Shutdown (Glitch) (25 page)

“And,” I said coldly. “Your point?”

He took a deep breath. “What I really want is to know if you can ever forgive me.”

“No, I can’t,” I said curtly, then started to turn away. He put out a hand to stop me, but I froze it midreach with my telek.

“Can’t I have a second chance?” he asked, his voice impassioned. “Doesn’t everyone deserve that?”

I spun on him, my calm demeanor finally cracking. “You had a second chance. Ten times over! You could have come with us instead of staying with the Chancellor when we first escaped the Community. Then during the raid when the Chancellor told you to switch with Adrien, you could have chosen not to. She wasn’t there to compel you. I would have welcomed you to the Foundation with open arms. You
chose
to do what you did that day. And then after you’d switched with him, you could have told us what you’d done so that we could have saved him before the Chancellor took a hacksaw to his brain!”

He winced and stepped backwards a couple steps. Only then did I realize that I was shouting. I didn’t care. “But no, you never would have told me the truth if I hadn’t
caught
you. So don’t talk to me about second chances. At a certain point,” I shook my head in disgust, “it’s just too late. You deserve to pay for all that you did. And yet here you are, safe and sound, while people far better than you were captured or killed.” I shook my head and grimaced. “Looking at you makes me sick.”

“But I’ve changed!” he pleaded. “I’m trying to be a better man. I’m trying to make up for the things I’ve done. Doesn’t that count for something?”

“Not enough.” I overenunciated every syllable. “Never enough.” The words echoed around the silent room. Looking around, I saw that everyone had stopped what they were doing to stare at us. Well, almost everyone. Adrien was walking in our direction.

Max didn’t notice him. His face was red and his hands were balled into fists at his sides. “So you won’t even give me a chance?”

“No.”

“I shouldn’t have come here.” His voice was low as he narrowed his eyes at me. “You’ll never believe me, no matter how hard I try to prove it to you. I don’t know why I even bothered.”

Before I could respond, Adrien reached us and slugged Max hard in the face. Even though Max probably had fifty pounds on Adrien, he was knocked off his feet and landed hard on the concrete floor. When Max looked back up at us, blood ran from his nose. Adrien shook out his hand. “I’ve wanted to do that for a long time.”

Before I could do anything other than stare in shock at him, Adrien yelped suddenly, as if in pain. He clutched his head and dropped to the floor. His body quaked with an uncontrollable shaking. All the conflict with Max was forgotten as I dropped down and tried to brace Adrien’s head as best I could so he didn’t slam it into the concrete.

“What’s happening?” Ginni asked, her voice high-pitched with worry. The others crowded nearer.

“It’s a vision,” I said. “Everyone stay back and give him some room. He’ll be fine in a couple minutes.”

His body finally stilled and I helped him sit up. He ran a quivering hand through his hair as he blinked and tried to right himself.

“Can someone get him some water?” I asked. Ginni hurried to the sink and back. She handed him the cup and he drank shakily.

“What did you see?” City asked him.

“It was a split vision, like before,” he said quietly. Everyone leaned in to hear him. “Two possible futures. It was even less clear than my last vision. I was present, but I’m not sure I was in my own body. It felt like,” he paused, frowning, “like I was seeing through someone else’s eyes, but I don’t know who.”

“Well, what happened?” City asked impatiently.

He swallowed hard. “In one future, the Chancellor is lying dead at Zoe’s feet. In the other,” his eyes darted up to meet mine, “you’re dead at hers.”

Chapter 21

I SWALLOWED HARD AND BLINKED
rapidly. There it was, stated so blatantly. I’d known it would come down to this, if I was honest with myself.

“When?” I asked.

He shook his head, his eyebrows furrowed. “I couldn’t tell.”

I took a deep breath to steady myself. “How do I kill her?”

“She had a hole from what looked like a laser round burned through her chest.”

I frowned. “A laser round? Why wouldn’t I just use my telek?”

He shrugged, still trembling slightly as he recovered from the vision.

“So what makes the difference between the two visions?” Xona asked.

“Maybe like last time, the split hinges on some variable we don’t know about,” Adrien said. “Maybe even how we respond to the vision. Like whether or not you take a laser weapon with you because of how I saw her killed.” Then he shook his head, brow furrowing. “Although it’s probably more complex than that.”

“Maybe that girl will be there,” Ginni said. “The one who made all our powers not work.”

I nodded slowly. That did make sense. I’d assumed the girl’s power was like the techer’s, unconsciously affecting everyone; in which case, the Chancellor would never keep her around. But what if the girl could direct her power only at certain glitchers? Though, if that was the case, how would I ever get close enough to the Chancellor for either of the visions to come true? Without my powers, Regs could easily take me out the second I got there.

I hated the thought that some decision I, or someone else, made in the future could be the difference between the Chancellor’s death, or my own. When the time came, how would I know if I was making the right choice? Or what if it was something that was out of my hands altogether?

“Where is she right now?” I asked. “Ginni, you mentioned last night that she was in some compound where everyone else was imprisoned.”

Ginni closed her eyes briefly. “She hasn’t moved. And Zoe.” She opened her eyes to look at me. “Your brother’s there too.”

I nodded, swallowing hard. I’d expected as much.

“All right,” Henk interrupted, “now that all the fun’s died down, I’m gonna make a supply run. We’re running short on food, and we’ll need full bellies before we figure out what’s comin’ next. I know a market supply center that’s just beggin’ to be ganked. Who’s with me?”

“I’ll go,” Rand said.

Xona and Cole volunteered too, along with a couple Rez fighters. Max slunk off to the corner. I knew I needed more rest before I’d be of much help to anyone, so after a long blistering shower I climbed back in the med container and told Ginni not to wake me this time.

*   *   *

When I finally woke, it was midmorning the next day. Cole dropped a huge pallet full of rice and beans in the center of the room, and the others began unloading it. I went to help. My legs felt strong for the first time in days and the overall achiness was almost gone. It was amazing what a solid night of sleep could do.

I was finally well rested and now our pantry was well stocked. We could stop worrying about simple survival and start planning out what our next move was going to be. I hefted a bag of flour over to the cabinet and set it alongside the others.

“How’d it go?” Ginni asked Rand.

“No problems. Henk’s the king of thieves,” Rand said, then tilted his head sideways with a grin. “’Course I helped too. Couldn’t have made it through that thick guard fence without my skills.”

City rolled her eyes. “Yes we could have, Rand. They’re called wire cutters.”

“Fine, but don’t even say I wasn’t helpful, melting a hole through those metal loading doors.”

“And let’s not forget,” City said with a falsely sweet smile, “how you burned through half the merchandise when you accidently lit the stacks of wood pallets on fire in the back of the warehouse.”

Rand shrugged. “It made for a nice distraction while we got away, didn’t it?”

“Enough, children.” Henk stretched and then clapped two hands to his stomach dramatically. “Where’s lunch? I’m starved.”

“I made some stew.” Ginni pointed at a pot that was still bubbling on the stovetop.

Rand grabbed a spoon and dipped it in the pot. He blew on it a moment before sipping it. He made a face and pulled back from the pot. “Well,” he grimaced, “it’ll fill an empty belly, at least.”

“And don’t forget what we also picked up.” Henk smiled and held up a large cylindrical container. “Salt! Put enough on, and it’ll make even the rankest food passable.”

“Hey!” Ginni objected. Henk sent her a sideways grin, then grabbed a bowl and ladled in a large serving of stew. Those of us who had stayed behind let the people who’d gone on the supply raid go first. I looked around for Adrien. He stood at the end of the line, absorbed in a tablet he was reading from. I sighed and looked away. But then I frowned.

“Wait, where’s Max?” I asked.

Several people’s heads swiveled around, looking for him. Xona frowned. “I don’t see him.”

“Maybe he’s in the shower?” Ginni said.

I stood still one more moment, checking every face both with my eyes and my telek until I was sure he wasn’t in the room with us. When I hurried over to the bathroom to check there, no one was inside.

“Shunting bastard,” I whispered under my breath as I walked back out to the group. “He must have snuck on the jet with you guys and then gotten off once you got to the supply site.”

Henk let out a long string of curses, half of which I’d never heard before. “He knows about this hideout here. If he goes back to the Chancellor—”

I shook my head. “He won’t. He wouldn’t want to get anywhere near her and risk falling under her compulsion again. Especially after failing her on the last mission she sent him on. No, he’ll probably go lose himself in one of the bigger cities where he can pose as a wealthy Upper and live in pampered luxury.” I curled my lip in disgust. It was a fitting end to his story.

“You all have to see this!” called out a voice from the corner.

“What is it, Simin?” Ginni asked.

I turned to look as a dark-haired boy hurried to the middle of the room. His face was pinched with concern as he set a small portable projection console on one of the tables.

The slight chatter that had filled the room quieted almost instantly. We all gathered around the table.

“What happened?” Henk asked.

“This just broadcast over the Link,” the boy Ginni had called Simin said. He clicked the console on. A few people moved back so the 3-D projection cube would have a clear space to play over the table.

The calm face of Chancellor Bright showed on the vid feed. I winced and averted my gaze before forcing myself to look up and watch as she strode down the aisle of a large auditorium in Central City. A banner ran across the bottom of the screen: N
EW
C
HANCELLOR
S
UPREME
A
PPOINTED
.

There was no mention of what had happened to the previous Chancellor, if he had died or been deposed or who knows what else Bright might have done to him in order to usurp his top position. This had always been her ultimate goal, even back when she was just the Chancellor of a single Academy in a midsized city. Hard to believe that was only a year ago. She’d compelled her way up to Underchancellor of Defense, and now was the supreme leader of the second largest of the eight worldwide Sectors.

The camera switched to an auditorium shot where Chancellor Bright was being sworn in, then did a quick pan of the other Officials who sat in the long panel at the back of the stage. Their faces didn’t show any reaction. But then, Uppers were always careful not to display emotion when they knew the vid feeds for the Link were on. Couldn’t let the drones see that the ideals about a passionless Community were actually just a load of propaganda, meant to keep them under control. Either that, or they were under the Chancellor’s compulsion.

I looked at their empty faces and wondered what they would look like if they knew she was a glitcher who’d just finagled herself into the top Upper position in the country by using mind-control. Of course if they ever realized anything was suspicious, the Chancellor could compel the thought away.

Bright walked up to a podium in the center of the stage. Her dark brown hair was oiled and slicked back in a bun and she wore the black tunic denoting those of highest rank. Her face was blank, but unlike the Officials behind her, it wasn’t because she was under any compulsion. Cold and calculating was her natural state.

“Subjects of the Community, I greet you as your new Chancellor Supreme. I stand here today to assure you of the continued prosperity of our great Community in spite of the menace that has grown up among us like thorns. We have long reported the increasing number of anomalous-behaving Community members. When we asked for your help in reporting any anomalous activity, you all responded admirably.

“We will not abide subjects exhibiting the destructive passions,” she went on, “the very same violent outbursts that led to the destruction of the Old World. They lie and cheat and commit atrocities against their fellow subjects. If they had their way, the perfect and orderly world we have created would be blasted backwards into chaos and ruin.” She tilted her head. “But I am here to tell you today that during my tenure as Underchancellor of Defense and now as Chancellor Supreme, the virus is being stamped out once and for all.

“For months we rounded up and disabled infected subjects. Our techers were hard at work discovering the malfunction in the hardware and how to repair it. And we finally discovered the answer.”

She leaned slightly over the podium. “It was simple, really. The problem lay in the adolescent V-chip itself. Our best techers worked around the clock for months to develop a way to implant the
adult
V-chip in infants instead, but without impairing natural neural growth as the subjects age. They have finally succeeded. This technological advance will herald a new age for humanity, one without fear of glitching hardware or anomalous behavior. Finally, we can all live in peace. Order first, order always.”

The vid screen went dark. My mouth was open in horror at what she’d said. Adult V-chips, in children? It meant we wouldn’t be able to ever recover anyone from the Community. We’d long ago accepted adults were lost to us. But there’d always been hope for children and teenagers under eighteen before that final invasive chip went in. Hope that we could free them one day.