Artificial Absolutes (Jane Colt Book 1) (39 page)

He smiled and clapped with the others, looking up at her with his bright peridot eyes. “You were beautiful, Jane.”

She wanted to run to him, wanted to embrace him and tell him—tell him what? He was there, and she couldn’t leave, couldn’t return to the world that had blown him away.

Adam’s smile fell into concern. “You have to go. Please, you can’t stay here.”

Jane’s eyes stung. “Why not? What if I’d rather spend a few more moments here and fall peacefully into oblivion? What if I’m tired of always fighting without even knowing what I’m fighting for?”

“Those struggles are what make the moments of triumph mean anything. And your brother’s still out there, waiting for you.”

Jane nodded. She allowed her dream world to fade away, consumed by vast swaths of blackness.

“Simulation Ended” flashed before her in bright letters. Something loosened around her head.
Must be back in the real world.
She pulled the visor off her head and blinked, disoriented.

The Ringmaster laughed raucously. “I am entertained! Here’s something new! It’s
sophisticated
! Kitti, you have done well!”

“Thank you, sir.” Jane handed the visor to the blond girl.

“Bring her to me!”

A pair of thugs grabbed Jane by the arms and pulled her toward the Ringmaster.

“
Let her go
!” Devin yelled.

“Devin, don’t! I’ll be fine!” The frenzied shouts of the thugs and the chaotic sounds of fighting filled Jane’s ears. “Devin,
stop
!”

The Ringmaster sneered. “Too much trouble.
Kill him
.”

“
No
! Please—”

Bang. Bang. Bang.

The scream froze in her throat. Jane didn’t dare look back to see what had happened for fear she would go mad at the sight.

“
What the fuck
?” The Ringmaster stood and pulled a gun from his belt. “What did you do in there?”

Jane didn’t know what he was talking about. She’d lost the ability to move. Surrounding her was a cacophony of shooting and screaming, blasting and a spattering of explosions, but the world seemed muted.

The Ringmaster grabbed her and shoved his gun into her head. “Talk, you little bitch! Talk or I’ll
blow your fucking
—”

Bang.

She jumped. Blood gushed down the Ringmaster’s face from a blackened hole in his temple. Jane neither knew nor cared where that shot had come from. She just watched his eyes go blank as he fell to the ground, caught for a moment in righteous satisfaction.

“Jane! Are you all right?”

Jane whirled. Devin approached, a laser gun in his hand.

“
Devin
!” She rushed to him, relieved beyond words. “I thought… what happened?”

“The internal defenses hit that man right as he was about to kill me.”

“Pandora?”

Devin pulled her to the ground as several shots whizzed by. The guns on the walls fired at the Ringmaster’s minions. Square Face lay on the ground, writhing in pain from a shot to the stomach.

That doesn’t seem right.

The Pandora program had been ruthlessly efficient in its past attacks. Whoever controlled the Ringmaster’s guns seemed to be shooting to frighten or, at worst, injure—not to kill. A few bodies littered the ground, but they had been taken out by the thugs’ efforts to fight back, crushed beneath the fallen columns or hit by the others’ erratic blasts. The doors opened. The girls were unharmed as they scrambled to escape.

A calm voice said over the speakers, “Minions of the Ringmaster, if you want to live, leave immediately. Prisoners of the Ringmaster, take your freedom while you can.”

Jane shuddered. That voice, tinny from amplification, sounded so familiar.
It can’t be. Just a sound-alike.

Despite the warning, most of the Ringmaster’s thugs continued shooting at the internal defenses and throwing grenades at the screens. Devin pulled Jane behind a column for cover as they exploded, causing parts of the walls to collapse.

The guns kept firing. Eventually, the thugs poured out the doors and climbed over the rubble along with the newly freed prisoners. The chaos finally died down as the palace emptied.

Square Face—the bastard who murdered Adam and almost killed her brother—stumbled over the remains of a crumbled wall. Gripped by a blinding rage, Jane sprang up, grabbed a dropped gun, and ran toward him with the intention of blasting him to hell.

“Jane, stop!” Devin grabbed her and yanked the gun from her hand.

Jane twisted violently, determined not to let him stop her. “Let me go, you jerk! Let me kill him!”

Devin’s grip tightened. “Killing him won’t do any good!”

“Why should
he
get to live? You go around shooting all the bad guys you want. What the hell gives you the right to stop me?”

“Because as much as I wish it weren’t true, we’re alike, and I know if you kill that man, you’ll lose a part of yourself. It’ll haunt you, stalk you, until the day it doesn’t, and then you’ll wonder if you’re anything but a killer.”

Jane twisted harder. “I don’t care!
Let me kill him
!”

“Jane, don’t. Let him go.”

Jane froze. Devin hadn’t spoken those words. It sounded like… but no. It couldn’t be. Unless she were really going insane.

“You’re not going mad. I’m right here.”

Jane closed her eyes.
It’s happening. I’m losing it. I’m losing it for real…

Devin released her. “Jane, look!”

She opened her eyes and followed his gaze. He stared at the ring of the emptied palace.

In the middle shone a life-sized hologram of Adam.

“I’m still here, Jane. I got out before my body failed. I wanted to free you sooner, but I got lost in the Networld.”

Jane couldn’t speak. She ran to him and stared. “Is it really you?” She reached toward his ethereal form, surprised at how disappointed she was when she couldn’t feel anything. “How…?”

“I don’t really know. I heard the Seer speaking to me right after I was shot, and he somehow helped me escape.”

Jane glanced around the destroyed palace. “So, that was… that was
you
just now?”

“Yes.” Adam smiled. “And I saw you perform. That wasn’t a projection.”

Jane kept staring in disbelief. She had
lost
him, had felt the grief spread like a cancer through her soul and possess her with a demonic fury. Yet there he was, a ghost before her, there but not there. The joy and relief that should have flooded her were twisted in knots of bewilderment. She found herself more shocked by the clenching in her heart, a feeling she hadn’t known herself capable of, than the strangeness before her.

It hit her that Adam was
alive,
and that was all she cared about. She had so much she wanted to say, but no words came to mind—none that mattered.

So she did the only thing she knew how: grin like it had all been just another adventure. “
Nice work
, Adam! You sure showed those damn sons-of-bitches who’s boss. Made Pandora look like a freaking wimp! By the way, have you run into her?”

Adam looked around. Jane wondered what he saw. “Not yet. I think she has other things to worry about now that her plans are unraveling.”

“Glad you’re all right, kid,” Devin said.

“Hi, Devin. I’m sorry I couldn’t stop them before they knocked you out. I’m new at this.”

“That’s two I owe you.”

Jane hiked up her long skirt. “Let’s get outta here. I never want to see this stupid place again!”

Adam smiled teasingly. “Nice dress.”

“Heh. Thanks.”

“By the way, I found you a ride.”

A ground transport crashed through a too-narrow door, sending concrete chunks flying. Jane screamed.

Adam’s face fell. “Sorry. Like I said—new at this.”

Word must have spread quickly about the attack at the Ringmaster’s palace. No one had bothered Jane and Devin as they made their way back to their ship. As soon as they arrived, Jane leaped out of the transport.

Her skirt caught on something, and she tripped, creating a large tear. “Ugh! I hate this damn dress! Why didn’t I think to pack some clothes?”

Devin helped her up. “At least you’re not stuck in a prison uniform.”

Jane yanked the tear in the skirt, ripping the stupid thing until she’d freed herself of the lower half. She kicked the swatch of green fabric. “That’s better.”

She ran to Adam’s body and knelt beside it.

“Jane, just leave it.”

Adam’s hologram appeared, projected from the ground transport to her right.

She jumped. “A little heads-up, next time?”

“Sorry. I just wanted to tell you not to bother with… the body. It’s not me.”

“Maybe not, but what’re you supposed to do without it? Wander around the Networld forever? We’ll find a way to fix it!” Jane closed physical Adam’s eyes while virtual Adam watched with an expression between confusion and sorrow.

Devin helped her carry the body onto the ship and place it in the casket. She carefully removed the pendant from around Adam’s neck. She couldn’t watch as Devin closed the lid.

Screw this place.
She rushed into the cockpit with the idea of getting as far from Yim Radel as possible. With nowhere to go, she reluctantly agreed with Devin that the planet remained the safest place to hide, since it was so isolated, and the nearest reigning boss was gone.

Devin activated the ship’s screens. “I’ll keep a lookout in case of trouble. You get some rest.”

Too exhausted to protest, Jane entered the living quarters and collapsed on the cot. She lay sleepless for what felt like hours, her head heavy with weariness but too frenzied to allow rest to come. In her hand, she clutched Adam’s pendant, wondering if that was the closest she would ever come to feeling the comfort of his presence again.

Her mind rushed with an uncontrollable furor. Even though she knew Adam was alive, just disembodied, she felt a sharp pang whenever she remembered how that thug had mercilessly shot him.

And there was something else. Something she’d screamed right after, when she’d yelled wildly, scarcely aware of her words. She tried not to dwell on it, but she was certain she’d meant it, and knowing it might never come to anything caused her the kind of pain she’d always closed herself off to avoid.

Chapter 23

An Awesome Plan

R
iley triumphantly hit the “GO”
icon on his slate. A video of Jane appeared in the communication window. “
Hah
!”

Pandora made it hard for him to do
anything
online, even send a simple communication. Another win for him; she couldn’t stop him from talking to his buddies.

He set the slate down on the ground beside where he sat on the living room carpet and leaned back on his elbows. “Yo, Janie, how’s it going? Meadow still pretty and all?”

Jane propped her head up on her hand. “Yeah, lovely.”

She and Devin had spent the four days since escaping the Ringmaster on Yim Radel following the Networld’s movements and watching Commander Vega go public with her investigation. Pandora hadn’t sent any killer robots after them or anything. Riley guessed that she didn’t think them worth her time, since they were in hiding.

Jane’s eyelids drooped. She looked bored. “I’m sick of lying low. Can’t they delete Pandora already?”

“Huh, I wish.” Riley shifted his elbow for a more comfortable position. “Would save me a lotta work.”

“I know. I know. It’s not that simple. There must be
something
we can do. Doesn’t it have a mainframe we can blow up?”

“Uh… No,” Riley replied, as though it were the dumbest thing he’d ever been asked. Jane gave him a furious glare. He once again reminded himself to be nicer when talking to actual people.

“She did once, before she accessed the Net.” The voice was Jim X’s.

Riley sat up. The old guy hovered over him. “Hey! I said no eavesdropping!” He flicked his wrist dismissively. “Go… do some old people stuff! Shoo!”

Jim X chuckled. “Just thought I could help.”

“Huh. Like
you
would know anything about—” Riley smacked himself in the forehead. “Duuuude! We
can
blow her up!”

“How?” Jane asked eagerly.

Riley threw Jim X a get-outta-here look. Jim X smiled and walked away. As soon as the door had closed behind the old guy, Riley resumed his enthusiastic tone. “We’ve just gotta confine her to one place! She can’t be
always
floatin’ around the communication waves. If we knew which drive she was on and blew it up, it’d be like bashing her brains in!”

Jane sat up straight. “I like the sound of that.”

“Does it have to be so violent?” That voice was Adam’s.

Jane, who sat in the cockpit of the counterfeit Blue Tang, looked over the camera. Riley had interfaced with the Net earlier that day and told Adam how to get around the ship’s veiling devices. Adam had figured out how to communicate through its central computer, his face appearing on the viewscreen whenever he did.

The fact that Adam was an AI didn’t bother Riley anymore. He’d been pretty freaked out when he found out the guy was mechanical like Sarah DeHaven, but soon he’d brushed off his uneasiness. As far as he cared, the situation was simple: Sarah DeHaven was an evil robot; Adam was his friend.

Adam continued, “Surely there’s a safer way.”

Jane smirked. “Look who’s talking. Remind me how much was left of the Ringmaster’s palace by the time you were done with it?”

“Point taken. Destroy the body to destroy the mind… Sounds like the way they almost killed me, except I escaped. How do we keep Pandora from doing the same?”

Riley snatched up his slate in excitement. “The Snare, duh!”

“What’s that?” Adam asked.

“It’s what we’re calling the program the Collective’s working on to trap Pandora.” Riley held up a hand, his forefinger and thumb almost touching. “We’re
this close
to finishing! I’ll be joinin’ the effort again once we’re done here. Consensus says we’ll be done by the day after tomorrow.”

“That was fast.” The voice was Devin’s.

Riley hadn’t known Devin was in the cockpit with Jane. He wished he could reach through the slate and move the camera to see what his pal was up to. “What’re you doing over there?”

Jane turned and, in the process, moved her slate to the angle Riley wanted. “What
are
you doing?”

“As usual, catching up on the news.” Devin, who sat in the seat beside Jane, swiped his slate and turned it toward Jane. “Check this out.”

A hologram of Jim X appeared. Riley’s jaw dropped.

“As you can clearly see,” holo-Jim X said, “I’m not dead. The evidence against Devin Colt in
my
murder is as indisputable as in the attacks on Dr. Revelin Kron and Victor Colt. I believe Jane Colt and Adam Palmer were right to question the supposed infallibility of the Kyderan justice system, which would have seen an innocent man executed.”

Jane raised her eyebrows. “Hate to admit it, but I’m starting to like the old bastard.”

Jim X called from the next room, “Is that my voice I hear?”

Riley scurried to the door, opened it, and poked his head in. Jim X lounged in a hammock, holding an antique book, the kind made out of dead trees and stuff. The big gray dog curled up on the ground beside him.

Riley held up his slate. “When’d you do
that
?”

Jim X peered over his book. “This morning. You didn’t expect the media to keep away, did you? High-profile murder like mine? They descended on this place the moment the
Granite Flame
left. You were wired into the Net, and I didn’t want to bother you, so I dealt with them myself.”

Riley pointed at him. “
Dumbass
! Pandora could’ve sent an evil machine to shoot you in the face! If she had… What the hell am I supposed to do with a dead guy?”

Jim X shrugged. “Like I said to the media: I’m not dead. Your safeguards seem to be protecting me well enough. Don’t worry. I checked with Commander Vega first, and she gave me the go-ahead. Said she was about to reveal that I was alive, anyway.”

Riley was ticked-off at the old guy for going behind his back and irritated with himself for missing it. At least it was another strike against the Devin-is-a-coldblooded-murderer thing.

Holo-Jim X continued, “My friends, the video of me disseminated on the Net contains only the truth. I know I’ve been discredited many times and dismissed as a batty old curmudgeon, but believe me when I say those memos were faked. I am perfectly sane. The Pandora program is a very real threat, and she’s already claimed many lives. Had Dr. Kron been willing to accept responsibility for the rogue artificial intelligence he created, then he would’ve informed the cyberpolice of the so-called unidentified cybercriminal’s true nature. I’m sure the investigation ordered by the Tech Council will soon find the proof it’s looking for.”

“I’m on your side, Riley,” the real Jim X said. “Don’t forget the reason you were able to break into BD Tech’s computers.”

Jane adjusted her position and looked into the slate. “What’s he talking about?”

“One sec.” Riley glared at Jim X. “
No eavesdropping
!” The dog got up and trotted toward Riley. Riley let the animal through before closing the door on the old guy’s chuckle. “You can listen in, though.”

The dog followed him to the far side of the living room. Riley planted himself on the carpet. “Here, Archangel!”

Jane snickered. “You named the dog Archangel?”

“I like that word, okay? It’s a cool word!” Riley patted Archangel’s head. “Anyhow, Jah-Mex gave me some intel, and I passed it on to a couple of rogue BD Tech programmers who were trying to break into Kron’s old computer. The Snare’s based on an anti-Pandora program Kron was working on. What the Seer discovered from… uh… looking at Uh-Dame filled in the blanks. You know, if Kron hadn’t been offed, he might’ve finished the thing himself.”

Adam, visible on the viewscreen next to Jane, shook his head. “He abandoned it years ago. From what I’ve heard, he stopped working on it because he wanted to see what his creation was capable of.”

Riley jerked his slate toward himself in his consternation. “
What
?”
That’s so messed-up!

Jane’s poofy brown hair filled the screen as she whirled to face Adam. “You mean he
chose
to let his monster run amok? That
bastard
! He deserved what he got and worse!”

“Yeah!” Riley put his slate on the ground. “Well, his evil computer fiend won’t be doing much more, because we’re gonna
blow her up
!” He pumped his fist.
“Here’s what’s gotta happen.” He made a chopping motion. “She downloads the Snare and gets stuck somewhere”—he pointed to the side—“we find out where she’s at, and then
boom
!” He slammed his fist down on his leg.
Ow!
His thigh throbbed from the bruise he was pretty sure he’d given himself.

Devin looked over Jane’s shoulder. “Why can’t they use the Snare alone?”

Riley slumped. “Because it might not work. I mean, it
will
, but it won’t hold her
forever
. Pandora’s a freakin’ super-brain. She’ll escape eventually. And man, I do
not
wanna be around when she does.”

“The idea behind the Snare’s pretty simple,” Adam said. “The program would trap Pandora’s consciousness in a virtu-world that appears real to her. She’d basically become a virtu-addict, except without a physical body that would die. And… she has to upload it herself.”

Jane threw up a hand. “Oh, great! How’s
that
supposed to happen?”

Adam tilted his head down. “No idea.”

Riley was annoyed that someone else had done the explaining. “Hey, how’d you know all that?”

“I guess you could say I downloaded it,” Adam replied. “When I’m in the Networld, I can simply
know
the things I discover, without having to
read
them. That must be how Pandora learned so quickly.”

“Whoa,
cool
!” Riley snatched up his slate. “Hey, you know what you should do? You should download all your textbooks and stuff in case you go back to priest-school.”

“That would be cheating, and I couldn’t do that.”

Riley rolled his eyes. “
Lame
! Dude, there’s all this awesome shiznit you can do now. You should take advantage of it! Mess around with machines like Pandora!”

“I’ve had enough of that already.” Adam sounded tired. “It’s strange, being able to… but not… Never mind. Anyway, how do we find her?”

“Uh…” Riley fidgeted. He liked that everyone turned to him for answers, which was how it should be since he was
brilliant,
and they’d be lost without him. He hated to disappoint and once in a while wished someone else would figure things out for a change.

Devin knit his eyebrows. “She abandoned the workshop on Viate-5 years ago. She must have another, and she probably spends a lot of time there developing her AIs.”

Adam pressed his lips together in thought. “I think I know how to make her upload it. I haven’t heard anything about another version of me, which means she hasn’t completed my replacement yet. When she recalled me, she was careful not to harm me. It’s possible she still wants to… repair me. If I can convince her to… upload me into the workshop’s central computer, I can bring the Snare with me.”

Jane spun toward him again. “Like hell! You could get trapped too!”

“I’m willing to risk it,” Adam said. “She must be stopped, Jane. If she’s not, whose life will she destroy next? I’ll be fine. As soon as she’s trapped, I’ll get out of there, and then you can destroy the building and be done with her forever. Maybe while I’m there, I can… find a new body.”

Riley smacked his forehead. “The body! That’s
it
! That’s how Pandora’s been tracking you guys!” He pointed at the slate. “Adam,
you
were the bug telling her where they were at whenever you weren’t on a veiled ship! There’s gotta be some kinda signal coming from it! And hey, if there’s a signal, it can be traced.
That’s
how we’ll find her.” He put the slate down and leaned back. “Signal traces are easy. Move the body outta the ship, and I’ll have a location for you by
sundown
.”

Devin smiled. “You really are a freakin’ genius.”

Riley lifted his chin. “You bet I am!”

“How long will the Snare hold her?” Devin asked. “A couple days, at least?”

“Uh… Yeah. She’s smart but not
invincible
.”

“Good. She needs to download the Snare before Jane and I get to that workshop. Otherwise, she’ll figure out what we’re doing and send an army after us. That’ll give you, Adam, plenty of time to find a way out while we pick up some supplies. I doubt our one cannon will be enough to take out a whole building. Once you’re out, we’ll blow the place.”

Adam nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

Riley beamed. “It’s an
awesome
plan.”

Jane looked past the slate’s camera, making it seem like she gazed at a cloud or something. “But… but, Adam, what if you can’t get out? What if you get stuck too?”

“Chill.” Riley wasn’t the best at comforting people, but he tried anyway. “That program’s meant to trap
Pandora
. Adam’s different. It’ll be nothing more than a virtu-game to him. Besides, once I give it to him, he can try it out, practice ejecting himself. It’s not like he’ll be going in blind.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Adam said. “I’ll make sure I know what I’m dealing with before I take her in with me.”

Jane leaned back resignedly. “All right. Where do we start?”

Jane entered the coordinates of Aurudise-3, the Fringe planet Riley had traced the signal to, into the counterfeit Blue Tang. She recalled hearing of the planet’s evacuation several years ago, when computer and communications problems left its settlements unable to function. Sounded like Pandora’s handiwork.
Bitch.

Jane buckled herself into the copilot’s seat. “We’re gonna have a look at our target before going after weapons. I’m just glad we can leave freaking Zim’ska Re. What a waste. Such a beautiful place rendered so ugly by horrible people. Wish I could fix it.”