Artificial Absolutes (Jane Colt Book 1) (43 page)

“Like I said, factory’s out of control.” Devin started toward the vehicle. “Let’s go.”

Jane grabbed him. “Wait!” She ran to the box containing Adam’s android body and pressed the triangular button. Like in the virtu-world, the box floated about a yard off the ground. Devin helped her detach it from a cylindrical machine and shove it onto the vehicle. She climbed in as he took the controls.

The vehicle zoomed down the corridor.

Jane looked back. Metal gates, spaced about a yard apart, slammed down one by one. “Now what? What’s the plan?”

Devin kept his gaze ahead. “Run like hell?”

“Good plan!”

A large robot wheeled at them. Jane fired. She ducked as the vehicle crashed into it. Its metal body flew over her head.

The vehicle careened around a corner and zoomed down a seemingly mile-long corridor. Hostile robots emerged from the open doors lining it.

Jane had just shot another when a memory hit her—something she’d discovered in the virtu-world. “The door third from the end leads to a utility elevator, and there’s a hangar on the lowest level. I saw it in the building plans. We can hijack a ship and get outta here!”

Devin swerved to avoid a robot. “That was a virtu-world!”

The robot leaped and clung to the vehicle’s back. Jane blasted it. “The room was the same!” She glimpsed a mechanical claw and shot it. “The androids were the same!” She sprayed the machine-lined walls with lasers. “Hell, even the controls on the box were the same. Do you have any better ideas?”

Devin veered the vehicle through the elevator’s open door. The lights by the controls flashed erratically. He aimed his gun at the ceiling.

Jane realized what he was about to do. “
Really
? Again?”

“The vehicle’s set to hover above whatever ‘ground level’ is,” Devin said. “There won’t be much of an impact this time. Hold on to something.”

He fired. Jane’s stomach leaped into her throat as the ground dropped.

“Good job, Adam. That was one of the best student sermons I’ve heard in a decade. You really are our most promising first-year.”

Adam took the hand Counselor Zhang extended. A sense of pride warmed him. Counselor Zhang was not only an influential Via Superior, he was also brilliant—one of Adam’s idols—and notoriously hard to please. Receiving praise from him was like being awarded a medal. “Thank you, sir.”

The Counselor smiled and walked away.

Adam went down to the temple’s crypt to put away the robe he’d borrowed, stopping a few times on the way to acknowledge fellow seminary students who told him what a good job he had done.

Everything was perfect. It must have been one of those days.

Adam hung up his robe. A sense of unease crept up within him, as though something was terribly wrong.

That’s strange…

He had no reason to feel anxious. He was well-liked and respected among his peers, excelling at school, and on his way to the career he’d always hoped for—all without having to compromise his ideals.

He thought about what he’d done between graduating college and starting at the seminary: volunteering at the Via center on Yim Radel, which had the goal of aiding and educating the population. It had been considered a fool’s mission, but it seemed to be having a real impact, bringing the first hopeful steps of order to the breathtaking but lawless Zim’ska Re system. Yet, something about the memory seemed… off.

Adam recalled the mission, remembering its trials and triumphs. It felt unreal, like a distant dream.

Everything seemed somewhat dreamlike.
I shouldn’t have stayed up all night editing that sermon.

His life was perfect. Why would he question it?

Adam left the temple and joined the throng of fellow students waiting outside.

Jane watched the viewscreen of a Stargazer. The Barracuda driven by her brother stopped at the end of a long passageway leading out of the hangar. Its cannons rotated upward and fired, disintegrating the large gate above them.

She looked over her shoulder at the box containing Adam’s android body. She’d removed the glass cover so when he returned—and she
knew
he would—he wouldn’t be trapped. She hadn’t dared mess with the wires and tubes sticking out of his skin, figuring she’d detach them once he woke up.

Come back, already…

A few minutes later, Devin ran toward the Stargazer.

He entered the cockpit and rushed to the copilot’s seat. “Go! We only have a couple minutes before it blows.”

Jane instinctively gripped the controls. “
What
? You said you’d rig it to blow
on command
!”

Devin reached in front of her for the pilot’s controls and revved up the ship’s engines. “I think the factory’s computer infected the Barracuda. The countdown started on its own, and it wasn’t exactly being precise in its timekeeping.”

“But… But what about—”

“Pandora must be trapped by now or she would’ve retaken control of the factory and caught us already. Even if she’s not, that Barracuda will unleash its entire bomb silo in a matter of minutes, so it’s time to
go
!”

Jane shoved the steering bars forward and drove the Stargazer down the passageway. She swiped a command on the control screen. The ship rose up out of the enormous hole in the ceiling and took off toward the atmosphere.

She couldn’t help glancing at the box behind her. “What’s taking Adam so long? What could he
possibly
be doing? You’re right: He must’ve confronted Pandora, or we’d be dead or locked up! So what the
hell
is he doing?”

“Probably finding his way through the Networld.” Devin sounded as if he was trying to reassure her, but Jane detected unease in his tone.

“Devin? What’s wrong?”

Devin hesitated. “We weren’t entirely honest with him—Riley and I, that is. I told Riley to give Adam two versions of the Snare program: one he knew he was carrying, and one he didn’t. Pandora would see right through him, so if he was going to get her to download that program, he couldn’t know—”

“
What
?” Jane jammed the ship’s brakes. “You mean to say he was preparing to deal with a
dummy
virtu-world? You
idiot
! What if he’s trapped, too?”

She looked back at the motionless android body, then firmly veered the Stargazer back toward the factory.

“What’re you doing?” Devin sounded alarmed.

“We’ve gotta stop the countdown! We’ve gotta give him more time!”

“That place could blow any second, and if you go back there, you’ll get caught in the blast!” Devin grabbed Jane’s hands on the controls, forcing her to steer the ship away from the factory.

Jane struggled to free herself. “You
jerk
! You should’ve thought of that before—we’ve gotta stop it!
Let me go
! Devin, please. He’s still in there…
We’ve gotta stop it
!”

“Adam!”

Adam turned. Jane waved at him, dressed in a plain, conservative dress, the kind favored by most nice Via girls. She glowed with happiness, as though melting at the sight of him. Adam bid a hasty farewell to the other students and ran to meet her. She caught him in a close embrace.

Everything was perfect.

“They’re going to perform my motet.” Jane kept her arms around his neck. “Next week, at the Silk Sector temple. It’s all because of you, Adam. I could never have done it without you. I couldn’t do anything without you. You’re my world.”

Adam froze, unable to ignore the disquiet within. Each time the Jane he loved spoke of music, she sparked with a spirit that awed him. How many unwritten melodies lay behind her eyes, so dark yet so bright? The Jane before him had none of that, possessing only hollow beauty.

The memory of a feeling hit him, one unattached to words or images. He recalled becoming dull and resigned, letting despair overtake him and override all hope.

Forgive me, Absolute One. I’ll never let go again. So be it, truly.

More memories appeared in his mind—vivid flashbacks of deceit, loss, and meaningless agony. He could ignore them and stay, could accept the perfect world around him and never suffer all that confusion again. No more sorrow, no more pain, no more struggling through the irresolvable contradictions of that unknowable universe.

Adam regarded the lovely but empty version of Jane. No, he couldn’t stay. After all, the ability to think and decide in spite of those contradictions separated humans from animals—and machines. “This is wrong… I shouldn’t be here.”

“What’s the matter?” Jane smiled sweetly. “I love you, Adam. Someday, I’m going to marry you. Doesn’t that make you happy?” She leaned in for a kiss.

Adam held up a hand and stopped her. “You’re not Jane. Jane isn’t some ‘gooey doe-eyed ninny.’ That’s actually exactly what she’d call you.”

Jane’s eyes brimmed with tears. “How can you say that?”

Adam shook his head. “And she wouldn’t cry. She’d smack me upside the head and call me an idiot.”

“I’d never do that.” Jane put her hands on his face. “I love you. Doesn’t that make you happy?”

Adam looked into her beautiful brown eyes.
Nothing.
He took her hands and lowered them. “‘The destroyed creates the destroyer, and the created destroys the creator.’ It’s from the fable about the stone giant.”

Jane smiled. “I know. You know how well versed I am in the way of the Via. I’m as faithful as you are.”

You’re perfect.
Adam let go and walked away. Time had to be short. He ran…

“You damn
asshole
! You
shithead
!” Jane fought her brother for control of the ship, causing it to lurch erratically. The ship nearly crashed into the ground. Devin engaged the emergency landing system, overriding
all
piloting abilities.

The Stargazer landed on Aurudise-3’s flat surface. Jane bolted from the pilot’s seat, yanked the lever that opened the door, and rushed down the ramp. She sped toward the factory even though it looked about a mile away.

“Jane, stop!” Devin caught her and held her back.

“
Let me go
! We’ve gotta—”