This time there was no flinch; he didn’t move at all, didn’t blink, but his hand gripped the handhold fiercely.
He also didn’t reprimand me for the irrelevant information I kept feeding him. I kept going, talking faster and faster: “Her father drowned in a bayou in Louisiana. He was one of the men who kidnapped Timothy the first time. His boat tipped,and he didn’t know how to swim.” And, finally, most devastatingly, “You’re Rianne’s father.”
The last one did the trick. Anaximander curled up into a ball, hands coming up to cover his ears even though his helmet was in the way. His silver eyes were incapable of tears, but he threw back his head and keened in anguish. The sound sent a chill up my spine.
The robots watched impassively, frozen.
“Your wife’s name was Francine. She loved you so much she engraved your name over her heart. Eddy made you watch your wife die.” I sandbagged him with guilt.
“Francine.”Anaximander shuddered under another memory, another drowning. It was horrible to watch, like seeing a blind man walking through a minefield, setting off explosions with every misstep, but it was necessary.
When I had regained my memory, Mike had been there to hold and help me. With Anaximander, we couldn’t take the chance of comfort. His Augments made him too lethal. We had to keep him drowning while we removed his chip.
When we unscrewed his helmet, his head came up, disoriented, but he sensed something was amiss. His hands combed the air in front of him, and he twisted away.
“Damn,” Mike said, and sprang after him. I tried to hold Anaximander’s head still, but he yanked my hands away, then pulled me back. His arm went around my neck in a headlock, choking me.
“Do you remember me?” Rianne floated in front of him. “I’m your daughter. The last time I saw you, I told you I hated you.”
Anaximander’s arms loosened and I pushed away, massaging my throat.
“I lied,” Rianne continued. “I was mad at you because I knew you were going to risk your life for my sake and I was terrified you would die. Then, at the last minute, I yelled that I loved you, and you stopped to hug me. Do you remember?”
“Thatta girl,” Mike said. “Almost there.” His fingers sprang open the panel in Anaximander’s skull that was used to access his Augments.
“When I was five, you had to miss my birthday party, but you recorded a birthday message for me. You sang me a little song, a stupid little song that you’d made up, which didn’t even rhyme.” She started to sing in a clear alto. “ ‘Happy birthday, Rianne/ I’m sorry I can’t/ Be with you today/ I miss you every way.’ ” She called up memory after memory as we worked.
Unlike mine, Anaximander’s Loyalty chip simply plugged into his other Augments. Instead of having to reset the chip’s mode, all Mike had to do was locate it among the other Augments and pull the chip out. No surgery, no pain.
It was a small thing to have caused such harm. My first thought was to crush it, but Mike folded it up in tissue and pocketed it. “We need it for evidence.”
I nodded and turned my attention to Anaximander—or rather Alexander—who was still curled into himself. I tried to pat his shoulder and ended up clutching his arm for balance. “It’s not your fault. You aren’t responsible for the actions the chip made you commit.”
If he heard me, he gave no sign. It wasn’t myforgiveness that he needed. I signaled Rianne to come closer.
At first she didn’t seem to know how to comfort him. She drifted just short of touching him, looking helpless. I was about to tell her to put her arms around him when her own reserve broke. “Daddy?”
His eyes opened. “Rianne. Baby.” He pulled her to him in a close hug. Rianne clung just as tightly, and they spun slowly in place.
I had to look away. The moment felt too private.
I knew there would be problems and feelings for them to resolve later, but the first, biggest step had been taken.
Mike cleared his throat. “Sorry to interrupt, but Anaximander’s partner might be closing in for the kill on Timothy and his mother right now.”
Anaximander kept one arm around his daughter. “You know that? You know that this isn’t a rescue mission?”
“We figured it out a little while ago,” I said modestly. “Does your partner have a Loyalty chip, too?”
“No,” Anaximander said, but I never got a chance to take my breath of relief. “The other man is Eddy. He said”—Anaximander’s voice changed, became Eddy’s voice, or rather a memory recording of Eddy’s voice—“ ‘I’m tired of missing all the fun. I want to see my sister die. I want her to look into my eyes and know that I’m cleverer than she is.’ ” Anaximander’s voice reverted to normal. “The fool.”
Mike and I exchanged shark smiles over Eddy’s unbelievable arrogance. “We’ll catch him with his hands dirty,” Mike said.
I got down to details. “How much firepower dohis robots have?” I asked Anaximander. “Should we take your robots with us? Will they obey you?”
“One of the robots is enough to kill everyone on the entire ship,” Anaximander said grimly. He seemed steadier now that he had a task to do. “All of the robots will take orders from me, but Eddy’s orders have priority. We’ll need to take out their command nodes.”
“And where are those?” I asked.
Anaximander demonstrated by putting a single bullet exactly between each of his robot’s silver eyes. It was the closest I’d seen him come to bragging.
“Which way did Eddy go?” Rianne asked.
Anaximander pointed down a branching tunnel. As the four of us guided ourselves down it, the gunfire became heavier, a concussive throbbing that hurt my ears.
We stumbled over the remains of one of the robots. The Spacers had cut it in half. Its legs were still bouncing around aimlessly, while its torso clung to a handrail. Its blastgun was gone.
We saw more blood bubbles, but if any Spacers had been killed, their comrades had moved the bodies.
“Stay here while I go ahead alone,” Anaximander said. “I have armor, and Eddy’s expecting me.”
I frowned. “Eddy has armor, too. What are you going to do when you find him? Tell me you’re not going to confront him.”
Anaximander said nothing, his silence an admission.
“You can’t kill him,” I said forcefully.
“Why not?” Rianne was totally on her father’s side.
I scrambled to come up with a reason. “Because . . . he’s the only one who knows where the stolen millions are. Without that money SilverDollar may be forced to shut down the Martian mines. All the Spacers will be out of work.” Money usually left a trail, but my reasoning sounded good.
“Okay. I’ll disarm him.” Anaximander’s voice was even, but something in his face made me uneasy, as if by “disarm” he meant “rip off Eddy’s arm” rather than “take away Eddy’s gun.”
“I’ll come with you,” I announced. Before Mike and Rianne could protest being left behind, I handed Mike my gun. “You two set an ambush.”
“Be careful,” Mike said.
“I will.”
Anaximander didn’t wait a second longer. He raised his voice to a shout. “Sir, it’s Anaximander.” He pulled himself around the corner, leaving me to kick off after him and follow.
By the time I got there, Anaximander had already expertly shot the remaining robot. It tipped over backward and began a slow spin.
“What did you do that for?” Behind his transparent faceplate, Eddy looked put out.
“The Spacers have a device that disrupts their programming,” Anaximander lied. His Augments gave him a definite advantage when it came to keeping a straight face. “My robots both malfunctioned and started firing wildly. They’re now in the hands of the enemy. We need to abandon the mission.”
“No. I’m too close.” Eddy noticed me. “What’s she doing here?”
“I tricked the terrorists into thinking I was one of them and talked them into sending me along with Timothy. He and President Caste
llan are being held back this way.” I pointed.
“My, my, you have been busy.” Eddy sounded paternally proud, as if I were a loyal dog who had performed some especially clever trick and now deserved a doggie biscuit.
“Come on,” I said. “The Spacers might get nervous and kill the hostages.”
Eddy hesitated, then smiled. “You first.”
Was he suspicious? I couldn’t tell.
My skin crawled at the thought of turning my back to him. Even though both Anaximander and I were free from the slavery of our chips, I was still afraid of Eddy. I told myself firmly that Eddy was no more dangerous than any other armed man— and probably a much poorer marksman—and started back around the corner to where Mike and Rianne waited in ambush.
At that point everything was still going well, but Eddy paused, one hand gripping a handhold, and looked at Anaximander, who had been staring at him expressionlessly. “Anaximander, I congratulate you on your training. It seems the student has surpassed the master.” And he lifted his visor so he could pull the black butterfly token out from under his armor, taunting Anaximander, as it had always been safe for him to do in the past.
Anaximander snapped. He lunged forward, slamming Eddy into the tunnel wall. He ripped Eddy’s gun away before Eddy could do more thanblink. “You killed Francine!” He tore his wife’s heart off Eddy’s neck.
I threw myself onto Anaximander’s back, but all I could do was float with him in zero-G. Anaximander ignored me and started pounding on Eddy, concentrating his blows on Eddy’s unprotected face. “Help me!” I called to Mike.
“Do I have to?” Mike asked, but he braced his feet on the wall and pulled on Anaximander’s waist while I pulled on Eddy. Even working together, the two of us couldn’t budge them an inch. Anaximander’s fists continued to fall, blackening one of Eddy’s eyes and bloodying his nose. Eddy screamed and tried feebly to shield his face.
Anaximander bared his teeth in a primal smile, and behind him, Rianne echoed the expression. For the first time, I saw a father-daughter resemblance.
“You made me stand there and watch her die.” Anaximander started to unscrew Eddy’s helmet. “Now it’s your turn to die.”
“No. We need him to find the embezzled millions, remember? Francine would want the money to help the Spacers,” I said.
My words penetrated. Breathing hard, Anaximander slowly released his victim. Eddy curled up in a ball. Anaximander loomed in front of him, menace exuding from every pore, Eddy’s obscene necklace still clenched in his fist.
A glint of gold caught my eye, and I saw a broken necklace floating by one of the bulkheads. The more delicate gold chain must have been torn off Eddy’s neck with the butterfly token.
On the chain floated a tiny golden angel.
Fear goose-stepped down my back. Eddy musthave taken the pendant the last time I’d seen him, when he’d asked if Timothy was violent.
Why couldn’t I remember his taking it? Mike had restored the memories that had been blanked out by my Loyalty Induction. The pendant had disappeared afterward.
I realized then why I was so afraid of Eddy, and I started to move, but it was too late.
“Thanks for saving my life, Angel,” Eddy croaked.“Code fourteen.”
I went rigid.
The others didn’t immediately understand what had happened.
“My Loyalty chip has been removed,” Anaximander sneered. “The override code isn’t going to help you now.” He punched Eddy again.
But my chip hadn’t been removed, only put in Passive mode. The override coded to Eddy’s voice reactivated it. Helplessly, I froze in place, awaiting instructions.
“Kill them,” Eddy gasped, clutching his nose. “Protect me.”
THE OVERRIDE WAS FIVE TIMES worse than the Loyalty chip’s regular mode. It left my mind intact and aware but gave complete command of my body to Eddy.
If I’d had a gun, I would have shot them all—bang, bang, bang.Anaximander first, because he had threatened Eddy, then Mike, then Rianne.
Fortunately, Eddy’s last command had been, “Protect me,” so it took priority over “Kill them.”
Eddy’s blastgun was drifting up against a notch in the tunnel. I kicked up to the ceiling and had already snagged the gun by the time Mike figured out what was happening.
“She’s under his control!” Mike yelled.
While I somersaulted back down in front of Eddy like a tigress defending its cubs, Anaximander pulled Rianne back around the corner.
Mike hesitated a moment longer. “Fight it, Angel!”
I fired off a burst, but my body was still moving from my earlier gymnastics and I missed by a foot.
Mike dove around the corner.
“What are you waiting for?” Eddy screamed, gesturing toward the tunnel.
My body started to move, but I stalled it by repeating his last command. Questions didn’t count. “You told me to protect you. If I follow Mike, Anaximander might double back and kill you, moron.”
Eddy puffed up with outrage. “What did you call me?”
“A moron.” The override gave him command of my body, not my tongue. “You are a moron. And that wasn’t your first mistake, either, you mental midget.” The childish taunts felt incredibly good.
“Don’t insult me again.” A command. “I don’t think I care for your attitude,” Eddy said coldly. He pinched the bridge of his nose to stop the bleeding. “When this is over, I think I’ll make some changes.”
Ice filled my spinal column. In override mode, Eddy could play with me like a doll. If he told me to jump off a cliff, I would do it.
“I’m wearing body armor; I’m perfectly safe,” Eddy said inaccurately; he wasn’t safe as long as his visor was up. “Go after them now.”
I obeyed, cursing inwardly, but a moment later he took the bait. “Wait! Tell me what mistake you think I made.”
“Mistakes, plural. You haven’t told me who is my primary target or what to do after I kill them.”
“Anaximander’s your primary target, Mike is secondary. Forget the girl. She wasn’t armed, and she’s crippled.”
Which just went to prove how stupid he was.Mike would smile at Eddy’s funeral, and Anaximander might kill him in the heat of anger, but Rianne was the one capable of drilling a hole in his heart while he slept. I happily followed his command and blanked all thought of Rianne from my mind.
“After you kill them, come help me hunt down my sister and her brat. It’s too bad I can’t be in two places at once. I’d love to watch you blow away your boyfriend. Oh, yes, Michael Vallant used to be your boyfriend, didn’t you know?” He was trying to hurt me by engaging my drowning reflex.
I left him puzzled by my lack of response.
Override mode made no allowance for caution. I pulled myself along the tunnel as fast as I could one-handed, finger on the trigger, alert, not knowing if I was the cat or the mouse.
While I trusted Mike to shoot to wound even with his own life in jeopardy, Anaximander was another matter entirely. He was a Spacer. The stakes were higher for him.
One of the hatches I passed wasn’t completely closed. I saw Rianne hiding inside, then, as commanded, promptly forgot that I’d seen her and kept going.
Around the next corner, I saw something red ahead of me—Mike’s shirt—and fired even as my eyes registered that it was just a piece of cloth.
The recoil threw me violently backward, and Rianne snatched the blastgun out of my hands. I immediately forgot her again as I thumped the back of my head and skinned one elbow on the wall before bouncing off again. Debris pelted by me.
Then Mike attacked from above, catching my wrists and holding them fast.
We banged around in the narrow tunnel. “Don’t let go,” I panted, even as the chip made me squirm like an eel.
“Never,” Mike swore.
My feet touched a wall, and I kicked off with all my strength, smashing Mike against a protruding bulkhead. “No!” I cried out, anguished, as he let go
of my wrists.
Then Anaximander grabbed me from behind and pinned my arms against my body. Mike uncurled from the wall and gamely tackled my legs, immobilizing them. I noticed that Mike’s forehead was bleeding and knew that I had done that. Guilt choked me, even as I fought furiously.
Rianne said something and waved a blastgun in my direction, but I forgot about her and her threat as soon as I heard it and continued to thrash.
“Code one.” Anaximander’s lips moved, but it was Eddy’s voice that I heard. “Code five.”
Anaximander was apparently searching through his Memory Recorder’s vast library of conversations with Eddy, scanning for numbers, because he called out numbers in random order, “Code seventeen, code seven, code thirty,” instead of a one, two, three progression.
“Code fourteen.”
I stopped fighting and went limp. “That did it. Thanks, you guys.”
Mike grinned, cute even while bleeding, and released his hold on my legs.
My foot lashed out, aiming for Mike’s vulnerablethroat, but Anaximander jerked me backward, preventing the blow from connecting.
Mike’s face whitened, but he soon had me pinned again.
“Code fifty,” Anaximander droned. “Code fifty-one, code fifty-two . . .”
Despair clenched my heart. There were too many numbers still to go through. Eddy might find Timothy by the time I was released.
“Code thirty-two.”
I relaxed. “That one did it, guys. For real this time.” I smiled, but Mike and Anaximander didn’t believe me.
And they were right not to. We had to go through the whole depressing process four more times before hitting it right with code twenty-four.
I knew immediately because I stopped forgetting Rianne. She had a foot hooked through one of the wall handholds and was holding both blastguns. Her heart seemed to be holding up so far.
“Okay, I’m free, and I can prove it. Anaximander, command me to do something in Eddy’s voice.”
“Don’t kill us,” Anaximander said instantly.
Mike swore in disgust. “You couldn’t have thought of that a bit earlier?”
Silver Eyes Page 18
