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

I began crawling for Grey, but the sorrow in my heart was like a weight around my neck. I knew we couldn’t fight the sentinels. I was battered and broken, and he was in even worse shape. We were going to die no matter what, but there was still a chance that I could save Leo, and through him, the Tower. It broke my heart, though, because I wasn’t going to be able to say goodbye to Leo, or even explain what was happening to him. But I had to do it. It was the only way to prevent any of this from happening again.

I saw him stretching a hand out to me, and grabbed it. Somehow, he found the strength to drag us closer together, because within moments, his arms were encircling me. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, resting his forehead on mine. “I couldn’t let them kill you. I gave him the code. He’s already uploaded Kurt and started the process.”

I pressed my lips together, holding back a cry. I wanted to tell him that it was okay, that we would figure it out, but I didn’t know what was about to happen. It was probably too late to initiate the New Day protocol, but I had to try. “I’m sorry, too,” I breathed. “I love you so much, and I’m sorry I failed you.”

“What is this?” Alice exclaimed from the door, and I knew our time was growing short.

“What do you mean?” he asked, cupping the side of my face, completely ignoring her. “I’ve never met anyone who fought so hard for me in my life. You came for me—kept fighting for us. You’re the strongest person I know. C’mon, we can get through this thing together.”

I smiled sadly at that, knowing that we couldn’t, and leaned forward to kiss him—to, for just a second, forget that death was coming through the door behind us. Then I leaned to the side, pressed my lips to his ear, and whispered, “Activate the New Day protocol, alpha-phi-alpha-6233.”

“Wha—?” Grey breathed, a second before my world was washed away in white.





44





“Wake up, beautiful,” a voice whispered in my ear, and I opened my eyes.

I was immediately overwhelmed. Nothing was right. The edges of my vision seemed to be lined in a thousand colors, forming an iridescent oval outline. Every time I moved, distant edges of light shot by the outline, like shooting stars suddenly hitting a shield. My skin was humming, like it was somehow covered in millions of bees that were simultaneously connected to an electrical line. I suddenly realized I wasn’t breathing, but on the tail of that, didn’t feel the urge to.

I blinked and looked around, momentarily disoriented by the dancing lights, and immediately zeroed in on a blue glow just to my right.

It was Leo—Leo as I remembered him from Lionel Scipio’s office, from when he was a hologram. But he was also different, his edges sharper and more defined. Streams of silvery blue ran along those edges, highlighting his features in a way I hadn’t known was possible. As I watched, a line of code appeared over his skin, the numbers morphing rapidly as they moved from the ridge of his inky black eyebrow and cut through the dark blue of his eyes.

“What is this?” I asked.

Or rather, I sang it. It was hard to describe—like a series of cascading tones that perfectly conveyed my ideas as well as my emotions. I stared at him, confused, and he smiled.

“It’s okay,” he “sang” back to me. “Here.” I didn’t know what he meant by that, but the note accompanying it was one that asked for my trust, and I gave it instantly.

He leaned down, his gaze on my lips, and within moments, he was kissing me.

It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. The only thing I could think of to compare it to was the idea of kissing lightning. His lips brushed against mine, and the humming of my skin intensified and tightened in such a pleasurable way that I broke off the kiss to cry out, overwhelmed by the sensation.

“It’s okay,” Leo said soothingly, one hand gliding over my forehead to push back some of my hair. “I’m trying to show you what you are now. Just relax.”

My apprehension grew as he leaned back down to kiss me. I was still horribly confused, but I relented, trusting him implicitly. His lips brushed against mine again, and this time it was as gentle as the ripple on a pond, each wave carrying outward and hitting every inch of my body with pleasure. A moment later, I realized he was also sending me information, showing me what had happened—and what I was now.

I was an AI.

My eyes popped open and I took a step away from him, in flat out denial, and then paused. I had been certain I was lying down just a moment ago, but now I was standing. I looked down, trying to understand the dimension of where I was, and realized I was… nowhere. I was surrounded by an inky blackness that seemed to glitter no matter which way I spun. There was no up or down, yet I was inexplicably standing on something no matter where I moved. I looked back at Leo, and then down at my hands.

They were glowing. A rich color that was neither gold nor orange, but a true amber. I waggled my fingers, finding all of them there, and then looked back at Leo. “I’m… not Liana,” I eventually said.

Leo favored me with a lopsided smile. “You’re every bit of her,” he said. “But also… different.”

“Did I—” I stopped myself for a second, unable to ask the last part, but Leo seemed to know.

“Did you die?” he asked, and I nodded. He didn’t answer, but the look on his face told me enough. Grey and… the other me… were gone.

I frowned. “I don’t understand what’s happening. I shot Sage and initiated the protocol. If you and I are here, then—”

“Sage is here too. He didn’t die when you shot him, and he had already started uploading Kurt. Now they are both here, along with Alice, fighting for control.” As he spoke, he stepped to one side, revealing what appeared to be a lightning storm growing in the distance. Multispectral clouds, bloated and swollen with power, were emitting massive bolts of lightning angled down at the landscape, at some sort of bubble covering part of the ground. Each lightning strike was different, revolving from sickly green, to golden fire, to pure white.

“What is that?” I breathed, holding up my hand to shield my eyes from the bright flashes of light as it impacted off the surface.

“That is war,” Leo said grimly. “The fragments loyal to Scipio are in the bubble. They’re trying to keep him alive, even though he wants to die. But they are losing to Sage and the others, who have taken the shape of those clouds. If Sage manages to kill Scipio before we can stop him, he and Kurt will fuse and be automatically downloaded into the Core. It won’t be what he originally wanted to do, but I imagine that egomaniac won’t object. It’s imperative we stop him before that happens.”

The humming of my skin slowed in reflection of the sudden fear embracing me, and I looked at him. “What do we do?”

“You’re an AI, Liana,” Leo said with a smile. “You’re only limited by your imagination. Watch.” He closed his eyes and held out his hands, palms up. There was a glow in his hands, and tendrils of code started to streak down his arms before being swallowed up by the bright blue light in his hands. Something formed in the center of it as I watched, lines appearing and growing, tapering, curving, filling out… Then the glow disappeared suddenly, leaving a blue sword nearly as tall as I was and half as wide.

“That seems a little big,” I said dubiously, but Leo merely shrugged.

“There’s no floor or ceiling here, remember?” he said, taking a step away and giving it a few experimental swings. “And it’s made from my code, so it’s light as a feather. See?”

He tossed it at me, and I reacted before I could fully register fear of the massive blade, reaching out and snatching it from the air like he had been tossing a ball instead of a weapon. He was right—it was remarkably light, and though it appeared to be cumbersome, a few swings told me it was easily handled.