The Fourth Sage (The Circularity Saga) (33 page)

That feels nice,
she hears in her thoughts.

She pulls her hand back.

Why would you do that?
She hears Max's thoughts when he opens his eyes.

Because I was just... You looked so peaceful,
she replies, realizing that she’s embarrassed.

I don't mean you touching me. I mean you pulling your hand away,
she hears.
You don't need to feel embarrassed.

"Well, I do."

Max stretches out his hand and touches Aries's hair and face. She lets it happen until the thought occurs to her that he is going to kiss her. She can feel the blood rushing into her face as she realizes that he’s fully aware of what she was thinking. Max smiles.

Would you like me to?

Would you like me to what?

Kiss you.

I can't think anything you don't know instantly?
she thinks
.

I guess not,
he replies.
It's not so bad.

What do you mean, it's not so bad. It is! I have no private thoughts with you.

Do you want to?

Yes. I would like to at least filter out the thoughts I want you to know and keep others to myself.

What's the fun in that?
he replies.

You should kiss each other already and get it over with,
Aries hears in her thoughts.

Born-of-Night?
Aries sits up.
You’re listening as well?

Sorry,
the hawk replies
. He is a nice boy.

Well, thanks!
Aries replies.
I'm glad I have your blessing.

You're welcome. I'm just looking out for you.

Where are you, anyway?
Aries looks around.

Not far,
Born-of-Night replies.

They couldn't have slept that long, maybe two or three hours. Amber and Jeremiah lie a few feet away, quietly talking to each other. Sam and Seth are having a conversation as well. Then she sees Ty make his way to her and sit down on her blanket. He reaches in his pocket and takes out a few crackers and a tube with seaweed paste.

"So? Anything to report?" he says, as if she had just repaired a faulty motor somewhere in Electrical and he expected an exact account of what was wrong with it and how she had fixed it.

"Where do I start?" she asks.

"How about the elevator ride up," Ty says, handing her a container with water.

"How much of that do we have?" Aries asks.

"We've got plenty. There is a spring that pools back there."

"What is this place?" she asks.

"You know as much as I do. But why don't you tell me what happened."

Aries begins recounting the events of the last six hours. The elevator ride up, finding Seth and freeing him, discovering the sky bridge to the next building and their crossing it. When she gets to the part where they’d freed C.J., her voice begins to crack. Until now, she has had no time to process what she saw when she looked into the rooms where the other girls were held. The thought that C.J., together with the others, had been tied to a bed somewhere with nobody to comfort them, no friend by their side, was almost unbearable.

"I should have done something sooner," she says.

"You couldn't have known," Ty answers. "Up until the note on your pad, we all thought she was sick."

"How is this possible?"

"What do you mean?"

"How can the Corporation have that much power? Why did nobody do something about it?" Aries can feel the anger rise in her.

"There have always been people who tried," Ty answers. "But their numbers were either too few, or the Corporation shut them down right away."

"What about us? Are our numbers sufficient? When we crossed the sky bridge, we saw at least two hundred androids in that spot alone. They were there just to protect the bridge. How many do you think there are altogether?"

Ty doesn't say anything at first, as if to consider his answer thoroughly.

"Tens of thousands, in my estimation."

When Aries doesn't say anything, he continues. "Their numbers are infinite. Over the last decade, they have perfected the design and function of androids, I'm sure. And drone technology has made several exponential leaps in the last few years."

"So why don't we give up?" Aries asks. "It seems what we're doing here has no point. To them it's of no consequence."

"I wouldn't say that," Ty replies. "The simple fact that they're looking for you is telling us that they must be at least a little scared. And now that they have someone who escaped from a brothel in building two, they're getting nervous, I'm sure. Sometimes the truth is the most powerful weapon one can have."

"But how do we do that? How do we expose them without getting ourselves killed in the process? And how do we get Kiire out at the same time?"

"You might only get one of the three in the end."

Ty had spoken aloud what Aries has been thinking for a while, that this might not end well for them.

"We need to expose them in a way that they can't turn around and manipulate into something else," he says, after a while.

"How?"

"I don't know."

"We could tell everyone that if nobody buys clips of memories of loved ones ever again, if nobody enters the advanced corporate management program, if nobody uses the screen images of the sunsets and the forests and the oceans in their rooms, that might do something."

"That might not be enough," Ty says.

"What's enough, then?"

"We need to expose the lie."

"The lie?"

"The lie on which the rest of them are built. The foundation of it all. The Corporation says that having an image of a sunset in your room at night gives you freedom. Or watching an hour of the life of a loved one will bring you peace. And the biggest lie of all is that we cannot change our fate in any way, that we cannot escape this prison. We can."

"How?"

Aries becomes aware that Ty looks older than he normally does. Worn. Tired.

"You have to tell them," he says.

"Me? How would I do that? Get a giant megaphone and stand on the sky bridge between the two buildings and shout?"

"That's a start," he says, with a smile. "Someone has to tell them of their right to reclaim what is theirs. Someone has to tell them that they need not live like this."

"You're talking like it's easy. And possible."

"It's not easy. Far from it. But you said it yourself. You convinced an old man to leave everything behind and follow you. You said that we need someone who doesn't stop after the first step, one who goes all the way to the end of the line. Are you telling me that you didn't mean it? Because if you are, I'll tell you in no uncertain terms that you absolutely meant it. I believed you. I believed everything you said."

There is a pause, during which his eyes don't leave hers.

"We are far superior to any android, be that a single one or tens of thousands," Ty continues. "And what makes us superior to them is one simple thing. It's so simple it escapes us. I realized it when you said something to me. You said that if you ask 'why' enough times, you'll get to the bottom of everything. You're young, Aries. And I'm not sure if you picked that line up somewhere or if you actually thought about it, but I'm going to assume it's the latter. What I'm saying is, in order for us to do this, whatever 'this' is, we need to answer the question 'why?' And we can't be okay with the first answer. We have to ask it again and again until we come to the truth all the way at the bottom. Only then can we even think about continuing."

"Right now, I want to stay alive," Aries says, after a moment.

"Okay," Ty replies. "Why?"

"Because I like to live, to be alive."

"Why?"

"That's a strange question. Why wouldn't I want to live?"

"I don't know. You tell me."

Ty's eyes won't let go of hers. She thinks about turning her head and looking away, but there is something in him that won't let her do that.

"Why do you want to live?" he asks again.

"To be alive."

When Ty doesn't answer, Aries continues, "To finish what I started. To go all the way, to not stop."

"Why?"

This is getting a little annoying,
Aries thinks.

Not to me,
Max answers.

She expects him to have a smile on his face. But his face is serious. She doesn't think she has ever seen him with a serious face, at least one she can remember.

"Why do you want to finish what you started, Aries?" Ty asks again.

"Because nobody else has. Because I'm here right now."

"Why?"

"Because... I believed Born-of-Night, who told me to go to the Forgotten Floors."

"Why did you believe her?"

"I don't know. I just did!"

Aries becomes aware that many of the kids are now looking at her. Her voice echoes in the cave. It must have been louder than she’d meant.

"Why?" Ty continues. His voice is relentless, pushing her. "Aries. Why?"

"Because what she told me made sense."

"Why did it make sense?"

"
I don't know
! Because she said I can do it."

"That's not enough. That's not nearly enough! You can't expect to just go and knock on somebody's door and tell them to stop what they're doing! So, as long as you don't have a better reason—"

"BECAUSE OF THEM!"

Her words echo through the cave. The faces of the others reflect her own surprise over her outburst.

"Because... of the children," she adds quietly. "The children in the orphanage. Because of the people in Electrical and the ones who... can't do anything. Because of Kiire. Because of my parents."

She can't stop the tears from running down her face.

"Because they died and I'm still here. Because people... people need their freedom. They need it like air, like water, like love. Like love."

She looks at Max. Then she puts her hands to her face and cries. Ty holds her, strokes her back, rocks her gently back and forth.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. I'm so sorry."

"Aries Egan," one of the children says into the silence.

"Aries Egan," another one says.

"Aries Egan," Tevis says as she walks over to them. She repeats the name two more times.

Now all the children say her name. They say it quietly, as if to give it power through that. Sam repeats it. Jeremiah and Amber repeat it. Mila and the others, too. When everyone is quiet again, Aries looks at Ty. He nods.

Aries.
Born-of-Night's thoughts reach her. With that comes an image that Aries at first cannot identify.

"What is this?" she asks.

She exchanges a glance with Max, knowing that he sees it as well. Mila pushes some of the blankets to the side and begins to draw something on the stone. The drawing looks like crescent moons laid next to each other in a circle.

"What do you think this is?" Seth asks, as he comes closer.

"I don't know," Aries says.

It looks as if it is built into the rock or a cliff,
Max thinks.

Born-of-Night, where are you?
Aries asks.

Not far.

Can you lead us there?

I think so,
the hawk answers.

"How big do you think this is, Mila?"

"Must be easily one hundred and fifty feet in diameter," she answers.

C.J. approaches the sleeping area as well.

"I want to come with you," she says.

"Me too," Amber says.

"S-s-so do I," Jeremiah.

Seth nods. So does Sam.

Ty gets up from his blanket. "I'm coming with. Somebody needs to make sure you don't fall or get lost."

"We should not be long," Tevis says to one of the older kids. "And the younger ones can use some rest."

"I'll stay here with them," Tuari says.

Tevis walks over, goes down on one knee and hugs both of them.

"You are the bravest of the brave," she says when she kisses their foreheads.

Born-of-Night flies toward them and lands on Aries's shoulder.

How far?
Aries asks.