Edge of Dark (46 page)

“I met the Next while I was in space,” he said. “Don't assume they're sympathetic to humans.” He wasn't ready to risk Jason and Yi's safety by telling her they were here, but he said, “I met some of the soulbots—human and machine hybrids in human-like bodies—that the Next created from the people on the High Sweet Home.
They
still feel their humanity. But the others, the true Next? They were . . . frightening. Very powerful, and very different.”

“Do you know what they want?”

“They want something from Lym and plan to come here. A lot of them. They haven't exactly said why.”

“I might have a clue,” Amfi said. “Our captive Next is named Jhailing Jim and says he is one of many copies of himself, although they are all unique now. I think there are more of him here.”

“I met a Jhailing Jim on Satwa station.”

“Way out there?” She fell silent, staring at the flames.

“Yes,” he said. “It wore a robot suit that changed shape as if it were water. It amazed me.”

“It wasn't the robot itself?”

“I believe the older, more powerful Next can move between bodies. Maybe they don't need bodies at all.”

She looked contemplative. “Thank you. I'll take that information back. There's another thing you need to know. While they have been killing, they seem to have done it to protect what they came for. Everyone they killed discovered them.”

“That would apply to Freida and her family.”

“Yes,” she said. “They haven't killed anyone who didn't know about them, as far as we can tell. They don't appear to kill for sport. Nor have they killed anyone new since the announcement by the Next, even though we killed one of them.”

“Have you learned what they want from us?”

“They're mapping our plants and animals and even our people. They're looking for some specific things. We believe they want minerals, although only a few of the ones they seem to be hunting are used in our own technology.”

He moved his feet back away from the heat of the fire.

She ate a handful of nuts. “Our captive Next would like to meet you. He asked that you bring the other two with you.”

“What other two?”

“The two you brought with you. Jhailing Jim saw them on one of the security cameras at the station.”

Which implied that her magical network existed. “We'll go in the morning.”

She took his hand, touching him for the first time. “Thank you.”

CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

NONA

Nona jerked awake, suddenly aware that she had fallen fast asleep with her head on Dr. Nevening's shoulder. The room's day lights were brightening, illuminating figures sprawled across the floor.

The guards were still there. One of them looked at her curiously as she stood and started to pick her way through the sleepers to use the privy. The Historian stirred briefly and then curled into a fetal position, taking up all of the floor space she had shared with him, and snoring lightly.

Her stomach felt empty and skinny, pasted to her back. There had been nothing new except water set out since the meager meal last night.

Satyana sat in a corner, brushing out her hair in long strokes. She looked unusually rumpled. Nona tiptoed to her and folded onto the floor, hugging her knees to her chin. “How are you?”

“We have to get out of here,” Satyana whispered.

Nona eyed the guards. “That's going to be hard.”

“We also need to find a news source. I want to know what's happening out there.”

“Me too. I hope it's not too bad. Last night, Dr. Nevening said major technology changes often destroy forms of government. He told me we've been the same for so long that we've probably forgotten.”

Satyana smiled faintly. “That's why we have a Historian on the Council.”

“He's really worried.”

Noises started up in the kitchen, robot wheels rolling along the floor. Small clanks came from the room. “I guess we all get up now,” Nona said. “Maybe we'll learn something.”

Around the room, sleepers stirred. The Historian sat up and rubbed at his eyes. Leesha slept in long form on the couch, her bare feet dangling over the edge. Two of her toes were half-covered in gold rings.

Robots rolled a tray of water and stim into the room.

Satyana asked one, “Will there be food?”

It replied in an annoyingly upbeat voice. “There have been no deliveries.”

That couldn't be a good sign. Nona chose two glasses of stim and brought them to Satyana, who was eyeing the single door and the two guards by it. “I don't see a good weapon,” she mused. “Although maybe we could use Leesha's shoes.”

“We can't fight,” Nona hissed. “It would risk the Council.”

“We can't do nothing.”

Nona sipped her stim, feeling it sour her empty stomach. She didn't like the bitter, spiced flavor nearly as much as chocolate stim. “The Council isn't going to do anything, are they?”

“If we had someone to negotiate with, I'd bet on them. But not in a physical fight.”

That made sense.

The door opened. Two small drones zipped through it and spun in the air, making slightly fizzy noises. The guards fell, slumping. Stunned.

They were rescued.

Nona started to stand up.

Satyana put a hand on her arm and kept her down.

“What?” Nona whispered. “That has to be the military. Stun drones are illegal for anyone else.”

“Don't be naive.”

Five blue-uniformed figures walked slowly into the room, checking corners and poking their heads into the kitchen. Their white and gold insignia confirmed Nona's suspicions. Diamond Deep military.

Two assistants rushed over and started thanking their rescuers. The Biologist hesitated and then joined them. “Thank you.”

The first person who'd come through the door—a man in a safety suit with an impressive array of hand weapons—used a loud voice to command them. “Gather your things.”

Nona breathed out a long sigh of relief and stood up, offering Satyana a hand.

She was surprised at the look Satyana gave her, part exasperation and part warning. Well, she could worry about that after they were someplace dry and warm and someone gave them a plate of food.

Even the Economist was up and moving. Leesha slid her feet into her shoes and pulled the pins out of her hair, fluffing it with her fingers. Three jewels fell out. She knelt and gathered them up carefully and stuck them in a pocket. Only then did she stand all the way up and slowly, regally, look down her nose at the leader. “Who are you? What's happening? We need to know.”

“I'm General Finlay. We came to save you from the Shining Revolution.” He glanced briefly down at the stunned former guards. He peered around the room. “Where's the Architect?”

“Don't you have him?” Leesha asked.

General Finlay's features hardened. “No.”

Satyana asked, “If you don't have the Architect, do you at least have news?”

The general looked irritated, but he gave them some crumbs. “We're driving the Shining Revolution back from the Deep to their ships. Forward, there's a huge peace protest that has managed to kill seven people while the actual invaders are only up to six on body count. No one seems to be fighting aft of here, so we're taking you there.”

Leesha took a step closer to the general. “We need to hold our formal meeting. The Next gave us a timeline.”

“I know,” the general said. “We have the Headmistress.”

“Who we don't actually need for the meeting,” Satyana pointed out. “She gave up her vote.”

The general ignored her. “We'll be going aft to a military training bubble. It has good communications, and it's near our ships in case the fighting gets worse.”

The Futurist, Hiram, spoke up. “Has there been any more word from the Next? Have any of the other stations made their decision?”

“No and no.”

Dr. Nevening hadn't budged. He stood right in front of the general, and in a very serious voice, he said, “If you have the Headmistress, is she in charge right now?”

“We're in military lockdown until the fighting stops.”

Nona suddenly understood the problem. If they accepted the safety of the military they gave up their power.

The Biologist stared at the Historian. “Do
you
have a better plan?”

Dr. Nevening looked uncomfortable. The others in the room all looked ready to leave.

“We will leave in five minutes.” The general turned to one of his men. “Make sure the corridor is still clear.”

Nona asked him, “Have you heard anything about Chrystal?”

“The robot girl? The Shining Revolution has her.”

“Is she okay?”

He shrugged. “I have no idea.” He turned away, clearly not all that interested.

Most of the military in the room were men. Nona tugged on Satyana's arm and headed for the bathroom. The Futurist was already in there, poking at her hair in the mirror. “How bad is it?” Nona whispered. “What happens if we refuse to go with them?”

The Economist looked at her as if she didn't have a brain in her head. “They kill us.”

When Satyana didn't contradict her, Nona bent over the sink and splashed cold water onto her cheeks.

They filed out of the room they had been held captive in, passing through a gauntlet of soldiers. Nona had never spent much time around the military, who had always seemed like a separate society that lived on the fringes of the real world, and didn't matter much.

Of course, they might matter now.

Still, the men and women in neat uniforms with neatly carried weapons felt like better captors than the Shining Revolution.

They walked two by two. In a few places she saw evidence of fighting. Overturned desks in one office and a door to a living hab that looked like it had been kicked in. A painting of birds had been ripped from a wall and torn into three sad pieces.

They walked for so long that Nona's feet hurt. They traveled between bubbles on shuttles once, which clearly made the military antsy. They stood looking out of the windows with weapons poised as if they could or would shoot from inside a shuttle into the vacuum of space.

Maybe the trains were down, or compromised.

At first, she walked beside Satyana, who kept silent and checked every doorway and corridor, although she never said what she was looking for. Then she walked next to Leesha, taking two steps for every single step the Economist took. Leesha muttered at all of the damage they saw, but wasn't really good company. When she dropped back to walk by the Historian she felt better, as if their long talks and her sleeping on his shoulder had built a friendship between them.

After about half an hour, the group bunched in a wide space, spilling slowly into a common meeting room.

Food and water had been laid out on tables. All of the captives practically rushed the table. Nona couldn't remember when water had tasted so good. There were crackers and protein spreads and dried nuts. Even after she ate, she felt hungry. She looked around for Satyana and found her talking with Leesha and Dr. Nevening.

The group looked so serious Nona felt like an interruption when she asked, “So what happens if we don't get to decide? How will the Next interpret it?”

Dr. Nevening asked her, “What do you think will happen if the military gets to choose?”

It seemed obvious to her. “Won't they want to fight?”

“Maybe,” Satyana said. “But they're primarily a defensive force. They won't have what they need. Not unless they join forces with the Shining or something.”

“Would they do that?” Nona asked. “Why? Because they both want to fight?”

“It's funny to think how close we live to anarchy,” Dr. Nevening said. “I didn't really understand that before.” He glanced meaningfully toward the Biologist, who was talking to the general. “It's hard to tell who's willing to join with whom in times like these.”

“Okay,” Nona said. “But I still want to know what happens if no one decides.”

Leesha turned the question around. “You've been around the Next far more than we have. What do you think they'll do?”

“Kill something.”

“That seems to be everyone's idea,” Leesha said. “You'd think space would be big enough to accommodate us all.”

Nona smiled. Maybe the Economist had just indicated how she would vote. If she got to vote at all. “Well, I don't really know. I've been around Chrystal a lot. She would protect us. I've met the other, older Next. They aren't us. We can't know what they'll do.” She glanced at the Futurist. “I guess that's why they're a wild card.”

Hiram nodded and Dr. Nevening smiled. “Well said.”

“Thanks.” After a few minutes, Nona wandered back toward the food table, which was down to scraps. She pocketed a few energy gels.

Satyana came up beside her, leaned in, and whispered low in her ear, “We're going to try to get away.”