Simeon stood over the unconscious Pauly and grinned at me. Slumped in the rubble, he didn’t look like the monster he’d revealed himself to be.
“I’m sorry, young man. We haven’t been introduced. My name is Susan. Who are you?”
“Simeon Godwin. Until this’ol, I was the head of Guardianship prosecution, but I suspect I may be in the market for a new position.” He chuckled, looking back at the unconscious Pauly.
“And how do you know my daughter?”
“I accompanied her here…to be of assistance.” A bashful look spread across his face.
My mother raised an eyebrow at me.
“Better than being held in cryo.” I felt elated; my heart was full. Pauly was subdued, and I was laughing with my mother. “Besides, I hear that stuff can be dangerous.”
“Definitely can be,” my mother said. “I’m glad I didn’t get the psychotic sickness. Though I must say, I’m also not too keen on the wasting disease.” She was more obviously in discomfort now. She wasn’t moving as much, and her hands hadn’t left her belly. “I’m sorry, darling. I fear that…”
Simeon coughed gingerly, “I’m really sorry to interrupt, but Susan, did you say something about minders who might be coming?”
“I can’t imagine they’re going to let an asset like him wander the territory unmonitored,” she said with a weak smile. “His auto is behind the dune. They’ll be looking for him.”
“We should move you,” he said, gesturing for me to help. We put her arms over our shoulders, making our way towards the cliffs.
“The third archway has a recessed well in it,” I said, surprising myself. Simeon and my mother looked at me curiously. “I, uh, I mean, I took a look around earlier.”
Reaching the arch long since blasted into the cliff’s face, we could duck down and remain out of sight. It was mostly behind a dune, so the light was much fainter. Settling in, I cradled my mother’s head to my chest, stroking her back.
“My Clementine,” she wheezed quietly. “The last time we were together, you were small enough for me to hold you this way with one arm.”
“Excuse me, I will go move the autos around,” Simeon said, giving us a moment alone. “They won’t poke around if they don’t have to.”
As his footsteps receded, the rattle of her breath and the rising sobs in my throat were the only sounds.
“My special girl. I never dreamed I would have this time with you.”
“I don’t understand, Mom. What is happening? What is so special about me?”
“In all the world, there is no one like you,” she pulled back from my embrace to touch my cheek with her hand. “You are so more than just our daughter; you are the first of a new species. You had all the markers for integrating with bio-intelligence from the first scans. Here you are, living with the power of the algorithm inside of you.”
“I still don’t understand,” I said sheepishly.
“We knew Stratton wanted to use our research for its darkest purposes. Still, no mental conditioning and nutritional manipulation could eliminate the traits…” her voice faded as a cough wracked her lungs. She pulled her hands back and held them to her chest. “I’m sorry I don’t have time to explain everything, but I know your father will have made some arrangements.”
“He said there’s nothing. There’s only me,” I said, defeated.
“Then he followed the plan exactly,” she said deliberately. “The knowledge of what to do is deep inside of you. Your father and I gave your brain the most unique of powers.”
What am I missing?
Me.
“Before you were born, we embedded a prototype of an algorithmic chip into your brainstem. The chip would disintegrate and form with your brain cells as you grew, but it needed time to calibrate.”
I couldn’t look at her; I was tracing circles in the sand beside me. My sense of peace at seeing her was fractured by the harsh reality of what she was saying.
I felt a hardness rising in me.
“Does this mean I’m just some experiment?”
“No, sweetheart,” she sighed. “Clem, you are destiny, not an experiment. Your father and I never planned on children. We thought this would be our fight, even as futile as it felt then. But just as we were lost on the path, along you came…and we knew you were the answer.”
I turned to see her smile and it softened me, ever so slightly.
“We were scared to do it, but the window of opportunity was short. The algorithm would be useless without calibrating properly even if successfully fused with your brain. Stratton was going to come after us. He didn’t know about you, but he might think he won if we could disappear. Time is a force like any other. It can be manipulated rather easily once you understand it. Cryo only affects organic matter, so the chip could easily calibrate while you were in stasis.”
“You made time.”
She nodded, the immediacy of our connection dispelling the last of my doubts.
“Even with the algorithm, you are still part of me and your father. You just have a little extra power—all the truths of the universe unalterably embedded into your brain. The chip ensures you think clearly, can change your mind, and continue to question what you see. To activate it, your father was supposed to say…”
“May the quest for knowledge guide you,” we said together.
“Is the chip that voice in my head?” I asked incredulously.
Of course it is, Clem.
Whoa!
“Does it answer the questions you ask yourself?”
She smiled when I nodded.
“That’s the algorithm working with your brain. Your father and I had earlier models; we built little versions of one another to live in the other’s brain,” she tapped her temple. “Your dad’s in here. A little part of him at least.”
“I thought I was going crazy. I’ve had these extra thoughts ever since I watched his message.”
Sorry about that.
“You do get used to it. Remember, it is a friend, not an enemy. Your father and my chips were nowhere near as powerful because they were implanted far too late. Our development was over, our brains were settled. Our chips would help with basic computation and analysis, but they never became a part of us.”
“I’ve had mine all along.”
I know you as well as you do.
Given how many lies I’ve been told, I’m not sure either of us have much to go on.
I can spot the truth.
And you have been here all along?
It has always been the two of us: Clem and TINE.
“What does TINE stand for?” I said, watching my mother’s expression blossom into a knowing grin.
“Technology-integrated neural enabler. So, it worked?”
Before we could answer, footsteps approached. “Everyone okay back here?”
My mother eyed me, whispering, “Do you trust him?”
“I do.”
“Be careful who you tell your secrets to, my darling.”
“I will.” I kissed her and stood, rising to meet Simeon at the edge of our hiding spot. “She’s resting.”
He descended and crouched next to my mom, placing a hand on her forehead.
“What does it look like out there?”
“He’s still out cold,” he said with a proud smile. “I moved his auto into the clearing and moved ours further out. Now I guess we have to listen carefully.”
TINE, can you keep an eye out for an approaching auto?
On it.
“I’m glad the two of you had a chance to talk. Susan, are you comfortable? I am sure there is a decanter of terramalt in the Chairman’s auto?”
“No, thank you,” she said weakly. “Knowing he’s face down in the dirt is comfort enough.”
“I kicked him, too…just for good measure.” Simeon joked before turning back to me. “I also have this for you.” He handed me the URL bar he snatched from Pauly.
“An awful lot of trouble for a little bit of tech, wouldn’t you say?” I said, eyeing it with a new respect. “The last one of these really messed things up.”
“I wondered if I would ever see one in real life,” admitted Simeon.
“You mean you didn’t find the one by the well? I thought your teams were the best.”
“There’s no point in keeping a URL bar after it has been used; the data is gone. The system consumes it.”
Quiet!
I waved my hand and put a finger to my lips, pointing to the clearing. He nodded, and we slunk down to keep out of sight.
“I know how URL bars work, by the way,” I whispered to him. “The bar might not have been helpful, but I also threw the digital link I used to access it down the well. There aren’t many devices with URL bar ports out there anymore, you know.”
“How did you have one in the first place?” he whispered back, inching closer so our heads were next to one another.
“Pauly gave it to me when I first learned about tech.”
“He had his bar the whole time; he knew you’d need a way to access it.”
Guardian transport is approaching.
I clutched Simeon’s forearm, my eyes wide. “They’re coming.”
The silence was electric—if we were discovered, we had nowhere to go.
We perked up at the sound of an automotor’s doors slamming. From our hiding spot, there was only a little of the clearing visible. I saw the beams of their torches, but the Guardians or whoever they were didn’t come closer.
I turned the URL bar back and forth in my fingers. As I touched the genetic lock, the bar blinked green. Without a URL bar port, we would have no use for it.
I heard Pauly make a snort and growl.
A chill of panic spread over me.
“Where is she?” Pauly roared.
I looked at Simeon, seeing the same realization on his face.
“Show yourself!” came the mechanized voice of a Guardian.
Simeon tried to reassure me with a calming hand, but it was hardly comfort enough. Whoever came looking for the Chairman would be interested in looking around if they knew others were here.
“My sweet girl,” my mother said softly. “Our time has come to its end. I know you will make all of this better. I love you.”
Before the puzzled look had time to settle on my face, she had risen. Stepping forward, she called with all her strength, “Here! I am here!”
“Mom?” I whispered, but she waved my question away.
I started to rise, intent on following her, but Simeon held me down.
“Simeon, let go—”
“Clem, she knows what she is doing,” he said firmly.
He’s right. Let her go, Clem.
I watched as my mother focused every atom in her body on generating enough momentum to propel herself down the small rise and back toward the clearing. Simeon and I kept our heads low but peeked over the edge. When she reached the clearing, a Guardian folded her weak body over its shoulder.
As she bobbed out of sight, she blew me a kiss.
I collapsed in a flood of tears. While Simeon kept watch, fearful we would be discovered, I did my best to suffer the anguish of heartbreak in complete silence.
****
The familiar stillness settled over me, calling me back from the waves of pain. I realized that the numbness I thought of as a deficiency was just TINE’s way of protecting me when I got overwhelmed.
Two automotor signals traveling away.
Thank you, TINE.
For everything.
“TINE says we’re safe now.”
Simeon started at the sound of my voice. He crouched down next to me again and put a hand on my shoulder.
“Who’s TINE? Are you okay?”
“Me? No. Not even a little bit,” I said.
You know, TINE, the way you interrupted me just now was a whole lot less gnarly than disconnecting from the Hive.
I don’t need a neural link. I don’t come and go.
“There’s just one thing I don’t understand…” Simeon chuckled as he sat down next to me.
“One thing?” I said incredulously. “I would love to have only one question left!”
“Fair enough. The thing that’s bothering me the most, though: if he was awake, why did he let them leave without you…or the URL bar?”
Good question.
“He went to such lengths to set everything up: he knew about the farm, he had the library, he already had the bar,” Simeon continued. “He could have had you access it at any point. Why didn’t he just give it to you when you met?”
I considered this, remembering Pauly when I was a child and the man who chased us around. Or the man who met me at the library, even.
“What if what my mom said is true? What if he changed? I was so glad to be off the streets and somewhere out of sight the nox of the explosion. I didn’t think about it, but he wasn’t the same as I remember when I showed back up at the library.”
“How so?” Simeon’s gray eyes were wild with curiosity.
I realized he hadn’t overheard anything my mother told me.
You can trust him.
How can you say that, TINE? If I don’t know that I can…how do you?
He tells the truth.
I smiled at the thought that someone might do that after so many others had lied.
Simeon cleared his throat, and I blushed at being so lost in my thoughts.
“Sorry, I’m just…”
“I can only imagine. Look, I’m here if you want to talk about any of it.” The earnestness on his face warmed my heart. “There’s plenty to think about, but you don’t have to figure this out yourself. I’m here to help.”
I didn’t realize I would tell him everything my mother said until it spilled out of my mouth.
But once the box was open…
He listened, rapt, as I explained that not only had the head of our government stalked me for solarii, but I was also a highly advanced prototype for an embedded neural technology based on the algorithm of life. When I finished, I sat back against the rocks.
Simeon just looked blank. He closed his eyes and nodded slowly.
I couldn’t look at him when I admitted, “Simeon, I realize I have no idea what I’m doing, but the little I have managed wouldn’t be possible without you.”
He blushed and fussed at his collar. I closed my eyes, hoping the stillness would return and I would have some idea of what to do next.
Instead, I only saw their faces as they took their last look before sacrificing themselves for me.
My mother.
Jeb.
Marya.
He knew!
“Wait! It was the Chairman who killed Jeb and Marya! He as good as admitted it to me, after the explosion. He said Marya was going to destroy the farm.”
“Didn’t she, though?”
“He said farm. ‘Marya would destroy the farm…’ Only the house burned down…not the barn! There was a hiding spot we used to use when strangers came. I checked there and found some old logbooks in the cellar. She left those, but everything was smashed and broken in the barn proper. Marya wouldn’t have done that.”
“He might.”
“I would have said Pauly could never but then again, that wasn’t the same person I knew. When I was there, the barn reeked of accelerant. What if Marya planned to burn everything down and he stopped her? He knew something was in that barn and couldn’t find it. He needed me to come. Simeon, what if…I led him…”
“Don’t do that to yourself, Clem. You could not have possibly known. A lot of people refused to tell you a lot of things. And anyway, you saw what he was like. He was on this path long before you were born.”
“You know how long ago that was though, right? I was born around the same time as your grandmother.”
We shared a chuckle.
See, trustworthy.
Okay, fine, TINE.
“I still don’t see him as a killer. I know he is, but I have all these memories where he was gentle. He was my friend. He taught me before I went to the Academy.”
I turned to Simeon.
“I don’t care what happened with my parents or whether the algorithm can save the world. He hurt all the people in this world who genuinely loved me, all while pretending to be one. One by one, he killed them for protecting me, and I don’t want to live in a world where that is normal or allowed. People shouldn’t be able to treat one another that way, especially not in the name of profit.”
No more.
I looked at Simeon and saw him eyeing me strangely.
“I know, it’s a lot. I understand…”
“No, not, it’s none of that. You keep saying we,” he confessed. “Our deal was as far as Bethelton.”
“Do you have a better offer I don’t know about?”
He chuckled.
“Besides, this doesn’t really feel like an ending, does it?”
He beamed. “No, I’d say it feels more like the beginning.”
“Okay, then. You in, Godwin?”
“I surely am…uh...”
“I think I’ll stick with Jones, Carlton’s too dangerous…”
“Very well, then, Jonesy, I am in.” Simeon stood up and extended a hand to help me to my feet. We stood on the ridge, looking out at the clearing.
“Admit it, part of you is upset that URL bar survived.”
“I would love to be done with whatever this is,” I smiled. “But it isn’t over yet.” I saw the lights of Zion reflected in the distant clouds. “If there’s even the slightest chance that I can make things better, I have to try.”
“We. You, me, and...”
Simeon patted his jacket once, twice. He checked inside, rifling his pants pockets in a progressively more frantic search.
“Wait, where is she?”
“Who?”
TESS.
“She must have fallen out…” He raced toward the clearing.
“Wait!”
He didn’t listen, he was retracing the movements from his face-off with Pauly. “When we were fighting…” He dragged his feet through some of the loose rocks in case the glasses had been buried.
“Can’t you just get another pair of glasses for her?”
“No, Clem. I didn’t network TESS into those glasses, I installed her into them. The only place she exists is in those glasses. She wasn’t on Conglomerate servers, she was always in a chip connected to my terminal.”
The defeat on his face matched the depth of the sadness I felt at losing my entire family.
“Could she be in the auto?”
Simeon brightened and looked off to the dunes to our left.
“We need to go that way anyway,” I said, waving the URL bar. “Ready for the next step on the Trail?”
He nodded, holding out his hand.
I took it.
Here we go.