Called, page 5
The same way Clementine had done.
Her little girl is lost in the sea of minds powering the Conglomerate’s surveillance network. If they hadn’t found her so far, Marya could still ensure they never would. Clem would stay safe and not be sacrificed in the unwinnable war to redeem the world. She might always be in danger, but she could at least remain safe behind a veil of ignorance.
The sudden flash of the perimeter alarm roused Marya; she’d been so focused on her work that she had let down her guard completely.
****
My knock echoed in the stillness. I removed my gloves and face covering and lowered my hood. After a few moments, the glow of a torch came closer until I could see Marya’s face glowing in the darkness. Her usually smooth hair was wild, her kind eyes were full of panic, and her body visibly weakened by so many solarii of hard living.
She threw open the door and pulled me inside.
“What are you doing here?” she screeched, tossing me against the parlor wall. Her glare pierced me as she threw herself against the door, locking it again.
“I heard about Jeb.”
“Oh, honey, you can’t be here! How did you travel? Have they tracked you?”
Weathered though she may have been, Marya wasn’t stooped or frail like Jeb. Her eyes were sunken, her hair was limp, and her lips dry.
“I took the Expressway to 31-2, but I used scrip, not my identity. I had my face covered, too.”
“Do you have any of their tech on you?” She eyed me, suspicious.
“I left everything back in the Junction.”
“So, they have no idea where Clem has gone since she got to the Junction?”
“They have no idea there’s a Clementine at all.” I broke away from the entryway and started down the hallway. She started at my movement, bustling past me and through the kitchen door.
“So, who are you if you’re not you anymore then?”
“My Conglomerate name is River Mason.”
“Funny, that almost suits you.” She disappeared into the kitchen, clearing something off the table into her apron as I entered the room. “How did you manage that?”
“Do you really want to know?”
“It’s already done. May as well tell me about it now.”
She held up a second glass and the bottle of terramalt. Things had clearly changed if she was offering me a drink. I shook my head but pulled out a chair and sat.
“You used to tell me everything…”
“I felt bad enough sneaking behind your back, and you had always told me to keep out of sight, so I lied about my name.”
Her eyes warmed, and, for a moment, I could have been a child again. She took the chair next to me. I had missed her smile so much yet seeing it again, as with Jeb, only showed me how much time had been lost between us. Her face was harder, her eyes more deeply-set.
“And where is River Mason meant to be?”
“She is from 31, so I walked in that direction, but instead of crossing the park, I ducked down to the path of the old river.”
“I should have known when you volunteered to work back there, but I was so grateful to have the stress off of Jeb…and then…” She sighed, “Well, now that you’ve come, let me look at you.” She stroked my cheek.
Hoping to avoid a fight, I’d plugged my ports, but I still nervously tried to make sure my hair fully covered them.
“You’ve grown into a beautiful woman, Clem. You look so much like your mother now. When you were a baby, all I could see was your father’s face, but I knew she was in there somewhere.”
I blushed and smiled.
The moment between us ebbed, then broke.
She closed her eyes and looked at the ceiling before speaking in a deeper voice, “You should not have come.”
“But I couldn’t not—” In my surprise, I almost missed the look in her eyes.
“Coming here only puts you in danger. It won’t bring Jeb back. An old man missed a step on the Expressway, and he was mangled by one of those feral contraptions they use to transport people.”
“Do you know why he was on the Expressway at all?”
“He said there was a problem with the farm’s account. I never paid attention to any of that. He managed everything to do with…them.”
“He came to see me.”
She raged quietly for a moment before a look of terror spread across her face. “What changed? Why would he go to see you? Why now? Did you contact him?” With each question, she grew more pointed and frantic.
“I sent some scrip by drone,” I said quickly, seeing it now as folly rather than beneficence.
“Oh, you sweet creature…” Her eyes welled with tears. “All that goodness in you.” She closed her eyes before throwing her head back and shaking her fist at the ceiling. “Well, I hope they’re happy, the pair of them! Damned blasted old fools.”
She sighed, defeated.
I reached for the bottle and poured her a small measure more, nudging the glass toward her. Without opening her eyes, she reached for the glass and raised it to her lips, smacking them as the alcohol irritated her broken skin.
“If your father and Jeb weren’t dead, I could kill them both with my bare hands. Seems the Conglomerate has taken care of that for me, though, haven’t they?”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
She put the empty glass back on the table and took my hands. “Honey, you weren’t to know. We never told you about any of it, why we made you stay hidden the way we did. And now it is too late.”
“It doesn’t have to be. I’m here. What is it I need to know? Gramma, what is going on?”
“Hear me now, child, stop asking those questions. Whatever Jeb told you, let it die with him. I loved that man with every fiber of my being. I thought we understood what we were doing when we took you in. I thought we agreed on everything. In the end, I see he kept his promise to someone else and has left me behind to clean up.”
Her words started coming faster, tumbling out of her mouth like her mind raced faster than she could keep up.
“Clem, remember how I said that giving yourself to the Conglomerate was dangerous? You probably thought me a crazy old lady clinging to a world gone by, didn’t you? I wouldn’t be surprised if you had. I’m sure I sounded like one. Your generation didn’t know the world before the Conglomerate. It wasn’t the way they teach you in their schools, you know that, right?”
“I know, Gramma. You made me learn all about it here, on paper.”
“I hope you retained some of it, too! They didn’t wash it all out of your brain?”
I grinned again. “No, it’s all still in there, I promise.”
“Good, that’ll have to do then.” She patted my hands once again before releasing them. “The Conglomerate isn’t the panacea they would have you believe it is. All their claptrap about saving people and improving their lives is a poisonous pack of lies.”
“You don’t think you sound paranoid? The Conglomerate took me off your hands. They gave me tools, taught me skills, and helped me succeed. Can’t you be proud of me? I have a good life now and I did that all by myself.”
She was quiet for a moment, studying me. “Of course you did. You are incredible, my Clem. You were meant for so much more we could give you out here…but here is where you ended up.”
Tears began streaming down her face. I pushed my chair back and knelt next to her. I wrapped my arms around her waist while she stroked my hair. “I cannot do this to you; don’t ask me to. I lost you once; I can’t bear to do so again.”
“Gramma, I am here. I’ve come back, and you don’t have to lose me again.”
Her hands left my hair and a panic returned to her voice. “Oh no, you can’t stay here! Child, even I can’t stay here. With Jeb gone, they’ll be here to reclaim the land by first light.”
“What are you going to do? Will you come to the Citadel with me?” I looked up, hopeful but was crushed by what I saw in her eyes.
“I can’t be seen anywhere near you. Don’t worry, sweetheart, I will be fine. I promise.” She pulled out of my embrace and rose.
This is one of those moments when I am supposed to have a big emotion, I can just tell, but somehow, I remained rooted to the floor.
“Gramma, why can’t you explain what is going on?”
She ignored me, focused on rifling through her little metal box of recipe cards. They’re so ancient and practically illegible, but she always treasured them. I couldn’t discern any words from her muttering until she found what she wanted and turned back to me.
“I know you think you want to know these things, Clem, but you really don’t. The questions you’re asking have dangerous answers. After what they’ve done to your parents and Jeb, don’t you see that asking about all of it will only put you in harm’s way? You don’t have to believe the same things I do about the Conglomerate, but you do need to protect yourself. There’s plenty I don’t understand about how this world works, but there is one thing I know: if you go looking for trouble, you will find it. Promise me that you will leave all of it be.”
“But how can I stay away from something I don’t know about?”
“The moment you became River whoever, you were lost to us. We had to keep the Conglomerate from finding out about Clementine. Once you were someone else, you couldn’t be tied to this farm. It isn’t safe.” She handed me what she’d taken from the recipe box. “I’ve already said all I am willing to say in this. I didn’t think it would find you, but I have been surprised again. Oh no, don’t look at it now. You need to get going. I don’t know when, but I’m sure the last transit toward the center has to be soon, and you have to get out of 31-2.”
I turned back towards the rest of the house, aching to sit in the parlor and see Jeb’s chair. “I used a septad’s worth of leave. I thought—”
“No!” she blurted out before regaining herself. “Clem, no. Weren’t you listening? They cannot connect the two of us.” She put an arm around my shoulder and smoothed my hair as another flash of panic crossed her eyes. I opened my mouth to speak, but she touched my lips. “I will be fine. You go back to Jericho as quickly as you can! Don’t let them see you coming from this direction.”
With her arm around me, she guided me away from the house and towards the back door. I resisted, and she stopped, cupping my chin in her palm, and looking deep into my eyes.
“My darling girl, I love you more than anything in this world, but you cannot come back here. Do you hear me? They don’t know right now, but once they do…” She let go of my chin and shooed me closer to the door. “They will be looking for anyone connected to this farm, and if they figure out that you aren’t who they think you are. Clem, I know this must hurt, but I am doing it…because I love you,” her voice broke.
“How can you do this? Surely, we need one another right now.”
“I am so very sorry, sweetheart, but this… this really is for the best.”
The moment I passed the doorway’s threshold, she closed it behind me.
“Run, girl. Don’t linger!”
Unceremoniously thrown out of my home for the second time, I was struck by a powerful wave of emotion.
It wasn’t sorrow or sadness, it was anger, pure and red-hot.
Marya didn’t want me anywhere near my home?
Fine!
I will get as far from this farm as I can. I turned on my heel and stomped towards the riverbed, seething. I retrieved my ID and crossed the other side without really deciding to. When I climbed into the park, it looked like I had just crossed the bridge from 31 and not 32.
31-2 Station was crowded with returners from Jericho and the Suburbs. Exurbers commute, but by this time, the car headed into the Citadel was mostly deserted. I curled up in a corner and sent my mind to focus on anything but recounting the last few chrons. My brain replayed every variation of the title sequence from The Valtarans until we reached Ward 7.
I trudged back into my unit and downed a full tab of Zonk.
Ward 7
My chemically induced peace was short-lived. This time, the news alert informed me that the farmhouse had burned to the ground, and Guardians found remains inside.
The anger was gone in a second, replaced by a vacuous emptiness.
First Jeb, then Marya, and now our home, all gone in a matter of a few sols and for something no one has been able to explain to me.
How can I stay safe if there is some danger out there waiting for me, but I have no idea what it is?
I didn’t bother trying to occupy my mind with chores this time. I only wanted to solve one puzzle: what is so important about this little bit of metal?
Jeb risked his life to get it to me. It’s my only lead, but they don’t make tech with port structures anymore. I couldn’t imagine building one without acquiring some rather obvious components. Even if I managed to put together one that worked, I would still have to hop over the protocols that disabled port connections and successfully install it into my digital link.
I wish I knew if Pauly was still at the library. With his help, maybe I could—
Wait a millichron!
Pauly already gave me a URL bar port! When I was working on the networking project, he scrounged up an old digital link. It has a bar port; I remember using it for offline access on the farm. My excitement was dimmed instantly when I remembered that the last time I saw it was when I left it in the bolt hole out by the well…something like nine solarii ago.
Though Guardians would have searched the farm fairly well, they wouldn’t have considered looking for Jeb’s hiding spots. The bolt hole by the old well was always snug. I honestly don’t understand how Jeb managed to dig it out. As a child, I couldn’t even really sit down, only crouch against the low rungs of the ladder. Since neither of them could fit inside comfortably, it seemed the safest place to hide contraband tech.
I felt the familiar prickling feeling of risking Marya’s ire and then a stab of pain realizing she would never be angry with me again.
Frustrating as the old goat could be, I still couldn’t believe I would never see her again. I should probably feel worse about betraying her so soon, but it isn’t like she will find out.
Still, if something dangerous lurks around the corner, I need to think about how to avoid notice. Thankfully, with the septad of leave already redeemed, I had a few sols before anyone would be too interested in where River Mason was, but that wasn’t enough. I needed a way to prove where River Mason was not. She needed to remain in my residential unit while Clementine slipped out to 32. If I didn’t bring the ID chip, there would be no signals to indicate River Mason had traveled.
Is there a way I can make it look like—
Oculars!
I remembered from my previous mod that the system should allow me to set a template file to be regenerated on successive sols. If I recorded myself going about an average sol in my residential, I could reuse that footage. A new modification could create a digital record of my location from the wearable tech…just while I wasn’t wearing it.
I put the URL bar above the workbench so I would see it if I got distracted while I worked on my new mod. Thankfully, I don’t have to work on the lenses themselves. I only need to work on their storage housing. When you place the lenses inside, the operating system automatically upgrades. If I release my invisible mod, wear the oculars for a full sol, and then store them again, the software will update, and I’ll have my perfectly recorded sol.
Famous last words.
****
Working the mod out took me the better part of two sols. I experimented several times before I was able to trigger an active session while the oculars remained in the case. Once I had that working consistently, dropping the same video in as the content of the faked session was easy.
Pretending I am not doing anything out of the ordinary while remaining active throughout a full sol without letting on that I know I am recording every movement feels daunting. I could kick myself for having already done all that deep cleaning. At least not tidying up while working on the mod gives me something to do. To justify any footage of me leaving my building, I will take my constitutional as usual.
****
The oculars are ready, and the footage is set. This time, I’ve deliberately repacked my satchel. In addition to the usual toilet kit, I added my essential tools, some first aid supplies, and a halogen torch. I have dressed in the same apparel I wore on my sample sol. I have another half a chron before I can walk out the door, down the stairwell, exit through the alley door, and head souf.
Unlike in the recording, I cut through an intersecting alley to avoid the cameras until I was closer to Ward 7 Station. With a hood and mask, I should be harder to identify conclusively.
I had to stop and study the ticket machine since most of the time I only needed to touch my ID chip to the sensor to pass through. Erring on the side of caution, I bought a one-way pass to dispose of it on the other end. Climbing the stairs to the platform, I was glad to see a train waiting to depart. I slipped inside, keeping my hood low. I chose a far corner seat and tried to angle myself away from the surveillance.
Stepping out of 31-2, the air in the Junction was hazy—almost as though smoke from the farm’s fire lingered. I saw no one, only a few shapes obscured by mist. The riverbed was below the fog line, and as I walked up the familiar path, I watched the swirls above my head. My mind was also churning, remembering how recently I’d sworn not to return to this exact place.
The fire had really been something.
The house was a pile of charred bits. As I expected, Guardians had picked over the site. The cellar was exposed and empty; debris had already started to be cleared away.
