by Eric Warren
“A disgrace,” Arista replied, suppressing a genuine laugh. “You know what’s a disgrace?” She shrugged off her jacket, revealing her truncated arm. “This!” She shoved the end of her elbow in his face. “You did this to me. Humans! And you dare to call me a traitor? Who left me to die out there as a child? Who destroyed my entire life and never thought to come after me? What kind of monster does that?”
Byron pulled his head as far away from it as he could, tipping the chair back over and tumbling onto his side. His head narrowly missed the edge of the desk.
Arista shook her head. This is what they’d sent. Not only was he easily susceptible to giving up his secrets, but he couldn’t handle reality. Did they even tell him everything that had happened to her? Or was it all just rumors? Sy had known Arista’s history, but she could’ve been a special case, since Arista had been her objective. Maybe she needed to cut Byron some slack. He wasn’t cut out for this.
“Help me right him.” Arista grabbed the side of the chair. Frees stood over them, watching Byron with burning hatred in his eyes. “Frees!” she yelled. It seemed to bring him out of his thoughts. He kept getting more and more distracted lately.
He reached down and grabbed Byron, standing him up while Arista pulled the chair up. As he turned Byron to face her she felt the brush of his tied hands against her hip. With a start she glanced down to realize her weapon was missing. She’d exposed it when she’d taken off her jacket.
Things seemed to move in slow motion. Her eyes found Byron’s hands, just as his fingers wrapped around the handle and trigger and he attempted to lift the weapon up, pointing it at her from behind his back as Frees continued to turn him. His body blocked Frees’ view of the gun, he wouldn’t see it until it was too late. Arista didn’t have time to dive left or right, instead she swung her short arm down, the end of it connecting with the barrel of the gun and knocking it down just as Byron pulled the trigger.
A second later the bullet struck.
Five
Arista was proud of herself for not screaming. A lesser woman might have. Instead, she watched as the bullet buried itself in Byron’s pants and through his skin. He shuddered and convulsed at the microscopic drills spreading throughout his body.
“Jesus!” he yelled, jerking back and forth at the pain. He lost grip on the gun and it clattered to the floor.
“What happened? What was that?” Frees pushed Byron to the chair as his worried eyes inspected Arista.
“He…shot himself,” she replied, picking up the weapon from where he’d dropped it and stuffing it back in her belt. “I don’t think there’s anything we can do for him.” The Device scanned his vital functions and already determined he’d lost all function of his lower leg. The drilling nanites would tear through his system, moving ever closer until they reached his brain. She’d learned this type of weapon had been designed to kill the machines slowly, but for what purpose other than torture she hadn’t discerned. But she’d had to watch as it had killed Shin, one vital system at a time. It wouldn’t take as long with a human, they didn’t have all the redundant systems machines had. She estimated he’d be dead before they reached his upper torso. “I’m sorry,” Arista said. “It wasn’t my intention for you to die.”
Byron smiled at her, his eyes far off. “What…what was all that stuff about me never getting out of here?” He bore down and grunted. “Admit it, you’re enjoying this.”
“No, I’m not,” Arista said, though she had to fight the doubt creeping up inside her. Had she wanted him dead? It solved a lot of their problems. But she wasn’t glad to see someone die. Just like she hadn’t been glad to watch those people in the tanks die.
“Keep lying to yourself. It doesn’t matter. You would’ve done it eventually anyway. I saw…cough…I saw how you looked back at the waterfall. You had murder in your eyes. But now you don’t have a toy to play with anymore.”
“You’re not a toy,” she replied. Why was she arguing this? This human, though not personally responsible for her own suffering, was responsible for someone’s. And now he was paying for it.
He groaned and gnashed his teeth together, as if biting down on something thick.
“Is there anything we can do?” She’d taken a step back, she didn’t want to be close to him. Whether this took a few minutes or an hour, she didn’t want to be right beside him when he died. She’d done that too much. Been close to death too much.
“Put a bullet in me. A real one,” he said. “Get this over with.” His head listed back and forth and droplets of sweat streamed down his face. She couldn’t even begin to imagine the amount of pain he was in. She turned to Frees.
“Do you think if you shot him with the felp it would knock him out? At least give him some relief?”
Frees shook his head. “I don’t know, but it might not matter. His system might shock him back awake as they penetrate further into his system.”
Byron groaned again, stifling a scream while his breathing only increased. Behind them the door to the main lobby opened and a concierge stepped through, prompting Freed and Arista to turn in unison at the man.
“Excuse me,” he said, pushing between them for the rack of personal items near the rear door. He passed Byron without a second look and grabbed a shopping bag from the rack then passed back between them and disappeared behind the door.
Byron laughed. “Some real creative programming there, machine,” he spat at Frees. “Action: retrieve bag.” He laughed even harder, the laughs turning to coughs. He folded over, continuing to cough while blood from his mouth dripped on the floor.
“I don’t think he has long,” Frees whispered.
“End it!” Byron yelled, suddenly serious. “If you have any humanity at all don’t make me suffer!”
Arista took more steps backward, until her back was against the wall. She watched as he continued to cough, his eyes catching hers between bouts as he struggled for breath. He was drowning again. But this time in his own blood.
“You’re sick,” he said, his voice even more ragged than before. “To watch a man suffer like this…” He slumped back in the chair. “And to do…nothing.” His head fell back, and his eyes glazed over. The Device read his vitals, all his major organs were shutting down. The drills continued north to their destination.
Arista had the sudden urge to throw up. She pushed out of the small room and ran through the expansive lobby, hurling what little sat on her stomach into the fountain. She needed to get it out, get all of it out of her. The hatred, the pain, the misery; it was all eating her alive just like those nanites. She didn’t want to be that person. She didn’t want her life to be ruled in that fashion. She may not have pulled the trigger, but she’d just claimed her eighth human victim.
She was so tired of the death.
Arista lay her head against the cool marble, watching the people stroll by. Some of them shot funny looks her way, but no one stopped to ask her what was wrong, if she was okay. Because no one had been programmed to.
“Arista?”
She looked up to see Frees watching her, his eyes full of compassion. She sat up and hoisted herself on the edge of the pool, not wanting to look back at the granite structure in the middle. Tears flowed freely from her eyes. “I’m not made for this, Frees. I hate them for what they did to me, but I can’t just kill them. Not like that. It’s inhumane.”
He sat down beside her, draping his arm around her. “I agree. But we have to do something. We can’t just let them destroy everything. Maybe they don’t deserve…that…” he indicated the back offices with a nod of his head. “But something has to be done. And soon.”
She looked up at him, the tears in her eyes clouding her vision. “Do you really think they have Mom and Dad? Or was it just another lie?”
“I don’t know. But there’s only one way to find out.” He pulled the small silver device from his pocket, turning it over between his skinless fingers.
Arista closed her eyes and drew a deep breath, allowi
ng it to flow out slowly. She took another one, then snapped her eyes open again. She drew her hands down her face and wiped the wetness from her cheeks. Full reset. “Here’s what we need to do. We can’t let the humans expand. And if these attacks are part of some prelude to expansion plan—though I don’t see how—we need to stop it. At the same time, they could have my parents captive.” She stood, allowing his arm to fall away from her. “I’m going in, using his refractor. They won’t see me come through and I’ll be able to search the colony at my leisure, searching for them. I find them, get them out of there using one of the Gates.” She glanced back toward the office doors. “From the way he made it sound they have more than one. Which makes this easier.”
Frees moved to make an objection but she held up her hand. “Hang on, I’m not done. As soon as they’re safe, as soon as they’re back over here and you have them, I’ll reveal myself to the colony. Tell them they can have me if they call off the attacks.”
Frees stared at her, his face expectant.
“Why should they do this, you ask? Because, I will have every last energy drive Jill ever built strapped to my body. If they recall the humans and guarantee not to unleash them again, I surrender myself willingly. If not—”
Frees foot was tapping against the marble floor fast enough for Arista to feel the vibrations under her. “Okay, go ahead. Say your piece.”
“You’re not going in there alone. I thought we had an understanding. And blowing yourself up? That’s not an option either. All of this is a very bad idea and I won’t go along with any of it. You and I are going to figure something out together, or not at all.” He stood, as if to emphasize his point.
“Finished?” she asked.
“For now.” Frees crossed his arms.
“Do I need to remind you they’re out there killing your people, right now? They need to be stopped.”
“And what makes you think they’ll honor an agreement you make with them? What’s to say that as soon as you unstrap the drives from your body they don’t go right back to attacking.”
“Oh, you must have missed that part of my brilliant plan,” she said, her mouth tugging into a small smile. “I’m going to be planting energy drives on each one of their Gates, and as soon as they take me into custody, I blow them all at once.” She showed him her teeth. “Remote detonator. No more humans appearing through the Gates.”
“And what about you? You’ll be stuck there,” Frees asked.
“Better than killing a bunch of innocent people. They’re cut off from you, you’re cut off from them. Everyone can just go back to life as normal.” She turned and faced the restaurant, watching people come in and out without a care in the world. “Back to normal,” she repeated.
“Except for you,” he said softly. “Who knows what they’ll do to you.”
“What can they do that hasn’t already been done? What could they possibly throw at me that I haven’t already faced? I’ve been tortured, mutilated, and manipulated. I’m sure whatever they do will feel like a vacation in comparison.”
Frees stood silent for a moment. “I won’t let you do it,” he finally said.
“We don’t have a choice,” she replied. “How would you ever walk in there looking like that? And we only have one refractor. If I’d kept Sy’s…maybe. Maybe things could be different.”
“Why not set the charges, then leave the colony and detonate from here? I’m sure we can rig—”
“Because they want me, Frees! They aren’t going to stop whatever this plan of theirs is until they get me. Sy said it was important to retrieve me for whatever reason, before the fighting began. Before all the attacks. If I give them what they want, maybe they’ll stay put for a few more decades.”
“Why do you insist on making things so difficult for yourself?” he asked.
“Because right now, pain is the only emotion worth feeling,” she replied.
Frees shifted through Byron’s pockets one more time. He’d volunteered to make sure they hadn’t left anything behind and to confirm he was dead. Though, that last part wasn’t hard to see. His eyes had become cloudy with blood and it ran from his nostrils and his ears, pooling in different places on his neck and shoulders. Maybe he deserved what he got, maybe he didn’t; Frees wasn’t one to judge. Arista had started toward the door but Frees pulled her back, telling her to stay outside. She’d had enough for one day. And it gave Frees the opportunity to make Byron useful one last time.
Frees repositioned him in the chair so he was sitting as straight as possible. Activating his limited scanners, he began a cursory physical scan, picking up as much detail about Byron as he could. There was no sense in letting this opportunity go to waste, not when they had a job to do.
A knock came at the door, interrupting the process.
“Frees, you almost done in there?” Arista asked.
Frees resumed scanning. “Just double-checking. I’ll be out in a minute.” The scan was ninety percent complete.
“Just…hurry.”
You can’t hurry art, Frees thought. Great art takes time.
Six
They stepped back through the Gate onto the production floor. It seemed like every time they did this Arista expected an unwelcome surprise. First the mag-lev trains in Japan that almost ran them over, then the horror that turned out to be Cadre HQ. But here, back in this place where everything had begun, there was nothing but calm and silence. The storm outside was moving on and if she strained she could make out the white noise of the rain on the roof.
They’d managed to get back to Cadre HQ without any problems, Zubrowski paving the way for them. He volunteered to stay and keep an eye on the human attacks and notify them if there was any significant change. Part of her wanted to go out there and stop all the humans one by one. To take them by the shoulders and shake them, demand they stop whatever they were doing and go back home.
But it wasn’t that simple. It was never that simple.
“It’s eerie, isn’t it?” Frees scanned what they’d come to know as the corral: the area where finished machines would come off the production line to be sent through to Charlie and receive their subdued personalities.
“There’s only two of these in the North American alliance, aren’t there?” she asked, though there had been no need. She’d known the answer before even asking. She always knew the answer thanks to the Device.
“I suppose so. Why?”
“Because there’s a fifty percent chance that you stood here one day, waiting for your upload. Like all the rest.”
“Dammit, Isty, don’t say that,” he said, his foot sending a stray piece of metal across the floor. She froze. That was the first time he’d ever used a truncated version of her name. Jill had used it a few times and her parents used it incessantly…but Frees had never called her anything other than her proper name. Or human, but that had been back before they’d really known each other.
He turned and caught her eye, before turning away again. Was he embarrassed? He was so hard to read sometimes. Maybe it would help if she wasn’t just trying to interpret the micromovements of his polymorphic skin.
“Do you think they made it out?” he asked, changing the subject.
“What?”
“Jill and Max. Do you think they maybe escaped?” He indicated to the Gate.
“I hope so,” she began. “But I doubt it. She took you and Shin down so easily. I can’t imagine Jill or Max could put up much of a fight against that. She probably stunned them, then used the necrotizer on them, just like she did on Hogo-sha.” She glanced down. Was that dust on the floor? She couldn’t tell.
A few boxes littered the space; Sy’s tools no doubt. Arista recognized them from when they left. She’d had all manner of unrecognizable things in there. Things she said she needed to help her get the Gate working. When in reality, she hadn’t needed any of it at all. The entire time she knew what she was doing, and it was all nothing more than a stalling tactic.
She kicked away th
e blanket where Sy had performed her initial surgery, sending a few tools scattering across the floor. Walking over she kicked it again. And again, stomping on it, breaking anything that might be trapped underneath. The Device warned her heart was racing but she didn’t care. She wanted to destroy it all, to wipe any trace of that woman from this place. This was their place, not hers. And what remained of her wasn’t welcome here anymore.
A cool hand gently landed on her shoulder and she stopped, her breathing hard and ragged.
“We won’t have let them die in vain,” Frees said. “Jill wanted nothing more than to help you get your parents back. We’ll make sure we do, for her at least.”
Arista scoffed. “I’m sure Max felt the same way.” When Frees didn’t reply she turned to face him. “I need to go get the energy drives. It will be faster if we split up. You stay here, get working on the Gate. See if you can’t verify anything Byron told us. I’d hate to be walking into a trap.”
“You shouldn’t go alone,” he said.
“I’m taking the refractor. No one can see me. I won’t turn it off until I’m at Jill’s back door.”
“Hyperloop?” he asked.
She nodded. It was the quickest way. “Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you? I’m sure fixing the Gate’s destination won’t take long.”
“We don’t have the luxury of time,” she said, placing her hand on his arm. Something tugged in her memory; she felt like she’d had this conversation before. A different life perhaps. “It won’t take me long. We need to get there before they move to the next phase of their plan—whatever that is.”
“Do you know how to use the refractor?” he asked.
She tilted her head and pursed her lips at him.
“I know, stupid question.”
“You’re stalling.”
