by Rachel Caine
I poked the thing again and looked around for Chao-Xing. She was showing somebody to the door and taking no notice of me. I opened the box.
Lights flashed, and I winced and closed my eyes. When I opened them again, the box was open, and nothing was inside it. Not a damn thing. I turned on Blobby Two. “What the hell was that?”
“Code,” he said. “You carry now. Take to this spot.” Liquid dripped from its appendage and raced to form an alien curlicue of an address, I guessed. I was starting to get the rudiments of some of the written forms, but not this one. I tapped my VA swirl on my H2, and it obligingly read it off as Tier Nine, booth seven.
“What do you mean, I carry it now?”
“Nanites,” Blobby Two said. “I codejacked. They will retain in memory for one hour. You should hurry. My associate will give you fita on delivery.”
I had no idea what was going on here, but it sounded like I was both hostage and smuggler, like an old-time drug mule. Didn’t like it. “What if I tell you to screw off?”
Blobby’s appendages drew back in. So did the liquid and the address. “Then you must try reprogramming nanites before you die,” it said. “Or get paid. You choose, Zeerakull.”
I wished Chao-Xing hadn’t taken my shock stick away, because I really wanted to try it out on this creature. “How about if I choose to cut you open like a fish?”
Blobby Two formed itself into a bipedal replica of a human, and a parody of . . . of me. That weird thing on its head was meant to be my curls. And it managed two blind eyes and a nose and a mouth that were so wrong it made me roll my chair back. “How if I kill your friend?” it asked. I looked at Chao-Xing. She was in no danger, but she was seven kinds of busy. “Not that one,” it said. “This one.”
It shifted form again, this time into a profusion of tentacles that I recognized. Starcurrent. But Starcurrent was with Beatriz, at Blobby’s booth.
Unless there was no Blobby and Blobby Two. “Are you from the booth?”
“Of course,” it said smugly. “When required, I split a part of myself for errands. Still me talking. I can tear your friend apart at the booth and you cannot hurt me. No one can. Why bring violence? Just go to address. Get paid. The end.”
Like all smooth gangsters, he knew just where to push, how hard, and when to hold out the cookie. Son of a bitch. Crims really were the same everywhere. I knew he had me. Maybe he was bluffing about Starcurrent; maybe he was bluffing about the nanite recoding too. But I couldn’t take the chance that Starcurrent could die, and I could end up gasping my last on the floor in an hour anyway.
“I’ll get paid,” I said. “Seems like the only smart play. But you’d better not screw me over. I’ll find a way to hurt you. Count on that.”
He oozed off, and when I looked down, I couldn’t see any trace of the protean bastard. He was gone.
I’ve got an hour. I’m carrying code in my actual body. This shit is so messed up.
Thoughts swarmed my head like angry bees. I could’ve gone straight to the drop site, but I’d never been the obedient type, plus this asshole had uploaded his whatever into me without asking. I looked around for Chao-Xing, but there was no sign of her. I was wasting vital seconds searching.
Bea. She’s a hell of a data slicer. Maybe she couldn’t do a damn thing, but I’d be a fool not to check in with her. I sprinted out of Pinky’s and zoomed off to find Bea.
Nadim spoke as I was falling. “Zara, please. I know you’re doing this for me. For Typhon and me. But I want to leave. I’ve drunk enough artificial starlight. We can wait for repairs and upgrades.”
“We can’t.” My voice sounded curt, and I hated hiding this from him, but if my fear disturbed him this much, I could only imagine how bad it would be if he knew what a mess I’d stumbled into.
“I don’t care!” He sounded almost frantic. “Please, Zara. Let’s leave. I’m afraid, and I think you are too.”
I kicked off and landed on the tier where Blobby’s booth was housed. “There’s nothing to be afraid of,” I lied.
“I’m afraid you won’t come back,” he said, and it was the most broken tone I’d ever heard from him. “You and Beatriz. I’m afraid that we’ll be left here alone. We’ve never been more alone, Zara.”
That stopped me for a second. He was right. The Leviathan had always heard each other at great distances—how far, I didn’t know—which meant that they were never really alone. But if there was silence out there . . . our two Leviathan must feel crushed by it.
“I’m sorry,” I told him. I was saying that a lot, and I hated it. “Soon, okay? I’m on my way to something important.”
“On your way to what?”
As I dropped onto the platform, I wished I could share all these problems with him. But right now, he was wounded and grieving, and it would only make it worse for him to know just how screwed I might be when he couldn’t help. I got out of the way for all the other aliens kicking up and falling down, and tried to calm my pulse. I wedged myself back in a little alcove to get out of the jostling traffic flow of armored suits, flowing limbs, and floating tendrils.
“A job,” I said, which wasn’t a lie. “I’ll tell you all about it when things are squared away. It’s not that I’m trying to be secretive. It’s just that time isn’t on my side right now.”
Blobby meant for me to head straight for the drop point . . . but I knew crims, and if I obeyed Blobby like a pawn, I’d likely end up dead. Mules didn’t live long down in the Zone, and I needed a plan to counter the “Zara’s expendable” one Blobby had laid out.
I imagined I could feel Nadim’s hurt, but the remote didn’t allow for that. He didn’t insist, and his reluctant capitulation made me ache. “Very well, Zara. Is there any way I can be of help?”
“Do you know anything about nanobot recoding?”
“I’m searching all databases now.”
“Thanks. I might need that soon.”
Running flat out, I reached Bea’s booth in record time. She was just stepping out of the bubble, thankfully. I grabbed her, surprised to find that my hands were shaky. “Bea.”
“What’s wrong, Zara?”
Nadim was probably listening, so I had to risk him flipping out when I filled her in. Deep breath. “Where’s Starcurrent?”
“Mandy asked him to stay to sort some stock for extra fita,” Bea said. “Why?”
“Mandy?”
“That’s his name. The blob.”
I didn’t have time to deal with that cognitive shock. “I need your slicer skills. I’m on a clock, Bea. It recoded my nanites, and I don’t know what the hell’s inside of me, or what will happen when I make the transfer.” All the words came out in a rush, revealing more clearly than I’d intended how damn terrified I was.
Reckless was my way of life, but there were risks worth taking and risks so dangerous that only a suicidal daredevil would step up. I was nowhere near that league, and outrage and violation warred inside of me. This wasn’t a job I’d chosen, and I couldn’t have been more pissed at Mandy for making me its tool.
Bea took my hands in hers, locked her eyes on mine, and I steadied. “Slow down. Your nanites have been recoded? Tell me the whole story.”
Excruciatingly aware of the ticking clock, I forced myself to tell a coherent version of events. No doubt that Nadim heard it all, but he didn’t freak out, as I’d feared. Instead he started reading off all the data he’d uncovered on the subject. Sadly, it wasn’t a lot.
“So, you want me to . . .”
“Switch the code back? Hack my nanites?” Even I thought that was too much to ask.
“What if I get it wrong? Zara, I could kill you!”
I took another deep breath, aware that my time to do that was probably running thin. “Mandy threatened Starcurrent if I didn’t deliver this . . . whatever. Hell of a stick to beat me with if this was just some no-big-deal data transfer, don’t you think?”
“He what?” Her face—rounded and pleasant and nearly always smilin
g—hardened, muscles tensing underneath, and her mouth took on a stiff line. “That evil son of a—that’s it, we are quitting!”
I loved that Bea’s idea of punishment was quitting. Mine was more along the lines of seeing what kind of chemicals would melt the rancid creature into sludge.
She started to dart back inside the bubble, but I grabbed her and held her back. “You can’t,” I said. “You try to get Starcurrent out of there, and Mandy might carry through. Ze’s an unknowing hostage. Let’s keep it that way.”
She looked at me with real fear in those dark eyes. “So, what do we do?”
Probably I should have just resigned myself to being used, but that didn’t sit right. I was nobody’s mule. Plus, this stain of a task smelled wrong, bad wrong. “Nadim, can you hypothesize as to why Mandy’s doing this?”
His answer made me spit every colorful Zone curse I’d ever learned.
Interlude: Nadim
Zara is silent.
I miss the stars.
The songs are still calling, but I am trapped in this orbit, bathing in artificial light. Some beauty cannot be replicated, only approximated. Nearby, Typhon broods. He is a dark shadow, no longer the Elder I once respected and feared. In saving him, he feels I also lessened him, because he judged me weak and impulsive, unfit for the Journey. Yet I have done what no Leviathan has before me, chosen my own partners for the Journey. It feels like a freedom all others ought to be afforded. How can any Elder know my private heart or understand what I need?
Now I need Zara and Beatriz. I need to spread my wings and circle the sweetness of a white dwarf, bask in the starlight, and call to my cousins, desperately hoping for an answer in the silence.
I cannot have those things.
If I lose patience, Typhon will crack. I must be strong enough for both of us.
FROM THE UNOFFICIAL PUBLICATION A GUIDE TO THE SLIVER
Source: Bruqvisz Planetary Database, unlicensed copy
In the event you are given a gift and unwarily accept such, be advised that you must only admit such humiliation to your closest of allies on the Sliver. Bargains may be struck to relieve you of responsibilities associated with such gifts.
Worst cases require extreme measures to win freedom from such indenture, which almost certainly would require offenses against the ruling orders of Bacia Annont. No amount of mynt or fita will protect you, should such occur.
Recommend you make appropriate funerary rites and gift possessions prior to attempting, and leave recording exempting your planet, kin, and family from all involvement.
Good luck, brave traveler. You will require such.
CHAPTER SIX
Binding Blood
GETTING IN TO see the official Jelly-doc took time, and I didn’t have any, so I took Bea with me back to Pinky’s, and this time I was in luck: Suncross and his boys were at the table. They all roared and held up four arms each to celebrate my arrival. That was a lot of arms. “Zeerakull, Zeerakull, Zeerakull . . .” They made it into a chant as they hammered on the table in a complicated rhythm that almost bent the metal.
“Thanks, friends,” I said, and took a seat. “This is my friend Beatriz Teixeira.”
They all locked attention on her, instantly, and I was reminded of a holo recreation I’d seen of a group of ancient raptor dinosaurs stalking prey.
Bea smiled bravely anyway. “Hi,” she said.
“Another human,” Suncross said. “Beetreshra.”
They all repeated it, and Bea gave me a look. I hoped mine conveyed Don’t bother trying to correct them.
Suncross suddenly banged two fists on the table, hard enough to make the whole thing quiver. “You are the singer! Mandy’s singer!”
“I don’t belong to Mandy,” she said. “But I sing there. Yes.”
The hiss that followed was full of approval. “We like singers.” I hoped that wasn’t something lost in translation, like We like them cooked medium well. “Zeerakull, you and JongShowJing made us much mynt today. Well fought.”
“Fought?” Bea said, and looked at me with open-mouthed shock. “Seriously?”
“Well, a little.”
“Zeerakull punched a Fellkin in the—”
“Okay, great, so, let’s get on topic,” I interrupted. “Any of you know a good doc who can reset programming on nanites?”
Suncross’s lizard eyes blinked, both eyelids, and he growled low in his throat. “Nanobot repair only on top levels,” he said. “Officially.”
“Unofficially? And I’m kind of in a hurry.”
The lizards all exchanged looks. Suncross sat back as the lizard next to him ordered rounds of drinks. A hovering bot swooped in near Bea’s face, probably to gather a saliva sample, and she waved it off impatiently. No drinks for Bea. That was probably good. I was going to need her dead sober.
“You hacked, Zeerakull?” Suncross asked. He slid a small, oblong box across the table. The one I’d left behind, the one Mandy had used to sucker me into this. “Code box.”
I debated hedging about it, but then I nodded once. Sharply. Suncross hissed softly. This time, it didn’t carry any hint of approval. “How long?”
“Under an hour,” I said. I assumed the matrix would shift that into the proper time scale for him. “I’m screwed, right?”
“Depends,” Suncross said. “First, what does codejack do?”
“Not sure, but . . .” I bit my lip. Wasn’t wild about sharing Nadim’s speculation, but he’d found references to it in communications going in and out of the Sliver. “It could be that it’d hack the mynt database. A big score for somebody.”
Suncross grabbed a drink off a flying tray—probably not his own—and guzzled it in a single, long swallow. He slammed the glass down on the table, where it sat radiating a smoky cold. “Bad for business,” he said. “Bad for everybody. No rule-keepers here, but many who would kill for such. Don’t touch mynt or fita. Only real precept.”
“Uh-huh,” I said. “Figured that. Nobody likes having the bank looted. So . . . what do I do? If I go where he told me, I’m dead as soon as word gets out that the bank’s been robbed. If I don’t, I’m still dead. Right?”
“Second problem,” Suncross said. “How much pain can you take?”
“Sorry?”
“Did not translate? Pain.” He flicked out alarmingly long claws and dragged them across his bare palm. The scratches filled with pale pinkish blood. He didn’t flinch.
“I’m pretty tough,” I said, but inside, I was already starting to shake. “Why?”
“Down-low doc not the best with anesthetics,” he said. “But fast. Can wipe programming. But cannot reprogram without original dataset. Must hack doc ops to get. Down-low doc will not do. Hacker must be fast too.”
Ah, he’s talking about Doc Justineau. I’d met him already, so I didn’t need the lizards to guide me further. I did have other questions, though.
“Back up. Is there a reason I can’t put on my skinsuit to buy some time while we figure this shit out?”
Suncross made outward slashes with his claws, a gesture of negation, I thought. “Skinsuit doesn’t help with hacks. Is like . . . software. Skinsuit is hardware. Can’t connect with nanobots blocking.”
Dammit. Desperate measures it is. Since there was a doom clock running in my head, I circled my fingers at Bea, signaling for us to move out. Chao-Xing stopped us on the way, and she wasn’t happy. “We’ve got a fight in a few hours,” she said. “You should be resting. You look like hell. Are you all right?”
I looked down at my hands. They weren’t the rich, healthy color they usually were; they’d gone a little ashen, and under my fingernails, there was a faint tinge of blue. I was breathing deeply, but getting less oxygen. There was a headache building like a thunderhead behind my eyes.
“Fine,” I lied. “I’ll rest. What about you?”
“I don’t need rest,” she said. “I could fight all day.”
I believed that. I wanted to explain to her about the codejacki
ng, but I was afraid that she’d try to take control of the plan or trash it altogether, and I didn’t have time for a debate. Not anymore.
She had to turn away to deal with a scuffle near the stage, and we moved off fast.
Henri Justineau seemed happy to see us again—until I explained our problem. “Codejack?” He took a deep breath. “Guess you ran into Mandy. Codejacking’s his specialty. Got me when I was just getting started here.” He swallowed and managed to get to his feet on his own. Steadier. “I can reset, but you’ll need to upload original specs. You want me to just dump the code?”
“Can you capture it on media?” Bea asked.
“Sure,” he said. “There can’t be a lot of time between when the last of the code is burned and the new code gets flashed, or we’ll lose her. Understand?”
“Yes,” Bea said.
I cleared my throat. “Heard there’s likely to be some pain.”
“Agony,” Henri said. “And it’s going to take a while for all the nanites to wipe. Ten minutes or so to get them all. Can’t give you anything while that’s underway or it’ll interfere.”
“You had it done.”
“No,” he said. “I didn’t. I couldn’t take the pain. My codejacking was a ransom demand. I complied. I lost my fita and nearly died. That’s why I’m down here in the dregs, patching up arena losers and addicts, because I couldn’t hold out for the whole procedure. You sure you can take it?”
“Only one way to find out,” I said, with absolute bravado. “Nadim? Are you there?” As I said it, Henri flinched.
“I’m here,” Nadim said. He sounded distant. Quiet. I’d kept this from him as long as I could, but he must have heard me talking to Bea. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”
“Don’t think I have much of a choice. You can’t feel it, can you?”
“No,” he said. I didn’t know why, but I thought that might be a lie. “I can’t lose you, Zara. I can’t.”
“You can,” I said. “But trust me. You won’t.” I pulled in a breath that felt stale and empty. My headache was building into torture. “Let’s do it. Now.”
