AER (The Elements Series Book 3)

by Tracy Korn

"What a stupid idea," Vox says out loud, then shoots me a glare. I don't need your pity, sand dollar, she thinks, obviously eavesdropping in my thoughts.

  "It's brilliant, actually," Jax misunderstands, glaring at Vox. "Why design a single firewall when you can design one that customizes to your own personal emotions. Fear, especially. This code learns you in order to keep you out."

  "All right…so it's going to try to play mind games with us to distract us from the real Glyphs? That's what you're saying?" I ask. Jax nods. "OK, but Calyx broke in to that last cine and told Lyden that what I saw wasn't the real Glyph. Why can't she just keep doing that if the code starts fighting back again?"

  "It's too dangerous," Lyden answers as he gets out of his chair and stretches his neck. "Fastest way to have a psychotic break is to entertain multiple realities at once. When we're jacked into the virtuo-cine network, our reality here has to be suppressed, or pretty soon we'd just lose all sense of what's real and what's just virtuo-cine."

  "Fine, but Fraya couldn't see what I saw. Can't we just use that as an indicator of what's a real Glyph and what's a decoy? We all saw the bartender in the other cine, right?" I ask, but as I look around the room, I get the sinking feeling that they really aren't going to let me go back in.

  "Jazz, this code is specifically tuned into you now, and not in a good way anymore," Arco says, swinging his long legs out of his chair, then leaning on his forearms.

  "Good. So I'll attract the decoys. It will make identifying the real Glyphs that much easier."

  "Jazz, it's just too—"

  "Arco, it's not up to you, OK? I'm going back in there. I know what's happening now, and I won't get sucked in by a decoy again."

  Arco closes his eyes in a long blink and clenches his teeth, obviously frustrated.

  "I don't like it either," Jax says, crossing his arms over his chest. Ellis grips his shoulder.

  "Look around here at how many people are monitoring her. She'll be all right," he says.

  "Why are you letting this continue?" Eco turns to Tark behind one of the console stations. "You know she has to go back in. That code is only evolving faster, and we only have one Glyph patched. We have to plant at least three more if we want to stop them from giving pro-Gaia messages to every random Nascent Empath who walks into a virtuo-cine."

  "We never found the right Glyph on the pirate ship…" Myra startles, suddenly covering her mouth. "Does that mean we're going back into that cine?"

  "No. The code in that one has already mapped Ms. Ripley, so it will lock onto her right away," Tark says. "We have a few other new releases we can use, but they're not slotted to be as popular as the ones we've already selected."

  "Maybe we can return to Blackwater for the last patch…after the cine has refreshed several million times. The code may forget Jazwyn's configuration by then," Calyx says.

  "In the meantime, everyone should just rest for a few hours, at least until Jazwyn's neural blocks wear off completely. Are any of you hungry?" Arwyn asks.

  "It's not the commons area from Gaia, but what we have is hot," Lyden says. "We still have the matter boards, right?" he asks Calyx. She nods, then looks at Tark.

  "All right, take a break. Ms. Hart, keep her levels on screen," Tark says with a quick nod at Arwyn, then at me.

  "I will," Arwyn says, taking a few steps toward Lyden before addressing everyone. "Just follow us."

  ***

  Arco slips into position next to me as we make our way down the long, white corridor after Lyden and Arwyn. Liam is arguing with Eco just behind them, and I suddenly feel a sense of urgency to find my father and Liddick. I turn around and search for Calyx, but she's not behind us.

  "What's wrong?" Arco asks. "Is it your head?"

  "No, I need to ask Calyx and Tark about my dad. They promised they would scan for him and—"

  "For Liddick," Arco finishes my sentence, and something in me snaps at the tone of his voice—smug, assuming.

  "If you have something to say, just say it, Arco. This hot and cold from you has to end." I stop walking and stare at him, watching the muscles under his cheekbones flex as he presses his teeth together. A wall of anger blasts into my chest from him, and I'm confused all over again. "Arco, why are you so—?"

  "Because even when he's not here, he's in your head, Jazz, all right?!"

  His eyes flash, then all at once soften. He closes them, then locks his teeth together again as he puts his hands on his hips. "I'm sorry," he says after a few breaths. "This is stupid, especially here and now." He shakes his head and gestures to the corridor, then turns away from me to follow the others.

  "Arco, stop. It's not stupid if it's bothering you," I say, but he doesn't slow down. "Arco!" He finally stops, but doesn't turn around to face me. "Hey…" I add, catching up to him.

  "You don't have to say anything, all right? I'll handle it. I never should have brought it up back there—you have those neural block things to deal with."

  "Will you just stop already?" I say, reaching for his arm as he tries to move past me. "I don't know what's happening, OK? Whatever they were saying about this mind mapping thing I did to Liddick, I don't know what that means. Now, I'm hearing and seeing Liddick even though he's not here, and I don't know what that means, but neither of these things affect how I feel about you. You don't have anything to do with it, all right?" I add, but he still doesn't say anything, or even look up at me from studying the ground.

  "It's fine."

  "Arco, stop trying to act like nothing is wrong when something is wrong. You know I can tell when things are off with you. The mixed messages confuse me."

  "It's just not a big deal, Jazz…"

  "It's a big enough deal that it keeps hijacking your mood. That's the thing about problems. Just because you ignore them doesn't mean they disappear. If this is going to work with us, we have to talk."

  "Fine," he says to the floor. "Are you afraid you're going to lose him?"

  "Of course. I'm afraid of losing my dad, Zoe, Dell, and all the Vishan too. I don't know how any of this is going to work out now, if we'll ever see any of them again. It's terrifying."

  The sharpness in his face softens at this. He takes in a long breath.

  "I'm sorry. I just don't like looking stupid, and I don't like random thoughts pushing me off course. Not being able to keep Liddick off my sonar even with everything going on now does both those things," he sighs.

  "It's because they're not thoughts you're having, they're feelings…and they don't make you look stupid, Arco."

  He looks up at me, then seems to resolve something for himself as he takes a step closer.

  "I'll try to—" he starts, but is cut off when Jax bounds back into the corridor.

  "Hey, come on, I'm hungry!" he says. I jump, and Arco starts to laugh, abandoning whatever he was going to say as he takes my hand.

  CHAPTER 31

  Jumper

  Liddick

  The light is more intense now than it was in the port-carnate hub I rigged at Gaia Sur. The flash hits me before I have a chance to close my eyes, and then it's too late. The cold jets through to the back of my skull and freezes everything, like my head is filling with ice water until I can't feel anything.

  Just as quickly as it started, it stops, and I hear the sound of wind blowing hard outside. I can't see anything around me, and suddenly everything is hot. Crite, here it comes…

  It starts with nausea, which spreads just like the ice water behind my eyes a minute ago.

  "Well, what have we here?" a pinched voice says. Ensign. The heat in my stomach spikes. "Oh…ope…ope, hold the boat. Liddick Wright? Do you believe that's what the transmission right here says? I'd show you, but you're bat-blind at the moment," he says, chuckling like a snorting horse. I force my eyes open, then try to stop the room from spinning. I'm going to die this time…I think. Ensign is a mollusk, and nobody except a biodesigner can reset my nanites here…

  "Skyboard…" I manage to croak. "Biodesign…get Spaulding."r />
  "Spaulding?" Ensign's idiot laugh explodes in the little room—the force of the sound wave hitting me in the chest. "Lief Spaulding? Well, let me just send a buoy hop right on up to the good doctor. I'm sure he'll take you right now! Right ahead of Sera Lim and Dice McClain!" He laughs until he coughs, then wheezes, and I'm almost glad I can't see his bloated face yet.

  "Ensign!" I spit through my teeth, then blink my eyes hard to clear my vision. "Tell him…to come. His brother and sister are in…trouble…"

  I don't hear anything for another minute, but then Ensign starts moving around in the room. I need to get out of here before whatever corruption has started in my neural channel gets too strong.

  "And how do you know his brother and sister? They catch that golden sub too?"

  "Yes," I hiss at him. "Ensign, listen…I'm sick. The transfer corrupted the nanites they gave us at Gaia. Patch him my bioprint—here, take it," I say, extending my hand. "Take it!" I say, louder this time, which makes my head spin, but Ensign shuffles around again. My heart hammers in my chest at the prospect of him actually getting the transmitter.

  He's just as big and ugly as ever when my vision starts to clear. He's turned away from me, and his stringy ponytail is gone, shaved clean, revealing a stack of fat rolls at the back of his neck. How does someone only have fat rolls at the back of their neck? The thought floats through my mind, which seems to make me even dizzier and more nauseous.

  The outpost shack is smaller than I thought, cluttered with more scrap parts and no windows. It's dark except for a few floating halogen spheres over the console area where Ensign is sitting. I get to my hands and knees, then manage to push to my feet, bracing against the shack wall. Ensign spins around and looks at me.

  "Did you say nanites?" he asks. If I had even a handful of reserve strength, I'd use it to strangle him. "You really do look like scud," he says, widening his eyes and chuffing a laugh again.

  "Where's the transmitter?" I ask, scanning until I see it wedged between piles of scrap tech on the console station behind him. I brace one hand against the wall as I stagger over to it. Ensign stands up and takes a step toward me.

  "Lief Spaulding ain't gonna make a hop over here from Skyboard," he says, gripping my arms and squaring my shoulders. He kicks the chair he's just vacated to the wall, then pushes me into it. "Collapse right there, will ya? I'll get someone."

  Ensign picks up the silver disk transmitter, which is about as big as a plate, and flattens his palm over it. A green holographic grid appears about a foot above it, along with a keypad. I try to stand up, but then fall off the edge of the earth into a sea of black.

  ***

  "Cred-Fed, wake up."

  "Crite, it's only been 10 minutes, En. Got a date or something?"

  The woman's voice is familiar, but I can't sort it out from the rest of the noise whirring in my head. A low hum, no, a buzzing.

  "Heyyy," Ensign drags out the word. "I got important things to do."

  "Yeah, dry up!" the woman laughs, and I hear someone shuffling toward me. Cold fingers touch my cheek. "I mean, it's not gonna last, wise? But it'll get him vertical for a few hours at least."

  "As long as he's out of here before the Grid scan. Last thing I need is a fugitive Cred-Fed showing up here," Ensign answers. I force my eyes open and try to lift my head, expecting the room to nosedive, but it doesn't.

  "Well, good morning, sunshine!" a woman with short, spikes of black hair and a little heart tattoo on her cheek says. She takes the toothpick out from the corner of her mouth and taps her teeth with it. "So, you've got about two, three hours tops before my coagulant wears off. Made it myself," she says, winking at me and smiling.

  "What did…you do…to me?" I ask, feeling like I'm pulling up the slow, heavy words from a tar pit somewhere in my chest. The smile falls off the corners of the woman's mouth.

  "Saved your life; you're welcome," she says with a huff.

  "Sorry," I say. "I mean…how…?"

  "Just laced a biocard with my secret formula. Enny here says you scrambled up those fancy nanites from Gaia on account of you being a chutz and didn't program your hub for 'em," she says, nodding at Ensign, who beams.

  "Why…can't I talk…move?" I ask, starting to feel the panic set in.

  "Oh, yeah. You're gonna feel backed up for a while, wise? Muscle responsiveness, speech, thinking even. Sorry, low grade oil, but at least you're not dyin'. At least not yet."

  "Oil!?" I ask, trying to push up from the chair to my feet.

  "Yeah, same viscosity as blood. Don't worry, I purified it. 'Sides, I only used a thimble full. Little grease never killed anyone."

  "Crite…" I shake my head, then press the heels of my palms into my eyes and take a deep breath.

  "Grisham had me forward your digits to one of his biodesign contacts on the Mountain when your code bounced back to him like Swiss cheese. I already loaded the coordinates into your channel," Ensign says, tapping the side of his head.

  "What?" I ask, trying to process what he's saying.

  "Yeah, ain't just Skyboard that's got fancies. Activate the map by thinking Corva Clay. That's her name, wise? Grisham said she'll untangled the rest of your innards and help you with your project, whatever that means." Ensign slaps his thighs and gets to his feet. "Now, if you don't mind, I need to get your stink out of here before the State scan comes through. Delia here is gonna help me, aint'cha, Delia?" he adds, winking at her. Delia giggles, and I'm positive the wave of nausea that hits me isn't just because of my hacked nanites. I get to my feet and try to walk toward the little shack door.

  "Thank you," I say over my shoulder to Delia, who is already under Ensign's tree trunk arm, twirling her finger in one of the holes in his tank top. I swallow hard to keep from roarfing.

  "Sure, thing, minnow. You start feeling cold, though, and you've got about a handful of minutes until you're chum, wise? Best get on, then," she says, waving me out the door with the back of her hand. Ensign makes a clicking sound with his mouth, and I push my feet out the door.

  The air is thick and heavy with sea salt and sulphur, and the sky is hazy as I make my way out of the sand and to the gate that surrounds the base of the Skyboard mountain. My biochip should still work, unless Delia fried it with whatever she injected into me. Only one way to find out, I think, trying to stand up as straight as I can when I see the chrome archway of the checkpoint.

  The metal droid inside the wall just before the arch sits behind a plexiglass window, then turns to me as I approach. His face is silver and expressionless. Why don't they just put hair and flesh tone on these things, I think, creeped out when its mouth begins moving a fraction of a second out of sync with the overly enthusiastic voice. Green laser dots flicker on in its eyes.

  "Good evening. Please remain still while I verify citizenship," it says. I hold my breath and watch the shimmering barrier grid inside the archway to my right. The same grid that extends up for miles and surrounds the mountain in a dome. "Welcome, Mr. Wright," it says after a second, then extends a chrome plated hand toward the grid, which quickly dissipates.

  "Tell the Council to make you a face," I say, walking through the archway, which crackles behind me as the barrier grid reforms. Floating halogen spheres begin glowing along the paved road in front of me—smooth and silver like the droid at the checkpoint gate. Corva Clay, I think, skeptical that Ensign's ham-hands were able to program anything into my neural channel. But then an arrow like the one at Gaia Sur appears to my right.

  I'm sorry, Mr. Wright. It is after business hours for Cobra Cape, Oxygen Bar and Holistic Health, the female arrow voice says in my head. I roll my eyes. Ensign, you mollusk, I think, then squeeze my eyes shut tightly to refresh this hack job neural map.

  COR-VA CLAY, I think, enunciating the words in my head.

  Corva Clay, Biodesigner, is expecting you, the arrow voice says, then flattens into the polished silver street and starts moving forward. I follow it.

  How long is this trip? I think
.

  Corva Clay, Biodesigner, is located at 17 Vista Del Mar, Crescent City. Estimated arrival, 17 minutes by heliocar. Please approach landing pad.

  I groan out loud, then look around for other people within earshot, but the street is deserted.

  Occupancy? I think.

  Two other passengers will share your heliocar, Mr. Wright.

  Cancel car, I'll just—crite…I think, just as I see the silver, cylindrical heliocar appear over the treetops several feet in front of me. It shoots a beam of light onto the street corner and follows it down.

  Trip engaged. Please board the heliocar, Mr. Wright, the arrow voice says in my head as the side door hatch slides open. Two Skyboard girls are already inside, one with straight, pink hair, and the other blonde like Dez. They both look up at me with iridescent purple eyes, then smile their bar wedge smile. I step into the car, into the light, and their smiles disappear.

  "What is all over your face? Is that…dirt?" One of the girls asks, her face contorting in disgust.

  "Milled grade, ladies. Only the finest from Admin City," I say, hoping they stow it now.

  "You're from Admin City?"

  "Where else would I get milled grade soil? The Badlands?" I force a laugh, but I don't even care if they don't buy the story. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to nap this hop," I add, then close my eyes and let my head fall back against the seat. "It's been a long day."

  CHAPTER 32

  Into the Fire

  Jazz

  We follow Arwyn and Lyden into a lounge area with a long counter against the back wall and a coffee table in the center of a circle of connected black couches. Lyden goes to the counter and pulls several mugs and plates from the cabinet. Arwyn sits down on one of the couches next to Liam, and Eco sits on the far other side of them both. No one talks.

  "Soooo," Vox finally breaks the silence, kicking her feet up on the coffee table and leaning back on the couch next to Liam, spreading her arms behind her. "What aren't you all telling us?"