone in the older woman’s voice—one that undoubtedly made her underlings quiver with terror. Guess again, Dinah, I thought at her, feeling the soft pop of the neural transmitter in my temple going off as it was transmitted. It’s Liana. I found a few Eyes in Cogstown and liberated them of their nets.
How did you overcome… She trailed off for a second, and her tone changed from one of wonder to one of determination in almost the blink of an eye. Never mind. I don’t really care. What’s going on? The last time we talked, you told me you were planning to arrest everyone related to the conspiracy.
We missed someone, I informed her, coming to a cautious halt as Dylan stepped up to the door. It was Sage. He set up one of the men we suspected to be a fall guy to disguise his part in all this. Brace yourself—he claims to be Ezekial Pine.
There were several long seconds of silence, but that suited me fine, as my attention was entirely on the door Dylan was about to open and the gun in my hand. Lidecher had sworn up and down that his team had been the only one from IT, but for all I knew, he could’ve been leading us on, pretending to help us, while setting us up to get taken out by another team of techs. It seemed unlikely, given that there were no guards posted outside this door, but I couldn’t just ignore it.
That’s not possible, Dinah announced a second later, just as Dylan pressed the button.
I sighted down the barrel of the gun, making sure the initial entrance was clear, and then nodded to Dylan, waving her in. Possible or not, he’s got control over Scipio, and has initiated a second Requiem Day. What do you know?
I was hoping she knew a lot. Dinah ran a section of the IT Department as head of the ethics committee, and part of her job was to act as Sadie Monroe’s check and balance. Her position meant she should have direct access to Scipio’s coding and could tell me how he was doing, and give us an estimate on how long we had before Sage was ready.
Not much about what’s happening inside the Core, she replied grimly. Right after the power was cut to the rest of the Tower, my connection to Scipio was severed. I’ve got my entire section on it, trying to reestablish control, but right now, Scipio’s status is a mystery.
Great, I replied, disappointed. Dylan stepped through the door, and I moved up to follow, ever conscious of the time. I really hoped that the sentinel carrying Sage was taking its time, but I couldn’t exactly count on that. So do you know what’s happening outside the Core?
A lot, actually. I am currently tapped in to the communication hub and have devoted a small group of my people to intercepting messages to try to paint a picture of what’s going on. As I understand it, Water Treatment has been breached, and their power is about to be diverted to the Core.
Anger gripped me as I thought of all the people in Water Treatment who were now being cast into darkness, left at the mercy of the Alice units, but I tamped it down, promising myself that I would unleash that fury soon, on the bastard responsible. I knew that it had been breached, but the power thing is new. Any idea where it’s going?
Yes, actually. It’s being diverted to a location at the bottom of the central power conduit, which should be impossible, but somehow it isn’t.
Impossible? I asked, finally allowing myself to move through the door after Dylan. My eyes quickly searched the room, which was a quarter the size of the first, and I relaxed when I saw that it was empty and devoid of life.
There’s nothing there, Dinah replied in answer to my question. I have every schematic ever drawn up of the Core on a personal archive, and I’m telling you, there’s nowhere for that power to go! I have no explanation for it!
I rubbed my fingers together as I spotted a lone terminal in the room, and quickly put my gun away and moved toward it. While my goal was Tony, my mind was on what Dinah was saying. There had to be something there, no matter what Dinah’s records reflected. And whatever it was, I was betting it was where Sage was heading, or where he planned to end up before everything was said and done.
Which meant that was where it was all going to happen. If I managed to make it out of Cogstown alive, with Tony, then back up to my friends without dying, maybe we could use the emergency escape hatch to get into Sadie’s quarters and find a way to cut through the wall into the power conduit. It was risky, but worth a shot.
I just had to accomplish so many things before I got there.
Keep poking around, I told her. I’m retrieving something we need that I hope will slow Sage down some, but I don’t think it’ll keep him down for long.
Okay, she said. There was a pause, and then she added, I think you should know, there was a tech trapped inside the Citadel when the power went out. He’s been transmitting updates to his lead every ten minutes or so, and it seems that the legacies you arrested are out and wreaking havoc.
I grated my teeth together. On the one hand, I was grateful for the information. On the other, it was an unnecessary reminder that I was trapped down here, nearly a hundred floors away, unable to do anything to help. Any word what floor they are on?
Twenty, she replied, and I expelled a breath of relief. With how fast Alice and her units seemed to be moving, I had expected them to already be on the sixty-fifth floor, about to breach my quarters. Still, it was way too close for comfort. But your Knights have apparently started to form defenses against them. It looks like it’s slowing them down, so have hope. Now, we should finish the transmission. If I’m monitoring them, that means someone else might be as well, and for all the precautions I take, it’s better not to tempt fate. Good luck.
You too, I replied. A moment later the buzz under my skull stopped, signaling that the transmission had concluded.
I took several seconds to gather my wits about me, and then looked expectantly at the terminal in front of me. I was never really sure how to approach these things, but I decided to assume that the AI fragment inside could hear and see me even now.
“Hello, Tony?” I said softly, looking around. “My name is Liana Castell. Lacey asked me to come and get you. She told me to tell you the password. It’s… uh… Seymore Butts.”
13
There was a long moment of silence, and I glanced nervously at Dylan and then back to the terminal, wondering whether Tony was even hooked up to a microphone and speakers. It seemed a bit cruel if he wasn’t, considering he had the ability to hear and respond to the world around him, but maybe it was part of how Lacey had kept him hidden.
A burst of static from over the door caught me unexpectedly, and I half leapt out of my skin. The room filled with the giggle of a high-pitched voice, modulated to sound like a young boy of nine or ten. �
��He-he-he-he-he! You said butts!” he exclaimed happily, still chortling gleefully. “I told Lacey that would be good, but she just—”
The voice cut off and the screen clicked on, revealing a young boy’s face composed of red coding. The image looked around the room, but I heard the whir of cameras going all around me, telling me that the face was just mimicking the movement to tell me what he was doing.
He was giving us a onceover and growing more and more suspicious by the second.
“Where’s Lacey?” he demanded, and there was a thread of fear in his voice.
I looked down at my watch, and saw that there were still two minutes on the estimate Lacey had given us. Some time for an explanation, but not much. “Lacey was shot at the council meeting, and she’s several levels up, in surgery. Can you access the cameras in the room? It’s on level 45, south side of the Tower.”
“No,” he reported. “I can’t. Cogstown still has power, but cameras are down, taken out by a virus undoubtedly left by the spy who was working in the server room.”
I felt a wave of frustration at his response, not only because it kept him from verifying our story, but also because Sadie and Sage had really covered their bases. I might have forced Sage to speed up his plan, but he had already managed to achieve quite a bit within the various departments—and it all sabotaged our chances of resisting him. It was devastating. Without the cameras, the Cogs wouldn’t be able to see if any sentinels managed to find a way in. Just one sentinel could tear a bloody path through Cogstown before anyone realized it was there, and by the time a large enough force was alerted and mobilized, the sentinel would’ve killed dozens of people.
I swallowed my anger back and looked at Tony, ever cognizant of the time. “Look, I swear, Lacey gave me the password and told me where to find you. The transceiver that you built was taken by Sage, and they are going to plug it in at any minute and initiate the download. How do we stop it?”
The Girl Who Dared to Fight Page 11