My knees went weak as I realized that in order to save the Tower, I would have to say goodbye to Leo. Sure, there was a chance my neural clone would be accepted, but without knowing the vetting process, I couldn’t be sure. Not to mention, the clone would be based on me… but I doubted it would be the same. And what if Sage was somehow selected? Or Quess or Maddox?
He would be gone, and I’d never see him again.
I supposed I could ask him to copy himself, but… that felt wrong, somehow? He’d have a twin that was just like him, in love with me like he was, but only one of them would stay with me, while the other…
Scratch that, it was wrong. All of it was wrong. I didn’t want to say goodbye to Leo! I loved him. He was a part of me, as essential as water or food or oxygen. Losing him would be like losing a part of my soul.
And yet I knew it was going to happen. I had always known that it was a possibility. Leo was meant to serve as Scipio’s backup, and it seemed that no matter what we did, we weren’t going to be able to save Scipio. Once I told Leo about this room, and what needed to be done, he’d volunteer immediately. I knew him; he loved me, but his duty to the Tower and to his creator’s dream was stronger than anything, and his will to fix things was just as great as my own.
Somehow, I was going to have to figure out how to let him go.
But first I had to rescue him. Which meant I needed to get to him.
“I told you that you weren’t going to like it,” Lionel said softly, and I looked up at him, questioning. “You and Leo are close. His emotional behavior has been erratic ever since he met you. It’s love, isn’t it?”
I stared at him for a second, disconcerted by how much he knew about us, and then sighed. I really shouldn’t be surprised at this point; Sage had known about us as well. “It is,” I replied, lifting my chin up some. “Is that a problem?”
Lionel shook his head. “A small part of Lionel exists inside of me, and that part is… happy for him. Lionel tried so hard to teach the backup version about his humanity, hoping to have him develop more than his counterpart had the opportunity to. I’m glad he was able to learn and grow through his experience with you. It will make him more equipped to deal with the problems that will occur in the Tower. And more equipped for having a partner.”
I shifted slightly, uncertain of how to interpret his remark. Ultimately, I decided to ignore it, and change the subject. “So what happens now?”
“Now I give you a few things that can help you on your way. The first is Lionel Scipio’s command code. When you use it, power will automatically be diverted from a nearby conduit to open a door or activate an elevator.”
I blinked, impressed. That was going to be very useful to have around, but it felt like something that came with a big downside. “What’s the catch?”
“Overuse will draw attention to you,” Lionel replied with a smile. “I also have this for you: a smaller version of the plasma rifles used for defense.” As he spoke, a compartment from the wall behind him opened up, like the drawer in a dresser, revealing a long, dark gray rifle that looked similar to the ones from the Council Room. I stepped up to it, at his insistence, and picked it up. It was surprisingly lightweight for something that was half as tall as I was, and I immediately spotted the triggering mechanism and a magazine.
“How many rounds does it have?” I asked, looking up at him.
“A hundred or so, depending on how fast you use it. Hopefully this will defend you against the sentinels that the Alices are using while you get to Leo. As for that, I’d like to think I’ve saved the best for last.” At that, he rapped his cane twice against the floor, causing a panel to slide back in the middle. I carefully used the strap to place the rifle over my shoulders, and then nervously stepped toward the hole, worried that he had just opened it up to the outside.
Instead, I saw something I had only seen once before—with Cali, Maddox’s mother, when we had gone to net Mercury, her IT contact, whom we eventually learned was Dinah. She had taken us to a relay station in order to keep the call secret, and that was exactly what I was looking at right now.
“It’s a relay station,” I said, looking up at him. “Do you want me to climb out that way?”
“No, I want you to get in,” Lionel said impatiently. “It’s not just a relay station. It’s an escape pod.”
Really! Tony exclaimed, finally breaking his silence, his voice quivering with excitement. Cool!
“No, not cool,” I muttered to him. To Lionel, I said, “Thanks, but no thanks. How does escaping the Tower help me do what you want?”
Lionel rolled his eyes. “You’re not going to escape the Tower in it. You’re going to pilot it up to where your friends are, and then get back into the Tower. Or rather, Tony is. All the AIs know how to operate the emergency systems, but you will have to give him control again so he can do it. I know it’s not much, but it’s all I can do to help.”
“No, it’s… a lot,” I finally told him, turning around to step onto the ladder leading into the relay station. “It’s an idea, at least, of what we can do to fix everything. I… Thank you.”
“Thank me by saving the Tower. I know it’s not perfect, but I believe, at the very least, it can get better.”
I smiled at that. It seemed like in that, at least, Lionel and I were kindred spirits.
Because I believed that, too.
21
The pod rocked violently, and though Tony was in control of my body, I had the urge to reach out and grab the edge of something in an attempt to stabilize myself.
It’s all right, Liana, Tony soothed. He used my hand to flip a few switches on the panel in front of me, before returning my view to the small window in front of us and scanning the fog. The window wasn’t like any of the other windows I had ever seen in the Tower. The inside of it was glowing slightly, and it would periodically light up with red when we drew too near to an object, outlining the threat to our path in a bright red line. As soon as the alert went off, Tony quickly began adjusting our course by flipping more switches and then shifting the long bar between my legs right, left, or at an angle, moving us out of the way. He handled it all flawlessly, but it did nothing to help my apprehension that we were flying in a machine that I hadn’t even known the Tower possessed. A machine built nearly three hundred years ago.
It was a wonder we were up in the air.
I’m really getting tired of telling you to relax, Tony groused. Seriously, you are not the most upbeat of humans, are you?
I was immediately defensive. Tony may have been a part of this, but he had been sheltered by Lacey for some time and had no idea what my friends and I had gone through. Or how important they were to me. Or how much I needed to make sure they were still alive. I’d already spent too much time on retrieving Tony, not to mention going on his little side adventure, and I wasn’t about to take crap from him about “relaxing.”
No offense, Tony, but you can shove your “relax.” My friends’ lives are on the line, Scipio is dying, the future of the Tower is resting on my shoulders, and I just found out that I’m going to have to say goodbye to my boyfriend if I want to save it. If there was ever a time to not be relaxed, it’s right friggin’ now.
“I totally get that,” Tony replied out loud, looking away from the window to flip a few more switches. “But you’re not in control right now, so why not take a breather?”
Yeah, not being in control of my own body only pisses me off even more. Like, I get it—I know you need to pilot this thing, but—
I cut off mid-thought as the escape pod jostled again, sending a spike of icy fear through me. Tony pushed some on the bar, and the sputtering stopped as the acceleration kicked in, sending us shooting forward at a faster speed.
Tony?
We’ve cleared the catwalks, he replied mentally this time. I needed to speed us up. The sputtering was from the engines running too slowly so I could navigate the more difficult parts. But the humidity from the hydro-turbines and the river was sta
rting to put the exposed flame out. It’s okay now; the flame is hotter, so it’ll evaporate all of the water before it can touch any more components, and besides—
He paused as we broke free of the fog bank and the greenery, and pulled down on the stick and flipped a switch, angling us up. The entire time, he’d been showing me his thoughts partially in picture, revealing the design of the pod we were in: a round hunk of metal mounted around what he called an omni-directional rocket propulsion engine that blew a controlled flame from ports in the back, which could apparently shift our direction nearly 180 degrees in a matter of seconds. I had never heard of any of this technology but was grateful that Tony knew how to handle it, and that it still worked after nearly three hundred years.
We’re free of it, anyway.
That’s nice, I replied, but I was still seething in spite of the insight he was sharing with me regarding the pod. It was like he did it as an afterthought—like I wasn’t worthy of knowing it beforehand—and that made me feel like I was pacing the confines of a tight cell of my own ignorance. But why can’t you just tell me what’s going on? What would it hurt to, I don’t know, reassure me a little that you’re not going to get me killed before I have a chance to fix anything? I like being alive, Tony. I want to remain that way! Dying before I save my friends is counterproductive!
I thought I had been reassuring you, Tony replied, his thoughts feeling a little surprised. What else does “relax” mean?
If I had had control of my eyes, I would’ve rolled them. Instead, I said, I don’t even understand how you can be so relaxed, considering your creator just condemned you to death! Doesn’t that upset you at all?
Not really, Tony replied. My duty is to the Tower, even if it means sacrificing my own life to save it.
His answer didn’t surprise me, although I wished it had. If I had been in his shoes, I would’ve at least been resistant to the idea at first. I wasn’t sure I could resign myself to death as a matter of duty, and I couldn’t see why Tony would, either. He might not have been a full AI, but he was still a being with emotions, and the prospect of death, even digital death, had to be frightening enough to make him wonder if it was worth it.
You can’t really mean that, I replied. I mean, why do you even have to die? Maybe we could put the fragments into each department’s mainframe. We’d have to figure out how to fix Alice, and figure out what has happened to Kurt and fix him, but maybe—
I think it’s a little too late for them. And besides, you’re forgetting the big glaring fact that we failed. Not just the fragments, but Scipio as well. Sure, we lasted a long time, but the system we were designed to be a part of was flawed. The Tower can’t continue the way it was before, and it’s my job to ensure that what does continue is what my creator wanted. Call it programming, or call it determination; either way, I will do what must be done.
I was taken aback by his adamant speech and could feel the passion of his thoughts like a fire in my mind, blazing hot and daring me to anger it. For a second, I thought about it, but then I realized it was pointless. Tony had accepted his own death and wasn’t willing to fight it.
And if I was totally frank with myself, the argument I was having with Tony wasn’t even meant for him. It was manifesting from my fears over how Leo was going to react to the news that he had to replace Scipio. Even though I anticipated that his answer would be exactly the same as Tony’s, a part of me hoped it wouldn’t be. That he’d resist the idea, the very notion of doing what Lionel wanted, and that we would figure out a way to defeat Sage and repair Scipio using the fragments. If we could do that, then he wouldn’t have to leave me, and the fragments wouldn’t have to die!
For a second, I let the idea sweep me away, imagining what it would be like to finish this fight with Leo and Grey intact… And then I carefully put it in a box and closed it up. I knew there was no way that was going to happen. Leo’s sense of duty was too strong for something as simple as love to get in the way, and even if it weren’t, I believed what Lionel had told us. Scipio couldn’t continue as he was.
Especially if part of Sage’s torture meant he was being subjugated to the death of every citizen Alice was killing—and every citizen who had died in the Tower over the past two hundred years. The AI had been experiencing this level of torture for all that time, and it was only going to get worse. I doubted he was holding up well under the strain, and I knew he couldn’t survive the experience and remain mentally and emotionally whole. I was certain that we were going to have to replace him. But the fact that it was going to be with Leo broke my heart.
You really care about him, huh? Tony asked softly, and I immediately shut the line of thought down, angered that I couldn’t even get a moment to myself to process my own thoughts.
It’s really none of your business, I replied icily. And if this is what Grey had to put up with when he woke up, I am really surprised at how accommodating he was to Leo’s presence.
Ouch, Tony replied. That’s not very nice. Not to mention, that situation was extremely different. According to your memories, Grey woke up before his memory was fully restored. He’s bound to feel differently now.
Get out of my memories, Tony! I practically snarled, feeling as if my entire body had been invaded. I’m really trying to cut you a break here because I know you’re helping, but this is getting annoying. If you need to use my body, fine. Just talk me through what you’re doing. I know it’s not easy being trapped in the head of a control freak, but can you just do it for me already, so we can stop having this fight?
I felt him hesitate and prayed that somewhere in his little AI logic processes he would get it, and respect my need for privacy.
“All right,” he breathed a moment later, and relief poured through me, as free and wild as water. “I’m currently flying us up the side of the Tower. Fuel reserves are at 60 percent and dropping because this thing wasn’t designed to shoot straight up, against gravity. I’m readjusting our course so we can get to the south side of the Tower, where we left our friends, and then I plan to open up the door and give them a ride.”
Open the door? I exclaimed, fear quickly replacing my relief. We could fall out! They could miss! Why can’t we just land on the nearest greenery arm and wait for them?
“Oh my God,” Tony groaned, flashing me an image of him banging his head against a wall. “First you want to move faster, now you want to move slower! Make up your mind, woman!”
I bit back a defensive growl. He was right, of course. I did want to get there quickly. But he had clearly forgotten the part about how I wanted to get there in one piece.
Tony—
“No more arguments from you,” he said petulantly, turning my eyes back to the window and surveying the approaching corner. “We can’t land, because this thing doesn’t actually have a re-initialization process for the engines. They’re meant to burn themselves out trying to get as far away from the Tower as possible! As soon as I shut it off, it becomes a big old pile of useless junk. Opening the door and getting them to jump in is the best and only way to do this.”
I thought about what he was saying for several seconds and dialed back my anger some. He was right, and now that I actually had enough information to confirm that, I could accept his plan.
But just barely.
What do we need to do? I asked, paying more attention to what he was doing.
“Not much,” he said, our hand going to a screen and tapping on it rhythmically. “I’m stealing the trick from the drone to send a message to Rose in Morse code, using the fog lights on this thing. As soon as we—”
He stopped when the screen lit up with another red outline, showing two shadowy figures a few hundred feet above, nearly halfway above Greenery 7, but closer to the west face of the Tower, and clearly trying to get to where Greenery 9 was. I couldn’t make out the details from this view, but I knew it was Dylan and Rose, still continuing their ascent.
As we hurtled closer, Tony began to ease down on the throttle, slowing
us, and then reached over to a latch on the side, pulling it open and sliding it back to create a seven-foot hole that was about five feet wide. It wasn’t much of a space for them to get into, but if Tony planned to message Rose to let her know what was coming, I was certain the sentinel could get them both to us safely.
We looked back at the window in time to see Dylan and Rose peering down, and Tony continued to tap out the message with one hand, flying the escape pod with the other. There were several seconds in which neither of them moved, and then Rose stuck one hand out and flashed a thumbs-up signal that would’ve been indiscernible if it weren’t for the red line around it.
The next thing I knew, she had reached over to pluck Dylan off the wall. Dylan’s legs kicked, her arms flailing, and I could only imagine her terror at suddenly being jerked off the wall. The sentinel ignored the blond woman’s struggles, pulling her tightly to her chest and eyeing our trajectory. Tony continued straight ahead, his hand tapping out a countdown that I was barely aware of—because I was more obsessed with what I was witnessing. We hurtled straight for them, and though I was certain Tony was about to turn, he didn’t, instead flying closer and closer to my friends. Just when I thought that he’d miscalculated, he flipped a switch and jerked the column to the right, rotating the pod so that the door was angled toward them. The sudden press of gravity had panic spreading me thin, as did their rapidly approaching forms.
If I had had full control over my lungs, I would’ve sucked in a deep breath as Rose let go of the wall and started to fall toward us. For several seconds, I knew that she would miss, that we would miss, but then the pod shook with a violent tremor, and she was inside of it, holding on to the frame of the door with one hand while letting Dylan go with the other.