“Nice speech.”
“Thanks. I thought it was pretty good myself.”
“Why not you?” Rebecca asked, grabbing Alice’s hand. “Why can’t you do this?”
Alice shook off her grip.
“Who would vote for me?” Alice asked scornfully. “Those people don’t respect or like me – they are afraid of me. That’s perfect for my job, but terrible for yours. I wouldn’t want to live in a Central that I ran, and you wouldn’t either.”
“Yeah, I guess. But, still…”
“Look, Becca, you are perfect for the job. You’re an empath, a born leader. Hell, even when Gaul was in charge,” Alice said, both of them wincing at the mention of the name, “you were the real boss half the time, and everybody knows it. If you think I’m going to tell you that we’d be better off with you playing child psychologist, then you’re insane.”
Rebecca held her hands up in surrender.
“Okay, okay. I get you. Of course, if I do take the job, you know that I get to order you around, right?”
“You’ve been doing that forever,” Alice said with a smirk. “What’s new?”
“Speaking of ordering you around, what kind of Auditor force am I inheriting?”
“Not so hot,” Alice admitted with a shake of her head. “Xia is Xia – he was out in the field yesterday. Michael is physically okay, though I can tell what happened with the kids is eating him. You might want to have a little chat with him when you get a free moment. You seem to have put Haley back together, so there’s that. Min-jun’s okay, that kid never complains. I haven’t seen Katya since we hit the Far Shores, and even if I do, it will be to tell her that she’s out.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Don’t get me wrong – the girl’s deadly. But she was never ours in the first place. She was insubordinate, unreliable, and far too concerned with Alex’s well-being. She belongs to Anastasia, pure and simple, and it was a mistake to take her on, our number issue and her abilities notwithstanding. Martynova’s arrival at the Far Shores was just too convenient, and it’s not the first time she’s been in perfect position to come to the rescue. I can’t use Katya, as bad as I need her skill set.”
“That’s a shame. She’ll be hard to replace.”
“No kidding.”
“And then there’s Alex,” Rebecca said wistfully. “That’s a mess in and of itself. I don’t like to think…”
“You shouldn’t think about it,” Alice said abruptly, shaking her head. “No one has ever come back from the Outer Dark. If he does – and that’s a big if – I don’t expect him to be on our side anymore.”
“That’s…that’s dark. And not a possibility I considered. Fuck.” Rebecca hugged herself, looking uncomfortable in a jacket and matching skirt. “Eerie’s a goddamn mess, you know. I’ve tried to make time for her, but she’s barely talked in two sessions. I still don’t have a clear idea of what happened.”
“You saw Vivik’s helpful little broadcast,” Alice brooded. “You saw what Alistair did. I’d be surprised if Alex survived the night. Assuming he did…well, I guess I’d prefer not to consider the possibilities. Look, Becca, it bothers me, too. All of it. But dwelling on our losses won’t fix anything.”
“Yeah. You may be right.”
Rebecca gave her a sad look, and Alice had difficulty returning it, despite herself.
“You want to ask about Mitsuru.”
Rebecca clenched her jaw, grinding her teeth, her face contorted with emotion.
“You’re damn right I do. That was...that was a hell of a call you made, you know. And that you were prepared for it...”
“Gaul warned me. What else could I do?” Alice asked, holding her hands out helplessly. “You saw the precognitive work, and the post-operative analysis, the same as I did. She lost control of her Black Protocol, maybe because of injury, or because she simply couldn’t control it any longer. Either way, if those nanites had touched the World Tree, that was it.”
“I know,” Rebecca said, tearing up. “I know it. The end of everything. The Ecofage would have had access to everything – reality, Central, the works. No going back from that. No way to stop it. But, still, it’s so awful. I tried to protect her, tried to fix her...”
“’Becca, you did your best. I know it, and you know it, too. She was too damaged for us to put her back together. Maybe we were crazy to try, but we did. All of us did. If Karim hadn’t taken that shot, we wouldn’t be here to have this conversation, because there wouldn’t be any here, in all likelihood. Some doors, once you open them, there’s no going back. Mitzi knew the risks.”
“Yeah.” Rebecca wiped her eyes, sniffled. “Did you find her? A body? Anything?”
“No,” Alice said, looking uncomfortable. “Maybe the nanites consumed her before they were neutralized?”
“That seems wrong. They never touched her before, just everything else.”
“Maybe after she was...you know. Dead. Maybe it was different.”
“Maybe.”
“You gonna do a funeral?”
“Not yet. I don’t know. Mitsuru didn’t leave behind a lot of friends. Alex might have cared, but he’s...not around. I don’t think anyone will notice either way.”
“Probably right.”
They watched the evening colors deepen in silence for a moment.
“Damn it,” Rebecca said, balling her fists, “she was my friend.”
Alice didn’t say anything.
“It breaks my heart,” Rebecca blurted, wiping wet eyes. “Mitsuru deserved better.”
“Be glad you didn’t have to make the call,” Alice said darkly. “I liked Mitzi, you know. She reminded me of myself.”
“Maybe too much.”
“Maybe.”
“I can’t help but wonder if it had to be this way,” Rebecca admitted. “Maybe there was something else that I could have done to help her?”
“You’ll drive yourself crazy, thinking like that,” Alice said. “Anyway, it wasn’t your call. Mitzi is on me.”
“That’s not true. She was my friend, and my project. When Alistair betrayed us, I should have focused more attention on her, maybe even pushed for her to be pulled from the field. I knew she was hurting, and we all knew that she had trouble controlling her protocol. I should have intervened.”
“Without Mitzi, we would have failed to shut the World Tree down,” Alice reminded Rebecca gently. “I feel bad about what happened – maybe even worse than you – but you have to know that none of us ever had a choice. It was up to Mitzi to pull herself together. We did our best to give her time and the opportunity to get it under control, but we couldn’t do that for her.”
“I suppose. But for it to end this way...”
“Water under the bridge, Becca. Move past it.”
“How can I?” Rebecca demanded, tears trickling from her eyes. “Alex and Mitsuru trusted me, and I failed both of them. Completely. For all I know, both of them are dead already.”
“It’s bad enough as it is,” Alice advised. “You don’t need to make it worse with assumptions. Alex was alive the last time anyone saw him. That’s what we know.”
“He’s just a kid, though,” Rebecca said miserably, running her hands through hair that needed to be washed. “This is all so colossally unfair. We’ve got to do something about Alex, right?”
“We will,” Alice assured her. “As soon as we know what the situation is, we will act on it. I promise. We aren’t going to let this go, Rebecca. Me and you, we’re gonna take this fight to the Anathema,” Alice explained, her eyes bright and her expression steely, “and we are going to settle accounts with everyone who caused this – Alistair, John Parson, that vampire girl, the whole lot. I am done playing defense, and I am done losing people on my watch. We will even the score, Rebecca. For Mitzi and Alex both.”
Rebecca sobbed, and Alice looked away, giving her a moment to compose herself.
“Look – this isn’t what you should be thinking about right now,�
�� Alice said, taking Rebecca by the shoulders. “Worry about the kids later. Let me worry about the Auditors, the Anathema, and the World Tree – all that nonsense. You take care of the Committee, put the Administration back together, and we’ll go from there, okay?”
Rebecca nodded slowly, digging a tissue from her suit pocket.
“Okay. Yeah. There’s really no other option, is there? Time to suck it up and get political.”
“That’s the spirit,” Alice said approvingly. “Go charm ’em. And while you’re there…”
“Yes?”
“Tell Gaul that he’s got a lot to answer for.” Alice smiled grimly. “And I’m gonna come to ask a few friendly questions, real soon.”
***
Eerie opened the door to the club room slowly, sticking her head inside to make sure it was empty before she entered, Derrida trotting in behind her. She was wearing a very full backpack, and her knitting basket was nearly overflowing – even Derrida wore a harness with a saddlebag on either side. She set the backpack on one chair and her basket on another, and then set up her laptop on the table in the center of the room. The club room was designed for a dozen or more people, so there was plenty of room. It took nearly fifteen minutes of stringing cords and arranging sophisticated, self-designed peripherals before she powered up the computer.
The boot screen flashed by, replaced by the familiar icons of her custom operating system. Eerie keyed in several commands, then sat in an available chair to watch lines of green code scroll across the screen, pausing occasionally to make small changes or to rub Derrida’s patient head. Another half hour passed before she was satisfied with the results.
She removed the cloth that covered her basket and reviewed the contents. Her knitting supplies had been replaced with an ample supply of Pixy Stix, Kool-Aid packets, lollipops, jelly beans, licorice, and gummy animals of both sweet and sour varieties. Wedged beside them was the knit cap she had made for Alex. Eerie lingered over that, holding it to her chest thoughtfully and staring off into space, before placing it firmly on her head. From her backpack, she took a pair of knitted gloves and a long rainbow-striped scarf that hung almost to her knees, both of which she added to her thoughtfully selected outfit. It was too warm for the current weather at the Academy, but she wasn’t sure of the weather where she was going, so she chose her most comfortable sneakers and heaviest black tights, along with cutoff jeans, a layered pair of camisoles, and her oversized Pittsburg Penguins hoodie. She double-checked the remaining contents of her backpack – an ultra-thin laptop, a pair of high-fidelity headphones, an LED flashlight, sunglasses with plastic orange frames, a set of toiletries, spare underwear, and a miniature sewing kit – then zipped it closed. She took another moment to confirm that Derrida’s satchels were filled with dog food, a blanket, a Frisbee, and a small amount of water.
Eerie nodded to herself, shouldering her bag and taking firm hold of her basket. Then she reached for the keyboard.
“Sorry for intruding,” Katya said as she entered, startling Eerie away from the laptop, “but I heard you might be about to do something really stupid…”
“It’s my decision!” Eerie shouted. “You shouldn’t try and stop me!”
“…and I want in.” Katya sat down beside Eerie, putting her own backpack on the carpet with a self-conscious smile. “If you don’t mind the company, that is.”
Eerie blinked twice, opened her mouth, then closed it again without saying anything.
“That okay?”
“Um. But…but, why? Why would you want to…I mean…I’m going to…”
“I know where you are going.”
“I’m not sure how I will get back…”
“That’s okay. I got kicked out of school, and I’m pretty sure I got fired from the Auditors to boot. I wasn’t doing much of anything.”
“But, I’m not even sure where he is!”
“Yeah, I figured,” Katya said with a shrug. “But I also figure you have the best chances of anyone to find him.”
Eerie’s shoulders slumped in defeat.
“I don’t get it,” she said. “Why?”
“That’s a long story,” Katya said, blushing. “I’ll tell you on the way, okay?”
Eerie studied her face.
“You like Alex, don’t you?”
“Yeah,” Katya admitted, muttering. “Not the way you do, though! It’s totally different. Nothing…you know. Romantic.”
“Oh.” Eerie’s body language relaxed in obvious relief. “Not that I would care.”
“Right. Of course.”
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence.
“Is this Haley’s dog?” Katya asked, scratching beneath Derrida’s chin, to obvious appreciation. “It looks like it.”
Eerie looked panic-stricken, glancing all about the room before finally nodding.
“It is. Don’t tell.”
“I won’t,” Katya assured her, slightly wounded. “Does Haley know?”
“Of course! She stopped me on the way here, before I even left my room,” Eerie admitted, “and told me she knew everything.”
“That’s a telepath for ya,” Katya said sympathetically. “This place is infested with them.”
“Haley said she felt bad about Alex,” Eerie said, running a finger along the grain of the tabletop. “She said she wouldn’t try to stop me, or tell anyone, but only if I took Derrida with me, so he can keep an eye on me.”
“And so can Haley,” Katya muttered darkly. She brooded for a moment, until she noticed Eerie’s horrified expression. “Oh, don’t mind me,” Katya said in a rush, “I was just thinking out loud. I’m sure she just wants to help.”
Eerie looked unconvinced.
“Are you sure?”
“Completely. I’m sure lots of people would want to help, if they knew what you were doing.” Katya paused, smiled, and then added, “And they were insane.”
Then a polite knock at the door. Both girls jumped from their chairs, and Derrida barked. Eerie dashed frantically from the antenna array to the power converter to the laptop, unsure of what to do, how to hide her arrangement. Katya shushed the dog with a glare, then stalked to the door. She opened it a crack, then sighed and allowed Vivik to enter. He was dressed for the cold, with a heavy turban and a backpack over one shoulder.
“Ah, hello. I hope I’m not interrupting.”
“You know you are,” Katya said cheerfully, cuffing him in the back of the head. “You used your protocol, right?”
“Well…yes. It’s not as if I wanted to eavesdrop, or anything, it’s just that…”
“…you want to come, too?” Eerie finished, looking perplexed. “Does that mean that you also like Alex, Vivik?”
Vivik nodded slowly; then, as Katya chuckled, understanding slowly dawned on him, and he objected frantically.
“No! Not in that sense of the word, anyway. We are friends. That’s all.”
“But, this is…a lot. For just friends,” Eerie added, sitting back down. “I don’t understand.”
Vivik hesitated.
“I feel responsible, I guess. I didn’t…err, well, I wasn’t that great of a friend, I think.” Vivik put his hand to his head. “I have my reasons, alright? It’s not important.”
“Reasons are very important,” Eerie countered.
“I’ll explain later,” Vivik said hurriedly. “Please, tell me. Can I come with you?”
Katya shrugged and looked expectantly at Eerie. Eerie stared at the ground for a moment. When she finally looked up, she was smiling faintly.
“Okay. Vivik can come.”
“Great! Thanks. I think.”
Eerie glanced at the computer, then turned back to face them, golden motes dancing in the depths of her dilated eyes.
“But, before we go, I want to know why. Why both of you want to go. Okay?”
Vivik nodded reluctantly. Katya stared out the window at a tree whose branches whipped about in the wind.
“I don’t mind,” Katya sa
id finally. “But if I’m going to share…”
She paused, and gave Eerie a significant look.
“…then I want to know the full story. Of you, him, and why. Not the stupid shit that everyone else thinks, not the stories you told Rebecca or Ana. The truth. I might die out there – we all might. I think it’s only right that we all know the reasons.”
It was Eerie’s turn to look away. She studied her computer display, as if searching for errors in the static display of code, one hand searching out Derrida for comfort.
“Okay,” she said, finally, her voice briefly different – less musical, more self-assured. “I’ll do it. But we all agree – none of this goes any further than the three of us. And no backing out – once you hear it, you have to go. If either of you want to leave, now is the time. After this, it will just be us, and the Outer Dark. Agreed?”
“Yeah,” Vivik said, nodding. “I feel like I need to do this. So, yes.”
“Even if I wanted to back out, I’m probably already in too deep,” Katya said, putting her hiking boots up on the table. “Let’s do it.”
“Okay!” Eerie sprang up, the typical musical quality returning to her voice. “Then we are officially the ‘Rescue Alex from the Outer Dark Club’!”
Vivik made a strange noise that rapidly turned into coughing. Katya blushed.
“Can we not call it that?” Katya suggested. “Please?”
“Too late,” Eerie countered cheerfully. “It’s official.”
Katya hesitated for a moment, then laughed.
“Okay, whatever. Fine with me.” She folded her hands behind her head. “Cards on the table time, right? It was my idea, so I’ll go first…”
Eerie and Vivik waited patiently while Katya decided where to begin her story.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Zachary Rawlins lives with his lovely and amazing wife, Chloe, and their genius Corgi, Ein, in an 80-year-old Tudor in Oakland, California. During the day, he works in the environmental industry. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, photography, building computers, and writing books like this one. He can be reached at [email protected] with compliments, questions, or lucrative publishing offers.
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