Didi hears Pip whispering in her ear, warning her they aren’t alone, but she refuses to open her eyes, simply hugging her father and enjoying their reunion. There will be time to feel fear and desperation and anguish later. Right now, she holds onto him as if he is all there is in the world.
Because he is.
When Tarvis finally pushes her back and away from him, his eyes brim with tears. He looks terrible, his already gaunt face dirty in places, his eyes sunken with lack of rest. His disheveled person isn’t so out of the ordinary, but he seems a bit more roughed up than normal.
How dare they? Fury bursts in her and she pushes him sideways, facing the group that’s come to greet her.
The gunslinger stands next to her, weapon holstered. He’s picked a fine time to stand down. She can’t show weakness, not when she has Dad so close. If the cyborg is going to fail her now, she’ll have to do this herself.
A face she doesn’t expect emerges from the crowd, the old woman pushing people out of her way until she is in the front of the crowd. Didi’s stomach clenches as Murta looks the gunslinger up and down as though he’s of no notice before fixing her nasty gaze on Didi.
“You,” Didi says. “You’re the Underlord.”
Murta cackles. “Clever girl. I knew the moment I met you I’d be having to deal with you eventually. Better now than when you’re older and too clever for your own good.” She gestures at the gunslinger. “Disarm that thing.”
Her men hesitate while the cyborg remains silent and still. Didi feels pride well in her chest, but it only lasts a moment. Until Jackus emerges from the group and approaches the gunslinger, holding up his own weapon, taking the gunslinger’s.
Who does nothing to stop him. Blikey.
Jackus hands the gun to Murta who turns it on Didi. “The chip, if you please.”
“What chip?” Didi knows her response is the wrong one the moment she speaks up. The old woman’s face tightens, finger on the trigger. For the first time, the gunslinger responds, stepping in front of Didi, blocking her from harm. Even as the Underlord tsks her impatience, Didi shoves against him before stepping around him again and elbowing him in anger.
She rubs at her aching joint, glaring up at him before turning on Murta. “You killed Putter.”
Her father sways beside her, hand rising to his mouth. So, he didn’t know the man he trusted was dead. Murta shrugs. “I knew he had the chip. But the old fool wouldn’t give it up.” She gestures at Tarvis with the weapon. “I didn’t have the kind of leverage I have now. The chip or your father dies.”
“You won’t kill him.” Didi doesn’t know what’s gotten into her. She’s here for exactly this purpose, isn’t she? To trade the chip for her father. Not to challenge the Underlord in her own lair. “You need him. And the chip.”
The old woman’s eyes glitter her rage. “Too clever already then,” she says before turning the gun on Pip. He squawks his protest, flapping his wings as he understands the threat.
“I’m willing to hand it over.” Her father’s hand settles on her shoulder, and she knows he’s going to try to stop her. But, he’s too important, more important than some invention. “For a trade.”
Murta lowers the gun a little. “I’m listening.”
“The chip for my dad.” It’s
that simple.
The Underlord laughs. “You just said I need him. Why would I do
that?”
“Because,” Didi says, “if you don’t, I’ll leave the gunslinger’s self-destruct active and we’ll all be dead shortly.”
She hadn’t meant to use that as a weapon, but Murta has her cornered. The old woman’s gaze flickers to the cyborg before returning to Didi’s face.
“You’re bluffing.” She doesn’t sound convinced.
“I’m not.” Didi reaches into her secret pocket and pulls out the chip. She hears her father groan.
“Didi, no.” He reaches for her hand but it’s halfhearted.
“Here.” She holds the thing out to Murta, the gold glittering in her hand. Wait, it’s not as shiny as it was before, is it? Seems tarnished. Hopefully she hasn’t damaged it along the way and it works. “You do whatever you want with it and you let me and Dad go. And I won’t blow half this planet into the solar system.”
Murta spins on the gunslinger. “Confirm self-destruct.”
He nods. “Self-destruct confirmed. T-minus one hour and 54 minutes, 19 seconds.”
He pauses. “18. 17—”
“Enough!” Murta lowers her weapon further, watches Didi with careful eyes before laughing a coughing, frustrated laugh. “If only things were different,” she says, “I would have recruited you, girl. What a protégé you would make.”
Didi will never admit that idea sounds appealing. Why does this life seem to call to her like a bole to electricity? She’s never been so afraid—or felt so alive.
“I need confirmation the chip works.” Murta snaps her fingers. “Hand it over.”
“No chance.” Didi pulls her hand back. “We confirm the machine works then we leave, free and honest. I won’t let you have it and do some kind of switch, then lie to me and say it failed when it didn’t.” Sweat pools in the small of her back.
Murta grunts, gestures with the gun. “Very well. After you, Didi Duke.”
She strides forward without hesitation, head up, shoulders back, the gunslinger at her side, her father trailing along, his hand taking hers. Pip mutters his dissatisfaction in her ear while she fights the bubbling giggles in her belly.
Pip is right. She needs to take this more seriously. And yet, the deeper into trouble she gets, the more fun this is. She has Dad with her. Nothing can go wrong.
“Didi.” Dad whispers to her, barely audible. “No matter what happens, you need to escape. Do you hear me?”
She nods ever so slightly as they pass down a tunnel made of what looks like liquefied plastanium. This place had to have cost a fortune to outfit and taken forever to build. She can feel the buzz of the shielding under her boots, wonders what would happen if that shielding died. How many giant boles would it take to shred this place?
Something to keep in the back of her mind, maybe.
What troubles her most is the way the gunslinger’s silver head turns at her father’s words. And when he nods in return. Tarvis’s relief makes Didi angry.
“Don’t get any ideas, you two,” she says. “We’re all getting out of here, lickety.”
“She won’t let you go.” Tarvis sighs heavily. “When the time comes, I will overload my invention and kill them all. But only after I know you are safe.” He looks to the gunslinger. “You must get her to safety.”
Again that subtle head turn from the cyborg.
Over Didi’s dead body.
Someone pushes Didi from behind. She stumbles one step, forced sideways down a branching corridor and into a huge, arching ceilinged chamber. It’s bright in here, almost daylight bright, the expenditure of electricity astounding to her.
The walls are lined with benches and tables, covered in tools. She thought the machine shop a dream location. This lab is something she could never have imagined in her wildest dreams. She’s practically salivating and almost forgets why they are there until Murta circles them and jabs the gunslinger’s weapon at the machine in the middle of the room.
Her father’s invention sits, quiet and unassuming, in the center of a plas table.
“I hope you enjoyed your little reunion,” the Underlord says. “And your plotting against me.” How much had she heard? But no, Didi must assume anyone in her position expects plotting. Just a natural course of doing business. She can only guess the Underlord is plotting the same against her. “Now, the chip. And our bargain can be complete.”
With zero illusions the old woman plans to keep her side of things on the up and up, Didi turns to her father and deposits the chip in his hand. Only to have his eyes widen, his mouth fall open.
“Didi,” he hisses. “What is this?”
She blinks. “The chip Putter gave me.”
Dad groans softly, eyes full of fear. “Then we’re dead, my darling girl. Because this isn’t the chip I left with him. It’s a fake.”
To prove it, he snaps the thing in half.
***