by Eric Warren
In the corner of her vision, Frees bristled but it barely registered. There was no way she could ever do what she’d done at Charlie’s again. Did Forsythia even know he’d had humans in captivity? And if he was only one-third of an overall equation, it was likely the others had humans at their disposal too. She considered asking Sy if she knew about the captured humans but that would only expose her already-precarious position. She didn’t need this woman to completely shut her out, not now, not when she was so close to reconnecting with her own kind. She needed to find out if Forsythia knew about them without giving herself away. Because if she didn’t know about them, Arista wasn’t about to confess what she’d done. Not to the first human she’d ever met. Whatever happened, Forsythia could never know the truth.
“Forsythia,” Arista began slowly. “Who are these other members? Where are they?”
She glanced down at her arm then back up. “Sy, please. It’s less of a mouthful. Only my mother calls me Forsythia anymore.”
“Sy.”
“Trymian, who is located in London. And Hogo-sha in Osaka, Japan. Based on our information, the AI in Japan will be the easier target of the two. Trymian has shielding we haven’t figured out how to penetrate, but Hogo-sha is much like Charlie. Relatively unguarded and easy to access.”
“Japan!” Frees said. “That’s on the other side of the world! We can barely get across this city without being seen. How are we supposed to make it to another continent?”
Sy smiled. “Don’t worry about that, I’ve got you covered there. Much like Charlie, Hogo-sha has a Gate built directly into his main facility. It is simply a matter of re-routing the Gate you used to get to Charlie, which I suspect was the one over at the production facility.”
“How do you know that? And how do you know about the Gates?” He asked, raising his voice.
“We’ve been keeping tabs on the machines’ technology. Site-to-site gate transportation is something that could be a threat to us. But fortunately there needs to be an entrance and an exit Gate in order for the system to work. It isn’t like they can just transport someone into the middle of nowhere. Yet. They haven’t managed to develop it that far.”
“And how exactly do we re-route the Gate?” Max asked. Arista was just happy the others were taking on the burden of talking; she was doing good to remain standing. It was all so much to take in. More Cadre members, the other side of the planet, changing the Gates; she’d had no idea. And here she thought she’d been handling things pretty well.
“I’m good with machines,” Sy said. “I’m confident I can figure it out. I already know the location of the exit gate. From what we can tell they are all customizable to multiple locations.”
Frees turned to Arista. “Can I speak with you a moment, please?”
“Sure.” She wasn’t focused at all. It took her a moment to realize he meant alone. “Oh. Okay.” She turned to Sy. “We’ll be right back.”
“Of course. I’m not going anywhere.”
Frees whispered to Max, “You’ll keep an eye on her?”
“Always.”
Frees led Arista back down the way they’d come, to the end of the shipping containers. “I don’t like any of this. She has way too much knowledge for someone who complains about being cut off from the world.”
“You heard her, they monitor the Cadre communications. You think she’s lying?”
“I think something is off. You’re the only one who can take down the AI’s? The humans obviously have resources. She seems well fed and well educated. That image refractor means she can travel anywhere without detection, better than you can. And you’re telling me they don’t have the capability to do what we did almost by accident?”
She pinched her face together. “Then why else would she ask? Why wouldn’t they have done it by now? What were they waiting for?”
Frees looked back over to them and Arista followed his gaze. Max stood, rooted to the spot where they’d left her, staring down Sy hard. Sy, to her credit, didn’t seem to mind. She’d leaned up against one of the shipping crates and stared off into the distance.
“There is something wrong about all of this. We can’t trust her,” Frees said.
“If we can’t trust her—if I can’t trust one of my own kind—who can we trust? Machines with shotguns who want to blow my head off?” She gestured with her hand, flipping it back and forth.
“They’re not all like that.”
“Yeah, but they could be. Who’s to say the next one I change doesn’t come at me with an ax? At least with her we know she’d never do anything to hurt me. We’re an endangered species, remember?” Saying it aloud felt good. In a way, Sy had validated Arista’s existence, proven she wasn’t just a random anomaly. She had a purpose.
But she still had her reservations. She wanted to help Sy and the other humans, but if it meant killing any more of her own people…
“Even so, we need to be cautious. I don’t think we should do anything until we’ve had some time to validate her claims for ourselves. And even then I’m not too keen about going back into another Cadre stronghold.”
“You heard her, she only needs me to go. You can stay here, safe and sound,” Arista said, heat in her voice. Her face had grown very hot. Maybe because it felt like Frees was attacking her humanity.
“You know I won’t let you go alone. Not into something as dangerous as that.”
“Yeah? Is that because you still need me to enact your grand plan? Or some other reason?”
He didn’t respond, only looked away, unable to meet her gaze. Frees still just saw her as a means to an end. He couldn’t allow his precious cargo to be injured. Not if he wanted to free his people.
“I don’t want to keep her waiting.” Arista turned away from him and headed back to the others. Sy perked up when she approached and Arista felt a flutter of gratitude from deep within somewhere. Something strong, like the pull of two magnets. “Can you give me a little time to think about it? It’s a lot to take in all at once.”
“Yes, I understand. You need time to process. But we need to act quickly. It took me a while to filter through everything and find you. Hogo-sha may be working on new defenses as we speak. We’ll want to get you there—if you decide to go—soon.”
Arista rubbed her temple. “In the meantime, you can come back with us. We have—”
“Um,” Frees said, stepping up. “I don’t think so.”
Arista turned to him, frowning. “Why not?”
“It’s just—”
“We don’t know her and we don’t trust her,” Max said, still staring at Sy.
“Sy, I’m sorry. I don’t know why they’re acting like this.” Sy had pulled her lips back to barely reveal her teeth. She opened her mouth to say something but refrained.
“What’s the big deal? You brought me into your home when you didn’t know me from anyone else,” Arista countered.
“I was desperate and more than a little overeager. Just like you’re being right now.”
Arista stepped back as if she’d been slapped.
“I don’t want to be an inconvenience. I know how to disappear, after all,” Sy said. “I can find a hotel in the city, work my way in for the night. Then we can meet later, if you wish.”
Arista walked over to her. “Can your comm accept downloads?”
“Yes,” Sy said.
Arista took her arm—it was so warm! —and pressed her comm against Sy’s, initiating the download.
“What’s this?” Sy asked.
“All of the Peacekeeper routes for the next three days. We have inside help at Cadre HQ.”
“So I see,” Sy said, her eyes widening.
Arista couldn’t help but smile at herself. She’d actually impressed her! At least with this Sy would have an easier time moving through the city, less likely to get caught if they couldn’t question or scan her.
“That’s very generous,” Sy said. “Thank you. Tomorrow, then?” She glanced down at something, then
back up so quickly Arista figured she must have had a bug on her. That was another thing they could share! Bug bites! The more she thought about it the harder it was to contain her excitement.
“We’ll contact you with the details,” Frees said.
“Very well.” Sy moved to activate her refractor.
“And do us one last favor. Remain where we can see you until we reach the end of the street down there.”
“Jesus, Frees. What do you think? She’s going to follow us back?”
“That’s exactly what I think.” He slid his eyes to the side and walked past her.
“Arista, it’s okay,” Sy said. “I understand. I’m the first human outside of yourself they’ve ever met. They have every right to be suspicious.”
“Thank you. They’re good people, I promise,” Arista said. “Once you get to know them.”
“I’m sure they are.”
“I can’t believe you just did that,” Arista said as they made their way back to the hyperloop station. People coming home from dinner or the bar passed them on the street, no one taking notice. Both Arista and Frees had pulled their hoods up, but Max remained unsheathed, almost as if she wished for the Peacekeepers to come after her.
“Did what? Protect our interests? She could be lying her ass off for all we know,” Frees said. “She obviously wants to impress you.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means you’ve been compromised,” said Max from behind them. “You can’t be trusted. Not that you were ever very trustworthy to begin with.”
Arista spun on her. “Okay Max, enough. I’m sorry I broke your neck. I’m sorry you have full autonomy now and see the world for what it really is. If you want to hit me or otherwise injure me, just go ahead and do it. Otherwise shut up!”
Max narrowed her eyes. “If you were thinking straight, you’d be thanking Frees for looking out for your best interests. I don’t know why but he seems to want to keep you out of trouble. And that’s what he was doing back there. The fact you can’t see it proves my point. You are emotionally compromised.”
She wasn’t about to hear it. She wouldn’t stand here and have her integrity questioned just because she didn’t automatically suspect the first human they’d come across.
“Let’s just get back to the house,” Frees suggested. “We can discuss it there. I don’t like being so exposed out here.”
She turned back around and walked off again. He was right, but Arista almost didn’t care. In a way, she hoped Sy did follow them back. Maybe she’d see how willing Arista was to help. For some strange reason Arista just wanted to show her where she lived. How she’d become innovative about collecting food and storing it. Where she…slept.
Where had that come from? What a strange thing to want to show someone. She pondered it all the way back to Jill’s.
Eight
“So,” Jill said as they entered through the back, moonlight streaming in behind them. “How’d it go?” She gave a telling smile. She’d just finished working on the new charging cube. It would be good for at least fifteen charges with zero location uploads to central. It was a mighty fine piece of work, if she did say so herself.
“Tense,” said Frees, leading them in. “Very tense.”
“I see you all made it back in one piece.” She caught a glimpse of Arista. “’cept maybe you. Looks like you left a piece of yourself back there.”
Arista caught her eyes for a second then averted them. Yep, the girl was lost. They’d have a hard time getting her to do anything against the human now, if it came to that. Jill had been afraid of this, but what was she supposed to do? Tell the girl not to do somethin and odds were she’d do it just for spite. She’d just have to manage this situation as best she could ‘til it played out.
“Here,” Jill said, “let’s take some time outside.” She grabbed Arista by the lapel and pulled her back outside into the overgrown backyard. “What are you thinkin’?” she asked as soon as they were clear from the back of the house.
“What do you mean?”
“What’s goin’ through your head. Right now?”
“Well,” she hesitated. “I’m tired and overwhelmed. I don’t have to tell you, you heard it all, right?”
“I heard it.” Jill tapped her arm, cutting the comm with Frees. He didn’t need to listen in on this. He was too close as it was.
“Then you know. What she wants me to do.”
“So what are’ya gonna do?”
Arista shook her head and sat on an old stack of plastic crates piled against the fence. “I don’t know. I don’t want to let her down. If I’m the only one…”
“And what about your parents?”
“She said they died in a fire.” She craned her neck, staring up into the inky blackness.
“I mean your real parents. The ones who raised you. You gonna go galivantin’ off and leave them to rot while you singlehandedly take out a Cadre AI?”
Arista pulled back. “What? No, I wasn’t—I mean of course I wasn’t going to forget about them. I didn’t risk my life—our lives to just let it all fall apart. No, I need to find them. To start the transfer.”
Jill nodded. She wasn’t convinced. There was more going on beneath the surface.
“But,” Arista said, and Jill prepared herself for it. “But what if Sy said was true, and we only have a limited window to get to Hogo-sha? What happens if I wait and he gets too strong?”
“Then the humans have to stay underground. But at least they’ll be safe down there. Unlike your parents, if you abandon them.”
“I’m not abandoning anyone,” she replied with a bit more force. Jill wasn’t sure if it was anger or something else. But the girl had developed a chip on her shoulder. This mess with the human bodies at Cadre HQ had screwed her up good. She had to consider the possibility there could be more. Jill would bet her bottom dollar that’s what had the girl so stressed. “Isn’t that what you want? Don’t you want the Cadre destroyed? Freedom for all?”
“That’s Frees’ cause. Not mine,” Jill said.
Arista turned on her. “You’re just content to sit around and let things go along as they are, is that it?” She shifted on the crates, pushing forward.
Jill waved the question away. She didn’t bring Arista out here to be interrogated herself. She just wanted to help the girl. “All I want is to make sure you’re goin’ into this thing with your eyes wide and your mouth shut. This woman may be the nicest human you’re ever gonna meet, but she’s still a human. That kind of isolation, especially generational isolation isn’t prone to breed a lot of acceptance.”
“They just want a place they can call their own, where they don’t have to hide anymore. I would think of all people you’d understand that.”
“I understand it. But I’m also content not to have it. If it doesn’t happen I won’t burn the world just because I didn’t get my way.”
“And you think that’s what they’ll do.” An edge had developed in her voice.
“They tried once before.”
Arista stood. “Is that what you think I would do?”
Jill considered her a moment. “If you believed in something so deeply, if you thought you were doing the right thing for the right reasons and no one was going to stop you, then yes. I do.”
Arista screwed up her face and stood, brushing past her, attempting to make her way back inside. Jill grabbed her arm as she did, stopping her. “Ow.”
“Don’t think you owe these people anything just because you share a common heritage. You don’t know them and they don’t know you. You’re not indebted to them. You’re not…” She wanted to say responsible, but that would mean revealing she knew about what Arista had done back at Cadre HQ. And that would be a violation of her trust. “…under any pressure to give them what they want.”
Arista pulled her arm from Jill’s grip. “Yes, I am.” She returned back to the house.
Jill glanced up at the moon. There wasn’t a cloud ou
t there and it was nearly full. It was a hard lesson but the girl needed to learn it now. When Arista had been the only human Jill hadn’t been as worried. But when humans multiplied so did the problems. At least historically. They couldn’t take any chances. A colony was all they would need. It wouldn’t take but a few generations for them to have complete control over the planet again. Burning through it, destroying it as they saw fit. Maybe they had been better off leaving the Cadre in place. But it was too late for that now. The least she could do was help out. If Arista eventually agreed to the human’s plan—and Jill had no illusion that she wouldn’t—then they’d need someone here. Someone to keep an eye on things. Jill was good at that. There was a good chance the human would underestimate her, maybe make a mistake. Which was exactly what Jill needed her to do.
Was everyone against her now? Arista stormed through the house, up the stairs, and into her room, her arms shaking. They didn’t get it. None of them got it at all. The Device displayed elevated levels of adrenaline and non-epinephrine. It was like she was being roadblocked at every turn. Each time she wanted to try and help Sy or even consider the possibility someone had come along with some new tidbit of advice for her.
“Don’t do this, Arista, make sure you do that, Arista. You can’t trust the humans, Arista,” she said to herself in a mocking tone.
There was no way they could ever understand. For everything about them, for all their perfect likenesses, their systems that replicated humans were still nothing more than copies. They would never know the connection humans felt with each other. Arista hadn’t even known about it until a few hours ago. Meeting Sy in person was like getting a shot of the best drug in the world into her system. She’d been elated, nervous, excited, terrified, and ready to throw up at any second. It had been like the culmination of all her hopes and dreams.
