Daugher of Ash

by Matthew S. Cox

  Someone who looked like everyone else wanted Kate’s complexion, but couldn’t afford the procedure. Kate wanted to be unremarkable, but couldn’t set foot in a Reinventions clinic. Medical people would know something was different with her, and they would find her. Her train of thought derailed as a guy in a shimmering dark suit slipped into the gap between her and the woman, cutting into the middle of the line.

  The four people behind Kate yelled at him. He ignored them, focused on a conversation over an implanted link. She leaned closer, blackening the material of his suit. Casual, hands on her hips as if in her pockets, she hovered until his clothes burst into flame. The fire called to her; she felt its presence as though it were a living being to which she could talk. At her behest, the flames crept over his shoulders and along his arms, dribbling down the front of his jacket.

  At last, he noticed, and ran for the street screaming. Kate looked in the direction of the manager’s office. The door was empty, and the sound of a man weeping echoed out of the hallway.

  Probably under his desk. She shook her head.

  Kate reclined on a thick, concrete spar that hung at an angle from the ceiling. She laced her fingers behind her head, staring up at the crisscross of exposed wires and rebar from where one end had fallen years ago. She slid her foot back and forth, teasing at a loose bolt in the grit with her toes. The holo-bracelet chirped at the arrival of a text message from an unknown sender.

  “Five minutes.”

  Idle fingers picked at the holo-panel floating over her wrist. Her frumpy sweatshirt shrank and changed color into a military jumpsuit, then a skin-tight cat suit, then a white dress. A twist of a virtual knob cycled it among various colors. She changed it again to jeans and a t-shirt. Each shift made her angrier.

  Her stomach rumbled.

  One hand patted her belly. “Sorry I only had four… A girl’s gotta watch her waistline.”

  Sunlight glinted over metal at the far end of the floor. She rolled her head to the left without lifting it. A small hovercar nosed in via the broken windows of an abandoned office tower. Dust spewed in its wake as it glided to within ten feet. Fender doors rotated open to reveal ground wheels, onto which it settled. Aurora waved from the driver’s side, visible through the inch-thick resin windscreen. Anna got out first, the clicks of her high-heeled boots echoed in the entire level. Despite being bundled in a long, white coat, she shivered. Aurora had dressed like a corporate executive in a jet-black skirt suit sporting a row of silver buttons. She pulled dark glasses down and waved with her fingers.

  Kate looked away. “You’re late.”

  “Sorry, luv,” said Anna. “I had another meeting that ran a bit long. I never miss an opportunity for good sushi. Have you ever tried it?”

  “I can’t eat sushi.” Kate swung her arms down, using the momentum to pull herself sitting.

  Anna fished out a NetMini and smiled. “It’s really not that bad.”

  “No… I mean I really can’t eat it. By the time I chew twice, it’s no longer sushi; it’s cooked.”

  Aurora burst out laughing, scaring a flock of pigeons away from the north ledge. Anna gave her an exasperated look and set her NetMini flat atop a large chunk of displaced concrete. The head of a man in his middle forties with shoulder-length chestnut hair and a meticulously trimmed goatee appeared above it. The last inch of neck shimmered with the rainbow light of a hologram; above that, he looked solid.

  “Kate, this is Archon,” said Anna. “The man who would save us all.”

  “Melodramatic,” mumbled Aurora.

  “So, this is Kate…?”

  “Just Kate,” she said. “No last name. No family. No friends.”

  He frowned, for a moment looking annoyed.

  Kate leaned forward, elbows on her knees. “How do we get started? I might have to do the occasional favor for El Tío now and then, but I’m a free agent.”

  The head rotated to face Anna. “Who or what is El Tío?”

  “Local Syndicate underboss,” said Aurora. “She’s been cleaning up messes for him for quite some time. The man’s got connections in more places than mold.”

  “Really?” Delight gleamed in his eyes. “Do you understand what you are?”

  “Some kind of biological weapon, I guess.”

  “Allow me a moment.”

  The holographic head stared at her. She slid her arms back until she grasped her knees, feeling uneasy at the sudden change in the air. The sense of a fourth sentient mind became apparent, centered on the hologram of Archon. Several seconds later, a telepathic connection started.

  Relax yourself. I am only peering in to see what we have to work with. I promise I will not do anything but look.

  She tensed, putting one arm over her chest and the other in her lap.

  I cannot see under your hologram, but you feel exposed anyway.

  Scenes from her past leapt to the forefront of her mind. The exploding tank, burning bodies in the facility, running through the woods free, sleeping on mounds of burnt pine needles and dirt, hunting deer, her journey into the city at fifteen, El Tío, and everything up to the now.

  “I believe Aurora is correct. You are one of The Awakened. It would be an honor to count you among us.”

  Kate gazed into her lap until the individual threads of her false jeans stood out. “Are you sure you want me? I can’t do anything fancy like them. All I’m good for is killing. I can’t even touch people.”

  Anna’s eyes reddened. She pivoted away.

  “You are Awakened, Kate. You are part of the greatest evolutionary peak humankind has yet reached.”

  “She may have a point, James.” Aurora made a cute little cat-scratch gesture. “I did warn you about Althea, and look what happened.”

  He scowled. “That one was a handful. She refused to accept her greatness. Kate here is ready.”

  “Who’s Althea?” Kate mumbled, still studying her lap.

  “Another feral child,” said Archon. “Perhaps when she is older, she will come to understand. Alas, we may not have the luxury of time.” He froze, one eyebrow raised. The dawn of an idea spread over his face. “Perhaps… Yes, perhaps indeed.”

  Aurora opened her mouth, but closed it without saying a word. She glanced at him, hesitated, and wandered a few paces to the side, rubbing her hands. Anna shook her head at Archon.

  “I may be able to offer you that which you most desire, Kate.”

  “She doesn’t strike me as the money, fame, and power type,” said Anna.

  Archon flashed a Cheshire grin. “I was thinking something less grand. Perhaps a pair of trousers and a nice angora sweater?”

  Anna moved between Kate and the hologram. “James, please leave that girl alone. Did you forget what she told you? The next time she sees you, you’re going to die.”

  Archon rolled his eyes. “Oh, Anna. That girl is incapable of killing anyone.”

  “Actually…” Aurora leaned her head left to right, making her hair dance. “I said she will watch him die. Not necessarily the next time they meet, and I ever said anything about her killing him. It could be forty years from now.”

  “It could also be next week,” mumbled Anna. “I’d rather not risk it.”

  Kate jumped up and advanced on the NetMini, staring into holographic eyes. “Are you telling me there’s a way to make this… heat shit stop?”

  “He’s getting ahead of―” Anna tried to grab her shoulder to hold her back, but pulled away at the last second. “Feck!”

  “This poor woman has never known the touch of a mother’s love, or a warm bed.” Archon’s face adjusted itself into an imperious stare. “I cannot say beyond a doubt; however, I was able to elevate myself from an ordinary psionic to the―”

  “Most powerful telepath in the world,” said Aurora, twirling her finger.

  “Thank you, Lauren.” His withering stare returned to a smile at Kate. “There are several possibilities. In most cases, someone who is born as an Awakened has an oddity. Thus far
, in all cases I have seen, the effect tends to be visual changes or mild annoyances. I dare say C-Branch did a rather cack-handed job of it.”

  Anna shivered, looking around. “Don’t say that too loud. They’ve got bots everywhere.”

  “I thought I was the paranoid one.” Archon chuckled.

  “C-Branch?” Kate blinked. “Is that―?”

  “Yes. The man you remember as you left the building.” The eyes in Archon’s hologram head turned to white static. “Agent Perrin. Interesting.”

  Kate held her head, almost too dizzy to stand. A dozen voices screaming filled her mind. For a moment, she became her seven-year-old self again, at the center of a roaring inferno that used to be parked trucks and a platoon of soldiers. Fire died down and cyclonic winds whipped her hair. She stood at the center of a picturesque forest snow globe, only the flurries falling around her were ash instead of ice. A charred man in a black coat dragged himself out of sight into a ditch. Little Kate walked among the falling embers into the woods, free.

  The past melted into the present, trees turned into bare concrete and wires.

  “Do not feel remorse for them,” said Archon. The voice existed in her mind and in the room at once. “For what they did to you, for what they almost did to you”―the fear of toxin seeping into the gel in a tank she could not escape returned―“they deserved to burn.”

  “I…” Kate, woozy, staggered to one side, arms waving to recover her balance when she stepped on a jagged rock. “Dammit!” She rubbed her foot. “I’d kill them all over again for a pair of goddamn boots.”

  “They were trying to make a weapon with a pretty disguise. Doll you up and send you in. No cybernetics to hide from scanners, no guns to conceal, you would have been the perfect assassin.” Archon scoffed. “Fools.”

  “C-Branch is military intelligence,” said Anna. “They got their hands on DNA from Ekaterina Myshkin and tried to reproduce her gift. Their effort to amplify it didn’t work.”

  “I know a couple people who’d disagree with that,” mumbled Kate.

  “Anna,” said Archon, “this woman spent her formative years consuming wildlife and running about the woods starkers. She would not know the Myshkin woman from a clod of dirt.”

  “Wait, so you can”―Kate rubbed a hand up and down her stomach―“make it so I’m not always like this? I-I wouldn’t destroy everything I touch?” She looked at Aurora who made a flicking gesture, as if starting dominoes. The long-dormant urge to cry welled up. She held it in, though her hands shook as she covered her mouth. “What do I have to do? Just tell me.”

  “First, I will need you to come to West City. Once I get a better look at you, I can answer the rest of your questions.”

  “Let’s go.” Kate jogged over to the car, bouncing.

  “You’ll burn us out,” said Anna.

  Aurora raced to the driver’s side door. “We need to go.”

  Kate almost grabbed Anna by the shoulders. “I don’t burn things when I’m asleep. Knock me out and throw me in the back.”

  “No time,” said Aurora as she got in. “We need to get out of here right this instant. Kate, stairs, blue door. Use the air intake to go into the basement and wait in the shaft.”

  “Sorry, luv.” Anna ran to the NetMini, hanging up on Archon’s protest. “I’ve learned not to second-guess a precog.”

  “But… But…” Kate grabbed at the rear door. Her fingers melted through the plastic handle, unable to pull hard enough to open it. “You can’t just leave me here after that.”

  Anna slipped into the passenger seat. “Sorry, no time. We’ll find you again.”

  Aurora started to pull away, but spun to look at her with worry in her gloss black eyes. It’s not his fault. Remember that. He was only a boy then.

  Kate squeezed her hand into a fist, forcing the goopy plastic to exude between her fingers as the hovercar shot out a giant hole in the wall on the opposite side of the gutted floor. She flung the smoldering glop to the floor with a contemptuous growl as she shied away from the rush of wind and debris. At the sound of other approaching vehicles, she sprinted for the stairwell.

  Panic stole the care from her stride as she raced down, leaving a trail of burning trash. She stepped on several harsh reminders of her boots being illusions, each time screaming in anger. Half of her wanted to run back upstairs and melt down whoever had showed up and chased Archon’s emissaries away. Something about Aurora’s reaction of fear checked her murderous urge, reducing it to a momentary pause. Kate glanced over her shoulder at the flames behind her and willed them quiet.

  Four floors down, she found a large grated intake duct as Aurora said. She stuck her fingers into the gap, pulled it open, and crawled inside. The echoing clamor of metal striking the wall flooded the stairwell from overhead. She reached over the grate and hurled a stream of flames farther down the stairs to create a false trail. After tugging the cover closed, she crept backward.

  In a vent shaft, her holographic clothing surrounded her in an eerie glow. To hide, she shut it off. It didn’t matter if she wore light or darkness. Two meters in, the shaft opened into a vertical drop. Kate leaned forward, shifting her weight onto her hands and slid her legs down. Her toes found no purchase but slick metal; she hung on fingertips as ten men in black armor tromped by. A few seconds’ worth of flashlight flicked around the ductwork. Fear gripped her as she questioned if she would be able to pull herself back up.

  Aurora’s directions to find this vent replayed in her mind. Her fingers went numb, her body shook, and she pressed her face into her arm to muffle the urge to make noise. She looked up at the featureless dark metal; shadows shifted from movement outside.

  The men were doubling back.

  Did she mean for me to hide in here or drop?

  She shifted, trying to look down. Her feet continued their involuntary search for something to stand on. Below, darkness awaited. Even if she had wanted to, her arms refused to pull her up. Her grip faltered. Somehow, she managed not to scream as her fingers slipped free and she fell. The drop ended seconds later on a curved metal elbow. Her skin squeaked, butt sliding on the steel duct; she skidded to a halt a few feet from the bend.

  Owwwww… Fuck.

  A moment passed before she could move, mouth frozen in a silent scream. She bent forward over her legs, forehead to the ground, struggling to contain her usual response to pain―anger. Weak light glimmered in the shaft, not enough to see much more than where she had come from. Her hands explored the walls. Cold metal covered in a layer of grit enclosed her in a square shaft too small to sit up in.

  “Well,” she whispered. “Guess I only got one way to go.”

  inutes of crawling in duct tunnels past a series of turns, dead ends, and unclimbable vertical shafts brought her to a grating in the floor. Unable to see, she groped about, testing the floor. The stink of burned fuel wafted up from below. A few sharp shoves failed to move the grate, so she crawled on. No sooner had she put her second knee down than the floor gave out.

  She screamed for a two-second fall, her cry of surprise cut silent as she crashed onto more metal, which broke from the force of her impact. Soot filled the air, making her choke and gag as she brought her arms up to shield her face. A head over heels somersault ended with an impact on more duct wall. It, too, collapsed from the force of her hit. Horizontal became a diagonal as one end of a longer shaft fell, leaving her sliding on her chest down an incline over gritty metal until it leveled off.

  Kate curled up, clutching her breasts and whimpering a series of choice words. Her head hurt from several strikes against metal, her entire front felt chafed raw, and somewhere along the line, she had whacked her ankle, leaving her left foot numb. Metal creaked.

  “Shit!”

  She scrambled up to crawl, but the duct gave out. For seconds that felt like minutes, she hung weightless. Her body crashed on an unforgiving surface, a bed of horizontal bars amid the clatter of broken ductwork. The hit knocked her breathless; every gasp fil
led her mouth with the taste of soot, oil, and rust. Coughing, she slid an arm over a series of coarse metal bars. Touch told her she had landed on a row of parallel pipes, each about as big around as her wrist. She felt like a slab of meat on a grill. Her knuckles struck something metal that slid with a scrape. The motion knocked a clatter sounding like small bits of plastic falling deeper into a metal enclosure. Kate muttered curses into the crook of her elbow as she covered her mouth and nose.

  For some time, she lay flat on her stomach, gagging, in a chamber large enough to let her stretch out to her full height. Panels of sheet metal strewn over her made banging noises as they warped from the heat. Once the sediment settled enough for her to attempt to breathe without covering her mouth, she shifted to check on her bracelet. It ignored her hand wave, filling her with dread at the prospect of having to make her way back to Tanked with nothing on.

  Ten years ago, El Tío had given it to her. Her holographic projector stopped her from attracting attention, stopped gangers from killing themselves trying to attack her, or well-meaning people from causing a scene when they tried to ‘help.’ To a point, it let her feel normal.

  Even if it was a lie.

  She cried as though a beloved pet died and grasped the pipes to push herself up, cautiously trying to bring her feet under her. The grill offered nowhere to sit without a pipe going somewhere uncomfortable. Kate squatted on the frame, balancing on the balls of her feet as she reached around to explore her environment. Above, smaller pipes crisscrossed, studded with holes. A small orange flame appeared at her behest, hovering over her outstretched right hand.

  Soot smeared her skin in more places than it remained pale. Six feet away, a rectangular hatch offered a way out of what appeared to be an ancient boiler or furnace. In front of the door, a grid of rebar sat over the bones of dozens of rats and burn-gel cans. From the look of it, someone had been cooking here. Her stomach growled. Live rat meat tasted better than OmniSoy hamburgers.