I Am Not Junco Omnibus: Books Four - Six (74 page)

To my disappointment we exit out into your average high-class office building elevator vestibule. It’s got polished floors made of some kind of brown stone, black leather couches, and large leafy plants in ceramic pots. To make it feel homey for Juno’s clone, I guess.

Web turns left and heads down the hallway, us following, until he reaches a door. Hando flashes his palm and gives blood one more time. His fucking fingers must be killing him from all the DNA blood draws. The doors part after a few seconds and Web waves us forward. I start to go but Deb has a hold of my arm and she’s decided not to go with. “Hey, Deb? Need my arm back, hon. Be right back.” I pry her fingers loose and place her hand at her side. “OK?”

“Purpledogsbarkatmidnight.”

I look at Web. “Should I know what that means?”

He clears his throat. “She said,
She’ll stab you in the back if you let her out of your sight
.”

“Oh.” I look over at Deb. “Thanks for the tip. I’ll definitely keep my eye out.”

She nods her head once and then smiles a crooked grin.

“Let’s go, Annun.”

We go forward and leave both AIs outside. I’m sorta missing my Deb already. If she’s got a thing for me I’d like to keep her around. Junco was blessed with all these damn AIs she’s got doing her bidding. Especially that little HOUSE. I sure hope she comes back, because I liked that little shit. A lot.

We go down a long boring hallway, nothing but some really uglified wallpaper in a silver flower pattern to look at, and then end up at a large stainless steel door. Another palm, another poke, and Hand and I are walking through the door. For a second I’m disoriented. I turn, look up, look down, then squint at the window and walk over quickly. It’s dark outside but the lights of Upper Dallas calm my fears.

“What’s wrong?” Hand asks.

“Fuck, man, it’s just… this place looks like Amelia. Like I’m back home.” I look over at him. “Sorry, just screwed with my head for a second.”

I let out a short puff of air and pull myself together. The tank is alive with lights and humming, and that’s all good from what I know. Hand walks over first and looks at the control panels. “OK, let’s get this show on the road.”

“Yeah, I’m ready.”

We both stand there, then look at each other. “Well?” I ask.

“Well, what?”

“Bring her up.”

“Do I look like I read fucking alien?” He pans his hand to the writing on the control panel. “You’re the fucking avian here, you bring her the fuck up.”

I break out in a sweat. And then gulp.

“Annun, you’re the fucking commander or something, right? Do not fuck with me.”

“Dude, I do not read avian. I swear. I’m not even Aves, I’m from fucking Politicos. I was in the General Fledge, man, I was—”

“Stop. Not one thing just made sense. How do you not read this shit?”

“I just told you, I’m not Aves. I’m Politicos. Unless you’re born into Aves Cluster, you never learn avian. And yeah, normally I would be spending a bunch of years training after Fledge, but all this end-of-the-world thing sorta messed with our schedule. Tier disappeared, Ashur and the 039 were here on Earth, so I made the shit up as I went. When Tier came back he sent Wyrd to Science, but he took us and put us to work. I had no training in the ancient languages.”

“And Tier’s dumb ass never thought of that?”

I shrug. “He’s always forgetting I’m not Aves.” I take a deep breath and crack my knuckles. “Don’t worry, how fucking hard can it be, right?” I smile at John Hando and he looks like he’s gonna murder me. But I’m used to that look so I ignore it.

“Let’s see…” I scan the symbols. “I can read some of them. You don’t live with the fucking warriors for two years and not pick up some of it.”

“OK, so what parts can you read?”

“Hmmm… none of this. I only picked up the swear words.” I laugh and Hando gets personal. He punches me back so hard I crash into the wall and make shit fall over, shattering on the black polished floor. “Take it easy,
gleisvaangi
—that’s avian for ‘dickhead’, by the way.” He comes at me again but I put my hands up and laugh again. “I said it was easy. We’re superior life forms, we don’t make shit complicated.” I walk back over to the tank and push a few buttons.

Nothing.

A few more. Something starts blinking. “Now we’re getting somewhere.” I swipe my whole forearm across the control panel so it comes into contact with dozens of buttons.

Shit goes haywire. The lights are flashing, the life support alarms go off, and the lid pops open and then everything settles down.

“See?”

I peek into the red goo, which is just wrong in so many ways. This shit’s supposed to be green. It’s thick and viscous, so I reach down and grab a hold of the oxygen tube and then yank as hard as I can. The body of a very blonde girl floats to the top and I almost lose my shit right there. “Help me now, Hand! Let’s get her out.” I run to the other side of the tank and we lift her up by the arms. “Pull out her tube, just yank it out of her mouth!”

“What? That might hurt her!”

“She’s gonna suffocate if you don’t, John. And I don’t know about you, but I do not care who they say this bitch is, she looks like Junco to me. And if she dies, I will kill you myself. So yank the fucking tube. Now!”

Hando obeys my command. He grabs the corrugated resin tube and yanks, but it stays firm. Iliana’s mouth opens to gasp and her expression turns to panic when she realizes she can’t breathe. “Again! Harder, man! In about five seconds she’s gonna vomit and then she really will die!”

Hand lets go of her arm and she swings to my side of the tank, almost going back under. Now her hands are flailing, and she’s fighting against us, spraying red goo everywhere. He grabs the tubing with both hands this time, puts one foot on the side of the tank to use as leverage, and pulls. There’s a moment when it looks as if it won’t budge, but then a sickening sucking sound erupts from the clone’s mouth and it comes sliding out, blood and puke shooting out after, projectile-style.

“Pull her out, Hando! Pull her out!”

We lift together, he with one arm, me with another, and we pull. She barely moves. “Fuck!”

“What’s wrong, why is she so fucking heavy?”

“The morph gel, it usually takes a team to get them out. Pull again, Hando.” By this time Iliana is choking and gasping, not strong enough to really fight us, but not at all cooperating, either. “Iliana,” I try to reason with her. “Stay still, girl. We’re on it!”

We pull again and this time I feel a physical sucking from the bottom of the tank as the seal is broken. Her body is thrust forward with our effort and then we lift again, pulling her out of the tank, her feet dragging on the floor, dripping that disgusting red gel everywhere.

“In the shower, Hand.”

“Where the fuck is the shower?”

“Fuck!” It’s got to be here. Who would have a morph tank with no shower? I look around and spy a familiar symbol. Restrooms. “There.” I point to the door. “In there.”

We drag her over to the bathroom and I lean on the door until it swings inward. “Lights?” I command hopefully.

“Lights, activated,” comes back from the ceiling in a pleasant female voice.

“Oh, thank God. Shower?”

“Shower, activated.”

The sound of spurting water leads me through another door and we let her sink to the ground. “OK, out, Hando. Sometimes the morph makes them crazy, so we gotta wait outside. Voice in the ceiling? Is there a lock for this door?”

“Yes, Annun. Would you like me to secure the shower room?”

“Yeah, do that.”

We exit and the mechanism on the door clicks and beeps.

“Locked and armed,” the voice says.

I look at Hando and he’s got his eyebrows up high on his forehead. “What the fuck?”

I shrug and let out a long huff of air. “Never a dull moment, right? Hey, uh, voice in the ceiling? Is that you, Deb?”

“Yes, Annun.”

I can almost hear her smiling. I know it’s not possible, but I
think
I can almost hear her smiling. “Thank you.”

“It was my pleasure. But this one is not right, Annun. You need to be very careful with her. She is Junco in every sense of the word.”

“OK, then.” I look over at Hando. “Fun times ahead, huh? Do you know where in Peaks we need to take her?”

“Yeah, the Circus. The rocks in the middle of the fountain.”

“Well, we should give her about thirty minutes in there to wake up and wash off. It’s all automated.”

Hando just nods and takes a seat on a rolling stool, his legs kicked out in front of him. He sits there with his arms crossed, just looking at the floor for several minutes. Thinking, I guess. He finally looks up at me and it’s my turn to shoot him the eyebrow lift. “What?”

“You guys, Annun. You don’t seem to really know what the fuck you’re doing.”

“Well, you know, secret plans are tricky like that, right? Which is why I just follow orders. There is only one person in existence who knows what’s going on. Just one. And that’s Lucan. I’m guessing Tier doesn’t even know what’s going on. Not completely anyway. I mean, he knows a lot more than I do, probably more than almost everyone else, but he’s not in on all of it. You see, I’m not sure if you know this, but some of us can read minds. And when you’re trying to fuck up the punishment cycle that was handed down to you by beings who not only read minds, but also see the future, you gotta hold that shit tight. Understand? If I knew the plan and Aesin came and got me, he’d see the whole fucking thing. So secrets are your friends in our world. Lots and lots of secrets. That’s why when we get an order, we follow it.”

“And Junco can’t know either? Because she’s part of the end game?”

“Yup, pretty much.”

“So you don’t know what’s going on with this clone? But how come Gideon does?”

“Well, Lucan can’t do it on his own. He needs every one of us to play our parts. Gideon works for Inanna—like you, I’m guessing, since you’re in charge of this building and it belongs to her. Inanna can see the future and read minds, just like Lucan. If I had to guess, I’d say Lucan can’t see Inanna’s secrets and she can’t see his. Which is perfect, really. Because if Aesin—”

“Wait, who is this Aesin guy?”

“A bad, bad dude. I’m not sure like, who exactly he is, or what the fuck he does. But if Lucan’s afraid of him, he’s bad. So anyway, if Inanna knew Lucan’s plan and he knew hers, then Aesin would be able to see it and that’s not gonna help save Lucan. Or Earth,” I add. “But Inanna’s powerful enough to have her own plan. I’m guessing this is her contribution to the whole end-of-the-world thing.”

“So why are we giving her what she wants? If she’s bad?”

“Because you said it was important. Tier said to go get her. It’s all about orders, Hand.” I think about this for a moment, then amend my statement. “And faith.”

A loud beeping noise pulls me back to the job. “What’s that, Deb?”

“She’s complete, Annun. You can see her through the security glass before going in, if you’d like.” Deb pauses briefly before adding, “I’d recommend that.” Another set of beeps comes from the far wall and it whooshes open.

“All right. The moment of truth, then.” I get up and Hando follows. I stop short a few paces from the glass, not sure I should go any further. “Fucking. Shit.”

Iliana is a motherfucking demon.

Chapter Nineteen—JUNCO

Pillar Seven Virtual

Letting Isten leave is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. And I’ve done some difficult things. But this, this feels like my whole body and mind, my soul, is being ripped apart from all directions.

He walks down the dock as I wait on the porch of the cabin. “Isten?” I call out one last time.

I want him to turn. I want to see his face one more time, I want to run to him, and hold him, and kiss his cheek, and tell him secrets, and memorize his laugh and the way his lips pull up a little when he’s stifling a smile.

He stops but he doesn’t turn. “See ya soon, OK, Juncs?” he calls back instead. “See ya soon.”

And then he just vanishes.

“Junco?”