Vagabond Souls: The Ionia Chronicles: Book 2

by Pamela Stewart

  Ionia examined the space. It was a lab, not like a home lab with a few tables and test tubes. This looked like her mom’s lab in Antarctica, with half a dozen platform tables that looked strangely like operating tables. Ultra-florescent lights showed every detail of the object being observed.

  She looked for another way out and found none. Her fear level rose again, but she pulled it in. There had to be a way out. But out of where? What the hell was this place?

  And on each of the tables was—Ionia had to blink and squint with her good eye—there were weapons. Traditional guns and laser blasters fitted to arm pieces. Helmets that looked like spiked maces with missile projectiles, leg attachments with some sort of propelling system built in. This was a stockpile, like an armory. She had thought her aunt only worked with biological science. Most of this stuff looked dangerous.

  “So what do you think?” Aunt Sera stood next to her. Her attention was glued to Ionia.

  “I think you have a secret lab full of slightly illegal experiments?” She didn’t know what her aunt wanted her to say. Everywhere she looked was a method for destruction, and it made her skin crawl.

  A weird feeling, like she was being closed into a box, pressed on her. “Why exactly are you showing me this?”

  “Oh, this isn’t for you. Maybe it is. A kind of proof.”

  “Proof of what exactly? That you could build an android army?”

  “No. Proof I can help you. I can make you better than you were, with my—wait I’m getting ahead of myself.” She grabbed Ionia’s elbow and guided her over to a table that had a white sheet over it. “When I first started I was purely a nanobiologist. But the more I discovered mechanical replacement, the more I realized it is just an extension of humanity. That this technology could not only fix us, but improve us.”

  Ionia nodded. She mostly agreed with that, except when the enhancements were used for creating better ways of killing, and most of these beauties had kill written into their cyber DNA.

  “So, I got to work,” her aunt continued. “Even when you were only three, I already had the nanobots, and my research and inventions have only expanded from there.”

  She gestured to the walls, which were decked with holos, schematics, pictures of replacement limbs, and something that resembled a blood cell. There were more detailed blow-up images that Ionia couldn’t fathom.

  “I’ve helped thousands all over CONUS and some in NAR, people who are progressive enough to embrace the inevitable.”

  “But most of the equipment is for—”

  “Destruction? I know. That isn’t important.”

  Destruction wasn’t important? Ionia’s chest felt like a recycling compressor bore down on her, and being underground in this yard of body parts didn’t help alleviate the dread.

  She pictured one of the mech arms awkwardly fused to skin and gave a small shudder. She shook off the feeling and tried to focus on what her aunt was saying. “Why is it so dark?”

  “Can’t pull too much on the grid, or we draw attention.” She waved the question away as if it were silly as if hiding a secret lab was normal and her right.

  She turned to her experiments. “This is my baby.” She pointed to a holo display that had formulas running over it with a backdrop of what looked like single-celled organisms swimming around. “They’re similar to the antivirus bots inside of you, but these will actually respond to the user’s will and autonomic needs, providing support where directed.”

  “How does that even work?”

  “It would take training for an organic mind to meld with the automated, but I’ve had some success with lower-level trials. I put a group of mice on an increasingly hot surface, and they willed the nanobots to send support to their feet. For the time that they were exposed to the temperature, the skin on their feet actually produced metallic pads to shield them. The very organic matter transformed into a beautiful silver shield.” Her words came out quickly and with such excitement that Ionia was momentarily caught up. She could tell her aunt wanted to talk about this with someone.

  “Were there side effects? How are the mice?” She hated testing on any sentient being. It had been banned on every continent, replaced by computer sims. But her aunt seemed to take the law as more guidelines than hard and fast rules.

  “They’re fine. Better than fine. Aging slowed, they were be stronger, faster, more resilient. They did have one issue.”

  “What?” Ionia leaned forward and scanned the lab to find the animals. “Did they grow a second head or something horrible?”

  Aunt Sera burst out laughing, obviously enjoying sharing her secrets. “No. Nothing like that. But the bio-metallic pads remained after the heat was removed. I’m not sure if they wanted it, or once the change occurred, there wasn’t a way to reverse the process.” She turned and grabbed Ionia by the shoulders. “All I’m showing you could put me in prison here in India territory for a long, long time. In CONUS, I’d get a slap on the wrist at worst.”

  Her aunt must be on some drugs to trust Ionia with this level-ten-black-ops type thing. Her mother wouldn’t have even told her about the nanobots unless she’d been forced. One question stuck out in her mind beyond the sharing of family secrets. “Why not just move to CONUS?”

  “This is my home. This is where I’m raising my children. I want things to change, but to usher in change, there need to be rebels and rule breakers. I think we understand each other Ionia. Your mother has told me about you.” Aunt Sera tilted her head back and stared down her nose at Ionia. “Why are you making that face?”

  Ionia jerked her head back. “What face?”

  “The look of shock. Your mother knows you well and respects your strong will more than she’d care to admit. You’re like me. We’re trailblazers.”

  “Does anyone else know about this? Why are you even telling me? Won't me knowing put you in more danger?”

  “Oh, you would never betray me. And you’re bound to me by your nanobots. If it got out, you’d be ostracized like me.”

  Daaaaa-yum, Aunt Sera played to win. Even with family. Another trait she shared with her sister.

  “You still didn’t answer my question. Who else knows about this? Does your husband? Your friends?” Ionia crossed her arms hard against her chest to stave off the cool chills that kept running over her skin.

  “Ravi, some of my fellow scientists that I know I can trust. Few know the extent my experiments. Hebbar doesn’t know. It would compromise his place on the council. But I can’t just stop. Look at how far I’ve come in just fourteen years. When the foolish prejudice calms, then I’ll finally make my discoveries public.”

  “These could change the world.” She looked at the super nanobots on the blown up microscope displayed on the screen, swimming around like tiny fish. This was mega crazy, but her aunt had come so far and was on the brink of mind-blowing applications. Longer life? Fireproof skin? It sounded like a twenty-third-century science fiction vid clip.

  “Yes, they could.” Sera’s voice was filled with strength, and she seemed to stand a little straighter. “So I make the sacrifice and try to bring our governing council into the twenty-second century. But back to why I brought you here.”

  She pressed her thumb to her forefinger and said, “light display two.” A darkened display suddenly came into sharp relief. An eye that was an exact duplicate of Ionia’s, down to the deep blue flecks in the gray background floated in a gooey substance. It looked oddly lifeless and was attached to a long clear cyber wire that could pass for a human optic nerve.

  “I knew the others wouldn’t be able to bypass the bots. And everything they have is flesh-based. The pure mechanical replacements are archaic here. The public 3-D printer is good but not even close to this. You might as well get a wooden replacement.” She stepped forward and tapped on the control panel. The eye blinked.

  Ionia yelped and jumped. “Sorry. It’s just so—”

  “Real? I know. My special mech printer spent the last three days engineering it
, and then I had to add the lifelike tweaks and brain connectors.”

  “Brain connector?” Ionia sounded like a mynah bird copying everything her aunt said. Brain connection sounded scary.

  “It should be noninvasive. But I do have to warn you—the nanobots should accept this, but it doesn’t mean they will. And if they do like it, it could be permanent.”

  “Won’t the systems target me as non-human?” The thought of wearing a giant D was sickening.

  “I’ve built in a shield, so if you continue to wear the jacket in public, you should be fine, and I dare anyone but another nano-mechanical biologist to be able to tell this isn’t organic.”

  Ionia still wasn’t convinced.

  “I really shouldn’t have created it until you agreed, but I thought once you saw it and understood how much better it will be—”

  “Better?” How could a machine be better than a real organic eye?

  “Your vision would be HD. You’ll be able to read levels of radiation, see at least sixty meters, x-ray, some scanning. The chip will send detailed information to your cerebral cortex. It’ll be a lot to process at first, but you’ll adjust. Similar to getting eye enhancing surgery when you have less than 20/20 vision, only you get a state of the art upgrade. Maybe headaches to begin with, but you should be fine.”

  “And it’s worked for how many people?”

  “None yet. You’d be the first. The tech has been viable for years though, just not here. It’s as safe as an enclass download.”

  It all sounded sanguine, but the queasiness didn’t subside. The thought of that blinking thing in her face was still fairly terrifying. “I need more time. But thank you. For making it and for showing me this. I know it’s—”

  Alarms sounded, and a flashing light washed the lab in red. “Upstairs. Now. Someone’s too close to the perimeter.”

  Sera led the way back up the ladder and slid the fridge wall closed behind Ionia.

  “Rav, show me.”

  “Oh, there’s no one close.”

  Sera’s eyes widened until Ionia could see the whites around her pupils.

  “ ’Lax mom. I had a good reason to call you. Look.”

  Aunt Sera took a threatening step toward him with a finger extended as to start a pretty epic tirade, but Ravi waved her off and said, “It is important. Really. Check it out.”

  He clapped his hands together and expanded his individual holo to wall size. The image was a circular stadium. It appeared to be at least a hundred meters square and fifty meters high around all sides.

  Shadowed spectators crowded the stands, creating a low incompressible din. The floor of the stadium was covered in sand. A deep voice spoke over an amplified sound system. “Ladies, gentlemen, gender neutrals, and lifeforms of all categories, we present to you the first event of the day, a. A newcomer versus one of our all-time favorites.” The crowd stopped milling and focused.

  “What the hell, Ravi?” Aunt Sera crossed her arms and tilted her head.

  “Just watch,” Ravi said. “You will definitely want to see this.”

  Ionia didn't. She had a lot to consider. Like whether to take the eye or not. She had thought that Den might be back, and it was disappointing that it was just Ravi being a stupid boy. She flopped onto one of the floor pillows and watched the holo.

  Two forms entered the main stadium floor. One looked like a monstrous snake with armor, dinosaur-like, but it moved with a scary, slithering grace. The other looked very human—light skinned, well-muscled torso, dark curly hair, and a sword like the ancient Roman gladiators.

  He turned to face the vidcap, and Ionia felt like an arrow hit her in the chest. “Den.” The sight of him was beautiful and welcome and fed her soul, but what in all the frozen tundra was he doing in an arena.

  “He’s not going to—” Ionia rocked up onto her knees and balled her hands.

  “You bet your ass he’s going to.” Ravi smiled and turned to the display. “I don’t want any of them to suffer, but this is going to be interesting. First fleshie since Zee to enter the ring.”

  Why had she sent him away? Now he was going to be pulled limb-from-limb by a giant dinosaur, and she had no way of helping him. And if the worst happened, there would be no Simon to return him to a new body. This would be the end. “You forced me to send him away, and now he’s in real danger, you crap wipe.”

  “I didn’t force you to do anything. And it’s his choice.” Ravi’s face didn’t change from mocking nonchalance, but his shoulders pulled up, and his hands rolled into fists.

  Her skin prickled, and her body shook in pent-up anger. She stood and stepped toward him.

  “Is that why your droid went missing?” Sera asked, standing between them, voice an ocean of calm. “We’ll discuss this later. First, let’s see how he fares.”

  The announcer had finished the introductions, and the circling began. Ionia’s white-hot anger cooled, but the tension in every part of her body remained. Her fists came together in front of her chest like they could shield her heart.

  The snake robot struck first, swinging his tail around in a quick whipping move. Den wasn’t looking but leaped over it like a giant skip rope.

  The first volley failing, the snake slashed back and hissed dramatically.

  “What purpose could that droid ever have besides looking ridiculously scary?”

  “Some people create droids just to compete.” Sera’s voice sounded low and serious, not at all concerned. Her calmness made Ionia even more terrified. This droid was designed to look and be dangerous. Poor Den with his companion protocols wouldn’t even last the match.

  Her heart had left her chest and was now settling into her throat. She stared at the vidscreen waiting for the next strike.

  Two giant holes filled with sharpened metal prongs dominated the floor of the arena. The area glimmered with a sheer power shield that contained the fight, spreading out around Den and the giant snake robot. There would be no easy exit from this match.

  The snake machine was designed to destroy other droids, specifically her Den. She wanted to crawl into the holo, haul him back, and tell him how much she wanted him to return. But it was too late. She was too late.

  The snake robot volleyed again, this time lunging at Den’s head with fang attachment Den sidestepped in a blur. He may not have been designed as a battle bot, but he was amazingly fast.

  Den’s body perspired, sweat drops reflected in the over-bright light of the arena. He only did that when he was heating up faster than his cooling system could adjust.

  “Why would he do this? He’s already free.”

  “Not in this territory. But he seems to be more agile than any companion droid I’ve seen.” Sera’s voice was all cool, hard, analytical appreciation. She had never reminded Ionia more of her mother.

  “He’s not a thing. He’s my Den, and I can’t lose him. Where is this place? We need to go.” She snatched her oversized coat and tapped her toes by the doorway.

  “By the time we found them, the contest would be over,” Ravi said. “Finish watching. Then we can hunt for your little, lost lamb. If he survives.” Ravi had to make everything worse.

  Another wave of pure hate seared through her veins, but she shook it out and exhaled slowly. Getting mad at her brain-deficient cousin wasn’t going to help Den. Nothing could. She felt completely helpless as she came back into the living room.

  While she was interacting with Ravi, the snake creature must have struck again because red seeped down Den’s right side. He was faced away from the vidcap, but he seemed to be favoring that side.

  She clasped her hands tighter, as if she could stop the fight or at least hold in his blood. Blood didn’t mean the same thing for Den as it did for a human. His blood was for show, but it touched her deepest instinct, set off an internal alarm.

  The snake swooped forward again. Den deflected him with his weapon. The snake hissed as if angry. Maybe its programmer had hardwired emotion into the thing to motivate it to destroy.
The tail whipped around. Den leaped over it.

  Holy hell in a handbasket! This time, the tail detached from the rest of the snake’s body.

  The secondary piece sprung into the air and crashed into Den, wrapping around his legs. He fell back into the pronged-pit. The top half of the snake followed quickly, and the arena was silent.

  The vidcap didn’t reach into the pit. The audience, Ravi, Aunt Sera, and Ionia stared at the hole in the arena floor. Ionia sucked a raw breath into her compressed lungs. This was too much. She couldn’t bear it. And it was her fault.

  “Den, don’t die.” The pressure on her chest increased, and she really and truly could not breathe. Invisible hands closed on her throat. Images flashed of the cave. Of the endless dark. Of Den above her, sheltering her from the weight of a mountain of ice and snow.

  She forced her eyes on the screen and wheezed in a breath, her hands shaking. The sound of metal on metal groaned.

  “No effing way.”

  “Ravi!” Aunt Sera seemed ready to finally punish him at this point and took a step forward.

  “Damn, mom. I’m nineteen. I can say effing.”

  A hand appeared on the side of the pit. A very human hand. The mountain that rested on Ionia’s chest retreated slightly. Her legs wobbled, and her head felt light. “Odin’s beard.”

  “What are you saying? Did you have an aneurysm?” Ravi asked.

  “Ravi, I swear if you don’t—” Sera’s voice trailed off.

  Ionia didn’t care what they had to say. Den was alive. Still alive. There was still a chance to make things better.

  Den leaped lightly over the edge of the pit. Only a slight side wound, dirt, and perspiration, no long-term visual damage. He usually looked like a demi-god to Ionia, but right at this moment, his disheveled dirtiness made him look like a bowl of hot fudge covered ice cream topped with sprinkles. Absolutely edible.

  The crowd must have agreed. Cheering blasted from the home speaker system. Groups of girls chanted, “Den! Den! Den!” The snake droid was forgotten in the bottom of the pit as the energy sheen evaporated, and the frenzied mob rushed forward. Den’s face dropped from peaceful to worried, and he adopted his defense stance.