It took me hours to reach the ground, and by the time I did, my fingers and toes had bled and healed a dozen times. Even my cheeks, which I often pressed to the wall when the wind buffeted me, felt raw, even though my nanites had already healed them. I collapsed onto the mossy ground; I couldn’t see past the thirtieth floor for the clouds that billowed in. I laughed aloud, amazed, thrilled, to have made the climb. I couldn’t believe I’d done it. And no one had been waiting to arrest me, either, which was a good thing.
I finally stood and started looking for my boots—I’d kicked them off after a couple of floors because there was no way I could get a proper foothold with them on. That meant they’d fallen at least seventy stories and could be just about anywhere.
I couldn’t find them.
I stripped off my socks and let them fall. It was uncomfortable at first. I hadn’t ever walked in bare feet except in the shower or from the change room to the pool. I’d certainly never walked on packed dirt before. I tried to walk on the moss as much as possible, but soon, my nanites helped me create a callused barrier, and walking became more tolerable.
If only figuring out what to do was as easy.
It was one thing to know there was a problem and have a desire to fix it—and quite another to know how.
As I walked, I organized what I knew: This world was infected with a deadly pathogen. People were dying and—I thought of Fallon and frowned—changing. The entire problem deserved to be at the top of the priority list, but I was helpless to do much until we could regain access to the ship. Though, were there any doctors operating off-ship? I’d thought medical care was being given on ship only, but what if one of our physicians had seen a need in the community and moved their equipment into the town? It was a possibility—one I clung to. Either way, we would need access to the ship. Which led to point number two . . .
The Superiority. I rolled the word around in my mind, feeling a rush of frustration and anger that they should be so self-righteous. We created them. Even those who’d appeared to develop a personality were only behaving within a set of learned and programmed parameters. I shook my head and cursed. It didn’t matter what I thought; it only mattered that I put an end to them. Which I had to do without access to Dom or ship computers. I knew I had as much performance capacity as Dom, but he was better at drilling down information. Plus, he was my friend. Instead, I had Birch. I laughed at the irony. He’d be thrilled to learn he was the only one I could count on.
Wylie. Stars, I missed her. Everything in me wanted to go to her, run to the terminator zone, go through it—as far as I needed to go—to find her. But I had to believe Fiarre was with her, keeping her safe. So it was up to me to find a safe place for her to come back to.
Suddenly, my priorities fell into place. I’d find Birch, then find a place where Wylie and I could hide. With a goal in mind and an idea of what needed to be done, I quickened my pace until I’d moved into a run toward the town.
I didn’t know where Birch lived, but starting with the town seemed like a good bet. Someone would know him and know where I could find him. I passed the row of homes and the mossy courtyard where I’d met Fallon and Willow, but no one was there now. It was still early, perhaps too early for people to be about.
Beyond the next rows of homes and business sites, I came to the main street. Canopies stretched over tables and chairs where more than one vendor slept alongside their wares. I wondered why they didn’t use the buildings lining the street, and if these were some of those who had not yet received a place to stay. Curious, I moved past a market stand to the building that flanked it and tried the door. It wouldn’t budge. I pressed my palm to it, easily finding the psionic connection and unlocking the door mentally. I grinned and glanced back, and since the only person around was sleeping, no one was there to see that I’d opened one measly door. Something anyone could do.
Except, I realized, that wasn’t true. Not everyone could do it—though they should.
The plan had always been to activate the people’s nanotechnology once we made landfall. The only reason it had never been done on ship was that ship life required a certain controlled rigidity to work, especially with so many people living in tight conditions. Now, though, there was no more reason to deny them what they’d worked so hard for. Evolution.
An evolution that the Superiority no doubt wished to thwart—or else they might truly discover just how inferior they were.
As I gazed at the sleeping merchant, I knew exactly what had to be done. Now, right away. There wasn’t a moment to lose.
I practically leaped toward the man and shook him gently. I’d have started with Birch if I could, but this man would do. I’d start now, with the people here in the street. Then I’d find Birch.
“Sir,” I said as the man startled awake. I lurched back on my heels, holding my hands up in front of me when he grabbed a large rock from under his blanket and brandished it at me. “Forgive me for waking you, but how would you like to be neo? Right now.”
I grinned stupidly at his shocked expression then reached for his hand. “May I?”
He still hadn’t said anything, but the fist holding the rock hadn’t lifted any higher. I waited for his nod, which came a beat later. I pressed my palm to his, making sure the data port device embedded in his palm met mine. It was a simple command and took only a second to issue it. I withdrew my hand and rested my forearms on my knees.
“Do you feel it?”
The man’s eyes had grown impossibly wide, and he nodded again. I clapped his shoulder and stood.
“You might feel a little strange for a while, but you’ll get the hang of it.” I turned to walk away when the man’s quiet voice stopped me.
“Dì èr?” he asked.
I turned to face him.
“Why?”
I weighed my words. Why? Because I needed all the help I could get. Because I wanted to turn the tide against the Superiority. “Because it’s your right,” I finally said. And it was. The tech lived within their bodies. It belonged to them, not the Dharma.
I turned to go again, and when he called out his thanks behind me, I flashed him a smile over my shoulder.
After that, I jogged from stall to stall, looking for anyone sleeping inside. There were a few, but not many. Most, it seemed, had found housing in the row homes or towers.
“Dì èr!” a woman exclaimed as I approached her spot. She bowed low before looking quizzically behind me. Everyone I’d activated so far stood behind me, their expressions still wonder-struck. When she met my gaze again, her brows drew down in concern. “Can I help you?”
“Hello,” I said. “I’ve come to activate your nanotechnology—if you would allow me to do so.”
She hesitated, glancing at the others again. She was an older woman, perhaps my mother’s age, but without the nanites to keep her skin young and strong. “Will it hurt?” her dark brown eyes searched mine.
I shook my head. “No.”
She held a pair of slippers in her hands, which she now clasped against her chest. “What do you need me to do?” she asked quietly.
I reached out. “Just give me your hand.”
She offered me her right hand then blushed before holding out her left hand instead. Someone behind her must have tipped her off. I smiled. And then I noticed her wrists. White spots dotted her skin and continued up the sleeve of her green uniform. I met her eyes and pressed my palm to hers. Natalya had said something about the nanites eradicating the pathogen, and I prayed it was true. Maybe this one simple act would be enough to save my people in more ways than one.
When the task was completed, the woman stared at me, open-mouthed and unmoving. It was only the wonder, the awakening of the tech, that made her speechless, so I took a step back from her, intending to move on to the next person. But as I turned, she grasped my wrist.
“Please,” she said, gesturing to her table. “Let me give you something in thanks, Dì èr.”
I was shaking my head before she even finished speaking. “It’s really unnecessary. I should have done this the day we made landfall.”
She smirked and withdrew the sheet that had covered her wares. They were shoes. Slippers and boots, just about every size and style I could imagine. Our clothing was requisitioned from the commissary, but there were those creative few who could either customize standard items or create something new from discarded items.
“Size eleven, right?” she asked. I nodded, a bit stupefied by her correct guess, but she’d already turned her back to me to rummage through a bin. She straightened and handed me a pair of boots.
A pair of silver boots with ringed planets embroidered on the sides.
“Wow.” I accepted them as she pushed them toward me. Up close, I realized they sparkled. I grinned at the woman, who nodded toward me. “What’s your name?” I asked her.
She nodded again. “Lezah, Dì èr. Now tell me. Do they fit?”
Dropping the boots to the ground, I brushed off the bottom of my left foot before shoving it into the sparkly silver boot. I glanced up at Lezah. “These are remarkable.” I quickly put the other boot on. I bounced a little, my feet thanking me with every motion. “These are the best boots I’ve ever worn.” I grasped Lezah’s hand and kissed the back of it.
She laughed, but the gathering crowd gasped.
Lezah had the pathogen.
I turned and faced the people and waited to see what they would do. “Does anyone know where I can find Birch Vaishya?” That seemed to decide for them because they rushed forward, many begging to receive the activation next. No one answered my question. Maybe they thought if I found Birch, I’d stop activating them.
I met each person’s eyes as I pressed my palm to theirs and stayed with them until I knew the activation had taken. Men, women, children—I activated everyone I met.
And then it was Birch standing in front of me, hand outstretched, palm upward. He grinned at me, and my shoulders released the weight they’d been carrying.
“It’s about time you got here,” I told him. “I was thinking you’d be the very last.”
“Oh?” He raised that one eyebrow of his in his signature look.
“I came out here looking for you.” I wished I had wounds on my hands to show him so he’d know what I’d gone through to be there. I always felt like I had to prove that things were hard for me too. As I met his dark eyes now, though, and felt his nanotech awake beneath my hand, I knew the days for little games like that were gone. “I need your help.”
Birch withdrew his hand, looked at it as if something might be visible there, then shook it out. When he met my gaze, he gave a curt nod. “Nice boots, by the way. Let’s get out of here, then.”
He turned and pushed his way through the resistant crowd. As soon as people saw it was me following behind him, they didn’t want us to pass. Birch leaped onto the foundation of an ornately carved fish. “You all know things have blown up here, and we’re the ones who’ll pay for it if nothing gets done, yeah?” He paused but didn’t wait for responses. “Dì èr Finn—our real Prem’yera—is doing everything he can to help us, but you’ve gotta let him go. He’s got work to do.”
He cast a glance at me, and I just shrugged. I had no idea what he was asking me and besides, he seemed to have it all figured out. “He’ll be back here as often as he can to activate as many of you as he can. But in the days ahead, it’s going to be more important he does his work, and we must all support him. What say you?”
The people weren’t watching him anymore; they were watching me. I felt my spine straighten under their gaze. “What he says is true.” My voice easily carried over the crowd, and a moment later, people bowed low, like a wave of acceptance and honor spreading out from the nucleus where I—and Birch—stood.
Birch hopped off the statue and grabbed my arm, pulling me through the crowd and down the street.
“If only Wylie was with us.” The words fell out of my mouth without my intention. The last thing I needed was for Birch to harangue me about letting her go.
He surprised me by clapping a hand on my shoulder. “She’ll be back. I can feel it.”
With everything in me, I hoped he was right.