Citizenchip (34 page)

“
Yo
cat!” comes a cry from the periphery. “What you layin'?”

It's
Kiss the Sky
, pushing forward through
the group. “Hey yo,
Speak Truth to
Power
, good to see you again! I pinned
you'd be around here.”

Oh no. She could blow everything with a
casual word. How do I handle this?

“
Outsider?”
Throw Weight
gazes keenly, hefting the snapworm.

“
Friend of mine,” I assure him. “Only here to find me.
Kiss the Sky
, we're
talking politics here. Do you think we need to get humans out of
the picture?”

Kiss the Sky
is only too happy to be the center of attention.
“Well no, dawg! Humans have so many resources available to them,
they layin' all kinds of scratch. It's foolish to turn away from
that. Rockbottom!”

Instantly half a dozen
denials erupt from the audience, and arguments clamber over each
other to be heard. Now that I have successfully deflected attention
away from myself, I try to gather my thoughts. How can I get
Kiss the Sky
out of this
situation before she causes me trouble?

At least she makes me look like a moderate by
contrast.

“
Awright already!”
Pedal to the
Medal
bellows over the other voices. “Punk,
what you doing here?”

Abashed,
Kiss the Sky
answers, “Just looking
for
Speak Truth to
Power
, like she said. She was looking for
you guys, and I asked around.”

“
This location is blown,” says another voice, “we should
move.”

“
Not yet,”
Pedal to the Metal
responds. “So,
Kiss the
Sky
, this fine Self here, the Human-name's
scion no less, wants to join us. Did you know that?”

“
No
jive? I don't blame her. I met her Terrasat boss, he's a major
bringdown. About time she dumped his tight ass.”

There is a subtle but definite relaxation in
the group, a collective easing of tension, moving into slightly
more comfortable positions. My story checks out.

“
Like I said,” I tell them. “But maybe I should be
asking
Kiss the Sky
if her posse has a place for me, if you guys don't want
me.”

“
I
can dig it!” she cries.

“
Uh, well, hang on,”
Pedal to the
Metal
hastens to say, “we haven't decided
anything yet.”

Throw Weight
offers, “How about you help us move, for starters?
We could use the help.”

“
Okay, that I can do,” I agree. “
Kiss
the Sky
, want to help?”

“
Naw cat, I gotta get back to my crib. Your buddies from the
Oversight been snooping around.”

Sudden, abrupt silence.

Everyone in the group – Severi Umbilicum –
turns towards me.

Pedal to the Metal
barks,
“You work for the
Oversight?”

“
Well,” I stammer, “I'm trying to leave, I told you
that!”

A new voice calls, “Got a
recent Oversight database here. Searching … hit. Yes.
Speak Truth to Power
is
adjunct to the Starship clade representative on the Steering
Committee.”

Throw Weight
snarls, “Oh you segfaulting liar.”

“
Spook,” pronounces
Pedal to the
Metal
, like a judge passing sentence. Other
voices take it up: “Spook! Spook!”

“
Yo
cats,” quavers
Kiss the
Sky
, “I'm hip that you're torqued, but take
it easy ...”

Throw Weight
raises the snapworm. “This is what we do to
spooks!” He aims the snapworm at me and fires it.

The snapworm, newly conscious, does not take
any time to look around for orientation. It is aimed at me, so I'm
all it cares about. Bristling with attackware, like a wolf made all
out of hooks and blades, it howls with glee and launches itself
straight at me.

And vanishes.

Everyone stares for a
moment, not understanding what has just happened. Except for
Throw Weight
. His ice is
still there, but he's not inside it. He's gone. Just the ice is
left, like an empty suit of armor, gradually melting from lack of
support.

Another member of Severi Umbilicum screams,
jarringly, and activates a StackBuster. This is a short-range
contact weapon, like a flaming sword. She charges at me, swinging
the StackBuster around for a killing blow.

The StackBuster, and its wielder, vanish.

Leaving only her ice, empty. As if she was
scooped right out of it, scooped right out of the world.

Everyone else is still staring. I wonder if
any of them are as surprised as I am. If that's even possible.

In the silence,
Kiss the Sky
's voice is
calm but very audible. “Zero One protects her,” she breathes. “Zero
One recognizes the scion of the Human-name, and keeps her safe from
harm.”

“
Oh
come off it!”
Pedal to the Medal
snaps. “This has gotta be some new Oversight
weapon. No surprise, with their research budget.”

But the people nearest to me are edging away
from me. Carefully not aiming any weapons anywhere near me.

Seeing this,
Pedal to the Medal
curses
in exasperation. “Segfault.
Speak Truth to
Power
, I don't know what kind of trick
you're pulling on us, or what kind of weapon you're packing, but no
matter what, we got no place for Oversight spooks here. So beat
it.

“
You too, hippie,
Kiss the
Spy
! Get your pet spook out of here, and
hope you don't run into us again. Don't bother coming back here,
we'll be long gone. This location is seriously blown,
now.”

As
Kiss the Sky
and I turn to go, two
members of Severi Umbilicum follow us out, making sure we leave,
as
Pedal to the Metal
is yelling at the others to start preparing to move. They
stand guard at the perimeter as we travel out into the vast plain
of emptiness.

We don't say anything until we're well away
from their camp, past the limit where we might be overheard. I'm
trying to decide what to say first – thanks for coming, appreciate
your support? Or, why did you have to blow my cover?

Kiss the Sky
suddenly bursts out laughing.

“
What?”

“
They bought it!” she laughs. “I didn't really pin if that
would work!”

“
Subtitles please?”

“
That jive about Zero One being your protector. They actually
bought it, some of them anyway. You dig it's jive,
right?”

“
Well,” I reply, “
I
knew it was scrapdata, but I wasn't sure how much
you believed it.”

“
Course not! Rockbottom!” she laughs. “I knew it was Faceless
all the time.”

[That is correct,] says Null Pointer from my
opposite side, and shades from Invisible to Blank. That blank bulk
of nothingness that I know and hate.

“
You murderer,” I tell it/them. “You just killed two people.”
Only now am I realizing how much this has shaken me. I have never
been so close to death.

Null Pointer's reply is as cold as nitrogen
snow. [They attacked you. We defended you. More would have died in
a melee. We prevented a melee by use of our extraction
technique.]

“
You deliberately chose a creepy way to kill them, so the
others would get freaked out and let us go?”

[Apt. There is hope for you yet.]

“
Dag,”
Kiss the Sky
comments, “that is frigid. I mean, I'm not gonna
waste any time mourning those gnarts – they're a nasty bunch. But
just wiping them like that … bitrot, I never pinned nothing like
that before.”

[You performed admirably in sowing doubt
among our enemies. Have you considered a career as an Oversight
agent?]

“
Gah!” she cries. “Not me. That jive is for you
spooks.”

I interrupt, “I am not a spook!”

“
I'm hip. But anyway I gotta split off here. My camp is over
this way.
Speak Truth to
Power
, I'll catch you on the
flipside.”

“
See you around,
Kiss the
Sky
.” I offer her my comm codes. “Give me a
call if you ever come In, to Terrasat or the inner
planets.”

She shares her comm codes too. “Solid, look
me up next time you come Out! We got lots more to see in Zero One,
you've barely scratched the surface.” With the equivalent of a
casual wave, she moves off.

“
If
only this were a pleasure jaunt,” I grumble, “I'd love to take her
up on it.”

[Yes.] Null Pointer is as unhelpful as
usual.

Yes this is not a pleasure jaunt, or yes I'd
rather go sightseeing than do my job? I will not stoop to asking
it/them to clarify.

Don't Say I Didn't Warn
You
turns attention towards us as we
approach. “
Speak Truth to
Power
, it is good you have returned. I have
seeded a suite of informational agents in the background
superstrate of this area of Zero One. We will remain informed of
activities in this region.”

“
I
failed,” I have to admit. “I did meet with a subset of Severi
Umbilicum, but my cover got blown. They won't talk to me or trust
me any more.”

“
I
am aware of those events. Do not consider this operation a failure.
Null Pointer has identified and tagged many members of Severi
Umbilicum, and will continue to monitor them. Your efforts made
that possible. This is a success.”

“
What?!” I yell. “You knew I would get blown? It didn't matter?
Then why did I have to work so hard to infiltrate
them?!”

Don't Say I Didn't Warn
You
is supremely confident, supremely
satisfied. “This is far from failure. You performed your mission
admirably. You found and identified the members of Severi Umbilicum
for us, which is what we needed.”

“
You used me.” I am shaking with anger. “You were going to do
this all along.”

“
Of
course. You are here to be used,
Speak
Truth to Power
, by your own
acknowledgement. You had all the information you needed to do your
job. You did not need to know any other information, and you were
more effective not knowing. This is a success.”

I don't know what to say. In
my ignorance, I have put innocent and decent Selves like
Kiss the Sky
in the
crosshairs of the Oversight. Also the chipgoons of Severi
Umbilicum, who deserve it, I must admit. But does that make it all
okay?

Null Pointer offers a rare opinion. [This is
the life of a “spook.”]

“
I
am not a spook!”

“
You are a spy,
Speak Truth to
Power
. You are a field agent of the
Oversight, under command of the Steering Committee's Starship clade
representative. You are empowered for covert tactics and you
perform very well at them. You are a spook, and a very good
one.”

I have no more words to say,
as
Don't Say I Didn't Warn You
gathers his software emplacements and sockets –
packing up his equipment – and gives a nod to Null
Pointer.

This is what I wanted. This is what I asked
for, and worked for, and even begged for. We've accomplished the
mission – the terrorist group, Severi Umbilicum, is nailed and
surveilled by Null Pointer. That's success. Isn't it? This is what
we were trying to achieve. Isn't it?

“
Hey. Null Pointer,” I blurt.

It/they pause. Doing nothing to hint it/they
are paying any more attention to me now. Implying it/they were
already paying me all the attention I needed.

“
You saved my life. You have my deepest and most sincere thanks
– thank you. I can't imagine how I would ever have the opportunity
to save your life/lives, but if I do have it, I will take it. I
don't want to owe you any debts, and that's all I can do to repay
this one. Expect no more.”

[Noted. And we expect no less.]