They all sat in the living room, and Nick reviewed their plans, trying to sound more confident than he felt. “Will I be able to get into the mainframe room?” he asked.
“Probably,” said Amanda. “Maybe. My father has pretty high clearance.”
“So we’re all set,” said Nick.
“What about the checkpoints?” said Lexi. “How about I go with you? I’ll cause some sort of distraction, get the bots’ attention, and then you can slip inside.”
“I’ll come, too,” said Farryn. “We can have an argument in the street, maybe pretend we’re drunk. Get infractions.”
“You don’t need to do that,” said Cass. “Either of you. If you get tagged as part of all this, with your chips, you won’t stand a chance.”
“I’m helping,” said Lexi. “End of argument.”
“And me, too,” said Farryn. “It’ll just be an infraction. Nothing to worry about.”
Nick saw Cass hide a smile. He almost chuckled but held back—she had misjudged Farryn but still couldn’t admit it.
“I’m going inside with you,” said Kevin. “In case something goes wrong with the overload.”
“No, not safe,” said Nick. He didn’t need to be looking after his brother while he was trying to get to the mainframe.
“Nothing about any of this is safe!” said Kevin, slamming his hand down on the table.
“Kevin, you can’t go in there with your dummy chip now,” said Farryn. “Any scan on it and you’ll set off alarms.”
“Look,” said Nick, “I’ve got another stupidly dangerous thing you need to do, all right? While I’m working on the mainframe, you and Cass go to Mom and Dad. When I blow it up, and everything in the City hopefully goes to hell, you get Mom and Dad and meet me at Doc’s.”
“As usual,” said Amanda, raising her hand, “you’re all forgetting about me.”
“I’d assumed you wouldn’t want to be involved,” said Lexi. “You don’t need to get mixed up in this anymore.”
“I’ve already let you steal my father’s identity!” she said. “I’ll come along and stay back—you may need an extra driver, or help from someone who’s not being nailed for an infraction.”
“Thank you,” said Cass.
Doc cleared his throat. “I can’t even count how many holes this plan has in it,” he said.
“Look, Doc …” began Nick. He already knew how crazy the plan was. But what choice did they have?
“But,” Doc continued, “it could work, I suppose. Can I make one suggestion, though? Everyone goes to Central Admin. Amanda and Cass and Kevin hang back while Lexi and Farryn have their drunken infraction, and Nick slips in the door. That way if the dummy chip doesn’t work, or Nick gets caught, Cass and Kevin won’t be stuck out in the City waiting for the mainframe to explode. Once Nick gets in, you all scatter, and then everyone gets back to me.”
Nick thought about it, then nodded. “Makes sense,” he said. “Everyone agreed?”
Everyone nodded.
“This is by far the stupidest thing I’ve ever done,” said Lexi, smiling.
“Agreed to that, too,” said Nick.
CHAPTER 33
THEY WAITED FOR EVENING, AMANDA AND LEXI BOTH IGNORING REPEATED comms from their parents, and then they all climbed onto scoots and headed for the Central Admin. They swung around to the back of the building and parked three blocks away. Down the road they could see that one sphere bot guarded the door, bobbing quietly above the sidewalk.
“Ready?” Nick said to Lexi and Farryn. They nodded. “Okay, you two start walking and get in your argument in the street about a block away from the bot. When the bot is distracted, I’ll go in the door.”
Lexi reached for her comm. “Another message from my father … oh no … he’s reported me missing … and … oh, God … he says he told the bots I’m in danger …” She slid her comm back into her pocket. “Let’s do this, quickly, before I get tracked.”
“Okay then,” said Nick. “This should be simple, right?” He gave Cass a hug. “I’ll see you back at Doc’s,” he said.
“Nick, be careful,” said Cass, returning the hug gently, avoiding his bruised rib.
“Back at Doc’s, with Mom and Dad. Piece of cake,” said Nick.
Kevin reached out his hand to shake Nick’s. Nick ignored his hand and hugged him as well. “Be safe, little brother,” said Nick. He cleared his throat so his voice wouldn’t crack. “I’m proud of you.”
Kevin didn’t say anything; he just nodded.
Nick turned to Lexi. “Lexi, I don’t know how to thank you …”
Lexi cut him off by cupping her hand around the back of his neck and pulling him down into a kiss. Nick froze for a moment, surprised, then wrapped his arms around Lexi’s back. Finally she broke away and stepped back. “Don’t get killed, Nick,” she said.
Despite everything that was about to happen, Nick found himself lingering on the feeling of the kiss—Lexi’s warm, soft lips, her body pressed to his chest, the small of her back against his palms. After a moment he settled back into himself. Lexi was smiling. “Well, then stop distracting me,” said Nick.
Farryn cleared his throat and stuck his hand out. “No kiss from me, sorry. Just a good luck.”
Nick shook his hand. “Thank you, Farryn.”
Farryn and Lexi began walking toward the Central Admin, arguing loudly about who should have paid for dinner. Nick waited tensely on the back of his scoot. He felt the back of his neck, making sure the dummy chip coded with the ID of Amanda’s father was still taped securely.
It was time.
Cass sat on her scoot, watching Farryn and Lexi as they stopped in the middle of the road a block from the Central Admin doorway, continuing to argue. Lexi even gave Farryn a hard shove on the chest. “Nice touch,” Cass muttered.
The sphere bot floated toward them. “CITIZENS, YOU ARE JAYWALKING AND CREATING A DISTURBANCE.” They kept arguing. Then the bot said, “LEXI TANNER, YOU HAVE BEEN REPORTED AS MISSING. YOU ARE IN A HIGH-SECURITY ZONE. YOU WILL BE DETAINED AND QUESTIONED.”
No, thought Cass. That will screw up everything.
Nick began driving, cruising past the sphere bot and the argument, then slowing down briefly near the doorway. He jumped off and hurried toward the door.
And then the doorway opened and two Peteys came sliding out of the back entrance toward Nick. A third Petey and two sphere bots appeared from a side street, behind Amanda, Cass, and Kevin.
Nick skidded to a halt.
“No,” said Cass. “No, no, no!”
Nick began running away from the building, and Lexi sprinted toward him. Down the street, Amanda gunned her scoot, and Cass followed close behind, Kevin hanging on tightly to her. If she could just reach them fast enough, somehow give Nick enough time to get to his scoot … One of the Peteys fired its lase at Nick with a loud crackle and burst of blinding light. The shot missed, but the blast threw Nick off his feet and sent him tumbling. Nick struggled to his feet and stood, exposed. The Peteys raised their lase arms. Cass felt a scream choke her throat. Was she about to watch her brother die?
Lexi reached Nick and threw herself against him, and Amanda jumped off her scoot, letting it skid toward the Peteys, just as the Peteys fired. Both lase shots hit Amanda square in the chest, and she crumpled to the ground. Lexi screamed.
Cass screeched to a halt in front of Nick. “Get out of here!” said Nick, grabbing Cass and Kevin and throwing them off the scoot onto the street just before a Petey fired again, striking the ground in front of the scoot, flinging them backward, melting a piece of the street and crumpling the front half of the scoot into wreckage. Nick pointed wildly down the block. “Go now!” He ran for the back entrance and ducked inside, disappearing into the building.
Lexi bent down to Amanda. “Amanda,” Lexi said. “Amanda, wake up. Amanda!”
Cass crawled over to Lexi and Amanda. There was no blood—the heat of the lases instantly cauterized flesh—but Amanda’s chest was a deep
charred hollow. Her eyes stared blankly up at Cass. Just like Samantha, dead on the Freepost dirt next to the bosh field. There was no time. If they stayed any longer, they’d be dead, too. She tried to pull Lexi away from Amanda, but Lexi resisted, and then Farryn and Kevin were there, helping haul Lexi to her feet. “We’ve gotta get out of here!” Farryn yelled.
The four of them took off running. Both sphere bots glided after them, flashing red and repeating “HALT! HALT!” over and over.
CHAPTER 34
NICK SPRINTED DOWN THE HALLWAY TOWARD WHAT HE HOPED WAS A stairway. The whole plan was shot to hell—even if he could get to the mainframe, would it even be accessible now? Still, the doorway had been open, the Peteys distracted. This was his one chance, however remote, to get his family out of the City. The one way he could possibly still help.
Nick’s ribs had been reinjured in the fall on the street, and every time his feet landed on the ground a jolt of fire shot through his torso.
The hallway reminded Nick of the re-education center—it had the same bright white walls and ceiling and gray metallic floor. This hallway was wider, however, and the ceilings higher, and there were more doors. He had almost reached the end of the hall and the last door on the left, which had to be the stairs, when he heard a rumble behind him. He looked over his shoulder and saw that a Petey had entered the long hallway and was rolling toward him. It barely fit—it actually had to hunch forward as it rolled to keep from scraping its head along the ceiling. It raised its lase arm and fired as Nick, hardly slowing down, smashed his shoulder against the door.
The door opened and he stumbled into what was, indeed, the stairway, as the lase shot exploded in the hallway behind him, shattering tiles and buckling the doorframe. Pieces of tile cut into his arms. He ran up the stairs, breathing heavily, holding his hand against his side. The stairway was narrow, as he had hoped. The Petey would never fit. That would buy him a bit of time while the Petey found another way up.
He came out on the third floor. The hallway was empty, but he knew it wouldn’t be for long. He let himself catch his breath for just a moment, then ran toward the only door on the floor, in the middle of the hallway. He slid to a stop in front of the door and reached for the pressure pad on the wall. There was no way, now with the bots on alert, that the dummy chip, still taped to Nick’s neck, would work. He’d have to find some way to break the door down, as impossible as that seemed …
Nick pressed the pad and the door opened. At the far end of the hallway, elevator doors opened and the Petey slid out.
Nick rushed inside. The walls were crammed with vid screens. The side wall, to his left, had a glass partition, beyond which sat a large metal box that ran floor to ceiling. The door closed behind him, and Nick looked around desperately for some way to keep the Petey out. Two long narrow desks, with three chairs, were against the far wall. Nick grabbed a desk and shoved it against the door, stacked the other desk on top of it, then threw two of the chairs onto the pile. That wouldn’t hold long, he knew.
He picked up the third chair and smashed it against the glass partition. The shock of the impact hurt Nick’s ribs so much that his vision tunneled and he almost passed out. The glass held. He took a deep breath and swung the chair again, and this time the glass shattered. He dropped the chair and climbed into the small side room, picking up more cuts on his palms and legs as he crawled over the broken glass.
Nick pulled Kevin’s overload device out of his pocket and tried to turn it on, but the switch was jammed. It must have bent during the fight.
“Goddamn!” He shoved against the switch as hard as he could, ignoring the pain in his wounded thumbs, grunting with the effort, and finally the switch snapped into the on position. He slapped it onto the metal of the mainframe and crawled back over the partition.
He heard a fast-approaching rumble that stopped outside the doorway. The door began to open a few inches, then caught against the edge of a table. Nick backed away to the far corner of the room and looked around for something, anything, to defend himself. There was nothing.
The Petey smashed against the door, and the metal buckled inward but held. Nick was going to die. He knew that beyond a doubt. He focused his thoughts on Kevin’s overload device. Had it been ruined in the fight? Maybe it was never going to work in the first place. The mainframe sat there, nothing happening. Work, damn you! he thought. At least let me help my family before I get lased.
With one more smash, the door flew off its frame, sliding the desks and chairs across the floor. The Petey rolled into the room, crouching to pass through the doorway. Nick stood up tall and took a step toward the Petey. He wasn’t going to die cowering in the corner. The Petey raised its lase arm, almost in slow motion, and Nick closed his eyes and waited, and then there was a loud BOOM that sent Nick flying back against the wall, vid screens shattering on the ground around him, followed by a final large thud that jolted the floor.
Nick hurt everywhere. He slowly opened his eyes. From his vantage point on the floor, his head against the cool metal, he could see the Petey laying facedown, lase arm stretched forward and just a foot from Nick’s head. Nick struggled to push himself up. His ears were ringing, and he was having trouble focusing his vision. He squinted. The Petey’s back was opened up like a sardine can, and the circuitry inside was a smoking burnt mess. He looked beyond the Petey and saw that the mainframe tower was obliterated, black chunks of metal strewn about the room.
He had done it. Kevin’s device had done it. And by sheer stupid luck, it had blown up the Petey in the process, and the Petey had shielded him from the brunt of the explosion.
“Finally I catch a break,” he said. He stood with a groan and began picking his way past the dead Petey. At the door, his eye was caught by one of the vid screens. It was on its side, but the glass was unbroken, and a line of plain white text, in all caps, was blinking on and off. He had to tilt his head to read it. “MAINFRAME FATAL MALFUNCTION. SWITCHING DATA AND CONTROL TO REMOTE BACKUP. ONLINE IN APPROXIMATELY EIGHTY-NINE MINUTES.”
Nick took a moment to absorb the information. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He hadn’t destroyed the system at all—he’d only shut it down for an hour and a half. “So much for my break,” he said. Holding his side and limping, he climbed over the Petey and into the hallway.
Eighty-nine minutes. It would have to be enough.
CHAPTER 35
LEXI, FARRYN, CASS, AND KEVIN DASHED DOWN THE STREET, CASS IN the lead. She had no idea where she was going; she just hoped if they were fast enough they might somehow get away. She cut to the left at the first intersection, and everyone followed. The sphere bots followed close behind, flashing red and calling out, “HALT! HALT!”
Cass took another left, and then a right. The streets were quiet, lit by the glow of the lightstrips, and the buildings were dark except for a few windows; this apparently wasn’t a residential area of the City.
They kept running hard, and the sphere bots slipped back a block, then two. They ran for another five or ten minutes, gaining more ground, and then paused for a moment to catch their breath.
“We need to find somewhere to hide,” said Cass.
“There’s nowhere to hide,” said Farryn, panting. “We need to split up. They must have scanned me and Lexi by now. They can track us anywhere in the City. They know exactly where we are.”
Lexi, also gasping for air, nodded. “You two get to Doc’s. You need to get away from me and Farryn.”
Cass didn’t say anything. She didn’t want to abandon them. But she knew Lexi was right.
Just then a woman riding a scoot turned the corner and headed down the street toward them. Lexi jumped into the street and began waving her arms. The woman pulled over to the curb. “What is it?” she said.
“We need your scoot,” said Lexi.
“What?” said the woman. She began to pull away, but Farryn grabbed the handlebars and pulled her hand off the throttle.
Behind them, three blocks back, the sp
here bots turned the corner and raced toward them.
“Go!” said Lexi. Cass and Kevin took off. Farryn lifted the woman out of the scoot. She screamed and kicked her legs, and he dumped her onto her butt.
“Really sorry,” he said. He hopped on the scoot, Lexi climbed on behind him, and they took off. They made it barely half a block when a Petey rolled into the intersection in front of them. They slid to a stop. Cass and Kevin also stopped in their tracks. The Petey raised its lase arm.
Farryn turned the scoot around, but then another Petey rolled into view, blocking their retreat. There were no side streets to duck down. They were trapped.
Farryn and Lexi stood back to back with Cass and Kevin, watching the Peteys advance.
“They’re not going to kill us,” said Cass to Kevin. “They’re not going to kill us,” she repeated. Cass knew they probably would, but for some reason she wasn’t afraid; she was just angry. These bots had killed half her Freepost, destroyed her home, stolen her parents, and now they wanted her and her brother and her friends, too.
“Come and get us, you bastards!” she yelled.
The Peteys rolled closer, and Cass grabbed Kevin’s hand and squeezed as hard as she could. Then suddenly one Petey stopped dead in its tracks, and the other Petey turned hard to the right and rolled into a wall.
“What’s happening?” said Cass, still gripping Kevin’s hand.
“He did it,” said Kevin. “Nick got to the mainframe!” He pulled his hand away from Cass. “Ow! You’re breaking my fingers!”
“Sorry,” said Cass. She squatted down, suddenly dizzy. “Sorry. I thought we were about to die. I really thought …”
Revolution 19 Page 17
