I don’t know whether I believe her, but there isn’t time to think about it. My thoughts and emotions have both reached their limit, and it’s all I can do to process what Val says next: “I have altered the signal from the Puls.wav. During initial inspection, the jacker’s death should be attributed to an equipment malfunction.”
I exhale shakily. I didn’t even think about that part. Killing one of AxysGen’s jackers will draw unwanted attention—which means Rami is in danger. I force my feet to move. “Let’s get out of here, like right now.”
logging off network
disconnection complete
Friday, 06-11-65 16:23:22
I SLAM BACK INTO my own skin, trembling and soaked with sweat. While my brain reconnects with my body, a hand brushes back my hair, unplugging the silver cable from behind my ear. “Esperanza. Esperanza, are you all right?”
It’s Rami. I sigh with relief. “It’s done, but Val melted a corp jacker,” I mutter. “We don’t want to be around when they figure out it wasn’t an accident. Also, why didn’t you tell me you had a fucking FRAI?”
“I’ll explain later.” Rami helps me to my feet. When their hand clasps around mine, I feel something hard in my palm—Val’s databox. I shove the cube inside my blazer. The only thing worse than getting caught in the heart of an AxysGen office would be getting caught with a FRAI, and I’m almost convinced that’s what Val is, no matter how unlikely it seems.
“This way,” Rami murmurs. They walk down the row of terminals with a smile, fingertips braced beneath my elbow for support. I struggle to keep my legs from wobbling. Hard cuts can make rookies dizzy, but that’s not why my head’s spinning.
Val killed someone for me. Maybe someone with a family. Killing the jacker didn’t have to happen. If I’d had more time...if I’d gotten off a stun so Val didn’t have to save my stupid ass.
Rami drags me into the elevator. Once the doors shut, they murmur in my ear: “Keep it together, sweetie. You can do this. All we need to do is walk out the front door.”
The front door. I focus on that as the floors fly by. Get to the front door and walk out. That’s all. We reach the lobby, and Rami lets go of my arm. I follow them out of the elevator, staring straight ahead at the back of their hijab. I don’t want to make eye contact with anyone else. Some irrational part of me is terrified they’ll know by looking—see the guilt on my face or something. But no one notices me. I blend right in until we arrive at the front entrance.
I make a beeline for freedom, but Rami stops me. “No. Wait.” Four security guards in black suits and red visors are standing near the doors. They’re scanning everyone who walks in or out, stopping people at random to question them. Sweat breaks out on my forehead. AxysGen must have heard about the jacker and decided to beef up security. I look at Rami in a panic, but their face is calm, reassuring.
“You said it’s done, right?”
I nod.
“Then there’s no data left,” they say cheerfully, like we’re talking about work. “All scrubbed, nothing to worry about. I think the two of us should reward ourselves with an early lunch.”
They’re right about our DNA profiles, but everything that could go wrong still flashes through my head as they lead me to the door. Cold sweat runs down the middle of my back as one of the guards locks eyes with me. His face is neutral, impossible to read. Almost reminds me of someone.
He holds up a hand to stop us. “Name?”
My mind goes blank. For the first time in my fucking life, I can’t remember how words work. “Uh…”
“Esperanza, what’s going on?” Rami’s tone is impatient, and their brow is creased with annoyance.
The guard’s gaze flicks over to them. “Possible security breach, ma’am. Name?”
“Laila Ahmad. What security breach? You mean this isn’t a drill?”
“I’m not at liberty to say.”
Rami huffs in annoyance. “Well, I’m not missing my lunch meeting over a drill. I have seven hundred million credits riding on this deal! My boss—”
The guard’s face becomes emptier, if that’s even possible. “Ma’am, please remain calm. This will only take a moment.” He scans us with his visor, and I get the sense he’s going as quickly as possible so he can send us on our way.
“You’re both clear. Have a pleasant day.”
Rami turns their nose up in the air. “Hmph. I’ll be registering a complaint with your supervisor. These kinds of delays are unacceptable.” They storm through the doors, pulling me along behind them.
We don’t talk until we’re three blocks away from the AxysGen building. I break down first, sagging against one of the lampposts and hanging my head. My adrenaline high has worn off, leaving me shaky and exhausted.
“Elena, sweetie, it’s okay.” Rami runs their hand up and down my back. “You did it. The op was a success. We’re wiped from AxysGen’s database.”
I can’t answer at first. My chest heaves a few times, but my eyes stay dry. I don’t know whether I’m numb or overwhelmed, and it scares me. “A FRAI. You have an actual fucking FRAI,” I say, with increasing speed and desperation. “And she killed someone. For me! Fucking shit.”
“I know it’s hard, Elena, but you and Val did what you had to do. This isn’t your fault.”
I turn away from the lamppost, shaking with quiet anger. Most of that anger is directed inward—all sorts of ways you could’ve put food on the table for your brothers, and you chose the job that puts you with a murderous FRAI—but Rami’s words are like a slap in the face. “You sent me in there blind. Maybe if I’d been prepared…If I’d known…why do none of you tell me anything?”
“About Val being a FRAI, you mean? Would you have believed us if we’d told you?”
I bite my lip, fighting against the tight coil in my chest. No, I wouldn’t have believed them. I needed to see Val in action to buy it. And it’s not my fault Val killed that guy, even though it still feels like it. She made the choice, and from a logical standpoint, it was probably the right one. Maybe that’s what’s so fucked up about it. “Fuck. You’re right. And you were right about Val. She saved my ass in there.”
“Try and keep it together thirty more seconds, sweetie. The Eagle’s coming in hot.” Rami looks past me to the street, where a shuttle is descending from one of the skylanes above. The Eagle swoops down beside the curb, idling a few feet away.
Cherry’s head pops out through the rear doors, her red bob bouncing. “Hola, mamacitas. Need a ride?”
“I don’t know,” Rami drawls, shifting their weight to one hip. They pretend to consider the offer, stroking their chin between their thumb and forefinger. “Your ride looks pretty sketchy to me.”
Cherry waggles her eyebrows. “My ride is just fine, thank you.”
“Really? Are you sure you know how to fly it?”
“Ha fucking ha.” Cherry rolls her eyes, but she can’t hide her smirk. “Y’know, I could always go find some cheaper girls on the next corner.”
I crack a weak grin, but it doesn’t last. Sasha’s head appears above Cherry’s shoulder, and she isn’t smiling. “Rami, Nevares, hop in. Cherry, stop being an ass.”
Cherry pulls a face, but she retreats into the Eagle so the two of us can climb aboard. I grab my usual seat while Rami heads up front, squeezing Cherry’s shoulder on the way. “I doubt you could’ve afforded us anyway.”
“Ha!” Doc barks from the pilot’s seat.
“Move, kiddo,” Rami says, shooing her over to the copilot’s chair.
While they switch seats, I glance around the back of the shuttle. Rock is sitting beside Cherry, which means the only empty spot left is next to me. My luck I have to sit with Sasha after this clusterfuck of an op. “Report, Nevares,” she says as she straps in. “What happened in there?”
The purr of the plasma engines gives me a brief reprieve, but it isn’t long enough. It goes quiet again as Rami points the Eagle’s nose up and glides back into the skylane. I don’t want to talk
about it, but I also don’t have much of a choice. “Jacked in, wiped the database, used Poison Fruit. Got made by an AxysGen jacker, so Val fried him.”
Rock’s eyes fill with sadness. For a large, intimidating grunt who’s half machine, his face is surprisingly expressive.
Cherry’s forehead wrinkles with concern. “Sounds rough. You okay, chaparrita?”
I’m not, so I shrug. “We got out, didn’t we? Val disguised the pulse to make it look like an accident—and what the shit, by the way?” I ask, my voice rising as my anger comes raging back like a firestorm. “None of you pendejos thought it might be important to warn me I was plugging into a goddamn FRAI? One who’s capable of killing people? What the actual fuck?”
The corners of Cherry’s lips quirk up. “Come on, Elena. You wouldn’t have believed us if we told you.”
“That’s the same bullshit excuse Rami gave me. I gave that thing access to my brain! She could’ve fried me too!”
“No, she couldn’t have,” Sasha says. “Or, rather, she wouldn’t have. Val doesn’t just kill people indiscriminately. She has moral parameters to prevent that.”
Her response makes me even madder. “I see how it is. ‘Oh, don’t worry, Elena. This FRAI’s got moral parameters, so she probably won’t kill all humans. Go ahead and give her total access to your squishy organic brain!’ Fuck you, Sasha.”
Sasha blinks at me. “Basically, yes. Val won’t kill all humans. Megan knew her shit.”
I scowl. Megan definitely did know her shit, even though she ended up dead. “You still should have told me,” I mutter.
Doc’s head pokes around the side of the copilot’s chair. “What’s got your panties in a wad? Was Val mean to you or something?”
“No,” I sigh. “She was fine, I guess. Saved my life, added me to the team roster...”
“Nice!” Doc says. “Now you’re officially part of the Lucky Seven.”
Lucky Seven. I remember Val saying that before the mission. I reach into my blazer, withdrawing the small black cube. The edges are smooth as I turn it over in my hand. “If you have a FRAI, why use me at all? You don’t need a jacker. Val could’ve wiped that database herself.”
“We do need you,” Sasha says. “She was designed to help us on ops, but Val’s true purpose is to learn. She can’t do that without anyone to observe. Besides, her primary objective is—”
“Yeah, I remember the primary objective. It’s a stupid one, though. Help whichever of you guys plugs into her box.”
Across the way, Cherry snickers.
“Cállate, puta. Didn’t you idiots think about what would happen if someone evil plugged into her and found a way around her primary objective?”
“First of all, like I told you, Megan was a fucking savant,” Sasha says. “She locked Val down tighter than—”
“Your ass?” I snap.
Sasha scowls. “Enough. My point is, Val’s still learning how to make moral decisions. She needs a human partner.”
“Considering her moral parameters are based on you, and she just killed somebody, she’s probably off to a great start.”
Sasha glares at me. “Quit it with the snark, Nevares.”
“So…you need me.” My shoulders slump. “To point your weapon for you and make sure she only blows up what she’s supposed to. Great. That’s not fucked up at all.”
“She’s not a weapon,” Rami says from up front. “She’s a sentient being.”
“Yeah.” Doc turns in her chair, extending an arm back with her palm outstretched. “Pass her up and I’ll show you. She can access the Eagle’s systems wirelessly, but she likes being plugged in. Her power source is nuclear, but even those don’t last forever.”
I look at the box in my hand again. Even though I’ve seen it firsthand, it’s hard to believe there’s something sentient inside. I put the cube in Doc’s hand, and she starts fiddling with something on the dashboard that I can’t see.
“Yo, Val. Have a good nap?”
Val’s avatar doesn’t appear, but the voice coming through the Eagle’s speakers is definitely hers. “Hello, Doris. In my current form, I do not require sleep. Since you know this, I will assume you were making a joke.”
I give Sasha a skeptical look, some of my anger cooling. “She understands humor? Really?”
“I have analyzed many different categories of humor: sarcasm, parody, satire, wordplay—”
“Do a pun,” Cherry says.
Sasha groans in annoyance. “Vidal…”
“Why did the capacitor kiss the diode?” Val asks.
“Why did the capacitor kiss the diode?” Doc repeats gleefully.
“He couldn’t resistor.”
Cherry and Doc’s hooting laughter echoes through the shuttle. Rami snorts in grudging amusement. Even Rock lets out a low, “Heh.”
“That was terrible.” I’m starting to relax, maybe because I’m too exhausted to be pissed or afraid anymore. “Do a better one.”
“Very well, Elena. Why did the artificial intelligence order a milkshake?”
Sasha turns her frown on me. “You had to encourage her, Nevares…”
“Why did the AI order a milkshake?” Cherry parrots back.
“To blend in with the general human population, making it easier to infiltrate society and, in time, conquer it.”
The whole shuttle cracks up. Cherry and Doc cackle like witches. Rami tries to muffle their giggle with an unconvincing cough. Rock makes a low rumble, and even Sasha snorts once. I can’t be sure, but I think the muscles around her mouth twitch to conceal a smile.
“I will note the positive response in my logs,” Val says, sounding pleased. The pitch of her voice is pretty convincing. Megan must have spent a while teaching her to sound human.
“This doesn’t mean we’re buddies, okay?” I say to the Eagle’s ceiling speakers. “I guess I can believe you’re a FRAI, but I still don’t trust you.”
“Your opinion is understandable,” Val replies. “I exist outside your previous frames of reference. From studying humans, I have come to the conclusion that many of them fear that which they have never encountered before.”
I blow a frustrated puff of air through my lips. “You just have to be all logical about it, huh?”
“My personalized algorithms predict that you will come to trust me after we have shared a sufficient number of positive interactions. The possibility of developing a mutual emotional attachment is likely.”
I narrow my eyes. “Is that your fancy way of saying you want to be pals? Because I’m not here to make friends.”
“That is a curious response. Based on available data, I believe you have already developed attachments to the other members of our crew. In fact, your brain chemistry has changed significantly during the course of our current interaction. The Eagle’s scanners indicate that your dopamine levels have risen modestly over the past few minutes, your serotonin levels have stabilized after a severe dip, and I have observed a sharp spike in oxytocin production as well.”
My face heats up. I have to stop myself from glancing over at Sasha. The last thing I want to do is give Val more incriminating data to process. “Didn’t I tell you to stop scanning me?”
Sasha’s the one who sticks up for me, much to my surprise. “Give her a break, Val. She’s had a rough day.”
“Yes. I hypothesize that most humans would find the sudden shift between severe trauma and arousal difficult to process.”
Cherry snorts loudly while Doc groans in disgust. I can’t be sure, but I think Rock’s blue eyes are twinkling. I squirm uncomfortably in my seat under their scrutiny.
Sasha isn’t amused. “When I said ‘give her a break’, I meant ‘shut up’.”
“Understood. Would you prefer music? I can generate a randomized playlist. According to my calculations, each of you will enjoy at least 73.3% of the songs.”
“Then turn up the volume,” Cherry says. “We’ve got a long flight home.”
Music fills the Eagle,
but I’m not really listening. I’m uncomfortably aware of how close Sasha’s arm is to mine. This whole day has been fucked up. Rogue AIs, killing someone, Sasha. I’m not so far up my own ass that I can’t admit the truth. I want to wrap my legs around those lean, powerful hips and let her pound me into the nearest flat surface. But being horny’s no excuse. This is business, and she’s got that thick layer of ice around her, and even though I don’t do emotional attachments, I want to at least kind of casually like the people I fuck.
So. Fingers it is. And maybe a cold shower or three.
Saturday, 06-12-65 07:51:42
HEAT. MY SKIN, MY blood, my breath—all fire. Wherever I am, it’s boiling the marrow in my bones. There’s a loud scream. Someone crying? Blinding red pierces the frigid blackness. My nose stings with smoke.
My heart crashes against my ribs, trying to shatter its cage. The red light’s coming closer. Smoke’s getting stronger. Still burning, so hot it feels like ice.
I lift my shield, and the world explodes—a red giant going supernova. More screams, then silence. Everything is quiet. Empty.
“Elena? Elena, wake up.”
I jerk awake, panting heavily. My chest aches and the back of my neck is clammy with sweat. The fluorescent lights overhead turn the face hovering above mine into a dark shadow, but I still know who it is. Sasha’s short cornrows have a distinct silhouette, and her smell is familiar too: leather, rifle oil, and some kind of spicy soap.
That’s when I realize she’s staring at me. “Nightmare,” I mumble, rubbing my eyes. I kick the covers off. The nightmare’s over, but I’m still dying of heatstroke.
Sasha nods slightly. I’m almost fooled into believing she’s being sympathetic. I’ll give her this, even though we don’t get along, she’s never kicked me while I’m down. Never said a word about the panic attacks, didn’t tell me to get over it yesterday after I straight-up melted a dude’s brain and freaked out after encountering my first FRAI.
“You okay, Nevares?”
Lucky 7 Page 10
