Daugher of Ash

by Matthew S. Cox

  No longer focused on her power, she found the water uncomfortably warm―feeling anything as hot or cold was a foreign experience, but an amazing one. Manual soap seemed strange, but then again so did bathing at all. Lathering up, she daydreamed of finally being able to use an autoshower without causing a steam explosion.

  After an inordinately long soak, she toweled off, taking her time to enjoy such a mundane task. A knock on the door turned the towel into an emergency dress.

  “The water is almost boiling,” said Stephanie, through the door.

  “It’s okay… I’m done.” Kate dropped the towel and scrambled into her clothes. “Be out in a minute.”

  “Already? What, did you use cold water?” The woman made a shivering noise. “Okay, I’ll fix you some breakfast then.”

  Kate pushed the door open, startling Stephanie with a blast of steamy air. She stared, dumbfounded, until a distant child’s voice called out “Mom! Walter’s gone over the fence!”

  “I can chase the goat if you’re busy.”

  Stephanie’s eyebrows went up. “Oh, I couldn’t ask you to do that… not after…”

  Considering what I did to earn that money… “It’s fine. Get something nice for your kids.”

  Kate sat on the gleaming black motorcycle for ten minutes, staring at the console. Inexplicable dread kept her finger away from the on button, worsening each time she thought of Althea.

  Cancer must be burned out.

  The old man’s voice crawled down her back with the tingle of a thousand spiders. Childish giggles from the other side of Stephanie’s place brought a smile, then wistful regret at how life had treated her. The emotion turned toxic, collapsing to malignant jealousy. A flash of camouflage caused her to jump, startling a large man with a shaved head, sunglasses, and a long rifle slung over his back. Kate offered a nod of greeting, which he returned.

  As much as she wanted to race back to Querq and repay Althea for her kindness, she feared what might happen if she did. I can’t go back. It’ll use me to hurt her. She hit the button. The space between the handlebars lit up as the Navcon displayed a loading progress bar. Aside from an electronic hum too weak to hear over the background noise and a faint vibration in the frame, the vehicle gave little sign of being active.

  She took the eastward gate out of St. Louis, finding the roads within the Scattered Lands in far better shape than anything west of the Mississippi. Before she knew it, she had the bike over a hundred and eighty. It rode as though on a cushion of air; if not for the blue number at the top of the display screen, she would never have guessed how fast she drove.

  Esteban’s ‘betrayal’ hung heavy in her heart, despite every effort her brain made to blame her for getting too attached too fast. She wanted to be back in Querq, and wondered if the pull to be near the glowing-eyed child was genuine gratitude or that sinister old man, demon, whatever it was, pushing her to do his bidding.

  A little more than an hour out, a shimmer to the left drew her attention to a large lake aglow in the sun. Pine trees surrounded it on three sides, and the ruined remains of a cabin sat next to a tiny dock on the westernmost shore. Kate slowed and steered off the road, driving over untamed grass at a little faster than a running pace to the edge of the water. Five or six small islands dotted the surface, two of which were large enough to have trees.

  She shut down the bike and got off. After a few minutes of standing in total silence, she felt confident at being alone, and stripped, leaving her clothes in a neat pile on the bike’s seat. Kate crept to the edge and stuck a toe in, stifling a squeal at the coldness. For a while, she squatted in ankle-deep water, tracing her fingers back and forth while marveling at how it felt to touch liquid.

  Eventually, she waded in and dove under the surface, swimming down to the bottom and gliding over stones coated in fuzzy brown growth. Her auburn hair fanned out in a diaphanous cloud behind her. She swam, twisting and gliding, adoring the caress of water across her body. Here and there, evidence of civilization jutted out of the muck below: beer bottles, a tire, or a bit of furniture. A few fish came by to check her out, though none of them looked threatening. She made her way to the nearest island, where she sat on a rock and basked in the sun, staring up at puffy white clouds.

  Her pain at losing Esteban faded to a resigned ‘blah.’ He probably wouldn’t be the last man to do that to her. Not that he really did anything… She couldn’t really blame him for doubting she’d ever be cured. Hell, she barely believed it. I need to be careful. I really am desperate, and I’m going to be gullible. Some guy is going to use me and throw me away. She wrapped her arms around her legs and enjoyed the fresh air. Don’t be stupid… I can read their mind.

  She laughed, and slipped back into the water.

  Two-ish hours later, Kate emerged on the bank by the bike, and reclined in the grass. She debated returning to Querq while drying off, but did not trust that wretched old man. If a sudden spike of anger came out of nowhere with her too close to Althea, the child might not be able to react fast enough to quell it.

  Kate shivered at the guilt of what she might do.

  Once dry, she got dressed and resumed her drive back to the east.

  The ease with which any emotion she felt twisted into anger seemed to fade with each mile. Hours later, the blocky shadow of East City darkened the approaching horizon. By the time the console chirped to indicate re-established wireless connectivity to the GlobeNet, Kate couldn’t decide how to feel about anything. Text messages and subdued voice chatter came from the controls, reminding her that she drove a police vehicle. Wearing a weak grimace, she switched off the comm system before anyone noticed her listening.

  She slowed to follow the curve of the road and dipped the bike into a bouncy left turn. The tires made a ka-thump as they went from old paving to modern plastisteel tiles covered with spray-on traction coating. The long, ascending ramp led to the city surface, seventy-five meters off the natural ground. Where the ramp started, a manned access gate with a checkpoint-style bar blocked her way. She hit the brakes, expecting to endure the third degree. Much to her surprise, the gate opened on its own at her approach, before the body-armor clad guard could exit the booth.

  Even the gate thinks I’m a cop.

  Kate leaned forward and accelerated, not waiting to talk to the man who still came out to see what was going on. To the right of the road, cavernous darkness extended below modern civilization through a maze of metal struts, dangling wires, and tiny white lights. Her time living on the street had provided no shortage of urban legends about the horrors that lived in The Beneath. She had never been desperate enough to go all the way down there past the underside of the plate; black zones were bad, but even the dregs that lived there wanted nothing to do with the ‘real Earth’ under the city. Being inside the plate was as close as she ever wanted to get.

  A little more than a mile later, the bike caught air at the top of the ramp, and landed in a squealing fishtail that came close to soiling Kate’s new pants. Several bystanders clapped after she skidded to a halt, panting.

  Okay, maybe I should get a helmet. She glanced over her shoulder. Or not do 110 up a ramp.

  Fading adrenaline, plus a lack of a clear destination, left her driving like an old woman for a few blocks. Her circuitous wandering ended where the Navcon screen warned of a grey zone, and she found a walk-in electronics store. Fifteen minutes later, she was the proud owner of a new normal NetMini, not one embedded in the same material as shuttle heat tiles.

  She set it on the armored body of the bike between her legs, waiting for it to finish synchronizing with the network. The unit she chose had been sitting in stock for at least three months, and had to download eleven firmware updates and over a thousand app patches. Worry gripped her as she watched the line of bright blue pixels grow to the right. She still had the same PID. El Tío could call her. Kate thought of Esteban and all but felt the oven mitt caressing her hair. She grumbled and stuffed the NetMini in her jacket pocket. Frust
ration at having waited for him boiled over, and she found herself driving to the nearest bar in search of a man while fantasizing about Officer David Ahmed.

  Ugh. Stop it. He was being nice, just like Esteban.

  She parked in a small lot outside an orange and pink neon building thrumming with music. The intensity of the sound created the illusion of the walls pulsing to the beat. What am I doing? Kate examined her face in the surface of her removed sunglasses. Looking for dick. Her attempt to laugh aborted into a shameful frown. No, that’s not me. Oh, what would it hurt? A one night stand just to see what it was like? She felt cheap at the thought, worse when she remembered the way some Wharf Rat women looked all the time: shell-shocked, like veterans of a never-ending war. The Rats had tried to grab her once, before El Tío arranged for her bracelet.

  They learned fast.

  No. Not a one-nighter for my first time. Deciding this place far too loud, she drove away, once again aimless. Purple lettering spun through the air over the road some minutes later, spelling out the word ‘Destiny.’ It emanated from a silver building with strips of violet light around the windows and doors. Something part way between a bar and a nightclub occupied the first three floors of a residential tower. As if some other force took control of her limbs, she parked and went inside.

  A too-thin-to-be-human blonde doll in a clingy black dress showed her to a tiny table not much larger than the stools by the bar along the left side of the room. The ambiance was quiet, and the room contained mostly couples. She selected a drink at random from the holographic menu, having no idea what any of it tasted like, and let her weight settle over the table on her arms. Once again, she felt as conspicuous as she did walking naked into CyberBurger. Except for the android hostess, she was the only person in the room with pale skin, not to mention the only one without a date.

  Electronic whining drew her gaze toward a floating tray with a tall, narrow glass. Opaque blue liquid settled at the bottom, changing to greenish in the center, and orange at the top. She took the drink, not bothering to smile at the little robotic tray, and fiddled with the straw. The first sip hit her with sweet, which detonated into citrusy alcohol a second later.

  Oof. Kate resisted the urge to cough, though her eyes did water. Take this one slow.

  The level of the drink went down at a gradual pace despite her caution. It tasted wonderful, and before she realized it, she felt lightheaded. Kate admired her stretched reflection in the glass, rambling in her mind about how the scientists made her look like she did on purpose. She was made to seduce her way in and kill, or spy, or do whatever the people pulling the strings wanted. Idle daydreams of how things might’ve played out if she hadn’t been ‘broken’ filled her mind. Would they have trained her how to have sex? Of course, they’d have had to make her so jaded with fucking she could do it without a second thought or any emotional weight. What age would they have started her on that curriculum? Fourteen? Sixteen? Younger? Would the scientists who made her gotten in on that action, or would they have thought of her as their daughter? She scowled. No. They were going to hit the button to kill her. Not a daughter.

  What the hell am I doing here? This isn’t who I am. Who am I? A desperate, lonely girl. She sighed. Two choices hovered before her: find Division 0 and try to get in touch with David, or go back to El Tío and business as usual. Perhaps business more than usual since she could enjoy all the fancy things he’d always wanted to give her but never could. She swirled her drink about, unable to decide which option appealed more. Division 0 at least had the benefit of not being illegal. With her curse gone, El Tío might make more and more use of her, a career path that almost guaranteed an eventual nasty end, even if the ride would be lavish.

  In truth, neither option called to her as much as returning to Querq and protecting Althea. It almost felt as if someone had taken her daughter away and she needed to get back to her before something happened. She flicked her thumbnail at the glass. If I go back, that thing will make me hurt her.

  That’s all I am… someone’s weapon. Surely, if the scientists had intended her to ‘pretty’ her way to a target, she could hook some random man for a night. Kate took a long sip from the straw to chase away the shame of the thought.

  “I don’t wanna cheap fuck; I want someone to care.”

  A sudden silence told Kate she’d spoken aloud. She tilted the cup in her hand, noting barely a finger of liquid remained at the bottom. Not the slightest urge to blush formed. She couldn’t care less if the entire city knew she felt lonely.

  “Are you waiting for someone?”

  The man’s voice to her left made her acutely aware she was at risk of falling off the narrow chair. Whatever she’d just drank, it had hit her hard. With great care, she braced herself on the table and glanced through a wild curtain of red hair at the chest of a dark raincoat with two parallel rows of fasteners running from shoulder to hip. She lifted her gaze upward, past the panel of material covering the chest, and offered a woozy blink at a man’s clean-shaven face. He looked about thirty, and Caucasian, with short, chestnut hair.

  She smiled at no longer being the only light-skinned person in the room.

  “I’m sorry if I’m bothering you. I’m intrigued by fiery redheads. It takes a special kind of woman to wear that look. Did your parents opt for it after birth, or was it your idea?”

  “It’s natural.” As natural as a tweaked-out clone can get. Kate inhaled until it hurt, then released. The drink turned her effort at skimming his surface thoughts into a dull headache with a sharp point above both eyes. She made a face and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

  “That’s a pretty complex drink for a first taste.”

  “Yeah. I picked it ‘cause it was pretty.” She chuckled at a whisper, trying to work the pain out of her head with her fingers. “No, I’m not waiting for anyone.” Sudden vertigo caused her to flail and grab the table. “Why does every place use these skinny little, tall, fragile chairs?”

  He sat. “Good question. Form over function, I’d imagine. I’m Christian.”

  “I’m not.” She laughed.

  “Please, call me Chris.”

  “I was about to ask if that was your name or…” She slurped the last of her drink.

  “No.” He chuckled. “I’m definitely not one of the fringe crowd.”

  Kate frowned at the empty glass. “Do you think there’s such a thing as fate? Or God? Or…” Her warped reflection in the glass seemed to take on the image of an ancient gunslinger. “…the other guy?” Normal people ask what kind of music you like. No, that’s pretty lame.

  “I don’t really think about it. There is little about our world that eludes human understanding these days. We don’t need a god to explain what science and intelligence have not already made elementary.” He lifted a tumbler glass, a quarter full with a dark brown liquor, from the floating tray. “So, you came to Destiny looking for a philosophy discussion?”

  “I’m not sure why I’m here.” Kate ordered a glass of water.

  “I think everyone has that moment sooner or later.” Chris winked. “What are you looking for?”

  She flattened her hands on the table, absorbed by the smoothness. “I guess I’m lonely. I guess I came here looking for cheap sex, but I changed my mind.” Nearby patrons murmured, glancing at her. “I don’t know where I belong or what to do.” One arm stretched over the table, taking his hand. “You’re warm.”

  He drew a sharp breath, almost cringing away from contact. Once she touched him, he released an almost unnoticeable sigh of relief. “I think you’re putting on a little show. No one gets that tipsy from one drink.”

  “I’ve been driving all day. I’m exhausted. And I haven’t eaten much.”

  Chris waved the hostess over. “Do you have any food available?”

  Luminous green eyes sparkled as the AI doll smiled. “Buffalo chicken tenders and Kyoto shrimp cocktail with a wasabi-based sauce.”

  “An order of the shrimp, please,” said Chris
, without hesitation.

  Kate sat up, grateful he didn’t choose chicken. “I hope you’re not expecting to get into my pants tonight.”

  “I’d expected nothing of the sort. You don’t strike me as that sort of woman.”

  “What do I strike you as?”

  “Hungry, tired, lonely.” He sipped his scotch. “I’ll match you two out of three.”

  “You forgot confused.” Kate stretched back as the doll came by to set the order on the table.

  Eight shrimp, six inches long and at least an inch in diameter hung over the edge of a tall porcelain vessel that resembled a trophy. Pale green sauce half-filled the bowl in the center.

  “Have you had wasabi before?”

  “No.” She took one of the shrimp.

  “Be sparing; it’s spicy.”

  Kate nibbled, exploring her tolerance for how much sauce she could get away with before sucking down half a glass of water. She rambled about some of the details of her life, but left out the worst parts. As far as Chris learned, she’d run away from home as a little girl because her father tried to kill her, and had grown up on the streets. His eyebrows came together in a look of amused concern when she mentioned the police wanted to hire her.

  “You don’t look like the type of woman who’s drawn to such a violent profession.”

  Kate held a shrimp to her lips. “You’d be surprised.” She bit slow, aware of the shellfish separating strand by strand as her teeth sheared it. Food was nothing new, but tasting it would take getting used to.

  He cocked an eyebrow. “You really are a natural redhead?”

  “Mmm hmm.” She swallowed. “Apparently, I’m psionic too. Zero’s got stars in their eyes for me. I’m finding it complicated to refuse. I guess I don’t have a lot of choice.”