Page 41 of Scion

She nods absently. Returns her attention to the terminal for a few more seconds, then taps off and sits back across from me. “Gotta go babysit Jasa de Bloody Alwes, destroyer of civilisation as we knew it?”

“Something like that.”

“What’s she like?”

“Two, maybe three millennia old. Slow. Fragile. Irritating. Weird.”

She cocks her head to the side. Surprised. “You like her.”

I glower. “That’s what you took from that sentence?”

“Can’t remember the last time you reacted to someone with anything except apathy.”

“Maybe I’ve changed.”

She grins. “ ’Zure, when I saw you on the cam I knew exactly why you were here and exactly how this whole thing would go.” Stands, leans over the table, and kisses me on the cheek. “Other people change. You just are. And I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

She sits again, and we look at each other silently.

“So I should go,” I say.

She laughs, this time, and I smile back. It always was easy with Chandra. I wish I could stay longer.

I activate my revs and slide out into the shocking-even-when-expecting-it audible assault of the Plate. Let her haul the door mechanism—she always got annoyed when I did it for her—and step out into the already-too-hot hallway. Turn back to her.

Wait a sec. She disappears briefly, then returns to toss me a Plasma blade. Old, but typically of Chandra, well taken care of. Know you like them. And looks like I can afford a new one.

I indicate a very real appreciation as I pocket it. Much better than a Ceramic. So. See you in another three years, then?

More than three months, and I will be making friends with the Keres.

Better make it three months then.

Bloody right. She gives a sharp, satisfied nod. Almost shuts the door, then hesitates. I raise an eyebrow. She grimaces. DeGov poll later today. Ten-Two-Thirty. AI filtering, content bubble nonsense. Just make sure your friend doesn’t vote, even with a clean Slab.

Why? Genuinely confused.

The Keres might be able to use it to scan for her.

But they don’t have access to DeGov systems. I study her. Right?

It’s advertising-adjacent. Fair use under Seven-O-Six. It’s a marker they can use to narrow down the search. She looks uncomfortable. They’ve been chipping around the edges for a long time, Azure. They don’t have the same access as me, yet, but they can scrape legally and they can feed it straight to Atti.

My mouth twists, but I nod a heartfelt thanks. Risky, for her to give me that much.

Thanks. I’ll tell her. But there’s no way they’ll find her where she is right now.

I squeeze her arm, and leave.

SANCTUM IS ON FIRE WHEN I arrive.

I hear the screams from several streets away, even without most of my revs active. I focus with my cogs first. Less than a heartbeat to decide that yes, damn it, it’s definitely coming from the direction I’m headed. The rapid appearance and growth of a neon-tinged cloud above the buildings in front of me is the confirmation I didn’t particularly want.

I curse, activate the rest of my revs, and run.

It’s been a while, moving at top speed through a populated area like this. A while. My cogs usually let me see where I need to move long before I get there, let me calculate every motion and reaction of every person in the milling crowds ahead, and plan accordingly.

Of course, that’s when I’m not in the middle of the damned Bash. I do alright for the first thirty seconds but then one man stumbles back into my path for no reason whatsoever, giggling as he stares at the sky. I may as well have been a truck. His arm snaps to the side, dislocating at the shoulder from the impact.