Chapter 7

Falsehoods Found

The tunnel spewed the scarred Blue Tang out at the edges of Iothe, one of the most peaceful systems in the Interstellar Confederation. Devin, tired of the alarms’ ringing and buzzing, flipped a switch to disable them. His first thought was to leave Jane at one of the nearby floats—self-sufficient space habitats about the size of a city—and insist that she return to Kydera before he put her in any more danger.

Jane seemed to figure out his intent when the ship turned toward the IC system. Devin tried to tell her that he was the target, and that it wasn’t her fight.

“Not my fight?!” Jane bolted upright in her seat. “Some sonuvabitch shot my father and framed my brother, so you bet your toolish ass it’s my damn fight! You can be a jerk and knock me out or something, but if you do, I’ll get my own black market starship and continue looking for the deranged asshole, anyway!”

You’re not winning this time, Pony. Devin tried to ignore her as he veered the ship.

Jane unbuckled her safety belt and stood. “Hey!” She shoved his shoulder. “Do you really expect me to go back to my stupid boring life as if nothing happened? Turn this freaking ship around!”

He continued toward Iothe. “Dammit, Jane, you could’ve been killed! I won’t let—”

“You have no say in what I can and can’t do!” She pointed at the viewscreen. “Like I said, you can dump me on some float if you want, but if you do, it’s not the freaking Mega you should be afraid of!”

“Listen—”

“Try me! Leave me there and see what happens!” She put her hands on the armrests of his seat, leaned down, and looked him in the eye. “You know what? Do it! I’ll find the bastard myself!” She pushed off the armrests and crossed her arms.

Damn, she actually would. The thought of his kid sister running around some shady sector alone looking for black market ship dealers made Devin more than edgy. It would be better to keep her near.

Besides, he realized suddenly, No Name had already targeted everyone around her. She could be next. The thought filled him with dread. At the very least, having Jane along meant he could protect her.

With a sigh of surrender, Devin maneuvered the Blue Tang back toward the interstellar tunnels. Jane smirked in triumph.

He gave her a stern look. “Just promise me one thing. Promise you’ll do as I say, no matter what.”

She raised an eyebrow. “What is this, your version of pulling rank?”

“Jane—”

“All right, all right!” Jane rolled her eyes. “As long as it doesn’t involve me getting abandoned, then fine. I get it. We’re fugitives. Big Brother knows best.” She plopped down in the copilot’s seat. “Where’re we going anyway?”

“The Viatian system.”

Devin steered the Blue Tang through one of the interstellar tunnels, curved it around, and brought it toward a different tunnel. He wove the ship in and out of the shortening lines of spheres as he went further and further from the IC systems.

As the minutes stretched into hours, his thoughts turned to Sarah. He wondered what she would think of all this, if she would believe him—and if he would get the chance to see her again and ask.

 

About three months before, Devin had taken Sarah to the Colt estate to meet his father. He’d planned to introduce them for some time, but something had always come up that prevented Dad from joining them. This time was no different.

Devin ended the communication with his father and turned to Sarah. “Once again, Quasar needs his immediate and undivided attention. I’m sorry to have dragged you all the way out here for nothing.”

Sarah smiled good-naturedly. “It’s all right. I’ve wanted to see Serena since you first mentioned it. Show me around?”

“Sure.” He considered giving Sarah the general tour of the historic mansion, then decided to show her something more personal.

He took her out in a hovercar to his favorite childhood haunt: a waterfall deep in the forest, which poured into a wide, clear creek. Large gray stones and tall trees with red and violet leaves surrounded it.

Devin stepped out of the vehicle. “I used to spend hours here.” He approached the rushing water and felt the cool mist carried in the wind. “If I was still enough, the wildlife would come out of hiding. I watched them go about their placid lives, wishing I could be like them—living in simple, unthinking bliss. It was one of the few places I could go to escape the pressures of being a Colt—the expectations, the orders, the perpetual disappointment.”

Sarah, who walked beside him, put a hand on his arm. “That must’ve been hard.”

“I ended up where I was supposed to.” He stopped near the edge of the creek.

“Do you like what you do at Quasar? You never talk about work.”

Devin kept his gaze on the waterfall. “There’s not much to talk about. And it doesn’t matter whether I like it. It’s my life.”

They all think I’m perfect. He thought about the many times his father and those he called friends had commented on how he seemed to have it all. The ruse must be working.

Sarah said slowly, “I know you’re not as detached as you pretend to be. You keep your face expressionless whenever you’re not conforming to a corporate ideal, and it’s as if you’re hiding yourself. Why is that?”

Devin looked at her. “I’m not like that with you, am I?”

She smiled. “Of course not, baby, that’s why I asked. You’re different with me than with everyone else. Why do you always shield yourself?”

“I’m not shielding myself.” Devin turned away and walked along the water. “I’m protecting the rest of the world from who I really am.” He focused on the rough stones lining the creek. “I was a disaster until about six years ago, wreaking so much havoc it was absurd. By the time I realized the hell I found myself in was my own damn fault, I’d already devastated my family, all because I was trying to find myself, to find purpose, like every other stupid kid with grand delusions. All I could do was stop caring about the things that drove me to that insanity, and I’ve kept it up to this day. If there were a drug that could remove emotion, I’d take it in a heartbeat. Forget meanings, forget beliefs. I just want to live.”

He stopped. Those were thoughts he’d long ago decided should remain unspoken. Why had he confessed them? No one could know that he projected the mask of a well-adjusted professional while hollowing out what lay behind it, cutting away every passion, every hope until he wondered what remained.

He turned to face Sarah. She gazed at him lovingly, sympathetically. That she could love him made him believe there must be something good left within. He often felt as though she’d been sent by a supernatural force to save him from his capacity for madness.

He smiled wryly. “You probably think I’m insane.”

She approached him. “I’m glad you told me. I want to understand you.”

“You won’t like me much once you do.”

She hooked her arm around his. “Why would you say that?”

Devin turned his gaze back to the waterfall. Might as well finish. “Because I’m still a disaster. I’ve fixed the outside as best I can, but there’s something deeply wrong with me. The only chance I have to overcome it is to simply do what’s expected.”

Sarah was quiet for a moment. “I think I understand. Life’s passions cause more pain than anything else. They leave us wanting, but not knowing what for, reaching for an ideal of living beyond mere existence, but no idea as to how to attain it. But you don’t have to give up on happiness. In fact, look at all the good things you have—stability, security… someone who loves you. Remember that, and you’ll realize you’re already in the haven you seek. This is paradise.”

She put a willowy arm around him and kissed him softly. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” More than I could ever say.

Sarah leaned her head against Devin’s shoulder, and he put his arm around her. For a while, he simply stood there with her, watching the never-ending flow of the waterfall and listening to the whispers of the wind against Serena’s untamed beauty.

You’re right, Sarah. Now that you’re here, this is paradise.

 

The Blue Tang exited the interstellar tunnel closest to Viate. It was the only tunnel in the region and several light-hours from the star system. A message appeared on the slate:

 

Corsair: The Seer is on Viate-5. He’s a junk dealer there, and he said he’d contact you when you get closer to the planet.

 

Devin entered the planet’s coordinates into the Blue Tang’s navigation system and set the ship on autopilot. Considering what it had been through, the ship’s ability to function normally seemed miraculous. BD Tech hadn’t been exaggerating when they said they made the best.

His pursuers wouldn’t figure out which of Kydera’s hundred or so tunnels he’d gone into, let alone which of the vast number of possible combinations he could have taken. We’ll be all right for now.

Jane had been silent since they’d left Iothe. She sat curled up in the copilot’s seat, lost in a melancholy reverie.

“Hey,” Devin said. “You okay?”

Her eyes glistened. “He’s gonna make it. Victor Colt is all about being the exception.”

Devin didn’t know how to respond. The anguish he’d felt when his father had been shot had nearly overwhelmed him, and he could only attribute his quick escape to survival instincts he hadn’t known he still possessed. The only thing he could do to hold himself together was to accept that father might as well be dead and deal with it.

But that didn’t mean his sister had to. If blissful denial would help her handle her grief, then he wasn’t about to shatter her hope.

Jane released her knees and sat up straight. “I’m not just being optimistic. He will recover.”

Devin tried to smile. “Of course.”

She clenched her fists. “Do you think it was the same bastards who assassinated Mom? Dad said it was a gang controlled by a Fringe warlord. Do you think that warlord went after him too? Is that why we’re out here?”

Devin looked away. He owed Jane the truth, and he swore to himself he’d tell her someday—but not that day. She’d never speak to him again, once she knew.

“Devin?” Jane peered into his face. “What aren’t you telling me?”

He ignored the question in her eyes. “Viate is one of the few Fringe systems that isn’t run by warlords. I’m hoping to trade the Blue Tang for a lesser model. Anything made by BD Tech is worth a lot out here.”

He paused, trying to find another topic. “You wanted to know what Citizen Zero is, right? They’re an anti-establishment Netcrew, and Corsair’s one of their most influential members. Most people dismiss them as paranoid conspiracy theorists, but they’re probably some of the best demons out there. You saw what they did to that warship.”

Jane took the bait, and the question in her eyes brightened into curiosity. “How did they do that?”

“They hack into corporate or government computers to steal documents, looking for proof of corruption. I asked Corsair to see if they could get the command codes to the ship patrolling Lyrona. I knew I’d have no chance of escaping otherwise.”

“Who’s Corsair anyway? How do you know him?”

Should I lie? After a moment of hesitation, Devin said, “We were both members of a cybergang called Legion. It was years ago, back when… back when I was younger.”

“You were in a cybergang?” Jane leaned over her armrest. “Is that what Dad meant when he said you used to get in trouble?”

“Yeah.” It wasn’t the whole truth, but it wasn’t a lie either.

Jane must have sensed his unease, for she didn’t ask for details. She rested her head against the back of her chair. “So Citizen Zero’s like a smaller version of the Collective.”

“They started out as an offshoot of the Collective, but now they’re suspicious of it. Several of their members were unveiled and killed after getting involved with one of the Collective’s leaders, Mastermind.”

“Hacking can get you killed?” Jane stared in wide-eyed disbelief.

Devin smiled, amused by her doll-like expression. “You don’t know much about cybergangs, do you? They work for Fringe warlords, drug kingpins, interstellar mafias—the most dangerous people in the galaxy. There’s a lot of overlap between the two, but unlike Netcrews, who operate entirely online, cybergang demons often get physically involved with their jobs. Being unveiled and having their identities revealed is the worst thing that can happen to them.”

“So who’s Mastermind?”

“No one really knows. He first showed up about twenty years back and made a hobby out of messing with the Fringe systems. The things he did determined the outcomes of their turf wars. The Collective revered him for it. He disappeared about ten years ago, after several of the demons he worked with turned up dead.”

Jane grabbed her armrest and pulled herself forward. “What were they doing? What happened to Mastermind? How was he was so powerful? What—?”

“Slow down, Pony! I don’t have the answers. I don’t think anyone does.”

Devin had more to tell her, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it—not yet. In a matter of days, his world had flipped inside out, until it had splintered entirely, leaving him a wanted fugitive with no idea as to how he could begin piecing it back together.

He might have to run for the rest of his life, because of what he’d discovered about Sarah. And hell, after everything, he still might not be able to save her.

Jane seemed to notice the change in his mood. She grinned sheepishly. “I know I ask too many questions but… just one more?”

“All right.”

“Got anything to eat in this joint? I’m starving!”

Devin turned toward the storage compartment behind his seat. He opened it, pulled out a package of food, and tossed it to her.

Jane ripped it open and regarded the nutrition bar inside with distaste. “This has been here for twelve years, hasn’t it?”

“Yup.”

“Nutritionally-optimized, chemically-preserved, imperishable space food?” She wrinkled her nose. “Lovely.”

Devin gave her a joking glance. “It’s not too late to return to civilization.”

Jane looked as though she was considering going on a rant. She raised an eyebrow with a distinct expression of not-impressed. “Really, bro? You really want to go down this path again?” Her expression turned serious. “Look, I know I shouldn’t be here. I know I’ll probably… slow you down or get in the way or something. But I also know there’s a chance you’ll have to disappear forever and…” She attempted a smirk. “I think you remember what happened the last time you tried to ditch me like that.”

Devin nodded, recalling the intense guilt he’d felt that day, when he’d carelessly betrayed the one person who had always been there for him, never asking for anything.

He checked the time on the control screen. It wasn’t late according to the time zone they had come from, but it would be the middle of the day local time when they arrived at the Seer’s location.

“You should go back to the living quarters and get some rest. We won’t have much time once we get to Viate-5, and I know how grumpy you are when you’re sleep-deprived.”

Jane popped the last bite of her nutrition bar into her mouth. “What about you?”

Devin shrugged. “I don’t sleep much.”

“All right, then.” She balled up the emptied food wrapper. “Don’t wanna wander around some sketchy desert planet in a daze.”

She got up and pressed the button to open the cockpit door. She started to leave, then poked her head back in. “You won’t try to ditch me while I’m out, right?”

“Of course not.”

“Okay, g’night!” Jane left the cockpit, and the door closed behind her.

Devin gazed at the growing yellow star that was Viate, wondering how he would tell her the rest. It wasn’t fair keeping her in the dark, with her friend involved. Damn, why’d they have to involve Jane?

He should have told her as soon as he’d found out, but he hadn’t been able to face it himself—the truth he’d sought since Sarah froze like a marble statue.

 

Despite his attempts to tell himself everything was fine, Devin had soon given in to his internal disquiet and searched for answers. He had known he’d need help and contacted Corsair.

Corsair had apparently been using voice commands when he responded:

 

Corsair: Yeah, sure, no problem. But you’re gonna need another Netname so the bad guys won’t know what you’re up to.

Anonymous: I’m already anonymous.

Corsair: Yeah, right. Any nov could trace you, and if you level up to someone like me, you’re completely exposed. For example, your name is Devin Victor Colt, you work at Quasar Bank Corporation, and you live in the FFC Residential Complex in Kydera City.

Anonymous: You already knew who I was.

Corsair: You’ve got a 22-year-old sister named Jane Winterreise Colt who… Is that her? She got kinda hot at university…

Anonymous: Knock it off.

Corsair: Uh… Sorry. Anyhow, I sent you an attachment.

 

Devin opened the file and found a list of the Netsites he’d visited along with specific details about his most recent activities and movements, as well as similarly extensive facts about his father, sister, fiancée, and even some of his colleagues at Quasar.

 

Anonymous: Point taken.

 

Not long after that stunt, Corsair had sent Devin a special communications program, one that would scramble his signal, and created a veiled online identity for him.

 

Archangel: I told you to use “Anonymous.”

Corsair: Everyone and their pet alien calls themselves “Anonymous.” You need something with flair.

Archangel: Why “Archangel”?

Corsair: Because you’re the great avengin’ angel who took down all the demons in Legion.

 

Devin had been annoyed, but there was nothing he could do about it other than shake his head at Corsair’s peculiar sense of humor.

Their first move had been to look through Sarah’s records and learn all they could about her. Devin considered following her to see if she was secretly meeting someone nefarious. He abandoned the idea when he realized it could put her in danger. An online investigation would keep her physically out of it, for the time being.

No matter how careful he and Corsair were, they were always caught. The amorphous entity known as No Name seemed to target their efforts specifically. Corsair had used that information to recruit Citizen Zero, whose members were eager to find out who No Name was and why they would care so much about Sarah DeHaven.

 

Corsair: I’m telling you, it’s because she isn’t “Sarah DeHaven.” She’s got background info in all the right places, but every time we try to check them out, No Name blocks us. The few bits we’ve managed to get our hands on are elaborate fakes. School records, performance creds—nothing’s older than a year. No Name must’ve created them. Why else would they be so keen on keeping them hidden?

Archangel: We can’t be sure.

Corsair: Come on. Okay, so they’re amazing fakes that could only have been exposed by us geniuses, but they’re still fakes.

 

Devin hadn’t wanted to believe it, that the love of his life had been lying to him since the day they’d met. No Name prevented Citizen Zero from proving that “Sarah DeHaven” was a false identity. Yet, he couldn’t ignore the possibility.

I love you, Sarah DeHaven. But who are you?

In the meantime, he hid his apprehensions from Sarah. He couldn’t help sensing something different about her, as though her warmth had been replaced by a precise imitation.

Once, Devin had entered Sarah’s apartment unannounced and found her staring at the wall, frozen in a cold, emotionless state. A split second later, her face brightened into a demure smile. The moment had been so quick he hadn’t been sure it had happened.

Sarah walked up to him. “Baby, what are you doing here?”

“Just wanted to see you,” Devin said. “What were you doing?”

“Thinking about us.” She put her arms around his neck and kissed him. “I’m going to marry you, Devin. Doesn’t that make you happy?”

Contrived, as though someone had trained her to act out the motions of the person he knew as Sarah DeHaven. Nevertheless, Devin was certain that the Sarah he’d fallen for, the one who was so full of passion and understanding, was still there behind that mechanical mask, and that once he found the bastards controlling her, things would go back to the way they were.

But with no way to know who she even was, the only thing Devin could do was at least find out whether Sarah was under the influence of mind-altering drugs. When her producer called a few minutes later and she turned her attention to her slate, he quietly went into her bathroom, pulled a few black strands from her hairbrush, and placed them in his pocket.

This is absurd.

He wondered if all that time he’d spent in Citizen Zero’s virtual forums turned him into one of those paranoid conspiracy theorists.

“What are you doing?” Sarah stood behind him, reflected in the mirror.

“It was windy outside,” Devin said sheepishly. “I wanted to make sure I didn’t look messy or anything.”

Sarah blinked, expressionless. A moment later, she laughed. “You’ve spent far too much time in the corporate world. Trust me, I don’t care if you’re a little disheveled.”

The laugh had been unnerving, almost unnatural.

In spite of his doubts—and questions as to his own sanity—Devin had asked Corsair to locate someone with a background in drugs affecting the human mind. Corsair pointed him to a round-faced graduate student at one of Kydera City’s small colleges. Finding her and bribing her into testing the hair sample was easy enough.

“Seems clean.” The grad student handed Devin the results of a preliminary test. “No signs of the usual drugs.”

Devin scanned the document on her slate. “Run some extra tests. It could be hard to detect.”

The grad student took the slate back. “Whatever you say. This could take a while, so make yourself comfortable.”

Devin leaned against one of the empty lab benches and pulled out his own slate to see if Corsair had made any progress in discovering Sarah’s true identity.

 

Corsair: Still nothing. Check out the Collective’s forum. There’s something you’ve got to see.

 

He followed the link Corsair had sent him. The Collective had released several confidential documents stolen from a secretive government science program, one that developed technologies potentially in violation of the IC Tech Council’s regulations—and basic ethics. One of the technologies was a brain implant that could control a person’s thoughts and movements.

 

Corsair: The implant was completed years ago. She could have had one this entire time. They say they were only experimenting with it as a potential educational enhancement. You know, so people can download info instead of learning it. I think that’s bullshit.

 

Devin should have been surprised. Instead, he found himself numb. It made sense, more than any explanation involving drugs or behavioral conditioning. The only way to find out if Sarah had an implant was to scan her. Considering her refusal to go to the hospital previously, he knew she would never agree to one.

The grad student returned. “All right, mister, where’d you get that sample?”

Devin continued reading the leaked documents. “Why?”

“It’s got to be the best fake I’ve ever seen.”

He looked up with a start. Fake?

The grad student held up a vial containing Sarah’s hair. “Can’t even tell it’s synthetic. Not until you get down to the molecular level. Whoever created it must be a genius. Wish it’d been me. But fake is fake, even if it is brilliant.”

Devin suppressed a shudder. Corsair had said the same thing about Sarah’s identity.

The grad student chuckled. “Some frizzy-haired princess must’ve paid the moon for this. Shame to see all that brainpower go into a beauty product, don’t you think?”

“Yeah.” Devin wondered if the fact was relevant. Women were always doing strange things to their hair. He handed the grad student his slate. “Have you seen this?”

“Seen what?” The grad student flipped through the pages of leaked government documents. Her eyes became round. “Holy shit, that’s creepy! How’s that okay when the Tech Council’s banned so much other stuff? The mind-control program I worked in was drug-based, and it was to get criminals to cooperate. Wait a sec, do you know someone who’s being mind-controlled?”

“I’m not paying you to ask questions.”

“Right.” She handed the slate back. “Well, I’m a chemist, so I don’t know anything about brain chips, but I can tell you this: if someone has one, it won’t be easy to find. If the government has people wandering around with microcomputers in their heads, they won’t want them finding out when they go for a checkup. It’s the same with the truth serum implants I worked with. Let me tell you, the only way to find one is to use one of those hardcore body scanners, like the kind they use when they capture terrorists to make sure they’re not bugged or something.”

Devin paid the grad student for her help and her silence. As he left the lab, he contacted Corsair to ask how he might obtain such a scanner, legally or otherwise.

 

Corsair: Thought you’d gone straight.

Archangel: Not anymore. I understand if you don’t want to get any more involved.

Corsair: Back out when I’m so close to exposing a government conspiracy? No way! But the kind of tech you’re talking about is only used by the most secretive agencies. Even I can’t get into their systems.

Archangel: What if I went directly to the people who designed the scanners? Ocean Sky or BD Tech?

 

Ocean Sky and BD Tech proved impenetrable. Instead, Corsair had used his special skill set to direct Devin to an independent inventor working on something similar—and who had an assistant drowning in student loans. It hadn’t taken Devin long to track him down and bribe him into letting him borrow a prototype of the new scanner.

The rotund young man handed Devin a sleek metal device. “It won’t give you the results directly. You can download the data onto a slate and get someone else to interpret it for you. It’s kind of complicated, and… Um, I’d do it myself, but then my boss would see that I’d accessed his computer… I don’t want to get in trouble, okay? Please get this back, or I’m so dead…”

Devin tucked the device into the inside pocket of his jacket. “Like we agreed, I’ll be back in an hour. Who could interpret the results for me?”

“Um, so you need this program… I can tell you where you can download it, if you can get into the boss’s computer…”

Devin pulled out his slate.

 

Archangel: I got the scanner, but I need a program on the inventor’s computer to interpret the data. Cover your tracks.

Corsair: Don’t I always?

 

Sarah had been working on her album at Ocean Sky Studios that day. Devin had often talked about dropping by for one of her recording sessions but had always been too busy. The visit provided him the excuse he needed.

He arrived in the middle of a take and watched from behind a soundproof window as Sarah sang, her voice captured by the dozens of slender microphones. A screen behind her displayed detailed analyses of each note in colorful graphs.

Devin knew the song by heart and could almost hear her words through the silence:

 

“Now they fall, and now they rise.

“Sense breaks down, and silence fails.

“Language dies in rage untold.

“Words may end, but song prevails.”

 

Then the wordless run. From the way Sarah’s body flowed with the notes, the way her eyes reflected every rise and fall, he sensed her pouring her soul into the song, just as she had before he proposed.

Perhaps nothing had changed with her. Perhaps he was the one being mind-controlled by his paranoia.

His slate beeped.

 

Corsair: The Collective’s forum. Now.

 

He saw the Seer’s post.

It concerned artificial intelligence. Not only the programming, but the physical aspects of creating a mechanical being that could look, act, and communicate like a human. The post was shockingly well-informed, detailing potential scientific methods for creating synthetic skin and specific pre-existing computer codes that, if combined, could theoretically mimic human behavior.

Furthermore, the Collective’s pooled knowledge of No Name indicated that the entity seemed particularly concerned with hiding the kind of information the Seer described. And No Name had been quick to remove it.

 

Corsair: So much for the Tech Council’s restrictions.

Archangel: This is ridiculous. She is not an AI.

 

Devin thought it an insult to Sarah that he would even consider such a thing. She was real—he was certain of it.

 

Corsair: What if she was replaced by a mechanical lookalike? What if the real Sarah is captive somewhere?

 

He couldn’t fight that one. At the same time, the idea was too unbelievable. False identities and mind control were one thing, but artificial intelligence? Despite the shift in Sarah’s behavior, she’d done nothing robotic.

His certainties fell away, leaving a sinking feeling that the fantastical had come true. His fiancée had been replaced by an artificial doppelganger. A part of him desperately wanted to forget the whole thing and trust the woman he loved. However, if something had happened to her, he couldn’t stand aside and leave things as they were.

 

Archangel: I need to talk to the Seer. Can you help me find him?

Corsair: I’ll try.

 

Meanwhile, he still had a borrowed—stolen—scanner in his jacket, and Sarah was still on the other side of the soundproof glass, finishing her song.

Strange. Devin hoped that he would find an implant. At least that would mean that she was still there. It hadn’t fully hit him yet, that she could be gone, that she might have been taken weeks ago.

Sarah glanced in his direction once during the take. When she finished, she opened the door and approached him. “Baby, what are you doing here?”

Devin forced a smile. “Came to hear you sing. I’ve been promising to visit for ages.”

“Don’t you have work?”

“Quasar won’t collapse without me. Can I join you inside?”

Sarah looked at him blankly. She seemed to do that a lot—freeze in an expressionless state, save for the occasional blink, then come to life a moment later. Was her AI program calculating? Determining the correct reaction?

Stop it.

As it had so many times before, Sarah’s face warmed into a demure smile. “Of course, but you have to be quiet, okay?” She returned to the soundproof room and motioned for him to follow. “Computer, visitors present.”

The computer beeped in acknowledgement, and a row of chairs fell out of the wall. Devin took his place in one of them as Sarah walked to the center of the room.

She smiled shyly. “Last time someone sat in those chairs, I was auditioning, and my whole career depended on my being perfect.”

“It’s only me this time.” She’s nervous. Can an AI get nervous?

“All right, here goes…” Sarah squared her shoulders. “Computer, commence take seven.”

“Command acknowledged. Commencing take seven.”

Three tangerine lights lit up in front of Sarah, then went dark one by one as they counted down the tempo. Sarah closed her eyes in concentration as the instrumental introduction began.

Devin slipped his hand into his jacket pocket and pulled out the scanner.

Just drop it.

But he couldn’t.

 

“Story older than the skies…”

 

The scanner whirred softly. For a moment, he thought Sarah must have heard, but she didn’t react.

 

“Maybe something to be heard…”

 

Devin had no idea how long the prototype scanner would take. Hopefully, it was comparable to the hospital scanners, which took less than a minute to complete their tasks. But it was designed to be compact and more extensive, and it was experimental at best.

 

“Who is right, and what is real?”

 

On the tiny screen, the progress bar filled so slowly. He soon forgot his impatience as Sarah’s rich emerald voice mesmerized him.

 

“Words may end, but song prevails…”

 

The song came to its ruminative conclusion. The scan was barely seventy percent complete.

Fuck.

Devin shut the scanner off and swiftly placed it in his jacket pocket. The last lingering notes of the instrumental coda faded.

Sarah turned to him expectantly. “What did you think?”

“It was perfect.”

 

Devin wasn’t sure when he’d nodded off, but he awoke with a start when a waterlogged towel was flung onto his face. He tore it off. “What the hell?”

Jane doubled over laughing. “You didn’t budge when I poked you, and… I couldn’t resist!”

Devin shot her an annoyed look.

She grinned. “I know, I know. ‘Oh, Pony, aren’t you a little old for these games?’”

“Will you ever grow up?”

“Ah, c’mon, you know you don’t want me to.”

Devin marveled at her cheeriness. You’re right, Pony. I hope you never change.

“I didn’t just wake you to be annoying.” She jerked her head at the viewscreen. “It’s time to get off autopilot.”

A message blinked across the top: “The ship is approaching the Viatian system. Please switch to manual piloting.”

After double-checking the coordinates, Devin disengaged autopilot and steered the ship toward Viate-5.

Jane jumped into the copilot’s seat. “Just wondering, what’s your Netname?”

“Archangel. It was Corsair’s idea of a joke.”

She snorted. “You’re so full of it, bro. You love it. ’Fess up!”

Devin smiled in response.

“Speaking of Corsair, isn’t it a bad idea to use that thing?” Jane nodded at his slate. “Can’t it be traced?”

“Not with the program I’m using. Corsair wrote it himself. Each communication bounces off so many random signal towers, it’s impossible to find the origin. It’d be difficult to find a relevant message to trace in the first place with all the information flying through hyperspace. The program also forms a wrapper around any Netsites browsed.”

Jane opened her mouth, then shut it and pulled her lips in, as if holding back a tidal wave of questions she wasn’t sure were okay to ask.

Best to get to the point. “I think a criminal entity called No Name was behind both the attack on Dad and your friend’s kidnapping. I should’ve told you yesterday, but… I guess I just needed the time.” Devin explained what he knew about No Name, how they’d faked the seminary documents and how they were the only entity able to stage a crime so elaborately. “Even Citizen Zero wouldn’t have been able to hack Quasar’s central computer like that. Not to mention the police reports in the ensuing investigation.”

Jane’s brow creased. “So… So this ‘No Name’ took Adam?”

“Yeah… and Sarah.”

“Sarah? What does she have to do with this?”

“She’s… not human.”

Jane laughed. “Of course she’s not. She’s one of those perfect superhumans who make us mere mortals look like failures.”

Devin shook his head. “No, Jane. I mean it literally.”

Her smile fell. “What’re you talking about?”

“Someone took Sarah and replaced her with an android lookalike more than three weeks ago.”

Jane simply blinked with a mixture of bewilderment and inquisitiveness.

“I realized something was wrong the day I proposed.” He described as objectively and concisely as he could what had happened that day and what he had done next: the background check, the lab, the scanner. “It took Corsair several days because the scan was incomplete, but he got the results: Sarah was completely synthetic. The Seer was right. Someone created a lifelike AI, one that could deceive a person. I should’ve figured it out sooner.”

Jane’s look of curiosity became one of sympathy. She hugged one knee to her chest and rested her head on it. “How long have you known?”

“The results came in shortly after Adam was taken. Speaking of which, there’s one more thing I’ve been meaning to tell you.”

Jane lifted her chin. “Yeah?”

“Corsair intercepted a transmission to the Barracuda you saw. It was so scrambled he could only make out a few words: ‘Adam Palmer is a special case and is slated for replacement.’” Devin fixed his gaze on the viewscreen. “I don’t know when they took Sarah. Her replacement was so… perfect. She even sang like her. If she hadn’t frozen, I would never even have known the woman I love was replaced by a goddamn robot.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I think I was set up because what I know could blow apart whatever twisted plan is in motion.” He kept his tone matter-of-fact. “Well, I plan to blow it apart anyway. Sarah’s been gone for weeks, and it would be nearly impossible to find her now. Adam was only taken the day before yesterday. I’ll find him, and then I’ll find her.”

“Do you think she’s—” Jane broke off and pressed her mouth shut.

Devin knew what she wanted to ask. “I don’t know if she’s even alive. But when shit happens, you just have to deal with it. I intend to find the bastards behind all this and… deal with them.” He noticed the alarm in his sister’s eyes and said as reassuringly as he could, “By calling the authorities, of course. We’ll find Adam. He’ll be all right.”

“That’s my line,” Jane mumbled. She let go of her knee and leaned toward him. “Devin, I know you’ll always see me as a little girl, but I can handle myself. You don’t have to coddle me.”

Unsure how he should respond, Devin turned his attention to the controls as the ship approached Viate-5. He didn’t know what he hoped to find there or what the Seer could possibly tell him.

Sarah’s voice echoed through his mind with a line from her song: Faiths adrift in falsehoods found. There was one thing no discovery, no matter how extraordinary, could change. Whatever he would learn, whatever he would have to do, he would still hold on to one absolute truth: I love you, Sarah DeHaven. And I swear, I will find you.