Revolution 19 (22 page)

With one more smash, the door flew off its frame, sliding the desks and chairs across the floor. The Petey rolled into the room, crouching to pass through the doorway. Nick stood up tall and took a step toward the Petey. He wasn’t going to die cowering in the corner. The Petey raised its lase arm, almost in slow motion, and Nick closed his eyes and waited, and then there was a loud BOOM that sent Nick flying back against the wall, vid screens shattering on the ground around him, followed by a final large thud that jolted the floor.

Nick hurt everywhere. He slowly opened his eyes. From his vantage point on the floor, his head against the cool metal, he could see the Petey laying facedown, lase arm stretched forward and just a foot from Nick’s head. Nick struggled to push himself up. His ears were ringing, and he was having trouble focusing his vision. He squinted. The Petey’s back was opened up like a sardine can, and the circuitry inside was a smoking burnt mess. He looked beyond the Petey and saw that the mainframe tower was obliterated, black chunks of metal strewn about the room.

He had done it. Kevin’s device had done it. And by sheer stupid luck, it had blown up the Petey in the process, and the Petey had shielded him from the brunt of the explosion.

“Finally I catch a break,” he said. He stood with a groan and began picking his way past the dead Petey. At the door, his eye was caught by one of the vid screens. It was on its side, but the glass was unbroken, and a line of plain white text, in all caps, was blinking on and off. He had to tilt his head to read it. “MAINFRAME FATAL MALFUNCTION. SWITCHING DATA AND CONTROL TO REMOTE BACKUP. ONLINE IN APPROXIMATELY EIGHTY-NINE MINUTES.”

Nick took a moment to absorb the information. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He hadn’t destroyed the system at all—he’d only shut it down for an hour and a half. “So much for my break,” he said. Holding his side and limping, he climbed over the Petey and into the hallway.

Eighty-nine minutes. It would have to be enough.

CHAPTER 35

LEXI, FARRYN, CASS, AND KEVIN DASHED DOWN THE STREET, CASS IN the lead. She had no idea where she was going; she just hoped if they were fast enough they might somehow get away. She cut to the left at the first intersection, and everyone followed. The sphere bots followed close behind, flashing red and calling out, “HALT! HALT!”

Cass took another left, and then a right. The streets were quiet, lit by the glow of the lightstrips, and the buildings were dark except for a few windows; this apparently wasn’t a residential area of the City.

They kept running hard, and the sphere bots slipped back a block, then two. They ran for another five or ten minutes, gaining more ground, and then paused for a moment to catch their breath.

“We need to find somewhere to hide,” said Cass.

“There’s nowhere to hide,” said Farryn, panting. “We need to split up. They must have scanned me and Lexi by now. They can track us anywhere in the City. They know exactly where we are.”

Lexi, also gasping for air, nodded. “You two get to Doc’s. You need to get away from me and Farryn.”

Cass didn’t say anything. She didn’t want to abandon them. But she knew Lexi was right.

Just then a woman riding a scoot turned the corner and headed down the street toward them. Lexi jumped into the street and began waving her arms. The woman pulled over to the curb. “What is it?” she said.

“We need your scoot,” said Lexi.

“What?” said the woman. She began to pull away, but Farryn grabbed the handlebars and pulled her hand off the throttle.

Behind them, three blocks back, the sphere bots turned the corner and raced toward them.

“Go!” said Lexi. Cass and Kevin took off. Farryn lifted the woman out of the scoot. She screamed and kicked her legs, and he dumped her onto her butt.

“Really sorry,” he said. He hopped on the scoot, Lexi climbed on behind him, and they took off. They made it barely half a block when a Petey rolled into the intersection in front of them. They slid to a stop. Cass and Kevin also stopped in their tracks. The Petey raised its lase arm.

Farryn turned the scoot around, but then another Petey rolled into view, blocking their retreat. There were no side streets to duck down. They were trapped.

Farryn and Lexi stood back to back with Cass and Kevin, watching the Peteys advance.

“They’re not going to kill us,” said Cass to Kevin. “They’re not going to kill us,” she repeated. Cass knew they probably would, but for some reason she wasn’t afraid; she was just angry. These bots had killed half her Freepost, destroyed her home, stolen her parents, and now they wanted her and her brother and her friends, too.

“Come and get us, you bastards!” she yelled.

The Peteys rolled closer, and Cass grabbed Kevin’s hand and squeezed as hard as she could. Then suddenly one Petey stopped dead in its tracks, and the other Petey turned hard to the right and rolled into a wall.

“What’s happening?” said Cass, still gripping Kevin’s hand.

“He did it,” said Kevin. “Nick got to the mainframe!” He pulled his hand away from Cass. “Ow! You’re breaking my fingers!”

“Sorry,” said Cass. She squatted down, suddenly dizzy. “Sorry. I thought we were about to die. I really thought …”

“Come on, Cass,” said Farryn, pulling her up and holding her shoulders to keep her steady. “I don’t know how long this will last. Let’s get your parents. Lexi, you know how to get there?”

Lexi was staring at the haywire bots, tears running down her cheeks. “Amanda,” she said. “It’s my fault …”

“Lexi!” said Farryn.

Cass put her hand on Lexi’s shoulder. “It’s not your fault,” she said. “The bots killed her, not you.”

Lexi wiped her face with a shaky hand and nodded. “I’ll get us there.”

They made their way carefully past the bots, almost tiptoeing. The bots ignored them, continuing to bob erratically and spin and walk in circles. Once past the bots, they took off at a jog, with Lexi leading.

In the ten minutes it took to get to the address of their parents, they saw five more disabled bots—three spheres and two Peteys, all ignoring them and acting as if their circuits had been scrambled. They still gave the bots, especially the Peteys, as wide a berth as possible. Even with fried circuits, their lases might go off accidentally.

Cass and Kevin stepped up onto the building stoop and pressed the buzzer. “Remember, Kevin,” said Cass, “they probably won’t recognize us.”

“So how exactly are we going to get them to come with us?” said Kevin.

“I don’t know,” said Cass.

They heard footsteps approaching, and the door opened, and their mother and father stood in the doorway. Their hair was chopped brutally short, and they had dark circles under their eyes, and their skin was very pale, but it was them. Cass’s heart felt like it was going to burst out of her chest. They stood frozen for a moment, staring at Cass and Kevin.

“Mom?” said Kevin quietly. “Dad?”

Their father ran forward, gathering them into a hug. “Oh my God!” he said. “You made it! You’re here!” Their mother just stood there, looking confused. “Nick … I saw him at the center,” said their father. “It took everything I had to pretend not to know him, to keep him safe.... It was horrible, the pain in his eyes. Is he okay? Is he still in re-education?”

A huge surge of relief broke over Cass—her father remembered her—and she felt tears running down her cheeks, hers or her father’s, she wasn’t sure. But then she realized her mother was still standing apart, watching them quizzically, and she felt her stomach lurch. She broke away from her father’s hug. “Mom?” she said.

Her father shook his head. “She’s … she’s hurt, a bit. She’s getting better, though. But she’s not herself right now.”

“Mom!” Kevin said, rushing forward and embracing her. She returned the hug awkwardly, patting him on the back.

“I’m your mother?” she said.

Kevin began to cry. He held on tightly to their mother.

Lexi said, “Guys, I’m sorry, but we have to go …”

Cass wiped tears away from her eyes and pulled Kevin away from their mother. There was no time for her to break down, even though she wanted to just sit down on the sidewalk and weep. Not now. “She’s right. We have to get to Doc’s. Nick will be waiting for us, hopefully.”

“We can’t go,” said their father. “We’re chipped. That means the bots can track us …”

Kevin let go of his mother and wiped away the tears with the back of his hand. “I know what it means, Dad,” said Kevin. “Believe me, we’re way ahead of you.”

Farryn stepped forward. “Sir, I’m sorry, but we really do have to hurry. I don’t know how long the bots will be disabled.”

“Disabled?” said their father. “How? And who are you?” he added.

“Farryn,” said Cass. “And Lexi. They’re helping us. But there’s no time for questions. We’ll try to explain on the way.”

Their father took their mother’s hand, and she let him lead her meekly down the stairs.

CHAPTER 36

DOC WAS WAITING FOR THEM AT THE DOOR, WEARING A SURGEON’S WHITE gown. He smiled and spread his arms out wide. “So, parents, who’s ready for some experimental surgery?” he said. They hurried up to Doc’s apartment.

“Is Nick here?” said Cass. “Is he here yet?”

Doc shook his head. “No.”

“He should’ve been here ahead of us,” said Cass. She pushed down the panic that threatened to rise up—he got to the mainframe; the bots were disabled; he would make it. It would just be stupid for them to get this far and not have him make it.

“Were you followed here?” said Doc. “Are you tracked?”

Cass shook her head. The trip to Doc’s had gone quickly—their parents had two scoots, and their father stole a third from a neighbor. Cass and Kevin had managed to fill their parents in on the basics as they rode.

“They I.D.’d me and Lexi, but the system’s down,” Farryn explained. “We’re good, at least until they manage to fix it.”

“I need my chip out, too,” said Lexi. “After the parents. And Farryn, you, too. We’re dead if the system ever goes online again.”

Farryn nodded.

“So that’s what, four orders of never-before-tried chip removal surgery?” said Doc. “No problem. No group discounts, though.” He disappeared into his bedroom and came back with a large black handbag that he set on the coffee table. “In all seriousness,” he said, “this is dangerous. The chips may be implanted fairly deep, and it’s hard to know until I’m in there how tangled they are with muscle tissue, nerves, and, most importantly, blood vessels. I may not be able to get them out of all of you.”

“We don’t have a choice,” said Cass and Kevin’s father. “I’ll go first. I’ll be your guinea pig.”

“Okay then,” said Doc.

The front door buzzer sounded, and everyone in the room jumped. Doc tapped on the vid screen by the front door, revealing Nick standing on the outside stoop, leaning heavily against the wall.

Doc and Nick’s father rushed downstairs to let him in. Nick’s father crushed him in a hug as soon as he stepped inside, then quickly let go when Nick let out a groan of pain.

“Oh my God, what happened to you?” he said, taking a look at him.

Nick’s left earlobe was ripped, and dried blood had crusted in a trail down his neck to the shoulder. His cheek was bruised and swollen. His clothes were ripped in numerous places, and shallow cuts ran all up and down his legs and arms. The bandages on his thumbs and right hand were dangling loosely. He stood hunched over, favoring his bad ribs.

“Dad?” he said. “Dad, you remember me?”

“I’m so sorry, son,” he said. “I had to pretend, to try to keep you safe … but your mom, she doesn’t remember much right now …”

“Come on,” said Doc. “Reunion upstairs. My neighbors don’t need to hear this.” They went up to the apartment, where Nick hugged everyone, including his mother, who returned the hug without enthusiasm.

“You did it,” said Kevin. “The overload worked.”

“Amazing,” said Lexi. She gave Nick a quick kiss on the lips, then stepped back and gave him an appraising look, sucking in her breath in sympathy. “The earlobe—that’s not a good look for you,” she said.

“I’m so sorry about Amanda,” Nick said.

Lexi turned away. “I shouldn’t have dragged her into any of this,” she said quietly.

“No,” said Nick. He wanted to say more, something, anything to help, but they had to hurry. “Listen, we don’t have much time,” he said. “The system is backing itself up. We’ve got about an hour.”

Nobody spoke for a few moments, absorbing the fresh blow. It was Doc who broke the silence with a chuckle.

“Four surgeries, one hour,” said Doc. “A bit tight, but what the hell.” He grabbed his black handbag off the table. “First victim, come with me, please.”

Their father stood and kissed his wife. “Back soon,” he said. He followed Doc into the bedroom.

Nick gingerly kneeled down in front of their mother, who sat quietly. “Mom?” he said. “Do you remember me?”

Their mother leaned forward, reached out, and touched Nick’s cheek, then let her hand drop. “I think … I’m not sure … you do seem familiar … I’m sorry, so sorry …” Her eyes began to well up with tears.

Nick felt like he had just been given a fresh punch in the stomach. He kissed her on the cheek. “It’s okay, Mom,” he said. He eased himself down into a chair, and Lexi sat on the floor next to him, leaning against the chair and holding his hand.

Cass began rummaging around the living room, opening every drawer of the one cabinet in the room until she found what she needed—a sheet of white paper and a pen. She kneeled down over the coffee table and began to draw.

“What are you doing?” said Farryn.

“Paying my debt,” said Cass.

“Actually, you know, I’m thinking maybe you can just owe me,” said Farryn.

“Shut up and let me work,” said Cass. “And stay away until I’m done.”

Ten minutes later their father and Doc came out of the bedroom. Their father had a bandage on the back of his neck. He looked even paler than before and was a bit unsteady on his feet, but he gave the room a thumbs up.

Doc held up something small, about one inch square, between his thumb and forefinger. It was green and silver and streaked with blood. “Your dad’s chip,” he said. He set it on the table. “Okay, next,” he said, waving at their mother.