“It’s very dangerous, Tian,” Quess answered for me. “An average of four percent of contestants have died, while an additional two percent lose a limb of some sort. But you’re missing the point, kiddo: we have to do this.”
And get someone we didn’t know through it without getting them killed, and win enough challenges to qualify them for the position. Just winning wasn’t enough; they’d added bodyguard services on top of it.
“Oh.” Tian fidgeted again, and then craned her neck around. “Why do we have to do this? I can find us a new Sanctum.”
There was a pause, and then all gazes shifted to me, questions lurking in their eyes, all echoing Tian’s inquiry in some variation or another. Why were we entertaining this? Why didn’t we just try to run? What could doing this now mean for our plans? The list of questions was about as long as my arm.
“Liana, what is our plan here? Like Tian said, we could just find a new Sanctum. We could run.” Quess gave me an earnest look as he asked the question.
I shook my head, already dismissing that idea. That meant playing along for a short time and then trying to escape before we fulfilled the job that Lacey was blackmailing us to do. But I had no doubt that she would have her people following us at all times, as well as having our nets monitored for location and transmissions. “Guys, we’re talking about a group that has a designer bacteria with which they are able to track us. I don’t think it’s wise to turn around and try to run. At least not immediately. We will need a new Sanctum, but the council is going to be watching us.”
“Not to mention, you’ll be on every other legacy watch list,” Maddox added. “At least those that were allied with Devon. They’ll figure out something was done to Scipio to back your story up, and if any of Devon’s legacy family is still around… you know they’ll be gunning for you.”
“I think you’re all that remains of Devon’s family on that front,” I told her softly, and she blinked in surprise a moment before her face went hard and flat with anger.
“That man was not my father,” she spat. “And I’m glad he’s dead.”
I nodded. Her reaction made sense. Maddox and her mother Cali had been close, and Devon had taken that from her. I knew that Devon had wanted to try to teach Maddox about his legacy family—I had heard it from his own mouth. Even then, though, I had known that there was no way Maddox would go along with that. Now I was just grateful that she didn’t have to.
“That’s nice, Doxy,” Quess replied congenially. “But that doesn’t help us figure out what we’re going to do. I mean, what is the plan, Liana? What are we going to do about Jasper, the Paragon, the people relying on Paragon, leaving, staying, the Tourney…”
Once again, everyone was looking at me, and I sucked in a deep breath, thinking. The first thing that stood out was that Maddox was right: we knew for a fact that there were other legacy families in the Tower. And according to Lacey and Strum, one of them was in control of Scipio. Now, whether or not they knew Lacey and Strum had also had access, and had tampered with Scipio during my trial, was an unknown, but for safety’s sake, I had to assume they knew something was done.
Furthermore, we had to assume they would be watching me and my friends to try to figure out if it had been us, or someone else. As soon as we stepped back into our lives in the Tower, most of us would be under surveillance by whatever legacy group currently had control of Scipio, and probably by Lacey and Strum’s people as well, but the latter was beside the point.
We did have a few aces up our sleeve—namely that Quess and Tian would be off their radar for now, as their names hadn’t been mentioned at the trial once. No one knew who they were to me, and they would be hidden from everyone except Lacey’s group, especially if they used disguises. We could use that to our advantage and have them run a few side missions, but even that could be dangerous if they were to be spotted. They’d be on their own, without any backup or support to reach them in time to feasibly do something. I hated risking either one of them, although I was certain they would both insist that they didn’t mind.
And on top of all those problems, we still hadn’t solved our big picture problem. Mostly because we didn’t have a big picture beyond this.
“Okay, guys,” I said, realizing that was the starting place. “Before I can decide anything, we need to finally decide what we are going to do. Are we staying or are we going?”
There was a pause, then Eric said, “Wait, you want to have a discussion about our master plan right now?”
“Yes,” I replied honestly, looking around at my friends. “Guys, we are going to be watched from here on out, make no mistake about it. We have to be more careful than we ever were in Sanctum, because there are some thirty-nine thousand humans on the other side of that door, and all of them are potential enemies. We can’t use nets to communicate with each other, not until Quess, Mercury, Alex, or Zoe creates a way to do so without anyone else hearing. And we can’t go out alone—we need to make sure we always have someone with us, in case anyone tries to jump us or attack us, or is even following us. Eric, Zoe, that means you two have to stay as close to your families as possible.”
“So do you,” Zoe said pointedly, and I suppressed the feeling of dread that thought created, and shook my head.
“I know—my movements are going to be watched most of all. Mine and Leo’s, I’m sure.”
“Yeah, about that,” Quess said, scratching his jaw. “Um… How is this going to work with… with Leo in… in Grey?”
I looked over at Leo, who was standing by, watching. The AI had been unusually quiet since we were grabbed in the halls, and I was concerned. Leo loved a good conversation, and was bound to have strong feelings about what had occurred today. But he’d been strangely mute.
“What do you mean?” I asked. “We call him Grey in public, Leo in private.”
“No, I mean…” Quess looked at Grey and dropped his voice an octave lower. “What about his terminal, when he’s finished? He only set up a few fail-safes before he left it, and isn’t there a possibility that the virus has shorted the entire thing out? Or that Lacey and her crew found it and… I don’t know, decided to smash it up or something?”
The terminal Quess was referring to was the terminal Leo had been living in for the past two hundred plus years, buried in Lionel Scipio’s secret office. In an attempt to murder Leo, it had been infected with a virus placed there by Ezekial Pine, the founder of the Knights. Leo had held it back over the years, and had left it in a state of stasis to come help me. But that was temporary. If the terminal went out, we wouldn’t have anywhere to put him when he was finished healing Grey.
Which meant we would have to figure something out for him, too.
“I can hear you,” Leo said. “And Liana’s answer will be that she doesn’t know. Although I doubt they found it. Liana only found me because I was talking to myself.”
“Well, actually, my answer was going to be to have Quess and Tian go check it out together,” I informed them both. I went over everything that needed to be done, the biggest thing being finding out what Lacey and Strum had done to Sanctum, and from there, beginning preparations for finding a new hideout.
Suddenly, I knew what I was going to do. I was going to get Lacey’s candidate through the Tourney, but after that, I wanted everything in place so that we could disappear in the resulting chaos the event was bound to cause.
“Tomorrow. And I’m sorry to put this on you both, but you’ll need to start packing our things in preparation of a move. I’d have other people join you, but…”
“But no one knows who we are,” Quess said dryly. “Which makes us your little spies.”
The thought had crossed my mind, but I still hated asking it. Spying required delicacy, and was dangerous, especially if you got caught. But the fact was, I was going to need their anonymity as a weapon, to act as our eyes and ears when necessary, or to track down things we might need so we didn’t draw too much attention to ourselves. I was sure Quess and
Tian were more than willing to help, possibly bordering on downright eager, but it didn’t mean I had to be comfortable with it.
“In a word, yes. But, I don’t want either of you to actively follow anyone unless we decide you absolutely have to. Keeping your relationship with us a secret is going to be hard enough as is, so I want you both to be extra careful no matter what you are up to. And try not to go out alone, until we can figure out a way to mask our net transmissions to each other.”
“I have to go alone,” Tian said, and I looked down at her in confusion. “If you still want me to find a new Sanctum.”
She added the last piece as if it explained everything, but in truth, I had only known Tian for a short time compared to Maddox and Quess. Which meant I found myself turning to them for help interpreting what she meant.
“Tian’s always gone off on her own to find new safe places,” Maddox stated begrudgingly. “We’ve tried to keep up with her in the past, but she’s so small that she can slip in and out of places that we can’t.”
“It’s my super power,” Tian said, beaming. “But I promise I’ll be safe. I’m fast, and really, really good at hiding.”
I hesitated, and then looked up at Maddox and Quess again. “I want to say no,” I told them flatly.
“We also want you to say no,” Quess replied. “But I sense a ‘but’ in you, so…”
I licked my lips and looked around. “Honestly, guys, I don’t see any way of getting out of here until after the Tourney finishes. Not just because Lacey and Strum have their hooks in us, but because people will be expecting us to run right away. Which means that any chance we have at running means finding a place to go before we plan to run. Which means letting Tian do what she does best. I might not be able to convince Lacey to pull her people from us, but I will make her understand Tian is off limits.”
“Do you think she will honor that?” Maddox asked.
I nodded in response, because I did think she would. Lacey didn’t like the idea of leveraging us, so I was betting she doubly didn’t like the idea of stalking a young girl. Strum and Lacey had done nothing to hurt Tian so far, and they probably believed that she was just a child. Which she was—but she was also capable, and clever.
While I hated the idea of letting Tian go off by herself, I had to believe that she could take care of herself.
I had to trust that they all could, I realized. Quess, Maddox, and Leo were going to be Squires, like me, but I was not going to be staying in the barracks with them. I was going to be with my parents. And my friends were going to be without me more than we were going to be together, especially since they were going to have classes, tests, and training. I struggled to remember whether the Academy was canceled during the Tourney, because I was going to need them desperately, but decided to address that later.
“Please, Doxy,” Tian begged as Maddox continued to brood over the decision. Doxy’s eyes slid over to Tian’s bright blue ones, and softened slightly.
“Okay,” she relented with a nod. “But here are the rules: every time you leave, you have to net in every hour, on the hour, and let us know that you are safe.”
“But Liana said no netting!” Tian exclaimed, looking at me.
“In this case, it will be okay. I’m pretty sure that one of us will be listed as your official guardian, since you are underage,” Quess replied. “And it will have to be me, because Maddox is known. It would make sense for her to call me to check in. Just check in, though; the reports on places can be delivered in person.”
I nodded in approval of the idea, and felt some of the weight on my shoulders lift.
“Okay, so I’ll handle old Sanctum, and Tian will handle finding the new location. Once we find it, then what?” Quess asked the question casually, looking around.
“We’ll start transferring stuff over—discreetly, of course. That will come later. Lacey might be watching it, but again, I think I can convince her to back off some. And during the Tourney is when she’s going to be most distracted, so that would be the best time to get the bulk of it moved.” I sucked in a deep breath, thinking. “I’m going to tap Alex and Mercury to see if they can find Jasper, and the formula for Paragon. We also need to get the Paragon from Sanctum up here as soon as possible. I do not want Lacey’s people finding it and getting curious about what it is.”
“I’ll grab it tomorrow,” Quess replied. “Or today, rather. As soon as we get out of here.”
“Good,” I said, reaching out and grabbing his hand to squeeze it. “Thank you.”
He nodded. “Of course. But what are we going to do? Leave or stay?”
“If I may?” I looked over in surprise to see Leo watching us, an expectant expression on his face. I realized he wanted to say something that was just a little longer than a question, and stepped back, allowing him to have the floor, so to speak. “I want to make a case for staying here and helping me,” he said carefully. “And it starts and ends with this: if all of the legacies have been tampering with Scipio for generations, then it won’t be long before the Tower itself fails. So I want your help tracking down the other AI fragments, so that I can incorporate them into my code and become the new Master AI.”
I had been waiting for him to bring this up, and I was surprised it had taken him this long. The six of us shared various uncomfortable looks, mine fueled by the suspicion that he wasn’t going to get the response he wanted, but it was Zoe who spoke.
“How bad do you think the damage to Scipio is?”
“Bad,” Leo replied without hesitation, his face and voice grave. “For Lacey and Strum to have overridden a memory like that… Those are deeply embedded in our code, which means there must be serious damage to the system. That’s the only thing that would’ve allowed them access to do what they did. I’m not sure how bad it could be, but…”
“But what?” Quess asked, a tremor of fear in his voice. “We weren’t able to recover Jasper, and as you said, there were four other AIs besides him that completed the final AI. According to the video you showed us, they were destroyed.” He left it unspoken, but all of us were thinking it: without them, it was a doomed cause. Lionel Scipio had somehow used all of the fragments, and Scipio himself, to create the master AI, and without them, Leo was too small to run the Tower.
“Yes, but if Jasper is still around, then maybe they weren’t,” Leo replied. “They could’ve fought, like I did!”
“But you said they weren’t full AIs like you were,” I said carefully. I could already tell how the others felt about this, and that was beyond reluctant. While I sympathized with Leo, I also understood their fear about what he was suggesting. It meant staying longer, more chance of exposure, and planning an attack on the Core itself—something we had barely managed to survive the first time around. If it was between an unknown future escaping the Tower to find a new place to live, and trying to take on the Tower, and the Core itself, then outside won, hands down.
Still, if I was really honest with myself, I didn’t like it. Leaving seemed cold and indifferent to the people inside the Tower, who were living their lives with no idea of how close catastrophe was. We had all grown up among them, Tian and Maddox excluded. Most people bought into the dream and lie of the Tower with an almost fanatical attitude that made it impossible for them to see reason.
But how could the seven of us stand a chance against that many people? People who were made our enemies specifically by their belief in Scipio and his infallibility? Even now, the council was going to brush Devon’s supposed manipulation of Scipio under the table, so that people never learned he had been tampered with. Just his word was good enough for them.
What sort of fairness could be achieved when the system itself was no longer impartial?
The answer was none, which made it hard to even consider standing up and fixing it.
No, leaving was the only option for them, for us, because we all knew that staying on the inside would only get us killed faster. If not from our ranks dropping to a one, then
from the unknown enemies we were rapidly acquiring.
They were good people. We all were. But that didn’t mean we wanted to die in a mad attempt to save the Tower.
“This is hard for me to say, because I’m very close with my family, but… I know that if they were here, they wouldn’t want me to have any part in trying to fix the Tower. They’d urge me to leave before they’d ever let me do that.” Eric looked around and shifted. “They’d tell me to do whatever I could to keep myself and the people I cared about safe. That plan doesn’t seem safe to me.”
Zoe reached out and took his hand, and I smiled in spite of the somberness of the conversation. The love between them seemed to chase away the dark fear lurking in both their eyes, if only for just a moment.
Leo, however, looked crestfallen as he swiveled his head around. “And the rest of you?”
“I’m sorry, Leo,” Maddox said, her eyes down. She was holding Tian’s hand, her thumb stroking Tian’s smaller fingers. “I can’t risk the people I love. It’s bad enough we’re thinking about escape, but that’s… that’s easier than what you’re asking. And less dangerous.”
“I see.” His eyes crossed the room and settled on me. “Liana?”
I took a long moment to consider, even though I could sense his impatience for an answer. “I’m not voting this time,” I finally announced softly. “I can’t. I see the merits of doing either, as well as the cons, and… I don’t care, as long as we do it together. That’s what’s important to me.”
Zoe’s arm slid around my shoulder as I met Leo’s recriminating stare with an apologetic one. I knew he wanted me to back him up, and a part of me really wanted to. I certainly didn’t like the idea of turning my back on anyone in the Tower, but I recognized that the fight for the Tower was harder than the fight to leave, and I wouldn’t try to argue for the more dangerous mission if my friends didn’t want to do it in the first place.