Codespell (16 page)

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Authors: Kelly Mccullough

Tags: #Computer Hackers, #Magic, #Fantasy Fiction, #Computers, #Contemporary, #General, #Fantasy, #Wizards, #Fiction

BOOK: Codespell
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Eris sat at the card table—octagonal this time—with her feet up on the felt and her velvet-upholstered chair leaning back on two legs. She had changed her clothes again—loose black jeans, with contrasting gold T and high-tops. She looked casual but cool and distant. My chair from the library remained, now sitting directly across from hers, and Melchior had shifted seamlessly from desk to table. He quickly sat down on its surface, his legs crossed goblin fashion.
“Which bit did you find most compelling?” I asked.
“The part that happened at the gates of Fate shortly after you left,” she said. “I’ll tell you about that in a minute. First, I want to hear how it all looked to you.”
I was tempted to play coy just for the irritation factor since she would certainly have done so if our positions were reversed. But I just didn’t have the energy. I quickly filled her in on my expedition.
“Huh,” she said, when I finished. “Very interesting.”
“What?” I asked.
“A number of things. Perhaps most of all the actions of the spinnerette. I wonder whether it was operating on its own and, if not, who it answers to.”
“Any theories?” I asked. I was more than curious on that front as well, especially after Cerice’s suggestion that the Fate Core itself might be developing a personality.
“Not a one, not about spinnerettes at least.” She shook her head. “I’ll have to look into that. In the meantime, let me take this opportunity to say ‘I told you so.’ ”
“About what?”
“Tisiphone, of course. I said she’d make a great match.”
“Look, just because she gets me hot, that doesn’t mean we should pick out china. Hell,
you
get me hot when you want to, and pursuing that’d be pretty much the same as suicide on my part.”
“You say the sweetest things sometimes,” said Eris, shifting her position and tightening all of her clothes with a thought.
My mouth went dry, and my own clothes tightened in the most inconvenient place. Then she relaxed and let the sexual glamour fade.
I growled and shook my head in exasperation. “Look, could you just drop it? I already have a girlfriend . . . sort of.”
“That brings us back to my side of the story and that theory I mentioned,” said Eris. “You know, I think I’m going to enjoy this.”
“Great. That pretty much guarantees I won’t.”
“Exactly. I followed you from here to Fate’s firewall. That was a very interesting trick you used to get in, by the way—Ahllan’s old back door. I’d wondered how she managed her underground railway. Slick. After you went in, I decided to wait around outside to see if anything interesting turned up.”
“And?” I said when she stopped there.
“Guess who came along only a few minutes after you did?”
“Not Tisiphone,” I said. She’d arrived by some more direct route. “Nemesis?”
“Give the boy a gold star,” said Eris. “Slipped in the exact same way you did, too.”
That
was
interesting. I didn’t think anyone but the AIs, Cerice, and I knew about that back door. “Then what happened? ”
“Not much from my point of view. At least not until all the sirens and alarms started going off. I figured that was about it for you. From the sounds of it, it would have been, too, if not for Tisiphone. Don’t throw away what she’s offered you.”
“Yes,” I said. “I know how you feel on the subject. Can we move on now? Maybe get to the important bit that you’re holding back for dramatic effect?”
“Ravirn, honey, it’s got nothing to do with drama. It’s all about another D entirely.”
“Discord,” I said. “Yes, I get it. You make people’s lives difficult because that’s what you do.”
She made pouty lips. “You’re not half so much fun as you were back when we first met.”
“Maybe I’m getting used to you,” I said. “I certainly get tired of you from time to time. Are you going to get to the point or not?”
“I’m pretty sure your girlfriend’s sold you out to Fate and that Fate and Nemesis are in partnership against Necessity. ”
I’d kind of guessed that was where she was going, but hearing it still felt like a slap in the face.
“Evidence?” I asked.
“One, from what you told me of your own venture into the mweb servers, Cerice was monitoring the back door Ahllan left and should have been aware of the arrival of Nemesis. If so, she did not warn you. Two, after the commotion died down, Nemesis came back out from behind the firewall unscathed. She did so through an actual portal and not via the Fateclock hack. That means the Fates let her out. Unless they didn’t know who she was—unlikely at best—that suggests an alliance.”
“Circumstantial,” I said.
Eris held up a hand. “True, but there’s still number three. The one who showed Nemesis out was Cerice.”
“That doesn’t necessarily mean anything.”
“By itself, no,” said Eris. “But on top of everything else . . . She has returned to Fate. Do you think Clotho would assign a webtroll to anyone she didn’t trust absolutely? That’s an enormous amount of computing and magical power, especially for a programmer of Cerice’s caliber.”
She had a point. Cerice is a better coder than I am. I can outhack her and outcrack her, particularly under time pressure, but that’s the raw, quick, and dirty stuff. On any project that rewards patience and forethought, she’s got me cold. She could do a lot with a webtroll.
Would
Clotho surrender that kind of power to Cerice if she really believed there was any chance of her returning to Raven House and me? I didn’t like the idea at all, but I couldn’t just dismiss it.
“Oh, and there’s four.” Eris smacked her forehead theatrically. “I almost forgot four.”
“What’s that?” I asked warily.
“Who do you suppose built all those shiny new firewalls around the mweb servers? The ones that you said seemed to anticipate your best tricks? Maybe it was someone who knows you very well.”
The thought had never occurred to me—Cerice might be working with Fate at the moment, but that was because she was scared of what was happening with Necessity. I’d seen the worry in her eyes. She’d never sell me out that way . . . would she? I felt punched in the gut. I had to know.
“Melchior, Vlink; [email protected] to Cerice@ asalka.trl. Please.”
“You sure you want to do this right now, Boss?”
I nodded.
“All right. . . . Searching for
asalka.trl
.” Seconds slipped past. “Contact. Waiting for a response from
asalka.trl
. Lock. Vtp linking initiated.”
Melchior’s eyes and mouth widened and streams of light burst forth, one green, one blue, one red. The beams met a couple of feet in front of his face and formed a translucent golden globe. It dimmed briefly, then brightened a moment later as Cerice’s image appeared in the middle of the globe.
“You made it,” she said in a flat and neutral tone.
“You don’t sound very happy about it,” I replied.
She bit her lip. “Of course I’m happy. I don’t want to see you dead. It’s just . . .”
“Just what?”
She looked away. “I’d rather not talk about it.”
“But I think we need to talk,” I said. “We have things that need saying. Do you want to meet me somewhere?”
“Not right now, no. I can’t get away at the moment.”
“When then? Are you planning on coming back to Raven House soon? If so—”
“Stop.” She looked up again, her cheeks flushing. “I know what you’re doing, and I don’t much like it.”
“What
I’m
doing?” I couldn’t help sounding stung. “I’m not the one who checked out without any warning or discussion. Just poof, I’ll be back in a couple of days . . . maybe.”
“That’s not fair, Ravirn.”
“Maybe not,” I said, “but it’s true all the same. You still haven’t answered the question. When are you planning on coming back?”
Cerice didn’t say anything for a long moment, and I felt my stomach drop a couple of inches. I was angry and scared and confused, but I still loved her.
“I’m not,” she finally said. “Planning on coming back, that is.”
My stomach fell the rest of the way out. I’d more than half expected her to say something like that, but even so it hit me hard. I opened my mouth, hoping to say something coherent.
“Wait,” said Cerice. “Not a word, please. Not yet. Let me finish. I’m not planning on coming back, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to. It just means that what I’m doing here, now, trying to reach Shara, is very important to me. Necessity is in real trouble. If someone doesn’t do something, it could mean the end of everything. Don’t you see that?”
“Is it important enough to build Clotho a new firewall custom-tailored to keep me out?” I asked.
She opened her mouth. Paused. Closed it. Opened it again.
Spoke. “It’s important to everybody. Necessity has to be fixed. Things are happening to the multiverse that we don’t begin to understand.” Tears started in the corners of her eyes. “Can’t you see that?”
I didn’t point out that she hadn’t answered my question, because really, she had.
“Ravirn, please. You have to be patient.”
“I’m just supposed to hang out and wait until you find a way to fix the universe, then maybe you’ll come back to me? You do know that Necessity is the most complex computer system in existence, right? That it might take years to even find out what’s wrong? That she might be damaged beyond repair?”
“I’m no fool, Ravirn. I know what’s at stake. That’s why I tightened up the firewall. I had to convince Clotho she could trust me. I may be the only one who can get through to Shara and fix Necessity, and I’m going to need all the resources of Fate to do it.” She took a deep breath, then stood up very straight. “This is bigger than you and me, and I’m willing to pay the price for that if I must.”
Well, that put the ball firmly back in my court. Was I ready to make this good-bye? I loved Cerice a lot. Had for years before I’d ever figured it out. But I also frightened her and angered her and hurt her just by being the Raven. When Clotho had called Cerice a creature of order, she’d spoken the truth. Maybe it was also true that living with chaos—with me—was slowly tearing Cerice apart. Maybe it
was
time for good-bye.
I thought of a firewall built by my lover to keep me out. No, not maybe.
It was the right decision. I knew it was the right decision, but even so, I was having a hard time opening my mouth and telling Cerice. The whole thing hurt my heart, turned it heavy and slow like it was trying to pump liquid lead instead of blood.
I forced my mouth open. “I’m sorry” was all I could say.
“I know,” answered Cerice, the tears flowing freely now. “So am I. About everything.”
“Maybe someday—”
“Don’t,” whispered Cerice. “Better to do it cleanly.”
I nodded. “You’re right. Good-bye, Cerice.”
“Good-bye, Ravirn.”
Then she was gone. I looked around for Eris, expecting her to twist the knife while the wound was still fresh. She was gone as well.
“Where’s Discord?” I asked, trying to ignore the creaking I could hear in my own voice.
“She bugged out the second you said ‘I’m sorry.’ ”
“I wonder why. I would have expected her to stick around and gloat.”
“Could be that’s it,” replied Melchior. “She really does like you in her own twisted way, but she
has to
poke and prod. Maybe she left to keep herself from hurting you.”
I wanted to scoff at that. But there was a chance he was right and an even bigger chance she was listening. I had seen the pain in her eyes when she talked about never being able to stop being Discord for even an instant, and I didn’t want to hurt her either.
“Boss?”
“What, Mel?”
“I’m sorry, too.” He sounded very small and sad, and I impulsively picked him up in my arms.
“Do you think I made the wrong decision?” I asked.
“No. It was really only a matter of time once you accepted the role of the Raven. Eris was right about that. You’re a power. Cerice isn’t. Sometimes, it’s not about what anybody wants, it’s just about what is.” He shook his head sadly. “I just wish Shara were still around. Cerice is going to need a friend.”
“It’s good to have friends,” I said, giving him a squeeze and setting him back on the table. “Thanks.”
“Anytime. So, now what?”
“I don’t know, Mel. I just don’t know.”
From the day that Atropos had first tried to use me as her tool to crush free will, my connections to the Houses of Fates and my childhood had been cut away one by one. With Cerice gone, the only thing I had left from those days was Melchior. The old Ravirn’s life was just about gone at this point. A part of me wondered how long it would be before there was nothing left but the Raven.
Forever and a day,
answered another part, very firmly, and I nodded. That was the right answer. The Raven might define what I was, but I resolved in that moment that I would never let it do the same with who I was.

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