Page 16 of Alliance
Perhaps that’s where he and the others had gone. It would explain why their comms were out of reach. Yaspur wasn’t in this system, and they’d need to chain-skip to get there.
“The colony… what can you tell me about it?” Fásach asked, slowly returning to packing. He took a deep, slow breath and turned one ear towards her, honing his symphony to listen to her tones. It was an empty exercise though. Dolls didn’t have free will. They weren’t even sapient.
Roz perked up with a bright smile, seeing something far away with a shimmer in her eyes. “It’s beautiful! There’s a red jungle and so many flowers. And somehow our rooms are never dusty. That always amazed me because my papi made medust and clean the windows, the mirrors, no matter how much homework I had. And water! There’s a lot of water. It rains all the time.” She swallowed at the same time Fásach did. When was the last time he’d been able to drink his fill of water? “It’s a happy place. And my roommate is sweet.” She blinked, a frown dragging down her smile. “I mean, Rosy’s roommate is sweet. She loves her very much. It was hard for Rosy to leave her behind.”
Fásach’s ears twitched, hair follicles tingling. Roz’s words were underscored by a sincere, clear chime. Uneasiness washed over his mind as he stood. “You’re a clone,” he said with surprise. “Not a doll. You have living code in you.”
Roz blinked up from her memories. “I was born in the nursery.”
“Clones are born in nurseries too. And you have this person—Rosy’s—memories.”
Roz tilted her head in consideration, then shook it. “No. I was born as a doll. Iknowthis. My originator visited me, and we were separate things then. But the LMem file I showed you… I recorded it in the middle of a download from my originator that corrupted. I have parts of her, but I think I’m just…me.”She inspected her hands in her lap with wide eyes, as if willing it to be true.
And if Fásach’s symphony was anything to go by… she was right.
She wasn’t a clone, but she wasn’t a doll anymore either. If she were, she’d have no undertones at all. No motivations or capacity to lie or coerce. Just instructions that she carried out with more or less believability. Nothing for him to attach himself to. And yet here she was. Chiming bright and clear.
What the hell had gone down in the Conrad?
Fuck,he needed to move fast. There were too many unknown factors. The faster he could simplify the equation,the faster he could stabilize the situation. Maybe he was overreacting, but it was better than moving too slow, wasn’t it? Turj, his new debt to HXBI that he’d never be able to pay off, the disappearance of his guild’s leadership. It was all too complicated. He’d lead Safia and Misila straight into the arms of Xe-Ex if he wasn’t careful.
Where orphans went to break.
“So what’s your plan?” Fásach asked, his voice far away. He couldn’t believe he was considering her offer of getting off-world. He huffed bitterly. “How exactly do you think you can get to the colony? That place is locked up tighter than the council auscultum on Helion.”
Roz slipped off the bed and rubbed on her wrists thoughtfully. “I don’t exactly know the way in words, but I can follow the halos. How I found you and followed the others.” She winced. “It’s not a failsafe plan, but IknowI can do it. Get me to Yaspur, and I can find the colony from anywhere.”
“Anywhere?” Fásach asked sharply, hands on his hips.
Roz took a deep breath, then nodded. “Yes. I’m sure. It’s part of me. I can’t explain it.”
Fásach listened hard, holding his breath. “Say it again.”
“I can get us to Renata if you can get us to Yaspur.”
Roz’s sound never wavered. Fásach’s ear twitched. “Because of data halos?”
“Definitely. They’re all around us. Even when I was outside, I could see halos far away, climbing up and down from the sky.”
“Satellites?”
“Yes!” Roz grabbed his arm, showing her teeth in a smile. “Exactly. No matter where we land, I’ll get us there. I swear it. I candothis.”
Against Fásach’s better judgment, he believed her.
Maybe halos and echoes were Roz’s symphony.
And if she saw as much as she said, then her symphony was strong.
“Scocite,alright. We’ll try. I’ll help you get off-world, and you guide us to the colony. But it’s going to cost.”
Roz looked up into his eyes with a bare expression, her big stare eating up his thoughts. She pressed her lips between her teeth and nodded.
“I will pay, Master Fásach.”
Roz lifted his shirt over her head, breasts bouncing as she slid it up and over her tresses. Fás’s eyes went wide, and he stumbled back as she put a hand on his chest. He hit the bed with a surprised chuff, and her knee slid past his thigh as she straddled his lap.
“Wait!” he choked, holding her back by the shoulders. She paused, her bird-like fingers on the latch of his pants. “I meant it’ll be expensive, not that you need to pay me like—likethis.”
