The Girl Who Dared to Think 7: The Girl Who Dared to Fight

“Yes?” I asked, and I was stunned to see her stretching her hand toward me. Tentatively, I took it into my own, and she immediately squeezed my fingers together in a vice-like grip that made my bones pop.

“The password… Tony… Seymore Butts…” She was barely able to string together a sentence, but I focused.

“Seymore Butts,” I repeated back to her. Then I frowned. “Wait, what?”

Lacey chuckled softly as she let go of my hand. “Tony’s… choice. You’ll… see.”

Her eyelids fluttered closed, and within moments she was breathing deeply. I took a glance at the wall screen to check her vitals, which were weak and thready, and sent up a silent prayer that she managed to survive her surgery.

Anna exhaled in relief, and then looked at us. “You need to go,” she said. “And I need another blood donor if you’re taking this one.”

I turned to Lynch in time to see him reach up and pull off his end of the transfusion tube. “Don’t worry,” he told the girl in an authoritative voice. “I’ve put out the word. You’ll probably have a line waiting outside. Anything you need, just ask the next person in line. We’ll also be sending a contingent of guards to keep you and her safe.”

Anna’s eyes widened, but she nodded. “Thank you,” she told him. Then she looked up at me and Dylan. “And thank you,” she added, nervously tucking another strand of hair behind her ear. “You saved a lot of lives. You should be proud of that.”

She said it, but in my mind all I could see was Cyril at the door, a handful of his hair gripped tightly in the sentinel’s hand. The way he tried to hold on even though the sentinel was stronger… and how fast he had been ripped away.

“It was my duty,” was all I could muster. “Lynch, where is the server farm?”

“Underneath the central air processing unit in the heart of Cogstown,” he replied, moving over to a table that I hadn’t noticed in the corner and collecting one of those coats that could make a person appear to blend in with the walls—something a legacy in Lacey’s family had designed. “Follow me. I’ll update you on everything we know.”

I nodded and let him lead the way, giving one last look to Lacey and Anna, and then Rose, who was still standing in the corner. “You coming?” I asked her.

Her purple eyes blinked at me, and for a machine, she managed to portray insecurity very well. “Don’t you think it would be better if I stayed here?” she asked hesitantly. “People are afraid of me, as they should be. I might only make things harder for you if I come along. I stand out.”

I gave her a considering look and thought about what she was saying. She was right that anyone we encountered was bound to be hostile or afraid when they saw us. But that was something that could work to our advantage, the longer Requiem Day went on.

“Yes, you do, and I’m sorry if this hurts your feelings, but I’m going to need you to be scary and threatening. There’s going to come a point during all this when we won’t be able to trust any of the people we’re encountering.”

“Especially since Scipio just announced that you and the entire Knight, Cog, and Diver Departments attempted to murder him,” Lynch announced grimly, slipping his coat over his shoulders. “And I’ve already put the word out for the Cogs not to attack any sentinel with purple eyes. Luckily, because we have power, we can still send text messages through the servers, but c’mon. I’ll explain as we go.”

He was right. I glanced at Rose, giving her a questioning look, and after a moment she nodded and began walking forward. I stood aside to let her pass, and then followed her into the hall. Lynch was right behind me, leaving Dylan to shut the door as she exited. Lynch quickly moved around me when I paused in the hall and waved us along. We quickly formed a little line behind him, heading down the hall. There were more workers than before in the halls, not all of them Cogs, heading toward some unknown destination, some defensive task, and I couldn’t help but feel like the entire place was a beehive readying for an attack.

“What is going on?” I yelled at Lynch, the amount of noise in the hall making that the only possible volume for a conversation.

“Water Treatment was breached a few minutes ago,” Lynch replied grimly. “The sentinels are in there now, killing people.”

“Yeah, about that,” Dylan called from behind me. “Why are the sentinels killing some people and leaving the others behind?”

Dylan’s question caught me off guard, but I suddenly remembered that I had been wondering the same thing. The Alices had spared Dalton—indicated that he was a worthy citizen—but then killed the man trying to get through the door before it closed. Why? What had differentiated the two of them? Alice didn’t seem to care about gender or anything else, so why—

My mind suddenly flashed to Cyril’s indicator, and what I knew about Dalton. Dalton had been a seven when I’d met him, and I had no reason to assume that he’d dropped in rank since then. Meanwhile, Cyril’s rank had been a five, and they had gone after him. It was the ranks—the ones Scipio gave us to reflect our service to the Tower. It had to be. Alice had mentioned that citizens true to Scipio would not be harmed, and there wasn’t any other way of differentiating the citizens beyond their department. Not to mention, Sage had wanted the expulsion chambers in the Citadel to remain in use; even though Sadie and Plancett had been the driving force, I had no doubt it had been Sage’s hand guiding their actions.

But that didn’t explain the why. What did Sage hope to achieve by using sentinels to murder that many of the Tower’s citizens? Sure, Alice was telling them it was for the good of the Tower, but surely he didn’t believe the people would take that sitting down. The lower-ranking individuals made up nearly a third of the population! If my hypothesis was right and they were targeting everyone ranked five and below, then the people were going to catch on and start fighting back.

Then again, all the ones were in the Citadel, and the twos and threes were being sequestered in the Medica. The remaining fours and fives might not be able to put up much of a fight after all.

I didn’t know, but I had to find out. Something told me it was important to Sage’s plan. If I could figure out why, then maybe I could do something to stop it.

“I think they are targeting people rank five and below,” I told the group, sharing my theory with them. “I saw a man I knew to be a seven only a few moments ago, and the Alice units let him live. But they grabbed a man who was a five and killed him.”

“That would make sense, given what the sentinels were saying,” Dylan replied. “But why are they doing it?”

“I don’t know,” I told her. “But if we could figure out why, we might also be able to figure out how he’s trying to kill Scipio, and stop it.”

“Well, I can’t tell you how he’s doing it,” Lynch cut in, coming to a stop in front of a hall and ushering us to turn right. “But what I can tell you is this: forty-five minutes ago, we got an update from Scipio reporting that you, Engineer Green, and Praetor Strum had attempted a coup against the other department heads and Scipio. Orders are to execute you on sight. I can promise you that none of Lacey’s people will hurt you, but not all of the Cogs are like us, and they may try to attack you, so beware.”

I followed his instructions to head right and paused when I saw a deserted corridor in front of me, disconcerted by what he was saying and suddenly feeling that I was being led into a trap. It would be cruel of him to taunt me that way if it were the case, but I had no reason to doubt his intentions, especially given his loyalty to Lacey.