I normally loved lashing—the thrill and speed of it—but this was something totally different, and frustratingly slow. I couldn’t race through it, like I would down a hall if I were inside the Tower, and there was no direction to go except straight up. No corners to maneuver around, or obstacles to use to speed up the process.
Nothing but flat solar panels, as far as the eye could see. The minutes turned into an hour, and then two. My shoulders, arms, wrists, and legs ached from the repetitive motion of the climb and from where the harness was digging in. Sweat seemed to pour off me in sheets, especially when the sun finally reached its zenith in the sky, and the tips of my ears and back of my neck felt hot, telling me I was getting sunburned as well.
I threw my next line with a grunt, tugged it lightly to make sure it was fixed, and then retracted the line, taking a moment to look up and check our progress. The shade from the next greenery was my current goal—really the only one to pick from—and it was only three more good lashes up.
The gyro whirred to a slow stop as I neared the end of the line, and I looked down to disconnect the previous line, checking on Dylan and Rose. Dylan was keeping pace with me, and was somehow managing to make it look easy. For a second, I was extremely irritated by how well she seemed to be doing with everything. Not just the climb, but with the truth about Scipio, and how quickly she’d adapted to it all.
I pushed it aside, recognizing that the frustration had less to do with Dylan and more to do with myself. I was tired. No, scratch that, I was beset by pure, mind-numbing exhaustion. Ever since Devon Alexander had set me up for my former commander Gerome’s murder, my life had turned upside down and inside out. All over a period measuring a little over a month. Everything had been nonstop, nearly each day filled with a new disaster that seemed insurmountable.
I supposed, in a way, I was grateful that Sage had finally shown his true colors and clued me in to his plan. At least I knew whom to target, and how to end it. If I succeeded, then I’d sleep for a full week. If I didn’t…
Well, I’d be dead, and I supposed I could get all the sleep I wanted then.
I lowered my gaze to look at Rose, making sure the sentinel was still a few feet down, and then gathered up the line with my free hand, retracting the cable until I was left with six inches of length. I started to spin it up, keeping an eye on the tip, when a flash of something from down below caught my eye.
I lowered my arm and squinted toward where I had seen it, using one hand to shade my eyes against the sun above. The sun washed out everything, making colors muted and dusty. At times, it was hard to tell where the Wastes ended and the Tower began. During others, the heat coming from the surface of the glass distorted the air, making it impossible to see what was on the other side.
For several long seconds, I couldn’t see anything. I waited for what felt like eternity, and then started to turn away, certain it had just been a reflection from one of the panels below, when Tony stopped me.
Wait, he urged, stalling my hand when I went to wind up another lash. There is something. Look there, to the left.
I continued to search the area below us, and then finally spotted it: a small white drone. The sight of it gave me pause, and I studied it for several seconds, wondering how on earth it could’ve gotten out here. Drones were only used in events like the Tourney, or to record interdepartmental elections for posterity, and were only operated by the Knights Department.
I was immediately suspicious. Sage had proven he had access to almost every department in one way or another. Why wouldn’t he have a drone?
I carefully retracted the line, and then reached into my pocket, intending to shoot it down. I didn’t care if it was suspicious or not; I didn’t want it transmitting to—
It’s not Sage’s! Tony cut in excitedly, overriding my thoughts. It’s Lionel! He sent us instructions!
Disbelief coursed through me, strong and irresistible. I knew Tony was the creative element in the cadre of AI fragments, but apparently he was also given to flights of fancy. Tony, it’s not possible. Lionel is—
You don’t understand anything, he interrupted. Look at the lights on the front. See how they are flashing? It’s Morse code, not Sage. It wants us to follow it.
I looked down at where the drone was slowly ascending up to us, and noted that the lights on it were flashing. While I had studied Morse code in the academy, it wasn’t exactly my strong suit, so I couldn’t really tell if the phenomenon was a message or a malfunction, but I also didn’t care. I was climbing this Tower. My friends were in danger, and I wasn’t about to get delayed again by another fragment AI—
I’m sorry, but you have to, Tony interrupted again, just as I was reaching the cusp of my decision.
I was opening my mouth to tell him no when I felt his presence loom up from the back of my conscious mind—and crash down over my own with the force of a massive tidal wave. I fought it, but it was like I was a small fish in a torrential stream. Suddenly hands that had been mine a second ago were under his control.
My mouth moved, but I didn’t think the words that came out of them.
“Hey, guys, Tony here. Liana and I have to take a little trip to figure out how Lionel wants us to fix Scipio! Rose, you and Dylan keep climbing, no matter what. When you get to the next greenery, you need to shift to the east face of the Tower, so that you’ll be out of the heat, and get to Greenery 9. From there, you’ll be able to gain access to the Attic. Hopefully, Liana and I will catch up to you by then, but if we can’t, I know she’ll want you to keep going to help her friends.”
“Wait, what?” Dylan asked, but it was too late. Tony was disconnecting the line holding us fast to the Tower, and then pushing off with both of my legs.
Then we were falling.
19
“Woo-hooooooooo!” Tony screamed, the wind already beginning to whip past our face.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! I shrieked internally, fully understanding what pure terror felt like without the assistance of a body to interpret it. It was like my soul itself had been infused with ice, and I knew with dead certainty that I was going to die.
Killed by one of the AIs I had been trying to save. Irony, my name is Liana Castell, pleased to friggin’ meet you.
Tony laughed as he twisted my body in midair, positioning it in a nosedive and causing the icy feeling to fracture and then burst apart in panic. I could see the greenery below glittering brightly, and knew that what had taken us hours to climb would only take seconds to kill me.
Relax, Liana, Tony said warmly. I’ve got this.
No, you don’t! You do friggin’ not, I snarled at him, like a wounded animal. I felt like one, too, trapped in my own body with an insane AI fragment controlling my every action. There’s nothing for us to hook on to but the Tower, and going at this speed will mean that you will shatter every bone in my body trying to stop us. I’ll be lucky to survive, but we’ll both be helpless and… What are you doing?
Tony had changed the angle of my body slightly, and we were now steadily arcing toward the edge of the greenery—toward where the drone was now descending. If I had control, I would’ve swallowed and then squeezed my eyes shut, preparing to make my peace with the universe. As it was, I could do none of those things.
So I screamed instead, letting Tony know exactly how much I hated him for this.
The Girl Who Dared to Think 7: The Girl Who Dared to Fight
Bella Forrest's books
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