little, like she's about to lie. No wonder my dad always knew. "HOUSE, I'm not interested in a lie. Just tell me the truth, OK?"
She swallows. My AI friend who should not have a body, but who absolutely does have a body that can come and go as she pleases, just swallowed.
My life is not normal. Not normal at all.
"I still have him, if that's what you mean."
That's not what I mean. I check my vision screen for my scope sight.
It's gone.
I check for my invisibility gift.
Gone!
"Fuck, HOUSE! You took away my gifts! Twenty minutes ago I could make myself invisible, and now I can't." She's very pouty now and I'm too tired to think about what this means, so fuck it. "Sorry. I'm sorry, OK? It's just, those gifts were pretty valuable."
She puffs out her lip like a child. "I still have them, Junco. I can let you borrow them when you need to."
I doubt that's even possible but she's upset now, so I drop it. "What about Sera? She's not supposed to be inside me anymore."
"There is nanotech in your blood, it has a tag that has an alert that states, 'I am Sera'. I tried to corral it and put it aside, but it won't let me."
HOUSE shrugs. "That's all I know."
I take a deep breath. "Yeah, all right. We'll sort that out later. We gotta get out of here before people spot the truck."
I grab her hand and my pack and we go back up top. It takes almost thirty minutes to fill in the hole and half-ass some concealment with the scant vegetation and rocks. We reach the truck just as the sun is coming up and I fight off another wave of stomach cramps.
"Shit, why do I feel so sick?" I look down at her and she winces at me. "What?"
"I'm making you sick, I think. Me being inside you. I need a lot of energy, Junco. I'm sorry. I have to take your nutrients to make energy and I think it's making you sick."
Just perfect. I push down my rising annoyance and smile. "OK, well, we'll figure something out as well, OK? I can handle it for a little while." But this makes me wonder at all the nausea I had when Sera was inside me on ship and during the Sibling mission. Was she the cause of all my sickness?
"Where are we going, Junco?"
Her question pulls me back from my thoughts and I look down at her in the new dawn and take her in. She's still about eight years old and looks just like I did at that age. Straight auburn hair a little past her shoulders, wide hazel eyes that match her heart-shaped face, and that upturned mouth that makes her look sweet.
I wasn't sweet and neither is she.
"Peak City. You always did want to see Peak City and I never got a chance to take you. So that's where we're going."
I push her into the passenger seat, get in my side and drop the pack of weapons between us. The codes make the truck come alive and I back up, turn around, and head back towards the road.
"Junco, my sphere access says Peak City was destroyed in a nuclear bomb initiated by your father."
"Yeah, it was. But they're rebuilding it, aren't they? They have parts up, don't they?" I know they do, partly because I can see the massive construction going on over there in the early morning light and partly because when I accessed the sphere at Gid's house I looked it all up. The entire project is almost a blueprint for the planet pad in Dallas, with thousand-foot-tall pillars sticking up out of the ground and the beginnings of a train system hanging from the underbelly.
She's quiet as she searches. "Yes, the city center, called the Circus, is open for workers and their families and there are several pods for housing. But no outsiders are allowed in."
"Well, we just became locals, HOUSE. Because I'm going back to Peak City before I leave this place. I don't give a shit what the regulations are."
We drive in silence as I make my way south. HOUSE hijacks a satellite to get the lay of the land and charts a course that almost takes us all the way back to Trinidad before we find an illegal entrance to the highway and start heading north again.
We're still a good
She swallows. My AI friend who should not have a body, but who absolutely does have a body that can come and go as she pleases, just swallowed.
My life is not normal. Not normal at all.
"I still have him, if that's what you mean."
That's not what I mean. I check my vision screen for my scope sight.
It's gone.
I check for my invisibility gift.
Gone!
"Fuck, HOUSE! You took away my gifts! Twenty minutes ago I could make myself invisible, and now I can't." She's very pouty now and I'm too tired to think about what this means, so fuck it. "Sorry. I'm sorry, OK? It's just, those gifts were pretty valuable."
She puffs out her lip like a child. "I still have them, Junco. I can let you borrow them when you need to."
I doubt that's even possible but she's upset now, so I drop it. "What about Sera? She's not supposed to be inside me anymore."
"There is nanotech in your blood, it has a tag that has an alert that states, 'I am Sera'. I tried to corral it and put it aside, but it won't let me."
HOUSE shrugs. "That's all I know."
I take a deep breath. "Yeah, all right. We'll sort that out later. We gotta get out of here before people spot the truck."
I grab her hand and my pack and we go back up top. It takes almost thirty minutes to fill in the hole and half-ass some concealment with the scant vegetation and rocks. We reach the truck just as the sun is coming up and I fight off another wave of stomach cramps.
"Shit, why do I feel so sick?" I look down at her and she winces at me. "What?"
"I'm making you sick, I think. Me being inside you. I need a lot of energy, Junco. I'm sorry. I have to take your nutrients to make energy and I think it's making you sick."
Just perfect. I push down my rising annoyance and smile. "OK, well, we'll figure something out as well, OK? I can handle it for a little while." But this makes me wonder at all the nausea I had when Sera was inside me on ship and during the Sibling mission. Was she the cause of all my sickness?
"Where are we going, Junco?"
Her question pulls me back from my thoughts and I look down at her in the new dawn and take her in. She's still about eight years old and looks just like I did at that age. Straight auburn hair a little past her shoulders, wide hazel eyes that match her heart-shaped face, and that upturned mouth that makes her look sweet.
I wasn't sweet and neither is she.
"Peak City. You always did want to see Peak City and I never got a chance to take you. So that's where we're going."
I push her into the passenger seat, get in my side and drop the pack of weapons between us. The codes make the truck come alive and I back up, turn around, and head back towards the road.
"Junco, my sphere access says Peak City was destroyed in a nuclear bomb initiated by your father."
"Yeah, it was. But they're rebuilding it, aren't they? They have parts up, don't they?" I know they do, partly because I can see the massive construction going on over there in the early morning light and partly because when I accessed the sphere at Gid's house I looked it all up. The entire project is almost a blueprint for the planet pad in Dallas, with thousand-foot-tall pillars sticking up out of the ground and the beginnings of a train system hanging from the underbelly.
She's quiet as she searches. "Yes, the city center, called the Circus, is open for workers and their families and there are several pods for housing. But no outsiders are allowed in."
"Well, we just became locals, HOUSE. Because I'm going back to Peak City before I leave this place. I don't give a shit what the regulations are."
We drive in silence as I make my way south. HOUSE hijacks a satellite to get the lay of the land and charts a course that almost takes us all the way back to Trinidad before we find an illegal entrance to the highway and start heading north again.
We're still a good
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