She had been so close. And now he was gone again. Waking up without his face next to hers, surviving in this hostile and hateful territory without him at her side, was too much. It was all too much. She had no one to discuss her mom’s betrayal or her aunt or the secret Frankenstein lab under the house or her new eye.
And worse, even if they weren’t meant to be together, she couldn’t even get him out of the territory and someplace safe if she couldn’t find him. Frustration squirmed in her chest. She was powerless.
Just like in the caves.
The panic returned—crept up and wrapped around her like a python.
The painful squeezing began in her chest, and the crowd changed in her mind into NAR red-banded soldiers, pushing and grabbing. Stiff hands seemed to squeeze her neck. Everywhere she looked was a blank white canvas of snow again. She was in the tundra, but this time Den wasn’t there to carry her or to fight the outlaws.
“Hey, Ionia? You don’t look good. I think we can—” Ravi was speaking, but what was he saying? He reached for her, and his eyes turned red, hands trying to hold her. Her eye socket burned, and her heart beat a violent rhythm and seemed to expand and block her air passage. She ran. Pushing past the red-eyed, NAR soldiers. She couldn’t feel her fingers or toes, and her vision narrowed to two tunnels. Off-balance, she fought through the walls of ice and snow, digging. It was like before.
Trapped. Dying. Eye throbbing. No air. She panted, but nothing helped, and her legs moved faster until her vision warbled, and her legs grew unsteady. Her hands shook. She stumbled, fell to her knees. The ground or the push of the people didn’t make an impact. She was in a bubble of pain, and there was no escape.
The last of her energy drained out of her, and her sight blackened. A soft touch on her shoulder, a hand, dusky-colored, with short, clean nails. The world was the hand. That was all she could handle.
A voice from far away, as if her hearing had acquired a glitch. “I’ve got her officer. She’s my cousin. She hasn’t eaten. We just need to get some food in her.”
Ravi. ND. Den. Everything crashed back as her vision snapped into focus. “I don’t want to eat.”
More muttering from nearby. She stared at the black dirt under her knees. She was kneeling on a busy street, her throat dry, and her brain creeping like it was coated with a sticky, dense paste. Ravi pulled her up. It was all she could do to keep standing. He dug his fingers into her thick coat and jostled her forward. She kept her eyes on the ground. One step, two steps, three. Moving each foot took effort. She didn’t want to look up. Or come back to a more solid reality. Reality sucked.
“Ionia! Freakin’ help me, or they will lock us up. For the love of Buddha, move, girl.”
“I don’t care.” She would be in the exact same situation in a cell as she was out here. Danger everywhere, no way to get away, powerless.
Ravi’s breathing increased, and he threw her against a wall. “Listen. If they make you as someone with enhancements, they could tag you or research you. Either one would be bad. I don’t know exactly what happened to you in the great down under-under, but you have all the symptoms of PTSD.”
“Maybe.” After being battered and bruised and almost dying at Feinstein’s hands? Probably. But she didn’t want to talk about it to anyone. “The panic wasn’t as bad when Den was around. I believed he would protect me. Now, I guess I feel—”
“Vulnerable.”
“Yeah.”
Ravi, for once, wasn’t being a dick.
“It’s going to be okay.” He held her arm tight, creating an anchor, a lighted path for her through the dark woods. Her mind slowed, and her chest loosened.
“No, it won’t.”
“I don’t know what happened to you, but I’m sure we can get you help. You could talk to someone.”
“No. No talking or doctors. I’m fine.” The Sonbergs didn’t need therapy according to her mom. She’d drilled that into Ionia’s head. Sonbergs sucked it up and toughened up. Eventually, things would work out.
“Den is gone. I’m going to find him.” But I’m too broken and weak to find him. Ionia’s No, she pushed that feeling down hard and gritted her teeth.
“I know you will,” Ravi said. “And I’m going to help.”
In the peach light of the setting sun, Ravi’s skin looked golden, like he was one of the thousands of demi-gods embossed on the surface of every temple. A surreal expression of resignation replaced his usual boyish charm. He had a calm and mature, almost adult, set to his soft features. He even stood a bit straighter before he spoke again. “I have an idea that may help. Follow me. Don’t ask questions, and don’t say anything.”
Her shakiness dissolved as Ravi’s behavior got stranger. She would usually ask a million questions, but something about his forceful tone told her to just follow and for once to be silent.
He eyed a passing transport that was less than half-full and yanked her onto the loading runner. The tram they’d taken from the airport had been enclosed. This was more of a hover board surrounded by scaffolding. Everyone stood, holding onto yellow safety straps as it hummed along an invisible track.
She got a couple of stares for her abomination of a coat, but with her new eye, she avoided most of the gawkers. Such a relief, and this time it felt permanent. The mover hummed along at what felt like a geriatric snail’s pace.
“We could walk faster than this,” she said.
Ravi gave her a look that could have melted steel alloy, so she shut up, biting her lip. It was near a 1000 level of difficult not to make any comments or ask any questions. What was he doing anyway? What could he understand or know about what she was going through? Twitchy waves of unease ran over her.
The tram shuffled on, and the sun disappeared. A chilled wind breezed through the open-air transport, most of the few remaining passengers shivered, and the giant jacket almost became tolerable. After two more stops, the rest of the passengers disembarked. She tugged at Ravi’s arm and lifted her eyebrows.
He shook his head. With a jerk, the transport slid forward another half a meter.
They were well outside the city proper and into the scattered buildings that made up the outskirts of down—shanties and shacks that looked the same today as they would have a hundred years ago. Simple and in the depths of poverty. Still, people survived, and children played.
The transport halted. “End of the line,” a mechanical voice droned.
Ravi shot Ionia another set of raised eyebrows and pointed at the deck, telling her to stay put.
He clicked his thumb controller and held it down. After a second, he scrambled forward to the control panel. The unmanned ferries had 3-D routes in glowing gold projected into the air in the fore of the cab. He seemed to be manipulating it.
The display flashed and changed to a map that showed a return trip to the center of the city. Ravi reached out his hand as if he were a magician trying to cast a spell, and the golden display fritzed and morphed, then dissipated.
“What are you doing?” The words escaped her before she could stop. She didn’t know why he’d demanded silence, but she had a feeling that it had a purpose. She clasped her hands over her mouth.
He didn’t look at her but spoke in a calm, amused voice. “It’s okay now. I’ve jammed the comm, and in a second—” He was interrupted by a violent jerk of the cab. The movement before had felt precise and planned and on-track. This felt uncontrolled, like the time she’d stolen a blazer and raced it halfway across the ice sheet.
A few people started to approach to board the transport.
“This one is going to the garage for repairs. Have a nice day.” Ravi lied smoothly. Better than she could lie anyway. Impressive. The unease that had gripped her heart and chest eased off.
The would-be riders snorted and threw their hands in the air in frustration. “Same as always. Send the oldest and worst to the outskirts.”
Ravi shrugged and gave a quasi-sincere, “Sorry.”
Ionia let herself smile. �
��Guess I’m not the only trouble maker in the Patel clan. Where are we going?”
He flashed a real and easy smile and waved a hand at the control panel. With another jerk, the ferry moved forward, out from the city at a pace at least twice what they had been going before. “We’re going to find you some help. Then we’ll find your friend.”
The ferry blasted over the terrain until the landscape blurred. She should have been worried, but this was the most normal she’d felt since she’d arrived. They were doing something. And trouble or no, it felt right. She found one of the two seats used mostly for those who had walking disabilities. Few did with all the world of bio-identical replacement everything, but some still could not afford or didn’t want replacements.
Darkness fell, and the ferry continued to fly at breakneck speed, using its sensors to avoid hitting oxen, carts, people, and rocks, all with an eerie grace. A slight illumination lit the inside from the display. The visual fritzed, and the disembodied voice declared “End of the line” every five minutes.
“You’re quiet. I thought I’d get blasted with questions once we jumped track.”
She cleared her throat. Her mom would go penguin-guano crazy if she didn’t hear from Ionia soon. Served her right for being a lying sack of crap, but… she knew how thinking a family member was dead felt. Intimately. She almost tried to access the Cortex but stopped before touching her thumb.
“How much longer? I probably should send my mom a wave?”
“No! No contact. Not yet. The individual we’re meeting will bolt. Just wait.”
The tram took a hard right, seemingly into an empty wasteland, then turned left for a few meters. Ionia couldn’t gauge the speed anymore. The open frame of the tram made it feel incredible. The wind blew back her hair and made her feel like they were flying.
The display flicked from gold to red and flashed. Buzzer warning blared with three short blasts. “Hold on!” Ravi dove for a handhold. A few seconds later, Ionia followed.
A dark object stood directly in the path.
“We’re going to hit it!” The strap material cut into her hand.
“No, we won’t. Just hold on.”
Plastimetal ground against plastimetal, creating a cloud of smoke. The pungent smell made her gag, and the smoke obscured her view. Making a sound like a dying bull seal, the tram stopped. Ionia’s heart had forgotten to beat for a second, or she hadn’t realized it was beating until some of the smoke dissipated. There, a few centimeters away was a hooded form.
Someone was completely concealed by a black cloak. Whoever it was had some real courage or didn’t realize how close they had come to death because they stood stone still.
Silently, the figure boarded and inclined their head to Ravi, who responded with a bow. The stranger moved forward and extended a hand to the display. The electricity came alive and began changing again.
“Who is that?” Ionia asked.
Another horrified look from Ravi spelled out be-quiet-or-else, but she was done with being patient. “If you don’t start talking, I’m getting off right here.” She stared at the back of the hooded stranger, and something clicked. She’d seen that cloak before, and the size was right. “Wait…you’re that android!”
A laugh that was musical and warm and very un-android-like. “I am Zee. Hold on, and all will be explained. Follow along, and whatever you do, do not mention who I am.”
“But wait. Why are you helping us? Where are we—?”
The view stopped her words, locking her voice in her throat. The foothill that they had been cruising toward transformed into mountains. Fear and excitement warred inside her as they darted toward the side of one of the jagged ranges.
“We’re going to hit the side of the freakin’ Himalayas if you don’t do something,” she screamed.
The transport ferry wasn’t graceful or nimble, but it avoided hitting all of the lower obstacles, like a carnival experience whipping through her or a really good VR game. But this wasn’t VR. This was the real deal, and if they smashed into the gray rock, there wouldn’t be much left to bury.
She expected them to slow down, to pick one of the multiple footpaths that lead to the other side of the mountain. Although how this monstrosity was going to fit along the paths, she didn’t know. The hover system seemed to use repulsion against the ground and magnets.
The side of the wall grew in their front screen, massive—so high Ionia couldn’t see the top. “Really, Rav. Zee? Do we need to jump?” Her throat constricted, and her voice came out high-pitched. She lunged for one of the handholds.
“Ha, you haven’t seen anything yet,” he shouted over the wind. “Hold on.” He held out his hand, and what looked like a glove of microlights surrounded it. He pointed at the control panel. Then he pointed straight up.
The ferry vibrated and rattled. Ionia tightened her grip on the safety straps and held her breath. The glow of Rav’s hand seemed to reflect against the front and slide like molten gold to coat the ferry. It lurched forward and tilted up at a crazy ninety-degree angle that shouldn’t have been possible within the laws of physics. They skimmed the mountain incline like a bird without wings. Some gravity control must have locked them to the deck because otherwise, they would be sliding into the abyss behind them.
“We’re flying! How are we flying? These things don’t fly,” Ionia said.
“Tonight they do. With a bit of help.” Ravi smiled a half-crazed, half-elated smile at Zee, who somehow kept her hood on.
Ionia wondered if she looked so wild when she was bad. Probably. She held on tighter and smiled, keeping an eye on their progress. But not for all the gold left in the Siberian Mountains would she look down. It would be way, way too far to fall.
They crested a ridge and leveled out. The engine whined and sputtered as they approached a rift in the mountains with a wall set between two peaks. The wall stretched sixty meters high and seemed to be made of dusty white metal. The ferry backfired and chugged to a halt before them. Laser gun turrets on either side swiveled to sight them. A buzz of electronic sights zeroed in on them, and the hairs on Ionia’s neck bristled.
“They’re going to vaporize us.” They were going to die. They were all going to die. Well, Zee wouldn’t technically die. She would stop functioning. Which was like dying.
Why were Ionia’s thoughts rambling? Maybe that’s what happened before you died. Rambly thought.
During her NDE with Feinstein, she’d thought about those she’d loved. All she was leaving behind. She’d prayed for one more day. One more moment.
This really didn’t feel like the end. This felt more like Ravi knew what was happening and was messing with her. But she could never be too sure. She shot a prayer to whatever power ruled the heavens and clutched the harness.
Identify yourself. A voice void of any warmth barked.
“Supporter. Ravi Hebbar. Classification Z.”
The turrets whirled and targeted Ionia. Sweat production doubled on her already damp hands.
The appendage that looked a bit like her electronic eye before Aunt Sera had installed it, extended closer like it was sizing her up. “Unauthorized. Access denied. You have four minutes to vacate the vicinity or face extermination.”
Throat dry, Ionia tried to grip onto the handrail, but her sweat-coated hand slid off. “Ravi. We gotta go.” He wasn’t moving anywhere near fast enough. She could swear she heard a timer clicking off the seconds before the laser would exterminate them like an insect zapper.
“Ravi!” She shouted at him, but he kept staring at the doors as if in a trance.
“Zee?” She turned and kept turning. No one was there. Zee had disappeared.
If Ravi was out of commission, and Zee was gone, it was up to her. She started pushing buttons on the control panel. One of them could give her a way to escape.
Her pulse pounded in her ears so loudly, all she could hear was the thump-thump-thump like a drum of doom. She’d never see her mom or Den again. He’d forever think she did
n’t want him. She slammed a fist down, and the transport jerked.
Three minutes fifty seconds. The watch droid's impassive voice echoed in the chasm.
She twisted another dial, and the transport shut down and slammed into the ground.
“Crap, crap, crap. Turn it back on. Ravi!”
Three minutes thirty seconds.
Ionia’s chest tightened, and her breath came in hard pants. Not enough time. She couldn’t help but long for Den. He’d know how to fix it and get them out.
But he was probably somewhere over that wall, already fighting for his life.
And she was left to figure a way out on her own.
Three minutes twenty seconds.
***
Den dodged the other droid’s attack by leaning back for .02 seconds. Chirag had asked him to stop destroying his opponents in less than five minutes. It had been difficult to comply with the request.
After disabling the serpent droid, all his competition had been easily dispatched. None had been AI droids, and all had been controlled by some master who could not move or think half as quickly as Den. His current adversary had very little in the way of design. The machine was joined boxes with plastimetal overlay set on treads. The whole demonstration seemed to be purely for entertainment and betting. Not the road to independence and, more importantly, to Ionia’s attention that Chirag had promised.
He sidestepped enough to blunt the blow of the makeshift battle bot and sighed. Chirag had also mentioned that he needed to allow himself to be occasionally injured to help the audience invest in him emotionally. Den thought it was an obvious ploy, but the onlookers seemed to be fixed on him now that he had rivulets of blood flowing down the side of his face.
Interesting how easily Chirag manipulated the emotions of the humans.
Den had no interest in this bout as it was not being broadcast. He was complying to have a place and a purpose, for a chance to be broadcast later, for a chance to let Ionia see his real feelings. To be her knight. To win her admiration. To make her understand he would be her hero.
Vagabond Souls: The Ionia Chronicles: Book 2 Page 15
