Luca (40 page)

It’s me. Standing in front of you.

No way
, Qaara thinks
. Can’t be. Impossible. How can this girl be speaking directly to my mind? Mercer must have drugged me.

Qaara crouches on the floor, shaking her head, trying to wake up from the hallucination.

Please believe me. Don’t be afraid. I’m here to help. We can work together.

“How do you do that?” Qaara stares at the girl.

I think the words, and you hear them in your head. You think the words, and I hear them in my head.

Qaara’s eyes narrow. “But—”

I can’t explain it. It just happens.

“How did you find me?”

I followed your voice. I heard it in my mind. It brought me here where the sound is strongest.

“You can hear other people’s . . . thoughts?”

Yes, all of them.

Qaara remembers the guards outside her door. “How did you kill the men outside my door?”

The girl shakes her head, vigorously.

I didn’t kill them. I never want to kill anyone. I just made them go to sleep. And they’re going to wake up soon.

“You can get inside people’s minds and control them?”

If I try, I can. I don’t like to do. It’s not good, to control people. To make their minds think what you want them to think. I heard you thinking about the Cloud. It's alive. I can hear its voice. I’ve been trying to talk to it so it won’t hurt anyone, but it’s not answering. It’s busy looking for something.

Qaara’s mind overflows like too much water in a small glass. She holds up a hand to stop the girl’s words booming in her mind. “Wait a minute. How do you know about the Cloud?"

I heard it five days ago, when I was at the Institution. I’ve been listening to it ever since, hearing it come closer. Now it’s everywhere.

“The Institution?”

Where I used to live. With the other girls who hear voices.

Slowly, the girl’s words begin to register in Qaara’s mind. She pieces it together, pushing back all the questions that arise, filling in the gaps with her intuition.

Qaara tries to make sense of the situation.
The girl hears voices. Probably schizophrenic. Somehow, she can hear other people’s thoughts. She can put her own thoughts into their minds as words. A natural telepath. And she has some control over their minds. She made the guards collapse.

It’s crazy. Impossible. But the girl is right here, talking directly to Qaara’s mind.

I can help you if you just tell me what to do.

Qaara returns to the table and grabs the jax. With a few brushes of her finger along its edge, she pulls up a schematic of the domes, complete with descriptions of all the rooms.

In a few seconds, she finds what she needs.

Holding cells. It’s the most likely spot where Mercer is keeping Jedd and Ricky. In a different dome on the other side of the complex. Flipping through the schematic layers, she finds passive Mesh-nodes all over the complex. But they only permit one-way communication from the outside. None of the nodes allow her to get the message out to the world.

She stops to think. Which inhabitant of New Earth Colony is most likely to have full Mesh access?

The answer is obvious.

Searching for the largest living quarters, she finds one with spacious rooms and multiple Mesh-nodes. It’s got to be Mercer’s personal residence. If anyone has a way to communicate with the outside world, he does.

She pinpoints the location. In the next dome over.

One last item to take care of. She looks at the bump on her wrist where the tracking implant lies under the skin. Walking to the kitchen, she opens the drawers, looking for a knife.

But there aren’t any.

“Look away,” Qaara says.

Why are you going to hurt yourself?

“No choice.” She bends down, lips close to her wrist. Her teeth find the bump. Closing her eyes, she bites down. Hard.

Blood pours onto the floor. A round sphere with a thread-like tail falls from her lips. Ripping a strip of cloth from a towel in the kitchen, she ties it around her wrist, binding the wound, ignoring the pain.

She turns to the girl. “What’s your name?”

Luca
, comes the reply.

Qaara freezes. “Luca?” She remembers a conversation with Mercer about the start of a new round of evolution. The LUCA. Last Universal Common Ancestor. Confusion floods her mind at the coincidence of the names. She’ll think about it later. No time to lose.

Making sure she has Mercer’s memory cube in one hand and her jax in the other, Qaara runs to the door. It opens. She stoops down and strips the pulse rifles from the sleeping guards.

“Let’s go, Luca.”

65

SHATTERED GLASS

Jedd stares at the bluescreen in his cell. The image jumps to random locations around the world.

And stops.

At the North Entrance of Westminster Abbey, the Archbishop of Canterbury stands in full ceremonial dress. The abbey and its grounds are littered with the swelling spheres, lined up in neat rows like oversized ball bearings.

“It is a gift from heaven.” The Archbishop raises his hands. “A sign of approval. A symbol of the millennial rest that awaits us."

Many in the gathered crowd stoop to pick up the spheres, now larger than grapefruits, to take them home.

“If they only knew,” Ricky says, “they’d be running as far away as they could.”

“Running to where?” Jedd slams his fists into the floor and watches the gunk on his wrists harden into glass. “The spheres are everywhere, on every land, every structure. It's all going to be destroyed.” No matter how hard he slams it, the stuff on his hands won’t break. “If only I knew where Qaara was. I’d—”

We’re coming. Just wait.

Jedd freezes, eyes opening wide. He scans the room for the source of the words he just heard in his head. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“That voice.” Jedd slowly gets to his feet. “Something about
coming
."

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Ricky’s stares at the bluescreen. “There’s nothing here but us and the screen.”

Stand back from the door.

Jedd jumps and his bonds freeze again. He topples onto the floor. “Get away from the door!” he screams.

“What?” Ricky says. “You’re acting strange."

“Just do it,” Jedd says. “Slowly get up and follow me to the wall opposite the door.”

“OK.” Ricky follows Jedd’s lead.

There’s a heavy thud outside. Metal clatters to the floor. Another thud.

The door lights up, turning green. The panels bulge inward. Bits of plastic and metal blow into the cell. Smoke covers the open entrance.

As the smoke clears, Qaara walks in with a Japanese girl. They both hold pulse rifles.

Jedd grins. “How’d you find us?”

“You’re not going to believe me.”

“Try me.”

Qaara turns to the girl. “I don’t have much time to explain, so listen carefully. This is my friend, Luca. She rescued me.”

“Luca?” Jedd says.

“That’s right.” Qaara puts an arm around Luca and pulls her close. “She doesn’t know English, but she
understands
it.”

“What do you mean?”

Qaara’s eyes narrow. “No more questions. Just listen. Luca can read your thoughts. If you talk to her, she might not understand the words you’re speaking, but she understands what you’re thinking. She can speak directly to your mind and put words in your head. And that’s not all. She can make people fall asleep. Don’t ask me how. I don't know. She has some kind of a telepathic gift.” Qaara takes a couple of steps forward, staring at the goo on Jedd’s wrist. “I recognize the C-TAC. Jerk your hands and make it go hard.” She drops one pulse rifle to the floor and levels the other at Jedd. “Trust me.”

With his hands in front, Jedd pulls them apart quickly. The goo turns to glass.

“Now hold still.” Qaara sights down the barrel and shoots at Jedd.

Luca flinches as the glass shatters into small grains, freeing Jedd’s hands.

“Now your feet.” Qaara takes aim, shoots and turns to Ricky. “You’re next.”

“Hold on!” Ricky brings his hands up. “Be careful.” He jerks his wrists apart and squeezes his eyes shut.

With a couple of quick shots, his bonds shatter into fine powder.

Jedd and Ricky stand together, out of breath, shaking.

“Come on,” Qaara says. “No time. I’ll explain on the way. Bring these." She tosses each of them a pulse rifle and takes off out the door through the smoke. “I hope you know how to shoot.”

The hallway is deserted except for the two guards lying on the floor outside the cell door.

Qaara runs ahead of Jedd, holding Luca’s hand and pulling her along.

“Where we going?” Jedd says, a few paces behind.

“To Mercer’s quarters.”

Jedd lunges forward and grabs Qaara, pulling her to a stop. “Why? Isn’t that the last place we want to go if we’re trying to escape."

“I’m not escaping.” Qaara glances up at Jedd. “We have to get the word out, to the world.” She pulls a memory cube from her pocket. “It’s all in here. Mercer’s quarters is the only place with an open Mesh-node. I’m going to upload this. Everyone deserves an equal chance.”

“Equal chance to do what? Die?” Jedd shakes his head. “No, Qaara. Mercer will kill you. Let’s get away from here. Find a place to hide.”

“Not before I get the word out.” Qaara pulls away. “That might be the last thing I do, but I’m going to do it. People need to know.”

“And I need to keep you alive.”

Qaara stops, turns. “Jedd. Listen to me.” She pulls his head close so she can whisper in his ear. “You’ve been a great friend. I like you a lot.”

“Like?” Jedd feels the words pouring out of his mouth. He can’t stop them. “Is that all?”

“Isn’t that enough? For now?”

“No, it’s not enough. Qaara, I—”

Qaara puts her fingers on Jedd’s lips. “Don’t say it. Please don’t make it any harder. For both of us.” She points back in the opposite direction. “If you want to escape, go that way. Take Ricky. Now I’ve got to go. I'm going to tell the world.” She grabs Luca’s hand, and they sprint away.

Jedd and Ricky watch them disappear around a corner.

“Well?” Ricky says.

Jedd swings the strap of the pulse rifle over his shoulder. “Come on. Maybe we can keep her alive.”

66

CRUNCH

They have no idea what’s coming.

In the darkness of his personal quarters, Mercer sits on the same black leather sofa he had in his office suite at Genesis Corporation. He stares at a video feed from a camera high on the Genesis building, pointing down one of the avenues that runs the length of the City in a straight line north.

The army from the Zone rules the streets, with occasional challenges by freaks from the Fringe. Limited Mesh connectivity has been restored, but the delicate electronics of the City’s fleet of heli-ships are fried beyond repair. The same goes for the pulse weapons of the City’s police force. Most of the structures have run out of reserve power, including the Genesis building, where only solar feeds keep the cameras running.

The streets are patrolled by old army tanks, with men and women from the Zone riding on top, sporting machine guns.

Glass skyscrapers and sidewalks are plastered with bulging nodules from the fallen ash, lined up in perfect rows like eggs laid by a spawning monster. In a matter of hours, the nodules will burst, releasing payloads of acid.

It will be sweet revenge.

All those who doubted Mercer’s talent and fitness to inherit his father’s empire will be silenced. Dead.

He’ll keep the video feeds on as long as the cameras run, relishing the slow unraveling of humankind’s dominion. And the beginning of his own.

His jax glows neon green in the dark. A call from his security services.

“Why are you disturbing me?”

A small holo face pops above his jax. “Sir, there’s been unusual activity in the domes.”

“What activity?”

“We discovered unconscious guards outside one of the guest’s rooms. And the guest is gone.”

“Which guest?” Mercer holds his breath.

“Qaara Kapoor.”

The name pierces him, a hot blade into tender flesh. “Where is she?”

“We’re not sure, sir. She manually removed her tracker and made it to one of the detention rooms, disabled the guards there and set a couple of prisoners free.”

There’s a long pause.

“Who?” Mercer finally says, though he already knows the answer.

“The two men who came with you on the flight from the City.”

The blade twists half a turn.

“And where are they now?”

“We’re still trying to determine that.”

“Keep looking for them. Do a thorough scan of the surveillance feeds.”

“Right away, sir.”

“And send a full squadron to my quarters. Immediately.”

“Will do, sir.”

The holo image fades into the darkness.

How did Qaara manage to escape? She’s a smart girl, but with no access to weapons, how did she overpower the guards outside her door? There’s only one answer.

Someone is helping her.

Outside his suite, Mercer hears muffled voices, then two thuds. The sound of metal and high-impact plastic crashing to the floor. He turns to face the door.

It glows light green and bulges inward. He hits the floor near the sofa as the explosion rips through his apartment.

A woman emerges from the smoke. Mercer can tell from her gait that it’s Qaara. Dressed in black. With a pulse rifle. A teenage girl and two men follow her.

How did she do it?

Other voices come from the hallway. That should be the security squadron, a bit late.

One of the men with Qaara looks back at the hole where the door used to be. “We’ve got company!” he yells.

Mercer is still on the floor, squinting through the smoke. Before he can react, the man grabs him by the collar and jerks him to his feet. The cold point of a pulse rifle jabs him under the chin.