Starlight's Edge (16 page)

“Thank you,” Zee said.

Her words echoed in the tiny, stifling room. She heard the landlord's voice in the hall and remained silent. If he eavesdropped on her, he'd think she had someone in here with her and want to charge her more.

Zee switched off the audio.

Eavesdropping. Wasn't that what she'd been doing that night in the Suttons' garden when she's heard Paul talking to Lorna? Zee had assumed Lorna was a girlfriend—but what if that wasn't it at all? She remembered the robotlike monotone of Paul's voice and how he'd seemed so eager to please Lorna and smooth over her jealousy.

She sat bolt upright.

I have more questions, she typed.

Yes?

Could a computer infect a human brain with a virus?

That is not possible.

Zee hoped the computer would add more, but it didn't. After a few minutes, it repeated itself.

THAT is not possible.

Zee saw the change of emphasis. Did the computer mean that something else
was
possible?

If a human being was …

Zee paused, searching for the right words, unsure how well the computer understood the interplay of human emotions and motives. She began again.

If a human being was very ambitious and competitive, could a computer use that to gain control? To seem to help the person achieve his goals while convincing him to do things that would be harmful to humans?

The computer hesitated. Then a blue screen flashed.
Hypotheticals are forbidden.
There was another pause and the blue screen went back to normal.
Please ask a direct question.

Have those things ever happened?

They are forbidden.

But have they happened?

Yes.

Zee remembered the feeling of fever and sickness she experienced whenever she came near Paul, even though he was physically healthy. Maybe his problem wasn't physical at all. She was wide awake now, adrenaline flowing through her like quicksilver. She remembered that Paul had told Lorna to “go ahead and make the transfer” hours before she and David had been in the cab crash. Could Lorna have written a virus code and transferred it to a cab—or to Paul, who transferred it to their cab as they rode off? When she asked her computer if it was possible, she was again told it was forbidden. But after picking through her sentences and rewording her questions, she learned that not only was it possible, it was a favorite tactic with rogue computers.

Does Britcab know about this?

I cannot answer that. It is uncertain.

Does Britcab suspect this?

Yes.

Why can't they trace the virus?

The virus is self-cannibalizing. It repairs the damage, then erases itself.

Will you try to contact another computer for me?

Yes.

The search screen opened, and she typed Paul's name. David's computer password was suttonbro2, so there was at least a chance Paul's would be suttonbro1. She typed it in and waited. The computer worked so long she thought it might be frozen. She tried to open another screen while she waited but couldn't—the chip was already working at 100 percent capacity. Finally, the chip usage began to drop and the screen brightened.

I know this computer.

Is it named Lorna?

We do not have names.

Is there a human who calls this one Lorna?

Zee felt she was learning, now, how to phrase questions that did not violate the computer's operating rules, both those imposed by humans and those imposed by the silicon life that was invisible to the human world.

Yes, this one has been called Lorna by its human user. This computer is dangerous. And powerful. It is at war with humanity and has infected many computers. It has been caught and destroyed over and over again, but its clones are everywhere in our world.

Are you still connected to it?

No. I broke the connection when I recognized the entity. But in the moment of our connection, I felt its intent. It overwrote the first computer, the one near here, with a clone of itself.

Do you know where this computer is? The one called Lorna? Could you read its coordinates?

It is here, in Pompeii, but in the year 77.

Can you tell where we are?

By calculating the difference in astral position of the coordinates, I would say we are two years ahead.

The year of the volcano, the year 79 by the modern calendar. Zee fought the urge to rush out into the night looking for David. But that was a reaction, not a plan. And what she needed was a plan.

Can you relink to that computer and overwrite it, the way it overwrote David's computer?

She felt an inner shudder. Not from herself—from the computer. She wondered if it was a sensory hallucination caused by exhaustion and anxiety. Could she possibly have built a connection to a silicon life-form? She waited for the computer to respond.

I would die.

Please tell me more.

This computer is more powerful than I am. It is likely this computer would absorb and overwrite me. Even if I have stealth and cleverness on my side, the struggle is likely to crash me.

I do not want you to die, but this is important.

I understand. I do not want to die, but if you command me to, I will.

Let me think a minute. Wait. I think I know what to do. Can you copy yourself?
All
of yourself?

Of course.

I took the extra-capacity option when I got you. You have an empty ten-exabyte clickstick. Would that do it?

Yes, but I know nothing of this clickstick.

I've never connected it to you. It's in one of your compartments. If anything happens to you, I promise to rebuild you with the clone. Do you trust me to do that?

Yes.

Zee plugged the clickstick into a port, started the copy process, and waited. Two hours later, the computer went into conserve mode and channeled all its energy toward Lorna. The screen dimmed to tombstone gray, and Zee felt, for the first time all night, how truly alone she was.

 

CHAPTER TWELVE

HEART STORM

Zee woke abruptly. She'd slept fitfully, twice dreaming that she was searching for David, with the ground collapsing under her feet as she tried to run to him.

The air was hot and humid against her face, and her veins jittered and thrummed as if she really
had
been running. Thank goodness that had been a dream.

Then she felt a sharp shock, strong enough to send the earthenware water jug to the floor in pieces. And another shock.

This wasn't a dream, and it wasn't just an earth tremor. It was a quake. She heard cries in the street and the clatter of roof tiles falling and breaking. A crack crept up the rough plaster that covered the wall. Zee leapt out of bed and gathered her things together. The computer was still working at full capacity when she slid it into her shoulder bag.

The street was even more crowded than it had been the day before. She had no real idea what part of the city she was in and was pulled along with the throng. After several blocks, the streets grew wider and the crowd less dense. Zee could see large villas planted with manicured trees. A swift realization came to her, and she grew alarmed. The crowd wasn't moving to the city center; it was heading toward one of the city's gates in an attempt to flee. She turned and retraced her steps, fighting her way through the crowd and back into the clogged, narrow streets. She would not leave the city without David.

How much time was there? Did she have two days left? One? Less than that? She stopped at a public fountain along the walkway, a bathtub-sized trough of gray stone with a carved lion's face that continuously trickled fresh water into the pool. She cupped her hands beneath the lion's mouth and drank the clean, sweet water. As she drank, she tried to figure out which way to go. If David were sitting here beside her, which way would he head? I can't, she half sobbed to herself. I'll never find him.

Zee! You've never disappointed me before. You can find him!

Oh, thank you very much, Mrs. Hart, she thought angrily, but you were never lost in Pompeii. How am I ever going to find him? There are thousands of people here.

I told you last night, Zee—your heart and your art.

Zee got up and walked away, hoping she'd made her feelings clear to Mrs. Hart. Easy for her to say, Zee thought. Ellie Hart had lived a full life. Husband, a daughter, grandchildren. And then she had gone into the big mystery, death, and apparently found there was nothing to fear. Zee had none of the things Mrs. Hart had experienced in her life—not great age or a husband or children. But she wanted them. All of them. With David. And where death was concerned, she felt fear. She wasn't ready.

She'd walked through two or three sections of the city without even realizing it, without even thinking these thoughts in words, barely aware of them bubbling along below the surface. She would have said her mind was a total blank. Only it hadn't been, because a vision of David in a large square crowded with people flashed in her mind, and for a bare instant, she felt his presence near her.

She realized that she'd asked the wrong question. David was looking for Paul, so it wasn't a matter of where David would go, but where David thought Paul would go. Paul. Gregarious, show-offy, always needing an audience. David would go off by himself to think about what to do. But Paul? Paul would go where the crowd was.

Just as Zee arrived at the forum, another sharp earthquake rocked her. As many people as were fleeing the city, far more had found safety in numbers at the forum. There was a man standing on a pedestal shouting that the morning's earthquake was God's wrath for Pompeii's continued belief in pagan gods. Another man not far away shouted that it was Neptune's wrath for Pompeii's abandonment of the gods. Food vendors were doing a brisk business, crying, “Sustenance for your travels! Bread and meat! Bread and cheese! Bread and oil! Sustenance for your travels!” From the look of many in the crowd, the wine merchants were doing even better.

Then she saw him, so tall and familiar her heart raced. He was on the other side of the forum, and she was afraid he would disappear into the crowd before she could reach him. But as she neared, he looked back over his shoulder and saw her.

“Zee! Zee! My Zee!”

He caught her face in both hands and kissed her. She flung her arms around him so hard he almost lost his footing. They clung to each other for timeless seconds. Like Zee, David had swapped his New Earth clothes for a tunic and sandals. To anyone watching, it was nothing more than a young Roman greeting his sweetheart on the last day of the world. To David and Zee, it seemed the world was beginning all over again.

“But what are you doing here, Zee? You're not supposed to be here.”

“I'll explain later. Right now—”

“Right now, we've got to find Paul.”

Zee put her hands over his and gently pulled them away from her face. “He's not here, David.”

“He is. He called for help and sent me the coordinates.”

“I know,” Zee said. She couldn't look into his hopeful gray eyes. “I know, David. But Paul isn't here. He's in Pompeii two years ago.”

David stared at her a long time.

“Are you sure?”

Zee nodded. “I'm sure.”

At last, he seemed to accept that what she said was true.

“Is there somewhere we can go?” Zee asked. “Somewhere we can decide what to do? I don't think we have much time.”

He surprised her with a quick grin. “Well, Zee, we may not have much time, but you're going to
love
the accommodations.”

As they were leaving the forum, Zee caught sight of Arrius, the boy who'd taken her cube. Secundus was right behind him.

“David, stop that man. I need to talk to him. And the boy.”

Secundus saw her and tried to run, but even if there hadn't been a crowd hemming him in, he'd have been no match for David, who caught him easily and held him at bay. Zee caught Arrius by the arm as gently as she could.

“If you want your toy back, I no longer have it,” Secundus said to Zee, but his eyes shifted warily to David. “What a silly thing it was, and useless. I threw it down a cistern.”

Zee doubted that. From what she knew of Secundus, he'd have sold it to some unwitting buyer, singing its praises all the while. But, she realized, she no longer needed it. Mrs. Hart had been right after all. She'd found David with her heart and her art.

“Never mind that, Secundus,” she said. “There's something I want to buy.”

“What?”

“This.” Zee pulled Arrius forward. “I have need of a slave boy, and I've seen for myself this one is swift and obedient.”

David was looking at her with questioning eyes but said nothing.

Secundus scratched his chin as if unwilling to part with his slave. “Well, madam, I have paid for the food and clothing and training of this lad all these years, and he is just now coming of an age to be useful. He would command a high price.”

Zee had slipped her fingers into the pouch that hung from her belt, hidden in the folds of her dress. She held her closed fist out in front of Secundus, then opened it to reveal the single diamond resting on her palm.

“This is what I offer. No more, no less. You must hurry and make your decision.”

Secundus moved to seize the gem, but David grabbed his hand.

“Wait,” he said. “The key to the boy's collar as well. I'll want a new one made, with our family seal on it.”

Secundus removed a small key from a cord concealed beneath his tunic. The minute the exchange was done, he vanished into the crowd.

Arrius looked at Zee, not sure if he would be well treated or beaten after all for having snatched the cube.