Shards [Book Two] Page 9

  We spent the rest of the morning going to stores, looking at the latest fashions, and trying on endless numbers of outfits. Susie was bitten pretty bad by the shopping bug too, and by our second trip to the hov she had nearly as many things as I did. It wasn't too much, but we were going to have to slow down some. Two more days of this and we'd need to make a couple of trips to ship the clothes back to base.

  Susie snapped on the hov's security shield, and we walked back to the market place. She was in a very light mood. It was only the first day, and I could see the effect our leave had already had on her. I had not seen her this relaxed in a long time.

  “How about we pick up some lunch? I'm in the mood now for some of those burritos you were munching on this morning."

  So we stopped at one of the outdoor eateries and sampled the local cuisine. I ordered some tacos and had a cup of liquid that Susie called Wondaire. It was a little like soda pop, but not quite as sweet. It tasted a little like fruit. The most surprising thing was that it got colder after you swallowed it. Different.

  While we were eating, I noticed a couple of men at a nearby table watching us. They seemed openly interested. One was tall and thin, the other more average in build. They each looked strong. Both of them were kind of cute, but there was something about them that didn't feel right.

  “Susie?” I asked, keeping my voice low, and talking through my taco.

  “I see them, Abby. They started tailing us about an hour ago."

  An hour! I had only just spotted them. I was having too much fun, and had let my guard slip. I said as much to Susie.

  “Don't worry about it. In fact, I'm glad you did let your guard down. It shows me you're having a good time. And it's exactly the way you're supposed to behave. Normal teenagers don't have a very keen sense of awareness outside their immediate interest. Don't be upset with yourself, Abby. You're just acting your age."

  “I suppose. There's something about them that doesn't feel right."

  “Good girl. I get the same feeling. They're either NATech goons or local jerks. I can't tell which.” Yes, she could, I told myself. She tried to hide her protectiveness of me, but I was learning to see it. This was one of those times.

  “You think they're Ripers, don't you?” I felt a lump in my throat just saying the word. Ripers were people who hunted Cues, sharded Cues and discarded ripes to attack. The shards made the best victims. Since we had no rights and were considered beneath the law, they could attack with impunity. Our only defense was that we could also fight back without fear of the law since Cues are not held responsible for any of their actions. Ripes and shards had the worst of it because they were usually physically or mentally unable to cope.

  “They're too obvious to be NATech. And they look just a little too much at ease to be just local lads, um ... what's that term?"

  “Hitting on us?"

  “Yes. Hitting on us. I shouldn't say that. I'm breaking my own rules by using archaic speech. Anyway, Abby, the answer's yes. I'm afraid that they are Ripers. We'll have to be very careful."

  “Okay,” I said meekly, and with more than a little fear. That pretty much ended today's fun. Maybe the week's. I'd have to be so careful not to slip up that it would be as bad as being on a mission. It made me angry at them.

  Then I realized I was angry at them. Those jerks! My sense of indignation was pretty easily set off. No doubt it was my immaturity, so I tried to push it down. Wait! I was supposed to act my age, Susie said. Maybe that's just what was needed here.

  “No! Let's not be careful, Susie,” I suddenly decided. “Let's take it right to them! How quickly can Thomas get a couple of his people over here?"

  She stared at me, setting down her burrito, stunned. “What did you say?"

  “Thomas. I'm sure they have people for just this sort of occasion. How quickly can they get here?” Ruin my fun, would they?

  “They have a number of members on standby. I think they can have a team here in less than five minutes. But how ... how did you know..."

  “Hey, give me some credit.” I tapped my head. “It's not all air up there, you know. Two girls on leave in a strange town? One of them a Cue? Of course they're going to keep a watchful eye on us. Susie, get hold of Thomas and have a couple of their people over here pronto. Make them tough, good actors, and ready to fight for our honor.” I put down my taco and stood up, straightening my hair.

  “What do you mean, fight for our honor? Abby! Come back!” she called after me, but I wasn't listening.

  Their table was only a few meters from ours, so I walked over to them, putting a smile on my lips and an extra slink in my step. When I stopped in front of them, I put my hands behind my back and smiled shyly. They were openly leering. I felt dirty.

  “Hi, boys! I hope I'm not being too forward, but my girlfriend and I were watching you watching us. Did you want to get together for some fun?"

  To say I caught them off guard would be understating it. If I had turned into a mermaid in front of their eyes they wouldn't have been more surprised. I giggled at their stares and sat down very close to the one with the average build. I smiled at him.

  “We've only come into town, from Albuquerque, and we were hoping to spot a couple of guys with some local knowledge. Are you both from here?” I looked hopefully and earnestly into his eyes.

  “Yes! er, yes, we're both from locals. I mean, we're both locals.” He could have just arrived from the moon and he would have said yes.

  “Oh, good! Maybe we can hang out with you two today.” I put my hand on his leg, high up. A vein in his neck started throbbing. “And maybe tonight, too. I mean, this evening."

  They were flabbergasted. They had undoubtedly picked me out as a Cue, and no doubt had a ready-made scheme to get me away from Susie. And now, here I was, throwing myself at them. The one I was next to bought it hook, line and sinker. The other wasn't so sure.

  “Nice try, girlie, but you're not fooling me. We've been watching you! You're a Cue. Me an’ Derrick have..."

  “Derrick! What a nice name!” I cut him off before he went too far. I needed to keep them off balance. I stopped and looked tried to look stupid. “A Cue? Isn't that one of those people that are other stuff, too? No, I'm not a Cue. My name's Gail!” I pointed over at Susie who had just finished her lunch, and other things no doubt. “And that's my best friend, Josie. Josie! Get over here and meet Derrick and ... and..."

  “Sean. Look, maybe we made a mistake.” He stood up abruptly. “Derrick, let's get out of here."

  Derrick didn't want to get out of here. I was practically hanging on him now, my arms around his shoulders. He made a feeble effort to rise, but I just squeezed his shoulders gently and he settled down. Or at least most of him did.

  “Please, Sean!” I pleaded. “You can talk to me a little longer, can't you? I mean, we've only just met, and we need someone to show us around..."

  “Gail!” Susie said cheerfully. She'd obviously heard my name. She should have, I said it loud enough. “Look what you've got! You're going to share, aren't you?” Susie stepped up to the taller one and smiled at him, squeezing his arm. Whatever alarm bells he had going off in his head were drowned out by the blood roaring in his ears.

  “Well, maybe we can show you girls a good time. You're just as good as what we were looking for, anyway."

  “Wrong, Sean. We're better.” Susie could really throw herself into the act.

  “Heh. Yeah, I'd say so. Come on, let's go find some place to be alone.” Derrick put his arm around my waist and pulled me onto his lap.

  “What's going on here?” A rough voice behind me said. Thomas must have been keeping a very close watch to have someone here so quick.

  “Oh! Gail, look! Yergo is here!"

  I jumped up out of Derrick's lap and spun around. Thomas had sent two guys all right, cleverly disguised as one. Yergo was huge, with blond hair, a thick mustache and an indignant look on his face. I gasped and ran to him.

  “Yergo! Josie and I were only
making friends. Boys, this is Yergo. He's from Albuquerque, too.” I looked at Yergo, “Be nice! Don't hurt him like the last guy."

  “Last guy?” Derrick's face went white. Any thought they had about my being a Cue had vanished. “Look, uh, Yergo, this is all a misunderstanding! We didn't mean..."

  “You didn't mean what? Are you fooling around with my sister?” He put an arm around me and held me like a brother would. I looked up and cried out loud, beating futilely on his massive chest. This guy was built like the Rock of Gibraltar. With hair.

  “Yergo! You promised! No more beatings! Leave them alone! Can't Josie and I have a nice time without you breaking people's bones? Derrick's nice! He said he and Sean were going to show Josie and me a good time today.” I paused for just a split second. “And tonight."

  “What?” Yergo exploded. “I've heard enough! I'm gonna rip..."

  But it was too late. Derrick and Sean broke and ran. They looked as though they had forgotten something in Tucson and were in a hurry to go get it. They didn't even bother looking back. The scene we'd made had a dozen people openly smiling. It would have been funny if it weren't so pathetic and slightly sickening. I thought about the way they had looked at me and shuddered. I had learned my lesson; I would hide my Cue status very carefully from now on.

  “Yergo” felt my shudder and hugged me with his powerful arm. I looked up at him.

  “Looks like they had another appointment. Thanks for the help! But Susie and I still don't have anyone to show us the sights."

  Susie slid under his other arm. “We do now! Abigail, meet Steve. Steve, Abigail."

  Steve grinned, obviously pleased to be our bodyguard and tour guide.

  “How do you do, Abigail? I'm glad to be of service."

  “Please. Call me Abby. Steve's a nice name.” I smiled up at him. “Certainly better than Derek."

  * * *

  Chapter Four

  Just as they had been last night, the stars were countless pinpoints of light, pouring their luminescence onto the desert floor. There was no moon, and I could easily make out the Milky Way, spreading like a glowing, glittering gossamer across the sky.

  It was very late, perhaps two or three a.m. Susie and the Kovins were fast asleep. I had turned in early after our exciting day out, but was now wide awake. I wanted some undisturbed time alone with Mike, and now was perfect.

  The hov opened at my voice, and I stepped in and seated myself at the terminal. I asked for sight/sound privacy and heard the soft sigh as the hov secured itself. I activated the terminal, adjusting it to widest field, boosting the feedback channels to maximum. I had some serious work to do in the next few hours. And some serious fun.

  “Access."

  The hove exploded with a roar. Groucho popped up in front of me and bowed.

  “Good evening, ladies and germs."

  “Hiya, Groucho! Seen Mike around?"

  The puterverse was springing up all around us, shooting beams of solid light in every direction, painting floors and skies of wild textures and color schemes. There were no barriers to be seen anywhere. Beneath our feet, a massive chasm yawned open and the distant floor flew up at us, shifting from fog to mist to ice before shattering. The jagged pieces tore through the chasm walls, ripping open passageways, doors, and access portals. They all glowed gentle green. Groucho was unimpressed.

  “'Soitenly my dear. He's been moping for a week now. I wish he were mopping, this place could use a cleaning. He'll be around shortly. Which isn't surprising, he's not that tall."

  “Quack!” said the duck.

  “Thanks, Groucho. See ya.” He and his duck wandered off and were swallowed up by a tidal wave of data that turned into a massive cave the instant the crest hit the shimmering floor.

  I held out my left hand and snapped my fingers. A delicate pink stem came out of the ground. Its petals opened and revealed a terminal. Standing on the keyboard was Kiki. She jumped up and down when she saw me, clapping her hands.

  “Abby! You're back! Hooray!!” she screamed, her tiny voice sounding like a beautifully tuned violin.

  “Hiya, Kiki! I'm glad to be back! It's been a rough time the past week."

  “I know. Mike told me that he heard from one of the Fleshes that you were a c-c-c-crazy lady.” She twirled her finger alongside her head.

  “Now where did you learn to do that? As if I didn't know."

  “From Mike, where else?” she laughed, and the whole area hummed and brightened. Kiki hugged herself and twirled. “He's so dreamy!"

  “Hey, calm down. You're not ready for a crush. Remember the last time?"

  “I didn't mean to do that! Besides, you only had to snap your fingers to get another terminal. It's not like it Flesh-melted.” Mike and Kiki, the only puterverse creatures with high enough thinking capacity to understand there was a reality outside the puterverse, referred to my world as Flesh, a concept they could grasp but not visualize. Since any Flesh, as we were called, took on the physical attributes of energy beings in the puterverse, they didn't have an example. Even the scenes that we called up of the real world here in their reality couldn't be viewed by them in the way we saw them. I wanted to fix that some day.

  “That's not the point. If you get another flash like that again, I might lose my hands as well as the terminal. Be patient, Kiki. You're not ready for love. I don't know who ever is,” I pined, my thoughts touching on Aaron. “Just wait, it'll come soon enough.” Kiki was my little sister, sort of, so she was my responsibility. “Now pop up the Tri-file."

  Kiki turned her back to me and spread her arms out. A holo display came up and covered the tidal wave, which was still fluid but confined. A stream of numbers started shooting by. On occasion, a starburst of data would obscure the stream, then fade into the back ground. I grabbed some of it, but most of the scroll was too fast.

  “Okay, okay. Just give me the high points. Need any help?” Kiki was also my main programmer. Like Mike, she was a creature composed of pure unbound trinary code and was a real whiz at its workings.

  “Some,” she admitted. “I got stuck in twelve places.” She looked downcast. “Sorry, Abby.” Always eager to please, was my Kiki, and always sad when unable.

  “Don't be, Kiki. Only twelve out of 4.1 billion? That's very good!” I reached two fingers down and rubbed her head. She smiled up at me. “Let's see them."

  We spent the next ten minutes straightening out my code. After my first shard two years ago, I had somehow gained the ability to read and understand programming and code at an exceptional level. I had a hunch it was a left over from the shard, but I couldn't be sure. The last thing I remembered was curling up on the laundry room floor, feeling sick and disjointed as Jackson goaded me deeper into the episode. Then there were bits and snatches, more like half-dreams, of some of the things I had thought and experienced and been, but I had only impressions, no real memories. And then I woke up to Susie's crying. But somewhere in those three weeks, I had gained this skill. And something else. I knew how to program in trinary code. Not that pseudo junk. I'm talking full unbound.

  Unbound trinary coding was theoretically impossible, but I was now able to incorporate twos into the streams of zeros and ones that made up the puterverse. What did that do? It increased calculation capability by two orders of magnitude, while allowing for a great reduction in amount of coding. But most of all, it gave computers, their programs rather, something that could never happen. It gave them judgment. Real judgment. And once judgment was achieved, the door opened for emotion, learning, intuition, even completely independent thought. It was a very dangerous knowledge. So far, I had used it only for small things, like access keys, worm programs, and area design. And thousands of puterverse bombs. The only two major projects that I had used it with was when designing Mike and Kiki. Were they life forms? No, only the Almighty can create life. But they were something more than computer, something more than the sum of their parts. What, I didn't know.

  “There! That's the last one! Run the
debugger, Kiki, and let's wrap this up. I can't wait to give it to Mike."

  “Okay, Abby! Running debugger. Debugger operation complete. Accuracy of program is estimated to be pure, with contamination at less the one part in 698 trillion.” She opened her arms again, the maestro in front of her orchestra. “Compiling."

  The vast display wave collapsed in on itself. It groaned and twisted and grew darker. It began trembling as it receded further and further. I began to feel myself being sucked toward it, so I pulled up a rail between me and it.

  When it could collapse no further, it initiated a structured oscillated implosion with the trinary code aligning along the fifth axis. Soundless, it faded, leaving only a shower of sparkles suspended a meter off the ground. Kiki jumped down and skated over. Stopping underneath it, she raised her arms. Being only twenty centimeters high, she had to wait for it to finish. The sparkles faded and dropped down, and Kiki was holding a lovely diamond. She carried it over and offered it to me.

  I bent over, accepting it. The many hundreds of facets glittered and glowed as the trinary code inside flashed and rolled beneath the surface. It was in constant motion and gave out many colors and scents, daffodil being the strongest. I placed it against my chest, and it bonded to my body, settling in the middle of my chest.

  “Oh! That's gorgeous, Abigail! It makes you look so beautiful!” I looked at the reflection on the frozen wave. The diamond had made my form become much more mature, and the light yellow light I normally gave out had deepened to gold. Kiki had a puterverse view of everything, but she was right, I was beautiful.

  “Thanks, Kiki! I'm going to see Mike now! I'll catch you later. ‘Bye!” I started off toward the most likely location I'd find him: our spot.

  “Bye, Abby!” she shouted, standing on tiptoe. “Tell him hi from me!” She leapt easily up to the top of the flower terminal and lay on the interface. The petals closed up and the stem sank gracefully back into the ground. Inside, Kiki would already be dreaming of her imagined romance with Mike.