Spear of Light (49 page)

There was something slightly odd in the robot's expression, the kind of thing that would set off a small red flag if he were one of Charlie's recruits. But surely it was just that this was Yi Two instead of Yi One, and they weren't exactly the same, just so close that little things felt off. Charlie checked on Cricket, who was still right behind him, looking alert. “But you're not angry that they killed you?”

“I was calm before that. I have always been calm. I used to meditate every day.”

“Do you still meditate?”

“Yes, although Katherine meditates even more.”

The idea of soulbots needing to meditate amused Charlie so much some of his anger drained away.

They reached the next house, a small square dwelling with flowers planted all around and sized for no more than two people. There was a note on the door that said,
I'm staying. Drilling with fighters. Erin Grapple
.

“I don't remember that note,” Yi said.

“That's okay,” Charlie said. “I know Erin. So you say you were calm before all of this happened. I bet Jason wasn't.”

Yi Two smiled. “None of us feels as deeply as we did when we were human. Not even Jason.”

“Do your emotions feel the same, though? Is anger still anger?”

Yi bent down and picked up a stray toy, tossing it inside a fence. “I don't have any way of telling. My feelings aren't as strong. I get angry, but not so angry that I shake.”

“I'm not shaking.”

Yi put a hand on Charlie's arm. “Stop,” he mouthed, his eyes wide.

Cricket let out a low growl.

Yi pulled them carefully backward between two houses. He put a finger to his lips.

Charlie gave Cricket the silence command: snap, set a hand on her head. She nosed him.

Footsteps.

A black forager bird cawed and flapped up into the dark gray sky.

For a few long breaths, nothing else.

Three people walked past, one street over but visible as they moved between two houses.

Charlie recognized them. Richard, Samil, and one of the men from the cafeteria. One of the real revolutionaries.

They were planning to take Manna Springs on foot?

Yi wouldn't be safe, for sure. Charlie leaned over to the soulbot and whispered, “You're faster. Can you get back to Manny? Tell him the Shining Revolution is in town.”

Yi raised an eyebrow and looked back at the three men. They hadn't looked this way yet, although surely they would soon. They were scouting.

“Go now,” Charlie said. “Go fast.”

Yi's eyes narrowed.

“Go.”

Yi faded back, sliding between the two houses, and then he was gone. He couldn't hear Yi's footsteps. He crouched down by Cricket, stroking her head as she stood tense and ready.

The three men had turned a corner and were going to be nearing him soon.

Charlie debated with himself.

Yi was safely away.

The men would probably see him. They were surely better armed. That would put Cricket in danger.

Who would have thought he'd keep making safe decisions to protect a predator? The thought brought a short-lived smile to his face.

He stood and gave Cricket another hand signal that demanded quiet. She regarded him calmly, and he waited until he saw acquiescence in her eyes.

They walked out the way Yi had gone. Perhaps the invaders would notice him but wouldn't think anything of there being someone here. Perhaps they wouldn't want him to see them. That might, in fact, be his best hope. Perhaps he was hiding from someone who wanted to hide from him.

Cricket was better at being quiet than he was; every once in a while he scuffed the ground with a foot. A few drops of rain startled him.

He and Manny had been worried about being attacked from the sky, or at least via skimmers. They had expected to see whatever was coming in time to plan.

Now, the danger was here. The skimmers wouldn't be back in time and probably shouldn't come back at all.

The center of town would be dangerous in a space-based attack.

Time to tell everyone left to leave, even if they had to do it on foot.

Rain fell in earnest, a soaking dampness that chilled him instantly.

He contemplated locking Cricket up in the skimmer to keep her safe. But if something happened to him, she could die there. If she was with him, she might be able to warn him about trouble before they found it. He knelt and looked into her eyes, doing his best to communicate the gravity of their situation. Silly, but it seemed worth doing.

She rumbled deeply in her throat, a growl that seemed to come from her center, from her heart. She knew.

He stood back up. “Come on,” he whispered.

He jogged toward the next house on his list, remembering Manny's comment that she might scare the children.

If there were any left, they might need to be scared.

CHAPTER SIXTY

YI

Late afternoon sun still illuminated the cave's entrance as Yi slid the skimmer into the landing spot at the mouth. He climbed out and left the door open, turning to help Nona and the Historian out. The small man immediately went and touched the dirt wall of the cave and some of the plants near the opening. Nona took his hand and said, “Careful. Some things here have thorns, and some insects bite.”

Yi didn't have to help the next person out of the skimmer. A Colorima Kelm climbed out easily, her movements completely fluid. Every Colorima he had met before had been wearing a large silvered body, as if all of the copies of Colorima that existed identified with the same physical figure.

This one was different.

She had lodged herself in a human-scale female body that looked as much like a person as he or Chrystal, albeit more like a person from the Glittering than from Lym. She had chosen bright purple, blue, and silver hair, a skinny waist over wide hips, and longer legs than any un-modded human was actually born with. The clearest sign of her Next interior showed in her eyes, which were a deep matte black across the whole pupil and iris, with gold and silver sparkles that suggested galaxies inside of her.

Last, Chrystal flowed out of the skimmer, her tattoo bright in the sun. She and Nona had eyed each other during the whole trip out, but neither had said anything. A
re you okay?
he spoke silently to her.

Yes. I just so want some time alone with Nona. It seems awkward to say anything to her here. And she looks at me so strangely.

There will be time. I'm sure she wants that as much as you. She mourned you and yet you are here. I remember the same confusion when we first saw each other.

Chrystal smiled.
You hugged me right away.

I was surprised and amazed. She had months to know about you before she saw you.

True.

Let's go.

Chrystal had always been better at worrying about other people's feelings than at expressing her own. He pulled two flashlights, two headlamps, and two backpacks of food and clothes out of the skimmer and handed them to Nona and Dr. Nevening. “You may not need the lights at all, but guard them as precious. The lighting here is not of our making nor in our control, and if it goes dark, you will be in danger.”

The two looked at each other and nodded, taking the packs and looping one light each over their necks. The presence of Dr. Nevening seemed to make Nona more like him, her face earnest and solemn.

The Colorima and Chrystal each carried water and more food.

They started down the winding pathway, Yi leading and the others walk­­ing two by two, humans next to each other and the Colorima and Chrystal in the back, outwardly silent. Low lights spread warm yellows onto the floor and illuminated the walkers' faces from below, producing a slightly eerie effect.

Because of the humans, they had to go slowly. They stopped to rest twice. Three hours and twenty-two minutes after they landed at the top, they reached the bottom of the pathway and Yi started them down the long, wide corridor lined with ships.

They stared at everything they saw and periodically stopped to whisper to each other. Yi started talking, trying to keep their attention mostly on him. “We'll be going down an elevator. It's very old, possibly from before the wars. When we found it, it still worked perfectly and ran smoothly. It was very surprising. There are some really interesting things at the bottom of the cave. The Colorima wants your help seeing the contents of the cave through a historian's eyes.”

Dr. Nevening wasn't as easily distracted at Yi had hoped. He eyed the ships tucked into stone alcoves by the walls. “What are these?”

“Old relics. We've only learned a little about them. Someday there will be time for you to explore them.”

Nona turned around, peering in all directions. “Are they weapons?”

Yi chose his words carefully. “We're not certain. They haven't been tested, and we don't know how to get them out of the cave to test them. We have no idea what propels them or what protocols to use to move them. We know very little about this place other than how to find it. They can't be used in this fight in this moment.”

Neil stepped away from the group and walked up to a large ship with a light shining down from the roof of the cave and illuminating a nose-cone. It was three times his height, with no real visible seams, although the edges of a rectangular door showed halfway up, and a few squares that must be access hatches existed near the base. He held a trembling hand out and touched the surface. “Smooth,” he said.

Yi walked over to him and touched his shoulder, turning him back toward the middle of the corridor. “Later,” he said. “The cave goes on for miles, and all of it is lined with objects as fascinating as this. If we stop at each one, we'll be here for far too long.”

Dr. Nevening's eyes widened, and a smile filled his face.

Yi tried again. “We have a job to do now.”

“Context might be important.”

“We'll tell you what we know on the way down. The ride will take fifteen minutes.”

“Fifteen minutes worth of information isn't that much.” But the doctor followed him back to the group.

As they approached the elevator, a figure peeled itself free of the wall, eliciting a gasp from Nona.

Jason.

I didn't expect to see you here
, Yi said.

I'm curious. I want to see the doctor's face when he sees what's here.

Are Losianna and Amfi still at home?

Of course. They're almost ready to go to sleep. I left them at half day, intimating I might be going to town. I'll go back near their morning.

Jason moved into the light so everyone could see him. He looked so pleased to have surprised them that Yi forgave him and said
Good to see you, love
.

Nona made the introductions. “This is Jason. He's part of Chrystal's family. And Yi's.”

Dr. Nevening held out a hand with no hesitation. “Pleased to meet you.”

“Likewise.”

“And this,” Nona said, “is Dr. Neil Nevening, who once taught at the same school I taught at, but who went on to become the Historian up on the Deep.”

Jason didn't seem surprised. His response came out smooth and casual. “I've never met a member of the High Council of the Diamond Deep before.”

Neil smiled. “I'm not that. Not anymore. I get to carry the title around for my whole life, but I've no power now. I'd really just as soon be called Neil.”

“That's good,” Jason said. He was dressed in flowing black pants as dark as the cave and a simple white shirt. He'd dyed his hair a deeper purple than usual; Yi pictured him and Losianna working on it together. He noticed some tiny piece of himself rejecting that image, and he wondered briefly if he was rejecting the idea of physicality between what they had been and what they had become, or if it was simple jealousy.

All right.
Yi checked the time. Seven fifty-two in the evening. He looked at Neil and Nona. “Are you hungry?”

Neil shook his head, but Nona said, “Yes. And I'm certain we're even less likely to want to stop and eat when we get wherever we're going.”

The Historian's face softened. Yi had already decided he had a serious soft spot for Nona; the look in his eyes confirmed it.

Chrystal opened her pack and took out a small blanket and set out two plates of sandwiches and fruit. Out of the six people in the wide empty spot on the badly lit cave floor, only two could eat. To alleviate the awkwardness of the moment, Yi said, “I'll tell you what we know so far.”

Dr. Nevening nodded, his mouth full.

The Colorima folded into a seated position just a little above the group, sitting in such a way that she could look down and see everyone at once.

“We found this cave weeks ago, but we haven't actually had that much time to explore it. The opening we found has been occupied by gleaners for some time. It's in Ice Fall Valley, which is actually about thirty-seven kilometers away from here as a crow flies. We found it by accident, when we were looking for a back way out of that cave in case the front was attacked.”

“I was there, wasn't I?” Nona asked.

“Yes. You and Charlie and Amfi all slept while Jason and I explored.”

“Why didn't you tell us?”

Yi hesitated briefly. “Because of what you asked just a few moments ago. Yes, we think some of these things are weapons. But they are very old, and we have no idea how reliable they are. We don't know what they do or how to operate them. We think they are built for machines like us, although a few look like they could be operated by humans. There are generally only one of each type, which implies this may be more like a museum than a storage location.”

Dr. Nevening had stopped eating. “Why a museum? Museums are for the present to understand the past. But if whoever built this left it for us, then couldn't it be a university rather than a museum? A way for us to study whoever left these? Is there a chance it's as old as the first colonists?”