“Wobble?” Johnny started to say, even as he swung in the direction of the light.
“Hey,” Kesi cried. “Look at that!” She banged off the nearest building and raced down the corridor. Dillac turned to follow.
“Kesi!” Johnny barked. Crisp, she was fast to react. “Get back here!” Glancing at Shabaz, he banged off a building; she did the same.
“That’s just great,” Torres swore, popping her swords. “Wobble!”
“To the rescue-rescue. I-We will defend.” The machine rose into the air and screamed after Kesi.
Before Kesi even reached the first spark, Johnny saw others further down the corridor: a few single sparks, but then lines, followed by fractured buildings, all glowing with the light of the Thread. They were entering the end of the dead space and back to the merely broken.
Which meant . . .
“Hey,” Kesi said, pausing by the sparking light, “this has got to be—”
Wobble screamed past her, four wheels of fire obliterating the four Vies that came out of the shadows. He flew another ten metres, landed, popped his cannons, and began pounding the darkness.
“You idiot!” Johnny yelled, passing Dillac and reaching for Kesi.
“Zen!”
Johnny spun, in time to see a Vie fall from the sky near the panzer. Far above, another spark of gold, flickering.
Johnny might have reached him—he cut that hard on the turn. If not, Shabaz might have—she was just behind Johnny. They might have crushed the Vie between them. But they didn’t need to: Torres was coming, with Akash not far behind. Torres slashed through the Vie with her orange swords, tucking the One safely behind her as she screeched to a halt.
But now they all faced the wrong way.
“Kesi!” Akash yelled, plowing through the space between Johnny and Shabaz. Towards Kesi, who was just beginning to swing towards the Vie that emerged by her side.
Akash plowed into her, shoving her away as the Vie struck. He tried to use his momentum to rebound in the other direction, but a second Vie appeared in his path. He crashed into it and screamed.
“No!” Johnny cried, even as Torres roared and hurled her sword at the original Vie that had threatened Kesi. “Akash, hold on—”
For a heartbeat, Johnny thought he might. A horror came over the Three’s face, then a hard look, his mint skin boiling like a storm. Johnny’s hands strained as they reached out; if he could get to him like Shabaz . . .
But Shabaz had been a Seven who’d been nicked a few times; Akash was a Three who’d absorbed one completely.
He dissolved even as Johnny placed a hand on his skin. A third Vie appeared. Without even thinking, Johnny grabbed it and pulled it inside him. A second of biting darkness, then Johnny crushed it with colour and rage.
The next few minutes passed without thinking. He might have swallowed another Vie, he wasn’t sure. At some point, someone pressed a gun into his hand. He emptied it screaming.
After a time, the sound of guns died out. Wobble reappeared. “All clear-clear. I-We brought the—” The machine’s voice died and his lenses spun. “Numbers are too-too small. I-We have failed.”
“You didn’t fail, Wobble,” Johnny growled. How could the machine think that—how many times had he saved them all? He glared at Kesi. “Are you happy? Do you get it now? This isn’t a game?”
“Oh, wait,” Kesi protested, “this is my fault? No one dies if the great Johnny Drop gets to go check out the light first? Look, I appreciate the squid—”
“His name was Akash.”
Eyes swung as Onna, her expression filled with fury, rolled up to Kesi. “He wasn’t a squid. He wasn’t a panzer. He was a Level Three, and his name was Akash!”
“Whoa, hey, boz—” Dillac said.
“Shut up!” Onna snarled. “Shut up or I will feed you to the next one of those things I see.”
Dillac shut up.
“And you,” Onna said, backing Kesi up against a building. “You don’t want to respect me, fine, I could give a gear. You don’t want to respect Johnny or Shabaz or their friends, then you’re an idiot, but fine. But you will respect the skid who just saved your treads or I swear I will rip the stripes right from your skin. His name was Akash, and he was a Level Three. He got there with skills he learned at the Combine—skills he just used to save your sorry skin. Skills he learned from them.” She stabbed a finger at Johnny and Shabaz. “So take that and shove it up your stripes.”
She pointed in the direction of the lights sparking in the distance. “You want to take off on your own? The two of you? Go ahead. No one’s stopping you. You can die together.” Her voice grew cold. “You can die alone.”
Kesi stared at her, then her own eye dipped. “I’m sorry. I—I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have . . . he died because of me.”
Onna glared back, then bumped off her treads, hard. “You’re vaping right he did.” She rolled away, her stripes shaking.
“What was her name again?” Torres murmured.
“I got it,” Shabaz said to Johnny, rolling after Onna. “You deal with Kesi.”
The fact that they’d had a fight about something like this a few minutes—hours?—ago wasn’t lost on him. But right now he didn’t care. He rolled up to Kesi.
“She’s right,” he said, and Kesi flinched. “Onna might have said it a little more bluntly than I would have, but she’s right. You got Akash killed. Maybe he would have died anyway; maybe we’ll all die out here. But in that moment, you got him vaped. I’ll echo what she said—you don’t want to respect me, vape it, I don’t care. But you will respect Shabaz and Torres and Torg and Wobble. They tell you to do something, you vaping do it. And if you’re going to remain here, then you might want to respect Krugar and Onna and Zen too. Because if you don’t, more of us will die without needing to, and that’s not going to happen.”
He waited until she bobbed an eye in agreement. She looked guilty as hole, but he didn’t care. He’d really liked Akash. Johnny looked at Dillac. “What about you?”
“Sure, boz,” Dillac said. It was the first time Johnny had seen him look subdued. “That was a jack way to die, rhi.”
Vaping right it was. “Gimme a minute,” he said to Torres. He rolled away, his head a mess. He considered going over to Shabaz and Onna, but Shabaz she had it, and besides, he needed a minute.
He didn’t get much more than that before Krugar walked over. He stopped a respectful distance away. “Machine says we’re clear but that could change. If this is a bad place, we should move.”
“They’re all bad places,” Johnny said ruefully.
Krugar cocked his head to one side. “How’re you feeling?”
How was he . . . ? Akash was dead was how he was feeling. The poor panzer had . . . “He came back. The first day. To the Combine. The first day he made Three and he came back.” Krugar frowned and Johnny realized the soldier had no idea what he was talking about. None of them knew anything. “That place in the Skidsphere you found us is called the Combine. It’s where Level Ones and Twos train. Trying not to die. No one helps them, they have to figure it out for themselves.”
Krugar’s frown deepened. “That’s not how it looked when I got there.”
“After Shabaz and I got back from the Thread, I started helping out. It was how I dealt with . . . it was how I dealt. That’s what Kesi and Trist were all twisted up about. Onna, then Shev, started showing up to help out too, after they made Three and didn’t need to be there anymore. Akash wasn’t the first. But he was the first one to come back on his first day.”
Krugar studied him, then looked out into the darkness. “There’s never anything good to say in moments like this. But he died saving a life. It wasn’t meaningless.”
Johnny grunted. “And if Betty and SecCore tear it all apart? If everything dies? How much meaning will there be then?”
Krugar was shaking his head even before Johnny finished speaking. “Nah,” he said. He looked back at Johnny. “You can’t think like that. You can’t think that big in moments like this, it’ll just mess you up. Stay small or it will tear you apart. Focus on the mission at hand. We’re going to go find your friend, right?”
“Yeah.”
“He’s going to help, right? Might not save everything, but we’re better with him, right?”
Johnny slowly bobbed an eye. “Yeah.”
“Then that’s what we do. We move one step at a time.”
There was a golden spark flickering just over the soldier’s shoulder. Johnny watched it for a minute, then asked, “Isn’t someone supposed to keep an eye on the big holla?”
“Yeah,” Krugar grinned. “And, yeah, it looks like that someone might be you. But not now. Now we go find your friend.”
Shabaz rolled over. “Onna’s going to be all right, all things considered.” She looked at Krugar, then Johnny. “How about you?”
Johnny smiled ruefully. “I think Krugar was just telling me to run the race I’m in.”
Krugar’s face broke wide open, his smile showing teeth. “I like that. That’s a good saying.” He looked back at the group. “Come on, we’re due a win. Let’s go find one.”
They rolled for twenty minutes before they found an active door. Vies attacked twice in that span, but the group stayed tight and Wobble was able to handle most of it. What few Vies got through were dispatched by Krugar, Torg, or Torres.
“How do you shoot that well with only two eyes?” Torg asked blithely.
“I know a woman who can do it with one,” Krugar replied. “Never figured out how she calculated the distance.”
Once they went through the door, Wobble scanned the surroundings. “All quiet-quiet on the outer rim. Warm and fuzzy. We-We are safe for-for now. Wobble.”
“Huh,” Torg said, studying a holla in a way that Johnny had once seen Betty do.
“What?”
“We’re near a hub. One way travel, but goes lots of places. If we move fast, we might be able get to Albert before Betty realizes where we are.” He led them down a corridor lined with light.
“And where are we?” Shabaz asked.
Torg grunted again. “Long way from where we were.”
The hub was a large room with a brilliant glowing ball floating in its centre. “Okay Wobble, show us where Albert is,” Torres said.
“Cartographers and holla-hollas. We found Turge, it was there all the time. Wobble.” The machine projected an image into the space.
“That looks familiar,” Torres said, frowning.
Torg examined the holla, then groaned. “It’s a sim. She has him in a sim.”
“What’s a sim, squi?” Dillac said, peering at the holla as if he could decipher its secrets.
“It’s the type of program we come from. Same with Krugar.” Torg sighed. “I would greatly enjoy not to going back to the jungle.”
“Well, we’re going,” Torres said. “Wobble, lock in the closest path through the hub. Let’s go.”
Travelling in the hub was instantaneous and remarkably pleasant. “How many ways are there to travel through the Thread, anyway?” Johnny asked.
“Too many to count,” Torres muttered. “We’ve figured out about a dozen, including at least three we never would have found if we hadn’t seen how Betty took us to the Core that first time. Some, like the hub, actually make sense.” She rolled her eyes. “Come on, it’s this way.”
They travelled down a series of hallways. They turned one corner, then another.
Bian and Peg were waiting for them after the third.
Oh sweet snakes, this day, Johnny thought, his heart sinking as Torres and Wobble plowed through the two skids. It wasn’t until Johnny neared that they turned and fell in line with him.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Peg said.
“You can’t be here,” Bian said.
I am not doing this, Johnny thought. Shabaz is right there. She just walked through you. I am not having this hallucination right now.
“Johnny, you must stop,” Peg said.
Nope.
“Johnny, there is nothing but death here,” Bian said.
Just walked out of a place like that, still rolling. He picked up speed, trying to put himself in the middle of the pack. They accelerated and swung in front of him. Furious, he waited three seconds until there was a little space between him and the group, then hissed, “Go away. I am not doing this right now.”
“Johnny . . .”
“Shut up, my girlfriend is right over—”
“She regrets this most of all,” Peg said. “This isn’t where you need to be.”
“He’s waiting, but doesn’t know how long he can,” Bian said.
“Stop that. For Crisp’s sake, if you’re going to talk to me, you could at least stop talking like Wobble and start talking like skids.”
They stared at him for a moment, a great sadness in their eyes.
“We can’t,” Peg said.
“We don’t exist,” Bian said.
“What are you talking about, you’re right—”
“Johnny?” Shabaz said, emerging between the two ghosts. “Why are you—?” She caught the expression on his face and immediately knew. “Oh, you have got to be kidding. Is she here? Where the hole is she?”
The second her gaze swung directly at Peg, both dead skids disappeared.
“They’re gone,” Johnny said bitterly.
“She better be—” Shabaz stopped. “What? They?”
“Bian,” Johnny said. “It was Bian and Peg. Together.”
Shabaz’s eye widened to full. “Bian?! With Peg? Oh, that’s just vaping marvelous, Johnny. Now you’ve got another dead ex stalking you?”
“Hey, Bian and I never—snakes, you think I asked for this? You think I like seeing her? You think I like hearing the crazy grease they say? Don’t blame me for this, I told them to go away.”
She glared at him. Not far ahead, Torg appeared around a corner. “All cool here?”
“We’re cool, Torg. Catch up in a minute,” Shabaz said. Torg, catching the tone, bobbed an eye and rolled away. “I believe you, Johnny,” Shabaz said coldly. “I believe you told them to go away. Now, we don’t have time for this. We’re going to go get Albert and we’re going to focus on that. But once that’s done, you and I are going to have a long talk about your ex-girlfriend.”
“I told you, Bian and I—”
“I meant Peg,” she snapped. “Know when you’re winning.” With that she turned and stormed up the hallway.
Sighing, Johnny followed.