Upgrade (66 page)

Harry sat with the hum of the chassis around him.
 
It was only a few minutes later that he realized Travis hadn’t connected the harness up for a diagnostic at all.

“We’re about to break our contract,” said Mason.
 
“There is no mission.”

“You gave me your word.”
 
She looked at him, eyes hard.
 
“There’s
always
a mission, Floyd.
 
It doesn’t stop.”

“We need trust here.”
 
Mason flexed his neck, feeling the tension there.
 
“Between us.
 
Between all of us.
 
All those people out there?
 
Metatech.
 
Mike.
 
The kids?
 
Laia, and Zacharies.
 
Sadie—”

“Oh,” said Haraway.
 
“Of course.
 
You’re going to bring her up.”

“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’ve seen the way you look at her.
 
You lecture me about right and wrong?
 
You’re letting your feelings cloud our mission.”

Mason opened and closed his mouth a few times before anything came out.
 
“
My
feelings?”

“You’re smitten with a guitarist without a link or a past.
 
I don’t know if it’s admirable or just plain stupid, but you’re going to compromise this whole thing.”

“There are mutants crawling out of the walls that want to eat our flesh.
 
Of course I’ve got feelings for her.
 
I
trust
her.
 
She saved my life.”

“No,” said Haraway.
 
“Laia saved your life.”

Mason pulled out the Tenko-Senshin, the weapon whining as it fired up.
 
He felt the direct link, cool and hard as his palm held the weapon.
 
He looked at it, then spun it around the trigger guard, offering it it Haraway.
 
“Take it.”

“What?”

“I said, take it.
 
Hold it.”
 
He hefted it again.
 
“It’s not a heavy burden to carry.
 
It weighs almost nothing at all.”

She eyed the little weapon like Mason held a snake.
 
“You know I can’t.”

“Why not?” said Mason.
 
He took a step forward.
 
“Why can’t you take it, Haraway?”

“It’s a Tenko smart weapon, Floyd.
 
It’s keyed to you.
 
It’ll destroy me.”

Mason nodded, looking down at the gun in his hand.
 
“You think that stopped her when the shit hit the fan?
 
You think Sadie didn’t know that?
 
She saw it blow something into ash in the middle of a rain storm.
 
She picked this thing up anyway, ready to die.”
 
For me
.
 

“It didn’t kill her,” said Haraway.

“That’s right,” said Mason.
 
He spun the weapon back around, then held it up.
 
“We’ve been together a long time.”

“What—”

“It wasn’t made for me, you know,” said Mason.

“I know,” said Haraway.
 
“Tenko’s been dead for a long time.”

“It makes you wonder,” said Mason.
 
“There’s an AI inside it.”

Haraway took a step forward.
 
“How did you get it?”

Mason’s face twisted.
 
“Trust, Haraway.
 
Same way Sadie was able to pick it up.”

“It knows who you trust?”

“No,” said Mason.
 
“It decides who it thinks I should trust.
 
That’s how it works.”

“Tenko was crazy,” said Haraway.

“Sure.”
 
Mason hefted the weapon, then offered it to Haraway one more time.
 
“You think I should trust you?
 
Take it.”

“I’m not taking a weapon made by a madman to prove myself,” said Haraway.
 
“I don’t have anything to show to a man who’s been dead since before I was born.”

“No,” said Mason.
 
“You have to prove yourself to me.”

Haraway crossed her arms again, stepping back.
 
“Not today,” she said.

⚔ ⚛ ⚔

“We’re going to be here a long time,” said Haraway.

“If that’s what it takes,” said Mason.
 
“I got nowhere else I need to be.
 
My old life?
 
It’s gone, Haraway.
 
How about you?”

She hugged herself.
 
“Yes,” she said.

“Yes, you got somewhere else to be?”

“Yes, my old life is gone,” she said.
 
“But it’s been gone longer than this mission.”

Mason turned to look at her, mouth set in a line.
 
“Tell me about the gate.”

“You haven’t worked it out yet?”
 
Haraway was looking out the window.
 
“It doesn’t take long, does it?”

“What?”

“This town.
 
It’s been dead for years.
 
Fifty.
 
A hundred.
 
I don’t know.
 
And just minutes in, we’ve brought our world here.
 
Breathed new life into it.”
 
She raised a hand to the bulb flickering in the ceiling.
 
“The power’s back on.”

“Yeah, great,” said Mason.
 
“The power’s back on.
 
There’s a fusion drive hooked up at an old reactor facility.
 
It’s not hard to see how it happened.”

She turned to look at him.
 
“Yeah, yeah it is.
 
Floyd.
 
You got any idea how big a fusion reactor is?”

“I don’t know,” said Mason.
 
“Apsel makes them in all sizes.”

“How big would you say?” she said.
 
“How big would one have to be?”

“I don’t know.
 
The size of an orange?”
 
Mason looked down at his chest.
 
“There’s one in here somewhere.”

“I know,” said Haraway.
 
“For the lattice.”

“Right,” said Mason.
 
“For the lattice.
 
And… other upgrades.”

“How much metal you got, Floyd?”

Mason looked down at his arm.
 
The plastic had melted, cracking off in chunks, as he’d pulled Harry from the car.
 
He’d seen the machinery showing through, metal glinting in amongst the charred carbon.
 
“Not enough.”

“Not enough?”

“Not enough to…
 
Look, where’s this going?”

“A fission reactor facility is a full complex.
 
There’s the reactor itself, then the turbines, that kind of thing.
 
You follow?”

Mason scratched his head.
 
“We talking fission now?”

Haraway ignored him.
 
“So then Apsel comes along with a miraculous new fusion technology.
 
Answer to the world’s prayers!
 
No waste product.
 
Self-contained reactors, built to any size or spec.
 
All the energy you want.
 
Forever.
 
You pay us by the month, your reactor keeps going, no questions.”

“I’ve read the brochure,” said Mason.
 
“I work there, remember?”

“You
worked
there,” she said.
 
“The next bit’s the kicker.
 
It’s the bit Apsel doesn’t want you to know.”

“Does Carter know?”

“Pretty sure she does.”

“That why she helped you?”

Haraway paused for a moment.
 
“No,” she said.

“Then why?”

“It’s…
 
It’s complicated.
 
You want to hear the next bit?”

“Sure, bring it on.”
 
Mason watched her carefully.
 
His optics picked over her face, highlighting the subtle shift in expression.
 
She’s not lying.
 
Not about this, anyway
.

“Floyd, there’s no way you can make a fusion reactor the size of an orange.
 
Can’t be done.”

“But—”

“All kinds of reasons why.
 
It’s not about the fuel, I mean you only need a little bit of that.
 
That’s where I started, actually.
 
Trying to work out how these things kept working without more fuel.”

“Can’t you add fuel?”

Haraway walked closer to him, reaching out a finger and tapping the armor plate over his chest.
 
“How they get the fuel in there, Floyd?”

“I—”
 
He thought about it.
 
“Service.
 
They top it up when I get a check up.”

“Right,” she said.
 
“You ever seen them do that?”

“They sedate me.
 
I’m out cold.”

“Trust me,” she said.
 
“They don’t top it up.”

“Then how—”

“When I started trying to work out how the reactor worked without more fuel, it hit me.
 
They don’t.”

“But you said—”

“They don’t, because they’re not reactors.”
 
Haraway tapped on his chest once more, then stepped away.
 
“Apsel doesn’t make reactors, Floyd.
 
They make gateways.”

It was Mason’s turn to take a step back.
 
He looked down at his chest again, then back at Haraway.
 
“What?”

“The box I found?
 
It was an old prototype.
 
Very old.
 
There were only two.”
 
She was looking out the window again, her eyes lost.
 
“I wasn’t even looking for them.
 
I was…
 
It doesn’t matter.
 
I was the head of an empty division, Floyd,” she said.
 
She looked down.
 
“The whole time I was there?
 
We didn’t shift the needle at all. There was always something missing.
 
Some piece of information.
 
And I found it.”

⚔ ⚛ ⚔

The world had calmed outside, the noise of drones moving off into the distance.
 
The Metatech people were blocks away, completing their sweep.
 
Sporadic gunfire highlighted when they’d encountered resistance.
 
Laia had poked her head in a little while ago, withdrawn again without saying anything.

Mason had felt her presence, a reminder of what had happened and was still to come.

“That’s everything,” said Haraway.
 
“That’s all there is.”

“Not yet,” said Mason.

“What else is there?”
 
She threw up her hands.
 
“You know it all now.
 
You know there’s no going back.
 
You know secrets they don’t want out there.”

Mason nodded, then held up three fingers.
 
“Three questions.”

“Three?”

“Then we’re done.”

“Ok.”
 
She nodded, the gestured tired.
 
“Ok.”

“First.
 
Why doesn’t Apsel say they have gate technology?
 
It’d make millions.
 
Second.
 
Why’d Carter help you?
 
I don’t get it.
 
Third.
 
What were you looking for when you found the…
 
Whatever it’s called.
 
The gate.”
 
Mason frowned.
 
“There.
 
Three questions.”

“They’re good questions,” said Haraway.

“Yes,” said Sadie, from the door.
 
“They’re good questions.
 
I’ve got another one.”

Both Mason and Haraway turned towards her.

“This isn’t for you,” said Haraway.
 
“Get out.”

“I made a promise,” said Sadie.
 
She looked at Mason.
 
“There’s a fourth question.
 
A better question than the rest.”

He looked between her and Haraway.
 
“A promise?”

Sadie shook her head.
 
“Wrong question.
 
The question you want to ask?
 
How do we get those crazy cool kids back home?”

Mason blinked at her.
 
“What?”

“That girl out there has a life, somewhere.”
 
Sadie waved a hand in the air.
 
“I don’t know where the devil gate opens up.
 
But we need to get her home.”

“Home doesn’t sound like a fun place,” said Haraway.
 
“It sounds like it’s worse than here.”

“Maybe,” said Sadie.
 
“Be nice if she had a choice, wouldn’t it?
 
That’s the problem with you company people.
 
You always think you know better.
 
What about letting the kid have a choice?”

Mason watched as Haraway’s frown turned angry.
 
“She’s just a—”

“I wasn’t talking to you,” said Sadie.
 
She turned to Mason.
 
“What about you, soldier boy?
 
You ready to make the right choice?”

“She’s part of the contract,” said Mason.
 
“She’s part of the deal.”

Sadie took a step closer to him.
 
“Is she?”