44

Chase picked up the old device. He pulled open the screen, but the laptop had powered down.

“It’s probably dead,” Finley said. “Doesn’t hold a charge very long. But Mr. Sterling, what do you mean it’s you in there? You mean the missing exoman?”

“Exoself.”

“Yeah, sorry. I don’t get all that stuff. I mean, I know you lost it while you were gone to Gagnon. And I heard Switchblade shot up Miss Melody’s laptop. And—”

“Finley. Please. I need to take this. I’ll see if Mel can get you another one. All right?”

She lifted her hand, palm up, and shook her head. “Yeah, take it. I hope you find your exoself guy. But, Mr. Sterling, I’ve got stuff in there I don’t want anybody reading.”

Chase hugged the laptop to his chest. “I’ll make sure nobody reads your stuff and I’ll get Mel to load it into another computer. Thank you, Finley.” He took a few steps. Then he reeled back. “Listen, maybe we should keep this quiet. Can you do that?”

“Hey, I’m not saying a word.” She tossed her hair behind her back. “God be with you, Mr. Sterling.”

“Call me Chase. Could you please go get the charger and put it in my room for me?”

She smiled. “OK. Chase. I’ll get it.”

He headed for the command center. Mel would know what to do. Maybe. He stopped walking. Did he want this? The past couple of days he’d been glad it was gone. Ever since he’d gotten the H.S. in him, as Switchblade had put it.

But Switchblade had also told him that his days with the exoself weren’t over. The people of the underground needed Chase to get back what he’d brought to them—the transhuman.

He stole into the computer center where Mel and several others worked. Switchblade sat nearby at the monitors showing the feed from the cameras in town.

Chase went to him first and grabbed him by the arm.

“Hey, Charlie, what’s got into you? I’m busy here.”

“I need to see you. In private. Now.”

“All right, all right. I’m coming.” Switchblade left the station. “Where we going?”

“My room. I’ll get Mel.”

“This about Amos?”

“Just go to my room. We’ll be right behind you.”

The big man huffed and headed toward the hallway.

Chase hurried to Mel’s station and dropped his hand on her shoulder. “We need to talk. Right now.”

She turned to face him. “Amos?”

“No, there’s no change. It’s about something else. It’s important.”

“Chase, can’t it wait. I’m kind of busy.”

He held the laptop in front of him and tapped it. “I found something.”

“That looks like the old laptop I gave Finley. What are you doing with it?” Then her eyes grew wide. “I’m coming.” She told the others working with her, “I’ll be back in a few minutes. I have to check…I have to…”

“Mel, come on.”

She rose from her chair. “I’ll be back.”

Chase headed out of the room with Mel right behind him.

“Chase, you’re telling me the exoself is in that old thing?”

“Did it belong to you, Mel?”

“Yeah. I brought ten devices down with me. Figured we’d have them for personal use as long as we could keep them running.”

“But is it registered to you?”

“Sure. They all are.”

Chase entered his room and dropped the laptop on the bed. “You were right, Switch. I found it.”

“Sparky?” His eyes darted to the bed and back. “So, he found himself another laptop.”

Mel sat on the bed and opened the device. Chase found the charger on the table. “It’s dead. I told Finley to leave the charger in here.” He handed Mel one end and then plugged the cord into the only electrical outlet in the room.

The screen sparked and blue swirls formed a small rectangle. Mel typed in a passcode. Several icons popped up—perhaps titles of whatever Finley had been writing. No sign of the exoself.

“Open a file,” Chase said.

Mel clicked on one at random—third from the left. “The Reasons I Hate the Underground,” she read from the top of the page. “Teens. They let it all out, don’t they?”

Chase took the laptop and moved to the table with it. The cord barely reached. “Sorry, I told Finley I wouldn’t let anybody read her stuff.”

“Chase, how did you figure this out?” Mel asked. “What makes you think the exoself is in there.”

Chase scrolled down. The computer flashed to black. And then the numbers started their roll. “Here’s why.” He held it up for Mel and Switchblade to see.

Mel stared at the screen. “Praise Jesus.”

Switchblade shook his head. “I don’t get it.”

“It’s code, Switch,” Mel said. “The code I planted in the exoself to hook it up with the underground.”

“Well, how ‘bout that,” he said. “Charlie, get it back inside you. We know there ain’t nobody tracking it now. We turned that off, or whatever. Right, Melody?”

“You disabled the tracker that found us on the highway when you destroyed my laptop. But they’ve got to be looking for us. For Chase.”

Chase sat the laptop on the table and looked at Mel. “You’re unsure about this, aren’t you? When I first got hold of this, I had second thoughts. I considered putting it away and not telling you. I don’t know if I really want the exoself back inside me.”

Switchblade walked as far as he could in the little room, his hands on his hips. He spun around. “Are you kidding me? We got to get this back in you, man. Unless you think that old laptop can do everything you could do with the exoself. Seems to me it can’t do nothing but show us some numbers.”

“It may not matter what we want or don’t want,” Mel said. “I don’t know how to get the program restored in Chase’s processors.”

“And I sure don’t know how,” Chase said. “But the exoself was able to use your computer to destroy a drone. So, there’s got to be more to it than simply putting the code out. Let’s type in the safe travel code. Seems that one does more than the others.”

Mel knelt and took his hand in both of hers. “Are you sure? You said you had second thoughts. Nobody is going to make you do something you don’t want to do. Not anymore.”

“Oh, come on,” Switchblade said. “You gotta do it, Charlie.”

Mel let go of Chase’s hand. She shot Switchblade a glance. “We could use a couple more chairs in here. Would you go get us some?”

“You want me out of here so you can baby the robot?” Switchblade pursed his lips and his nostrils flared.

Mel crossed her arms. “I want us all to be able to sit around the table and work this out. Now go get us some chairs.”

“You’re the boss.” Switchblade opened the door and stepped out. “You all best leave the door cracked. Don’t want nobody saying our leader don’t got to live by the rules.” He disappeared down the hall.

“He’s right,” Chase said. “I have to do this. Or at least I have to try.”

“I meant what I said, Chase. If you don’t want to go down that path, don’t. It’s your call.” She took his hand and pulled him out of the chair and to the end of the bed. They sat side by side. “What do you think God wants you to do? Did you ask Him?”

Chase lifted his eyes upward. “Well, God? Do You care one way or the other if I’m more transhuman or less transhuman? This new connection I feel—is it going to end if I let Sparky back in?” He closed his eyes and took a breath.

“That’s amazing,” Mel said.

He opened his eyes and met her gaze. “What do you mean?”

“The way you just talked to God. Nobody does that, Chase. Nobody just starts up a conversation with God like He’s sitting right there.”

“Oh. I just don’t know any better. I told you I’ve got a lot to learn about being a Christian.”

“Well, don’t learn too much. Wouldn’t want you to unlearn how to pray. You got an answer?”

“Yeah. Nothing will separate me from God. Nothing. You and Switchblade told me that. Tell me something from the Bible, Mel. Tell me I’m right about this.”

“From the book of Romans. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

“Does transhumanism fall within the boundaries of all creation?”

“Back when we were at Synvue, I once told you nobody makes something from nothing. Nobody but God. The Helgen Institute didn’t do anything God didn’t allow.”

“What was meant for evil, God used for good.”

Mel smiled and brushed her hand against the side of his face. “That’s right.”

Switchblade pushed the door open and dropped two chairs to the floor. “There. Now what are we doing about this, Charlie? You in? Or are you a transchicken?”