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

I stared at him for a second, disconcerted by how much he knew about us, and then sighed. I really shouldn’t be surprised at this point; Sage had known about us as well. “It is,” I replied, lifting my chin up some. “Is that a problem?”

Lionel shook his head. “A small part of Lionel exists inside of me, and that part is… happy for him. Lionel tried so hard to teach the backup version about his humanity, hoping to have him develop more than his counterpart had the opportunity to. I’m glad he was able to learn and grow through his experience with you. It will make him more equipped to deal with the problems that will occur in the Tower. And more equipped for having a partner.”

I shifted slightly, uncertain of how to interpret his remark. Ultimately, I decided to ignore it, and change the subject. “So what happens now?”

“Now I give you a few things that can help you on your way. The first is Lionel Scipio’s command code. When you use it, power will automatically be diverted from a nearby conduit to open a door or activate an elevator.”

I blinked, impressed. That was going to be very useful to have around, but it felt like something that came with a big downside. “What’s the catch?”

“Overuse will draw attention to you,” Lionel replied with a smile. “I also have this for you: a smaller version of the plasma rifles used for defense.” As he spoke, a compartment from the wall behind him opened up, like the drawer in a dresser, revealing a long, dark gray rifle that looked similar to the ones from the Council Room. I stepped up to it, at his insistence, and picked it up. It was surprisingly lightweight for something that was half as tall as I was, and I immediately spotted the triggering mechanism and a magazine.

“How many rounds does it have?” I asked, looking up at him.

“A hundred or so, depending on how fast you use it. Hopefully this will defend you against the sentinels that the Alices are using while you get to Leo. As for that, I’d like to think I’ve saved the best for last.” At that, he rapped his cane twice against the floor, causing a panel to slide back in the middle. I carefully used the strap to place the rifle over my shoulders, and then nervously stepped toward the hole, worried that he had just opened it up to the outside.

Instead, I saw something I had only seen once before—with Cali, Maddox’s mother, when we had gone to net Mercury, her IT contact, whom we eventually learned was Dinah. She had taken us to a relay station in order to keep the call secret, and that was exactly what I was looking at right now.

“It’s a relay station,” I said, looking up at him. “Do you want me to climb out that way?”

“No, I want you to get in,” Lionel said impatiently. “It’s not just a relay station. It’s an escape pod.”

Really! Tony exclaimed, finally breaking his silence, his voice quivering with excitement. Cool!

“No, not cool,” I muttered to him. To Lionel, I said, “Thanks, but no thanks. How does escaping the Tower help me do what you want?”

Lionel rolled his eyes. “You’re not going to escape the Tower in it. You’re going to pilot it up to where your friends are, and then get back into the Tower. Or rather, Tony is. All the AIs know how to operate the emergency systems, but you will have to give him control again so he can do it. I know it’s not much, but it’s all I can do to help.”

“No, it’s… a lot,” I finally told him, turning around to step onto the ladder leading into the relay station. “It’s an idea, at least, of what we can do to fix everything. I… Thank you.”

“Thank me by saving the Tower. I know it’s not perfect, but I believe, at the very least, it can get better.”

I smiled at that. It seemed like in that, at least, Lionel and I were kindred spirits.

Because I believed that, too.





21





The pod rocked violently, and though Tony was in control of my body, I had the urge to reach out and grab the edge of something in an attempt to stabilize myself.

It’s all right, Liana, Tony soothed. He used my hand to flip a few switches on the panel in front of me, before returning my view to the small window in front of us and scanning the fog. The window wasn’t like any of the other windows I had ever seen in the Tower. The inside of it was glowing slightly, and it would periodically light up with red when we drew too near to an object, outlining the threat to our path in a bright red line. As soon as the alert went off, Tony quickly began adjusting our course by flipping more switches and then shifting the long bar between my legs right, left, or at an angle, moving us out of the way. He handled it all flawlessly, but it did nothing to help my apprehension that we were flying in a machine that I hadn’t even known the Tower possessed. A machine built nearly three hundred years ago.

It was a wonder we were up in the air.

I’m really getting tired of telling you to relax, Tony groused. Seriously, you are not the most upbeat of humans, are you?

I was immediately defensive. Tony may have been a part of this, but he had been sheltered by Lacey for some time and had no idea what my friends and I had gone through. Or how important they were to me. Or how much I needed to make sure they were still alive. I’d already spent too much time on retrieving Tony, not to mention going on his little side adventure, and I wasn’t about to take crap from him about “relaxing.”

No offense, Tony, but you can shove your “relax.” My friends’ lives are on the line, Scipio is dying, the future of the Tower is resting on my shoulders, and I just found out that I’m going to have to say goodbye to my boyfriend if I want to save it. If there was ever a time to not be relaxed, it’s right friggin’ now.

“I totally get that,” Tony replied out loud, looking away from the window to flip a few more switches. “But you’re not in control right now, so why not take a breather?”

Yeah, not being in control of my own body only pisses me off even more. Like, I get it—I know you need to pilot this thing, but—

I cut off mid-thought as the escape pod jostled again, sending a spike of icy fear through me. Tony pushed some on the bar, and the sputtering stopped as the acceleration kicked in, sending us shooting forward at a faster speed.

Tony?

We’ve cleared the catwalks, he replied mentally this time. I needed to speed us up. The sputtering was from the engines running too slowly so I could navigate the more difficult parts. But the humidity from the hydro-turbines and the river was starting to put the exposed flame out. It’s okay now; the flame is hotter, so it’ll evaporate all of the water before it can touch any more components, and besides—

He paused as we broke free of the fog bank and the greenery, and pulled down on the stick and flipped a switch, angling us up. The entire time, he’d been showing me his thoughts partially in picture, revealing the design of the pod we were in: a round hunk of metal mounted around what he called an omni-directional rocket propulsion engine that blew a controlled flame from ports in the back, which could apparently shift our direction nearly 180 degrees in a matter of seconds. I had never heard of any of this technology but was grateful that Tony knew how to handle it, and that it still worked after nearly three hundred years.

We’re free of it, anyway.

That’s nice, I replied, but I was still seething in spite of the insight he was sharing with me regarding the pod. It was like he did it as an afterthought—like I wasn’t worthy of knowing it beforehand—and that made me feel like I was pacing the confines of a tight cell of my own ignorance. But why can’t you just tell me what’s going on? What would it hurt to, I don’t know, reassure me a little that you’re not going to get me killed before I have a chance to fix anything? I like being alive, Tony. I want to remain that way! Dying before I save my friends is counterproductive!

I thought I had been reassuring you, Tony replied, his thoughts feeling a little surprised. What else does “relax” mean?