“It’s just for a day or two, hopefully,” said Cass.
“We need to get our parents, and then we’ll be gone,” said Kevin. “They’re out of re-education; we’re just waiting to find out where they’ll be housed.”
“I’m sorry,” said Doc. “It’s just not safe—I have visitors sometimes …”
“I understand,” said Nick. “I’ll find a construction site or something to hide in.”
Doc shook his head. “You need to keep those wounds clean.”
“I’ll be okay,” said Nick.
“Digging around in rubble, you’re going to end up with a bad infection on those thumbs,” said Doc. “Without a rejuve tank you’d end up losing your thumbs.” He sighed and threw his hypodermic bag onto the table. “All right, fine! You can stay here. But not in the apartment. Upstairs, with the flock.”
A door in the back of the kitchen led to a set of stairs. Doc led them up to a small roof deck that was dominated by a wire pigeon coop, which held a row of twelve nests. Kevin walked up to the coop, reached through the wire, and gently petted a white pigeon, which rested calmly.
“She likes you,” said Doc.
“The female whites are the gentle ones,” said Kevin.
Doc raised his eyebrows, then nodded. “Yes, that’s right. I agree.”
“What are you doing with birds?” said Kevin.
“I helped raise them, years ago.” He hesitated, then added, “In a Freepost.” He coughed, cleared his throat, then said, “I managed to capture some breeders here in the City.”
“You were a freeman?” said Farryn.
“Long story,” said Doc, shaking his head. “Not for now.” He gestured at Nick. “You can stay up here. The weather’s warm enough. I’m the only one with access to the deck. I’ll bring some bedding and a vid to keep you busy.”
“Doc, can my brother and I stay, too?” said Cass.
“Well, there’s not much room …” began Doc.
“No, I’m fine, Cass,” said Nick. “Go back to Lexi’s. Try to keep her out of trouble with her parents.”
“Wait,” said Doc. “Before anyone leaves, I want to hear the plan for getting Nick out of my pigeon coop.”
“We find Mom and Dad, then we come back and get Nick, and we get out of the City,” said Kevin. “Simple.”
It was anything but simple, Nick thought.
“A problem,” said Doc. “Your parents will be chipped.”
“And …” Cass began. She paused, then continued, “They might not want to come with us.”
“The chips,” said Farryn. “Doc, can you take a chip out?”
Doc sat up in his chair. “Dunno. Probably. Maybe. Depends on whether it’s fused with vessels or bone, or it’s just sitting in soft tissue.”
“So if we get them to Doc, he can get the chips out,” said Kevin.
“I said maybe,” said Doc.
“Well, it’s either that or hope the bots turn off their mainframe,” said Farryn, with a humorless chuckle. “No other way a Citizen could leave the City limits.”
“And if Mom and Dad are … confused?” said Cass.
“They’ll be fine,” said Kevin.
“No,” said Nick. “They may not be.”
“They’ll be fine,” insisted Kevin. Nick shook his head but didn’t reply.
“I’m figuring out a way to disable the bots’ power supply,” Kevin blurted.
Doc looked up in surprise. “What?”
“Well, me and Farryn—it was his tech originally, but I had a new idea for it, and now we’re working on it together. It’s an overload device. It resonates with the magnetic field surrounding a power supply and scraps it.”
“Kevin,” said Farryn, “it’s mostly just an idea …”
“And this works on robots?” said Doc.
“Well, theoretically,” said Kevin. “Right now it scraps vid screens and scoots. No reason it wouldn’t work on a bot also, assuming they’ve got similar power supplies.”
“Well, it sounds like an interesting idea,” said Doc.
“Kevin,” said Nick, “we’re not looking to fight. We just need to get our parents and get out of here.”
“And the bots are just going to stand still while we walk out of the City? We’re going to need to fight,” said Kevin.
“We don’t even know for sure if the bot power supplies are similar enough to be affected at all …” said Farryn.
“It’ll work,” said Kevin. “I just need to test it on a bot.”
“Don’t be stupid!” said Nick, stepping toward Kevin. “I told you, we’re here to get our parents out, not start a war. It’s too risky.”
“Who are you to lecture me about stupid risks?” said Kevin.
Nick didn’t say anything. He had to admit, he hadn’t been the best role model for playing it safe.
There was a tense silence as Kevin and Nick stared at each other, and then Kevin said, “You’re not the only one who can fight bots, you know.”
CHAPTER 31
CASS, KEVIN, AND FARRYN LEFT DOC’S. CASS AND FARRYN CLIMBED ON their scoots, but instead of hopping on, Kevin began walking down the street.
Cass jumped off her scoot and hurried after him. “What are you doing?” she said, even though she already knew.
“Bot hunting,” said Kevin, pulling his overload device out of his pocket and waving it in the air.
“Just a sphere bot, or are you jumping right to a Petey?” said Cass.
“Well, sphere bots are so much smaller,” said Kevin. “There’ll be less interference, and besides, the spheres aren’t really armed, I don’t think, or at least they’re definitely not loaded up like the Peteys …”
“Sarcasm!” said Cass. “I was being sarcastic. Just because a sphere bot won’t lase you on the spot doesn’t mean you can go hunt one down like it’s a rabbit.”
“I’m not an idiot, Cass!” said Kevin. “I’ll be careful.”
“Careful how?” said Cass. “As soon as the sphere bot knows there’s a problem, it’ll call in Peteys. And what about witnesses? You’re just going to walk up to a bot in the middle of the day and blow it up with a street full of people watching?”
Kevin threw his hands up in the air. “Cass, we’re not going to get Mom and Dad out of this City without fighting some bots. My overload is the only weapon we might even have, unless Nick wants to try beating more bots to death with his bare hands.”
“We’ll find some way,” said Cass. “Right now, we have to get off the street …”
“Here we go,” said Kevin as a sphere bot appeared a few blocks away. The street was empty—no scoots, no pedestrians.
“Hell,” Cass whispered to herself. Kevin began moving toward the bot.
Farryn stepped in front of him. “Don’t,” he said. “It’s too risky.”
“He’s right, Kevin,” said Cass. “Please.”
“For the hundredth time, it’ll work,” said Kevin. “Farryn, you know it will.”
“Then let me do it,” said Farryn.
Cass spun to face Farryn. “What are you talking about?” she said.
“You can’t just walk right up to it,” said Farryn to Kevin. “If it scans you and does a deep retrieval of your chip data, the dummy info won’t hold up. With my chip, I can walk right up to it.”
“Yeah, walk right up to it, have your chip scanned, get labeled as a rebel, and get sent to re-education or killed!” said Cass. What was he trying to do, impress her?
Farryn grinned. “Not if the overload works fast enough.”
“No,” said Kevin. “My idea, my risk.” He took off at a sprint toward the bot.
“Wait!” said Farryn. He took off after Kevin. Cass followed close behind. A block from the bot, they realized they weren’t going to catch him in time, and they fell back. Kevin sprinted right up to the bot and skidded to a stop.
“Citizen, please step back,” said the bot. “Your behavior is erratic. Please remain still and calm while I …”
“Oh, crap,” said Cass.
The sphere bot followed Kevin, floating as fast as he was running. He led the bot away from the others, down a side street. Cass and Farryn ran to follow. They turned the corner and found Kevin up against a wall at the dead end of an alley, the sphere bot hovering a few feet away, still flashing red and booming, “DO NOT MOVE! YOU WILL BE DETAINED!”
Cass froze. She didn’t know what to do. Farryn took off his jacket and ran into the alley. The bot rotated, and said, “CITIZEN, DO NOT INTERFERE.”
Farryn jumped up, wrapping his jacket around the bot and throwing his weight down on top of it. The bot hovered a few inches above the ground, straining to push itself upward while Farryn fought to keep it down. “Get out of here!” he yelled at Kevin. Then he looked at Cass and yelled, “Go!”
Instead Kevin threw himself on top of Farryn, and the extra weight slammed the bot into the ground. The bot was still announcing, “YOU WILL BE DETAINED FOR VIOLENT REBELLION! CEASE YOUR RESISTANCE! YOU WILL BE DETAINED!”
Cass ran to join her brother and Farryn, thinking, This is not good, the Peteys will be here soon, and just as she arrived there was a loud bang from under Farryn’s jacket. The bot stopped speaking, and a cloud of black smoke rose up from under Farryn and Kevin. They quickly scrambled to their feet and stepped away. The bot lay still and silent on the ground, smoking.
Kevin carefully reached out and lifted Farryn’s smoldering jacket off the bot. A jagged crack ran along the surface of the sphere; the smoke, now thinning, was flowing from the crack along with a trickle of brown fluid. Kevin turned off his overload device and plucked it off the sphere.
“Told you it would work,” he said.
CHAPTER 32
KEVIN FELT LIKE HE HAD JUST FALLEN ASLEEP WHEN CASS SHOOK HIM awake the next morning. He sat up and groaned, and Cass walked away without saying anything. She still wasn’t talking to him after last night.
Kevin dragged himself off the couch, wearing yesterday’s clothes. Cass would come around. His device had worked. And they were going to need it to get their parents out of the City.
Lexi came into the living room, looking wide awake. “My mom left us the address for your parents. I’ve already commed Farryn and Amanda,” she said. “They’ll be here any minute to pick us up.” She shook her head. “Amanda insisted on coming this morning. I think she’s had it with feeling left out.”
They quickly ate some breakfast—Lexi and Cass just picked at some toast, while Kevin rushed through two bowls of cereal. Who knew when he’d have cereal again?
Lexi’s comm buzzed. “They’re outside,” she said.
Just as Lexi was about to open the front door, her father came down the stairs in a robe. “Where are you going?” he said, bleary eyed, hands on his hips.
“We’re leaving,” said Cass. “For good.” She reached out her hand. “Thank you very much for your help, for the risks you took. We really do appreciate it.”
Mr. Tanner shook her hand. Kevin also stepped forward and shook Mr. Tanner’s hand.
“Where next?” asked Mr. Tanner.
“You don’t want to know, right?” said Lexi, shaking her head.
Mr. Tanner hesitated, then nodded. “Right,” he said quietly. “I guess I don’t.” Then he frowned. “But Lexi, where are you going?”
“I’m going with them,” said Lexi.
“Lexi, enough already! You can’t be running around the City with Cass and Kevin anymore. It’s over.”
“Look, Dad, I’m sorry, but I have to go,” said Lexi.
“You’re not going anywhere!” said Mr. Tanner.
“I’m sorry,” Lexi said again. “I love you.” She turned her back on him and walked out the front door. Kevin hesitated, struck by the desire to explain, to apologize, but Cass was already out the door, and he quickly followed.
Amanda and Farryn were waiting in the street on scoots, in front of the freshly blown-out facade of the neighbors’ house. Lexi jumped onto an empty scoot, and Kevin got on behind her. Cass climbed on behind Farryn.
Lexi’s father came to the doorway and looked up and down the street nervously. “Lexi, wait! Come back here!”
They drove away. Kevin looked back; Mr. Tanner was standing in the doorway, his comm in his hands. Lexi’s comm began buzzing immediately, and she muted it. “I’m sorry,” said Kevin, and he meant it. He felt bad for Lexi, and even worse for Mr. Tanner.
Lexi shrugged. “I’d marry a bot before I missed out on all this fun,” she said.
Nick was eating toast in the apartment when they arrived. He still looked tired, but less pale, and he wasn’t leaning into his rib as much as the night before. Kevin held out his hand—he was getting tired of all the hugging—and Nick gave him a solemn handshake. Cass, on the other hand, gave Nick a long hug and said, “How are you feeling?”
“Better,” said Nick. “I slept hard.”
Doc sat in the corner chair, in a rumpled pair of pajamas, red-eyed and half-awake. He sipped a glass of orange juice.
“Okay,” he said. “I’m not a morning person, so you all can do most of the talking. What’s the brilliant plan?”
“First of all,” Kevin jumped in, “it worked.” He looked around the room. He wasn’t trying to gloat, but still, they hadn’t believed him, and he had proven them wrong. “It worked.”
“It was idiotic,” said Cass. “You almost got us killed! You had to wrestle the thing to the ground!”
Kevin shrugged. “Yeah, well, it blew it up eventually.”
“What are you talking about?” said Amanda.
“A bot,” said Kevin. “I blew out the power supply of a sphere bot.”
“You’re kidding,” said Nick. “What the hell were you thinking, chasing a bot? I told you to forget it!”
“I killed it,” said Kevin. “Why is nobody getting that I killed a bot?”
“I get it,” said Nick. “But it was a crazy stupid risk.”
“I think,” said Kevin, “that the overload would work on a Petey, too. Peteys have a thicker skin, I’m sure, so the interference might be a problem, but I could probably boost the signal.”
“Enough already!” said Nick. “You’re going to get killed!”
“I know what I’m doing!” said Kevin, pushing Nick hard on the shoulder. Nick winced in pain, and Kevin immediately felt bad, but he wasn’t about to apologize. His brother just couldn’t admit that Kevin had done something worthwhile.
“Mom and Dad!” said Cass. “Let’s focus on them. What do we do? There must be bots all over their neighborhood, and we don’t know if Doc can get their chips out, and we don’t even know if Mom and Dad will know who we are. They might still be … all scrambled up by the re-education.”
Scrambled up, thought Kevin. Confused. Brain-damaged by the bots. Suddenly Kevin was struck with an idea. What if they did the same to the bots? Scrambled them up? Damaged their brains?
“I’ve got it!” he said. “What if we blew up the bots’ brain center?”
“Stop already with blowing things up!” said Cass.
“No, listen! Farryn, what did you say about the mainframe? It’s where all the Citizen chip data is stored, right? And where every sphere bot and Petey gets its commands?”
“Yeah, that’s right,” said Farryn.
“So we take it down with my overload device, and the bots go haywire and the chips no longer work, and not only do we get Mom and Dad out easily, we wreck their City, too,” said Kevin.
The room was silent for a few seconds, and then Nick said, “We don’t even know where it is or how we would get to it.”
“Kevin,” said Farryn, “I know I keep saying this, but we have no idea if it would work …”
“Yeah, you do keep saying it,” said Kevin, “and you’ve been wrong so far. Look, the bots see
m to use the same basic power supply structure in all their tech. It’s a safe bet their mainframe would have something similar. And we could bulk up the overload to cover the variables … boost its power, maybe increase the sensitivity of the resonance gauge, so we’ll be sure to catch the right frequency even if there’s lots of resistance. Give me half a day, and we could be blowing up the mainframe by tomorrow night.”
“But like Nick said, we don’t know where the mainframe is.”
“Central Admin building,” said Doc. “Most likely.”
“Central Admin building. Third floor,” said Amanda. Everyone looked at her in surprise. “My father works there.”
“Can you get us in?” said Lexi. “Your dad has clearance, right?”
“Yeah, but … no,” said Amanda. “No way.”
“A dummy chip, then,” said Farryn. “I could spoof your father’s identity, hopefully good enough to get in the door, at least. I’d just have to hack through his comm line to get the data I needed.”
“That would work?” asked Nick.
“Well … we can tape it to your neck. You don’t have any other chip, so it should scan properly. I’m kinda just assuming that there won’t be any other type of confirmation at the door … if there’s some sort of other biometrics, like retina scan or even a simple facial recognition, you’ll be out of luck.”
“And the overload device,” said Nick. “You really think it would work?”
“Just give me a few hours to boost the power and increase the resonance sensitivity, and then it’ll work on anything,” said Kevin.
“How fast?” said Lexi. “Faster than with the sphere bot, I hope.”
“Can’t be sure exactly,” said Kevin. “But it should work on anything with a magnetic power supply core, eventually.”
Lexi raised her eyebrow but didn’t reply.
“Amanda,” said Nick. “Will you let us use your father’s identity?”
Amanda said nothing, then nodded. “Yes, what the hell.” She turned to Lexi and smiled. “Guess I’m finally living a little.”
Farryn went home for a dummy chip and tools, and when he returned he and Kevin went off into separate corners of Doc’s living room and began working. In a few hours they were done—Farryn had the identity of Amanda’s father coded onto a chip, and Kevin had tweaked his overload device to his satisfaction.
Revolution 19 Page 16
