“I want to be alone, although I promised Josie I’d take a guard. Are you up for that?”
Yi tugged on the coat. “Sure. I’m almost indestructible anyway.”
“But not completely.”
“True.” As if he could ever forget watching Nayli cut his wife to pieces. He had always been a pacifist, but in that moment he had wanted to rend Nayli limb from limb, to get revenge for Chrystal. And that had been Yi the robot, with a lower burn on his emotions. If he had still been Yi the man, he might still burn with hatred. “Let’s get it over with. It’s quiet, and I can probably keep you safe as long as we don’t hit any big crowds of Jules’s supporters.”
Manny smiled for the briefest second and started off. Yi followed. It was early enough that they didn’t pass many people. A woman out walking a dog came up and hugged Manny, which drew a second smile from the big man. The smile stuck until they arrived at the end of his old street. Once there, Manny slowed down. A few steps later, he stopped.
Yi stood still beside him, measuring the wind speed against his skin (five kilometers an hour) and feeling the temperature rise a full degree while Manny did whatever he had stopped to do.
A cat crossed the street in front of them, and a flock of birds flew overhead in a V-shaped formation, calling back and forth to each other.
Manny started walking again, wrapped deeply inside himself. Yi followed him, keeping a few steps behind.
They passed a boarded up house, its yellow exterior charred black on one side. “This was my neighbor’s house,” Manny said without turning around or looking at Yi. “So it wasn’t just me they hurt. Kristin lived here. She had cats. Sometimes I’d feed her cats and sometimes she watched the kids. I heard she’s okay, although I haven’t seen her. But two of her cats died. I can’t imagine how that hurt her.
“We had it good here, before. Before the Next landed. All of my family lived here. My family is like yours was—except we had kids, too. I have a husband, Pi, and two wives. We have two kids. They’re all hidden away. Every day I think about how lucky I am that they’re safe.”
Again, memories of Chrystal’s murder tried to surface. “You must miss them.”
“I do.” They passed the yellow house, and Manny stopped to look at it. “I don’t know who did this. Maybe I don’t ever want to know. There’s video. I refused to watch it. Do you understand that?”
Yi nodded. “After Chrystal, I tried to avoid the news about what happened to her. It’s easy enough to escape now, but right after, it was everywhere. Closing my eyes wasn’t enough. Even now that her death isn’t current news, it still pops up sometimes. It will be in history books, and classes about the Next Apocalypse, or whatever they end up calling this. I’ve never tried to see her die again, not on purpose. But it’s happened. Every time that memory becomes stronger. It makes me hurt all over again. It makes me angry, too.”
Manny turned around and looked at Yi. “I never heard you say so many words at once. I guess I never really believed Charlie about you. That you are still a person. But you sound like one.”
“I am a person.” Surely Manny should have known that. He watched Manny watch him. He was neater than usual this morning, his red hair combed and his beard trimmed. In spite of that, he looked tired.
Yi smiled, hoping to soothe him.
After a while, Manny returned the smile. Even though he didn’t say anything, Yi felt a shift in how Manny thought of him. He couldn’t have explained it if he had to, except maybe to say that Manny seemed more relaxed about Yi’s presence, as if some small stress had faded away, or perhaps a faint distrust had dissipated.
Yi followed Manny until they stopped in front of a blackened yard. Beyond the yard, he spotted two standing walls, also black. Lighter paths showed where people had dragged things over and through the charred ground. Footsteps had disturbed it. A few tree trunks stood, stick-like and black. The air smelled of char and soot, and faintly of rot. Smells unique to a planet.
Yi had never been to Manny’s compound, but he’d seen pictures. Half the land had been a neat garden, with flowering trees in the back and an abundance of multicolored roses. Below the rows of roses, yellow and orange flowers on long stalks had bobbed above ground-hugging plants with green, white, and yellow leaves. There had been two small outbuildings, a barn, and a huge house with many windows.
Roses and trees and barn and house had all been destroyed. Here and there, twisted bits of wreckage stuck awkwardly from blasted earth and lawn.
Manny’s back was to Yi. His shoulders shook ever so slightly and soft sobs came from deep in his throat.
Yi turned around, facing away from Manny and from the total destruction of his family home, watching to make sure that no one came upon them unexpectedly.
He stood there a long time.
Two hours later, Yi waited near the doorway while Manny sat at lunch with two influential people from town. Josie, who owned the Spacer’s Rest, and Frill, who ran a business transporting food to town and handmade crafts to and from the farms. They had greeted each other and made small talk while they waited for lunch to be served. Now, over tomato soup, Manny leaned forward. “Have we heard anything about the attack at Entare?”
“It didn’t happen,” Frill said. “Charlie called in an hour ago. He’s on one of the farms, getting his pet tongat and dropping Amanda off. Apparently someone was supposed to help the revolution out from above. They didn’t show.”
Manny sat still for a minute, his brow furrowed. He even stopped eating. “Is Charlie on his way back?”
Frill’s spoon scraped the bottom of his bowl. “Not yet. Soon.”
“Would you ask him to bring any fighters he has with him?”
Josie hardly ate at all. She leaned toward him, “Are you worried?”
Manny started back on his soup with a vengeance, finishing it before he answered. “Instinct. First, if we do need fighters, it’s not going to be on the farms. It’s going to be here.”
The others both nodded.
“And if we want people here to feel safe, we need a defensive force. What about people in town?”
Josie pushed her mostly-full bowl away. “Jules had a thing where he drilled people every night as if he could create a military force out of scientists and shopkeepers and students. He made us all march in a line through town and chant stuff. They hated it. I hated it.”
Manny sat back and smiled. “Some news made it through to me. No one seemed to like it.” He grinned even wider. “So maybe I should have them work out in the mornings?”
That drew laughter around the table. Yi noticed movement outside and said, “Someone is coming.”
Frill stood up. “I’ll call Charlie. Get him before he leaves.”
Josie went to the door and opened it to find two women on the doorstep. Yi glimpsed other people outside on the street, a few on bikes and a few on foot.
One of the women asked Josie, “Is Manny in there? Will he come out and talk to us?”
Josie glanced a question at Manny. A brief look of consternation crossed Manny’s face before he schooled his expression into something more statesmanlike and neutral and stood up. By the time he got to the door, he had a smile, and his voice was warm and sweet. “I’ll be out in just a minute. Is there anything is particular you want to talk about?”
The woman said, “We want to apologize.”
Manny cocked his head. “For what?”
“For not trusting you. But more, we want to know what you think. What should we do now?”
Manny took Yi’s arm. “Come out with me?”
Once more, Yi tugged his coat close. He followed Manny out onto the porch and stood just behind him. There were about twenty people on the street, and a few more walking in from various areas, some with pets. Quite a few of them glanced at Yi from time to time. Some of the children actually stared. Apparently the coat couldn’t hide what he was in the face of a small town full of rumors.
Josie came out and stood on Manny’s ot
her side. It amounted to an endorsement of Yi, which made him feel slightly safer.
Manny started talking. “Thank you for inviting me back. It feels good to be here.”
People nodded, and a few drew closer.
“So to get the hard stuff out of the way right away, I already heard a few apologies. Everyone can consider themselves forgiven. For anything. I’ve been to my old house, and someday I’ll rebuild it. But it’s gone for now, and that’s okay. There are other things to focus on. We don’t need to worry about the past. Do you all understand that?”
There were nods and murmurs of assent. A few people looked confused, a few grateful, and others anticipatory. The edges of the crowd swelled slowly.
A few people raised their hands, but Manny said, “Wait a minute. I’ll get to your questions in a few moments. But first, I want to address something that you all might be thinking. I see you looking at my friend Yi, here. Yes, he’s a soulbot.” Manny stopped and glanced at Yi.
Yi stepped forward, feeling vulnerable.
“The Next created Yi after the High Sweet Home, just like Chrystal, who was murdered by the Shining Revolution. I never met Chrystal, but while I was in exile, I met a number of soulbots. I don’t know if I would call them human, or post-human, or more than human, and I don’t know if they’re what we may be becoming. I don’t intend to become one—I’m perfectly content to be flesh and blood and die someday. But they don’t deserve to be destroyed for what they are. We allow the gleaners, who choose to die more quickly than we do. The soulbots are, if anything, the opposite of the gleaners.” He stopped as if to let his words sink in, and then continued. “We can afford to tolerate them.”
He paused again. The afternoon had warmed in spite of the persistent and darkening clouds. Not many people wore jackets anymore. Yi took his borrowed jacket off and folded it over his arm. Manny started talking again. “One of the soulbots, a member of Yi’s family, is named Katherine. She sat with me night after night and kept me company while I lived in exile. Although she never said so, it felt like she would have protected me if I needed it. Yi here just protected my back, now, while I went out to see where my house used to be. My nephew Charlie, who many of you know and respect, considers these people his friends.”
Manny’s emphasis on the word people was so slight that Yi didn’t think anyone but he noticed it.
“We’re not going to try and kill the soulbots here in Manna Springs. That’s not who we are or what we do. We restore and re-wild. We deal in life more than death.” He paused, looking carefully at the crowd, as if counting. “I may be willing to join you in inviting them to leave, but that’s different than murdering them.”
A few people clapped. Then a few more.
Manny continued. “There are rumors that the Shining Revolution will come here and try to kill the soulbots. Some of you may think that’s okay since it doesn’t get our hands dirty. It’s not, after all, our fight. But this is our planet. We can’t let another war sweep across Lym. Any attempt to destroy Nexity will almost surely destroy Manna Springs. So we’re going to do two things. You may not like either.”
The people gathered around had stopped, watching Manny closely. A child cried and another one giggled.
“I’m asking anyone who isn’t a fighter to go out to the farms for a few weeks. People who can fight will either stay here or go to the farms to provide protection. I’m not going to dictate who is who. But, by tomorrow, I want everyone in town to have decided whether they’ll stay and act as defense if necessary, or if they’ll go. You all get to decide. But I hope most of you go.”
The woman who’d been at the door raised her hand.
“Yes, Elle?”
“What if we just all left? You’re right that it’s not our fight. If we all go, won’t we all be safe?”
A light rain started falling. Manny ignored it. “That’s why I hope most people go. We are Lym, in a way. Spacers aren’t going to be able to come down from on high and continue our work. Not the way we would, anyway. So we have to save ourselves, and we have to be prepared to pick our work back up as quickly as we can. That’s the most useful thing to do right now.”
A few claps rose, and then more, and then it felt like everyone was in agreement and being loud about it.
Manny started to take questions. Yi listened carefully, recording everything in case he needed it later.
Manny was good. The town had needed him back. The Jhailing had also been right to suggest that Yi come in for a bit. It hadn’t really been for Manny, who probably would have been safe whether or not Yi was there. Yi had the sense the Jhailing had sent him here to be an ambassador of a sort.
He couldn’t stay long. He needed to get back to the cave. Already, he had been gone a day longer than he’d promised Jason. But then, he had an option. He messaged Yi Two. Can you come in here? I want to go back out to the cave.
A teasing answer came back. What if I want to see the cave?
Then I can’t stop you. But I think we should both see this.
Will you tell Manny we are trading?
Yi hesitated. He didn’t like deception of any kind. But even though he hadn’t yet understood everything they’d found, it mattered. You can make that choice. You will be here.
There’s a man here waiting for Nona, Yi Two said. Will she be along soon?
Yes.
I’ll meet you soon.
Travel safe.
I will.
Next to him, Manny continued to answer questions and children continued to squeal and play, while their mothers talked in low tones. People leaned on bicycles. Birds flew overhead. The rain had stopped again, leaving the streets smelling of water and dust. He had been born in space and was most comfortable in ships and stations, in small and sterile spaces and surrounded by walls instead of sky. In spite of that, he felt a deep need to protect this place and these people.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
NAYLI
Nayli and Marina sat side by side as the Shining Danger approached orbit around Lym. The ship had been cloaked the same way they had approached Star Island Stop, except this time Nayli and Stupid had bedecked them in the fake personality of a cruise ship curious about Lym. At the moment, they sat queued in a long line waiting to dock. In honor of their chosen disguise, Nayli had fashioned Stupid into a man with a bright blue travel suit, combat boots, and an oversized slate: a caricature of a cruise-ship passenger.
“Show me the planet,” she commanded.
Lym filled the view screen in front of her. She had seen pictures of it—everyone in the Glittering had been educated on history at some point or another. In reality, it looked brighter than she had expected, cleaner. It was impossible to see the robot infestation from way up here, and unlike Mammot, which she had been to twice, there was almost no sign of human alteration visible at this scale.
Lym had clearly bespelled Marina as well. She whispered, “Isn’t it pretty? It’s like art, almost. Art made by us, by humans. We have to do our best to protect it.”
“Getting rid of the robots is protecting it.”
“Yes,” Marina scowled. “But I want to do it like surgeons. We can’t afford to kill Lym off.”
“I’ll be happy if we can destroy Nexity in any meaningful way.” She didn’t add and live to talk about it. Staring at the planet gave her goosebumps—the enemy was there, on that tiny ball of land, and she was going to have to be very careful if she wanted to fly away from here alive.
A small ship approached them, giving off a signal in keeping with their pretend status. The shuttle’s computers promised tastes from Lym for a very small fee, and in return the Shining Danger opened its bays and encouraged the little ship to enter. Nayli flicked on a small window in her view screen that gave her a camera view. Inside of that, she watched her dock manager greet Maureen and point her in the right direction. After Maureen walked off screen, Nayli watched as the dock master entered the little ship and scanned it, waiting until he gave her a thumbs-up on sec
urity.
Five minutes later, Maureen joined them in the command area. She looked perfectly put together as always, dressed in flowing fabric that might have once been scarves but which now formed an off-shoulder dress cinched at the waist with a purple belt that matched her high-heeled boots. She quickly hugged Nayli and then Marina, the room fuller and more congenial for her presence. All three women had studied and worked together at various times. It felt like a slumber party to be together again.
Tiny Maureen looked like a three-quarter sized rendering of Marina, both thin but corded with muscle, both feminine in spite of their obvious strength. While her feelings for them were nowhere near as sexual as her feelings for Vadim, she loved both of them fiercely.
Nayli pointed at the image of Lym. “How is it down there?”
“Tense and fractured. And where I just came from, it’s also hot and miserable. I thought I might never feel clean again.” Maureen rolled her eyes. “Clearly, I went romantic at the idea of a planet. The real thing is an exercise in extremes. I don’t much care if I never see another living bug again.”
Nayli laughed, pleased to have another lens to contemplate Lym through.
Maureen grimaced. “You wouldn’t believe the number of clueless would-be revolutionaries down there. We just stopped about thirty from getting themselves killed. I sent them on to prepare to take Manna Springs.”
“Thanks,” Nayli said.
“So what’s the plan?” Maureen asked.
Marina answered her. “I think we’re going to blow shit up. There’s a few more ships joining us, and we have a timeline. Your people only have about a day to get into position.”
Maureen played with the loose sky-blue triangle of scarf. “I told them that. They’ll be ready, but I can’t promise they won’t make any mistakes and give themselves away.”
“Are they really that bad?” Nayli asked.
“All testosterone and bravado. They’d be great if we had three months to train them. As is, I left Dravi, Sam, and Chels in charge, so it will probably be okay. They’re experienced.”
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