I smile at the timing. They are vulnerable now more than ever.
Entering Solace Corp on a day like today is so insane, it might work. Can we just walk in and take something? Riz seems confident, but I wonder if he’s just feeling the exhilaration of illegal behavior. What does he have to lose? It looks like having his bedroom all packed away was as bad as it could get for an Uplander—so he’s already hit the bottom.
The entrance is grand. Towering glass walls cut the sky. It’s an engineering marvel. I freeze. This is it. This is the place that decided I wasn’t worthy of continuing, that my genes weren’t strong enough to add to the genetic population. This one place, this one system, this one algorithm . . . deciding thousands are unfit.
Riz pulls me close. His warm body presses against mine and he whispers in my ear, “We don’t have to do this. I can go inside and meet you later. I promise to return. I won’t run. It’s more dangerous if you come in with me.”
He still smells fresh. His breath is warm on my ear. For a second, I want to stay there, ignore the life I have, and just disappear. I imagine a moment where we meet in a different world on a different timeline. Would we . . . like each other? Would we love each other? That moment is fleeting. Images of my sister and Masiji sear into my mind. The fire will never go out.
“There’s no other way,” I whisper. I can’t let him slip up.
“No, I guess there isn’t.” He slips his hand into my replacement hand and squeezes gently.
“Then I’m ready.”
“Okay, Avni.”
We walk up the stairs together, and the wall of glass opens for us and closes at once behind us, when we are three paces inside. Solace’s motto is an insult to everyone I love: “Without Sacrifice, There Will Be No Tomorrow.” We are the sacrificed.
It’s quiet. There are people working today, even though the biggest AllianceCon of our lives is right outside. Unbelievable.
“It looks like an optional workday. Lucky us.” Riz shakes his head. Then we both see it and freeze: A body-scanner sits at the entry. He presses my hand. “It’s new. I didn’t know. I swear.”
We have no choice but to continue, so we do. We’d only look suspicious if we turned around now.
He leads me to the entry station and says, “Employee no. 75469. Here to give my cousin a tour of Solace Corp.” His confidence amazes me. He owns this place. This is his domain.
The guard takes in Riz, then me and then turns to their screen. “Synch, please.”
Riz places his forehead against a sensor. It doesn’t read.
“Try again, sir,” the guard says.
“Must be interference from AllianceCon,” Riz says.
I just try to act as naturally as I can, which, I imagine produces less of a smile and more of a terrifying grimace, given the guard’s reaction.
Riz leans against the sensor again. His mom or whoever is tracking him must have put a trace that’s interrupting the sensor.
Green.
“Welcome, sir. That’s odd. It’s not reading your info, but it’s approved your entry.”
Riz responds, “Probably another update in the systems. I’ve been working day and night to get those to perform at night. But there are so many layers to the code, you know? I’ll have my team take a look at it. It takes forever.” He laughs the Uplander laugh. Not a care in the world. Nice show, yaar.
The guard just nods and smiles. “Yes, sir.”
“I could easily get you an upgrade to your tech.” He points to the guard’s neural-synch. “We have the top of the line just sitting around upstairs.”
“Really? I’d really appreciate it, sir. Your guest needs a pass. Stand here, miss.” The guard points to the body-scanner and I freeze.
“Are you sure that’s necessary?” Riz asks. “I’ll only be a minute; she wants to get a feel for the place before applying for a position.”
The guard doesn’t flinch, his hand still pointing to the full-body scanner.
“Right.” I step in between the panels and place my feet on the footprint-like images.
The guard initiates the scan, sending panels up and down and round and round my body. And that’s when Riz gets chatty.
“So, have you been outside? It’s amazing.”
“No, sir. I’m on duty today.”
“There are amazing Uplanders from everywhere. I saw this one woman who was so beautiful, I swear she was from Greenland.”
The guard says in awe, “They do have the most beautiful girls.”
The panels stop moving and I peer at the screen. The image of my body highlights my arm, flashes a silent warning, and then a really shadowy picture of me appears on the screen: “Wanted: Terrorist.” My fake identification should have populated instead. They must have changed or updated their systems. That or, worse, Riz is setting me up. Sweat beads pop on my face, but I don’t wipe them away. It is hot here. Maybe the guard won’t notice my nerves.
Riz continues to engage the guard without batting an eye, “It’s a shame you’re stuck inside here. Maybe you could take a break. Just step outside for a moment. No one would notice. She was wearing sheer silk and diamonds.”
The guard turns to look outside. Without moving his head, Riz reaches over to the guard’s board and types something rapidly. Right when the guard looks back, Riz delivers a big grin. The warning has vanished.
“You’re good to go, miss.”
“Make sure to enjoy the view,” Riz says.
The guard just laughs.
The gate opens and we are inside.
“Some view.”
“It worked, didn’t it?”
“I’ll give you that. You’d be a good smuggler.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
He takes my hand and leads me up, up and up a series of walkways that spiral through the top of the round, glass-domed structure.
I keep wondering how many billion marks it took to build their infrastructure. Each mark they used from the PAC here was a mark less for us in the Narrows. This building was built on our dead bodies. For a split-second I doubt Riz. I wonder if he’ll just turn me in, right here in the lion’s den. He could. Even if he is wanted, erased or whatever, he could make up a pretty story about how I abducted him against his will, made him do things for me. It won’t be far off. He has no real reason to help me. Yes, he knows I can do him in. And he’s waiting for the info on his uncle. But he’s smart. I look at him. Really look at him. And he smiles. He’s the only way to my family. Without him, I’ll never know where they are.
Trust him and, if he betrays you, you know what to do. Please don’t betray me.
“You okay?” he asks.
I’m a good smuggler, but terrible at hiding my anger.
“I just want this done.”
“In here.” He leads me through a series of hallways, and then to a massive room lined with glass boxes.
“This is where you work?” I ask.
“It’s strange, isn’t it.”
“Glass is so fragile.”
“It’s also transparent. They like to keep an eye on their tech interns. But you’d probably work your own space. They have different offices in the outreach branch, if you’re thinking of applying to the program.” His eyebrows silently lift toward the corner of the room. I know the camera is watching us. Watching me.
“I see. Can you show me your system?”
As he sits in the chair and links with Solace, plugs her directly into his neural-synch, it occurs to me that Masiji was here, right here. She made all of this possible. Her fingerprints are on the code he’s using right now, even if it’s evolved since it was launched. Even with the minor block we placed, when he’s linked to a hardwire, he’ll have cloaked access. I hope. It looks invasive, but that’s what it’s about. Challenging the boundaries of humanity and machine, right?
“There’s nothing to it,” he says and leads me through the process. I see he’s really deep-diving, hacking like the best of them.
&
nbsp; Breathe, breathe, breathe. I fidget with my sleeve.
“I wonder if we could take a trip across the sea sometime. I’ve heard the views are spectacular,” he speaks, like he is trying to tell me something. “There’s a spa there that they say can heal even the worst ailments.”
“I’ve always wanted to visit,” I go along. He must be referring to the location. It must be near the sea.
Riz looks at me and squeezes my hand. “There’s nothing to it. Let’s get back to AllianceCon. I really am hungry.”
“Good idea.”
When we walk down the hall, he slips his hand in mine and I don’t shake it off. He squeezes my replacement. My touch sensors in my metal fingers can feel vibrations and changes in pressure. I know what that means. He got the coordinates.
As we walk through the central foyer, I feel Riz’s pace stiffen. Then I hear a voice.
“Where have you been?” It’s a girl. She’s pretty and perfect, and dainty. She is unoriginally cute. I’ve seen faces like hers a thousand times before, on those adverts with glowing models with clear, bright skin, threaded brows, airbrushed cheeks, bejeweled neural-synchs. Though, hers isn’t covered in real gems; they’re just crystals. Rubies that size would require 24/7 armed guards.
I can take her.
“Oh, hello, Sumi. I’ve been on vacation,” Riz says. I make to let go of his hand, but he holds my hand tighter. Like he’s afraid to let go, or he wants to show this girl that we are, well, something. Whatever we are.
She looks me up and down, like she’s looking through a scope on an electro-pulse rifle. “You didn’t tell me you were going somewhere. They were looking for you.”
“Who?”
“Everyone.” She glares at me with suspicion.
“Must’ve missed my notice. This is my friend. She’s visiting for AllianceCon. I thought I’d give her a tour. She’s studying tech at Eastern University.”
“Is she now? I’m Sumi.”
I let her hand hang in the air, an unwanted connection. Instead I nod, look as bored as I can and say, “Riz, we really need to get back. I’m famished.”
“See you, Sumi,” he says as we slide past her.
When we are out of range, I say, “Looks like your girlfriend is jealous.”
“She’s not my girlfriend.”
“Imaginary girlfriend. Whatever.”
He laughs. But just as we are about to move through the guard station, I sense something is wrong. Two guards are behind us, walking in unison.
“How fast are you?” I whisper.
“Lightning.”
“Let’s hope so. Just run.”
I run. He follows right behind me and we jump over the guard station’s counter. I slam my shoulder against the sliding door mechanism, and we pour out onto the streets into the chaos.
Never look back.
30 //
Riz-Ali
A UAV careens across the sky above us and dives. It’s hovering too close to the buildings and nearly hits a few onlookers as it tries to catch up with us as we run. It nearly overtakes us, but gets distracted by all of the extraordinary newcomers in AllianceCon that look and seem different than the average Centralite. The most extraordinary thing I see as we run is a collective of clones from the Americas: There are eight beautiful, androgynous people who look the same, sound the same, laugh the same. It’s uncanny what Provinces choose to do with their PAC funds. Some regions invest in reforestation. Others, on building a better human. Many Provinces simply spent their funds rebuilding the cities they razed during WWIII—out of guilt, remorse, or in hopes of garnering more funding.
I slow to stare at the clones, but Ashiva pulls me and we keep running.
I’ve never felt so alive.
So much so that I wonder if, finally, I’ve been awakened and the life I’d previously lived was a dream or some kind of stasis. Ashiva awoke in me something I don’t yet understand, but I want to fall completely and utterly headfirst into.
She’s faster than me, but I run hard to keep up through the crowds. The rickshaw transports are cut off from the main roads to allow more pedestrian space. The festival is in full swing, with performers and tech installations, and the wealthy all fully immersed in the newest platforms. I want to scream, to laugh. But we need to keep a low profile. She pulls me into an alleyway where we wait as the guards pass through the parade. We press our bodies against the structure in the shadows. When they are gone, she turns to me.
Her voice is husky from our sprint. “So, where are they? Where’s my sister?”
I cough and let my breath catch up, then release the numbers I memorized. “12.2502° N, 64.3372° E.”
“What?” she looks to be calculating, using her I-Scan. “In the middle of the Arabian Sea? But there’s nothing out there. They just dropped them into the deep end of the sea?” Her eyes grow wide with terror.
“No, wait, we don’t know that.”
“Then what? I mean, what could possibly be out there? The Bridge Project was never completed. The sea level rose too high to keep up.” She paces like a predator, then lets her fist go full force into the side of the wall, splintering metal, tearing her silk glove. No blood. Only a small glimmer of her chrome knuckles shows through. I hold her hand in mine and press it.
“I don’t know, but they wouldn’t just waste lives like that.”
“Don’t be stupid. Yes, they would.”
“Yes. No.” My heart sinks. “I mean, if they wanted to eliminate everyone, they would have done it in the Narrows. Called it an uprising. They wouldn’t bother to relocate. That’s expensive.” My words embarrass me, but it’s true. Central’s focus is monetary.
“Yeah, you’re right.” Something shifts in her. Her gaze sharpens, eyes widen. Ashiva turns to me and says, “The Void.”
“What?”
She shakes her head at me and paces. “It is real,” she says.
“You’re talking about the old prison camp story?”
She doesn’t stop to respond. “Or, maybe they built something like it. It could have been on the sea the whole time. They’ve never found it—”
“Because it keeps moving. It’s the Void. Of course. It’s real,” I say.
“That’s just enough crazy to be true,” she says, and I’m thankful hope returns her face to a focused calm. “I’m sending the coordinates to Ghaazi and Suri now.”
Out of the corner of my vision, I see a guardian pacing at the entrance of the alley from where we came.
“Come on, let’s take in the sights until we can find a clear way out without being tracked. We can take cover in the crowd. We’ll get out of here, I promise.”
She nods and takes my hand, and we walk directly into the middle of the largest crowd I can find. No way the UAVs and the optic tech could keep up, reading all these faces. Along the way, we pass a vendor selling thin, color masks, and I buy two for us. Ashiva’s face changes to a light green and mine goes to orange. Now we fit in. We’re surrounded by hundreds of new tech exhibits from around the world. The first we pass is from the African Province, showing their new cloud machines. Another from the Australian Province is launching their new blood cleaners and regenerative science. I wonder which one will get funding from PAC to continue. We see the SA’s massive AllianceCon exhibit inside a tent and decide to avoid it. But there’s one that’s packed more than others, so we enter that one. It showcases the latest tech from around the world, things that aren’t even available to the elite to purchase—only drool over. The newest optic mods that allow you to nearly see to the microscopic level. The nano-bots that can sculpt your face and body while you sleep. I watch Ashiva as she stands, mouth agape, taking it all in. I can’t read her. I pull her deeper into the tent.
Right at that moment, I want her to have everything. I want to give her everything. I want to take her away from this nightmare I am beginning to realize I’m a part of. I’ve never had a relationship, not really. Only crushes, flings. My family doesn’t allow it. But
I can’t imagine being without her after all this is over. I want to have a normal day with her, without running, danger, and possible imprisonment lurking behind every doorway. I’m not sure what—if anything—she feels about me. The only thing I’m certain of is that she loves her family, and I, well, I think I love her. And I know now I have to do anything I can to help her.
“Oh, my gods, this is amazing.”
But then I see it and feel so careless in bringing her here. In a case that’s captured her gaze is a chrome extremity overlay. She rushes towards it and slips out of my hand.
The description reads: “Replacement Exo-Mod: Turn your body into a weapon, just for a day.”
She smiles, and a sinking feeling takes me down. “This is all a game to you. To Central. You think our replacements are fun.”
“This was a bad idea. Let’s go.” I motion to escort her out and she shifts out of my space, away from me, and watches an Uplander try on a model of a temporary replacement arm, laughing joyfully.
“What’s that? Let’s go see.” Ashiva walks toward a crowd of Uplanders gasping and sighing at something.
“Bad idea. Stupid idea.” I rush after her, but I’m too late. What was I thinking?
Behind the flurry of expensive genetic scents and planetary garb of sparkling wealth is a girl sitting on a chair. Just a girl. On a clear, lucite chair.
“It’s nothing, let’s go,” I say.
Ashiva’s ice. The girl sits in a large glass box the size of a closet. Eyes staring through space, through everything. Suddenly, her black irises turn purple and illuminate, and her head turns toward Ashiva, locking eyes with her. Her voice is slow and soft, and child-like.
“My name is A.R.I., Assimilated Reconnaissance Instrument. I am the first Neo-Soldier.”
Ashiva takes two steps back into me. “She looks so real. Like Taru. Like me.”
“Can we go now?”
She nods. Back on the street outside, I feel like an idiot. “I shouldn’t have taken you in there.”
“No, I needed to see, see how far Central has come. We’ll never get ahead if we don’t even know their tech advances.”
Rise of the Red Hand Page 21
