Page 69 of Scion

“Oh, much better.”

“No need to be snippy.” She’s frowning. “Look, I don’t know where they are or their stand-down codes or anything, but all the data is in that head you’re holding. And there’s going to be some sort of response coming soon, so…”

“Fine.” More information would be better, but she’s not wrong. “Alright. Cooler downstairs, then back to the volo. How do I find you?”

“This would be a friendly meeting, I assume, dear?”

I think about what she’s put me through, to this point. “I probably wouldn’t kill you.”

“Hm. Not quite as definitive as I’d like, but beggars can’t be choosers, and all that.” She shakes her head. “Speaking of which. You still remember my scion’s wallet details? You can send me my tokens back, and I’ll find you with a backtrace.” She tuts. “I really didn’t think of you as a thief.”

“Well I didn’t think you’d be needing it,” I point out irritably. “And it’s too late. I spent most of it.”

She’s smiling, but it sort of seems to stiffen into something horrified as she starts to realise I’m not joking. “Pardon?”

“I have a 28 percent stake in Atti. How do you think I got in here?”

“Your AI? Ugh.” She sounds a mixture of disappointed and disgusted. “Honestly, Azure? I just assumed you’d punched your way in, like you always do.” She sighs. “Well, I won’t tell you off for using some forethought for once. I do have some backup funds, and I suppose I owe you a reward for helping me out. Plus I imagine you’ll need a little spending money, once you’re out of here, to disappear for a while.”

“Exactly.” I pretend not to care about the utterly ludicrous number of tokens still sitting in my account. “So. How do I contact you?”

She thinks for a long moment. “If you want to, transfer a single token into that wallet. I’ll do the rest.”

“If I want to?” She emphasised that part.

“My gift to you, Azure. Choice.” She smiles beatifically. “You bring that head to me, and we’ll work together. Partners. Equals. We’ll use what we know to force the Keres into doing what we want them to do—hang this over them, use them to track down your counterparts and get rid of them. I never should have created them, and you… you might never be safe until you’re the only one left.”

“Wait. You want to blackmail the Keres?” I frown. “You won’t just give DeGov the evidence?”

“Oh, we could expose them. It would hurt them. A lot. They may, when all is said and done, never recover.” She scratches her nose. “But that will happen because you’re a scion. I give it about… an eighty percent chance that DeGov decides you’re not supposed to be alive, once it knows?”

“Ah.” She’s not wrong; DeGov is going to classify me as illegal property rather than a person. I was willing to surrender myself to holding for a while, if I had to, if it meant the Keres got what they deserved. I’m less willing to surrender myself to a plasma incinerator. “That sucks.”

“Not your best case scenario,” she agrees. “And I still want some things from the Keres, too. So I think this all works out better for everyone if we look at it as leverage, not evidence.”

“Alright. Sure. That’s if I bring you this guy’s head. But you said there was a choice.” I taste disbelief as the words leave my tongue. “So if I don’t?”

“Then assuming you still want to see the Keres gain some measure of punishment, just leave it with Richard.”

“Of course I do, but… the damned lion? You sure he won’t just eat it?”

“He only likes them fresh,” she says with a worrying lack of irony. “He’ll keep it safe until I can retrieve it, and instead of joining me, you can disappear. The Keres will still think I’m dead—even if you get caught and tell them otherwise, they have no mechanism to reliably believe you now. So, as long you get me that head, you have my word that I won’t make any more demands of you, Azure. Won’t chase you. The Keres almost certainly will, but with your AI and whatever tokens you have left, I can’t imagine they’ll find you. You can live out your days in peace. If that’s what you want.”

“But… why? Why would you just let me do that?” I’m genuinely puzzled. Jasa—this slightly cooler, clone-sacrificing version of Jasa, especially—definitely does not seem the altruistic type.

“Because you were friends with Landry.” She pauses. Leans forward. “And because, if I’m being honest, I have absolutely no idea what you’re going to do next. Even my own scion reacted exactly as it was meant to, but you… you’re unique. So I’m curious to see what you choose, Azure. I want to see what you really want.”

“I… wow. Okay.” I don’t really have much more to say, to that. I try not to feel like the science experiment I apparently very much am, and move on, all too aware that it’s now been minutes since Smug Exec hit the alarm. “Fine. But, how do you expect me to get out? Blending in may be a problem downstairs.” I heft the severed head, and gesture with my stump to my thoroughly blood-soaked attire.

“The AI really got you in?” I nod. “You know that’s like sending a soldier to step on an ant, right?”

“A very expensive soldier,” I correct her.

“Yes. Well. Given that our friend pressing the panic button hasn’t brought every defence in the building down on your head, I imagine you don’t need to worry.”

“Great. So you had no plan to get me out.”

“If you couldn’t arrange for your own survival, you wouldn’t have been much fun to work with. But if you really have full control of ATRoPoS now, it will have dealt with any threats, anyway. Trust me.” She smiles her infuriating smile. “Good job in there today, dear. I’ll be watching that wallet. See you soon. Or not.”