"Yeah!" He gave her a surprised look at her knowledge, which shaded to discomfort as Kira gave him a glare for being surprised that she knew it. "Uh, we also use that term now to talk about what can be done with an existing level of technology," Jason explained. "Sometimes you get big breakthroughs and the ground state jumps to another level and everybody pumps out all kinds of new stuff for a while. But other times you go a long period stuck at a certain level, pushing it as far as it can go, but not able to get past that until there are some more breakthroughs. We've made some real progress since the colony ships went out, but nothing like people once predicted. There are some people arguing that we've pushed technology as far as it can go, and the next step would have to be something totally different. Something like the Mage stuff you have here, but nobody has managed to crack that." He looked down at where the drive lay concealed under his shirt. "Not before now."
"You've got an entire society built on Mechanic arts," Kira said. "Mage arts require you to see the universe in a totally different way."
"I guess they figured out how to mimic it using tech," Jason said. "We can do that, but it's not as good as the real thing. Like, um, artificial intelligence? It's real good at doing a lot of tasks that a person could do, a lot better at some stuff, but it's not really intelligent or self-aware. It's still pretending to be that. I thought maybe someday I could-" He stopped talking, watching as the train began moving, the buildings of Sima's Crossroads quickly giving way to the open country of northern Tiae.
"You could what?" Kira asked.
He shrugged. "Work on that stuff. But it's really advanced."
"So?"
"So aside from being a jerk, I'm really not all that smart." Jason balled his fist. "It's okay. I'm okay at it."
"Don't say okay," Kira reminded him.
"Uh, yeah. I could make a guaranteed living at it. I don't love it. I can't imagine getting up every morning for who knows how many years and doing it. Not because there's anything wrong with it but just because I don't think I love it."
Kira let out an exasperated sigh. "Why don't you study something you do love?"
"I don't know what that is." Jason shook his head, looking like he was torn between laughing and crying. "Do you know what I'm doing right now? I'm going nuts, because I'm completely off-line. I had to leave everything behind because the ship could have tracked it. I can't listen to music or chat or trade vids with people on the other side of the planet or anything. That's what we do. We spend all of our time doing that stuff instead of talking to the people right next to us, the people who know us. I don't know them and they don't know me. How can you find yourself when you're part of an infinite crowd and everybody is yelling?"
Kira tried to grasp what he was saying, but failed. "I don't understand."
"Of course not." Jason made an angry gesture. "You couldn't possibly understand."
"I could try," Kira said.
"Don't bother. It's too complicated. You're not—" He stopped speaking.
"I'm not what?" Kira asked, her own anger flaring again. "Not smart enough? Stupid?"
"I didn't say that!"
"Were you thinking it?"
He shot her a hostile look. "You're not my mother but you're sure sounding like her."
"How dare you mention her and me in the same sentence!" Kira whispered, furious. "You are such a jerk!"
"I know! People tell me that all the time!"
Quiet fell, both of them sitting in self-righteous silence. If the people in the front of the car had noticed the angry, whispered argument they didn't give any sign of it.
Kira watched the open fields go by, feeling guilty and seeing her father's face, knowing what he'd be advising her to do now. Finally she clenched her teeth and forced out the words. "I'm sorry."
"Huh?" Jason sounded genuinely surprised.
"I'm sorry," Kira repeated. "I shouldn't have called you a jerk."
"Um." He didn't seem to know how to handle her apology. "That's ok— I mean, all right."
"It's not all right," Kira said. "Illusions can have great power, and I have no right to force my negative illusions upon you."
Jason blinked at her as if shocked by her words and her attitude. "Really, it's all right. A lot of people think I'm a jerk."
"That's not all right. You mustn't believe it is."
"Why does that matter to you?"
Kira hesitated. "I don't know. But people can hurt other people or they can help other people, and I don't want to be someone who hurts." She looked down, avoiding his gaze. "You're not a jerk."
"Thanks."
"You're welcome."
* * *
Time and the landscape passed by for a while with little conversation. The train made occasional stops, a very few people getting off and a lot more getting on. Kira tried to stay awake but found herself drowsing off occasionally. Jason appeared to be lost in thought.
At the last stop in Tiae before the train reached the Glenca River that formed the border with the Bakre Confederation, some Mechanics boarded the train, sitting not far from Kira and Jason. The Mechanics Guild no longer required those trained in the Mechanic arts to wear dark jackets to mark their status, but like Kira's mother the great majority of those with the skills still did so as a matter of pride or familiarity, making them easy to spot.
Kira hunched over, pretending to be asleep just in case any of these Mechanics might have met her mother and could spot Kira's resemblance. But she had no trouble hearing the excited conversation among the nearby Mechanics.
"That reward the ship from Urth is offering might be something like the gadgets the librarians at Altis have, but in working condition!"
"How can you trust them?" another Mechanic argued. "How can we even know they'd pay up if we found that Urth kid and Mari's daughter?"
"We don't, but everybody is going to be looking for them."
"Yeah. Everybody. Including a lot of people who hate Mari."
A third Mechanic joined in, his voice a low growl. "For good reason. She knocked over a lot of things. Killed a lot of people. Ruined a lot of lives."
"If you're talking about Mechanics," the first speaker said, "take a look at the records discovered after the Guild collapsed. The Senior Mechanics killed plenty of Mechanics to suppress dissent."
"Supposedly," the third Mechanic scoffed.
"If you're so unhappy," the second Mechanic said, "why didn't you go to the Empire where the remnants of the Guild are?"
"Because I didn't want to be a slave to the Imperials." Kira, her head lowered, could barely see as the third Mechanic looked around the car, running his gaze across her and Jason without apparent pause. "I saw Mari once. I'll know if I see her daughter."
"Where'd you see Mari?" the second Mechanic asked.
"At Dorcastle. I had her in my sights, but my rifle jammed."
Silence fell for a moment.
"Well," the second Mechanic finally said, "if she and the boy from Urth try to take a train north they won't get far. I heard the customs agent at the station we left say soldiers were on the way. By the time we get to the stop on the other side of the river you can be sure that Confederation troops are going to be there and checking every car."
Kira tried to calm her racing heart. Had she already failed? Why would Jason's mother risk her son's life by telling the world he was out there, unprotected?
Because his mother didn't care what happened to him, as long as she got that Invictus Drive back.
The Glenca River wasn't far ahead, the stop not far on the other side. She had only minutes to think of a way out of this, or the foresight of the Mages would come true, and both Dematr and Urth would suffer.
Chapter 5
"What'll we do?" Jason whispered frantically. "Will any of them help us? That one said he was at Dorcastle where your mom—"
"Jason, he wasn't on my mother's side! He said he was aiming at her. There was a special group of Mechanics sent to Dorcastle. Guild assassins. They were sup
posed to kill my mother and make sure the city fell."
"But that was a long time ago—"
"They hated her, Jason! They wanted her dead not just because they'd been ordered to but because they wanted it. She escaped them at Altis and ever since then they've wanted to kill her. The survivors went from being the elite of the Guild to having to hide what they'd been. This one must have gone to ground, pretending to be just a regular Mechanic." Kira had kept her face down, but raised it slightly to try to steal another glance at the Mechanics a few seats ahead. Was it her imagination, or had the third Mechanic flicked another look back at her before settling down. She saw his right shoulder shift, as if he was feeling for something under his jacket.
Kira had seen a similar gesture by her mother and Aunt Alli and Aunt Bev countless times, when they were reaching for their pistols.
Maybe a pistol. Maybe a knife. He had something, and even if Kira took out the third Mechanic it would cause an immense commotion, focusing attention on her and Jason.
She took a deep breath, thinking. The windows were open for the breeze, the outside sounds and the wind and the rattling of the passenger car and the sound of the wheels adding to the background noise.
And the door at the back of the car was right behind her.
"Not a sound," Kira breathed to Jason. She got up as quietly as she could, sliding over to cautiously open the door, hoping the extra noise that let in wouldn't be noticed. She urged Jason through, then followed, closing the door softly behind her.
"Why'd we come out here?" Jason said just loudly enough for her to hear. The wind was whipping at them, the small platform on the end of the passenger car swaying as the train rolled over the tracks.
"We have to get off of the train!" Kira said. "Before it reaches the next stop."
"How?"
"We have to jump."
He stared at her, eyes wide, then over the side of the car where dirt and grass and rocks were rolling by at a disconcertingly fast rate. "For real? Not in a game? Jump off a real train, that's moving, onto real rocks?"
"No, of course not," Kira said.
Jason looked relieved.
"We'll wait until we're going over the river and then we'll jump."
Jason's relief vanished. "Nobody really does that!"
"I've been on this line, Jason. The trestle across the river is low so we'd only have to fall about three lances," Kira said. "That's about six of your meters."
"I am not going to jump and fall six meters!"
"My mother and father jumped off of trains all the time!" She didn't mention that as a result her father, normally unexcitable, still tended to get nervous on trains.
"Good for them!" Jason said. "But seeing as I have more sense than the people on this planet, I'm going to do something else. I'm going to wait until the train stops and then blend in with the crowd leaving and-"
Kira interrupted, seeing that the train had reached the bridge and was starting over the river, leaving them just seconds to act. "It won't work, Jason. Because of that!" She pointed dramatically forward and off to the side of the train.
"What?" Jason leaned out to look.
Kira shoved both hands into Jason's back as hard as she could, pitching him off the train. She took just enough time to get her feet positioned before leaping after him.
Jason hit the water with a mighty splash, arms and legs flailing, just before she entered the river feet first in a clean drop. That and the weight of her clothes and pack took her deep enough that Kira was very grateful when she struggled back to the surface through water that shocked her with its cold. Fortunately the seals on her pack kept the air inside so it could also provide a little buoyancy.
The first thing she saw as she blinked water from her eyes was the train, heading onward with no sign that their departure had been noticed. The second thing was Jason's furious face popping up near her. "How did you know if I could swim?" he demanded, shaking water from his face. "Shouldn't you have found out if I could swim before you threw me into a river?"
"Yeah," Kira said. "I should have done that. Let's—"
"You're insane! Rational people do not shove other people off of trains!"
Kira, seeing the riverbanks go by as the current carried them downstream, pointed at the north bank. "We need to—"
"No! I am not listening to you!"
"Jason, if you really think I'm crazy, and you know I have a weapon, wouldn't it be smart not to make me angry? We need to get out of the river. Come on."
They struggled through the water, being carried farther downstream before finally staggering ashore, soaked and out of breath. "We're lucky our delay in jumping off the train landed us close to the north side of the river," Kira gasped.
Jason managed to stop his raspy breathing long enough to glare at her. "You jumped. I got shoved."
"Fine." Kira stood up and looked around. "There should be a lot of trails and dirt roads through this country. We just have to find one that heads north and follow it."
"I thought you wanted to go west to the coast once we were this far."
"I did. But with everyone stirred up so quickly looking for us, that would be too risky. That former Mechanic assassin must not have noticed us leaving the car, but he'll realize we're gone when he reaches that next station, and if he has any friends nearby he'll tell them we're in the area. I think our best chance now is heading north to Danalee and then Dorcastle. That's the shortest, quickest route. From Dorcastle we should be able to get a ship or boat to the north side of the Sea of Bakre."
Jason sat up, his hair still dripping water on his face. "Who is coming up with this plan? Smart Kira or Crazy Kira?"
She grinned. "Smart Kira, though according to my mother in the last few years there may be a fine line dividing her from Crazy Kira." Sitting down, Kira began pulling off her boots and socks. "You should do this, too. We'll have to wait until they dry out before we can walk in them."
Jason looked at the grassy knolls rising to the north. "Barefoot? Through the countryside?"
"Barefoot will hurt a lot less than the huge blisters we'll get if we walk a long ways in wet shoes and boots," Kira said.
"Why not change into our spare outfits? Our bags stayed watertight."
"Because then we'd have no way to dry out the wet clothes, and our boots would still be wet. Sorry."
Jason slumped over, his eyes closed. "Gotta save lives," he mumbled. "Gotta save people." Opening his eyes, he began working off his own boots.
Kira took the lead as they walked away from the river, their wet clothes dripping water onto the tall grass. She hadn't gone far before the discomfort of her wet trousers reminded her that her pants were clinging to her rear end.
And Jason had decided to walk behind her.
Kira, very tired after what had already been a long day, felt her temper flare. She spun about angrily, fully expecting to catch Jason with his eyes locked on her butt.
But his head was down, his eyes apparently fixed on his bare feet in the grass.
Almost bumping into her before realizing that Kira had stopped, Jason looked up at her. "What?"
"What were you looking at?" Kira demanded.
"Grass." Jason swung one bare foot through the stalks of vegetation.
She studied him, perplexed. "You like girls, right? Because that was my impression."
"Yeah, I like girls."
"This is going to sound like a weird question," Kira said. "Why weren't you staring at my butt?"
Jason shrugged. "I didn't think you wanted me staring at your butt."
"I don't."
"Then I don't know why we're having this conversation."
"Um…yeah." Kira turned and started walking again. She gradually realized that Jason had been acting very courteously by not taking advantage of the opportunity to stare even though she might never have known he was acting that way, and that he hadn't in any way called attention to the fact that he was doing that. "Jason?" she called without turning this time. r />
"I'm not looking at your butt!"
"I wanted to thank you. For treating me respectfully. Every once in a while I see a Jason who does something because it's right, who shows that he cares about other people. You usually keep him hidden."
There was a long pause as they walked down the side of a low rise on the land. Finally, Jason spoke again from behind her. "Ok— All right. So?"
"So I wish I'd see more of him. I kind of like that Jason."
"Really? Why?"
"He's not like a lot of the guys I've met," Kira said. "I mean, my butt is nothing special, but it has sometimes attracted far more attention from guys than I am comfortable with."
"Yeah," Jason said. "That happens back home, too. It makes my friends uncomfortable so I don't do it to them."
"You think I'm your friend?" Kira asked, surprised.
"Um, not really, I guess," Jason said, looking away and mumbling his response.
She smiled. "If we're going to spend a lot of time together, and you're going to treat me with respect, there's no reason we can't be friends someday."
Kira set off inland again, looking ahead for any sign of roads or paths, moving with the quick, steady stride she was accustomed to from her training. She had been moving like that for a while before it occurred to her that Jason might not be as well conditioned.
She looked back, seeing that Jason had lagged behind her. His face was strained with effort and he was clearly having a hard time keeping up, but he seemed determined not to stop or ask her to slow down. Kira slowed down a lot, moving to one side so Jason came up even with her.
He gave her a defiant look. "I was doing okay."
She nodded. "Yes, you were." Jason seemed braced for an argument or a put-down, and appeared puzzled when neither happened.
"Can I ask you something?" Jason said, breathing heavily. "Had you ever done that before? Jumped off of a moving train?"
"No," Kira admitted. "I've just heard my parents talk about it. Father always said if I was going to jump off of a train I should try to aim for water because hitting dirt hurts but not as much as landing on rocks."
"My father always said not to trust anybody else," Jason said. "Always look out for yourself."