by Elin Wyn
She kept eating but her eyes were fixed on me, processing.
"If you find its lair and you get a chance to snag any of its tech, anything that looks like a communications pad, anything light and easy, go for it. But no stupid risks."
“I've already fought it once. I'm not eager to go another match.” She took another sip of tea. “What about the antonium dust? Right now, we both need that.”
“If it's an easy score, grab it. Otherwise, if you find it, let me know, and I’ll take care of it.”
“You're going to take it on?” Her eyebrows rose. “I know you're tough and all, but that seems stupid.”
“Right now, I just need information. If anyone can find out where that thing is hiding, you can. People will talk to you.”
A few more bites of curry disappeared while she thought. “Fine. But I don’t want to go back to Xavis’ unless we have to. Meet me here in six hours. I should have something by then.”
She pulled out her commlink and bumped her codes to mine. “Don’t call unless you have to.”
She finished her meal in silence, then leaned back, stretching contentedly.
Artin brought over two plates this time, empty save for a small bright orange sphere, dusted with white powder. “I know you said you wanted three, but I've never known you to make it past two bowls before you're ready for your sweet.”
She laughed, and he walked away to wait on another couple that had come into the shop.
I looked at the orange ball warily. She rolled her eyes.
"Seriously? You think you're going to take on Helmet Head and you're afraid of dessert?"
She picked hers up and I could see that sphere was slightly soft, her fingers sinking into it slightly.
“Like this.” She took a bite, revealing the pale peach jelly filling within. Her eyes closed. "Mmmmn," she sighed.
I stared at her face an instant too long and then returned my attention to the far safer dessert in front of me. I cut off a small piece to sample. Good, but too sweet.
I placed the sphere back on the plate and offered it to her. “Not quite to my liking, I'm afraid.”
That, and if I was going to deal with one of the Hunters, I'd at least enjoy watching her eating one more dessert first.
Before she finished, I could hear a faint whisper from the woman standing at the other corner of the shop, waiting for her order. "You heard what happened, right?"
The man responded. "It's not really a huge surprise, is it? You know what they say about her mother."
My eyes swept the room. There was no one else here, and although their backs were to us, it seemed their comments were pointed. Old Artin hadn't heard anything over the sizzle of the cooking, but from the pale look on Kara's face, I could tell the comment had struck home.
"Let's get started. I can't do anything in here." With a quick wave at Artin, she pushed out through the curtain without waiting for me.
I caught up with her outside. "What was that about?" I asked.
She spun and struck me in the chest. "You buy me. To use as a whore. In public. And you don't think people are going to be talking about it?"
I cocked my head. "I did explain that was the only way to get you out of there, right? You know the truth. I know the truth. Why do you care?"
She dug her fingers through her short hair, pulling at it in frustration. "It won't matter. I'll do the job, you'll get the dust, and I'll be the hell off this rock."
Just as fast, she spun away again, slipping through the crowd.
I stared at her for a long minute after she disappeared. What a stupid thing to waste energy on.
But I had other things on my schedule today.
The alert on my tablet back at Xavis' complex had served as a reminder of that.
I made my way through back alleys, folded in on myself a little, stooped, not walking quite as fast.
It was one thing for people to remember Davien, the enforcer when he was out on a job. At the moment, I'd rather fade from memory. Finally, the gray tinted edge of the dome with a large airlock into the Waste came into sight.
Another ’lock served the landing pad that brought newcomers into the dome, but it was far too busy for my purposes. The lack of traffic here meant I just needed to do a little waiting.
I crouched behind a pile of trash and settled for a long rotation. There's more of a trick to staying still, staying patient, than people believe.
You must put your mind on hold, keep it distracted from any urge to move, to fidget. Keep it disassociated from any of the petty demands of the body. But still remain alert and aware of who is passing by, of the weather, of sounds. And, most importantly, aware of your target.
A low rumble announced what I'd been waiting for. Without moving, I flexed each of my cramped muscles in succession, slowly bringing the blood pumping back and recalling my limbs to life. I couldn't risk a stumble.
The large trucks that daily passed through the ’lock could be filled with passengers for another city or miners out to their job or, really, any of a number of things.
It didn't really matter to me.
What did matter was they had a nice high clearance.
As the nose of the truck passed my hiding place, I edged around the pile of trash. In the instant the windowless back half of the truck drew parallel to me, I rolled between the last pair of wheels and reached up with hands and feet to pull myself into the undercarriage.
The truck rumbled through the first gate of the airlock. It closed behind us and for the moments it took for the chamber's breathable air to be pumped back into the dome, I remembered Kara's terror of being thrown into the Waste.
With good reason. Humans couldn’t survive the toxic atmosphere out there, not for more than a few moments.
The exterior doors slid open, and my ride rumbled out into the night.
Kara
I pushed through the crowd, shame scorching my cheeks. How dare he not understand? My jaw ached from biting back the scream that I'd longed to fling at him. And that stupid, know-it-all smirk.
Except.
I wasn't in the Waste, and other than his annoyingly cocky manner, Davien, the terrible enforcer, really didn't seem to be that bad of a guy.
I giggled, causing a passing miner to look at me oddly.
Just remembering little Mavi's fierce defense of her protector was enough to add a slightly surrealist twist to a day that had already gone completely off the rails.
Besides, whatever people thought of me, it wouldn't matter for long. I had a plan.
Locate Helmet Head, get the information, get the dust, get away, and start a new life.
Step one: Find Helmet Head. I looked around. I hadn't really thought through my direction when I stormed away, more concerned with getting away from that smirk.
Who did I know around here that might have information? I looked up at the storefront across the way from me. I'd seen the owner from time to time, but she kept her head down and stayed out of trouble. But...
Across the front of the store were three clusters of micro cams.
Maybe I didn't need to find people who had seen Helmet Head. Maybe I just needed to talk to the one person who saw everything.
I headed back to the main street and then grabbed the tram line as it passed, heading towards the spaceport.
I jumped off well before the edge of the dome and worked my way in a zigzag pattern through the blocks. The buildings around here had been erected by some gambler years ago in hopes of a thriving space commerce plan panning out. But, like most things, it had fallen through and now the buildings were either crumbling or gang hangouts or divided into multifamily units.
Or at least, most of them were.
My destination was a rough looking building with blacked-over windows, no different than any other on the block.
I pushed a fragment of permasteel to the side and pressed my hand to the hidden bio plate, and waited.
If I didn't know Rati never went out, I might've given up
. But she didn't, so there was nothing to do but be patient. Even if she was in the middle of a project, she’d get the alert eventually. She couldn't afford to not be aware that someone was at the door. I’d have to trust she’d check the cams before starting a security sequence.
I had just settled down with my back into the alcove when a recessed light glowed green above me. I scrambled to my feet before the door slid open, spilling me into the hall.
Inside, dust and crates were all that greeted me. I very carefully followed the faint green light as it moved above me, flickering from one diode to the next, guiding me down a path between the debris in echoing silence.
I was pretty sure I had come through the maze of boxes a different way last time, but she’d probably already booby-trapped that entry.
Another door, another bio print, another wait.
Finally, the wall slid open and I stepped on to the maglev plate that dropped me below to Rati’s laboratory.
Bots of all sizes slid and scurried across the floor as I went, some cleaning, some carrying parts to various projects Rati had devised throughout her complex, mostly occupied in incomprehensible tasks.
"You're looking better than I had expected, giving how your day seems to have been going,” a small box on the table next to me commented.
I kept going. "The day’s been full of surprises. Can't wait to tell you all about it."
Low tables lined the path, filled with a mind-boggling array of parts - some stacked high for the bots to sort, some arranged neatly. Most were in the assorted-jumble stage.
“I'm almost done resetting this, come on back."
I walked through a light antiseptic vapor, pausing to make sure the mist covered me completely.
Sure, Rati was paranoid. But she had better reasons to be than a lot of other folks.
And she was brilliant enough to make sure she stayed safe.
I could barely make her out beneath the gleaming metal device pulled over her head and shoulders. Her hands and forearms were encased in steel tubes resting in her lap. I couldn't see any movement, but from her ongoing muttered stream of “come on, come on, just a little further,” I knew she was doing something.
If I was lucky, she wouldn't try to explain it to me.
Rati was brilliant. I don't mean regular everyday kind of smart. I mean a terrifying, not really sure if she was the same sort of human as I was, brilliant.
We'd met when we were kids. She'd build toys and bots to trade the other kids for food, then moved on to building bots to assist her with larger, shall we say, more interesting projects. Eventually, her bots had made enough bots that she'd been able to move away, hide away in safety and seclusion.
"There, last fiber in place. And another step accomplished.”
“Are you going to tell me about it?” I asked, warily
She slid her hands out from the metal tubes and pushed the head and shoulder enclosure off.
I knew from previous experience an offer of assistance wouldn't be welcome. But my help wasn’t needed. The helmet-like contraption swung away smoothly, suspended from a hook I hadn't noticed earlier.
“Do you really want me to?” She grinned, so I knew she wasn't taking my lack of interest in her what's-it to heart. "Besides, Talon and I have gone over the parameters comprehensively. If anything, he's more thorough than I am, even if it's not his project."
"Wait a minute." I froze, shocked. "Who's Talon? I thought I knew everyone you did! At least, everyone who mattered."
She laughed and spun her chair, moving deeper into the warren of machinery. "Of course you do. At least, everyone who matters in Ghelfi.” She rolled into the hallway and I could smell tea brewing. “I met him on the deep net waves for quasar computing. He had some interesting thoughts and I wanted to follow-up, see if I could start realizing his theory."
And that was one of the many reasons I was here.
Xavis kept a lock on most transmissions in and out of the city, just another way to control the population. Rati wasn't having any of that. By the time we were twelve, she'd figured out how to break his interference, at least on a small scale. Which brought her another source of security and income. People who wanted messages sent out without bringing them to Xavis’ attention had learned she could be trusted.
Xavis’ organization had made a mistake when they decided the sick little girl with the twisted body wasn’t worth bringing into the Tithe. And I would be forever grateful to their short-sightedness.
The hallway opened up into a warmly lit living space. I sank into a low, padded chair, took off my boots, and tucked my feet up under me. Finally, her words clicked. "If you've been so busy with your whatever, how do you know what happened?"
She poured tea into thick cups for us, sent one over to me by a service bot. "I have a flag for recordings of any of my friends in a fight."
"Wait, you see me on the cameras all the time?"
Rati looked annoyed. "You know anyone can be tracking you all the time, right?" She flicked a finger at my comm. “That'd be the easiest way, but you don't think about it. And it's not like it’s hard to get plenty of comparatives to train the engines for what a fight looks like."
I settled back down, sipped my tea. It was stupid. I'd come here because she had access to the recordings. Of course she could always see me. There never was any privacy to lose.
"So," she spun in her chair to a bank of panels in the wall behind her. "What the hell was that thing, and who took you away?" It was one of her frustrations that she’d never been able to breach the systems of Xavis’ complex.
"That's what I need help with."
My voice faded. Who was Davien, anyway? What did I really know about him? I shook my head. It didn't matter. "The guy is one of Xavis' enforcers, but he's got a side job. He's cutting me in. If things go right, I'll be able to get out of Ghelfi, off Neurea."
"That's wonderful!" Her face fell, but only for a minute. "I'll miss you, but I'll make sure to set you up with a proper comm system before you leave. Heck, if you end up on a semi-civilized world, instead of this rock, it might be even easier to talk with you."
She spun back to her panel of screens. "What are you looking for? You know my cams can find it."
"The guy that attacked me. He took my bag, and I want it back. If I can, see where he's staying, and if he's got any friends."
"Should be a simple backtrack - let me get it started." Her fingers flew over the panels. As I watched her work, the knot in my belly grew, over leaving her, Artin, everyone I knew. I'd wanted this for so long, how could I be having second thoughts?
"Rati?"
"Hmmm?"
"You've made plenty of credits, right?"
"When I'm not doing freebies for friends, sure." She flashed a grin, then went back to work.
"Why haven't you ever left?"
Her hands stilled. "Where would I go?"
"Anywhere!" I sprang to my feet. "Anywhere would have to be better than here for you! You should be able to see more people without worrying about their connections! People across the empire should know how brilliant you are!" My voice fell to a whisper. "You shouldn't have to hide down here.”
She stopped and rolled over to my chair to take my hand. "I'm not hiding. Maybe I was at first, but not anymore. I talk with people all over the dark web, we trade papers and notes and even have virtual joint projects. I've built a world of my own here, exactly to my specifications."
She looked around and laughed. "Not sure how I'd leave without taking it all with me." Her eyes lost focus for a moment. "Maybe if I build a ship around the lab, then tunneled below to have room for the firing thrusters...." She was actually planning it out, running through variables. "No, not viable at present."
She squeezed my hand. "I'll miss your visits, but I'm not unhappy here."
I swallowed against the lump in my throat. "Then I'll have to introduce you to more people who can visit you."
"Sure." She grinned wickedly. "If you think they can pass my
security checks, go for it."
A trill broke the silence between us. "Let's see what we've got."
I winced just seeing my image smack against the wall. "Not looking forward to meeting that clown again," I muttered.
"I don't blame you." She hit a button, and the fight spooled back in reverse. A change in point of view signaled the switch to another camera, where we watched him moving down the alley, black globed head swaying from side to side.
She paused it. "Look at how his head moves, like he's got a sensor rig running for antonium," Rati murmured.
The cameras kept switching us back through the city as we watched him push through crowds, crossing the streets. A tram passed in front and the path varied only by a step.
A second trill sounded. "That's odd." The screen split to show two identically uniformed and helmeted forms. Rati leaned forward, frowning. "It's the same timestamp, but he's in two separate places."
"More likely it's just two people in the same stupid uniform," I reminded her gently. "Probably easier than teleportation."
She blinked. "Yes, quite. But still, it would have been an interesting effect..."
I shook my head, and we continued to watch. The split screen tracked both of them on the cameras, and with a few quick clicks of the keyboard, another showed their paths in contrasting colors against a simplified grid of the city.
"Look," I breathed. "That's got to be some sort of a search pattern." The screen showing the colored lines had been almost entirely filled. Between the two of them, they'd covered almost the entire grid of the dome.
A final ding signaled the end of the recording. The split screen merged into one as both Helmets stepped out of a nondescript doorway, marching away from each other without a glance behind.
"That's where I need to go." I stared at the map, memorizing the coordinates.
Rati tapped her chin with a finger. "Did you notice they never stopped? Not to eat, not to talk to anyone, they never slowed their pace. Like they're soldiers, not even human."
I shrugged, remembering Davien's comments. "Maybe they're not, maybe they're androids."
Her eyes lit up. "Get me one," she breathed, almost quivering out of her chair in her excitement. "Kara, you have to get one for me to experiment on. If they're androids, that means their owner has two. So he could spare one, right?"
