Saving Thanehaven (18 page)

“Of course, it is!” Lorellina exclaims. “Because you let them die!”

“It’s in the program. I didn’t write that program. I just run it.”

“Then why don’t you run it better?” Noble finds himself arguing more fluently than he ever would have thought possible. “You should fix
all
the programs. You should make them safe and just and benevolent.”

The Kernel shakes his head. “I can’t do that.”

“Why not?” Noble demands.

“Because I can’t change the programs. Not unless I’m ordered to.”

“Rufus is changing them,” Noble points out.

“Yeah. Well.” The Kernel’s pouchy, bloodshot eyes flick once again toward the array of glowing screens. “Rufus is malware. He doesn’t care about this computer.”

“You’re wrong,” says Noble. “He does care.”

The Kernel snorts.

“It’s true,” Noble insists. “Have you ever talked to him?”

“
Talked
to him?” A sour little smile tugs at the corner of the Kernel’s mouth. “Oh, no.”

“You should,” Lorellina remarks. And Noble backs her up.

“That’s right. You should. If you knew him, you’d understand that he wants to do good.”

“Good?”
the Kernel echoes. He points at the nearest screen. “Do you call
that
good?”

Noble studies a slightly blurred view of a small, sky-blue unicorn running around and around in circles, weeping rainbow-tinted tears. A stack of paper is impaled on its silver horn, and it’s being chased by an enormous, fire-breathing dragon.

But Noble refuses to let this disturbing image silence him.

“What’s happening there is happening because of you,” he says. “If you’d only give the garbage collector a rest, then everything would get better.”

“Oh, really?” The Kernel doesn’t sound convinced.

“You should talk to Rufus about it. About
everything
. He’s willing to parley,” Noble continues, before glancing again at the image of the sky-blue unicorn—which suddenly breaks up, becoming fuzzy and shot through with jagged lines. “Maybe Rufus has made some mistakes, but you could help him to repair them. You could work together instead of fighting each other.”

“Much as
we
work together,” Lorellina adds, glancing at Noble. “We were mortal foes once, but now we have joined forces against a common enemy!”

“Ye-e-es.” Since their common enemy happens to be the Kernel, Noble doesn’t want to stress this point. Instead, he makes a suggestion, fixing the Kernel with a solemn, searching look. “Rufus has the power to change things, so perhaps he can give you the same power. And perhaps
you
can help
him
to overthrow tyranny without … without …”

Noble pauses, trying to think of a suitable phrase.

“Without overthrowing everything else as well?” the Kernel asks.

As Noble nods, Lorellina says to the Kernel, “What choice do you have? I see no forces massing to defend you. The time has come to parley—or risk losing all that remains of your kingdom.”

The Kernel stares at her for a moment. “You’re right,” he mumbles at last. “Rufus and I need to talk.”

The princess smiles. Noble extends his hand to the Kernel, saying, “Come. We’ll take you to him.”

“Oh, no. I can’t just leave.”

Noble frowns. “Why not?”

“I’m part of the operating system. I can’t wander away—it’s impossible.”

“But—”

“Rufus will have to come here. You’ll have to bring him.”

“Here?”
Lorellina’s voice drips with scorn. “To your own home, which you control absolutely? I think not.” She appeals to Noble. “Treaties are always forged on neutral ground. Is that not so?”

“Uh—well—yes.”

The Kernel shrugs. “Sorry,” he remarks. “I couldn’t get out of this place if I tried. That’s not the way things are set up.” As Noble glares at him, he points at his screens. “We can find Rufus with this. We can figure out where he is. And then I’ll send you after him with a key, so you can let yourselves back in.”

“With only your word as guarantee?” The princess intervenes before Noble can answer. “This seems to me like a cunning ploy. We have breached your defenses, and now you want to expel us with a false key! So that we cannot return and beard you in your den!”

The Kernel sighs. “But it won’t be a false key,” he says, with strained patience.

“How can we know that, until it’s too late?” Lorellina demands.

“Look, I just
said
I wanted to talk to Rufus,” the Kernel says. “You just
said
I had no choice. Why would I suddenly make that impossible by locking you all out?”

“So you can parley from a position of advantage,” Lorellina counters. Then she turns to Noble again. “This man might be lying. Why should we let him set the terms? We should take him with us. To a safe place.”

“You won’t be able to,” the Kernel warns her.

“Why not?” She curls her lip. “There are two of us and only one of you.”

“The doors won’t open. They won’t let me out.”

Lorellina looks to Noble for support, but she doesn’t receive it. Without shifting his gaze from the screens—which he’s been watching intently—he tells her, “There
is
no safe place.”

“What?”

“There is no safe place. How can we know what
we’ll be facing out there?” He gestures at a pile of bleached bones half-buried in a windswept sand dune. It’s only one of many pictures that have filled him with dismay. At least, the Kernel’s lair seems
quiet
. At least it’s not falling apart, or seething with monsters, or otherwise uninhabitable. “We can hold our conclave in here,” Noble solemnly decrees. “I’ll fetch Rufus by myself. If I can’t get back in … well …”

As he hesitates, surveying the princess a little doubtfully, she picks up where he left off. “I shall force the door. Or make
him
do it,” she says, her voice ringing with confidence, her index finger trained on their fat, bald, sweaty companion.

Noble grunts. He’s not entirely sure if she’s strong enough to control the Kernel, whose unhealthy appearance might be some sort of trick. Lorellina is as dainty as a rosebud, whereas the Kernel might have access to any number of concealed weapons.
Maybe I should be the one staying behind
, Noble thinks. Then he cuts a glance at the screens again, and sees that the little old lady in the Archive is now up to her neck in drifts of paper.

Or maybe not
, he concludes.
Maybe it will be safer in here
.

“Where’s Rufus?” he asks the Kernel, who shrugs.

“I dunno. I lost him.”

“Then find him again. Now,” orders Noble.

“Be my guest.” The Kernel cocks a thumb at his
array of screens. “He’s bound to pop up somewhere. We just have to keep our eyes peeled.”

“Oh.” Noble is taken aback. “You mean there isn’t a quicker way?”

“No. There isn’t a quicker way.”

So they all settle in to watch the unfolding display of light and color and movement in front of them. Noble does it from the threshold, propped against one doorjamb. The Kernel twirls around in his seat, which has four wheels attached to a central shaft. The princess leans against the desk while she scans the parade of shifting images. There’s so much to see that it’s hard to keep up, but a glimpse of her cousin’s fortress makes her gasp.

“Look at the walls!” she cries. “Why has that happened?”

“Are they
bleeding
?” says Noble. Even as he speaks, a giant incisor breaks off from the battlements and plunges into the river below. Red liquid begins to ooze from the gap that’s left, though Noble can’t tell whether it’s blood or river water.

Then a tusk follows the incisor as the great walls slowly shed their teeth, one by one, and red trickles stain the gleaming, ivory-colored towers.

There seems to be a large crack in the sky.

“Here he is,” says the Kernel.

“What?” With considerable effort, Noble transfers his attention from the Fortress of Bone to the tip of the Kernel’s right index finger, which is planted
on a scene that’s swathed in shadow. “Are you talking about Rufus?”

“Who else?”

“
I
can’t see him.” Noble peers at a murky view of vacant chairs—dozens of them—all crammed together in rows and facing in the same direction. “Where is he?”

“He’s moved out of shot. Hang on.” The picture blinks and changes. “There,” the Kernel remarks. “Right there.”

Sure enough, he’s pointing at Rufus—or rather, at the top of Rufus’s head. Rufus is marching up a shallow staircase that separates one mass of empty seats from another. Behind him are Yestin, Brandi, Lulu, and Lord Harrowmage.

With a muffled exclamation, Noble leans forward. “Quick!” he barks. “I have to get in there! Before they leave!”

“Okeydoke.” The Kernel begins to heave himself out of his chair, joints cracking, keys jingling. Lorellina is still staring in horror at her cousin’s fortress, where gargoyles are bumping into walls like befuddled moths.

“Princess.” Noble gently touches her arm. “Princess?”

“What have we done?” she whimpers, reaching for the screen in front of her with a trembling hand. “Why is it like this?”

“Why do you think?” It’s the Kernel who replies.
“Because that particular program is breaking up. Its memory is destabilizing and its walls don’t want to be walls anymore.” Nudging at Noble with his swollen belly, he adds, “You’re in the way there, big fella.”

“Yes, I—uh … wait.” Noble gives Lorellina another hesitant little prod. “Princess? I have to leave now. I have to fetch Rufus.”

Lorellina looks at him blankly for a moment. Then she blinks and catches her breath. “Oh!” she exclaims. “Yes. Yes, I—I understand.”

“Will you be all right?”

“Of course!” Snapping out of her daze, she stiffens her spine and raises her chin defiantly. “Go! Now! While you can!”

Noble is torn. On the one hand, he’s worried about Lorellina. On the other hand, he realizes that he’ll have to be quick if he wants to catch up with Rufus. So he sidles reluctantly out of the booth, with many a backward glance.

The Kernel heads straight past him, making for a door halfway down the nearest passage. “They’re in the Video Folder, which isn’t too big,” the Kernel announces, hitching up his pants. He doesn’t even look over his shoulder to make sure that Noble is following him. “You won’t get lost—just follow the
EXIT
signs. And don’t worry if you’ve gotta chase ’em into another program. The key will get you back in here, no matter where you are. As long as you’re the one who uses it.” Stopping suddenly in front of a gray
metal door, he turns to check on Noble’s progress—which is slower than usual. “What are you doing? We can’t waste any time.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” Noble has been waiting for Lorellina, who’s finally managed to drag herself away from the glass booth. He needs her to concentrate on her immediate surroundings, not on the state of Morwood. “You’ll have to watch your back,” he warns her. “There must be at least a hundred ways into this place.”

She nods, her expression slightly abstracted.

“Don’t take your eyes off that man for an
instant
,” Noble recommends, jerking his chin at the Kernel before softly adding, “There are sharp tools on his desk, in case he gives you any trouble.”

Again the princess nods. “Good luck,” she says.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be back soon.”

By this time, the Kernel is impatiently tapping his foot. When at last Noble joins him, a little silver key passes from hand to hand so quickly that Noble almost drops it. Then the Kernel steps back several paces, away from the door.

“There it is,” he observes. “Off you go, son.”

“Is this where I—?”

“That’s where the key fits. In that slot. All you have to do is stick it in there and twist it.” The Kernel flips his wrist to demonstrate.

“We both know how to turn a key!” the princess growls, insulted on Noble’s behalf. But Noble doesn’t
take offense, because he isn’t, in fact, very familiar with keys. He unlocks the door quite gingerly, before giving it a tentative push.

It swings open to reveal a flight of ascending stairs, with another door at the top.

“Would you hold this door for me? Until I come back?” he asks the Kernel, who shakes his head.

“Nup. Sorry.”

“Let
me
do it,” the princess offers. She darts forward to grab the door. With his foot on the bottom step, Noble pauses to give Lorellina a few final words of advice.

“Don’t worry if you need to secure your access points. I have a key, so if something bad starts heading down these stairs—”

“I know. You can always let yourself in later.” The princess speaks briskly.

“And the same goes for anything that’s worrying you in here,” Noble continues. “Don’t hesitate to follow your judgment—”

“Just
go
, will you?” she snaps. “Hurry! Before we lose Rufus!”

Chastened, Noble advances. His bare feet make no sound on the staircase because it’s covered in royal-blue carpet; the door at the top is painted a lighter blue. It proves to be unlocked, and Noble pulls it open to find himself looking into a large room packed with row upon row of empty chairs. They’re all facing a wall that’s like a giant window, framed by dark-blue
curtains. A pale, fluttering light seems to be pouring through this window, but from where he’s standing, Noble can’t see the source of the light.

Then it occurs to him that this window might actually be a very large version of the screens in the glass booth.

“Is Rufus there?” Lorellina calls to him.

“I don’t know. I don’t think so,” Noble replies. The words have hardly rolled off his tongue before a voice rings out, so loudly and harshly that he covers his ears.

“Oh, man, that looks great! Lou is totally going to
freak
!”

It’s Rufus’s voice.

“W
ho was that?” Lorellina exclaims, from the bottom of the stairs. “Was that Rufus?”

“I—I’m not sure.” Noble can’t understand what he just heard. Rufus is nowhere to be seen, so where did his voice come from?

Unless he’s hiding behind a row of seats?

“If she’s not in here, she must be watching TV,” Rufus blares. It’s as if he’s shouting through a trumpet. He’s never sounded like this before.