Wilders

by Brenda Cooper

“Maybe this is your day to die,” she said. She wanted to hold onto her righteous anger, but the overstatement of it made her grin, and then laugh. “Why did you do it?”

  “Why did you spy for the Listeners?”

  “They asked me to.” Aspen started chasing a rabbit, barking at the top of his lungs, and Coryn sped after him. Blessing passed her, scooping the little dog up.

  “You and those damned long legs.”

  “You kept up pretty good on the bike.”

  “Don’t complement me, you asshole.”

  He handed her the dog. “I didn’t come out here to argue. I have something serious to ask you.”

  “Okay.”

  “Can we sit down?”

  She didn’t really want to sit next to him. Part of her wanted to hit him, and the other part to hold him and be held by him. She didn’t want the weaker part to win. She followed him to a white-filigreed bench anyway. Why were men so difficult?

  The tiny pink roses surrounding the bench released a soft, sweet scent into the warm air. Blessing sat sideways, gazing at her. At least that helped her keep a little distance. “I want to get a better look at the data on your wristlet,” he said. “I suspect Matchiko still has a copy, but I want to look as well. I want to be sure we understood everything.”

  She held her wrist against her heart, sheltered behind her other hand. “Why?”

  “Partly a hunch. But back in the barn, I wasn’t as sure those were ecobot schematics as everyone else was. Or at least, I’m not sure that’s all you took pictures of—I saw a few things that looked like ledgers and maybe even programs. It has to be important, since they were keeping it on paper.”

  She tucked her knees up inside her arms and stared up at the sky turning pink and purple above them. “Can I give it to you in the morning?”

  “I don’t know if we’ll be here. I just want to make a copy. I’ll give you back your wristlet right away. Five minutes.”

  She swallowed, still watching the sky. It was easier than watching his face. She unbuckled her wristlet, still without really looking at him.

  He took it, and then he reached toward her face.

  She flinched.

  He stopped. “I didn’t mean any harm. I had already turned around to see if I could get you to Lou safely before Julianna recognized you and gave me orders to get you back to her. You just seemed like a nice kid who needed help, even if you did have your robot. You were both naive.”

  She swallowed. Why did he have to say that?

  “And I shouldn’t have said it that way. I really like you. A lot. I’m glad we’re both here. I never meant to lie to you.”

  She swallowed, a lump in her throat. “Please, just go copy the data.”

  “Can I take it off, too? Just for safety?”

  She stiffened. “Are you going to copy all of my personal data?”

  “No. Just the pictures. They might get you in trouble.”

  “Damn you. Okay.”

  He stood up. “It’ll only take ten minutes.”

  “You said five.”

  “I’ll be back soon.”

  The sky turned from pink to a bright magenta, then to a blinding gold that stunned the bottoms of the clouds. Just as the last color started fading, Blessing came back. He handed her the wristlet.

  She took it. It didn’t look any different. “It’s okay,” she said. “You taught me a lot. I forgive you. But I want you to promise something.”

  He whispered. “Okay.”

  “Never lie to me again.”

  “I never did lie to you.”

  “Promise.”

  “I promise.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  Just to the right of a dogwood that hung over the patio table, two bright green hummingbirds fought over a crimson rhododendron flower. “Isn’t there enough for them both?” she asked Julianna, leaning on the table while she caught her breath. They were back in the same place after another night with no word about Lou and another morning run. Julianna still hadn’t promised to rescue Lou, although Coryn was sure she would. Not that she had any idea why she was sure.

  “Nature—and humans—fight for resources even when they don’t need to.” Julianna reached for another fig. Her wristlet screen lit up with pulsing red light. It looked angry. She dropped the fig, frowned, and tilted her wrist so Coryn couldn’t read the screen. As she stared at it, her face hardened.

  “Is it about Lou?”

  Julianna shook her head.

  LeeAnne, Blessing, and Day emerged from behind a lilac tree, striding purposefully toward them. They wore regular clothes and looked clean and deadly serious. Even Blessing wasn’t smiling. Julianna stood and paced out of earshot, whispering at her wristlet.

  Coryn tapped her own wristlet for news, hoping to learn something before the other three arrived.

  Alerts scrolled up the tiny screen in a multitude of reds and yellows. She popped one up and her mouth dropped open.

  Portland Metro’s gates had been breached again, only this time the ecobots were firing on people. Killing people. Regular people? Police? The news reports were confusing. The tiny pictures didn’t tell her if they were the same ecobots they had ridden on.

  She thumbed quickly through headline after headline, popping up a bigger virtual screen so she could read a few paragraphs here and there. Border guards had died, police had died, ecobots and city enforcer bots had been destroyed. Someone had shot Jeremiah Allen—she couldn’t tell if he was dead or in the hospital or okay.

  People in power were seriously angry. Rich people.

  Poorer people were migrating inward from the edges of both Portland and Vancouver, crowding streets, carrying belongings. A crowd had trampled a little girl in the Rose District in Portland, killing her in spite of a valiant attempt by her companion-bot to save her. Screens flipped by too fast to catch details.

  Most of the news here came from Portland, but a few stories came through from Seacouver. The dome had stopped working on the eastern edge.

  Julianna paced, still talking into her wristlet and periodically pawing it with her right index finger.

  The other three reached the table, faces grim. Day—the usually silent and watchful Day—spoke first after Blessing took half a step to the side and yielded him the stage. “The same hackers who captured you—and others like them—have gathered Returners and hackers and wanderers and the silent army you reported and some of the people from the smaller towns like Cle Elum and Yakima where there’s not enough economy to feed everyone. Probably half the nearby population of Outside.” He paused, waiting for her to absorb it. After a few breaths, he blurted, “They’ve come in to do damage.”

  “There can’t be that many of them, can there?” The city had billions of people and a lot of security.

  “It depends on how many people they’ve recruited.”

  “Recruited?”

  Day’s voice sounded sad. “Recruited from within.”

  Oh. She sank down in one of the chairs. Would the city’s own people attack it? Hard to imagine. Of course she had attacked Portland, kind of.

  Would Julianna attack her own creation? There was no way to answer that.

  LeeAnne said, “Jeremiah Allen is dead, I think.”

  “What about Mary Large? Is she dead, too?”

  Day wrinkled his face a little, like the question surprised him and he had to adjust to it. “I think I’d have heard. She’s more famous than Jeremiah.”

  Good. In spite of the small fracas at the gate, Coryn wanted her to be okay. She liked her singing. “Why attack so hard? They still can’t win, can they?”

  Day looked past her. He often did that, as if it was easier for him to think if he weren’t looking directly at whoever he was talking to. “I bet they want to do exactly what they are doing. They want to make the cities panic.”

  Coryn realized she was rocking in her chair, and that she wanted Paula. She stood up to dispel both feelings. She couldn’t afford nerves, and her companion was go
ne forever. “What do they want?”

  “What have terrorists always wanted? They want to scare the city.”

  She sat down again. Terrorism was an old term. But she knew what it meant: an attempt to spread fear and mayhem. Terrorism had been a cause and casualty of the creation of the megacities. It happened, sometimes, in other places. Never here. “Is the news calling them terrorists?”

  “They’re starting to.”

  Blessing stepped closer to Coryn, almost touching her. She could feel his closeness like electricity on her skin. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “I need my sister.”

  “Then I think you should go get her.” Julianna’s voice came from behind her. Coryn turned; Julianna had finally put the phone down. “I just got the message. She’s being detained, but not in the main jail.”

  Coryn felt a jolt, as if she needed to go right then. Lou was okay. Probably. “Is she okay?”

  Julianna looked almost as pleased as Coryn felt. “I think so. I’ll give you all the coordinates, and Day will bring weapons. He is a weapon as well; he’ll surprise you.”

  “What?” Day? A weapon?

  “I have to do other things. I promised I’d help you break your sister out. I will. I’ll send you with three of my staff—” She nodded at Blessing, Day, and LeeAnne. “The four of you should be enough. If you need more resources, Day can reach me anywhere, and Blessing and LeeAnne both know how to leave messages for me.”

  Coryn closed her gaping mouth. “Thank you.”

  “Go,” Julianna said. To Coryn’s utter surprise, she gave each of them a hug.

  She saved Coryn for last. Coryn clutched her back hard, inhaling the scent of clean sweat and figs. “Stay safe,” Julianna whispered in her ear. “And come back. Remember that you’re here on a temporary chit and you need to get back to me. Or get out through a gate.”

  “Okay.”

  “Leave Aspen. You’ll be conspicuous with a little white dog.”

  It made sense. She knew it. She wanted to resist, but she forced a nod out. “Okay. Thank you.”

  “I’ll take care of him.”

  “Can I have him back?”

  Julianna glanced at Aspen. “I don’t want the silly thing.”

  Coryn smiled.

  Julianna looked into her, a long, hard look that stripped Coryn bare. “Thank you for reminding me that you matter.” Before Coryn could answer, she turned around and ran up the path at full speed.

  Blessing gave her a hard, fast, sideways hug. “We’ll find your sister. Between us, we know a lot.”

  She looked up at him and smiled. “Let’s hurry.”

  LeeAnne started off in the same direction Julianna had gone, walking fast. “Eloise is packing for us.”

  Aspen yipped. Coryn picked him up, snuffling his fur. “I’ll come back,” she whispered. “I’ll see you again.” She glanced at Day. “You know where Lou is?”

  “It’s already been sent to your wristlet,” Blessing said. “She’s in a safe house in the Pearl District, down by the river. It’s just an hour away, and it should be a pretty easy place to get her out of. Compared to the main jail, anyway. That would have taken an assault force.”

  “Are we riding?”

  LeeAnne grinned. “Whenever I can.”

  Coryn could already hear her thighs complaining. She glanced at Aspen and then smiled back at LeeAnne. “I’m ready.”

  “We need to leave in an hour. I want to finish this before dark.”

  “I told you. I’m ready.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  After a full hour of furious riding through tight quarters they halted near a metal door. A few other bikes lay tangled against the wall beside it. LeeAnne dismounted first. “Leave the bikes.”

  Coryn took a long drag on her water bottle. They’d just finished a long climb in the near dark inside of the tunnel, and she could hear her breathing more loudly than any of the others. They stacked all four bikes just past the others that were already there, keeping them close to the wall.

  A light above the door glowed red, then orange. LeeAnne leaned into the door. The light went back to red, then orange, then green. LeeAnne swung it open.

  They came out beside a small square building in a park. Shade trees surrounded the building, their shadows long in the afternoon sun. Although the excited giggles and squeals of children playing came from nearby, the path near the door was empty.

  Coryn leaned over to LeeAnne. “How many entrances are there?”

  “That would be giving away secrets.” LeeAnne fastened the door shut. It didn’t look much like a door from this side, more like a decoration; there was no obvious handle, and a mural of two placid deer had been hammered into the metal. “We don’t have any tunnels that cross the river. We add to the network with big street projects, but there’s been no excuse to get under the river. There’s no bridge big enough for a secret tunnel inside of it. Besides, the city needs to know who crosses its bridges.”

  Did that mean the city helped build other places that were shielded from it? Sometimes she thought of Seacouver as a single entity, but of course it couldn’t be, nor this city or any other. More like an aggregation of constantly changing systems. “Are we in the Pearl District?”

  Blessing laughed. “No.” He started down the path, and when they emerged into light, he pointed downward. “The Pearl is by the water. At least it’s all downhill.”

  Some of the land below them was already in shadow, although light still sparkled on the river and the far side of the bridges that crossed the river that cut Portland in two, the Willamette. The PV bridge, of course, crossed the wider Columbia. “Do we have a plan?”

  “It starts with surveillance.” He pulled her to a stop while they waited for Day and LeeAnne. “Tell me what you see,” Blessing asked her, his voice low.

  “Children.” She’d heard them, but now she could see them on a wooden play structure with bright blue nets just to the right. Two companion-bots stood talking to each other while watching the children. “The companions mean its safe right here. Everything looks pretty calm, until I look farther away. I see smoke. Is it from the fire by the Camas Gate?”

  “I think that’s closer.” He pointed. “Camas is pretty far that way.”

  “It’s still on the far side of the bridge.” The PV bridge was easily the most visible landmark, rising three times as high as the other four bridges she could see, and twisting through the sky on only a few supports. She closed her eyes for a moment. Paula had died there. “She was just a thing,” Coryn muttered under her breath.

  Blessing must have understood what she meant since he gave her a quick hug. “What else do you see?”

  “I see drones.” She spotted them as much by the bright flashes of sunlight winking in strange places in the air as anything else. “But I don’t hear them. I hear sirens. And I don’t know how busy it usually is . . .”

  Day came up behind her. “People are scared. The fighting is on the far side of the river. So far. We’ve picked a route. When we leave the park, I want to look like two couples. So hold hands and talk to each other.”

  “I’m horrified.” Blessing arched an eyebrow and pulled her closer to him. He kissed her forehead, leaned down and whispered, “You are even more beautiful than Lou. And that says a lot. We’ll find her.”

  “I’m not nearly as strong as Lou.”

  “No one is. But you are strong.”

  She shook her head at his utterly inappropriate comments and pulled a little away, but reached for his hand. It felt warm. His fingers were so much longer than hers that they curled around her hand. She liked how they looked together.

  As they started down the hill, a cool breeze hit them directly in the face, stinking of river and fish. Blessing said, “You’ll know we’re getting near the Pearl District when you see signs for artists’ lofts and performance poetry and when we’re surrounded by big old brick buildings.”

  The streets were quite empty. She reached for her
wristlet, but Blessing stopped her. “If there’s news we need to know, Day will get it. You and I should pay attention to what’s going on around us.”

  “I never even see Day reaching for a device.”

  Blessing smiled a little smile that seemed to indicate that he had a secret about Day and devices.

  “Don’t keep secrets from me,” she whispered.

  “I tell you all I can.”

  She managed to squeeze his hand instead of kicking him in the shins. Since they were supposed to be a couple.

  A dog ran across the road in front of them, tugging a small boy behind it on a red leash. They passed an older man hobbling downhill, and five bicycles passed them sweating uphill. Otherwise, the streets were pretty empty. They were also steep enough she had to pay attention to walking.

  Hopefully Lou was okay. Hopefully Lou was wherever they were going. “Do you know who has Lou?” she asked. “Do we know if she’s okay?”

  “We’re not sure of anything that I know of.” Blessing squeezed her hand. “Julianna will tell us if she learns anything important.”

  A staccato series of explosions popped off in the distance, the sounds directionless, diffuse, and startling. Coryn stepped closer to Blessing.

  “Guns,” he said.

  Only the police were allowed guns with bullets in the city. And they didn’t use them much. “Where did they come from?”

  “Gunshots are hard to read.”

  Day and LeeAnne came up on either side of them. “Julianna sent a message,” said Day. “They’re bringing some captives from this fight into the same safe house where Lou is being kept.”

  Blessing smiled. “Do I smell a possible moment of chaos?”

  Day grinned back, the easy friendship between the two men visible again in this moment. “Yes, it could provide an opportunity. It’s not a house, it’s a loft. There’s a sniper on the roof.”

  What were they going to do about a sniper? She shivered. “Doesn’t the city know who and where we are? How do we sneak up on a safe house? Or get past a sniper?” She shivered, her excitement as the idea of rescuing Lou shifting to cold fear.

  He smiled softly. His voice was low but full of a deep humor she hadn’t heard from him before. “Of course it knows. We’ve got a team working to help it think we’re no danger at all. So be careful what you talk about where the city can hear.”