Quanta Rewind

by Lola Dodge

  “You know where she is now?” Tair’s voice was cautious.

  “All of our people are fitted with a concealed tracking beacon.” Ai gestured and a holographic map popped up beside her. “Cassiopeia went offline here.” She pointed to red dot, disturbingly deep inside Alpha Citadel. “You have the DNA samples with you?”

  “We have them,” Tair said.

  “Excellent.” Ai’s grin made me want to grin back at her. It was a little weird considering she was a program and not a person, but who was I to judge? She was already nicer than half the people I’d ever met.

  “You weren’t the one who messaged with us,” I said. Whoever had been typing had come off a little short and surly. Ai was neither of those.

  “That was Theodore.” She gestured to the other side of the room.

  “It’s Teddy.” He slid back from his workstation, knocking over a few empty bev cans in a clatter that made me jump. Teddy emerged from the clutter of flashing equipment. He was skinny with a few days of stubble grown in and deep circles under his blue eyes. I hadn’t even noticed him until he moved. Just in case, I scanned the rest of the room, but he was the only other flesh-and-blood human around.

  “Theodore will assist you with the DNA.”

  “We took samples from all eight of the men,” Tair said, turning to speak more to Teddy than Ai. “We’re re-routing their trackers for now, but we’ll re-sync them to our location as soon as we can get tattooed.”

  “Wait. What?” Teddy stepped through Ai, breaking the holo for a second. “I can’t be hearing you right. You want Helix tats? For yourselves?”

  “Yup.” And I totally understood why he was staring like we’d all sprouted antlers. Impersonating theses guys would be both stupid and suicidal without Devan up our sleeve. Not wanting to out her powers, I made up a slightly more believable story. “We have a hologram thing to disguise ourselves. Don’t worry about it.”

  “And I thought Cass was insane.” Teddy scrubbed his forehead before pushing past us to the door. “Whatever. Just follow me.”

  Huh. He was really taking the craziness in stride.

  I started to follow, but Cipher and Knight were still gazing around the room, which was probably their tech nerd heaven. “You guys want to wait here?”

  I was guessing it would take a while before we were ready to actually tattoo anyone. Getting the DNA ready had to be complicated.

  “Yeah.” Cipher’s eyes were so wide, she looked like she’d stumbled into heaven.

  Dex cleared his throat. “Is there somewhere we can rest?” He was piggybacking Devan, who was so totally passed out that her head lolled over his shoulder.

  “I wish I could walk you, but this is the only room where my projectors are currently installed.” Ai gestured to the door. “If you’ll follow the path to your right, you’ll find plenty of spare rooms where you can rest.”

  “Thanks.” Dex headed out, balancing Devan’s weight and both of their packs. I really was worried about her. We’d been pushing her too hard and that would only get worse tomorrow. At least for tonight, she’d be able to rest on a flat surface.

  Back in the main cavern, Dex split off while Tair and I followed Teddy up and across a different catwalk. Maybe I should’ve been doubting him and this whole operation a bit more, but after all the crazy travel, my worry circuits were fried. As long as nothing apocalyptic jumped out of the future, I planned to go with the flow until tomorrow.

  At least, strategy-wise. Curiosity-wise, not even bone-deep exhaustion could get me down. I snuck closer behind Teddy. “I thought you guys were all gamers.” With the secret base and scary-advanced tech, Roboloco wasn’t exactly as Cass had advertised—though I could guess her reasons. She definitely wouldn’t want Tair knowing she was involved in anything shady.

  “We game.” Teddy shrugged. “We do some other stuff, too.”

  “Such as?” The little furrow in Tair’s brow said he didn’t like this development.

  Teddy glanced back, narrowing his eyes at Tair. “Aren’t you her brother?”

  “That’s why I’m here.”

  And I wasn’t sure where Teddy was going with this.

  “That girl.” Teddy made a disgusted noise at the back of his throat. Not the best idea.

  “Excuse me?” Tair’s tone sharpened.

  “Just, Jesus. Why didn’t she tell you what she was up to?” Teddy slapped the wall. “Now all you outsiders are up in our shit and if we get in even more trouble…” He stepped through the doorway before he finished the thought.

  Tair and I exchanged a confused look. What was really happening with these Roboloco people?

  “Just get in here,” Teddy called.

  As curious as I was, I couldn’t help but follow.

  Chapter Twenty

  ALTAIR

  I wasn’t yet sure what to make of Teddy—or any of this—but I followed him into the next cavern planning to get answers.

  The narrow stone room had been converted into a makeshift lab. Two stainless steel tables held a scattered selection of lab equipment in desperate need of organizing. Sleeves of unopened petri dishes mixed with vials tipped on their sides, and more boxes of the same clutter were stacked off to the side. It felt like someone hadn’t finished unpacking yet. It didn’t inspire confidence.

  But the tattooing unit drew my gaze like a beacon of hope.

  It was an official unit with a serial number emblazoned on its side. With its padded cradle and robotic arms, it looked exactly like the unit that had inked my own Green Helix.

  “How did you get this?” The machines were guarded like treasures because the ability to apply and remove Helix tattoos was as good as the ability to change your societal standing. A forged tattoo wouldn’t pass for long—all it took was a check against the official Helix rosters to identify the fake—but as long as the DNA encoding was done correctly, the basic Helix was enough to pass most security checkpoints. I’d been expecting to find something cobbled together that would put us in danger, but seeing the real thing, I was genuinely impressed.

  And suspicious. Roboloco was obviously more than a gaming operation.

  “Does it matter?” Teddy shrugged. “Where are the samples?”

  I’d brought my pack along, but I couldn’t move forward without getting at least a few basic questions answered. “What are you people doing here? And how is Cass involved?”

  “I hate her.” Teddy tipped his head back. “Genuinely.”

  I was about to grab him by his stained T-shirt, but Quanta pulled me back. “I might be able to translate. Can I touch you for a second, Theodore?”

  “You could shoot me in the face and I wouldn’t give a shit right now.” Teddy stayed motionless, staring blankly at the ceiling. His response raised even more questions. Mainly, what was wrong with him?

  “Well, fantastic then.” Quanta set a hand on his arm while I gave a blank stare of my own.

  What was going on here? Roboloco had the most advanced AI system I’d ever seen, and resources that even Lady Eva lacked, but if Teddy was any indication, the members of this group were insane.

  Quanta’s bluish glow burst and faded. When she turned back to me, her jaw hung open in shock.

  “What is it?” I needed the answers now.

  “Cassie…” She glanced at Teddy.

  “Is she all right?” My pulse jumped.

  “She’s their leader.”

  “Of course she is! And now she’s fricking kidnapped!” Teddy’s eyes had turned red and glassy during his upward stare. “This doesn’t work without her. Jesus! What do we even—”

  “Theodore.” Ai’s calm voice projected from Teddy’s com. “Be kind to our guests.”

  “You have to get her back.” Teddy rubbed his face against his shoulder. “Get her back so I can wring her scrawny neck.”

  I gripped the edge of the nearest table. It shouldn’t add up, but when I started doing the math…

  My sister was brilliant. I’d never questioned why
she didn’t conform to the life our parents wanted for us, because I hadn’t been inclined to conform either. I’d thought us two of a kind. So why had I never guessed we might be participating in parallel rebellions?

  I already knew that answer. I’d underestimated her. Tragically. It felt like a hole had opened in the rock beneath my feet, leaving me staring into a chasm of all the hints I’d been too preoccupied to miss.

  Cass had been suspicious of me for years, but I’d always assumed she was occupied programming her games while I was working for the Shadow Ravens. Even knowing she’d be an asset to Eva, I’d been adamant about keeping my sister out of trouble.

  She’d found trouble anyway, and I hadn’t been there to help. I lifted my glasses to palm my forehead as I tried to process.

  Quanta flared blue again, trying to make sense in her own way. Teddy took a few wide-eyed steps away from her now that he was paying attention, but Quanta ignored him until she switched her powers off again. “What are you guys up to here? If it’s as deep as it looks, I’m wondering if Nagi picked up Cassie because of Roboloco. The fact that she’s bait for us might just be the icing for him.”

  “Should I explain?” Ai’s disembodied voice came Teddy’s com again. I hoped someone would explain. I was still battling shock and weight of my stupidity.

  “I’ve got this,” Teddy said. “Leave us alone, okay?”

  “As you wish, Theodore.”

  “She’s so annoying.” Teddy shook himself before focusing back on Quanta. “We don’t know why the Seligo took Cass, but if they knew the shit we were planning, they would’ve gone nuclear on our base. They didn’t touch our gear or try to swipe our data. They just cut our power main and gassed us. When we woke up, only Cass was gone. So, yeah. Looking like your fault, right?”

  I’d assumed Cassie’s kidnapping was my fault all along, so his words didn’t add any more guilt. I already blamed myself.

  “What are you planning?” Quanta asked.

  “I’ll tell you.” Teddy lifted his hands. “But can you give me the DNA already? It’s gonna take a while to prep this stuff.”

  I took the pouches from my pack and slid them across the table. “There are backups if you need more material.”

  “Nah. Looks good.” Teddy began unzipping the pouches. As he sorted out the blood vials, he started to explain himself. “So Ai, right?”

  “How was she created?” If Cass had programmed that? My sister was beyond brilliant.

  “We all started out gaming. Cass programmed these sick RPGs and we’d all sneak out of the Citadel to play together and mod up her games. But then something happened with you and she got all political.” He obviously thought this was all my fault. Whatever “this” was. “A lot of us got approached to join the Shadow Ravens at one point or another, but who’s volunteering to get up in that mess? So Cass says, let’s do our own thing. If we get caught, we’re not real rebels or anything—just rich kids who can’t follow the rules. And that’s what we’ve been doing.”

  “But what exactly have you been doing? Beyond playing games?” Quanta’s frown echoed my thoughts.

  “Working on artificial intelligence. The plan was to program an AI smart and sophisticated enough that it could take over the Seligo’s systems from the inside. But we’re nowhere close and we’re screwed without Cass. We moved all the gear from the old base after we got attacked, but almost everyone freaked out and snuck back home. Our parents are all Helixes. If we get caught… Well, you know.”

  I did know. I just wondered why Cass had never shared her plans. Was I that untrustworthy? Or maybe she had, and I’d been so out of touch I hadn’t noticed? If so, I’d have a thousand apologies when I finally got her free.

  Because her plan wasn’t bad. I’d gone against the Seligo with less. “But why are you fighting the system?” In my experience, not many Helix-born children had a rebellious streak. The few of us who did were outliers.

  “You think I fit in over there?” Teddy plucked at his faded T-shirt. “My parents are both Green Helix. I’m supposed to be in a lab twenty-four seven hunched over a microscope and researching some dead-end cell strain trash for the rest of my immortal life. Gonna have to pass on that.”

  “That’s fair.” And I couldn’t criticize him when I’d done the same thing.

  “How many of you guys already have a Helix?” Teddy asked.

  “All of us.”

  “Red doesn’t count. I mean how many arm tats do I have to cover over?”

  “The girls are all Red Helix. Knight, Dex, and I all have a forearm tattoo.”

  “Huh.” Teddy tilted his head, sizing Quanta and I up.

  Before he could share his judgments, Layla Astor breezed through the doorway. “Altair. And this is Quanta?”

  “That’s me.” Quanta slipped to my side.

  Layla encompassed us both in a wide smile. “I bet some of the others you’d make it here. They said you’d get picked up.”

  “We managed.” Although I didn’t like the idea of them betting when Cassie’s life was on the line. I hoped she was exaggerating there.

  Layla turned to Teddy. “Do you need them for anything else, or can I take them to dinner?”

  “Dinner. Sure.” Teddy didn’t glance up from the trays he was pipetting. “Print me some chicken fries, yeah?”

  Layla’s nose wrinkled. “Of all the choices, Teddy.”

  “Don’t knock ‘em ’til you’ve gotten off your high horse, Astor.”

  Layla rolled her eyes and waved for us to follow, but I hesitated, glancing back to Teddy. “Are you sure you I can’t help you?”

  He waved me off. “Green Helix life, remember? Everything’s under control. Just bring back my fries.”

  “Don’t pay him any attention,” Layla said. “He’s an odd duck, but he knows what he’s doing.”

  Odd duck was generous, but at least going along with her meant I might get a question or two answered coherently. “How long have you been with Roboloco?”

  “About three years? Cassie started gathering people as soon as she dropped out of academy.” Layla led us back through the catwalk chamber while I tried to make sense of what she was saying. “The old base was much nicer. We had an amazing gaming setup with sound studios… But you probably don’t care about that. Cassie was still working on setting everything up over here when she was taken. We’d added too many members for the old space. But now…”

  “I can see her coming back here,” Quanta said, mostly to me. “It’s not hopeless.”

  “Thank you.” I needed those reassurances more than I wanted to admit. At the moment, I was still floored by my sister’s timeline. Three years meant she’d formed her own rebellion at sixteen. How had I not noticed?

  “Dining hall is this way.” Layla took us across a new catwalk into a wide tunnel of smaller doors. “There probably won’t be anyone around.”

  “Teddy said most of your people went back to the Citadel?”

  “It was our first shakedown. They freaked out and I doubt they’ll come back if Cassie isn’t here.” Layla sighed. “I still can’t believe she’s gone.”

  “She’s not gone.” My voice came out a little too rough, but I wouldn’t let anyone talk like we were already too late.

  “I know. It’s just… She seems so far away,” Layla said.

  That, I agreed with.

  But I planned to change it. Soon.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  QUANTA

  Layla led us into the dining hall. Cipher and Knight sat at one of the tables, but they were the only other people in what looked more like a bunker than a cafeteria. The cavern’s walls were sloped and four round tables barely fit inside. Complete with dim lighting, the space gave off claustrophobic vibes that I really wasn’t into. I was considering going without dinner when I spotted the bank of food printers jammed against the wall.

  We were saved from the food packs. Thank the sweet, sweet gods. I couldn’t have choked down another pouch of spaghetti r
ings to save my life.

  Tair was still pumping Layla for info, and I wanted to leave him to it. He was floored by the news that his sister was running her own rebel front. I was pretty shocked too, but more because I hadn’t gotten any timeghostly warnings of her shenanigans. For Tair, this changed everything he knew about his sister.

  I’d talk to him after he had time to process. Until then, I had a new goal.

  Food.

  I snuck off to the printers. There were four rolly units and I was going to put them all to work. Cipher and Knight were sharing a pizza that looked edible, so I punched through the touchscreen to order one of my own with double cheese, pineapple, and onions. As the first unit started whirring, I stepped sideways and brought up the dessert menu on the next unit over. Chocolate layer cake sounded like a win. I clicked the amount up to eight slices so the machine would print a whole cake.

  I used the other units to print fries and milkshakes. It took me three trips to get everything to the table, and Cipher and Knight looked at me like I was insane.

  “I was going to share.” Now that we were giving me side-eye, they could sit and be jealous while I stuffed my face. I took a forkful of cake, not bothering to slice it. Knowing all the dangers we faced, I was all about eating dessert first. I refused to let my last meal be salad.

  The cake wasn’t as good as what I used to get in the Citadel, but my taste buds were forgiving after all the food packs. Even printed chocolate tasted like heaven.

  I was almost finished with the first quadrant of cake when Layla waved and headed out. Tair came to the table and frowned. “Who printed all of this?”

  Cipher pointed at me with one of the fries she’d stolen from my basket. The hypocrite.