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

Rose gave a soft laugh that sounded like a bitter cry at the same time, and I turned to find Scipio gone, his code completely erased, and Rose already reaching into her own chest.

“Rose!” I exclaimed, my voice breaking in sorrow. I’d already lost her once today, and the tragedy of it was still fresh in my mind. “Please, I need you.”

“No,” she said weakly, her code beginning to flicker and pulse as her hand withdrew from the hole in her chest, a small purple pearl clutched between two fingers. “What you need is this: a record of what Sage did to us. We know how his mind works, and we can amplify your instincts with our own, to give you the best chance to stop him. Take it.”

Behind us, I heard the thundering approach of Kurt, his massive steps causing the datasphere to ripple and pulse, but I imagined him far away, keeping the distance between us. I wouldn’t be able to do it for long, but it was enough for now.

“You’ll die.”

“But a part of me will live on, in you. Take it, Liana. I know it’s not very much, but I give it to you freely. We all do. Now hurry, because your time is slipping.”

As she spoke, her code began flickering more and more, until the pearl slipped from her fingers, and she was gone. I stared at it for several seconds, and then picked it up, cradling it to my heart. A small surge of warmth flowed through my chest and then around it, then flew up my back and to my shoulder blades. The skin and bones on my back suddenly started to contort, elongating, stretching out, growing, and I glanced over my shoulder to see that a pair of lilac wings had sprouted from my back, taller than I was and filled with iridescent feathers.

I smiled when I realized Rose still literally had my back, and then bent over to pick up the orb with Scipio in it. I wasn’t sure what I expected to happen, but a moment later there was a flash, and I was holding a massive blue sword wreathed in black lightning. It felt light as air as I experimentally swung it around, and I stared at it, suddenly renewed and filled with energy. I had been given protection from Tony, an advantage by Rose, and what I assumed was a deadly weapon, from Scipio. I was as ready as I was ever going to be.

I turned, and studied where Kurt was drawing closer, racing toward me. Every cut and blow that Leo had landed was already healed, his code perfectly intact. Alongside him streaked a white blur, which was avoiding the bolts of blue light being thrown by Leo. Sage looked perfectly intact again, his damage already healed up, and he was holding his own against Leo, dodging his blows easily. I knew he was trying to wear Leo down, and from the looks of things, he was succeeding. Leo’s arms were moving slower and slower, his own code flickering as his energy flagged.

Frustration roiled through me as I realized this battle could drag on and on. If I went for Sage in an attempt to protect Leo, I might be able to surprise him once, but not enough to kill him. If I didn’t manage to get the upper hand on him, Kurt would arrive to save him, and the cycle would begin all over again.

I needed to be smarter, change my tactics.

Kurt’s shape loomed closer. My ability to hold him at bay any further was deteriorating with the attention I was now devoting to the larger problem. His fifty-foot-tall form leapt in the air toward me, both feet lifted up in what could only be described as a purely stomping motion, and inspiration hit me.

I flexed my new wings, flapping them hard, and took off like a bullet, straight for the AI overhead, the blade held tightly in both hands. With my advanced reflexes, I calculated the timing exactly, and then slashed the blade up into the sole of his boot, cutting a bright hole in his code before diving through it, tucking both of my wings tightly around my body as I did.

Within moments I was shooting up through darkened space, using my wings to fly up through his leg and into his body. I was shamelessly inside his code, and not even hiding it, using my sword to cut apart any strand of code that was close enough for me to get at—trying to tear him apart from the inside out.

A slice of a particularly thick string of code suddenly revealed a bright green glow behind it, and I angled for it, knowing it was his source. If I could destroy it like I had Alice’s, then Kurt would die, and Sage would be alone against Leo and me. I streaked toward it, Scipio’s sword already pointed at it like an arrow, and flapped my wings harder, trying to get there faster. Lines of code rose up to entangle me as I flew, angling for the glowing ball of light, and I struck them down left and right, my arm and blade flying.

But one snaked past my defense, coiling a long line around my leg and jerking me to a halt. I slashed it quickly, but then two more replaced it, one around my free arm and the other around the opposite leg. Even more sickly green lines of code broke off the walls in an attempt to entangle me, and I realized this could be my last chance to act.

I didn’t hesitate, tossing the blade up so I could catch it in a throwing hold. I willed the blade to become a spear, but I wasn’t certain whether the source code of another AI would respond to me.

It worked perfectly. As I drew back to throw, the tip was already elongating, growing narrower and sharper, with a deep blue glow. I threw it before it was finished—and just before another green line of code caught me around the wing and shoulder. I ignored it, watching as the spear streaked toward the green globe, like a meteor hurtling through the atmosphere of an alien planet.

Several lines of code detached themselves from the wall to intercept it, drawing closer and closer to the spear, and I realized they were trying to stop it. What was more, I had no idea whether capturing it would mean that Kurt could also steal Scipio’s source code from me. Fear made my skin hum violently, and to my surprise, the green lines of code holding me into place responded by slackening, as if my fear had transferred into them, overwhelming their purpose. I seized the advantage, twisting around violently to break them into fragments, and then gave a massive beat of my wings and shot off after the spear, lines of amber erupting from the gun I manifested in my hand.

There was a sharp burst of light before I could confirm that the spear had hit the green orb, and I lifted my hand to shield my eyes. I had no idea whether the spear was hitting Kurt’s source code or Kurt’s defenses had destroyed Scipio’s weapon, but then I heard a deep rumbling, the sound of massive blocks of ice breaking, and I opened my eyes to see… the green orb, still intact.

My spirits plummeted, and I felt ashamed that I had missed once again, but then there was another sharp crack. A pulse of green energy rippled out from the orb, reminding me of a massive ripple in a pond, spreading outward. Dark cracks appeared in the surface of the orb a second later, as if someone had clenched it tightly in his fist and squeezed, and then chunks began to break off, moving slowly at first, and then faster and faster, as if the shockwave was dragging pieces of it away, like some sort of reverse comet.

A massive hunk of the debris hurtled right for me, and on impulse, I lifted my arms across my face, forming a shield that looked like the corner of a building, with a blade jutting from its center, seconds before it was going to hit. There was a great shearing sound as the mass of code slammed into the shield, kicking up sparks all around me and forcing me back. The hunk split in two, streaming all around me, but a quick glance told me that I was still in danger, now hurtling toward the wall of code that made up Kurt’s skin.