Page 61 of Scion

“You seem pretty calm about all this. Even for you.”

The volo hums its way through the virulent glow of Themis, swooping over other drones and transports and between the bland, well-lit facades of tall, sleek buildings. We’re in Caelum, well past the danger area for high winds, and digiglass displays flash eye-searing advertisements everywhere.

“It’s fine. That perfusion loop you set up should keep the cells from getting damaged for at least forty-eight hours.” I ignore the familiar surrounds, studying the cut on my left wrist. Clean and sealed. “Or, closer to forty now, I suppose.”

“Not about the hand. Well—about the hand too, I guess. But more about… you know.”

“Me maybe being a Dupe?”

“Yeah.”

I sigh. “I mean, it’s not great. But even if I am one? Not much I can do about it.”

“That’s… true.”

“Not much more to say, Atti.” I examine the inside of the volo. Everything plush and sleek. Say what you will about them, the Keres spare no expense for their agents.

“I know I keep saying this. But you could still run.”

I waggle the stump of my arm at the cam. “I feel like that would make me indecisive, at this point.”

“Well we wouldn’t want that,” she mutters.

“You just don’t want me dying and leaving your ownership in a mess.”

“So? You have responsibilities now, Azure. What even happens to me if you don’t get out? Do you know how annoying it would be to have to redistribute those shares, without DeGov realising I’m acting with self-determination?”

“The risks we take, Atti.” I dismiss the byplay as the volo banks and the Keres building finally slides into view. A single, sleek, twisting digiglass tower, its faces advertising all the latest Ten-O-Ten contracts available for crowdsourcing, with indicators showing just how near they are to activated. So many people regularly put their Basic toward those. As if it’s a civic duty.

The Keres are so screwed when I get this damned file.

The volo pauses for traffic above and then rises smoothly. I briefly see the face of the man I killed a few weeks ago flash up on the structure, so enormous thanks to our proximity that his giant eyes seem to be peering in at me. FULFILLED! flashes in green as he slides past, his portrait fading to greyscale. A little explosion of colour comes from the words as he disappears again.

“Azure?”

“Yeah?”

“I have system access, but they’re about to scan you.”

“Alright.” I exhale. “See you on the other side.”

I tap the q-com off, then remove it from my ear and grind it beneath my foot.

The hum of the volo fills the silence for a few minutes as its ascent slows, and an opening slides away in the side of the shining black building. I squint in the light that sears through as the volo door hisses open. Sunrise. Not something you often get to see inside a megacity. The tech and tokens needed to allow natural light to filter this far beneath the Plate, even to this height, is excessive.

“Passphrase.” The woman who greets me is augmented, one of her eyeballs replaced with tech that scans me as I alight. I don’t recognise her. A small drone swerves up to me and I extend my left arm, allowing it to inject the serum that nullifies my revs. The woman doesn’t blink at the sight of my missing hand.

My already-fading cogs prickle, just enough to draw my attention to the two ceiling-mounted Pulse turrets which are adjusting slightly to my every move.

“7-A-X-4-L.” I act a combination of bored and more than slightly impatient. Information about the Dupe itself was predictably off-net, but thanks to the raw of the DeGov scrape I got Chandra to send through, Atti was able to figure out Crimson’s internal ID and response codes. Nothing helpful on Jasa or the Pactum file in the scrape, unfortunately—but at this point, bypassing the check here was all we really needed.

And even allowing for the chaos of my former employers losing Atti’s protection only a day ago, it’s been surprisingly easy to do. The Keres, it turns out, have been relying an awful lot on tech for their security.

“You went off script.” Calm, but I can see that glowing blue eye of hers watching me down to a cellular level for any sign of violence.

“I did the job. I wasn’t going to let that monstrosity get away again.” Infuse it with a bit of pent-up anger, just like every word I ever heard out of Crimson’s mouth.

The drone bothers me again and I extend my arm a second time, letting it take a sample to ensure the serum has propagated. A moment, and then Blue-eye seems to get some sort of confirmation because she jerks her head in a clear indication for me to follow, and starts walking. I do.