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

If I had had control of my eyes, I would’ve rolled them. Instead, I said, I don’t even understand how you can be so relaxed, considering your creator just condemned you to death! Doesn’t that upset you at all?

Not really, Tony replied. My duty is to the Tower, even if it means sacrificing my own life to save it.

His answer didn’t surprise me, although I wished it had. If I had been in his shoes, I would’ve at least been resistant to the idea at first. I wasn’t sure I could resign myself to death as a matter of duty, and I couldn’t see why Tony would, either. He might not have been a full AI, but he was still a being with emotions, and the prospect of death, even digital death, had to be frightening enough to make him wonder if it was worth it.

You can’t really mean that, I replied. I mean, why do you even have to die? Maybe we could put the fragments into each department’s mainframe. We’d have to figure out how to fix Alice, and figure out what has happened to Kurt and fix him, but maybe—

I think it’s a little too late for them. And besides, you’re forgetting the big glaring fact that we failed. Not just the fragments, but Scipio as well. Sure, we lasted a long time, but the system we were designed to be a part of was flawed. The Tower can’t continue the way it was before, and it’s my job to ensure that what does continue is what my creator wanted. Call it programming, or call it determination; either way, I will do what must be done.

I was taken aback by his adamant speech and could feel the passion of his thoughts like a fire in my mind, blazing hot and daring me to anger it. For a second, I thought about it, but then I realized it was pointless. Tony had accepted his own death and wasn’t willing to fight it.

And if I was totally frank with myself, the argument I was having with Tony wasn’t even meant for him. It was manifesting from my fears over how Leo was going to react to the news that he had to replace Scipio. Even though I anticipated that his answer would be exactly the same as Tony’s, a part of me hoped it wouldn’t be. That he’d resist the idea, the very notion of doing what Lionel wanted, and that we would figure out a way to defeat Sage and repair Scipio using the fragments. If we could do that, then he wouldn’t have to leave me, and the fragments wouldn’t have to die!

For a second, I let the idea sweep me away, imagining what it would be like to finish this fight with Leo and Grey intact… And then I carefully put it in a box and closed it up. I knew there was no way that was going to happen. Leo’s sense of duty was too strong for something as simple as love to get in the way, and even if it weren’t, I believed what Lionel had told us. Scipio couldn’t continue as he was.

Especially if part of Sage’s torture meant he was being subjugated to the death of every citizen Alice was killing—and every citizen who had died in the Tower over the past two hundred years. The AI had been experiencing this level of torture for all that time, and it was only going to get worse. I doubted he was holding up well under the strain, and I knew he couldn’t survive the experience and remain mentally and emotionally whole. I was certain that we were going to have to replace him. But the fact that it was going to be with Leo broke my heart.

You really care about him, huh? Tony asked softly, and I immediately shut the line of thought down, angered that I couldn’t even get a moment to myself to process my own thoughts.

It’s really none of your business, I replied icily. And if this is what Grey had to put up with when he woke up, I am really surprised at how accommodating he was to Leo’s presence.

Ouch, Tony replied. That’s not very nice. Not to mention, that situation was extremely different. According to your memories, Grey woke up before his memory was fully restored. He’s bound to feel differently now.

Get out of my memories, Tony! I practically snarled, feeling as if my entire body had been invaded. I’m really trying to cut you a break here because I know you’re helping, but this is getting annoying. If you need to use my body, fine. Just talk me through what you’re doing. I know it’s not easy being trapped in the head of a control freak, but can you just do it for me already, so we can stop having this fight?

I felt him hesitate and prayed that somewhere in his little AI logic processes he would get it, and respect my need for privacy.

“All right,” he breathed a moment later, and relief poured through me, as free and wild as water. “I’m currently flying us up the side of the Tower. Fuel reserves are at 60 percent and dropping because this thing wasn’t designed to shoot straight up, against gravity. I’m readjusting our course so we can get to the south side of the Tower, where we left our friends, and then I plan to open up the door and give them a ride.”

Open the door? I exclaimed, fear quickly replacing my relief. We could fall out! They could miss! Why can’t we just land on the nearest greenery arm and wait for them?

“Oh my God,” Tony groaned, flashing me an image of him banging his head against a wall. “First you want to move faster, now you want to move slower! Make up your mind, woman!”

I bit back a defensive growl. He was right, of course. I did want to get there quickly. But he had clearly forgotten the part about how I wanted to get there in one piece.

Tony—

“No more arguments from you,” he said petulantly, turning my eyes back to the window and surveying the approaching corner. “We can’t land, because this thing doesn’t actually have a re-initialization process for the engines. They’re meant to burn themselves out trying to get as far away from the Tower as possible! As soon as I shut it off, it becomes a big old pile of useless junk. Opening the door and getting them to jump in is the best and only way to do this.”

I thought about what he was saying for several seconds and dialed back my anger some. He was right, and now that I actually had enough information to confirm that, I could accept his plan.

But just barely.

What do we need to do? I asked, paying more attention to what he was doing.

“Not much,” he said, our hand going to a screen and tapping on it rhythmically. “I’m stealing the trick from the drone to send a message to Rose in Morse code, using the fog lights on this thing. As soon as we—”

He stopped when the screen lit up with another red outline, showing two shadowy figures a few hundred feet above, nearly halfway above Greenery 7, but closer to the west face of the Tower, and clearly trying to get to where Greenery 9 was. I couldn’t make out the details from this view, but I knew it was Dylan and Rose, still continuing their ascent.

As we hurtled closer, Tony began to ease down on the throttle, slowing us, and then reached over to a latch on the side, pulling it open and sliding it back to create a seven-foot hole that was about five feet wide. It wasn’t much of a space for them to get into, but if Tony planned to message Rose to let her know what was coming, I was certain the sentinel could get them both to us safely.