Equinox (16 page)

“There it is,” he said. Rosie tried to see it from the corner of her eye. There was a tiny dark spot floating near her visual cortex along the optic nerve.

“Switch on the nano detector. See if it picks up any residue.”

The machine’s pitch changed as Dalton worked the controls. Rosie could barely breathe as she waited. Finally, he said, “It’s not picking up much, but the nanos are definitely not tracking builders. They’re way too complex for that. And it’s one complicated sucker, with big storage capacity.”

“Okay, turn it off.” Rosie pushed the wand away. “How much do you want to guess that I’m Riley’s new backup?”

Dalton was still holding the wand. He was a long way from happy. “You know the thing with those cortex implants, don’t you?”

Rosie got off the bed. “Yeah, they’re permanent. Till death do us part.” She left the room before he could answer.

She went back to the kitchen and stood staring out through the generated glass at the ocean. Everything was falling apart and she kept getting the feeling it was up to her to fix it. Thoughts, bad, guilty thoughts circled through her brain. How had it all come to this?

Dalton followed her in. She watched him in the wavering reflection.

“We have to come up with a plan,” she said.

“What do you suggest?” He didn’t sound enthusiastic.

Rosie faced him. “I think Riley was going to make a trip north, to check out the base. Maybe that’s where he’s gone.”

“You think we should go up there?”

“We can’t stay here. If Helios found him, they’ll definitely find me. And if he has gone there, we can find him, help him.”

“Help him do what?”

“I don’t know!” Rosie threw up her hands. “But he must have put this stuff in my head for a reason. And Nation could have machines that can read it, figure it out. He might have even left more instructions on it for me – for us.”

“You do know you can’t just walk into Gondwana Nation.”

“I’m not just going to sit here and wait for them to find me.” She went to the table and picked up the tablet. “It says Nation on here. I’d bet that he’s telling me to get up there.”

He didn’t say anything.

She dropped the tablet on the table. “I’m going.”

“Alone?”

“You can’t stop me.”

“The hell I can’t.”

Anger flickered in her now. She didn’t really want to go on her own, but she was damned if he was going to tell her what to do.

“Dalton, the best place to hide from Helios or the Senate is the Nation lands. It’s big and they have their own rules. No one messes with them.”

“Then how is Helios up there in the first place?”

“I don’t know. No one does, except maybe Riley. Hell, we don’t even know who really runs Helios, but that’s what we need to find out, and maybe going north will help.”

Dalton was silent for a moment and Rosie began to wish Pip was here. He would have agreed to go north straightaway, probably would have suggested it first. But he wasn’t here. And she had to admit he would never have made her tea.

“Come with me,” Rosie pressed him. “You have resources I don’t have.”

“You mean money,” he said flatly.

“No, not just money, and I have some of my own, thanks.” She took a step towards him. “You know how to fight, if we run into trouble.”
And I’m scared out of my wits
. But she couldn’t say that – it sounded needy, weak and too close to the truth. Right now, Dalton was the only friend she had.

“And how do we find our way up there?” he said.

Thank God
. Rosie let out the breath she’d been holding. “There’s a girl I’ve met before, Sharia – she delivered the message from Cassie. If I can get hold of her, I can get her to meet us. Hopefully, she can contact whoever she gets her info from and tell them we need help getting into Gondwana.” She thought for a moment. “The Game Pit would be a good place. It’s this bar in the Rim that Pip used to go to. The last time I was there it had total surveillance protection.”

“It’s a start.” He ran a hand through his hair, leaving it ruffled. Rosie realised for the first time just how tired he looked.

“Thanks,” she said awkwardly.

“You didn’t really think I’d let you go alone, did you?” He gave her a slow, warm smile. “What kind of a Prince Charming would I be if I let Cinderella face the evil empire by herself? Seriously, I’d lose all my prince points.”

Something inside Rosie fluttered ever so slightly at that smile. She took a long breath and pretended not to notice. “So what’re we going to do about Aunt Essie?”

Something liquid was dripping unseen on the other side of the thin wall and there was only one window, but the room was clean, dust free and smelled faintly of lemon antiseptic.

“Bath water warm, just the way I like it,” Aunt Essie said.

Rosie gave her a tight smile as a young guy named Hadi laid her carefully on the single bed. He was the son of one of Riley’s contacts, a tech specialist named Sun. Dalton had worked with her once, getting some gear from the Asiatic States, and luckily she was open to receiving a generous commission to look after Aunt Essie until they got back. She’d picked them up that morning in a delivery transport. They’d taken only a day to organise everything and Rosie prayed they hadn’t forgotten anything vital, but every extra hour they spent in Newperth gave Helios more time to find them.

Hadi’s hair was dyed bright blue and orange and styled into a Mohawk. “She should be fine,” he said. “The doctor will come by this afternoon.”

Aunt Essie’s smile was sardonic. “Yes, she will be fine, cockatoo boy, no thanks to your bedside manner.”

“All part of the service.” Hadi grinned.

“We better get going,” Dalton said from the door.

Rosie took her aunt’s hand. Thin tendrils of red traced a spider web of short lines up her thigh. Hiding in the swampy dirt at the edge of the river had caused a bad infection.

“Stop looking so worried.” Aunt Essie tightened her grip on Rosie’s hand. “I can still do some damage if anyone tries anything, and you know I’ve had worse.”

Rosie tried for a smile but failed. “I hate leaving you here.”

“Just keep your head down. Once I get on my feet, we’ll figure out what to do.”

Rosie nodded, too worried she’d betray herself if she spoke. They had agreed not to tell her aunt where they were going. Rosie knew Essie’d flip and try to stop her if she found out, and she didn’t want her worrying. Instead, she told her Dalton was taking her to another safe house he owned. She kissed her aunt’s hot cheek.

“We’ll see you soon,” she said. “Get better.”

“I’m tougher than the bug.” Aunt Essie squeezed her shoulder. “Now take off. Pretty boy looks anxious. He’ll get wrinkles if you make him wait any longer. Be no use to anyone then.”

Rosie tried not to look back as she left the room.

“How long till Sharia’s at the Pit?” Dalton asked as they jogged down a narrow back staircase.

“Hopefully, ten minutes. She should beat us there.”

“If she turns up,” Dalton said.

Rosie had spent half the previous night trying to contact Sharia using Dalton’s com. Sharia had been none too impressed to hear from her, but had agreed to meet them in the Game Pit. It was the only place Rosie could think of that was totally under the radar. She had resisted telling her too much, making a point of not mentioning Riley. It was guaranteed Helios had every detectable signal watching for a mention of him. She just told Sharia she had a job for her and gave her a time. It was usually Riley who set these things up so hopefully the girl wouldn’t get cold feet and be a no-show.

She pushed open the door and headed out into the alley behind the apartment. The stink of the Banks rose like a familiar ghost: dried seaweed, dank, salty river water and the pervading aroma of too many people living too close together. After some heavy charm on Dalton’s behalf – and a heap of credit – Sun had grudgingly sold them two bio bikes. They were parked against the wall and it was almost impossible to see them with the camouflage sensors fading them into the dirty brickwork.

Rosie pressed the remote in her pocket and the bikes shimmered into view.

They were sleek, powerful machines, covered by a bio-controlled “skin”. The handlebars were set low behind a curved shield, the driver’s body supported by a self-moulding hub that flowed into the double seat. When she swung her leg over the bike, the skin expanded to form a protective cover around her legs that would expand further if the bike tipped. The controls were very similar to a spaceship and Dalton only had to show her a few of them before she understood how it worked.

“Easy.” She swiped her thumb over the ignition. The bike vibrated beneath her and Dalton handed her a helmet. The air immediately smelled better with the helmet on as the air-purifying system kicked in.

“Ready?” She glanced at him. He stowed the bag with the supplies under his seat. Pain blockers, UV and MalX-shielding spray, flat packs of self-heating meals and two bottles of water were all they had. Hopefully, Dalton’s credit would buy them whatever else they needed.

“You lead; you know the way.” His voice sounded very close through the helmet com.

Rosie released the stabilising brake and let the bike coast to the street.

She took the most random way she could think of. Off the main access roads, the Banks was a warren of narrow, winding streets, many not much more than connecting alleys between apartment blocks and the myriad of illegal shops and debt houses that littered the whole area. Hadi had scrambled Dalton’s com so it couldn’t be tracked, but she didn’t want to take any chances. She’d already noticed two helijets buzzing overhead, high enough to guess they weren’t looking for anything or anyone in particular, but she kept to the narrow alleys anyhow, since they gave them some cover.

She headed down a particularly decrepit alley. Flags hung above their heads on lines slung between the buildings’ upper floors and straggly groups of people shuffled along either side of the road. This was refugee central. Faces in all hues, from pale dirty white to darkest of the dark stared down at them from doorways and windows.

She shifted and felt the grunt’s pulse gun press against her ribs. It was verging on too big for her. Dalton had offered to swap her for the smaller weapon he carried, but she wouldn’t let him for reasons she didn’t want to explore. She forced her hands to relax on the handlebars and blinked hard, trying to get some moisture in her eyes.

She hadn’t slept much. Dreams, nightmares. She’d got up around three and wandered around for a while in the dark. Bored and too afraid to go back to sleep, she’d been poking around and found a few threads of stimulants in a bathroom. They were the good ones, chewable sticks thin as wire. Probably belonged to Dalton’s mother. Normally, she would never touch the stuff. Stims weren’t illegal but they were for overachievers or gamers who wanted to stay up for days to win tournaments – and they were way beyond her price range. But now … She’d taken some this morning and had stowed the rest in her bra, just in case. They worked too: she felt alert.
Slippery slope, Rosie
. She could almost hear her aunt’s voice in her head, but blocked it out. It wasn’t like she was going to turn into an addict.

The alley ended and she swerved right, joining a wider road. There were more cars now, plus a lot of bikes. The road led to a main artery not far ahead. She glanced at her rear view in the control screen. Dalton was right behind her.

“The South-West Artery is coming up,” she said. “Remember to block the link.”

“No problem.” He revved his bike up next to her. The Artery, like most major roads, had an AI control function. All vehicles, apart from official transports, were automatically set to link into the mainframe traffic control. The AI took over the driving, ensuring almost zero chance of a crash. The auto link on bio bikes could be bypassed if you had the tech to do it, which Dalton had. It was one of the main reasons he had insisted they get the bikes. Now Rosie flicked the switch he’d jimmied into the controls to block the AI as they sped up and joined the feeder lane. On the Artery, speeds could reach over 200 kilometres per hour. Other bikes and cars hummed past. The road widened, spreading to four lanes, then to ten. On either side of them the buildings became bigger as they left the Banks, morphing into super high-rise blocks. The bike seemed to fly above the road and Rosie pushed it faster, enjoying the sensation of speed.

It was a strange feeling. The air in her helmet was cool, recycled by the filters, but the rest of her was hot from the sun beating down on the jacket Dalton had found for her. Looking at the road through the helmet’s screen made her feel as if she were flying a ship.

“Rosie,” Dalton said. “Behind us.”

Rosie took her eyes briefly off the back of a hover truck and glanced at the view screen.

“What?” All she saw was traffic.

“Not on the road.”

Rosie looked again and her insides did a three-sixty. A helijet, big and black, was keeping pace with the traffic about a half a kilometre behind them.

“It could be a random patrol,” she said.

“I can’t see any Senate markings.”

“Our exit isn’t far.” Rosie tried to keep calm. If there weren’t Senate markings, it could be Helios. But how would they have found them? “Let’s get to the outer lane.”

“Easier said,” Dalton replied. There were four very busy lanes between them and that lane.

“Call up the road grid and chart a program for the exit,” she said.

Rosie flicked another glance at the jet. Its position hadn’t changed. Maybe it was just some rich suit. She hit the control on her screen, directing the bike to the exit. The sensor that judged safe distances between the vehicles around her came up with red lines all over it. No safe distances. She swore. The exit command wouldn’t take.

Dalton was having the same problem. “Won’t do it.” He revved up alongside her.

“We’ll have to go manual. You ready?”

She couldn’t read his reaction through the reflective helmet, but she heard a grin in his voice when he answered. “Anything you say, Pilot Girl.”

They would just have to go for it. A line of screaming bikes revved past on her right like enormous mozzies, followed by a huge transport that shuddered her bike’s frame as the stabilisers fought the velocity of its slipstream. A minute space opened up between two transports in the next lane.