The back of Ada’s neck was prickling unpleasantly, and she was shifting constantly in her seat. She would never have thought twice about playfully teasing someone; gods knew she had harboured one or two unrequited crushes in her life. But back home people were blunt, they were mostly on equal footing, and they could leave if things got uncomfortable. Colonial humans were small, frail, scared, and trapped by their circumstances. She understood that, but she had to feel it. That wasn’t going to be easy.
“Alright, Elsa. I’m sorry. I didn’t think of myself as dangerous. In that way. I know you’re nothing like Isavel, and I know that me missing her is not your problem. We have bigger things to deal with.”
Elsa nodded, and quietly handed over the locator stone. Ada picked it up and looked closely at it, bringing it briefly to her lips and storing it away. She breathed deeply, not wanting to look at anyone right now. Coming to the Union had been a huge mistake. It had brought nothing but misery on herself and everyone she knew, both on Earth and here.
The lieutenant sighed. “There’s a cab waiting for us downstairs. I’m sorry we need to go like this, now, but I had to talk to you first.”
“No, I understand.” She couldn’t let Ada run wild any longer than absolutely necessary. “Okay.”
She rubbed her face with her hands, and Elsa got up to fetch something in the kitchen, bringing her back a mug of something lukewarm warm that smelled like tea. “Have some old tea.”
Ada blinked, and sipped some. It tasted familiar, only slightly bitter - not exactly what she was familiar with, but certainly the same plant. She glanced cautiously at the lieutenant. “I’m surprised it’s real tea. I didn’t think you’d have that out here.”
“Colonists brought every kind of crop and livestock they could think of. We got most of it.” Elsa stuck her hand out towards Ada. “Are we okay? Shake hands?”
Ada nodded, and reached for the hand, squeezing it as weakly as she could and shaking. “On Earth, we grab each other by the forearm instead.”
Elsa raised an eyebrow and moved her hand just up past Ada’s wrist. “Like this? You shake like this?”
“No shaking, really, just a firm grip.”
“Huh.” Elsa pulled her hand away and glanced at the device on her wrist. “Turou left last night. His contact came through; we’ll meet them later tonight. If we can just lay low long enough for the intelligence leaks to happen… Hopefully you won’t have to crack too many skulls.”
“Just one.” Ada glanced at Elsa. “I mean -”
Elsa laughed quietly, and waved her hand. “Given that recording, I’d say he has it coming. But it’ll cause more problems than it solves, trust me. Come on, drink up and let’s go.”
She finished the tea as Elsa got ready, her hands still shaking a little. This was ridiculous. Elsa had made a perfectly reasonable request; it was ridiculous that it had gotten to her like that. She was lonely, yes, but how was that different? She had been alone before, and for the most part she’d never had an issue with it.
Had Isavel left a hole in her heart? Maybe. It would heal, though. It had to. Either that, or she would just have to go back for her. That certainly wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
As they rode the elevator down, Ada turned her mind to the future. “Where are we going?”
“It’s called Starcast. They’re famous, billions of people watch them. Their interviews are usually pretty basic.” They stepped out of the elevator into the grey-tinted light of Daneer’s winter, and Elsa pulled her jacket tighter. “The human is Magna Depra, the mirran is Oussil Mellac. You can call them by their first names. Apparently this was a last-minute scheduling, and we don’t have talking points. You’ll have to improvise.”
“Billions are watching how, exactly? Can you explain how this will work like I’m a… a barbarian?”
Elsa smirked at her. “You sit on a chair next to some pretty people and they talk to you. There are a cameras, microphones, and sensors that will let people around the Union watch, more or less at the same time. A few people with lots of money actually sit in the room, too. Take some time to cool your nerves in the car, okay?”
She did. She tried to think of something other than Isavel, tried to think of the situation she was in. The life-threatening situation. This was serious stuff that demanded attention, and she could devolve into a blubbering mess. She had to focus.
If she wanted to get back to Isavel, she had to focus. She had to get out of this alive. That had to be her priority.
When the cab brought them to their destination, another great stone building, she was surprised to see Sanako waiting outside to greet her. Her mouth was smiling but her eyes were panicking, and she quickly pulled close to Ada’s ear, speaking only for her.
“Ada, something’s wrong with that recording.”
Ada’s eyes widened. “What?”
“It’s real, but… no person leaked it.” Sanako was talking almost too fast to be heard. “A computer sent it by itself. Maybe a virus, maybe something else. We don’t know how or why.”
There was, to Ada, one obvious possibility. “I thought you didn’t have thinking machines.”
Elsa was clearly paying more attention to the people around them. A few passers-by had already noticed the tall earthling standing there, again subtly repositioning their comm devices.
Sanako shook her head. “We don’t! Listen, my ex wasn’t the only one who got it, either. All kinds of people got that recording, Ada, and it’ll start hitting the public soon. Watch yourself. Something’s not right.” She took a deep breath and stood up straight as she addressed both Ada and Elsa. “You should head inside.”
Bewildered, Ada tried to whisper an explanation to Elsa as they walked into the building, but they were soon overrun and led up an elevator, after which Ada was separated from Elsa by people whose faces hardly registered, then coaxed in front of two strangers who were already beaming at her.
The human was blonde and oddly thin for all that she seemed to be healthy; the mirran was well-brushed and mostly dark-furred, with pale flecks around his spine and face. They both looked absurdly delighted to see her, and the human spoke first, shaking her hand. “Ayda Liu - am I saying that right?”
Ada drew her face away from them. “Ada.”
“Oh okay. I’m Magna Depra, and this is Oussil Mellac.” The mirran grinned, full of teeth. “It’s great to have you! Please, let’s get settled in.”
The mirran Oussil chimed in with a clipped accent indistinguishable from the human’s. “People are really buzzing for this. Ad valuations are through the roof, and we’ve got over a billion on greyscreen. This is no archive filler.”
Ada wasn’t sure what any of that meant, but she followed the two onto a stage beside a bright, beautiful window opening onto a vast expanse of wooded Freyja countryside, gently dusted with snow. How close were they to the edge of the city? “What should I -”
Magna continued beaming at her. “You’re doing fine! Oh, so rustic. Take a seat.”
She scrunched her lips up in linguistic confusion and looked around as she sat down in the third chair. The dias was encircled by little pedestal-mounted devices Ada couldn’t identify. Behind those were staggered rows of mirran and human heads popping out from fairly plain-coloured clothes; they muttered frantically and excitedly as soon as Ada appeared, and some of them waved directly at her. Elsa and Sanako were standing with a few others, all in various kinds of uniforms, watching her from an alcove that would be invisible to the audience. She also spotted armed guards in the corners of the room.
Ada felt uneasy under all these eyes. The sooner this was over, the better. She leaned towards the hosts. “Who are these?”
Oussil looked out at the crowd and smiled a toothy mirran smile. Were these two ever not smiling? “Whoever paid the most money. Let me tell you, this is easily the most we’ve made on auctions for single show. Ever! And we’re not even live yet! Once the ad-jostle starts, our numbers will be halfway to the near
est moon.”
Magna made a gesture at Ada. “Just think of how excited these people are to see you! ”
She looked out at the crowd and the rainbow of their eyes stared back at her, with only a few people whispering to one another or checking devices. The alien attention was unnerving. “What do you want me to say?”
“Just be yourself.” Oussil said. “People want it to feel real. Improvise! Do you want some water? ”
He had produced a glass of water, holding it over to her with a furry, four-fingered hand. As she took the glass, she frowned. She didn’t see the source anywhere. “Where did that come from?”
Oussil took his own glass, held it under the small lamp on the table, and water poured out into the glass. “Tricky, see? It gets dry in here, especially for mirrans, so it’s nice to have water available but not, you know, obvious.”
Why couldn’t it be obvious? He had just said people wanted it to feel real. “Um.”
“Ready?”
Someone was shouting across the stage, and the co-hosts looked over. Magna held up a single finger, turning to Ada. “We’re going to start now, if that’s all right? Don’t worry, we’ll ask questions you can handle. We’ve done this hundreds of times.”
Ada looked out at the crowd of people, and found the security presence had stepped in around the sides. Sanako’s eyes were fixed unsteadily on a small device, and Ada crossed eyes with Elsa, who nodded almost imperceptibly. Guards were speaking into comm devices; was this a trap? Were they going to jump her the second this interview was over?
She tried with her eyes to get Elsa to acknowledge the situation, but it didn’t get across. Well, she could think and code faster than any of them. She had to trust that would be enough.
Oussil bobbed his head. “We’re go.”
Suddenly a light flicked on above their heads, and someone shouted. “We’re live… now.”
“Good morning Union!” Oussil’s voice suddenly boomed. Then he stopped, staring at Ada for a moment. “Wow, I can hardly believe my eyes.”
Something about his tone rubbed her the wrong way. Magna chimed in, even chirpier than she had been before. “Neither can I. But here she is - miss Ada Liu, recently arrived on Freya… from Earth .”
The crowd seated beyond applauded as the sentence ended. Why? Nothing exciting had happened. She tried to concentrate on the two people sitting across from her, but the noise was a serious distraction, and the pressure of their stares was real.
“Ada Liu - welcome to the Union!”
She had been here for days already, but she forced a grin onto her mouth. “Uh, thanks.”
Magna continued to beam. “You wanted to come here after all, didn’t you? You boarded the ship. What brings you here?”
She winced, trying not to look at those blinding memories too directly. “Earth is kind of a mess, and I want to fix it. I wanted to see what civilization was like beyond Earth. I wanted to learn.”
The co-hosts nodded along with her in a way that felt too calculated to be attentive; Magna’s next comment only reinforced that impression. “And my, what a charming accent you have, I must say.”
“It’s very strong, quite muscular.” Oussil agreed enthusiastically. What the hell did that mean? What was a muscular accent? “You mentioned the mirran refugees; I don’t want to dwell too long on them because we’re having them on later, but briefly, how are relations between mirrans and humans on Earth?”
Ada bit her lip. Paranoia, suspicion, mad legends. She wasn’t sure how those would come across. “Um, well. My best friend is one of the mirrans who got evacuated. I lived with them for some time. I owe them a lot.”
“It’s so heartwarming to hear that even on Earth, the historic friendship between our species continues unbroken.”
She tried not to say anything, nodding and glancing out at the crowd. Bad idea. She looked away.
“And now that you’re among us here, in the Union, what’s it like? What have you seen so far?”
A whole morass of incomprehensible relationships, institutions, and customs. “I guess it’s been confusing.” She blinked, trying to think of something that wouldn’t invite further discussion. “You get these things called hangovers?”
The crowd burst into laughter. She grinned, just a little. Had she actually made them laugh?
“Mostly though, there are just so many people here. And this whole government thing. And money. I still don’t understand money.”
Magna blinked. “So on Earth, do you barter, then? Trade chickens for wood, stuff like that?”
“Why is it always chickens?” Oh shit, she said that out loud, and people were staring. “I mean - sort of. We only trade rare things, we get most of what we need from the wilds or the machines.”
The crowd grew stiller, and the mood grew somber. Of course - she had forgotten they were touchy about the subject. Oussil nodded. “What kind of machines do you still have there?”
Good gods, how was she expected to talk about Earth while pretending it wasn’t lousy with robots? She felt a well of defensiveness and tried to calm herself. “Lots. They tend the fields and the buildings, they weave clothes, they keep things in order . We have… It’s good. They all work fine. They don’t generally hurt people.”
A flicker of nervousness crossed Magna’s eyes. “Oh, that’s good. Very remarkable. But you don’t build the machines, right? I was told Earth’s people lived… simply.”
Ada nodded. “More simply than here.”
“So what was a typical day like on Earth? Take us there.”
Ada started bouncing her heel against the ground. “Well, um, I lived in a place where were studied code. Um, I think they’re called compunanites.” The hosts looked confused. “Well the peasants called it magic.”
Oussil grinned. “So you’re a magician?”
Ada shrugged. “I prefer the term sorceress .”
There were subdued chuckles in the audience, but she saw Sanako off in a corner, nervously speaking into a comm. What was going on?
Magna reeled her attention back in. “And Ada - I must say, lady to lady - you’ve got quite the stature. Are all the people on Earth so tall? The men must be real giants.”
Ada raised her eyebrows. “Men are the same height. And it’s strange how short everyone is here.”
The hosts laughed politely, and then Oussil gestured to her body. “Are there any other differences? It’s been more than a thousand years since anyone has seen an earthling human, after all - since before independence, really. We’ve heard rumours you’re very strong; is that all?”
She met both Sanako’s and Elsa’s eyes, and saw the warnings there. She should steer clear of some of the more fundamental differences. “I, uh, don’t know the details. I mean, apparently you people get diseases, which, you know, on Earth, diseases are for animals.”
A murmur rippled through the crowd at that. Had she insulted them? The hosts continued to grin, though. “Healthy natural living?”
Natural living? What did that matter? The phrase called to mind Venshi’s old rage against the ancients and their power, though, and Ada felt a pang of frustration. She gritted her teeth and decided to ask Elsa about it later. “No, it just doesn’t happen. And apparently you people have to sleep every single night? That’s weird. I sleep every other night most of the time.”
Oussil and Magna looked at each other, and Magna spoke. “That’s very interesting. I’m no scientist, but that seems like a lot to evolve in such a short timeframe.”
“Evolution?” Like animals? They thought she was an animal. She had just said she didn’t get diseases. “No, I’m pretty sure these are all changes that the ancients made to - er - themselves. The ancients made new plants and animals too, so I guess they did the same to their own bodies.”
Oussil nodded gravely. “Genetic modification.”
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sanako and Elsa frantically talking to one another. What the hell was going on here? “I guess so.”
<
br /> “Are you human, then, or something different?”
“I don’t think -”
Several of the guests in the audience stood up. The mood shifted. Weapons appeared, turning on the guards in the corners, firing tiny bullets with incredibly loud snaps. Bodies crumpled, blood splattered against the walls, the rest of the crowd started screaming. Ada slowed time down to a crawl.
Okay, shit, what was going on?
She stretched out dark tendrils to see her surroundings, and took stock of the scene. The military all looked panicked. Elsa was pulling out a gun, Sanako was ducking for cover. There were five people in the audience with weapons, and half of the military had already been shot. Fear was grinding across Oussil and Magna’s faces like a glacier.
Wait a minute. If these people weren’t with the military - if they were killing the military - then perhaps they were here to help her. Or at the very least, she and Elsa could use them as a distraction. That could be a solid plan.
She let time slide back to its normal pace, stood up.
“Fascist supersoldiers!”
Somebody was pointing a gun at her, and all of a sudden Ada felt a thump and a sharp pain in her chest. She slowed time again.
Dark eyes of code looking down, she saw a tear in her suit - and beyond it, a hole straight through her own chest, red blood spreading across her torn, pale golden skin. The shot had already come out the other side, cracking the window behind her with a spray of blood.
Wait a minute. That was the left side of her chest. That was where her heart was.
Oh gods.
She had one chance. Only one chance. She reached into her memory, pulling out the golem sigil as fast as she could, wrapping around it the trappings of a wraith. Her mind started to wooze, the pain was intense, but time was slow. She had some time. She had just a little time left.
The Broken Third (Digitesque Book 4) Page 11
