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The trio stood there, mouth’s open and gawking.

Camus sighed. “Had I wished, I could have wiggled my fingers and distributed the bioelectrical energy animating you to the stratosphere. I do not wish it, only would see us off these streets before your presence draws the ire from those deeper within the city confines.”

His eyes locked into Sienna’s. “And with you, my dear, any personal inclination to inflict harm may be an unsound act on my part.”

“Let’s go,” said Sienna.

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DataLog Text-MemxJourn: Doyle, Sienna A. / 24-04-24

The space was little more than a hovel, even forty stories up. It had been a guards’ shack or site office on the roof, used once for transportation security. The faded red symbol of the landing pad was still visible on the surface, the exhaust fans once used to blowout skycraft fumes now filled with bird nests. Camus only briefly glanced at the few functioning screens that had watched their progress, pausing with greater concern to raid one of the drawers for another small pack of filtered cigars. Sean sighed at the sight of the six plasma guns gathering dust on a shelf. While powerful and rechargeable with a Servant, they were utterly useless against a Feeder.

“Hey,” said Sienna, realizing. “Where’s your Servant?”

“What?” asked Camus, looking at his waist to where she pointed. “Oh, I suppose it’s somewhere back at one of my residences.”

“Oh, you don’t live, um… here?”

Camus gave her a wry smile. “No.”

“Right, you just forgot your Servant in a cupboard at the summer house, huh?” asked Sean.

“Why would it even matter where I left some digital toy?”

This left Sean flabbergasted, trying to form a response as Camus edged closer to the side of the roof. “Uh, to access the T-Net? To communicate, check the freakin’ weather, get global GPS readings, read a book!”

“Who would I possibly have a desire to communicate with? I can see that it’s sunny out, I know where I’m at, I’m relatively confident I know what day it is. Oh, and I have other means of writing and reading if I so chose. Tell me, who exactly is the Servant again?”

Sean had nothing. Sienna rolled her eyes. While Camus might be an old Luddite, unable to accept modern technology, Sean adored his gadgetry. It was especially funny since Camus was a Mancer, able to manipulate any energy source but the T-Net.

“Come here, “ he called back.

Closer to Camus, Sienna realized they could see a good portion of the city from their high vantage point. A majority of it, since this seemed to be the tallest building still standing. The ruins of Nashville lay sprawled out before them, a wasteland of soot and decay.

“We are not far from the old airport,” said Camus. “Which is the bad news. The good news is you only need to make it north of the Cumberland River. The river is their unspoken barrier.”

“Feeders?” grunted Gemmel.

“You should be so lucky,” chuckled Camus. “With Feeders, at least you know where you stand — as food. No, Nashville is nothing but a city of Leechers, but the those that have claimed the north are far more, dare I say, civilized.”

The wind blew harder, and forty stories up, Sienna felt the need to take a few steps back. Hugging herself, she stole a look towards Gemmel and her brother. She could see them analyzing, mapping out logistics. Sienna glanced curiously at Camus. He looked oddly relaxed. Now openly staring at him, it came with a terrible clarity. He was the first person she had seen truly at peace in years.

Without turning, he said, “You haven’t leeched, have you? Not since that first time?”

Sienna gasped. “How did you know?”

He continued facing the open air. “Most Mancers still use their Servants, but I don’t bother. We can all read the energy in our surroundings as well as engineer it. What use do I have for some toy now, just to tap into the elusive T-Net?”

“You didn’t…”

“Once you’ve been a Mancer as long as I have, my dear, you learn to see the patterns in energy. Once a person has leeched, I can tell if they’re to become a Feeder or like myself. Often I can even predict a timetable.”

He spun on her, an expression hard but without malice. “I have never experienced the likes of you. I have no idea what you will become one day or even when that day will arrive. I find this baffling. And a bit terrifying as well.”

Gemmel swore under his breath as Sean’s eyes flitted back and forth between his sister and the Mancer. “So, so she’s not going to be a Feeder?”

“No. Possibly something worse.”

“Wait a minute! I thought you said…”

“She won’t be a Feeder or a Mancer, and I can not hazard a guess what her final metamorphosis will be. But I guarantee this…”

He closed the spaced between them in an instant, his hand near to her face without touching it.

“…you’re going to be extraordinary.”

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DataLog Text-MemxJourn: Doyle, Sienna A. / 24-04-24

“You’re not coming with us?” asked Sean suspiciously as the trio climbed back into their jeep.

“No, it’s part of an unspoken treaty I have with both factions. I remain on the eastern outskirts of the city and they leave me alone. In turn, I don’t descend upon them with a horde of Feeders.”

Checking his gun for the third time, Gemmel said, “Sounds like bullshit to me.”

“There are places, particular items, that Feeders would not have a propensity to disturb. Leechers, however, would ransack and destroy some of these things out of sheer glee. I am preserving them.”

He strolled over to the driver’s side and took Sean’s hand. “Treaty or no, once you get across the river, do not attempt stealth. Be blatant in your journey and once found, for you will be found, demand an audience with Old Man Mandela. Once before him, tell him I said to remember Shelby Park.”

“Why?”

“He may not have you lot all executed, then,” Camus replied as he moved to the backseat.

“As the bard once wrote, ‘There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.’ Perhaps he was referring to you, my dear.”

Sienna didn’t know what to say.

“I thought I had come to understand this broken new world, but after meeting you, I realize I am still imprisoned in the cave. And that’s delightful! So stay safe, stay alive, and for the sake of all of us… stay away from Mancers.”

Camus took up her hand, quickly, and gave it the merest brush of his lips. Before she could even find words, he had disappeared back through the skeletons of brick and steel. Sienna remained quiet even as the pulled away.

“What the hell was he talking about,” growled Gemmel. “What fuckin’ cave?”

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DataLog Text-MemxJourn: Doyle, Sienna A. / 24-04-24

She won’t be a Feeder or a Mancer — possibly something worse!

Sienna’s mind traveled around these words as Sean tore the Hummer down highways and back alleys both. The idea was too much for her, too big. A “third option” did not compute. That this third option might be a result more horrible than a Feeder was something she couldn’t even wrap her head around. She’d sooner eat a bullet here in the back of the jeep than become something so monstrous.

Sean had been avoiding the topic, avoiding her altogether. She had tried to assist him in the Navigation, but he had ignored her, his own Servant propped up on the dashboard. Just like when they were kids and had a fight, he turned her invisible. Twenty years ago he had done it because it had infuriated her so much. Now, after years of perfecting the skill, it was how he coped with any bad personal situation. Sean just pretended it wasn’t there.