by Ramy Vance
“What do you mean?”
“These bots have never been introduced to organic material before. I have no idea what’s going to happen. But I don’t want to treat you like a science experiment. I’ll make sure you aren’t getting sick. Whatever else you feel like I should know, just tell me.”
Abby nodded as she stood. Her stomach was killing her. She wasn’t sure if she was hungry or if she was sick. “I’m going to go grab some grub. Could you kill the transmission? Gotta start thinking ‘bout how to help Terra long-term. We aren’t gonna be able to keep this up.”
Creon flashed Abby a thumbs-up. “I’ll keep the tracker on Terra and comm you if anything comes up.”
“Thanks. And thanks for, you know, keeping this quiet. Really.”
Creon waved away Abby’s apology. “Science isn’t like magic. It’s rarely elegant. Sometimes things just have to be messy.”
Chapter Thirteen
Anabelle was in her room. She’d watched the fight from her television. When she and Abby had received the comm that Terra was fighting, she’d remembered how useless it had been for her and anyone other than Abby and Creon to be in the lab. She was glad Abby thought to broadcast the fight.
Even though Anabelle knew Terra’s survival was something of a professional cause, she couldn’t help rooting for her. She’d never seen a human fight like that before, let alone one with no training.
Most of the time, when humans were brought into any of the other realms, they were either helped out with advanced tech or with magic to bring them up to speed with the other races.
Terra didn’t have any of that.
The only well she was drawing strength from was within her.
That was the kind of person Anabelle wanted on her team—SWARMMT or whatever the hell Myrddin had named it. Anabelle still couldn’t believe a wizard could be so bad at naming anything. Regardless of the name, someone like Terra would be a welcome addition.
Abby had the smarts. Terra could provide the brawn. The three of them could probably whip the rest of the humans into shape.
Anabelle opened her briefing from the prior mission and scrutinized the personality test of Naota, the security guard she had picked up on the way back. His scores were all over the place. He had a problem with authority, trusted his intuition, had an intense desire to make friends, and somewhat of a “loose” concept of reality. But Anabelle had seen him in action. He was like an idiot savant.
Now that Terra’s battle was over, Anabelle could relax. She wanted to check on how the human world was responding to the recent battle before heading to sleep. The response last time had been overwhelmingly positive. Hopefully, tonight wouldn’t be any different.
She kept replaying the final moments of the battle. Terra taking down the chimera was more memorable than her own killing of the wyrm. It was just a wyrm, after all. She’s also got incredible leadership skills, Anabelle thought. Better than I do, at least. That’s good.
Hell, it wouldn’t hurt to watch a little bit of TV before meditation. Her past teachers would have punished her for slacking off, but most of them were dead now. They couldn’t enjoy the simple pleasure of sitting down and vegging out after a hard day of work. Besides, this was something like work.
Anabelle flipped through the news, catching glimpses of how the human world was responding to Terra’s victory. For the most part, it wasn’t that different than earlier in the day. The fanaticism had picked up, though, and that entertained her.
None of humanity had known Terra a week ago, and now they were swearing their lives to her. A couple of folks in New York were already in the process of starting a religion with Terra as their goddess. I wish people would worship me like that, Anabelle thought, chuckling as she lay back in bed. All I ever got were stalkers.
Well, that was enough TV for now. Anabelle knew what she needed to. Humans were responding. More importantly—not that she actually cared—but most human media had already lost track of Myrddin amidst all of this. The wizard had probably had something to do with that.
Anabelle changed to her Traveler’s robes. She knelt in front of her bed and closed her eyes, allowed herself to slip back onto the Path, to fall into the crevices of her lost memories. Tonight would be the night she was going to piece it all back together.
Even though no one had been watching her own battle with the wyrm, Anabelle had re-watched it over and over in her mind. She was sloppy. She knew it. The three Paths had become muddled in her head. Worse still, she’d almost run out of manna during the fight.
At least she hadn’t gotten lost in the battle. Something she had noticed about Terra. It was difficult to tell if Terra was keeping her head on straight, or if she’d been consumed by the fight. With survival hanging so delicately in the balance, it was always difficult to guess.
But that wasn’t the point of meditation. Thinking about what others did well or not, was counterproductive. There were memories in the black. Thinking about today was just creating new memories to be tossed on top of the ones needing to be uncovered.
There were always other times to come back to new experiences. Or experiences you were wishing for.
Roy’s smile and gruff, unshaven face flashed in front of Anabelle’s eyes for a second. Goddamn it, she thought. I’m never going to be able to concentrate now.
Anabelle forced the mech rider’s face from her mind. Even if she wasn’t able to concentrate on her meditation, she didn’t intend to spend the whole night thinking about him. There were other ways to keep her mind and body occupied and sharpened.
The elf changed out of her robe and into workout clothes, then headed to the weight room.
Abby sat on the toilet, staring between her legs. There was a lot of blood, but her period had ended nearly a week ago. When she flushed and stood, she thought she was going to faint. As her vision blurred, she leaned over the sink and tried to catch her breath.
Cold water. That should help.
Abby ran the water and cupped her hands underneath the faucet, splashing her face, rubbing her eyes as hard as she could. When she looked in the mirror, she saw droplets of blood trickling out of the corner of her eyes.
“What the hell is happening?” Abby asked as she picked at the skin near her eye.
When Abby touched the skin, she couldn’t feel anything. Not her fingers against her skin, nor the pinch of her fingertips. She pinched hard. Nothing. Then she pinched her cheeks. Nothing. She scratched. Still nothing.
Abby scratched harder, hard enough to break the skin. Something was gleaming under her skin. She worked her finger into the open wound, widening it. There wasn’t any pain, but she felt something cold.
The sink was filling with blood, but it was mixed with something else—a thick blue liquid that smelled of antifreeze. Abby stared into the bowl. She didn’t want to look at what she was doing to her face.
Chunks of skin and hair filled the sink. At last, Abby stopped. She could feel. She ran her fingers over her face. It was cold. Very cold.
When Abby finally looked in the mirror, she almost screamed, but there was nothing in her. She knew that deep down.
A steel skull stared at her from the mirror. Her eyes were the same color, but she could see wiring and tubes running behind her eye sockets. She turned her head to the side and opened her mouth, only to see the infernal glow of machinery.
“Oh, my God!”
There was a loud ringing. It was in Abby’s ear, drilling into her skull and multiplying a thousand times. She couldn’t hear herself think. There was only the ringing. And then a cat crawled out of the sink. It licked Abby’s finger.
Abby bolted upright in bed. She was covered in sweat and could barely breathe. She reached up and touched her face. Skin was still intact. It must have been a dream.
The ringing was real, though. Abby’s comm was going off. She grabbed it and slid the comm into her ear. “What’s going on?” Abby murmured.
Creon’s voice came through. “We’re going to have
to talk about those tests we ran. They’re fascinating. Nothing dangerous, but fascinating. Also, Myrddin’s been trying to get in touch with you. SWARMMT is supposed to be meeting in his office in twenty.”
“All right, I’ll be there in a little bit.”
Abby rolled out of bed, thankful she still had all of her skin. She was about to reach for the shorts lying next to her head when she felt a tickling on her thighs. When she looked down, she was already wearing shorts. Huh, that’s weird. Could have sworn I took those off, and that they were longer.
As Abby stared at her shorts, she saw nanobots slide out of her pores and come together to lengthen her shorts. “Oh shit,” she muttered.
Martin interrupted Abby’s train of thought. “Okay, you’re awake, thank God! Have things gotten weird since you went to sleep! So weird.”
Abby looked down at her hands as nanobots spread from her pores and built fingerless gloves across her skin. When she thought of a different color, the gloves shimmered and changed to blue, then to black. “Martin, what’s going on?”
“Uh, where do I start?”
By the time Abby opened Myrddin’s door, the rest of the group had assembled. The old wizard was seated at the head of a very long table. Roy was at his right. There were a handful of empty seats, then Anabelle an awkward distance from the two men. Creon was across from her. Abby sat next to Creon.
Myrddin stood and nodded at Abby. “Sorry to have disturbed your nap,” Myrddin drawled. “There are issues that needed to be spoken of, but this is not an inquisition. Please make yourself comfortable.”
Anabelle, who was still wearing her workout clothes, a towel draped over her shoulders to soak up sweat, leaned back in her chair after running her hand over a pad—the same sort as in the lounge. A glass of carbonated water appeared in front of her.
The rest of the members of the meeting were doing the same. Roy ordered a round of chips and salsa that he motioned for everyone else to get close enough to share.
Anabelle, Abby, and Creon rose and moved down the table so they were closer to the snacks. Roy also conjured up a beer and napkins.
Myrddin chose an elegant glass of elvish wine that he sipped, staining his lips blue.
It had been some time since Abby was able to choose whatever she wanted to eat. She hadn’t had a steak in a very long time. It took only a few seconds for a medium-rare porterhouse to appear in front of her, accompanied by a small glass of Industry. She watched the reaction of the others at the table carefully, but no one seemed to mind that she’d ordered a beer.
Myrddin opened the conversation. “As I’ve said before, Anabelle, I do not approve of your methods all the time, but your decision to broadcast Terra’s battles has been extremely beneficial. You may have had more impact in the last week than I have in three years.”
Anabelle looked as though she were going to say something smart, but it got caught in her throat. She swallowed, took a sip of her water, swallowed again, and said, “Thank you. It was a gamble. But I’m starting to get worried about Terra. I don’t want to just be using her to drum up sympathy. That feels terrible to say out loud.”
Roy dipped his chips in salsa, taking care not to spill. “What do you propose?” he asked. “We still haven’t figured out where she is.”
Creon cleared his throat as he raised his hand. “Actually, we were able to pinpoint her coordinates earlier today.”
Myrddin raised his eyebrows as he leaned over the table. “How were you able to do that?”
Abby took a deep, slow breath. This was going to be it. Creon was going to tell Myrddin everything. She was going to be busted, kicked out of the program, and sent back to Utah. Then she’d have to pretend that nothing had ever happened. Pa would go unavenged.
Creon laughed softly as he ordered a small jug of wine. “You wouldn’t believe it, but Abby cracked the AI problem. You remember the experiments we were running a while back, trying to push virtual assistants to true AI? Abby stumbled across the answer.”
Myrddin still looked suspicious, but a smile crept across his face. “Oh, she did? And I assume that AI was responsible for accessing my files on the Dark One’s mind control technology and transporting all of our nanobots through the hadron collider?”
Creon, still smiling as he sipped his wine, said, “Is that what she did? She must have figured we’d have to give the guy a full test run to see what he was capable of. He managed to break into all of our systems without a problem. I’m currently in a race with him to see who can access who faster. It’s riveting.”
“Stay on top of that. If we have an AI, I want him sharp. Congratulations, Abby. Not bad for your first week. In the future, I’d prefer it if you did not resort to the Dark One’s tactics. We have that information, so we know how to challenge him. If we use the tools of our enemies, are we any better?”
Abby wasn’t sure if she should answer or remain quiet. After a few seconds, she replied, “Yes, sir.”
Anabelle leaned over the table, holding her water accusingly. “And now it’s my turn. Who’s this redheaded assassin who cropped up on my last mission. Did you read my briefing?”
Myrddin nodded as he conjured a picture of the assassin for all to see. “This is a former agent who defied specific orders and placed her and this entire facility’s safety at risk. She’s entered the gnome world to save her boyfriend, leaving behind a host of breadcrumbs for the Dark One to find our location. I’d advise you not to work with her, but I’d be surprised if you found her.”
“You see the picture I snagged. I obviously saw her. She said she knew how the Dark One was making gates. And how to stop them.”
Myrddin waved away Anabelle’s idea. “Even if Sarah did know how to stop the gates, we have no way of reaching her. Communication with the gnomish world is completely shut down.”
Abby raised her hand like she was in school. “You know, we figured out a trick that helped with boosting comms to Terra. We’d just need a satellite.”
“Anything shot over the world will be shut down by the Dark One.”
Anabelle groaned loudly. “By the gods, do you have any imagination? How the hell did you ever manage to become a wizard?”
Myrddin ignored Anabelle, preparing to go on to the next topic, but Abby cleared her throat, catching his attention. “What if I could tell you the satellite would be tiny? Like, grain-of-wheat tiny.”
“Then I’d say you have piqued my imagination. How would you suggest we get it there?”
Abby and Anabelle made eye contact, and the elf winked at her.
For the first time, Roy spoke. “I could take care of that. We’ve been doing supply runs to the gnomish world for emergencies. Get in and out quick. I’d be able to handle it.”
Anabelle muttered under her breath, “Yeah, you would be able to get in and out quick.”
Roy’s eyes shot daggers at Anabelle. “Excuse me, what did you just say?”
“I said it sounds like a great idea. You sound like someone quick on the draw.”
The meeting quickly deteriorated into squabbling between Anabelle and Roy. The rest kept on eating, occasionally joining in but mostly laughing. It almost reminded Abby of dinner with her folks and siblings.
It felt a little bit like home.
Chapter Fourteen
The dark cells beneath the arena were beginning to feel a lot like home. Back on Earth, Terra’d had a habit of staying out too late, coming home too early in the morning, and waking up in complete darkness, covered by blankets, drifting in and out of a cold sweat.
This wasn’t much different, although it was a lot more painful.
She groaned as she tried to sit up. The pain was mostly in her ribs and back. She’d never had joint pain before, but she’d also never wrestled a chimera to the ground. It didn’t feel like getting old as much as the ramifications of being a badass.
The door to her cell had been left open again. She wondered if the rest of the survivors would be in the dining hall again.
No one had spoken. Even Terra couldn’t find words. Anything she said would have felt like a lie. She had no idea what they were doing here in the arena. She’d only gathered bits and pieces from what other fighters had said, and even they didn’t seem to know what was going on.
The most frustrating were the orcs. Terra knew it was naïve to assume that all orcs were on the same page about everything, but she had been hoping for some inkling about what was in store for them down the line. Were they going to just keep fighting until they were all dead?
During the moment of silence, Terra tried not to look away from the dead, particularly Eric. She remembered how afraid of dying he’d been. Maybe if she hadn’t been so encouraging, he would have lived through the fight. He had died at her side. She felt like it was her fault.
But what could she do about that, other than beat herself up? She’d been glad when the other fighters had rushed her off to her cell. Since then, all she’d done was sleep.
Moving toward the door was an exercise in pain and determination, but it wasn’t as bad as the first time she had made the trek. Although there were no burns, she was covered in open wounds. She wanted to find Nib-nib and see if there was something he could do to help.
Hopefully, the bodies had been moved from the dining hall. Terra didn’t want to look at them again, and it would be extremely uncomfortable to try and eat and drink around them.
Terra finally got to the dining hall. The rest of the fighters were there. They weren’t segregated like the first time Terra had seen them. They all sat together, talking quietly. Nib-nib looked up when Terra entered the room and chirped loudly.
