by Eric Warren
Despite having been autonomous for over ten years, sometimes his own mind confounded him. He was not one to take things on impulse alone. Never had been. But ever since she’d come along he noticed he’d been acting different. It was as if she had pushed him into a new stage of his development, with nothing more than her presence. Could that be it? Could she still have an effect on him despite the fact he was already autonomous? Because how much did they really know about what she could do, really? Even she didn’t understand it. Regardless, there should have been some kind of measurable change somewhere within him. Some neural connection he could confirm had been inactive or nonexistent which now brimmed with activity. Something was different, and he didn’t care if he had to run a thousand diagnostics before he found it. Even if he had to take himself apart piece by piece he would figure it out. Until then, he might need to refrain from making too many decisions. Because until he could trust himself, it was possible he was putting those around him in danger. Maybe she had been right to send him away. For her own safety.
Frees touched two fingers to his temple and rubbed in a circle.
“Okay.” He sighed. “One more time. Run internal diagnostic.”
Twenty-Three
The train rumbled along, bouncing and jostling Arista as it sped down the tracks. She sat near the back of the last car, hoodie up and bent over slightly so no one would see her face. No one had approached after the incident at the restaurant but one could never be too cautious.
The train hit another bump, sending her butt off the seat for a millisecond. How long had it been since these tracks had been serviced? Most people used the maglevs above. There was hardly anyone in the subway car with her; but the unit was still running, right on time. Apparently the efficiency of Hogo-sha hadn’t reached this particular aspect of Osaka life yet.
Arista glanced up, the train was only one stop away from her closest entry to the tower. But she had to make it look convincing. Which meant she really needed to be in character for this. She couldn’t let her true motives slip, as hard as they might be to swallow. But this was the only way she might have a chance at taking him down. God, even just the prospect made her heart race. The Device flashed a warning for her to control her breathing but she had long since stopped listening to it. It didn’t matter here, it wasn’t like she was going to accidentally change someone sitting right beside her. It seemed nothing mattered here, she shouldn’t have been able to get away from the restaurant so easily. Which only led her to one conclusion: Hogo-sha had stopped them from coming after her. He wanted her to come to him. Well, he was about to get it.
The train slowed, pulling to its stop and Arista said a silent thank you to whatever force managed to keep it on its rickety tracks for at least one last trip. She got up and turned the backdoor handle, opening it to the black tunnel before her. She hopped down, shutting the little door behind her and made her way through the darkened passage. She didn’t have far to go.
She got a good look at the tracks before the light faded from the station she’d just left. No wonder she’d been half off her seat that entire time, they were in terrible condition. Warped at odd angles from too much use and too little repair. If she got to speak to Hogo-sha, which she didn’t expect, she’d mention it to him. Maybe get under his “skin” since he was so proud of his efficiency.
Double-checking the time, she confirmed it was past eight in the evening. Good, less people in the building to deal with. She didn’t know how many were inside, but it was a good bet the majority of them worked a regular nine-to-five. That’s how it had been back in Chicago at Cadre HQ. The Cadre itself had only used a portion of the building, the rest was deemed general usage and occupied by companies other than the Cadre. She suspected it was the same here. The tower was much too big to house just one organization. She’d done a lot of research in the past few hours. Apparently it had been designed as a multiple use “city-within-a-city”. Everything people would need to survive all in one place. Housing, shopping, office space, parks, and recreation, all of it. But Hogo-sha hadn’t seen it that way and had repurposed the entire building to office work. It was a shame. Arista bet the humans who had designed and built it were probably rolling in their graves over the travesty, and she didn’t blame them. He had corrupted their vision and now he would pay for it.
Exactly four hundred and fifty-seven feet into the tunnel she reached a door with a small keypad. Instead of hemming and hawing like she normally would have done she grabbed the handle and wrenched it off with her new hand. The mechanism inside failed and she was able to swing the door open. It might throw off a silent alarm but it wouldn’t be enough to get their attention. This was just phase one.
The corridor beyond the door was dark, lit only with a few fluorescents every few feet. It should have sent her into a panic, but so far so good. She didn’t bother disguising her footsteps or taking care to not make any noise. They already knew she was in the vicinity. And it was up to them as to how far she made it before someone stopped her.
At the end of the corridor stood another door which she opened with ease, bypassing any kind of security protocol. The second doorway opened into some kind of cooling station. It reminded Arista of the one underneath Frees’ apartment when they had to go underground to get to the production facility. Did Osaka have a hyperloop grid like Chicago? Or had the technology been too new? Back home they’d managed to determine it had only been operational a short while before the war with the machines, who had subsequently forgotten or discarded it.
She scaled the stairs surrounding the cooling units, her palm sweaty as she tried not to think about what she had to do. There was really no other way, not if she really thought about it. And this would be more than enough to disrupt every connected grid on the planet. Enough so that she could get back to where she belonged and with her own people. That was all she really wanted. Was it so much to ask? And what price was too high?
She almost stopped. Almost turned around to think of something else or give up completely. But she didn’t. Her foot stopped on one of the steps a moment longer than necessary before she continued on, determined to make this work. Nothing was going to stop her now. She had run out of options.
The map confirmed this was the last door before she breached the underground security perimeter. No turning back now. She wrenched the door open easily, passing through.
On the other side stood two men in black suits, flanking either side of the door. They didn’t react to her other than to turn their heads. “She’s inside,” the one on the left said.
“I am here to surrender. Take me to your leader.”
“Subject is requesting escort,” muttered the one on the right to no one in particular. He grabbed her arm faster than she would have thought possible and placed his fist inside her palm so she couldn’t touch her fingers together. So he had been paying attention. She’d wondered how he would prevent her from using her weapon.
“Come with us,” the one on the left said. “You have been expected.”
The one on the right opened his fist so it was intertwined with her hand. She laughed at the absurdity of him escorting her by holding her hand firm. “I wish I had a picture of this.” She’d noticed neither of their eyes were red which further confirmed her theory Hogo-sha didn’t keep Peacekeepers. He only used normal husks that had been programmed for protection. She supposed it was safer, less chance of them doing something stupid. But at the same time they lost the ability to innovate and improvise. And that’s exactly what she was counting on.
The men escorted her to the bank of underground elevators. These were the same ones they had first ridden with Shin, only on a different level. It was a good thing the machines couldn’t read her life signs because they would be screaming all sorts of warning alarms at them. Despite her cool demeanor, Arista couldn’t make herself calm down. She forced herself to take deep breaths, telling herself that she could do this, and it would all be okay. But on some deep level she didn’t really
believe it. She had to do something terrible and she would have to live with those consequences. And Frees never would have approved. But thankfully he wasn’t here right now. He was off being the hero. That was all well and good; being the hero was easy. But sometimes life meant making the hard choices, and that’s exactly what she intended to do.
The elevator doors opened and she exhaled. No one else was in the carriage. She’d thought maybe Hogo-sha might send a few more down. His overconfidence would be his undoing.
As soon as they were inside and the door was closed Arista took one last breath and squeezed with her new hand, crushing the one holding it like aluminum. The man looked down, not alarmed but more annoyed. He moved to say something but before he could she yanked her hand down, ripping his from its housing. She dropped it and smashed him across the face, sending him backward. The other man grabbed her from behind, placing her in a bear hug and pinning her arms to her sides. “You can’t do this,” he said.
“Watch me.”
She managed to reach up and grab one of his arms with her hand, tearing it away like it was a piece of tissue paper. Was it her or was the hand growing stronger? She put her thumb and pinkie together, charging the weapon and placed the hand against her back. She fired, sending them both in opposite directions and she smacked the side of the carriage, right above the other man on the floor. She flopped back, scrambling to get up despite the pain but saw there was no need. The man who’d shown a tiny bit of resilience wasn’t getting back up. Ever again.
Time for phase two.
She pressed the button for the lowest basement level, silently hurrying the elevator along, wishing it would move faster. She wouldn’t have much time.
The elevator descended five more levels before coming to a stop and she stepped over the fallen husks, wincing as she did so. No time to think about them now, she had a job to do. No time to feel guilty or ashamed or any of those other emotions. In a few minutes it wouldn’t matter anyway. She consulted the map again, plotting her course. The exit strategy was in place, all she needed to do now was execute.
The space around her was large and cavernous. The original plans had called for this to be an aeroponics bay of sorts but it seemed either the humans never got around to it or Hogo-sha destroyed it all. She surveyed the area. Taking out sixty of the support beams should be enough, according to her calculations and knowledge of the building. It would also give her enough time to get out and away from the structure before it fell. If that didn’t satisfy Sy then nothing would. She tried to look at the bright side: Hogo-sha would be dead, and so would a large portion of his “force”. Frees would have told her everyone in this building she was about to sacrifice were innocent and could still be saved.
Screw what Frees would have said. He left.
She got to work. There was a certain order to follow to keep the building from collapsing prematurely. She laid the map out in her mind and located the first structural pylon, firing her weapon on it. She winced as the concrete around the steel crumbled and the steel itself bent and twisted in grotesque ways. One down, fifty-nine to go.
“Arista, stop.”
She froze. How could he be here? And so quickly? She should have had more time.
Turning, she stared right into Shin’s eyes.
Twenty-Four
“So how is this supposed to go again? We just restrain her?” Max asked, keeping her voice low.
Jill nodded. “We don’t wanna hurt her because we need her to get them back. But we may have to force it.”
They sat at the small kitchen table, hunched over it like witches over a cauldron. Sy was still upstairs, in Arista’s room. They’d been staying out of each other’s way, but ever since monitoring that call Jill and Max had been trying to keep a closer eye on her.
“What if she’s got some kind of human weapon? Whatever that guy on the call was talking about. ‘I’ll leave up to you’. What does that mean?”
Jill shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“I’m not about to be taken out by a human a second time.” Max gripped the handle of her knife in its sheath. “We need to do something about her now, before we lose our chance.”
Jill’s eyes followed Max’s hand down to the knife. She didn’t need to be so trigger-happy all the time. What had started out as a quirk had developed into a full-blown obsession with blades. But at least she’d stopped toting the shotgun around like a child stuck to its mother’s teat.
“What if she makes another call to the colony?” Jill asked. “We don’t want to miss that opportunity. She could still give us some valuable information. Like where it is and how to get there.”
“You think she’s going to let that slip?”
“She got here somehow. By some feat she made it here on foot. It can’t be far.”
Something thumped above them. The human was up and moving around.
“Can you believe how long they sleep? How much time they waste recharging for another day? They’re so…inefficient,” Max said, scowling.
“They’re complicated beings, there’s no doubting that.”
Sy made her way down the stairs and rounded the banister to the kitchen. “I have some bad news.”
Jill drew her eyebrows together. And it didn’t escape her notice Max’s hand tightened around the handle of her knife.
“I spoke with Arista last night, things are not going well.”
“You spoke with her? How?” Jill asked.
“I assume the same way as before. They had to use some kind of special machine because their individual signals were being blocked.” Sy rubbed her arms and glanced around the room, shifting where she stood.
“Why didn’t Frees contact me?” she asked.
“That’s part of the problem. Frees is dead.”
“What?” Jill shot up out of the chair. Max sat exactly where she was. “Is that what Arista said?”
“I’m sorry, but yes.” Sy rubbed the back of her neck. “I didn’t know how else to break it to you. I should have told you last night but I was too worried about her. I don’t think she’s going to be able to make it back.”
She had to be lying. That man on the call she had made had said he’d wanted the one without the skin. How was Sy going to deliver him if he was dead? What was happening over there? “Why not? Is she hurt?”
“She’s already tried and failed twice. She’s running low on food and energy and I don’t know if she’ll be able to make a third attempt.”
“Then we need to go in after her. Go help.”
Sy shook her head. “With what? Neither of you have any offensive weapons.” Her eyes traveled down to Max’s hand on the knife. “Nothing that would be effective against Hogo-sha at least. I’m afraid I seriously miscalculated his defenses. This is all my fault.”
“You’re right. It is,” Max said, not having moved from her chair.
Sy scowled at her a moment before resetting. “And what about the Peacekeepers patrolling the area? The whole reason we’re not still there is because they’ve been acting erratically.”
“I’ll contact Obsidian,” Jill said. “See if he’s got an update or can help.”
Sy pressed her mouth into a line. “I don’t know, I think it’s best if I return to the colony. I can resupply, bring additional forces. We’ll have to take this to a large-scale assault.”
“No.”
“No?” Sy said, her tone uncertain.
“You’re not leavin’ with Arista still trapped over there,” Jill said. Max stood slowly.
“Now wait a minute.” Sy raised her hands up in surrender. “We’re all on the same side here. I want her back as much as you do, but there’s nothing we can do without reinforcements.”
“We’re not leaving her. Max will go in and retrieve her but we’re not going to wait however long it takes you to bring more humans with you.” Sy leaving was out of the question. Jill didn’t like this one bit. Was she just pretending she’d talked to Arista or had all this really hap
pened, throwing a wrench in her plans too? Jill only hoped they didn’t have to restrain her to keep her here. It would be much better for everyone if she went willingly.
“But…how will you find her? Osaka has twenty-six million people.”
“I’m good at finding things,” Max said, withdrawing her knife.
“Okay, just wait. Wait,” Sy said, her hands still up. “That’s fine. If you guys want to go over to the Gate and see if you can retrieve her, that’s fine with me. Just…don’t do anything rash.”
Max sheathed the knife.
“I can show you,” Sy pointed to Jill, “how to operate the gate so you won’t even need me.”
“No. You’re stayin’ until we have Arista back,” Jill said.
“But I could be gathering the reinforcements to go after her quicker. I could be back in a few days with everything we would need to find her.”
Jill shook her head. If Sy went off to the colony she wouldn’t be coming back, Jill was sure of that much. Except on the message they’d overheard the man from the colony said he’d wanted Arista one way or another. Maybe going back to the colony was just a stalling tactic until they were sure she was dead over there and could bring her back. Either way, it wasn’t going to happen. Max would go in, find her and bring her home. And once she was safely back here they would interrogate Sy properly. Get some answers out of her for once.
“No,” Jill said. “When we have Arista back then you can leave. Not before.”
Sy’s eyes jumped from Jill to Max and back again. “Very well. I’ll go pack my equipment.”
Twenty-Five
