The Broken Third (Digitesque Book 4)

by Guerric Haché

  “They’re not a symbol of frailty! They’re a symbol of hope! Hope that this - ” She gestured to her body, the ground, the sky. “This is not all that we are! We’re more, so much more, and those blossoms - unlike any other flower - they’re supposed to remind us of all we can become!”

  Turou was rubbing his shoulders, still wincing. “What are you talking about?”

  “I grew up with them! I went there almost every day, sitting there, watching the petals fall for years, and it always gave me hope! They were proof that there was enough knowledge out there to make a better world, a beautiful world. A way for me to become something more than I was!”

  Her eyes were watering. Seriously? Now? She wasn’t upset, she was angry. This was an outrage. She kicked one of the trunks, to no effect.

  “These - these things - they’re dead. There’s nothing special about them. You let them die like every other flower, and why wouldn’t you? This entire Union is a pile of garbage!” She was yelling. “You’ve been out here for a thousand fucking years and you’re still living between rocks and bolted metal plates! Of course you think everything is frail - you’re frail! ”

  Elsa pursed her lips and stepped towards her, reaching for her shoulders. “Ada! Hey! Calm the fuck down!”

  Ada slowed time. She could easily shove Elsa off and -

  No.

  Wait.

  No, this wasn’t right.

  She let time slide back to its normal speed again. “Get off me, I -”

  “Hey!”

  She stared Elsa in the eyes. “What?”

  Elsa glanced over at the trees. “Fucking watch yourself. You could have killed Turou shoving him like that.”

  Turou briefly looked like pride compelled him to contest the point, but the reality of the situation seemed to win out.

  “I’m not -”

  “Hey! Hey, you listen to me. I don’t know why you’re so riled up by a bunch of fucking trees, but you need to calm down. Whatever’s pissing you off isn’t our fault. What are you trying to accomplish by yelling at us?”

  Ada turned around to look at the grove of trees. They were not what she knew, not what she cared for. They were imposters. They might even be the ancestral cherry trees; of that she was almost certain. But that didn’t make them any more real than the ones she knew. Real cherry trees were a celebration of triumph, not a wallowing contemplation of death. These were no more the real cherry trees than colonials were the real humans.

  She took a deep breath and held it. She looked back at her companions; Turou didn’t seem injured, but they both seemed worried. With good reason, perhaps - she hadn’t forgotten Elsa questioning whether Ada was safe to be around. Seeing people look at her like she was a threat - people who were a species of friend - was an uncomfortable feeling.

  She sighed deeply and cast her eyes down. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to see these things. It really isn’t your fault.” She glanced at Turou’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”

  He grimaced. “Bruised at worst, I think. You pack a hard punch.”

  Elsa glanced sideways at him. “She broke somebody’s face when they were trying to get her through customs. Bare-fisted punch, in zero-G no less.”

  He blinked and looked at her wide-eyed again. She sighed and walked out of that courtyard, back through the stone arches, back to the garden in front of Turou’s room. She could hear the others behind her, but she didn’t engage them. In the middle of the garden, where she might almost fool herself into thinking it was endless, she sat down on the uneven rock surface between the strange fan-leafed trees instead. What had Turou called them? Ginkgo. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, squeezing time to a gentle trickle.

  Okay. It was fine. These colonies - these people - they were not what she was looking for. The power that radiated through the leaves of the cherry blossoms - the power that made her stronger and healthier and more powerful than them - the power that would heal Earth and let her build something anew - it was not here.

  The colonials knew nothing. They could not help her.

  She had to return to Earth.

  It was that simple. She could try to learn what she could, or borrow written archives about Umbra Ex Machina or Venshi’s religious kin out here, but she needed to leave. Earth and its gods were her best chance at understanding the ancients’ collapse and preventing it from being repeated. Earth was the only place she could study the science and technology of the ancients. The colonials were lost in the dark.

  But what about this Union, then? Ada done things to this place. She had changed it in some way, perhaps small and perhaps not. People might get hurt on her account. They were confused and weak, after all. And what of Zhilik and the outers that had come with him? She couldn’t leave them here alone. What would happen to them?

  She would have to bring them back, wouldn’t she? Assuming they wanted to return.

  Unless she tried to change the Union from the inside out, somehow, impossibly. Turn it into something greater than it was. It could be more than it was, after all - anything could. The ancients had demonstrated that a thousand years ago. That was the whole point of the cherry myth.

  She wasn’t finding what she needed.

  But she hadn’t taken the time to even look.

  Gods, this was complicated.

  Best to at least try, perhaps.

  Ada let time flow normally again, exhaling. “Sorry, just taking a moment.”

  “It’s fine.” Turou sat down across from her, cross-legged, and Elsa followed suit. “I’m sorry the… the trees were offensive to your beliefs.”

  Ada tilted her head. “It’s fine. Turou, you said I could study history and science here. I’d like to start today. To-noon? Soon.”

  He seemed a bit startled by the sudden change of topic, of course. She had transformed the seconds it took for them to walk over to her into several long minutes for herself to think. “Um, sure. I can get you access to the networks.”

  The two of them were quiet for a moment. They meant well, they really did. Perhaps she should give the colonies a chance. If she could get Cherry out here, somehow, she would have access to enough knowledge to jumpstart the Union’s understanding of science and technology. That could prove incredible. And some of them were good people - they deserved help.

  Maybe it could work.

  “Hey.” Elsa spoke suddenly, and Ada realized she had been looking into her eyepiece again. “Hey, bad news.”

  They looked at her. There was apprehension in her voice, and it didn’t seem directed at Ada. “What?”

  Elsa’s voice shifted subtly; she was reading, or quoting. “A Quetzal-class cruiser with escort jumped into the Chang’e system not long ago. The battle group is under the command of Admiral Senjat Ashur, who is reportedly searching for vanished Earthling Ada Liu. An anonymous tip on her whereabouts came from the moon. Sources inside the military report the battle group will be assisting SysSec in orbital traffic monitoring, and that a landing party will be descending to an undisclosed location on the moon to find her . ”

  She fell silent, and the three of them exchanged glances. Ada tried not to groan. “So much for this being a good hiding place.”

  “It was Baoji.” Elsa was immediately alarmed, but Turou raised his hands and shook his head.

  “No! It wasn’t Baoji. I trust him. I’ll call him. It must have been someone else.”

  “Who else saw her without her helmet?” Elsa’s eyes narrowed at Turou. “It wasn’t you , was it?”

  Turou looked appalled. “No! Why would I - listen, everyone in Ngoc’s parlour saw her face and heard her name. There must have been half a dozen guards at least. Not to mention anybody who might have seen her here and figured it out.”

  It was true. It was a wide pool to choose from, not to mention anyone else that might have recognized her unusually tall stature on the streets of Tianzhou. That was assuming it was even Ada who had been recognized - none of the others had hidden their faces, and Elsa had
been with her almost from the start. Ada looked up to the sky, to the great orb of the Chang’e parent planet. True rest seemed so elusive here.

  “Baoji? Baoji, did you -”

  Baoji’s voice cut through Turou’s device. “Turou? A fucking cruiser just jumped into the system looking for you.”

  Elsa furrowed her brow, but the mirran continued.

  “I’m on my way, in a ship nobody’s looking for yet. Get ready. I’ve got one last favour someone owes me. After that, we’re on our own.”

  Turou glanced at Ada and nodded. “If push comes to shove, I just learned Ada can shove pretty hard.”

  Baoji hesitated and hummed. “I’ll need to hear that story. Pack up and don’t forget the pizzas.”

  They stood up, and Ada let her gaze linger on the garden around her, these strange ginkgo trees growing between the rocks. Perhaps the very last place they existed; she had certainly never seen or heard of them on Earth. It was a vast universe, but there were so few places to hide.

  Chapter 13

  Ada watched the ship cut through the sky. Turou was hunched up guiltily, like it was his fault the angry eye of the Union was suddenly fixed on Guwenhua. In a dissipated sort of way, it might be his fault, or indeed hers - but ultimately, the blame lay with Senjat Ashur. He could have left well enough alone, but instead had chosen to hunt her, kill her, study her, invade Earth. It was a small comfort that, in coveting Earth’s technology, he was tacitly admitting his own civilization’s inferiority to hers.

  Ada tightened her fist; from experience, she knew that was enough to kill a colonial human.

  Baoji’s new ship brought with it engine whines and buffeting winds as it lowered itself onto the landing pad. It was almost as long as the Chengdu, more angular than the old Cirrus, cleaner and sporting bolder colours. The nose was pointed and triangular, and the mostly white, black-trimmed hull sprouted small fin-like wings along its sides and at the rear. Four engines dominated the top and sides, with smaller thrusters aiming down along the underside, blowing out the hot wind that made Ada step away.

  Before the ship had even fully quieted, a long door to the rear clunked down onto the stone, and Baoji was rushing out. “Ready?”

  Elsa bit her lip and pointed at the ship. “Looks almost new. Nice choice.”

  “Best acceleration per tonnage.” Baoji looked up to the sky. “But I’m not sure we’d have the juice to outrun a cruiser to any of the jumpgates.”

  Ada frowned. “You said you had a plan.”

  “Not a great one, but better than nothing.” His ears twitched repeatedly. “Turou? You gave my apologies to Sao that I wouldn’t be staying?”

  Turou nodded nervously. “Yes, well, she understands.”

  Baoji pointed a thumb at the cargo hold. “Good. Everyone get in.”

  They took their few belongings and followed him into the ship, and Ada was pleased to find it a bit less cluttered than his last ship. The rear was a cargo space, and two small hallways led off along both sides of the craft towards the rest of the ship, lined with ladders for when the ship was in space. As they made for the cockpit through one of the corridors she counted two separate bunk rooms, a similarly-sized kitchen to the last ship, and an airlock that seemed to lead to a hatch on the roof.

  The cockpit had four seats, two in front much like the last ship, and two others up against the walls, without any controls but still facing forward. Baoji pointed at them. “Elsa, co-pilot? You two, strap in.”

  Elsa sat down in the co-pilot’s seat, on the left, and for a moment she was silent, bouncing her right leg up and down. Ada could tell she was stressed, but it was still a surprise when Elsa spoke. “I thought maybe you tipped off the authorities, Baoji. But since you actually showed up to get us, I’m obviously wrong. I’m sorry.”

  Good gods, what did she say that for?

  Baoji was quiet for a moment, though he kept flipping switches. The silence made Ada cringe, but after a moment it was broken by the sounds of the ship coming alive again, a gentle hum and some loud clanking in the rear of the ship. “Atmo seal complete, course plotted, thrusters active. Co-pilot gets algae rations, everyone else gets pizza.”

  Ada smirked at Turou and he grinned back, glancing at the pilots. Was that really the end of it? Elsa, at least, sounded relieved. “Aye aye, captain.”

  The ship suddenly heaved upward, the jolt pressing Ada down in her seat for a moment. Turou craned his head, perhaps hoping to get one last look of home; seeing him stare sadly out the window, she couldn’t help but be reminded that her mere presence was catastrophically disruptive. Ada reached out and nudged his foot with hers, grabbing his attention.

  “Hey. I’m sorry about all this.”

  He looked at her and shook his head. “You’re a walking talking piece of history in the making, and you kicked off a constitutional crisis that could maybe change out government for the better. What am I supposed to do, stay here planning poetry lessons?” He sighed. “I want to see this through. Whatever it ends up being, it matters.”

  “And protests against the military means people are more likely to support us just for the sake of opposing military interests.” Elsa was tapping on screens as the ship began to tilt upwards. “There’s some precedence for law-breaking folks who light up the popular imagination getting a pass on things like property damage. We’re not condemned yet.”

  Ada frowned. “I thought the military had all the power.”

  “The law has power, and it’s designed to give the military room to act and by tradition it gives them even more. But when enough angry mobs show up, even the law has to change.” Elsa shook her head. “We may live under martial law, but nobody wants a military battle group rolling up to their planet unannounced and raiding cities for just one person. Whether they sympathise with you, or hate the military, or even just hate paying drug taxes, they could end up making this manhunt too politically ugly to continue.”

  Ada wasn’t sure she caught more than half of the explanation, and not only on account of the occasional odd word. None of colonial society made much sense to Ada, and she puzzled over it as the moon’s landscape flew underneath them, clouds still solidly overhead. It sounded like there were a great number of different groups trying to get other groups to do things, and not a lot of people minding their own business.

  After some time, Elsa looked back at them. “You two strapped in tight?”

  The ship was shaking a bit, but not like the old one had; the force of the flight wasn’t too strong now that they were moving steady. Ada saw the clouds growing closer. “We’re fine.”

  Baoji nodded. “We’re leaving the atmosphere. We’ll be in microgravity soon. Don’t throw up in my new ship.”

  “It’s a smooth ride.” Elsa raised an eyebrow at the console. “A lot better than the Cirrus.”

  Baoji’s flat tone did sound a little amused. “How dare you slander her good name. She died for our sins.”

  “You should have kept some Cirrus slag and melted it into a cross.”

  Baoji chuckled. “Or a pentagram.”

  Ada had no idea what they were talking about, but Turou glanced at her with a helpful look. “Pentagrams mean something different to some mirrans than they do to us.”

  Ada scoffed. “And what do they mean to us , exactly? I’ve never heard of anyone using crosses as symbols and I don’t know what a pentagram is.”

  Turou blinked and traced a five-pointed star. “Well, in certain cultures they’re holy symbols.”

  “Oh - we have hexagons.”

  Elsa laughed. “Hexagons? Are you serious?”

  “Come to Earth and see. The things are everywhere.”

  Baoji nodded. “They’re stylish, I’ll give you that.”

  “They’re campy as hell, no offense.” Elsa was shaking her head in disapproval, so Ada didn’t ask her to clarify what the more unusual words meant.

  The ship zipped deeper and deeper into space, slowly turning towards the great planet. Ada frowned. Wasn�
��t the jumpgate back the other way? “Um, Baoji, where are we going?”

  “Ah, right.” He pointed at the controls. “In a few minutes they’re going to hail me. They’ll want access to on-board surveillance to check the ship, and I’ll give it to them. Thing is, I’ve spliced all the sensors with dummy feeds that are programmatically identical to real camera feeds, and I’ve got a face-scrambler installed in the cockpit cam. I was just filming the other parts of the ship when they were empty, and I’ll replay those videos for them. You three need to hide from the cockpit when they do that, so they can see me - with a fake face - talking to them naturally.”

  Ada understood the general idea if not the details - they were going to deceive the cameras. “Will that be enough?”

  Elsa nodded. “There are thirty-seven ships leaving Chang’e in this octant alone. If they board them all without investigating, they’ll piss off their corporate sponsors who run the shipping industry. They need to identify suspicious targets first.”

  Turou shook his head. “Won’t we be suspicious because we just flew out from Guwenhua?”

  “We didn’t.” Elsa pointed behind them. “We flew overland at high speed and got into a trajectory that makes it look like we took off from Callario. Huge waste of fuel, but scanners like you’d find on deep space military ships can’t scan effectively through atmospheres at those distances and angles. That battlegroup is still millions of klicks away.”

  “We’re being hailed. All of you hide.”

  The world outside the cockpit was already dark, and as Ada unstrapped she found herself gently floating towards the back of the ship. She, Turou, and Elsa all scrabbled down along the ladders, piling into what appeared to be the kitchen. Ada looked around for the cameras but couldn’t see anything.

  “What are we -”

  Elsa reached up with a finger to her lips and shushed her. They waited in silence, quietly trying to hear Baoji’s conversation with the military from the cockpit, but Ada soon realized it was in another language. Here in the kitchen, without a window into the void, her back against a metal bulkhead and gravity slowly pressing them in different directions, she briefly felt completely out of control.