weather station atop a high rise. Immediate evasive action takes Lucy around the United Nations Building, a tight turn that slews her out over the East River. Reese is waiting. He opens fire, clipping Lucy’s VTOL. She dives toward the river, a hail of gunfire raking across the water.
Torrence rounds the UN to drop after her.
“Reese! Hold your goddamned fire! That’s an order! We need to get it away from the city first.”
It gives Lucy the chance she needs and she heads back into the city. Torrence is right on her tail, but he can hardly keep up, unable to match her skill.
“Jesus, look at that thing fly.”
Ahead is an impossible turn—it looks as if Lucy is going to be cornered.
“There’s no way out,” says Reese. “We have to take it down here.”
But Lucy as other ideas. In a single death-defying maneuver she rolls her VTOL such that its thrusters push directly against the side of the building, making the turn. Torrence is astonished, but still has a job to do.
“I see how she did it.”
He copies the maneuver, barely making around the turn. Reese follows, also only just making it. But now there is another complex juxtaposition of buildings. Lucy negotiates it with another trick, but Torrence slows up— no way . Reese zips past him to take the turn first, scraping the side of the building.
Torrence follows, but doesn’t make it, slamming side-on against the building, bouncing off, bits of VTOL and masonry falling away. His VTOL drops with only a degree of control, alarms sounding off the catastrophic damage. His main focus is on the vertical thrust—there’s just enough, the engines whining under the strain, the ground rushing up. Brace-Brace-Brace. He hits, the underside of the fuselage crushing in, anti-fire foam flooding out of the engine intakes.
He is alive, if not more than a little shaken.
* * *
A strained Lucius grapples with the Tap, his nurse besieged by uncertainty. In the background are the ghostly projections of the others in the Cantor Satori tower.
“James, I need a direct connection with Lucy’s MBI unit.”
Boyce’s avatar turns from his console to respond.
“The only way in his her diagnostic stream. And that’s locked.”
“It will open for me.”
The real Boyce taps away at his console, all gathered about him. A final tap and he is ready for the inevitable response. But not this time.
“Good Lord. We’re in.”
This has everyone’s immediate attention, as one by one they realize the significance of what they are about to see, each turning to look at the projection system.
The nurse is beside herself with worry, but Lucius is adamant.
“Whatever happens do not unplug this. A life depends upon it.” He grabs her arm to assert his final request. “Keep me going.”
Moule is distraught at his intent. “Lucius! No! It’s too much strain.” A desperately solemn Garr stops her with a gentle touch of her hand.
The projection of Lucius clears, the system now resolving a new view.
A VTOL flight deck.
There, for all to plainly see, is a terrified little girl at the controls. It takes a moment for it to sink in. But only a moment.
Landelle’s hand goes to her mouth to cover a silent gasp. Boyce and Moule are speechless, leaving Garr to struggle with her own sense of horror.
“Lucius…she’s just child.”
“She is a child and she is not a child,” says Lucius over the speakers. “But it is a child that we have put in harm’s way, Alka. Ellis created her that way to get the stable mind he needed. A malleable mind.”
“Oh, my God,” Garr croaks. “What have we done?”
Emotion overwhelms Landelle, the thought of what might have been, her eyes glistening with the beginnings of guilty tears.
“And when she is a child she talks like a child, thinks like a child, reasons like a child,” Lucius muses to himself. “And when she is not a child, she puts childish ways behind her.”
He activates the Tap, his body tensing, the apartment digitally
Torrence rounds the UN to drop after her.
“Reese! Hold your goddamned fire! That’s an order! We need to get it away from the city first.”
It gives Lucy the chance she needs and she heads back into the city. Torrence is right on her tail, but he can hardly keep up, unable to match her skill.
“Jesus, look at that thing fly.”
Ahead is an impossible turn—it looks as if Lucy is going to be cornered.
“There’s no way out,” says Reese. “We have to take it down here.”
But Lucy as other ideas. In a single death-defying maneuver she rolls her VTOL such that its thrusters push directly against the side of the building, making the turn. Torrence is astonished, but still has a job to do.
“I see how she did it.”
He copies the maneuver, barely making around the turn. Reese follows, also only just making it. But now there is another complex juxtaposition of buildings. Lucy negotiates it with another trick, but Torrence slows up— no way . Reese zips past him to take the turn first, scraping the side of the building.
Torrence follows, but doesn’t make it, slamming side-on against the building, bouncing off, bits of VTOL and masonry falling away. His VTOL drops with only a degree of control, alarms sounding off the catastrophic damage. His main focus is on the vertical thrust—there’s just enough, the engines whining under the strain, the ground rushing up. Brace-Brace-Brace. He hits, the underside of the fuselage crushing in, anti-fire foam flooding out of the engine intakes.
He is alive, if not more than a little shaken.
* * *
A strained Lucius grapples with the Tap, his nurse besieged by uncertainty. In the background are the ghostly projections of the others in the Cantor Satori tower.
“James, I need a direct connection with Lucy’s MBI unit.”
Boyce’s avatar turns from his console to respond.
“The only way in his her diagnostic stream. And that’s locked.”
“It will open for me.”
The real Boyce taps away at his console, all gathered about him. A final tap and he is ready for the inevitable response. But not this time.
“Good Lord. We’re in.”
This has everyone’s immediate attention, as one by one they realize the significance of what they are about to see, each turning to look at the projection system.
The nurse is beside herself with worry, but Lucius is adamant.
“Whatever happens do not unplug this. A life depends upon it.” He grabs her arm to assert his final request. “Keep me going.”
Moule is distraught at his intent. “Lucius! No! It’s too much strain.” A desperately solemn Garr stops her with a gentle touch of her hand.
The projection of Lucius clears, the system now resolving a new view.
A VTOL flight deck.
There, for all to plainly see, is a terrified little girl at the controls. It takes a moment for it to sink in. But only a moment.
Landelle’s hand goes to her mouth to cover a silent gasp. Boyce and Moule are speechless, leaving Garr to struggle with her own sense of horror.
“Lucius…she’s just child.”
“She is a child and she is not a child,” says Lucius over the speakers. “But it is a child that we have put in harm’s way, Alka. Ellis created her that way to get the stable mind he needed. A malleable mind.”
“Oh, my God,” Garr croaks. “What have we done?”
Emotion overwhelms Landelle, the thought of what might have been, her eyes glistening with the beginnings of guilty tears.
“And when she is a child she talks like a child, thinks like a child, reasons like a child,” Lucius muses to himself. “And when she is not a child, she puts childish ways behind her.”
He activates the Tap, his body tensing, the apartment digitally
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