by Taya DeVere
“We took Sloboda out of stasis. I mean… I took her out.”
“Okay. I see where you’re going with this.”
“I know the capsules have healing capabilities. I know she was as good as dead when she went in.”
“You didn’t kill her, Luna.”
“But I did, though.” Her throat is so swollen that it takes her a long time to reply. She appreciates Jovan’s patience, waiting silently as she composes herself. “She’s dead, Jovan.”
He takes a deep breath. “Okay, yes. Your friend is dead. Yes, you took her out of a very complicated piece of technology, and in a completely inefficient and unsafe way. You need a code to open the capsules safely, and only the Happiness-Program founders have those.”
Luna swallows loudly. So it is true. Should she tell Jovan she has a memory stick with one of these codes in her possession?
“So yeah. You acted recklessly. That was a mistake. But Lu, Sloboda was long gone when she was put in that capsule. The stasis kept her alive, and the capsule does have healing capacity. But only to a certain point. Her only purpose in the state she was in was to serve the city as processing power—”
“Wait. You’re saying that Sloboda was used to power up the AR-city?”
“Of course she was. Everyone in the stasis capsules is. Just like the people who work in the server centers, but permanently. And therefore, in a way—and this is the way I personally look at it—you did the only humane thing there was left to do.”
“But I didn’t know what I was doing.”
“Nevertheless. She’s at peace now.”
This she can see. She feels it in her chest, her stomach. Jovan’s right. And he’s telling her the truth. It still makes her angry. Flustered. She changes the subject abruptly.
“I just don’t see why you didn’t come with us.”
“You wouldn’t. You’re too stubborn to see the bigger picture. Some wars are lost even before they really begin. This is one of them. The Chipped are too powerful.”
“So… It is what it is? Is that what you’re saying?” Luna huffs. “Give me a break.”
“No, that’s not what I’m saying.” Jovan stops again, hesitating. “Luna, I will tell you everything. When the time is right. But I can’t do it now, not like this.”
“Like what? Over a piece of stolen CS-technology?”
“Exactly. Saying certain words could trigger the spyware.”
Luna reaches for the glasses in horror. “You said the line was safe. If it’s not, we need to end this call—”
“No, no. The line is secure. But there is some malware that only Iris has access to. And after they found out about the mole, they’ve set highly technical words as triggers, words that a programmer would use. So I just need to be sure. To keep you safe.”
“Okay, so we need to meet face to face. Is that it? You coming over for a pot of coffee? Should I turn the stove on?”
Silence. His breathing gets heavier. “It would make sense for you to come back home, Bloody Mary. You can do more if you’re in the system, not running away from it. That’s what I’m saying.”
“Don’t call me that. You know I hate that nickname.”
“No can do. Suits you too well.”
They fall silent, both smiling but dodging each other’s eyes. Could she go home? Be part of Jovan’s life again? His reality? Iris had told her she was worthy. That she’d have a job as the city’s programmer whenever she chose to take it. Just say the word, Iris had said. And your chip will be fixed. But that was before she’d saved the group of rebels she’d been hired to find, stolen Sloboda from a stasis capsule, and emptied the Chip-Charity accounts of their CC’s.
“They know how to do that now? Fix the brain implant? Anyway, Iris would have me arrested.”
“No, we need your skills. They’re pretty damn close to fixing the malfunctioning chips, from what I’ve been told.”
“Can I think about it?”
Jovan smiles, his soft eyes now looking straight at Luna’s as he nods to confirm.
Luna sighs and flips over her CS-key. The purple light is like a tiny dagger stabbing into her skull.
“You still have that old thing?”
“Sure do. I’m working on—”
Jovan’s hands wave wildly, gesturing for Luna to stop explaining.
“Ahh,” she says. “Right. Trigger words. Gotcha.”
“Better safe than sorry.”
Luna looks over her shoulder toward the end of the capsule row, where Mrs. Salonen rests peacefully. The old woman would know all the answers. She created the damn things, the whole shebang. Not only would she know about the capsules, but she’d know about the chipping helmets, the CS-system, and every single detail of the nanotechnology behind it all.
The Chipped world. So far away, yet always so near. And now, the person who invented this new world rests in the basement of a hotel in an old city that used to be called Reykjavik.
“I do have a question, though.”
Jovan smiles, raising one of his eyebrows. “Use small words. Nothing nerdy.”
Luna rolls her eyes but can’t fight the smile. Her elbow moves to nudge Jovan, making her almost lose her balance and fall off the counter. The glasses are making her forget which world is which.
“Say I have a distant friend—let’s say a colleague—who likes to nap. Like, a lot. All day, every day, she snoozes away in a comfy bed where no-one can interrupt her peace.”
“Doesn’t sound like a thriller to me,” Jovan says.
“It’s not. This one’s more like a fairytale. Think of Babaroga, the chicken-legged old woman who eats people. My sleeping friend is trying to escape from her.”
“Gotcha.”
“So, one day, my friend goes to sleep but doesn’t wake up again. She sleeps one day, then another. Soon, it’s been weeks, months, and then years that she’s rested in her bed. I start to get worried. So I read books to her, all night, every night. I learn about old folk tales, about witches and wizards, black magic, and spells.”
Jovan sucks his lower lip in, focusing on Luna’s words, nodding every now and then.
“Finally, I get too tired of waiting. I want my friend to wake up now. I decide to cast a spell to wake her up. The thing is… I really don’t know much about my colleague. Her desires, values, and motivations. I know how to proceed, but I’m not sure what is to come.”
“I see…”
“So, my question is this. Should I wake up my sleeping friend?”
“I would need to know more about this friend,” Jovan says slowly. “But in my experience, playing with this kind of magic is always a risk. You may think you’re only trying to do the right thing by helping a friend out, but who’s to know what else her awakening will lead to? Sometimes a seemingly small deed can spread and have unintended or unseen consequences.”
Luna thinks of the kill switch. Their sweet revenge against Doctor Solomon and those who condemned Luna’s kind to be exiled from normal life. The people who decided that those with a malfunctioning chip were yesterday’s news, no better than dog food.
“What if it were the other way around?”
Jovan’s frown deepens.
“What if I had a magic button? And with this button, I could seek out all the evil witches and turn them into frogs and white rabbits.”
Jovan shakes his head slowly. “Luna, no. No, no, no.”
”What if I can beat Babaroga?”
***
They sit around the four humming capsules, all staring at Mrs. Salonen’s silhouette behind the tinted glass. The smell of fresh grounds fills the air, as they silently sip their morning coffee from yellow plastic mugs. A tray filled with Micky’s tuna sandwiches, along with a dozen unsliced sour pickles and a kitchen knife, sits in the middle of their semi-circle, untouched. Just the thought of eating something is too unnerving right now. Eating tuna and pickles for breakfast even more so.
Bill tosses the tennis ball into the darkness. Three dogs sur
ge after it, Ässä barking continuously while Wacko and Tiny focus on hunting for the ball in the dark. Random yellow tiles light up under their paws as they chase each other around the vast underground area. Hearing the dogs play in the basement seems to ease everyone’s mind, at least a little bit. Their sheer joy creates a false feeling of normality. As if they weren’t gathered here to shut down the most powerful city in the world.
“Are you sure it’ll only shut down City of Finland?” Yeti asks Luna. “What if it’s all the cities?”
This gets Bill’s attention. “Holy pedaling Jesus! Can we turn off City of California as well?”
Luna raises her hand, telling Bill to calm down. “I’m sure. It’s just City of Finland. To turn them all off, I’d need to access each city’s main server.”
“And can you do that?” Kaarina asks.
“I can. I could. But I would need more time. And didn’t we agree that with Nurse Saarinen trying to track us down, we need to act now?”
They all nod.
“Good. As soon as the city is down, they’ll need all their resources to bring the system back up. With the intel and experts Laura Solomon has working for her, I’m sure they’ll be able to turn the city back on, but I’m not sure how long it’ll take them—”
Yeti nods. “But it should be long enough for the capsuled people to get away. And with the founders’ code integrated with the kill switch, the capsules will pop open safely?”
“Exactly.”
“And you trust Jovan’s intel? That the founders’ code will open the pods safely?”
It’s Luna’s turn to nod. “I do. And it makes total sense. Why else would the capsules have a slot for the memory sticks?”
The dogs bring back the tennis ball, dropping it in front of Bill’s bare feet. Since the cruise ship, all the dogs have become obsessed with the black man with dreadlocks. Most of Luna’s rescues roam around the village now, going around from house to house, begging for extra meals and scratches, only visiting Luna at the hotel. Or more accurately, they visit Micky—at the kitchen whenever he prepares breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The rest of the time they’re glued to Bill’s side or playing with the children. At nighttime, the dogs like to stay with the kids and the rebel refugees who take care of them. The small cottages aren’t much, but so far, no one has complained. People—the Unchipped as well as the Chipped—seem content and grateful for the safe-haven they’ve found in Iceland.
Wacko nudges Bill’s arm, then tucks himself underneath. Bill hugs him back, kissing the yellow mutt’s head. Luna smiles; she doesn’t mind. It warms her heart to see Wacko getting attached to another human rather than just her. The mutt’s ability to judge a person’s character is uncanny. And the dog never shies away from anyone who lives at the resort. Not once has he growled or barked at anyone—except for Ava’s mother Niina, but that must have been because the Chipped woman didn’t let the dog play with Sanna and Owena. After all, Wacko’s still just a dog. Play and food rule his world.
But above all, he’s among good people now. A great pack—no matter what Nurse Saarinen thinks or says.
Ava raises a hand. She sits next to Markus, leaning on one of the empty capsules. She’s been quiet ever since yesterday’s incident with the CS-key and Nurse Saarinen’s surprise visit. “I know I don’t really deserve a say in this… after yesterday.”
Kaarina shakes her head. “You know you do, Ava. Don’t be silly.”
Ava scratches her head, a nervous habit she has. The chipping scar at the back of her skull tends to bleed and get infected as a result. Luna has never asked her about it. None of them have. Being able to enter each other’s minds seems like enough of a privacy violation. They hardly ever ask questions about each other’s pasts, their lives before this group came together. In a way, none of that really matters anymore.
“I just thought… I think…”
Markus wraps his arm around the girl, sighing deeply. “She’s concerned about safety. And so am I.”
“Whose safety?” Micky asks. “Ours or theirs?”
“Both,” Ava says, her eyes watering and lips pouting slightly. “My mom… she must know something’s going on. She’s been locked up with the girls for days. Won’t open the door. Won’t talk to anyone. It’s not just about the Chipped finding us. People are starting to get suspicious. About us and what’s going on in the hotel. I think everyone should get a say. We should give them all a vote.”
Markus squeezes her and leans his head on the top of Ava’s head. “Ava’s right. I mean, don’t get me wrong.” He nods at Luna. “If Luna says they can’t trace us, I believe her. But after our chat with Nurse Saarinen, I’m pretty sure it’s just a matter of time before they find us.”
“And Margaret…” Ava says, her voice cracking as she sobs. “She hasn’t messaged me since we left City of Serbia. And she promised… What if she…” Ava’s sobs get the best of her, making it impossible for her to speak.
“What if Margaret is captured in the city? What if they avenge our pulling the switch by hurting her?” Markus ends Ava’s sentence.
The room falls silent again. Luna sips the last drops of her coffee, wondering if a sandwich would settle her growling stomach. She stares at Ava, considering her worries. Of course the girl has a right to be concerned about Margaret. After all, she loves her. More than anyone, Luna thinks. The deaf woman saved Ava and kept her safe at the Kinship Care children’s home when things turned bad. Ava not hearing from her is alarming, to say the least.
Of course Ava would want to know Margaret’s not plugged into a capsule somewhere. And until she hears a word from—
Luna’s head snaps up when she remembers the missing device. “Ava, what do you mean Margaret hasn’t messaged you? You mean tapped you, right?”
The girl stops crying and freezes against Markus’s chest. Her eyes flicker nervously to Luna and then back to the floor. “Right. I mean, maybe they fixed her chip, so she wouldn’t be able to… or maybe she’s blocked… I mean, it doesn’t matter. Either way, we should wait for her return before we pull some mystery switch that does who knows what.”
“No, no. You specifically said she hasn’t messaged you. Though she promised, what? To call you? Text? How would you hear from her, when the only devices that are allowed here are the two CS-keys and the computer Margaret gave us?”
Ava twists her hand and buries her face in Markus’s shirt. He looks up at Luna with pleading eyes. “Luna, please. Let her be,” his eyes seems to beg her. “She’s suffering enough as it is.”
Luna opens her mouth, but no words come out. She can’t be too angry at Ava. She also has a secret device. The AR-glasses Jovan gave her. Until yesterday, she would have had a way to defend herself; she’d never used them. But now she has.
Yeti gets up, grunting and staring at Markus and Ava. “Her fucking smartphone. The kid still has it on her.”
Markus gets up and stands in front of Ava. His head barely reaches Yeti’s chest, but the man stands tall against the mountain that rises in front of him. “You leave her alone. We have all broken the rules here. All of us.”
“Oh yeah? You don’t see anything blinking or vibrating in my pockets. Step up, Ava. If you got nothing to hide, you won’t mind us patting you down, will you?”
Ava stands up but hides behind Markus’s back. She’s started to sob again. Kaarina stands and walks over, planting herself directly in front of Yeti. Yeti doesn’t move an inch.
“Go easy on her,” Kaarina says, looking hard into Yeti’s eyes. “No one is patting down anybody. This is not that kind of place. We’re family. Not enemies.”
Yeti scoffs and crosses his arms on his chest. Finally, he steps away from Markus, breaking Kaarina’s gaze to stare at Ava’s swollen eyes. “This is bullshit. What Chip-Head here said. I haven’t broken any fucking rules.”
With sad eyes, Markus looks at Kaarina. “It’s not about rules. It’s about doing things that hurt other people because we want something for ourselves.�
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Kaarina stands next to Luna, now holding her breath. She’s suddenly speechless. Yeti looks at them, then back at Markus. Gritting his teeth, he spreads his hands in defeat. “Fuck it. Who cares. If the kid has a phone, it’s just a matter of time before Nurse Saarinen or Solomon or some other Chipped asshole tracks us down. I say we pull the switch. And we pull it now.”
With one hand, Luna fingers the AR-glasses in her hoodie pocket, her other hand holding the purple CS-key—ready to go. She just needs to trust what she’s learned, trust the math and her newly-found knowledge of the Chipped technology, and City of Finland will collapse.
Kaarina sighs, her chin still lowered. Since Luna met the woman, she’s never seen her this tired, this defeated. Out of the seven of them, Kaarina has always seemed the least vengeful. But ever since they arrived in Iceland, her behavior has become more and more aggressive. Some days, her talk about Doctor Solomon has bordered on obsession. But now, when the opportunity is only one click away, she seems hesitant again.
With all their voices rising, the basement suddenly sounds like a battlefield. As Bill, Micky, Markus, and Yeti argue, Luna taps for Kaarina. You okay there, friend?
Kaarina, standing right beside Luna, doesn’t look at her. But her lip twitches. A sad smile spreads on her face.
“I forgot about her. Margaret. Her safety.”
Luna doesn’t know what to say.
“Every night, ever since we stepped off the boat, I’ve dreamt of this moment. Getting back at Solomon. Crushing her. Leaving her weak and defeated, picking up the pieces. And all this time, I’ve had an ally out there—a friend—whose safety didn’t even cross my mind.”
Luna lets go of the AR-glasses, now holding onto the CS-key with two hands. You’re doing the best you can in a situation where no one knows the right thing to do. You may risk our friend’s life. Maybe you won’t. But if we open those capsules, we might be saving thousands of lives. Maybe millions. Sure, we can’t go over and scoop them all up, but there’s no way the city can hide their capsule scheme after this. Not when thousands of people wake up at once, demanding answers. I mean… Isn’t that all Margaret ever wanted?