by A. L. Davroe
“Let’s get closer,” I say. Sid obliges, putting me down in the chair at the end of the walkway and then stepping back and sighing like he’s glad to be rid of the weight of me. I turn and smile at him. “Thanks for helping me in here.”
He flashes a tired smile that doesn’t reach his eyes and then lowers himself to the floor.
Delia is slowly making her way along the walkway that circles the room, examining the dark and quiet facade of server units lining the room for stories in either direction. I know from my memory of the same room in Central Dominion that if the light-stick were out and the Main Frame up and working, the walls would be twinkling with lights—like the synapses of a brain. But the brain of Evanescence is dead. “Are you ready, Dee?” I ask.
Delia comes over and takes a seat at one of the chairs beside me. “As I’ll ever be.”
I redirect my attention to the workstation. Before me are ten unshattered holo-screens. I have no way to interact with any of them without my G-Chip. The one just before me, a black screen with a white line of writing:
Anansi Initiative complete. Activate Redux Program?
Six small rectangular boxes flash after the question mark. Indicating input of a password is necessary.
“Dad was right,” I sigh.
Delia’s chin turns toward me, though she doesn’t look away from the screens. “What do you mean?”
“It’s like what I said when I explained the whole plan to everyone back at the base. There was a secondary program that was supposed to run in conjunction with the Anansi Virus. This Redux Program that’s supposed to bring on some kind of renaissance for Evanescence.”
“And that’s why we created those chips?”
“Yeah. We’re going to need a couple of VR consoles,” I say, turning, but half the group is gone.
“Cam already left to get them,” Clairen responds. “And Sid is looking for some alternate power sources.”
Stormy comes toward us. “What are you guys doing?”
“Attempting to reboot the city,” Delia says.
“Well yeah, I got that. But how? This computer is dead, isn’t it? How are you even going to restart it?”
“It’s not dead, just asleep,” I say, pointing toward the lit screen. “I surmise it’s on a sleep mode. I have to get this password in.”
“Do you even know the password?”
I frown. “No, but I’ll figure it out. I’m good at this sort of thing.”
Stormy’s eyes explore the workstation. “There’s no keyboard, no holo-board, and aren’t your G-Chips dead? Isn’t that how you Domites in Evanescence control your technology?”
“I’m impressed you know so much about us.”
“Dad says you have to know your enemies.”
“He’s a smart man. I’d liked to have met him under better circumstances.” I point at the screen. “The reason the city shut down in the first place is because I planted a virus in the system. I was able to do that because my parents created a virtual reality game called Nexis that was designed to overlay the system. Through the game, I was able to bypass all the security programs and get into the Main Frame. I’m hoping to be able to get back into the game and, from there, reboot the city.”
“You see,” Delia adds, “we could try and hack our way into the Main Frame from out here. It’s not like Ella hasn’t created the bypass codes before, but that would take time we don’t have. In the game, Ella has already gotten past all of that and we should, theoretically, be able to get straight to work.”
Stormy nods. “I think I get it. But what about the other Aristocrats? Didn’t you say you needed them?”
I grin at her. “Oh, I definitely do.”
“But they’re not here.”
“No,” I agree. “And they won’t be coming into the city until I make sure the Disfavored aren’t going to kill them on sight. I’ve arranged for their safe entrance into the game alongside me.” I point at one of the screens. “If I’m calculating right, you should be allowed to watch what’s happening in the game. You all should.”
“If the Aristocrats were safely rescued,” Clairen adds.
The sobers me. “Yes. If.”
A few minutes later, Cam and one of Clairen’s Disfavored return carrying two consoles. They begin unpacking them and hooking Delia and I up. Sid and the other Disfavored return with a small generator. “I found this in the archives. I hope it still works.”
“Shouldn’t you be able to hook everything to light-sticks like the doors?” Stormy asks.
“No, we need too much power,” Sid says, distracted as he and Cam puzzle out wires and exchange bundles of cords.
While they attempt to hook everything up, I turn to Delia. “You have your access chip?” She reaches into her pocket and pulls it out. “These have everyone’s access codes preloaded, so as long as they’re inserted at entry-time, they should all get redirected to Central Dominion.”
“I’ll take that,” Cam says, taking the chip from Delia. “You girls ready?”
I sit back in the chair, give one last glance to Delia, and pull my blinders over my eyes.
chapter thirty
Post-American Date: 7/10/232
Longitudinal Timestamp: 1:05 p.m.
Location: Free Zone, Central Dominion; Nexis
The Central Dominion is just like how I left it. Literally. I wake up, and I’m suspended from a massive tangle of light-shot spider webbing. I’m not just caught in it, I’m part of it, each line shot through my body like it has been threaded through me with a needle, though it doesn’t hurt. There’s a sudden bit of screeching beneath me. Panicked, I glance around, trying to pinpoint the echoing hysteria. “Delia?”
“I’m here.” I hear her call from far below me.
I tilt my head back, see her standing on the narrow walkway in front of the bank of computers I’d used to input the last of the coding required to insert the virus. Around her are a number of the Aristocratic girls she’s become friends with since I was forced to abandon her. Including Carsai. Not everyone is here yet, but there is time. I let out a breath of relief. “You made it!”
Delia grins at me. “Was there any doubt?”
“Yeah, but how?” Farouza asks.
“Where are we?” Carsai demands. “And what are you doing up there, Ellani?”
“This is such a long story.” I shake my head. “Dee, what do you see?”
Lowering her gaze, she squints at the computer. “It’s the same screen as the one out there. Wait, there’s something appearing under it… S-P-I-D-E-R.” She looks up. “Must be the passcode to activate the Program.”
As she speaks, the lights around us start flickering, and the computer whirs and clicks and beeps. Shots of light come down the wires strung through my body, travel out.
“What’s happening?” she calls. “Are you okay?”
“I’m all right.” It doesn’t hurt. This all sort of makes sense. If I’m the lynchpin and Nexis is just another layer of reality over the Real World, then a physical manifestation of my role in the process makes sense.
“Holy sparks.” I hear from below. This time the voice is older and male.
“There are more people coming in,” Delia calls up.
I nod, annoyed I couldn’t have at least been strung up in a direction that allowed me to see what was going on around me. Knowing there is nothing I can do until they’ve all arrived, I hang and I wait while the noise below grows and grows as more people connect out in Real World and are dropped onto this level. Every so often, I twist and glance down. Even though they have all been pulled from whatever game they were playing in Nexis when the city first went down, Delia’s access chip has not only transported them from their games, but it has also stripped them of their avatar’s clothing and design. They all look like how they do in Real World, Mods and Alts glistening on Custom skin clothed in Elite, Neo-Baroque opulence. I can’t stare for too long because it’s almost too painful to look at. All that color and cheer, all that in
nocent Aristocratic frivolity. It reminds me too much of a time when I was naïve to the woes of the world, before all of us were touched by darkness and pain.
Eventually, Delia calls up to me. “I think this is the best we’re going to get.” There’s a tinge to her voice, which tells me some faces are missing, but I expect that. Some are dead. We’ve orchestrated this plan so some of our group are doing other things. Cam and Sid are still outside, making sure nothing goes wrong with our bodies or the connection with the game. Zane and Angelique should be in Central Staffing, working hard on patching this scene out through The Broadcast so the Disfavored inside the dome can see their Savior convincing the Aristocrats to save them.
But her voice tells me Gus isn’t here. And if Gus isn’t here, Quent isn’t, either. My heart sinks, but I try to stay focused, try to tell myself there are a hundred reasons why they aren’t here, and they are perfectly logical. I can’t wait forever for them to appear here in Nexis. Time is of the essence.
Pushing my dread away, I swallow. “Okay, it’s show time.” As I’ve learned from playing Nexis, I manipulate the threads. Slowly, they slide out of me, lower me. I come down in the center of the Aristocrats and as my feet touch the ground, more threads bloom up out of the floor, wrap around me, knitting me into a dress made of silken silver threads that glisten and move like mercury around me.
Bastian comes forward, grabs me into a massive hug, and Sadie follows. “I’m so glad to see you.”
“And I you, but it’s not the time for a reunion.” Nodding, Bastian steps away, drawing Sadie with him.
I stand tall, meet the piercing eyes of the Aristocrats around me with a sense of pride. Delia has written my avatar to look the very best I can while still being my Natural self. My hair is Primped, I’ve got both my legs, and I’m dressed in a gown of my very finest design. I need to appeal to both sides of this long-standing war.
“Thank you all for coming.”
“I didn’t have a choice,” one Aristocrat man says. “I was held at gunpoint.”
I smile at him. “I apologize for the rough treatment. I know this is all a little abrupt, and you’ve had a very traumatizing few days.”
“That’s an understatement,” Carsai mutters.
“I’d like to show you something.” I move toward the control panel and type in a command. “Zane, are you there?”
A screen flashes and his face appears. As Delia programmed him to look, he’s in top Anchor form. He sits back, and Angelique and Kit are beside him at the table. A sudden murmur goes up in the crowd around me. Like me, most of the Aristocrats in the group assumed Zane and Kit were dead. We were all there when the aerovator door closed between us and them.
“Angelique!” Carsai squeals. “Circuits, I was so worried when those Disfavored men took you!”
Angelique smiles at her. “I’m fine. They were very good to me, very gentle. And look!” She holds up her scratch-pad. “They even saved this for me. They’re not like what we thought.”
“That’s a matter of opinion,” Carsai mutters. “And Lady Cyr!” She turns her attention to Kit and curtsies, her voice dripping with reverence. “I’m so very glad to see you. I have an urgent matter to speak with you about.”
“In time, Miss Sheldon,” Kit says, folding her white-gloved hands before her. “Right now, we’ve got serious matters to attend to. It’s time to save our home.”
Another murmur goes up then. I examine the surroundings behind Kit, Zane, and Angelique. I’ve only been in Central Staffing a few times, and I’ve only seen The Broadcast studio once, but the Nexis version of it looks similar to what I remember from my one class trip. “Are you all hooked up?”
“Yes,” Zane responds. “I’m live and rolling. The drones we use when filming in Kairos are in operation and circulating the city, and the main holo-screens have been powered up. Though, I don’t know how long this auxiliary power cell is going to hold up.”
The Central Staffing building is equipped with an auxiliary power cell that allows for emergency Broadcasts to be made, and we’ve tapped into that. “Give me a feed from one of the external cameras.”
“All right, one moment please.” He clears his throat and, in his best Anchor voice, he says, “Ladies and Gentlemen, reporting to you live from Nexis’s Central Dominion, this is Zane Boyd here with Lady Kistune Cyr and Junior Anchor Angelique Foreman. We’re about to show you a lively and disturbing image which is not for the faint of heart.”
I roll my eyes. “Today please, Zane.”
“Okay, okay. No appreciation for proper news coverage.” He flips a switch and the screen splits. On one side, the newsroom remains the same. The new image is a live feed from Evanescence. The camera pans out and circles a large group of Disfavored people half dressed in our clothing, half dressed in their own, staring wide eyed and dumbfounded at one of the large holo-screens set up at the corner of two of the main streets. The wall behind them is painted with large letters. “In Drexel We Trust.” On a wall farther down the street, I can see even larger, “Ella the Savior.” The camera finishes panning, stopping so we’re staring at the backs of the Disfavored, seeing what they are seeing. And what they are seeing is us, staring at them.
Zane just can’t help himself. “A hush falls over both crowds as the Disfavored and the Aristocrats behold each other for the first time. How strange a thing, to see clearly for the first time the people from beyond the wall.”
“Zane shut up or I’ll put you on mute.”
He drops his shoulders, but says nothing else.
“As you can see,” I say, voice hushed, “this is what our city now looks like.”
“Are those Disfavored?” Sadie asks.
Someone else says, “In our city?”
“Who let them in?” another asks.
“The city did,” Delia says quickly, cutting off hysteria before it can gain momentum. “After we left, the doors flew wide open and the Disfavored moved in. We don’t know how or why, but we’re trying to cope with it.”
“How are we going to get them out?” Carsai demands.
“We’re not going to,” I say.
“What? But this is our home, not theirs!”
“And what have you done to earn it?” I demand, irritated. “What has any one of you done to even earn the right to still be alive?”
That shuts them up. For a moment.
“These people have scratched by and struggled just to survive. They’ve done nothing wrong. Their only fate is to have been born on the wrong side of a wall. And the only reason you grew up the way you did, why you’re fat and happy with comfortable clothing, educations, and stupid Mods and Alts is because you were born on the right side. These people didn’t have to save you from those cannibals, but they did. Every one of the people out there”—I point at the screen—“has every reason to want to kill you.”
“They would if they had the chance,” an older Aristocrat woman says, voice frantic. “Just look at the bodies in the street. Those are people we know. Clearly, they’d do the same to us if they could.”
“But they won’t. The Disfavored are ready to learn to live in harmony with the Aristocrats. Like you’re soon going to find, they’ve learned that only with cooperation between our two sides can we manage to make it through this crisis. You needed them and they saved you. Now, they need you and you’re going to save them. We’re going to fix the city.” I finally turn so my face appears to the Disfavored who are watching us.
The reaction is instantaneous. They react to me like the Aristocrats react to the Presidential family when they appear on The Broadcast. There’s this sudden stillness, and then people start cheering. One voice, then many chant, “Drexel! Drexel! Drexel!”
They go on and on and on. The sound grows and grows and grows until it echoes around the chamber and makes the room feel like there’s a living heartbeat in it. It unnerves me.
Reaching out, I allow a number of threads to flow from my body and connect to the control panel. The
screen flickers off. Silence falls like a guillotine, and I turn to the Aristocrats.
They are still and bristling, like so many statues. I might shatter them, like glass. “As you can see, the Disfavored are willing to cooperate.”
“That answers nothing,” Carsai spits, taking a step forward. “What is that?”
“That,” I say, trying to make my voice knifelike, “is what happens when people play games with other people’s lives. It’s what happens when brilliant minds, like yours, and yours, and yours, and yours”—I point at different people—“are allowed to have what they want. It’s exactly why we’re all standing here and why we have to fix this.”
Carsai crosses her arms. “I’m not fixing anything.”
“Carsai,” I say, losing my patience.
Delia reaches out, touches my arm. She takes a step forward. “Look, you don’t have to listen to Ella, Carsai. If you listen to anyone, listen to me, to Kit, to Zane, and Angelique.” She holds her hand out toward the screen. “The Disfavored have moved into the city. And we’re what? Twenty-five strong? How are we going to get them out? Even if we did, what the heck are we going to do with a whole city all to ourselves? These people have always lived on the Outer Block. Because we left them out there to die. They’ve been waiting for a moment like this, to be allowed in where it’s safe. They even tried to force their way in a couple of times and I don’t blame them. We’ve all been out there, we’ve all seen what they’ve been forced to live in because of us. And now, the city is dead, the only thing that ever protected any of us is dead, and without it we’re all dead. Carsai, you’re mean and selfish sometimes, but you’re not a bad person. Can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me these people deserve to die? They’ve done nothing to you.”
“They’ve done plenty,” Carsai growls. “I was there. It wasn’t just droids going nuts and killing people. There were Disfavored, too.”
“A small group of them, yes,” Kit says. “But they were there at my bidding. The city fell because I allowed for the virus to be planted, even encouraged it. What happened to our fellow citizens and our city was a terrible mistake. A mistake caused by my trust of someone who betrayed me. I wanted us all to live together in peace, Disfavored and Aristocrat alike, but I didn’t want it to happen in this awful manner. I’m…” She pauses, her voice wavering. “I’m so very sorry. If you want to get angry, get angry at me. I humbly accept whatever punishment awaits me at your hands.”
